Last week we announced the landmark launch of PC Gamer Digital, and today we're excited to let you know that Episode 2 is now available on Steam - you don't want to miss it! In the second episode of PC Gamer Digital, you'll climb into the ethereal world of BioShock Infinite for a self-guided, 360-degree tour of Columbia, go behind the scenes of upcoming free-to-play shooter Tribes: Ascend, discover the cerebral tactics of Frozen Synapse, and much more!

Purchasing PC Gamer Digital Episode 2 also scores you the Killer Exclusive hat in Team Fortress 2. (It's extremely sexy!)





If you haven't checked out Digital yet, it's a brand-new interactive environment which houses all-original games coverage and strategy guides from the editors of PC Gamer. There's nothing else like it, so if you want to really know what it is, we highly recommend that you grab the free base application (which includes Episode 0 with free content) to experience the future of games coverage for yourself. PC Gamer Digital is currently only available in the US, but we're working through legal stuff and load testing as quickly as possible so that we can launch elsewhere - we'll let you know as soon as we have an international release date. For answers to more questions, give our announcement FAQ a glance.

Here's a little more about what you'll get in Episode 2:

BioShock Infinite - Step into Columbia's Downfall
You've seen the trailers, but you've never seen BioShock Infinite like this. Experience the beauty and discord of Columbia as you explore 360-degree panoramas with commentary informed by Creative Director Ken Levine.



PCG Plays: Frozen Synapse - Tactical Showdown!
This week, we're playing Frozen Synapse, an elegant game of tactics and psychology from indie developer Mode 7 Games. Not only that, PC Gamer's Evan Lahti got to test his wits against one of the game's creators, Mode 7 co-founder Ian Hardingham. See how he fared!



Tribes: Ascend - Interview with Todd Harris
We visited indie developer Hi-Rez Studios to talk to Executive Producer Todd Harris about Tribes: Ascend, which promises to bring back the large-scale, kinetic CTF action the series pioneered, as well as introduce new facets, not the least of which is a free-to-play model.



StarCraft II - Protip: The Baneling Bust
Are your Zerg rushes running up against pesky buildings? Damn industrious jerks. Learn how to clear the path with a tactic that's as explosive as it is gooey: the Baneling bust.



Video Settings Explained: Part 2 of 2 - Advanced Settings Demystified
How does ambient occlusion work? What is tessellation? Discover the effects of five rarely-explained graphics settings with our direct on/off comparisons and narration.

The Humble Frozen Synapse Bundle already received a surprise bonus with point-and-click adventure Trauma, and now indie puzzle game SpaceChem has further sweetened the pot. In case you are not going through enough mental contortions from trying to plot your next move in Frozen Synapse, you can take a break by trying to solve problems with SpaceChem's molecular machines.

You can buy the bundle here. If you already have it, you will find that SpaceChem has been added to your account. Buyers who pay more than the average also receive Trine, the Shadowgrounds games, the prototype for Jack Claw, and a preorder for Splot. One week remains for this sale, which benefits the Electronic Frontiers Foundation and Child's Play.

Earlier this week we told you about the superb Frozen Synapse headlining the latest Humble Bundle, and today the deal just got sweeter. Acclaimed point-and-click adventure game Trauma is now part of the bundle as a bonus.

If you already jumped on Frozen Synapse, don't worry: anyone who has already bought the Frozen Synapse Bundle still gets Trauma added to their Humble Bundle download page. But if you haven't bought the bundle yet, Trauma is yet another reason to do so.

You can buy the Frozen Synapse bundle here. Proceeds from this sale support the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Child’s Play charity.

The latest Humble Bundle offers the tactical, turn-based Frozen Synapse (and its soundtrack) for a very reasonable "whatever you want to pay." As always, the bundle is DRM-free and you can register your copy of Frozen Synapse with another digital distributor, if you wish.

Gamers who pay pay more than the average ($4.37 at present) will also receive Trine, Shadowgrounds, Shadowgrounds: Survivor, Jack Claw (a prototype for a cancelled project) and the in-development Splot. This sale supports the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Child's Play charity.

Frozen Synapse is brilliant, 89% brilliant, in fact, which is why the release of a demo on the Frozen Synapse site is brilliant news. The 131MB download contains three demo missions and an instant skirmish option that will randomly generate an arena and some pawns to control. The multiplayer option is locked off, sadly. Frozen Synapse excels when you're facing off against human opponents, but don't worry, the AI is capable of giving new players a run for their money. Frozen Synapse is available to buy from the Frozen Synapse site and Steam.

BioShock Infinite stole the show at E3, and now it steals our September issue cover with an in-depth look at the high-flying shooter sequel and interviews with Ken Levine and his team at Irrational. We also got hands-on with two real-time strategy heavyweights, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm and Age of Empires Online, took an exclusive look at Diablo III’s followers, and reviewed indie tactical strategy hit Frozen Synapse and gorgeous racer DiRT 3. Oh, and we show you how you can strap a heavy machine gun to a cow in Arma 2.

Imagine being able to simulate the next five seconds of your life, see the consequences of your actions, then change your plan accordingly. Then imagine you’ve already done that three times with a review intro, and that this was the best one you could come up with.

Frozen Synapse applies that kind of near-perfect foresight to controlling small teams of gunmen in randomly generated office blocks. You set waypoints for each of your three or four guys, tell them where to look as they come around this corner, when to duck behind that cover, then you watch a simulation of what will happen if they do it. Often, bullets will happen. So you go back, tweak, and simulate again until everything goes as planned.

Then you commit.




And nothing goes as you planned. Because all that time, your opponent – whether he’s AI or another player – was planning too. And he didn’t commit to his move until he was sure it’d screw you over. This usually leaves you both seconds from disaster. So you plan those seconds out, again and again, trying to factor-in everything your enemy could do to get an edge.

The genius of this is that it takes the guesswork out of the game rules. You never have to wonder “Will my sniper win because of the range, or will his machinegunner win because he’s in cover?” You try it, find out, and restrategise accordingly.



The only unknown is what your opponent will do. And you can even simulate that: as you plan your own moves, you can also give enemy units orders to see how the fight will play out if they do what you expect.

The tight, brutal battles often boil down to fraught standoffs in which no course of action guarantees survival. You find yourself thinking: “I know what the smartest thing for him to do is, and I know how to counter it. But is he actually that smart? And is he so smart he knows I know he’s smart?”



If you’re worried you can’t make those kinds of decisions quickly, Frozen Synapse was made for you. You have until the end of linear time. Multiplayer games often span days, and there’s no negative side-effect if you and your friend aren’t free at the same time. You make a plan, and if he’s already made his, you see the outcome and make the next one. If he hasn’t, you switch to another game – you can have loads going simultaneously, and it’s surprisingly intuitive to slip back into one. You’ll get an email when your friend finally makes his move.

There’s also a surprisingly substantial singleplayer campaign, a fun introduction to the game until it hits an odd difficulty spike.



Synapse randomly generates office floorplans for its levels, and that can be problematic – particularly in multiplayer. So much comes down to positioning that asymmetrical maps sometimes feel like the primary reason you win or lose. I’ve won games where serious mistakes didn’t undermine my starting advantage, and lost games where I still can’t see what else I could have done.

Most of the time, though, Frozen Synapse comes down to wits, psychology, and thinking two moves ahead. There’s an exquisite tension every time the outcome of a turn is loading. There’s an evil satisfaction to watching an enemy do exactly what you predicted, and die the way you planned. And there’s a surprising sense of respect for your opponent when they outplay you with something masterful. Because you’re not struggling against the mechanics of the game, it’s rarely frustrating and often very, very fun.