Key Note Gaming

On the eve of a new year, it's time to look ahead. Join Cardy, Alex, and Jesse as they go through all of the big games, films, and TV shows coming in 2022. There's a lot to be excited about so settle in. Why not let us know what you're looking forward to the most? Feel free to sling us an email at ign_ukfeedback@ign.com. IGN UK Podcast #625: The Big 2022 Preview IGN UK Podcast #624: Alternative Movie and TV Awards 2021 IGN UK Podcast #623: Alternative Game Awards 2021 IGN UK Podcast #622: Sucking on Chocolate is Wonderful IGN UK Podcast #621: West Side Story of Bungalow Bill IGN UK Podcast #620: Resident Evil - Welcome to the Sinnoh Region from IGN Video Games https://ift.tt/3ECR2zX via IFTTT

Genshin Impact is not the game I thought it would be. I'd written it off as nothing more than a crappy, money-fuelled attempt to emulate The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I off-handedly referred to it as "Breath of the Weeb" whenever it came up in conversation. But underneath that Hyrule-dappled exterior is a stupidly fun RPG with a compelling cast of characters and a combat system that easily rivals the one in Nintendo's game. Though I gave it a quick shot when it was released in 2020, it wasn't until the 2.0 update landed in July that I became fully immersed in the world of Teyvat, journeying through its major nations with my annoying fairy sidekick/emergency food supply, Paimon. Genshin's early game did a great job of making me forget I was sinking my time into a free-to-play gacha and not a paid RPG. There's so much to do in Genshin's sprawling map, which patches are still gradually revealing. Boss fights, challenges, puzzles, just sweepi...

I'll be honest—I've never set foot in the Nether. Minecraft is a game I'll mess around with for a few evenings at a time, building bases or exploring biomes. It's always been something I'll fire up if I'm at a loose end or I've had a particularly stressful day. I can go months without playing, but it's a game I always return to. Or it was until February when Iron Gate Studio's Valheim hit Steam Early Access. Oddly enough, the Viking afterlife now serves as my stress-free virtual retreat. One of the best things about Valheim—and one that's not immediately apparent if you haven't played it—is just how forgiving it is. There are brutal biomes with lethal enemies for the unprepared, but you can easily avoid those areas if you don't want that sort of challenge. It pays to kill the first boss to access the pickaxe and, by extension, copper and tin as resources, but you can spend all your time building your base and unlocking recipes without g...

The holidays are often a time to reflect and take stock. 2021 doesn’t allow that, though, because there is none. Honestly—have you been out to the shop lately? Empty shelves everywhere. I had to make do with my second-favourite unsweetened oat-based milk. And try getting decent fresh pesto around here! It's the same situation with PC hardware, only to a much less facetious degree. Graphics card shortage stories have been doing the rounds for as long as Bitcoin has been so valuable. But in 2021, the crypto miners have tag-teamed with global supply line breakdowns because of the pandemic. As a result, GPU prices have skyrocketed due to scarcity. That’s especially true of Nvidia's RTX 3x cards (codenamed "Hens' Teeth"). Chances are if you were gearing up to upgrading that veteran GTX 970 in 2019, you’ve either had to overpay, wait a long time for shipping, or do without a new card.  Still—there is substantial good news out there. A lot of PC hardware has actually...

It shouldn't be this hard to get into PC gaming. In fact, it hasn't been this hard to get into PC gaming for a long time. From fervent bots and silicon shortages, to a new Windows OS that makes demands of your PC you probably didn't know existed, there's seemingly no escape from the newly-installed barriers that block the way into PC gaming nirvana. Whether you're upgrading, replacing, or rebuilding your own PC, or have been forced to listen to one of your many friends complaining about their various predicaments in Discord, you'll know all too well of the awkward and unfortunate graphics card drought. It's wormed its way into PC gaming's very being like dust to a tempered glass side panel. And no more have the shockwaves of that drought been felt than in the entry-level market.  Or should I say lack thereof. Where have all the budget GPUs gone?  It's not like PC gaming has always been at a loss for great budget options. AMD's Polaris lineup...

Staff Picks (Image credit: Future) In addition to our main Game of the Year Awards 2021 , each member of the PC Gamer team is shining a spotlight on a game they loved this year. We'll post new staff picks, alongside our main awards, throughout the rest of the month. Header image courtesy of @raevpet . Go Pies. Earlier this year, I planned to write about the complexities of Blaseball's Expansion Era. If you've not been following the simulated sport, you perhaps still heard the occasional tale of wild systemic shenanigans—the time the league's fans collaborated to do necromancy, or the cruel whims of a malevolent peanut god . These were the stories of the Discipline Era—a simpler time, where the collision of storytelling and simulation could be more easily encapsulated in a few short sentences. The Expansion Era was different. It transformed Blaseball from a mostly passive experience into a massively co-operative strategy game that weaponised on-the-nose...

Did you see it coming? Hitman 3 is the best stealth game this year. For more awards, head to our GOTY 2021 hub . Fraser Brown, Online Editor: For the site, I wrote a far-too-revealing feature about really wanting a game where Agent 47 chases me. Then I tried to get Andy Kelly to ask Agent 47 voice actor David Bateson to record himself saying, "I'm coming to get you, Fraser." He chickened out and now he is dead (to me). You could say I really got into Hitman 3.  It's weird to think of it as a stealth game. In one of the most out-there missions, I spent my first attempt in-character as a detective in an Agatha Christie knock-off, right up until the point where I killed my target. There are more traditionally sneaky routes through every map, of course, but Hitman's all about that social stealth, and Hitman 3 has some of the strongest examples of these out of the whole trilogy. Agent 47 gets plenty of chances to show off his acting chops, even though they still j...