Last week's E3 commotion coincided with a heatwave that rendered half the team papery husks by the end of it, drained of both water and opinions about trailers. But we bounced back, spending this week reflecting on all three Es. We discussed the biggest disappointments of the show, the mystery games we want to know more about, and some of the hidden gems the on-site team uncovered.
There's also been plenty of news this week, as plans are clarified and (some of) our lingering questions are answered. Here's the week in PC gaming:
• EA calls loot boxes 'surprise mechanics' and compares them to Kinder Eggs
A bit of a weird defense given that Kinder Eggs were banned in the US.
• EA CEO says Anthem is 'not working very well' but vows to stick with it
Meanwhile, we're told again that Anthem's going to be just fine. We hope so, though right now it's hard to imagine playing it over Destiny 2, which is going free-to-play later this year.
• GTA Online's Diamond Casino and Resort will open later this summer
This has been a long time coming for GTA Online players. Hopefully we get some good Ocean's Eleven roleplaying going.
• Dota Underlords open beta is now live on Steam and mobile devices
Valve's take on the Auto Chess phenomenon is developed remarkably quickly, especially for Valve.
• Teamfight Tactics is now playable on the League of Legends PBE
Not to be outdone, Riot is also testing a LoL version of the new MOBA-goes-tactics genre.
• Dragons are appearing in Apex Legends
Naturally, the first thing everyone does when they see these majestic sky beasts is shoot them to death. Head here for more about Apex Legends season 2, which starts July 2.
• How Mordhau went from janky community project to the biggest melee brawler on PC
One of our favorite recent games came to be after a Chivalry: Medieval Warfare fan with no development experience began tinkering in Unity.
Cyberpunk 2077 corner
Last week, several of us saw a new Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay demo at E3, which James describes in detail here. For more perspectives, check out Tim, Samuel, and Phil's chat about the Deus Ex-ness of the demo.
Sadly, those of us who weren't at E3 still can't watch the demonstration ourselves, but we did learn when we'll be able to: during PAX West at the end of August. And that's just the start of this week's Cyberpunk news. There was so much, I just gave it its own section.
- Cyberpunk 2077 will have multiple endings, devs considering photo mode
- Cyberpunk 2077's vehicles will come when you call, just like Geralt's horse
- Don't spend $400 on a Cyberpunk 2077 jacket, CD Projekt Red says
- Cyberpunk 2077's character creation options won't be limited by gender
- Cyberpunk 2077 won't let you drive flying cars (boo)
- Cyberpunk 2077 won't just be set inside Night City
- Cyberpunk creator Mike Pondsmith likes the game, doesn't like criticism of it
- CD Projekt plans Witcher 3-style expansions for Cyberpunk 2077
The Outer Worlds gameplay
Much of our coverage last week was dedicated to the big conferences from Microsoft and others, but the E3 Coliseum streams contained lots of reveals, too. In one segment, we got an extended look at Obsidian's next RPG, The Outer Worlds, which you can watch below.
More news
- Halo: The Master Chief Collection's first closed PC test starts next week
- Monster Hunter: World is adding an exciting dynamic difficulty system
- Tim Schafer says the Microsoft deal will let Double Fine stay 'experimental'
- Gears 5 won't have a season pass and DLC maps will be free
- Total War: Three Kingdoms' gore DLC includes 'equine dismemberment'
- Bungie announces big changes coming to Destiny 2's Eververse Store
- Larian teases a return of Minsc and Boo in Baldur's Gate 3
- Fallout: New California is one update away from leaving beta
- World of Warcraft's next major update comes June 25
- Our first glimpse of the Monster Hunter film surprisingly isn't terrible
Around the office
Every year, PC Gamer publishes its Top 100 list, featuring the best PC games to play today. This week, the meetings began. A panel of editors began by determining which new games should be added to the list, which also meant cutting some of the games that were on last year's list. It was a slaughter. Classics were excised from the spreadsheet with hardly a moment's hesitation. Entire genres were disparaged. There was a speech about the soul of adventure games. Feelings were hurt.
A lot of people faced some hard truths today. https://t.co/NkJBaeCPMHJune 20, 2019
The battle isn't over yet, but look for that list soon.
Meanwhile, Chris attempted to enforce and break the law in a game that will probably not appear on this year's Top 100, and ended up finding a guy who really loves his coffee.
This is really good coffee pic.twitter.com/EqE6to0tn3June 21, 2019
That's all for this week. May your Saturday morning coffee be as good as that guy's.
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