Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2020 i PLAY

“THE PREDICTABLE RULES GAME WORLDS FOLLOW CAN BE COMFORTING IN THESE UNCERTAIN TIMES.” Sony’s Play At Home initiative offers us all free games (see p19), but many PlayStation owners were browsing their game libraries long before that was announced in mid-April. Between 5 March and 5 April, Grand Theft Auto V, FIFA 20, and 2019’s Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare all saw massive increases in new players – and they were far from the only ones. According to Gamstat.com, which bases its estimates on data drawn from the PSN API, Modern Warfare was the clear winner during this period with over 16,000,000 new players. Plenty of other battle royales enjoyed huge increases too, but it was recent PS Plus inclusion Sonic Forces that ranked second to COD with 4,000,000 new…

”Our goal for Quantum Error is 60fps even on the PS4, and with the specs of the PS5 we believe it is achievable with pushing it to hit 4K with that framerate,” says president of TeamKill Media Micah Jones as he excitedly reveals the company’s ambition for cross-gen shooter Quantum Error. “A HORROR SHOOTER THAT FEELS LIKE DOOM MEETS CONTROL.” The trailer for the PS5-bound game reveals a horror shooter that feels like Doom meets Control. Set in 2109, at a time when the world has rallied behind the United Nations Of America, all is not peaceful. Our lives are governed by corporations, and climate change has shifted power – San Francisco, the game’s setting, is now an icy coastal region and home to Monad Quantum Research Facility. Monad is…

Did you get your free copy of The Nathan Drake Collection? Sony’s Play At Home initiative offered it, along with Journey, to help us all cope with the Covid-19 lockdown. But the second part of the scheme is more important, as SIE is offering to support indie developers and help minimise the financial insecurity resulting from the crisis. “Independent developers are vital to the heart and soul of the gaming community and we understand the hardships and financial struggles that many smaller gaming studios are facing,” shared Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan in his Play At Home initiative announcement. This consists of an earmarked $10 million that will be used to help support indie developer partners. At the end of last year PlayStation announced a new independent developer initiative…

Final Fantasy XII’s weapons master is memorable for more than the fact she is a six-foot-tall bunny lady. Australian voice actor Nicole Fantl marks Fran out from her comrades with more than just her accent, turning in a subtle performance that, for me, is the most memorable of the lot. Fran and Balthier (played by British actor Gideon Emery) make quite the pair. The American talent – doing no less of a good job, mind – filling out the rest of the cast’s performances end up somewhere decidedly transatlantic-masquerading-asreceived-pronunciation. It’s a directorial choice that makes sense for the high fantasy setting of Ivalice, one that leaves me wondering why so many games still go for general American voices across the board. The most obvious answer is practicality. It is American…

“FOR THE GAMER IN ALL OF US THAT JUST WANTS TO CREATE CHAOS.” FORMAT PS4 / ETA 22 MAY / PUB DEEP SILVER / DEV VOLITION, SPERASOFT Penis. That got your attention. There’s nothing subtle about Saints Row The Third. It’s like cracking open Johnny Knoxville’s head and watching the sex dolls, urethra-breaking stunts, and girls going wild tumbling out into an open world comparable to Grand Theft Auto’s. You’ll be tempted by the freedom and the gang war structure, but the devil in you will stay for the sophomoric humour. Hardly nuanced, ever, Saints Row The Third on PS3 was a game for the gamer in all of us that just wants to create chaos. The city of Steelport is your playground and your armoury is packed with explosive…

“IF YOU WANT TO SURVIVE, YOU’VE GOT TO KEEP MOVING.” FORMAT PS4 / ETA 28 AUG / PUB DEEP SILVER / DEV 5 LIVES STUDIOS A young warrior finds herself caught in the midst of a terrible storm. She strains on the rigging of her small boat, but it’s no use and she is pulled under the water’s surface. All is dark and cold. The next thing she knows, she’s waking up to the sun and sand of an unfamiliar isle. You are Kara, (no, not the android). Separated from your tribe and with nothing but the clothes on your back, you must survive long enough to find your way home again. While that would be far from a walk in the park under the best of circumstances, you’ve washed…

“THIS PUZZLER IS ALL ABOUT PLAYING WITH PERSPECTIVE IN A WAY THAT’S POSSIBLE ONLY IN AN INTERACTIVE MEDIUM.” FORMAT PS4 / ETA NOV 2020 PUB PILLOW CASTLE / DEV PILLOW CASTLE We’ve seen more than our share of strange test facilities in our time (mostly in games), but nothing that looks quite like Superliminal. And we really do mean looks. This puzzler is all about playing with perspective in a way that’s possible only in an interactive medium like videogames. Going hands-on we begin to explore the corridors of the facility, but our way is blocked by a massive yellow chess piece that reaches from floor to ceiling. But, just like the smaller ones that we saw littered around on the way here, if we view it from a distance,…

We don’t just play games, we feel them. While what’s inside a console is obviously important, on a moment-to-moment basis the controller can make an even bigger difference. For those of us who spend hours gaming, what’s in our hands while we do it can be a defining aspect of the hobby. PlayStation 5’s controller, the DualSense, has been designed with this in mind to bring ‘a new feeling of immersion to players’, taking the lessons learned from the DualShock 4 to a new level. Just as PS5’s 3D Tempest audio is innovating with sound, the DualSense is pushing the boundaries of how touch can be used in games. “IT’S PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF HOW TOUCH CAN BE USED IN GAMES.” From the devs“Very DUA stoked about the new controller…

Few games are as much fun to play alone as they are together, but somehow Monster Hunter manages it. If you’ve not already ventured into the new Iceborne expansion, what better way to blaze your way to Hunter Rank 16 than with a little help from the lively community? “IF YOU FIND YOURSELF IN A SPOT OF BOTHER, POPPING OFF A FLARE WILL RALLY THE TROOPS.” If you’ve gone it alone and find yourself in a spot of bother, popping off a flare will rally the troops in no time (to speed up the process, make sure your quest join settings are not set to ‘manually accept’). This community boasts a wealth of veteran hunters who can show you how it’s done, should you need the instruction – or polish…

WHAT YOU DO IN… FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE STAT PACK 38 Hours – how long it took us to hit the final credits. Midgar is packed with things to see and do. 3 Dresses to collect for each party member in Wall Market. Some of them are A Look. 31 Music discs to collect featuring some stellar series remixes. You’ll want to hear them all. 56 Manuscripts to uncover, helping to level up your weapons. It’s time to hit Chapter Select! FRIENDS & ENEMIES AVALANCHE’s leader has a gun arm. That firearm is… handy. There’s something mysterious about this magical flower girl. These cloaked spirits seem to protect destiny. But what do they want? HOW TO… UNLOCK NEW MATERIA 1 While you’ll find some Materia lying around, you…

We thought we were in it neck deep already – and then there was the Malkavian’s cam show. She insists it’s an ‘art installation’ but judging from the chat’s reaction, it’s very much something else. But then the curtain drops and things are revealed to be far from black-and-white. If you’re already familiar with the World Of Darkness tabletop games, you’ll know the supernatural creatures within it exist in a morally grey state. As one of three fledgling vampires in the Big Apple, simply surviving will take you out of your usual moral comfort zone right. After a few nights under the tutelage of a mysterious benefactor, you’re left to make allies and enemies on your own. Unfolding along the same lines as a visual novel, characters and surroundings are…

WHAT YOU DO IN… RESIDENT EVIL 3 STAT PACK 58 Challenges to complete, such as knocking hats off zombies, to earn Shop points and rewards. 1 Insanely OTT weapon you make use of in your final battle with Nemesis, but it’s a secret. 19 Bonus items to unlock and use in Story mode, including Jill’s RE1 costume and Samurai Edge. 5 Hours is what it will take you to finish the story on Standard difficulty, with cutscenes. MULTIPL AYER Will you shoot your way to freedom or make everyone’s lives a misery as the malicious Mastermind? Resident Evil Resistance manages to bring the series’ atmosphere to tense online multiplayer shooting. Mastermind’s RTS tones are a plus. LOVING/ HATING GUN CONTROL New and old monsters make every fight a…

Sarah Pennington is the most skilled agent the ancient Order Of The Griffins has. When it comes to looking at things, she can look really well. After the dragon clan unearths a relic that contains the spirit of the villainous Odessa, Sarah must test her abilities on many a head-scratch-provoking puzzle and hidden object scene, as she embarks on a globetrotting adventure to uncover the ancient items that can lift the curse. For the most part, Shadow Breach feels like a lightweight point-and-click adventure game. The focus is more on puzzles than the hidden object scenes, and they often involve scouring the environment for key items you need, or solving brainteasers. Each area is self-contained. On one hand that means searching doesn’t feel like it gets too out of hand,…

Every slow-mo headshot is getting us closer to our goal: to invade the internet and take down the always-angry Orphelia for reasons only our masked hero and his banana sidekick understand. It’s not the deepest ruse but it holds the gunplay together, and that’s all we need. My Friend Pedro is an arcade shooter that wants you to feel like a cartwheeling, gun-toting superhero.1 Every screen is a neatly arranged set-piece of bloodletting, and the controls – for the most part – enable you to take out rooms of goons with gymnastic precision. Gun-aim is handled on the right thumbstick; when dual-wielding pistols or Uzis you can target one enemy and manually aim at another for double-death. Add in a slow-motion move at the tap of L2, coupled with the…

Power fantasy. A lot of shooters are all about that, and perhaps none more so than Doom, casting you as the lone-wolf hero ready to throw Hell right back at the demons and give them something to fear. It’s fantastic. But something about that fantasy never really translates well to a simple deathmatch multiplayer mode. If we’re all Doom Slayers, are any of us really Doom Slayers? Doom Eternal’s fresh approach works much better, and is a Hell of a delight. The brave step Id Software has taken is to make sure that even in multiplayer there is only one Doom Slayer, and for the most part that player is doing the same as always – blasting the forces of Hell six ways from Mars with an arsenal of overpowered…

The skies are clear, and the weather forecast is ‘fighting’. All the usual options are here, including Arc’s take on lobbies where you can wander around virtual arcade cabinets and customise a cute chibi avatar. Most Western lobbies are sparsely populated, but jump into a Ranked match and you’ll quickly find opponents of your skill level, and the delay-based netcode runs buttery smooth in our matches. You don’t have to go head-to-head. RPG mode, which allows local co-op, can also be played online, ‘requesting backup’ from random players or creating a password room for friends to jump in. You can also search for active backup requests to hop in. However, you do have to match up on a mission-by-mission basis. VERDICT Co-op fighting game action adds variety to an already-fantastic…

CLEAN THE STREETS Some familiar enemies are back, and we rediscover why the Cleaners and Rikers are such a threat. Genuine satisfaction comes from sniping a Cleaner’s fuel tank and watching him explode. SEE THE SIGHTS Events take place in Lower Manhattan. This new area features some famous landmarks to battle within, and includes Civic Center, Battery Park, and the Financial District. Each area is crammed with one-off events. THREE SKILL SHOTS Defeating a mid-boss unlocks one of four new Skills, as well as exclusive gear sets and Exotics. We particularly love the Sticky Bomb Launcher that fires adhesive bombs to be detonated at your leisure.…

BORDERLANDS 3 – GUNS, LOVE, AND TENTACLES Hammerlock and Wainwright prepare to tie the knot on the ice planet Xylourgos. Your wedding invitation requires you to team up with mechromancer, Gaige, to clear it out. With side-quests too, there’s a lot to do. TITAN QUEST – ATLANTIS Almost 15 years since the original Titan Quest released, another expansion comes to the PS4 remaster. The ancient lands covered by the Greek Odyssey-tinged Diablo-alike now extend to the mythical island of Atlantis, as you must track down Herakles’ diary. CITIES: SKYLINES – SUNSET HARBOR Water is definitely the star of the show in this robust addition to the popular PS4 city-builder. Boreal, tropical, and temperate climates join the mix alongside the fishing industry and water treatment plants, plus you get intercity bus…

The next instalment in Supermassive’s Dark Pictures frightfest will debut this summer, and this one’s got a witchy twist. Whereas Man Of Medan saw you lost at sea alongside Shawn Ashmore, this time British actor Will Poulter is taking the lead in a dual role. “HORROR IS JUST A GREAT PLAYGROUND FOR US.” You may already know Poulter from folk horror smash Midsommar and Netflix’s dark branching narrative… thing, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. Here he plays a student stranded after a field trip goes awry. Time-travel shenanigans introduce each of the undergrads to Puritan doppelgängers and a plot spanning centuries. Seemingly at the centre of it all is a little girl with a creepy doll made out of needles. CHILD’S PLAY We waste no time asking Supermassive’s managing director Pete Samuels…

Fancy flexing your little grey cells? Boy genius Evan has been missing for years, but a mysterious letter requests Dysis – the character you control – be sent to meet him on an inhabited island littered with monoliths from an ancient civilisation. You start out on a beach, and must complete platforming puzzles on each monolith you come across. Each one takes up the entire screen, and you have to leap from platform to platform to pass over a final pillar. This involves jumping on retracted and extended platforms to switch them around – a challenge that becomes more devious over time. What you might not expect is the in-depth and engaging science fiction thriller story, inspired by Japanese visual novels, which provides you with all the reasons you need…

A LONE FIGURE Sekiro, the titular star of FromSoftware’s samurai action game, has been turned into a posable Max Factory Figma action figure, standing about 155mm tall. The deluxe version will cost around $125 pre-shipping, but comes with more shinobi prosthetic tools, such as the loaded umbrella, axe, and spear. COLD STEEL IV COSTS Anime boys rejoice: The Legend Of Heroes: Trails Of Cold Steel IV is coming first to PS4 this autumn in a limited edition. Inside is the game, a collector’s box, a soundtrack CD, The Complete Black Records hardcover art book, an Ashen Awakener steelbook, a Daybreak cloth poster, and seven art cards, for £99.99. INSTA-DEATH IN COLOUR Roguelite twin-stick shooter Neon Abyss is bringing its brand of colourful pixel-art action to PS4 later this year. Tasking…

“Cyberpunk 2077 has already been rated by the vast majority of rating boards around the world.” CD Projekt Red studio head Adam Badowski says the future is almost here. “Proud we can take part in this. Stay safe everyone.” Naughty Dog VP Neil Druckmann shares his support for Play At Home at a difficult time. “I’m scared of Covid-19 much more than the creatures I’ve designed, especially Pyramid Head.” Masahiro Ito agrees that sometimes real life is scarier than fiction.…

“HAS A GREAT SENSE OF HUMOUR, LAMPOONING TECH STARTUP CULTURE.” FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2020 / PUB AGGRO CRAB / DEV TEAM17 DIGITAL Menial tasks for little recognition and no pay – sounds great, eh? That’s the pain of an unpaid internship, something too many of us are familiar with nowadays. As bad as ours were, nobody has ever asked us to go and fight in an actual dungeon. Until Going Under, that is, where we play as intern Jackie, who ends up having to deal with more workplace violations than Bring Your Fox To Work Day at the local chicken coop. In our hands-on, upon joining massive conglomerate Cubicle (as part of the Impoverished Intern Initiative) we’re drafted in as a marketing assistant at Fizzle Beverages, where we’re promptly…

Regular OPM readers will know that Media Molecule’s latest creation has been top of the class for a while. Part game, part game-maker, and part platform, this one’s a genuine triple threat! Bolstered by nearly a year in early access, people jumping in on release day and beyond were welcomed by an already bustling community. The developer has poured its heart and soul into fostering this friendly spirit. From hiring its own staff from the Dreams community to regularly celebrating Dreamers’ work, from putting together its own curated ‘MM loves’ collections in-game all the way to hosting the Impy awards and announcing the winners via the official PlayStation blog, it’s clear that Media Molecule is in it for the long haul. As a result all Dreamers, new and old, have…

As this one’s bundled with the full release of the single-player Resident Evil 3 remake (which you can read our review of on p72), you can get in on the ground floor with this community. Many developers have given the asymmetric multiplayer survival genre their best shot, but now Capcom is jumping into the fray. In Resistance, four survivors face off against the mysterious Mastermind’s machinations, finding hidden puzzle pieces, whacking zombies, and avoiding traps. There are lots of neat little mechanics at play for both sides, absolutely selling the push and pull of the cat-and-mouse dynamic. We can’t wait to see how this one mutates over time.…

Given the biggest problem with the last Warriors-style One Piece game was cramming all of the 700-ish chapters of story into the game, fitting now over 900 into the new one seemed like a tall order.1 Thankfully, instead of trying to cover everything, Omega Force has focused on a select few battles, all with weight. Most of the biggest conflicts in One Piece are represented here across six story arcs (one an original story based on the samurai-inspired island that’s just been introduced in the anime). Within this Dramatic Log you play through story chapters, cutscenes filling you in on the broad strokes of what happened between these chunks of story. Chapters can be replayed with any character in Free Log, and a Treasure Log presents a veritable chest of…

Over time card games have to evolve. Yu-Gi-Oh, for better or worse, fully embraces the allure of the gimmick.1 New and progressively harder to understand key abilities, such as pendulum summons and link summons, make each generation feel almost like an entirely new card game. This game contains a massive amount of content, split into five chunks that represent each of the five most recent anime series,2 with the framing device of being taught the history of duelling by INF-N8. Each campaign gives an overview of the plot told though basic visual novel sections. However, almost every duel in the series is represented and playable. You can bring your own deck of cards to the fight (spend in-game duelist points to buy virtual booster packs), but what’s most fun is…

At the start of this pinball-puzzler you wake up as a robot half submerged in sand and very nearly out of juice. Staggering through a storm, you happen across a cave system full of arcane mechanisms and the promise of power if you can just figure out how to get everything back online. Unfortunately, the titular well-dweller would rather you didn’t do that. Your robo-approach to IT seems to be borrowed from the school of ‘whack it ‘til it works’ and, armed with a number of variations on a sci-fi bat and ball, getting power back in the grid takes the form of pinball-like puzzles. Rather than the open, fluid side-scrolling world of Yoku’s Island Express, though, Creature is contained and linear – but much better for it.1 The puzzle…

1 UNCHARTED 4: A THIEF’S END Nathan Drake’s swan song is a daring evolution. It combines series-defining set-pieces, quietly devastating storytelling beats, and sprawling levels that make you feel like a real-life explorer. This franchise finale retains its signature charm, with the wisecracks flowing as fast as the bullets, while the new characters each justify their inclusion. With an astonishing attention to detail, it’s Naughty Dog’s best yet. 2 RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 There are a lot of open world games, but none that make you feel like you’re a part of a world in quite the same way as Arthur Morgan’s wild west adventure. Tremendously physical, an epic story, and some of the most satisfying headshots you’ll ever find. 3 GOD OF WAR A departure in some ways but…

1 TETRIS EFFECT Tetris, yeah? It might be a great game, but it’s easy to understand why you’d brush this off as just more Tetris at a glance. Yet Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s trippy, transcendent take on the block-based puzzler is nothing short of a masterpiece. Sure, you can play it without PS VR, but in the virtual space it really becomes next level, transforming one of the tightest puzzle games ever made into an emotional ride. 2 THE PERSISTENCE This first-person horror roguelike offers perfectly sized chunks of survival bursts. It’s everything you’d expect from a full PS4 release, but in PS VR it’s filled with clever ideas, unique weapons, genuine jump scares, and fab looks – plus great couchplay. 3 REZ INFINITE Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s vision becomes reality in PS VR.…

FORMAT PS3, PS NOW / PUB KOEI TECMO / DEV TEAM NINJA / RELEASED 2009 / SCORE N/A Last Month Assassin’s Creed Origins Bayek goes on a forced vision quest to focus on the missions ahead. Next Month Detroit: Become Human We pay a visit to Eden Club, the robot brothel where anything goes… Can an idea be defeated with a sword and not healthy debate? Yes, yes it can, when that idea is physically embodied in the Statue Of Liberty and it’s gone rogue. Sorry America, Lady Liberty has become possessed and needs to be put down. Though the Statue Of Liberty appears in Ninja Gaiden 2, it’s only in the subsequently released Sigma edition that this famous landmark comes to life. She doesn’t need Jackie Wilson to get…

Bloober Team delivered one of PlayStation’s best cyberpunk games back in 2017, and now Observer is coming to PS5 in the Observer: System Redux edition. The game will feature upgraded graphics, sound, and new narrative cases for the next-gen edition. “WE EXPECT SYSTEM REDUX TO DELIVER A UNIQUE NEXT-GEN EXPERIENCE.” In a future where people can augment themselves with tech, a viral plague has decimated the upgraded population. War followed and both Eastern and Western civilisations were shattered. As the world was on its knees corporations took control and will now do anything to retain their steely grip on power. Dan Lazarski is a detective, an ‘Observer’, and his role is to maintain the status quo. Using his ability to hack into suspects’ minds to uncover the truth he soon…

The Phantom Menace may have been as dull as Jar Jar Binks’ wardrobe, but one good thing did come out of the prequel movie: podracing. Released in 1999 on PC, Dreamcast, and N64, Star Wars Episode I: Racer is the best podracer outside the arcades, and it’s finally being resurrected like Sheev ‘Shifty’ Palpatine himself. The definitive version launches on PS4 this month. “DELIVERING PERFECTLY ON THE PROMISE OF PODRACING.” Aspyr (which also brought both classic Star Wars Jedi Knight games to PS4) is doing more than simply porting one of the versions over to PS4. Instead, it’s taken the best elements of all the different releases, and combined and improved them to create this “definitive” release. The visuals have been smoothed out, the cutscenes have been up-rezzed to look…

Specs-ulation I can’t be the only one who is annoyed that we have heard almost nothing from Sony about PS5 while we have had almost full specs from Microsoft about Series X. I wish Sony would just tell us what we are getting! I am fully expecting PS5 (and maybe Xbox) to be delayed until April next year as the coronavirus is likely to have impacted production of components – China has more important issues to deal with, as does most of the world for now! Brian Malcolm via email At the time of going to press, Sony is still planning to release PS5 late in 2020. Flip to p46 to take a look at the gloriously futuristic DualSense controller, and what it tells us about the console. Finish him!…

1 We bust out with the help of fellow prisoner Fennorian. But first we have to fetch him a flask of blood so he feels well enough for the task. 2 As we crack some skulls, we end up eavesdropping on a witch scheming with a mysterious vampire. Information is power, remember. 3 Following the nefarious duo, we have to stop the witch’s Harrowstorm ritual, which wreaks (admittedly attractive) havoc throughout the snowy sky. 4 When we split up with Fenn, he tasks us with trekking a few mountain paths to warn the King. Solitude pokes out of the fog just as we remember.…

“THE DYNAMIC FIGHTING SYSTEM RANKS YOUR STYLE TO DISCOURAGE BUTTON MASHING.” FORMAT PS4 / ETA TBC / PUB HYPETRAIN DIGITAL / DEV LEAP GAME Panthers. Snakes. Flesh-eating parasites. The one danger we didn’t expect in the Amazon jungle was frogs. Tussle with one too many in Tunche, though, and you’ll find yourself back at the campsite, where you can regroup, visit a shop, and set out to try again. Mixing Streets-Of-Rage-style brawler action with roguelike repetition and a dash of Devil May Cry’s stylish ranking system, this is one jungle that you’ll want to venture repeatedly into, gathering more and more stories to tell around that crackling fire. Despite our hands-on demo only consisting of the first stage up to a boss fight, we can’t stop jumping back in to…

1 Grounds caters to the need all employees have for coffee to give them oomph. One tap of the app will caffeinate you, sending you speeding around the room. 2 Mobflash turns your phone camera into a blinding flashbomb, and it treats you to a pop-up photograph that shows you the results. 3 Joblinsquad allows you to turn the tide and summon your own goblin worker to fight enemies alongside you. But when they die you’re on your own again. 4 Getting overwhelmed? Distract enemies with TubeYou, which creates a big blow-up decoy of yourself that they’ll attack while you get out of there.…

How can we talk about PS4’s best communities without taking a tour of Rockstar’s crime sim? It’s sat atop the charts since launch, ensuring even your nan has probably dabbled. The main draw is the freedom on offer, and it never fails to excite. “ROCKSTAR HAS CREATED THE ULTIMATE CRIMINAL PLAYGROUND.” When GTA Online’s Heists come together they feel like – and we don’t say this lightly – the high point of the entire series. As a masked crew, you and your cronies bust into a casino, access the secure vault, and leave with the goodies. Or you break into a lab using keycards, set off an EMP, and steal classified data. Every heist (there are eight) has multi-part set-up missions, all with their own challenges to overcome, and Rockstar…

Engineer Shane Newehart lives in a research facility on the surface of Mars. Each day he completes the same familiar routine, maintaining and repairing key machinery. Until his nightmares start to seep into reality, that is. This first-person sci-fi horror draws on Lovecraftian imagery to make an isolated Martian outpost even scarier than it already was.1 As Shane’s twisted dreams manifest as terrifying monsters, you have to explore the station, uncovering the secrets, betrayals, and lies that threaten to wipe out the entire operation. While you search empty corridors and quiet computer labs you’re able to scan the environment with your Biogauge, a tool on your wrist that highlights areas of interest. Use it effectively and you’ll spot letters and discover email chains, snatches of information that explain events prior…

When physician Artemy Burakh returns to his hometown in the steppe, accusations of murder are the least of his problems. After six years away, the town is both familiar yet strange, and long-simmering tensions are about to boil over. You can’t save everyone and the worst – plague – is yet to come. Even for survival game fans, Pathologic 2 is a unique experience. The intended difficulty setting puts you in a deadly dance of just getting by, true satiation but a pipe dream. The constant nip of death at your heels gets you moving, but the real driving force lies in the story and the ‘hobo economy.’ Between chasing rumours about women made of clay and a man promising he can sell you the only gun in town, you’ll…

Videogames lend themselves well to comedy. Whether it’s a quirk in the AI causing NPCs to act like being on fire is just another Tuesday night or the physics system forgetting itself and unexpectedly flinging you across the map, games are known for their accidental absurdist punchlines. However, purposefully making a comedy game – now that’s a tricky task. As you’re the titular courier company’s wobbly-limbed newest recruit, hilarity occasionally ensues. The wide-open world is unpredictable and even something as small as a stray manhole cover can muck up your delivery run. The ragdoll physics are almost wholly unpredictable, making getting *blorp!* done alone extremely frustrating.1 However, getting the team together for a round of deliveries will cure any grumpiness – it did the trick for us. The magic is…

Dubbed a “masocore” game by developer Team Ninja, Nioh 2 lives up to the name. It’s rock-hard, whether you’re getting bodyslammed by a spider-cow boss or being caught off guard by the imp-like ganki. You will die. Frequently. You can ‘git gud’ and master the game solo, but if you join with other players online you can tackle the challenges together in almost every level (apart from the one-on-one duels). That could mean teaming up to explore the large twisty stages with a real-life stranger fighting alongside you, or summoning in the helpful AI ghost of a friend at a benevolent grave. Bloody graves allow you to fight other players’ AI ghosts where they’ve died in battle – it’s a great way to earn some better loot and resources. VERDICT…

JAMES DRAGOV A police officer before the outbreak, Dragov is an agent gone rogue to lead the Rikers in the Financial District. Fighting past an APC on Wall Street with an intact cannon is one of the expansion’s most memorable moments. AARON KEENER The loose end from the original The Division, Aaron Keener has settled in Lower Manhattan and united the factions. With a new strain of the virus Keener is threatening to destroy the fragile stability that you’ve spent two games building. JAVIER KAJIKA You face foes with flamethrowers as you enter Pathway Park in the hunt for Kajika. Fighting Kajika himself means surviving the environment as he heats up the room to release steam beneath you. Keep moving to win. THEO PARNELL Drone expert Parnell is hidden somewhere…

Kindred Aerospace, the fourth-best interstellar space exploration company, has a problem. It’s Vyper Corp, the second-best interstellar company. Its robots have found Kindred’s water resort on planet DL-C1 and have been dumping toxic waste there. You thought you were going home? Think again. Kindred has work for you to do. The comedic aspect of the original adventure is dialled up this time around as you explore the new planet and deal with Vyper’s robots. Kronus, Vyper’s AI intelligence, follows you around, berating you at every turn with the sole goal of putting you off what you’re doing. The planet is fun to explore, and feels like a coherent space. It’s mostly uncharted but has just enough touches of life, thanks to the Kindred/ Vyper feud, to ensure it feels like…

About half a year has passed since Modern Warfare released, but the online offering has changed substantially in that time. Its third season launched last month, and brought great content not just to the standard multiplayer, but to the new free-to-play battle royale mode Warzone too. “NEW SURVIVAL MAP SHOOT HOUSE WAS EXCLUSIVE TO PS4 PLAYERS.” Quads is the biggest addition to Warzone. It allows teams of four to hop into the fray, adding a tighter tactical element. Jugg Of War also arrived mid-season. In that, an attacking team had to capture a Juggernaut and escort it to their base. Sabotage, an unlimited respawn mode where you had to destroy an objective, rounded the modes off. Then there was survival map Shoot House, exclusive to PS4 players. A redux of…

1 “A GLORIOUS, FUNNY, OCCASIONALLY TOUCHING AND OFTEN MADDENING TRIBUTE TO THE 8-BIT PLATFORMER.” 2 “A FAST-PACED AND UTTERLY THRILLING WAY TO PAINT THE TOWN (AND MARS, AND ETHEREAL REALMS) RED.” 3 “CASTS YOU AS A DEITY GUIDING A TRIBE OF PERSONIFIED EYEBALLS TO VICTORY THROUGH RHYTHMIC DRUMMING, AND YES, IT’S AS BRILLIANTLY ODD AS IT SOUNDS.” 4 “BRIGHT, POPPING COLOURS AND BEAUTIFUL CELSHADED VISUALS CAPTURE YOUR EYE, AND BRING THE ART OF AKIRA TORIYAMA TO LIFE.”…