HomeFeatures The 9 best magic spells in PC gamesOne Off The List One Off The List Hubbish bubbish, rhymes are rubbish, eye of newt and blah blah blah. Gosh, magic is a chore. If only we had a catalyst to… Oh, hello reader, what are you doing here? Well, as it happens, yes, you can help me out. Just stand over here while I scratch these runes around you. I’m trying to summon the 9 best magic spells in PC games, you see....

HomeNewsFae Tactics Turn-based diet JRPG Fae Tactics is out todayLet us fae Let us fae Fae Tacticsis a turn-based tactical RPG with a ‘modernised retro’ vibe.You play as Peony, a magician who’s looking for her mother and perhaps inevitably ends up having to save the world. It has a pretty art style, some promising ideas, and lots of lovely spell and attack effects. It’s out later today, and there’s a trailer too....

HomeNewsIron Harvest Chunky mech wargame Iron Harvest enters open beta, reveals new trailerI think ursine things I think ursine things Grim alternative 1920s-but-with-mechs wargameIron Harvestwill kick off its open beta today. Developers KING Art also released a new cinematic trailer, showing off a woodland clash and a terrified child. You probably can’t play as the child.Watch on YouTubeIt’s their first go at real-time strategy, but it’s certainly got a hook. Our Nate already expressed his excitement atIron Harvest, choosing its demo asone of his favouritesfrom last month’s Steam Festival....

HomeNews Epic Games Store testing out achievements, with mod support still brewingSweet cheevos Sweet cheevos The Epic Games Store has started testing out achievements, which is nice. I like it when I do something ridiculous inSlay The Spireand a little picture comes up acknowledging how awesome I am (and ideally just how small a percentage of people are awesome in the same way). I would like this for Epic-only games too....

HomeHardwareNews Konami’s new cheese grater gaming PC specs are getting shredded onlineOh dear. Oh dear. Konami may be best known for making games here in the west, but over in Japan they also have a long history of making arcade hardware and pachinko machines for the amusement sector. Now, they’re branching out into gaming PCs as well thanks to their new line of Arespear rigs, which wereunveiled earlier this week. The name is meant to be a portmanteau of Ares, the god of war, and the word spear, but personally I think they’ve got more of a cheese grater or electric razer vibe going on rather than something sharp and pointy....

HomeNewsMicrosoft Flight Simulator Microsoft Flight Simulator is coming to Steam, with VR support later this yearThe closest you’ll come to being on a real plane this year The closest you’ll come to being on a real plane this year If you don’t fancy going forthe 10-disc physical versionofMicrosoft Flight Simulator, it turns out there’ll be more than one storefront to download the chonky game digitally. The game will be making a cheeky landing on Steam when it releases next month, so now you’ll be able to choose whether to grab it on there, or go with the version that’s coming the Microsoft store....

HomePodcasts For the greater good This week the podcast talks bad, meaning good, and if we say a villain is bad then we mean they are not good, but bad. Make sense? Of course it does! Yes, we’re talking about some of our favourite villains in PC gaming. Some interesting topics come up, including the utility of different kinds of villain, what kinds of villain are good, and whether Dr Eggman is a sad, sad boy....

HomeHardwareFeatures Razer Blackshark V2 reviewThe helicopter headset returns The helicopter headset returns For starters, its soft memory foam ear cushions, oval ear cups and steel frame are immensely comfortable to wear for long periods of time, which hasn’t always been the case with other Razer headsets I’ve tested in the past. As a notorious headpinch sufferer, finding a headset I can wear for more than 30 minutes at a time without feeling like I need to rip it off and take a break is a pretty rare occurrence these days, but the Blackshark V2 happily falls into that small and select number of headsets I can wear for hours on end....

HomeGuidesHearthstone Scholomance Academy - all Dual-Class CardsDual Class is in session. Dual Class is in session. There are 10 specific combinations of classes to look out for in the 40 Dual-Class cards. This means each class pairing will have 4 Dual-Class cards to pick from. We’ve put together a list of all the combinations and the cards as they’re released for your convenience.All Scholomance Academy Dual-Class CombinationsThese are the class combinations:Druid/HunterHunter/Demon HunterDemon Hunter/WarlockWarlock/PriestPriest/PaladinPaladin/WarriorWarrior/RogueRogue/MageMage/ShamanShaman/DruidEach of these classes synergise nicely with each other, combining mechanics from both of them to give each a unique feel....

HomeFeaturesSpiritfarer Spiritfarer is about death, but also the cosy business of livingIf only it were that easy to make perfect fries If only it were that easy to make perfect fries Spiritfarer, the “cosy management game about dying”, is full of many little acts of kindness. Watch on YouTube Watch on YouTube It’s the cosy management bit I want to talk more about than the death, though. This preview has much more of that on show than the version I played at Gamescom a year ago....

HomeNewsTom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Splinter Cell may return as an animated Netflix seriesTom Clancy is anime now. Tom Clancy is anime now. That news comes courtesy of Variety, which reports that John Wick writer Derek Kolstad has been brought on to write and executive produce an adaptation of Tom Clancey’s Goggleboy. What’s interesting is the direction they’re taking it - reportedly opting for an anime series rather than the more predictable gritty, live-action “prestige” affair....

HomeNews Star Citizen’s revised Squadron 42 roadmap now has its own roadmapCrack open your travel atlas Crack open your travel atlas Eight years and a few hundreds of millions of dollars in crowdfunding into development, andStar Citizen’s star-studdedSquadron 42campaign is still nowhere on our scanners. After plans for more regular updates seemed to fizzle out, Cloud Imperium today filed the paperwork to acquire planning permission to post an entirely new development roadmap for the revised roadmap they announced earlier this year....

HomeFeaturesThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim A Skyrim fan is making lovely handmade illustrations of its alchemy ingredientsLife springs a herbal Life springs a herbal I once worked in an archive that included a heap of medieval herbals. In some form or another, they were a huge part of our culture and inherited knowledge for thousands of years, and whileThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrimdoes have a few compendium and guide books, there’s nothing in them that really fits that bill....