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The Razer Handheld Dock Chroma offers Steam Deck owners a premium design and, of course, plenty of RGB

3:00 pm | February 28, 2025

Author: admin | Category: Computers Consoles & PC Gadgets Gaming PC Gaming Steam Deck | Tags: RGB | Comments: Off

Razer Handheld Dock Chroma: One-minute review

The Razer Handheld Dock Chroma is the most stylish Steam Deck dock I’ve ever seen, offering a sleek all-black aesthetic that compliments the handheld PC perfectly in addition to some pleasingly bright RGB lighting.

While a similar price to the official Valve offering (and notably more expensive than the many standard laptop docks out there that also work with Steam Deck), it ranks among some of the best Steam Deck accessories thanks to a nifty integrated stand that provides a neat way to adjust the position of your Deck if you intend to play without an external display. This can also be folded down for easy transport and the use of durable metal components makes it easy to stash in a rucksack on the move without having to worry about potential damage.

There is also no shortage of ports, with the dock coming equipped with a USB-C input for charging, three 5 Gbps USB-A ports for your various controllers, a Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) port, and an HDMI 2.0 video output. The lack of a DisplayPort option is a shame, especially as there is one present on the official Steam Deck Dock, but realistically the up to 4K 60hz / 1440p 120Hz of HDMI 2.0 is going to be more than enough if you’re keen to hook your Steam Deck up to a TV.

While clearly designed with the Steam Deck in mind, the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma is also fully compatible with other handheld PCs including the Asus ROG Ally and even some Android gaming tablets.

There might be cheaper alternatives out there, but the overall proposition of the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma makes it well worth considering if you’re after a premium option.

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The Razer Handheld Dock Chroma as it arrives. — (Image credit: Future)

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The unfolded Razer Handheld Dock Chroma. — (Image credit: Future)

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The RGB of the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma. — (Image credit: Future)

Razer Handheld Dock Chroma: Price and availability

Costs $79.99 / £79.99 / AU$149.95
Available via Razer and Amazon
More expensive than your average laptop dock

The Razer Handheld Dock Chroma is readily available in the US, UK, and Australia via Razer and online retailers like Amazon. It comes in at $79.99 / £79.99 / AU$149.95, which puts it around the price of the official Valve Steam Deck Docking Station (which is $89 / £69). It’s quite good value compared to Valve’s offering, as it benefits from the adjustable stand and addition of RGB.

If you’re on a budget, however, you’re better off going for one of the countless cheaper laptop docks available via Amazon. These are not specifically designed for the Steam Deck, but generally will still work. To give an example, the Anker 332 USB-C Hub (5-in-1) costs just $34.99 / £19.99 and offers a cheaper but still effective way to get your Steam Deck on an external display.

Razer Handheld Dock Chroma: Specs

The ports on the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma. — (Image credit: Future)

Razer Handheld Dock Chroma: Design and features

Robust and sturdy design
Adjustable stand
RGB lighting

The Razer Handheld Dock Chroma has a very sleek design, coming in a slick matte black. It looks like a small rectangular box when taken out of the packaging, with the adjustable stand portion positioned flush on top of the box.

To set it all up, you simply have to pull the stand out and slot it into place, which creates a sturdy little shelf where your Steam Deck can rest while it’s plugged in via the attached USB-C cable. A ribbed rubberized strip helps support the Steam Deck when it’s docked, preventing it from sliding out easily and stopping it from picking up any scratches from the dock itself.

The stand is adjustable, with a few positions allowing you to angle your Steam Deck or a more vertical or horizontal orientation - which is great if you don’t intend to use an external display and want a clear view of the system’s screen from your seat. It also helps when you’re using the other supported devices, be that the Asus ROG Ally or a gaming tablet. I tested the recently released Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 3 in the dock and, after some small adjustments, it was in the perfect position for watching videos or playing some Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile with a wired controller.

The majority of the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma is constructed with sturdy-feeling plastic, with a layer of soft foam on the underside to prevent slippage. The shelf where the Steam Deck sits is a robust metal, which is not only hard-wearing but also feels suitably premium given the price. At the bottom of the front of the dock is a thin RGB lighting strip that illuminates when the dock is in use. This is bright and attractive, with a plethora of in-built modes that you can cycle through via a small button on the right-hand side of the dock.

On the back of the dock are all your ports. There’s one HDMI 2.0, 3 x USB-A, 1 x Gigabit Ethernet port, and a USB-C port used for 100W power delivery with passthrough charging. This is a decent selection, though not as many options as you would get with a more specialist bit of kit like the Anker Prime Charging Docking Station (14-in-1, Dual Display, 160W).

The Razer Handheld Dock Chroma with a Steam Deck inserted. — (Image credit: Future)

Razer Handheld Dock Chroma: Performance

Perfect for Steam Deck
Seamless set up
Easy to store in a bag

The Razer Handheld Dock Chroma is perfect for Steam Deck and there’s very little to fault it on in performance terms. You simply slot the Steam Deck in, plug in your display, and use the USB-C ports for any desired accessories, be that a keyboard and mouse or a quality gamepad like the Xbox Wireless Controller, and you’re ready to play on your monitor or TV. It’s about as seamless as you can get and I didn’t encounter any problems getting it all set up on a variety of screens throughout my testing.

The lack of HDMI 2.1 support here is a shame on paper, especially compared to alternatives like the BenQ beCreatus GR10, though practically doesn’t really make that much of a difference. In my testing, I was not able to find a single game that I would be able to run on my Steam Deck OLED at an 8K resolution, or in 4K at above 60 fps.

Compared to other Steam Deck docks, the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma is also impressively portable. Being able to fold everything flat makes it easy to stash in your bag alongside your Steam Deck. It’s heavier than most given the incorporation of metal, but it’s hard to complain about that when the result is a product that really feels like it could take a beating if you happened to drop it out on your travels.

The folded Razer Handheld Dock Chroma. — (Image credit: Future)

Should I buy the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma?

Buy it if...

You want a great-looking Steam Deck dock
With its slick design and RGB lighting, the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma is one of the best-looking Steam Deck docks out there today. Pick it up if you’re willing to spend more on an accessory for aesthetic reasons.

You want to use it without a monitor
The adjustable viewing angles of the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma are a big plus, making it significantly easier to play in the dock without an external monitor.

You want a sturdy dock
The incorporation of metal and general sturdiness of the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma is also superb. This is a dock that you can stash in your rucksack without fear of it picking up any substantial damage.

Don't buy it if...

Pure value is your number one concern
There are plenty of generic laptop docks that also work with the Steam Deck, and come in significantly cheaper than the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma.

Also consider...

Want some alternatives to the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma? Check out these two strong options.

BenQ beCreatus GR10
The BenQ beCreatus GR10 is more expensive than the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma and lacks RGB, but it does offer HDMI 2.1 support for those eager to crank up the video quality. It’s also a lot lighter.

Read our full BenQ beCreatus GR10 review

Anker Prime Charging Docking Station (14-in-1, Dual Display, 160W)
The Anker Prime Charging Docking Station (14-in-1, Dual Display, 160W) is a serious bit of kit that offers the complete desktop docking solution. Although designed for laptops, it also works with the Steam Deck and, while pricey, does frequently go on sale.

Read our full Anker Prime Charging Docking Station (14-in-1, Dual Display, 160W) review

How the Steam Deck connects to the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma. — (Image credit: Future)

How I tested the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma

Tested for over a week
Tried with a Steam Deck OLED and gaming tablet
Compared to other docks

I tested the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma for over a week, during which time I played plenty of games on my Steam Deck OLED including lots of Disco Elysium and Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake in addition to a few hours of play on the Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 3 gaming tablet.

Throughout my time with the dock, I tried a variety of monitors and TVs in addition to accessories such as the Asus ROG Harpe Ace Aim Lab Edition mouse, Endgame Gear Kb65he keyboard, Xbox Wireless Controller, and more. I constantly compared my experience with my hands-on time with other laptop docks like the Anker 332 USB-C Hub (5-in-1).

Splash back

The biggest change with Planet Coaster 2 is the inclusion of water park features, including pools, flumes, and new themes. Frontier has experience with this, having worked on the Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 expansion pack (old person speak for DLC) Soaked, which added flumes.

Weirdly, I’m not as interested in water parks as theme parks, but being given more things to play with when designing a park is always welcome.

While water park features aren’t the only new things in Planet Coaster 2, it would have been understandable if Frontier had called it a day there. During my time playing the game, it’s clear just how big an undertaking adding water rides has been.

Of course, there are all the additional art assets and models, but it also introduces an entirely new physics system to accurately simulate water, slides, and more.

For players of the original game, creating pools, adding features, and building water slides will feel familiar. Slides are built piece-by-piece in the same way as rollercoasters, and while new players may feel a bit lost, it’s intuitive enough to get the hang of pretty quickly, while also being flexible enough that you can create some pretty spectacular rides in not much time.

Planet Coaster 2 screenshot of people riding a roller coaster — (Image credit: Frontier Developments)

Whether or not your guests will want to ride your creations, however, is another question. By testing your rides before they open, you’ll be able to see if the ride works as intended (I.E it doesn’t launch the test dummy into the stratosphere due to a misjudged hump), and you’ll get feedback on how exciting, scary and how nauseous it’ll make the riders. It’s here where the real art of constructing a theme park ride comes in – you’ll need to balance all of those aspects. Too scary and few people will want to ride it, if it makes people too ill then not only will it put people off riding, but you’ll also have to deal with people throwing up all over your lovely park. You can lower these values by making adjustments to the ride – lowing drops and banking corners for example – but if you make the ride too tame, its excitement will drop and people won’t want to ride.

As with the first game, I can tell this part of building your park could be a huge – and enjoyable – time-sink as you try to build the ultimate ride.

In Planet Coaster 2, more customization options allow you to add design elements to the ride, including coaster cars, and while I only had a short time with the game, it’s clear that it’s going to offer a huge amount of tools to help you craft and tweak almost every aspect of your park.

While I wasn’t overly excited by the inclusion of pools and water slides, I ended up really liking them. Building both was fun and intuitive, and the pools especially looked fantastic.

I didn’t notice much of a visual upgrade over Planet Coaster, but that was still a fine-looking game that was both realistic and cartoony. However, the pools in Planet Coaster 2 look fantastic. Clear, realistic water that sparkles under a cloudless sky made me want to crawl through the screen and dive in. It made me nostalgic for the summer – before I remembered that here in the UK we’d just endured one of the wettest and miserable summers in recent memory.

Interestingly, it seems like the weather in Planet Coaster 2 won’t always be perfect. I didn’t see it in action, but the launch trailer shows guests running for shelter during rainy weather, and I noticed a weather forecast icon in the game’s menu.

While the eternally sunny weather of the first game gave us UK players a nice bit of escapism, including different weather conditions for the sequel, more realistic weather in the sequel will add to the realism – and could bring some interesting challenges – and opportunities. Rainy weather could make guest numbers drop, but some carefully placed umbrella stores could help raise profits – especially if you can, like in Rollercoaster Tycoon, up the prices when the rain starts to fall. There’s that evil capitalism working again.

Planet Coaster 2 screenshot of the new themes — (Image credit: Frontier Developments)

I also got a glimpse of a few new themes – Mythical and Resort – and my mind is already fizzing with ideas of how I can use them in my parks.

Plus ça changing room

As I mentioned earlier, the original Planet Coaster did a lot of things right – but there were plenty of things that needed improvement, and from my short time with Planet Coaster 2, I found some of those were indeed fixed – but I still had a few concerns.

Making paths in the original, for example, could sometimes be annoyingly fiddly, and you could end up with some ugly bodge jobs when trying to make certain things, such as large plazas. The good news is that Planet Coaster 2 mainly fixes this with new path-making tools that make things much more simple, and give you additional settings to tweak, to help you get the desired effects. I found this made creating paths easier – when on the ground, at least. Creating stairs and bridges seemed to be more complicated – but that might just have been me being a bit rusty.

Putting down shops, food stalls, and guest services, such as toilets and new changing rooms (which need to be added for your guests to use the pools), seems a bit over-complicated as well. In the version of Planet Coaster 2 that I played, some shops and facilities were just ‘shells’ – basically empty buildings that were elaborately themed. Placing them in the park didn’t give me the actual facilities themselves – I would have to find those, then either place them in the park, place the shell over them, or add them by editing the shell’s blueprint (the name for ready-made, yet customizable, pre-built elements).

Confusingly, some facilities in the default Planet Coaster theme were included, while other themes just included the shell. I’ll clarify with Frontier about whether this is just because I was playing a limited preview version of the game, or if this will be the case in the full version as well. I hope not.

By searching for the actual shop or facility to add to the shell, I was reminded about another issue that I’ve had with the original Planet Coaster, which seems to be still present in the sequel. It can be difficult to find certain building parts, and while there is a decent tagging system in place that lets you search, you still need to remember where certain things are located, as there are a few different menus where the item could be. Sometimes things are in the ‘Shops and Facilities’ menu. But then there are also the ‘Scenery’ and ‘Building’ menus, which can also have items you need – and you’ll need to remember which menu they are in. When you start expanding the game with DLC, which will be inevitable considering the various expansion packs the original game got, these menus become more unwieldy, so finding things can take even longer.

Planet Coaster 2 screenshot people swimming in a pool — (Image credit: Frontier Developments)

I was also shown a level in the campaign mode. I felt that the campaign of Planet Coaster was not that engaging – I usually spent my time playing in sandbox mode, with unlimited money. While this gives you more freedom, it also means you miss out on the challenge and management aspects of the game. So, with Planet Coaster 2, I’m hoping to have more reasons to play the campaign and to dig into the (hopefully) more expansive management options.

From what I played, that might not be the case. The level required me to build a park but only in a certain part of the map, for reasons that didn’t make too much sense. However, unless I was being thick (a likely possibility), once in the game I wasn’t given any onscreen guidance for where to build or suggestions on how to hit the goals to allow me to progress. Eventually, a kindly press representative of Frontier took pity on me and informed me I was building in the wrong part of the map.

This confusion, along with not being sure where to find parts to build facilities and how to make paths on higher levels, makes me worried that the interface of Planet Coaster 2 needs a bit of a rethink with more onscreen help and tips. After all, if an (admittedly a bit stupid) longtime player of the original game can get lost, what hope do newcomers have?

Planet Coaster 2 screenshot people sun bathing — (Image credit: Frontier Developments)

Open for business

While some doubts remain, from the time I had with Planet Coaster 2 I am very excited to play the full release when it launches in November. It’s a charming and fun game that’s clearly been made by people who love the subject matter.

I can see myself playing this game a heck of a lot, and I can’t wait to see what the imaginative community makes with the new and improved tools – as before, PC gamers will be able to easily add other user’s creations to their own parks via the Steam Workshop.

As a fun toy that lets my imagination run wild, my inner child could not be more excited for Planet Coaster 2. The part of me that enjoys playing challenging games, however, will need a bit more convincing.

Planet Coaster 2 releases on November 6, 2024, on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S.

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Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior review – let’s do the time warp again

6:00 pm | February 5, 2024

Author: admin | Category: Computers Consoles & PC Gadgets Gaming PC Gaming | Comments: Off

Review info

Platform reviewed: PC
Available on: PC
Release date: February 13, 2024

Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior is an impressive debut from Sand Door Studio and offers an interesting time-altering twist to the traditional hack’n’slash roguelike cross that has been popularized since the release of Supergiant’s Hades. Though the roguelike’s core loop does offer plenty of interesting tactical moments throughout the games eight to 10-hour run, the overall package lands short of the lofty heights reached by games of a similar ilk.

In Lysfanga, you take on the role of Imë, a mysterious warrior known as the “Lysfanga” who is sworn to protect the New Kingdom. However, when you are drawn to investigate rumors in the ancient Cities of Mayura, an old and evil enemy known as the Raxes re-emerges.

Hold your horses

Character getting struck by lightning — (Image credit: Spotlight by Quantic Dream)

The game starts with an opening exposition dump to set the scene. While credit should be given to the Sand Door team for attempting to develop the lore and history of the mystical land of Mayura, it can be a little much.

Best Bit

Character walking up stairs — (Image credit: Spotlight by Quantic Dream)

The time-loop feature is by far the most exciting aspect of combat. It allows the player to pull off impressive combos alongside getting visibly annoyed with their own past actions (at least in this reviewer's experience).

The names of people, cities, and enemies are thrown at you in a five-minute opening section to admittedly very pretty still images; unfortunately, in exposing so much early on in a bid to establish the world, the agency to then discover these stories is lost.

This apathy is condensed further by a story that has its twists and turns but never does enough to hook its claws in entirely. This problem, in part, is down to vocal performances that feel flat, with each line of dialogue carelessly shuffling to the next. But even if the performances were top-notch, the story serves only to get the player through to the next combat set piece - an excuse to move you forward rather than a compelling reason to. This lack of character is a shame, considering the craft and care that has gone into designing what is often a gorgeously detailed environment.

Battle-hardened

Character fighting enemies — (Image credit: Spotlight by Quantic Dream)

Thankfully, the core experience in Lysfanga is still incredibly solid, bordering great. When Imë arrives at a combat encounter, the game pauses and the top-down isometric view allows the player time to survey the scene.

This mechanic gives you time to spot where the enemies are, how to get to them, and what hazards might scupper them. This feature felt very similar to XCOM in that you have as much time as desired before the combat begins to work out your moves, which in turn helps add a healthy dose of control to hack’n’slash action that can feel chaotic and random in other games.

With each attempt, you have a specific time limit before you reset, and the attempt you just made is replayed via your Remnant; think time-trial ghost from a Mario Kart game but with more violence. Your previous Remnant’s actions carry across all corresponding runs. So if you took your first run up the left side, you can run up the right on your second, and all the Raxes previously slain will remain dead.

Accessibility features

town market — (Image credit: Spotlight by Quantic Dream)

Subtitles accompany the game’s fully voice-acted dialogue. The controls can be re-mapped to suit different controller configurations.

As the game progresses, levels play around with this more. Certain gates open and close when passed through. While some Raxes are psychologically linked, meaning they need to be destroyed simultaneously, and so on.

These compact battles, with increasingly exciting twists on the formula, are often brilliant. On top of this, there are recommended time challenges on each encounter. After the second act of the story, there's a whole new game mode that allows you to add modifiers to increase the challenge further and retry previous battles. For those players who are gripped by trying to find the optimal paths and quickest times, this will be the perfect hook and offers impressive replayability beyond the story.

There are some issues here also, however. Though the game as a whole runs wonderfully, some enemies feel twitchy, such as a Raxes that, when defeated, fires in a straight line and explodes. The level design clearly wants you to deploy this on the enemy, but getting this beast going in the correct trajectory often feels random. On top of this, the core fighting styles of standard, light, and heavy weapons don’t feel dramatically different from one another, and unlocked spells and runes do somewhat change the feel of the game but never really alter the encounters in any meaningful way.

Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior scratches the hack’n’slash itch successfully. The game is tight, the combat is slick, and it feels good to play. However, there isn’t enough content here, particularly in character build or within its story, that makes Lysfanga genuinely unmissable. Overall, Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior is fun and snappy; you just won’t be using your Remnants to replay it over and over.

For more thrilling games, check out the best roguelike games and the best indie games available to enjoy right now.

Phantom Abyss review – when the fun stops, stop

7:07 pm | January 25, 2024

Author: admin | Category: Computers Consoles & PC Gadgets Gaming PC Gaming | Comments: Off

Review info

Platform reviewed: PC
Available on: Xbox Series X|S and PC
Release date: January 25, 2024

Phantom Abyss is a new action roguelike 3D platformer from Team WIBY. The premise of this platformer is relatively simple; you’re trapped in an ancient temple and are forced to gather sacred relics in order to release yourself, along with the God of the Abyss, who sends you on your journey to freedom armed with nothing but the right attitude and a grappling hook/whip. With asynchronous multiplayer available, you can enjoy the trials of these dungeons alone, with friends, or with complete strangers.

There are four main levels, each based around an element like fire or water. At each main stage, there are six temple runs to choose from, and only three of them need to be completed to progress to the next zone. There are also extra levels that you can access by collecting keys from chests, which are scattered throughout each map.

However, various restrictions in each dungeon go beyond simple obstacles like traps and spikes. These could be limited health, one-hit kills, or a temple Guardian: an ancient deity that chases you across the map trying to kill you. These restrictions are what keep you on your toes.

Rage against the temple

Floating green head shooting purple orbs — (Image credit: Devolver Digital)

The action-adventure parkour game has been in Early Access for over two years, with the developers slowly polishing up rough edges and adding new features in correspondence with community feedback. Unfortunately, right now, ahead of its official release on January 25, more refining is needed until Phantom Abyss can join the ranks of the best roguelike games. This game has more than a few issues that need resolving, all of which make an already complicated game more frustrating.

My biggest gripes with this action platformer concern the temperamental physics, repetitive maps, and lengthy load times. While perfection is often impossible in game development, roguelikes demand a higher baseline thanks to their inherently irritating premise of starting all over again after each death. Unfortunately, Phantom Abyss misses the mark, and its problems make an annoying game even worse.

For example, while flying through the mossy ancient tombs, I often found myself scrambling at walls and ledges after my flow was interrupted by my grappling hook/whip falling short of its target. Despite all my efforts to line it up in the right way, it would only occasionally work. This meant almost instant death every time, which was especially frustrating when I was trying to outrun a Guardian.

Best bit

Players running through obstacles — (Image credit: Devolver Digital)

Watching fellow players die in front of me. Not only did this clue me into how to approach problems, but sometimes, their corpses even gave me half a heart of health.

Such strange physics also made Phantom Abyss feel like a retro platformer. While these can be great fun, it did mean that your whip swings in a very disjointed way. In addition to this, each level feels very basic and somewhat familiar. However, this was mostly down to the fact that they are. Despite levels being procedurally generated, each map has similar layouts and obstacles, with most of the changes being small, like adding poison gas or dangerous enemies. This repetition means that exploring the ancient tombs gets old pretty quickly.

It’s common for roguelikes to corner a player into punching a hole in their monitor. However, they need to get the balance between rage and reward just right in order to be enjoyable. Every death should always be your fault, something that you learn from and fix before the next run. And, while there is some training involved in how you navigate dangerous obstacles in Phantom Abyss, sometimes you are left wondering what, if anything, you could have done differently to avoid death and having to completely restart.

At one point, I was being chased down a narrow corridor by a flaming head Guardian who was trying to eat me. After falling through the cracks right by the doorway, I restarted at the other end of the corridor. Unfortunately, this meant that the Guardian lay between me and the next checkpoint. I couldn’t go back, or around the gigantic flaming monster, so I was quickly gobbled up and sent back to the very beginning to try it all over again. These untimely restarts, combined with the lengthy load times, made completing Phantom Abyss feel like slogging through wet clay despite its fast-paced premise.

It’s dangerous to go alone

Floating red head chasing players — (Image credit: Devolver Digital)

The best part of Phantom Abyss is the asynchronous multiplayer, which means that you don’t have to wait for players to join; it’s instant. This feature also means that you can play alongside others without strangers impacting too much of your run. While you can rely on others to open doors for you, a feature which I did take full advantage of, these gateways are timed and mean that you can’t just sit back and wait for someone else to do the grunt work for you.

Accessibility features

Options screenshot — (Image credit: Devolver Digital)

There's a great range of accessibility options in Phantom Abyss. With ways to enable or disable various HUD features like timers or scores you can clear up your screen as much or as little as you want. There are also various video options such as changing motion blur, camera bob, and landing camera rotation.

This form of multiplayer also means that you can travel into the dangerous dungeons with friends and try to complete the runs with support rather than entirely alone. Even though this will probably make the experience slightly more bearable, that’s not something to be praised in the grand scheme of things, as any game can be made better if you add your friends into the mix.

So, as a whole, Phantom Abyss is a pretty nondescript roguelike and 3D platformer compared to some of the giants like Spelunky 2 or Ghostrunner 2, which checks all the boxes concerning creative level design, fluid traversal, and rewarding challenges. Still, the concept does show promise, such as its fun capacity for multiplayer and somewhat challenging maps, and it could potentially be refined with a few tweaks to the dungeon layout, Guardian behavior, and loading times. If you’re a fan of retro platformers, then this action-adventure game may still be worth checking out, but, unless you have a burning desire to play, it’s hard to fully recommend

If you’re a fan of games that push you to the limit, then check out the best survival games and the best FPS games that are available to play right now.

You Will Die Here Tonight review – taking the fun out of zombies

8:37 pm | November 3, 2023

Author: admin | Category: Computers Consoles & PC Gadgets Gaming PC Gaming | Tags: Black Friday, PC | Comments: Off

Review infomation

Platform reviewed: PC
Available on: PC
Release date: October 31, 2023

You Will Die Here Tonight is a short but not entirely sweet horror game made by Spiral Bound Interactive, which puts players in the shoes of six high-level special ops characters with whom you’ll navigate a haunted mansion.

This top-down survival horror sees a special-ops task force invade a suspicious mansion in hopes of capturing its deranged owner. But with little information to go on, the group’s mission is further thrown into chaos when they are sabotaged and blindsided by a mysterious attacker. After you get split off from everyone else, you must use your wits and foresight to plan an escape, but unfortunately, you probably won’t be taking the whole group with you; some of them will die there tonight.

You must gather materials and puzzle pieces to fend off the undead that roam the mansion and solve riddles along the way. Once one character dies, you take control of the next, and then the next one, and so forth, until you’ve expended your resources and have no one else left to help escape.

At face value, there’s a lot of promise in You Will Die Here Tonight. The basis of the story, fight mechanics, and unification of characters are all interesting ideas that could help form an excellent twist on the usual zombie horror genre. However, sadly, this horror title just falls short of polishing up these factors and also fails to deliver some basic requirements. It’s for this reason that you won’t be seeing it on our best horror games list.

Blast from the past

Fighting zombies in a dungeon — (Image credit: Spiral Bound Interactive LLC)

When it comes to looks, You Will Die Here Tonight certainly does deliver, however. The top-down perspective combined with its retro aesthetic makes it stand out from other horror games that may have a similar premise.

Best Bit

Zombie butlers attacking — (Image credit: Spiral Bound Interactive LLC)

Being trapped in an underground cavern and surrounded by attacking zombies. The transfer from a top-down perspective to a first-person point of view to shoot down all the oncoming attackers is a nice change of pace and adds to the horror.

The retro art style means that every location looks fantastic. There are gloomy libraries, mysterious subterranean lairs, and even some beautiful gardens decorated with ivy and sparkling fountains. It also makes exploring each setting far more enjoyable if there are tons of great places to admire.

Each one of the characters also looks excellent. While in top-down mode, you can only make out some minor details with the simple character outlines, but each one comes alive the closer you look. When a character begins to talk, we get a close-up static headshot; here, we get to see them better. It doesn’t stop with the cast of protagonists, though; the evil undead also benefit from this cool style.

While they can look pretty flat from afar once you enter combat mode in first-person, these creatures truly do look horrifying. Creeping up from the shadows, these undead experiments crawl and shift toward you at varying speeds, making every face-to-face encounter horrifying.

Some missing parts

Solving a puzzle — (Image credit: Spiral Bound Interactive LLC)

You Will Die Here Tonight may certainly look the part, but unfortunately, it has several glaringly obvious rough edges. While there aren’t any real technical issues, there are some features that haven’t been well-rounded or are missing some features or tweaks.

Entering into the narrative, you get almost no time to get to know the other characters in the story. Besides walking into a room and listening to a couple of them talk about an event you have no memory of, there’s not much to tie you to these people. This means when many of them eventually die, in an assortment of weird and brutal ways, it doesn’t matter. Instead of fighting to get everyone out alive, every character is no more than a heart in the top corner of your screen.

There are also a couple of twists and turns in You Will Die Here Tonight that don’t hit as hard as they probably should. There’s a betrayal that fell flat because not only do I not know or care about the characters, but the reveal felt so wooden that I brushed straight past it. The character designs are pretty cool, and some of the one-liners they dish out can be strangely hilarious, so it’s a real shame that I didn’t feel more connected to them. There’s also the unimpressive reveal of what is truly going on in this mansion; you encounter a zombie almost straight away, which kills off any suspense.

This survival horror has high aspirations but manages to fall short of them in most aspects

There were also a couple of issues with story progression. At times, running around the mansion gave me tunnel vision; despite being in a huge area, every door would be locked to prevent straying off course. More often than not, it felt as if you were jumping through hoops and simply completing tasks for the sake of it and not because you truly wanted to find out more.

It’s a shame. This survival horror has high aspirations but manages to fall short of them in most aspects. The story isn’t that engaging; the riddles and puzzles can be long and quite boring, and the crafting and exploration aren’t fully fleshed out.

That being said, if you are a fan of top-down retro survival games and have a few hours to kill, You Will Die Here Tonight will scratch an itch. The entire game can be completed in less than five hours, so it’s pretty short, and while it’s not necessarily that straightforward to finish, I can see it being a satisfying puzzler for some.

Accessibility

There are no accessibility features in You Will Die Here Tonight, and the overall options are pretty sparse. There are a few audio settings that let you tweak the volume or general audio, as well as a couple of display options that allow you to alter the brightness, but that’s it.

How we reviewed

I completed You Will Die Here Tonight in less than five hours on PC. I tried to explore as much as possible, so it’s highly likely that you can finish this survival horror game in less time than that. I didn’t encounter any technical issues with it, and it was also pretty simple to interact with and not that taxing on my PC.

If you’re in the market for new games right now, then be sure to check out these great PC games and these fantastic Black Friday video game deals, which are starting to really pick up.

Total War: Pharaoh review – sand and strife

5:42 pm | October 10, 2023

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Gaming PC Gaming | Tags: Total War | Comments: Off

Total War: Pharaoh waxes and wanes like the Nile itself, offering a competent, yet inconsistent strategy experience. This latest offering from genre veterans Creative Assembly offers up a realistic and satisfying treatment of the end of the Bronze Age, let down by awkward intrigue, trade, and diplomacy systems.

As with previous Total War titles, the game exists on two layers. There’s a turn-based empire management sim where you’ll manage cities, raise armies, and attempt to weather the machinations of neighboring factions. Nestled underneath comes a sophisticated real-time battle system. Though you can opt to play the battle-only skirmish mode, the campaign is where the meat of the game experience lies. Total War: Pharaoh has you act as both general and administrator.

For the most part, the historical strategy game competently executes this task, allowing you to auto-resolve battles that would be a dull walkover while playing out engagements that might benefit from a more hands-on approach. The battles themselves are engrossing, offering plenty of chances for micromanagement and clever tactics.

Total War: Pharaoh is a game about war, rewarding you for crushing your enemies and conquering their settlements

The faction management layer, however, is more hit-and-miss. Constructing cities and directing your dynasty is often rewarding, but diplomatic interactions with neighboring factions drag. Total War: Pharaoh attempts to capture the diciness of the Bronze Age Collapse with the “Pillars of Civilization” mechanic, which offers rewards when factions build and maintain large, stable cities. Whether you’re playing as an Egyptian, Canaanite, or Hittite, maintaining these pillars is in your best interest, since the game brutally penalizes you should these lynchpin settlements fall to ruin.

However, as the name suggests, Total War: Pharaoh is a game about war, rewarding you for crushing your enemies and conquering their settlements. The game pulls you in two separate directions, simultaneously incentivizing diplomatic play and all-out war in a way that never quite lands.

Blood on the sand

Ramesses distinguishes himself in battle — (Image credit: Creative Assembly)

The battles themselves are sophisticated affairs, boasting intuitive mechanics that gracefully unfold into complex tactical challenges. At their most basic, these engagements boil down to classic rock-paper-scissors mechanics - the sort you’d find in many of the best PC strategy games. Spears beat chariots, chariots outmaneuver shield infantry, and shield infantry outperforms spears. On top of that, you have faster, more hard-hitting squads designed to outflank enemies as well as the occasional hybrid unit that can excel in multiple roles.

To help you navigate this maze of strengths and weaknesses, when you click on an allied unit, a handy color-coded triangle will appear above potential enemy targets, alerting you as to how effective your soldiers might be against them in battle. However, flanking and maneuvering are just as important as unit type. If you’re outnumbered, you can attempt to hold the enemy at choke points, mitigating their advantage - a strategy that saved my poorly defended frontier settlements on more than one occasion.

Best bit

Close up of a Pharaoh — (Image credit: Creative Assembly)

Gaining a court position for the first time proved to be very entertaining. As Treasurer, I could embezzle money from other members of the court, which I then used to negotiate favorable deals with other factions. It made me feel like a sneaky political puppet master, worthy of the cutthroat courts of ancient Egypt.

Total War: Pharaoh adds a few new features to the Total War melting pot, too. Shifting weather conditions affect battlefields, changing the terrain and affecting how quickly your soldiers tire, as well as the performance of certain units. You may have the shiniest chariots, but, if rain has turned the desert into sludge, then you’ll be doomed to scowl at your foes from afar as your mount inches forward at a snail’s pace. Armor degradation also helps give engagements a sense of permanency, while ensuring that elite units aren’t quite as unassailable as they were in previous Total War titles.

Unfortunately, the battle layer is held back by a lack of diversity among the units on offer. While Total War: Pharaoh offers regional unit variants, you’ll almost always be stuck with some combination of melee infantry, archers, and chariots. The monotony made me pine for the fantastical and varied units on offer in Total War: Warhammer 3. Getting to the top of the tech tree was a bit of a letdown when all it got me was infantry with slightly prettier swords.

Pyramid schemes

The court intrigue system, represented by a pyramid-themed menu — (Image credit: Creative Assembly)

The faction management layer is less coherent and consistently joyful than Total War: Pharaoh’s frantic real-time battles. In an effort to accurately reflect the complex systems of politics that underpinned the government of ancient Egypt, Total War: Pharaoh introduces a court system, where factions can scheme against one another, trading favors and vying for advantage.

On paper, it looks satisfying. Every turn you get the chance to do something at court. You could gossip with one of the holders of a court position to gain favor, or you could start a secret plot to oust one of your rivals. You can conspire with allies, trading favor with them to boost the success rate of one of your schemes. You can even flat-out assassinate your enemies if you put in the legwork.

The pillars of civilization menu — (Image credit: Creative Assembly)

However, the court system struggles due to its lack of personality. Contrary to more immersive titles like Stellaris or Crusader Kings 3, your rivals at court have little to distinguish themselves from one another, feeling more like cardboard cutouts than actual people. The gregarious Ramesses won’t visibly act differently in court to gruff and ornery Seti. What’s more, court rivals will plot with or against you with little regard for your diplomatic standing. It was weird to form a tight-knit military alliance with Ramesses, only for him to blackmail me in court several turns later.

You’ll often find yourself entering into rapid-fire deals just to keep your economy afloat

Total War: Pharaoh also leans heavily on trade systems, having units and buildings cost a variety of resources. Food, iron, gold, stone, and wood production all need to be managed in tandem, often requiring you to barter with neighbors in the world’s bloodiest game of Settlers of Catan. You’ll quickly find yourself entering into rapid-fire deals just to keep your economy afloat, a process made more tedious by clumsy menus and the sheer frequency of trades required to keep your faction’s head above water. I easily struck twice as many trade deals as I fought battles during my time with Pharaoh. Once again the game led me away from its stronger elements at its own expense.

Open are the double doors of the horizon

Oasis daytime — (Image credit: Creative Assembly)

As a testament to Egyptian history, Total War: Pharaoh excels, skillfully immersing you in the period. History buffs will find themselves well served here. Much like historical Egypt, the game world is affected by seasonal events and raids from external powers. Droughts and floods have considerable effects on your faction’s production beyond simply modifying the terrain in battle. Your empire will rise and fall alongside the Nile itself. The endgame event, the invasion of the Sea Peoples, makes the game less about winning outright and more about weathering the catastrophic events of the Bronze Age Collapse - the perfect storm of drought, famine, and invasion that brought civilization to its knees 3,400 years ago.

Total War: Pharaoh asks you to contest with the very same factors that tore the ancient world apart

Total War: Pharaoh asks you to contest with the very same factors that tore the ancient world apart - a challenge it conveys effectively through the use of its crisis system and increasingly brutal world events. As you play through the campaign, the world around you changes and you must either adapt or perish. Traditional Total War strategies might not serve you too well here, as aggressive expansion leaves you open for invasion by marauders or sudden economic collapse due to environmental factors.

That said, by asking you to lean away from warfare and towards diplomacy, Total War: Pharaoh pushes you towards its weaker mechanics and systems, undermining the game experience in pursuit of realism. This is not a move that will sit well with everyone. However, for those looking to really immerse themselves in the trials and tribulations of the ancient world, Total War: Pharaoh will deliver an experience that, though hit-and-miss in many respects, provides a refreshingly earnest take on the historical strategy genre.

Accessibility

Total War: Pharaoh offers a range of accessibility features, including colorblind modes for people with Deuteranopia, Protanopia, and Tritanopia, as well as the ability to customize colors for neutral, enemy, allied, and player factions. The game also offers UI scaling, for those looking for larger print. Beyond this, players are free to heavily customize their key bindings and camera settings.

How we reviewed Total War: Pharaoh

I spent 20 hours with Total War: Pharaoh, playing out one long-form campaign through the Sea Peoples' endgame crisis and a shorter campaign that went through to the mid-game. Both playthroughs were markedly different, with one focused on diplomacy and the other directed towards a more traditional, military-centric approach.

I have played over a thousand hours of Total War titles over the last ten years, including the Total War: Warhammer series, the Medieval: Total War series, Napoleon: Total War, and Total War: Three Kingdoms. I also have a great deal of experience with the wider strategy genre, including Stellaris and Crusader Kings 3 - all of which proved crucial when approaching the game.

Looking for more immersive titles? Check out our lists of the best PC games and the best single-player games.

Logitech Litra Beam LX review – dual functionality at a premium

6:00 pm | September 19, 2023

Author: admin | Category: Computers Consoles & PC Gadgets Gaming PC Gaming | Tags: RGB | Comments: Off

The Logitech Litra Beam LX is the next iteration of the brand’s gaming light bar aimed at streamers. It builds on the foundations of the original model by adding ambient RGB lighting for a competitive price point. If you’re looking to step your streaming gear up, it’s a good choice to pair with some of the best webcams and one of the best green screens.

It effectively doubles as both a ring light and RGB light strip in one, and the included stands mean you have a lot of different mounting options to suit your setup. However, if you’re solely interested in a light bar without this feature, then the original, far cheaper Litra Beam, may be a better choice.

Price and availability

The Logitech Litra Beam LX launched on September 19 in countries such as the US and the UK and retails for $149 (approximately £120 / AU$230). For comparison, the original Litra Beam currently sells for $99 / £99 (around AU$150), so you’re paying about 50% for the added RGB ambient lighting.

Design and features

Litra Beam LX Controls — (Image credit: Future)

As far as key lights go, the Logitech Litra Beam LX is among the best-designed models that I’ve used. Instead of the older Litra Glow, a small square-shaped light that attaches to the monitor, the Beam LX comes with its own stand and can be both horizontally and vertically mounted.

Much like the original Litra Beam, the LX version is mains-powered and this has been done in order to make it considerably brighter than the previous USB-powered Glow model. The big difference here from the prior version is the RGB lighting as this is a dual-sided light. Essentially, it aims to be both mood-lighting and a ring light in one. You’re able to use it with Lightsync through Logitech’s G Hub, and there’s Bluetooth functionality to control the lighting wirelessly as well.

The top of the Litra Beam LX houses all the controls if you just want to configure things without having to utilize a PC. You’ve got a power button, brightness control, and color temperature gauge, the latter of which doubles as an RGB color toggle when the switch is engaged. It’s all very intuitive and straightforward, meaning you can make quick adjustments if it's in reach, and then fine-tune in the software if needed.

The stand that comes with the Litra Beam LX is excellent as you can either mount horizontally or vertically and adjust the height to several mounting points. This means you can have it under your monitor, above your displays, or stood up in between depending on how much space is available on your gaming setup.

Performance

Logitech Litra Beam LX in a setup — (Image credit: Future)

The first thing that surprised me about the Logitech Litra Beam LX is just how bright it is when plugged in. As someone who has previously used the Litra Glow as a key light in the past, this one is a definitive upgrade in terms of its brightness. The company claims the 400-lumen LEDs are “TrueSoft for natural, radiant skin tones” and in my testing, I can confirm this. My setup is on the darker side of things usually due to an aging light bulb and lampshade, but this light bar made an immediate difference in illuminating my surroundings.

The RGB lighting itself is vivid and the controls mean you can cycle through gradients, primary colors, and rainbow spectrums. It’s not quite as powerful as the front-facing beam in terms of raw brightness, with a softer ambiance, but it does a good job of reaching the wall behind my monitors. I found that the RGB was the most prominent with the room light turned off and relying on the light bar itself to keep me illuminated. For those darker times, a warmer color is a better option, though, as staring into harsh white light at all hours of the night wasn’t quite ideal.

Fortunately, the temperature controls on the Litra Beam LX are easy to cycle through as swapping from a colder blue hue to a warmer orange tint only takes around a second or two. The overall temperature range of 2700-6500K is balanced, as even the most intense setting was easy on the eyes. If you’re someone who’s in need of a more powerful light than what USB ports on your PC can handle then you’re in good hands here.

Ultimately, the Logitech Litra Beam LX is a great key light that features decent RGB lighting. However, you’re paying a premium on this added feature over the original, so if RGB is something you can live without then you’re better off going for the standard variant instead.

Logitech Litra Beam LX vertical — (Image credit: Future)

Verdict

Buy it if…

You want a powerful desktop key light

The Litra Beam LX is one of the brightest and most powerful key lights I have ever used.

You want RGB lighting in your setup

The RGB on the reverse of the Litra Beam is bright and adds a soft ambiance to the setup without being overkill.

Don’t buy it if…

You don't need or want RGB lighting

You’re better off buying the standard Litra Beam if you want to get the best value for money as it is considerably cheaper.

You want a USB-powered ring light

The Litra Beam LX requires mains power to function, so if you just want something to plug into the USB port of your PC then the Litra Glow is the better choice here.

Complete your setup with one of the best gaming monitors and pair it with one of the best PC controllers.

Logitech Yeti GX review – a great-sounding microphone for streamers

2:00 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Consoles & PC Gadgets Gaming PC Gaming | Tags: Mortal Kombat | Comments: Off

The Logitech Yeti GX is the latest microphone aimed at gamers and streamers from the company as the next iteration of the tried-and-true Blue Yeti before it. With its compact design, stellar stand, decent RGB lighting, and intuitive controls, it can easily be considered one of the best microphones for streaming and one of the best USB microphones, however, there’s little new here to blow anyone away.

Few USB microphones are as well established as the Blue Yeti and this new take carries the torch toward with the signature sound profile, ease of use, and metal construction. If you’re after something plug-and-play that sounds decent then the Logitech Yeti GX could be the microphone for you.