Like any big daft fantasy blockbuster, The Elder Scrolls needs war. Unfortunately, Bethesda’s open-world games have never been too great at the whole mass battle thing. Even Skyrim’s nation-rending civil war never amounted to much more than a gathering of drunk LARPers waving sharp sticks at each other in the snow. The Elder Scrolls: Total War – a complete overhaul to Medieval 2: Total War – launched this week, bringing some proper bombast to battlefields across Tamriel.

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COMMANDER’S LOG: SPACE TIME 9333333333333-[[[[[CHECKSUM ERROR>: l ’ }}#….[

Alice B: Oh no>. I’m back here. It takes me a minute to work out where “here” is, but my hindbrain’s way ahead of me, already shuddering in revulsion. I’m in the bloody spider. Or rather, the gigantic vessel that looked> like one. The name comes to my tongue like acid reflux: The Loveless>. My self-built prison, and my only hope of escape from this life. There’s the revulsion again, as I remember more. The planet. The drills. Those godawful, squabbling buffoons who call themselves my crew. The helper android, ODD. And the mission.

The mission! Adrenaline surges through me, and I lurch from my bed. The mission! We were mining gold>, for those heartless suits who sent us here to the rotten edge of space. A ton of the wretched stuff, or else they were going to send drones to liquidate us. When I went to sleep, we were way under quota, and our time was almost up. We’ve got to get to work! I’m punching in an emergency broadcast to the crew, when I stop in my tracks. The space clock’s looking a bit funny. In fact, everything’s> looking a bit funny. That’s when Security Officer Crowley wakes up, and things get really weird.

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The snivelling worms in Hollywood have jettisoned their creative vision for a blue humanoid hedgehog able to run faster than the speed of sound, bowing to public demands that such a monstrosity brought into the human world would look ‘cute’. A new Sonic the Hedgehog movie trailer reveals the makeover promised by the spineless cowards following reactions to Cinesonic’s big reveal in April. Sonic now looks more like he does in ye olde video games. What a shame. Hollywood dared to catch viewers off-guard and force them to see their childhoods in a new light, then instantly backed down. Where’s your conviction, you charlatans?

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I’m still struggling with what, exactly, Humble Originals are meant to be, and I think Humble might be as well. They’re only available through Humble’s monthly subscription service, and the official gubbins says they’re “brand new games” that are “a little risky, a little experimental, and a lot of fun!” In practice, results seem to vary. Sometimes you get solid, polished things, like Wilmot’s Warehouse (even though it was significantly different to the version that was released in August), or Hitchhiker. Other times you get a fragment of a hacking game, where people keep their computer passwords on post-it notes in the lavs.

Operator is the latter. I did actually really enjoy Operator — or rather, I enjoyed the concept of Operator. I think it could be really good, but only if they make> it really good.

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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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The Workbench in The Outer Worlds, among many other useful things, gives you the ability to apply all sorts of powerful mods to your weapons and armor. This alone makes the Workbench one of the greatest tools available to you, and the best part is that you can find at least one in pretty much every region of the game, including your own ship, the Unreliable.

Our The Outer Worlds Mods & Workbench guide will ensure that you know exactly how to use this powerful piece of tech! We’ll go over tinkering to improve weapons and armour, adding mods to weapons, repairing damaged equipment, and more.

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The Outer Worlds may not quite be the largest RPG we’ve ever seen, but it sure does have a great deal of stuff> to explore and experiment with, from the first moments (or in my case, half-hour) of character creation to the many different quests, enemy types, combat mechanics, stories, and interconnected systems you’ll encounter throughout your travels. Lucky for you, our The Outer Worlds guide series looks to furnish you with all the information you need, starting with the below 25 The Outer Worlds tips and tricks on everything from dialogue options to Workbenches.

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Armor in The Outer Worlds is one of the most important tools the game supplies you in order to stay alive in the treacherous and dangerous regions of Halcyon, Monarch, and all the other planets you’ll hop between throughout your journey. Not only does equipped armor reduce the damage you take against oncoming attacks, but they also give you plenty of scope for customising your character, with many pieces of armor supplying you with 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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What’s a holiday to The Outer Worlds without Companions to share the journey with? Obsidian’s latest open-world(s) RPG provides you with six different Companions to bring aboard your ship, the Unreliable, and help you in the quests and battles you’ll face time after time throughout your journeys. 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 very first thing that you’re presented with upon starting a new game of The Outer Worlds is a wonderful selection of skills and attributes to choose from to customise your character, making it very clear that Obsidian know the best part of an RPG for many players is the character creation process. With this finely crafted array of skills, you can start to carve out the path of your character before you even set foot on Halcyon – and 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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