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
(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
(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
(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
(Image credit: Spiral Bound Interactive LLC)
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.
Platform reviewed: PC Available: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC Release date: October 24, 2023
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria has the potential to be something much greater than what it is. The premise of fighting and regaining power over the grand halls of Moria is enough to spark excitement in any fan. Unfortunately, the stumbles over this great potential and the result is very disappointing.
In multiplayer crafting survival game The Lord of the Rings:Return to Moria, you can venture forth by yourself or in a group of up to eight players to conquer the orc-infested mines of Moria. Instead of speaking friend and entering the Western Gate, you break through the side of the mountain to find another entrance into the depths. Once inside, you slowly make your way through the abandoned halls, fixing up old buildings and discovering new pathways, reclaiming the Dwarven home as you go.
While there may be a lot to see here, there is almost nothing to do. Crawling around the mines becomes monotonous as everything looks the same, with only a few pieces of scrap metal, ore deposits, and barrels to distinguish different hallways.
Master craftsman
(Image credit: North Beach Games)
Return to Moria starts strong with a customization menu that’s surprisingly detailed and fun to use. This menu lets you choose from numerous hair and beard options as well as voice, origin, and other features that help create a Dwarf that’s unique to you.
I’ve always loved the Dwarves for their unique style, which has never shied away from non-binary features. Anyone can have a beard or facial hair, while body shape and clothing tend to be indistinguishable between the sexes. Luckily, Return to Moria managed to stay true to this essence with its customization options. I spent almost 20 minutes cycling through all the options available, rejoicing at all the face shapes that had no focus on sex or gender. I chose to have a regal face, broad shoulders, red hair, and an outfit from the Misty Mountains.
Unfortunately, this was the first and the last time I was pleasantly surprised. While there were brief moments in which you could relish your choice of voice actor while singing mining songs as you broke down a coal-riddled wall, most of the time my Dwarf felt lifeless and generic.
One is the loneliest number
(Image credit: North Beach Games)
After you set up your first base by the entrance to Moria, you can finally adventure ahead and discover what else lies in wait for you. At first, I was expecting to find some grand mines full of gigantic forges or maybe fiery braziers that lit the path through the mountain. Unfortunately, what I was greeted with was much less impressive.
Best Bit:
(Image credit: North Beach Games)
Finding an elven grove inside the mines of Moria was beautiful and reminded me of how spectacular The Lord of the Rings is. Thanks to this poignant moment, I’ll start rereading the books.
Most of the spaces look remarkably similar. So much so that it’s very easy to get lost in the endless halls. Many of them are littered with buckets and broken wooden chairs, with rats, badgers, and wolves loitering around, but apart from these wild animals, there isn’t much else to see. While the rubbish left lying around can be helpful if you’re gathering crafting materials, they mostly just get in the way and, after a while, blend into the background.
I wanted to reclaim Moria for its rightful owners, the Dwaves, so badly. I set out with grand expectations of building magnificent dining halls and creating vast mining networks. Unfortunately, I ended up spending more time than I’d care to admit cleaning away broken buckets and making small forges and fires in derelict houses. No matter how hard I tried to breathe life back into the cold, dark halls, I just couldn’t create anything worthwhile or characterful. The crafting options were limited to basic forging tools, walls, and ceilings. It was even impossible to use warm decorations such as carpets or curtains to create unique spaces.
Orc-estrated attacks
(Image credit: North Beach Games)
There are more than just aggressive badgers and wolves in the mines, though. Every now and then, you’re greeted by raiding orc parties, who have traveled from the depths of Moria simply to break down one of the walls you just finished building.
These green menaces arrive in groups of three or five, armed with swords and axes. You’re alerted to each raid by the sounding of a horn that’s followed by rapid footsteps that close in on your location. They tend to attack the closest hearth or base, so if you aren’t home, you usually return to see orcs destroying your dwelling like some underwhelming house party gone wrong. However, if you are close by, then you’re high on their hit list. If you have an iron sword on your hip, then these attacks are more frustrating than fearsome. One at a time, you can take out an entire party in less than a minute.
I’m just trying to sweep up the market; I don’t want to engage in some bar-side brawls
It’s unfortunate that these hunting parties are so underwhelming. The orcs found in these mines simply aren’t as terrifying as my younger self remembered. It’s also annoying how, no matter where you are, these raiders always find you. There’s no way to prevent incoming attacks or disengage from fights without dying. I’m just trying to sweep up the market; I don’t want to engage in some bar-side brawls.
Many of these evil-doers also end up embedded in my walls, forcing me to either destroy the entire structure or be forced to take a hit every time I go to collect stone from storage. They aren’t the only ones to get stuck in precarious locations, either. On my travels through the mines, I often encountered badgers who were wedged into the walls. I also found it difficult to consistently place items intentionally as they would rapidly glitch around when I tried to put anything in a tight space.
Unfortunate misstep
(Image credit: North Beach Games)
So, unfortunately, it’s another sad day for Lord of the Rings fans. This year has been unkind to the fantasy universe, with the Lord of the Rings: Gollum also releasing in a state that left many players and fans utterly dismayed and disappointed. Return to Moria follows this pattern as the title was unable to capture the incredible scope, adventure, and fantastical setting that this series is loved and known for.
I’d love nothing more than to play as Dwarves retaking their homeland alongside friends, but sadly, this is not the game to do that in. Besides the setting, there’s not much else to celebrate in Return to Moria.
For the time being, it seems like the only thing Lord of the Rings fans can do to maintain their immersion in Tolkien’s world is to rely on the books and movies, and, if you’re desperate to create your own Dwavern city, try to do so in Vanilla Minecraft - you’ll likely have far more success than if you try to do the same in Return to Moria.
Accessibility
(Image credit: North Beach Games)
There's not much in the way of accessibility settings in Return to Moria. Apart from basic subtitle settings enabling you to change the size and background, there isn’t much else in the way of customizing your in-game experience. However, you can change the volume levels for voice and UI effects if you want a quieter playthrough.
How we reviewed
I played Lord of the Rings:Return to Moria for around 10 hours on PC. I encountered multiple glitches that impacted my experience in the game, from orcs and badgers being trapped in walls to storage pallets shifting all over the place if I set them down in a tight spot.
While I tried to explore all the mines had to offer, I quickly realized that I wasn’t going to get too far by myself, so I spent a lot of time fixing up and clearing the chambers I did have access to while slowly trying to weed out all the orcs which were found in the elven sector.
If you're a fan of exploration, then check out these brilliant adventure games on PC and the best RPGs that are available to play right now.
Press paws on your Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT purr-chase for now. I get why that may seem hard; this pair of gaming headset is adorable and completely irresistible. And it also has its share of appealing features outside of its feline design, many of which make it a great option for gaming while on the go.
However, it may not be for you if you’re more discerning about audio quality.
Don’t get me wrong here; I can get a bit snobby when it comes to audio quality myself, and despite its performance shortcomings, which I will get to later in this review, I also don’t mind this gaming headset. I probably wouldn’t call it one of the best PC gaming headsets I’ve tested, but it has its merits – the big one of which is convenience. And, I am an absolute sucker for all things pink and all things cat.
So I wouldn’t knock it just yet just because you’re used to great-sounding audio devices. Instead, read this review first before hitting buy.
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(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
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(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
Design-wise, of course, the Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT is winning. Who among us doesn’t love cats, after all? (If you hate cats, you’re a monster, and I don’t want to be friends!) And that pink-and-gray colorway (or as Razer calls it, Quartz) is just the thing if you want to veer away from that black aesthetic that seems to dominate the gaming world. Adding to its appeal are customizable RGB lighting zones on the cat ears and the earcups.
(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
This wireless gaming headset isn’t all looks either. The headset itself feels solid and made of quality materials, with a textured finish on the headband, yokes, and parts of the earcups that ensure minimal scratches as well as plush cushioning for the earpads and the underside of the headband for comfort.
Being a lower mid-range gaming headset, there are noticeable signs of corners being cut here. While the earcups themselves can be tilted up and down, the yokes don’t have any articulation, slightly affecting comfort. And the leatherette used is neither the softest nor the most breathable. The latter doesn’t bother me much, but the former can feel like an inconvenience in some instances – like when I need to free one ear by moving the earcup off to the side.
While great for gaming on your desktop PC, the Kraken Kitty V2 BT is really designed more for gaming and media consumption on the go – whether that’s on your laptop (you don’t have to use any of your precious ports), your portable gaming console like the Nintendo Switch, or your smartphone. It only has Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity and a built-in, not boom, mic, is fairly lightweight especially considering it’s got two kitty ears attached to it, and comes with uncomplicated physical controls.
(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
When I say uncomplicated, I mean it’s only got a multi-function button that acts as the power, Bluetooth pairing, media, and call buttons, and the volume dial. You just have to remember the presses and holds for every function. Luckily, it’s all very intuitive – single press for play/pause and accept/end call; double press to skip a track; triple press for the previous track; etc – that you’ll have it all memorized after a couple of uses.
I only wish Razer also added a way to customize the RGB lighting on-the-fly. It only allows you to do so by connecting it to your smartphone and to the Razer Audio mobile app, and personalizing it from there. The mobile app, by the way, also gives you access to a 10-band EQ, five different sound presets, and toggling Gaming Mode for low latency audio.
Really, the only reasons why you’d think it’s not for on-the-go use are the fact that it’s not foldable and the absence of a travel pouch. These omissions are a tad purr-plexing given that Razer has positioned this as more of a headset to be used everywhere than an actual gaming headset to be used at home.
(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
Don’t expect high-quality audio on the Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT. That isn’t to say that it sounds bad, because it doesn’t. And it’s got a bright sound profile that I think a lot of people would appreciate.
At the same time, the high end is not very crisp and the mids are not very prominent, resulting in audio that is not very rich and at times piercing to the ears. That’s whether I’m playing Hogwarts Legacy on my PC, playing Cooking Madness on my phone, or listening to my favorite tunes. The low end is also underwhelming, even when you switch to Razer’s Enhanced Bass sound profile.
The issue that bothers me most of all, however, is the clipping. When there are spikes in volume in the audio, even when the headset volume itself is not all the way up, I hear a popping sound. There’s definitely digital distortion happening that might be possibly related to the headset not having a lot of headroom.
The integrated beamforming mics are less-than purr-fect either. They have no issues with plosives or sibilance, and you will come through loud and audible. However, you’ll also sound a little distorted and not crisp. Plus, there’s no background noise rejection – friends could hear me typing, snapping my fingers, or playing music when I’m chatting with them.
At least, the battery life is decent. It’s not the longest I’ve seen, but you are getting up to 40 hours of playtime, especially if you turn off that bright RGB lighting.
Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT: Price & availability
How much does it cost? $99.99 / £99.99 (about AU$190)
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia
I wouldn’t call the Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT a pricey gaming headset. One of the best wireless gaming headsets out there, especially in terms of design, it sits nicely in the mid-range market at $99.99 / £99.99 (about AU$190). However, I also expected it to have better audio performance at that price.
If you want a more elevated listening experience, I’d go for the Razer BlackShark V2 Pro (2023) if you can spend a little more. It’s got lots of volume, an immersive sound, an amazing mic, and even better battery life. For only a bit more than the Kraken Kitty V2 BT, the Logitech G733 Lightspeed Wireless RGB will deliver a more elevated sound.
Value: 3.5 / 5
Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT: Specs
Should you buy the Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT?
(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
Buy it if...
You love fun gaming peripherals to spruce up your setup There’s no doubt that the Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT is like catnip to gamers who prefer fun gaming accessories with its kitty ears and its pink design.
You want a gaming headset you can take anywhere Razer had portability in mind when designing this gaming headset, with its Bluetooth connectivity, multi-function button, light weight, and more.
Don't buy it if...
You need better audio quality This doesn’t sound bad, but if you’re a more discerning listener, you’ll find a lot of flaws in its audio and mic performance.
Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT: Also consider
How I tested the Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT
I tested the Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT for a week
I used it with my PC, my iPhone, and my laptop
I used it for gaming and for listening to music
Testing the Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT for a full week, I used it as my main gaming headset when playing different titles on my desktop PC and on my smartphone. I also used it to listen to music on my laptop and again, on my phone, as well as make phone calls with friends. I also made sure to test its features, including its multi-function button and its battery life.
I’ve been testing, reviewing, and using gaming headsets for years as a freelance tech journalist and now as one of the Computing editors at TechRadar. My years of experience along with my discerning audio tastes make me more than qualified to test and vet these devices for you.
The ARMs race has begun! With Apple's third-generation ARM-based Apple M3 silicon just around the corner, Qualcomm announced its competing solution, Snapdragon X Elite for Windows laptops. The SoC promises excellent performance, extreme efficiency and will arrive in the PC market by mid-2024.
A number of the largest Windows PC manufacturers have now been confirmed to develop devices with the new chip. The list includes HP, Lenovo, Asus, Dell and Acer. Honor, Microsoft, Samsung and Xiaomi are also going to deliver Snapdragon X Elite-powered laptops to announce next year.
Software...
Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed: Two-minute review
Though its name can be a mouthful, the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed makes everything else easy-breezy for users. Logitech G took one of the best gaming mice ever and improved on it in many ways, from its weight and charging port to its sensor, while keeping the bits that already made it a crowd-favorite.
Being one of the most lightweight gaming mice isn’t its only accolade – although shedding 3g off its predecessor’s weight is nonetheless impressive. It’s a speedy and long-lasting one too, and focusing more on its performance and longevity also allows it a no-frills look that makes it easy to fit in any setup, whether or not you’re into flashy RGB.
As its name implies, this is a wireless gaming mouse that uses Logitech’s Lightspeed wireless technology for connectivity. That means that you won’t have to put up with cables snagging when gaming.
(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
If the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed looks to you very similar to the original though, that’s because Logitech G has largely kept the same simple minimalist design. That’s alright, in my opinion. It may be the era of maximalism, but that’s not necessary here. It’s also kept the same USB receiver garage at the bottom to keep that USB receiver safe, with the same round magnetic door that conveniently snaps in place, as well as the same five buttons, the same smooth-to-touch matte shell, and the same supportive form that makes it ideal for both claw and palm grippers.
That smooth finish may not be everyone’s cup of tea, as some gamers need a bit of texture for proper grippage – if only Logitech G had replicated the Razer Viper V3 HyperSpeed’s grippy finish. However, stuck-on grips are included in the box that aren’t too shabby as alternatives. And all five buttons are within easy reach, even for someone like me who’s got small hands, so you can rest assured that you’re gaming comfortably.
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(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
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(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
Just like the original, there’s no Powercore module (the wireless charging puck) included, even though you can still swap out the magnetic garage door for it for wireless charging. If you already have Logitech’s Powerplay wireless charging system, then you’re all set. If not, you’ll have to spend more for that convenience, which isn’t great considering this mouse is already expensive.
There are some design improvements thrown in, however. The most welcome of them is the USB-C charging port that replaced that antiquated and frankly annoying microUSB port. And again, its weight dropped from 63g of the original to merely 60g. Finally, apart from the black and white color options, there’s also a pink one for those trying to stray from neutral shades.
(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
The Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed delivers a faster and more precise performance over its predecessor. That’s all thanks to its 2,000Hz polling rate and a new HERO 2 sensor that offers up to 32,000 DPI (a jump from 1,000Hz polling rate and up to 25,600 DPI).
Admittedly, those numbers, which you can set and adjust via the Logitech G Hub, are more than what most regular gamers need, but they do mean that this gaming mouse can more than keep up during fast-paced games and battles when you’re being overwhelmed by enemies, making it future-proofed. While I’m far from a competitive gamer, it’s proven more than capable when I’m playing CS:GO and Doom Eternal.
(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
I do have a couple of minor quibbles, however. Sadly, zero-additive PTFE mouse feet, while delivering impeccable maneuverability on some surfaces, don’t glide easily on others. I found that although they’re great on gaming mouse pads and mats, they feel fiddly on bare desks. On top of that, the lower arch of the mouse isn’t as supportive for palm grippers; wrist fatigue is real after a couple of hours.
However, the mouse makes up for it in longevity. With up to 95 hours of battery life on a single charge, you’re getting almost two weeks of gaming every day for eight hours per day. That tracks as I didn’t have to recharge once during my two-week testing period.
Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed: Price & availability
How much does it cost? $159 / £149 / AU$299
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia
All those improvements will cost you. The Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed is slightly more expensive than its predecessor at $159 / £149 / AU$299. That’s around the same price as the Razer Deathadder V3 Pro, which has a base polling rate of 1,000Hz (upgradable to 4,000Hz with the Razer Hyperpolling wireless dongle), up to 30,000 DPI, and up to 90 hours battery life.
That price tag is admittedly a little steep for a gaming mouse, but if you’re looking for a fast-performing wireless mouse that lasts a while, it’s a great investment. However, if you can’t afford it, the HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 Wireless offers 1,000Hz polling rate, up to 26,000 DPI, and an impressive 100-hour battery life for just $89.99 / £94.99 / AU$149.
Value: 4 / 5
Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed: Specs
(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
Should you buy the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed?
Buy it if...
You need a fast and long-lasting wireless gaming mouse It delivers speed and accurate performance, making it ideal for competitive and fast-paced gaming.
You prefer a lightweight mouse It’s not the most lightweight wireless gaming mouse, but it is one of the lightest. If you want something light, this is a strong contender.
You hate charging your wireless peripherals This has up to 90 hours of battery life on a single charge, which means you won’t have to charge that often.
Don't buy it if...
You’re on a budget It is a pretty expensive investment, and there are cheaper under $100 / £100 alternatives available.
You prefer a gaming mouse with more heft If you’re one of the many gamers who aren’t comfortable with lightweight mice, you should give this one a skip.
Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed: Also consider
How I tested the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed
Tested the mouse for a couple of weeks
Used it for playing PC games as well as for work
I spent two weeks testing the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed, dedicating a few hours each night for gaming so I could put this gaming mouse through its paces. In the daytime, I used it as my main mouse for work.
To test it, I played a few games with it, from a couple of fast-paced titles to more leisurely-paced games, getting a feel for its buttons, ergonomics, and performance. I made sure to utilize the G Hub software to customize settings and gave it a full charge before I began testing so I could accurately assess its battery life.
I’ve been testing and reviewing PC gaming peripherals for about 10 years now. Not only do I have plenty of experience with them, but I know what makes the best ones tick and can intuitively tell you which ones are not worth your time and money.
We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.
Available on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC
Release date: October 24, 2023
It’s rare to see a series commit to a feeling as hard as the Metal Gear stealth games. Whether you’re diving into Metal Gear or Metal Gear Solid 2, you’ll fill the same role: a super-spy sneaking his way into an enemy stronghold with nothing on you but a pack of smokes and a will to succeed.
From there, each game plays out like an action-thriller, equal parts stealth and explosive violence as your operative pulls a thread and unravels a sprawling conspiracy as time ticks away. Often this will involve throwing down with some fantastic bosses and a few giant mechs too - the Metal Gears hinted at in the title. Meanwhile, the same motifs come up again and again: terse radio calls, military firepower, and that slightly anxious feeling in the pit of your stomach, the nervousness you get just before you get spotted in a neighborhood-sized game of hide-and-seek tag.
Later games in the series amp up the cinematic production but also the intricacies of the stealth action and the combat - the latter of which making you feel like a cornered animal with your back to the wall, desperately trying to hit the enemy hard before scurrying back to a safe place to lick your wound and count your remaining ammo. But no matter how much extra computing power flows into the series, the original Metal Gear and the games that crept out after it never lost that core feeling of stealthy action.
Excuse the history lesson, but there’s no way around it. Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 packages up the first five games in the franchise into one bumper collection of tactical espionage action. This means you get Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, in addition to a heap of special features and regional add-ons like the superb VR Missions. These are re-releases rather than full remasters, so fans of the original games will find that they play exactly how you remember, and look a tiny bit shinier.
A solid recommendation
(Image credit: Konami)
For new players, it’s hard to emphasize quite how influential the Metal Gear Solid games in particular were, and the good news is that they’ve mostly aged well, and are definitely worth picking up even now all these years later. Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 are top-down and have a sort of retro chic because they’re old enough to be the sort of games that current indies are trying to riff off of. Metal Gear Solid is the only one in the bunch to have aged badly, but there will still be a good audience for how difficult the stealth actually is here to pull off, compared to the more forgiving - and much more interesting - detection systems in Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3.
In every case, the mechanical act of playing the game is tight and interesting. The systems here are every bit as solid as stealth games like Hitman, Combat still works. Later games have location based damage and you can take soldiers out of the fight by shooting their gun arm, or slow them down by hitting them in the legs. However, it's imprecise, so often you'll find something cool has happened by accident - a grenade you threw in panic has crippled a response team's ability to keep up with you, or a stray bullet meant for someone else has stopped a guard being able to shoot you. Better yet, hit an alert guard in the radio in Metal Gear Solid 2 and he'll be unable to report seeing you, keeping the alarm un-raised and giving you time to clean up your mess.
Best bit
(Image credit: Konami)
Metal Gear Solid 2’s tanker prologue was iconic then, and it’s iconic now. Sneaking around a rain-slick tanker’s deck picking off Russian Spetsnaz is a perfect example of how auteur Hideo Kojima obsesses over not just the vibe of his work, but also the way each mechanic interacts with each other.
But the controls are where things start to suffer. Holding your gun ready to fire and moving requires you to hold two of the face buttons on your controller in tandem, and it’s often easier to move yourself into position to take out an enemy than to actually aim your weapon. Bizarrely, this works to make combat feel like something to be avoided, and it encourages you to get your sneak on.
Although how you do that is up to you. Something quite incredible about all three of the Metal Gear Solid games included here is how intricate they are, and the options that they give you. Take the humble cardboard box. In Metal Gear Solid you can use it to hide yourself from enemies and surveillance cameras, but you can also use it to ship yourself around the Shadow Moses facility by stowing away on trucks like an early iteration of fast travel. You can even get a wolf to urinate on it, covering you in their scent so that wolves in the game no longer attack you.
This is a recurrent theme - the intricate interactions, not the wolf urine. Although cardboard boxes do play a large part of every Master Collection game - who knew - there’s a huge number of simple systems that actually turn out to be incredibly complex, making the games feel impossibly deep even though they’re actually very simple.
Sneak and destroy
(Image credit: Konami)
Soldiers in all three games feel intelligent but are actually very stupid indeed. They follow pre-set paths and behave in predictable ways, but the first time you’re cornered in Metal Gear Solid 2 and the game’s radar turns off to give way to a tight-angle shot of a squad clearing out the area they had previously trapped you in? You’ll jump to your feet. You’ll feel a rush of adrenaline that few games can match. Better yet, each of the stealth masterpieces have tight runtimes. Players used to the long-winded arcs of modern games will probably be stunned by how quickly Metal Gear Solid lets you get into the heart of its mystery, and it’s easily finishable in a handful of hours if you’re moving with purpose. The other games in the collection are the same: you get to the meat quickly, and then things keep moving at a steady pace until the credits roll.
I don’t know how much I subscribe to auteur theory, but I will say Hideo Kojima and his team of collaborators managed to make one of the most interesting stealth games of all time with Metal Gear Solid, before doing it all over again with Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and then accidentally inventing the survival genre with the slightly lesser Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater 10 years before anyone else. Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake are also worth playing, but don’t quite hit the same high notes.
The games’ stories pinball between spy fiction and some absolutely ridiculous conspiracy theories and supernatural elements. It’s to the credit of the writing team that these twists always feel earned and no matter how ridiculous things get, most players will be along for the ride every step of the way. Where it gets grim are the archaic parts that fans have long tried to wave off as foibles of auteur Hideo Kojima. There’s no other word for it but gross when Metal Gear Solid hero Solid Snake celebrates sneaking into an enemy base by skeezing all over his school-age intelligence operator Mei Ling, before immediately changing tack to hit on the older doctor that was on the same call. It’s easy to see the tip of the hat to James Bond , but it feels less like leading-man charm and more like 007 had drunkenly staggered into a family reunion to try his luck with everyone he wasn’t related to.
In Metal Gear Solid 2, Snake can hide inside a locker and kiss the posters of half-naked women taped inside with a loud lip-smacking noise. I grew up with these games, and I adore them even now, but it’s hard to defend the treatment and view of women in just about every game in the series. Metal Gear Solid 3 lets you switch to first-person mode during cutscenes just to look at the barely concealed chest of the KGB spy Eva during cutscenes. It won’t hinder most people’s enjoyment of the game, but this is the sort of thing that titillates teenagers, and as a man now in my mid-30s often spending cutscenes trying to shovel snacks into my mouth, I often found myself wishing Hideo Kojima and his team of writers had made their spies a little less horny and a lot more covert with their intentions.
Regardless, this collection is both a treasure trove in terms of video game preservation but also a terrific option for new players who are starved by the drought of top-notch stealth. While the fact these versions are a repackaged collection of the 2012 remasters may annoy some, there's no denying that every game here has stood the test of time, despite the fact half of the games included are over 25 years old.
Dig in, they don’t do tactical espionage action like this anymore.
Accessibility
Outside of basic subtitling, there's next to nothing here. Each of the games in the collection comes with its own option menu, but it's exclusively full of options to turn off blood or other details related to how the game works. Accessibility isn't catered for at all here.
How we reviewed
I played through each of the games in the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 on PS5. This took around 35 hours, but I found I already had the muscle memory to get through most of the areas in Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2 promptly, massively reducing how much I had to puzzle or stealth my way through as long-optimized routes from over a decade ago appear to be seared into my brain.
I also tried several of the included extra content packs, which added more stealth but felt somewhat superfluous; a nice addition for players who may feel the need to sneak even after the credits have rolled.
The Intel Arc A770 has had quite a journey since its release back on October 12, 2022, and fortunately, it has been a positive one for Intel despite a somewhat rocky start.
Right out the gate, I'll say that if you are looking for one of the best cheap graphics cards for 1440p gaming, this card definitely needs to be on your list. It offers great 1440p performance for most modern PC titles that most of us are going to be playing and it's priced very competitively against its rivals.
Where the card falters, much like with my Intel Arc A750 review earlier this year, is with older DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 titles, and this really does hurt its overall score in the end. Which is a shame, since for games released in the last five or six years, this card is going to surprise a lot of people who might have written it off even six months ago.
Intel's discrete graphics unit has been working overtime on its driver for this card, providing regular updates that continue to improve performance across the board, though some games benefit more than others.
Naturally, a lot of emphasis is going to be put on more recently released titles. And even though Intel has also been paying attention to shoring up support for older games as well, if you're someone with an extensive back catalog of DX9 and DX10 titles from the mid-2000s that you regularly return to, then this is not the best graphics card for your needs. Nvidia and AMD drivers carry a long legacy of support for older titles that Intel will honestly never be able to match.
But if what you're looking for is the best 1440p graphics card to play the best PC games of the modern era but you're not about to plop down half a grand on a new GPU, then the Intel Arc A770 is going to be a very solid pick with a lot more to offer than many will probably realize.
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Intel Arc A770: Price & availability
How much is it? US MSRP for 16GB card: $349 (about £280/AU$510); for 8GB card: $329 (about £265/AU$475)
When was it released? It went on sale on October 12, 2022
Where can you buy it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia
The Intel Arc A770 is available now in the US, UK, and Australia, with two variants: one with 16GB GDDR6 VRAM and an official US MSRP of $349 (about £280/AU$510), and one with 8GB GDDR6 VRAM and an official MSRP of $329 (about £265/AU$475).
Those are the launch MSRPs from October 2022, of course, and the cards have come down considerably in price in the year since their release, and you can either card for about 20% to 25% less than that. This is important, since the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 and AMD Radeon RX 7600 are very close to the 16GB Arc A770 cards in terms of current prices, and offer distinct advantages that will make potential buyers want to go with the latter rather than the former.
But those decisions are not as cut and dry as you might think, and Intel's Arc A770 holds up very well against modern midrange offerings, despite really being a last-gen card. And, currently, the 16GB variant is the only 1440p card that you're going to find at this price, even among Nvidia and AMD's last-gen offerings like the RTX 3060 Ti and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT. So for 1440p gamers on a very tight budget, this card fills a very vital niche, and it's really the only card that does so.
Price score: 4/5
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Intel Arc A770: Design
Intel's Limited Edition reference card is gorgeous
Will fit most gaming PC cases easily
Intel Arc A770 Limited Edition Design Specs
Slot size: Dual slot Length: 11.02 inches | 280mm Height: 4.53 inches | 115mm Cooling: Dual fan Power Connection: 1 x 8-pin and 1 x 6-pin Video outputs: 3 x DisplayPort 2.0, 1 x HDMI 2.1
The Intel Arc A770 Limited Edition that I'm reviewing is Intel's reference model that is no longer being manufactured, but you can still find some stock online (though at what price is a whole other question).
Third-party partners include ASRock, Sparkle, and Gunnir. Interestingly, Acer also makes its own version of the A770 (the Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770), the first time the company has dipped its toe into the discrete graphics card market.
All of these cards will obviously differ in terms of their shrouds, cooling solutions, and overall size, but as far as Intel's Limited Edition card goes, it's one of my favorite graphics cards ever in terms of aesthetics. If it were still easily available, I'd give this design five out of five, hands down, but most purchasers will have to opt for third-party cards which aren't nearly as good-looking, as far as I'm concerned, so I have to dock a point for that.
It's hard to convey from just the photos of the card, but the black finish on the plastic shroud of the card has a lovely textured feel to it. It's not quite velvety, but you know it's different the second you touch it, and it's something that really stands out from every other card I've reviewed.
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
The silver trim on the card and the more subtle RGB lighting against a matte black shroud and fans really bring a bit of class to the RGB graphics card I typically see. The twin fans aren't especially loud (not any more so than other dual-fan cards, at least), and the card feels thinner than most other similar cards I've reviewed and used, whether or not the card is thinner in fact.
The power connector is an 8-pin and 6-pin combo, so you'll have a pair of cables dangling from the card which may or may not affect the aesthetic of your case, but at least you won't need to worry about a 12VHPWR or 12-pin adapter like you do with Nvidia's RTX 4000-series and 3000-series cards.
You're also getting three DisplayPort 2.0 outputs and an HDMI 2.1 output, which puts it in the same camp as Nvidia's recent GPUs, but can't match AMD's recent move to DisplayPort 2.1, which will enable faster 8K video output. As it stands, the Intel Arc A770 is limited to 8K@60Hz, just like Nvidia. Will you be doing much 8K gaming on a 16GB card? Absolutely not, but as we get more 8K monitors next year, it'd be nice to have an 8K desktop running at 165Hz, but that's a very speculative prospect at this point, so it's probably not anything anyone looking at the Arc A770 needs to be concerned about.
Design Score: 4 / 5
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Intel Arc A770: Specs & features
Good hardware AI cores for better XeSS upscaling
Fast memory for better 1440p performance
Intel's Xe HPG architecture inside the Arc A770 introduces a whole other way to arrange the various co-processors that make up a GPU, adding a third, not very easily comparable set of specs to the already head-scratching differences between Nvidia and AMD architectures.
Intel breaks up its architecture into "render slices", which contain 4 Xe Cores, which each contain 128 shaders, a ray tracing processor, and 16 matrix processors (which are directly comparable to Nvidia's vaunted tensor cores at least), which handle graphics upsampling and machine learning workflows. Both 8GB and 16GB versions of the A770 contain eight render slices for a total of 4096 shaders, 32 ray processors, and 512 matrix processors.
The ACM-G10 GPU in the A770 runs at 2,100MHz base frequency with a 2,400MHz boost frequency, with a slightly faster memory clock speed (2,184MHz) for the 16GB variant than the 8GB variant's 2,000MHz. This leads to an effective memory speed of 16 Gbps for the 8GB card and 17.5 Gbps for the 16GB.
With a 256-bit memory bus, this gives the Arc A770 a much wider lane for high-resolution textures to be processed through, reducing bottlenecks and enabling faster performance when gaming at 1440p and higher resolutions thanks to a 512 GB/s and 559.9 GB/s memory bandwidth for the 8GB and 16GB cards, respectively.
All of this does require a good bit of power, though, and the Arc A770 has a TDP of 225W, which is higher than most 1440p cards on the market today.
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
As far as features all this hardware empowers, there's a lot to like here. The matrix cores are leveraged to great effect by Intel's XeSS graphics upscaling tech found in a growing number of games, and this hardware advantage generally outperforms AMD's FSR 2.0, which is strictly a software-based upscaler.
XeSS does not have frame generation though, and the matrix processors in the Arc A770 are not nearly as mature as Nvidia's 3rd and 4th generation tensor cores found in the RTX 3000-series and RTX 4000-series, respectively.
The Arc A770 also has AV1 hardware-accelerated encoding support, meaning that streaming videos will look far better than those with only software encoding at the same bitrate, making this a compelling alternative for video creators who don't have the money to invest in one of Nvidia's 4000-series GPUs.
Specs & features: 3.5 / 5
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Intel Arc A770: Performance
Great 1440p performance
Intel XeSS even allows for some 4K gaming
DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 support lacking, so older games will run poorly
Resizable BAR is pretty much a must
At the time of this writing, Intel's Arc A770 has been on the market for about a year, and I have to admit, had I gotten the chance to review this card at launch, I would probably have been as unkind as many other reviewers were.
As it stands though, the Intel Arc A770 fixes many of the issues I found when I reviewed the A750, but some issues still hold this card back somewhat. For starters, if you don't enable Resizable BAR in your BIOS settings, don't expect this card to perform well at all. It's an easy enough fix, but one that is likely to be overlooked, so it's important to know that going in.
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In synthetic benchmarks, the A770 performed fairly well against the current crop of graphics cards, despite its effectively being a last-gen card. It is particularly strong competition against the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti across multiple workloads, and it even beats the 4060 Ti in a couple of tests.
Its Achilles Heel, though, is revealed in the PassMark 3D Graphics test. Whereas 3DMark tests DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 workloads, Passmark's test also runs DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 workflows, and here the Intel Arc A770 simply can't keep up with AMD and Nvidia.
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In non-ray-traced and native-resolution gaming benchmarks, the Intel Arc A770 managed to put up some decent numbers against the competition. At 1080p, the Arc A770 manages an average of 103 fps with an average minimum fps of 54. At 1440p, it averages 78 fps, with an average minimum of 47, and even at 4K, the A770 manages an average of 46 fps, with an average minimum of 27 fps.
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Turn on ray tracing, however, and these numbers understandably tank, as they do for just about every card below the RTX 4070 Ti and RX 7900 XT. Still, even here, the A770 does manage an average fps of 41 fps, with an average minimum of 32 fps) at 1080p with ray tracing enabled, which is technically still playable performance. Once you move up to 1440p and 4K, however, your average title isn't going to be playable at native resolution with ray tracing enabled.
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Enter Intel XeSS. When set to "Balanced", XeSS turns out to be a game changer for the A770, getting it an average framerate of 66 fps (with an average minimum of 46 fps) at 1080p, an average of 51 fps (with an average minimum of 38 fps) at 1440p, and an average 33 fps (average minimum 26 fps) at 4K with ray tracing maxed out.
While the 26 fps average minimum fps at 4K means it's really not playable at that resolution even with XeSS turned on, with settings tweaks, or more modest ray tracing, you could probably bring that up into the low to high 30s, making 4K games playable on this card with ray tracing turned on.
That's something the RTX 4060 Ti can't manage thanks to its smaller frame buffer (8GB VRAM), and while the 16GB RTX 4060 Ti could theoretically perform better (I have not tested the 16GB so I cannot say for certain), it still has half the memory bus width of the A770, leading to a much lower bandwidth for larger texture files to pass through.
This creates an inescapable bottleneck that the RTX 4060 Ti's much larger L2 cache can't adequately compensate for, and so takes it out of the running as a 4K card. When tested, very few games managed to maintain playable frame rates even without ray tracing unless you dropped the settings so low as to not make it worth the effort. The A770 16GB, meanwhile, isn't technically a 4K card, but it can still dabble at that resolution with the right settings tweaks and still look reasonably good.
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All told, then, the Intel Arc A770 turns out to be a surprisingly good graphics card for modern gaming titles that can sometimes even hold its own against the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti. It can't hold a candle to the RX 7700 XT or RTX 4070, but it was never meant to, and given that those cards cost substantially more than the Arc A770, this is entirely expected.
Its maximum observed power draw of 191.909W is pretty high for the kind of card the A770 is, but it's not the most egregious offender in that regard. All this power meant that keeping it cool was a struggle, with its maximum observed temperature hitting about 74 ºC.
Among all the cards tested, the Intel Arc A770 was at nearly the bottom of the list with the RX 6700 XT, so the picture for this card might have been very different had it launched three years ago and it had to compete with the RTX 3000-series and RX-6000 series exclusively. In the end, this card performs like a last-gen card, because it is.
Despite that, it still manages to be a fantastic value on the market right now given its low MSRP and fairly solid performance, rivaling the RTX 4060 Ti on the numbers. In reality though, with this card selling for significantly less than its MSRP, it is inarguably the best value among midrange cards right now, and it's not even close.
Performance score: 3.5 / 5
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Should you buy the Intel Arc A770?
Buy the Intel Arc A770 if...
Don't buy it if...
Also Consider
If my Intel Arc A770 review has you considering other options, here are two more graphics cards for you to consider.
How I tested the Intel Arc A770
I spent several days benchmarking the card, with an additional week using it as my primary GPU
I ran our standard battery of synthetic and gaming benchmarks
Test Bench
These are the specs for the test system used for this review: CPU: Intel Core i9-13900K
CPU Cooler: Cougar Poseidon GT 360 AIO Cooler Motherboard: MSI MPG Z790E Tomahawk Wifi
Memory: 64GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5-6000 SSD: Samsung 990 Pro PSU: Thermaltake PF3 1050W ATX 3.0 Case: Praxis Wetbench
I spent about two weeks with the Intel Arc A770 in total, with a little over half that time using it as my main GPU on my personal PC. I used it for gaming, content creation, and other general-purpose use with varying demands on the card.
I focused mostly on synthetic and gaming benchmarks since this card is overwhelmingly a gaming graphics card. Though it does have some video content creation potential, it's not enough to dethrone Nvidia's 4000-series GPUs, so it isn't a viable rival in that sense and wasn't tested as such.
I've been reviewing computer hardware for years now, with an extensive computer science background as well, so I know how graphics cards like this should perform at this tier.
We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.
Platform reviewed: PC Available on: PC, Nintendo Switch Release date: October 5th, 2023
Plotting and devising are crucial to success in turn-based strategy game Wargroove 2, a challenging sequel that doubles down on tactical troop management and mythical questing. Taking place three years after the first game, Wargroove 2 introduces a carousel of characters with new agendas and mythical, musical weapons that add tension and intrigue to every sword swipe and bullet shot.
Before diving into one of the three interwoven campaigns, I spent my first few hours in the prologue, learning Wargroove 2’s combat controls and meeting the troublemaking Faahri faction. In the wake of the violent power struggle seen in Wargroove, we’re thrust into the vibrant land of Aurania as it has settled into a newfound peace. That calmness is short-lived, though, as the Faahri seek to steal forbidden artifacts hidden across the world, sending its inhabitants into disarray.
I quickly became acquainted with the unlikely Faahri commander Lytra, a rookie mouse mage whose fighting spirit elevates the first two legs of Wargroove 2’s story. This meek and magical buccaneer becomes the first of many controllable captains you’ll wield across the campaign. Lytra captured my heart immediately with their underdog energy and pure heart, as they come to question their orders while on the warpath.
To round out the worldbuilding, a handy integrated Codex helped a newcomer like me to get up to speed with the history of Aurenia and its multiple warring factions. Wargroove 2 has a surprisingly rich backstory that develops as you progress through the campaigns, rewarding you with tidbits as you complete its turn-based missions.
However, while I appreciated the tutorials at the start of my journey, Wargroove 2’s hand-holding extended a little too far into its campaigns. The game's tutorials lasted much longer than necessary and messed with the pacing of the narrative. I would rather have made mistakes on my own terms and learned by reading the How to Play section in the Codex rather than enduring several tedious scenarios. Thankfully, the lessons are integrated into the story so it doesn’t feel like it’s for nothing, but I could have done with a little less parenting over the course of my career as an army commander.
Scheme and slash
(Image credit: Chucklefish)
Wargroove 2’s combat is top-down, turn-based, and tactical, similar to games like Fire Emblem Engage and Advance Wars. Facing off against an army of foes, you’ll take turns positioning units, engaging in combat, picking up resources, and capturing landmarks. While it might seem a lot to juggle at first, Wargroove 2 is surprisingly approachable in its design and felt intuitive to control. I relished the opportunity to create killer combat formations that could sweep out my opposition with efficient calculated strikes.
Terrain formations add an extra consideration, bringing environmental effects like mountains and fog to the game’s animated landscapes - all of which burst with pixelated detail. This led to difficult flashpoints, as my army’s numbers dwindled. During a particularly difficult battle, I had to choose between funneling my swordsmen across a bridge or taking a different risk; sending them through shallow water that would hurt their defense but lead to a quicker attack. While pond walking paid off on this occasion, there were plenty of times where the dice didn’t roll my way, leaving my sweet warriors to take overwhelming damage in swampy riverbeds.
Best bit
(Image credit: Chucklefish)
Wargroove’s adorably lethal character designs summon a sense of accountability in battle that makes losing your soldiers a painful process. Every spear-wielding mouse, puppy warrior, or intergalactic flower fighter that falls is salt in the wound of your miscalculations. Your cutesy companions will be avenged.
Learning to keep a level head and make wise choices as the triumphant music boomed was a persistent impulse check, and it consistently pushed me to think laterally about my forthcoming plans. Lytra and the other commanding officers each have a unique Groove weapon, which draws its power from defeating enemies and capturing buildings in battle. Groove attacks have the ability to shift the combat narrative, and were particularly useful in a pinch when I needed to save my commander.
As I progressed through the story, I found myself frustrated at the tight nature of certain maps which bottlenecked my movement, leading to some painfully slow engagements that I was glad to see the back of. Even if I was more patient, it would just be a case of waiting for units and constantly resetting rounds rather than setting up careful plans.
Fire in the hole
(Image credit: Chucklefish)
Wargroove 2 has a distinctly polished pixel art style that is best seen across the varied animations of its sprites. Central characters interacting with magical ruins would cause them to flicker and come to life with a neon aqua glow. Each geographical area in Aurania has a unique color palette that helps put the vastness of the continent into perspective. Snowy regions are doused with cool-toned greys and purples, while the coastal areas are full of sandy browns and turquoise blues. I was almost always delighted to see new structures as I explored the realm - every pixel had clearly earned its place.
Wargroove 2’s sleek style extends into its battle units, with unique visuals depending on a warrior’s faction and archetype. Flying attackers across all factions have their own idiosyncrasies, such as the science-minded Faahri’s steam-powered jetpack-wielding Flight Engineers or the forest-dwelling Floran troops who use flying Leafwings with fern feather appendages. The technical capabilities of the units remain the same, but the faction differences keep cutscenes fresh as you move between Wargroove 2’s campaigns, grounding each army in its own ambitions.
I would also be remiss not to mention one of Wargroove 2’s best assets: its soundtrack from Dale North, which sets up dramatic and comedic scenes with awesome heavy brass arrangements and intense percussion. The intensity was maintained as I battled my way through a rogue’s gallery of adversaries, with many songs tailored to the environment or character I was facing up against. Wargroove 2’s whimsical pirate tunes wormed their way into my head quickly, and have taken up a residence - I don’t see them forfeiting anytime soon.
Swashbuckle to success
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Once you’re finished taking on the story, you can jump over to the roguelike Conquest mode, which speeds up the action. Here, you choose a commander with an associated starting bonus and soldier formation before working through a league of challenges. Failure in this game mode results in permadeath - no matter how far you get, you’ll have to start over if your commander goes down. If you succeed, you’ll work along the nodes of a combat spiderweb, choosing perks as you go to bolster your army. These perks do cost you gold, so early successes are key to completing the extremities of the web.
Conquest is an exciting change of pace from the exposition-heavy campaign, and it was brain-teasing to grapple with the procedural options and attempt to curate a perfect run, or explore new tactical approaches.
Wargroove 2 also features a map and campaign creator that enables players to use the game’s catalogue of assets to build bespoke narratives. The process can be a little finicky to navigate (especially on the Steam Deck), but it’s a fully-featured and hopeful inclusion that signals a future full of player-made content, an enticing prospect for those who wrap up Wargroove 2’s story and are looking for more challenging fights to sink their teeth into.
Wargroove 2 is a moreish strategy game that repeatedly put my best-laid plans to the test across the linearity of its campaigns and the chaos of its all-new roguelike mode. Even with the handholding and some awkward maps to contend with, the call of "one more battle" was hard to ignore.
Accessibility features
Chucklefish has included a range of features players can use to tailor their experience in Wargroove 2, including difficulty sliders that modify offensive and defensive stats. The accessibility menu has further settings like a colorblind and photosensitivity mode, as well as the ability to toggle vibration.
How we reviewed Wargroove 2
I played through Wargroove 2’s trio of campaigns and Conquest mode between my Steam Deck and PC. Across Wargroove 2’s missions, I modified the difficulty settings to see how I fared in different circumstances and against certain factions. In Conquest mode, I used a variety of commanders and formations, and tried my best to take new paths where possible. When testing the custom content creation tools, I switched between handheld and mouse and keyboard to see how easy it was to put together a map on a portable controller-mapped device.
The best single-player games might offer new experiences if you're looking for the next title to sink your time into. However, we've also got a list of the best multiplayer games on PC if you wanted to play through something with a companion.
Acer, always a competitor where price is concerned, is better known for cost-effective laptops than high-end gaming PCs, but they’ve been producing some of the best gaming PCs since 2008.
The newest of its Predator line, the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023), is a monolith of a PC, which is to say it looks like a proper sexy space monolith, except it's nowhere near as quiet. Rather, it’s so loud that if you wanted to go on holiday but couldn’t, you could get part-way there by closing your eyes and make-believing you’re on a plane. That’s how loud the fans get on “gaming mode”.
On the normal power setting, the fans don’t spin up all that often even while gaming – but they definitely will at some point during a gaming session. If you value immersion while playing, you will find it broken by the Orion 7000.
But the PC excels in all other ways, making it one of the best computers we’ve seen in a while. It’s gorgeously designed; particularly its ARGB lighting is lovely. It’s got more ports than a leopard has spots. Its very large chassis is very well laid out, affording you ample opportunity to customize and upgrade the PC in the future.
Performance-wise it delivers everything you could ask for. It performed well in all the benchmarks we ran, and when we very enthusiastically played the brand-new AAA game Starfield at max settings, it was utterly smooth, with nary a frame-drop.
The fans will be a real problem for some. You wouldn’t be able to record live audio on it. Even voice chat is affected. The 2022 version of the Predator Orion 7000 (2023) had the same problem and was criticized for it, so it’s not like Acer didn’t know.
It’s clear what Acer’s priorities were, though: The Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) is not all that expensive – for a high-end gaming PC, you understand – and Acer has thrown in a decent mouse and keyboard combo. For this decent price, you may well be happy to slap on a good noise canceling headset with directional mic and enjoy the power you’ve bought.
How much does it cost? Starting at $3,000 / £3,300 (about AU$4,655)
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia
Starting at $3,000 / £3,300 (about AU$4,655), the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) is expensive, but considering its specs, the price is actually pretty OK. Acer is known for producing more budget-friendly laptops and PCs, and, for a high-end gaming PC, the Predator Orion 7000 (2023) is not egregiously budget-un-friendly. Anyone looking for a PC armed with an i9 and RTX 4090 is already girded to pay at least this much.
Still, it’s a lot, and you don’t need to spend this much just to play the latest games. If you're looking for anything under $4,000 / £4,00 for the specs of our review unit, then you might want to look at older models like the superb Predator Orion 3000, which we’ve pronounced the best value gaming PC out right now.
Price score: 4 / 5
Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023): Specs
The Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) comes in four configurations in the US, three elsewhere. The cheapest of the US’s configurations has an i7-13700KF, a RTX 3080, and 10 GB dedicated memory; the other three can be succinctly summed up with GPU numbers: 3090, 4080, and 4090. Of Australia’s three configurations, two have an i9-13900K, and either an RTX 4090, or 4080. UK customers also have three configurations, the cheapest of which comes with an i7 hexadeca-core 3.40GHz and an RTX 4070Ti. The other two configurations come with an i9 and an RTX 4080 or 4090.
(Image credit: Future / Rosario Blue)
Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023): Design
Humongous chassis
Gorgeous RGB lighting effects
Easy to upgrade
The Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) is a no-nonsense PC. Its exterior alone proclaims “hard as nails”, meaning it’s serious business, serious gaming business. It scores almost full marks on aesthetics, and no, not simply because of its delicious ARGB – we’re not so shallow we’re completely swept away by a few million colors.
Well, regardless of whether we are or not, the whole package is gorgeous. Its massive ATX chassis is black all over with rounded edges, and the interior is spacious and very neatly arranged. The interior is visible through a crepuscular glass side panel paired with the gorgeous 16.7m ARGB LEDs. To finish is a matte black metal door with a shiny Acer logo printed in black, and topped with mesh.
The front of the chassis has two Predator FrostBlade fans in a raised glass casing with a shiny plastic frame; most of the glass is the same shadowy glass as the side panels, and part of the upper part of the glass is opaque with an Acer logo that lights up blue.
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(Image credit: Future / Rosario Blue)
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(Image credit: Future / Rosario Blue)
While it’s gorgeously designed, the Predator Orion 7000 (2023) really is huge. At 485mm x 219mm x 504.8mm and starting at 14Kg in weight, it’s not easy to carry and takes up a lot of space, so you’ll want to recall your manual handling training when you lift it and position it where you can access the back and not have to move it ever.
And it’s designed to keep you from having to. It’s designed to be easily-upgradable. It’s “toolless” – that is, you don’t need tools to access its internals. And its spacious interior means you don’t need to sweat and curse and get cramps while replacing parts.
(Image credit: Future / Rosario Blue)
As for ports… there’s a really impressive selection both at the back and the top of the chassis: 1x HDMI, 4x USB 2.0, 4x USB 3.1, and 2x USB-C. As for storage, there’s a 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, and 3TB HDD SATA 3 (and you can have up to 2 of each), and on the top, a 2.5-inch bay for hot-swapping USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C drives (one of our favorite features).
Also, there’s some cool free wallpapers on the Acer Predator site to finish off the look of your PC if you’re interested.
Design score: 4 / 5
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(Image credit: Future / Rosario Blue)
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(Image credit: Future / Rosario Blue)
Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023): Performance
The 4090 is superb
Not a single game exists today that cannot be played on it
Very upgradeable
Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023): Benchmarks
Here’s how the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
The Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) performs, well, fantastically. It'd be surprising if it didn't. The review unit we received comes with an unlocked AIO liquid-cooled i9-13900KF processor with 24 cores, 32 threads, a stock frequency of 3000MHz and a clocking speed of 5.4GHz, and the scrumptious beast that is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.
That partnership alone needs no explanation, it is the creme de la creme of gaming parts. Most games we benchmarked it with stayed above 100 FPS even at 4K. A couple managed to tax it at 4K, like Red Dead Redemption 2.
For everyday tasks – browsing, watching Netflix, emailing, programming – well, of course there were no problems. Even playing games while doing most of those things at the same time didn’t disturb the Pool of Performance at all.
The cost is fan noise. When Predator Orion 7000 (2023) gets into full gaming mode they hum in an endless high-speed harmony – as Acer says, hilariously. What they mean is they can’t deny the fans are loud. While voice-chatting, we had to use a headset with noise canceling, and a directional mic, which definitely improved things, but it’s such a shame it’s necessary.
The noise means you won’t always get to appreciate Acer’s DTS:X Ultra audio, which, Acer says, allows you to experience “real-world spatial sound” by transforming your speakers and headset into a 360 degree high-end surround sound system. We can confirm that the sound is full, clear and feels immersive.
Where internet connectivity is concerned Acer has installed its 2.5G “Killer Ethernet” and 6GHz Wi-Fi 6E, so fast and efficient internet access will run whether you want to use Wi-Fi or ethernet to get online.
The Orion 7000 comes preinstalled with Acer’s PredatorSense software. Despite the name it doesn’t alert you to predators or prey but to problems in your system: it’s the obligatory system-specific hardware monitor/configurer, one of the nicest we’ve seen, though; it shows temps and speeds very clearly, and lets you control the fans, power settings, lighting, and the clock speeds without having to go into the BIOS.
Performance score: 5 / 5
Should you buy the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023)?
Buy it if...
You want a behemoth PC that can take on anything Performance is at the heart of the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023). It can take on any task from general day-to-day use to intensive gaming sessions. It’s perfect for old, new and future games, so you won’t need a replacement any time soon.
You want an easy-to-upgrade PC The opportunities to upgrade the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) are almost endless. With its toolless, spacious chassis, you won’t be fiddling and stressing when you’re ready to tweak it.
Don't buy it if...
You’re looking for a more cost-effective gaming PC The Predator Orion 7000 (2023) is expensive, and understandably so, but if you don’t have enough in your budget to fork out for its cheapest configuration, then there are more-than-decent cheaper alternatives to purchase instead.
Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023): Also consider
If the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) has you considering other options, here are two more laptops to consider...
How I tested the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023)
I used this beaut as my main gaming PC for almost three weeks
Gaming-wise, I played various games, old and new
I used this beaut as my main gaming PC for almost three weeks. Gaming-wise, I played various games, old and new, mostly very new (Starfield, at max settings, which was glorious, loud at times, but glorious). Benchmark tests were carried out using games like CyberPunk 2077, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and GTA V. I browsed the internet, joined video calls. And I, of course, wrote on it.
There’s very little the Predator Orion 7000 (2023) can’t do. Play your favorite games. The newest titles are nothing to it. Surf the web, watch shows, compile the Linux kernel, hell, do all of those things at once; it’ll look at you serenely like a lion challenged to a fight by a cat.
I have over 25 years of gaming experience and several years of testing gaming peripherals, PCs and laptops under my belt. I don’t just review these things in an “I have a job to do” type of way: I’m their manufacturer’s target audience; I thoroughly, honestly and fairly review and test all units. I pretty much live and breathe games, computers, and all the extras and have opinions about what is good and important, and can identify deficiencies and suggest improvements.
The original Mac Studio, with the first iteration of Apple processors, was an impressive development in Apple’s desktop lineup showing the true potential of Arm chips in a permanently powered system by out performing almost everything else available. In 2023 Apple updated this creative professional desktop with the M2 processor, an upgrade that the company believes can be powerful enough to drive its most powerful desktop device the Mac Pro as well as the new line up of Mac Studio devices.
The new M2 processors boast improved performance, larger memory capacities and improved memory bandwidth. There are also upgrades to the Neural Engine that translates non-native MacOS programs into RISC language and takes on the workload of AI processing tasks.
The 2023 Mac Studio is a desktop PC that continues to sit above the Mac Mini, without costing as much as the $6,999 / £7,199 / AU$11,999 starting price for the Mac Pro. The M2 Max variant of the Mac studio starts at a very approachable $1,999 / £2,099 / AU$3,299, but what is perhaps even more interesting is that the higher performing M2 Ultra configuration that can be purchased from $6,599 offers the same processor, Unified Memory allocation and SSD as the notably more expensive entry Mac Pro configuration.
(Image credit: Future - Joel Burgess)
Intel and AMD have worked hard to ensure they made the latest generation of processors to outperform Apple’s M2 offerings, so the Mac Studio doesn’t offer the same uniquely high performance as the last generation, but both M2 configurations do still improve over the M1 Mac Studio devices by up to 20% in CPU benchmarks and over 40% improvements in gaming framerates. Some applications are even further optimised allowing improvements that are even bigger than these baseline processor improvements.
If your workflow demands additional memory, increased processing power or frequently includes graphically intensive applications then it’s likely that you’ll benefit from the additional power of a Mac Studio over the top spec Mac Mini. When you consider the power on offer at the price you get it, the Mac Studio is an exceptionally good value PC. The sleek desktop doesn’t take up much space, it’s quiet and it’ll even meaningfully reduce power costs for intensive work users. With a good overall port selection and the latest wireless connectivity options there’s really nothing missing from the M2 Max and M2 Ultra Mac Studio configurations.
Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra): Price, availability and specs
The entry Mac Studio uses a similar M2 Max chip as the one found on the top spec MacBook Pro. They’re not identical since the entry Mac Studio SoC has a GPU with fewer cores, but you can upgrade it to match the MacBook Pro offering for an extra $200 / £200 / AU$300.
This entry level Mac Studio is paired with 32GB of memory and a 512GB SSD for a pretty powerful configuration considering the overall $1,999 / £2,099 / AU$3,299 price. You can easily opt for up to 64GB of RAM and up to 8TB of storage (if you feel like doubling the cost of the unit), but the 1TB storage upgrade and 64GB memory upgrade aren’t excessively expensive for those that need a little more than the base configuration.
For anyone wanting to really push their device into workstation territory there’s the option for the M2 Ultra configuration that starts at $3,999 / £4,199 / AU$6,599. This model starts with 64GB of Unified Memory and a 1TB SSD, but can contain up to 192GB of total memory and an 8TB SSD. Pricing here is really about what you need to get your work done, but it’s not unreasonable considering it’s straddling the enthusiast gaming and custom workstation PC space and it’s great against the starting Mac Pro configuration.
We’re not exactly sure why the devices seem to have a relatively high price in the UK although it’s likely due to different local product taxes.
Price and specs: 4.5/5
(Image credit: Future - Joel Burgess)
Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra): Design
The 2023 Mac Studio uses the same extruded aluminum chassis as its predecessor, so it still looks like a pair of Mac Mini’s stacked on top of one another. Funnily enough, the M2 Ultra chips use the UltraFusion technology seen in the original Mac Studio (M1 Ultra) to sandwich two M2 Max processors together without a significant loss of performance from each chip — So it really is a MacMini sandwich.
You can get somewhat comparable sizes of compact desktop PCs this year if you look really hard. Something like an Intel NUC 13 Extreme Raptor Canyon, for example, with discrete graphics and plenty of RAM will equate to a PC with comparable performance for roughly the same price as an entry Mac Studio.
What is still different is that the footprint sits at just under 20cm squared with a height of 9.5cm, which is an impressively compact 3.8 litre volume for something this powerful. To put that in perspective the Intel NUC 13 Extreme Raptor Canyon, the most compact off-the-shelf PC available, is 3.5 times larger than the Mac Studio overall. The Mac Studio’s lower power draw against x86 based PCs means heat is more manageable, so the fans are quieter than you’d expect for something so compact.
(Image credit: Future - Joel Burgess)
The Mac Studio has a higher bandwidth HDMI for 8K or 240Hz displays and can connect up to six Pro Display XDR screens this time around. It’s also got updated Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 compatibility for faster connectivity compared to previous generations. The SSD has been updated to the latest generation PCIe connections, so you’ll get 7,000 and 5,759 MB/s read and write speeds respectively.
There’s nothing we can fault in the connectivity options since if you’re working with Mac you’re probably going to want to connect everything with Thunderbolt/ USB-C ports anyway. If not, you’ve got an Ethernet, SD Card reader, HDMI and two USB Type-A sockets to interface with non-Apple devices. The device also comes with a built-in speaker for when you don’t have speakers connected.
Design: 5/5
Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra): Performance
Benchmarks
Here’s how the Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra) performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
The Mac Studio we were sent to test came with an M2 Ultra with 24 CPU cores and 76 GPU cores, 128GB of Unified Memory, and a 4TB SSD, a configuration that retails for $10,799. This is, unsurprisingly, a seriously powerful device capable of outpacing an Intel Core i9-13900K CPU by up to 25% on Geekbench 5, but it also underperforms against the same chip by up to 20% on other benchmarks like Cinebench R23. The CPU performance here is more in line with offerings from Intel and AMD offerings in the enthusiast gaming space, so it’s not quite the standout performance we saw from the M1 Ultra when it launched. But otherwise, if you're a creator looking for the best laptop for video editing or similar, this machine offers more than enough power.
The Mac Studio we tested doubled the core count against a MacBook Pro 16 (M2 Max 38-core GPU) that we had on file, but this translated to a graphical performance bump of just 58% on synthetic benchmarks, with the two offering equivalent framerates in some gaming applications.
There was a noticeable performance jump from last year’s 64-core Apple Mac Studio (M1 Ultra), offering 40% better scores on synthetic benchmarks and up to 80% better gaming performance according to our testing, however, and there are a number of creative workflows that offer meaningful GPU performance increases.
(Image credit: Future - Joel Burgess)
When comparing graphical performance to a PC, the 76-core GPU on the test Mac Studio is roughly equivalent to a Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 (notebook), at least in terms of synthetic benchmark performance. If you do use it for gaming you should expect performance to be significantly lower since we were only able to get around 64-90 frames per second on titles like Sid Meier's: Civilization VI and Total War Saga: Troy using Ultra 1080p settings, respectively. This means current, graphically intensive games are unlikely to be particularly well optimised.
Fortunately Apple’s Unified Memory architecture allows memory to be accessed directly by the GPU, which will be a massive bonus for some creative workflows. The Apple Mac Studio using the most powerful M2 Ultra also has a Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 90W, 35W lower than the base power consumption of the desktop Intel Core i9-13900K. Once you add the power consumption of a discrete GPU, the Apple offering is going to consume two or even three times less power than a PC that performs similarly well.
Performance: 4.5/5
Should you buy the Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra)?
Buy it if...
You do a lot of video, music or 3D modelling work If you work a lot with applications like Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve then this is a great workstation to use.
Desk space is important The Apple Mac Studio is one of the most compact workstations money can buy delivering a lot of power per pound.
You’re a creative power user Anyone who appreciates being able to load entire projects into memory will love the Unified Memory capabilities on M2.
Don't buy it if...
You Could get away with a Mac Mini Many of us just don’t have any need for the power on offer in the Mac Studio. So you could save yourself thousands by opting for a more powerful Mac Mini than going all in on a Studio.
You use PC software For anyone that is used to working on PC software the jump will include a learning curve that may not be worthwhile and you’ll find the lack of upgradability challenging down the track.
You want to be able to play games While Apple’s platform is getting better at adding game compatibility, it’s still a long way off what you can get on a PC and the integrated GPU isn’t optimised for games like discrete GPUs are on Windows.
Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra) review: Also consider
If our Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra) review has you considering other options, here are three more mini PCs to consider...
How I tested the Apple Mac Studio (M2 Ultra)
(Image credit: Future - Joel Burgess)
I used the Mac Studio over a work week
I edited 8K video on it and performed other tasks
I ran our usual suite of standardised benchmarks
Apple delivered the Mac Studio (2023) at the same time as the MacBook Air 15-inch back in June. I spent a week using the Mac Studio as my main PC and wrote up parts of the review using it.
I loaded up some 8K video files to see how the Mac mini handled intensive creative tasks, as well as transcoded a 1080p video and browsed the internet using both Safari and Chrome.
I’ve reviewed and used many small form factor PCs and laptops, including all of the best MacBook Pros, Mac minis, MacBooks and the previous Mac Studio, which allows me to make direct comparisons to alternative devices.
