May 2025 PC Gamer Article Discussion

[Zed Clampet]

Well then I'm not here to convince you and your gargantuan hands personally

Just for the record, while I do use a Duke Hyperkin controller, I can use normal sized controllers without cramping up constantly, so I don't think it's just about size. Of course, there's no way to find it now, but shortly after the Switch came out there was a fairly sizable discussion on the main site in the comments of a Nintendo article about how uncomfortable it was to use, which was why there were so many covers and such that you could buy for it. I did buy a cover, and it made it somewhat better, but didn't completely solve the problem.

 

[BeardyHat]

Have fond memories of Mario Odyssey when my partner was pregnant and feeling sick early on she used to like to watch me play it for a couple of hours because it was so dumb and random it took her mind off of things. A really fun game to mess around in as a sandbox, especially now with a little kid.

She didnt like to watch BOTW though, that game was really good. Both of those would be near the top in my GOG Galaxy library in terms of hours spent. I also played Dark Souls for the first time on the Switch and that would be too.

My wife had severe postpartum, but she credits our playing XCOM 2 for like 150-hours for giving her some relief 🤣

She's still loves that game.

I still have a fondness for pre-64 consoles and Nintendo Handhelds up to the 3DS. I always wanted a Gameboy when I was a kid, as well as a SNES and now I can say I've repaired and modded half a dozen Gameboys and repaired and refurbed a SNES.

But I got a DS in my mid-20s and that was always a favorite of mine, still is. I just can't touch a Switch though; Nintendo's pricing and now their general litigiousness and anti consumer attitude drives me right off. I'll continue to play their old stuff and emulate any newer stuff that I have an interest in, but as this point I'd say I'm fervently anti-Nintendo.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Just for the record, while I do use a Duke Hyperkin controller, I can use normal sized controllers without cramping up constantly, so I don't think it's just about size. Of course, there's no way to find it now, but shortly after the Switch came out there was a fairly sizable discussion on the main site in the comments of a Nintendo article about how uncomfortable it was to use, which was why there were so many covers and such that you could buy for it. I did buy a cover, and it made it somewhat better, but didn't completely solve the problem.

The Joycons are terrible that is a fact. The sticks drift on all of them after a while, they feel cheap and are bad to use. I have an aftermarket set by Hori as well as a Pro controller for using with the TV.

I just can't touch a Switch though; Nintendo's pricing and now their general litigiousness and anti consumer attitude drives me right off. I'll continue to play their old stuff and emulate any newer stuff that I have an interest in, but as this point I'd say I'm fervently anti-Nintendo.

The bad side of it is what youre talking about, they guard all of their IP so tightly they wont even let fans make loving stuff about it or make videos featuring it without permission.

On the flip side they allow their teams years to make games, dont release them until they're right. They've been known to cancel projects with years of dev behind them because they werent turning out as expected and wouldnt be good enough to represent the brand well. I think some of the big western devs could take some lessons from that.

 

[Pifanjr]

'Too many games let their players succeed' says developer of notoriously tough survival RPG Kenshi, and 'that's mind-numbingly boring to me'

"A writer's job is to torment their protagonist," says Chris Hunt of Lo-Fi Games. "So I just adapted that."

www.pcgamer.com

I think the "problem" with most games is that the player isn't the protagonist of a story. I haven't played Kenshi, but from what I understand it's like Dwarf Fortress of Rimworld in that it's a sandbox that generates stories through interactions of the mechanics and the choices of the player.

WoW's Leeroy Jenkins, one of the internet's oldest memes, turns 20 years old—and after looking back on what we wrote in 2005, I feel like we've failed Leeroys everywhere

I'm comin' up with 32.33 (repeating of course) percentage of feeling your age.

www.pcgamer.com

From overhearing my wife talk, there's definitely still people who screw around in high level Mythic dungeons in WoW from time to time. Perhaps not everyone will appreciate it, but that probably would've been the case 20 years ago if the Leeroy Jenkins thing wasn't staged.

I wish Ubisoft had ever made the game it promised with Assassin's Creed 1, but instead the series just spiralled into a weird identity crisis

There's still room in my heart for the assassin sim AC1 was set up as, someone just needs to make it.

www.pcgamer.com

I wholeheartedly agree. While I enjoyed the sequels (up to Black Flag at least), I'd still love a proper follow-up to the first game. I especially miss the crowds of people.

 

[Colif]

Leeroy was 20 years ago... really? I thought I had stopped playing when that happened... seems not

Leeroy Jenkins - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I remember that room...

 

[Zed Clampet]

I wholeheartedly agree. While I enjoyed the sequels (up to Black Flag at least), I'd still love a proper follow-up to the first game. I especially miss the crowds of people.

As far as crowds go, no AC game comes close to Unity, which actually is, in my estimation, easily one of the best AC games (after Ubisoft spent 6 months fixing it). The number of people going about their business in the streets of Paris was just astonishing. Often, I took to the rooftops just because the streets were too crowded. And if something was going on, like a protest, you really didn't have a choice but to go around or over it. To this day I consider it an amazing technical achievement.

 

[Pifanjr]

As far as crowds go, no AC game comes close to Unity, which actually is, in my estimation, easily one of the best AC games (after Ubisoft spent 6 months fixing it). The number of people going about their business in the streets of Paris was just astonishing. Often, I took to the rooftops just because the streets were too crowded. And if something was going on, like a protest, you really didn't have a choice but to go around or over it. To this day I consider it an amazing technical achievement.

I never got around to playing Unity. I wanted to play Rogue first, but it was too similar to Black Flag and I got bored with it. Maybe I'll pick it up when it goes on sale at some point.

 

[Zed Clampet]

@Pifanjr @Colif

I wasn't playing games in 2005, so I'd never heard of Leroy Jenkins. Just read the article and watched the video and loved it and the message they were trying to get across. As I've demonstrated with my COE33 posts, I don't care one bit about min-maxing with someone else's build that they posted online and everyone follows, and that's probably the main reason I don't play multiplayer games with randoms very often. Even in Vermintide 2, where I was very often the best player in the group, I would get criticized for my playstyle and equipment choices. Multiple times on Legendary difficulty, the other 3 players would just leave the session, and I would finish the damn thing by myself (which I'm sure they would have been astonished to discover).

 

[Colif]

I assume its better in wow now... 20 years later... but PUGs (Pick up groups) were about only way you could finish some instances at the time zone I am in. So I have played a few in my time, until I joined a guild that had more local players in it.
I learned I wasn't meant to be a tank... but I didn't see the warriors role as being the meat shield... alas, that was his job in game. So I took rogue and didn't want to play my tank, Fury warriors might be a thing now... no idea, its a different game to what I played.

 

[neogunhero]

All 3 original Stalker games get 'fully remastered and optimized' versions next week, free for OG owners, and I can't wait to get shredded by an anomaly from the comfort of my sofa

Something to enjoy while GSC keeps tinkering with Stalker 2.

www.pcgamer.com

Wow, extremely excited about this. I’ve been waiting for a while since Xbox got basically this last summer before Stalker 2 came out. I don’t think the Xbox version had all the upgrades this will come with though, like improved graphics, I believe it was just a port.

 

[neogunhero]

Wow, extremely excited about this.

https://www.stalker-game.com/en/faq

Great FAQ on the upcoming remaster. Sounds a bit like the Oblivion remaster, full of visual changes and QoL improvements, but no changes to the underlying AI or main content. Going to have a ton of fun next Tuesday playing this, I love the Stalker series but my PC couldn't handle Stalker 2.

 

[Zed Clampet]

https://www.stalker-game.com/en/faq

Great FAQ on the upcoming remaster. Sounds a bit like the Oblivion remaster, full of visual changes and QoL improvements, but no changes to the underlying AI or main content. Going to have a ton of fun next Tuesday playing this, I love the Stalker series but my PC couldn't handle Stalker 2.

I couldn't get into the first one. In retrospect, it reminded me of these very ambitious indies that I play sometimes, and I might have more patience with it if I tried it again.

 

[neogunhero]

I couldn't get into the first one. In retrospect, it reminded me of these very ambitious indies that I play sometimes, and I might have more patience with it if I tried it again.

They're not perfect games by any means, but they absolutely nail the atmosphere and setting. Gunplay can be weak, AI is incredibly janky, story and missions often are vague in their objectives, but I suppose that is part of the charm to the fans. They seem to have really improved on a lot of these to lower the barrier for entry on the newest game.

 

[Zloth]

Leeroy was 20 years ago... really? I thought I had stopped playing when that happened... seems not

Leeroy Jenkins - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I remember that room...

The Jenkins family became popular as NPC names after that video spread around. Mass Effect had one right off the bat. City of Villains had one, too. Life didn't go well for either. Need somebody to die to establish that your baddie is really bad? The Jenkins family will provide!

 

[BeardyHat]

All 3 original Stalker games get 'fully remastered and optimized' versions next week, free for OG owners, and I can't wait to get shredded by an anomaly from the comfort of my sofa

Something to enjoy while GSC keeps tinkering with Stalker 2.

www.pcgamer.com

This seems pretty exciting. I always loved the first game and CoP (Never could get Clear Sky to stick for me) and honestly, an excuse to "raw dog" them without any mods sounds pretty appealing.

I always want to install some of the more aggressive mods for CoP, but they seem to be just masochistic in nature and I can't stick with them.

 

[Frindis]

I own all the Stalker games but never played them from start to finish, so this will be a great way to jump back in.

 

[Pifanjr]

This looks fungi: a first-person roguelike 'double deckbuilder' where you use a separate deck for exploring, smash locked doors open with your head, and feast on the corpses of mushroom monsters

A demo for Shroom and Gloom is available on Steam now.

www.pcgamer.com

I played the demo and it was great. I went fully on generating edible items, with attacks either generating more or getting permanent damage increases every time I ate. I also had a passive card that did damage to every enemy every time I ate while it's in my hand and a passive card that gave me food every time an enemy died. Add a couple of cards that permanently increase the damage of other cards and most enemies died in a single turn.

 

[Frindis]

@BeardyHat Speaking of paintjobs:

The Baldur's Gate 3 cast got a new set of pre-painted minis and—oh, oh no, oh no no no

Maybe the mind flayer tadpoles finally got to 'em.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[Zed Clampet]

The Assassin's Creed Shadows delay worked out so well for Ubisoft its CEO decided, hey, let's do a couple more for the road—and save 100 million more euros while we're at it

"We have decided to provide additional development time to some of our biggest productions."

www.pcgamer.com

"After a review of our pipeline, we have decided to provide additional development time to some of our biggest productions in order to create the best conditions for success."

False alarm: Valve confirms that nobody hacked into over 89M Steam accounts and that your passwords are safe

Whew!

www.pcgamer.com

"Valve recommends checking the authorized devices page on Steam regularly to make sure nobody else is accessing your account and to have the Steam Mobile Authenticator set up."

There is no need to make an impossible to remember password. That's just nonsense and makes life hard on you. This trend of making ridiculous passwords is just stupid. If someone steals your password, then it doesn't matter how complicated it was. Just pick a phrase, like "ValveBeatsEpic" and then tack a few numbers and a symbol on the end. The most important things are not to fall for scams that ask for your password. not to reuse passwords from site to site (if they steal one password they have them all), and not to pick something easily guessed, like password123

 

[Colif]

looks at Ubisoft coming releases...

They probably can't mess Anno up
Only other one on shop is the Division 2 Battle for Brooklyn... wonder what city that based in... wonders how many games based in/around NY we need.
every other new thing is just DLC for one of the games they didn't give enough attention to - Star Wars Outlaws.

 

[neogunhero]

This seems pretty exciting. I always loved the first game and CoP (Never could get Clear Sky to stick for me) and honestly, an excuse to "raw dog" them without any mods sounds pretty appealing.

I always want to install some of the more aggressive mods for CoP, but they seem to be just masochistic in nature and I can't stick with them.

Whenever I mod Stalker games, I expand them too much and get overwhelmed with the content. I forget the name of the mod, but that one that combines all three game maps into a single experience was too much to handle.

I don't want a Morrowind remaster, I want Bethesda to write a fat cheque for the OpenMW team

What if the true Morrowind remaster was the open-source engine reimplementations we made along the way?

www.pcgamer.com

As I'm playing Morrowind for the "first time" (actually sticking with it and not cheating my way through/giving up because I don't understand it), I really understand what they're saying in this article. How could you even begin to remake/remaster a game like this? Oblivion was an easy choice, as the engine was much more modern and more capable to take a reskin on top of the underlying code, and the article says Fallout 3 is probably the next easiest choice for the remaster treatment. Morrowind is not as marketable as those other games, so it may never happen.

 

[BeardyHat]

@BeardyHat Speaking of paintjobs:

The Baldur's Gate 3 cast got a new set of pre-painted minis and—oh, oh no, oh no no no

Maybe the mind flayer tadpoles finally got to 'em.

www.pcgamer.com

Was just coming to post this!

Having had a handful of these style of D&D minis given to me in the past, I'm not at all surprised. The promo material is absolutely misleading, but based on the ones I've seen in real life over the past couple of decades, these are exactly on par.

 

[Zed Clampet]

looks at Ubisoft coming releases...

They probably can't mess Anno up
Only other one on shop is the Division 2 Battle for Brooklyn... wonder what city that based in... wonders how many games based in/around NY we need.
every other new thing is just DLC for one of the games they didn't give enough attention to - Star Wars Outlaws.

They have a Might and Magic Heroes game coming out in the next couple of months.

 

[BeardyHat]

Whenever I mod Stalker games, I expand them too much and get overwhelmed with the content. I forget the name of the mod, but that one that combines all three game maps into a single experience was too much to handle.

I feel like this is usually how it goes with a lot of mods. With Oblivion, I took a very light touch and though I stopped playing, it wasn't because of over modding it, as I've done in the past.

The games are so good vanilla anyway. I've played hundreds of hours of the series at this point, all of it unmodded and it's one of my favorite series. There's definitely an allure to mods, but they do often tend to do more harm than good.

 

[BeardyHat]

Was just coming to post this!

Having had a handful of these style of D&D minis given to me in the past, I'm not at all surprised. The promo material is absolutely misleading, but based on the ones I've seen in real life over the past couple of decades, these are exactly on par.

Was just looking a little closer at this again and honestly, the promo ones don't appear to even be in the same scale or even made in the same resolution.

The promo ones look more like they're 10th scale, versus the actual mini which should be at around 28-30. Hard to tell just from pictures, but it looks to me like the lack of detail isn't just in the sloppy over painting, but like they took a 10th scale one and then scaled it down and used a cheaper mold that doesn't capture the detail nearly as well.

Just my own conspiracy theory.