Rick Lane
Rick has been fascinated by PC gaming since he was seven years old, when he used to sneak into his dad's home office for covert sessions of Doom. He grew up on a diet of similarly unsuitable games, with favourites including Quake, Thief, Half-Life and Deus Ex. Between 2013 and 2022, Rick was games editor of Custom PC magazine and associated website bit-tech.net. But he's always kept one foot in freelance games journalism, writing for publications like Edge, Eurogamer, the Guardian and, naturally, PC Gamer. While he'll play anything that can be controlled with a keyboard and mouse, he has a particular passion for first-person shooters and immersive sims.
Latest articles by Rick Lane

Almost 20 years since it hit Steam, Garry's Mod finally addresses 'lackluster support for weapons used by NPCs' and gives Dr Kleiner his gun license
By Rick Lane published
News Improved water visuals and better blending shaders were also added to the mod.

Slot machine roguelike CloverPit sells 1 million copies, and its developer celebrates the payout by adding its 'most requested feature yet'
By Rick Lane published
News Double your debt for a big reward in Hard mode

Before The Witcher 3 launched, CD Projekt was terrified that Batman: Arkham Knight would flatten it with its Batmobile: 'They're just gonna roll over us'
By Rick Lane published
News "I still remember how bombed we were."

Fancy playing Sea of Thieves without the PvP? This pirate-themed survival game just left early access with a big update and a launch discount
By Rick Lane published
News Developer Lavaboots Studios will " continue expanding" the game after launch.

One of Elden Ring's best overhaul mods just received a massive update that adds fully functional multiplayer
By Rick Lane published
News Also adds a new dungeon and extra combat moves.

That weird Pac-Man metroidvania just got a big update, adding a new mode that 'significantly lowers the difficulty of combat and exploration'
By Rick Lane published
News Doesn't do much to improve the writing, though.

Responding to problems in a live-service game is like having a 'big clock,' says Battlefield 6 director: 'You measure and value your time to the player' so they know you're paying attention
By Rick Lane published
News "We're also weighing that against our future ambitions."

Someone's finally making a spiritual successor to Bully, but I wish it wasn't inspired by some of the worst comedies ever made
By Rick Lane published
News Agefield High: Rock the School wants to take you back to the most cringeworthy bits of 2002.

Far-right Polish politician tries to score points by addressing GTA 6's delay in parliament: 'This is a huge scandal'
By Rick Lane published
News Bizarre scene goes viral on social media.

Former Bungie director thinks the term extraction shooter is 'so dumb' that he wanted to work with Marathon's marketing team to 'create a different genre name'
By Rick Lane published
News "It's the only genre where its name is a mechanic."

As Kingdom Come Deliverance 2's latest DLC launches, Warhorse reveals its grand plan for the future: 'We want to establish ourselves as the new kings of RPGs'
By Rick Lane published
News The studio's next project will 'go in the same direction' as KCD 2.

Phasmophobia's latest update introduces a spooky diner, bringing the game one step closer to its 1.0 launch
By Rick Lane published
News Nell's Diner is on the smaller side for Phasmo maps, but it's also one of the densest yet.

CD Projekt's co-CEO says The Witcher 2's momentous midgame choice was an 'experiment' and now regards it as a 'waste of resources'
By Rick Lane published
News The developer "brought totally something new" for The Witcher 3.

Fallout 4's Creations Bundle stumbles from the Vault to Mostly Negative reviews, as players lament the pack 'does not work' and 'made the game buggier'
By Rick Lane published
News Bethesda breaking its own game? Surely not.

PC gaming's best free multiplayer shooter continues to be preposterously generous, with its latest update adding 50 new maps, custom music and more: 'We definitely want Straftat to live as long as possible'
By Rick Lane published
News You've gotta love the Lemaitre brothers.

Todd Howard says that Fallout 4's cinematic dialogue system 'really did not resonate' with players, even though Bethesda 'spent forever' working on it
By Rick Lane published
News "A lot of players were like, 'That's not the voice I hear in my head'."

'The unimaginable has happened'—Dune: Awakening's player count drops below Funcom's other survival game released eight years ago, as engagement with Arrakis dries up
By Rick Lane published
News Conan Exiles currently has more players—though there is a big caveat.

Leaked PlayStation store files suggest that Sony could be exploring cross-buy between PC and PS5
By Rick Lane published
News Files reveal "Cross-Buy" and "PC/PS5" symbols.

Battlestar Galactica Deadlock, one of the PC's best spaceship strategy games, 'will no longer be available for purchase on any platform' as of next week
By Rick Lane published
News Another Slitherine-published game bites the dust.

No Man's Sky is rerunning all of its expeditions from 2025, while also giving players another chance to add Mass Effect's Normandy to their spaceship collection
By Rick Lane published
News "Much more content planned and in active development" for 2026.

Terminator 2D: No Fate has been pushed back a second time, as its publisher scrambles to assemble physical copies after tariff-induced shipping woes: 'We are sincerely sorry for the repeated delays'
By Rick Lane published
News The 16-bit throwback will now release in December.

Rust doubles down on its 'controversial' meta changes by wiping everyone's crafting blueprints to 'bring back that sense of discovery', and it might become a regular thing
By Rick Lane published
News The latest update also adds mini-fridges and lets you use medical syringes on horses.

How a former NASA employee became the world's foremost author of videogame cookbooks: 'It can't look like you're eating a Pokémon'
By Rick Lane published
Grilled Wars Victoria Rosenthal has written recipe books based on Fallout, Guild Wars 2, Final Fantasy 14, and many more.
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