Phantom Doctrine is an XCOM-style, turn-based strategy game that pins the Cold War not on the struggle between the USA and USSR, but on a malevolent, shadowy organization pulling the strings behind the scenes and above everyone’s head. Phantom Doctrine starts you as a CIA or KGB agent, but after you catch onto the conspiracy, you go rogue, forming your own agency in opposition to the global conspiracy. Phantom Doctrine skips the RNG lets you put a shotgun in an alien’s face and miss. You can sen

The new monitors use panels based on Nano IPS technology for better color reproduction and brightness. “Nano IPS technology involves the application of nanometer-sized particles to the screen’s LED to absorb excess light wavelengths. The first is a 32-inch 4K monitor (32UK950). This is LG’s first monitor with a built-in Thunderbolt 3 dock supporting 4K daisy chaining, allowing users to connect two 4K monitors. LG will also be showing off its 34-inch ultrawide 5K monitor (34WK95U) with a 21:9 asp

Zotac has finally decided to throw its weight into the external graphics box category with its new Amp Box and Amp Box Mini. Starting with the larger of the two, the Amp Box measures 271mm (L) x 146mm (W) x 257.3mm (H). We looked at some of the options that are out there and found that most GeForce GTX 1080 Ti cards won’t fit. The Amp Box Mini is even smaller, measuring 183mm (L) x 230mm (W) x 99mm (H). Zotac bills both as being small and portable, though obviously the Amp Box Mini has the edge

If you need a last minute holiday gift, how about getting the best games magazine in the world sent to your house every month? PC Gamer subscriptions are a great way to save. UK readers can save up to 35% when they subscribe to the print edition in our holiday sale, with even bigger digital savings to be had. No matter where you live, you can get our magazine delivered to your door every month for a fantastic price. Get the best in original features on PC gaming, hardware, reviews, retro content

Following a successful Kickstarter in May, backers begun receiving Deadly Premonition: The Board Game earlier this month. Story-wise, Deadly Premonition: The Board Game takes players to Greenvale, where one Anna Graham has been murdered. Surplus to the standard game, here’s what Dead Prem’s Deluxe Edition board game brings with it:Cloth Gaming Mat. Steam key for Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut. Deadly Premonition: The Board Game Deluxe Edition is due January 31, 2018.

Apple rolled out an update to its App Store Review Guidelines yesterday with a new rule requiring apps with loot boxes to disclose the odds of item drops. “Apps offering ‘loot boxes’ or other mechanisms that provide randomized virtual items for purchase must disclose the odds of receiving each type of item to customers prior to purchase,” the new rule (under section 3.1.1) states. Loot boxes are probably the biggest videogame controversy of the year, an outrage largely sparked by their use in St

After suffering frame rate and load time issues at launch, CI Games thereafter suggested Sniper Ghost Warrior 3’s scale was “just too ambitious” for a team of its size. The developer has since supported the tactical shooter with a number of updates and DLC, though, and has now confirmed its multiplayer update will arrive on January 26, 2018. With it, comes three games modes: Bounty Hunter, Sharpshooter and Classic Team Deathmatch. SGW 3’s multiplayer update also includes four new maps, with a fu

The Logitech G900 was my favorite gaming mouse of 2016, and for my money is the best mouse I’ve ever put my hand on. See, the G903, released this October, is pretty much the same mouse, with one significant change: it now supports a Logitech wireless charging mousepad. Plugging your mouse in once a week or so to charge doesn’t sound like a big deal, but holy crap, is a wireless charging mousepad seriously liberating . Even if you don’t shell out for the charging mousepad, which is a pretty price

There was a time following Broken Sword 5’s Kickstarter campaign where it seemed like Revolution Software was working on a sequel to its point-and-click classic Beneath a Steel Sky. It never came to be, however the York-based adventure game veterans are now working on something behind the scenes. Cecil also speaks about a prototype they’ve been working on away from the spotlight. “It’s very much looking forward to the future of the adventure, but also taking inspiration from some of the things t

The Lion’s Song is, at first glance, an episodic point and click adventure with a sepia-tone palette. But The Lion’s Song doesn’t feel like a point and click with a simplified aesthetic at all. The points of difference in that second playthrough came in experiencing Wilma’s story in the light of knowledge and connections made in later chapters. The second episode is an interesting one because my second playthrough opened up some subtleties in what I think it’s trying to do. As a result some of t

Our Best Comedy Game 2017 is West of Loathing, as voted for by the PC Gamer global team. Open world stick figure RPG West of Loathing will have your scouring the world for jokes (there’s plenty of loot, too). Truly funny games are exceedingly rare and hard to come by, and West of Loathing is the best comedy I’ve played in years. It’s the best comedy game not because it’s a funny RPG, but because it’s an RPG that’s designed around comedy. It’s the best comedy game not because it’s a funny RPG, bu

Tom Francis thoroughly enjoyed 2011’s turn-based tactics endeavour Frozen Synapse, and while its much-anticipated sequel was first expected in late 2016 it’s now been pushed to next year. In a bid to stem disappointment, developer Mode 7 Games has however released a new 15-minute-long developer build that shows off where the game is at just now. In the face of the game’s delay, Mode 7 reckons Frozen Synapse 2 will be with us in the first half of 2018. The developer also hopes to release new info

Samuel: Tom, I think it’s fair to say our crew in GTA Online (which includes PCG’s Phil Savage and contributor Tom Hatfield) is made up of semi-regular players. Tom: It was the smoothest experience we’ve had with GTA Online so far. Heist missions create loads of little action movie moments when you’re playing them with friends. To me GTA Online feels like it’s built on slightly unstable foundations. And yes, GTA just needs to load faster, ban cheaters and deter griefing next time, then it’ll be

That’s because I don’t know what I’m doing when I play fighting games. 2011’s Mortal Kombat reset was a watershed moment for fighting game singleplayer modes. “2011’s Mortal Kombat had a breadth of single player content that few fighting games achieve,” says Dominic Cianciolo, story and VO director at NetherRealm Studios. Playing each of these campaigns is extremely enjoyable, whether you know fighting games or not. “We do a lot of research to make sure we understand each character intimately be

With the right ensemble of mods, Fallout: New Vegas can look stunning. Instead of relying on a hotchpotch of player-made creations, though, one mod team is recreating Obsidian’s Mojave-set interpretation of the post-apocalypse in Fallout 4’s Creation Engine. The mod’s latest ModDB devlog shows off how Fallout 4’s dynamic weather system affects New Vegas with varied lighting and ever-changing atmospheric detail. If that’s you, head in this direction for the mod team’s application form. And since

Building colonies from the ground up parallels the workings of Civilization, while the potential for story-generation echoes Rimworld. Klang’s other cofounders, Oddur Snær Magnússon and Ívar Emilsson, though, are ex-CCP employees who both worked on EVE Online. That’s where we try to monetise: you basically pay per life, and you buy Seed implants. We want to open it up in a way that players sell these Seed implants on the player market. “That would allow players to play completely for free while

After teeing off on mobile devices in 2014, the best, most challenging, and most addictive golf game in the world ever has finally landed on PC. Desert Golfing is out now on Steam. In judging each hole’s elevated platforms and sinking crevices, Desert Golfing is as much a puzzle game as it is about pitching and putting. A quick glance at the PC Gamer Slack chat paints a similar picture, with one of my colleagues (who will remain unnamed here) racking up a score of 5557. It seems Desert Golfing l

We’ve seen a lot of Early Access games stay in Early Access for a very long amount of time. That’s why we made a promise early on that we would get out of Early Access and make our 1.0 release within this year.” That day has come, as PUBG is now officially out of Early Access. And, while PUBG has only just left Early Access today, it’s natural to wonder what might be in store for it over the upcoming year. If you’re not one of the 25 million people who have already bought PUBG, the price of $30

Ultimate Chicken Horse’s levels look like sketches of booby-trapped underground lairs I drew when I was six years old. Well, it’s just got a major new update called Elephantastic , and I reckon it’s the perfect excuse to jump in. The sheer number of traps keeps me constantly on edge, which is why I’ve missed more simple jumps in Ultimate Chicken Horse than I have in any other game. You’re also competing against your friends for a high score, so you’re trying to build the level around their weakn

Kingdom Come: Deliverance, the ambitious medieval RPG without dragons, magic, or anything else unrealistic, releases in February. The first-person game features a fairly complex sword-fighting system, as well as more detailed number-crunching than many large scale first-person RPGs boast nowadays. At least, that’s my impression after watching the above video, which showcases 16 minutes of gameplay. You’ll see sword-fighting in action, but most interesting to me were the stealth sequences. Immers