PC Gamer May 2021

OK, maybe this isn’t a typical PC Gamer cover – but if so, that’s just the latest convention Chinese free-to-play RPG Genshin Impact has smashed. You might not be playing it, you might not have even heard of it, but it’s one of the biggest mega hits in PC gaming right now. It’s got more players than Counter-Strike, more momentum than Fortnite, and some seriously ambitious plans for the future ahead. How did Genshin Impact become such a phenomenon? That’s the question we’ve investigated for our cover feature, uncovering a story of zombies, waifus, and a group of nerds who want to save the world… ROBIN VALENTINE Specialist in Expecting the unexpected Twitter @robinlvalentine This month Got a little flustered at this picture of himself as an anime lady.…

ANDY KELLY Specialist in Alien 3 Twitter @ultrabrilliant This month Found a new excuse to go on about how much he loves those aliens whose heads look like rude bits. FRASER BROWN Specialist in Forgetting realms Twitter @FraserIBrown This month Finally figured out how to spell ‘Drizzt’ and ‘Catti-Brie’ properly. Just in time. STEVEN MESSNER Specialist in Gacha journalism Twitter @stevenmessner This month Kept opening PC Gamer loot boxes until an epic Genshin Impactcover feature dropped. MOLLIE TAYLOR Specialist in Tree speech Twitter @mollietayy This month Learned how a videogame could plant a million real trees. Also assigned birds human personalities.…

After getting the approval of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and the European Union Commission in March, Microsoft has now officially announced that the acquisition of ZeniMax Media, owner of Bethesda, is complete. DOWN THE ROAD THEY WILL PRODUCE GAMES THAT ARE EXCLUSIVES Xbox head Phil Spencer welcomed the eight studios under ZeniMax (id Software, Bethesda, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog and Roundhouse Studios) and said it was “an honour” to have them join the team. A selective list of just some of the game series Microsoft has acquired includes Doom, Dishonored, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Prey, Quake, Rage, Starfield, Wolfenstein, and The Evil Within. The reaction of some Bethesda fans to this acquisition, which has been known about for some time, has been fearful: mainly because…

HIGHS Valheim The Early Access hit has reached five million sales and counting. GTA Online A modder managed to reduce GTA’s loading times by 70%, earning him a $10k bounty from Rockstar. Microsoft Mesh Microsoft showed off Microsoft Mesh, an incredible AR HoloLens environment where folk talk to holograms of one another. LOWS Dogg gone Snoop Dogg streamed Madden on Twitch, quit after 14 mins, but left his stream running for seven hours. Fail of Duty Police arrested an escaped prisoner when he emerged from hiding to buy the latest Call of Duty game. Rotten Apple Apple’s been trying to get Steam data. A judge said Apple has “salted the Earth with subpoenas”, but Valve has to release it anyway.…

This month, The Spy was struck by the terrifying realisation that broadcasting your exploits each month, in print, for a magazine sold in shops across the country, is actually terrible spycraft. Is this why The Spy has never been headhunted by a government agency, or even a morally questionable clandestine mercenary outfit, and has instead spent the last couple of decades pilfering games industry secrets each month, to deadline? Why did nobody alert The Spy to this massive blunder? BASED ON THE FOOTAGE, ELDEN RING IS FOR SURE A FROMSOFT GAME Considering this, maybe author George R R Martin is the opposite of The Spy. Where The Spy has spent too long sharing information that shouldn’t see the light of day, the Game of Thrones author seemingly loves to not share information…

1 It’s not particularly notable that this issue featured three MMOs – that was just the way of things in the early 2010s. What is notable is that all three of them still exist. Star Wars: The Old Republic, Guild Wars 2 and, yes, even Rift, are all games you can play to this day. An unprecedented coincidence for the most turbulent of genres. 2 Crysis was a good PC game with a few problems that could have easily been addressed by a sequel. Alas, Crysis 2 was much less interesting. 3 Richard Cobbett takes us on a tour of the best deals on Steam. And even ten years ago – with far fewer games available on Valve’s store – there’s a lot packed into this eight page feature, from classics like…