Author: Harvey Randall
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Left 4 Dead could’ve had player classes—but the game’s co-lead put his foot down: ‘no, that is the wrong way to go’
Left 4 Dead has stood the test of time, more or less—and while there hasn’t been a peep from the series in years, that’s more down to Valve weirdness rather than a sign of a lack of interest from players. Half-Life was galactically successful, and we’re all still waiting on a third game. Someday, Gabe,…
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Left 4 Dead’s first internal playtest was so disastrous, Gabe Newell asked its lead: ‘Why don’t I just play Counter-Strike instead?’ then ‘made me watch him play it’
Chet Faliszek, the lead on Left 4 Dead—who is now making his own retro sci-fi version called The Anacrusis—says that Gabe Newell had some pretty strong opinions on the game during its troubled development. That’s according to an interview by GameDeveloper, which outlines the horde shooter’s rocky start. Faliszek recalls stumbling into his position as…
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An Armored Core 6 co-op mod has a fully-functional alpha, though its creator wants to add a few key features like difficulty scaling first
Armored Core 6 was a triumph—it gave second wind to FromSoftware’s mecha franchise, brought new fans into the genre (myself included) and it let you gun down tanks as a 20ft-tall Pepsi Man, what more could you want? Co-op, that’s what. Despite the fact that there’s several missions in the game with AI partners, there’s…
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A former GTA dev made an ill-fated blog about his experiences, and boy did Rockstar not like that: ‘Maybe I’ll try again in a decade or two’
I love hearing about all the little bits of developer weirdness that go into making games—cursed rain orbs, hidden centrifuges, and, most recently, the revelation that Grand Theft Auto 3’s weird moon sniping easter egg was due to an unresolved dispute between artists. That last one’s thanks to a dev blog by Rockstar North’s former…
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World of Warcraft player gets visited by benevolent twink ‘Boostlord’, a level 10 monster mage juiced up on funky dungeon scaling
Since World of Warcraft’s release, “twinks” have been a problem. For those familiar enough with gay culture to be scandalised, I promise that’s the actual MMORPG lingo. A twink in an MMO is a low-level character you pour a bunch of effort (and typically money) into, giving them absurdly powerful gear—proportionately, at least. Etymology lessons…
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Win a Remnant 2-styled Stream Deck, Game Codes, and a cool hat to celebrate the launch of The Awakened King DLC
With the launch of Remnant 2’s first DLC, The Awakened King, Gunfire Games has partnered with Gearbox Publishing and Elgato to choose five lucky travellers, who’ll receive a bundle of prizes via a giveaway on the PC Gamer forums. I’ve recently had a blast playing through Remnant 2’s DLC, so I can highly recommend entering…
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Players discover the Dark Urge of Baldur’s Gate 3 has one crucial weakness: capitalism
Baldur’s Gate 3 is flooded with little secrets and hidden dialogue. Despite the fact the game’s been out for months, I’m still seeing players discover hidden exchanges, tucked behind weird progression orders and specific origin stories. Spoilers for the true identity of the Dark Urge lie below. The Dark Urge is one of a few…
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League of Legends world champ gets his very own skin as a reward—but can’t choose his favourite champion because he didn’t get a chance to play her: ‘they said they can make Bard pretty too’
League of Legends Worlds is a prestigious yearly tournament that wrapped up its 2023 run recently. The victors, T1 from Korea, took home $445,000 along with the gold. In a sad twist of fate—one that belongs in some Greek tragedy—a member of the winning team still didn’t get what he wanted. See, Worlds winners get…
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I’m glad Scott Pilgrim Takes Off did its own thing, and I think you should be too
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off was released in its entirety last Friday. I was a teenager when Scott Pilgrim vs. the World came out, so—like any fifteen year old who was even remotely into video games—it became my whole personality for a couple of months. And why wouldn’t it? For all its flaws, it’s a bombastic,…
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I played Baldur’s Gate 3 by flipping a coin whenever violence was an option, and it’s my new favourite way to play The Dark Urge
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While prepping for my interview with Baldur’s Gate 3‘s Amelia Tyler, I finally started my Dark Urge run. She’d mentioned that it’d be a great example of how she’d adjusted her narration, and my Dark Urge playthrough was long overdue, anyway. This presented a problem, though. See, The Dark Urge is a funny little beast.…