Asus is kicking off its new XG series of gaming monitors with a curved 27-inch FreeSync display from its Republic of Gamers division, the ROG Strix XG27VQ. It is a Full HD 1080p (1920×1080) display with a fast 144Hz refresh rate and 4ms response time (gray to gray). Monitors are one of few areas remaining that have yet to be emblazoned with RGB lighting on a wide scale. That could change if others monitor makers follow suit here—the ROG Strix XG27VQ features RGB lighting on the back that users c

G.Skill is once again thumping its chest, this time over a new 32GB kit of DDR4 memory that is fastest available in this capacity. It is a DDR4-4266MHz kit comprised of four 8GB modules, each one outfitted with Samsung B-die DDR4 ICs. In announcing the new high-speed and somewhat high-capacity kit, G.Skill gave a shout out to Asus for the assist. With the availability of this new optimization, G.Skill is doubling the Trident Z RGB kit capacity to operate at DDR4-4266MHz,” G.Skill said. There is

The second and penultimate episode in Deck Nine’s Life is Strange prequel, Before the Storm, is due out next week, the new trailer has revealed. So you’ve got less than a week to emotionally prepare yourself. We already know that she’s hurtling down an unfortunate path, and Frank’s a big part of that. Even from the brief bit of footage, we can see Chloe turning into the girl who Max reconnects with in the first episode of season one. “As Chloe and Rachel’s family life continues to crumble, their

Lego Marvel Super Heroes is, in this lover of tiny bricks’ humble opinion, the best Lego game, and an unexpectedly great open-world game to boot. If you’re not familiar with Kang, he’s continuity’s greatest foe. He’s a time-travelling supervillain, a Pharaoh, a young superhero and member of the Young Avengers, and the Lord of Limbo. They didn’t in Lego Marvel’s Avengers, since they aren’t part of the cinematic universe, but while Super Heroes 2 contains things inspired by the films, it’s not as

Submissions for the next Independent Games Festival have now closed, with almost 600 entries being accepted into IGF 2018. The full list of submissions can be viewed here. IGF is one of my favourite events, largely because it’s a great way to discover games that I’ve missed. More generally, it’s just a great way to celebrate what is one of the most vibrant and experimental parts of gaming. They will be announced in January, and will be available to play at the IGF Pavilion during GDC in March.

With Crytek’s co-op shooter making its way to Steam Early Access, it’s time for another trailer. We’ve seen a fair amount of the game recently, including a 12 minute developer walkthrough, but the new Steam trailer provides a handy overview of Hunt: Showdown, prepping hunters for ambushes, shootouts and demon hunts. Here’s the skinny: you play as a hunter, searching for the demons whose deaths pay the bills (and for gear). Spider demons, hellhounds, zombies, that giant bloke with a pig face—it’s

There are a few ways to earn Mirian fast in Shadow of War. It explains the five easiest ways to earn Mirian in the game, none of which are too tricky to do, plus it offers tips on timings to get the most out of your orc army. The pointers here include selling loot, tracking down orcs who are guaranteed to drop decent amounts of Mirian, sending your orcs to do battle and more. As you get deeper into the campaign, this guide should help you gather all the resources you need to progress. If you’re

If you’ve yet to begin your nightmarish adventure, however, then Tango Gameworks’ explanation of the game’s difficulty levels might help start you off on the right foot. The Evil Within has four difficulty levels: casual, survival, nightmare and classic. On survival difficulty, enemies are more numerous, and resources are fewer so you probably won’t always have enough ammo, for instance, to take them all out. In the first game, nightmare difficulty was for more experienced players who had alread

Over the course of a decade, Riot Games has grown into a huge studio with 20 offices around the world and over 2,500 employees, all built around a single game: League of Legends. But that could be set to change, with Riot co-founders Brandon “Ryze” Beck and Marc “Tryndamere” Merrill stepping away from the management side of things, and back to making games. They want to “finally put the ‘s’ in Riot Games”. While Riot’s focused on League of Legends for 11 years, that’s given the studio years of e

Crates will include a mix of of Star Cards, Outfits, Emotes or Victory Poses. Players earn crates by completing challenges and other gameplay milestones, or by purchasing them with in-game credits or Crystals, our premium currency. And lastly, you have to earn the right to be able to upgrade Star Cards and unlock most Weapons. That last point is interesting: the things you receive randomly in crates (Star Cards) will have a barrier to entry when it comes to upgrades. It’s complicated to say the

Death in most games means either a Game Over screen, or watching your corpse get relentlessly tea-bagged. “The purple hues reinforce the game’s death positive narrative. DaRienzo and her team at Laundry Bear Games wanted to examine death in a way that took away the fear barriers. They didn’t want to tackle the death of a child, for instance, despite acknowledging it’s a tragic reality of death. I really, really wanted to emulate that in the game.”

It’s a great board game, and I’m happy to finally have it on PC with solo, hot seat, and online play—it’s something we don’t have a lot of: an abstracted, heavily-stylized and thematic game that we in the board game world call a European-style strategy game, or Eurogame. In 2012, Lords of Waterdeep was the newest hotness in board gaming. It’s that weird contrast that makes Lords of Waterdeep good, actually. The only real downside to the PC version is that it’s a slightly rejiggered port of the t

Four-person developer Paper Castle Games is not coy about Underhero’s inspirations. You string together attacks, dodges and parries in time with enemy actions and the game’s music. Attacking to the beat of the music increases the damage you deal, and specific attacks are always preceded by specific animations. If a snake enemy ducks his head, for example, he’ll throw a medium attack which you should jump over. If he ducks his head and flicks his tongue, he’ll throw a high attack which you should

Amid the divisive loot box trend, PC players have been finding their own way to deal, foremost in Middle-earth: Shadow of War. By using Cheat Engine scripts to give themselves unlimited Mirian, some players have found it’s possible to buy a infinite supply of loot and war chests, drowning themselves in uruks and gear. How Shadow of War’s loot boxes work Find out how much they cost, what they give you, and whether or not they’re necessary in our Shadow of War loot box breakdown. To be clear, Miri

Mike Laidlaw, the lead designer and creative director of BioWare’s hit Dragon Age RPG series, has announced his departure from the studio. In a message posted on Twitter, Laidlaw said that “after 14 years and a chance to work on Jade Empire, Mass Effect and all things Dragon Age it’s time for me to move on.” It’s been an honor to be a part of the Dragon Age team, and I have every confidence that the world we’ve created together is in good hands and I’m excited for the road ahead,” Laidlaw wrote.

Last year, the Citadels expansion introduced a major (and contentious) shakeup to how EVE’s players build their kingdoms and wage war. That growth can be largely attributed to EVE Online’s new free-to-play option, which lets players explore space with a limited number of available ships and skills. The new system, however, turns passive moon mining into a scheduled group activity that entire corporations can work together on. Eve players get really excited about the smallest of changes. But EVE

You may recall we picked Hunt: Showdown as our best in show at this year’s E3, so we’re naturally excited to see what’s happening next with it. Crytek still hasn’t set a release date for the multiplayer supernatural survival shooter, but it has revealed that before the game goes live it will go through an Early Access period on Steam. “I think Early Access for our game is the best thing that could ever happen.” The Steam listing says Crytek plans to keep Hunt: Showdown in Early Access for at lea

There’s a surprising number of games about food, from cooking food to driving food to raising animals to turn into food. But few take the idea of ‘food game’ as literally as Nour, an “interactive food sim” that’s currently on Kickstarter, with solo developer Tj Hughes asking for $25,000 to bring it to life. “Nour is an interactive exploration of the aesthetics of food,” Hughes writes. Nour started as a way for Hughes to experiment with 3D modeling and eventually grew into an appetizing ramen sim

Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro announced his new project, The Good Life, in August, and took it to Fig in early September in a quest for $1.5 million in funding. That campaign ends today and despite his stature as a game maker, it’s going to fall far short of its goal. “What we plan to do, is to relaunch the campaign as a Kickstarter, and launch before the end of the year. I appreciate his enthusiasm, but I have to wonder what the move to Kickstarter will really accomplish. The Good Life didn’t resona

Remember Past Cure? It was revealed in July with a trailer showcasing “the struggles of a man torment by shiny muscular mannequins,” as we put it. A release date wasn’t announced at the time, but developer Phantom 8 Studio said today that Past Cure will be out on February 2, 2018. “The storytelling of Past Cure is integrated in the levels and missions, the more you progress, the more you discover about Ian’s past. More information about Past Cure and the people who make it is up at phantom8.stud