Grand Theft Auto 5 PC Review

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When we first reviewed Grand Theft Auto 5 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in September of 2013, we declared it a masterpiece and awarded a score of 10 out of 10. Here’s what we said then:

Grand Theft Auto 5 is not only a preposterously enjoyable video game, but also an intelligent and sharp-tongued satire of contemporary America. It represents a refinement of everything that GTA 4 brought to the table five years ago. It’s technically more accomplished in every conceivable way, but it’s also tremendously ambitious in its own right. No other world in video games comes close to this in size or scope, and there is sharp intelligence behind its sense of humour and gift for mayhem. It tells a compelling, unpredictable, and provocative story without ever letting it get in the way of your own self-directed adventures through San Andreas.

It is one of the very best video games ever made.

That’s still where we stand on it today. And whether you agree that it’s a masterpiece or not, the PC version is definitely the best way to play GTA 5. Developer Rockstar has taken full advantage of the technical power of the platform, and made GTA feel right at home here. It’s well optimized, and the frame rate and resolution will go as high as your hardware can handle – including 4K/UHD resolutions and multi-display setups. Maxed out, the enormous and incredibly detailed open-world region of San Andreas looks more amazing than ever, thanks to long draw distances and enhanced effects. This is the only place you can play GTA 5 at 60 frames per second (or higher), and with all the high-speed driving and shooting, it definitely benefits from that smoothness.

Graphics options are plentiful and powerful, with everything from standard quality and view-distance adjustments to a field-of-view slider (though it’s more limited than discriminating FOV players might want – modders have already remedied that). Controls are customizable, and you can play your own music library on the in-game radio. It’s hard to complain much about that.

For the most part, the menus are well done and feel good to use with the mouse. That’s best exemplified with the web browser, which feels like you’d expect navigating a web page with a mouse to feel. The one place this breaks down a little is in the score menus; it’s a little tougher to navigate an Ammunation gun store’s wares with the mouse than it is with a D-pad or arrow keys, but it’s still totally workable. It’s simply a small reminder that this wasn’t originally a PC game.

Using a mouse to shoot, on the other hand, is good enough that it risks making combat feel a little too easy. I don’t pretend to be a brilliant marksman, but if you’re a bad guy (or a cop) in Los Santos, your odds of even making it out of your car to start shooting drop considerably when I’m using a mouse. Without the scourge of auto-aim dragging the targeting reticule down toward center mass, I found myself picking off most enemies with a single shot to the head, especially when playing in first-person mode. That doesn’t mean I felt invincible, though; because the authorities will never stop coming until you give up and run away or die, they’re always going to give you a challenging fight through the weight of sheer numbers.

Nice PC-specific control touches, like not having to hammer a button to keep up running speed (just hold down Shift) and being able to hit a single button (Caps Lock by default) to activate a special ability make everything feel like a native PC game. You don’t get the annoying horizontal drift when running in first-person like you do in the PS4 and Xbox One versions, either.

One of my favorite things about the control setup, though, is that like GTA 4 and a select few other games before it, GTA 5 lets you seamlessly swap between the mouse and keyboard and a gamepad on the fly. No need to go into a menu and swap – just push a button on one or the other, and all on-screen prompts change to reflect what you’re using. It’s a fantastic thing for a game like this, where running and gunning is more precise with a mouse and keyboard but driving or especially flying benefits greatly from the analog input of a thumbstick. You can even use both at once, if you like.

Then there’s GTA Online, which has been very well behaved this week (I’m as surprised as you!). Though I’ve experienced the occasional disconnect or bout of lag, it’s nothing out of the ordinary for an online game that matches up groups of up to 30 players. What is out of the ordinary is how diverse and varied the available activities are: dozens of different types of deathmatches, co-op missions (including the all-new and very impressive multi-stage heists), races over land, sea, and air (some of which involving combat), and general open-world chaos like spontaneous drive-by shootings (or strafing runs) of other players. The online version of San Andreas is a place where anything can happen at any time, and it’s fantastic to watch people make use of that freedom, even if the majority of it is the inherent humor of crashing things into other things.

The main PC-specific feature is the Rockstar Editor movie tool and its associated Director Mode, which gives you access to a wide spectrum of playable character models. It’s a powerful creative tool that lets you easily capture gameplay clips and then edit and export them into what can end up as extremely elaborate movies. I did experience a crash that robbed me of about an hour’s work on a classy short film about a man in an alien costume who punches people on a beach without provocation. I love the flexibility of the camera and the simplicity of the editing controls – they make me wish I had a finer eye for filmmaking as I go for easy laughs with a montage of slow-motion close ups of fists hitting faces. Fortunately, there are far more creatively talented folks out there who will entertain us for years to come with GTA 5-made machinima.

Pros

• Amazing open world
• Good controls
• Huge variety
• Great in SP and MP
• Movie editor

The Verdict

Grand Theft Auto V is not only a preposterously enjoyable video game, but also an intelligent and sharp-tongued satire of contemporary America. It represents a refinement of everything that GTA IV brought to the table five years ago. It’s technically more accomplished in every conceivable way, but it’s also tremendously ambitious in its own right. No other world in video games comes close to this in size or scope, and there is sharp intelligence behind its sense of humour and gift for mayhem. It tells a compelling, unpredictable, and provocative story without ever letting it get in the way of your own self-directed adventures through San Andreas. It is one of the very best video games ever made. <em><strong>Note</strong>: This review exclusively covers the single-player portion of Grand Theft Auto V, since it launched without any multiplayer mode. <a href=”http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/10/07/grand-theft-auto-online-review”>Click here to read Keza’s thoughts on the recently released GTA Online</a> multiplayer mode.</em>

Nat Smith

Published: 1 month ago

Elden Ring

When was the Elden Ring DLC release date? We’ve been anticipating a follow-up expansion to FromSoftware’s definitive soulslike since we first sat upon the throne and became the Elden Lord. Fortunately, the long wait is over, and the Shadow of the Erdtree looms large.

Elden Ring immediately secured a reputation as one of the best PC games of all time following its release in 2022. Since then, FromSoftware has delivered a second helping with its new DLC. Shadow of the Erdtree sends the Tarnished into the Land of Shadow in pursuit of the Empyrean Miquella, and you can check out our Elden Ring Shadow of Erdtree review to see what we thought of FromSoftware’s largest expansion yet. Here’s everything you need to know about the Shadow of the Erdtree release date and what awaits in the Land of Shadow.

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree release date

The Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree release date was Friday, June 21, 2024. It is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

Development on the Elden Ring DLC expansion began at the end of 2022. It was revealed in a single post from the dev’s Twitter account on February 28, 2023, with the following message: “Rise, Tarnished, and let us walk a new path together. An upcoming expansion for Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree, is currently in development. We hope you look forward to new adventures in the Lands Between.”

FromSoftware was later interviewed by Japanese outlet Game Watch following the PlayStation Awards 2023. Producer Yasuhiro Kitao had this to say about the Shadow of the Erdtree development: “It’s still a little ways off, but progress is going well.” In January 2024, fans spotted an Elden Ring DLC update on Steam’s backend. Bandai Namco’s YouTube accounts updated its Elden Ring playlists a week later in preparation from the trailers dropping from February 2024 onwards.

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC preorder bonus

The preorder bonuses depended on the Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree edition that players picked up. Purchasing the base game granted the Ring of Miquella emote, while the premium edition, which included a digital art book and digital soundtrack. Those ordering the collector’s edition received a 46 cm statue of Messmer the Impaler and a 40-page physical art book.

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree trailers

The Shadow of the Erdtree gameplay reveal trailer kicks off at Mohgwyn Palace. We see the cocoon that holds the body of Miquella the Kind, the renegade Empyrean who rescinded the Golden Order and cultivated the Haligtree. Mohg stole Miquella from the Haligtree in an attempt to raise Miquella into full godhood and rule beside him as consort. Mohg’s plan ultimately fails when the player defeats him in Mohgwyn Palace, leaving behind Miquella’s cocoon. Now, it seems the finally woken up.

There’s a glimpse of the Erdtree wreathed in shadows preceding a montage of monsters roaming the Land of Shadow. A voiceover teases: “In that forsaken place, blood must spill — the blood of your fellows, the Erdtree faithful.” Director Miyazaki already confirmed the Elden Ring DLC map is bigger than Limgrave, so there’s plenty of locations to discover. The Shadow of the Erdtree Abyssal Woods are a particularly maddening area, where stealth is the key to survival.

The trailer reveals several new enemies set to litter the battlefield. These enemies include a towering Brazier Giant, a new variant of the Tree Sentinel, and even a Golden Hippopotamus. We also get a glimpse of the Shadow of the Erdtree Count Ymir quest that’s set to take the Tarnished across the Shadow Realm to ring a series of esoteric bells.

A small montage then shows off new Elden Ring spells and Elden Ring weapons we can expect to pick up in the DLC. One of the more striking moments reveals a new incantation that conjures the head of a great horned bear, much like the dragon head that appears when casting Dragonfire.

The Elden Ring hand-to-hand arts also present a brand-new form of melee combat. The Tarnished’s fists and feet become their weapons, adopting stances and animations that could satisfy any would-be monks out there. Naturally, there are a number of new Elden Ring talismans to enhance these abilities in the DLC, along with new Elden Ring Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones to upgrade your most powerful weapons.

However, this trailer is most notable for the reveal of Messmer the Impaler, the most prominent boss leading up to the Shadow of the Erdtree release date. We even get a glimpse of the fight itself, as a voice orders us to “touch the withered arm, and travel to the realm of shadow,” which confirms how players can start the Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree difficulty

Speaking with Famitsu and translated by Reddit user TheAngryFurlong, Elden Ring director Hidetaki Miyazaki revealed a new leveling system for the DLC areas in Shadow of the Erdtree. He explains that players should “think of the attack power system in Sekiro. Separate from the original level system, there is an ‘attack power’ that is only enabled in the DLC areas.

These powerful DLC blessings take the form of Elden Ring Scadutree Fragments and Elden Ring Revered Spirit Ashes to boost the stats of both yourself and your summons. “This was introduced in order to give freedom to meet the threats mentioned earlier, so you can do something like exploring other areas before going back to challenge bosses that were too strong the first time, allowing you to more easily experience this, even in the high-level range. On the other hand, by keeping your attack power low, you can also experience this challenge at a lower level.”

This change will mostly affect those who have taken their character and started a new game plus playthrough, as each reset will increase the overall challenge of Shadow of the Erdtree. The advice is to start a new character if you want to experience the DLC at the lowest difficulty. Check out the Shadow of the Erdtree recommended level to see if you’re ready to take it on.

Who is Miquella in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree?

Miquella and Malenia are known as Empyreans, special beings capable of becoming gods. Unfortunately, they were both born cursed but don’t suffer from the same afflictions. Malenia was cursed with Scarlet Rot, causing her to rot from within. Miquella’s curse is the inability to age, keeping him trapped inside the body of a child. To negate the effects of their curses, Miquella created his own Haligtree in the Consecrated Snowfield and kept it hidden from prying eyes to ensure it could grow. You can hear more about Miquella the Kind and his role in Shadow of the Erdtree in the story trailer above..

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree story

The Elden Ring family tree continues to stay at the forefront of its story in Shadow of the Erdtree. While you can fight Malenia as one of the most challenging Elden Ring bosses the open-world game offers, we never get to meet her brother hMiquella in his original state. Until now. Our journey to the Land of Shadow has the Tarnished us following in the Empyrean’s footsteps.

Whether we are Miquella’s “promised Lord” or simply under his thrall of affection, the Land of Shadow also hides secrets of Queen Marika’s life before her ascension to godhood and the rise of the Golden Order. Themes of childbirth and bloodlines established in Elden Ring’s story will make their way into the DLC, with the reveal of long-lost siblings and old foes. Just watch out for when the point of no return where NPCs disappear if you want to avoid accidentally breaking some big questlines.

Now that you’re prepped for the Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, refresh your memory of the Elden Ring endings and brush up on the best Elden Ring builds to take into the DLC. If you’re one of the rare people yet to dive into FromSoftware’s soulslike game, see our Elden Ring review if you need any more convincing to take the leap. We gave it a perfect ten, describing it as a “masterpiece” that “lights the path ahead” for future open-world games.

Christian Vaz

Published: 8 days ago

Elden Ring

What are the best Elden Ring builds? The first 20 levels shape your entire class, so selecting your stats carefully is essential. While placing some stat points into faith as an Astrologer may be tempting, you’re probably better off committing to the full sorcery build to maximize your damage in the late game.

The builds in this guide are not only ready for Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, you can easily play through the entire expansion without ever swapping out any of your armor or weapons. If you’ve found that your build has been nerfed, never fear — grab a specific Elden Ring Great Rune. You’ll be able to unlock character respec, and you can simply create a new one!

The expansion has a separate leveling system that involves exploring the map to find Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes; these items buff your attacks while negating damage you take, and they strengthen Torrent and your summons, respectively. Make sure you grab these items right away as you will struggle to defeat the enemies in the new area without them!

These are the best Elden Ring builds:

• Bloodfiend’s Arm
• Lightning Perfume Bottle Prophet
• Bleeding Thorns Mage
• Colossal Knight Strength
• Glass Cannon Mage
• Samurai Bleed Dex
• Ice Lightning Samurai
• Fires Deadly Sin Faith
• Spinning Reaper Bleed
• Blasphemous Blade

Once you obtain the required stats for your build, spend the rest of your stats in these three areas: Vigor, Mind, and Endurance. It’s important to remember that the soft cap for Vigor is 60, Mind is 55, and Endurance is 32.

Bloodfiend’s Arm Bleed build

Starting Class: Bandit
Key Stats: Arcane 50, Strength 60, Endurance 50
Essential Items: Rakshasa armor set, White Mask, Axe Talisman, Two-Handed Sword Talisman

There’s something magical about wielding a colossal weapon that makes you feel unstoppable, and the Bloodfiend’s Arm with the right build will turn you into a destructive force. Despite being hit with a slight nerf in the same patch that killed the Lightning Perfume Bottle, the Bloodfiend’s Arm is still capable of ripping through any enemy you put in front of it. You will need to equip this weapon with Ash of War: Endure (the Blood affinity variation) to make sure it scales with both Strength and Arcane: Strength effects how much damage you deal per hit, and Arcane effects the bleed build up on enemies.

You can find the Bloodfiend’s Arm within the first few hours of the expansion, but first you need to make your way to the Main Gate Cross Site of Grace. Once you’re there, head to the east and jump along the cliff edge, following the hollow gravestones until you reach the arch way. Continue towards the south where you will hit Prospect Town, from here, climb the broken tower to find multiple enemies standing around. The Bloodfiend’s Arm isn’t a guaranteed drop, so you may have to come back to this area and kill these enemies again.

The easiest way to buff your damage is by wearing the new Rakshasa set which we’ve highlighted in our Elden Ring armor guide. As for the helmet, the White Mask is a must-have for any build as it increases your damage whenever blood loss occurs in battle. The talismans can be switched out depending on the boss you’re fighting against, but we highly recommend the Axe and Two-Handed Sword Talisman to maximize your damage output.

There will be times when you take damage as you’re swinging, but that shouldn’t be a problem as long as your Vigor is nice and high. You need to pay close attention to your opponent’s multi hitting attacks — taking too much damage while you’re attempting to attack will knock you out of your animation. Once you’ve analyzed the attack patterns of each boss, it won’t take long before you’re crushing everything in your sight.

Lightning Perfume Bottle Prophet build

Starting Class: Prophet
Key Stats: Faith 50, Dexterity 50, Vigor 50
Essential Items: Blasphemous Blade, Bloodsucking Cracked Tear, Ash of War Rolling Sparks, Perfumer’s Talisman, Shard of Alexander
Best Incantation: Knight’s Lightning Spear

Okay, so the Lightning Perfume Bottle build was deservedly nerfed, but from our testing post-patch, it seems like this build still has some legs. You can’t electrify bosses in under a minute anymore, but the damage you can deal using the Lightning Perfume Bottle is still impressive. We’re still pairing this weapon with the Ash of War: Rolling Sparks to add lightning explosions to each attack. If you aim directly at the floor where your enemy is standing, you can deal one concentrated burst of lightning damage to eliminate enemies in seconds.

The main change we’re making to this build is to add the Blasphemous Blade to give you another option in combat. This weapon heals you every time you deal damage to enemies, and during boss battles, this can save you from death when you least expect it. Scroll to our dedicated Blasphemous Blade build on this page to find out where to find this deadly sword.

The Lightning Perfume Bottle is easy to find once you find the Cerulean Coast Site of Grace — give our Elden Ring DLC map guide a read if you need help locating it. From the Cerulean Coast, make your way to the body of water in the north and keep going straight until you approach a rock, from there turn left and pick the weapon up. The fastest way to pick up Rolling Sparks is to travel to the Shadow Keep Main Gate, go down the elevator, and ride towards the tallest rock in the west. As you climb the rock, look directly up to find a glowing scarab floating in the air. Kill it before it disappears to claim the Ash of War.

You can go further beyond by equipping the Perfumer’s Talisman which boosts the damage from Perfume attacks by 20%, and by using the Shard of Alexander to boost your skill damage by an addition 15%. There really isn’t much you need to do to play optimally with this build, but there are a few things you should know. Your main weapon scales with Faith and Dexterity, which is why we’ve put so many points into these areas, and you can’t go wrong with a bolstered amount of Vigor.

Bleeding Thorns Mage build

Starting Class: Astrologer
Key Stats: Intelligence 50, Faith 50, Vigor 50
Essential Items: Albinauric Staff, Alberich’s Set, Opaline Hardtear, Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tear
Best Spell: Impenetrable Thorns

We know this build wasn’t nerfed in the latest update, and we still don’t understand why. That said, we aren’t going to question a good thing, so sit back and enjoy it while you can.

Can one spell really define an entire build? When it’s as powerful as Impenetrable Thorns, absolutely. This new spell sends forth three winding thorns that track and ensnare the enemy. With enough hits, the thorns create a bleed effect, causing hemorrhage buildup that deals a deadly amount of damage against most enemies. If you use the spell close up to your target, it instantly creates a wall of thorns in front of them, trapping the enemy in place.

Even if this spell lost the hemorrhage buildup, it would still be worth using. If this spell lost the slowdown effect, it would still be worth using. Whether you’re fighting against multiple targets or standalone bosses, Impenetrable Thorns makes light work of anyone standing in your way.

We’ve listed all the items you could use to power up your Thorn spells, but in all honesty, you really don’t need to go that far with this build. You might need a quick respec to gain the minimum stat requirements for the spell, and you should be good to go. Our best Elden Ring spells guide has detailed instructions on where you can find the Impenetrable Thorns spell. If you’re worried about being attacked during the start-up frames of the spell, try equipping the Opaline Hardtear and Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tear. This will create a protective shield around you while boosting the strength of your Magic attacks.

If you do want to take this build one step further, you can grab an armor set that boosts thorn sorceries. Alberich’s Set can be found by travelling to the Fortified Manor’s Site of Grace, head to the main hall and you will find this armor. Also located in the Lands Between is the Albinauric Staff which is located in Volcano Manor. Travel to the Prison Town Church Site of Grace, leave the door and go right. Run along the rooftops and head to the left, move past the enemies and jump towards the circular roof. From there, continue ahead and fall to the platform below. Continuing running forward, go across the bridge and head to the ladder on the right side of the building. Fall to the platform directly ahead of you and head through the door on the left to find the staff.

Colossal Knight Strength build

Starting Class: Barbarian
Key Stats: Strength 21+, Endurance 25, Vigor 25
Essential Items: Warcry Ash of War, Axe Talisman, Roar Medallion, any great or colossal weapon

This is a powerful early-to-mid game build for those who enjoy crushing foes with pure strength and a giant sword, and it comes courtesy of Fextralife. It’s a risky build, thanks to some exceedingly lengthy windup times, but every time you land a hit, you’ll flatten enemies for massive damage. And if you don’t defeat your target in the first hit, you have huge stamina reserves to draw on to follow up with a second swing. As you get deep into the mid-game, you may find yourself needing more and more swings, but we have some extra guidance for that.

Strength is your primary stat, but the amount you require will depend on the weapon you choose. Endurance and Vigor are also important as you’ll need to bolster your equip load stat – this means you can strap on some good armor in addition to a big sword. Endurance also gives more stamina, which is handy for chaining attacks together or escaping. And you’ll be grateful for the extra Vigor as this build will often see you trading heavy blows, especially against bosses.

You will need a big weapon and the Warcry Ashes of War. Any greatsword or colossal weapon will do, although you must be able to apply weapon arts to it to use Warcry. This gives you a damage buff, but it will also change your R2 attack to a charging attack with an overhead swing. This is key because not only does it dish out some absurd damage numbers, but by charging into enemies, you can usually interrupt their attack patterns before delivering the crushing overhead attack. Depending on the foe’s poise, you will either knock them to the ground or stand a high chance of staggering them, allowing you to go in for a critical strike.

To make this build shine, you’ll need to equip a few Elden Ring talismans. The Axe Talisman and Roar Medallion are essential. The former increases the damage of your charge attacks — helpful for obvious reasons — while the Roar Medallion increases the damage of your attacks after using Warcry. Other talisman slots are less important, so we suggest supplementing these with items that either boost total stamina (Viridian Amber Medallion) or stamina recovery (Erdtree’s Favor talisman), as you’ll be burning through a lot of it with this build.

Glass Cannon Mage build

Starting Class: Astrologer
Key Stats: Intelligence 80, Dexterity 18, Strength 12
Essential Items: Moonveil Katana, Lusat’s Glintstone Staff, Cerulean Hidden Tear
Best Spells: Comet Azur, Terra Magicus

The Glass Cannon Mage deals more damage than literally any other class in the game, but you will be extremely fragile as a result. If a random enemy manages to attack you while you’re fighting against a boss, there’s a good chance you’ll die. Not every fight will be a complete walk in the park, but the ones that are will be over in seconds.

This build becomes borderline broken once you gain access to Comet Azur and the Cerulean Hidden Tear, providing you with access to a constant beam of destructive energy for ten whole seconds. Again, our Elden Ring spells guide highlights exactly where you can find Comet Azur.

As for the Cerulean Hidden Tear, you need to make your way to Mt. Gelmir and defeat the Ulcerated Tree Spirit found near the Road of Iniquity Site of Grace. This Elden Ring crystal tear temporarily eliminates all FP consumption – when combined with several powerful spells like Comet Azur and Meteorite of Astel, you can unleash a constant barrage of damage toward your enemies. Make sure you have the best Elden Ring spirit ash summons equipped to distract any enemies to ensure your spells hit their target.

To deal the most damage with your spells, we recommend picking up Lusat’s Glintstone Staff from Sellia, Town of Sorcery. This staff is available as a reward for defeating the Nox Swordstress and Nox Priest boss. The special effect that makes this Elden Ring staff stand out from the competition is that it enhances the power of all sorceries; however, it also consumes additional FP.

For your main hand weapon, you should use the Moonveil Katana before it receives an inevitable nerf. This sword deals far too much damage in its current state and scales perfectly with the intelligence stat to add to its damage output. Battle against the Magma Wyrm at the Gael Tunnel in Caelid to receive this weapon as a drop.

Samurai Bleed Dex build

Starting Class: Samurai
Key Stats: Dexterity 55, Strength 40
Essential Items: 2x Uchigatanas (with the Seppuku Ashes of War), Lord of Blood’s Exultation, White Mask, Rotten Winged Sword Insignia

The bleed effect might be the most fun players can have in Elden Ring using melee weapons. With just a few slashes, enemies instantly lose large chunks of their health by filling up their hemorrhage bar. This effect deals damage equal to a percentage of your opponent’s max health points, putting them in danger quickly. A common misconception about this build is that you need to put points into Arcane, but this stat doesn’t scale with Seppuku, the primary Ash of War choice for the Blood Loss Samurai. Huge shout-outs to YouTuber RageGamingVideos for highlighting this fantastic build.

We’ve gone for the Samurai class as it starts with one Uchigatana already. To our knowledge, there’s only one other Uchigatana in the game, residing in the Deathtouched Catacombs in Limgrave. To take these weapons to new heights, equip them with the Ash of War: Seppuku to drastically increase their attack power while adding blood loss to each attack.

Head to the Freezing Lake in the Mountaintops of the Giants area and find the invisible scarab’s footsteps near a tree – take down the scarab to earn the Ash of War. Before applying it to your weapon, duplicate the Ash of War at a Blacksmith to apply it to both katanas.

To amplify this build’s damage output even further, we’re going to need a powerful talisman. Head to the Leyndell Catacombs and make your way to the end to fight against Esgar, Priest of Blood. Esgar drops the Lord of Blood’s Exultation talisman, increasing your attack power by 20% whenever it inflicts a nearby player or enemy with blood loss. This buff is almost always active as Seppuku initiates a temporary bleed effect after use.

Another essential talisman is the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, acquired after completing Millicent’s quest line. This talisman raises your attack power with successive attacks, perfect for a dual Uchigatana build. Finally, the White Mask, which you can find as a drop from one of the NPC invaders near the Palace Approach Ledge-Road Site of Grace. The effect of this mask works just like the Lord of Blood’s Exultation talisman, increasing your attack power whenever it senses blood loss nearby.

Ice and Lightning Samurai build

Starting Class: Samurai
Key Stats: Dexterity 65, Strength 30, Faith 25
Essential Items: 2x Dragonscale Blade, Borealis’s Mist, Shard of Alexander, Rotten Winged Sword Insignia

You know a build will be good when it requires you to obtain an item that only drops once per playthrough. This special Samurai build discovered by YouTuber Jazza97 utilizes the Dragonscale Blade sword, a special weapon that can only be obtained during the Ranni quest line. While you can get away with using one Dragonscale Blade, the damage output with two truly completes this build, so we highly recommend getting your hands on another blade.

The Shard of Alexander is a talisman that greatly boosts the attack power of your skills, and don’t forget to equip the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia to deal more damage as you land successive blows. Finally, the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman will provide you with some much-needed steel, giving you enough health to afford to take some damage occasionally.

Unlike the builds we have listed using Samurai swords in this guide, the Ice and Lightning build can attack enemies from a distance as it’s able to utilize Draconic spells. Check out the video above to find out where you can find all the essential items needed for this build.

Fire’s Deadly Sin Faith build

Starting Class: Prophet
Key Stats: Strength 30, Faith 80
Essential Items: Fire’s Deadly Sin, Erdtree Greatshield, Old Lord’s Talisman

This is another incredibly strong build. Some might say broken, even. It used to be a lot worse, but a previous patch nerfed one element of the original idea, although the build overall remains potent. We’d like to give a shout-out to YouTuber KhrazeGaming for discovering this powerful build, although the Deathblight effect no longer works as mentioned.

The first item you’ll need is the Fire’s Deadly Sin incantation – this usually isn’t very helpful in most combat situations, but it becomes significantly better when combined with the Erdtree Greatshield. You can find this incantation by completing the Flightless Bird painting puzzle in West Lyendell. Next up, you must go to the long set of stairs in Altus Plateau, where the Tree Sentinel Duo resides. This boss drops the greatshield.

This build is interesting because you don’t need to fight with a primary weapon, and the initial stat requirements for the Erdtree Greatshield are surprisingly low, giving you access to this combo by the mid-game. Activate Fire’s Deadly Sin to start the burning effect for the next 40 seconds – this activates the Erdtree Greatshield’s Golden Retaliation skill, turning the shield into a machine gun.

Golden Retaliation allows you to reflect spells toward your opponent, but Fire’s Deadly Sin counts as an enemy spell as it slowly damages your character. The greatshield scales with Strength and Faith, so we’ve put so many points into Faith for this build. You can increase the duration of the incantation by picking up the Old Lord’s Talisman located in a chest in Crumbling Farum Azula.

Spinning Reaper Bleed build

Starting Class: Confessor or Vagabond
Key Stats: Strength 55, Dexterity 55
Essential Items: Grave Scythe, Spinning Weapon Ash of War, Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, anything that boosts the bleed effect

If you thought you knew bleed builds, think again. The team at RageGamingVideos returns once again to one-up their previous dexterity-based bleed build, which you’ll find above. This unique endgame bleed build focuses on the Spinning Weapon Ash of War. Why? Because it’s fun, mostly. Fun and jaw-droppingly effective. While this weapon art is ostensibly designed for defensive use, you can make this a great offensive tool for dishing out high-damage numbers through successive hits, especially when you’re up against larger, slower enemies.

If you’ve never encountered it before, Spinning Weapon essentially makes your equipped weapon hover in midair and spin rapidly. If you manage to catch a foe at the right angle, they can receive dozens of hits in just a few seconds. As RGV points out, these hits count as weapon hits, which means you can apply your usual weapon buffing shenanigans to combo with Spinning Weapon to proc massive bleed effects.

The Grave Scythe is the weapon that inspired this build, but pretty much any weapon with bleed effects and a long reach will fit the bill. You’ll need the Spinning Weapon Art of War, obviously, and then Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, which buffs damage dealt when you’re making successive attacks. You can buff this build further by equipping Millicent’s Prosthesis or putting the Thorny Cracked Tear on your Flask of Wondrous Physick.

It’s worth noting that you may find it difficult to catch enemies in Spinning Weapon’s attack if they’re quite mobile, which means it’s not viable for PvP. This build also can be risky – you will likely trade damage at times, especially if you’re fighting multiple opponents.

Blasphemous Blade build

Starting Class: Prophet
Key Stats: Faith 59, Vigor 50, Strength 35
Essential Items: Blasphemous Blade, Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman, Shard of Alexander. Fire Scorpion Charm, Carian Filigreed Crest

The Blasphemous Blade build has been highlighted by YouTuber Jazza97 for its incredible damage output and healing capabilities. As long as you can consistently land attacks on your opponent, you’re guaranteed to stay in the fight, as this weapon heals you whenever you kill enemies. It’s worth noting that the Blasphemous Blade requires you to complete the Volcano Manor quest line, providing you with the Remembrance needed to purchase the Blasphemous Blade.

What makes this build stand out among the rest in this list is that it’s surprisingly viable in PvP combat, providing you with access to a strong weapon. It can also hold its own on the battlefield thanks to its impressive mobility.  It helps that the Taker’s Flames ability is so wide that it often damages multiple enemies even when you weren’t intending to do so.

In terms of talismans, you’re going to want to equip the Fire Scorpion Charm to increase the damage of Fire attacks. Next up is the Shard of Alexander to increase the power of the Blasphemous Blade’s Ashes of War. Speaking of the Ashes of War, you also need the Carian Filigreed Crest to lower the amount of FP used by skills.

There you have it; the best Elden Ring builds in the game right now. Once you’re all set up and ready to go, it’s time to take on every Elden Ring boss and get all the best Elden Ring endings – good luck on your journey, Tarnished.

Christian Vaz

Published: 9 days ago

Elden Ring

What are the best PC games? From triple-A world-beaters like GTA 5 to enchanting indie releases such as Rocket League, these classics are the biggest games across Steam, Epic Games Store, and more. Finding the top PC games is no easy task. There are, you may have noticed, quite a lot of them. From the 50,000-plus Steam games to… all those other platforms you love so much, there has never been more choice available to the discerning PC gamer. From the best RPG games to the most mind-blowing FPS games, here are the best PC games of all time, according to us. There are even some free PC games thrown in there, too.

Here are the best PC games, in our opinion: 

• Elden Ring
• Hades 2
• Balatro
• Cyberpunk 2077
• Pacific Drive
• Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
• Persona 3 Reload
• Street Fighter 6
• Alan Wake 2
• Baldurs Gate 3
• Diablo 4
• Valorant
• Half Life: Alyx
• Spider Man Miles Morales
• Inscryption
• Monster Hunter Rise
• Outer Wilds
• Total War Warhammer 3
• Slay the Spire
• Dishonored 2
• Deathloop
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• XCOM 2
• Grand Theft Auto 5
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Stardew Valley
• Hitman
• Psychonauts 2
• Alien: Isolation
• World of Warcraft
• Her Story
• Titanfall 2
• League of Legends
• Final Fantasy XIV
• Minecraft
• Portal 2
• Rocket League
• Crusader Kings 3
• Spelunky 2
• Tetris Effect Connected
• Dark Souls 3
• Half Life 2
• Hollow Knight

Elden Ring

FromSoft’s Souls series has established itself as one of the all-time great series of the past decade in gaming, but its reputation for difficulty has probably scared off at least as many potential players as it has drawn in with its moody, mournful worlds and esoteric narratives. While Elden Ring doesn’t break from Souls’ traditional challenge, it offers a far more welcoming experience thanks to its vast open world — the first of its kind for the studio.

And what an open world it is. Elden Ring’s The Lands Between is a revelation: it stretches for miles but never feels empty. Each area is packed with new enemies to outwit, ancient tombs to uncover, weird characters to meet, and fantastical Elden Ring bosses to die fighting again and again and again until you can finally bring knowledge and execution together and emerge victorious. Each of Elden Ring’s zones includes a ‘legacy dungeon’ that feels more akin to the more linear do-or-die levels of the Souls games, but each one merits revisiting to find the secrets hidden deep within.

But if, for example, a stray dragon guarding a lake is proving too difficult, you can always head off and explore somewhere else. You’re only ever given suggestions, and you’re always free to head off on your own to learn more about the world and grow stronger simply by following your sense of curiosity and adventure or trying out different Elden Ring builds.

Elden Ring is a great game when considered on its merits, but it’s also an important game: its approach to open-world game design plots a new course for the genre toward a world in which repeatable, cookie-cutter activities and endless map icons are relics of the past. There’s no seasonal reward track to follow because playing Elden Ring is the reward — and that’s more than enough. Take a look at our Elden Ring review for the full verdict.

If you are looking for even more Elden Ring content, you really need to see our Shadow of the Erdtree review to understand how FromSoft has gone above and beyond in this expansion. The Realm of Shadows DLC map is close to the size of Limgrave when you factor in the verticality of the zone, with certain areas being easily missed if you aren’t paying attention. The expansion features a unique levelling system, encouraging players to explore to find Revered Spirit Ashes and Scadutree Fragments to power up their characters. The game was patched after a week to make these items more powerful because players were struggling against regular enemies.

Hades 2

As the only early access title on our illustrious list, Hades 2 has a lot to live up to as one of the best PC games. Fortunately, it’s easy to justify Supergiant Games’ sequel to arguably its best game as it manages to build on an impressive foundation. You play as Melinoë, the sister of Zagreus, as she attempts to take down Chronos, the God of Time. To separate the sibling’s playstyles, Mel has a host of unique Hades 2 weapons, incantations, and keepsakes to ensure the fighting experience is different this time.

Don’t let the early access tag dissuade you from picking up this wonderful roguelike game. Our Hades 2 review is practically glowing, stating: “Hades 2 is flawless, perfecting the roguelike genre in a way its predecessor almost managed to do.” We’re extremely confident in saying that by the time the Hades 2 release date arrives in 2025, the game will be bigger and better than ever before.

Balatro

It’s difficult to believe that a game as accessible, polished, and addictive could be created by just one person, but that really is the case with Balatro. Developed by a man known only by his online username of LocalThunk, Balatro takes the concept of Poker and builds on it to transform it into something truly special. Even if you’re not a Poker fan, it doesn’t take long to memorize the hands you’re able to play each turn, and there’s a cheat sheet available in-game if you need it.

What makes Balatro so addictive is the Joker system, unique cards located at the top of the screen that affect the scoring system. For example, you can get a Joker that adds a multiplier of 15 to your score, but there’s a one in six chance that it’ll disappear. Players have to weigh up the pros and cons of each Joker when building their perfect deck. Things start to get exciting when you start to involve Jokers that multiply your multiplier, allowing you to reach scores well into the millions and even beyond that.

Balatro is easily one of the best games of 2024, and LocalThunk has already confirmed that DLC is coming to the game in 2025 via a free update. We already saw a balance update shortly after launch that upgraded some lesser used Jokers, and now we’re going to receive a patch that aims to add more ideas and strategies to the base game.

Cyberpunk 2077

Alongside No Man’s Sky, Cyberpunk 2077 is up there as one of the most improved games over the past few years. As the follow-up to CD Projekt Red’s much-loved The Witcher 3, expectations were sky-high for this cyberpunk adventure. In our Cyberpunk 2077 review, we gave the game an excellent 9/10 score, but it was easy to see why other outlets felt differently. While the game’s reception at launch on PC was largely positive, it was a different story on consoles where the game looked like a shell of itself. Not only was the game pulled from console storefronts, but the developers made a promise to fix the game and add numerous features the community had asked for since launch.

Fast forward to 2024 after the arrival of the Phantom Liberty expansion and things look completely different now. The expansion continues V’s story, providing additional endings that suit the character better. We also get to work with Idris Elba who takes on the role of the former FIA Agent known as Solomon Reed, as we explore the lawless region of Dogtown in search of the NUSA President. For more information, check out our Phantom Liberty review to see why we gave this expansion an incredible 9/10. With all the changes made to the base game over the years and this excellent expansion to wrap up Cyberpunk 2077, you need to do yourself a favor and try out this excellent RPG game.

Pacific Drive

Take a journey through the radiated Olympic Exclusion Zone in the only vehicle available, a beaten-up, hunk of junk, station wagon. The zone is filled with plenty of horrors and creepy crawlies, fortunately, your car is here to protect you. As you drive through this terrifying area, you’ve got to piece together evidence that shows how this area came to be and who caused this destruction.

Your journey should contain a few stops to gather materials and other helpful resources to bolster your vehicle. By the end of the game, the relationship you have between you and your car is going to be determined by how well you treat it. Give our Pacific Drive review a read to see what we thought of this impressive indie game.

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth

By embracing turn-based RPG mechanics, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth perfectly blends serious Yakuza crime drama and a surreal fever dream. One minute, you are getting to the bottom of the disappearance and sudden emergence of Ichiban’s mother. The next, you’re cycling through the Hawaiian streets, collecting burgers in the street to be a more efficient DoorDash, or phoning up “Poundmates” to summon a lobster and hermit crab to attack an enemy.

Our Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth review calls it “the end result of two decades of iteration” and developer Ryu Ga Gotoku’s “best game yet”. Those just starting should check out the new Infinite Wealth jobs system, as well as our guide to all that Infinite Wealth Dondoko Island has to offer.

Persona 3 Reload

2024 has been an excellent start for fans of JRPGs, and Persona 3 Reload is just one of them. Its story mixes impressive writing with sincere heart and soul in its themes of loss and dealing with the consequences left behind by others. Reload’s most remarkable feat, as mentioned in our Persona 3 Reload review, is just how streamlined the battle system gets, making it more playable than ever.

Despite all the changes, the one thing Reload maintains from the original is its sense of style. No RPG, not even the other games in the Persona series, has quite the same level of coolness about it. It’s on Game Pass, too, so it’s well worth a look if you’re vaguely intrigued. Oh, and we have the new Persona 3 Reload class answers, should you need them.

Street Fighter 6

Capcom’s hot streak continues as they release yet another scorcher. This time, it’s Street Fighter 6 that has been incredibly popular among the game’s usual hardcore audience, and it’s managed to reach a new set of fans thanks to its casual approach. Street Fighter 6 includes the usual 1v1 fighting mode the series is known for, but now there’s a 15-hour story mode for players to learn the mechanics and brush up on their Street Fighter lore.

The fighting side of Street Fighter 6 has never been better, featuring the Drive Bar, which incorporates several new and returning mechanics. Not only is the classic parry back, but players also have access to Drive Rush, a new technique that lets fighters cancel specific moves, leading to spectacular combos. Check out our Street Fighter 6 review to see why we awarded this game a 9/10. We also have a Street Fighter 6 tier list if you’re wondering who to main first. One year after launch and the game is still as popular as, reintroducing two of the series’ most iconic villains, Akuma and M. Bison. The second fight pass also includes Street Fighter’s first guest fighters, Mai and Terry from Fatal Fury.

Alan Wake 2

Alan Wake is a familiar name in gaming, following the success of the 2010 psychological thriller game in which he was introduced to us. The first game had an expansion, American Nightmare, and a remastered re-release, but all fans have wanted for the last decade was a sequel to the Remedy game.

Announced during The Game Awards 2021, the Alan Wake 2 release date arrived in 2023, where we find Wake rotting away in the Dark Place. At least we know where he’s been all this time. As we explain in our Alan Wake 2 review, a lot of the new game doesn’t take place with Wake in the Dark Place; we take on the role of the new character Saga Anderson, an FBI agent uncovering the dark secrets of Bright Falls. Switch between the two characters as you progress through this unique story game and uncover the link between Bright Falls, the Dark Place, and the novelist himself.

Baldur’s Gate 3

Larian’s reputation as one of the best developers around was solidified with the release of Divinity: Original Sin 2, but if you had any doubts, Baldur’s Gate 3 is sure to cement its place. Built upon the foundations of Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition ruleset, BG3 lets players use their creativity to solve problems, accomplish tasks, and set goblins on fire.

A lot of games promise this level of depth, but BG3 is designed to continue even if the player decides to kill every useful NPC around. In this 70-hour epic, the story will adapt to your actions, even if you murder fan favorites like Astarion and Karlach. Read our BG3 review to see why we gave this incredible game an excellent score of 9/10, and don’t forget to check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 builds guide if you want to design your character from scratch.

Diablo 4

Darkness has overtaken Sanctuary once more. Hatred’s poisonous tendrils have corrupted its people, and demons of all shapes and sizes roam the land. Blood soaks the earth beneath our feet, and Lilith is poised to reign supreme. This is Diablo 4, the best Diablo game ever made.

As noted in our Diablo 4 review, our hero’s story is a twisted tale of tragedy and loss that sinks its hooks into you from the get-go. Even when you reach the end, Diablo 4’s story is far from over, and Hatred is far from eradicated. But while we wait for the Diablo 4 DLC, Vessel of Hatred, to continue Sanctuary’s saga of strife, Blizzard keeps things fresh with new seasonal updates that have included everything from vampires to bizarre, spider-like robots. Oh, and also Gemma Chan.

Valorant

The Counter-Strike series has sat unchallenged as the pinnacle of competitive FPS games since its inception, featuring shooting mechanics that reward mechanical skill above all else, a weapon economy that provokes constant strategic reshuffles, and perfectly balanced maps. Valorant, from Riot Games, does all of that while mixing in a roster of heroes, each with passive, active, and ultimate abilities. Some of those abilities have Counter-Strike counterparts, like smokescreens, flashes, and grenades, but there’s nuance to how each Agent’s kit works that ensures every round plays out differently.

Valorant may not win over the FPS purists, but it’s infinitely more accessible and offers new players an inroad that doesn’t involve being good at clicking on heads. And if you are one of those new players, then allow us to help you out with a guide to all the Valorant characters, a ranking of them in the form of a Valorant tier list, and a helping hand getting used to the gun, spray patterns, and Valorant crosshairs so your shots will always be on target.

Half-Life: Alyx

Okay, so maybe a VR game wasn’t what we all had in mind when Valve announced its first new Half-Life game since the long-abandoned Half-Life 3, but Alyx isn’t just an incredible Half-Life game. It also – finally – validates the years of VR hype.

The scope is certainly smaller than the main Half-Life games, with missions in Alyx often taking place in a single building. The level of interaction available to you in these small levels, however, far exceeds that of the core Half-Life games. Whether that’s in flashy moments like using a wooden beam to play baseball with enemy grenades or simply sweeping clutter off shelves searching for extra ammo. It has that good game feel, just like a shotgun blast in Doom, but this time, it makes you feel as much a part of City 17 as the looming Combine ships. You can read our full Half-Life: Alyx review here in case your mind’s not made up yet.

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

The first of Insomniac’s Spider-Man games introduced us to frantic combat and rapid web-swinging through the bustling streets of Manhattan that we’d never seen before in videogames, and the Miles Morales sequel is essentially more of the same but improved in every way. Side filler missions like sneaking through an art gallery as MJ is gone, combat abilities and skills have been given more gusto, and the story is a little shorter to ensure it never dips in quality at any point.

What’s even better is that while Miles Morales is technically a spin-off and, as a result, it uses the same map of Manhattan, it’s set during the festive period, so it automatically becomes one of the best Christmas games, with snow and festive decorations everywhere. The story is all about Miles proving himself as Spider-Man while Peter’s taken a leave of absence, and it’s certainly one of the best superhero games, if not the best.

Inscryption

Very few games blend genres like Inscryption, where a simple card game meets atmospheric horror. Who knew you could feel such tension – or, in our case, existential dread – by placing the wrong card on the table?

Inscryption takes inspiration from the tabletop games you’d see over on Wargamer. Its price tag is a steal, with a compelling gameplay loop that will leave you wanting more. It also packs a story with more twists and turns than an M. Night Shyamalan movie, but the less we say about that, the better.

Monster Hunter Rise

Since coming to PC, the Monster Hunter series has broken records for Capcom in terms of sales numbers and popularity. Monster Hunter Rise continues this trend, and while it may not be as visually stunning as Monster Hunter World, its new mechanics and Japanese theming are where it shines the brightest. Hunters have many new abilities thanks to the new dog-like Palamutes they can ride and the wire bugs catapulting them into the sky, making even the heaviest weapons immensely fun to wield. There’s no feeling quite like the sheer glee of bonking a Rathalos on the head with a massive hammer.

You can check out our Monster Hunter Rise review to see how much fun the base game is. However, Rise truly shines when you introduce the Sunbreak expansion pack. While the included monsters are the star of the show – the most iconic new designs are based on vampires and werewolves – they’re far from the only noteworthy inclusion. The endgame includes Anomaly Investigations, which have hunters tracking down and slaying monsters infected with parasites that will drain your life if you get hit. Even without the plethora of endgame activities, Monster Hunter Rise and its Sunbreak expansion are some of the most exhilarating experiences in gaming. The Monster Hunter Wilds release date is sometime next year, but if you’ve ever been curious about Capcom’s best-selling series, there’s no better entry point than this one.

Outer Wilds

Forget the sprawling galaxies of Starfield, No Man’s Sky, and Elite Dangerous; if you truly want to get as close as you can to experiencing the wonder of space exploration in a digital form, Outer Wilds is the only choice. It might not offer the sheer scale of other space games, yet it feels the most natural and wondrous of them all thanks to its careful, intricate design and beautifully realized clockwork worlds that tick alongside one another in perfect harmony.

We recognize the irony here in what we’re saying, but Outer Wilds is one of those games where your experience is enhanced if you go into the game without knowing anything about it. Above all else, this is a journey of discovery, whether that be flying your rickety little ship around the galaxy to explore planets and discover new secrets upon each of them, or learning more fundamental truths about the world itself and the laws that bind it in ways that let you explore even deeper moving forwards.

Outer Wilds is all about the journey as you explore several planets with weird and wonderful happenings, including discovering some lost friends who have been resigned to see out their existence on these planets. You’ll be left scratching your head at times, too, because there are plenty of logic puzzles to solve in one of the best games of all time. The brilliant nature of Outer Wilds is truly difficult to explain, though, as it’s an experience everyone should experience without knowing much more going into it, so what are you waiting for?

Total War: Warhammer 3

Rounding off an epic trilogy of strategy games, Total War: Warhammer 3 brings together the highlights from the previous games in the series into one magnificent conclusion. It’s the culmination of years’ worth of iteration by Creative Assembly, and it’s the ultimate Warhammer Fantasy experience and one of the best Total War games. Seven factions, multiple different campaign types, and online campaign co-op are but a few reasons to take a stroll into the Old World once more, but you’ll stick around for longer than ever, thanks to thoroughly applied polish at every level of the game.

It’s also wildly ambitious, with the sprawling Immortal Empires map encompassing everything that Creative Assembly has ever made for the three Warhammer games. Take a glance at our Total War: Warhammer 3 review for our complete take.

Slay the Spire

We’ve seen other developers try their hand at creating a roguelike deck builder, but no one has perfected the genre like Megacrit’s Slay The Spire. It’s easy to understand all of the deck archetypes for each class, and you can take things to another level when you incorporate Relics. These powerful items contain special buffs that permanently affect your deck.

Relics open up endless deck-building possibilities as you can discover game-breaking combinations, but therein lies the problem. You may not receive the same mixture of Relics and cards in your next 50 attempts, leading you to discover stronger setups than you ever imagined. With 20 difficulty levels to get through, a deadly secret boss at the end of each run, and four unique classes to learn, there’s a good reason why most Slay The Spire players have hundreds of hours logged on Steam. See our PC Slay the Spire review and see why we love this game. Don’t forget to look at our Slay the Spire 2 release date guide to find out when you can get your hands on the sequel.

Dishonored 2

Sometimes, in Dishonored 2, you have to kill yourself to save yourself. Playing as Emily Kaldwin, you’re able to cast a ghostly doppelganger at street level and jump down onto its head, plunging your dagger into its neck to break your fall, negating any damage.

Doppelganger’s intended function is to be used as a distraction, a way to escape from a confrontation. But developer Arkane wants you to bend the rules; to see what’s beyond the veil. You’re supposed to experiment, to see what’s possible – and, oh boy, there’s so much you can do if you are inventive enough. There’s so much to revel in; Arkane’s sneaker is one of the few games we’ve awarded a perfect score. Read our Dishonored 2 PC review to find out why we love it so damn much.

You get to play with these systems in Karnaca – a gorgeous, stylized, fictional slice of the Mediterranean. It is one of the most cohesive, story-rich environments in video games, with every room telling a story with its props. Whether you’re slinking across the rooftops or sprinting through, knife-in-hand, it’s a place that begs to be explored as much as your abilities do. If you like your games with both violence and brains, don’t overlook this clever assassination sim. Indeed, it’s one of the best stealth games on PC ever.

Deathloop

First-person shooters have been around long enough that it’s difficult to come up with ways to meaningfully innovate on the formula. Fortunately, there’s Deathloop, which happens to be our favorite game of 2021. You start on a desolate beach as Colt Vahn, vaguely remembering that you’re the head of security for a mysterious North Atlantic island that’s been converted into an eternal playground for the ultra-rich, thanks to a time loop machine that resets time every day and ensures nobody suffers consequences for anything.

It’s Groundhog Day with guns, set in an alternative ’60s full of the chaos that characterized the decade. Experimental Bauhaus art, a scorching funk soundtrack, a set of Dishonored-style special abilities, and massive guns you can dual-wield make Deathloop a terrific shooter. It doesn’t stop there, though: to line things up so that every boss can be taken out in a single day, you’ll have to explore, solve puzzles, and plan carefully – or you can decide to screw up someone else’s run by invading their game as Julianna.

Deathloop is fast-paced and dazzling from beginning to end, and it doesn’t overstay its welcome – while you can invade other players’ games as Julianna until the end of time, the Deathloop campaign wraps up in around 30 hours – and that’s time well spent. If you’re jumping into the campaign for the first time or you need a refresher, check out our Deathloop safe codes and Deathloop glowing items guides. Read our Deathloop review for the full rundown.

Red Dead Redemption 2

In Rockstar’s follow-up to one of the greatest western games of all time – you’ll take on the role of rugged outlaw Arthur Morgan, part of the reckless and depleting Van der Linde gang. As you ride through the merciless fictional US landscape, Red Dead Redemption 2 not only thrusts you into a perilous world in which outlaws are facing extinction, crushed under the accountability of law and order but propels you into a downward spiral of morality versus survival.

Red Dead Redemption’s beauty lies in the imminent fate of the gang and stolen moments around the campfire. Arthur feels a crushing responsibility to rescue and reassure his entire hapless family, even the rotten rogues who appear hell-bent on steering the group toward a cataclysmic end.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of those games that will stay with you for many years after the credits roll. From quiet haunts tracking legendary animals and plucking herbs from the side of old railways to moments of desperation where the gang leads a retaliation against rivals, – there’s an immense amount of detail in this world and just as much heart. Check out our Red Dead Redemption 2 PC review for the full verdict. If you get stuck, try our Red Dead 2 cheats, which are sure to get you out of a metaphorical, and literal, bind.

XCOM 2

XCOM 2 is a special sequel. Most gaming follow-ups are iterative improvements on a formula, but this one works to justify its existence by being a different game altogether. Where Enemy Unknown granted you the support of all the planet’s governments and asked you to watch it dwindle, XCOM 2 starts you off with next to nothing: a handful of ragtag fighters of questionable backgrounds fighting against the might of an alien enemy that has already conquered Earth.

This new guerilla perspective produces some of the best tactics the PC has ever seen, and as our XCOM 2 PC review attests, it’s one of the best strategy games in years. Timed missions force hard choices between potentially saving the rookie with your best grenade or the sniper you’ve been fondly upgrading. Cold, cruel decisions like these will bring you success and guilt – only exacerbated by the War of the Chosen DLC, which binds soldiers in relationships just so that it hurts all the more when those bonds are inevitably broken. If you’re struggling to save the human race from those pesky aliens in the expansion, check out our XCOM 2 War of the Chosen guide.

While we’re still nowhere near an XCOM 3 release date, the recent XCOM Chimera Squad is a character-focused game where you’ll be able to play as both aliens and humans and fight against a movement that threatens the new peace in City 31.

Grand Theft Auto 5

There’s a reason GTA 5 still consistently tops the charts and boasts incredible player counts years after its release: it’s still the pinnacle of the sandbox genre, not to mention one of the best PC games of all time. We have had a bunch of other open-world games launch since, but none match the fidelity of GTA 5’s fictional recreation of LA; its sprawling hillsides, the distant Mount Chiliad, its jutting metropolis, and the dusty trailer parks surrounding it all.

It’s a world that calls to you, begging for you to speed across it on a motorbike, weaving between traffic as you go. Plenty of games lure us to the peaks of their mountains, but very few let us then base jump from the mountain’s peak while being chased by the armed forces.

Rockstar’s crime series generally attracts headlines because of its violence, but it’s not the shooting that keeps players exploring its world – it’s the feeling that anything can happen, the Rage engine’s slapstick physics system providing endless entertainment as you barrel down hills or take a clout to the head with the wing of a plane. The fact that you can experience all of this online with friends makes it all the sweeter, and that online portion of the game is now as popular as the main game, boasting rich GTA RP communities who fill in for ordinary civilians as if part of a rich MMO.

The game keeps growing with GTA 5 mods, and if you get stuck, there are plenty of GTA 5 cheats. There’s also news on a GTA 6 release date and a new trailer for the next in the series.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The best RPGs keep their greatest stories in their side quests, and those in The Witcher 3 contain some of the most memorable and heartbreaking moments in video games.

Its genius lies in how nuanced its characters are. Take the Bloody Baron – when you first meet him, he comes across as a hateful, nasty man with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. You begrudge helping him at all. By the end of his plot, you’ll empathize with him, despite his disgusting character flaws. It’s dark fantasy at its very darkest – an adult game that is actually for grown-ups, full of moments that will stay with you well after the credits roll. Simply put, it’s one of the best PC games ever made, as you’ll find out in our The Witcher 3 PC review.

When the credits do roll, though, you still have two of the best videogame expansions in existence to get stuck into. The first, Hearts of Stone, takes a seemingly innocuous character you meet at the start of the main game and turns them into the most menacing, disturbing adversary you’ve ever seen. The second, Blood and Wine, is almost another game in itself, taking you to the sunny land of Toussaint to combat a growing vampire problem. If you’re looking to lose yourself in another world for well over 100 hours, it doesn’t get better than staring at this beauty’s burnt orange sunsets. Want to make the game even better? Read up on the best The Witcher 3 mods, although we aren’t sure you’ll need to change much.

Stardew Valley

Indie farming games are a dime a dozen these days, but Stardew Valley is the genre’s shining star and absolutely the best place to start. After giving up your dull office job, you move to your grandfather’s farm and take over the reins. It’s not quite as simple as growing crops and looking after animals though, as the quaint village of Stardew Valley is full of interesting characters and mysteries to uncover.

Expanding is just one of the tasks on your list, as you make friends and give gifts to plenty of budding bachelors and bachelorettes, all while helping to restore the community center at the heart of the town, and prevent – or assist if you’d rather – supermarket conglomerate Joja Corp from taking over. Combat is a vital aspect of the game too as you head deeper into the mines, as is fishing and exploring secret areas away from the village itself. Stardew Valley is the ultimate relaxing game, though you may find you blink and several hours have passed. If you fancy spicing up the experience even more, our list of the best Stardew Valley mods will have something for you.

Hitman

If you thought Hitman: Absolution was a misstep, put those worries aside – everyone’s favorite barcode-headed baldie is back on fine form in Hitman.

The Hitman series is full of incredible, tense, and sometimes hilarious missions, and this episodic entry houses some of the best. Sapienza is an instant classic, asking you to take out a mob boss in a picturesque Italian town. In it, you can eliminate your target by popping an explosive golf ball into their caddy sack and watching them take a swing at it.

Whether you’re drowning folk in a toilet or carefully lining up a sniper shot in time to some fireworks, Hitman is full of inventive ways to dish out death. Each mission is designed to be played over and over again, begging for you to approach it in myriad ways. As you’ll discover in our Hitman PC review, you can spend days mastering each; there is that much to do. If you want murder in your games to be more meaningful, flex your fiber wire and grab Hitman by the throat.

The sequels, both Hitman 2 and Hitman 3, don’t do much to excel the formula, but with several new sandboxes for you to murder your way through, it’s well worth picking them up if you enjoy the first game. Check our guide to the Hitman timeline to see the full story of Agent 47.

Psychonauts 2

New, big-budget 3D platformers are an increasingly rare sight in gaming, but Double Fine’s return to a cult classic makes us pine for the genre’s heyday. It’s a sequel that improves on practically every aspect of the original, with sharper movement, more varied combat, and most importantly, a story that uses its setting and conceits to say some insightful, important things about mental health.

Every level is based inside a character’s mind, providing completely different types of gameplay in each instance. In one, you might find yourself inside the head of a doctor with a gambling addiction, trying your luck at casino minigames to access the high-roller suite and set things right. In another, you take on an Overcooked-like cooking show challenge on behalf of someone whose fear of judgment is ruining their life. They’re tonally, aesthetically, and narratively consistent – and they’re always a ton of fun. Check out our glowing Psychonauts 2 review for the full verdict.

Alien: Isolation

If you’ve ever watched Ridley Scott’s horror film Alien and thought, ‘I’d love to be inside that movie’, then Alien: Isolation is your golden ticket, also, you might need to talk to someone professionally. Creative Assembly’s survival horror game replicates the world of Wyland Yutani and xenomorphs with astonishing attention to detail, right down to the computer terminals that flicker and hum as if it were 1979 all over again.

But Isolation’s pitch-perfect recreation of the movie’s setting and era is only part of what puts it among the best PC games. The real triumph is the xenomorph itself: a solitary, unstoppable beast that stalks you incessantly on your journey through the game.

What makes it truly remarkable is the adaptive AI system, which means it’s constantly learning – if it discovers you hiding in a vent, it’ll begin to search vents during subsequent encounters. This turns the creature into a true menace, keeping tension levels high both during play and long after you have shut down your computer. Read our Alien Isolation review, and if you have nerves of steel, you can hook up Isolation to Oculus Rift for one of the best VR games on PC you’ll ever play. And looking ahead we can only dream of Alien Isolation 2.

World of Warcraft

One of the only subscription MMOs to get it right, and always capable of a resurgence in popularity and quality, World of Warcraft is an easy recommendation. Its Warlords of Draenor low point left many wondering if there was still a future for one of the most famous games of all time. Fortunately, recent expansions have shown that it’s still alive and well, and it’s not going away any time soon. No matter what you’re logging on for, it remains one of the best PC games around.

Each expansion provides a massive, co-op-enabled RPG storyline of its own, with only the most climatic moments requiring the presence of other people. Of course, if you want to delve into the endgame and join 24 others in taking down the world’s biggest bads, all that is there as well. World of Warcraft raiding remains amazing, while constant updates and a solid content plan make it one of the best MMOs on PC.

If WoW appears too daunting you can play it in its base form with World of Warcraft Classic. In our WoW Classic review, we call it “a well-implemented redux of a moment in time, which may surprise you with its engaging focus on leveling and the friendliness of its players”. If you’re looking to get off to a quick start, then our WoW Classic leveling guide or WoW classes guide will be all the prep you need.

Her Story

We all love a good mystery, but Her Story is one of the finest minimalist detective games out there. Your task is to comb through the short videos of seven police interviews with Hannah Smith, a woman whose husband has gone missing. FMV games are heavily reliant on the performance of its actors, and Viva Seifert expertly misleads, distracts, and ultimately charms her way through each interrogation, as our Her Story review explains.

By navigating tags made up of words that link each video on the database, you soon start to paint a picture of the events of that fateful evening. The gameplay is simple, just entering words into a search engine and watching clips. However, invest some time into working out the puzzle, and you’ll soon be hooked, skimming through the archive footage like a real detective.

Titanfall 2

It doesn’t matter how many of the best FPS games you’ve played – if you haven’t beaten Titanfall 2, you haven’t seen it all. Its short but explosive campaign delivers fresh ideas and mechanics with each act, a real masterclass in level design. The pace and freedom of its combat and parkour manages to feel at once effortless and exhilarating, and your mech companion BT-7274 is the best buddy a soldier could ever ask for.

While the Titanfall 2 story mode is more than reason enough to pick it up, Titanfall 2 also boasts one of the best multiplayer games around. Its blend of human players and AI grunts means that you can always find targets to take down, even if you aren’t a leaderboard-topping kill machine, and the Titan mechs add a unique dynamic to the battlefield that changes up the pace without completely dominating on-foot players, giving it an edge over even Respawn’s fellow in-universe battle royale game Apex Legends.

League of Legends

Trying to decide which is the best MOBA is an argument that could rage on for hours, but League of Legends is a pretty good place to start. Since its release in 2009, it has become a global phenomenon, consistently one of the most-played games in the world, and at one point had a player base of more than 100 million.

Easier to grasp than Dota 2 but mechanically deeper than Heroes of the Storm, LoL hits a sweet spot in terms of approachability while still managing to constantly evolve. New and updated champions arrive on the Rift several times a year, keeping the game fresh despite its age. Every one of the best LoL champions is unique, too. From ancient gods to pirates and even monsters from another world, there is a way to enjoy the game no matter what you’re looking for.

Final Fantasy 14

The “critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy 14” has become a long-running meme at this point, but with good reason. It’s been ten years since Square Enix reinvented FF14 with A Realm Reborn, and since then we’ve been through four fabulous expansions, each building more upon its best-in-class world, characters, and story. The FF14 Dawntrail release date in July 2024 kicks off a completely new adventure, meaning there’s never been a better time to start playing.

In even better news, the recently expanded free trial for FF14 now lets you play the full base game and its first two expansions, Heavensward and Stormblood, without paying a single penny. That’s hundreds of hours you can enjoy for free, and if you decide to sign up after that, you’ll have two of the most compelling and emotion-packed adventures going before jumping into Dawntrail.

With a wealth of FF14 races to choose from and the ability to play as all FF14 classes on a single character, there’s an astonishing amount of variety on offer. Square Enix does an excellent job of ensuring older content stays relevant and interesting, and it recently finished adding the ability to complete all the main story dungeons with AI companions if you prefer to play solo. That said, with the game’s Xbox debut earlier this year, you’ll have no shortage of newcomers to play alongside – not to mention perhaps the most friendly and welcoming MMO community you’ll find.

Minecraft

What’s not to love about Minecraft? There are many reasons the blocky survival game is one of the most beloved and well-known games of all time, and among them is the simple fact that you can do almost anything within Mojang’s world.

In simple, vanilla terms, Minecraft allows you to explore an infinite world filled with colorful biomes, treacherous realms, and mythical creatures – both hostile and friendly. Crossing genres, Minecraft dabbles in survival, crafting, building, PvE, adventure, and more, has a story and an ‘endgame’ boss, and then delivers hours upon hours more content by welcoming you to another realm and leaving your world open to explore more fully. Both peaceful and terrifying, it’s hard to think of another game that offers quite as much as Minecraft does without feeling cluttered or overcomplicated. Depending on your requirements, you can also choose to make monsters peaceful, which is perfect for young kids, or just play around in creative mode.

Even without modding, then, Minecraft is a masterpiece. However, if you happen to get bored with the vanilla game – and Mojang Studios’ huge annual content updates – you can turn Minecraft into an entirely different experience. Minecraft shaders alone just make the game look stunning, while Minecraft maps give creators a platform to show off their talent, turning the crafting game into a puzzle game or a horror game, for example. Remaining Minecraft mods do pretty much anything else you can think of, adding new Minecraft mobs to interact with, troubling you with new quests, turning the game into an RPG, or delivering new biomes to explore. And let’s not forget that you can play with friends, or make new ones in one of the hundreds of popular, safe, and successful Minecraft servers. Again, what’s not to love about Minecraft?

Portal 2

Barring the inadvertent, buggy slapstick of a Fallout New Vegas, or the spontaneous antics in online hits like Lethal Company, it’s not often you get a videogame that is genuinely funny. Tonally, Portal 2 is the equivalent of a razor sharp, universally appealing Pixar movie – whether you’ve played games or haven’t, whether you like them or don’t, Portal 2 will successfully win you around, and make you laugh in the process.

On the contrary, comparing it to any film feels redundant. Valve created something that would be impossible to replicate beyond the form of videogames, where the punchy, satirical, and occasionally somber and dreadful world of Aperture Science can only spring to life through your (increasingly involved, always rewarding) interactions.

It’s clever without pretension, unique without obfuscation, and simultaneously playful and mature. A lot of videogames make this claim, but Portal 2 might be the only one to comprehensively fulfill it – there is something in here for everyone.

Rocket League

It’s difficult to describe anything as truly perfect, but Rocket League comes very close. A smart evolution of the ‘soccer with rocket-powered cars’ concept debuted in Psyonix Games’ previous game, Rocket League is one of the best multiplayer games you could imagine. It’s easy to pick up and immediately a delight to play whatever your skill level, but with an almost unlimited ceiling to master at the high end of competition.

Whether you opt for the intense back-and-forth of 1v1 and 2v2 matchups, the teamwork focused 3v3 mode, or the sheer chaos of 4v4, Rocket League brings thrills and spills galore. At its entry level, it’s akin to those gleeful playground scrambles, all your cars clustering around the ball and desperately shoving and shunting one another to try and get a touch in. At its peak, it’s one of the most precise, demanding, and high-speed sports games you’ll ever play. And if you want to take those first steps to greatness, our Rocket League tips will get you ready for kick-off in no time.

Crusader Kings 3

We like Crusader Kings 3 a lot. Paradox’s grand strategy game takes every facet of medieval dynastic life and lets you mess around with it to no end. From declaring war on children to finding out one of your court members is a cannibal, this is a Dark Ages tragedy simulator. Our Crusader Kings 3 review can tell you how it’s a fantastic grand strategy game – and an even better RPG – to get into if you’ve never tried one before, and yet it also picks up where Crusader Kings 2 left off, for long-time CK fans. An updated UI, a more comprehensive tutorial, and even more ways to tinker with your kingdom and interact with other leaders we couldn’t ask for much more from a Paradox game.

If you’re looking for a PC game that teaches you a little about the customs of Europe and Northern Africa before you ruin them as much as you like, this game is for you. With CK3 mods already pouring in, you can also be sure that you’ll never run out of new ways to approach the life of a medieval ruler. Check out our Crusader Kings 3 beginner’s guide for help starting in the sometimes-bewildering genre.

Spelunky 2

Just when you thought this roguelike game couldn’t get any better, Spelunky 2 sticks to its hardcore roots to create a long-awaited sequel for its dedicated community. Spelunky 2 takes players on a deadly journey in search of treasure, but you need to keep your eyes peeled for hidden traps, as the world wants nothing more than to stop you in your tracks. This game is a roguelike in the truest sense of the term, forcing you to go back to square one as soon as you make the tiniest mistake. That’s part of what makes Spelunky 2 so addicting to play; it’s exciting to explore new parts of the game while overcoming sections that you once felt were impossible to get through.

After you’ve finished the main set of levels of Spelunnky 2, you can attempt to go on a Cosmic Run, which is designed to test your spelunking skills. Do you have what it takes to ascend to the astral plane and become a star constellation? Spelunky 2 ramps up the carnage by introducing cross-play co-op, giving you and up to three friends the chance to complete a campaign together. While you might think adding more people should make the game easier, you need to try it to understand why things become so tricky.

Tetris Effect: Connected

Created by Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the video game designer behind Lumines and Rez Infinite, Tetris Effect is known best for its incredible journey mode.  Fly in hot air balloons above the desert, swim in the ocean surrounded by sea creatures, and take a trip through a dense forest in this impressive single-player campaign.

The best Tetris game ever made just got better with Connected, a free expansion that adds cross-platform multiplayer and cooperative modes to the puzzle game. As the name implies, up to three friends can connect as they fight against AI-controlled bosses. Using the Zone mechanic, players combine their screens to create one super-sized Tetris board, granting you the ability to fire off massive amounts of garbage lines. If you’re feeling competitive, you can play a modern version of Battle Tetris using the zone mechanic or rewind the clock with classic NES rules.

The PC version of Tetris Effect: Connected is as good as it gets, featuring optional VR support, support for ultra-wide aspect ratios, and an uncapped frame rate.

Dark Souls 3

We have quite the soft spot for the series that perfected Souls-like games. All three Dark Souls games have something to offer, but Dark Souls 3 feels the most complete. Not only does it have the most refined combat, but several bosses are widely regarded as the best fights in the series. One such bout is against the Nameless King who rides in on a dragon, throwing thunderbolts before dismounting to pierce you with his spear. Both DLC packs have some iconic bosses that, in the case of Slave Knight Gael, outshine just about everyone else.

On top of that, the designs for each area are an eclectic mix of new brutal and devilishly difficult locales, and familiar haunts we’re returning to, but with a more sinister makeover. Its many items that you find scattered throughout the open world tell stories that explain just why the world is in such a sorry state. The entire seriesis worth playing, but if you only wish to experience the very best, Dark Souls 3 is top of the pile.

Half-Life 2

Ignoring for a second its environments, its characters, and all of its wonderful aesthetic details, what Half-Life 2 managed to create was an almost perfect chemistry between action and story, and videogame developer and videogame player. The fact it did this in 2004, before BioShock, The Last of Us, Red Dead Redemption 2, or any of the modern, acclaimed narrative adventures, is testament to what was once Valve’s visionary game-making ability.

Set pieces are intricate, original, and entertaining. The pace is electric, pushing you from City 17, to the canals, to Ravenholm, the coast, Nova Prospekt, then back to the city for a spectacular finale. And virtually every aspect of Half-Life 2 feels pored over and refined. It’s a supremely enjoyable game to play, but your expression and your fun as a player never comes at the cost of the game’s integrity, and its creators’ intentions. Two decades later, Half-Life 2 still feels groundbreaking.

Hollow Knight

If there’s an insect-based game that should intersect your Steam library it’s Team Cherry’s incredible Metroidvania game, Hollow Knight. Placed into the shoes (feet?) of a tiny masked knight, Hollow Knight will have you go on an epic adventure across the sleepy kingdom of Hallownest to save it from a disease that’s corrupting its inhabitants.

With nowt but your trusty needle by your side, as well as a slew of unlockable abilities and equipable charms to help you on your quest, Hollow Knight’s difficulty more than betrays its adorably quaint dressing. It easily matches some of the top soulslikes out there in terms of boss difficulty, and don’t get us started on the platforming – *White Palace flashbacks.*

There we have it – the best PC games you can buy today. While we impatiently wait for The Witcher 4 release date and Half-Life 3, why not read up on some of the most exciting upcoming PC games headed to a rig near you? Alternatively, here’s our round-up of all the hottest new PC games to play right now. Just note that some may require close to the best gaming PC money can buy to experience them in full.

Posted by:

David Logan

onJuly 14, 2024Copy link

Vampires have captured the imaginations of most people since Nosferatu first graced the silver screen way back in the early nineteen hundreds. Since then, there have been many other movies about vampires as well as novels and even other video games that have managed to capture the horror that this imaginary creature brings up in the psyches of fans the world over. In an attempt to capitalize on the vampire phenomenon, publisher/developer Stunlock Studios have crafted an experience that puts the player in the shoes of a vampire that has risen from a hundred years slumber and attempts to regain the power and renown that they once possessed. V Rising meshes the best of the survival, action and RPG genres to craft the ultimate vampire adventure.

In V Rising, you take on the role of a vampire that has awakened in the world of Vardoren after hundreds of years of slumber. This long slumber has only managed to weaken you and has made you extremely thirsty for blood. Your goal at this point is to hunt, either solo or with a clan of allies online, and explore a vast open world of dark horrors while tryin to stay alive by avoiding the deadly sunlight. As vampire lords are wont to do, in order to regain your once mighty standing in the world, you must raise a mighty castle worthy of your name. This castle will stand as your base of operations or sorts and it will be up to you to staff it with humans that you have converted into thralls to serve within it.

As a vampire with the goal of regaining your physical strength as well as your cadre of followers, you will need to undertake a campaign of rebuilding in order to reign supreme once again. You will be tasked with pillaging villages, raiding bandit camps and traversing the territories of supernatural beasts. These activities will allow you to replenish your reservers of building materials, weapons and potential thralls to serve at your beck and call. To obtain their power, you must drink their blood, obviously, to become the greatest predator of them all.

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You begin the game by creating your character with the provided character creation system. You can choose from a plethora of choices to create your ultimate vampire by picking between male or female as well as hair style, skin color, and even some accessories such as jewelry and sunglasses. Once you are finished with this, you are thrown into the action where you will be shown the basics of playing the game with a few tutorials. Completing these tasks will earn you a few new weapons as well as a few beginner spells that you can use to get the hang of how the games systems work. Getting the hang of the games controls was a snap and allowed me to jump right in and start feeling like a vampiric badass right away.

Visuals in V Rising are amazing and definitely help to set the theme and feeling of the game from the moment you awaken in your casket and make your way out of your crypt and into the surrounding forest. The environments are extremely detailed and provide the backdrop for an adventure that is sure to be engrossing and very fulfilling. You will meet up with skeleton men, werewolves, zombies, walking tree creatures, etc and each and every one of them have been crafted with the utmost degree of care. There is also a dynamic day/night cycle that sees you at your strongest during the night hours but leaves you vulnerable to the effects of the sunlight during the day hours. You can move around during the day but you must utilize the shadows if you want to avoid being burned to a crisp.

If you are worried that you will have to scavenge for decent weapons, don’t because there are plenty that you can find out in the world or your can simply find the parts needed and craft one yourself. There are no shortage of supplies and items that you can find in the world to craft the ultimate weapon and the crafting system is really simple to master. The more you use a particular weapon, the stronger that it becomes and the more fun it becomes dispatching the enemies that you may encounter. As a badass vampire, you can also cast spells that allow you to be just as deadly from a distance as handheld weapons allow you to be up close. You learn spells in the beginning of the game by completing the tutorial quests but can soon craft more powerful spells with the spell crafting system in the menu.

The sound effects and the soundtrack in V Rising are spectacular and is some of the best sound that I have experienced in a game this year. The singing of your blade as you swing it through an approaching zombie and the crack as it makes contact feels weighty and full of substance. The howls of a werewolf as it prepares to attack and the sizzle of your flesh as the sunlight cooks you alive brings the world to life. The soundtrack also does an amazing job of setting the tone of this desolate world and makes you feel like you are living the journey of your character to reclaim his/her place in this world. Both of these elements together combine to create and other-worldly experience that is unique and a breath of fresh air in an era of gaming that seems stuck on remakes and remasters.

If all of this sounds like something that you would want to tackle with friends then you are in luck. V Rising offers the ability to rise, build and hunt in clans of up to four fellow vampires online if you choose not to go it alone. Your clan offers you the ability to rule the night as each member becomes a formidable threat to the unsuspecting denizens of Vardoren. This game is packed to the gills with things to create, build and hunt and will offer hours upon hours of gameplay. If you are into this type of gaming experience then I would highly recommend that you give this one a try. I suspect that you will not be disappointed.

This review is based on a copy of the game provided by the publisher.

Final Fantasy TTRPG Starter Set
Final Fantasy TTRPG Starter Set

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See it at Square Enix Store
MSRP: $59.99 USD
Players: 3-5 (Recommended for 5 players)
Playtime: 120+ min.
Ages: 14+
Box dimensions: 12.20 in x 8.70 in x 1.97 in
To level set expectations, I want to make clear that this Starter Set offers a narrow look at only a small aspect of the experience that this RPG system features – how combat works and the narrative flow (i.e. how skill checks work). Nearly all customization aspects and systems are still a mystery and won’t be explained here.

Contained in the set is everything you and up to four friends need to complete the included three scenarios: four premade characters (two DPS, one Tank, and one Healer), a player book, a game master book, and all the required maps, tokens, and do-dads needed to complete the scenarios.

FF14 follows the general flow that all tabletop RPGs do, where the players tell the Gamemaster their idea, and the GM has them roll a die to see how well they do in their endeavor, all culminating in the outcome of their actions. Occasionally, players will find themselves in combat, which introduces certain abilities or skills tied to the individual’s character’s class that they can use to dispatch their foes, and also involves rolling dice. You can expect a good bit of hilarity, with plans crumbling in the first few moments, and things just spiraling out of control, but those moments are also part of the charm and magic of these games. These will eventually lead to some amazing memories for you and your friends, so just enjoy the ride.

What’s in the Box
Player Book
Gamemaster Book
4 Premade Character Sheets (White Mage, Warrior, Dragoon, Black Mage)
16 Custom Designed Dice (6d20 & 10d6l)
Rules Summary & Strategy Guide
Encounter Map
Character Tokens
Ability Markers
For players of other popular tabletop RPGs like Pathfinder or Dungeons & Dragons, there are a lot of similarities in how combat and skill checks play out in FF14. Dice rolls are focused around the use of a D20 – a 20-side dice – to determine if you succeed in something and how well you do. Having an advantage or disadvantage in a situation causes you to roll two dice and take the higher/lower of the two, critical hits when you roll a 20 – it all feels familiar and comfortable to play (as a longtime D&D player). That isn’t too say that FF14 is a carbon copy, as it still does tweak and adjust some mechanics that impressed me, and made it all feel like its own game as opposed to just a D&D clone with a Final Fantasy paint job.

From a quick glance through the four characters included in the set, Square Enix has put the work into trying to incorporate mainstay systems from the MMO here into the tabletop experience. For players coming over from the digital game, you will notice familiar terms and concepts for each class and role. The Black Mage gains bonuses if they cast spells of the same element concurrently (such as dealing additional damage with fire spells thanks to their Astral Fire trait), or the Warrior has attacks that combo into another, letting them attack multiple times in a single round. And the incredibly powerful Limit Break attacks also make an appearance that can turn the tide of a tough encounter if used at a pivotal time.

The aspect that I found myself most enjoying was the “Direct Hit” mechanic for attacks. In place of rolling to see if you hit at all, FF14 instead adopts the idea where you always, at minimum, hit a target, but if you roll and manage to meet or exceed the target’s physical or magical defense value, it’s considered a “Direct Hit.” These “Direct Hits” can cause additional damage or effects to trigger.

Take the Warrior’s “Overpower” primary ability as an example. The base effect of the skill causes enemies that don’t target the warrior to take a penalty should they attack anyone except the warrior. However, if you manage to succeed in the attack and score a Direct Hit, Overpower additionally deals 2 damage to all targets. One of the most soul-crushing things in a TTRPG is to plan some cool attack out in your head, line everything up, and then have it all come crashing down around you as you roll poorly and not only miss out on that cool moment but also risking missing out on that turn, period. I love removing “missing” with an attack, not worrying about losing out on a turn, and not helping my team.

Where this starter set stumbles (and stumbles pretty hard actually) is in just how little of the actual system you get a peak at with this kit – which is a shame because what they do show is pretty neat. If you’re hoping to find out how to level up your character and gain new abilities, you won’t find it here – take three character sheets of the same character at three different levels instead. Or how about a look at how the equipment works? Won’t find even a spot on the included sheets for that.

This starter set has to serve as both your start and end points with your time with the game.
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Class changing, non-combat jobs, character creation, specifics on racial bonuses, and the list goes on for parts of this system that remain in a mystery, but all of this wouldn’t be as big of a deal if the set had been released alongside the core player and GM books. Instead, this starter set was released isolated from any other release, meaning that all those questions remain unanswered.

And if playing this set sparks your interest, you have to wait to keep playing with only a “Coming Soon” to take comfort in. Some sites, such as BigBadToyStore, have a preorder page with “March 2025” listed for the Standard Handbook, meaning players may still have a good bit of time yet to wait. Without the availability of those core rule books to then continue your adventures, that means that for the foreseeable future, this starter set has to serve as both your start and end points with your time with the game, and there simply is not enough “stuff” in this set to meet those needs.

These issues are all capped off with the relatively high price tag of $59.99 on Square’s store page – a price that is nearly triple that of other TTRPG starter sets (that arguably are more feature-rich) or is the same as the video game Final Fantasy XIV Online Complete Edition that bundles the base game and all its expansions.

For more board game content, check out our picks for the best board games to play right now, as well as the best campgain board games.

The production quality of this set is great, with thick paper for the characters sheets, the maps and books are glossy, and full-color books and cardboard tokens are sturdy (the tokens were a bit of a challenge to get out the punchboards in my copy), but it would have been nice to get miniatures of the four characters, too. The price tag stings a bit more, seeing as how both the player and gamemaster books are free downloads, so in essence, you are paying $60 bucks for some cardboard, dice, and folded-up maps.

Monster Hunter Wilds, the next installment in Capcom’s Monster Hunter series, won’t be arriving until next year. However, GameSpot was invited to a hands on preview during Gamescom, and senior producer Jean-Luc Seipke is sharing their Monster Hunter Wilds experience in our video overview. And there’s a lot for fans to look forward to.

The first thing that fans may notice is that Monster Hunter Wilds has a much bigger map to explore than previous titles. The Monster Hunter camp site is also directly connected to the map this time, and a further sense of community can be found while going on four player co-op hunts. Players are also allowed to pick secondary weapons, which dramatically changes combat in the game.

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Monster Hunter Wilds is also adding a new focus mode to combat that allows players more precise control of their weapons. This mode also makes the weak points on a monster’s body glowing in red, which cues the player to attack those body parts to bring down the creature more quickly. That also makes it easier for teammates to coordinate their attacks.

During the demo, there were periodic lightning storms that heralded the arrival of lightning dragons, which Seipke was not able to defeat. The storms also drastically changed the visibility of the environment. Additionally, the demo did away with Monster Hunters’ quest board and let players pick their hunts more naturally.

There were some bugs in the demo, including a lagging frame rate and an occasional crash. But these aren’t uncommon for games that haven’t been finished. We expect those flaws to be corrected by the time the game hits stores, and the rest of the experience more than made up for the few hiccups that occurred.

Monster Hunter Wilds will be released on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC in 2025.

Monster Hunter Games Ranked From Worst To Best

It was a few years ago when EA started using the term Fieldsense to describe Madden’s multi-year overhaul of on-field mechanics, and though the term is primarily a nice shorthand for the marketing folks to play off of, it coincided with an obvious intent to fix the game on the virtual gridiron itself. Madden 23 was the first game in the Fieldsense era, and here in its third year, the investment in football fundamentals continues to pay off with Madden 25.

This starts with the game’s marquee new feature, Boom Tech. Like the umbrella term of Fieldsense, Boom Tech is the back-of-the-box marketing jargon for what is nevertheless a great new feature. With Boom Tech, the game’s collision system has been overhauled considerably. In past years, the Madden team has touted how things like weight and height would matter more, but never before has it really felt so different. This year, the difference is evident and welcome.

Essentially, Boom Tech breaks the game’s collision and tackling animations into several smaller animations. This isn’t ragdoll physics; instead, it’s an animation-branching system with complex math going on under the proverbial hood of the game at all times, and the result is more unpredictable outcomes, all game, every game. You’ll still sometimes see animations you recognize from past years, but they are rarer and, when present anyway, made more nuanced. I’ve seen a wide variety of outcomes in Madden 25 that a football game ought to have, like better-contested catch animations on deep passes and more bruising, Beastquake-like runs that were previously missing from the series.

That’s all because of Boom Tech. This new system considers weight, momentum, player ratings, and pursuit angles more effectively when a defender runs into the ball carrier. This doesn’t guarantee the bigger, faster player wins a tackle attempt, thankfully, as even the best defenders in the game can be caught out of position, for which they are now more realistically penalized.

This can even mean the ever-reliable Hit Stick is now less of a crutch for an open-field tackler. If you use the Hit Stick too soon, too late, or from a bad angle, you’re not going to get one of those fumble-forcing blow-ups like before, and the game’s way of now providing on-field feedback for all Hit Stick attempts can tell you exactly why an attempt did or didn’t land as intended.

This sounds like a defense-heavy new toy, but it actually helps both sides of the ball. The player with the leg up on his opponent will win this tug-of-war play after play. It feels great and usually looks great, too. But most importantly, it’s realistic. To add an extra detail to this new system, running backs now “get skinny” when running through the trenches, too, as they attempt to hit the hole. This makes them a harder target to crash into, which plays directly into that perpetually number-crunching system that is Boom Tech.

The on-field improvements go beyond that. I love how you can better disguise a defense now by presenting a pre-snap look that differs from the coverage you’re actually running. Past Madden games had a simplistic version of this, where you could disguise zone coverage as man coverage or vice versa, but this has expanded to include all types of coverage shells, like Cover 3, 4, 6, et al. For the players who are more invested in Xs and Os, this is incredibly gratifying.

On offense, you can now adjust the depth of your receivers’ routes, too, which similarly expands on a previously simplified mechanic. Madden has long let you audible a route to “the sticks,” meaning you’d make your cut at the first down marker, ensuring you pick up the first down should you complete the catch. But now you can essentially draw the route from the line as the QB using the pre-snap menus. For example, this allows a would-be five-yard in-cutting route to instead be run to various other depths, thereby letting you exploit the holes in a defense more easily.

This provides a great counter for the players grinding out a chess match with a well-disguised defensive guru on the other end. If you can read the defense and see through their disguise, it feels like dodging a jab and landing a haymaker. Even offensive-line adjustments have been given more options, such as shifting half of the line in addition to the previously available whole-line shifts.

These new features share a common trait: nuance. They each expand on systems that have been in the game for years but are now more satisfyingly designed to reward smart football play-calling and excellent execution. It’s why, on the field, this is the best Madden has ever been. Following College Football 25, some have complained that Madden feels sluggish. I find the opposite to be true. Madden 25 feels lifelike, whereas College Football 25 is more arcadey, with players that soar around the field as if games are played at 1.5x speed. I find both are enjoyable, but I want my football to be realistic, and Madden 25 is the most realistic entry in the series, all thanks to the team’s hyperfocus on nuanced football.

But the attention to detail ends as soon as you step out of bounds. My main concern with the game over the last two years is that, as the on-field product got more enjoyable, most of what has surrounded it has felt stuck in neutral, sometimes seeing such minor improvements that they actually felt worse in a sense, as though the team is often catching up to offer features it should’ve had beforehand anyway.

This is true once again, and most clearly expressed in Madden 25’s suite of game modes. Its offerings are the same as last year’s, with most modes getting some attention, but none get enough to compel me to play them beyond Franchise, which I only find enjoyable long-term due to competitive league play.

Annually, the most obvious target for criticism is Madden Ultimate Team (MUT). This genre-redefining pay-to-win mode combines card-collecting with fantasy sports and once more expertly rolls out a heap of Skinner Boxes for players to obsess over for a few dollars at a time. Can you play MUT without spending a dime? Certainly, though I don’t know who is having fun that way given the grueling grind through tedious, sometimes borderline inane challenges, such as completing a pass–a single pass–to earn a few coins in a marketplace where anything of value likely costs several thousand or even hundreds of thousands. Still, I expect that most players who jump into MUT don’t spend money, as this is frequently said about seemingly any game offering microtransactions.

But it’s likely anyone playing MUT for a considerable amount of time is spending money, and that’s the idea; if I went to Target every day to simply browse the store without the intention to purchase anything, I would eventually spend money anyway. The same economic principles are clearly displayed in MUT and always have been. Even if you don’t play the mode at all, you’re greeted with a splash screen advertising a new carrot-on-a-stick to chase almost every single day when you boot up the game.

As I wrote last year, the backlash to pay-to-win systems that other games, such as Star Wars Battlefront 2, had to abandon years ago never really spread to the sports-gaming world. So anything Madden Ultimate Team does that feels good in Madden 25, like its streamlined menus that make sense of the deluge of ongoing events, still lingers inescapably beneath this dark cloud of predatory practices.

This year, the tutorial I praised a few years ago is made optional, which is a nice touch for the players who spend most of their time in MUT and don’t need the refresher, and those same high-end (and high-spend) players can engage in more seasons of content than before, with eight in total this year. Those are nice touches for players already neck-deep in the mode, but it doesn’t do anything to entice new players or detractors.

The most significant change to MUT in Madden 25 is the new ranked head-to-head (H2H) mode, which takes both your success level and your preferred playstyle into account when assigning you a place on the rankings ladder and matching you with opponents. But my years-old issue with this mode as a whole is seen here on full display once more; the game doesn’t (adequately, if at all) differentiate between players spending a lot, a little, or nothing at all, which quickly creates an ecosystem where the free players can either drown or pay to stay afloat. That’s always felt deliberate, so each year it returns becomes like a gag reflex for where I spend my time within Madden. It’s become my annual tradition to drop the mode entirely after playing it for review.

I admit, there’s a comfort in checking the boxes next to each of the game’s challenges on what feels like an endless list of things to do, and to see my coin and training points totals increase a little at a time can be as stimulating as payday. The mode is psychologically soothing, by design, but in such an overt way that ultimately turns me away from it.

That design idea of giving players a bunch of boxes to check is seen in the game’s other major modes too, including Superstar, its single-player-centric mode that tells the story of one’s created athlete, as well as Superstar Showdown, the ultra-flashy mode that throws out traditional football in favor of neon-lit 3v3 streetball.

Each of these modes was given a lot more rewards to earn, with many lengthy questlines coloring in Superstar mode and new seasonal leaderboards in Superstar Showdown, but these feel like things the modes should’ve had last year, when the studio re-launched Superstar and tied it very closely to its flashier sibling mode. I do enjoy how these modes use the same character, as it means you can upgrade your character for the multiplayer-centric mode by first carving out their NFL career beginning with their rookie season, but this also has the downside of making the lackluster Superstar mode feel vital to progression, and since it’s not interesting, it can be a grind in itself.

Though the presentation marginally improves–you’re no longer sitting in a lonesome hotel room between games; instead, you’re standing around in the locker room–it hasn’t done much else to keep players invested like Franchise or even MUT does. On the bright side, EA has resisted letting you buy your way to a higher rating for your Superstar, which is a design decision that annually hurts some other sports games. Still, you can buy XP boosters, including one of the four types that’s only purchasable with real money, so it’s not a totally clean system either.

Previously, I’ve not enjoyed Superstar Showdown much, but given some of the game’s limited-time modes and events at launch, I found myself slightly more interested in playing it in Madden 25. The first-to-21 rules of the game’s default mode have always felt broken since defenses in this mode are so unreliable and trick plays are so easy to execute; it can feel like playing with randomly assigned teammates is a lost cause, as you’re likely to be grouped with players who can’t pull their weight in a mode where scoring happens roughly every two or three plays.

I see the appeal of offering quick in-and-out games for players seeking an alternative to MUT’s short-form challenges, but Superstar Showdown only feels engaging with a reliable team of two buddies running the competitive scene with you, severely limiting its reach. In an ideal world, this mode could be expanded further to become a bigger, more engaging landing spot for players. Though its real-money spending options are also numerous, they’re all cosmetic-only, so I really don’t take issue with them, even as most outfits are so gaudy that I find them embarrassing.

I think this mode has a future, as it does lean into what players want, with plenty of customization and player-spotlight moments, like an emotes list that gives it a Fortnite-like feel. Today, though, it’s not there yet, and the major change in Madden 25 is that it adds more stuff to unlock, which feels cynical. I’ll take more rewards, but the mode’s gameplay should be inherently fun. Neither Superstar Showdown nor Superstar is fun on its own. Not being able to carry emotes and clothing options forward across Madden years is also a pain point, as many games outside of sports have adopted user-friendly cross-game compatibility like this. This is another area in which sports games get away with offering a worse experience.

I actually find Superstar KO, a mode that debuted with Madden 20, to be more enjoyable than Showdown, but it received no attention this year. In terms of quick experiences, it’s the best of them, though it’s a low bar. Effectively a Madden roguelite, you start with a team of a few stars and a limited playbook, and you can earn new elite players with each victory on your way to a perfect 4-0 run in online PvP against players with the same restrictions but different team philosophies. When you lose, you start over with a new team and try again. It feels as though it’s present in Madden 25 because it’s a low-lift task to include it. Otherwise, it would maybe disappear. I fear that’s because the mode has no monetization path, and so it’s doomed to get few resources and live in the shadow of MUT and Showdown.

Maybe I’ve come to expect little of these other modes, but my annual Madden wishlist consists of really just three things: better on-field gameplay, more immersive presentation, and deeper Franchise mode options. As I mentioned, Madden 25 executes that first one very well, but the other two areas have only a few bright spots.

On the Franchise end, the biggest change is the new NFL Draft presentation, which kicks off with a cool live-action video package that illustrates how so much of the NFL’s appeal is built around this three-day event that consistently changes the trajectory of franchises overnight. In Madden, the game ought to capture that, and though it does in an Xs and Os way–I can draft a player who reshapes my virtual city’s skyline, like the late, great Chris Wessesling used to say of Peyton Manning and Indianapolis. However, this year’s game tries to mimic the real-life fanfare of actually selecting such a player, and that presentation lands in the same awkward space that Madden has for years whenever it’s tried to do narrative content around team-building.

In this year’s new Draft presentation, Commissioner Goodell comes on stage and introduces each of the first 10 picks before shaking hands with the selected players and pausing for a photo op, while the rest of the first round is shown on stage too, and later picks are seen celebrating from home. All of this sounds just like real life, but when you watch it happen in the game, it’s off, in an uncanny valley, “Did aliens make this?” kind of way. The stage looks drab and empty, the applause from the audience doesn’t come close to the raucous energy of the real Draft, and though I can see why voice acting is probably a bad idea, its absence sticks out. It lacks a commentary team breaking down each player’s college tape, discussing why they were picked when they were rather than sooner or later, and breaking down how the player may fit on their new pro team.

Even if we pretend Madden’s Draft presentation closely captures the real-life atmosphere, sometimes the information you’ll see is faulty. After a pick, you’ll see a grade for your draft pick, but too many times I just saw an “A.” I did a draft where I controlled all 32 teams, and everyone in the first round got an A for a grade–that is until one player finally got a B-. After this point, every draft pick’s information actually said this previous player’s name and measurables instead of their own. It was as though the grade finally changing somehow broke the entire system. Others online have shown examples of a player’s profile picture not matching the person on stage, like a drafted black wideout standing on stage looking like a white offensive lineman.

The changes to the Draft feel superficial, as though EA wants credit for having created a “new Draft presentation” without going far enough to make an interesting Draft presentation. You can’t just check a box and say it’s done. Too often, Madden’s off-field attractions express this trait.

That’s a clear issue in another would-be-great new feature. Madden 25 offers multiple commentary teams for the first time in the series, with the legacy group of Brandon Gaudin and Charles Davis being joined by two other teams that sound fun on paper: Mike Tirico and Greg Olsen, as well as Kate Scott and Brock Huard. Having a variety of voices calling games is a wonderful idea, but the two new teams fall shy of convincing. The worst offender is Mike Tirico. I don’t know how, but this game has turned one of the best play-by-play guys working today into a robotic facsimile.

It’s hard to call games when the game isn’t really happening in front of you. I’m sympathetic to that truth, but if you’re going to have someone of his caliber in the game, he needs to sound at least close to how entertaining he is in reality. Here, Madden can offer only a funhouse mirror of our world. The same is true for Kate Scott, and I think in both examples, it’s partly a case of the team not having enough material to use yet. Gaudin and Davis have cataloged audio for years, and they record new material each year. But I also don’t recall the inaugural year of that legacy team being as shallow in their football commentary as these new teams are.

The problem is twofold: There’s both stilted delivery and too little material for the commentators to offer any analysis with depth or range. All four of the new voices come off as novices. Even when they attempt to go below the surface and offer meaningful breakdowns with their surely impressive real-life football IQs, they fumble it due to Madden’s legacy issue of failing to capture a moment’s significance or contradicting itself. Kate Scott closed out my first Super Bowl appearance with the situational awareness of someone texting and driving, offering long stretches of nothingness as the final minutes of the nation’s marquee championship game ticked away.

None of the six commentators are immune to saying the wrong thing, like when Greg Olsen–regarded as today’s very best color commentator–noted in the fourth quarter of a game how a quarterback was off to a bad first half. Whether you find such gaffes funny or frustrating, they surely aren’t rarities; they’re too common and go back years in Madden.

On the bright side, the Team Builder web tools first introduced in College Football 25 are now in Madden for the first time ever, letting players create custom team logos, jerseys, and stadiums with a level of detail that no Madden player has ever seen. This is a fun tool with lots of depth, but the best feature is how you can elect to never use it directly and still benefit from the many options in the game’s download center.

Bonafide artists can make elaborate, aesthetically cool jerseys and logos, and all you have to do is find one you like in the simple-to-use creation suite. After years of the same tired team logos and USFL-tier uniforms, the Madden team has wisely handed off the art supplies to its community, where they have already found better results.

It’s almost mysterious to me how I’m moved to invest hundreds of hours into this series every year despite it reliably offering the same problems–even if the specifics change, the philosophy remains. Off the field, Madden 25 is mostly checking boxes, and it stings to see my favorite sport not receive a video game companion similar in its grandeur. But the on-field gameplay is paramount and, here, very strong. I don’t lose sight of that. This makes Madden 25 enjoyable despite its plethora of locker-room issues. I’ve played over 30 hours of Madden 25 so far, and I will play hundreds more before next August, at which point I will get the newest Madden and undoubtedly do it all over again. In the end, maybe that’s the real Madden Curse.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is officially available for preorder for the Xbox One and PS4 ahead of a September 17th launch, EA announced today. The game, which arrived on PC and current-gen consoles in April 2023, costs $49.99 on Xbox One and PS4, standard edition only — the deluxe version is still reserved for newer consoles and PCs.

Owners of last-gen consoles may want to hold off on the Jedi: Fallen Order sequel for now, though. Although it’s been generally liked by critics, the game has also been panned for performance issues, particularly the PC port. Things have  on the Xbox and PS5 side, but players continue to complain about the PC version’s performance.

Still, early issues with the current console versions (and ongoing ones for the PC port) don’t mean the Xbox One and PS4 editions will suffer the same fate, and people who played Fallen Order on those consoles might be in for a treat. As The Verge’s Andrew Webster wrote in his review, there’s no better Star Wars wish fulfillment, even if the sequel doesn’t add much new stuff. As someone who’s still working his way through Fallen Order and is really enjoying it, I’ll gladly take more of the same.

But I can’t currently recommend Sony’s PC adapter. If I had purchased it with my own money, rather than borrowing one from Sony, I’d have asked for a refund long before now.

It’s a shame, because the $550 PSVR 2 is still a good headset, with image quality that arguably beats the newer $500 Meta Quest 3. Playing Half-Life: Alyx inside Sony’s headset isn’t just more vibrant thanks to the richer colors of its OLED screen; it’s more thrilling, too, with the panel’s true blacks making me feel the terror of its darker corridors. The Quest 3 experience looks incredibly washed out by comparison.

This room feels downright chilling inside the PSVR 2.Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge

But what really scared me in Half-Life: Alyx was the damned glitch. How — when I lift my pistol to deal with an unspeakable horror — I’d often find my hand had become detached from my body, stuck in place, two feet above the ground.

I’ve spent eight hours troubleshooting this issue and ones like it over the past week, and I’m no closer to a solution. My Quest 3 streams this game almost perfectly from the same PC in the same room, and yet my PSVR 2 struggles even with a hardwired headset cable to help. I see plenty of others reporting the same issues online, yet others report no issues at all.

You didn’t… need that hand for anything, right?Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Is it luck? Perhaps, but I suspect it might also have something to do with how Sony cheaped out.

You probably know that Sony’s headset connects to the PS5 with a single USB-C cable that routes its display signal, power, and data simultaneously. Once upon a time, graphics card manufacturers were planning to standardize on a USB-C port with that same combo — they called it VirtualLink, and while the brand didn’t take off, some GPUs did make it out into the wild with a do-it-all USB-C port.

The PSVR 2 PC Adapter appears to be the same thing. The three-by-three-inch square puck takes USB-A and DisplayPort from your gaming PC and power from a DC barrel jack, combining them into a single USB-C port for your headset on the other end. Find a DisplayPort cable (it doesn’t come with one and doesn’t support HDMI-to-DisplayPort), fire up , and suddenly, you have a SteamVR headset capable of displaying any Steam game.

But the headset is the only thing the PSVR 2 adapter adapts. Sony provides no way to connect the PlayStation VR2’s all-important controllers. They need to connect to your PC over Bluetooth, but Sony does not provide any form of Bluetooth radio for that — and figuring out controller connectivity on my own has been an utter mess.

Other PSVR 2 PC limitations

I don’t majorly mind that they’re missing, but you should know the PSVR 2 also doesn’t support some of its flagship features on PC:

• HDR
• Eye tracking
• Adaptive triggers
• DualSense haptic feedback

Also, the PSVR 2’s tiny sweet spot for perfect lens clarity bugged me as much as ever, and I’m still not pleased with the controllers’ battery life. However, it does still support passthrough video: you can get a look at your real-world surroundings anytime with a tap of a headset button.

First, I tried my desktop’s own built-in Bluetooth. My motherboard shipped with the extremely common Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 / Bluetooth 5.2 combo chip, so I figured I had a chance. I made sure its antennas were screwed in tight and turned off Wi-Fi just in case it might interfere.

The controllers paired quickly! But one of them refused to update unless I physically plugged it into my PC with a USB-C cable first. My blasters in Space Pirate Trainer, a game where I can easily test aiming, were unusually floaty, and soon, one of them started disappearing entirely. The controllers would not stay connected.

So, I ordered the first Bluetooth adapter on Sony’s incredibly small compatibility list — the $15 TP-Link UB500. Sony weirdly writes there that “operation is not guaranteed” with any of its recommended adapters, but at the time, I didn’t take it as a red flag.

The first thing I learned is that you must disable your motherboard’s onboard Bluetooth if you want to use a dongle. (I learned that from poking around myself because neither Windows nor Sony’s app gave me a clue.) The second thing I learned is you must unpair controllers before you disable your motherboard’s onboard Bluetooth, or else Windows won’t let you pair them again.

Don’t forget to disable any Bluetooth adapters you don’t want to use.Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge

After many, many additional troubleshooting steps, my controllers began to feel responsive.

But even then — with Sony’s recommended Bluetooth dongle, the latest drivers, plugged into a USB extension cable, with a direct line of sight to my controllers less than five feet away — one of my virtual hands would regularly, repeatedly, and consistently get stuck in midair. It lost positional tracking, meaning I could still rotate my hand, even squeeze the triggers, but not move it anywhere.

Video passthrough is nice to have (but I couldn’t get the automated room scan working after many, many attempts).Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Now, I admit that doesn’t entirely sound like a Bluetooth issue, and I could be wrong about that, but here’s why I suspect it might be:

• I have no issues with the Quest 3’s controllers in the same space, so I don’t think my room or lighting is interfering with tracking.
• I had no issues with the PSVR 2’s controllers with a Framework 16 laptop and its internal Bluetooth chip (though I did have other issues with that setup).
• When I added the TP-Link adapter to that laptop, my controller started getting stuck.
• The virtual controller gets stuck even if it stays within the field of view of the headset’s cameras, which should help with positional tracking.
• It was always the same controller getting stuck — until I unpaired them and re-paired them. Now it’s the other one. It feels like it’s having trouble fully supporting two at once, which had long been a complaint with standardized Bluetooth wireless tech.

I’m afraid that controller tracking isn’t the only issue I’ve had with PSVR 2 on PC, either. I’ve repeatedly seen the entire experience grind to a halt, on multiple PCs, just by trying to access the SteamVR overlay to change volume or load a different game. I had to remove the headset and force-close things each time. It happened once when I was trying to play Armored Core 6 in SteamVR’s theater environment that gives you a big virtual screen for your flat games, too.

If it weren’t for that, and how both Sony and Valve require you to use motion controllers to access and navigate SteamVR, maybe I could at least recommend the adapter for non-VR gaming.

Sony did not answer my questions about why it didn’t choose to offer its own Bluetooth solution or whether there’s another Bluetooth adapter or a validated laptop I should try instead. I offered to let Sony help me troubleshoot over the phone, but the company didn’t take me up on that, either.

After trying every troubleshooting step on Sony’s website and more via PR email, and putting eight hours into this thing without a single good gameplay session, I’ve decided Sony’s PC product simply isn’t ready for my PC.

Agree to continue: PSVR 2 PC Adapter

Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It’s impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit “agree” to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don’t read and definitely can’t negotiate.

Unlike most dongles, the PlayStation VR2 PC Adapter requires its own app, and here that means one mandatory agreement: .

Additionally, Sony makes you agree to automatically let it collect “limited data” about the PSVR 2 hardware, game errors, “information necessary to detect and investigate malicious, unauthorized or fraudulent activity,” and “information required by applicable law and to demonstrate compliance.” You can optionally let Sony collect “full data” including but not limited to “detailed information about what games you play” and “information about your play area.”

That’s two mandatory agreements and one optional permission.