Harvey Randall
Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.
Latest articles by Harvey Randall
![The tutorial robot for The First Descendant, who speaks far too quickly for its own good.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/gbwhL4TubLExcPMcc52Cpi-320-80.png)
The First Descendant's tutorial robot is talking so fast, players are having to screenshot its dialogue just to learn about the game
By Harvey Randall published
News I'm beginning to feel like a rap bot, rap bot.
![Swen Vincke](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/NCHqKsgM3CPm3EhF2iwrAB-320-80.jpg)
The Baldur's Gate 3 council of sages (or Larian Studios, if you want to be boring) meets on holy ground to discuss 'lift off' for its next big game
By Harvey Randall published
News The room where it happened.
![Zenless Zone Zero Nicole build - Nicole flipping a coin](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/rvPGDSokmSZFBdD55SejSV-320-80.jpg)
50 million downloads in less than a week: Zenless Zone Zero, MiHoYo's action-RPG gacha, is (unsurprisingly) popular
By Harvey Randall published
News That's a lot of people catching Zs.
![Bakool Ja Ja, a twin-headed Blessed Sibling from Final Fantasy 14, regards the camera with twin sets of mischievous smirks.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/V4C3mVLNQT5LepMQma7Cc6-320-80.jpg)
FF14 players skip over perfectly serviceable catboy to thirst relentlessly over a giant, two-headed lizard jerk instead
By Harvey Randall published
News Gaga for Bakool Ja Ja.
![A character waves a British flag in the Wasteland in Fallout: London.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/FWqb4sKXDmxoexvicxtAWj-320-80.png)
'The end is in sight'—Fallout: London, a DLC-sized mod plagued by delays, will arrive soon with its own installer to help slim the chances of Bethesda breaking it a 2nd time
By Harvey Randall published
News "We should be good to go."
![The main character V posing in Cyberpunk 2077.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/sSbEMjUTdfhKftKfY7Dvh8-320-80.jpg)
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty couldn't have been as good 'if the initial reception of the game wasn’t as negative', says lead quest designer
By Harvey Randall published
News As one Idris Elba might say, the game is fixed.
![Krile, a lalafell pictomancer from Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail, smiles happily while lit by a campfire.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/sEDMjAzHoPGmT2NEnNrtCW-320-80.png)
Say what you like about Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail's story, but these bosses and dungeons are some of the dev's best work so far
By Harvey Randall published
BOSS GUSH Dungeons, not drag-ons.
![Morrowind guard](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ECxPW57UAwARCngJ4KgsCe-320-80.jpg)
'Very few' people would play a Morrowind-style RPG with 'no compass, no map' and a reliance on quest text, says ESO director, 'which is kind of sad'
By Harvey Randall published
News (M)oral compass.
![null](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ueuukPuBJi8LAzQ3JgCaDH-320-80.jpg)
'It was so much of a cash cow': Former GTA 5 dev implies ill-fated Agent Trevor DLC was sacrificed at the altar of GTA Online
By Harvey Randall published
News "It was hard to make an argument that a standalone DLC would outcompete that."
![Elden Ring dungeons](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/oPHtmWuQBC3VNhPRxghNbM-320-80.jpg)
Dataminer unearths 'cut' voicelines from Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's stoic final boss
By Harvey Randall published
News Promises unspoken.
![A viper in Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail looking utterly perplexed, hood down, while stood on a beautiful sunrise overlooking a crystal blue sea.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ZNKGQHtQbVv2XgXAE5ksfM-320-80.png)
Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail players are baffled by proposed changes to Viper, a job that's existed for less than week, and honestly so am I
By Harvey Randall published
News "Y'all can't just press True North?"
![Pictomancer in Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/LjygDAmdrK4LTrizKQyQBX-320-80.jpg)
Final Fantasy 14's director confirms that no, Pictomancers weren't meant to manually remove their own buffs for a 1% DPS increase—outlines other job changes for patch 7.01 of Dawntrail
By Harvey Randall published
News "My apologies for any confusion this may have caused."
![Elden Ring screenshot - man with torch standing near giant ants and a pile of gooey dead bodies](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/HcdeuK4vXDZKraTt2tqGY6-320-80.jpg)
After playing last year's soulslikes, Shadow of the Erdtree reminded me that no one knows how to use ambushes like FromSoftware
By Harvey Randall published
OUTTA NOWHERE Difficulty's got nothing to do with it.
![Krile, a member of the Students of Baldesion in FF14, considers a wax-sealed invitation in Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KjQyjuD7Jhvrno8yPsmKf4-320-80.png)
The father of Final Fantasy loves FF14 so much, fellow devs at his studio have had to log on sometimes to say 'hey, the meeting's started'
By Harvey Randall published
News "On a rare occasion—I want to stress 'rare occasion'."
![Volo the bard telling a story in Baldur's Gate 3.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/eV3u2va43JidkdLS76ZXUX-320-80.jpg)
Go farruk yourself: Creator of the D&D setting used for Baldur's Gate 3 teaches us how to cuss
By Harvey Randall published
News Ua tah phind thlah ea Lolth!
![Gale from Baldur's Gate 3 under a veil of moonlight, looking very sad.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/qAhX8fRdqX5a3iRphQ2cJ-320-80.png)
D&D's lead rules designer admits he changed some spells because of how 'painful' and 'excruciating to cast' they were in Baldur's Gate 3
By Harvey Randall published
News "I thought: 'we are going to redesign Produce Flame.'"
![helldivers 2](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/CJY6BBevgv9LDKcwdtqZEX-320-80.png)
Helldivers 2's latest major order has everyone so curious about a mysterious interplanetary battle station, 4/5ths of all online players are handling it as I write this headline
By Harvey Randall published
News X-45 gonna give battle stations to ya.
![Alisaie, a headstrong ally in Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail, looks skeptically while standing in the middle of a beautiful blue forest.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/wPqxSB2RqQ74tSh4hxae6S-320-80.png)
Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail players warn side-questers: don't solve these riddles for an NPC that blabs a big spoiler right before it happens
By Harvey Randall published
News Riddle me this: What's green, blue, and spoils you?
![Adventurers from D&D's revised ruleset Player's Handbook do battle with kobolds, swords drawn, spells flying, dungeons? Dragon'd.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/neigNTpGV7TYP4LLrJuq9A-320-80.png)
Oh for goodness' sake—D&D has early access periods and pre-order bonuses now, like a 3D model of a dragon for a virtual tabletop that doesn't exist yet
By Harvey Randall published
News The worst habits of videogame storefronts are making their way to pen and paper.
![Elden Ring character Let Me Solo her stands in Malenia's boss room after climactic battle.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/qvVDFkoYxeiDiKZM7DdbzT-320-80.jpg)
I pitied Shadow of the Erdtree's future 'Let Me Solo Her' champion, but seeing how the Elden Ring community's handled business, I'm not so worried anymore
By Harvey Randall published
FRET NOT The kids are alright.
![World of Warcraft: Dragonflight Alexstrasza](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/YwYc4ExLm3HV255C97LaEc-320-80.jpg)
This WoW player who clicks their skills is probably better than you—hunter Durendil solos yet another raid boss armed with a spreadsheet and raw grit
By Harvey Randall published
News Clicking into place.
![DrDecomposing yelps in joy as he finally conquers Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's final boss with nothing but a saxophone.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/4Kd8mbpxPZEymB8v8X2Fg8-320-80.png)
Elden Ring maestro plays a saxophone to style on Shadow of the Erdtree's final boss, wins battle of the bands in 'a dozen attempts'
By Harvey Randall published
News Let me (jazz) solo her.
![Man screaming in Helldivers 2 intro cinematic](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/GCLefSMVZeFyCK9nbSogzQ-320-80.jpg)
'Is this supposed to be rigged?' Helldivers 2 players fatigued as bugs leapfrog across supply lines like a bunch of dirty cheaters
By Harvey Randall published
News Bugging them something fierce.