aa Ol = aN gH’ ne) em TERRIFYING REMAKE f =. es Ue eS ua 3 y EIR NINA rare e, Paes ec kone) 0c) |) que (fF J ar . REVIEW TT Mae NAA Le as aT) TRV ADVENTURE TO PCal ee ee ME Css =o)WELCOME “AN AMBITIOUS YET CONFIDENT STEP FORWARD” For my money, no developer has followed more successfully in Left 4 Dead's footsteps than Fatshark. The Vermintide games evoked that same co-op vs horde magic, [le PowerPlay meer while at the same time carving ‘voyeolemensstuturenetcom out their own distinct identity ne and pulling off a pitch-perfect Pratgaehy version of the Warhammer ee Fantasy world, Cs ieeeen Darktide is an ambitious yet pieeeec Benvenstias confident step forward for a studio that’s poeod Emewaes proven its chops ~ cleverly expanding, onematinatiist ftanitoths, refining and, thanks to the Warhammer 40K Steels setting, adding bloody big guns to the formula S—— —_Tknow what I'ilbe doing on November 30: purging the unclean. SUBSCRIBE TO (Ele PowerPlay BEN MANSILL (Check out our EDITOR latest offer! bon.mansillatuturenet com SEE p90 eas The PC PowerPlay team fa a RS a ar Hi SEAN MARTIN WES FENLON TYLER WILDE. WOLLIE TAYLOR FUT Wipe ‘This month “This month “This month Thismonth HeadedouttoFatchans | Taugtusmoreabaut | Checked out Daa Leama tnt rohet sffeestoproehe'sa | medevalfonisthanwe Spacesremakeard eine ister HegeWarhanmernerd | everthoghtwewarted | Spctuaauenssorm | ofmiigames Nat ‘hananyfthem, ‘oknew. ene 901 09k (oat bran sugary siewarey 3Contents 14 INCOMING 16 Resident Evil4 20 Wild Hearts 22 The Callisto Protocol 24 Dead Space 26 Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop 8 Silent Hill2 30 Evercore EARLY ACCESS 32 The Pegasus Expedition Feature 34 Warhammer 40K Darktide @l16 44 RESIDENT EVIL4 WARHAMMER | APLAGUE TALE: Onecsthemostb AOKDARKTIDE | REQUIEMUFOS IN FALLOUT 4 MOUNT & BLADE I: BANNERLORD ‘TheZetans! Modtor Fallout 4ades | Is thereroominaworkdotwar, funky en vader spice, Defend human! revengeandroyeltyforanobel outta WHY ILOVE GUILD WARS Howwevanqusheamapsina bygonetraditionfromalegendary MMORPG, Plague Tale: Requiem ‘Scorn Persona 5 Royal Lego Bricktales Overwatch2 Hyper Deron Dual Universe Hokko Life Grounded Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection FREEGAMES Card Cowboy Zolf The Spooky House ‘THEYREBACK Bayonetta Broken Sword2: The Smoking Mirror ‘Shank UPDATE Elden Ringgetsa PvP shake-up. MOD SPOTLIGHT Aensinvade Fallout HOWTO. Kickassin Overwatch2, DIARY TheRobia Hoodot Mounts laceCO KOLe b BSE) MMO) 2 ONO IAAL GERALT-A HERE! CD PROJEKT RED announces five Witcher games, a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, and something new CYBERPUNK 2077 a ft ia INEARLY 2023 SreeMONITOR ‘News. Development. Opinion EVGA IS OUT WORLD OF WARSHIPS DEATH AND DISHONORED TEAR Starters rTvan | Frag Thestromyet y= Deathogp director ings PEW KicecincPUs some ott Novemberupdale umm Bakaba has confirmed that SAB 0st popular in the word, SAG] tor Wort or en the game takes place in the BOER ssurrisosoveryoneby | SENS rarsips& Legends SS Dishonored universe Aroppingout ofthe graphics game | incladespayabe submarines Speakingonarecent xboxpodeast, he entirely, Sheking margins anda iting the teohtre, aswel asa Said "Weemvsoned Deatvoopto be in Topside working relationship are selection of Japanese ght the future ater Death ote Outside reported toblame, but Wii's CEO | cruisers entering eary access It's ime to gel goodat That explains some ofthe noticeable holdsitwasanamcablespitase | highspeed neakattacks nd stealth maw similares between the settings. Highs & Lows CDP’ announced a sequel i in development atthe new North America stadio, For now there’ only the Tor-vestated codename Project Orion and the clam wil take the toyremitnteea Cyberpunk franchise further and continue harnessing the SSSeeeTa) potential ofthis dak future universe” Kewtewstetizt, We're not done: CDPR also announced work has Eripcag started on anew game codenamed ‘Hadar. This won't be corpo, Seon for years wth CDP Michal NowalaowsKi saying Sartsimprtnt theyre sil “laying the groundwork” ‘Guidersurdtat” —”) satement from CD Projekt added tha multiplayer ghreweae ll be inmost of our new games”, wth an Sveti Jecompanying image showing Cir and Geral, The next sore nsongsnns multilayer though whether its fll-on Monster Hater nemcontt ime with a Witcher erew or merely something ke PvP apis Gwent remains tbe seen. And given Cyberpunk’ a ‘ooking for more .q_ fitst-person game with lots of guns and mods, and CD gameimavese! proj once planed to expand the orginal game with Tern ulipbyer uode Gobich vas cmodled), Ocve may Showr‘tirete clude sgficant muliplayer clement. rietway to 0 Five Witcher games, an expansion for Cyberpunk 207 and asequeh then the allrnew Hadar project. It's one hall ofa sate but, fom a studio that’s been icing some ich StantonSpecial Report TTS ay ee ifm Fm Cee MASTER STROKE How PENTIMENT's hand-crafted fonts give pen and ink a voice alking to Obsidian design di ‘Those distinct typefaces are just the start of Pentimer Sawyer forced me into a harsh realisation: font system. In a game about art and writing ~ protagonist Andreas Mahler is an artist in 1518 when the story besin it was just as important fr the text to feel tangible. FONT OF KNOWLEDGE ‘When ‘handwritten’ dialogue appears estas a dark shimmering black, then dulls and flattens out lke ink Iteven bleeds alte, ike nce, the printing press isa a parchment. Well-educated id Trea 2 than it was in the Leth centur make few errors, but : Eesocenpiet spoke volumes about your education, social class,and__more slowly, and spelling erors will often appearin their eralyeadit profession, That granularity is why Obsiia dialogue, Characters who speak in printed leer will {roa eto ihdedg fmtctermatctocene srnqueonts —hmvetictertappearm upside dawned bebre ts PML WIE ch teling you srpething abot he logue bul Regains he tying sol thefecingofthe physica of tae : : Wwhenyoutoe ethow dalome Sua Handwriting as changing alot this tim, with appens nthe ume doce st slp on at Aifferent iteracy levels” sys Sey So aperson whois "Obsidian even mulated the efecto ippinga pen in Aeardimase apesan and powsby tere or doc ead or write, ink"We nysoreplinea mechanic thats Tm gumng, Saar wayech casepeuncterge Millirchsepeopictend | toran cute thes gut cip cane, Spezia theyre associated withthe serporium, sea" Fnew tat Potent was doing far more with ts lacklter font Ani then the pinersand people fontsthan most mes but sill uderestimated how ata divas uses primed peice” metculos tercresson ended upg Riley Cran che SonnMONITOR News. Development. Opinion MEET THE PRESS A closer look at four of Pentiment’s fonts patna INTERS" FONT ingpeer opeators carey Srangetharotereckttore ry sin speaking LORENZ’S FORT reat theeheap ll founder and lead designer of font firm Leteermatic told me that Pentiment was a special case. Lettermatic designs _most fonts to support a variety of weights and widths ight, bold, ete) but there are tricks to speed up that process. For Pentiment, "A much, much higher amount of those drawings were created individually. It was someone ting there aewually drawing it by hand Cran says ‘A Pentiment font isn’t just 82 gps (aka unique versions of letter, ike lowercase and capital). To replicate handwriting, many letters need to be drawn in ‘multiple ways to reflect where they appear in a word, or to add differences between the writing styles of different characters. Creating those variations ‘wasn't going to work digitally. “Ifyou want to have to letters that don't mateh in the sense that they look like someones hand deifted ever, so slightly when creating one of those strokes, drawing that digitally is going, to ight you more than help you. So that’s why we had to do this analog process! Cran says, Lettermatic drew the fonts on paper and then seanned them digitally to capture the effects of pen on paper. TYPE CAST Each hand-drawn glyph was then supplied to Obsidian, along with a dhictus diagrany that explains how each letter was formed: how many strokes comprise letter, the order those strokes are made, even what diretion the pen s moving, That may sound absurdly detailed, but think about letter as simple as a lowercase ‘t, How do ‘you write it? Do you start the vertical line from the top oF ‘aeanseetecrtrcspets where evoner-cppedis ul Must beusie “| WANTED TO CAPTURE THE FEELING OF THE PHYSICALITY OF WRITING’ any ol of VILLAGERS" FORT ‘on Pentinants peasants hv better penmancnpthanma whehie oa St {ent veneverhared sheep bear MONKS” FONT ‘Thedonasisritisy fart mast bottom? Do you draw the horizontal stoke from the eft corte right? Which comes ist? “That vas vt information for Obsidian’ designers ‘They erat stroke masks foreach ghph which allowed dsiogue to appear nor just one fetter aa time, butstroke by stroke. After attempring to automate that process, they eventually went with what Sawyer calls the John Henry’ approach, “We erally just stoked every ‘single character manually.” he says. There ended up being 2016 of them. “Brery single lester forthe five non-printd fonts, every single letter had all of its strokes hand-amaked, so that when you see them drawn out ingame they come ininthe corret order Which crazy but loks ool” Pentiment' fonts are vital texture, but they also provide cis about the characers youre talingt0~ cribe ‘eho use bas oferers br coup, could actuly be an impostor. As Andreas leams more shout someone's background, heir wrkingatyle can change fonts. But the fonts are only ever offering redundant inforpatio, in case you choose to py with Pontimonts more accesible easy reading mode Tr wouldn't be a Josh Sawyer game without an optional, hard mode 0. This one tums on characters He the Tong that bok ie a curve an some gates that Cnect Leitrstogeter with sore exira Hours We joted about having hardcore made where every Jingle thing inthe game writen nthe farce t fon, which if’ probably too nut” Sawyer laugh. m= Wes Fendon Interseaoharaad anata wt th slits erates nd ania, FARLEFENowthise Some stevomarphsm Teangt boning saree) 9THE SPY Tre Spy wit getace toyeven is a ewe” ‘ook, The Spy needs to level with, you all, The Spy hasn't had the ‘time to go out and find any rumours this month, The Spy's ‘been busy, you know? There's a stack of emia that The Spy needs to answer, and they're the ones ‘where you need to do something before you reply to say “yup, it's done”. But doing the thing, while not hard, i 2 distraction from some other thing you were working fon, and so you put it off and just feel kind of bad about itunti it) goes away, or b) becomes an actual problem. And then there's the meetings! Sandra from accounting gets in touch asking for a “quick chat” about a recent expenses claim, and suddenly The Spy's on the other end ‘ofa two-hour bollacking about using, ‘company money to cover up a high-speed chase through Ziirich, Why is it always PCPP giving us these problems? The staff writers at Practical Caravan aren't charging us thousands for dubious black That endured, The Spy could think about doing something productive ~ infiltrating an Austrian publisher to steal their upcoming release plans, perhaps ~ but the IT department has been in touch to say that The Spy still needs to finish a mandatory GDPR refresher course they sent outlast month, And anyway, ies maining outside It's not lke there isnt sleuthing to be done, either. In ‘mid-October, Valve registered a trademark for something called Neon Prime, placing it under the identification categories of “computer game software, electronic game software, video game software, computer game programs VALVE REGISTERED A TRADEMARK FOR SOMETHING CALLED NEON PRIME downloadable via the internet”. The Spy doesn't know bout you, but that sounds abit lke what you might classify a PC videogame, Valve has been a mystery for years now, its successes largely designed as testbeds for ts new hardware ~ Half Life Alyx for the Index, Aperture Desk Simulator for the Steam Deck. But its recent multiplayer attempts ~ Dota Undertonds and Artfact ~ have failed to gina foothold in their respective genres. Could Neon Prime be a normal, good Valve game? Someone should really head to Seattle to find out. Just maybe not The Spy, who is pretty tied up right now grinding Halloween events in games. ELDEN BLING ‘On the upside, sometimes the rumours come directly to you. A recent update for £lden Ring contained some hints ‘at what might be happening in the future, all oft beamed through Steam directly onto dataminers' hard drives. Patch 1.07% purpose was to separate balance between PvE and PvP but dataminer Lance MeDonald also found menu strings referencing ray ‘racing. MeDonald even used a patched executable to display the ray ing option inthe settings menu. With the feature itself not actually in the game yet ~ turning it on breaks the graphics, The patch also contained references to new maps, and an explicit mention of a DLCOY. And look, The Spy realises that “Elden Ring's probably getting a DLC” is ‘not going to surprise anyone, but The Spy has multiple ‘Star Wars shows to eatch up on right now, and just can’t ‘quite find the energy to do the legwork on this. Here’ your analysis: given the timings, an announcement at ‘The Game Awards scems likely. There, done, that's at least one email The Spy ean be tid of. Spy out, The SpyThe source for tech buying advice aCe ile Lolli)CUD R LC a a e DRIVING A COMMUNITY MARTIN POLASEK discusses the reality of being a community manager artin is senior ‘community ‘manager for World of Tanks, and is in fact in change of community managers in the European region, This follows a journey of ten or so years, ajourney hebbegan when he decided to switch focus from graphie design in the printing industry to videogames. ly teens, he discovered what scribes asthe “magic” of nultiplayer games via LAN gaming and internet cafes. When he later in. life decided to focus on games professionally, twas something of a challenge. “come from the Czech, Republig”he sys, “and in central Europeiit was not as easy, right? Unless you had alot ofexperience’ So, he started a ‘quest to gain that ‘experience, which began with IRL community management. ‘Marcin would, with che help of Blizzard's Versailles team and the local distributor organise launch parties "We got some goodies, we called the community together to some pub ora bar or something, and ‘we basically celebrated the launch together” From there he moved into publishing, and then into esports ‘where, again, he was responsible for ‘working closely with people. Asan account manager for the Czech and Slovakian region, he made sure that _markecers and clients were taken care offburhe also looked afterthe players, ‘making sure that they were happy and doing hisbest to deal with any srievances they may have ha. 1n 2020, henoticed that ‘Wargaming had moved its publishing office tohishome city of Prague, and 12 sree was hiring for senior community manager Needless to say, he got the jb, So, what does he do naw? What is ‘community manager? MANAGING EXPECTATIONS. “think ifyou ask ten people, ten people will give you different answer” he says. Bu for his part, “Ie basically lorfied customer support forthe most dedicated players. We are the people employed by the company totalk with themost engaged players, and make sure thatthe company listens to them. We goand talk with the players about things that are ‘currently happeningin the game. It ‘eanbea new tank,anewmap..itcan ‘bemultiple chings within this kind of ‘ecosystem ofthe live game.” Martin has earned some important things about the job within afew short years, including the fact TANK (TABLE)TOP -met Wargaming When Wa vowusay | poveorH sex | KRoguin pA THASSIUS | sephwasietoducea | FACEERINDA seaconvitesatte |“ seatank Wansnametie Pasesows | commanderaurng | hat yumight Thassinethomes | thosameseason | expecttemtabave ooiniue Tanks | Trunding rounds | thehotest abumot febiggeinan | anOojctas0U | 2oz2 butintact, Utvamacnes, puck | peobaby makestora | nesanather part ‘coamgiier | rleshooy when | "the Warhanmer feporerandace | yeuromeisiteraly | ‘rossoverubo Sinestssheney | "ealedthePogve | oastada themed “moar Pavel sre, that's not justabout listening to the ‘community He's fed into improving their experience too. Community managersarean important tool na live service game's kitwhen iteomes to shaping the game ‘When the Warldof Tanks ‘community asked foran extension of the map poo! to introduce some more variety. the developers were happy to oblige. However, map design fr such a tactic-heavy games important, soa new map was fist introduced wo players viaa time-limited mode, “They had an opportunity to share feedback" says Martin.“Which, positions they felt were too strong, Which positions they felt neaded a litelebitmore cover ere. And outof those iterations, we sent those bits and pieces to our fiends in development”. ‘Asacommunity manager, Martin, has also had chances to see how his game's community is made up of ‘varyingages, such as one oceasion he vividly remembers from Tankfest 2021. He saw someboxly bring friend, their father, and their grandfather; and they all satdown to play together. Te was magical for ustosee how ‘ross. generational icactually i: And ‘weitelike thats prettynice. Here's a ‘bonus code for extra goodies” ‘Community managers get to see the best ofa game's fanbase, while also havingto contend with the fat that they are the most visible face of the ‘company to their mostenthusiastie players Our community hasan almost perfect photographic ‘memory? says Martin, “and theyean ‘gp years back and sy, But you said this, and yousaidthis!"). Don't treat ‘CMs mean, and you eanbe sure that youll keep’em keen. ‘Luke KempMONITOR ‘News. Development. Opinion _“IT’S BASICALLY GLORIFIED Se aS ele) ls MOST DEDICATED PLAYERS” (Seow) 13uals THE CALLISTO PROTOCOL Cas AU Dacmbor 22022 Sting ite Sas TaN Aspiritua successor to Dead Space tam some of tat games original erate ‘mutants on pte’ second largest moon, MARVEL'S MIDNIGHT SUNS acme 22022 Fess came Create your own superherato eada team oficonc Marvel characters traugh turn based battles inthis strategy RPG rom te creatorso the modern XCOM serie, ape aprisonfullot y FORSPOKEN Janay 2 Lines Potton Amer day New Yorke is transported toa fantasy realm, where hernew magical powers come wth the smal shehastosave the word DEAD ISLAND 2 Fobra 32003 Dantustr Sus, Flats Yes,i'sback anditookslte its actualy coming out this ene. ecm prety dosent oo ~ we really anjoyedits rata melee combat nou racethands-n, HIGH ON LIFE acer, 202 Sach Games ne ‘colour shooter from Just Rolland, creator of Rickand Morty Depending onyoursesibitesyoulletherfindits apie daiogue er funny ointerselyieitating COMPANY OF HEROES 3 Fobra 23,20 ee attanmert The mast recent delay was almost too muchto bear, butit'snat long now betore ths epic WWIIRTS, setin te alan and North ‘ean theazes, nour handsMONITOR ‘News. Development. Opinion ‘SKULL & BONES Mr, 2003 it Nearly adecade ince it started development as asin-ffto “Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Ubisoft's pate ship bal finally has. arelease cat, DIABLO IV 2023 Bid The beloved action RPG series atest sequel promises darker lookthan ts predecessor. amore open world, and hopeful no pay o-wn auction house RESIDENT EVIL 4 rh, 2023 Capen Aground-upremakectthe clssc original, much ike Resident £2 that promises mre tension an ig ts updtod grapes, story, andcontos, go with ALAN WAKE II 023 Ramey Eterm \We dn'thave much to goon ith ths sequel technically thi Alan Wako game) yet though Controlotored hints withits shared uwerse DLC. MASK OF THE ROSE gt, 2023| Fant Games ‘Awondertully strange dating sim set nthe Fallen London universe world where the Victorian eras warped bythe supernatural andLovecraftan OUT OF SPOCK rnb tr Tr Resereecehas been che oho 203, tineto“ge te game paren BALDUR'S GATE III ‘Aeady long oun ary Access, but teres plenty of stilto be released beter ths behemoth of an RPG hts. and finishes eu ts pie stry. rout 15WEED TO AN rust . DEVELOPER are 282023 pean USS Daa) Paneer cited ota een ene csident Evi is almost 20 years od and BPM for danas me wane rumble into pile of dst. The prospoct ‘of aremake,on paper, ist that egregious gven the tine span but the orignal is ‘so widely available, so beloved and still perfectly Playable in 2022 thatthe common question surrounding this remake has been: does it justify its existence? For neweomers, this wil undoubtedly ie one of 20258 best action horror games. For those familiar with the oxi, this wil be a neat trip down memory lane that suffers perhaps for ‘staying too close to the original. ‘The main concern I saw from fans was that this would dump the one liners and ‘camp in favour of a story tat takes itself more seriously. Not thatthe recent remakes are strangers to ‘quips (the Resident Evil 3remake is {ullof er) butif that was your fear then fmhappy to report that, dospitoa slight sittin tono, the choosy clalogueis stil here, as dumb and entertaining as ever “Where's everyone going?” Leon utters, aloud, to nabady at allafter nearly being stabbed and bludgeoned to death mere seconds earl. "The bingo?” Ithighights, though, the odd space ths remake ‘occupies. By not straying further from the original it has less to offer returing players. Shouldn't the point of remake be to do something diferent, totake the premise inabold new drecton? Wich isn't to say ithas nothing to offer those retuming, Far from it. Ths is UNSURPRISINGLY, THE REMAKE’S GRAPHICS ARE THE MOST DRASTIC CHANGE punuisie we PREVIEW Resident Evil 4 une reste 2 souped-up version of the original with ‘overhauled controls that alow for ‘moving and shooting. Even Leon's animations arecitferent, portraying him as litle more confident inlight of the training he's undergone between 1898 ‘and 2004, He can even parry attacks ‘ow, something that is sure to improve certain enemy encounters later in the game. Unsurprisingly, the remake's rapes are the mest dastie change Character models and environments havea level of deta that invites you to stare into the crazed expression of every bloodthirsty vilager you encounter. Leon's jacket looks positively cosy. The colour palette too, has become much richer and more diverse Tidneed more time with the game to decide how I feel about the overall ook, but while it’s certainly an extremely handsome game nits own right, my intial impression was that Imissed the ‘sepia tone ofthe origina’ decrepit wood and locales. Even the time of day isinitialy afferent, starting ina gloomy early morning twilight that doesn't convey the same sense of abarren forest. The remakehasto sel te village's decay in props and other cues, ‘something it admittedly does well bbutone glance atthe washed-out ‘brown world of the orginal was. ‘enough to tell you everything, PAINT THE TOWN Creeping up on the conic central village location's, however, save forthe graphics, almost exactly as you remember. Bringing out your binoculars to scout out the lecation, you can see the vilagors burning pyre with ‘one of the missing cops ont. Thenit’s time to venturein, where one immediate difference is apparent: Leon can sneak row. Earlyin the demo |useit to avoid anenemy altogether. The vilage encourages more crouched creeping, and while i's prety simplistic, allows me totake out afew vilagers (mainly old rans) before things kick of. Itfeelsikea tweak t the formula rather than a substantial aaition, No matter how stealthy you are, sooner or later you'llbe faced with an entire viloge vino want to run pitchtorks through you. Cue blocking doors with Bookcases, kicking © carer) 7PREVIEW Resident Evil 4 © ladders from windows... the idea of Leon ‘as an outsider under sieges wholly intact. At this point the remake’'s ‘energised take is real MICASA Thor0alat more villagers in the remake than inthe original, for starters, and the vilage square is sel bit larger, with more paths and areas to explore Able to sprint and move while aiming, Leon handles moe in the remake ke how you fel, enabling panicked scrambling behind barns and over fences to stay out ofeach of enemies, ‘There's none of the gentle pacing of ast year's Resicent Evil Vilage (tel Iittered With homages to here ‘There's no blocking or guarding. Enemies wll grapple and lodge ther axesin Leon vt ferocity, or even throw \weapons, nat hovering around to give the player awindow of opportunity Neither do they lurch forward ike the ‘zombies ofthe recent remakes or shuffle atthe pace ofthe original game's villagers — here your foes wil run and lunge at you, easly matching the mobility the remake's controls afford Leon. Though for ahs movement, he lacks Jil Valentine's helpful dodge move, so evading enemies feels alot more fraught thanit dd in 3. You do, however, have that ability to parry, which opens {enemies up to follow up attacks. The knifein the emake is no longer a ‘weapon to be equipped. but tool aways, atthe ready. bound toa melee button for ‘quicker use. But itdoes have a draining meter, sf you uset too much twill breakandieave youa bitmore