This month, we sent Ross Geller apologist James Davenport into the prehistoric techno world of Ark: Survival Evolved. He returned not with dino fossils, but with loads of exclusive information on the game's new Tek Tier, and where the Early Access-dwelling survival sandbox is heading in future. Speaking of the future, Samuel spent a few hours with The Creative Assembly's Halo Wars 2 the follow-up to 2009's RTS slant on the enduring sci-fi universe. Elsewhere inside, Phil delivers his verdict on Battlefield 1 which might be the best multiplayer shooter of the year; while Tom Senior explores the origins of Company of Heroes on the tenth anniversary of its release. Previews this month include The Signal from T lva, For Honor, Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood, and many more. Issue 287 is on shelves now and available on all your digital devices from Google Play, and the App Store (they may be slow to update look for the laser-shooting dinos on the front). You can also order direct from My Favourite Magazines or

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This month, we sent Ross Geller apologist James Davenport into the prehistoric techno world of Ark: Survival Evolved. He returned not with dino fossils, but with loads of exclusive information on the game's new Tek Tier, and where the Early Access-dwelling survival sandbox is heading in future. Speaking of the future, Samuel spent a few hours with The Creative Assembly's Halo Wars 2 the follow-up to 2009's RTS slant on the enduring sci-fi universe. Elsewhere inside, Tom Hatfield rounds up the best 20 mods to extend your favourite PC games; while Tom Senior explores the origins of Company of Heroes on the tenth anniversary of its release. Previews this month include The Signal from T lva, For Honor, Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood, and many more. You can also treat yourself (or someone else) to an early Christmas present with a CoH 2 The Western Front Armies: Oberkommando West Steam key free with the latest issue. Issue 299 is on shelves now and available on all your digital devices from Google Play , the App Store and Zinio (they may be slow to

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Soon, Ark: Survival Evolved will finally attempt to make good on those futuristic floating obelisks in the sky by introducing the Tek Tier, the first of many updates on its path to version 1.0 early next year. Watch the trailer above for a quick peek. For a complete preview of what's coming next, be sure to check out the next issue of PC Gamer, but here s a basic breakdown. The Tek Tier is a new endgame technology tier in Ark s crafting system that rewards the survival sandbox s most stalwart players with some off-brand Power Rangers and Starship Troopers gear to mess with. Among the items to drop in the first update, which should land in the coming weeks, Ark will get the Tek armor, the Tek rifle, and the Giga Helmet that rad laser cannon tyrannosaur headpiece. Every new piece of Tek tech has a powerful ability or two to make them desirable for more than their looks. The Tek helmet

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Ark: Survival Evolved's feature-filled journey through Early Access has seen the open-world survival 'em up receive a fair few updates the latest of which marks number 248. Besides three new creatures and a new Explorer Note system, the most recent patch brings with it "infinite" procedurally generated maps, where "players can determine a myriad of landscape options", including the heights of mountains, depths of valleys and specific choice of biome. On the creatures front, patch 248 welcomes the water-based, high-speeding, solitary-hunting Kaprosuchus; the territorial, however otherwise peaceful, herbivore Chalicotherium; and the swamp-dwelling, oxygen-giving, amphibian Diplocaulus. Scattered across 130 chests throughout the island, the new Explorer Note System is a catalogue of diary-like stories from the archipelago's past inhabitants that also serve to buff XP upon discovery. "These 3D Explorer and Story Notes are punctuated with powerful personalities from a Roman Centurion to an Ancient Chinese Warrior to an Egyptian Priestess, each one chronicling their experiences on ARK and unveiling kernels of the story secrets they have uncovered," reads a Steam Community post. The update also adds a slew of less significant, although welcomed,

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So innocent, so young. For being over a year into Early Access, Ark still doesn t do much to welcome new players. It s a systems-heavy survival game that doesn t teach or surface its most essential, basic skills in an obvious way, so without a holding hand new players tend to go the way of the Dodo Bird. But Ark can be worth the inscrutability. I mean, you can ride a damn T-Rex. I ll punch every tree in the world if it means I get one of my own someday. To get you on the same path, we ve assembled a guide to the early game of Ark so you can skip the frustration and head right into brontosaurus husbandry. Choosing a server and spawn point  I enjoy the mystery of each dino island, but not so much the thick mystique of server browsers and game settings, which can make it tough to get a handle on Ark's basics. If you re brand new and just want to familiarize yourself with the systems: click Host / Local from the main menu for some safe solitude. Tweak some variables to make the process relaxing, if you like. Slide Dino Damage, Player Character Water Drain, and Player Character Food Drain down to zero, then slide XP Multiplier up to three. It ll prevent wandering raptors from turning you into an easy dinner and give you ample time to learn to make food

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Studio Wildcard s Ark: Survival Evolved remains in Early Access, however last week released its first paid expansion. The majority of comments found here not to mention the fact that the game s Steam reviews have swung from Mostly Positive to Mostly Negative over the past few days would suggest a sizeable number of players have been upset by the move. Studio Wildcard has now officially responded. As part of a new blog post that introduces a new creature as well as where the game is heading in future, the developer s community manager Jat speaks directly to the paid DLC and the rationale behind its release. Put simply: we are absolutely committed to driving aggressive development towards a solid, feature-robust game launch for Ark: Survival Evolved. Everyone at Wildcard wakes up every day thinking about how we can make Ark into a better game today than it was the day before, says Jat. It s not always easy, but our intent is ever-forward progress towards a retail release that will be far more ambitious in scope and features than our original vision when we launched Ark into Steam Early Access in June 2015.

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