Most of the time, playing an unfinished game is cause for outrage. We expect the best PC games to be complete, stable, and fun above anything else. But there is a new tool for games, mostly indie games, to take advantage of that lets players try a game early knowing that the game isn’t complete. Early access allows smaller development teams to get funding for their games before launching them, accumulate useful player data and feedback, and learn to make changes on the fly. For players, they get to see some experimental new games that probably wouldn’t otherwise exist and be a part of the development in a small way. Early access games encompass almost every genre, from RPGs and roguelikes to co-op and open-world games, so we’ve gathered up some of the best games currently in early access that just might be, or already are, the next massive hit.
If you want to know when the most anticipated upcoming PC games will fully launch, check out this list as well.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.