See inside Valve's stunning new office

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With over two decades covering videogames, Tim has been there from the beginning. In his case, that meant playing Elite in 'co-op' on a BBC Micro (one player uses the movement keys, the other shoots) until his parents finally caved and bought an Amstrad CPC 6128. These days, when not steering the good ship PC Gamer, Tim spends his time complaining that all Priest mains in Hearthstone are degenerates and raiding in Destiny 2. He's almost certainly doing one of these right now.

Not so champion

These days they'll let any chancer touch the Aegis of Champions, Dota 2's ultimate trophy.

Last week I flew up to the Pacific Northwest to check out Valve's new trading card game, Artifact, which you can read all about here. Before playing the game we got a chance to rap with Gabe Newell, hung out with legendary card designer Richard Garfield, and also took a tour of Valve's new Bellevue office.

Valve moved in last October, and told us that in terms of layout is focused on improved amenities and an open layout best-suited to Valve's multi-disciplinary teams, which it calls (only somewhat ominously) 'cabals'.What kind of amenities? Well, there's the Balloonicorn-themed play area for when kids come in, which is a weekly occurrence thanks to Valve's policy of hosting family lunches every Thursday. Personal trainers also visit the office to work with employees at their desks, which I sadly can't confirm are on wheels.

Some stuff to spot in the pictures: Look out for the hidden Companion Cube, long-standing marketing supremo Doug Lombardi, and Tom "The Betrayer" Marks, once of PC Gamer's parish but now plying his trade elsewhere. There's also a ton of sweet merch tied into Valve's back catalogue of games, a killer canteen, a streaming room which was used by the casters for the Artifact pro tournament we watched, and a crowbar-shaped trophy that dates back to when the original Half-Life shipped. Sierra didn't give Valve any kind of congratulatory award at the time, so Valve's Scott Lynch figured he'd make his own. The inscription reads: "For raising the bar on action game."

Sadly, I didn't get to see the laser testing area. But be assured, it exists.