Find all previous editions of the PCG Q&A here. Some highlights for you:
Has a game ever felt like it's become your job?
What game made you really, really fucking think about life?
What videogame enemy scared you the most?
Please stop yelling at Steven. He's sensitive. And anyway, he said he liked World of Warcraft Classic. But his crime, to some, was also saying that it was boring, and even though he meant it in a good way, fans of classic WoW readied their swords to protect their ward.
We get it. Everyone has that one game they love unconditionally, and that they'll always stand up for when someone takes a jab. Others may hate it, and hell, their criticism might be valid, but that won't stop you dying on your hill of choice again and again.
Those passionate WoW fans inspired this week's question: What game will you always defend to the death? We took it to the PC Gamer Club Discord server, where PC Gamer's editors and Club members weighed in on their unconditional loves. Let us know yours in the comments.
nbradyeastham: Max Payne 3.
Tyler: I am with you! I get why people didn't like it, but I really enjoyed it.
nbradyeastham: Love it all, including the unskippable cutscenes.
Chris: Far Cry 2. Though I don't defend it, really. I agree with all of the things people complain about. I just manage to still love it.
Tyler: For me, it's Command & Conquer: Renegade. Yeah, Command & Conquer: Renegade was a good game. That's something I believe in my heart.
Wes: If only God Hand was a PC game.
Tyler: What if I told you that Brink was good. (Just kidding.)
erdelf: Tyler... no joke... I left my main clan back in the day because for months all they did was play Brink.
Tyler: I'm sorry to say that I played it a lot, too.
Dunebug: My game to defend is always The Surge, at least recently anyway. It gets so much shit from people but it's pretty good as far as 'Souls Like' (shudders) games go.
Julez.a: I'd say maybe my answer would be the smattering of multiplayer Early Access games that have little to no community? Games like Shotgun Farmers, Witch It, Stayin' Alive, even RATZ Instagib. These games that are so much fun but most people won't ever get to experience them because there aren't really active servers. It takes a group of people in Discord to plan a time and all jump in at the same time to get a game going.
IronGnomee: No Man's Sky is the one I used to get yelled at for defending.
Tyler: NMS has its charms for sure.
Julez.a: Oh yeah, NMS is a great call. That game was way better than it got credit for at launch. It just didn't happen to be Jesus in game form.
Wes: Does anyone else think The Quiet Man is actually a masterpiece and Tyler just didn't get it?
Tyler: Hahah. You should all play it. (Don't)
Wes: I can't think of any PC games I love that have been really poorly reviewed. So here's one that I would've scored higher, and is probably one of my favorite games of the past five years. Dungeon of the Endless, from the same developers as Endless Space and Endless Legend. It's totally different than those games—it's a really weird hybrid of tower defense, RPG, and roguelike. You progress through a dungeon, and every time you open a door there's a chance it will spawn a wave of enemies who try to destroy your energy source. You fight them (real-time with pause, if you're not playing multiplayer) by placing your characters in rooms with the enemies and letting them autoattack, and you also have some abilities to use. But you'll be toast pretty quick if you don't also build and upgrade defensive weapons in some of the rooms. A lot of the strategy is choosing what stuff to upgrade, balancing your resources, and making tough decisions about which rooms to power to build your defenses. I've spent many a Sunday playing that game co-op with friends, and even bought it for a couple people to make them play it with me.
Dunebug: Ooh yeah, it's a whole lot of fun, I can agree with that one. I wish I could get friends to play it with me but I have a lot of fun on my own with it regardless.
Topperfalkon: I think I'd also have to go with NMS. I liked the concept, recognised the flaws, and appreciated the efforts made to rectify it. I saw Pip posting about her underwater base as well, which makes me want to pick it up again.
Wes: Back to the original topic of "games you'll defend to the death," I liked this story we did last year on Daikatana's most dedicated fans. Not many loved Ion Storm's shooter, but those who did loved it enough to resurrect it.
Mildoze: At risk of sounding like I'm always bringing this game up in here, 7 Days to Die is always on my lips as a beloved game of mine that despite its jank is fantastic.
EpicTryHardFace: Mass Effect: Andromeda already covered? Loved it, sad there’s no DLC. Fight me.
Tyler: That is fair. And one that people had a lot to say about. I personally didn't love it.
Mildoze: I'm with EpicTryHardFace. I came to that one once it had patched up. I love Andromeda.
Topperfalkon: Andromeda was cool. It was flawed, but Bioware could have done more to salvage it.
James: Fortnite. I don’t know why it gets picked on. Maybe because it’s what the ‘teens’ are into, but strip away the layers of memes and skins and dances, and you’ll find a sophisticated combat system that gets deeper and wider every week. Building is a bit difficult to learn, but so was WASD once. I rarely win and I don’t care. Something wild usually happens in the short time I manage to stay alive.
Tyler: We believe in you, and your forts.
James: If Fortnite had some generic militaristic science fiction look, I bet I’d get approximately 100 percent fewer comments in any article I write complaining that the game exists.
Tyler: It's OK that you like the dancing game. There's no judgment here.
Thank you to the PC Gamer Club members who took the time to share their stories! Aside from access to our Discord server, membership includes monthly game keys, a digital magazine subscription, and an ad-free site—find out more here.
