PC Gamer

“if 2020 has you craving brave new worlds, read on…”

Considering its starting point was already an entire simulated galaxy, it’s been pretty incredible to watch Elite Dangerous grow in the six years since its original launch. From planetary landings to colossal cruisers to first contact with an alien civilisation, Frontier’s additions to its sprawling space sim have only gotten wilder and more ambitious as it’s gone on. So when we say the Odysseyexpansion is bigger than anything the studio’s done before, it speaks to how truly enormous a project it’s shaping up to be. If 2020 has you craving brave new worlds, read on to find out more… ROBIN VALENTINE Specialist in Second contact Twitter @robinlvalentine This month Just needed his own space, OK?…

the pc gamer team

ANDY KELLY Specialist in Space trucking Twitter @ultrabrilliant This month Stepped off his ship and smelled something other than hotboxed farts for the first time in 6 years. FRASER BROWN Specialist in D&D physics Twitter @FraserIBrown This month Explored the incredible power fantasy of living in a world where he can push people off things. CHRIS LIVINGSTON Specialist in Interplanetary civil engineering Twitter @screencuisine This month Built a colony on Mars. Please Chris, you need to let us move there. RACHEL WATTS Specialist in Ghost stories Twitter @rachel_wattts This month PreviewedThe Medium. Wanted to check out The Big and The Small as well, but ran out of time.…

biggest boy

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is large – so large, that you can’t even fit it on a 250GB SSD. Given the ballooning size of games, anyone with a 250GB SSD is probably going to be used to deleting stuff to make room for news games and updates, but now it looks like an upgrade might be in order. Even among today’s space hogs, Modern Warfare is a bit of an anomaly. The updates alone would make any reasonable person balk. It’s a relentlessly ravenous game that’s never content, always after more room. It’s also just a big game. There’s a massive battle royale stuffed in there, remember. IT’S ALWAYS BEEN LARGE, BUT IT FINALLY SURPASSED 200GB It’s always been preposterously large, but it finally surpassed 200GB back in August, and it’s only…

highs & lows

HIGHS Mass Effect The rumoured remastered collection seems more certain, with a ‘Legendary Edition’ being rated in South Korea. Final Fantasy XIV A strange red Chocobo is slaughtering players left and right. Terraria After nearly a decade of updates, Re-Logic is calling the game finally complete. LOWS Blizzard Blizzard is closing down its Versailles office and cutting hundreds of jobs. Crucible Amazon’s free-to-play shooter launched in May, quickly got kicked back into closed beta, and now it’s closing its doors for good. Nvidia RTX 3080 The RTX 3080 is unlikely to get much easier to find. Along with the 3070, Nvidia says supply will outstrip demand until 2021.…

the spy

The theory of linguistic relativity states that language can influence thought. Not in the sense that a persuasive argument can change your world view, because this is the year 2020 and what evidence is there that thathappens? Rather, the theory states that the very structures and conventions of language can influence how you’re able to think. German romantic philosophers were all over this concept, and the fact that you’re currently rolling your eyes and going “well of course they were” might actually prove their point. Because while many linguists are dubious of the theory, and no solid evidence has been found, The Spy would argue that it feelskind of true. Case in point: gaming. You might think it’s dramatic to claim that language has spread through gaming like a virus –…

this month in… 2010

1 Diablo III was no stranger to controversy. On one end was the announcement controversy around its art style. On the other end, the launch controversy around the real-money auction house. In the middle, though, was the exciting period where the game’s skill system looked amazing. This cover feature explored that delicious filling inside the controversy sandwich. 2 “FFXIV is so deeply flawed that I can’t even see how future updates could redeem it,” ends our 30 per cent review. Square’s response was to remake the game. 3 Change is scary, yes, but exciting too, especially back in 2010 before live-service games became standard fare. The fact that the world’s biggest MMO was changing so drastically with its Catalysmexpansion felt bold and new – not just adding new stuff, but meaningfully altering…