Page 57 - PC Gamer - UK (February 2020)

The most popular game is
from a genre we haven’t
even heard of yet

Tyler: Battle royale games didn’t
exist in 2010. Neither did
autobattlers like Dota Auto Chess.
Roguelikes were just starting to We won’t buy
make a comeback as ‘roguelites’.
No one was using ‘walking PC games
simulator’ as a term of endearment
or criticism. No one was searching anymore
for the term ‘soulslike’ until 2015.
No One Lives Forever is finally saved from There were no ‘strand games’ that I
trademark hell
can recall, because it’s something Harry: I’m not saying we’re all just
Wes: NOLF is one of those ‘white whale’ games, a stone cold Hideo Kojima made up. Only time going to up and put down our
2000 classic shooter that has never been re-released will tell if he’s on to something. mouse and keyboards en masse,
digitally. Nightdive Studios, which saved System Shock, but by the end of 2030, individually
tried to rescue and update this spoof of ’60s spy films, to no buying games to keep will just
avail. It’s apparently entangled in a mess of corporations seem weird. Services like Xbox
who aren’t sure what claim they have on the game. But Game Pass for PC will be joined by
dammit, that can’t last forever. Sometime in the next others looking for a lucrative slice
decade, I think someone at Warner Bros (which bought of the subscription-service pie.
NOLF developer Monolith) will cut through the bullshit and We’ll be juggling various Game
get this game on GOG and Steam where it belongs. And Pass-like products and never
there will be much rejoicing. really own anything.

VR finally breaks through

Tyler: VR won’t replace screens – that’d mean the death of popular genres,
and be totally inaccessible for some – but by 2030 it will be much more
popular. All-in-one headsets with built-in tracking will accurately detect the
movements of our feet, hands and joints, as well as our facial expressions,
making our Sonic meme avatars extremely lifelike.

Dwarf Fortress dwarves become self-aware

Wes: Dwarf Fortress creator Tarn Adams has said he wants
to simulate all the “narratively interesting” aspects of
existence, and I’m betting that means we’ll 100 per cent
have a Dwarf Fortress Truman Show moment sometime in
the next decade. Dwarves already have complex mental and
emotional states, so it’s not a leap to imagine them
becoming self-aware enough to realise they’re fictional
beings inside a massive simulation. The question is, what
will the do when they find out?

OCT 6, 2019 OCT 13, 2019 OCT 15, 2019
BLIT ZCHUNG THE END DISC O ELYSIUM
SUSPENDED Fortnite dominates Estonian developer
Hearthstone pro mainstream -news ZA/UM’s debut game
Blitzchung speaks cycles around the launches to
out in support of the world simply by not near-universal critical
Hong Kong protests being available to acclaim, even
– Blizzard suspends play for two days, managing to secure
him and withholds his ahead of its major our prestigious Game
prize money. Chapter 2 update. of the Year award.

FEBRUARY 2020 57