Spoilers follow for the final fight in The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine.

Is there a finer treat in prospect than firing up The Witcher 3 for a fresh runthrough of all its quests and expansions and vacuuming up every single Gwent card out there? To be in the Northern Realms again, and to climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow, ’til you find your dream? Sorry, suddenly started channelling Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music for a moment there. Anyway, I recently undertook the full-on Witcher 3 experience, which had been going swimmingly for many hours until I neared the finale of the Blood and Wine expansion at the Tesham Mutna Ruins. 

Nithral, Imlerith, Caranthir, Eredin in the base game, and even that bloody great big frog thing in Hearts of Stone—I killed them all, but Dettlaff, the final boss in Blood and Wine, is proving to be a monumental pain in the arse. I know bosses are meant to be hard, but it’s slowly dawning on me that just using Black Blood potions and putting Vampire Oil on Aerondight then hammering the LMB won’t cut it here. I get past the first phase easily enough but once my fanged foe sprouts wings, gets airborne and starts commanding his bat swarms, any semblance of strategy I’m applying to the fight is whisked away on a riptide of panic and dashed onto the rocks of desperate, abject failure.

I consult the internet where many suggest that, while it doesn’t provide full defence against Dettlaff’s attacks, Quen is the most useful sign in this fight. Quen? Who puts any points into Quen? I’ll tell you who—thoughtful players who have considered that there may be times when Geralt has to stand his ground and recover for a time in a fight, rather than wade in brandishing an inverted neon triangle or flinging fire, just as a chimpanzee will sometimes hurl its own poop at a perceived threat. Attack is the best form of defence… is obviously what I thought the 52 times I levelled up or had points to put into skills or Signs. And checking the stats, I’m not entirely surprised to find that I’ve put precisely, ahem, no points into Quen. 

I make dozens more attempts but I can’t seem to time the evasive roll required when Dettlaff sets the bats loose and I’ve somehow developed an uncanny knack of ending up at the exact point where his blood tendrils spawn. I’m mashing the keyboard to dodge and to mainline potions, and in making him cast Signs, Geralt is throwing more shapes than the Happy Mondays. My clicks sound like a cricket on heat as I try to cleave Dettlaff’s head open, and all the while I’m wishing that those incredibly talented sadists at CD Projekt Red could see the gibbering wreck of a man that they have created in a dark room in South London. 

As the bats sweep past Geralt for what seems like the hundredth time, he collapses to his knees and dies once more. Dettlaff, this blood-guzzling, prize prick of a Higher Vampire and his swooping noctillionine minions have killed me yet again. I finally concede that it’s time to load an earlier save and find a merchant who sells a Potion of Clearance that will enable me to reconfigure Geralt’s skills. This has turned into a matter not of who, where and why, but Quen.

If you’re the sort of sadist or masochist who quite fancies starring in their very own slasher flick, either as the killer or one of their potential victims, then have I got great news for you: Dead by Daylight is having a free weekend on Steam from now until Sunday. 

Dead by Daylight pits a group of survivors against a seemingly unstoppable killer in appropriately menacing maps, like foreboding forests and abandoned labs. The killer’s goal is to hunt down the other players and sacrifice them to their dark god, while the survivors have fire up the generators that will allow them to escape. 

It’s a straightforward format that’s got some extra wrinkles thanks to the various abilities wielded by both the killer and survivors. Different psychopaths come with their own hooks, like Michael Myers’ obsession mechanic, which targets specific players, making their survival all the less likely, while survivors have their own skills that can be mixed and matched to create unique loadouts. 

To increase your chances of surviving the night, make sure to check out our Dead by Daylight beginner’s guide. The base game and most of the DLC is also 50% off on Steam during the free weekend.

I have a mask in Absolver that’s shaped like a hand. The Hand of Marek is stupid—big on cut protection even though few use swords, and impractically heavy for my fighting style—but I wear it anyway because I’ve never seen anyone else wearing it (and because I enjoy My Hero Academia). It’s the only bit of game loot I’ve really cared about in a long time. I didn’t pay for it. It wasn’t announced as a pre-order bonus. It just appeared in my inventory after a fight.

The face hand is special because I didn’t know it existed before I found it. Part of that is playing Absolver at launch, but not all of it. New Overwatch skins are announced, previewed, given a release date—you’ll never surprise me with one. If you’re wearing PlayerUnknown’s Bandana in PUBG, I’ll assume you’re rich, because they’re for sale on the Steam Marketplace starting at $672. And if I see you wandering Destiny 2 with a Coldheart Exotic Trace Rifle come October, I’ll know you pre-ordered. Ah, the exotic ‘pre-order.’

All my Absolver mask really says about me is that I was lucky. Maybe lots of people have the Hand of Marek—I don’t know—but whatever the drop rate is, the RNG seems to have favored me. And I praise the sun for it.

Absolver’s particular random loot system could be a little more generous. I’ve seen people on Reddit report that nothing interesting has dropped for them even after reaching double my rank in the 1v1 trials. Pure RNG is always going to burn someone. But that flaw aside, the joy of Absolver’s loot is that I have no idea what’s out there, or if I'll ever get anything good after this stupid hand. Yeah, it’s all been cataloged on the wiki—which I’ve avoided—but if developer Sloclap sneaked a new mask in during an update and didn’t tell anyone, we wouldn’t know about it until it was discovered. And that’s possible because Absolver’s loot doesn’t come in boxes you pay for. For the biggest games, mystery is being replaced with marketing.

The secret slap

The secrecy in Absolver even extends to moves. If you haven’t seen me going on about it yet, Absolver is a brawler in which you can customize your fighting moveset and learn new attacks from NPCs and other players. The other week the community went wild for the Calbot Slap. The attack must be learned from one NPC who rarely spawns, and it’s the most useless move in the game: a standing slap that’s hard to land and does 15 damage (players have over a thousand HP). The first time I was slapped I was so thrown off I practically surrendered the fight. Later, PC Gamer Club member Apollo Trollo taught it to me.

Had the slap been a pre-order bonus, it wouldn’t have been funny or startling. It would’ve been a dick move to even use it. Yeah, we know you pre-ordered and got the slap. Good job. But because Absolver made it an Easter egg, taking a firm open hand to the cheek became a community in-joke. The other day I played someone who was obviously going to beat me, so when we got to the third round, I started slapping. It was the only move I threw, and being a good sport he even let me land a few. Brutally losing doesn’t feel nearly as bad after smacking your opponent’s cheek red first.

There’s nothing cool about pre-ordering, so no matter how badass any pre-order bonus gun looks, I’ll never enjoy having it as much as I enjoy my weird hand mask. And the slap, since I had to learn it from a friend.

It’s not even all that cool to own an item you earned by climbing up some known achievement ladder. In Absolver, for instance, every player who beats the barebones story earns a special cloak. And while it has decent stats, Apollo and I were joking about the cloak last week, and have determined that anyone who’s wearing it either just beat the game and is proud—endearing, but not cool—or is pretending they just beat the game to throw off opponents. (Which is sort of cool, to be fair.)

I’m not about to challenge the entire idea of character progression, which is fun in Absolver, too. I like working toward stuff. But when everyone else is working toward the same thing, the loot that’s really special comes as a surprise—whether it’s in a secret location, or just won in the RNG lottery. 

As Tim recounted to me, when the mighty Gjallarhorn went up for sale in Destiny, those who had ‘earned’ it as a drop were mad that people could pay for it with in-game currency—even though those people earned that currency, too. Maybe it was a little irrational, but there’s a truth to it: loot is best when it’s special. Put it on the market and it's just another commodity. But make its drop rate a mystery and it's a story.

Absolver’s not the only game to treat its loot so preciously—and to be fair to games like Overwatch, Absolver’s loot isn’t just cosmetic, so it serves a different purpose. But along those lines, what a downer the marketplace was in Diablo 3 when it launched. It wasn’t fun knowing everything that was out there, and how much money I could pay to have it.

The best loot makes you feel like you have something other people don’t have, something that they might never have, something unique, even though it isn’t really. By being so opaque about it, Absolver makes the best stuff feel special. But if The Hand of Marek were 69 cents on the Steam Marketplace, or found in paid-for loot boxes, I wouldn’t give a crap about it.

Fans of not starving will be pleased to hear that Don't Starve developer Klei Entertainment has unveiled new single-player DLC called Don't Starve: Hamlet. There's also a free content update for Don't Starve: Shipwrecked that's now in beta testing, and a series of new events for Don't Starve Together that will get underway in November with a six-player co-op challenge called The Forge. 

First on the list is Don't Starve: Hamlet, in which the intrepid hero Wilson stumbles upon a lost town of aristocratic Pigmen and decides to pay a visit. "Reacquaint to city life with pig shops, houses, new items, biomes and more, or delve into the ancient pig ruins and try your hand at treasure hunting in this new single player expansion," the Steam page says. As DLC it requires the original Don't Starve, and it's expected to be out sometime in the first half of 2018. 

Don't Starve Together: The Forge will be the first in a series of time-limited game modes "that create a new way to play with the cast of Don’t Starve," Klei explained. "They serve as a way to mix up the experience, allowing us to try crazy new things without breaking the core game. Events are free for everyone who owns DST to play and will be coming in November." 

The Forge will feature new creatures and bosses with their own unique attack patterns, new character traits and combat bonuses, and of course new weapons, armor, items, and combat abilities. Event-specific skins will be up for grabs, and the skin system is being changed up as well: They'll drop far more frequently than they have previously, and if you end up with duplicates you'll be able to scrap them at a new trader, and then craft something else. As well as earning them in-game, players will also have the option to buy a single Warrior Skin Set for $3, or the full collection for $13. Like other skins, they're purely cosmetic, but "purchase of the Warrior Set will help us fund further content and events like this one." 

"We hope that with this mechanism, we can both continue creating great free content while also supporting the development team," Klei wrote. "In addition, this method of funding allows us to provide content to all our players, instead of splitting the player community if we implemented it with a DLC paywall." 

And finally, the free Don't Starve: Shipwrecked content update is available now in a separate beta branch on Steam. Instructions for switching to it are available here, the password is "shipwreckedbeta," and as always when it comes to beta stuff, bear in mind that things could go wrong so dive in at your own risk. There's no word on when it will go fully live that I can see, but here's what it does: 

World:

• Crockodogs. Will hound you at land and sea.
• Ballphin followers and the Ballphin Den.
• Roe. New food item. Stocks the fish farm.
• Cormorants. New sea bird. Source of Roe.
• Tar Slick. Pools of crude oil bubbling on the surface of the water.
• Tar. New resource.
• 3 new variety of tropical fish.
• Rainbow Jellyfish.
• Coral Nubbin. Replant coral after it's mined.
• Ox will produce offspring.

New Craftables

• Galley and Sea Lab. Make your base at sea.
• Sea Yard. Keeps your ship repaired on the water.
• Tar Extractor. Gets Tar from Tar Slick.
• Tar Suit. Temporary protection from wetness.
• Tar patch. A sticky situation.
• Oil Lamp. Quick lightsource for land and sea.
• Fish Farms. Grow food on the water.
• Encrusted Boat.
• Quackering Ram. New craftable for the Quacken Beak.
• Sea wall. Water craftable wall. Blocks waves.
• Tropical Bouillabaisse. New recipe with new tropical fish.
• Caviar. New recipe with Roe

Bethesda's Creation Club, which sells small pieces of content created by paid modders, hasn't received an entirely warm welcome from the Fallout 4 community. Among other concerns and complaints, there's the fact that since updating to version 1.10.20, a rather large and unsubtle advertisement for the Creation Club now appears in the upper right corner of the main menu. Well, leave it to a modder to figure out a way to remove it.

The mod, created by 'InAComaDial999', is called No More Creation Club News, and it's currently the second most voted-for mod this month on Nexus Mods' Fallout 4 page. Once installed, you won't need to see the Creation Club announcement (and the offer of 100 credits to use in the store) every time you start the game. I suppose you can read it as an objection to the Club itself, or as a simple desire to remove an unwanted element from the menu. Either way, it's what mods are for: to tailor a game in a way that suits you.

I recently spent $15 on Creation Club doodads, and while I think the content I purchased is just fine, there's not really anything currently that I see as a must-buy. (And no, I didn't buy the horse armor because that joke is too ancient to acknowledge.) If you are looking for some great free mods, though, you can check our list of the best mods for Fallout 4—which even includes a mod called The Creation Club.

If you've paid any attention to Steam's most popular games listing, you might have noticed Black Desert Online has, surprisingly, occupied a top spot for months now. Despite launching all the way back in May, the MMO continues to be a huge hit. Right now, its developer, Pearl Abyss, is seeking a listing on the Korean Stock Exchange. As a result, they've released some interesting details in a recent press conference that charts just how successful the MMO really is.

According to Kyung In Jung, CEO of Pearl Abyss, Black Desert Online currently operates in 100 different countries across seven regions. Jung says that 7.65 million people have registered accounts to play the game (though keep in mind that doesn't indicate active users). As a result, Black Desrt has brought in a whopping ￦340 billion ($301 million USD) to date. That's impressive since, according to Jung, Black Desert Online only cost a paltry ￦1.2 billion ($1 million USD) to make.

Since launching on Steam, Jung reports that Black Desert Online has sold 530 thousand copies, which, while only a small percentage of other huge 2017 hits like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, is impressive. That translates into just over $1.3 million in sales. Few Korean MMOs see that much success in the West in such a short time.

Taking that all into consideration, it's no surprise that Pearl Abyss is working on other MMOs. According to Jung, four other games are currently in development that "might have the keyword 'MMO.'"

"All of them are in progress to be network-based games with high-quality graphics by using the self-developed engine [the same engine used for Black Desert Online]," Jung adds.

Two of those games are expected to be launched in 2018, with another arriving 2019 and the fourth in 2021. It's not yet clear whether these will be on PC as Jung did spend a great deal of time talking about mobile and console platforms.

Still, that's all good news for Black Desert Online and MMO fans in general. Costing only $9.99, Black Desert Online is another MMO that's found success without the subscription fee. If you haven't played it yet, Austin recommends that you give it a try based on its strong similarities to singleplayer sandbox RPGs. It's a complex and intimidating game, however, so maybe read our guide to help you get started.

Thanks MassivelyOP.

The Rocket League Autumn Update, which will bring transparent goal posts, standardized arenas, and other good stuff to the competitive auto-soccer game, will go live on September 28, developer Psyonix revealed today. The studio also discussed its plans for the game beyond the update, which will include a new Tournament Mode it hopes to have in beta testing before the end of the year. 

"A tournament system is something we've wanted for Rocket League since our launch in July 2015," the studio said. "In-game Tournaments would allow all of our players, from Rookie to Rocketeer, to take part in competitions without ever having to leave the game client." 

The beta will run through Steam, because it "allows us to make changes and collect performance feedback more rapidly than any other platform," and while nothing is carved in stone at this point, the goal is to have it launched before the end of 2017, and then rolled out to all platforms as a regular feature sometime next year. 

In a similar "don't leave the client" vein, testing will also begin on a new built-in Party System that will work through PsyNet instead of Steam, Xbox Live, or PSN. The Party System beta will be Steam-exclusive as well, but it's "the first step in enabling the possibility of supporting cross-platform parties at a later date," Psyonix said.

"Once your account is flagged for the new Party system, your game will automatically sync with your Steam Friends List information and allow you to create a party via PsyNet. You’ll still use the 'Create Party' button as you normally would, but instead of seeing a Party invite in Steam, you’ll see new in-game notifications alerting you to a Party invite," Psyonix said. 

Finally, Psyonix touched on the upcoming Events system, which will enable players to earn additional car customizations through time-limited events. Events will introduce a new item called Decryptors that will drop after matches and can be used to unlock any unopened Crates. 

As for the Autumn Update itself, here's what you've got to look forward to: 

•  Farmstead, a new Seasonal Arena available in Competitive, Casual, and Private matches for a limited time this Fall
• More than 90 free new Customization Items available as Uncommon, Rare, and Very Rare drops after online matches or from Trade-Ins
• The introduction of Player Banners, a new player customization feature
• The End of Competitive Season 5 and the start of Competitive Season 6
• Standardization of Arenas for Competitive and Casual Online play
• Transparent Goalposts
• LAN Support for PC players

Full details are up at rocketleague.com, or you can get the quick rundown in the trailer below.

Project London aims to build a London-like city in GTA 5. Can't be hard, right? "I got a message the other day," says modder Kieran. "from some guy asking if the roads could be done—if the cars could be swapped to the opposite side in the style of British road networks. I sat down and calculated the work for that. I'm looking at 210 hours just for the roads."

The original GTA: London was set in the late '60s, but his version is inspired by the modern city. He aims to install landmarks incrementally, before building the project out into a pseudo interpretation of The Big Smoke. Kieran tells me that doing so involves a fair bit of Google Street-mapping, researching real life videos and photos, and a touch of artistic license. Even then, Project London is an ambitious undertaking.

"It's a lot of work, it will take time, but whenever I'm finished one thing—I've just finished Heathrow Airport, for example—I add it into the pack, update it, and release it. There are three of us working on it now, and while we strive to mirror reality, if we think something looks right in situ, and it still looks like London, then we're fine with that."

So far, this has seen Kieran—and partners Raddz Modding and Albo1125—recreate Wembley Stadium, a handful of London Underground stations, a host of the city's major hospitals, and a range of British Emergency Service vehicles. Next, the threesome have London hotels in their sights, real life billboards, bus stops, police stations. At some point they plan to remove the base game's iconic Vinewood hilltop sign "because, well, that's not London, is it?"

As a financial advisor for Lloyds Bank, finding time between life real commitments marks Kieran's biggest challenge. There are consecutive weeks where nothing gets done, he admits, but he hopes the recent formation of his three-person team can "keep the work flowing" into the future. His modding know-how is also self-taught and despite getting involved with GTA 5's British modding community less than a year ago, the standard of his work—not to mention his output—is impressive. 

"Being part of various communities has made me realise that I've got an opportunity to do something," he tells me. "And that's where Project London started. Compared to other games, GTA is easier to mod, it's easy to get the files that you need in order to do work, and there are a lot of people who're able to offer advice and help out. That fact alone spurs you on to do more."

Despite being less familiar with Grand Theft Auto's first pre-millennium visit to Great Britain, Kieran tells me he became most involved with Rockstar's satirically swiping series via its faux Miami, Tommy Vercetti-starring Vice City. He says he's pored over every game since, but that GTA 5 marks his PC debut and thus the first of which he's modded.  

"To be honest it was becoming aware of the modding communities that support Grand Theft Auto 5 that encouraged me to start doing the work I'm doing," he says. "Between [the three of us] we're trying to push forward and see what we can do, and achieve as much as we can achieve."

That's not to say Kieran doesn't appreciate the magnitude of the task at hand. As a hobbyist modder, his work is voluntary, part-time, and unpaid—and while he doesn't lack motivation, he's not yet in a position to even guess when the project might be finished.  

"I genuinely couldn't tell you," he says. "There are just so many files that need opened, tinkered with, replaced. The whole thing costs me money too—there's a programme I need in order to do it. It's just a lot of work, there are so many files that need replaced across the whole map—you wouldn't believe the amount of files I've had to replace so far.

"Simply put, this project is something I love doing. It's something that I've always loved doing. I think it makes the game overall more enjoyable. I think the standard, vanilla GTA is a bit lacking in certain areas, and that's why modders do what they do." 

While unable to commit to anything long-term, Project London is an exciting prospect. Following Grand Theft Auto 4's imitative New York City and its successor's artificial Los Angeles, a sizeable chunk of players have called for Vice City to take on real life Miami. I'd personally prefer the preconceived US trifecta eschewed in favour of something closer to home. And while I've no idea if Rockstar feel the same, Kieran and his team's efforts could go a long way towards satisfying my appetite.   

No matter the timeframe, Project London is, for Kieran, strictly entertainment. I ask him if he'd ever consider a career in development off the back of something so ambitious.     

"That's not something that particularly interests me, this is solely something that I like to do in my spare time. I love working with the GTA British community and working on something like this improves everyone's ideas for mods and what they wish the game could be like. 

"I know there is a lot of us that wish we had a new GTA London and this project, ambitious as it is, goes a ways to realising that. There are a lot of us working to give the game a British-leaning look. We do a lot of hard work and I'm proud of that."

More information of the Project London work-in-progress mod can be found via its GTA 5 Mods page. 

Go shopping in Legendary Motorsport in GTA Online right now and you will find a new Dewbauchee Rapid GT Classic. A "deeply customizable Sports Classic" that looks pretty good in deep purple.

You'll need some GTA$ to secure one, so you might want to spend more time in the extended Motor Wars mode, which you can earn double cash and RP. The same bonus also applies to Rockstar-created Stunt Races and Smuggler's Run Sell Missions. Bodyguards and Associates also take twice the salary.

For high flyers a series of discounts should make it easier to avoid being blown up. Rockster are discounting countermeasures, aircraft engines and armour upgrades by 25 percent.

You'll find all the latest detailed on the Rockstar newswire, including details on this week's premium race and time trial events.

We've been playing quite a lot of GTA Online recently. Sam reckons the latest update is the best the game has enjoyed since heists. You can tell us what you love and hate about GTA Online in our reader survey. We will be compiling the results for a future article.

The [WotC] Overwatch Mercy Squadmate cosmetic mod adds a very convincing Mercy facsimile to XCOM 2: War of the Chosen with custom colours and wing variants. In the name of authenticity, "this mod adds Switzerland; Mercy's country of origin."

Check the description section of the Steam Workshop page linked above for a choice of downloads and some recommended mods that help Mercy to work smoothly. Missing Packages Fix + Resource sounds like an essential one, while the Mercy Voice Pack ought to be a fun addition.

It's a purely cosmetic mod, so don't expect the mod to add any of Mercy's abilities into the game. It looks good though. Check out a few of the colour variants below.