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Necromancy has a bad rap in Skyrim, which is a little weird. With the mountains of corpses the Dragonborn leaves in his wake, you'd think bringing a few of them back from the dead wouldn't be such a big deal. Undeath, created by modder Antioch08, tasks you with snuffing out a teeming cabal of necromancers… but it also gives you the option of continuing their evil work, learning their dark secrets, and performing a ritual to transform yourself into a powerful Lich capable of commanding an army of the undead. Which path did I choose? Here's a hint. That image above? That's me. (A couple notes up front: your character needs to be level thirty or above to play this mod, and it uses assets from the official Dawnguard and Dragonborn DLC, so you'll need both of those. You're also going to need your enchanting skill maxed out, and you should have almost 300 Magicka to really enjoy the fruits of this mod.)  Slaughtering a bunch of innocents? But… that's MY trademark move. The mod begins with a request to investigate a missing (dead) convoy of Vigilants of Stendarr (those goodie-goodies who stroll around in robes looking for evil-doers). After searching bodies at the scene of the ambush, I discover one of the attackers was kind enough to carry his orders with him, nicely written down on paper, just as you'd expect from a super-secret cabal determined to hide their existence from the world at large. This clue leads me to a secluded tower, where one particular necromancer has left a few journals detailing his plans to unlock a dark ritual that will allow him to become a powerful Lich. He's also sent some followers on several missions across Skyrim to collect important objects he'll need to complete the ritual.  Since they already dug him up… couldn't hurt to open the coffin for a little peek. Right? After tracking down one of these groups, who are digging up a dead priest with the intent on cutting out his heart, the mod gives me a choice. I can rebury the priest and go on with my mission to extinguish this evil plot, which seems like the sensible thing to do. OR. I can, y'know, finish digging up the priest and cut out his heart and stick it in my pocket, thus completing the necromancers mission, only without the necromancers, because I just killed them. I take the heart. Why not? The hard work is already done, and the guy is already dead, and I've been meaning to dabble in necromancy anyway.  A human skull in the pot, throw in a couple mushrooms… baby, you've got a stew goin'! After tracking down and killing another group of acolytes, I find that they were brewing a weird potion up top of a hill. They've done most of the work already, and the recipe is nearby as well. Again, I'm given the option to dump their cauldron on the ground, putting an end to this evil business! But, I hate to see a meal go to waste, and most of the ingredients are close by… what the heck! Soup's on!  The commute is a bitch, but the necromancers must pay very little rent out here. Eventually, I've killed all the necromancer dweebs and completed their tasks for them, because they're all to busy being killed by me to do it themselves. Now that I've got all their leader's precious belongings, it only stands to reckon that I hunt him down and kill him too, thus ending his evil plot. And beginning mine.  Did I come at a bad time? I find the leader deep underground in a massive network of ruins and tunnels, and mow my way through his remaining assistants and skeletons before hacking him to death. If I were interested in putting an end to his plans, I guess the mod would be over right then and there. However, I'm not looking to just kill a bunch of hooded weirdoes for the fun of it. Imma be a Lich! Becoming a Lich is not exactly easy, however. The head necromancer is dead, but I need to figure out exactly what he was doing before I can continue his work. I read his notes and scour the massive dungeon, eventually locating some hidden items and placing them in the right spots. Then, after finding a massive Black Book, I'm whisked away to the weird library dimension of Apocrypha.  This is not a toilet. I won't go into details, but the library dimension kind of sucks (it kind of sucked in the Dragonborn DLC as well). You have to run around with a torch (the darkness physically hurts you) getting attacked by the same monster over and over and looking for switches to open gates so you can collect a bunch of items to place in the right spots. This takes roughly forever, but eventually, I've completed the quest and I'm whisked back to the real world.  Starting to think necromancy might be a little evil or something. Once I'm back in Tamriel, there's more work to be done before I can Lich-out all over everyone. I require a few more items and a secluded spot to perform the forbidden ritual. As it happens, a shadowy merchant called The Broker has been watching me hack my way to the top of the necromancy ladder, and sends me a note, via courier, inviting me to check out her ghoulish shop, where I can purchase most of what I need, including the deed to a nice underground lair where I can transform with some privacy. More work follows, of the gathering kind, then the crafting kind, then the enchanting kind, and finally, after closely following the intricate instructions, I glug an evil potion of my own making and drop stone dead on the floor. Whoops! Missed a step.  A side-effect of becoming undead is becoming dead. I reread everything, try again, and this time it pays off. I'm a Lich!  Houston, we have Lich-Off. Returning to the surface in human form, I step into Solitude, ready to unleash my powerful evil upon the city. I transform into a Lich, hovering above the ground, bathed in eldritch magic. All will tremble at my hideous shade! All will die at my bony hand! All will be raised as my willing zombie servants! And then a courier walks up and tells me he's got a delivery for me.  Dude. DUDE. C'mon. Tryin' to be an evil skeleton ghost monster and you're FUCKING RUINING IT. Well. Not quite the dramatic display of unspeakable evil I spent the last four or five hours unlocking. Still, after the courier wanders off, completely nonplussed at delivering a telegram to a TERRIFYING HOVERING LICH, I'm free to (somewhat sheepishly) cast spells, terrorize the locals, blast them with magic, and raise those who have fallen to fight for me. Except for the damn Apocrypha level, this mod is pretty great (and quite challenging). There's also apparently a ton of extra content I didn't even get to. It's also the most reading-intensive mod I've played, and knowing what to do and how to do it is dependent on the careful reading of journals and books. Pick up all the new books and journals you find! Read them! Take them with you! It's the only way you'll become a Lich like me. Installation: Download the mod here. I used the Nexus Mod Manager to install it, and you should too, because while there's a manual download, I don't see any manual installation instructions anywhere. This mod also doesn't really hold your hand except in the early quests, so if you get stuck, read the FAQ contained on this page. The post Mod of the Week: Undeath, for Skyrim appeared first on PC Gamer. 
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duminică, 1 septembrie 2013
Mod of the Week: Undeath, for Skyrim g21
The Free Webgame Round-Up g21
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Continuing last week's theme of games either disappearing or not working by the time I come to try them, I wasn't able to play Cookie Clicker in time for this week's roundup, but I've just had a quick go and it's bloody wonderful in a Candy Box/A Dark Room sorta of way. So play that! But also stick around for another collection of cracking confectionary, which this week is brought to you by the letter, I dunno, Q. Enjoy! Play it online here.
A Machinarium-esque adventure game set in a world populated by robots – a world that used to be ours, by the way. BNKR is rather beautifully drawn, a little scrappy in all the right places, and rich in world-building and atmosphere. Play it online here.
Remember the recent Ludum Dare and its '10 seconds' theme? mrspeaker takes it in a more scientific direction, using a floating Carl Sagan – is there any other kind? – to explore "mushy" fractal time, on your quest to claim a couple of extra seconds and grab a mystical orby thing before you die. Just…wow. (Via Indie Statik) Play it online here.
Created as a tie-in, or a companion piece, to Okkervil River's upcoming album The Silver Gymnasium (they're a bit like The Arcade Fire), this identically titled game is an episodic 8 bit-style adventure game set in frontman Will Sheff's New Hampshire hometown. He teamed up with Eyes and Ears' Benjamin Miles to make it, and the result is a neat, nostalgic little adventure with an Earthbound vibe. (Via Stereogum) Play it online here.
An oddly serene first-person crossbow-'em-up featuring procedural generation (check), an exceptional lighting engine (check check) and even Oculus Rift compatibility (check check check). Discoverie was also made in just seven days, which is bloody amazing considering the above. There are several wonderfully weird enemies to discover in the game's sizeable dungeon, your journey accompanied by an extremely peaceful, perfect-for-Sunday soundtrack. Lovely stuff. (Via IndieGames) Play it online here.
Another excellent, technically impressive 7DFPS entry, this time set on the moon. It's a survival shoot-'em-up on a Super Mario Galaxy-style spherical environment – only instead of fighting goombas you're gibbing zombified astronauts, who explode in a satisfying shower o' chunks. (Via IndieGames) The post The Free Webgame Round-Up appeared first on PC Gamer. 
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Starbound official Let’s Play shows good times with space-weapons and space-pickaxes g21
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Let's play Starbound, shall we? And by 'let's play' I of course mean 'Let's Play', which here means 'someone else plays while you watch'. But hey, that's better than nothing – and it's often more enjoyable than actually playing a game yourself, if you're an increasingly old and lazy type such as myself. At the Insomnia Gaming Festival, the Yogscast team did such a thing in front a live audience, playing promising indie sci-fi sandbox Starbound for around an hour in co-op. Catch it after the break. Squint a bit and you could almost be playing it yourself – or multiple versions of yourself, at least. The actual playthrough begins, after a slightly awkward introduction, at around the six-minute mark. Starbound, of course, is due out sometime in 2013, which is a decreasingly vague release date as we continue hurtling towards the end of the year. The post Starbound official Let's Play shows good times with space-weapons and space-pickaxes appeared first on PC Gamer. 
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PC Gamer at PAX Prime 2013 — Join us for the PC Gaming World Congress! g21
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Attention PC gaming vanguards! If you're coming to this weekend's PAX Prime in Seattle, join us in our quest to shine the biggest, brightest spotlight on our beloved hobby. We're putting on two panels, starting with The PC Gaming World Congress on Friday (don't miss the chance to see Dean "Rocket" Hall and Chris Roberts talk shop), and chatting with readers all weekend. Keep an eye out for Evan Lahti and Tyler Wilde at the show, and watch PC Gamer US on Twitter for updates on Saturday meetup plans—the current plan is to get together at 8:00 p.m. on the second floor of the convention center (near room 206) and go from there. We hope to see you! And if you can't make it to PAX, just drop by the site for all our coverage, and hold tight for panel recaps. Friday — The PC Gaming World Congress6:30 p.m. @ Pegasus Theater (Sheraton Hotel, 2nd floor) We've assembled a dream team of PC gaming personalities to debate the state of our dear hobby: Dean Hall (Creator, DayZ, Bohemia Interactive), Jon Mavor (Co-Founder, Uber Entertainment), Chris Taylor (Founder, Gas Powered Games), and Chris Roberts (Founder, Cloud Imperium Games). For an hour, we'll invite our esteemed speakers to reflect on the issues that matter most to PC gamers and developers and paint a picture of what the next few years in PC gaming will look like. Finally, a congress worth listening to! Saturday — PC Gamer and GamesRadar meetup8:00 p.m. @ convention center, 2nd floor near room 206 Come hang out with us! Evan and Tyler will join GamesRadar's Greg Henninger, Ryan Taljonick, Hollander Cooper, and Thomas Darnell—as well as any surprise guests we can talk into coming along—for a casual get-together with readers. We'll gather at 8 p.m. Saturday night on the second floor of the convention center and see where the night takes us from there. We waive all liability if you wake up in Canada. Monday — Catfantastic Live: A Wholly Insane PC Gaming Trivia Show1:00 p.m. @ Serpent Theater (Sheraton Hotel, 3rd floor) Did you hear a meow? It must be…Catfantastic! It's only the greatest PC gaming trivia show on the planet, where the points matter more than life itself. Join chaotic-neutral host Tyler Wilde as he grills PC Gamer's Evan Lahti, GamesRadar's Hollander Cooper and Ryan Taljonick, and audience volunteers with obscure, bizarre, and shamelessly unfair trivia from PC gaming past and present. Randomly selected audience members will be invited to participate for fabulous prizes from Corsair, Razer, and Valve, but you're free to just watch, too. If you're not familiar with Catfantastic, PC Gamer US Podcast 350 will introduce you to the madness. Be ready! The post PC Gamer at PAX Prime 2013 — Join us for the PC Gaming World Congress! appeared first on PC Gamer. 
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Godus is getting a betaus via Steam Early Accessus g21
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22 Cans' Godus will soon have a beta, as announced by chief Godus-botherer Peter Molyneux, who in a refreshing change was not trapped inside an onion-like cube at the time. (As far as I know, anyway.) September 13th is the date to mark on your calender/tap into your iphone/scratch onto the asylum walls with your bare fingernails, and Steam Early Access will be the place to buy your way in – for $19.99, £14.99 or €18.99. In his own words, Molyneux is "proud and delighted that the beta version GODUS will be available for download on 13th September 2013. For a long time I've been excited with how the game is evolving, I already feel there is nothing in the world like GODUS. This is the type of game I have dreamt of making since first getting into the industry; having people play the beta and give us valuable feedback while doing so, makes that dream a reality." The announcement comes with a bunch of new screenshots and a trailer, which show how the god game has progressed over the last few months. Check some of these out below.
The post Godus is getting a betaus via Steam Early Accessus appeared first on PC Gamer. 
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