Elden Ring and God of War: Ragnarok win big at the DICE Awards

The 2022 DICE Awards (opens in new tab) were handed out last night, and much of it came down to a slugfest between two predictable behemoths, Elden Ring and God of War: Ragnarok. In the end, it was basically a draw: God of War won seven awards compared to five for Elden Ring, but Elden Ring came away with the gold for Game of the Year.

Tim Schafer of Double Fine Productions was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame at the event “for his amazing contributions to the video game industry over his illustrious 30+ year career,” the AIAS said. Schafer apparently biffed his acceptance speech.

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Most of the award winners aren’t surprising, given the way 2022 was dominated by Elden Ring and God of War, although I do have to wonder how God of War ended up classified as an adventure game—and, to a (slightly) lesser extent, take issue with Elden Ring taking the RPG of the Year title. Games aren’t automatically RPGs just because they’ve got swords and some magic, you know?

(And yes, Elden Ring is in our list of the Best RPGs in 2022 (opens in new tab), too. I’m taking that up with management.) 

Vampire Survivors claimed Action Game of the Year, a big win for a tiny indie, and Dwarf Fortress, which has been around since 2006, won Strategy/Simulation of the Year on the strength of its 1.0 release that landed in December. 

The one mildly disappointing outcome was in the Fighting Game of the Year category, which went to MultiVersus. I have no beef with MultiVersus, for the record, but I was really pulling for Rumbleverse (opens in new tab), the pro rasslin’ battle royale that’s being shut down on February 28, just six months after it launched. The shutdown is inevitable at this point but it would have been nice to see Iron Galaxy get some public kudos and a little gold before it happens.

But such is the way of awards shows: Everybody’s going to come away a little disappointed (or a little mad) about something. That’s what makes them fun! So let’s get to it—the full list of winners is below.

🏆 Game of the Year: Elden Ring

🏆 Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction: Elden Ring

🏆 Outstanding Achievement in Game Design: Elden Ring

🏆 Outstanding Achievement in Animation: God of War Ragnarök

🏆 Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction: God of War Ragnarök

🏆 Outstanding Achievement in Character: God of War Ragnarök – Kratos

🏆 Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition: God of War Ragnarök

🏆 Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design: God of War Ragnarök

🏆 Outstanding Achievement in Story: God of War Ragnarök

🏆 Outstanding Technical Achievement: Elden Ring

🏆 Action Game of the Year: Vampire Survivors

🏆 Adventure Game of the Year: God of War Ragnarök

🏆 Family Game of the Year: Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope

🏆 Fighting Game of the Year: MultiVersus

🏆 Racing Game of the Year: Gran Turismo 7

🏆 Role-Playing Game of the Year: Elden Ring

🏆 Sports Game of the Year: OlliOlli World

🏆 Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year: Dwarf Fortress

🏆 Online Game of the Year: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

🏆 Immersive Reality Technical Achievement: Red Matter 2

🏆 Immersive Reality Game of the Year: Red Matter 2

🏆 Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game: Tunic

🏆 Mobile Game of the Year: Marvel Snap



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Mini LED gaming monitors are a bad idea in theory and in practice they’re even worse

This is going to be disappointing, but there’s no getting round it. Mini LED is not the monitor tech you’ve been waiting for. Mini LED monitors are a bad idea in theory and, in practice, they’re even worse.

In fact, what mini LED tech is best at is delivering fantastic specifications. 1,400 nits of brightness? Check. Contrast ratios measured in the millions? Yup. Ultra bright highs, inky black lows, epic full-screen brightness, zero risk of burn in, compatibility with ultra-high refresh rates? The works. 

Just don’t mention the actual experience. Because it kind of sucks.

Okay, it does have one massive advantage that’s real enough. Mini LED is available right now in gaming monitors you can actually buy, and in all shapes and sizes. That gives it a very clear edge over microLED, which remains entirely theoretical in the context of PC monitors, but is the promised holy land of next-gen panel design.

It’s also more widely available in far more screen sizes than OLED tech, which has just begun to appear in PC monitors but is limited by virtue of being derived from TV OLED panels. So, you can’t get, say, a 27-inch or 32-inch 4K OLED gaming monitor, they start at 42 inches and above. The smaller 27-inch OLED monitors are ‘only’ 1440p and yet cost $1,000 and up. Yuck.

The problem with mini-LED

Anyway, here’s the problem: Mini LED technology is and will always be a kludge. It’s a ramshackle semi-fix for a display technology with chronic inherent shortcomings. And it creates a whole new set of issues to replace the ones it fixes.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, first let’s cover off what mini LED actually is, where it sits in the display tech continuum and how it compares to other panel options.

The first thing to understand about mini LED is that it is merely a backlight technology for LCD panels. It’s not a display tech in and of itself. It’s intended to compensate for the fact that LCD panels aren’t very good at blocking light. 

That’s a problem because, in a conventional LCD monitor, the backlight is on all the time. You essentially have the same light source for a pixel that’s meant to be bright and one that’s meant to be dark.

In practice, LCD panels always let some light through. So those dark pixels in any given image leak a little light. And the brighter you want to make the bright pixels, the more those dark parts of the picture will wash out with unintended light leakage.

Mentioning no names, but some awfully expensive mini-LED monitors very the biggest brands have been unbelievably broken… (Image credit: Future)

The mini LED solution is to replace that single, big, dumb backlight with an active array of much smaller lighting zones. The result, in theory, is the ability to tweak the light output across the panel to match the luminance topography of the image being shown.

So, you crank the backlight in the zones behind brighter image elements, and wind it back for darker areas. Presto, you have dramatically increased contrast and unlock true high dynamic range possibilities. In other words, you can have a screen that is both brighter than before and also delivers far superior contrast. Job jobbed.

Where the problem comes in, and where mini LED obviously isn’t as good as some alternatives, involves precision. Both OLED and microLED offer true per-pixel lighting control. In both technologies, each pixel is its own fully addressable light source. There’s no backlight, just total control from maximum brightness to fully off for each pixel.

By comparison, mini-LED backlight zones are shared over a number of pixels. And that number of pixels is big. Really big.

It’s not enough zones

Take, say, a 32-inch 4K monitor. That’s a popular form factor of late for high-end gaming monitors with mini LED backlights. The native resolution of a 4K LCD panel is 3,840 by 2,160 pixels.

That comes to a grand total of 8,294,400 pixels, precisely. Which is a lot. Now, a mini-LED monitor with 1,152 dimming zones also sounds like quite a lot. But if do the maths each zone, each element of the mini-LED backlight, is lighting up fully 7,200 pixels.

Of course, many on-screen elements are much smaller than that. The small lines making up text, for instance, might be just a few pixels across. The pinpoint stars in a space scene likewise. Other elements might be a few hundred pixels but still far smaller than a given dimming zone. So, there’s your first problem. The lighting isn’t nearly granular enough.

You’re therefore left with a choice. Do you light up everything and put up with what’s known as blooming around bright objects due to the zones being bigger than the things they are lighting up? Or do you only crank the mini LEDs up for really large areas of bright image data?Philips Evnia 34M2C7600MV

Calibrating mini LED monitors is more about preferences and trade offs than rights and wrongs, even if some still get it very wrong… (Image credit: Future)

Bear in mind, here, that on a 32-inch 4K panel, you’re talking about a backlight ‘resolution’ of roughly 45 by 25 zones. Imagine how big those zones individually are. Imagine if that was the actual screen resolution. In a word: Blocky!

So, what you end up with in practice are varying trade offs from one screen to the next, depending on the preferences of the manufacturer. There’s no right or wrong. It’s all compromise.

Mini LED monitors look particularly bad on the Windows desktop. As you move a bright window on a dark background, you typically see the zones popping on and off. It’s just so clunky. 

Even with a static image, you often see problems, such as a brightness gradient across text. The text itself typically isn’t substantial enough itself to trigger the dimming algorithms. So the brightness of text, particularly bright text on a dark background, is dictated by the image elements near the text in question. The result is usually either a real mess or just really dim text you can barely read because the algorithm hasn’t deemed it worthy of a bit of backlight effort.

Kludgy calibration

Now, the counter argument to all of that goes like this. It’s missing the point. Mini LED tech isn’t about web browsing. It’s about games and movies. And, admittedly, the zones popping on and off are much less obvious in game or watching movies.

But the problems remain. Some mini LED monitors, for instance, can be over aggressive when it comes to dimming the backlight. The result is the loss of shadow detail.Samsung 110-Inch Micro LED TV

MicroLED will be the answer one day. But its time is yet to come. (Image credit: Samsung)

The reality is that you need a fair amount of backlight pushing through the LCD apertures to enable enough light to make the difference between two quite dark shades of grey visible next to a patch of complete blackness. So, you have to choose what you prefer.

If you want that really low black level, you have to ramp the backlight right down, which then makes the shades of grey meld into the darkness. Or you bump it up a bit to allow the detail to come through and the black levels wash out.

Then there’s the problem of backlight syncing. It’s a tough enough job driving eight million pixels. But now you have to time 1,152 backlight zones to match whatever the pixels are doing. That is a fiendishly difficult job when milliseconds matter. What’s more, mini LEDs fundamentally have different response characteristics to LCD pixels. So, that has to be taken into account.

In other words, the complexity of those trade-offs, forced by the mismatch in dimming zone and pixel size, are piled on top of further complexity in terms of syncing the whole thing seamlessly.

The net result is that we’ve seen numerous mini LED monitors here on PC Gamer and none have actually been any good. Some have had really awful obvious issues like flickering. But all have been hideously clunky on the Windows desktop and a mixed bag in-game. There’s no need to name names. They’ve all, without exception, been a bit crap, especially given the lofty price tags.

At best, to use the local dimming tech you have to toggle it on and off when you load a game. You can’t just leave it running, it’s too grim on the desktop. That perhaps isn’t the end of the world. It certainly wouldn’t be if it could be sorted with a single button press, which usually isn’t the case.

But then the image quality in-game with the dimming on always betrays the trade offs and decisions made by whoever set up the algorithms. There is no right and wrong in that regard. Just choices between various compromises, none of which come close to replicating true per-pixel lighting.Monitor on table.

It’s hard to comprehend why Alienware’s 34-inch OLED monitor is so much cheaper. (Image credit: Future)

A lack of alternatives

In our experience, if it’s a good HDR-ish experience you want from an LCD monitor, the best results come from the latest VA panels with the brightness cranked up on a monolithic backlight. The very best VA tech offers as much as 4,000:1 static contrast, far better than the 1,000-1,300:1 of IPS tech (save LG’s IPS Black panels that have yet to appear in gaming monitors).

That’s enough for very punchy highs while retaining reasonable black levels. Granted, a VA panel with no local dimming isn’t truly HDR capable. But as an experience, it’s a better overall compromise than the patchiness of mini LED. 

The one partial exception to this is mini LED technology in laptops (opens in new tab). Because the panels are so much smaller, the dimming zones shrink commensurately and some of the issues become less visible. But they’re all still there and with time only become more frustrating.

Of course, none of this is to say there’s a perfect alternative. OLED has its own issues, most obviously very limited full-screen brightness as well as the risk of burn in. The subpixel structure of every OLED gaming monitor currently on the market is also problematic. Thus far, none use conventional (for the PC) RGB pixels, and that’s a problem for stuff like font rendering which addresses the panel on a subpixel level.

In theory, microLED is the answer to all our flat panel needs with searing brightness, no burn in risk and OLED-matching per-pixel lighting. But microLED tech currently costs megabucks and the technology, as yet, can’t be scaled down to offer PC-relevant resolutions at practical panel sizes. The smallest 4K microLED panel, right now, is around 70 inches across. A corresponding 32-inch monitor cut out of that would be sub-1080p and have huge pixels. Useless.

Those issues will be solved eventually. But in the meantime, don’t go thinking mini LED even comes close to per-pixel technologies when it comes to contrast control and HDR performance. Because it doesn’t.

If mini LED tech could be had almost for free as an extra, then it would make sense. You could use the local dimming on occasion and not begrudge the fact it was usually switched off. But it’s costly and complex to implement and adds hundreds of dollars, at minimum, to a monitor’s price tag. Paying $1,000-plus for something so obviously flawed is no fun and as a stop-gap feature it’s already destined for obsolescence.


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I invited strangers into my home to try a VR treadmill. I survived, and they absolutely loved it

Recently I was lucky enough to review the Kat VR C2+ omnidirectional treadmill (opens in new tab). It’s a large piece of virtual reality paraphernalia that allows you to step onto a slippery base in purpose-made shoes, strap into a harness, and walk freely in VR. It’s a unique experience, even for a VR veteran, so I wanted to get a few more opinions on the device beyond my own.

To this end, I forced a few friends, and some strangers I found on Twitter (opens in new tab) (yes, really), to come into my house and try out the Kat VR treadmill for at least 15 minutes each.

I found the Kat VR fairly intuitive to use, but given VR is already a highly personal experience, I knew this could vary. Plus there’s differing skill levels, body types, and countless other individualities that could change this. Even so, the general consensus seemed to be that it’s fairly easy to learn, especially once you’re in game. You have to trust the Kat VR, at least as much as a stranger, but once I’d convinced people to relax and lean while walking everyone seemed to get it. 

If anything, the uncomfortable shoes got far more ire than the treadmill.

If this is the future of VR gaming, it’s going to be a hell of a lot of fun!

Despite the initial hurdle of getting people strapped in and going, most preferred using the treadmill to their regular VR experiences. Several that suffer from motion sickness noted that actually moving in the space basically nullified that for their trials. I was often reminding people to take breaks, which just goes to show how deep into VR you can get strapped into this thing.

When it came to physical limitations, this obviously varied. Everyone who tried the Kat VR was for the most part able bodied but we had different fitness levels, body shapes, and health conditions. Several with back injuries who were concerned noted that it was actually comfortable and potentially even helpful for allowing them to exercise. All agreed that while physically a bit of a workout and with some limitations, it’s a lot less intimidating than it looks.

Guinea pig #1

(Image credit: Future)
  • Name: Cin
  • Age: 38.9
  • VR experience: Played some VR games such as Space Pirates (~2015/16) and Beat Saber (2022), but always suffered from terrible VR sickness so never delved much deeper.

Thoughts: Learning to walk in the Kat VR was easier once in-game. Practising beforehand felt a little awkward and not very intuitive, but once in-game (and with the speed correctly tuned) it was pretty straightforward. The reasonable accuracy of the sensors and the inclusion of ways to walk large distances without continuously taking steps was nice. The greater physical connection with what I was seeing seemed to delay the onset of the VR sickness symptoms I am so used to feeling almost immediately after putting the headset on.

The smoothness of the harness system meant it restricted movement very little, and I did not feel like my back injury was at all impacted by it as it puts very little strain on the lower back. There was definitely some muscle soreness the next day though, and the foot soreness from the unfamiliar shoes came on pretty fast after a 40ish minute session. I can’t see myself owning one but I would like to try more games (only tried Half-Life: Alyx this time) and see how I go with my glasses on inside the headset. 

A very cool thing to get to try!

Guinea pig #2Kat VR treadmill used by first timers.

(Image credit: Future)
  • Name: Aaron 
  • Age: 41
  • VR experience: Owns a VR headset, has played with it from early on (Oculus DK1 and DK2), and still plays VR games semi-regularly.

Thoughts: The Kat VR has a lot of potential, but also comes with some barriers to entry. Once it’s set up, using it feels good. It’s definitely the sort of device that needs to be used in-game to properly get a feel for and understand how it works. The added immersion is great and anyone looking to use VR as an exercise complement will definitely get an increased workout when using it. 

I found using it more or less in line with what I expected when looking at it, though much more fun in game, especially once you get used to it and start to ‘forget’ that it’s there. The main factor on usage time for me often came down to my own fitness, although there were times when a glitch in-game would cause discomfort and I’d need a break, through no fault of the Kat VR itself. I liked the different grip levels on the shoes, both for use in-game and to make getting on and off easier.

Walking in game still isn’t directly the same as walking IRL, but I definitely understood how to use it very quickly and as someone familiar with games and gaming, I quickly associated this as simply a game mechanic. There’s a good amount of freedom in how you approach this, from walking on the spot to going full-lean forward.

Guinea pig #3Kat VR treadmill used by first timers.

(Image credit: Future)
  • Name: Jamie
  • Age: 46
  • VR experience: Bought a HTC Vive not long after launch and has played 100s of hours of VR games.

Where was this when VR came out!

Thoughts: Where was this when VR came out! I know, that damned chicken/egg problem, but really this treadmill is amazing. I absolutely fell in love with VR gaming when it first came out and have thoroughly enjoyed many games, but any game where the character POV moves while you are not physically moving has made me feel slightly nauseous, and this treadmill absolutely solves that problem. 

It took a little while to trust that I could actually walk freely while using it, but once that issue was overcome it really made the VR experience so much better. It’s light years ahead of “point controller where you want to go then teleport” option, and would be incredible to experience more meaty games like Half Life: Alyx or Arizona Sunshine with!

If this is the future of VR gaming, it’s going to be a hell of a lot of fun!

Guinea pig #3Kat VR treadmill used by first timers.

(Image credit: Future)
  • Name: Hugh
  • Age: 43
  • VR experience: Played with VR around 10-15 times over the years, and has watched VR progress.

Thoughts: Found this really effective. I wasn’t sure how natural it would feel, but it took me only about five minutes to feel comfortable and then it very quickly felt immersive! 

I also do have lower back issues and so was a bit concerned about how I’d go there, but the movement felt stable and my back felt looser, similar to exercise, so I would even consider using this in winter as exercise too. Overall, loved it, and would definitely recommend it to anyone interested.

Guinea pig #4Kat VR treadmill used by first timers.

(Image credit: Future)
  • Name: Isabella
  • Age: 19
  • VR experience: Never owned a VR headset but has some experience playing miscellaneous games through the years.

Thoughts: Getting onto the platform felt like Bambi on ice in a way. I was a little unsteady but once my body adjusted into the harness I felt secure. Getting used to trusting the harness and how to move around on the spot was easier when in-game but still a weird sensation. I’m not used to trying to walk on something with game play that is moving with you. Thankfully it took only a few minutes to adjust my thinking and movement, and I was freely trialling what you can and can’t do, landing on what feels just right. 

Overall the Kat VR is quite comfortable, easy to adjust to and you barely feel the harness. I could have played for a good few hours given the chance. I think the only barrier would be the physical workout that comes with it.

Guinea pig #5

 

(Image credit: Future)
  • Name: Michael
  • Age: 39
  • VR experience: Doesn’t own VR, however, has experience with using Oculus DK1 and HTC Vive at VR gaming businesses.

Thoughts: I often get motion sickness in VR so I was a little hesitant at first while using the Kat VR. Once I started to fumble my way through moving while in a game it clicked pretty quickly for me as to how locomotion is translated via the sensors and how you move.

Once I got comfortable with movement, I started to experiment with starting to run and play around with how quickly the support you’re tethered to moves. It was surprisingly smooth. 

I personally couldn’t crouch or kneel down while using it, and trying felt very awkward. Also if you’re a bit taller like me (183cm) the height of the platform had me dangerously close to the ceiling with the controllers in my hands, so if you’re a tall human this may limit your vertical movement. I’m rather out of shape and don’t exactly have great cardiovascular abilities, however, while using the Kat VR I had a great time and absolutely had a workout and loved it.

Guinea pig #5Kat VR treadmill used by first timers.

(Image credit: Future)
  • Name: Pip 
  • Age: 24
  • VR experience: Dad had a HTC Vive when they were a teenager and enjoyed it very casually.

Thoughts: For die hard VR fans this is very much a good investment. Once you trust the treadmill to hold you it’s a lot of fun to go running up to enemies and explore worlds without the challenge of motion sickness. 

The shoes I found uncomfortable but they functioned very well. For the average person, it is too big and bulky to have. It takes up a lot of space! But at the same time you are confined to that space so less likely to wack your hand on furniture.

Guinea pig #6Kat VR treadmill used by first timers.

(Image credit: Future)
  • Name: Ben
  • Age: 35
  • VR Experience: Has owned PSVR since it was released. Owns many VR games with lots of hours of gameplay. 

It’s a lot more fun than what it looks like in any video.

Thoughts: I watched a hand full of videos before experiencing the Kat VR and was very sceptical on how well it would really work. It looked like a bit of a pain to get the initial setup working, but once up and in myself I never had any issues. 

Trying to move around once in the Kat VR was very easy. I had no issue with using it and picked it up pretty quickly. The device itself is a large setup but considering you’re strapped in it gives you more space and feels a bit safer. You can assure there won’t be anyone running through a window or smashing your TV while using it. 

After having a go of the Kat VR I feel every big gamer will own one of these, the future of gaming is finally here. Last thoughts; if anyone is serious about purchasing the unit, please test drive before purchase, it’s a lot more fun than what it looks like in any video.



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Where to find the shovel in Sons of the Forest

If you want to find the shovel in Sons of the Forest, it’s trickier than you might expect. If you’ve done just a little exploring and stumbled across those spots on the ground at points of interest that show a shovel symbol, you may think it’s a tool near at hand. But this staple of survival games is actually hidden deep within a cave and there are a few prerequisites to finding it.

If you’re wondering how to save your game (opens in new tab), there’s a guide for that. Or if you just want a few tips on how to survive (opens in new tab) the cannibal-infested island, I can help with that too. If you’re keen to find out how to get the shovel in Sons of the Forest, here’s what you need to know before you set out. 

Before you set out to find the shovel 

The shovel is hidden deep within a cave, but to make your way to it, you’ll need to find the rebreather so you can breathe underwater—such a comforting thought—and the rope gun to use as a zipline.

You’ll find the rebreather inside a cave on the beach to the north of the island, and the rope gun is located in a cave to the west. Check the map below for the cave entrance locations.

Cave entrance locations. (Image credit: Endnight Games)

Sons of the Forest shovel location 

Look for the cave entrance to the west of the snowy, mountainous region in the center of the island. I’ve marked the location on the map below but it’s easy to spot as you’ll find three bodies “standing” close by. You’ll need to wade through shallow water to get inside and it’s also incredibly dark, so you’ll want to either pull out your lighter or craft a torch to see where you’re going. If you’re having trouble locating it and would prefer a visual guide, this video (opens in new tab) should help.

Head forward into the cave, and you’ll come to a drop in front of you so look for a place on the ceiling to attach your zipline and cross to the other side. A pool of water is close by and you’ll need to make use of that rebreather and swim underwater and through the tunnel. The path is linear—and very dark—so keep going until you reach a place to climb out at the other end.

The cave entrance that leads you to the shovel. (Image credit: Endnight Games)

Keep following the tunnel and you’ll reach a place where you can slide down into more water. Look for dry land and follow the linear tunnel once again and you’ll eventually arrive in a large cavern which is strangely lit. Head towards the light source to find a body with a flashlight attachment.

Look for another tunnel that leads out of this cavern and follow it until you reach water again. It’s time for another underwater swim. Once you can surface and climb out, follow the path once again, and you’ll see horizontal lights in the distance. Just as the cave opens up into what’s beyond, you’ll find a body with the shovel.


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I’m excited that BioWare is ‘trying something new’ with Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, but for the love of god actually tell us something

Following the purported Dragon Age: Dreadwolf leak (opens in new tab) from a few weeks ago, I was hoping that BioWare might consider spilling the beans, maybe even just a couple of beans, to give us an idea of what it’s actually making here. But no, instead we get a “Game Design 101 (opens in new tab)” blog that describes, in granular detail, the process of prototyping skill trees, without giving us even a single bean. 

I’m kinda torn, though, because I’m very much in favour of developers giving us a peek behind the curtain. There’s this massive disconnect between players and developers that stems from people fundamentally misunderstanding how games get made, which isn’t helped by developers doing a bad job of demystifying the process. So a glimpse of how the sausage gets made can be invaluable. The problem here is that what people really want is to see the damn game. 

It’s been a while since BioWare’s had a slam dunk, and after Andromeda and Anthem there are a lot of completely reasonable doubts about the studio’s ability to make something that will become as beloved as their older RPGs. The alleged leak showed us something that looked very different from what we’re used to with Dragon Age, with combat that’s fully embraced a style more commonly seen in action games. It raises a lot of questions, and not one of them has been remotely addressed in the latest blog. 

So much time is spent explaining what game designers do, and the considerations the UX team have been making; while game design philosophy is genuinely quite interesting, there’s very little meat here. 

The most relevant section comes near the start, and isn’t attributed to a specific BioWare designer. 

Past Dragon Age games have all handled RPG systems, such as the player’s progression, differently, so naturally, we’re being just as experimental on Dreadwolf, taking the learnings of the past while also trying something new.

Skill Trees are a fundamental part of a deep RPG experience and give our players the ability to customize how their character functions in combat. A key belief on the team is that when a player invests a skill point, it should have a clear, tangible effect on the game, such as an ability or impactful perk.

The rest of the blog really just serves to emphasise this. Skill trees should be clear, with explanations and videos to make sure players know what they’re selecting, and the ability to plan builds right from the get-go. Every point you put into them should be meaningful, and you shouldn’t have to waste points on incremental nonsense just to get to the good shit. 

OK, that’s cool, I guess? But this is hardly a novel idea, and even though I do prefer making big decisions instead of lots of tiny ones that I instantly forget about, it’s not always as simple as just making sure there’s something fun to pour your points into. This is something Blizzard discovered in World of Warcraft. After streamlining the talent trees to make sure players never needed to worry about tiny stat increases, Blizzard realised players didn’t actually like that at all, and eventually reintroduced a more elaborate progression system that gives players more granular control. And it’s so much better (opens in new tab).

Maybe BioWare will find a way to let us have our cake and eat it too, but it’s impossible to tell right now because all we’re being shown are early prototypes of skill trees absent any details. What’s more frustrating is that the studio has actually finalised the design of the skill tree—there’s something tangible that we could actually see now. But instead we get to go to game design school. 

It’s not like I don’t sympathise with the complexity of communicating game development progress. Give too much away too soon and you raise expectations and get yourself in a bind in the (very likely) eventuality that changes need to be made. And prospective players desperately want more information, more communication. But if you don’t have anything to actually say, maybe it’s better to just wait till you do.


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That postmodern Lemmings-like where a Shiba Inu saves humanity is getting a PC version and a limited-time demo

Remember that weird, Lemmings-like game from last night’s Sony State of Play? The one where you’re a Shiba Inu guiding a stomping throng of humans through a blocky, abstract landscape? I hope so, because if you don’t it means I experienced some kind of religious hallucination. Regardless, something Sony neglected to mention is that the game is bound for PC as well as PlayStation. Humanity has a Steam page (opens in new tab), and a release date of May 2023 (the same as on console).

Humanity comes from the devs behind the excellent Tetris Effect (opens in new tab), and tells the tale of “a world where humanity is lost—without soul, without intellect, without a will of their own,” and their fate hinges entirely on “the wits and determination of a lone savior: you”. The “you” in this instance is a small, glowing Japanese dog.

It’s tough to overstate how Lemmings-y the game looks. Your job is to guide your human flock through a series of trials filled with “tricks, traps, and obstacles”. By barking you can issue orders—change direction, jump, fight—which your followers will obey “without question”. Your goal is to get the helpless masses to a pillar of light at the end of each level, avoiding inconvenient instances of mass death.

The devs are keeping schtum about what, exactly, is going on in Humanity’s story, but we do know one thing: Your followers have enemies. They’re called the Others, and they’ll harass and battle your humans as you attempt to get them to safety . 

The Others “live according to entirely different principles,” like wearing black t-shirts and wielding red lightsabers, and you can choose to avoid conflict with them or “confront them head-on,” leading to some Totally Accurate Battle Simulator (opens in new tab)-style showdowns between huge numbers of people.

The PC game seems to be getting all the same level-editing and VR bells and whistles as the PlayStation version, too. You’ll be able to design your own labyrinthine puzzles to share with your friends, as well as “Immerse yourself like never before as you tower over the teeming, ant-like people!” which doesn’t seem like something a Shiba Inu who cared for his flock would say. The game will release in May, but you can download and play the demo over on Steam (opens in new tab) right now. You might wanna hurry, though: The demo will go away on March 6.


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John Romero honoured alongside the teacher who made world’s first edutainment game

John Romero, famous for his work on Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein and, ah, Daikatana, is finally getting the recognition he deserves. Not for his hair, which remains inexplicably snubbed by awards committees across the globe, but for his entire career up to this point. At the annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA) in March, Romero will take home the Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on “iconic and genre defining first-person shooters” over the years. We are still making plenty of Doom clones (opens in new tab), after all.

Romero isn’t the only one being honoured. The judges will also give a posthumous “special award” to Mabel Addis, regarded as the first female game designer, who died in 2004. Addis worked as lead designer on The Sumerian Game (opens in new tab) in 1964, using her knowledge of ancient history to design something that paved the way “for game elements that wouldn’t become mainstream for decades”. 

The Sumerian Game was a piece of edutainment that took the form of “photo slideshows accompanied by synchronized audio”. Lacking modern display tech, it “used a computer printer to express dialogue and prompts,”  which came from an “in-game narrator/character who conveyed game information and asked questions of the player”. I don’t know about you, but The Sumerian Game sounds like a banger, and I feel comfortable retroactively declaring it PC Gamer’s 1964 Game of the Year.

“This year, the Game Developers Choice Awards will recognize two of the most impactful game development talents in history, Mabel Addis and John Romero,” said Stephenie Hawkins, a director at Informa Tech, which runs the GDCA. She continued that the GDCA is “proud to honor two artists with wildly divergent career trajectories,” but who nevertheless “shared a creative passion and ingenuity that would help define entire game genres”.

Addis worked as a grade school teacher when she wasn’t doing trailblazing game design as a side-hobby—which makes her award alongside Romero a real chalk and cheese.wad (opens in new tab) scenario—and I’m not sure anyone ever asked what she thought of Doom. I imagine she’d think it could be a little more educational than it is, though. At least we still have time to get Romero’s take on The Sumerian Game. Perhaps someone can ask him at the GDCA ceremony on March 22 this year.


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The best Alien game that isn’t an Alien game is free for a week

I often think that, were one so inclined, you could have a brilliant gaming life without ever spending a penny. There are all sorts of reasons why but in the last few years the Epic Games Store’s regular giveaways (opens in new tab) have served up some real classics, and now a personal favourite is available for free: Duskers (opens in new tab).

Duskers is a game about derelict spaceships. Well, maybe not that derelict. This is a strategy roguelike where you explore procedurally generated spaceships with a clutch of remotely piloted drones. The wrecks contain resources like scrap and fuel you need in order to continue exploring and, while all the humans are long-gone, other things lurk in the darkest corners.

If I had to point to one thing as the genius element of this game, it’s the interpretation of fog of war. You have a top-down view of the immediate area around your drones, as well as a map view of the wider ship, and in another example of the charming lo-fi space vibe here you control them with console commands. The screen crackles and the ambient, unsettling audio make moving deeper feel dangerous before you’ve even seen anything, and when you over-reach you’ll know in an instant. Duskers is often compared to the atmosphere of Alien or Space Hulk, and that’s exactly what it captures: some sense of being not alone, and vulnerable, on a giant piece of debris floating through the stars.

“Duskers is a tense and harrowing experience,” wrote PCG’s Chris Livingston when awarding it his personal pick for GOTY 2016 (opens in new tab), “and it’s equally satisfying when things go your way and when everything goes terribly wrong. The dangerous alien infestations that can quickly overpower your drones means caution and cleverness are your two most effective weapons, and randomization means every game is a bit different, letting you play again and again, never knowing quite what to expect.”

Duskers scooped a well-deserved 86% in PCG’s review (opens in new tab) when it released and, if you’re into lo-fi horror vibes, I’d even say you could add a few % on top of that. This is a brilliant strategy game with a unique sense of anticipation and fear of the unseen, and for free it’s a must-try. 


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Intel CEO slams Arrow Lake CPU delay rumours

True to his once soubriquet of “kicking Pat”, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has comprehensively punted talk of delays to the company’s upcoming Arrow Lake CPUs (opens in new tab) into orbit.

During Intel’s Capital Allocation Update conference call (opens in new tab) (via Tom’s Hardware (opens in new tab)), Gelsinger flatly denied any delays to currently road mapped CPUs, including Meteor Lake (opens in new tab) and Arrow Lake for consumer and gaming PC, plus Granite Rapids and Sierra Forest enterprise chips.

Questioned directly whether there was any truth in the recent rumours, Gelsinger replied unambiguously. “The simple answer is no. No delays. Arrow Lake is on track. The 3nm programs are on track, both with TSMC as well as our internal 3nm programs including Granite Rapids and Sierra Forest,” Gelsinger said.

“Good solid execution on both the client, the  server, and AXG (accelerated graphics) side. We are gaining momentum with foundry customers as well. So, I feel good that we have turned the corner on many of the execution challenges. These rumours, like many others, will be proven by our execution to be firmly false.”

For the record, then, Intel’s own publicly released road maps have Meteor Lake inked in for this year, Arrow Lake due in 2024, and Lunar Lake CPUs for 2025. The slight snag is that Intel also had publicly released slides showing Meteor Lake taping out in Q2 2021, nearly two years ago now.

Two years is certainly an unusually long time between tape out and market release. And yet there are no signs of the new chip on the market.

Intel’s current roadmaps indicate Arrow Lake is a 2024 chip. (Image credit: Intel)

Moreover, if you go back to 2012, Intel had 7nm chip production roadmapped for 2017 and as recently as 2019 is was due in 2021 according to its own elective and publicly distributed schedule. But here we are in 2023 and as yet Intel hasn’t produced any 7nm (now known as Intel 4 under the company’s new marketing scheme) chips for sale.

Meanwhile Intel’s Sapphire Rapids enterprise CPU finally hit the market this month, well over a year after its original late 2021 launch target, again as indicated by Intel itself. And, of course, Intel’s current 10nm node, now known as Intel 7 and used for its latest Raptor Lake CPUs, was fully five years late to market.

With all that in mind, Gelsinger’s aside that he is “somewhat amazed by some of these rumor mill discussions that come out” seems a little hollow. Intel’s track record of delivering on its own roadmaps has undeniably been poor in recent years. Indeed, it’s the reason why Gelsinger was brought in—to fix Intel’s execution problems.

Intel’s own slides show Meteor Lake taping out in Q2 2021, but it’s still not on sale. (Image credit: Intel)

Anyway, Gelsinger is bullish about Intel’s prospects for regaining its leadership in chip production remarkably soon. “We have growing confidence that Intel 20A and 18A (opens in new tab) place us on a path to regain transistor performance and power performance leadership by 2025,” he said.

The bottom line here is that we won’t have long to wait to find out if Intel really is on track. If it is, Meteor Lake will be released any day now, we’ll be able to buy Arrow Lake CPUs next year and in two years Intel will be beating TSMC at advanced chip production.

To be clear, that is an awful, awful lot to deliver on and a healthy skepticism is fully justified given Intel’s performance over the past five years. But if it happens, Gelsinger will be a hero. And our gaming PCs will be hella fast. Here’s hoping.


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Wordle hint and answer #615: Friday, February 24

Win Wordle (opens in new tab) your way with our extensive collection of help and hints. Take a look at our guides and tips to improve your daily game, get tailored help for today’s Wordle with the clue just below, or make sure you win with the answer to the February 24 (615) Wordle. It really is up to you.

Opening with a green and a yellow should feel like a solid start, but that green, and that yellow, turned out to be a tricky combination that left me stumped for a few guesses, so I didn’t get today’s Wordle until just before the very end. 

Wordle hint

A Wordle hint for Friday, February 24

Today’s answer is a shady and secluded spot in a garden often formed by climbing plants, such as certain roses or wisteria, trained to grow over a light framework until they create an intertwined canopy or archway. You’ll need to find two vowels today, and also use the US English spelling of this word. 

Is there a double letter in today’s Wordle? 

Yes, a letter is repeated in today’s puzzle. 

Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day 

A good starting word can be the difference between victory and defeat with the daily puzzle, but once you’ve got the basics, it’s much easier to nail down those Wordle wins. And as there’s nothing quite like a small victory to set you up for the rest of the day, here are a few tips to help set you on the right path: 

  • A good opening guess should contain a mix of unique consonants and vowels. 
  • Narrow down the pool of letters quickly with a tactical second guess.
  • Watch out for letters appearing more than once in the answer.

There’s no racing against the clock with Wordle so you don’t need to rush for the answer. Treating the game like a casual newspaper crossword can be a good tactic; that way, you can come back to it later if you’re coming up blank. Stepping away for a while might mean the difference between a win and a line of grey squares. 

Today’s Wordle answer

(Image credit: Josh Wardle)

What is the Wordle #615 answer?

Keep winning. The answer to the February 24 (615) Wordle is ARBOR. 

Previous answers

The last 10 Wordle answers 

Past Wordle answers can give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle-solving fresh. They are also a good way to eliminate guesses for today’s Wordle, as the answer is unlikely to be repeated. 

Here are some recent Wordle answers:

  • February 23: VAGUE
  • February 22: RIPER
  • February 21: RUDDY
  • February 20: SWEAT
  • February 19: KIOSK
  • February 18: AVAIL
  • February 17: CACHE
  • February 16: MAGIC
  • February 15: SALSA
  • February 14: SOUND

Learn more about Wordle 

Wordle gives you six rows of five boxes each day, and you’ll need to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them to keep up your winning streak.

You should start with a strong word (opens in new tab) like ARISE, or any other word that contains a good mix of common consonants and multiple vowels. You’ll also want to avoid starting words with repeating letters, as you’re wasting the chance to potentially eliminate or confirm an extra letter. Once you hit Enter, you’ll see which ones you’ve got right or wrong. If a box turns ⬛️, it means that letter isn’t in the secret word at all. 🟨 means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 🟩 means you’ve got the right letter in the right spot.

Your second guess should compliment the starting word, using another “good” word to cover any common letters you missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn’t present in today’s answer. With a bit of luck, you should have some coloured squares to work with and set you on the right path.

After that, it’s just a case of using what you’ve learned to narrow your guesses down to the right word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there’s an E). Don’t forget letters can repeat too (ex: BOOKS).

If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips (opens in new tab), and if you’d like to find out which words have already been used you can scroll to the relevant section above. 

Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle (opens in new tab), as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle (opens in new tab), refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn’t long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures (opens in new tab). Surely it’s only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes. 


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