There are two kind of miraculous stories going on in gaming right now. One is Pokémon GO, which has managed to not only live past its initial hype from three years ago when it took over the world to still be one of the largest, most profitable, most played mobile games on the market to this day. The other is Minecraft, even older, having just turned 10, yet it’s having a “moment” as it’s been re-adopted by players and content creators alike, somehow becoming more popular than ever.
And now these two are going to overlap, potentially for Minecraft’s benefit specifically.
Minecraft has just rolled out a new trailer announcing select early access for Minecraft Earth, which should be starting up in October. Minecraft Earth is Microsoft and Mojang’s take on a Pokémon GO-like AR game which gets Minecraft players out into the real world. But instead of catching monster, they’re fighting off Creeps and building structures in the real world which can be planted and viewed through the AR lens of players’ phones. Build a castle on your front lawn and the idea is that other players can pass by and see it standing there. That’s the idea, anyway.
Between the continued popularity of Pokémon GO and the resurgence of Minecraft, if there was every another title to rival GO it feels like it’s going to be Minecraft Earth when it launches in full.
Many originally thought that it would be Niantic’s own Harry Potter: Wizards Unite that would take on that mantle, an AR game in the vein of GO made in part by its original creators, and yet that game has mostly sputtered and left a minimal cultural impact. The concept just didn’t really translate to an AR, location-based game where players were asked to “catch” things like wardrobes and clocks and quidditch balls which are just…not nearly as interesting as Pokémon.
Minecraft Earth, meanwhile, has a concept that immediately marries AR, real-world travel and the core concept of Minecraft’s building and exploration in a way that makes perfect sense. As such, provided the game works as intended and isn’t some kind of technical disaster, it seems like the right moment to capitalize on the dual popularity of GO and standard Minecraft with a game like this. It really does feel like it has the potential to be revolutionary, given both what I’ve seen from the technical aspects of the game and how engaged the Minecraft fanbase is currently. I can also envision a host of YouTubers and Twitch streamers live-vlogging their Minecraft Earth adventures like we used to see with Pokémon GO, which is a raft of content that will help carry the game to even more eyeballs.
I don’t know when Minecraft Earth will launch in full. If early access is in October, a winter launch wouldn’t exactly be great for an outdoor-based game, so perhaps we might have to wait all the way until spring. But when it does get here? Watch out, and mark my words, this will be a hit.
Fancy some more games to make the most of your rig? We’ve compiled a list of some of the best PC games currently available, whether you’re on on Steam, Origin, Epic Store or any other service.
First of all, though, it’s wise to make sure your rig is up to the task. You don’t need to go crazy with components for most games. A good mid-level machine will have a dual or quad-core CPU that can handle multi-threads – something that’s essential for RTS games with numerous sprites on the screen at once or titles with a demanding amount of effects being thrown at any given time.
At the moment, Intel’s 9th-gen CPUs lead the field in terms of clock speeds, but if you want to do video work when you’re not playing games, for example, we’d recommend looking at processors from AMD’s Ryzen or Threadripper ranges.
A graphics card with a minimum of 4GB of vRAM is almost essential for modern PC gaming, although cheaper alternatives can be found. For starters, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 is fine for multiplayer titles like Overwatch and Call of Duty, while higher frame rates can be achieved at 1080p with the GTX 1060 or 1070, although they cost a little more.
4K Gaming is more complicated, requiring significantly more power to achieve a meaningful performance alongside the improved resolution. The GTX 1080 or the newly released RTX 2080 Ti will work perfectly, with the latter able to achieve Ultra HD picture quality at 60 frames per second. Plus, if you go for an RTX card, you’ll be able to see Nvidia’s cool ray tracing rendering technique on select games including Battlefield V and Metro Exodus.
If you’re shelling out for a gaming PC, you’ll also need to think about the monitor. You’ll want a model that offers high refresh rates, at least 60Hz. High-end monitors currently offer 144Hz at the higher end. FPS gamers will also want to pay attention to low input-lag times; in fast-paced multiplayer games it’s wise to take any edge you can get on the competition.
1. DOOM
Pros
Unremitting demon-slaughter action all the way
Brilliant Glory Kill mechanics
All your favourite Doom enemies and weapons
Solid multiplayer and DIY SnapMap modes
Cons
Repetitive level design
Semi-useless map
DOOM (2016) has no right to be as good as it is. The reboot of id Software’s classic shooter is a slice of explosive brilliance, boasting one of the finest solo campaigns in recent memory. It hold no punches, handing you an abundance of weapons and asking you to go nuts.
The campaign is the obvious star here, taking you from the surface of Mars to the depths of hell as you slaughter countless demons that come your way. Whether you’ve got a shotgun, chainsaw or machine gun; there’s plenty of grotesque enjoy to be found in DOOM’s gunplay.
Multiplayer and Snap Map are enjoyable little distractions as well, with much of the former’s downloadable content now available for free. Here’s hoping that DOOM Eternal will build upon everything we love about this fantastic shooter.
2. Yakuza 0
Pros
So much variety
Snappy, genuinely funny writing
Great sidequests
Good story and main characters
Cons
Basic combat
Can be a bit cringy
Yakuza 0 is a wonderful, daring and truly unexpected experience. Previously exclusive to PlayStation platforms, it comes to PC with what is arguably the best entry for newcomers wanting to jump in. You play as Kazuma Kiryu, a young member of the Yakuza who finds himself framed for a murder he didn’t commit.
This sets the stage for an epic adventure set across Kamurocho and Sotenbori, two fictionalised versions based on real-life locations in Tokyo and Osaka. The authenticity is striking, and exploring the brightly-lit streets of these absurdly detailed places is as close as we can get without booking a flight to Japan ourselves.
Alongside a great sense of place, Yakuza 0 presents a fast, satisfying combat system with two playable characters. The world is filled with shops, locations and side quests to complete alongside the massive main story.
3. Return of the Obra Dinn
Pros
Compelling detective story
Makes you feel like a genius
Distinctive visual style
Cons
Pacing oscillates from slow to fast and back again, but never gets it quite right
Return of the Obra Dinn is a detective game that requires real smarts, and by placing the player into the shoes of an insurance agent with a magic watch in the 1800’s has created the most bizarre Bernard’s Watch reboot of all time.
Obra Dinn is dense with information, meaty chunks of the stuff falling out of every brutal tableau. Whether you can use that information to piece together the mystery of what happened to the 60 unfortunate souls onboard the Obra Dinn is something else entirely, but when you make a grasping guess, with nothing more than a flimsy theory and a hunch, it’s the best feeling in the world when it comes off.
4. Apex Legends
Pros
Fast, frantic combat
Best-in-class movement
Three dimensional characters
Gorgeous artstyle
Cons
Everyone is a bullet sponge
Limited ammo to loot
Respawn Entertainment has taken the battle royale genre by storm with Apex Legends, a free-to-play shooter that takes the wonderful gunplay from Titanfall 2 and combines it with an assortment of brave, innovative changes to the formula.
Apex Legends is all about teamwork as a squad of three players select from a variety of classes before dropping into a vast, uncompromising map. It’s brilliantly tense, with threats waiting around every corner as you scavenge for weapons and items.
Having already surpassed 25 million players, Respawn has confirmed that new maps, modes, characters and skins are on the way for Apex Legends. So, the party is just getting started.
5. Rainbow Six Siege
Pros
Deeply engrossing tactical shooter
Teamwork isn’t only encouraged, but necessary
Diverse and well-balanced cast of operators
Consistent updates and additions
Cons
Can seem impenetrable to newcomers
Trolls can ruin matches with little penalty
Starting with a relatively small base of players, Rainbow Six Siege has grown into one of the biggest and brightest multiplayer shooters on the planet. Frequent updates have introduced new operators, weapons and maps that can take players hours upon hours to master.
It presents a steep learning curve and requires plenty of teamwork, but get a few friends together and there aren’t many more rewarding shooters on the market right now. Destructible environments, and quick, structured rounds make working together a priority, with each character owning a repertoire of unique gadgets to use.
6. Divinity: Original Sin 2
Pros
Well written
Wicked sense of humour
Incredibly deep RPG systems
Lots of replayability value
Cons
Progression system relies on random cosmetics
Bad team composition can be frustrating
Divinity: Original Sin 2 is a spectacular RPG positively brimming with new races, locations, quests and more just waiting to be uncovered by the player.
Twenty hours in, you’ll still be discovering new mechanics you never knew existed. In this respect, Original Sin 2 is a little daunting for newcomers, requiring a bit of persistence to penetrate.
That being said, the quality of writing and world-building here is almost unmatched in terms of its sheer scope and detail. An experience not to be missed.
7. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
Pros
Good shooting
Good way to show dominance over 99 other players through firepower
Each of the three maps in the game brings a totally unique playstyle
Proper support means new items, maps and vehicles on the regular
Cons
Can be intimidating to learn
Sometimes you get shot in the head from a mile away without a chance to react
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is the latest Early Access title to become a phenomenon. Like DayZ, Minecraft and others before it, this game has spread like wildfire, with thousands upon thousands of players picking it up and diving into its Battle Royale-style world.
Players jump into a huge map and simply have to fight to the last man standing. Up to 100 players dueling to the death on a remote island is as intense and thrilling as you’d expect, as players fight for dominance and the inevitable chicken dinner.
8. Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
Pros
Amazingly deep world
Tactically satisfying combat
Nautical management
Cons
Sailing is underwhelming
Not accessible for curious newcomers
Pillars of Eternity 2 is lighter in tone than the original, and if nautical nonsense is something you wish, this is one of the best ways to get your boat on. The game is dense and fascinating, offering an experience you won’t find elsewhere: it’s Obsidian at its very best. And if you can stare into the watery deadfire abyss, you’ll find it also stares into you, providing deep characterisation and a thoughtful pace.
Combat is tight and interesting, and looking after a boat is fascinating. There’s questing, conversations and everything a good CRPG needs. It’s easy to see why it made a splash at launch.
9. XCOM 2
Pros
Tight, tactical gameplay
Dynamic and unpredictable
Wider strategy full of tough, meaningful decisions
New stealth options work well
Strong cinematic presentation
Cons
Views don’t always provide necessary information
The sequel to the 2012 reboot of Julian Gollop’s famous turn-based tactical masterpiece, XCOM 2 is set 20 years after the events of the original game, but showcases the same deep and engaging strategic gameplay.
New to the mix is faster combat and the introduction of secondary mission objectives, which add a bit of variety and extra challenge to proceedings – as if XCOM wasn’t tough enough already.
Outside of combat, researching and building new weapons and gadgets plays a major part in ensuring success, and you’ll spend hours mastering all of the character classes and their respective load-outs.
It’s rare that a sequel manages to improve so comprehensively on the title that precedes it; this is one of those cases.
10. Dead Cells
Pros
Fun combat
Environmental storytelling that conveys the game’s lore
Wide range of items that enable different playstyles
Cons
Confusing progression system
It’s a bit grindy
If there’s one rogue-like with Metroidvania elements you play in 2018, make it Dead Cells. The game boasts some of the best 2D combat around, and a compelling cycle of life and death that has a chance of sucking away all of your free time.
A standard run of Dead Cells will only take you 20 to 40 minutes and during that time you could find yourself cowering from giant worms behind a huge shield, freezing zombies with an ice bow and trapping zombie pirate fishermen with wolf traps before leathering them with a broadsword.
This variety is exciting, and as soon as you die you’re dropped back at the start to do it again. Sure, it’s going to eat your life, but you’ll enjoy it every step of the way.
11. Monster Hunter World
Pros
Incredibly deep and rewarding gameplay
Beautiful and varied worlds
So much depth to its systems
Each monster is a new challenge
Story is actually engaging
Cons
Multiplayer matches can be fiddly to set up
When it launched back at the start of 2018, team Trusted was blown away by Monster Hunter World. Now, with it’s launch on Steam, PC players are allowed to join the hunt. It’s a great port, and the game is every bit as impressive on the PC as it was on the other consoles at launch, and if you want to cut off a monsters tail and make it into a cloak, this is as good as it gets.
If you’ve previously bounced off of Monster Hunter titles, this fixes nearly all of the flaws that the series has previously had with accessibility and difficulty, allowing rookie hunters to come in and start fighting giant monsters. In many games, this would get old fast, but each of the giant beasts you hunt and slay has their own quirks and intricacies, making the game constantly compelling.
12. Stellaris
Pros
Vast amount of approaches for different empires
Constantly being updated with new features
Full of great mini sci-fi stories
Crisis keeps endgame interesting
Cons
Diplomacy not as interesting as war
Managing large empires can get fiddly
Generally not as fun to play as a good guy
Stellaris is a masterpiece of strategy, a game of creating an empire amongst the stars and exploring and shaping those stars to fit your whims.
The genius of the game is the anomaly system, which sees your science vessels find something unusual: a giant skeleton of a planet, a depowered automated shipyard or perhaps a small ceramic pot orbiting a sun, and deposits you into a choose your own adventure that feels like it’s been torn from an episode of Star Trek. A good episode of Star Trek.
Stellaris also bits the stale end game that is the hallmark of 4X strategy titles by introducing a late game crisis which brings carnage to the universe, letting the game come to an explosive end no matter how establish everyone feels as the game enters its final stage.
The Optifine mod for Minecraft doesn’t just freshen up those blocky visuals and get everything running silky smooth, it also delivers some impressive in-game customisation. Here’s how to download and install this game-changing mod.
Since its arrival, Optifine has set the Minecraft community buzzing. Finally you get some slick-looking high-definition textures, while the overall frame rate is much smoother. But even better than that, you can tweak and fiddle with a huge selection of game parameters. Weather effects like fog and rain can be toggled and edited, while you can even control the day/night cycle and play around with animation effects.
How do I download Optifine?
This mod is completely free to use. All you need to do is head to the Optifine download page and click the relevant link.
Note however that before you commence installation, you’ll want to update your copy of Minecraft to the very latest version. The game automatically installs updates, so just open the launcher and see if you need to download a patch. Otherwise, you’re good to go.
Of course, you’ll also need to decide which version of Optifine to plump for.
Which version of Optifine is best for me: Ultra, Standard or Light?
Unsurprisingly, the most popular choice here is the Ultra version. This contains the full selection of customisation options and performance-boosting features.
However, if you’re already using other Minecraft mods, you may be better off with the Standard edition. This has shown to be more stable when used with existing modifications, although you don’t get the full set of Optifine features.
Last up, the Light version is best if you’re playing on a basic laptop or seriously old desktop that struggles with everyday life.
How do I install Optifine?
First up, you need to figure out where your Minecraft files are stored on your PC’s hard drive. Fortunately this is super simple. Just open the launcher again and poke the Launch Options tab, then Latest Release. The ‘Game Directory’ tool will show you where those files are located.
Alternatively, you can simply search in Windows Explorer for Minecraft.
Now it’s time to install and setup Optifine, so follow these steps:
Double-click the setup file that you downloaded in the previous step. The installation window will pop into life and you’ll be prompted to enter a folder for the Optifine installation.
Click the button to the right of the default directory which has three dots on it, and then browse to the folder which contains your Minecraft installation. That’s where you want Optifine to go.
When you’re done, hit install and perhaps kick back with a cup of tea. Better drink it fast though, because this bit’s really quick.
Once Optifine is installed, just open the Minecraft launcher as normal and click the ‘Installations’ tab, then hit ‘New’. We recommend calling this installation ‘Optifine’ so there’s no confusion later – just stick that label in the Name box.
Next, click on the Version drop-down box and select the option with Optifine in its title.
Finally, hit the Create button and you’re ready to run the mod.
How do I get better performance in Minecraft using Optifine?
The good news is, this mod should work perfectly well without any further setup or customisation. You should immediately notice a difference in the visuals as well as the frame rate.
However, you can also play around with the graphics configuration by heading to the game’s Video Settings menu. There are plenty of settings in here to tweak, until you get the best balance of visual quality and performance.
John Carmack suggested a fun, cute feature that could be implemented in Minecraft, and it sounds like a good idea.
John Carmack proposed an interesting bit of feedback for the Minecraft team on Twitter, suggesting a new way to interact.
Carmack shared a fun idea, saying that “holding hands” could be an interesting mechanics. Honestly, we agree!
“It would be cute seeing best friends and various mobs walking like that, but there could be consequential things like crossing otherwise random portals together or forming coven circles for magical acts,” he wrote, also acknowledging it could be used as a way to play the classic children’s game Red Rover as well.
After Carmack took to Twitter with his idea, people chimed in and agreed, saying that it could be an interesting way to hang out with friends. Others just made it into something weird, as many internet denizens tend to do. The idea is a pretty good one – there isn’t really any way for players to emulate friendship or romance and things like that in-game, so it would be a cute addition to a game that’s already full of ways to express yourself.
Holding hands might be an interesting Minecraft mechanic. It would be cute seeing best friends and various mobs walking like that, but there could be consequential things like crossing otherwise random portals together or forming coven circles for magical acts. Red rover.1,07111:35 PM – Sep 16, 2019Twitter Ads info and privacy212 people are talking about this
It’s unclear why John was sitting around thinking about new ways to interact in Minecraft, however. Maybe he’s enjoying it in his free time? His previous tweet was about welding sparks and the one following Minecraft was meant to address Oculus Quest developers. Whatever the reason may be, perhaps he’s just trying to offer his thoughts on what could make a good game even better. We already know he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to game design. So when he makes a suggestion, perhaps it’s a good idea to stop what you’re doing and listen. Who knows? Maybe this feature will be making its way to Minecraft soon enough!
Thanks to anhero for bringing this to our attention with his Chatty thread. This is a cool idea, and it’s odd that you can’t already do this given all the customization options and actions available in Minecraft.
One avid Overwatch fan has taken it among themselves to recreate a full-scale version of a popular map in Minecraft.
Despite initially being released in 2009, a decade later Minecraft continues to remain at the forefront of popularity in the video game industry. A great deal of Twitch streamers continue to find new ways to enjoy the title to this day, with Minecraft Monday being as popular as ever.
One particular builder in Minecraft had recently set aside the time to combine two of their favorite franchises, recreating a map from the beloved hero-shooter Overwatch.
After an immense “72 hours of progress,” Reddit user ‘halvencyon’ was ready to share their creation with the world, posting a photo album that highlighted the incredible effort of recreating Rialto in Minecraft.
A month and a half of chipping away at the build and the results are spectacular. From internal detail to the sprawling scope of the project, no stone was left unturned in this faithful reimagining of the popular Escort map.
REDDIT: HALVENCYONThe scale of Rialto has been captured perfectly.
Every aspect of the map has been delivered with care, even down the most minute details such as health pack locations and lighting considerations.
“There’s always room for improvement,” the creator expresses, “but I feel this is my best work yet!”
REDDIT: HALVENCYONCareful not to fall off the map!
Set in Italy, the map was released in Overwatch in May 2018 and now stands as one of the 21 competitive maps in the game to date. Five of which are tuned to the Escort game mode which sees attackers pushing a payload through three checkpoints.
While the recreation in Minecraft is purely aesthetic for the time being, perhaps someone will connect the redstone dots and create a fully functioning Rialto multiplayer mod in the near future.
REDDIT: HALVENCYONEven the small details have been captured in this recreation.
You can check out the full album of images here and leave some words of encouragement to the devoted creator.
This isn’t the first time that the world of Overwatch has mixed with Minecraft as fans recently created a fully functioning D.Va mod.
