Hitman 2 offers 10 graphics settings, without really giving you an idea of how your performance will be affected if you change them around. We’ve tested them all using both a GTX 1060 6GB and an RX 580 8GB, with the game running at 1080p. MSI also provided three of its gaming notebooks for testing, the GS63VR with GTX 1060 6GB, GE63VR with GTX 1070, and GT73VR with GTX 1080. It’s when you start dropping the resolution and the graphics quality that you start to see the big differences come into p

I wouldn’t say 2018 was a bad year for PC gaming at all, because it really wasn’t. For blockbuster games, though, I did think 2018 fell short. These series arguably don’t fit the ‘blockbuster games’ description, but their collectively quiet year means we saw fewer higher-profile PC-focused games than we normally would. In which case, however you spent your 2018 with games, I hope you had a good one. What did you think of 2018’s big games?

Speedrunner Can’t Even has smashed their own Portal world record, completing Valve’s puzzler in a mere 7:07. It’s an out-of-bounds run, which means they’re constantly glitching through walls and empty space. I like that, occasionally, you’ll catch a glimpse of part of the game you recognise, and then suddenly it’s gone, and you’re somewhere else entirely. Can’t Even reckons they can shave two seconds off the run, but it still easily beats their own previous world record of 7:12. They’re also in

Monster Hunter: World is getting an Assassin’s Creed-themed crossover event, complete with outfits that make you look like Ezio Auditore da Firenze and Bayek of Siwa. The event is live on consoles right now but, sadly, PC gamers will have to wait until an unspecified “later date”. When it does arrive, you’ll be asked to complete a tricky new quest called “SDF: Silent, Deadly, and Fierce”, in which you’ll slay high-level monsters. pic.twitter.com/44VftokrEyDecember 29, 2018In another crossover ev

GTA Online has added a new mode called Bomb Ball to its Arena War lineup, and it’s basically an explosive, multi-ball version of Rocket League. Make sure the ball isn’t in your half when it explodes. It’ll be available to play until January 14, and anyone that gets behind the wheel will receive double GTA$ & RP. It’s part of GTA Online’s series of holiday updates, which will give players free gifts just for logging on. Lastly, there’s a new sleek car for purchase called the Grotti Itali GTO, pic

From Software, the studio behind Dark Souls and the upcoming Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, is working on two unannounced games, its president Hidetaka Miyazaki has confirmed. Miyazaki stated in a 2016 interview that the team was working on “3.5” games, and this week he confirmed to 4Gamer.net (thanks, Gematsu) that two of those were still unannounced. The half refers to Déraciné, a recently released PSVR exclusive, while Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice completes the lineup. “While it isn’t the time to di

Valve’s end-of-year lists just keep on coming: it has followed up its round-up of the 100 best-selling Steam games with a post on the most controller-friendly games in 2018, broken down by controller type. Lots of players are using a PlayStation controller to play PUBG, judging by its top 50. You’ll find a mixture of platformers, sports games, fighting games, RPGs and action games. The unique games for each controller—those favored specifically by players with one controller over another—are mor

Blizzard is giving away five Overwatch Winter Wonderland loot boxes to everyone that boots up the game before January 2. They’ll be available as soon as you log in. The loot boxes will contain a mixture of sprays, emotes, victory lines and—most importantly—festive skins. You can browse through all the Winter Wonderland skins here and keep your fingers crossed that you get the one you want. And in case you missed yesterday’s Overwatch news, Blizzard is using a new moderation system to combat Twit

The developers of pirate MMO Atlas have apologised for the game’s “rocky start” to life in Early Access, and have promised to tackle its performance and stability problems with daily updates. In a Steam post, the Grapeshot Games team said their “systems got crushed” under the weight of players wanting to climb aboard when Atlas launched. “It’s easy to lose sight of the big picture, which ought to start and end with communication to the players.” More than 70% of the game’s user reviews on Steam

This will be one of the final gaming hardware offers of the year as, from today until end of play New Years Eve, you can get a whole 20% off any gaming laptop or PC from Dell. This includes all the laptops and PCs in Dell Oulet’s gaming section, and extends to the Alienware range. This is a great offer and will present a fine opportunity to pick up a first gaming system or explore a few options to upgrade to, all while knowing you’re making a hefty saving too – 20% off a premium setup is going t

Log in to the Epic Games Store today and you’ll find a new freebie: 2010’s brutally challenging platformer Super Meat Boy. It’s yours at no cost if you’ve got (or make) an account with Epic, and it’ll remain that way until January 10. Tyler reviewed Super Meat Boy when it was first released and called it “relentlessly difficult” and “the most fun you’ll have by dying repeatedly.” Developer Team Meat pointed out on Twitter that this is the first time Super Meat Boy has been completely free (witho

Nvidia’s new RTX cards have gradually started to fall in price, but thanks to eBay’s side-wide coupon, you can grab one for much cheaper than usual. EVGA’s RTX 2080 Black Edition is $100 off right now—dropping the price to $600. This card has EVGA’s “Hydro Dynamic Bearing” fans, which are designed to reduce noise and improve durability compared to normal GPU fans. This deal only lasts until 6PM PT, so if you’re going to buy one, you should do it quickly. Some online stores give us a small cut if

Windows Mixed Reality headsets are the best way to get into VR gaming without spending a fortune. They work with most SteamVR titles, they don’t require external sensors, and they have higher-resolution screens than the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. Lenovo’s headset dropped to $200 a few days ago, but now you can get headsets from Lenovo and Acer for just $170 on Microsoft’s eBay store. The Lenovo Explorer and Acer Headset have identical specifications: two 90Hz 1440×1440 LCD screens (one for each e

Instead of the extremely limited or 10%-off codes we’ve seen over the past few months, this one takes 15% off the price of almost everything on eBay. All the usual exceptions apply—it can’t be used on paper money/coins, you can only use it in one transaction, and the discount is capped at $100. However, there is a strict time limit, as you only get until 6PM Pacific Time today to buy something. To get the discount, you have to enter code POPUPSAVINGS at checkout. Here are some PC-related items w

We’ve long considered the Blue Yeti as the best microphone for most people due to its price-to-performance ratio. That ratio is even better today—you can snag one from BuyDig for $76 after using coupon code CLEAROUT20 at checkout, and it comes with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey to boot. There are higher quality mics out there, including ones that aren’t so sensitive to keyboard noise. But for a livestreamer or someone just looking to play games with their friends, the Blue Yeti is tough to beat for t

(Image: © Pixabay (no attribution needed))Remember WannaCry, the annoying piece of ransomware that spread quickly and especially disrupted hospitals in the UK before being contained? The accidental discovery of a so-called kill switch stopped WannaCry from spreading within a few days of its discovery, as Wired explained at the time. “In the last 24 hours we saw 2,713,752 beacons from 220,648 unique SrcIPs to the kill switch from 184 different countries,” Hankins says. Feels like a nice time to d

Spoilers follow for ‘Bandersnatch’, the new interactive episode of Black Mirror that launched today. ‘Bandersnatch’ is the third episode of Black Mirror that’s explicitly about games, following the third season’s ‘ Playtest ‘ and last year’s ‘ USS Callister ‘. Over the course of the episode, Stefan gradually becomes aware of the fact he’s not entirely in control of his actions. It shows you things that a regular Black Mirror episode could not. I assume that this is the first and only time Black

Blizzard is trying to clean up Twitch chat for Overwatch events with a new moderation system that requires viewers to link their Twitch and Battle.net accounts before they participate in chat. The new system is being trialed on the Twitch channel for Overwatch Contenders, the development league for aspiring pro players. The aim is to create a “more positive viewing experience”, Blizzard said on the Overwatch Contenders blog. It’s not clear how exactly it will work: the developer didn’t mention a

Soma, the atmospheric sci-fi horror game from Amnesia developer Frictional Games, is free to keep to GOG right now. The offer ends on Sunday at 3am PT/6am ET/11am GMT, and you can grab it here. It’s worth playing, no matter what your tastes: its twisting, cerebral plot made our list of the best stories in PC gaming earlier this year, and it’s also on our best indie games list. You’ll enjoy it even if you hate horror thanks to its monster-free Safe Mode, which was added last year (you can read An

As we approach the end of 2018, Valve has revealed its traditional best-of-the-year lists, which includes a tiered ranking of the 100 top-selling Steam games by revenue, as well as the games that drew in the most players. Free-to-play games also make it by virtue of in-game transactions, including Dota 2 and Warframe. The most-played games are ranked by peak simultaneous player count, with 10 games making it over the 100,000 mark, including Team Fortress 2, Monster Hunter: World and Realm Royale