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

Descenders Next gets a big multiplayer update as its developer apologises for taking so long with it: 'We're slowly working on getting the feel and flow of Descenders back into Descenders Next'
By Rick Lane published
News "We're sorry for taking so long with updates."

World War 1 survival horror Conscript gets a 'huge' update that adds a hardcore mode, redesigned levels, new items and gear, and much more
By Rick Lane published
News "I'd consider this to be the version of the game I’d have released if I had a bit more time to playtest the game thoroughly."

Viking RTS Northgard is now Northgard: Definitive Edition, thanks to an update that folds in its major DLC and adds a bunch of new stuff free to existing players
By Rick Lane published
News It's also 60% off until December 18.

PC gaming's best inventory system is hidden in this obscure post-apocalyptic roguelike from the dawn of the survival craze
By Rick Lane published
Pocket dimension NEO Scavenger puts the invent in inventory.

Rust's hotly anticipated naval update is delayed into 2026: 'We took on too much'
By Rick Lane published
News "The closer we got to release, the less confident and happy we were with the state of it."

Tempest Rising's playable third faction has invaded its beta branch, as its developer commences testing for the next two weeks
By Rick Lane published
News Superweapons are also now available to deploy.

Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert isn't interested in returning to making 2D adventure games: 'When we're all dead, it probably won't be the kind of thing that survives'
By Rick Lane published
News But he would consider making another 3D Monkey Island.

Cities: Skylines 2 finally gets its asset editor in a parting gift from the series' original developers
By Rick Lane published
News Editor aims to let players "create complex assets on par with official content."

This pirate-themed FPS just got an enormous update that lets you sail a 'living ship'—a hybrid of wooden hull and space whale that's called Abby and is utterly horrifying
By Rick Lane published
News Davy X Jones? More like Davy XL Jones.

Halo's co-creator says Bungie redesigned Master Chief nine times before coming up with the now-iconic look: 'We tried a lot of things'
By Rick Lane published
News "It took forever, but I wasn't going to stop."

This cyberpunk platformer with an Overwhelmingly Positive Steam rating just got a completely free expansion
By Rick Lane published
News Sanabi: A Haunted Day takes place before the main game.

This Minecraft map that recreates one of history's most notorious slums made me reconsider what's important in 3D level design
By Rick Lane published
Slum bored Kowloon Walled City in Minecraft is a feat of virtual architecture, but it's missing one crucial ingredient.

Sektori developer says the response to his Geometry Wars-inspired roguelike has been 'awesome', but the game's sales still leave him 'with zero salary for 4.5 years'
By Rick Lane published
News "Hope is a dangerous thing."

MindsEye developer offers a starter pack that lets you try the beleaguered action game's best mission for free, though you should imagine air-quotes the size of skyscrapers around the word 'best'
By Rick Lane published
News The free demo coincides with a new patch.

The Long Dark's final episode has been pushed back yet again, but at least it has an actual release date now
By Rick Lane published
News Hinterland Studio is "taking an extra couple of months" to wrap things up.

This spiritual successor to Desert Strike has exploded into Steam early access with a 98% positive rating, and its developer plans to represent the whole Strike series in future updates
By Rick Lane published
News Cleared Hot is a clear hit.

Tempest Rising's next update will add massive superweapons that'll let you 'unload devastating payloads onto the enemy'
By Rick Lane published
News Orbital strikes and earthquake machines coming to Slipgate Ironworks' RTS.

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord gets free patch alongside War Sails DLC that's so big, the 17,000 word update run more than twice the length of Age of Empires 2's 'legendarily long' patch notes
By Rick Lane published
News Also adds deserters, random events and "fast mode".

22 years since launch, a classic Dungeons & Dragons adventure from the developer of Bloodlines is finally coming to Steam
By Rick Lane published
News Prepare to enter the Temple of Elemental Evil…again.

Call of Duty has been the biggest-selling shooter in the US since 2006, but that could soon change according to industry analyst: 'This part of the market hasn't been this competitive in 20 years'
By Rick Lane published
News Activision's shooter was last beaten at its own game in the US by the original Gears of War.

Embracer Group sells publisher Arc Games and Star Trek Online developer Cryptic Studios, but once again clings on to the publishing rights for Remnant 2
By Rick Lane published
News Old-school MMO Fellowship has its rights transferred to Coffee Stain.

After splurging on EA, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund is reportedly tightening its pursestrings, due to 'financial distress' caused by numerous troubled projects
By Rick Lane published
News Embracing change.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 dev admits some damage buff combinations are 'already insane', but its latest patch deliberately opens 'a huge can of worms' by increasing the netcode cap anyway: 'for now, have fun'
By Rick Lane published
News "The game damage numbers should not be restricted by netcode", Saber believes.
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