Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2020 i PLAY

Two assassins are trapped on mysterious Blackreef Island, where time loops, repeating the same day over and over again. If you’ve even the slightest familiarity with games (and you‘re an expert, right?) you know they often have a loop of death and retrying as you progress. Well, in Deathloop, Arkane is baking that into the game’s very structure. “YOU CAN TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPLORE.” Playing as Colt, you’re trying to escape the island and bring an end to the time loop. To do so you must explore Blackreef and take out eight targets before the day resets. All the while, you have to watch out for Julianna, a rival assassin who wants the time loop to stay in place. While Julianna can be an AI-controlled hunter, it’s also possible…

We exclusively revealed the lengths Hangar 13 is going to for Mafia Definitive Edition’s ground-up remake back in issue 177. This issue the dev reveals more gameplay, and it looks ‘swinging’. Set for release on 25 September, Mafia DE is a bold Resident Evil 2-style remake. The world has been rebuilt in a revised version of the Mafia III engine, missions tweaked, and the city of Lost Heaven reworked to feature new areas. The gunplay on show is sharp and crunchy; marble columns in a hotel lobby spark and explode as chunks are shot from the hard surfaces. But it’s the sight of the infamous race car mission that truly impresses – shiny, fast, and immaculately detailed, this classic car sprint, inspired by Star Wars’s pod racing, has us itching…

“Hello my fellow gamers,” Miss Piggy greeted viewers to Day Of The Devs. “I have over 100 platinum trophies on my PS4. I adore platinum.” “Though it cost us roughly two months, our primarily home-based work system is now securely established.” Square Enix’s Naoki Yoshida shares how his team have been adapting to Covid-19. “We should just go for it.” Kazunori Yamauchi recounts Ken Kutaragi’s encouragement to create PS1 in documentary From Bedrooms To Billions – The Playstation Revolution.…

1 As you sail along the coast, raids can be initiated from the longboat, with your crew jumping on land to fight next to you (or you can go stealthy). 2 Why the need for all the looting? Well, your settlement needs resources to grow. You’ll keep coming back to this hub, and it will grow over time. 3 Ever noticed we don’t have gigantic wolves in England any more? It’s because Eivor killed them all for XP (and the other legendary animals too). 4 Pagan tombs hide secrets, and you can spot them with Eagle (Raven?) Vision. What ancient Brythonic myths lie in wait in this stone circle to challenge Eivor?…

“ITS POLISHED PRESENTATION GIVES IT A FLAIR REMINISCENT OF SOME OF YOUR FAVOURITE 3D ANIMATED MOVIES.” FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2021 PUB ROUTE 59, COCONUT ISLAND GAMES, PLAYISM / DEV ROUTE 59 Spend only an hour with this narrative game and you’ll quickly realise it’s a genre game-changer. Primarily, it’s a visual novel, but its polished presentation gives it a flair reminiscent of some of your favourite 3D animated movies. It looks stunning in motion. Each section of text is delivered next to a freeze frame of animation with fully modelled characters and environments, with the scene continuing to unfold with cuts and animation when you press a button to progress. The story revolves around The Terminal, a café that serves excellent coffee, and something stronger for those who need…

“NEW ADDITIONS FIT WITHIN THE CRASH FORMULA RATHER THAN CAUSING IT TO MUTATE.” FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2 OCT / PUB ACTIVISION / DEV TOYS FOR BOB, BEENOX Numbers are important. That big number four is, in some respect, a big lie. We regret to inform you that other (mostly bad) Crash Bandicoot games were made after PS1’s Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. But here, Toys For Bob is using the number as a statement of intent. That doesn’t mean the N.Sane Trilogy developer is grafting a new game over the necromancied bones of Warped. Instead, it’s using that game as a jumping-off point, positing how the series should have evolved. Crash donned different outfits in Warped, so here there are plenty to unlock (microtransactionfree); Coco had her own stages in…

_BUDGET_ARMS_SLAUGHTOMATIC_ One of the things we thought about with the weapons is that in Cyberpunk, we have a very overt weapon culture. It’s very different to the way weapons work  in our world. This is like American gun culture just gone crazy, you know?” says Ben Andrews. As the game’s protagonist you’re not the only one packing heat. It’s a fact of life in Night City. “Everybody has a gun because violence has been taken to the extremes,” he continues. “The idea that you may be mugged on your way home from work is extremely common, or your apartment might be broken into at the weekend. So, everybody’s carrying a gun.” “THIS IS LIKE AMERICAN GUN CULTURE JUST GONE CRAZY.” The world supports that too, as firearms have become part…

As the nomads mostly operate on the city outskirts, their vehicles need to be sturdier than street cars, but, “Nomads are not building their cars from nowhere,” shares  Mielniczuk. The game has about 29 base models of cars that come in “countless” varieties, including these Nomad sets. “They just buy a really good, reliable car and they are investing a lot of money to make it super-overpowered, so they are replacing the engine, they’re adding more… it’s like the owner of Subaru Impreza making an early version on his own, you know? So that’s what Nomads do – they are tossing equipment in the already-existing car.” “NOMADS ARE TOSSING EQUIPMENT IN THE ALREADY EXISTING CAR.” But that doesn’t mean these cars are simple reskins. The vehicle modifications affect how they…

Thanks to its eerie monochromatic art style and abstract story, Othercide is immediately intriguing. Impressively, it has the turn-based battle system to back up its premise. In a warped modern world, humanity struggles to rise above the Suffering, a plague of the mind that’s transformed people into nightmarish ghouls and monsters. Spawned from the spirit of the greatest warrior to ever live, the Mother and her band of battle-ready Daughters1 are now the only hope of restoring peace. Combat takes centre stage, with challenging turn-based battles demanding strategy and acute awareness of the world around your Daughters. These units may perform a certain number of moves each turn, including traversing the tessellated battlefield and unleashing ranged or closeup attacks. As you progress through levels your Daughters grow in strength, and…

Within minutes of starting our protagonist Mai Toyama has killed her father in self-defence after years of domestic abuse, and the game doesn’t really stray from the tone this sets. After arriving at an orphanage to search for her missing sister, events play out like a low-budget JRPG version of Suspiria, any charming anime-style tropes undercut by a sense of dread as you become sure terrible things will happen to the school’s damaged orphans.1 Narrative branches can result in some grisly CG artwork, but more often the most upsetting things are implied through text or voice acting, which is even scarier. The entire town of La Choara worships El Strain. It’s a mysterious and unique religion.2 Residents don’t go out after midnight because the town changes, giving way to strange…

You are a lowly kitchen porter for the galaxy’s best chefs. When your superiors are kidnapped by the ever-hungry Rabbit Queen, it’s up to you to prove that just a pinch of salt or the smallest clove of garlic can really bring a dish together. Unfortunately, between you and your culinary comrades are waves of ravenous rabbits with a taste for flesh.1 With your trusty soup spoon in hand, you need to bat them back, sending them hurtling away or into stewing pots where they belong.2 A tightly focussed action puzzler, each stage is chock-full of slapstick shenanigans, charmingly cheeky pixel art, and ‘rabbit’ fire mischief. World One is to the point, focussed on teaching you the ins and outs of its leporidae-laced antics, and frustration rarely features. World Two…

Considering Disintegration’s gravcycle-zipping multiplayer is far better than the mediocre campaign, it’s disappointing that even a month after release it’s a bit of a brain-can graveyard. Even though the game is a pretty simple FPS/ RTS hybrid where you give simple commands to your boots-on-the-ground crew, perhaps the premise is simply a little too complicated for people to feel like hopping into quickplay. When you do manage to wait long enough to matchmake into whatever mode anyone else is playing you won’t have to worry about having a good spread of crews (essentially heroes) on your team, as you almost certainly won’t have a full 5v5 match. A lot of times we ended up the sole player on a team (against two). VERDICT An interesting multiplayer game, but there aren’t…

1 CLUTCH WIN The Clutch Claw can grapple onto any monsters – great for tenderising body parts or climbing onto monsters’ heads. It’s a vital tool in many post-game hunts, especially against Safi’jiiva and Alatreon. 2 TEMPER TEMPERED If you want to get the best gear, you need to go after the Tempered monsters, and they are absolutely no slouches. And then there’s Arch Tempered varieties, who are the preserve of the true master hunters. 3 LAYER UP You don’t have to choose between style and practicality. If you want to look like Ciri but have fire-resistant armour, complete the relevant quest and you can wear her layered armour over your Kulve Taroth set.…

We’ve been waiting to see what PES’ next team strategy will be, and now the whistle’s blown it seems like some big plays are afoot. Specifically, Konami’s focus is on next gen, switching from its own Fox Engine to Unreal Engine as it builds PES 2022 for PS5. “WE’RE REBUILDING OUR NEXT-GEN TITLE FROM THE GROUND UP.” This doesn’t mean there won’t be a game this year, but Konami has said it’s had to “pare back our efforts” on PES 2021 in order to put resources into next year’s bigger release. “Even though eFootball PES 2021 Season Update is similar to eFootball PES 2020 it is still a different game with different players and teams,” Konami says. And it will release at a cheaper price point with “several bonuses” to…

Balan Company might be Square Enix’s new studio, but its colourful platformer shows the experience of its staff. The studio reunites director Yuji Naka (the creator of Sonic The Hedgehog) with character designer Naoto Ohshima (who designed Sonic and Eggman). Besides Sonic, the pair collaborated on Nights Into Dreams. “LEO AND EMMA WILL NEED TO USE 80 COSTUMES.” Playing as Leo and Emma, you discover the strange, dreamlike world of Balan Wonderworld through a musical theatre, guided by the top-hatted Balan. This is a land that people come to when they reach a turning point in their life, and for our heroes that probably has something to do with growing up. Other people have also found themselves in Wonderworld, struck by sadness and worry, and it’s up to you to…

A Rat’s Quest: The Way Back Home ETA 2021 / PUB HANDY GAMES / DEV THE DREAMERIANS Experience our world as a rat in this narrative-focused platform adventure. Stuart Little’s grubby cousin? Assassin’s Creed Valhalla ETA 17 NOV 2020 / PUB UBISOFT / DEV UBISOFT MONTREAL Live out your Viking fantasy without the need to grow a beard, as the famed sci-fi series heads to Dark Ages England. Astro’s Playroom ETA 2020 / PUB SONY / DEV JAPAN STUDIO Designed to showcase everything Sony’s new console and DualSense can do, this platformer will come preloaded. Balan Wonderworld ETA EARLY 2021 / PUB SQUARE ENIX DEV SQUARE ENIX, ARZEST Magical platformer with ability-altering collectable costumes. Battlefield 6 ETA 2021 / PUB EA / DEV DICE The latest iteration of DICE’s sublime…

01 PROJECT: ATHIA ETA TBC / PUB SQUARE ENIX / DEV LUMINOUS PRODUCTIONS Square’s bold new PS5 exclusive teased us during Sony’s The Future Of Games event but then went quiet. That was until Square Enix president and representative director Yosuke Matsuda broke ranks to tell Weekly Toyo Keizai Plus it will be “an open-world style game in which users can freely move around the game world”. He went on to explain how Project: Athia will make use of ray tracing to create incredibly precise detail. He then explained that Square Enix is dedicated to delivering games on console (Luminous Productions was set up specifically to create Project: Athia). “We will never stop developing for high-end platforms such as PS5,” he stated. “Because these things are packed with the best…

“THE FEEL OF THE GUNS ENSURES IT RETAINS THE CLASSIC WORMS VIBE.” FORMAT PS4, PS5 / ETA 2020 / PUB TEAM 17 DIGITAL / DEV TEAM 17 We love our little war-hungry worm friends, but we’ll admit we’re often wary whenever they step outside the classic Worms formula. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But, we’re pleased to report to our commanding worm that Rumble is a twist on Worms that feels right. The perspective is the way Worms works best: 2D, side-on (the less said about the 3D Worms efforts the better). The game pits 32 worms (individuals, not teams) against one another in large-scale conflict. Rather than being turn-based like classic Worms (can you imagine waiting for 31 other people to take their turns?) everything here takes…

“EXPERIENCE MAGICALLY SLAPPING A DEMON CHILD.” FORMAT PS5 / ETA 2021 / PUB BETHESDA / DEV TANGO GAMEWORKS This is not Tokyo as you may know it, or indeed, your Lonely Planet guide has described it. Not only are there no gap-year students digging into sushi at the Tsukiji Fish Market, there’s no-one around. Lockdown? No. Spiritual invasion from another dimension? Oh yes. With Shinji Mikami (director of The Evil Within and Resident Evil) on board, Tango Gameworks is no newcomer to creating invasions of weird, otherworldly spectres. For Ghostwire: Tokyo the dev has remodelled the city as a backdrop for your world-saving combat. It’s not a 1:1 version of the Japanese capital, but a gamified rebuilding; the famous locations are all in here, but condensed into a smaller space…

“THE TEAM IS TARGETING 60FPS AT 4K ON PS5. YUM.” FORMAT PS4, PS5 / ETA 3 SEP / PUB NACON / DEV KYLOTONN Considering last year’s deep, solid WRC 8 looks a tad last-gen compared to the sublime Dirt Rally 2.0, WRC 9 essentially needs to make a two-generation leap in one go if it’s to shine on PS5. Using last year’s game as a base, then lavishing it with upgrades and new content, Kylotonn has made clear strides forward in visuals as it aims for the high specs of the PS5 release. As we go hands-on the generational leap is obvious. The biggest improvement is in the environmental lighting, giving the dense trackside foliage a greater sensation of depth, with detailed shadows cast across everything, including the expanding dust…

Cyberpunk 2077 might be set in the far future, but the tabletop RPG it’s based on is firmly a product of 1980s futurism, and that’s never more obvious than when  it comes to the types of vehicles on display in the streets. “The majority of the car design is based and inspired by ’90s and ’80s designers like Marcello Gandini, the guy that made the [Lamborghini] Countach, and De Tomaso Pantera, or Alfa Romeo Carabo – those cars are just pure cyberpunk,” says Mielniczuk. It’s those sharp angles. “We’re not looking for concept cars from modern times because they have too complex forms, they’re organic, they’re just… We looked at the blocky, heavier-looking shapes that were in in the ’90s and ’80s.” For a lot of the team, switching from…

“We wanted a world that reflected our own but also was its own thing.” Talking with Goodbye Volcano High’s co-creative directors Saleem Dabbous and Kyle McKernan, we ask the obvious question: why dinosaurs? “Yeah. I mean, who doesn’t love dinosaurs?” Dabbous grins. As unusual as they are, the dinosaurs were there from the very beginning of a lengthy pre-production process. “We wanted a world that reflected our own but also was its own thing and had fun references to non-humanistic elements [...] We also just wanted to make something different, something that people hadn’t seen and dinosaurs made a lot of sense.” Dabbous adds, “We also thought that there was a very strong narrative hook with dinosaurs because… I think everyone knows what happened to the dinosaurs, right?” McKernan jokes,…

WHAT YOU DO IN… DESTROY ALL HUMANS! STAT PACK 6 Maps to unlock and replay – this includes the new Area 42 that was omitted from the original game. 9 Weapons and abilities to upgrade – and now you can use them in tandem for added fun. 22 Missions; hidden goals (killing humans with radiated cows) unlock new skins. 1 Mad-as-hell alien to play as; bonus points for Crypto’s Jack Nicholson-like voice acting. HOW TO… GO FULL AGENT 47 Stealth missions in the new Area 42 require Crypto to ‘HoloBob’ into a human disguise and take out scientists silently. Whether it’s dropping a heavy crate on a target’s head or exploding a barbecue, these are simple yet fun Hitman-like excursions. THE FIRST FIVE HOURS… 1 We kidnap a…

For story fans, “But I would never say that,” and “I didn’t know they were gonna say it like that,” are common refrains. Narrative design is hard, often requiring the spinning of many plates by cross-departmental hands – and sometimes that leads to discrepancies between player intent and character action. Insatiable Cycle knows the value of every word. As a nameless protagonist with problems at home, one night at the bar could change everything. Texting back and forth with your girlfriend Sam, it’s not always what you say but how you say it that makes all the difference. The dialogue system here prioritises self-expression, allowing you to swap out words and sentence fragments to switch up the tone of what you eventually say. The devil makes work for idle thumbs…

WHAT YOU DO IN… SKATER XL LOVING/ HATING CONTROL FREAK The control system is brilliant. Casual players and hardcore skate fans alike can enjoy the closest thing there is to hitting the streets. MODLESS HEATHENS The three community maps serve as a painful reminder that PS4 players don’t have mod access. Hopefully this will come later. STAT PACK 5 Developer maps, based on real locations, perfect for getting your skate on. 4 Famous skateboarders to be: Brandon Westgate, Tiago Lemos, Tom Asta, and Evan Smith. 3 Community-created maps to skate on. “There’s a community?” you ask. Sore point. 0 The number of mods, at time of writing, you can download on PS4. Boo! We want mods! HOW TO… MANUAL SUCCESSFULLY What the tutorial doesn’t make clear is…

Many anime games act as a portal to the original animation’s world, allowing newcomers and series fans alike to be able to enjoy and understand their stories in a fresh way, but if you don’t have a firm understanding of Fairy Tail before playing you’re going to be more lost than the members of the titular guild are at the start of this game – and they’ve just woken up from a seven-year slumber. The decision to begin the in-game action several arcs into Fairy Tail’s story1 is an odd one that ensures only die-hard fans will be able to keep up (and they may be upset that they’ll never play through the entire series like you can with other anime games). But, they will relish the opportunity to play…

WHAT YOU DO IN… CUPHEAD LOVING/ HATING GAME RECOGNISE GAME You’ll spot homages to a variety of arcade and console classics, including nods to good old Street Fighter and R-Type. RANDOM BLUNDER GENERATOR Certain attack combinations can screw you over through no real fault of your own. The parry window is a tad fussy, too. STAT PACK 19 Bosses to beat up – not including King Dice’s nine mini-bosses. And not an easy one in the bunch. 2 Players can team up, though co-op mode makes the on-screen action even more chaotic. 46 Damage value per hit for a fully-charged Charge shot – possibly the best weapon. 6 Run-and-gun stages. Beat them without killing anything for a coveted P-rank. COMPEL-O-GRAPH IS IT BETTER THAN? YES Cuphead mugs off…

Endless item synergies, weird bosses, and tons of unlockables are bursting from Neon Abyss. True to its name, this action-platforming roguelike has you descending into the depths of the abyss with the objective of running and gunning through each room and defeating the boss at the end. With each run, and each death, more layers are added to the game. When you’re playing, it seems the less you can understand what you’re looking at on your screen, the better. The meticulously crafted unloading of power as a result of item synergising and collected weapon upgrades can make it feel like you’re almost breaking the game. Though there is not a large variety of mid-bosses and the bosses at the end of each stage can feel repetitive, the wide array of…

Rocket Arena is a hectic online multiplayer experience that draws inspiration from the likes of Overwatch and Apex Legends. The basic idea is that you have lots of rockets, and you need to fire them at opponents to blast them out of the arena. Oh, and sometimes there are rockets attached to your feet as well. Boot up the game and you’ll be instructed to pick from ten wacky characters. Each fighter is lovingly designed and has unique strengths and weaknesses. This gives you the motivation to experiment with different characters until you find the one that best fits your groove. Instead of having a health bar that opponents can whittle away at, your fighter has a hit meter. Rack up too much damage and you’ll find yourself on the…

With the real F1 season finally underway, taking on the world on PS4 in between races feels wonderful. Whether you want to participate in five-lap ranked or unranked quick races, go for 25% distance to avoid the griefers or set up your own league to compete on actual dates in the actual calendar, it’s all here. Searching for leagues or making your own is simple, and there are plenty of players so there’s always action to be found. Lobby voting on a four-circuit selection sadly means some tracks rarely get played, but the more stringent corner cutting regulations at least mean cheaters don’t prosper like they used to. The server connection is a little flaky, but when it works F1’s never felt so assured. VERDICT The gloss and depth Codemasters…

FORMAT PS4 / PUB SQUARE ENIX / DEV SQUARE ENIX / RELEASED 2019 / SCORE 8/10 Where Final Fantasy VII wowed with its (for the time) impressive CG cutscenes, Final Fantasy VIII went further. Armed with more realistically proportioned character models, in several important portions of the game controllable gameplay was spliced together with CG video in the background, making you feel like you were actually playing inside those cutscenes. Even in the PS4 remaster of the 1999 original they still have a wow factor. The sorceress’ parade is the first time this kicks into high gear. In this unforgettable sequence that comes early in the game, Squall and the rest of his SeeD mercenary group have been hired to take out Galbadia’s new ally, an evil sorceress. They plan…

“THEY’RE DOING A LOT MORE THINGS THAT ARE LIKE, ENABLING YOU TO SORT OF OPEN YOUR EXPERIENCE A LITTLE WIDER.” Some of the best sentences in chats about a next-gen console start with ‘I’m not sure how much I can say,’ so our ears prick up when Oddworld creator Lorne Lanning says something along those lines. As Oddworld has always had a social element to it, we’re asking him for his thoughts on how games have become increasingly social – both mechanically and as virtual spaces where we hang out. Our conversation quickly turns to what PlayStation 5 makes possible and he says, “Before we’d say, ‘Okay, I’m playing my console game…’ And there’s connectivity and there’s friends, sharing of stats and stuff like this, but a lot of it,…

“WE ARE FULLY COMMITED TO RAY TRACING MOVING FORWARD.” ”We can see loads of possibilities there for any game,” teases 4A Studios’ executive producer Jon Bloch as he contemplates how the team behind Metro Exodus could make use of PS5’s DualSense controller. “Probably the first that comes to mind for Metro would be getting that tactile feedback of pressure as you pump up a pneumatic rifle,” he continues. Fans of the series will be nodding in furrowed excitement at the thought of feeling the pressure build and fall in their makeshift post-nuclear pump-action rifle. Though the developer has not officially confirmed a sequel, Bloch does bait us: “[…] at the end of Exodus we left Artyom by the shores of Lake Baikal. Was that the end of his journey or…

Reimagining the Robin Hood legend as a 4v4 multiplayer thief sim for PS5, Sumo Newcastle’s Hood: Outlaws & Legends could be the most surprising next-gen game yet. It’s dark and gritty, and reminds us of Eidos Montreal’s Thief series. However, rather than hold itself to a single-player narrative Hood enables you to team up with friends to steal loot from the oppressive government, The State. This PvPvE loot-chaser mixes stealth, combat, and strategy as your team race to beat rivals to steal The State’s treasure. The AI guards aren’t going to let either of you just walk into a Stronghold, and will use their own tactics to prevent you pulling off the burglary. There’s more to Hood than being a Dark Ages Payday. This is a realistically crafted world where…

The future Cyberpunk 2077 presents is one in which it isn’t only what’s around you that matters, but what’s inside you, as cyberware has advanced beyond being  quality-of-life-enhancing prosthetics to a common feature. “In order to get a job in this really harsh world, you’ll have to work for a corporation, and corporations kind of forcing you to take the cyberware – maybe they are subsidising it to you, and the corporation is kind of owning you, in a way,” says Andrews, explaining how cyberware came to be a part of this world’s history. “As you move through time and technology improves, this is when it starts to become a status symbol,” says Andrews. And by 2077 it’s fractured between those who have the money for internal, Real Skin-covered cyberware,…

The eyecatching six-wheeled sports car is inspired by vehicle designs in the original Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop RPG. So, we want to know, why do they have so many wheels? “That’s pointless,” says Mielniczuk. “There actually are a few cars that have six wheels, you can Google that. There were experiments like that. We did our research, [but] it makes absolutely no sense. But, it’s, you know, it’s style over substance. It’s… the six-wheeler cars are representative of the Kitsch style. And that’s exactly it. The more wheels the better, right?”…

WHAT YOU DO IN… MANIFOLD GARDEN STAT PACK 4 Hours: how long it took us to hit credits. Your time may vary, depending on your puzzle skills. 6 Gravitational planes (just think of them as sides of a dice) and type of cube colour. 8 How far you can fall in most levels. Yes, you can be looping forever, eternally falling. 8 Years since development began in 2012. It’s a short game, but intricate and beautiful. LOVING/ HATING SUPER LOOPER The mind-bending, expansive environments look gorgeous and puts the power of experimentation into our hands. BLOCK PARTY Large environmental blocks don’t show up often, but flipping gravity to move them when they do crop up feels tiresome. COMPEL-O-GRAPH TROPHY CABINET BRONZE Take the plunge and fall from high…

Remember a little puzzle game called Portal? If you enjoyed that one, this game should bring back some happy memories, even if it doesn’t leave you with quite as many itself. Relicta has a relatively simple premise: you play as a research physicist named Angelica Patel, who’s stranded on a lunar base after an experiment goes wrong. In order to unravel the secrets of the base and slowly piece together the story and the lore of the world, you have to gather clues as well as complete physics-based puzzles involving shoving metal cubes around using gravity and magnetism. Everything’s seen from a first-person perspective, Patel’s hands visible on screen as you manipulate the cubes to hit switches and open gates. The environments are very rich and detailed, and colours go…

Smashing things is one of videogaming’s oldest pastimes. It’s the rock upon which everything in this boulder-rolling blend of tower defence tactics and Monkey Ball is built, and for the most part it’s as satisfying as crushing your enemy with a bulbous, inflated cow can be. As the title suggests, Rock Of Ages 3 is divided into two main modes: Make (create your own courses to play and share) and Break (a story mode that sees you roll through the ages crushing famous leaders with a variety of ball-shaped objects). The latter is the most fun on console, as while functional, creating courses in this PC conversion can be eye-straining, and not so much fun on a DualShock. Break is where the good stuff happens. Each historical figure offers a…

Fan of disaster movies? Then this might be for you. It’s a Japanese visual novel stuffed with gruesome bad endings you have to navigate as you guide characters to survival. Set in 2030, it’s split into two halves: in the first you play as the amnesiac captain of SIRIUS, an elite firefighting squad helping survivors escape a nuclear meltdown; and in the second you follow telepathic students butting heads with a terrorist group (which despises telepaths) in the week leading up to the disaster. Naturally both routes are connected, and getting the true endings for both unlocks a third route. It’s a fun sci-fi disaster romp, especially the first half of the game, where all the disaster genre tropes come into play. With a killer trapped inside the lab with…

EXPANSION £11.99 The Outer Worlds: Peril On Gorgon Discover the secrets of the Gorgon Project You’ve a new reason to return to the Halcyon Solar System in September, as the Gorgon Asteroid becomes available to explore. There, Spacer’s Choice keeps the secret research facility where it develops Adrena-Time. This is a pulp-style adventure that teases plenty of “salacious secrets” and “scandalous strangers”, packed with the kind of humour you’ve come to expect from The Outer Worlds. The DLC isn’t locked behind any barriers. Once purchased, you can access it as part of the main campaign to take on with your crew as you progress past Monarch (though the intention is for higher-level players to tackle it). Gorgon has about the same amount of content as that planet (which took us…

1 “MAKES YOU FEEL LESS LIKE AN ADVANCED AI AND MORE LIKE AN IDIOT IN A FLOATING BALL.” 2 “AFTER THE BLOODFEST EARLY TRAILERS WE DID WORRY WE’D BE ENTERING THE TEENAGER GOREZONE.” 3 “YOU’LL BEGIN BY HELPING A REBELLION AGAINST THE ATHENIANS, BEFORE BEING SPUN THROUGH A STORY OF LUST, MURDER, AND POLITICAL INTRIGUE.” 4 “AN ANTIDOTE TO CYNICISM AND IS ABOUT JUST THAT – COMING TOGETHER AND LAUGHING AT THE EXPLOSIONS WE SHARE.”…

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 firing 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 GRAND THEFT AUTO V Laughing in the face of…

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.…