Lauren has been writing for PC Gamer since she went hunting for the cryptid Dark Souls fashion police in 2017. She joined the PCG staff in 2021, now serving as self-appointed chief cozy games and farmlife sim enjoyer. Her career originally began in game development and she remains fascinated by how games tick in the modding and speedrunning scenes. She likes long fantasy books, longer RPGs, can't stop playing co-op survival crafting games, and has spent a number of hours she refuses to count building houses in The Sims games for over 20 years.
Latest articles by Lauren Morton

By Lauren Morton Published
Manifesting With Paralives joining the party, I finally feel like there's a real buffet of choice for life sim players.

By Lauren Morton last updated
This unsettling, naked para is bodysnatching our characters and honestly, I want to keep them.

By Lauren Morton Published
Chimera'd Your first major mission in First Light stops your chase sequence short to solve a quick animal-based symbol puzzle.

By Lauren Morton Published
Boot Camp By hour two James wasn't the only one chafing at yet another training exercise in Malta.

By Lauren Morton Published
Entry Point Your first test of true spycraft in First Light gives you a few different ways to enter the Carpathian Hotel.

By Lauren Morton Published
Baby Fever Here's how to navigate your paramour paras into the world of parenthood.

By Lauren Morton Published
I was on my knees pleading for a scrap of strategy gameplay and Paralives has laid me a feast of fun simulation effects.

By Lauren Morton Published
Parasocial After a lot of hours spent in Paralives, here's my breakdown on how you can decide whether it's your type of life sim or not.

By Lauren Morton Published
Friend Date Here's when we can finally get our hands on the latest life sim.

By Lauren Morton last updated
Sweets Science Stardew Valley's creator is working on another life sim, and it looks just as sweet as his first.

By Lauren Morton last updated
Life Plan The next life sim to watch is hyper-stylized with an impressive build mode and lots of plans for Live Mode in early access.

By Lauren Morton Published
Farm Sins Moonlight Peaks is brave enough to ask: What if Stardew Valley were more toxic?

By Lauren Morton Published
Cozy calendar From Paralives to Thrifty Business, this month is going to be all about life sims and shop sims in the cozy game corner.

By Lauren Morton Published
Cheating Death Here's your full reference list for cheats in the afterlife expansion with skill cheats, career cheats, and tons of unlockable ghost abilities.

By Lauren Morton Published
Business Hacks Here's your full reference list for cheats in the small businesses expansion to change your renown, alignment, and skill levels.

By Lauren Morton Published
News Wildly prolific fantasy and horror author T. Kingfisher just got announced as the writer of an Astarion backstory novel coming this year.

By Lauren Morton Published
Back in Black Ubisoft has rebuilt Black Flag "from the ground up" with a combat overhaul and stealth improvements but the same classic story.

By Lauren Morton last updated
Life hacks All of the Sims 4 cheats for each expansion, all in one convenient place.

By Lauren Morton Published
News Life sim MMO Palia's next free expansion is just three weeks away and it's giving me the ranching update that Red Dead Online refused to.

By Lauren Morton last updated
Cozy calendar Don't get a spring in your step just yet because this month's cozy game launches are all so cozy you might want to stay bundled up.

By Lauren Morton Published
Keep up with the latest guides to playing the new game drops and getting started in Minecraft.

By Lauren Morton Published
News We've officially entered an era of anti-cozy farm sims.

By Lauren Morton Published
Well-Tuned Seven years in the making, the developers of Eastshade are finally ready for us to play a tiny first taste of their cozy witch school life sim Songs of Glimmerwick.
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