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    © All Rights Reserved
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    45 views100 pages

    PC Powerplay I302 Autumn 2024

    Uploaded by

    გიორგი ბეჟაშვილი

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    ya , “a is JM ; iy aS A rte THE STORM | = (oT WA Free REVIEWED , ee oN HOWTHE STUNNING ji ry r A sy 2 NT Ke) (, Ss: nee p N Dut GREATEST MOBA OF ALL TIME GETS 7 EPIC NEW UPDAT RAT: rn nV) On Meme ad ~ (0) \ 5 1 WSS) SS) Toughpower GF A3 Gold Power Supply @50W | 750W | B50W | 1050W | 1200W eer pelesen 1) Year a Coe aor ed nr ah tee elmo d TT CarePlus, Thermaltake's trusted warranty service eet Cans ores) . ue io QxdI=III Neen Peet) SUBSCRIPTION ; i Col UT tS) Corea Pree iC eet (a PowerPlay Protegrapny usavertinggsuturenetcom ‘hetrgusonetturenetcom Pesan usa oy ve iba sus ana 2b Desc FUTURE Went outa wth Grogs. Wastourddy Wither yn ‘ching, "Se tet oti see ite et Sd Ae ttlersay ose ste sobinsneat™ sueseeist 10 (Ele PavieePay Checkout our latest offer! 'SEEp2O MOS T PLAYED GAMES” League of Legends, now celebrating its 15th year, remains to this day one of PC gaming’s most played games. This is a MOBA that had more than 150 million players enjoying it last year at its peak, and which boasts over 160 champions to play as. As you might expect, LoL also has one of the most vibrant communities in PC gaming. Despite this immense success, though, LoL’s maker Riot Games is just getting started, and with its latest content update is shaking things up like never before. Turn to page 34 for the exclusive inside scoop. Enjoy the issue. BEN WANSILL eoiToR ten.masilefturent com The PC PowerPlay team LAUREN MORTON, ‘his month Becamequeenfthecasy anes gee Terowas $olly hl pate and lltath couse gta (A (al JOSHUA WOLENS SEAN MARTIN 1ACOB RIDLEY “hismonth This month This month Wrestle FerntésPeeyy | TesedsomanyGPUs | latedtheBigShell Terbagenerihtsover | tathesartesonee | atlehre acy nth ‘thowasmestdnch | heworéas Oa Hieokojma Raden tndatmaspltasrisen, | bencmaksces ‘hist ehed 10 SPECIALREPORT The'cosmeticugificatio problem 12 SECRETLEVEL Theartofmakinga) 14 INCOMING Thehottestgamestogetexctedtor Previews 18 United1944 22 Solium Infernum 24 Pacific Drive 28 Railroads & Catacombs 30 Escape from Tarkov: Arena 34 League of Legends, 42 Grand Theft Auto 52 Total War: Warhammer Ill 24. 34 PACIFICDRIVE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS steer 42 THE HISTORY OF GTAONPC Reviews | Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora ‘Gangs of Sherwood Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader ‘Cocoon House Flipper 2 Disney Dreamlight Valley Against the Storm AHighland Song Last Train Home FREEGAMES The Roottreesare Dead Tommy Gun Witches The Two Rivers Hypothesis Hardware MAINSTREAMGPU GROUPTEST ‘Theseentryleveland FRONTIERS MAINSTREAM | STARFIELD OFPANDORA (GPUSTESTED | DIARY NoahSmithadvertureswiththe | ThePCPPlabsreviewsixnew | Fromonesideotthegalaxy Navinthevisualympressive | mainstream graphicscardstosee | tothenextwiththeoneand newAuatargameleawinner? | whichisthesmartouy. conlyettJnson BAD ROLL RPG devs blame the temporary death of CRPGs on ‘vibes-based forecasting’ from retailers cteran developers said Chapman, in: marthad been ACCORDING TO SAWYER, IT WAS A SNAKE-EATING-ITS- ae OWNCTAIL SITUATION sg which resulted in prophecies seas todunkon Pariaulos assertions eu str. at wrth Bearing mints. Sees ganes Strattera imamquets th ere end insieqests EVISA(DUAL) SHOCK =| MAGIC NUMBERS Sony Honda Mobility Ie dh trouble many GOTY president and COO Leumi list, andthe aunch saw ts Kawanishilivenedup CESby | fi “gall share of controversy, but driving car onstagewitha | MACE warner Bros Games Sony DualSense controler. Thenew | announcedthat Hogwarts Legacy ‘Neelaconcepthasallthefeatures you'd | sold over 22 milion copies. WB exec expect, buttheads onthe front bumper | DavidHaddad claims twas the andthe smoke-and-mirorsof gamepad | best-seling game ofthe year control merea bit ofamoment.m AA intheentire industry” mes BAD TARGET? ‘The idea that isometric RPGs aren't popular is hogwash, considering how obscenely well Baldur's Gate II has ‘been doing for Larian Studios, But David Gaider, of ‘Summerfall Games, says the issue can'tbe put entirely on fone group. “It wasnt just retailers" Gaider wrote. “There's ‘an ‘industry wisdom’ which ereeps into dev teams where ‘somethings are simply declared dead or too old- fashioned, and there's no opposing this certainty up until -s along and proves Pagliarulo (lead writer and designer on Starfield) who spoke at a STORY conference about Fallout 4 and Skyrim. This isan old talk, but Pagliarulo makes the assumption that gamers will “tear out the pages" of game’ story and “make paper airplanes” with it, arguing developers ought to “keep it simple, seupid” limiting a narrative to one of two core central themes. Big-box retailers are no longer the make-or-break genre setters they once were, thanks tothe advent of ‘online stores, but the frustration from developers (and players) lingers on. Because whether it's vibes-based forecasting or vibes-based dev wisdom, games that play 410% safe are rarely memorable Harvey Randall NEWS | OPINION | DEVELOPMEN’ DON'T FEAR THE REAPERS Soret apotaynse Oot. el iGo MichalDetchns eee iecschingta tearm ganegsenteebecaehurontys Rosaliungprovereive tonne Enaal eos hey tpoen, late Shang vans waa che ut fess tht seweghtany ind ww Highs & Lows Special Report Ly THE UGLY EPIDEMIC Stuffed full of brands and tie-in skins, shooters are getting harder to look at here's an epidemic of multiplayer shooters, and its cause goes, ‘bymany names. Skin. Bundle. Drop. ‘Outfit. Coating. Or the most gener cosmetic. Unassuming at first and quiet by nature, Cosmetic Ustification is. viral affiction infecting the best shooters of our time. When left unchecked, all semblance of aesthetic cohes sserificed atthe altar of individual expression, exclusivity and FOMO. Every shooter I love becoming visual ooze before my very eyes. Signs of cosmetic ugification are everywhere:in spec ‘ops soldiers trading tactical vests for diamond-laced streetwear, elite operators wearing Lara Croft cosplay, ‘commandos going loud in pyjamas. As seasons rage on, live service games garner years of stylistic baggage unique to our post Fortnite world. I's become normal to watch shooters that once flaunted a style of their own be initated by garish outfits and pop culture guest stars, ‘Throw in enough Mortys and Santa outfits and even the strongest art direction becomes mush. The very items that can drive us to play longer ean also erode their appeal Trecently had a moment of clarity in Cal of Duty while being brutally executed by Diablo Vs Lilith holding an AK-47: cosmetic uglfication never happens all at once, 8 arr but the eyele always begins at launch, and it ean take over before you realise its there ‘THE PATTERN ‘There's no better time to enjoy a shooter's style than when it first comes out and a fill party of operators actually look like characters inthe same world. We really dnt give default outfits enough credit. Yes they're basic, but the often among the most detailed, iconic and well-crafted forms our heroes can take. Thats no surprise since it hhow the characters were originally conceived ~ outfits thae prevailed through months or yeas of concepting and. discussion. They/re way more special than their ‘common! arity tag implies, but it’ hard eo resist switching things ‘up when a battle pass comes slong or new store items oa Cece 5 a 7 ae <@ eS Peony 13° Gen Intel® Core™ i9-13900H processor | Windows 11 Pro | NVIDIA@ GeForce RTA" 4 PEC a LACS ea PAM Le SSD PCle Gené | 16" UHD+(3840x2400), OLED, VESA DisplayHOR™ 600 Certified en) Cac msi NINO Ke Level DN ee ae DEMONSTRATION MAN TOBIAS GRAFF, CEO and co-founder of Mooneye Studios, on making a game demo hile studying ‘computer science with an ‘emphasis on game development, Tobias Graff worked parttime for some of Germany's jiggest mobile gaming companies. Soon after that, he founded ‘Mooneye with some friends from university, entering the industry full time; and late, the company branched out into publishing games from other developers. 1n2016, Mooneye launched Kickster forts rst game, Lost Ember. twas siccesful nd soother people came to Graff and the team foradvioeon building succes campaign. They werehappy to help, butthere was only so much they eould d."We werebascally working nonstop on the game; we couldnt realy alfordotaketimefftohelp ater developers” says Graf. After “Lost Embers cease, which was also asuecess, Mooneyeimmediately seared puting money int "a publishing por und eached an mount thatallowedittolookinto tame publishing TLongbefoe that however tad itsown debutgame tocomplete and promote, This involved buildings deme. The demo was however only released to streamers and YouTUlbers "we wanted tomnimise the bug reportsand supportroguests and all that because that's nt really what we were looking for back then Graff explains. “We [only decided tohave a demo at all because we were four stuns with no gamingeredi, and wwehadto convince peopl, "These peoplecan aetually make gam 12 ame Buildinga demo presented significant challenges. For one thing, any aspects ofa game aresubjectto change early in development. For nother, many games can't simply take the first 20 minutes oF soand putit ‘outinto the world asa demo, because ~as with Last Ember the start ofthe ‘game's an intentionally slow build up to something. For this reason, the Lest Ember demo was an amalgamation of sections from the start and middle of the game;a bespoke experience. “Doingthatmeant working fora couple of monthson things we already knew we would throw away and ‘wouldnt really need for the final same, because we had tochange everything again tostretch tout” TRY ME, | DARE YOU Demos past and present well worth your time Pr Deut tly today. te Stereum eros tre andor ‘Ashaiusandupreltable ‘Sthemaingane DELTARUNE Stetchestne deiniion of fore bat crenty ree wth tre Istaments tobe pad leases. IE PLANET CRAFTER LOGUE Ts sinflect an ea yetvery lengthy erson oe fullgame ‘SAMPLE MINDS Lost Ember isa slow and thoughtful game tellingan emotional story, something that’s very dffcultto convey inabrief demo Mooneye’s ‘new game currently in development followsa similar path, and soa demo ishoped forbut no guaranteed, The plan was to release Lost Ember in2018, but for various reasons this was delayed to 2019. With roximately three yearsbetween the demoand the final game, some things inevitably changed, Graff gives afew examples, “The colour ofthe main character, ‘the wo changed. One ofthe main reasons was giving a better contrast ‘with the environment; the inital one blended into lotof tings. tn the demo, the main featured animal was parrot, and a huge open area you could play around insbut forthe final ‘game, we wanted to save the parrot as highlight for later” raven Park fom 2021 was Mooneye's fist experience publishing ‘agame and the debuc of Fabien Weibel asadeveloper. They worked together fonthe demo. Again, twasa bespoke ‘experience, but this timeonethae was released tothe public. for justa few ‘weeks aa time,ona few different ‘occasions. But why? “We wanted to have these kind of focus groups" Graffexplains “We ‘only published anew demo when ‘we changed a big feature, or had something new inthe game that we wanted feedback on ‘Adem canbe an effective piece of interactive or passive PR, abeta test, self-contained experience alts own, orall three. One thingitcan never be, itseems, is simpleto make. Luke Kemp tg CNSa8 GAMES ON aT 14 amr PACIFIC DRIVE a. 2024| emo Stas Drive to survive inthis rvbased driving adventure, Scavenge resources from the anomaly filed Oymplc Exclusion Zone, upgrade your car and complete missions, NIGHTINGALE Feta 22, 204 | oxo Games Explore craft ight and survive in dangerous Fae Realms. tether on your own or ith ends, You play asa Realmwalkor inthis visually punchy fantasy word HOMEWORLD 3 Mar, 202 lack trate ‘Thenew gameinthe classic sc fseries promises to deliver stunning space-based RTS that makes the most of ‘three-

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