If you already spend a lot of time cutting down trees and killing monsters in the fantasy world, you’ll be pleased to know that you can now continue your game on the go, with cross-platform support meaning you can easily switch between the mobile and desktop version.
In order the play Old School Runescape on your phone, you’ll need either iOS 10 or later, or Android 5.0 or later.
Not the original
If you were hoping for another chance to play the original beta version of Runescape, which launched in the early 2000’s (now known as Runescape Classic), you might be disappointed – Old School Runescape is based on a 2007 backup of the game’s source code and was released in 2013. Runescape Classic was officially shut down earlier this year.
Old School Runescape was launched after negative reactions to the then-current iteration of Runescape, with fans wanting a more nostalgic gaming experience.
If you’re looking for the best Nintendo 3DS prices or New 2DS XL deals, you’ve come to the right place. This is a fantastic time to get a cheap 3DS as retailers continue to unleash discounts as gamers snatch up the Nintendo Switch deals too. We check the prices from all reliable online retailers every few hours to make sure the prices are up to date!
Nintendo has long been boss of the handheld market, but the fact it continues to be so successful in a market now dominated by smartphones is impressive and we’re bound to see it rock the handheld scene with some seasonal deals too. The 3DS software lineup features some of the best first-party Nintendo titles ever and you can always check out our pick of the best Nintendo 3DS games.
Nintendo’s latest handheld, the ‘New 2DS XL’, is a welcome no nonsense handheld. On this page we’re displaying the best 2DS XL, 2DS and new 3DS XL deals around. Older models are very hard to get a hold of nowadays and prices have shot up disproportionately.
A note on chargers
For reasons known only to Nintendo, most 3DS consoles do not come with a mains charger. So if you’re in the market for 3DS and don’t already have a compatible charger (for an older model maybe?) then you’ll need to buy a new one. This is especially important if you’re buying a 3DS as a Christmas gift.
On the plus side the New 2DS XL and older slate-styled 2DS do come with a charger. We’ve included some handy links to some 3DS charger deals below (don’t forget to check it’s compatible with your type of 3DS).
This is the newest member of Nintendo’s Nintendo’s wildly popular handheld. Unlike the original 2DS’ wedge-like design, the clamshell form returns, which should be much more appealing to older gamers. The 3D tech has been dropped, but you’re getting the fantastic XL screen along with the upgraded tech of the ‘New’ 3DS models. This is considerably cheaper than the New 3DS XL too.
The best Nintendo New 3DS XL deals…
If the standard New 3DS is a bit small for you, then take a look at the New 3DS XL which is perfect for gamers with larger hands or anyone that fancies a larger screen. Look out for some special edition New 3DS XL models listed below this comparison chart too.
The best Nintendo 2DS deals…
If the 3D aspect and the clamshell look isn’t for you you can get a Nintendo 2DS for cheaper. The 2DS is a great way of entering Nintendo’s handheld family without spending much money, but we’re really talking to kids and parents here. Parents of clumsy children have praised the flat design that removes the need for those pesky breakable hinges of the original models.
It’s that excellent lineup of games that makes it even easier to recommend the 2DS. With a generation of kids familiarising themselves with quick and easy games like Angry Birds, it’s important for Nintendo to show them how much better gaming can be. The 2DS is a hell of a lot sturdier than a smartphone or tablet too.
If you missed out on the sweet Xbox One X bundle deal from JB Hi-Fi earlier on, then now’s your chance to get one almost as cheap.
The Gamesmen are having a limited 10% off storewide sale, which brings their wicked Red Dead and Forza bundle for the latest Microsoft console down to $539.95. Considering the console itself is still running at a retail price of $649, this is a hell of a saving considering you’ll also be receiving Red Dead Redemption 2, Forza Horizon 4, and Forza Motorsport 7.
Be sure to enter the code TRICKORTREAT at checkout to nab the discount, and get in quick as the sale is only on from 2pm until 10pm on 31/10.
As The Gamesmen only has one physical store location (in Penshurst, NSW) you’re likely going to have pay for shipping. You can use the calculator on the product page itself to get a quote on how much it will cost you, or check out their delivery page for further details.
The holiday sales period is always a tumultuous time for Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo – but, according to recent quarterly financial reports, it could be even more chaotic than we initially predicted, with Nintendo optimistically predicting that it will sell upwards of 15 million new Nintendo Switch consoles before March 2019.
The reports put out by the pair of console purveyors put Nintendo Switch at 22 million consoles sold to date, with just over 5 million units sold in the last six months. Sony, on the other hand, approaching the 100 million unit mark with 86 million PS4 consoles (including the PS4 Pro) sold to date.
Should Sony cross that 100 million mark, the PS4 will be one of the company’s best-selling systems – ahead of the PS3 (80 million consoles sold) and original PlayStation (102 million consoles old). That said, Nintendo Switch is already ahead of its predecessors, the Nintendo GameCube and Nintendo Wii U, which only sold 21 million and 13 million units, respectively.
While Sony is holding the higher ground in terms of total consoles sold overall, it could be a competitive Black Friday and a dead-sprint to see who can sell more consoles before the end of the financial year that closes in March.
ABC: Always Be Combo-ing
While Sony expects to sell 17.5 million units before year’s end, Nintendo is trying to be a bit more ambitious – selling 15 million consoles in the next three months is no small feat. For reference, Nintendo sold only 7 million units this time last year.
This year, Nintendo is banking on a slew of upcoming titles and bundles will help push more consoles out the door: Pokemon Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! will be available on November 16 and Super Smash Bros Ultimate is out on December 7 2018. The latter will miss out on the two biggest sale days of the year (Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2018) but the game’s popularity might help Nintendo keep the momentum going strong into 2019.
Will the Big N can be the number-one console seller in the world this year? We’ll just have to wait to find out.
Boo! Halloween season is upon us, and the braver among you will be searching for the best horror video games to give you a proper scare.
Scary movies are ten a penny – just check the list in our best horror movies guide – but games go that extra distance by putting you in the driver’s seat.
When you’re the one holding the controller and making the choices that could mean life or death, every moment is tense and significant. It’s a lot harder to laugh at on-screen characters making stupid and clichéd decisions when you’re the one making them.
We’ve gotten far better at scaring ourselves, while games have matured beyond simple gore and jump scares. Though these elements still play an important role in the genre, our approach to horror has more nuance than ever.
What follows is our choice of the 13 best horror games that you can play on PC and consoles today, from recent AAA games to older PC classics. Go ahead and spook yourselves silly.
Do you just want to kick back and watch a horror movie instead? Here’s our list of the 13 best horror movies.
We’ve all watched a teen slasher movie at some point (it’s hard to escape them) but it’s a genre that’s surprisingly uncommon in the gaming world. Probably because it’d be so hard to get it right.
Fortunately, Until Dawn is a game that succeeds in combining slasher movie tropes with the video game format.
This PS4 exclusive game follows a group of teenagers going on a trip to a remote cabin in the mountains where, shockingly, there’s a frightening presence interested in picking them off one by one.
It’s up to you to make decisions for the characters in the game which means whether or not they live or die is entirely down to you. Make the wrong decision and your favorite could meet a very grizzly end. Until Dawn is a great horror game because, although it’ll genuinely scare you, you get a sense it’s having a lot of fun doing it.
Until Dawn can be played now on PlayStation 4
Dead By Daylight stands out in this list by being a horror multiplayer experience: one where a single player takes on the role of a savage serial killer while four others flee for their lives.
It’s a thrilling twist on usual PvP combat, with a host of original characters each with their own advantages in play as either a Survivor or Killer. There are plenty of tricks and strategies to execute in each map, with a character progression system that should keep you coming back.
For the horror junkies out there, you can also unlock or download characters from Saw, A Nightmare on Elm Street, or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
You can play Dead By Daylight on PS4, Xbox One, and Windows.
The Evil Within series comes from the mind behind Resident Evil, Shinji Mikami – and if that doesn’t give you reason enough to pick it up, we’re not sure what will. This is a third-person survival horror that’ll pull you into a nightmarish world populated by grotesque and frightening enemies.
A sequel, The Evil Within 2, screamed onto shelves in 2017 in time for Halloween, with lead Sebastian Castanellos once again taking on dark powers beyond his understanding in the warped reality of STEM.
In some ways it’s regular horror fare: a seemingly idyllic town, dark supernatural forces, and a lost little girl to up the ante. But the way it blends classic horror stalking with more modern action elements – with a real sense of powerlessness to fuel the ongoing terror – make this a must-play for fans of the genre.
You can play The Evil Within 2 on PS4, Xbox One, and Windows.
Few mediums are as perfectly suited to horror as VR. The full-body immersion and restrictive viewing angles mean you’re never quite sure what’s around you, and make jump scares or surreal monsters all that more affecting.
The Persistence is a smart VR horror roguelike set in a monster-ridden spaceship. Your vessel has been pulled into the orbit of a black hole, and its interference is constantly jumbling up the layout of the ship, using procedurally generated levels to ensure you never know what’s going to be around each corner.
To top it all off, every time you die you’re transferred into a new clone of yourself – which would be handy if the other clones weren’t turning into massive misshapen monsters looking to murder you. An innovative take on VR gaming that isn’t afraid to, you know, make you afraid.
You can play The Persistence on PSVR.
Little Nightmares is a great example of a game that manages to inspire fear and disgust without using traditional blood and gore.
The game puts you in control of a young girl called Six and has you navigate a a frightening world that’s far too big for her, populated by a wide array of giant and grotesque creatues.
You don’t have to fight these creatures, you just have to sneak around world and hide to get past them in what is absolutely a platforming puzzle game.
But Little Nightmares is a great horror game in that it perfectly creates a feeling of helplessness while making it clear that you’re capable of escaping. It takes familiar and domestic areas of the home that should be comforting and turns them on their head by making them repulsive and unsafe.
Little Nightmares can be played now on PC, Xbox One and PS4
Dead Space, published by EA and developed by Visceral Games, is among the contemporary classic horror games. The story, first set on an abandoned space vessel (duh), takes terrifying twists and turns – most of which involving zombified aliens waiting around said turns.
Following the formula established by Ridley Scott’s classic “Alien” certainly helped – besides, the first Alien game to pull it off didn’t release for another few years. (See all about that one in a few slides.)
All in all, Dead Space was one of the pioneering horror games of the modern era, inspiring a renaissance in the genre that hasn’t yet died down. That comes down to some simple tenants: a compelling story, believable visuals and proper pacing.
And while we recommend the first game for the purest horror experience, you’re bound to get a kick out of its two mainline sequels too.
You can play Dead Space on Xbox 360, PS3 and Windows.
Resident Evil 7 was a breath of fresh air for an increasingly stale series, bringing in a modern understanding of both horror movies and games while managing to retain that very distinct Resident Evil feel.
By moving the perspective from third to first person it also made the fear feel closer and more immediate, while leading the way to include a genuinely frightening VR experience to the game.
With a great story and tight gameplay, Resident Evil 7 was the addition to the horror series we all wanted and feared we wouldn’t get. The success of the game, along with the news of an upcoming Resident Evil 2 remake, is enough to make us think Capcom will be giving us scares for a good while yet.
You can play Resident Evil on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 – or Playstation VR.
Released in mid-2012, Slender is based around long pauses followed by sudden movements that are totally unexpected. In other words: jump scares.
Slender is essentially a horror movie in video game form. It’s a bit cheap, but boy does it work.
Your mission is simple: Don’t get killed, collect the eight pieces of a book, and run. The ‘thing’ pursuing you – directly inspired by the popular Slender Man meme – is a faceless, eerily lanky man in a pinstriped suit.
Basically, he’s the perfect horror game villain.
The game relies heavily around the player having virtually no resources beyond a flashlight and the ability to jog. Naturally, both of which are limited for obvious reasons, making escape all the more difficult.
Overall, Slender is a fun, not-so-clever horror game that is guaranteed to scare you senseless nevertheless.
You can play Slender: The Eight Pages on Windows and OS X.
Outlast and Outlast 2, developed by Red Barrels Studio, are now must-plays in the horror genre. Both games put players in control of investigative journalists but while the first is set in an asylum for the insane, the sequel takes place in the much more open location of a dilapidated rural part of Northern Arizona.
What helps make the Outlast games, well, last is that they follow a cardinal rule of horror games: don’t empower your players too much, otherwise it’s no longer a horror game.
Offering a refreshing break from zombies and aliens, Outlast and its sequel are fine games to play if you want a longer – and arguably scarier – break from your average gun-toting jump scare-fest.
You can play Outlast and Outlast 2 on Xbox One, PS4, Windows, OS X and Linux.
Of the countless games to use this precious creative license over the years, developer Creative Assembly is the first to actually create a game that lives up to it. The game takes place 15 years following the events of the 1979 Ridley Scott film, putting players into the space boots of Ellen Ripley’s daughter, Amanda Ripley.
Taking on a first-person perspective and squaring you off with a single xenomorph hunting you across a vast space station in darkness, Isolation nails what it felt like watching the film for the first time. The vibe is so much of what makes an amazing horror game, and Isolation feels as if you’re playing through the movie.
Throw in the excruciatingly-clever artificial intelligence afforded to the alien, along with an absolutely gripping virtual reality experiment, and you have the trappings of a modern horror classic.
You can play Alien: Isolation on Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4, Windows, OS X and Linux.
While Left 4 Dead came first, the second version saw Valve nail the vision of its original creators, Turtle Rock Studios. Set in a world overrun by zombies, the game follows four characters in their mission to survive through several cooperative and competitive online modes, which – in conjunction with mods on PC – makes for a veritable ton of replayability.
Our friends at PC Gamer have ranked it among their top FPS games of all time. We’re pretty certain that most PC players would agree with that.
The game was originally banned in Australia due to its graphic content: a de facto seal of approval, if you will. The ban has since been lifted, and so lovers of hardcore horror games are sure to rejoice in its gross, lengthy scenes of devastation and destruction worldwide.
You can play Left 4 Dead 2 on Xbox 360, Windows, OS X and Linux.
Five Nights at Freddy’s is – undoubtedly – a different kind of horror game. With a premise seeing players “surviving” a night in a kid-themed pizza parlor, it’s unlike almost anything else in the genre.
However, it’s a surprisingly fun game to play, once you can get past the terrifying visage of an animatronic teddy bear guitarist come to life in the dead of night. Generally, players combat these twisted, possessed figures with security cameras – what? Poltergeists don’t like leaving evidence.
The game is the work of Scott Cawthon, an independent developer, who released it in 2014. Since then, there have been three more direct sequels, all of which have received positive reviews. Talk about staying power.
You can play Five Nights at Freddy’s on Windows, iOS and Android.
SOMA, released in 2015 by Amnesia developer Frictional Games, is a thoughtful – and thought-provoking – game that could easily be considered an interactive film. Are you sensing a theme here at all?
The game contains neither zombies nor aliens, but instead a shift between 2015 and 2104, when humans have been wiped out by a comet and what’s left of humanity must fight to survive underwater in an abandoned research facility gone rogue.
While SOMA may not be as outright scary as, say, Amnesia, it is still a fantastic game, thanks to its brooding atmosphere, surprisingly fresh subject matter (for horror games) and incredible audio design.
You can play SOMA on PS4, Windows, OS X and Linux.
If you’re keen to get into PC gaming, then Steam is the best place for you to hunt for new games. That’s because there are more than 23,000 available through the platform – and counting.
The great thing about Steam is that you can buy a game, download it and then install it as many times as you like. Steam also rolls out automatic updates too, so there’s no need to worry about manually re-downloading anything or checking to see if there’s some new update you’ve missed out on.
Like most gaming, movie and TV catalogues nowadays, the only problem is there’s too much choice. Sure that’s not a bad problem to have, but it does mean that you can get lost in Steam’s giant labyrinth of games, become tempted by its frequent sales and end up with a stack of titles you’ve never booted-up.
But don’t worry, we’re here with a solution. Below we’ve listed some of the best Steam games, including recent releases and golden oldies. We update this list regularly, so be sure to come back soon for more suggestions.
Fortnite
Do we really need to write up a Fortnite explainer? Well, for those who have been hiding under a rock over the past year or so, Fortnite is best described as an apocalyptic survival game. But rather than gory deaths, it’s all bright colours, cool add-ons and fancy weapons – although there is violence, it’s far more than that.
The game has exploded recently partly due to its highly-addictive nature, you’ve essentially got to survive and kill everyone else on an island over the course of 20 minutes, and the fact it’s got some big celeb fans, including Drake and the England Football Team.
What Remains of Edith Finch
This indie smash arrived in 2017, but as it recently won a ‘best game’ BAFTA award, it’s time to give it another plug. What Remains of Edith Finch is a narrative-led adventure in which you walk, first-person style, around as Edith Finch, exploring the house in which you grew up.
You look over the preserved relics of dead family members and are sucked into vignettes that tell the stories of how various Finches died. This sounds grim, we get it. However, its charming style and magical realism tilt make What Remains of Edith Finch involving and touching rather than depressing.
It plays out a little like an interactive movie. You can’t fail as such, aside from getting lost, and the entire experience lasts 2-3 hours rather than 20.
Don’t buy this if you’re going to feel short-changed by its length, but if you’ve played and enjoyed Firewatch, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture or Gone Home, you’ll love What Remains of Edith Finch.
Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdon
The first Ni No Kuni game was a collaboration with Japanese animation masters Studio Ghibli. Ni No Kuni II is not, but retains the same charming art style.
It also changes the fighting mechanics. Instead of training up avatars to fight for you, Ni No Kuni II has a fun real-time battle system. You command three fighters with fast, slow and magic attacks, and the ability to dodge. There’s a more action-packed feel this time.
It’s not all about action, though. While Ni No Kuni II is an action-adventure RPG, you also build up a kingdom, which plays a role in earning bonuses for your characters. This part is surprisingly moreish.
The story is more conventional than that of the first game, which might be down to Studio Ghibli’s limited involvement. However, there’s plenty of fantasy fuel and it’s more involving than your average game.
Into the Breach
Not every top steam game is an epic open world title that would sell for $60 on PS4 and Xbox One. Into the Breach is an elegant sci-fi strategy blast you can play on your lunch break at work.
It is made by the team behind Faster than Light, still one of our favourite PC games of the last decade. And for the handheld gaming veterans out there, there are shades of Advance Wars to it too.
Earth has been invaded, and almost taken over, by aliens. In Into the Breach you control groups of mechs sent from the future to reverse this fate.
That may sound like a mind-bending premise, but it actually proves the plot doesn’t matter too much here. We know Earth will come out tops, it’s just a case of how.
Each encounter takes in an 8×8 block grid, your battlefield. Play unfolds in turns, and your mechs have to stop aliens from destroying too many of the field’s buildings and outposts. It has the tactical purity of chess. As you play you can upgrade your mechs to improve your chances.
Like FTL, Into the Breach is moreish, smart and deceptively deep.
Surviving Mars
Some screenshots make Surviving Mars look like The Sims: Red Planet edition. However it’s closer to Sim City meets The Martian.
You build an outpost on a patch of Mars, and have to keep it running to avoid your colonists dying in on the planet’s harsh surface. It’s harder than it sounds.
Mis-managing resources in Sim City or Civilization may make your inhabitants angry, or lower your income. But in Surviving Mars it can cause a chain reaction that sees life support systems fail.
You’ll hear “a colonist has died”, and be left scrambling to fix the problem before other inhabitants start dying like bubbles popping as they touch the ground.
There’s work to be done on Surviving Mars’s interface but its survivalist approach to “city” building is compelling.
Final Fantasy XV
After the massively-multiplayer Final Fantasy XIV, Square Enix has finally turned back to the series’s single player roots with Final Fantasy XV. It came to PS4 in late 2016 but was only ported to PC in March 2018.
However, you do get all the DLC released on consoles and, if your PC is beefy enough, better frame rates.
Final Fantasy XV is a little different to the FF games of old. You travel around an open world packed with Americana-style buildings, all your companions are human and the combat plays out in real time, not as turns. However, you can tell this is a Final Fantasy game just by watching a 15-second clip of it in action.
New Indie Notable: Descenders
The PC tends to get associated with the kind of games you sit down at for hours. Until your eyes are red and part of you begins to regret your life choices. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
You can play Descenders in quick blasts. If you can drag yourself away from its moreish-ness, anyway. You’re a downhill free rider who has to get down procedurally generated courses with as much style as possible, prefably using a gamepad. It might remind you of the Tony Hawk games, when they were good, or snowboard console classic SSX.
The use of generated “tracks” means you can’t master courses, but it’s the mastery of the bike’s physics you’re aiming for anyway. A career mode pits you against a series of courses in the same style of environment, each with objectives. Finish the “boss course” and you unlock a new terrain. But you have limited lives for the whole run. A mix of mobile game style and unforgiving old-school progression mechanics gives Descenders a fresh feel.
Not every game has to be about destroying aliens or shooting off the faces of unnamed soldiers. American Truck Simulator is like mindfulness meditation compared to those titles.
You drive a big 18 wheeler-style truck over the long highways of the US, delivering cargo from A to B. Breaking the traffic codes doesn’t end in a GTA-style police chase, just a fine. This is the sort of game you can put on like a cosy slipper after a long day at work.
There’s a business side to it too, though. At the start you’re a lowly contractor, but earn enough money and you can build your own shipping empire.
Pillars of Eternity
PC gamers who have been playing since the 90s will remember all the fuss made about the Baldur’s Gate titles. Some of their biggest fans will get teary telling you about the memories of their favourite side characters.
Isometric role-playing games like Baldur’s Gate don’t cut it in the AAA world anymore, but Pillars of Eternity brings back their essence for the Steam crowd. This is a difficult, slightly throwback-flavoured RPG where you control a band of classic fantasy-style adventurers. It’s made by Obsidian, the team behind Fallout: New Vegas. Pillars of Eternity II is on the horizon too.
If you like your RPGs fantasy-themed, also consider Torment: Tides of Numenera.
Legend of Grimrock II
Another throwback to a style of game that has disappeared, Legend of Grimrock 2 is a dungeon crawler where you move in blocks, not freely. Why would you want that? It changes your relationship with the environment, making it feel more like an intricate puzzle than just an open world a texture artist has been let loose on.
There are an awful lot of actual puzzle involved here too, in-between the bouts of classic “dungeons and dragons” style combat encounters.
Retro as the play style is, Legend of Grimrock 2 looks fantastic, with plenty of outdoors areas to stop you from getting bogged down in dimly-lit dungeons.
The battle royale that put the subgenre back on the shrinking map
When it comes to in-vogue games, few titles continue to capture the zeitgeist (and fill it full of bullet holes) like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. It may have one of the worst names ever, but that hasn’t stopped PUBG from putting the ‘battle royale’ subgenre on the map and making itself into a phenomenon. Sure, there’s a lot of hype still surrounding it, but the game behind all the coverage and Twitch fascination is still one of the most addictive on Steam.
That simple premise – parachute into a map with no gear, scavenge for weapons and armour, then fight for survival with a single life in a map that continually shrinks – is still gripping, even if it has a few too many bugs. Whether you’re teaming up with friends or braving its maps alone, PUBG remains one of the most fun shooters on the market right now.
One of the most recent releases on this list, Kingdom Come: Deliverance offers an experience that’s both warmly familiar and deeply alien. Set in a fictional Medieval Europe, it’s a first-person RPG where dialogue choices shape your world as much as your ability to problem solve and your skills in melee combat. It’s a game of incredible freedom, enabling you to carve a path through its Dark Ages setting however you see fit.
You might get off your face on schnapps and get in a fight with the town drunk; you might start filling your pockets with the gold of unsuspecting townsfolk, Thief-style or stain your blade with blood in the battlefield. Part Elder Scrolls, part Dark Souls, part something else entirely, it’s an action-RPG that punishes as much as it empowers. It also runs best on PC (with the right specs, naturally) so get it on the download pronto.
A Tom Clancy success story that’s fun as hell to play
Who knew, way back in 2015, that a Tom Clancy game would become one of the industry’s biggest success stories. But here we are, in 2018, with a game that boasts over 25 million registered players and its third year of consecutive content updates and premium bells and whistles. It’s one of those success stories that keeps on succeeding, and for one very important reason: it’s fun as hell to play.
Dialling back the Rainbow Six formula to its roots – two teams fight in the same map, one protecting an objective while the other attack and fights their way in – no two matches in Siege are ever the same. Barricading doors, breaching through walls, blasting through ceilings and building an operator that’s attuned to your playstyle. It might not be groundbreaking, but add in the limited time Outbreak mode (think Siege plus zombies) and you’ve got one of Steam’s most complete packages.
Celeste is one of the most memorable games we’ve played in years
Coming from the indie team at gave us TowerFall and TowerFall Ascension comes one of the most rewarding pixel platformers in years. As you climb the titular mountain, flame-haired heroine Madeline will battle her innermost demons as much as the harsh and dangerous conditions around her. In its simplest form, Celeste is a tight, 2D, twitch-style platformer, but in reality it’s one of the memorable games we’ve played in many years.
As poignant in narrative as it is unforgiving in mechanics, Celeste comes with over 700 ‘scenes’ to traverse, countless secrets to uncover and a story that will grip you as much as the muscle-memory building formula of its platforming. For a game built around the simple mechanics of jump, air-dash and climb, there’s an incredible amount of depth to be found as you claw your way to the summit in more ways that one.
When Divinity: Original Sin 2 arrived in 2017, it had quite the task ahead of it: living up to the legacy of its predecessor, which just so happened to be one of the most accomplished RPGs of all time. Then what does developer Larian Studios do? It only goes and follows it up with one of the most essential additions to the genre in years. Am enchanting fantasy world, a deep and complicated combat model and one of the most gripping stories you’ll experience outside of a 1,000 page tome.
The big selling point, and the main ingredient of Divinity: Original Sin 2’s secret sauce, is the complexity of its combat. You control a party of characters alongside your own custom avatar, and you can utilise each one individually in battle. With countless skills and attributes to mix and match, the breadth of tactics available makes this an imposing yet deeply rewarding way to test your RPG abilities.
Stellaris is a new evolution of the strategy genre
The grand and operatic strategy genre has produced some true classics on PC, experiences consoles have consistently struggled and failed to emulate. From Crusader Kings to Europa Universalis, these are games with tactics and guile expected in bucket loads from the off.
Well, it just so happens the developer of those very games has taken that deeply immersive concept and transported it to the dark ocean of space. Enter Stellaris, an evolution of the genre that takes the space exploration of EVE Online and Mass Effect and hits the hyperdrive button.
You’ll travel through myriad procedural galaxies, filled with thousands of planets and countless alien species, each one possessing unique traits, economies and social strata. Whether it’s the power (and consistent balancing act) of interstellar diplomacy or the deep customisation of starship designs, there’s a wealth of sci-fi lore and mechanics to delve into with Stellaris.
Dota 2 has a simple but intoxicating set up
Dota 2
By far one of the oldest games on the list – well, that is if you consider 2013 old – Valve’s MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) is still one of the most addictive titles on Steam. It’s also the only game on this list that’s free-to-play, so you don’t even need to have a healthy bank balance to enjoy its moreish battles. Valve has been consistently updating and overhauling the game since launch, making it one of the most evolved MOBAs on the market.
If you’ve never played it before, it’s a simple yet intoxicating setup: two teams of five players face off in a large map. Each one is defending a base with an ‘Ancient; inside that must be protected at all costs. Find your opponent’s base and raze it to the ground to win. What plays are are brilliant hero v hero showdowns, brutal ambushes, tactical plays and nonstop action.
Run and gun platformers have carved a niche out for themselves on mobile, but they’re a rarity on PC. Thankfully, this one was built to be a Microsoft exclusive with Xbox One in mind and the result is one of the most unique gaming experiences you’ll ever have. Designed to capture the look and atmosphere of 1930s cartoons, Cuphead places you in the shoes of the titular hero and tasks you with battling across three distinct words and bosses that will capture your imagination with their ingenuity that crush your resolve with their difficulty.
Recommending a notoriously tough game might sound counter-intuitive, but the steep difficulty curve is part of its charm. With a unique soundtrack and those standout visuals at your side you’ll earn every stage clearance like piece of territory in a war, each victory feeling that bit more rewarding. Brutal and beautiful in equal measure, Cuphead is a must have Steam title.
Another relatively fresh release on this list, Subnautica is already making waves (pardon the pun) despite having only dropped in January of this year. A survival game set in the depths of an ocean on an alien world, it’s unique twist on the classic template makes for a game that’s both captivating to watch and challenging in its many interconnected mechanics. You’ll explore shallow reefs, dangerous trenches on the seabed and everything in between, all the while managing your precious oxygen supply.
Oh, and there’s an entire ecosystem of alien marine life to contend with. Plenty of these fishy and mammalian critters want to add you to their menu, so you’ll need to outsmart and avoid them while searching for resources to build new equipment and tools. Like all the best survival games, the very best materials lie in the most dangerous of places. Dare you swim deep enough to find them?
With so many multiplayer shooters getting a focus in this feature, it seemed high time to pay homage to one of the best single-player FPS games ever. MachineGames gave Wolfenstein a bloody, alt-history revival in the form of 2014’s The New Order, so it had its work cut out for it when it came to bettering all that visceral Nazi slaying. Then along comes 2017’s The New Colossus, dialling up the violence and the depth of storytelling it would make most Call Of Duty titles look at the floor with embarrassment.
What makes The New Colossus so essential is how it doesn’t deviate from its formula, but excels on it in almost every way. Bigger and more challenging bosses; intense set-pieces; myriad weapons that spit glorious death; a story that asks far more questions and presents some bold answers. It’s also rock hard, and consistently unforgiving, so lock and load at your peril…
The best survival horror game for your Steam library, Resident Evil 7 is refreshingly terriflying
It’s not often a franchise as iconic as Resident Evil gets a new lease of life – especially when you consider the zomb-loving licence had descended into a lifeless farce over the past decade – but here we are with a genuinely frightening horror game with the words ‘Resident Evil’ in the title. What a world, eh?
While us PC folk aren’t allowed to scare ourselves half to death in VR yet (RE7 is a PSVR at the moment), that doesn’t mean it’s any less terrifying. Dropping the third-person perspective that’s felt tired and rote for many a year, RE7 embraces the first-person view that’s helped Outlast and the like re-energize the horror genre, and boy does it make for one chilling 8-10 hour scare fest.
With Capcom’s big budget, a creepy swamp setting (honestly, just go with it) and a storyline that feeds back into the series’ winding mythology, you’d be crazy not to add this to your Steam library.
The sixth entry in the Civilization series combines all the best elements of its predecessors – and there are a lot
How could we put together a list of the games to play on Steam and not include the latest offering from the master of turn-based strategy and tactical simulation? The Civilization series has been through many a form over the years, but entry number six takes all the best bits from those previous incarnations, smoothes off the edges and serves up one of the most rewarding turn-based video games ever made.
There’s nothing quite like building a nation from its fledgling roots and nurturing it into a cultural powerhouse, and Civilization VI gives you more freedom and control than ever. Removing the pre-set paths that hampered the still stellar Civ V, Civ VI transforms into a landscape that rewards plucky explorers and confident conquerors with the opportunity to expand their budding society with new technologies and alliances. Sid Meier’s name alone is part of PC gaming’s lofty heritage, so owning this little doozy is a no-brainer.
A modern classic, Undertale is full of choices, and engaging in or avoiding combat can have a real impact later in the game
Undertale is one of those games that stays with you. A work of digital art whose charm and creativity never fail to lose their edge, regardless of how many times you play it through. And considering just how many innocuous JRPGs are out there right now, that’s a pretty impressive feat in unto itself.
So why is Undertale so brilliant? It takes all of the best elements from the ever-evolving RPG genre and creates a world built on choice, consequence and compassion. As a child dropped into an underground world filled with terrors, you’ll have to face many a monster to make it home. How you face them, and what choices you make, define your journey.
And its Telltale-esque consequence system doesn’t just extend to dialogue choices – you can choose to spare monsters after a fight, forging potential vital alliances for later in the game. You can even end fights by telling your opponent jokes. It’s a game of such warm and affable quality you’d almost believe it was a JRPG from the earliest heydey of the genre.
Its superb blend of brilliant writing, challenging gameplay, and well designed missions makes The Witcher 3 our pick for the best action-RPG on Steam
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
For years, one game sat atop the dark and misty mountain of action-RPGs. Skyrim was its name, and no other franchise, be it Dragon Age or Dark Souls, could even come to close to unseating its cast-iron grip upon the genre. Then along came Geralt of Rivia, riding atop The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with a confident swagger, ready to give The Elder Scrolls a good thrashing.
If you’re looking for a game that strikes a perfect balance between length of play (you could easily spend 100+ hours across its incredibly diverse map – one that’s a good 20% bigger than poor old Skyrim) and sheer quality, The Witcher 3 is a must. There are just so many virtues The Witcher 3 has to its name – brilliant writing, unforgettable quests, genuinely challenging beasts and a pair of DLC expansions (Hearts of Stone, and Blood and Wine) make this one of the best games of this and any other generation.
If you’ve played Limbo, you’ll know what expect from haunting platformer Inside
Inside will break you heart. Let that be your warning going in.
Don’t see such words as a deterrent, but rather as a mystery to be uncovered scene by heart-wrenching scene. Created by the same studio that made the wonderful 2.5D platformer Limbo – you know, the one about a little boy stuck in a nightmare world where a giant spider chases him endlessly – it should come as a huge shock to learn that Inside will leave you just as tearful as its predecessor.
Thing is, Inside is a brilliant piece of art. Without a scrap of dialogue, you’ll explore a world in a similar platforming vein to Limbo, overcoming various ingenious environmental puzzles and evading both the flashlights of an oppressive government and the shadow of a conspiracy that’s clearly not going to end well.
But it’s worth every second. There’s a reason it won many a GOTY award in 2016, so you’d be a fool not to add this to Steam library. Just remember to pack a few tissues.
Rocket League’s central premise is football with rocket-powered cars – and it’s every bit as fun as it sounds. One of the best muliplayer experiences available on Steam
Once upon a time there was a little game on PlayStation 3 called Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars. It was all about using remote control-esque cars to knock a giant football around a makeshift pitch. Thing is, no one played it and the game slowly faded into obscurity.
Then Rocket League came along, which was basically the same thing, albeit with tweaked physics and a greater focus on multiplayer. One trip into PlayStation 4’s PS Plus lineup later and the game went supernova.
And with good reason, too. It’s simple concept just works – it’s a place where skill shines through as you boost your little RC car and hit the motorised equivalent of a bicycle kick. It’s glorious, offering one of the best ways to play online (whether with friends or a bunch of randoms). Come on, who doesn’t want to spend their evening chasing a football with a car? FIFA? Pfft.
Portal 2’s fiendish physics puzzles are complemented by a superb story, with voice actors including Stephen Merchant and JK Simmons
Portal, back in its day, was a game-changer. Sure, it sounds like we’re filling out boots with hyperbole, but back in 2007 all those portals, companion cubes and sociopathic AIs were blowing our minds on loop. Then Portal 2 came along and made the original look like a crossword puzzle in The Sun.
Okay, the first Portal is still amazing, but Portal 2 took a genuinely revolutionary concept and redefined it. Everything in this game works perfectly – the ebb and flow of its story, the growing complexity of the puzzles and the new ways you’re forced to make your mind think with portals. It’s even got Stephen Merchant and JK Simmons in it!
Portal 2 manages to take a brilliant recipe and somehow make it even more delicious, sprinkling in all new depths of platforming and puzzle flavour. If you haven’t played it, buy it now. If you have, play it again.
Charming indie farming RPG Stardew Valley sees you moving from the bustling city to your grandfather’s old, run-down farm near sleepy Pelican Town. It’s up to you to uncover the secrets of the mysterious town while growing a thriving farming empire.
Stardew Valley’s pixelated graphics, unique soundtrack and kooky characters make for a relaxed and fun game which combines elements such as farming simulation, adventure, dating simulation and crafting.
Get ready to become emotionally attached because once you step foot in Pelican Town, it’s hard to ever leave.
With Nintendo’s paid online service finally here, what better time to piece together a guide to the best Nintendo Switch Online games out there?
Nintendo Switch Online launched only in September, bringing a paid subscription service for accessing online play, alongside a host of other features like cloud saves and retro game emulation. The paid online service isn’t necessary for playing most games on the Nintendo Switch eShop, but you’ll still need it if you want to get the most out of your multiplayer titles.
So whether you’re a Nintendo Switch owner looking to make the most of the online service, or just someone wanting to know why the hell they should sign up to Nintendo Switch Online after paying for a $300 / £300 console, these are the local co-op and online multiplayer games that get all the better for having the Nintendo Switch Online service.
Is this the Nintendo Switch’s definitive party game? The Mario Party franchise has been running for 20 years and almost as many entries, pitting an eclectic mix of Mario characters against each other as they compete in a virtual board game.
The eleventh in the series, Super Mario Party undoes some of the missteps of recent years and brings back the competitive edge, with a bunch of new modes, fresh new minigames, and added layers of strategy to bring the party all over again. If you have two Switch consoles between you, you can even link them up to fire cannons or splice together fruit from one screen to another – a neat addition that shows how much potential the Switch has for new kinds of play.
The only place you’ll be playing online will be Toad’s Rec Room, where you can compete in four-person minigames for those prized leaderboard places – rather than risking strangers dropping out of a 20-turn board game mid-way. But whether you’re playing online or just chilling on the sofa with some friends, this should be at the top of your multiplayer list.
Play for: online multiplayer or local co-op
Let’s be honest, the main selling point of Nintendo Switch Online is probably the NES games that come bundled in.
There’s no Virtual Console this time around, so you’re reliant on Nintendo leasing you the retro classics rather than letting you buy what you want at any time.
Even so, these games have been lovingly remastered with plenty of pleasingly modern features to let you pause, save, and reload each NES game at any point during play. Not to mention different viewing options if you want that more authentic arcade machine feel.
Actual two-player games here Ice Climbers or Balloon Fight are perfect for a nostalgia trip with your buddies. And even the solo titles – Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, and so on – have been updated for more connected play, meaning you can swap between Joy-Con controllers with a friend or enjoy voice chat over the Switch smartphone app while you take a trip down memory lane.
Other NES titles you get at launch include Soccer, Tennis, Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros 3, Ghosts ‘n Goblins, Excitebike, Tecmo Bowl, and Yoshi.
But there’ll be a steady trickle of other games each month for subscribers, which are bound to start including comparatively more recent SNES and N64 games down the line.
Play for: local co-op
We couldn’t make a list of the best online games without this: a beautifully Nintendo take on team-based shooters with teenage squids splaying maps with colored ink.
The fun, cartoony art style and fluid gameplay are exactly what you expect from Nintendo, with a sharply competitive streak and quick-fire matches that make it perfect for short play sessions. The first game did the impressive job of pulling players to the struggling Wii U console, and while the loss of a second screen on the Nintendo Switch entry is mourned, this is still a wonderfully fun game.
The single player offering has got stronger with the recent Octo expansion, but don’t be mistaken: this is a masterful multiplayer game through and through. There are local co-op options if you have more than one Switch to hand, though the game doesn’t support split-screen play on a television.
Play for: online multiplayer
Weapons, shields, engines, and… love?
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is a funky 2D shooter that sees you pilot a spaceship across the galaxy to help restore love to the universe. The popping visuals and bumping soundtrack are what make this game, though the cooperative elements also aim to bring you and your other players closer together – you won’t make it through the game without them.
There’s technically a single-player mode, but for the full force of this lovingly-made indie game, you’ll want to find someone to share it with.
Play for: local co-op
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is in a sense of repackaging of the Wii U entry – but is still well worth your time and money.
Accessible with plenty of modes, vehicles, and on-track madness, Nintendo’s iconic arcade racer is always one of the best multiplayer games out there, while this entry comes with a set of new characters and all the previously released DLC included from the starting line.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe caters for four players in split-screen co-op, or up to eight consoles linked up wirelessly – or against anyone you like online.
How to improve on ‘the beautiful game’ of football? By replacing humans with cars, obviously.
Rocket League is that wonderfully simple premise that everyone can get behind: haphazardly zooming across a pitch and occasionally knocking a giant ball into the goal. It’s on pretty much every gaming system out there by now but is an affordabke must-buy if you don’t have it on another console already.
Play for: online multiplayer and local co-op
Pokken Tournament DX is a 360-degree fighting game with a roster of Pokemon to take each other on in 1-on-1 or 3-on-3 battles. Another fantastic Wii U game that didn’t get the love it deserved – until it was ported over to the Switch, with even more pocket monsters to play with.
This isn’t the turn-based combat you’ll know from the mainline series, either – here you have to choose your moves and movements in real-time to take down your opponents, adding a real rush to proceedings.
Not to mention the HD graphics, with character builds and attack animations brought into their lively 3D splendor. But it’s not all looks: this is a satisfying fighting game with great mechanics and plenty of nostalgia for fans of the series.
Play for: local co-op or online multiplayer
This game isn’t even out yet and we’re that confident. Easy to play, hard to master, Super Smash Bros has always been a Nintendo stalwart: a mad fighting game brawler that pits video game characters from across Nintendo’s extensive catalogue against each other in battle. Pikachu vs Luigi. Kirby vs Ice Climbers. Toon Link vs Samus. The chaos knows no ends.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate arrives on December 7 and is the closest thing to a definitive Smash Bros we’ve seen, with every single character ever to have appeared across the franchise – with some fun new ones bundled in, including Metroid’s Ridley and Donkey Kong Country’s King K. Rule.
Add to that over 100 stages, countless gameplay improvements and a bunch of new modes to jump into, and you have a Smash Bros entry that will no doubt be a big draw for players signing up for Nintendo Switch Online.
Play for: online multiplayer, local co-op
Ok, so, technically Fortnite doesn’t require Nintendo Switch Online – like any free-to-play game on the console – but it’s a must-have for anyone into online competitive gaming.
Fortnite is a stupidly successful take on the battle royale genre, which drops 100 players into a shrinking map and lets the chaos ensure, with neat building mechanics and plenty of llama-based humor to make it stand out from the crowd. Publisher Epic Games constantly tweaks and improves the service, bringing in new modes and items to make sure there’s always something new to try out too.
And it’s played by everyone from 10-year-olds to full-grown adults, and apparently the Canadian rapper Drake, so don’t worry about not fitting in. Cross-play also means you can compete with players on their Xbox One, PC, or on mobile – though sadly still not PS4.
The game makes its fortunes selling cosmetic items or letting you choose your own character – rather than randomly selecting one – but there’s no obligation to fork out. The Nintendo Switch version even supports motion controls, if you fancy setting yourself more of a challenge in the online arena.
Play for: online multiplayer
A casual co-op game about the most stressful restaurant kitchen imaginable.
Overcooked 2 supports up to four players in couch co-op – though you’ll need a joy-con for each one of you – and will see you cooking up a storm as you all try to keep your kitchen running in increasingly madcap and unstable environments (hot air balloons, anyone?).
Cue flaming dinners, furious customers, and shifting stages that faithfully recreate the stress of being a working chef (not really). It’s simple but chaotic, and perfect for a quiet / loud night in after actually making yourself dinner.
Play for: local co-op or online multiplayer
Minecraft on Nintendo Switch? The second best-selling video game of all time (after Tetris) has come far since it first launched in beta back in 2011. The mining and building mechanics offer near-endless scope for creation, combining the fun and freedom of Lego with the possibilities of virtual sandbox game.
Make the castle of your dreams, create to-scale replicas of the Millenium Falcon, or wander around the countless creations of friends and strangers across the globe.
It’s well suited to the Switch’s pick-up-and-play mentality, even if it’s playable on pretty much everything by now – notably in VR – with plenty of cross-play between platforms. There are various modes for different styles of play, including a Creative Mode that lets you focus on building, or an Adventure Mode more geared towards exploring other user-created maps and areas.
While most of you will largely know Star Wars as an incredibly successful film franchise, the Star Wars games have their own sagas as worthy of attention – the furore around Star Wars Battlefront II being a prime example. But perhaps none is in more need of reconsideration than Star Wars Galaxies.
First announced in 2000, Star Wars Galaxies: Empire Divided was a MMORPG aimed for release in 2001 for PS2, Xbox and PC. An online multiplayer experience set in George Lucas’ expansive sci-fi universe, Star Wars Galaxies was a game that placed you in the middle of the Galactic Civil War as a trader, soldier, or entertainer – or, if you stumbled across the right side-quest, even as a Jedi.
Eventually, it was scaled back to a more straightforward release on PC, which launched in 2003 to mixed reviews.
But there was something special about the game for fans of the Star Wars franchise. You could jump between different planets, or drive through the sands of Tatooine and rainy jungle of Dantooine. Or you could just spend a weekend at a Cantina, dancing away.
Many reviews of the time said it was unfinished, buggy, and missing a pretty key component of Star Wars – space exploration.
But for me, Star Wars Galaxies was a revelation, and stands today as a testament to how impactful even an imperfect, ‘unfinished’ game can be. It was the first MMORPG I’d played, and the novelty of stepping out of a spaceport and wandering where the mood took you was glorious.
Eventually, mis-management resulted in two major updates scuppering the long-term potential of the game. The first one was a Combat Upgrade in May 2005, which fixed some niggling player issues, but also standardised a lot of weapons and items, taking away many advantages and benefits that players had been grinding towards to obtain.
The second patch was the fabled NGE, or ‘New Game Enhancements’ in November 2005, which essentially rebooted the game into a free-for-all. The skill-building system had been changed to a levelling system, changing the very core of what made Galaxies unique, and now you could even be a Jedi from the very start of the game.
These changes not only confused players, but irritated them, leaving them with a game that wasn’t the one they came to enjoy.
The game barely survived these changes, but eventually in December 2011, it was no more, and shut down forever.
If you strike me down…
In the shadows, however, something was brewing from a number of dedicated, passionate players who wanted to keep the game fun, away from the new directions publisher SoE (Sony Online Entertainment, now Daybreak Game Company) was going in. This project started on Christmas Eve in 2004, and work only accelerated a year later when the two much-criticised updates were published.
This project was ‘SWGEmu’, an emulated version of the original 2003 title I first discovered on Reddit around a year ago. Wanting to discover any veterans of the game, I came across the project and I’ve been dipping in and out of it ever since.
You see so many people on fan-forums trying to revive a classic game, teasing a few screenshots throughout a staggered development and no eventual release.
But here was the real deal. The original installation disks were needed to install the game on my PC again, which were only a quick eBay purchase away. As I clicked on ‘LaunchPad’, the music from Empire Strikes Back began again, and I was suddenly transported to 2004. Before the Combat Upgrade, before the NGE, before the dark times.
Of course, it should be noted that SWGEmu is in no way sanctioned by LucasArts/Disney, but rather entirely the result of the efforts of fans from long ago. But how did it come about?
The first step into a larger world
I spoke with a staff member of SWGEmu using the name ‘Vlada’, regarding its history and where they aim for it to go:
“The SWGEmu project began on December 24, 2004. It all started because many players didn’t like the direction the game was being taken. So if we wanted to play the game we loved again, the way it was originally meant to be played, we would have to remake it ourselves.”
The main challenges still facing the team are, first, maintaining the stability of the server, and second, integrating the ‘Jump to Lightspeed’ Expansion.
Now that a player can freely jump into the game and master most of the professions that were given back in 2003, there’s now a new frontier for them to meet: space.
Jump to Lightspeed was the first expansion to the game released in October of 2004, and one that was hinted to during Galaxies’ development. This was where a player could purchase a spaceship, and freely launch themselves into space. It was almost a precursor to No Man’s Sky – though naturally not of the same scope – where you could fly around random parts of space, and then find yourself at a planet of your choosing.
There have been efforts to incorporate the update, made somewhat possible by the fact the expansion was released on disc as well as digitally, making it simpler to find the essential files to merge it with SWGEmu. Work started on the update in 2011, though Vlada stresses it’s still “groundwork” at this point.
“We have to start somewhere – and because of the nature of the project, we don’t have an ETA.”
Of course, the Death Star hanging over the whole endeavor is still Disney. If the project gains more users or too much of a large profile, they could easily receive a cease and desist. But there are other challenges, from the team itself to the funding of their servers.
“The biggest challenge, after almost 15 years, is keeping people interested in the project – both those involved in the development and those supporting it. But even after all these years, SWG hasn’t lost its appeal.”
Light speed aside, there are two other SWG expansions with potential for inclusion in the modded game. One added the Wookie home-planet Kashyyyk in ‘Rage of the Wookies’, while Mustafar, the main planet for Obi Wan’s and Anakin Skywalker’s battle in Star Wars: Episode III, was added in its final expansion, ‘Trials of Obi-Wan’.
But what’s stopping another passionate developer recreating new planets from ‘The Last Jedi’, or even StarKiller base from ‘The Force Awakens’? There’s a lot of untapped potential, which could result in entirely new worlds and areas to explore. Vlada refers me to a linked emulation project called Mod the Galaxy, where efforts have already begun to see whether new planets and characters can be added to the existing code.
The planet ‘Mandalore’, the home planet of Jango and Boba Fett – and the basis for an incoming live-action TV series The Mandalorians – was technically added to Mod the Galaxy in 2015, but is currently no more than a mix of palettes and textures waiting to be fleshed out. Even so, the prospects are exciting.
This is still in the early stages, and it probably won’t come to the more widely-used SWGEmu until more research has been undertaken.
But for now, you can fulfil your destiny to join a time from 2003, where you can once again drive a speeder across the lands of Yavin, dance the night away in a Cantina in Mos Espa, or just chat to a Wookie on Corellia.
EA has been outlining its vision for the future of gaming, and the company is gazing skywards, to the cloud, and “transformative technologies” like AI, to build Project Atlas, loosely described as an integrated “engine + services” game development platform.
So yes, prepare yourself for a lot of buzzwords, but the broad idea is to build a cloud platform that delivers far more immersive gaming experiences than we have today.
In other words, game environments that evolve, so when you come back to the virtual world the next day, things may have changed based on the input of other players, or AI elements, and indeed the real world may have an impact on the virtual one.
EA envisions the (Frostbite) game engine and game services (such as online matchmaking and the social side of the experience) all being rolled into one cloud platform, with the game running on an EA server, and folks able to log in and play from any device, anywhere.
Ken Moss, Chief Technology Officer at Electronic Arts, explains in a Medium blog post: “We’ve been developing software that utilizes the cloud to remotely process and stream blockbuster, multiplayer HD games with the lowest possible latency, and also to unlock even more possibilities for dynamic social and cross-platform play.”
Moss believes that Project Atlas will blur the lines between the traditional game engine, and the game services built around it, effectively merging them into one big seamless cloud-powered experience.
He further explains that this is about empowering developers not just to be able to craft fancy, shiny graphics thanks to a smart game engine, but to produce a better overall game across all aspects of the experience, with online services that facilitate “deeply connected experiences between players and content”.
And indeed much more involved levels of personalization in terms of players having an impact on the game world, and generating content for it, making for more of a living, breathing environment as we’ve already touched upon.
AI smarts
We also mentioned artificial intelligence earlier: so how does that fit in? On one hand, this will be working behind the scenes, so when a developer is crafting a game, AI will be able to help with, say, the balanced distribution of resources in a shooter.
But also from the player’s point of view, it can facilitate NPCs that have believable personalities and reactions to your character. Moss further cites an example of AI driving the commentary on Madden: “Imagine that … you’ve just thrown your second interception of the game against the same cover 2 defense that caused the first turnover.
“Instead of the commentator simply stating that you threw a pick, the AI enables contextual, real-time commentary to reference the fact that you’re throwing to the sideline against a cover 2 defense and should have thrown against the weak zone over the middle to your tight end, who was open on the route.”
Not only does this make for a far more realistic football experience, but it’s (hopefully) helping you to become a better Madden player.
Moss lays out a compelling vision, for sure, although he does admit that a lot of this stuff already exists, albeit separately – what EA wants to do is bring it all seamlessly together in Project Atlas, making it as easy as possible for developers to create these sort of living and breathing game environments, with all these bells and whistles, in the cloud.
There are already over a thousand EA employees working on Project Atlas, along with “dozens of studios around the world contributing their innovations, driving priorities, and already using many of the components”.
But while there are certainly a lot of big – and laudable – concepts touted here, naturally internet connectivity will have to play its part, being the one obvious stumbling block of taking gaming cloud-wards.
Especially when you’re talking about playing across all devices, meaning using mobile hardware for gaming on the go, and therefore looking at technologies such as 5G to facilitate that.
However, certainly on the face of it, Project Atlas sounds like a compelling vision of gaming in the future.
Eventually you could game on a cheap laptop you bought via a Black Friday deal
Red Dead Redemption 2 is without doubt a stunning open-world adventure which sees you traveling the dusty roads and snow-capped mountains of the Old Wild West. However its HDR support doesn’t seem to be quite right and now it seems we know why – it isn’t HDR at all.
According to tests performed by Eurogamer, Red Dead Redemption 2’s HDR is actually rendered in upscaled SDR rather than HDR. These tests took screenshots from Red Dead and used a method to map luminescence of the image (which was then recorded in nits). The level of nits was then converted to colors (changing the color of certain parts of the image to represent the level of luminescence), and these colors were graded on whether they fell under SDR or higher.
SDR was anything under 100 nits (showing as grayscale), 100 to roughly 500 was yellow, 500 to 1000 showed as orange, between 1000 or roughly 2000 appeared as red and images between 2000 and 4000 was pink (aka peak HDR).
So, for example, an SDR part of an image would show as gray, while a HDR part of an image would be highlighted as pink.
Surprisingly, when this test was applied to Red Dead Redemption 2’s HDR output on the Xbox One X it showed that the output is upscaled SDR rather than HDR, with the screenshots highlighting the images in mostly yellow, orange and gray.
Eurogamer claims that it was possible to hit a maximum of 500 nits, but only when the HDR calibration was at its maximum.
Typically the average measurement of high dynamic range (or HDR) is 1000 nits. So Red Dead Redemption 2’s HDR support isn’t actually delivering HDR – rendering it useless.
As Eurogamer point out, this isn’t the first time a developer has promised HDR support and not delivered. Platinum Games were accused of implementing “fake HDR” in Nier Automata when it the game similarly did not meet the HDR baseline.
TechRadar has reached out to Rockstar for comment.
