Sometimes you need a hand to hold, so we ve updated our list of the 25 best co-op games to play on PC with a headset-wearing friend or a muted stranger.

Whether solving puzzles, sneaking, shooting zombies or stabbing mythical creatures in the face, the existence of another player adds an element of unpredictability. You might synchronise your stealth takedowns and execute the perfect plan, but it’s just as likely that your co-op partner will constantly alert the guards and throw your situation into chaos. Luckily both success and failure are more compelling when you can take credit for the former and blame someone else for the latter.

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Wotcha gang. Your old chum Alice here for this week’s charts, as everyone else has been fired. Out of a cannon. Blown into a jillion little pieces. Hence the Apocalyptic yellow tone to the skies today. Hold your breath when outside, and hold your breath while we count down last week’s top ten of the top-selling games on Steam.

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Are you strong enough to read the Steam Charts? Do you have what it takes to read all the way to the end? Can you defeat the Plunkbat final boss? NO! NO YOU ARE TOO WEAK! (more…)

Divinity: Original Sin 2 [official site] is a fantastic game. But if that’s not enough, every copy ships with ‘The Divinity Engine 2’, which provides everyone with access to the same tools that the xevs used to make the original game.

Kevin Van Nerum, a programmer at Larian Studios recently made a handy tutorial video which showed users how to make their first custom level. I talked to him to find out more about what’s coming up next in his tutorial series, what it’s possible to do within the editor and what some of his own favourite mods are.

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Larian have launched a honking great update for Divinity: Original Sin 2 [official site], now glurping down datapipes to a game near you. It’s a cracking RPG, our Adam’s Divinity: Original Sin 2 review will tell you, though the many moving parts that make it so much fun to mess about with have inevitably left a few little glitches. Today’s patch brings bug fixes, a few prettied-up UI bits, and some balance changes including making Bone Widow less powerful. (more…)

I’ve recently started playing with a new Dungeons & Dragons group, drafted in after one of their numbers upped and left town. It’s my second time playing table-top D&D, after a splendid stint a couple of years back with Jim Rossignol (late of this parish) DMing, and it’s a properly good time. And what I’ve learned is that it becomes a much better time the more flaws you introduce to your character. Which got me thinking: wow, do PC RPGs not follow that rule at all.

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Some have doubted the power of the Steam Charts to change people’s lives. Those people are dead now. Belief in Steam Charts, RPS’s greatest, longest-running, and most industry-revered column, is literally the only thing keeping you alive right now. Don’t be a dead one. Love us. LOVE US. (more…)

Oh no, you’ve tripped the alarm. Now the terrifying RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show, knows you’re here. It’s going to hunt you down and force you to listen to it. Quick! Think of a way out of this, before you hear all about Adam becoming an accidental mass murderer in Dishonored, or John obsessively re-loading his way out of a bad situation. If you don’t escape, I’ll have to tell you about the time I threw a gun at someone’s head in Heat Signature, to absolutely no effect. This week, you see, we’re talking about Things Going Wrong. (more…)

This is The Mechanic, where Alex Wiltshire invites developers to discuss the inner workings of their games. This time, Divinity: Original Sin 2 [official site].

It s the holy grail for RPGs, right, that perfect mix of a strong story and freedom to do what you want. But if players can do anything, how do you tell them a story in the right order and without bits missing? What if they kill some plot-important character or sell the magical thing that does the special thing?

Quite a few RPGs do a good job! Planescape: Torment, for one, presents a fantastically dense and interwoven set of characters and scenarios which you can approach in many different ways. But Divinity: Original Sin 2 goes a step beyond, telling a clear story and allowing – even encouraging – you to do all kinds of dumb things, all without completely breaking. How does it succeed? Well, through a feature that you d never think is related.

THE MECHANIC: Multiplayer

Very mild spoilers follow, but nothing actually spoiling, promise.> (more…)

A funny old week in the charts, which is to say, H1Z1 and The Witcher 3 have been shoved out by the hatrick of appearances from Stellaris. Also it’s worth noting that Dishonored: Death Of The Outsider has disappeared after just one week, which seems a bit of a shame.

Oh, and as correctly predicted last week, absolutely no sign of XCOM 2 making nearly as much money now it’s back to 34.99 for both the base game and> the War of the Chosen expansion. Shocking! (more…)