It wasn’t possible to ignore the protesters directly outside Blizzcon’s gates this year. They were drawn by Blizzard’s ongoing failure to respond appropriately to Hearthstone pro Chung “Blitzchung” Ng Wai calling for the liberation of Hong Kong in an interview. They clustered right outside, handing out shirts, placards, and information.

But inside, it was easy to forget. In a sea of people wearing Blizzard merchandise, the odd shirt with the five-petaled orchid of Hong Kong’s flag stood out, but were few and far between. As J. Allen Brack gave his non-apology, one lone voice called “free Hong Kong” from the back of the room, and one panel was disrupted. Mostly, though, it was business as usual.

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Don’t come any closer, pal. I’ve got a gun. Oh wait, maybe I don’t, because I pawned it when I was extremely drunk, and I didn’t do a deal with the corrupt union boss to get it back. Oh dear, now a voice in my head that says it’s Electrochemistry is trying to convince me to get drunk. I must be in bleak but lovely RPG Disco Elysium.

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I’m just going to come out and say it. The Ducky One 2 is probably one of the best gaming keyboards I’ve ever used. It’s available in a range of sizes and numerous different key cap colours, including a tenkeyless version, a 65% model and the even dinkier Ducky One 2 Mini, but it’s the full-sized RGB model I’ve had on my desk for the last month or so, and it’s by far one of the loveliest keyboards I’ve used in ages. Here’s wot I think.

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There is nothing worse for a world-leading chartologist (PhD) like me than a Steam sale. All sense is lost, all decorum thrown to the wind, as the same few games come stamping all over everything like an uninvited six year old whose parents let him go to bed whenever he wants. And we’re entering Sale Season, people. It’s going to get stampy.

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Post-apocaltypic roguelike Nuclear Throne was a blast. Knife-edge dodge rolls, chunky shotguns, playable telekinetic eyeball monsters. It had it all – except clearly a team of modders disagreed. Their homebrewed “Territorial Expansion” came out last week, with enough doo dahs and polish to pass as an official update. There are new areas, enemies, bosses, weapons and characters. Also, pet parrots. Nothing like a pet parrot to lure me back to armageddon.

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For many – okay, fine, all> – the best part of starting a new RPG is always the character creation process. And The Outer Worlds fails to disappoint in this regard, with its finely crafted array of attributes and skills that you can use to start carving out the path of your character before you even set foot on Halcyon. Our The Outer Worlds skills & attributes guide will help you make the choices you truly want to make right off the bat, with detailed explanations of how each skill is used in-game, and how levelling up your skills actually works in The Outer Worlds.

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The Outer Worlds does a pretty bang-up job with its arsenal of weapons, giving you a great deal of scope for choice and customisation – but it’s all at the cost of complexity. Each weapon has many more associated stats than we’re used to seeing in most games of its ilk, not factoring in weapon type buffs, damage types, special effects, mods, and anything else that may affect your time with that gun.

Our The Outer Worlds weapons guide will walk you through all of these things, along with useful tips for getting your hands on the very best weapons the game has to offer.

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What’s a holiday to The Outer Worlds without Companions to share the journey with? Obsidian’s latest open-world(s) RPG is very reminiscent of games such as Mass Effect, providing you with six different Companions to bring aboard your ship, the Unreliable, and help you in the quests and battles you face. Each Companion has different personalities, skillsets, side quests, and combat powers – and our The Outer Worlds Companions guide will walk you through each of them in turn, so you know which companions are the best for each situation you find yourself in.

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The Outer Worlds gives you a great many tools to help you stay alive in the treacherous and dangerous regions of Halcyon, Monarch, and all the other planets you’ll hop between throughout your journey; but Armor is definitely one of the most important of these tools. Not only does equipped armor give you damage reduction against oncoming attacks, but many pieces of armor will give you extremely useful boosts to certain skills or attributes.

Our The Outer Worlds Armor guide will walk you through how Armor Rating actually works, along with a rundown of how Light Armor compares to Medium and Heavy Armor, and which you might want to take forward depending on your character and playstyle.

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From the very start of the game, The Outer Worlds gives you a variety of systems to play around with to customise and develop your character. Prime among them is the Perks system, which gives you the chance on every second level-up to give your character a new Perk to help give them (and you) a slightly easier or more enjoyable journey through the game.

With 42 Perks to choose from, there’s quite a lot to take in here; so we’ve put together this The Outer Worlds Perks and Flaws guide, which will explain not only how Perks work and some great ones to start off with, but also the game’s unique Flaws system and why you may want to take advantage of it.

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