PC Gamer Annual - UK (2022)

50

SATISFACTORY

RELEASED 2019 | LAST POSITION New

Wes: A factory building game so perfectly

named I defy anyone to talk about it

without using the word ‘satisfying’. It can’t

be done! My first factory was a mess of

conveyor belts on a forest floor, ugly and

inefficient, so I tore it down and rebuilt. And

again. And again. My multiplayer crew is

now building towering skyscraper factories

linked by automated sky trains. Some

people lose a year building castles in

Minecraft; I lost one building iron rods in

Satisfactory, and I don’t regret a second.

ASSASSIN’S CREED VALHALLA

RELEASED 2020 | LAST POSITION New

Fraser: Yes, it’s more Assassin’s Creed,
with a vast open world filled with stuff to
climb, people to murder and crap to
collect. While much is unchanged, I still
found myself spending something like 150
hours playing. As a Scot I hate to say it, but
England is a pretty nice place to explore.
It’s jam-packed with some of the series’
most charismatic denizens, not least of
which is Eivor, a terse but charming
protagonist whose growls and sighs speak
volumes. She’s my favourite assassin, even
over the superb Kassandra.
Sarah: I absolutely adored Eivor, and her
horse (who I named Horace). We both
spent far too much time exploring England

to compare places I’ve visited with their

in-game counterparts. I’m still slightly

jealous that Andy K came up with the

Jorvik/York comparison article before I’d

thought of it.

Steven: I’m such a big fan of this new

direction Assassin’s Creed has taken

• even if it sometimes still feels a little too
  big for its own good. Shifting to become
  an RPG with a branching narrative is just
  such a fun way to intimately explore a
  romanticised version of different historical
  periods, and Valhalla makes some really
  strong improvements in the narrative
  department, especially in the complex
  relationship between Eivor and her brother.

52

51

BLACK

MESA

RELEASED 2020 | LAST POSITION 63

Nat: For a long time, Black Mesa was a
joke. An over-ambitious attempt to
completely remake Half-Life from the
ground up as a standalone mod. But lo and
behold, it’s finally finished – and bloody
hell, if it isn’t a stunning thing. The game
deftly reimagines Valve’s 1998 debut,
trimming the more tedious parts while
remaking Xen from the ground up. I
wouldn’t say it replaces the seminal
shooter outright, but it’s a damn fine way
to experience it from a brand new angle.

The Top 100

FE ATURE

PREVIEW

Andy

Kelly

L.A. NOIRE

An anthology

of compelling

detective stories,

set in a lavish,

painstakingly

researched 1940s

Los Angeles. The

face capture

tech, along with a

cast of genuinely

great actors

(including familiar

faces from Mad

Men), gives L.A.

Noire a prestige

TV feel, and it’s a

world I love losing

myself in.

PERSONAL PICK

PREVIEW

James

Davenport

T H E E V I L

WITHIN 2

The Evil Within 2

takes horror

into huge open

spaces and still

pulls off a ton

of memorable

scares. That shed

in the distance

might just be a

fixture in your

playthrough, but

in mine? Anima

harassed me

the rest of the

game, hair to the

floor with that

horrible shriek.

PERSONAL PICK