Shaun chose the minimalist platformer N++ as his Staff Pick for 2016, noting at the time that he’d managed to finish more than 500 levels up to that point. That sounds like an awful lot of levels, yet it only represents about a quarter of what the game has to offer. Or, more precisely, had to offer: Today’s launch of the free N++ Ultimate Edition update doubles its size to a ridiculous 4340 “hand-crafted, finely-tuned levels.” “Hardcore mode is all about skill, so it’s a true challenge for the U

Mothers and fathers, your teen who talks slightly too loud has a new job. Twitch Affiliates is a new program for smaller streamers that, according to the announcement blog , “… allows eligible streamers to start earning income on Twitch while building their audience, and provides a stepping stone to bridge the gap between emerging streamer and Twitch Partner.”At launch, which is happening “very soon”, Affiliates will have access to Cheering, meaning streamers with significantly smaller audienc

Demon’s Souls was more than just the origins of the souls genre. In the Dark Souls Design Works set of interviews, originally only published in Japanese, Miyazaki explains how the gesture arrived first in Demon’s Souls and later in Dark Souls:”That pose actually carries some significance for me. After successfully smuggling the pose into Demon’s Souls, Miyazaki was determined to bring it with him to Dark Souls. Source: ThePruld on YouTubeSolaire is the first Warrior of Sunlight that the player m

A user has created an unofficial patch that bypasses Microsoft’s security check when attempting to update a Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 machine with a newer processor installed. Microsoft had been saying for quite some time that it would stop supporting Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 on machines running an Intel Kaby Lake or AMD Ryzen processor. Because the processor is not supported together with the Windows version you are currently using, your system will miss important security updates. And finally,

It appears that the rumor that Activision’s Call of Duty series would return to the Second World War in its next installment was true: A countdown at callofduty.com is leading to the “worldwide reveal livestream” of Call of Duty: WWII in the middle of next week. The site doesn’t reveal anything more than the setting, with an image of an American GI who’s clearly seen too much, and that Sledgehammer Games is the developer. An option to sign up to be notified when the livestream begins is also ava

When Abandon Ship was first announced late last year it came with a special billing. “FTL-meets-Sunless Sea in the golden age of sail” so said developer Fireblade Software which, alongside its high-fantasy themes, procedurally-generated world, and oil painting-like art style, sounded impressive. So impressive that we invited Fireblade’s Gary Burchell and Adam Thacker to the PC Gamer Weekender to talk us through how development is going, and how we’ll aim to conquer the high seas when Abandon Shi

The first practice match begins, and as the teams descend onto the map, the UI on the screen reads 75 REMAIN, 15 TEAMS. Still, for long minutes, there’s not a single shot fired. “We expected that,” H1Z1’s executive producer Chris Wynn tells me after the practice round ends. Team Gates wins the practice round in what appears to be less of a strategic victory and more a sheer battle of reflexes. ShowtimeThe actual tournament, perhaps unsurprisingly, is a bit more like the first practice round than

Have you read our Dawn of War 3 review in progress yet? Or perhaps you’re saving yourself from spoils ahead of its April 27 launch next week. Either way, Relic and Sega’s incoming Warhammer-inspired RTS has dropped a launch trailer which, even if you’re hiding till next Thursday, is more about scene-setting than plot-spoiling. Here you go:Six days ahead of schedule is early in the grand scheme of launch trailer unveilings, however Dawn of War 3’s falls in-line with today’s multiplayer open beta—

As Wes reported on Wednesday, StarCraft went free to download this week alongside the launch of its long-awaited patch 1.18—its first in eight years. Yet that might not be most intriguing news to surface from Blizzard’s galactic war world of late, as a Korean presidential candidate has marked the occasion by launching two custom, complimentary StarCraft maps ahead of elections on May 9. As reported by dotesports.com, Moon Jae-in is a member of the Minjoo Party—otherwise known as the Democratic P

You can find deals on a whole range of BenQ monitors on Amazon today, from budget 21-inch 1080p panels all the way up to 32-inch 1440p screens. The pricier BenQ monitors, such those with FreeSync anti-screen tearing technology, are sadly not included in the deal. The most expensive monitor in the promotion is the BenQ EW3270ZL, which can be found on Amazon for £400 today. Alternatively, the 31.5-inch curved BenQ EX3200R has a much larger chunk of money off. Amazon says you’re saving £250 on the

It’s another post-deadline podcast, but an incredibly tired PC Gamer team bravely soldiers on to talk about the latest in PC gaming and whether the Empire actually did anything wrong. We also answer your burning questions, such as could we beat up a three-year-old? You can also subscribe on iTunes or keep up with new releases using our RSS feed. Discussed: Full Throttle, Bayonetta, Star Wars: Battlefront II, Project Sparc, Agents of MayhemThis week: Samuel Roberts , Phil Savage , Andy Kelly. Thi

To be honest, I’d forgotten all about Two Worlds when news of a new engine and incoming DLC packs surfaced last year. A third game, a new engine, and two expansions were announced last March—and now one of those, Call of the Tenebrae, has a release date: May 25. Here’s TopWare with the official word:”Two Worlds II: Call of the Tenebrae plunges the Hero into a decades-old mystery and a battle against a hideous, ancient evil known as The Tenebrae. The stakes have never been higher, but our hero wo

CS:GO: cs_summitEight teams will clash this weekend in a bid to secure the lion’s share of the $150,000 prize pool. You can check out the full weekend schedule and stream over on Beyond the Summit . Overwatch: RumbleThe Spring Overwatch Rumble is back once again and the weekend tournament will see eight of the best North American teams clash. Rocket League: Championship SeriesThe Rocket League Championship Series returns this weekend and things are heating up at the top of the European and North

The first two games in the Zero Escape visual novel thriller series. These are broken up with self-contained point-and-click puzzle chambers, instantly familiar to anyone who has dabbled with room escape Flash games. It’s nice to have a visual novel that gives your brain as much of a workout as your text-scrolling clicker finger. In one room you’re charting a ship’s course on a compass, in another you’re potting numbered billiard balls on a pool table. Their puzzles give them the mechanical hook

Following news that Creative Assembly was already hard at work on Total War: Warhammer 2, the turn-based strategy sequel teased its first trailer last month. The following Total War: Warhammer 2 trailer, named ‘Into the Vortex’, goes into a little more detail as to what the sequel is all about, and addresses that elusive rat cameo from the announcement short. Here’s game director Ian Roxburgh with the skinny:”What’s with the rat?” “When we brought in the idea of the Vortex mechanic,” says Roxbur

Fight for the Crown, H1Z1: King of the Kill’s first official team tournament aired on the CW tonight—the actual tournament took place in March—and taking the crown, along with a hefty $180,000 payday, was Obey Alliance. “This was personally my first event ever, for any type of gaming, so, it was quite the experience,” Kevie1 told me. I was just focused on the game and winning, pretty much.” In the first practice round before the tournament, Obey had strong a showing, placing in the top five. Wit

Overestimating VRAccording to the ESA’s report, 67 percent of US households own a device used to play videogames. It seems a lot of people keep planning on buying VR headsets, but many aren’t actually pulling the trigger. It seems a lot of people keep planning on buying VR headsets, but many aren’t actually pulling the trigger. The most popular games are still shooters, action games, sports games, and RPGs, which isn’t especially surprising. And like every year, according to the ESA the games in

Grand Theft Auto didn’t always look like it does today. The original, released in 1997, was built around not-entirely-dissimilar over-the-top crime spree action, but featured top-down, arcade style gameplay. It’s a look that Rockstar is reaching back to for Tiny Racers, a new stunt racing mode coming to GTA Online next week. Rockstar didn’t have much to say about the mode except that it puts “a new spin on classic Grand Theft Auto action,” but the trailer shows groups of four cars racing along n

The Surge trailer released a couple of weeks ago demonstrated the finer points of its “Target, Loot, and Equip” system—in other words, how to chop off a guy’s arms and then use them yourself. Today’s trailer is a little more straightforward than that: It’s called “Combat,” and it’s about—you guessed it—combat. There’s more to fighting in The Surge than just clocking guys with the heaviest thing you can find. The rules of combat apply to both you, and your enemy : get hit in an unarmored limb, an

You play a mute Morty clone: disposable, disrespected, and extremely fragile. From Owlchemy Labs, the team that developed Job Simulator, RIck and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality takes the wacky VR physics playpen genre a few steps further, using weird objects to solve even weirder, albeit simple, puzzles. It’s just a shame that Virtual Rick-ality is so short. Virtual Rick-ality is never as funny as the show, and some of the writing is outright boring, prioritizing instruction over telling jokes. Virtu