Disk Cleanup
Welcome to Disk Cleanup, our common weekend column delving into the PCs of PC gaming luminaries. Come again each weekend to learn a brand new interview, digging into the essential questions, like “How tidy is your desktop?” and “What recreation will you by no means uninstall?”
Geoff “Zag” Keene first encountered PC gaming by watching his dad play Blizzard video games at night time by means of a crack within the doorway. The primary time he noticed Diablo was at a LAN get together organised by his dad’s coworkers. “All of them had these computer systems within the basement, like 10 of them or one thing,” he says. “I bear in mind clicking round and simply being type of misplaced … I feel that will need to have been the primary time I used to be occupied with videogames as greater than only a factor that is round, however really like a hyper-fixation.”
Deep Area is now engaged on a brand new undertaking, whereas additionally planning extra updates for Abiotic Issue. “We’ll have a brand new roadmap quickly for ABF,” he says. “All by means of 2026, we’re doing updates. We have got some DLC deliberate. We’re following another story threads. We’ve got a bunch of stuff we need to do with ABF as a result of it is a lot enjoyable to work in.”
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Keene briefly stepped out of his hazmat go well with to take me on a tram journey by means of the concrete warrens of his PC, which took us from the dusty archives of RTS gaming to extraction shooter R&D.
What recreation are you at present taking part in?
Geoff “Zag” Keene
Keene is the design director on the distinctive madcap co-op romp Abiotic Issue, which we topped Finest Co-op in our 2025 GOTY awards.
The massive one I have been obsessive about is Arc Raiders, for positive. What a murals, actually. If I made an extraction shooter, that is the sport I might have wished to make. It is so good.
What Arc Raiders has is that it is obtained the vibe. It isn’t nearly mechanics. It isn’t nearly totally different weapons and attachments and all this shit … it understands it is this world you need to spend time in. That is what I assume I outline vibe as. The place do I need to spend my time? Do I need to stay on this world? Do I need to breathe it and really feel it? And I feel that is what it is actually good at, regardless of the very stunted, shitty AI voices that they need to eliminate.
I play each Saturday. I play with my accomplice and a buddy. We play totally different co-op video games on a regular basis, and Deep Area’s just about based on making cool co-op issues. Video games are there to be shared with individuals, I feel.
Typically I play video games to observe different individuals get pleasure from them. I will play a recreation that I am type of into, simply to observe my accomplice be actually into it and revel in it. Or I will need to convey my mates to come back play. I am like “You ever performed Halo co-op? Come play!” And I will type of sit again and perhaps battle sluggish or one thing, to observe them and have them expertise [it].
What was the earlier recreation you performed, and is it nonetheless put in?
I simply completed Dying Gentle co-op. I am now engaged on the second, slowly. Simply began. I do not know if I prefer it but. We’ll see. However OG Dying Gentle, that was actually attention-grabbing. I had a buddy that basically wished to play it. I feel I uninstalled it proper after we completed. I used to be like “I am good”.
I wasn’t actually [into it]. I believed the story was all very foolish, and lots of it was tacky. It was type of enjoyable to yell on the protagonist for being a dumbass. I positively fall off video games fairly fast in the event that they’re repetitive. For those who’re doing the identical actions again and again, and that recreation is stuffed with repetitive actions … however then once more, I like Arc Raiders, and that is very repetitive. I feel the gamers hold that [interesting]; it is totally different every time due to the interactions.
What to learn subsequent
We began the brand new one, not the brand new one, however Dying Gentle 2 as a result of we’re persevering with the sequence. We’re like “OK, let’s attempt the following one”. And the smoother it is gotten, the extra tutorialised and onboarded, the much less I am liking it.
Typically issues have to have a little bit of that jank to actually click on. I like seeing the errors. Not annoying errors and annoying bugs. However I like seeing the people behind the factor, creating the factor. Like “Oh, this bizarre trash can right here was positioned by someone. Why is that this floating within the air? Properly, as a result of someone moved this and forgot to repair this.” And it is simply humorous. I like that. I like seeing the seams on stuff like that. It makes it really feel extra like a bit of artwork someone made, and never a commodity, like a product you devour.
What’s the oldest recreation (by launch date) at present put in in your PC?
It is Warcraft 2. I used to be taking part in that properly earlier than I considered video games as one thing I might make. That was the primary recreation that I used to be simply obsessive about. The world of it. I appreciated all of the models and the colors, which makes me sound like a quite simple individual … I assume I used to be a toddler. However the music and issues and every little thing simply got here collectively very well.
After I consider gaming nostalgia, it is my go-to. That is the oldest factor that I’m super-super obsessive about.
What’s the highest variety of hours you could have in any given recreation, in keeping with Steam?
There was a time when PUBG got here out and … everybody was simply taking part in it with their buddies, and the worst players that had been all taking part in it. Everybody was simply working round, making an attempt to outlive on this surroundings that was killing everyone. I used to be fairly good at it myself, and our artwork director, we used to play quite a bit. It is really what we began taking part in after we first began working collectively and we actually bonded over that. However we performed the hell out of it and we obtained excellent at it.
There was a time interval, type of towards [when] they added the snow map, and the sport was such as you had been taking part in co-op in opposition to—it was actual gamers—however it nonetheless had that type of PvE really feel the place you are exploring this world, making an attempt to duck into bushes and conceal in buildings and loot stuff. I imply, it is actually why we have now Arc Raiders. The battle royale style immediately led to the extraction style.
I am very keen on it. That is why I’ve over 1,000 hours. I’ve 1,160 hours. We had these nice back-to-back classes of that recreation.
What recreation will you by no means, ever uninstall?
Sadly, it is Warcraft 2 once more. There’s one thing concerning the stuff you performed as a toddler, proper? The nostalgia issue. Typically you simply need to boot it up. I will play one of many marketing campaign ranges or one thing actually fast, or I will simply click on round a bit. There’s one thing concerning the noises and the sounds I feel which might be fairly comforting. Typically you simply boot them as much as hear them once more. Like taking part in an previous track you want.
It is attention-grabbing as a result of, earlier than you emailed me, I had booted it up like a few days earlier than, and I am making an attempt to recollect why. I feel I had been confused with work. Possibly I used to be like “Oh, I simply want this. I am simply gonna have this for myself.” I do not know. Possibly it is like, as a substitute of going to remedy, guys will simply actually boot up Warcraft 2.
What’s a bit of non-gaming software program put in in your PC that you just could not stay with out?
I used to be occupied with this. I by no means used Home windows Snipping Instrument, proper? I exploit a program known as ShareX. It does rectangles on the display screen and it will probably document video and stuff too.
I have been utilizing that for half a decade, greater than half a decade, perhaps 10 years. I have been utilizing that as my solution to shortly snip display screen rectangles and ship them to individuals. We do it quite a bit for work proper? Recreation builders simply use it quite a bit. We’ve got to share lots of visible info.
How tidy is your desktop display screen?
It is fairly tidy. I’ve two displays, and I hold all my icons on the centre one, the primary one. It form of fills up with stuff, like I will typically put my downloads on my desktop, like icons and stuff I am making an attempt to make use of, totally different work issues. After which they’re going to refill, and I will finally put them in a folder the place I most likely by no means take a look at them once more.
I haven’t got them in random positions on my display screen. I am unable to stand that. It bothers me a lot. I at all times type all of the icons. They’re left-aligned and as soon as they begin taking over about half the display screen, I am like “OK, time to tidy up.”
