Arma 3

For those among us who dislike going to virtual war against human opponents, Arma 3 now has three new singleplayer missions to stomp through. The Tac-Ops Mission Pack will take around eight hours to complete, according to Bohemia Interactive, and is now available for $ 5.99 / £ 4.49 on Steam.

"In Arma 3 Tac-Ops Mission Pack, players are tasked to lead an infantry, mechanized infantry, and/or special forces unit across an unrestricted warzone, often with multiple objectives to accomplish," reads Bohemia's blurb. "The keys to success are thoughtful mission preparation, careful movement and positioning, skillful shooting, as well as patience."

The missions can be played from multiple perspectives – ie, from different partaking units – which should help stretch out its staying power. Meanwhile, each mission features an After Action Report delivered by "one of Bohemia Interactive's military consultants". 

Check out the mission descriptions below, and the launch trailer at the bottom.

Beyond Hope - Nine years prior to the "East Wind" conflict, civil war rages through the Republic of Altis and Stratis.Stepping Stone - NATO reinforcements responding to the "East Wind" crisis must first secure the strategic island of Malden.Steel Pegasus - During the invasion of Altis, NATO forces stage a daring air assault to open a second front.

DOOM VFR

I played a bit of Doom VFR last week at a preview event, and while it was on a PSVR and not the Vive, it was pretty fun. The return of telefragging is especially great: in VR, you're teleporting into ailing enemies in order to get the glory kill. Brutal, almost nauseatingly violent, but hey: that's video games.

Doom VFR is out right now, so you can go ahead and telefrag until your heart is content (or at least, until your stomach tells you to stop). It's not just a VR version of the 2016 title, but instead a newly designed version intended to cater to VR's strengths and weaknesses. But will you be able to run it? Well, you'll need at least a 1070. Here are the minimum and maximum specs:

MINIMUM:OS: Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit versions)Processor: CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 or AMD FX 8350 or betterMemory: 8 GB RAMGraphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 / AMD Radeon RX 480 or betterStorage: 17 GB available space

RECOMMENDED:OS: Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit versions)Processor: CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K or AMD Ryzen 5 1600XMemory: 16 GB RAMGraphics: Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 / AMD RX Vega 64Storage: 17 GB available space

Raji: An Ancient Epic

Raji: An Ancient Epic was one of the most impressive games we saw at India's 2017 Nasscom Game Developer Conference, and now you can sample it for yourself. Developer Nodding Heads Games recently uploaded a free demo to Steam, which gives you a good feel for its combat and a great feel for its sumptuous music and environments. 

Raji stars, well, Raji, a young girl cloaked in red on a mission to save her brother from demon lord Mahabalasura. As Nodding Heads explains on the game's Kickstarter, its stunning world its based on Hindu and Balinese mythology and uses hand-painted scenes as the basis for its art. To get the look just right, its developers actually visited Rajasthan and Bali for reference. 

You can really see that authenticity in the demo. The introductory level—or at least what I assume to be the introductory level—is set atop a crumbling, overgrown temple, all budding moss and collapsed stone. Areas are punctuated with elaborate murals, towering statues and stained-glass aisles, a thick cloud blanket bobbing in the background. 

The music is unequivocally Indian, too. It's a slow burner, but as combat escalates the tempo ramps up in kind. And combat certainly does escalate. Even from the short demo, you get a sense of Raji's abilities and the physicality of her movements. Her elemental staff makes short work of the bizarre demons stomping around, and it comes fully loaded with abilities like chained lightning. It's still a demo, though, and not without its hitches. Playing with a controller made a big difference for me. (A PS4 controller connected via DS4Windows, for the record.)

If you'd rather watch the demo in action, you'll find a full playthrough below. Naturally, more information is also available on Raji's Kickstarter.

If you're hungry for more of the art in particular—which I was when I reached out to Nodding Heads—have a gander at this gorgeous gallery: 

Life is Strange: Before the Storm

The videogame voice actor strike that recently concluded led to kind of an unusual situation this summer, when union member Ashly Burch, who provided the voice of Chloe Price in the first series, was replaced with a non-union performer for the prequel Life is Strange: Before the Storm. By all reports the new performer, Rhianna DeVries, did excellent work on the series, but with the strike settled, Burch is returning to the role for the bonus episode, Farewell. 

"We’re very excited to tell you that Before the Storm’s bonus episode 'Farewell' will be releasing in early 2018 and in even more exciting news; Hannah Telle and Ashly Burch will be returning to play Max and Chloe!" Square Enix revealed. "As you are all aware, Ashly has been working with the writing team at Deck Nine and we’re ecstatic that she will be returning to play the role of young Chloe." 

Farewell is a bonus episode included with the Life is Strange: Before the Storm Deluxe Edition that will give players the opportunity to "play one last time as a young Max Caulfield." What the bonus episode will be about is a mystery, as Square Enix said the developers are "focused on completing the final stages of polish for episode three," but it warned, as the episode description hints, that "this may very well be the last time that you will get to see Max and Chloe together." 

And just as Burch remained with Before the Storm as a writing consultant, so DeVries will be involved with Farewell, continuing to perform as Chloe's motion capture actor. 

"Rhianna DeVries has done a fantastic job for the voice and motion capture of 16 year old Chloe so far, bringing a little bit of herself to the role, just as Ashly had in the previous game," Square Enix wrote. "We are forever thankful to Rhianna for the work she has put into Before the Storm and she will continue to work with us for the motion capture of young Chloe in Farewell."   

Life is Strange: Before the Storm – Farewell is expected to be out sometime in early 2018. A release date for the third and final part of Before the Storm, entitled Hell is Empty, hasn't been announced. 

Reigns

I have drowned. I have been tortured and fed to dogs, turned into a martyr by the church, and also deposed by the church so they can create a heaven on earth. My head has been placed on a spear (or possibly a pike, which I believe is what you call a spear once a head is on it). I have been poisoned by my brother-in-law James, hanged, stabbed by a skeleton, and eaten by rats.

It is not always good to be king.

Reigns was released on mobile and PC in 2016, and became a surprise hit. When developer François Alliot received his first royalty payment it was followed by a phonecall from the UK tax office asking why he was receiving suspiciously large sums of money. He'd hit on a simple, absurdist idea, perfectly of its time: combine the swiping of Tinder with the decision-making of medieval rulership. The very modern act of idly thumbing away pictures of Hotties In Your Area combined with the weighty problems of a king whose choices could result in war or famine. It's inherently funny.

Reigns had more to it than that, though. It's a game about finding balance, making sure the distribution of power between the church, the military, the people, and the treasury (represented by four symbols at the top of the screen) never swings too far in one direction. Because once it does, it's finger-across-the-neck time. Digging even deeper, there's a hidden layer in which visits from the Devil and visions of the future reveal this endless procession of doomed kings is more than it seems, and that Reigns is more than a game.

Nerial Games and Devolver Digital are following up with a sequel next month called Reigns: Her Majesty, in which you'll play as the Queen. We spoke to Alliot about that, and about how he got from that initial, straightforward idea for Reigns to where he is today.

PC Gamer: When you had the idea for Reigns, did you know it was going to be something special?

François Alliot: When we had the first 50 cards we started to see something. The real signal for me was when I got an answer from Devolver because that was the publisher I wanted to work with, so I was pretty surprised when they answered to say, "Yeah, we want to try that." That was good because it meant the pitch worked. And The pitch was like two lines in an email that I sent to Fork. [Fork Parker is the fictitious CFO of Devolver you can follow on Twitter.]

The fact you have binary decisions makes it very easy to have some sort of crowdfunded decision-making. Last year in Barcelona some people projected the game in a game design course, a hundred people in the room decided on the outcome of the reigns.

Fran ois Alliot

After that we had a lot of playtests that confirmed people were laughing when they played the game. I have a rule of thumb, when someone comes back to play the game in an event generally that's a good sign. They come, they play 10 minutes, then they go somewhere else, and three hours after they come back and restart playing your game. That's a good sign. It means actually they want something from it, they're not just nice—they really want to play it.

What do you think draws people back to Reigns? What was it that got its hooks into players?

I think it's the gap between the way you play, the basic game mechanics, which is basically to swipe left and right, and the impact of your decisions. In this fictional kingdom the fact that you swipe left or right has very big impacts on your kingdom. You send people to their deaths or prevent invasions. I think that gap is something that is very funny, a basic loop that works very well. Basically we built the whole game around that loop to make sure that whatever the player was doing he would be able to swipe again and carry on.

How much effort went into getting the feel of the swiping right? Was that something that worked right away or did you have to iterate a lot?

We did iterate on that a lot, yes. The first prototype you didn't have cards actually, you had portraits. It didn't feel right because it wasn't physical enough, so it didn't feel right. The fact that you are playing with cards creates a connection for people. They are used to swiping cards to move them around, to distribute cards and stuff like that. As soon as you put the character inside a card it was natural for people to move that card. That was a big change that occurred in the second month I think, that removes any need to have a tutorial. It's natural to try to move the card. And after that we spent a lot of time on the way the card moves and reacts to your thumb.

Was it difficult on PC to get something that felt good using a mouse instead of a finger?

Yeah. The mouse was relatively simple, although Reigns worked very well on Steam and had a lot of players on Steam. Of course it's not primarily a PC game, it's primarily a mobile game, but at the same time it feels very good to play the game on a computer, especially with a controller actually. With a mouse it's nice, you go left or right then you click, it's easy, but with a controller it's even better. You can almost feel the swipe, you move the left controller and then you press A to validate. The throw is very good actually. 

One of the interesting things that happened with the PC version is some people started to play with other people around and it's not easy to do that on a phone. It's easier to do that on a PC like on Twitch or on YouTube, you play the game and you ask your audience to decide. The fact you have binary decisions makes it very easy to have some sort of crowdfunded decision-making. Last year in Barcelona some people projected the game in a game design course, a hundred people in the room decided on the outcome of the reigns.

People found a way to turn Reigns into a democracy.

Yeah, in some way. It's very interesting.

When you released it did you know it was a hit straight away? How long did it take to catch on?

We knew straight away that the game worked well. I think the first week was actually very, very good. We had a bit of luck on that, we released the game the same day as No Man's Sky in 2016, no one else did that. Especially on Steam we were basically the only other game that went on the radar of YouTubers and stuff like that, so we were picked by a lot of YouTubers because, if you remember, there was a lot of technical issues at launch [with] No Man's Sky.

That's how you play the game: you have to find a way to trick the Devil.

Fran ois Alliot

Can you tell me how many copies you've sold across the different platforms?

1.8 million right now. That's in a bit more than a year.

What's the breakdown like between mobile and PC?

It's 50% iOS, 30% Android, so Google, and 20% Steam. We were really surprised by Google because it's not supposed to be that great for premium games but it worked very well for us. And very surprised by Steam because I think we sold more than 400,000 copies now. That's a lot for a small game especially.

One other thing I wanted to ask about Reigns itself is about the hidden complexity of it. There are things I didn't realize at first, like the blinking of the characters being significant.

These are very small systems but the kind of things I like to put in the game without too much explanation. If someone notices that's good, if not too bad. In Reigns the characters for example they blink, you will notice that, and if you keep answering "no" or being negative towards them they will blink faster. The negative consequences of the decisions they bring to you will be more important.

It's like you're seeing how stressed they are.

Exactly. Their stress and the bad things that can happen because of the decisions you make are enhanced because of that.

Something else I didn't expect to become so pronounced the more I played was the secrets of your dynasty and the introduction of the Devil. It seems like such a simple game but you've hidden a lot in it.

The Devil idea came relatively late in the development. I needed something to bring the game together, first to explain why you're playing these kings and they seem to remember everything that happens, and the advisors tend to repeat themselves also a bit. I needed to explain that and the Devil was a good explanation for that. You're stuck in this malediction and you have to escape, and to escape the devil you have to trick him. That's how you play the game: you have to find a way to trick the Devil. That's the sort of thing I really like in games. Something that looks very simple actually brings an awful lot of complexity and variations. That's when games can be very, very interesting medium. I'm happy some people actually found the solutions.

Moving on to Reigns: Her Majesty, what did you learn from Reigns that you took over to the sequel?

I kept some ideas but I evolved some others, things that didn't really work in Reigns. Like for example in Reigns we have a big issue of you have to wait a very long time to get some very important card that you will be able to play to access the hidden parts of the game. That's why in Her Majesty you get the inventory so you can play items on the cards. I won't spoil too much but there's a certain set of items and they will become a relatively important part of the game and they're very interesting because they create shortcuts in the narrative. If you play one item on a character it will help you discover all the content a bit more easily.

What's the biggest change about Her Majesty?

I think the biggest change is that the game is more complete, a more mature version of Reigns that goes a bit deeper. We've got more cards, like you won't have this effect where the cards repeat themselves—we've got more than 1,200 cards which is like 30 percent more than Reigns. You won't have the same sense of repetition that you could have in Reigns. And after that we changed a bit of everything.

I'm excited to see what the players will think about this new story, and how we also change the link between the main characters of the Queen in Her Majesty and the four values at the top of the screen. It's a different link to power and the idea that you have a different relation to the four values. That will be interesting, I think.

Reigns: Her Majesty will be out on December 7.

Counter-Strike 2

CS:GO skins and all other Steam Market items are subject to a $400 maximum listing price. Items are often sold for greater sums through key trades, a sub-currency of the CS:GO economy. A single CS:GO key costs $2.50 USD and can be sold on the Steam Marketplace. To break through the $400 ceiling, you convert your listing price to a key value. If you want to sell an item for $500, divide your listing price by the key value, 500 by 2.5: 200 keys. Most people use third-party trading websites to list CS:GO’s rarest wares, but once a trade is made, those keys can be sold back into the Steam Marketplace.

There are some skins in our list that definitely break that cap, but due to both the extraordinary rarity of these items and their inconsistent prices in the key market, we’ve pulled our best estimates from varying trading sites. These are subject to change on a whim, but remain impressive no matter how transitory.

[Updated 11/30/2017]

Guns

Souvenir AWP: Dragon Lore, ~ $4200 (10,000 keys)Dragon Lore, Field TestedThe Cobblestone Collection

The original Dragon Lore skin originally fetched a hefty $10,000, but this commemorative skin still commands a quaint $4,200, almost as if to say “Why have my scope flash off the morning sun when I can just use these totally rad gold stickers?”

This particular Dragon Lore commemorates the Grand Final match of the 2015 DreamHack Cluj-Napoca CS:GO Championship between Natus Vincere and Team EnVyUs, and is autographed by MVP Denis Koslin.

AK-47: Fire Serpent, $3200Fire Serpent, StatTrak, Factory NewThe Bravo Collection

I’m no economist, but does it say something that this skin is basically three times as expensive as a real-world AK-47? This holiday, please think of the less fortunate arms dealers, and buy this commemorative memento from the Operation Bravo: Ruins map. Let’s see a Precious Things statue spit fire like this.

M4A4: Howl, ~ $3700 (1500 keys)Howl, StatTrak Factory NewThe Huntsman Collection, May 2014

Turns out crime still pays. OK, technically it's mundane internet art theft,  but this bit of contraband still stands as one of the primo skins for competitive CS:GO enthusiasts, and it’s only getting rarer. 

The Howl's extraordinary price is due to the unusual controversy that followed it after release, which included the gun's removal from distribution—but not from owners' inventories. CS:GO stopped dropping new Howls long ago, so the lucky initial owners of this lion-faced piece of copyright infringement own one of the most coveted status symbols in the game. 

P90: Emerald Dragon, ~ $550Emerald Dragon, StatTrak, Factory NewThe Bravo Collection

Asian artwork is always in good taste. Just ask your local tattoo artist. Hopefully your aim is a little more straightforward than this poor lizard, because he’s all over the place on this skin. Remember, kids, always assign a designated dragon.

Might as well pick it up now, since it’s currently less than half of its original $1,000 price tag.

AWP: Medusa, ~ $1400Medusa, Minimal WearThe Gods and Monsters Collection

While this fetching gorgon skin demanded a hefty $400 upon release back in May of 2015, it’s only risen in value since, topping out currently at about $1,400. You might say its high value is set in stone… I’ll show myself out.

AK-47: The Empress, ~ $750Empress, StatTrak, Factory NewThe Spectrum 2 Collection

Finally, you too can be the belle of the ball, the becky with the good hair, the yas queen. Look, what do you want from me? It’s a pretty lady with blonde locks that would make Reinhardt blush. This skin helped ring in the Chinese release of CS:GO just last September, so if you’re looking for some fresh paint, have at it.

AUG: Akihabara Accept, ~$500Akihabara Accept, Factory NewThe Rising Sun Collection

Anime is trash… and so am I. The Akihabara Accept still commands a decidedly not-trash price (a remarkably consistent $500 average since release, though some have sold for over $1,000), so I guess we’re stuck with visions of pink-haired teens slaughtering us from afar. God bless Japan.

Five-SeveN: Hyper Beast, ~$200Hyper Beast, StatTrak, Factory NewThe Operation Hydra Collection

Doom’s floating sphere of teeth, the Cacodemon, has got nothing on this sinister-looking Swedish meatball. If you pull the trigger, it’s like wiggling its tongue. If you want a little extra spice with your meatball, the Hyper Beast skin can also be purchased at considerably lower rates for the AWP, Nova, and M4A1-S.

 MP9: Bulldozer, ~$250Bulldozer, Factory NewThe Assault Collection

You’ll be a bulldozer in the eyes of your enemies with this skin: Loud, yellow, prone to making odd noises when you back up. The Assault Collection skin pack hasn’t been part of the regular loot drop in CS for a few years, so it’s gone from selling like dirt to plowing cash.

AWP: Boom ~$400Boom, StatTrakThe eSports 2013 Collection

With a classic comic book framing, this skin shows off its entrepreneurial spirit. No need for boisterous cries of “Boom! Headshot!” when you can just cut out the middleman. I look forward to the eventual Disney-owned shared universe.

Souvenir USP-S Road Rash, ~$400Road Rash, Factory NewThe Overpass Collection

Remember when mom would take you to the mall for new clothes, but your enlightened 13-year-old self just had to have those pre-torn jeans? This is like the gun equivalent of that. Why didn’t you stop us, mom?

This skin dropped during the ELEAGUE Atlanta 2017 CS:GO Championship Grand Final Match, and is autographed by MVP Peter Rasmussen AKA “dupreeh” of team Astralis.

M4A1-S: Master Piece, ~$2900Master Piece, Souvenir, Factory NewThe Overpass Collection

If you look closely enough, you can see a faint homage to the Mona Lisa smile between the first squiggly line and the fifth, just behind the lettering that reminds you of a passing train car.

This skin was dropped during the ESL Cologne 2015 CS:GO Championship’s Quarter Finals match, and is signed by MVP Håvard “rain” Nygaard, then of Team SoloMid.

AK-47: Red Laminate, ~$450Red Laminate, StatTrak, Factory NewThe eSports 2013 Collection

They took an AK-47, dashed it with some nice red paint, and poured laminate all over it. It’s the Flamin’ Hot Cheeto of guns. Get this one while it’s hot, because it’s been rising from a modest $300 to a $450 average since October 2016.

AK-47: Fuel Injector,  ~$320 (156 keys)Fuel Injector, StatTrak, Factory NewThe Wildfire Collection

Yellow. The color of sunshine, bees, and the light you try to ignore while driving. Throw caution to the wind with this simple skin (sold at a remarkably consistent $400 average) that will leave your victims wondering how that oversized banana got the drop on them.

AK-47: Wasteland Rebel,  $425Wasteland Rebel, StatTrak, Factory NewThe Vanguard Collection

As far as war chants go, “MAKE THEM CRY!” ain’t too bad. It certainly rests alongside other such classics as “YOU DON’T EVEN GO HERE!” and “HEY, WANNA FIGHT?”

For you Counter-Strike lore hounds, the Wasteland Rebel’s flavor text indicates it’s a favorite of Naomi, a bodyguard to Operation Bloodhound Terrorist leader Valeria Jenner

AWP: Oni Taiji, ~ $145Oni Taiji, StatTrak, Factory NewThe Operation Hydra Collection

“Taiji,” more commonly referred to in the West as “Tai Chi,” is the ancient Chinese philosophy of supreme ultimate state of undifferentiated absolute, infinite potential, and the oneness before duality. You know, yen and yang. Pretty heady stuff for a gun with a demon on the butt. While it’s currently on a downswing price-wise, it might not be a bad idea to pick up one ASAP considering Operation Hydra recently ended.

AWP: Pink DDPAT, ~ $130Pink DDPAT, Souvenir, Minimal WearThe Overpass Collection

At some point, Counter-Strike scientists asked “if Barbie had an AWP, what would it look like?” The Pink DDPAT pairs well with any seasonal outfit, be it for a jaunt at the mall, or in the official Barbie DreamCamper. Sleep well, Ken.

If you’re worried about getting dropped by cross-map headshots, maybe take a chance on the DDPAT at the lowest price it's seen since release three years ago. This souvenir skin commemorates the 2017 PGL Krakow CS:GO Championships, was dropped during the Group Stage match between SK Gaming and Immortals, and is autographed by MVP Fernando Alvarenga.

M4A4: Royal Paladin, ~$320Royal Paladin, StatTrak, Factory NewThe Revolver Case Collection

The Royal Paladin is a proper statesman’s rifle. An elegant leaf engraving, fine ivory, and enough gold to fix at least a few mouthfuls of teeth. Though it’s had some significant dips, the Royal Paladin has maintained an impressive $350 average price over two years. That’s monarchy for you.

AK-47 Neon Revolution, ~$155Neon Revolution, StatTrak, Factory NewThe Gamma 2 Collection

Pink as a clown’s bum, with “ANARCHY” emblazoned in spray paint on the side. It’s a rifle with all the quiet modesty of a Jared Leto acting role. Wait, when did this skin come out? Summer of 2016? Oh, no. *Checks flavor text.*

Well, at least something is producing a better return-on-investment than that trainwreck.

USP-S: Neo Noir, ~$120Neo Noir, StatTrak, Factory NewThe Spectrum Collection

I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Counter-Terrorists on fire off the shoulder of bomb site A. I watched grenades glitter off the skybox into our spawn from across the map. All those moments will be lost in time, like lag in the rain.

The USP-S is one of the few guns on this list with roots as a fan favorite from Counter Strike: Source, so maybe a few of those epic moments can live on with you in the end.

Knives

Karambit: Lore, ~ $1400Lore, StatTrak, Factory New

It’s a knife called “Lore,” but I’m not exactly seeing any further exploration of the Counter Strike world beyond a rad visual design. Still a better love story than Destiny. Ha, commentary.

Comes with a custom knotwork paint job, and it shows. The skin originally sold for $400, a mere penance compared to the $1,200 minimum you’ll likely find these days.

M9 Bayonet: Night ~$620Night, Factory New

Sleek, yet simple. Dark, yet pointy. Seems like as good an excuse as any to yell out “I AM THE NIGHT!” over and over again. If, like its flavor text describes, it’s “the bite at your neck,” this skin might just bleed your wallet dry.

M9 Bayonet: Crimson Web ~$950Crimson Web, Factory New

Some knives are silver, some are black, some are even the color of the rainbow. This little buddy does you the solid of getting all red and nasty before you even start to work. Thanks, champ. Also spreads jam really well.

Gloves & Stickers

Moto Gloves: Spearmint, ~ $700Spearmint, Minimal Wear

Wash the taste of a bad match out with these minty mittens, at least until all your friends are asking for a piece. Warning: Do not ingest gloves, especially ones that taste like pine trees.

Hey, at least after spending upwards of $700 (up from $400 a year ago) on gloves, you have all the right in the world to growl “and I’m all out of bubblegum.”

IBuyPower (Holo) ~$4500Marketplace Link

You thought the IBuyPower sticker was something else back when it debuted at $400 in 2014, huh? Well, Mr. Moneybags, hope you're ready for a second mortgage, because this increasingly rare sticker now tops a majority of all CS:GO skins for a lordly $4,500 average.

Although the “Contraband” Howling Dawn sticker goes for about $200, the first-edition esports stickers are by far the priciest. Among them, Team iBUYPOWER’s holographic sticker reaches a whole other level, due to the fact that the team was banned by Valve and dissolved after the discovery that they fixed matches for their own benefit

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

I had some pretty high hopes for The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, although my interest cooled considerably when it was shifted from an X-Files-styled FPS set in the '50s to a linear third-person tactical shooter. It ultimately worked out to be a very average, unremarkable game that came and went with relatively little notice.   

If that kept you away from it back when the game was new, then the Humble Store is here with the perfect second chance to give it a try. Until 10 am PT/1 pm ET on December 2, XCOM Declassified is free. Just hit the store page, hit the button, and then check your email for a Steam code.   

The free game also includes a coupon for ten percent off a Humble Monthly subscription, a collection of mostly-surprise games (the current Monthly bundle includes H1Z1 and a bunch of others that will be revealed at the end of the month) for $12 per month—and the games are yours to keep even if you cancel your subscription.

Some online stores give us a small cut if you buy something through one of our links. Read our affiliate policy for more info.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

When I first played Resident Evil 3 I was genuinely terrified by its S.T.A.R.S.-hunting Nemesis antagonist, who would respawn after death and chase Jill Valentine screen-to-screen. Now, you can introduce the brutish Pursuer to the realm of Skyrim. 

Courtesy of Nexus user MihailMods, the Nemesis - Halloween Special mod launched earlier this month, and is available for both Skyrim Special Edition and the role-player's 2011 original.

To suit Skyrim's high fantasy lore, Nemesis in its Elder Scrolls guise is billed as an "ancient atmoran warrior raised from the death by the new dragon priest Ahzidal to please his dragon masters." Similar to the monster's existence in the Resi universe, its sole aim here is to "destroy the Dovahkiin" upon arrival, leveraging elven magic, Ayleid Men Hunt armour and a pretty hefty-looking axe in the process.  

Look, see:

I'm not sure how close the above comes to offing the juggernaut, but, like in Resi 3, Nemesis respawns upon death, and will forever stalk the Dragonborn throughout the province. In a humourous twist, it screams "DOVAAAAAHKIIIIN" upon spotting you, reflecting its familiar "S.T.A.R.S." warcry that still makes my skin crawl to this day. 

If any of that interests you, more information can be found via the mod's Nexus Mods page

If you prefer Silent Hill-flavoured horror, creator MihailMods has also brought the second game's Pyramid Head to the fifth Elder Scrolls. Head this way for more on that, and below for some moving pictures.

The Elder Scrolls®: Legends™

The Elder Scrolls: Legends – Return to Clockwork City, the home of the fearsome Clockwork Dragon we told you about a few weeks ago, is now live on all platforms. The new story expansion promises "danger, wonder, and riches beyond imagination," set in the fabled city created by the dead god Sotha Sil. 

Return to Clockwork City will add more than 50 new cards to the game and 35 story missions crossing three acts. New mechanics promise to deepen the strategic complexity: Assemble will grant bonuses to the played card as well as every Factotum in the player's hand and deck, while Treasure Hunt will grant a special reward for drawing the "treasure" card. There are also new creatures called Fabricants that confer their own unique rewards for playing neutral cards. 

Those neutral cards aren't overly powerful on their own, but they "offer synergy options with the Fabricants," Paul Dennen, creative director of TESL developer Dire Wolf Digital, told us when the Clockwork Dragon was unveiled. "If you're playing those Fabricants, then you're really going to be looking deep into the card pile, looking for those neutral cards that will work well with your deck." 

All three acts of Return to Clockwork City plus alternate Laaneth card art can be had for $20, or you can pick up individual acts for $8 each or 1000 gold. 

Grand Theft Auto V

I love Grand Theft Auto 5's enduring performance culture, and have written about it on several occasions in the past. The game's stunt scene never fails to impress me, and the latest montage from the Evolve Stunting crew is wonderful.

Whereas you and I might drive, cycle or fly around GTA 5's Los Santos cityscape and see buildings, billboards and bridges—the game's most adventurous stuntmen and women see props for their latest productions. 

Evolve is one of the most prolific crews out there, and the following video—named Overdue— portrays some jaw-dropping feats.

Sure, some of those set pieces take advantage of GTA 5's ridiculous physics mechanics, but I challenge any naysayers to replicate any of what's featured there. The amount of time, effort, and, crucially, failure that's required to master each stunt deserves credit, and the final outcome is a joy to behold. 

Of the above, my favourites are Wiizo's stunt at around the 1.00 minute mark, and Robmom's at around 3.50. Share your own picks in the comments below. 

Big thanks to Ash Sky Queen for the head's up.

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