Layers of Fear, a horror game about spooky oil paintings and ominous mansions, is getting an expansion next week. Dubbed Inheritance, this time you'll play as the painter's daughter, who's revisiting her childhood home to face her past. Don't know why you'd wanna do that when your house is basically a death trap, but hey!

The studio is calling Inheritance "the culmination of our artistic vision for a game that is focused on fine art", and judging by the trailer below it does look quite beautiful in motion. In his review, James wrote that "Layers of Fear is an intriguing experimental haunted house, but without a proper sense of pacing, it fails to scare". Here's hoping Inheritance compensates for that.

Have you ever thought to yourself, Yeah, Doom is cool, but it would even cooler if I could play it on a tabletop, with dice and cards and little plastic miniatures? No, of course you haven't. But now that I've put the idea in your head, it sounds fun, doesn't it? Luckily for you, that's an itch that can soon be scratched.

Doom: The Board Game, announced today by Fantasy Flight Games, is an asymmetrical board game of tactical combat based on the famous id Software shooter. Two to four players suit up as UAC Marines, who must complete a series of missions with unique maps and objectives, while another controls the hordes of Hell, with the more straightforward goal of killing them.

The game shares a few similarities with the Doom board game released by Fantasy Flight in 2004 which I did not know existed but mechanically it's almost entirely new, the publisher said. It is designed to capture the feel of the videogame's most recent incarnation, complete with fast-paced action, aggressive combat, relentless suspense, and even Glory Kills that allow marines to swiftly execute wounded demons and recover damage at the same time.

Doom: The Board Game is slated to come out in the fourth quarter of this year. Find out more at fantasyflightgames.com.

In this new series, advocates for the best competitive games on the PC explain why this is the perfect time to get into something new and what you'll need to get started.

If you've always been curious about Dota 2 but never taken that first step, then now is the perfect time. The biggest event in the Dota calendar, the International, is only a week away. Start today and you'll be in a great position to enjoy the event, and the event itself is one of the best ways to deepen your appreciation for the game. My relationship with Dota 2 began right before TI2 in 2012, and contrasting my nascent understanding of the game with the quality of play at that tournament including 'The Play', one of the most celebrated moments in pro Dota sparked a four year commitment spanning thousands of hours of play.

This is my favourite game possibly my favourite game ever and I would never have assumed that it was for me before I tried it. I've written almost a hundred thousand words about the game over the last couple of years, but in this article I'm going to dial it back to the start. If you've not played Dota 2, why should you? What do you need to invest? And where can you look for further help?

What is Dota 2, really?

Let's put aside the word 'MOBA' for a moment, because it doesn't help. Dota 2 is a multiplayer game that draws in elements from strategy games, RPGs, and competitive action. Although your objective is simple kill AI minions, gain power, destroy your opponent's outer defenses, and siege their base Dota's appeal lies in its breadth.

There comes a point with most competitive games where you've seen more or less everything. You've fired every gun, captured every objective. Though the details may differ, eventually matches begin to run into one another.

This doesn't happen with Dota 2. You play as one of more than a hundred distinct characters, as do all of your teammates and every member of the enemy team. Between the ten heroes present in any given game there are dozens of special abilities, rules, counters, and interactions. This is further complicated by items hundreds of bolt-on upgrades for your hero that grant new skills and bonuses. Every character and item has, in turn, a differing relationship with the map the eleventh character in the match, a labyrinth of pathways, neutral monsters, buffs, and so on. And all of the above stems from a deep and internally-consistent stat system.

Dota 2 is notably complex even when compared to its closest peers: games like League of Legends, Smite, and Heroes of the Storm. It was the result of years of community development before it was taken under Valve's wing, and as a result it's packed with special rules and exceptions and mechanics that feel like hacks. It's far from elegant, but you'll never stop being surprised by it. A single tree in Dota 2 has more special rules attached to it than some Heroes of the Storm maps.

What do I get out of playing?

If you're fascinated by systems, competition, and teamplay, then Dota 2 has unsurpassed depth and longevity (and honestly, I'm surprised you don't play it already.) This is a game for people who want to commit to something, who are excited rather than repelled by the idea of climbing a mountain. It helps a great deal if the idea of learning excites you.

It's not all work, however. Dota 2's complexity makes it a brilliant generator of anecdotes, and sharing these moments with friends is a pleasure independent of the game's difficulty. Similarly, fluency with the game gives you access to an esports scene with decades of history and a community that, in its brighest moments, feels like a massive exclusive club for people who 'get' Dota.

Also: Dota 2 is fun. That helps too.

What do I need?

In terms of financial outlay, Dota 2 is remarkably generous. The entire game including every character, item and ability is entirely free. You can play at the highest level immediately without spending a penny. The in-game store is limited to cosmetic items and seasonal 'Battle Passes', which amount to minigames and cosmetic collections tied to specific esports events. It's possible to spend a lot of money on Dota 2 in that regard, and if you want the rarest and flashiest cosmetics then you'll certainly need to spend for them but you don't need to.

In terms of time, Dota 2 is trickier to assess. The road to understanding is extremely long, and you need to be okay with the idea that thousands of hours of experience will make you an intermediate player at best. Mastery takes decades. There's also the matter that there's no way to surrender a match in progress, and leaving early carries a punishment. You can't play Dota 2 unless you're willing to give it 45 minutes to an hour at a time.

On the other hand, Dota 2 has no grinding and, while it does have account levels, these don't have anything to do with your in-game capabilities. Everything you can do in Dota 2, you can do from the moment you load the game. Your skill is gated by your own ability, not by an unlock system.

You will certainly need patience. Not just patience for learning, but patience with a community which, at its worst, can be one of the most hostile in gaming. Toxicity is Dota 2's most serious problem, and arguably a bigger barrier to entry than the learning curve. To an extent, this is not the game or Valve's fault. There are in-game reporting tools and punishments for repeat offenders. The issue is simply that the game attracts players with a certain attitude ready to rage at their teammates, ready to say anything to get a rise out of their opponents, willing to make people uncomfortable for its own sake. Play game for any length of time and it is sadly inevitable that you will encounter racism, sexism, prejudice and hostility.

This isn't everyone, however. Dota 2 is able to forge positive bonds between people, too, and it's much more fun to learn if you make the journey with people you enjoy making friends with. You'll make friends playing Dota 2, but you'll need to develop a thick skin on the way.

The best resources for beginners

Over the years, the Dota 2 community has fostered some amazing teachers who make the journey a lot easier. When you begin, you'll want to start by playing against bots with a selection of guides and videos to hand. Only when you feel like you've got a grasp of all of the different factors that go into a victory should you step into the game proper.

Kevin 'Purge' Godec has a longstanding reputation as one of the best tutors in the scene and his beginner's guide, 'Welcome To Dota, You Suck' is a great place to start. His YouTube channel, PurgeGamers, is also helpful. When you're ready to start learning each new hero, check to see if there's a relevant 'Purge plays' video and watch at least the first ten minutes to get a sense of the character's role and item progression. Mind the time and date stamp, however: Dota 2 changes a lot from patch to patch, so information in older videos might lead you astray if you're not careful.

Other great beginner's guides include devilesk's 'Comprehensive Dota 2 Guide' and Flipside3Tactics' YouTube series, 'Dota for Dummies'. Finally, the Dota 2 guides section in the Steam Community is a useful resource of hero-specific builds that can be loaded in-game using the book icon in the top left. Again, look for guides designed for the current patch and use the star rating associated with each to guide you.

Get into the pro scene

This is a very, very good time to start watching professional Dota 2. The International is the biggest event of the year, and boasts the largest prize pool in competitive gaming. The Dota 2 scene is diverse and competitive, with no single dominant team or region.

The best places to watch professional Dota 2 are on Twitch and via in-game spectator tools. Click the 'Watch' tab to see games in progress, which includes professional play as well as pub games taking place around the world. Once you're in, you can control the camera yourself or give over control to a particular commentary crew using the in-game menus. If you own a Vive, you can also spectate in virtual reality using the incredible Dota VR Hub.

While watching pro play is a great way to learn the game, it certainly helps if you already know the basics. Following some of the guides above and getting a couple of bot games under your belt is the way to go if you want to be able to follow the competition.

As the International draws closer, we'll run specific guides to teams and the meta to help you follow along. You'll find all of them on PC Gamer Pro. In the meantime, good luck on your journey, and have fun. Remember: try not to die, buy wards, don't be an ass, and try not to worry about Riki you'll get used to him.

Big things are happening in the world of Doom, Bethesda's demon-bothering FPS reboot, beginning with a double-XP weekend and a major free update, both of which are set to go live on July 29.

The update will add a pair of new multiplayer modes a one-flag CTF mode called Exodus and an objective-based capture-and-hold mode called Sector and make some big changes to the SnapMap editor, including customizable weapon wheel functionality, the addition of the Mancubus as a playable demon, and a laundry list of improvements to the Community HUB, editor and logic capabilities.

After that, on August 5, Bethesda will roll out Unto the Evil, Doom's first premium multiplayer DLC release. The bundle will include three new multiplayer maps, a new player-controlled demon called the Harvester, the UAC EMG Pistol, the Kinetic Mine, new hack modules, and new armor sets, patterns, colors, and taunts. It will also incorporate a new feature called PartyPlay, which will enable players who don't own the package to access the new multiplayer maps as long as they're partied up with someone who does.

If a DLC map comes up as part of the rotation, you and your party can play just as you have with the game's original multiplayers maps, Bethesda explained. Conversely, if you have purchased the premium DLC pack, anyone in your party can play any of the maps from the DLC as long as they re with you.

Unto the Evil is included with the Doom season pass and will sell separately for $14.99/ 11.99.

Last September, I went to the Firaxis offices when they were in the fairly late stages of polishing XCOM 2. I met Jake Solomon there and showed him what XCOM: Enemy Unknown modding looked like. He wondered aloud if I had closets full of chains and leather.

John Lumpkin, otherwise known as JohnnyLump, is the co-creator of XCOM: Enemy Unknown s ultra-difficult Long War a mod that adds a slew of surplus stats, extra weapons, more campaign missions, more challenges, more squad members and, inevitably, more death to the original game. To those those uninitiated, Jake Solomon Enemy Unknown s creative director once described Firaxis official top-selling reimagining of Julian Gollop s 1994 turn-based classic as a 20-hour tutorial for Long War, which gives a sense of how comprehensive Lumpkin and partner Rachel Norman s hobbyist modification is.

Lumpkin tells me that he in fact doesn t keep a cupboard-full of S&M accessories at home not that there s anything wrong with that but that Solomon s tongue-in-cheek reference points to how inaccessible Enemy Unknown is to would-be modders. First you re required to essentially hack into the game s files to make it read INI files, Lumpkin says. Then you need to review the game s code, translate it into hexadecimal, before making changes to functions and classes so as to ensure your alterations don t crash the game. Lumpkin pauses, as if suddenly aware of how confusing this might sound to those unfamiliar with programming jargon.

It s strange, he says. I had 12 hours of computer science in college, my training was primarily as a journalist, but it gets to the point where you know the scene in The Matrix where Neo is looking at the code falling? You get to that point where you can start reading the code and you can see the Unreal script that it makes. It s a weird place for your head to get to but it can get there.

Getting there saw Lumpkin sinking two to three hours a day into his pet project as a distraction from studying at grad school media studies with a side of political science and international relations back in 2012. He d often have to force himself to pursue his dissertation, and admits partner Norman, when away from her job working in the US defence industry, almost certainly spent more time on the coding side of things as the project s engineer.

Although inspired by UFO: Enemy Unknown (XCOM: UFO Defense in the US) at 43 and 42 respectively, both Lumpkin and Norman are self-proclaimed veterans of the old days the idea for Long War was born from the simple fact that Lumpkin had finished the 2012 remake, wanted more, but couldn t find anything user-made in the game s small but growing community. He took matters into his own hands and, with the help of Norman, began to push the envelope on what was possible.

It kind of grew organically but as we figured out how to do something like how to add new weapons or how to have aliens upgrade themselves, we d add these new capabilities and release a new version, says Lumpkin. The Enemy Unknown campaign was 35 or 40 missions and I had a great time playing it and then it was over. I wanted more of the feel of warfare in terms of these great victories but also reversals that you have to address.

If you think of American sports we have NFL football here, where it s a 16-game season and every game is a big deal that have huge effects on your season. I wanted to switch that to make it a bit more like baseball, which has 160-odd games in a season and is much more about performance over the long term and statistics. I always thought of what we did to XCOM a little like that Enemy Unknown was the football season and we made it more like the baseball season with ups and downs and variety of challenges.

Before long, the ever-burgeoning Enemy Unknown community began to take notice of Long War. A healthy body of brave players had started playing, offering feedback and in essence became Lumpkin and Norman s QA team. Beta versions received tens of thousands of Nexus downloads courtesy of its barrel-load of new stuff, and it was discussed favourably by the games press. One of my real pleasures from all of this was going on Reddit or the Nexus feedback and watching people debate strategy in a real productive way, adds Lumpkin. There was nothing toxic about it, these were people having these really interesting discussions and it was so fun to read.

About mid-way through development, Jake Solomon started tweeting about his enjoyment of Long War. Julian Gollop praised the unofficial expansion during presentations. Eventually, first contact was made with Firaxis by way of its community manager Kevin Schultz. One of the things players wanted was soldiers not to sound like they re from Iowa, says Lumpkin, before explaining Jonathan Emmett, the mod s sound editor, had just figured out how to implement new voice packs.

They had enlisted volunteer voice actors from the UK, Australia, and the US, and had turned character Peter Van Doorn who appears briefly in Enemy Unknown with a great gung-ho delivery of his lines into a soldier that could be added to the game. Schultz reached out and said: hey, we ve got some leftover lines from that voice actor, do you want them? We said, you bet, and were able to make a custom voice pack for this particular character.

By early 2015, the Long War team had grown to a small core group of four, as well as four senior contributors, and, behind the scenes, Firaxis had begun work on XCOM 2 a direct follow-up to 2012 s Enemy Unknown that would make modding a priority by boasting day one mods and Steam Workshop support from launch. It was looking for help in this area, therefore publisher 2K reached out to Lumpkin, put him and his team under NDA and asked that they take the helm of three day one mods.

While working towards Long War 1.0, Lumpkin had also begun flirting with the idea of creating his own game Terra Invicta: another alien invasion-inspired game on a strategic level, that he planned to crowdfund down the line. He was, however, delighted to receive official recognition. What s more, this was immediate paying work. It was a chance to see all the procedures and processes involved in how a game is made, and to learn about proper QA and all of the different roles. In short: this was the Long War team s education.

In August 2015, Long War Studios was formed, it brought on an artist adding art to Enemy Unknown was very difficult, Lumpkin recalls and set about crafting the agreed XCOM 2 day one mods, while working on Long War s final release in the background. The latter launched its version 1.0 last December, while Long War s first batch of XCOM 2 mods went live on launch day; with a second and third lot releasing in April and July too.

We had this big list of ideas and had a bit of a back and forth with them, explains Lumpkin when I ask if Long War s creative freedom was sacrificed in this new, non-hobbyist setup. We asked what they wanted and they suggested the kind of things they were after for these day one mods. We threw some specifics at them and they thought it sounded great. If there was any freedom sacrificed on the creative side it was more to do with things like deadlines than it was us being told what to do.

They wanted to show off these modding tools, and we were conscious of that therefore came up with things that showed off different kinds of things you could do within the time frame that we had. There s an approval process, of course and a bit of further back and forth.

To this day, there are still but a few hundred mods available for XCOM: Enemy Unknown, not to mention no Steam Workshop support. XCOM 2 s Steam Workshop, however, boasts 1,994 at the time of writing testament to how more accessible this game is to prospective modders of all levels. Long War Studios still plans to pursue Terra Invicta down the line, something which seems a certainty now off the back of the Long War mod s reception, and what the team has learned from its work on XCOM 2.

I therefore ask Lumpkin if we can expect a Long War 2 mod for XCOM 2 at any point in the future.

We certainly know how we d do it, he says before pausing. And that s probably the most I can say right now.

Time travel to the cyberpunk world of 2029 with PC Gamer UK issue 295, courtesy of this month s cover star Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Andy donned his own mechanically augmented power suit (I understand he stores it alongside his collection of onesies) and joined Adam Jensen for the first seven hours of his latest venture.

Elsewhere inside, the PC Gamer team gathers the 100 greatest PC games of all time. This is of course undisputed and naturally your personal favourite is ranked 101. Sorry about that.

Join us for massive previews of the likes of Witcher card em up Gwent and martial arts action role-player Absolver, among many others, and come see our comprehensive head-to-head supertest of the best gaming keyboards available today.

Issue 295 is on shelves now, available at My Favourite Magazines, and digitally through Google Play, the App Store and Zinio.

Then again, why not let us do the work by subscribing? Save up to 25% on the cover price, have each issue delivered to your door and treat yourself to our lovely exclusive subscriber covers. Like this un:

This month:

• Andy plays the first seven hours of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
• The PC Gamer team reveals the 100 greatest PC games of all time.
• Massive previews of Gwent, Absolver and more.
• Samuel explores the new horror of Resident Evil 7.
• Phil takes a hell march back to Red Alert 2.
• We put gaming keyboards head-to-head in supertest.
• And much more!

After acquiring the Darksiders franchise following THQ s collapse in 2013, Nordic Games released a remastered version of its second series entry last year. The rather awkwardly titled Deathfinitive Edition was just the start we were told back then, and now an overhaul of the 2010 original is heading our way in October.

It s called Darksiders Warmastered Edition and brings with it a host of improvements, such as: reworked rendering, including better shadows; enhanced texture resolutions; smoother performance - 60FPS in moment-to-moment gameplay ; and 4K support for PC.

We think War s journey is still a great game that deserves to be [remastered] to be an overall better experience, a Nordic Games spokesperson told us via email. Also for us, remasters are a way to familiarise with a franchise that could lead to

I guess by trailing off, Nordic might be pointing to Darksiders 3 as was sort-of hinted at in the past. In any event, here s the official blurb on what Darksiders Warmastered Edition is all about:

Deceived by the forces of evil into prematurely bringing about the end of the world, War the first Horseman of the Apocalypse stands accused of breaking the sacred law by inciting a war between Heaven and Hell. In the slaughter that ensued, the demonic forces defeated the heavenly hosts and laid claim to the Earth.

Brought before the sacred Charred Council, War is indicted for his crimes and stripped of his powers. Dishonored and facing his own death, War is given the opportunity to return to Earth to search for the truth and punish those responsible.

Hunted by a vengeful group of Angels, War must take on the forces of Hell, forge uneasy alliances with the very demons he hunts, and journey across the ravaged remains of the Earth on his quest for vengeance and vindication.

Darksiders Warmastered Edition is due to launch October 25 for 14.99/$19.99/ 19.99.

Hot on the heels of the latest batch of Immortal cosmetics and the news that this year's International prize pool is now the largest esports pot of all time, Valve have updated the International 2016 Battlepass with all-new features: including the crazy Dota 2 VR spectator mode they teased back in March.

That's right: if you can't make it to Seattle, you've still got a chance to experience the International in person - if you own a Vive. As initially teased, the Dota VR Hub allows you to watch games on a big virtual screen while surrounded by life-size characters, a huge minimaps, and all of the gold and experience graphs you could want. It goes deeper, however: click the minimap and you can teleport onto the field of battle itself to watch the action from the ground. You can even bring friends in with you, and wear a variety of Dota-themed virtual hats.

Redditor scarecrowman175 has a detailed gallery of VR shots which you can find here.

Let's be honest: this is mad. But it's also incredible, and completely unlike any other esports spectator system ever devised. And it's also eerily similar to a feature I described in a joke article in March last year. YOU'RE WELCOME, I GUESS.

Check back during the group stages for a more involved hands-on with the Dota 2 VR Hub.

This update also adds the now-traditional event prediction minigame as well as a new take on player cards. If you've been playing Dota 2 for a couple of years, you'll remember that the compendium started life as a sticker book: you'd try to collect all of the year's players before the event ended. It was fun but throwaway, and nobody really missed it when Valve moved on from the idea.

This new implementation is much more exciting. Everybody who owns a Battle Pass will earn 15 player card packs right away, and each player can be earned in standard, silver and gold rarities. You then use these cards to assemble fantasy draft rosters for each day of the event, earning Battle Pass points based on the performance of your chosen players. Silver and gold cards come with additional, randomly-assigned multipliers: see above for an example. If OG carry n0tail stacks camps and farms a lot, I'll get bonus points. Hooray!

The International is now less than a week away. Merry Dota Christmas, everybody!

Twenty one hours into my Total War: Warhammer campaign, my Dwarfen hero Dorin Brightaxe was making a multi-turn trek across the southern badlands of Greenskin territory. He d been doing a lot of trudging lately. A couple of turns ago I sent him to assassinate an Orc hero the Book of Grudges demanded retribution, obviously but now I had to drag him back to our capitol Karaz-a-Karak, hammer unbloodied. It had to be done because a pair of Greenskin agents were camped at Karaz-a-Karak, sabotaging its buildings turn after turn, grinding my economy to a halt. At this point, my fun had mostly ground to a halt too.

This isn t the first time agents have soured a Total War campaign for me. In fact, it s happened in every campaign I ve played since picking up the series with Shogun 2 in 2011. On a Total War campaign map, your units are either leaders (Lords in Warhammer, generals in most previous games) who shepherd armies, or agents, who offer more specialized functions. They can spread religion or influence in a region, increase the populace s happiness or production or technology research rate. They can also, more critically, assassinate other agents and leaders, sabotage cities, and inflict casualties on armies. Playing against a campaign map covered with AI enemies all but guarantees that eventually you ll spend a chunk of every turn dealing with a neverending stream of agents. Which is done by countering them with your own agents. And so on ad infinitum. It s an ouroboros of strategic mundanity.

Total War: Warhammer has more fun with its units than any previous game in the series (I m still psyched about flamethrower Dwarfs with beard armor), and Creative Assembly did a great job making every race significantly distinct. Greenskins need to build up a Waaagh!! through incessant fighting; Dwarfs have to fulfill grudges to keep the populace happy; Vampire Counts spread corruption and raise the dead to quickly build huge armies. Lords gain experience from completing RPG-esque quests and earn special equipment, a first for Total War. But in other ways, the basic elements of the series are still there under the fantasy skin, mostly unchanged, and they re starting to feel pretty stagnant. Politics and agents are the worst of them.

Warhammer s fantasy makeover can t conceal Total War s tired, overly simple diplomacy system, which doesn t provide much nuance in terms of how you deal with other factions. You can establish a trade agreement (but only with a clear path to their capital), make non-aggression pacts, and offer money to sweeten the pot. This system hasn t really evolved much since Empire: Total War in 2009 and feels like a huge missed opportunity for Total War to become a more balanced 4X game.

The dated diplomacy system is a weakness, but it s at least functional. It doesn t make me want to stop playing I just settle for bloodthirsty conquest most of the time. But the outdated agent system is an annoying, clunky obstacle to fun once I really dig into a campaign. In Total War: Warhammer, Creative Assembly tried to make agents more interesting by allowing them to participate in battle. They re no longer just strategic pawns to be moved around the campaign map, but powerful warriors who can turn the tide of battles and equip the same powerful weapons and items as lords. Sounds great! But it doesn t quite work out in practice.

Using agents (or heroes, as they re called in Warhammer) in battle really is fun I love sending my Dwarf Runesmith into the fray to buff infantry units with runic magic. But once I get far enough into a campaign to expand my territory and have a few enemies, their agents start to pour into my territory, and only counter-agent actions can stop them from sabotaging my cities and armies. While the agent action to damage a building is relatively inexpensive, say 600 gold, repairing those buildings can cost double or triple that. And if they re quarries or other buildings that generate income, suddenly you re making less money and getting slapped in the face with high repair costs. Ignoring them isn t really an option.

With the Dwarfs, that means pulling my Thanes, who are best at assassinations, out of battle and sending them far across the map to deal with pests. The Dwarfs Book of Grudges also means regularly having to hunt down enemy agents with an assassin; ignoring the grudge leaves it on the ledger, and as the ledger fills the people get testy.

Even without that wrinkle, playing with agents in general just isn t much fun. Defeating enemy leaders in battle is satisfying, but killing them off on the campaign map with a lucky diceroll? Convenient, but not fulfilling, and it feels really unfair when it happens to you. Even when agent actions go your way, they quickly grow tedious. In Shogun 2 and Rome 2, it s not too hard to convert enemy agents to your faction, which does give me a momentary rush of screw you glee.

Except the AI will just make more, and keep sending them, and I ll keep converting them, well past the supposed agent recruitment cap. Having 20 agents sounds like a good thing, but in the end you re still dealing with a mechanic that isn t fun, and you have 20 extra units to micromanage every single turn, multiplying the mundane busywork.

I m hardly the only one with this complaint. Threads like Agents are still the least fun part about Total War are easy to find in Total War communities, though of course agents have their fans, too. More damning, a search for agents in the Total War Steam Workshop returns many mods that limit agent numbers, reduce the AI s agent spam, or disable them altogether.

Right now agents feel like a legacy system Creative Assembly used to shore up the lacking interactivity of Total War units. Leaders do nothing outside of battle you place them in a settlement to give it passive bonuses or use them to march across the map, and little else. The developers wanted subterfuge and religious conversion and assassination, all vital to the history of war, but never did anything more interesting with those ideas than units that pass or fail on a die roll.

Total War: Warhammer s quest system and item rewards, though simple, hint at a possible future. I can imagine the series evolving to give agents narrative events to accomplish instead of stock pass/fail options, more bearing on diplomacy and trade and other systems. Or maybe they re better off as dedicated battle units. If Creative Assembly doesn t give agents a complete rework for its next game, I d rather dedicate my heroes to battle, where they can send a dozen Greenskins flying with a single hammer swing.

It s time for Total War to either give each of the 4Xs their due (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate), or ditch the stale strategy elements and go all-in on extermination.

I was a little iffy on The Final Station, the end-of-the-world horror story about driving a train across Russia to rescue survivors from glowing-eyed shadow-zombies, when I previewed it last month. I very much like the concept, but what I saw of the actual gameplay didn't really work for me, in particular the linear level designs and inability to make any meaningful choices as I explored. But previews are not reviews, and pre-release games are not finished, and so I continue to hold out hope that it will achieve (or at least come close to) its potential when it goes into full release on August 30.

The Final Station is made up of five chapters, broken up by visits to inhabited stations that provide access to gear and upgrades, and also fill out the story. The difficulty of the game comes from its station design you never see what s behind a locked door and are always running low on supplies, publisher tinyBuild said in the launch date announcement. If you use up that last medkit on yourself, odds are one of your survivors will die due to injuries. If they die on your train (during travels between stations), you can loot them for a small reward. However, if you get them to their destination they will give you a much more tangible reward. (Maybe an upgrade for your gun?)

I hope it works out. It feels like there's a very intriguing, very Russian story hidden away in there, and it will be a shame if it ends up buried under sub-par gameplay. More information about The Final Station can be found on Steam or at tinybuild.com.