Gaming Baftas 2024

No-one was surprised that Baldur's Gate 3 swept the board, claiming all the big awards of the night. The RPG based on the Dungeons and Dragons 5E ruleset has been a huge highlight of the year. From the incredible amount of options and choices players can make, giving the game enormous replay value, to the much lauded voice-acting and character design, Baldur's Gate 3 has brought all the fun of collaborative storytelling to a whole new audience of potential TTRPG lovers, and with the sad news that Larian Studios aren't going to be working on DLC, expansions or a sequel, this could be a real case of lightning in a bottle. If you've not yet played the game, you're missing out on one of the most immersive experiences in recent gaming, and a real cultural phenomenon.

The recommended specs for Baldur's Gate 3 aren't all that intensive, so if you're looking to play the game on a budget, or you're happy playing at 1080p, you could reasonably consider previous generation CPUs and GPUs. Something like an i5 12400F and a 4060 that you could get with our FIERCE PC FORGE M2 | INTEL CORE I5 12400F | NVIDIA RTX 4060 GAMING PC

Our recommendation though is based on playing the game at high settings and 1440p, meaning you'll get the best possible experience while exploring the Sword Coast. With our FIERCE SPECTRE GAMING PC | INTEL CORE I5 14400F | NVIDIA RTX 4070 we've combined a latest generation i5 14400F, giving you an affordable but powerful CPU, with an RTX 4070, to provide a powerful and immersive gaming experience that will let you enjoy Baldur's Gate 3 at its absolute best.

In 2010, a psychological horror meets survival horror game was released, which wowed people with its tense and episodic story-telling and its innovative integration of lighting sources into combat. The game was something of a masterpiece and fans of the series will frequently praise the visual design and sound, all adding to the tense atmosphere.

13 years in the making, we finally received Alan Wake 2, just before Halloween in 2023, and once again, the game has been rightly recognised for its audio and artistic achievements.

With the games stunning use of lighting and light sources, it was a perfect showcase for NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics cards 'ray tracing', making the already breath-taking visuals, even more immersive and realistic.

For our recommended system, we've gone with a Ryzen 5 5500 which is a good, budget CPU. It will handle Alan Wake 2 with no problems and allows you to invest a bit more into your graphics card which will really help this game shine. The base spec of our AMD RYZEN 5 5500 | NVIDIA RTX 4060 | CUSTOM GAMING PC gives you a latest generation, 40-series graphics card, which is packed full of features such as ray tracing and AI-powered graphics making this a great pick for less than £900. If you're looking to spend a little bit more, you could always configure this spec to a 4060Ti 8GB or 16GB and a slightly more powerful PSU.

Its been so good to see Cyberpunk 2077 be redeemed in the eyes of fans and get the recognition it deserves. From a troubled launch, which saw a slew of returns and negative reviews, the game has had a complete turnaround and fans praise the ambition and size of the world. With the success of the DLC 'Phantom Liberty', a great Netflix animated series released and a sequel announced, the world of Cyberpunk 2077 has gone from strength-to-strength. With customisation and upgrade options keeping the game replayable and an enormous world to explore, its never been a better time to play the game.

For our recommended system, we've gone with the FIERCE REVENANT GAMING PC | INTEL CORE I5 12400F | NVIDIA RTX 4060 - combining the Intel Core i5 12400F which offers exceptional gaming performance at a more than reasonable price-point, with the NVIDIA RTX 4060, ensuring you can explore Night City in all its glory. This system is also great if you want to play games like Baldur's Gate at 1080p, high settings.

A camera based, dimension-bending, puzzle game, Viewfinder introduced gamers to the interesting "Polaroid Effect" that brought a new and interesting spin to a Portal-style game. It's rated very positive on Steam where people praise it for its beautiful design and creativity.

Viewfinder is currently 30% off on Steam too if you're looking to pick the game up for cheap and challenge yourself to some mind-boggling, puzzle fun.

You don't need to go all out to play a game like Viewfinder as the system recommendations are pretty low so a budget system is a great option. We're recommending our FIERCE CYCLONE GAMING PC | AMD RYZEN 5 4500 | NVIDIA GTX 1650 4GB | 16GB RAM 3200MHZ | 500GB M.2 SSD - this system is small but mighty and more than capable of handling Viewfinder, but will also allow you to play games like Fortnite and GTA V at 1080p, medium settings.

Dave the Diver is the game that everyone was asking for, finally combining the world of deep-sea, spear fishing with cosy restaurant management gameplay. Players take the role of the eponymous "Dave", who spends his days diving into the sea to fish for produce that he will later prepare and serve at a sushi restaurant, with the help of chef Bancho.

"Cosy" is having a real moment at the minute, but reviews for Dave the Diver describe it as "wholesome", "relaxing" and "harmonious" and with its charming pixel art design, Dave the Diver is a joy to look at, as well as play. Don't let the premise fool you, the actual gameplay is fun but challenging and this game can be hard to put down once you've picked it up!

In terms of PC specs, Dave the Diver is pretty undemanding, so if you're only planning to play this or games like it, you can easily opt for previous generation hardware and still have a great time. Assuming you would like to play other games on your system though, we're recommending our FIERCE LUMINA GAMING PC | AMD RYZEN 5 4500 | NVIDIA GTX 1650 | 16GB RAM 3200MHZ | 1TB M.2 SSD which is a great system for gamers on a budget and as well as Dave the Diver, will let you play GTA V or Modern Warfare III.