https://www.thegamer.com Owned by Valve, Steam is a digital storefront and library for PC games. With many sales, updates, account functionality, and compatibility with many different platforms — as well as streaming options and its own Steam Deck handheld - it remains one of the biggest storefronts for PC gamers.  Wed, 31 May 2023 18:00:18 GMT en-US hourly 60 Because the Steam Deck's desktop operating system is Linux based, you're generally unable to play certain games that are heavily supported by Windows, or whose anti-cheat systems aren't compatible. Most non-Steam games aren't compatible with Linux, but there are ways around this. What about Epic Games and other launchers?

]]> Wed, 31 May 2023 21:16:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/steam-deck-how-to-install-epic-games-gog/ I’m in an incredibly privileged position, I know that. Sure, I was born in a country that speaks English, I have two parents who love me, I’m white, all that usual stuff. But also, I’m a games journalist. Video games are one of the most expensive pieces of media to buy regularly, and publishers email me every day with free games. Some big, some small, some medium sized. Good, bad, indie, triple-A, VR, RPG, FPS, TRPG, JRPG, CRPG, ARPG, all the letters. So I’m well placed to say to you - go find a game.

]]> Wed, 31 May 2023 18:00:18 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/game-recommendations-find-new-releases/ Magic: The Gathering has always been a mystery to me. I knew the word ‘planeswalker’ and that cards could fetch exorbitant prices even before the Logan Paul-infused Pokemon TCG boom, and that was about it. A flatmate’s boyfriend once tried to teach me the rules of the game in university and it went over my head. I didn’t even really get the mana system, let alone all the colours. Perhaps it’s not that complicated, but I’m used to Pokemon, one of the simplest TCGs around.

]]> Wed, 31 May 2023 16:00:26 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/magic-the-gathering-lord-of-the-rings-tales-of-middle-earth-learning-arena/ I had grand plans this weekend. Strictly speaking, I had absolutely no plans, but that was the exciting part. There was no pile of washing to do, no lawn to mow, no annoying chores to eat into any spare minutes you get to yourself. What’s more, my fiance had made solo plans with our daughter, so I wouldn’t be reading the same two books over and over again. Don’t get me wrong, I love The Very Hungry Caterpillar as much as the next guy, but on your sixteenth read of the day it loses its charm a little.

]]> Wed, 31 May 2023 14:28:51 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/sometimes-the-grind-isnt-worth-it/ The Steam Deck is a versatile handheld console that functions as a gaming machine and a desktop PC using a Linux OS that runs smoothly. You can customize the framerate, battery life, change the boot videos, and more.

]]> Mon, 29 May 2023 20:45:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/steam-deck-plugins-best-how-to-install/ Last week, a Steam user made a very curious discovery. We don't know just who that Steam user was because upon making this discovery they disappeared from the platform, but we know that it happened because of a particular YouTuber who decided to repeat the mistake and showcase it to the world.

]]> Mon, 29 May 2023 13:40:36 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/steam-kill-account-longest-word-antidisestablishmentarianism/ Earlier this year, the team behind Dolphin Emulator - a popular emulator that allows PC users to play Wii and GameCube games - announced plans to distribute it on Steam, going so far as to create a listing on the storefront. This ended up attracting a lot of attention, although it also seems to have turned the head of the one company that Dolphin Emulator was probably hoping not to come to blows with - Nintendo.

]]> Sat, 27 May 2023 01:33:39 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/nintendo-valve-dmca-notice-dolphin-emulator-steam/ Earlier this month, farming and life simulator Roots of Pacha was delisted from Steam due to a dispute between developer Soda Den and the game's publisher Crytivo. Soda Den claimed that Crytivo asked Valve to remove the game from the platform without its knowledge, while Crytivo claimed that Soda Den was attempting to void a contract the two were working under for the past three years of development. Thankfully, the two have now come to an agreement.

]]> Sat, 27 May 2023 00:17:19 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/roots-of-pacha-back-on-steam-developer-publisher-part-ways/ The best thing, by far, about the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy is the wealth of behind the scenes features that accompany the special edition. To this day, there is no better documentary of how films are made and the work that goes into them from legions of people in every possible department. 26 hours of footage cover everything from props workers delicately slicing rubber hosing to make chainmail, to the actual forge used to make weapons, to the room-filling ‘bigatures’ of Minas Tirith and Isengard, to the cutting-edge CGI technology used to create the Balrog and other beasties too big for Weta’s incredible workshop.

]]> Fri, 26 May 2023 16:01:18 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-lord-of-the-rings-gollum-digital-art-exhibition-better-than-the-game/ Gollum is a pitiful creature. Not wholly evil but definitely not nice, his fate is cruelly tied to that of the Ring, his dedication to which forces him from Mordor to mountain cave and back again. Possibly the most interesting character in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books, many will immediately associate him with Andy Serkis’ scene-stealing mo-cap performance in Peter Jackson’s trilogy. But it’s high time the creature gets another shot.

]]> Thu, 25 May 2023 08:00:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-lord-of-the-rings-gollum-review/ Pyramids, mummies, sphinxes, and now, Total War. Sega has just announced a new Total War game set in Ancient Egypt's New Kingdom during the Bronze Age Collapse.

]]> Tue, 23 May 2023 15:28:32 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/sega-announces-new-total-war-game-pharaoh/ Mortal Kombat 1 is a huge success already. The announcement trailer has garnered 4.6 million views while it's the most pre-ordered game on PS5 right now. The hype is palpable, and it's spilling over to MK11 which has just hit a Steam player peak nearly rivalling that of its launch.

]]> Tue, 23 May 2023 13:55:50 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/mortal-kombat-11-steam-player-peak-mk1-announcement/ There’s a BioWare bundle on Steam right now that’s way too good to pass up. As part of the EA Publisher Sale, you can pick up the BioWare Mega Collection, which includes every Dragon Age and Mass Effect game for 90 percent off their normal price. That’s Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition, Dragon Age 2: Ultimate Edition, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, and Mass Effect Andromeda Deluxe Edition for just $19.73. That’s $190 worth of BioWare classics (and Mass Effect Andromeda) for the price of a decent lunch. These six games (and Mass Effect Andromeda) are considered to be among the best RPGs ever made, and if you don’t have any of them you would be a fool not to pick this bundle up.

]]> Wed, 17 May 2023 22:40:35 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-outrageously-cheap-bioware-mega-collection-has-the-strangest-restriction/ Steam seems to be having some issues currently. A collection of high-profile games, including Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Age of Empires 4, Postal 2, and DayZ are all no longer available for purchase. Head over to any of these games’ Steam listings and you’ll find the "add to cart" button inconveniently removed.

]]> Wed, 17 May 2023 16:51:03 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/halo-mcc-age-of-empires-4-postal-2-dayz-steam-delisted/ How do you make a battle royale board game? The question gives me flashbacks to gigantic Warhammer 40,000 Apocalypse matches, with a dozen players leaning over a room-sized board littered with tiny miniatures. Whole swathes would be eliminated at a time, scooped up into the sorry hands of their owner and dropped into a giant case or tin ready for the journey home. Two-foot tall titans would devastate small armies in a single turn, before being focus-fired by hundreds of meltaguns and felled in return.

]]> Wed, 17 May 2023 15:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/apex-legends-board-game-kickstarter-microtransactions/ Redfall continues to lose players after its disastrous launch roughly two weeks ago. With just over 6,000 concurrent players on Steam 24 hours after launching on May 2, that number has dwindled to just under 200 players.

]]> Wed, 17 May 2023 13:56:32 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/redfall-falls-under-200-concurrent-players-steam/ I’m trying to love my Steam Deck. The bulky handheld is a great idea, but with only middling execution. Games, especially more graphically intensive affairs, need lots of tweaking before they run well, and the top end triple-A types sometimes need serious work before they run at all.

]]> Tue, 16 May 2023 17:16:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/steam-deck-costing-me-so-much-money/ Steam is one of the most relaxed game platforms when it comes to refunds, for better and worse. After purchasing a title, you can play for two hours, decide you don't like it, and ask for your money back. However, that means you can't dip into a lot of games at once before deciding which one to spend your money on. Unless you have a few hundred quid you don't mind waiting five days to get back. But Steam has an age-old solution - trials.

]]> Tue, 16 May 2023 10:51:50 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/steam-trials-dead-space-remake/ Five years ago, Hawken died. The free-to-play multiplayer mech shooter from Adhesive Games first arrived on Steam in 2012 before making the leap to consoles in 2016, but by 2018, the PC servers had gone dark. Publisher 505 Games kept the servers alive on Xbox One and PS4, but they're mostly empty these days. A sad end to a truly fun game.

]]> Mon, 15 May 2023 16:04:10 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/hawken-returns-steam-after-five-years/ The developer behind the farming and life simulation game Roots of Pacha, Soda Den, recently took to social media in order to explain the sudden disappearance of the Steam page, pointing to an ongoing "dispute" with publisher Crytivo. According to Soda Den, “Crytivo went to Valve and authorized them to remove Roots of Pacha from Steam without our knowledge or consent.”

]]> Sun, 14 May 2023 20:05:46 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/roots-of-pacha-taken-off-steam-dispute-developer-publisher/ Nobody knew what Elden Ring was going to be about. We knew the gameplay would be classic Soulsborne fare (soul-crushingly difficult, with bonfires and bosses to boot), and we knew it would take place in a sprawling fantasy world. The combination of Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R. R. Martin had many fans salivating, but the end result of a malignant world filled with heinous creatures left many of us baffled.

]]> Sat, 13 May 2023 15:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/i-cant-wait-for-vaatividya-armored-core-6-breakdowns/ It's no secret that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has a huge gambling problem. Non-affiliated websites offer Counter-Strike players the ability to put up their hard-earned skins for potential prizes, up to and including cold-hard cash. It's for this very reason that CS:GO developer Valve has been accused of facilitating online gambling for minors, but since Valve doesn't own any of the sites, the charges have always been dropped.

]]> Thu, 11 May 2023 18:36:08 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/steam-bans-gambling-counter-strike-global-offensive-csgo/ Apex Legends’ new season is here, and it’s brought with it a whole new ranked system. It was probably bigger news that the L-Star has hit the Care Package instead of the Charge Rifle everyone wanted, but as players try out new boy Ballistic, it was only ever going to be ranked that they played in. And as it turns out, ranked is much better for noobs than it is for pros right now.

]]> Thu, 11 May 2023 17:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/apex-legends-sweetdreams-climbed-to-apex-predator-without-dealing-damage/ Disney isn’t happy. It’s likely writing up legal documents as we speak, speaking with lawyers and drafting strongly-worded letters. The company’s beloved mascot that has projected a beloved, family-friendly message carefully curated over decades, with the ears that brand millions of t-shirts worldwide, is now an action hero brandishing tommy guns and revolvers and popping heads in a retro shooter?

]]> Wed, 10 May 2023 19:00:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/i-cant-get-enough-of-the-mickey-mouse-first-person-shooter/ Another week, another ‘Streamer beats Dark Souls with their eyes closed, using nothing but a wired-up baguette, while hanging upside down and reciting the entirety of Shrek’. The ways in which people beat Soulsborne games never cease to amaze me. Yet, there’s a very simple challenge baked into each Dark Souls game already—playing with mouse and keyboard, inarguably the worst way to play one of these games.

]]> Tue, 09 May 2023 16:00:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/dark-souls-elden-ring-mouse-keyboard-pc/ There's an ideal genre of games out there for everyone. If you love a challenge based on mystery and puzzles, you will most certainly enjoy the puzzle game genre. Not only does this genre consist of very traditional puzzle games involving numbers and riddles, but also some graphically impressive first-person shooters.

]]> Sun, 07 May 2023 23:30:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/steam-puzzle-games-best-most-addictive/ The impending release of the next Zelda game is like a massive warship cruising into battle and ramming everything else out of its way. It’s no surprise that Tears of the Kingdom is the only big triple-A game launching this month, despite the fact that every other month is packed with overlapping releases all throughout 2023. When Nintendo planted its Zelda flag in May, I suspect the rest of the industry decided to give it as wide a berth as possible. No one wants to compete with the sequel to Breath of the Wild, and I don’t blame them.

]]> Sat, 06 May 2023 14:16:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/mays-game-release-schedule-is-jam-packed-with-games-not-called-tears-of-the-kingdom/ Wizards of the Coast has announced at MagicCon that Magic: The Gathering Arena is finally coming to Steam later this month over three years after its initial release. Wizards confirmed back in December last year that the free-to-play title would be launching on Steam at some point in the near future, but has now announced a release date of May 23 for Magic fans to look forward to.

]]> Fri, 05 May 2023 19:40:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/magic-the-gathering-arena-steam-release-date/ Redfall has had a pretty rough start to life, arriving in the form of a very rare miss from Arkane earlier this week. Despite the bad reviews and dirty laundry being aired in public, some of you have still taken Bethesda's new vampire game for a spin. It doesn't look like many of you will be sticking with it long enough to see all of that promised support though, as its player count on Steam has plummeted in the three days since it launched.

]]> Fri, 05 May 2023 12:17:49 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/redfall-loses-thousands-players-three-days/ You've no doubt heard of The Elder Scrolls, but what about a lesser-known '90s spin-off styled on Prince of Persia and Tomb Raider called Redguard? It was a major shift for a series known for its dense RPG mechanics, gigantic worlds, and diverging narrative threads, but it paved the way for Morrowind and eventually Skyrim. And its obscurity can be seen in its speedrunning scene, which until yesterday, had one record - 1h 58m 34s.

]]> Thu, 04 May 2023 15:08:28 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-elder-scrolls-adventures-redguard-speedrun-moistcritikal/ With the evolution of technology in the gaming world, games' graphics and quality of life features have improved substantially compared to a decade ago. But, with improved technology comes bigger file sizes to be able to fit everything into the game.

]]> Thu, 04 May 2023 15:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/steam-games-biggest-file-size-gb/ To say Redfall has gotten off to a rough start would be a serious understatement. The latest Arkane game may well be experiencing the rockiest release for a triple-A game since Cyberpunk 2077. The launch has been so bad that not only is Redfall still sitting on a mostly negative review score on Steam, but if you search for Bethesda's new vampire game in Steam's top sellers right now, Redfall is nowhere to be found.

]]> Thu, 04 May 2023 10:02:48 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/redfall-missing-from-steam-top-sellers/ Citizen Sleeper feels like it was based on a tabletop RPG. In many ways it was, albeit one in creator Gareth Damian Martin’s imagination. The cult indie hit was inspired by many TTRPG mechanics, and Damian Martin was keen to move away from the D&D pigeonhole that video game RPGs often fall into.

]]> Tue, 02 May 2023 17:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/citizen-sleeper-is-finally-getting-a-tabletop-rpg/ Fighting on the Apex Legends ranked ladder is probably how most players play Respawn’s battle royale, but the experience varies greatly. Ranked is plagued by cheaters, especially at higher levels, matchmaking can be iffy, and there’s nothing worse than a long queue before you can even play. The ranked rules also change greatly from season to season, as the devs tinker with the formula to try to craft the perfect competitive mode.

]]> Tue, 02 May 2023 15:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/apex-legends-ranked-season-17-changes-nerf-three-stacks-and-fight-cheaters/ Hot off the heels of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's rocky PC launch, Redfall has landed with "Mostly Negative" reviews on Steam as well. Not only because of performance issues, but because of the "empty world", "trash" AI, and multiplayer systems. Or lack thereof.

]]> Tue, 02 May 2023 08:54:22 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/redfall-steam-mostly-negative-reviews/ Phrases like, 'this game makes you really feel like this thing' get thrown around often, and it’s usually the result of deliberate game design. It’s only natural that Insomniac’s Spider-Man series makes you feel like Spider-Man, or that Rocksteady’s Batman games make you feel like Batman. It’s what those games were designed to do, and therefore the intended power fantasy is evident.

]]> Mon, 01 May 2023 20:01:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/star-wars-jedi-survivor-looks-great-but-sekiro-made-me-feel-one-with-the-force/ Fragment has gone. Or at least, the iconic landing spot will look mighty unfamiliar when you drop there in Apex Legends Season 17: Arsenal. Monument is a new POI that takes up most of Frag East, a museum crammed full of references that eagle-eyed fans will pore over for hours. World’s Edge is cooling, buildings are moving across the map, and that’s just the start. The Firing Range has been expanded tenfold, there are challenges to complete with every weapon, a new item that might be a subtle Valk nerf, and the customary Care Package and Crafter rotations. But back to the elephant in the map.

]]> Mon, 01 May 2023 15:00:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/apex-legends-season-17-map-changes-fragment-worlds-edge/ Persona 3 eventually added a female protagonist in the Portable re-release, but neither 4 nor 5 have the option to play as a woman. Speaking about P5R, game director Katsura Hashino said "it's not worth it" due to the "huge amount" of work it would require, so modders have decided to bear the weight and do it themselves.

]]> Sun, 30 Apr 2023 12:35:08 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/persona-5-female-joker-mod-voice-acting/ The next Steam Client Beta update is overhauling the in-game overlay to add more functions and a new interface. Apart from a new toolbar that you can use to open different apps, you can also pin windows so they appear in-game as you play. Technically, you could open up a streaming service, put on something you want to watch, and overlay it in your game while you play. Valve even says as much in the notes.

]]> Sat, 29 Apr 2023 15:45:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/steam-overlay-watch-movies-focus/ While you’ve all been bashing zombies in Dead Island 2 and polishing your lightsabers in anticipation of Jedi: Survivor, I’ve spent my evenings honing my spy skills in Deceive Inc. My friends and I have become completely obsessed with this clever little stealth game, and I think with time there’s a chance it will become one of the most popular multiplayer games out there. While not the first spy vs. spy game on the market, Deceive Inc. is by far the best to do it.

]]> Fri, 28 Apr 2023 18:13:07 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/deceive-inc-could-be-an-all-timer-but-no-one-is-playing-it-right/ Steam has seemingly implemented a policy that will hold the sale of community market items if they're being sold for notably higher than market value. This new policy was not published, but it appears to be an attempt to crack down on illegal activities on the world's largest PC gaming platform.

]]> Fri, 28 Apr 2023 13:56:47 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/steam-delays-community-market-sales-unusually-high-price/ Steam's latest beta has rolled out an update for the overlay, which drastically improves the screenshot manager, achievement tab, browser, and more, but one feature, in particular, has come in handy with CS:GO players. You can pin notes to the screen so they stay up while you play, meaning you can use a dot to make a crosshair for snipers.

]]> Fri, 28 Apr 2023 10:25:08 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/counter-strike-global-offensive-steam-overlay-beta-notes-no-scoping-reddit/ Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is finally out, but for those on PC, you might want to hold off on buying it right now. Already, it has a 'Mostly Negative' score on Steam with 1,023 reviews. Only 29 percent are positive.

]]> Fri, 28 Apr 2023 09:14:50 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/star-wars-jedi-survivor-launches-to-mostly-negative-steam-reviews/ Valve has revealed the latest batch of improvements and new features coming in the next Steam Client Beta update, the biggest being a complete overhaul of Steam's in-game overlay. The feature was primarily used to chat with friends or check on things related to the game you were playing, but this latest update has now added a whole bunch of new functions and a new interface for extra customizability.

]]> Fri, 28 Apr 2023 01:49:39 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/steam-client-beta-update-in-game-overlay-watch-movies/ Video games offer an outlet, a place devoid of the stresses of daily life, where you can delve into the stories they have to tell. But none does this better than the open-world genre, where the possibilities are endless, and the scope is unimaginable. Whether you're a fantasy geek keen to become a dragonslayer in Dragon Age or a sci-fi lover wanting to explore the galaxy, you certainly won't get bored so easily.

]]> Wed, 26 Apr 2023 21:31:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/best-open-world-games-on-steam-pc/ Cassette Beasts is a game made for me. First of all, I love Pokemon (totally unique, right?), which Cassette Beasts lovingly riffs off. Secondly, I’ve been asking for a return to 2D Pokemon games for ages. Thirdly, I grew up on the mythical Wirral peninsula, which the game’s region New Wirral is clearly named after thanks to the developers’ similar heritage. There’s more connections, but all you need to know is that this is a game made for me.

]]> Wed, 26 Apr 2023 15:00:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/cassette-beasts-review-the-most-innovative-pokemon-like-in-years/ Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has long been full of Half-Life easter eggs - back in 2015, fans found graffiti of a number that, when Googled, led them to a zipcode reading 'Freeman'. Three years ago, fans also noticed a Black Mesa logo on the Professionals' sleeve buttons. Valve has been hiding Half-Life nods since CS:GO's launch, so it's only fitting that CS2 would feature some new references of its own.

]]> Wed, 26 Apr 2023 12:37:53 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/counter-strike-2-half-life-easter-egg/ CS:GO had a record month for case sales this year after players spent over $100 million on them in March, but already, their value has dropped as a result of the new Anubis skins.

]]> Tue, 25 Apr 2023 12:40:23 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/counter-strike-global-offensive-case-value-collapse-steam-marketplace-anubis-skins/ Will Wright is best known for creating The Sims, and therefore much of his life prior to the year 2000 has been forgotten or is ignored. Sure, you might reference SimCity and hardcore fans might cite SimAnt as a niche favourite (yes, that’s real), but before he started designing video games, Wright was a keen architect and engineer. These passions led him to BattleBots, the US version of robot-fighting game show Robot Wars, which his creation was subsequently banned from.

]]> Sat, 22 Apr 2023 14:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/why-the-sims-creator-was-banned-from-battlebots-robot-wars/ In a market where there are a plethora of FPS games, it can be hard to keep up and choose which one you might want to play. It seems like a new game is released almost every week. Even with some of the popular games, being popular doesn’t always mean good.

]]> Sat, 22 Apr 2023 12:46:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/steam-best-free-fps-games/ Dark and Darker developer Ironmace says it is spending "thousands of dollars a day" to keep the playtest running, despite no longer being able to make any money from Steam. This also comes after the game's GoFundMe was taken down, raising concerns over how long development can sustain itself.

]]> Fri, 21 Apr 2023 12:39:25 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/dark-and-darker-servers-cost-devs-thousands-of-dollars-every-day/ Dark and Darker developer Ironmace has responded to Nexon's lawsuit, saying it is "entirely without merit", and accusing the publisher of being a "bully." Ironmace has also lodged a counterclaim to Valve, calling on the company to allow Dark and Darker on Steam again after it was taken down last month.

]]> Fri, 21 Apr 2023 10:41:06 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/dark-and-darker-back-on-steam-ironmace-lawsuit-nexon/ Reviews are important. Considering how much video games cost, you'd want to be as informed as possible before making a $70 purchase. Be it a critic review, fan review, or a playthrough, you'll want to make sure you want to know just how good or bad a game is. It only makes sense that reviews also have reviews.

]]> Mon, 17 Apr 2023 10:23:11 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/steam-restricts-accounts-for-marking-a-negative-review-helpful/ Dark and Darker's incredibly unique playtest faces another blow, as the torrent link is copyright claimed on Twitter. Now, it's largely up to the fanbase to circulate the download link, which could make the process of joining the playtest much riskier

]]> Sun, 16 Apr 2023 12:45:06 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/dark-and-darkers-playtest-torrent-copyright-claimed/ To say that there aren’t many women in esports is an understatement. From the very inception of virtual competition, it’s been a veritable boys club and the vast majority of pros are men. However, the times they are a-changin’. Female spaces and more inclusive tournaments are popping up across the board, and nowhere more so than Apex Legends.

]]> Sat, 15 Apr 2023 17:31:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/womens-apex-legends-is-more-exciting-than-the-algs-right-now/ The monster-taming genre is pretty well-known thanks to big franchises like Pokemon and Digimon. After all, bringing those who would otherwise be your enemy onto your side and fighting fire with fire is a fun concept.

]]> Fri, 14 Apr 2023 22:15:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/best-monster-taming-games-steam-pc/ Dark and Darker, the extraction-based multiplayer fantasy game that was briefly one of the top early-access games on Steam, has had to resort to extreme measures after the game received a DMCA takedown. Unavailable on Steam, developer Ironmace has been forced to distribute the latest build of Dark and Darker through a method normally associated with game piracy: torrents.

]]> Fri, 14 Apr 2023 17:55:41 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/dark-and-darker-devs-torrent-game-legal-drama/ A Steam profile helped catch the alleged leaker of classified US Department of Defense documents. Jack Teixeira, an airman first class in the Massachusetts Air National Guard, has been arrested on suspicion of leaking sensitive intelligence material online. And, according to several investigations, he did it mostly for internet points.

]]> Fri, 14 Apr 2023 14:41:59 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/pentagon-leaker-arrested-steam-profile/ Starfield's launch is nearly here. Well, sort of. The most recent push of its release date now has it arriving on September 6. Hopefully a date that won't be altered again, even if Spider-Man does choose the same month to swing onto PS5. More big updates about Starfield will be revealed during its showcase this summer, but one interesting piece of new information has been spotted ahead of time. The removal of Russian language support from the space RPG's Steam page.

]]> Wed, 12 Apr 2023 12:56:33 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/starfield-removes-russian-language-support-steam/ Elden Ring is huge as is, but for modders, that's not enough. One dedicated fan has ported the original Souls-like's first level into the game, letting The Tarnished brave Boletaria for a change.

]]> Wed, 12 Apr 2023 12:13:30 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/elden-ring-demons-souls-boletaria-palace/ When it comes to simulations, you don’t necessarily have to cling to what’s considered the closest representation to what real life is life. That kind of thinking kind of defeats the entire purpose of immersing yourself in a video game’s world. Video games are an escape from reality.

]]> Mon, 10 Apr 2023 14:30:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/best-simulation-games-on-steam/ Garry’s Mod was a weird experiment. It took all of Valve’s library and smushed them together into one big sandbox, giving you a doohicky glue gun that can pick stuff up with a laser. If you really want to, you can make a car out of a bathtub, or a boat out of corpses. It’s absurd, but for some reason, it works. Yet, no game has ever tried anything similar until, weirdly enough, Tears of the Kingdom.

]]> Mon, 10 Apr 2023 14:15:12 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-garrys-mod-breath-of-the-wild/ You may remember that I started playing through all of the Dragon Age games last year. Wait, you don’t? It wasn’t that long ago, come on. You’re clearly not as big a fan of TheGamer’s most northern Features Editor as I thought. But anyway, I thought Dragon Age: Origins was outstanding, and the sequel was better than I expected, albeit it didn’t quite match up to its predecessor. I’m simplifying a lot – I must have written dozens of features about the pair over the months it took me to play them – but that’s the gist. Now you’re caught up, and we can jump into the most modern release - Inquisition.

]]> Sun, 09 Apr 2023 17:30:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/why-i-bounced-off-dragon-age-inquisition/ You’d be forgiven for not realising that Dredge has more than one ending. The indie fishing sim stuck its puckered tentacles onto me last weekend and wouldn’t let go. Within ten hours I’d finished the game, completing nearly every achievement as I did so, before I heard rumblings of a secret ending doing the rounds on social media. Was this a Mew-under-the-truck situation, or was there a kernel of truth at the centre of this writhing monstrosity of a rumour?

]]> Sun, 09 Apr 2023 15:30:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/dredges-secret-ending-shows-the-power-of-a-good-twist/ The Steam game library is filled with so many games that it would take a very long time to play every single one of them. Being on PC, Steam can be more accessible than the latest consoles, and its games regularly go on sale.

]]> Sat, 08 Apr 2023 22:31:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/steam-best-co-op-games/ I have a few regrets after finishing The Witcher 3. I failed to save Syanna Anna because I didn’t buy some overpriced ribbon from a drug-dealing child. I didn’t play enough Gwent, so my card collection is a little lacking. I was more than happy with my ending, but I’d like to see the others. This is a big game, and I’m sure I’ve forgotten more regrettable decisions than most people have made. But one stands out more than any other. One decision that wasn’t a part of a quest, wasn’t forced upon me, wasn’t some kind of Charlotte’s Choice affair, something I just did. I killed 1,000 cows.

]]> Sat, 08 Apr 2023 14:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/i-killed-1000-cows-in-the-witcher-3-and-instantly-regretted-it/ For a game that's ostensibly about surviving on a demon-infested island, Sons of the Forest sure does like to give its players new and interesting ways to get around. First, there was the notebook bug, which allowed players to slide down mountains as though they were bulletproof bobsleighs, and then came sharks you could surf on. Last month's update added a hand glider, and just yesterday, Sons of the Forest developer Endnight Games added something you'd hardly expect to find on a remote island.

]]> Fri, 07 Apr 2023 14:52:56 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/sons-of-the-forests-new-unicycle-spring-trap-catapult/ Resident Evil 4 Remake added the original game's Mercenaries as free DLC today, but alongside it comes 11 "Exclusive Upgrade Ticket" microtransactions, a copy of the otherwise free in-game item that bypasses the usual level restrictions weapons have for their special add-ons.

]]> Fri, 07 Apr 2023 08:42:20 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/resident-evil-4-remake-mercenaries-update-upgrade-ticket-microtransactions-backlash/ We still don't know when the Silent Hill 2 remake is coming out, but as spotted by AestheticGamer on Twitter, the Steam page updated its release date from TBA (to be announced) to "Coming Soon" only last night.

]]> Thu, 06 Apr 2023 08:46:46 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/silent-hill-2-steam-page-release-date-coming-soon/ Oleg Klapovskiy, former senior vice president of business development and operations at GOG, co-founded SNEG in 2021 with a mission to restore classic RPGs.

]]> Tue, 04 Apr 2023 10:50:57 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/sneg-dungeons-and-dragons-classic-games-steam-interview-wizards-of-the-coast/ Well that’s it then. I’ve finished The Witcher 3. Sure, it may be half a decade later than the rest of you, but I’ve done it. And I did it properly. I finished Geralt’s adventure (does that not sound like a side-scrolling GBA Witcher game, by the way?) with 78 hours of playtime, after eating up both courses of DLC and starting out deliberately attempting to not play it like a game, and finishing it by spending hours hunting ingredients in order to upgrade my armour.

]]> Sat, 01 Apr 2023 16:30:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-witcher-3-35-more-times/ Counter-Strike 2’s built-in wallhack has been removed as of the latest patch yesterday. The patch removed a development console command that players could activate to generate a green box around every player, making it easy to shoot them through walls, doors, and other penetrable materials.

]]> Fri, 31 Mar 2023 13:57:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/cs2-removes-wallhack-console-command/ “You are a part of this place,” refugee spacefarer Peake tells you early in Citizen Sleeper’s third and final DLC, Purge. And, for the first time, I feel it. My Sleeper has always felt like an interloper, an external force trying its best to fix The Eye for the people I care about. But now that Peake, who has been here for less time than I, points out that I’m a part of this ecosystem, I realise they’re right.

]]> Thu, 30 Mar 2023 16:01:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/citizen-sleeper-purge-review-the-end/ If you shoot the lake in Resident Evil 4 Remake, you get a unique Leon Kennedy costume. No, really - go try it out! When you're done, come back and finish the article, yeah? The 'tricking' part of that pesky hed is an exaggeration, promise.

]]> Thu, 30 Mar 2023 09:54:11 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/resident-evil-4-remake-del-lago-lake-shoot-trick-tiktok-steam/ To say that Naughty Dog has botched the PC launch of The Last of Us Part 1 would be very kind. It started out with players becoming increasingly irritated regarding constant crashes and lacklustre frame rates, which led to an avalanche of negative reviews on the game's Steam page. However, now that more and more people have started playing, we're starting to see a whole bunch of weird and baffling glitches that are only growing in variety as time goes on.

]]> Wed, 29 Mar 2023 23:57:12 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-last-of-us-part-1-players-weirdest-glitches-pc/ A few years ago, Team Fortress 2 had a glitch that let players put specialised killstreaks on any item, whether that was hats, keys, taunts, or weapons. An SK tracks how many kills you get with said item, so putting it on something like a hat is completely pointless, but that's what TF2 fans did before it got patched. And some of these useless items still exist, with a specialised killstreak rocket jumper cropping up on the community market for $1,000.

]]> Wed, 29 Mar 2023 10:21:27 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tf2-glitched-specialised-killstreak-rocket-jumper-steam-marketplace/ When it comes to PlayStation's PC offerings, they've been fairly reliable in terms of quality and performance. You'll rarely hear about a PlayStation port running poorly on the day of launch, yet that's exactly what seems to be happening with the recently released port of The Last of Us Part 1.

]]> Tue, 28 Mar 2023 21:02:25 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-last-of-us-part-1-pc-constant-crashes/ I chat to Citizen Sleeper developer Gareth Damian Martin over a video call, but it feels more like we’re tucked in a small corner of a bustling cafe. It’s less of an interview and more of a philosophical discussion, and Damian Martin is a talker, answering questions with digressive tangents and discursive ideas - fitting, for the range of life experience they bring to Citizen Sleeper’s team.

]]> Tue, 28 Mar 2023 15:30:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/citizen-sleeper-ending-gareth-damian-martin-interview/ Emulators running Steam games are nothing new, but an emulator being officially distributed on Steam? That's something. And that something is Dolphin, perhaps the best emulator you can download.

]]> Tue, 28 Mar 2023 15:03:41 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/steam-dolphin-emulator-nintendo/ Steam is pulling support for Windows 7 and 8, forcing anyone still using older operating systems to upgrade in order to access their game library. This is despite a whole host of older games struggling to run on anything after Windows 7, with many still attached to the now-defunct Games for Windows Live which is still causing problems on W10 and 11.

]]> Tue, 28 Mar 2023 11:47:32 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/steam-ends-windows-7-8-support-older-games-fallout-3-gta/ CS2 is hosting a limited test for a select pool of players which have been picked based on recent CS:GO playtime, trust factor, and Steam account standing. To try and get in, some idled to boost their hours, hoping to make themselves eligible, but Valve has said that this won't work and you're wasting your time.

]]> Tue, 28 Mar 2023 10:59:23 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/counter-strike-2-idle-beta-key/ At just $400, the Steam Deck can be an incredible entry to PC gaming. Even if you aren’t specifically in the market for a handheld, the fact that you can get an all-in-one device like this that’s capable of running most modern games, for only $400, is incredible. My video card alone set me back more than $700, and then I had to build an entire PC around it. The Steam Deck has plenty of limitations, but I’m impressed by how well it can serve as a desktop PC replacement, especially when docked.

]]> Mon, 27 Mar 2023 22:11:16 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/syntech-steam-deck-dock-review/ The Last Of Us Part 1's PC port launches tomorrow. As if that wasn't good enough news all by itself, Valve appears to have confirmed it will be Steam Deck verified at launch, or at least that's what has been implied through marketing on its site.

]]> Mon, 27 Mar 2023 13:12:43 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-last-of-us-part-1-could-be-steam-deck-verified/ I love a publisher that stays on brand. There’s plenty of successful publishers with great track records out there, but if you asked me to name my five favorite games from 505, Focus, or Daedalic Entertainment, I wouldn’t have a clue. That’s why I’m smitten by Whitethorn Games, an up-and-coming indie publisher that specializes in all things comfy and cozy. When you browse Whitethorn’s catalog you know exactly what you’re going to get, and if you like any of its games, there’s a good chance you’ll like all of them. I went hands-on with a selection of Whitethorn’s new and upcoming slate at PAX East this weekend, and they ended up being some of my favorites from the entire show.

]]> Sun, 26 Mar 2023 17:14:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/whitethorn-games-pax-east-2023-botany-manor-mythwrecked-forest-cathedral/ I’m becoming a DreadXP fanboy lately. The indie publisher has quickly established a great track record for bizarre, experimental horror, and even though I’ve only seen a few minutes of its new game, Amanda the Adventurer, I’m already obsessed. DreadXP’s game seems to be made exclusively by mid-00s Creepypasta writers that graduated to game design, and I’m here for it. If you spent countless hours of your childhood reading about abandoned Disney resorts or searching for the real Squidward’s Suicide, Amanda the Adventurer is will be right up your very traumatized alley.

]]> Sun, 26 Mar 2023 16:11:55 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/amanda-the-adventurer-preview-pax-east-2023/ I’m approaching the endgame of The Witcher 3. It’s almost scary, the proposition that a game this vast, that I’ve practically lived in for the past three months, is coming to an end. I’ve loved the quests, the locations, and even the limited fast travel. Put simply, I don’t want it to end.

]]> Sat, 25 Mar 2023 15:30:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-witcher-4-needs-to-grow-up/ Resident Evil 4 Remake has been met with overwhelmingly positive reviews across the board, but that doesn't mean the launch has gone off without a hitch. PC players over on Steam are complaining about the game's use of Denuvo DRM, saying that it's leading to performance issues on setups that should be able to handle the remake.

]]> Sat, 25 Mar 2023 12:58:44 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/resident-evil-4-remakes-denuvo-drm-performance-issues/ Counter-Strike: Global Offensive currently uses Valve Anti-Cheat, or VAC, a system first released back in 2002. Much like CS:GO, VAC has been continually updated since the game's release to keep the ever-present threat of hackers at bay, and while it hasn't always been successful, it’s a good first defense before a report gets sent to human moderators for adjudication.

]]> Fri, 24 Mar 2023 18:21:36 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/counter-strike-2-vac-live-end-matches-anti-cheat/ I haven’t played Dredge yet. I wasn’t assigned to review it and my guide writing days are long behind me. But I’ve seen a lot of it. Probably more than you, at a guess. That’s because I’ve followed it closely, since Dredge’s premise immediately intrigued me when it was revealed – an indie fishing sim with a dark, Lovecraftian side that emerges at night.

]]> Fri, 24 Mar 2023 17:30:17 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/indie-fishing-sim-dredge-is-wind-waker-meets-majoras-mask/ Resident Evil 4 Remake's launch day is finally here. The third game in the series to get remade using Capcom's RE Engine and after receiving rave reviews last week, the rest of the world is finally finding out what all the fuss is about. A lot of you are interested in that fuss too as just a few hours into its first day, the remake is already enjoying the biggest launch for any Resident Evil game on Steam.

]]> Fri, 24 Mar 2023 15:12:45 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/resident-evil-4-remake-smashed-series-launch-day-steam-records/ Counter-Strike 2 was announced earlier this week and fans have been going absolutely bonkers trying to get into its limited access test. The test started the same day as the game was announced, with invitations sent to Steam players based on several criteria. One of them is how long they've been playing the game, which has resulted in some players going AFK in matches just to rack up more playtime. CS2 Hype has gotten so hot that there are even fake Valve YouTube accounts taking advantage of eager players offering test access by sending them to phishing sites.

]]> Fri, 24 Mar 2023 14:05:40 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/counter-strike-2-torrent-leak/ Last week I told myself I’d knuckle down and finish The Witcher 3. Right after I wrapped up Blood & Wine, that is. Once that whole werewolf-in-Toussaint affair was dealt with, I followed Avallac’h through his portal. I battled giant Starship Troopers-esque crabs and died to the freezing cold of a snowy apocalypse more times than I’d care to admit, then I realised that Dijkstra had asked me a favour. Well, he is an old friend and all…

]]> Tue, 21 Mar 2023 16:30:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/i-never-want-the-witcher-3-to-end/ In standard Apex Legends matches, the only Legend used less than Rampart right now is Newcastle. At the highest levels of ranked, in Master and Predator lobbies, the only thing that changes is that Rampart is used more than Revenant, and Newcastle overtakes her. For Twitch streamers, she’s rock bottom.

]]> Mon, 20 Mar 2023 16:43:47 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/apex-legends-second-worst-legend-is-surprising-the-algs/ Who has been lying about big butts? Saying they don't like 'em? Well, it seems Team Fortress 2's big butt keeps on getting banned for some reason. In fact, the famously cakey character known as Big Slappy has now been banned and unbanned more than a dozen times.

]]> Mon, 20 Mar 2023 13:13:11 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/tf2-fans-create-website-track-big-slappy-bans/ If you’re a gamer who loves a good logic puzzle, happy to trial and error your way to a satisfying solution, programming games are for you. This niche genre of video games has found a home within Steam’s expansive library, and playing them is a great way to learn new skills and fundamentals, especially if you’re looking for more exciting ways to practice coding.

]]> Sun, 19 Mar 2023 15:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/steam-easy-programming-games/ It's hard to truly gauge the impact that Counter-Strike had on the video games industry. After all, it inspired the likes of Call of Duty and Battlefield, ushering in the global dominance of online FPS games. With CS:GO, we got a modern and refined version of the game – which is still as popular as it ever was. However, it now looks like Valve is ready to take the next step with the genre defining series.

]]> Sun, 19 Mar 2023 06:00:10 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/counter-strike-csgo-2-seemingly-imminent-after-valve-trademark/ Mystery games stretch far and wide across the gaming-sphere. They can encompass many different genres such as fantasy or pure horror. A good mystery can leave you thinking of a solution, even when you are not actively playing. If you are itching for a mystery to solve, you've come to the right place.

]]> Sat, 18 Mar 2023 23:45:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/best-mystery-games-steam/ The Medieval setting has interested people for a while, becoming the focus of many games, books, and television. Now, there is tons of Medieval themed content, especially video games. If you want to experience this game version of the Medieval time period, you've come to the right place.

]]> Sat, 18 Mar 2023 17:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/best-medieval-games-steam/ Last week, I made it my sole goal to finish The Witcher 3. I’ve tarried too long, and frittered away my hours slaying unsuspecting monsters and ticking off unnecessary side quests. There’s nothing wrong with this, per se, but I’ve got new games I want to play, and I want to finish Geralt’s story before moving on or, worse, getting bored.

]]> Sat, 18 Mar 2023 15:00:15 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/the-witcher-3-made-me-care-about-a-statues-balls/ Cozy games are in a genre of their own, almost ignoring conventions of other genres to focus on relaxing, unwinding, and feeling good. While the term may lack a more specific definition, if it makes you feel good, congrats on finding such a cozy game!

]]> Fri, 17 Mar 2023 18:30:14 GMT https://www.thegamer.com/steam-pc-best-cozy-games/