PC Powerplay

This month Hand-delivered a copy of PC PowerPlay magazine to a subscriber located deep within the Carpathian Mountains. Hasn’t been seen since. Ah, he’ll be fine… The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has a now legendary reputation, with the dark fantasy action-RPG going down in history as one of gaming’s greatest of all time releases. Now, The Witcher 3’s director, along with his new studio, Rebel Wolves, is creating a new dark fantasy action-RPG, and we couldn’t be more hyped for it. The Blood of Dawnwalker promises a lorerich, cinematic narrative world in which every decision you make will have an impact on its mature, engrossing story. It sounds incredible, and you can get the inside scoop starting on page 40.…

After thousands of hours spent in combat with orcs, androids and enemy militants, it’s become harder to find novelty in videogame violence. While Steam overflows with trucks, farms and city builders for when I’ve grown battle-weary, violence remains the mode of interaction, even in triple-A RPGs that tout player freedom. Fallout co-creator Tim Cain says that’s not going to change as long as we all keep buying it. In a YouTube video that went public on New Year’s Day, Cain responded to a viewer who asked whether he thinks we’ll ever see triple-A RPGs move beyond violence as the default way for players to interact with the world. Cain’s answer was simple: big-budget RPGs will centre combat as long as combat sells. “Companies make games – and in general, products…

HIGHS Critical hit Larian’s Swen Vincke called out the game industry and told it to start putting devs and players first. Power through Underselling indie game Endlight is putting out 20 seasons of content. Royal flush Balatro has absorbed eight new crossovers in its quest to turn all videogames into playing cards. Busted flush PEGI won’t budge on Balatro’s 18+ rating, despite games with actual gambling getting lower age limits. Belongs in a museum Did you get a free Indiana Jones key from Humble? No you didn’t: the storefront revoked them all even if you already redeemed yours. Where there's smoke… Banned CoD players are in uproar about its new bong gun. Hmm. LOWS…

THE SPY Last night The Spy dreamt that The Spy went to Manderlay again. The Spy is a master of many things. Upside down kisses in the rain. Extreme tiddlywinks. Whoopee cushion placement. You name it, The Spy has an accomplishment badge sewn onto The Spy’s pants for it. The Spy is also a master of perceiving strange ripples in the PC game industry continuum. Odd, beguiling, metaphysical patterns that seem to hint at, tantalisingly, a greater force at play in the PC gaming industry than even his most holy of holies, Lord Gaben. Cthulu is a distinct possibility, of course. The Spy is well acquainted with the The Great Dreamer’s mischief. But, no. More likely… the fates, perhaps, weaving their web? The Spy saw them once, you know, Clotho,…

“Who is Final Fantasy for these days?” is a question without an obvious answer, but it’s one that Square Enix must reckon with. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Final Fantasy XVI failed to meet sales expectations according to Square’s own financial report, creating a whirlwind of takes on why, and Final Fantasy’s future in general. What seems clear is that the era of Final Fantasy as the Japanese role-playing game series that comes to mind when the genre comes up has ended. That’s not to say no new Final Fantasy will fly off shelves, but the last 15 years have shown that it is, more often than not, selling a few million copies per game rather than 10 million-plus, like Final Fantasy XV managed. Which means that the issue has…

XVI-BIT GLORY Final Fantasy VI’s character sprites had one consistent size, separating them visually from past Square RPGs. FINAL FANTASY 3D Final Fantasy VII introduced CG cutscenes, which helped players form closer connections to the characters. FINAL FANTASY, NOW IN HD The shift to high definition meant even more detailed cutscenes and characters – Lightning’s design is beautiful. FINAL FANTASY, NOW EVEN MORE HD Square Enix clearly spent considerable time on Final Fantasy XVI’s visuals.…