Good news for those of you who will be forced to spend Christmas Day making polite conversation with elderly relatives: PC Gamer issue 287 is out in the nick of time. Before games enabled us to be unsociable, there were magazines, and shortly thereafter there were magazines about games such as this month's cover star, XCOM 2. We deployed Phil to Firaxis to relay hands-on intelligence for our enormous feature.

It being that time of year, we're also bringing you the Game of the Year Awards, which are suspiciously packed with games that editor Samuel has been raving about. The issue is on the shelves now, but if you enjoy having your reading material brought to you, you can order the physical mag through My Favourite Magazines, or download it from the App Store, Google Play and Zinio just as soon as they update. You can subscribe to automate the process and receive gorgeous subscriber covers like this one into the bargain:

Here's some of the highlights:

One colossal XCOM 2 feature.

The Game of the Year Awards.

Learn how to build a PC from scratch.

We discuss Deus Ex slipping back into 2016—five years after the last one.

Hands-on with World of Warcraft: Legion and Overwatch.

A pre-Christmas guide to the very best gaming mice.

Phil has a bad trip in 80 Days.

The Spy uncovers evidence of Mass Effect: Andromeda's protagonist.

Samuel incorrectly lists the games you should be playing over the holiday.

Until January!