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By Katharine Castle on May 23rd, 2018 at 10:30 pm

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Im driving home from a busy night of killing and the roads are empty, save for some legless grumblers. I sigh and look at my map, try to count the exclamation marks, when a voice comes on my radio. Its probably the fifth voice Ive heard tonight, and I half expect another plea for bullets from some faceless chump three doors down. But this time its one of my own, a member of my enclave. Shes just calling to tell me: Workshop level 3 complete.

By Edwin Evans-Thirlwell on May 23rd, 2018 at 10:00 pm

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RPS FeatureWhat have the Romans ever done for us?

By Katharine Castle on May 24th, 2018 at 3:00 pm

Thats one more item off the To Do list! she says enthusiastically.

By Edwin Evans-Thirlwell on May 24th, 2018 at 4:30 pm

Video: 10 State of Decay 2 tips to stay alive

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It makes an excellent first impression, but it doesnt have many opportunities to make a second one. While Imperator is due out in 2019, the build I got to see is still so early on that, were I to get a glimpse of any other corner of the map, Id only see barren wastelands waiting for the touch of an artist.

Video: Yokus Island Express is a bit Metroid, a bit pinball and a bit good

Best SSD 2018: Top solid state drives for gaming

By Katharine Castle on May 22nd, 2018 at 8:45 am

(Overlordy is an open-to-all game of Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord in which German forces are orchestrated by commenters while British units are computer controlled. For a scenario outline and summaries of earlier turns,click here).

combatdesignFatshark EntertainmentfeatureMats AnderssonThe MechanicWarhammer: End Times – VermintideWarhammer: Vermintide 2, .

In designing Vermintide IIs melee combat, Mats Andersson ran through the same preset level 50 times a day for two years. This hodgepodge of the games most distinctive areas, enemies and swarms makes no sense and it looks terrible, but playing it about 100,000 times was what it took to ensure face-to-face brawling would be rich in heft and detail.

I came away from myBattlefield Vfirst look surprisinglyready for another tour of the Western front prosthetic-armed Cockneys and all but with a number of nagging questions. Firstly, how exactly is EA DICE approaching monetisation right now, in the wake of theuproar over Star Wars: Battlefront 2s rubbish launch-day microtransactions? I was treated to an hour-long presentation on the games service elements, but the in-game purchases this service will facilitate were conspicuously absent from discussion it felt a bit like the part in the bombing run before the sky lights up with flak. And secondly, does the developer have any plans for a battle royale mode, given Call of Dutys recent jump upon that bandwagon? Because if any existing shooter is built for Fortnitey/Plunkbatty shenanigans, it is surely Battlefield, with its giant maps and headcounts.

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The Asus ROG Crosshair VII Hero (Wi-Fi) try saying that three times fast is quite possibly the ultimate ATX motherboard for cooling and USB junkies if youre batting for teamRyzen+, that is. If you thought having eight USB ports on theAsus ROG Strix X470F-GamingandMSI X470 Gaming M7 ACwas generous, the Crosshair VII Hero adds four more to the pile, coming in for a positively monstrous total of 12. If all that wasnt enough, you also get a whopping nine fan headers for the coolest of cooled systems.

By Tim Stone on May 24th, 2018 at 9:00 am

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Andersson knew how fast he could clear that level, how much damage he should take, how many kills he should be getting; yardsticks by which he could measure each run, and its how clicking to swing your hammer feels like its caving a skull in, and why your sword feels like it can split a rats stringy carcass in two. Its very much home to me, he says.Read the rest of this entry

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I saw all this because, when I was a teenager, I illegally ripped art assets from commercial games.Read the rest of this entry

By Matt Cox on May 21st, 2018 at 9:00 pm

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By Fraser Brown on May 23rd, 2018 at 7:00 pm

Sonic the Hedgehog might be fast, but hes probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of top tier arcade racers. So it might catch you by surprise to find out thatSonic All-Stars Racing Transformedmanages to not only build on the legacy of games like Outrun 2, Split Second and Blur, but takes the mascot racer, a genre that often aggravates players with its random elements, and turns it into a serious competitive racer. All while being an absurdly fun celebration of all things SEGA.Read the rest of this entry

I never playedSecret of Mana 2on the Super Nintendo, but I could recognize its trees in a blink. I saw them in countless other games, their lush branches decorating the corners of fantasy worlds filled with magic, dragons, and bugs. Oh, so many bugs. Ive never played the firstStar Ocean, theSuikodenseries,Terranigma, orChrono Trigger. But I know them. They are games Ive always appreciated in a disjointed state, their plants and furniture dissected and laid out on sprite sheets like tiny organs on an autopsy table.

By Tim Stone on May 22nd, 2018 at 9:00 am

RPS FeatureA better class of art thief

The banker who brought Eves greatest empire to its knees

Burdened by such thoughts, I sought out senior producer Lars Gustavsson and tried to get a clear answer out of him. The results, which include a discussion of what I suspect will prove a controversial squad focus, are below.Read the rest of this entry

When Iwent exploringinOccupy White Wallslast month, I stumbled into something special. OWW is an upcoming MMO (see what they did there?) where every player can create their own architecturally ambitious gallery, fill it with art of their choosing, and open it up to other players. Every mug who walks into your gallery earns you money, which you can use to make it bigger and better. Its currently in free public alpha.

Concluding mybrutish and short first playof survival-management curioFrostpunk. When last you left us, we had survived disaster by the skin of our teeth, and even welcomed a giant robot into the fold. Now, as the nights draw in and the fires dim, can my proud people survive the rest of this calamitous winter?

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By Alec Meer on May 23rd, 2018 at 5:00 pm

A more entry-level series than their flagship Predator range, these new monitors may not have all the bells and whistles of AcersNvidia G-Sync HDR-enabled Predator X27, for example, but they still offer super slim bezels, high refresh rates up to 144Hz, AMD FreeSync support and resolutions that go all the way up to 4K and judging from my hands on time earlier today, they could be just the ticket for those after a decent mid-range screen.

interviewOccupy White WallsStiki Pixels, .

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After the thematic reset that was Battlefield 1 I wasnt expecting much from this years instalment of the long-running shooter series class tweaks, new period accessories and still-higher fidelity explosions, all of it fed through the same mix of giant, vehicle-strewn maps and objective modes. Theres certainly a lot here thats familiar, but EA DICE has made some dramatic changes to Battlefields squad system that shunt an already team-oriented game even further away from lone wolf play. Thats in addition to the ability to rebuild trashed structures, fortifying maps that hitherto existed only to be ripped apart, and, less attractively, a tsunami of live service and earning mechanisms gathered under the banner of the Tides of War. As I discovered during a two-hour presentation today in London, its a riskier, more stimulating prospect than the return to roots messaging suggests.Read the rest of this entry

By Giada Zavarise on May 24th, 2018 at 7:00 pm

By RPS on May 21st, 2018 at 10:00 pm

By John Walker on May 23rd, 2018 at 1:00 pm

Video: How does Two Point Hospital compare to Theme Hospital?

World War 2 has broken out once again as EA DICE heads back to the 1940s withBattlefield V, a theoretically safe sequel with some curious, and possibly divisive, ideas at its core.

I had a few questions for developers StikiPixels about balancing money with creative freedom, whether OWW might become something that real world artists can use to support themselves, and how their fancy AI manages to suss out peoples artistic tastes. So CEO Yarden Yaroshevski collaborated with his team to give me some answers.

Video: Watch us kill zombies (and a few survivors) in State of Decay 2 co-op

By Katharine Castle on May 24th, 2018 at 6:00 pm

When you think of Acers Predator range, laptops and monitors are probably the first things that come to mind. This year, however, Acer are going all in on PC gaming peripherals, as theyve just unveiled a brand-new mouse and keyboard at their New York press conference the highly-flexible Predator Cestus 510 and the blue mechanical switch-themed Aethon 500. And Ive been plastering my grubby mitts all over them.Read the rest of this entry

To help you choose the best graphics card for your needs and budget, were here to help. This article is all about identifying the single best GPU you can get for playing games at 1080p, 1440p and 4K at a price that suits you. Read on for our in-depth buying advice on what and how to buy your next graphics card for 2018.

By Katharine Castle on May 23rd, 2018 at 11:45 pm

Operation Overlords rising tide is lapping against the ivied walls of the hotel in the centre of Caent. Though every room is occupied and the sign on the door clearly says COMPLET the British seem determined to stay there. Perhaps a blizzard of Maschinenpistole fire laced with the odd Stielhandgranate will persuade them to look elsewhere for accommodation.

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By Brendan Caldwell on May 22nd, 2018 at 1:00 pm

Nine fan headers I can just about get behind, but I cant even begin to imagine the kind of situation where youd need to have 12 USB ports. Still, while you cant accuse Asus of being stingy when it comes to peripheral support, it does mean youre giving up space for multiple display outputs (unless you count the single USB Type-C port), making it ill-suited to AMDs other two new Ryzen chips, theRyzen 3 2200GandRyzen 5 2400Gwith integrated Vega graphics. As a companion for AMDsRyzen 7 2700 / 2700XorRyzen 5 2600 / 2600XCPUs, on the other hand, the Crosshair makes a mighty fine match. Lets see if its worth buying over the MSI X470 Gaming M7 AC.

Theres a firebug loose in Caent. Last turn it torched the villages oldest/holiest building. This turn it well, if you heed the red recommendation below, youll find out.

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If you want something done right, do it yourself! mutters Unteroffizier Stein as he snatches the bag containing C Squads last demolition charge and darts out of the door of the hotel. Seconds later he scampers back into the lobby without his burden and with a seething cloud of dust and smoke in hot pursuit.

All right, that title might be a slight exaggeration, but in an age of lovely slim gaming laptops like the newRazer Blade, Acers freshly-announced Predator Helios 500 is still very much in the absolute unit category of these sort-of-but-not-really portable gaming machines so much so that Acers top man Jason Chen (pictured above, right) needed a little help showing it off onstage yesterday at his companys global press conference.

By Amr Al-Aaser on May 24th, 2018 at 9:00 pm

This isThe Mechanic, where Alex Wiltshire invites developers to discuss the difficult journeys theyve taken to make their games. This time,Warhammer: Vermintide 2official site].

RPS FeatureNit-picking Acers new monitors

By Brendan Caldwell on May 24th, 2018 at 5:00 pm

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New Testamentsis a monthly retrospective in which Amr Al-Aaser presents an overlooked modern game and champions its best ideas.

(Overlordy is an open-to-all game of Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord in which German forces are orchestrated by commenters while British units are computer controlled. For a scenario outline and summaries of earlier turns,click here).Read the rest of this entry

Be pilots, pirates and space truckers

Video: 8 toasty tactics I wish Id known before starting Frostpunk

Weighing in at 4kg and measuring 428x298x38.7mm, this 17.3in laptop is positively monstrous compared to this years svelte Razer Blade, but take one look at its specs and youll understand why. With models going all the way up to a six-core Intel Core i9+ 8950HK (the + signifying the presence of Intels incredi-fastOptane Memory), a 4K IPS Nvidia G-Sync display and anNvidia GeForce GTX 1070graphics card, this is a laptop that means serious business. Lets take a look.Read the rest of this entry

There has never been a better time to pick up one of todays best graphics cards. Its taken a while, but graphics card prices arefinally coming back downto normal, bringing the likes of Nvidia and AMDs latest and greatest finally within reach again.

Ara FellArk 22Aviary AttorneyChrono TriggerfeatureFinal FantasyFour Last ThingsGameMaker: Studiono one lives foreverProject ZRagnarok OnlineRPG MakerSecret of Mana, .

By Tim Stone on May 23rd, 2018 at 8:00 am

Ive lovedThe Forestwhen Ive played it in the past. Ifirst tooka look in 2014, finding it limited buta lot of fun. I then went back in 2015 to discoverit was hugely improved and far more involved. I evenvideoed half an hourof my inept ambling. I have been back since then, but not written any more, but its probably close to two years since I really dug into it. Now its out in a final version, Im surprised how little has changed in the last three years, but also pleased to find the same mix of survivor and terror. Not quite so pleased to discover so many of the classic bugs are still there.Read the rest of this entry

Gaming laptops are a funny business, arent they? Nine times out of ten theyre nowhere near as powerful as an equivalent desktop PC, yet they usually cost just as much, if not more, than the bulky black rectangles theyre so desperately trying to replace. Theres also a matter of looks. Most gaming laptops are very much from the shouty GAMING LAPTOP school of design with their edgy angles and flashing LEDs, not to mention the fact that most of them would likely break your back as soon as you tried to remove it from your desk.

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When Paradox unveiled the map for its latest grand strategy romp,Imperator: Rome, I dont mind admitting that I made an involuntary noise that normally only comes out of me when Im biting into something delicious and unhealthy. It is excellent map porn. Zoomed out, its clean and no-nonsense, but when you narrow your focus, it explodes with colour and detail, particularly on the coast, where golden beaches hit seas gorgeous enough that youll want to lap them up. Europa Universalis looks drab in comparison.

Shes right.State of Decay 2feels like a massive To Do list.Read the rest of this entry

Wait, didnt we already answer this question? Never mind, the RPS podcast, theElectronic Wireless Show, is not content with our list of thetop 50 first-person shooters. Well, theyre mostly fine with it (lists are stupid) but they still want to hash out this ageless question the old-fashioned way. By interrogating each other over the internet.Read the rest of this entry

By Alex Wiltshire on May 23rd, 2018 at 9:00 pm

Just when you thought youd had your fill of BRAND talk this week with theAsus Arez / ROG kerfuffle, Acer have jumped in on the action as well with the introduction of their new Nitro family of gaming monitors.

RPS FeatureLittle rats and burly men

Razers gaming laptops, on the other hand, have always tended to hark back to the nice slim portable laptops many of us, myself included, use for work and their new, rather lovely 15.6in Razer Blade that I went to see a couple of weeks ago, complete with its 144Hz refresh rate and one of Nvidias GeForce GTX 1070 Max-Q chips, could well be one of their best yet. Lets take a look.

RPS FeatureTurning the MMO upside down

11 Bit StudiosDiaryfeatureFrostpunkFrostpunk diary, .

(Overlordy is an open-to-all game of Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord in which German forces are orchestrated by commenters while British units are computer controlled. Theres a scenario outline plus summaries of earlier turnshere).Read the rest of this entry