PC Gamer

STEPHEN’S SAUSAGE ROLL

It’s better to chip away at this

solid puzzler over time than

bingeonitsdifficultlevels.

GLASS MASQUERADE

Digital jigsaws made from

beautifulstainedglassaspart

of a fictional international fair.

TINY BUBBLES

Alterbubblestosolvepuzzles.

Thephysicsareinspiredbythe

designer’s grandfather’s work.

CYPHER

MatthewBrown,ofHexcells

fame, explores cryptography

viahands-onchallenges.

GOROGOA

Stunningandaustere,thislets

you line up tiles in order to

tease out its mysterious tale.

12345

THE TOP 5 The PC Gamer team’s puzzle picks

NETWORK

Want to track your progress? Print out our checklist at http://www.bit.ly/pcgchallenge

Clear your backlog and expand your horizons. Here’s what the team played this month

PLAY 100 GAMES IN 2018

CHALLENGE

A

tragedy has occurred. I have

misplaced my list. It’s lost amid

the detritus of my desk. You

might think it would be easy to find, but

you have underestimated how many

printouts are piled on every surface.

Still, I had a productive bank holiday

catching up on shorter games. I

completed Quadrilateral Cowboy, an

entertaining heist hack-’em-up that felt

like it was a chapter and some more

complicated puzzles away from brilliance.

Then I got stuck into Orwell:

Ignorance is Strength. It had neat ideas

around the malleable nature of truth, but I

didn’t find the mystery as compelling as in

the first game. Finally, I played Tacoma. I

loved the detailed design of the station,

but didn’t find scrubbing through

recordings as compelling as Gone Home’s

natural style of investigation.

LOOSE PAGES

W

hile Phil has been at E3 I have

been adding to the mess on his

desk. It’s safe to say his 100

Games Challenge list has been lost forever.

As has his keyboard and mouse. And the

bottom half of his second screen.

Aside from the games I’ve already

banged on about at length in this issue,

I’ve been playing Dr Frank’s Build A

Boyfriend. I have no idea when I

installed it, or why, but there it is. DFBAB

is a visual novel about Dr Frank getting

dumped and his ex stealing his research.

To exact romantic and academic

vengeance he begins to build The World’s

Hottest Boy out of dead body parts in

order to take him to a university

conference. It’s NSFW and some of the

puzzling is a little obtuse but the

characters are lovely and there’s charm

and humour here in spades!

HELPING HANDS

A

liens Versus Predator 2 is

probably the best Alien game after

Alien: Isolation. It’s sadly

unavailable on any digital platforms,

meaning you’ll have to get creative to play

it. But it’s worth the strife. Playing as the

alien is a lot of fun, but the marine

campaign is the star of the show.

Jurassic World Evolution lets you

build your own dinosaur park, but it isn’t

as deep or customisable as I’d have liked.

It still has moments of magic, though, and

the dinosaurs look incredible.

There aren’t enough sports games on

PC, which is why I jumped at the release

of AO International Tennis. It’s a deep

sim and lets you play in the proper

Australian Open, but not as immediate or

accessible as I’d have personally liked. I’m

still dreaming of the day Virtua Tennis

comes back and is released on PC.

MONSTERS AND MARINES

Phil Savage

Editor

I HAVE MISPLACED MY

LIST. IT’S LOST AMID THE

DETRITUS OF MY DESK

Philippa Warr

Deputy Editor

BUILD THE WORLD’S

HOTTEST BOY OUT OF

DEAD BODY PARTS

Andy Kelly

Section Editor

IT ISN’T AS DEEP OR

CUSTOMISABLE AS I’D

HAVE LIKED

TALK TO

PC GAMER

Te l l u s h o w y o u’r e

doing at letters@

pcgamer.com.