Free-To-Play Lord Of The Rings MMO Coming From Athlon Games

We’re going on another adventure in Middle-Earth, this time courtesy of Athlon Games, the owners of Warframe developer Digital Extremes.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Middle-earth Enterprises (who own the rights to most things LOTR) has penned a deal to license the property to Athlon Games for a massively multiplayer online title.

The game will be set “during the years leading to the events of The Lord of the Rings”, and will allow players a “unique opportunity for fellowship and epic exploration.”

The license isn’t just tied to this one game either, so it looks like Athlon will be working on bringing a plethora of Lord of The Rings games to market.

Details are naturally slim but it looks like this game is aiming for AAA production values and will be free-to-play. Beyond that, we won’t know much more until marketing starts.

It seems like we’re in the middle of a revival for The Lord of The Rings with the success of Warner Bros. “Shadow Of” franchise and Amazon’s TV adaptation which is coming soon to a streaming service near you.

This isn’t the first time we’ve had a Lord of The Rings MMO either, what with Standing Stone Games 2007 output The Lord of the Rings Online (which is still going!) Hopefully this title can build on that foundation for modern hardware.

Why Payday 2 Is Still Stealing Our Time

Some years later after its release back in the mists of 2013, Payday 2 has continued to cultivate a rather large following. In no small part due to the fact that the Overkill developed title enables that long-held fantasy which Hollywood has cultivated for us – it turns out that it’s cool to rob banks and other such institutions wearing three-piece suits and masks, and more importantly, it’s even cooler to both plan and execute these heists in turn.

For the uninitiated, Payday 2 is a role-based FPS that deftly combines reflexive action with carefully considered tactics to create something quite unique among its peers. More than just running and gunning about the place (though you’ll invariably end up doing that if and when all fails), Payday 2 is all about scoping your targets, locations and trying to get everything done with as little fuss as humanly possible.

For a start, you’ll need to learn where the cameras are, how to keep hostages under control and basically pretend you’re Robert De Niro in Heat as you attempt to abscond with the shiny goodies and move onto the next heist. Ostensibly, success in Payday 2 is predicated around planning, preparation and folks knowing their roles and what they have to do in order to get the job done.

With a number of skill trees permitting different styles of play, Payday 2 allows players to carve out a functional niche for themselves in every heist. One player might have points in the controller skill tree for example, allowing them to skillfully negotiate and even turn hostages, whereas another might be focussed on the medic role in order to provide efficient healing on demand.

As these heists are precision operations for the most part that demand unyielding attention and varied skills from all those involved, literally anybody can get stuck into Payday 2 right away. Indeed, if you traditionally find yourself on the lower end of the competency spectrum when it comes to shooters, such shortcomings aren’t harshly penalised in Payday 2 – not least because other skills like coordination, patience and stealth are far more essential attributes to have.

Boasting a veritable mountain of heists to take on, a robust progression system that allows players to specialise in new and improved skills whilst encompassing some of the most enjoyable co-operative multiplayer shenanigans seen in a good while, Payday 2 can quite easily murder your social calendar in short order.

And you should let it too – not least because there isn’t another game quite like it that places the same laser-focused emphasis on teamwork and coordination in such a satisfying manner.

More than anything, Payday 2 has endured because that feeling of immense satisfaction when you and three other mates absolutely *nail* a heist is too compelling to pass up. With over 30 pieces of downloadable content that meaningfully augment the core Payday 2 experience and a large player base to boot, there really is no better time to get (safe) cracking with Payday 2.

Everyone’s a Gamer

Everyone’s a gamer.

That’s just a fact now. Everyone plays games, no matter their race, age, nationality, background, size, sexuality, or gender.

We at Green Man Gaming recognise that and we want to show you off. We want to show the world that everyone’s a gamer, and gamers come in all forms.

To do this we need your help. Simply fill out the form below, submit a selfie, and you’ll be on your way to our Instagram channel. We’ll be posting gamers every week to show that gamers are people, and people are gamers!

There’s too much talk about what gamers are and aren’t, there’s too much gatekeeping saying that to be a gamer you must be ‘x’ or ‘y, both inside and outside of gaming. It’s time to end that. It’s time to say once and for all: Everyone’s a gamer.

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6 Games at Gamescom 2018 that you might’ve missed

Gamescom is over for another year and there’s been a load of games news, game videos, and more come out of Cologne for us all to obsess over and pick apart for every tiny detail.

But we’re not just about the big games here at Green Man Gaming, so let’s take a look at six games that were shown off at Gamescom that you might’ve missed.

Trüberbrook

Set in rural Germany in the late 1969s, Trüberbrook is a point and click adventure game with an absolutely stunning art style. Instead of relying on CG backgrounds, the game itself is set in a 3D printed world and then scanned into the game. This means that there’s a physicality to the locations that just isn’t there in other point and clicks.

The story itself goes from extremely small stakes to the largest possible, a young American PHD student called Tannhauser takes a break in Trüberbrook, a small resort town in Germany. He starts off just looking to recharge his batteries, and ends up in a scifi story that threatens the fate of the world itself.

Broken Lines

Broken Lines is a squad based tactical combat game, but that’s not all it is. It’s simultaneous for a start, meaning when you choose your actions and activations your opponents will do the same. In addition, it promises a rogue-like structure with resource management, story events where you choose what happens, and real-time-with-pause tactical combat.

Set during a war that isn’t quite World War II, your squad is dropped in an unfamiliar situation with enemies hunting them down and a mysterious fog threatening to engulf them at all times.  You have to juggle your squad’s different personalities and try to get them to work together as a team to survive this hellscape they’ve found themselves in.

Deliver us the Moon: Fortuna

Deliver us the Moon: Fortuna is a narrative exploration game set in the near future, where the Earth has run out of resources and you’re tasked with reaching the moon and finding the new source of energy that’s been located there.

Filled with puzzles, narrative beats, hazards, and more, Deliver us the Moon: Fortuna will take you to the edge of space and beyond as you search for the truth behind the hidden agendas that have seen you up there. Armed only with your wits and a small robot called ASE, you’ll have to explore the surface of the moon, abandoned facilities, and gather clues about just what the hell is going on.

Hong Kong Massacre

If you’ve ever watched a John Woo film like Hard Boiled then this’ll be a game you want to keep an eye on. A top-down shooter inspired by the best of Hong Kong action cinema, you’ll be taking part in firefights across Hong Kong.

Featuring slow-motion, dodge mechanics, and explosive gunplay, Hong Kong Massacre is a love letter to the kind of action film you just don’t see that much of anymore.

Gardens Between

A cross between a puzzle game and a narrative adventure, this surreal game is set on a series of islands where you must guide Arina and Frendt out of the timelocked realm they’re stuck in.

Featuring time-based puzzles and powers, you’ll not only solve your way out but you’ll discover the truth behind their friendship, examine their memories, and learn more about each other on your journey through these islands.

Iron Danger

More tactics! Iron Danger is a tactical RPG set in a fantasy world with a twist, steam-powered cyborgs and huge powers. Turn based with simultaneous turns and time-manipulation powers and a deep satisfying combat system, Iron Danger aims to be a new take on the tactical combat genre.

Kipuna, a village girl, becomes infused with a power that grants her control over both time and death. Kijuna and two companions head out as you’re drawn into the war between the city of Kalevala and the armies of the Northlanders.

My Memory of Us is a fairytale about friendship

My Memory of Us, coming from developer Juggler Games, is all about friendship and the bonds that grow between people when they spend time together.

The game takes place within the past, in particular the narrator’s past. Voiced by Sir Patrick Stewart, this old book seller encounters a young girl who reminds him of a time in his life when he knew a little girl just like her. Embracing the memory, he begins to tell her of his friendship with the young girl in years past and of the events that brought them together and cemented their friendship.

My Memory of Us is a game that takes place during a fictional war in a past that’s similar to, but not quite, ours. Taking place before, during, and after a terrible war, it shows us how two children can grow and survive due to their friendship.

Developers Juggler Games were very clear that this war isn’t directly based on any particular conflict in the real world, for example we’ve never had steampunk battles across the face of our Earth, but the themes that the game draws upon are ones that we can all relate to. They’re from Poland, a country which was strongly affected by war throughout the twentieth century, and that legacy is apparent in this game. Inspired by tales from older generations and how life carried on even though the country was torn apart, My Memory of Us hopes to bring some of those stories to life in this fairytale-esque adventure.

The game itself plays as a cross between an adventure game and a platformer, with both the boy and the girl having their own abilities which complement each other. The girl is taller, runs fast, helps the boy up onto ledges, and can use a slingshot. The boy is a bit younger so he’s better at sneaking his way about and staying unobserved. Though there are enemies in the game, there’s no combat or real violence. Being spotted in a stealth section just restarts you a few seconds ago.

The game has a monochromatic palette for the most part with characters and the world itself being presented in greyscale. Red is the only colour in the game, it denotes usable object or items of interest. Harking back to Schindler’s’ List, the main characters are also wearing red, often the only colourful things in a scene.

The art style, however, is anything but grim. It’s a fairytale adventure, the characters are rounded and wide-eyed, the world while filled with danger is still fairly fun and friendly. It’s worth remembering that the game you play isn’t necessarily the accurate history of the events the old bookseller is recounting, he’s telling a young girl and it’s been a long time. He may be an unreliable narrator, hence the tone of the art style being friendlier than one might expect from a war-torn state.

That said, this game is looking incredibly special. It uses personal experiences and memories to build a narrative that can be appreciated by anyone, one about friendship, about love, about closeness with other people, about survival in the face of overwhelming odds.

My Memory of Us will be released on October 9, 2018 on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Dying Light 2 is trying something new with a massive narrative sandbox

I don’t know about you, but I play games for the stories.

That’s why when a developer starts talking about doing something different with a game’s narrative my ears prick up and I’m suddenly paying attention.

Dying Light 2 developers Techland seems to be doing just that, trying something new with how the story, and the choices you make as part of that story, will affect Dying Light 2 making your playthrough an experience unique to you.

We’ve all played games before that promise choice and consequences, and often this promise is largely unfulfilled. You save someone or choose to kill someone, but it’s just window dressing and often you’ll end up in the same situations you would anyway.

The promise of Dying Light 2 is that your choices will not only affect how the story progresses, but the game world, the mechanics of the game world, and your choices will alter how the world of Dying Light 2 at large. A symbol of Techland’s commitment to narrative is how they’ve brought on veteran narrative and game designer Chris Avellone who worked on Planescape: Torment, Fallout 2, and much much more. If you’ve been an RPG fan, you’ll know his name or at least his work.

Dying Light 2 is set in a post-apocalyptic city, 15 years after the Infected began to take over. The city is incredibly detailed, with multiple traversal routes through every section of it for you to parkour your way through, NPCs wandering the streets, hostile bandits undertaking their own missions, and of course always the threat of the Infected. It’s this city which you’ll help to shape throughout your journey, this city which will rise or fall depending on your actions and choices.

Here are two examples from what we saw during Gamescom 2018:

The Swimming Pool

During your time in Dying Light 2, you might come across a swimming pool, in a ripe location. It’d be up to you to decide who gets control of it as the usable real estate is at a premium in the world of Dying Light 2.

Do you give it to the Peacekeepers? They’ll turn it into a training centre for their recruits, and you’ll be able to take part in gladiatorial combat there to hone your skills, level up, and earn fame and money. The downside is that people may see you as a target, they’ve heard of you, they want to take down the grand champion so as you travel the city you may find challenges shouted out at you from formally peaceful areas.

Do you give it to the faction which concerns itself with growing drugs? They’ll turn the swimming pool into a greenhouse and as such, you’ll have access to performance boosting drugs which increase your abilities temporarily. The downside here is that you may start to encounter Infected which are also boosted by these drugs, making combat that much harder.

Or do you give it to the Scavengers who’ll use it to refine biomass into fuel? This will open up the area to vehicles, and the resources that the Scavengers bring in will help them repair a bridge meaning you’ve got access to an area that you couldn’t reach before. More quests, more loot, more opportunity will await you over there…but maybe the bridge was destroyed to keep something out

The Water Tower

The other example we saw at Gamescom 2018 revolved around a water tower, a place with a commanding overlook of an area of the city but also something more valuable; water.

At its pinnacle, after a series of parkour puzzles, lies Joe and Jack who have taken this area for themselves. It also turns out they’re murderers, the Peacekeepers sent an emissary in to talk to them and offer them a chance to join up but they refused, sending the emissary plummeting to their doom.

Here you’re given a choice, do you punish them for their murderous ways, or do you let it slide knowing that the world isn’t that black and white anymore?

If you decide to take them on you’ll have a tough fight on your hands, but afterwards the Peacekeepers will take over the tower and pacify the local area, removing all Infected and bandits. This means you’ll have at least one safe zone, and a zone that’s covered in handy traversal methods the Peacekeepers have installed to facilitate movement of their heavily armoured troops. Not only that, but their benevolence means water is free, giving the player another way to heal as well as restoring liquids to the impoverished population.

As always, there is a downside. The Peacekeepers are brutal overlords who rule with an iron shod heel. Almost any infraction incurs a death penalty and one day that could even affect you. Nearby areas will also become more dangerous, as those bandits you saw the last of? Yeah, they’re not dead, just moved. They’re still out there, just in a different area.

But that’s not your only choice, you can decide to side with Jack and Joe and even go into business with them. This makes the area much less safe, easy to traverse, and there’s fewer ways to heal as water is no longer free. But it does mean that opportunity walks the streets. You’ll earn more money as your cut from selling water to the public and also the additional trade may bring in wandering merchants and other opportunistic souls.

The presentation ended there, but we were informed that this simple binary choice was already a result of more choices that the player had previously made. You could end up without the option to serve the Peacekeepers depending on how you’d interacted with them, or Jack and Joe may simply just not want to go in to business with someone of your ilk.

If the promise of Dying Light 2 is fulfilled then this looks like a true next step in narrative evolution in videogames. Everyone’s world is their own, and their choices and the consequences of those choices make up will vastly alter the experience you have in the game.

Finally, I can tell my own story, and not just hear someone else’s. And that, if done right, may mean something completely new for the gaming industry.

Dying Light: Bad Blood is a Meatier Battle Royale

Techland’s zombie-killing parkour-em-up Dying Light was a surprise hit upon its release so it’s no surprise that we’re going to be getting much more Dying Light in the near future.

Whilst there’s a straight-up sequel being developed, entitled Dying Light 2, there’s also a spinoff hoping to bring some of that parkour magic to the increasingly saturated Battle Royale genre.

Dying Light: Bad Blood looks on the face of it to be a simple affair; ‘what if Dying Light had a Battle Royale mode’. It’s entirely possible that some may dismiss it and roll their eyes at what’s perceived to be yet another Battle Royale, but having had some hands-on time with the game at Gamescom 2018, it’s clear that there’s some key differences which – if handled correctly – should elevate it above its competition.

PvP, PvE, PvMe

Obviously Dying Light: Bad Blood is a PvP game, ultimately you’re facing down against 11 other players (at least in the mode we had chance to try out) in a race for survival. But there’s much more than that here.

Your first game of Dying Light: Bad Blood might start off very familiar, you’re spawned with no weapons, items, or armour, and you start to explore the surroundings and scavenge up what you need to survive.

But then chances are you’ll see Them. Zombies, they’re often hiding in buildings right around some vital gear or equipment, or occasionally roaming the streets. In Battle Royale games we’re used to seeing the player count skyrocket in a space race for numbers, but Dying Light: Bad Blood shrinks the players per match down to 12, and once you begin to play and see the zombies, special zombies, and boss zombies roaming the streets you understand why this choice has been made. More people would just muddy this, it’s a tighter and more focused take on the genre, and you can tell extensive testing has taken place to identify the number of players.

Zombies and other players aren’t the only threats out there though, airdrops can and will plummet from the sky bearing essential loot, they’re the only way to get firearms for example. But each one will be guarded by NPC humans who fight and act much more naturalistically. They don’t lunge mindlessly, they’re humans so they have a mind. It’s very much risk and reward, if you take them on there’s the potential of more loot, but those NPCs may take you out and even worse – the airdrop icon is ever blinking on the minimap so other player are most likely incoming.

Adding this all up, the world itself is vastly more lethal than in any other Battle Royale, and that’s before we get to the mechanics that’ll bring you and other players into conflict.

Make War not Love

In Dying Light: Bad Blood the goal isn’t to be the last player standing, although that can help. It’s to collect enough blood samples from undead Hives and other players, which triggers a helicopter which’ll be your only way out of the zone.

On your minimap nearby Hives are marked out, and each one is your key to escaping the level and winning the round, but in addition the blood samples you gather help you level up making you faster, stronger, tougher. Obviously these are resources that are essential to your survival, so it’s no surprise that they’re often the cause of heated battles between undernourished players desperate for a level or two,

But that’s not all, when the helicopter is called an area is marked where it’ll land. The helicopter only has space for one, so if there’s multiple people waiting for it they’ll just have to fight it out for that coveted seat.

This means that the pacing of each match naturally comes to a crescendo as that call goes out and the battle for escape begins. In other Battle Royale games there can be long periods of quiet inbetween brief encounters, but Dying Light: Bad Blood aims to keep the pressure on by incentivising hunting down Hives, and then the mad scramble for escape. The developers themselves have also indicated that the ideal length of time for a match is ten minutes, making this briefer and more intense than some others in the genre.

Combining all of this with Dying Light’s parkour and incredibly violent melee combat system, it’s not a surprise that the developers Techland have dubbed it ‘Brutal’ Royale.

Dying Light: Bad Blood is looking like an intriguing twist on the Battle Royale genre, and it’ll be hitting Steam Early Access in September 2018 in a Founders Pack edition.

Gamescom 2018 is Games-coming soon

Gamescom is the second biggest gaming event in the world, bringing together thousands of fans, journalists, developers, publishers, and more in one huge celebration of the gaming industry.

Taking place in Cologne, Germany every year, the whole city is taken over by a cavalcade of supreme nerd-dom, with gamers of every type descending to celebrate their love of gaming.

You can see the schedule for the convention here, and while there’s not always announcements made at Gamescom, here’s some stuff that we’d like to see get announced during Gamescom 2018. Will we be right? Let us know in the comments.

Every game has Crash Bandicoot in it

Following on from the ridiculous success of the remastered Crash Bandicoot games, the gaming industry has come together with one voice to say ‘can we please have Crash Bandicoot in our game’. Every game will now feature a Crash Bandicoot mode, complete with running-toward-camera segments and wumpa fruit galore. Coming to a Crash Bandicoot PC to you in 2019.

Hitman 2 has a level where you have to save a dog’s life

Hitman games are renowned for one thing; elaborate murders. Developers IO Interactive are mixing it up in the next Hitman game, however, and adding in a level where the sole objective is to save a dog’s life as a cabal of evil dog attackers are roaming the Rome streets. Will you succeed at this canine race against time, or will your adventure end up like Old Yeller?

Cyberpunk 2077 is out….now!

CD Projekt Red surprise everyone by announcing that not only is Cyberpunk 2077 complete, it’s out now and you can download it right away!

Cyberpunk 2077 is not out now, sorry

CD Projekt Red surprise everyone by announcing that not only did Doug make a mistake with the announcement, he’s also been fired.

LEGO: Watchmen announced

The LEGO games are a staple of the gaming landscape, featuring beloved properties, worlds, and characters from a multitude of imaginations. Next they’ll take to the streets of New York as your favourite LEGO heroes wax lyrical about the disgust they feel about crime, the philosophical nature of time, and whether or not humanity is worth saving. Fun!

Bethesda have made a real life wasteland in Virginia

It’s not enough for Fallout 76 to feature a huge open world that you can explore with friends, Bethesda have decided to level a huge area in Virginia, engineer some super mutants, and even loose some ghouls on the land. This radioactive funland will be open to the public Summer 2019.

Fortnite is getting a Battle Royale-Royale mode

Fortnite’s the big daddy of Battle Royale games right now, so it’s only natural that Epic Games would decide to include a Battle Royale-Royale mode, featuring all the other Battle Royale games in a huge fifty player murderous environment. Will Fortnite see off the others, or will PUBG stand clear of the fray? It’s all up for grabs in the Battle Royale-Royale event of the century.

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is 2.5x larger than Origins, 4.5x longer, 6.5x taller, and 8.5x wider

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is big, like, really big. Like, imagine something big? It’s bigger. You can’t even imagine how big. Try it, I dare you. WRONG. It’s bigger than that. Sucker.

Games are art now unless you disagree

Finally this aeons old argument can be put to rest, games are finally decreed to be art, unless you think they’re not art in which case they’re not art, sorry to bother you.

Half Life 3

We can dream.

Three Games that Deserve a Comeback

With THQ Nordic picking up the rights to both TimeSplitters and Second Sight it looks like we will be getting either remasters or brand new games in these series. It also seems like a really good time to look back to find some other classic games from that era that could really do with another chance at life.

If we look specifically at the console generation that housed the PS2 we have some other great games around at that time. The PS2 had some good company as this is the generation that had the Xbox, Gamecube, and even the ill fated Sega Dreamcast. As such there are some genuinely incredible games from around then that have been lost to time.

If we pick one from each of the other consoles then it makes the process a little easier, so starting with the Dreamcast we have Power Stone. If you’re not familiar, Power Stone was a 3D arena fighter that had lots of wacky characters running around and beating the hell out of each other. If your character picked up enough Power Stones they would transform and be more powerful for a while. The sequel Power Stone 2 did even more with the formula and allowed you to mix items together to make new ones, the selection was immense and there really hasn’t been another game like it in 3D.

It was a four player free-for-all back in the day but now with modern technology and the internet infrastructure it’s easy to imagine it having a higher player limit and being online too. The addition of online multiplayer has made a lot of these kind of games infinitely more enjoyable for the simple reason that getting mates round just isn’t as easy as sitting at home and connecting through the internet. The stages could be more complex and the items could be expanded upon even more, though honestly just getting a straight up re-release with a higher resolution would be more than enough for most fans of the series.

Representing the Gamecube is Viewtiful Joe, a side-scrolling beat ‘em up game that focuses on a film nerd who gets dragged into the world of cinema and becomes a superhero. The action was a dizzying mix of punches, kicks, dodges, and movie based super powers. You had three different powers which all had completely different effects. You could use Slow, which made everything super slow oddly enough, but also gave Joe’s attacks significantly more clout and made it easier to dodge attacks. Mach Speed was the opposite effect, speeding Joe up to an absurd degree and eventually causing his strikes to burst enemies into flames, plus you could hit multiple enemies at once because of the tempo advantage. The last power is Zoom In, which would give some enemies stage fright and give Joe some extra damage too. These were all invaluable in both combat and the puzzles that were dotted throughout the game. If you slow down a propeller it’ll fall out of the sky, speed it up and it’ll fly higher than ever. The cast of characters were magnificent; even including a great riff on Dante that you could eventually unlock and play as.

Finally we have the original Xbox which was home to a ridiculous selection of games, many of which are backwards compatible or playable on PC. Not all are accessible though, in particular Jet Set Radio Future is one of the ones that people want back most. The Sequel to Jet Set Radio on the Dreamcast, Future shakes things up by allowing your merry band of graffiti artists to defy gravity and literally grind up lampposts. The whole point of the game is to fight of other gangs by graffitiing their turf, and even sometimes the actual members. Some of the levels felt more like intense platforming games than skating games and the whole thing looked incredible in cel shaded loveliness. Oh, don’t forget that the soundtrack is nearly unrivalled a full sixteen years later and is still one of the best collection of earworms you will ever find in a single game.

Truth be told, there are an unending selection of games that people would love to see come back, but these are just three that maybe we could push for a little harder than the others? Just a bit? Please?

Chart Expert Game Results – 10th August

This week you had the chance to win a beta copy of The Banner Saga 3! Let’s see what the correct order was and who won a key!

1st: Overcooked! 2

2nd: No Man’s Sky

3rd: Slay The Spire

And the winners are of course….TonZa10 and wakemeupalan99! They should check their GMG inboxes for their keys!

For those who didn’t guess right, come back on Monday for another shot!

Monster Hunter World PC Review Roundup

The day has come, Monster Hunter World is here on PC. Console owners have enjoyed the game for a while now, but it’s finally the day of the PC to strap a weapon on, get your nose to the ground, and hunt up some beasts.

We’re hugely excited for the launch, but maybe you’re not. Maybe you don’t know if it’s worth getting? So here’s our Monster Hunter World PC Review Roundup, read for yourself what people think:

Trusted Reviews – 5/5

“If you haven’t tried Capcom’s Monster Hunter: World you really should. Whether it’s on PC or console the game remains one of the best RPGs you’ll ever play, and the most inviting the series has ever been.

It’s clear to see why the franchise has such a dedicated following, and now that fanbase is set to grow ever larger thanks to the incredible steps the developer has taken to make this game more welcoming to many more players.

For those with a penchant for punishment, a soft spot for stats, and a crush on brilliant combat – you simply have to buy this game.”

IGN – 9.5/10

“Fitting for the series’ first ever western PC version, this isn’t a case of bringing flashy new exclusive content but a supremely stable, confidently-put-together package of what got all the console players so excited about in January. If it’s the first time you’ve gotten a chance to see what Monster Hunter is all about, this is as good a starting point as you’re likely to get.”

GameInformer – 9.25/10

“Monster Hunter: World’s PC version provides the same great hunting and gathering loops console players dove into earlier this year, and after having not played the series until now I’m absolutely hooked, both on the series and how the PC version enhances the experience. Adapting World’s console control scheme to keyboard-and-mouse comes with some minor nitpicks, but I’ve found the tradeoffs are worth it. And once the DLC makes its way to this version, PC players who’ve waited months for one of the best games of the year should have another deep and rewarding action-RPG on their hands.”

PCGamesN – 9/10

“It’s due to the freedoms Monster Hunter: World offers that I am happily putting more time into it after playing for well over two hundred hours on console. That speaks volumes for how rich the whole experience is. The biggest differences with this PC version are a few minor quality of life changes and a significant graphical upgrade. It’s not night and day exactly, but faster load times and better draw distance make it an absolute treat, so long as you have hardware that can handle it.”

PCGamer – 86/10

“Like your character, Monster Hunter: World dresses its breathless combat in every assortment of the most arbitrarily complicated garb, all in the name of variety. It is an abyss of ‘replayabilty’, an exercise in patience and observation for the ultimate payoff: an infinite black sea of invigorating dragon murder. And a new hat.”

Gamespot – 8/10

“Ever since the title was first announced, it was clear that Capcom was gunning for something grander than Monster Hunter Generations. It has succeeded, and this is likely the biggest and best that the franchise has ever been. It’s not just the comparative depth of the narrative; it also boasts almost seamless integration between combat systems that were previously incomprehensible for amateurs. The Monster Hunter formula has definitely honed its claws, and all the above factors play their part in making Monster Hunter World a meaningful evolution for the series at large.”

Rock, Paper, Shotgun

“Monster Hunter World is gorgeous and exciting. Its elegant systems are packed with depth. It’s hugely generous with a frankly bewildering amount of content, but still provides a firm, focused gameplay loop. The online experience is balanced, seamless, and challenging. But Monster Hunter World is also an unintentional reminder that the the glorious myth of dragon hunting only works as a shadow puppet show. Once you’ve seen that dragon’s home, its patterned scales, the beauty and terror in its wingspan, and watched it limp defeated back to its nest, swinging the blade a final time feels a lot less heroic. He who hunts monst, and all that. Cute cats though.”

Sixthaxis

“…Monster Hunter World on PC offers the same awesome experience that console gamers have been enjoying, and brings one of the best games of recent times to a slightly different audience. With the right kit you’ll be able to push the game further than anywhere else, and with the promise of future updates it’s likely to become the definitive version, even if it’s not quite there yet.”