2025

The Sims 4 has been going through a bit of a mid-life crisis lately. A wayward patch issued in July triggered a rampant pregnancy epidemic, while the most recent Enchanted by Nature DLC received a less-than enthusiastic response from players. Now, it seems the community is generally fed up with the increasingly buggy state of…

Read the full, unabridged, and beautifully laid out version of this behind-the-scenes feature in PC Gamer magazine issue 415, out October 9th! In 1998, Baldur’s Gate redefined what a computer RPG – and videogame interpretation of the D&D ruleset – could be. Just two years later, Baldur’s Gate 2 expanded on it so much that…

On balance, it’s probably a good thing we have little cause to use the word ‘fief’ anymore. But I do wish I had a few more excuses to deploy it, if only because it’s such an enjoyable word to say. Luckily, I’m able to postpone starting a degree in medieval history just so I can…

I didn’t think there were many ways to make Shadows of Doubt a better detective game—aside from giving the whole thing a vigorous polish. ColePowered Games’ sleuthing simulator procedurally generates an entire city’s worth of crimes to solve, somehow creating genuine deduction puzzles out of a bucketful of random numbers. Granted, it also tends to…

FEAR is one of those games we lament because the things that were great about it feel like they’ve been lost, for few now live who remember it. Sure, there’s Trepang2. But FEAR was so good there should be an entire subgenre based on it. There should be an entire cottage industry of indie studios…