Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2021 i PLAY

“Not only is this 2320 jail state-of-the-art, but the surrounding moon is uninhabitable.” We might have to wait for 2022 for Striking Distance Studios’ debut project, but we’re already confident it’ll bring the thrills. The studio is led by Glen Schofield, who had a hand in the first Dead Space, alongside other ex-Dead Space devs, and it’s looking to bring those space scares to PlayStation 5. Publisher Krafton has given the team the opportunity to make a game that matches their vision. “They basically have given me carte blanche and creative control,” says Schofield proudly. “I’ve heard that before, and not always gotten it, but they have been right to their word, man, and they have been great to work with.” The Callisto Protocol has been in the works for…

“THE MAIN THING WE ARE EXPERIMENTING WITH IS THE PLAYER-DRIVEN CAMPAIGN.” i FORMAT PS5 ETA 21 MAY PUB BETHESDA DEV ARKANE STUDIOS PLAYERS 1-2 Where other developers find comfort in the conventional game narrative, the A-to-B race to the credits, Arkane Studios looks upon this structure as a thing to fight against. Its past games, such as the Dishonored series, have enabled us to play with a sense of freedom but in small specific ways. Deathloop explodes its narrative into tiny pieces and expects you to pick up all the bits. “The structure is a little bit more crazy,” understates game director Dinga Bakaba. He refers to Deathloop as an “experimentation,” a game that builds on Dishonored’s approach to player agency but in new ways. Deathloop represents the crossroads of…

i FORMAT PS5 ETA 19 MAR PUB PLAYSTATION STUDIOS DEV HOUSEMARQUE PLAYERS 1 Lost in space on a planet that is always changing, there’s one constant: you keep dying. As astronaut Selene you wake up on a mysterious alien world amid the wreckage of your spaceship. Why you’re here and how you can get off this rock are just two of the answers you’ll seek as you struggle to regain your memory and fend off the beasts out for your blood. Blending bullet-hell gunplay with a roguelike, procedurally generated loop, Returnal is a progression of Housemarque’s identity. “It’s a bold ambition for us, with plenty of crazy ideas that we never thought we’d put into a game,” says Harry Krueger, game director at the studio. Every time Selene dies the…

i FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA 2021 PUB KEELWORKS DEV KEELWORKS PLAYERS 1-2 Choose to route power to weapons or shields in a twin-stick shooter that recalls the heady days of hanging out in sweaty arcades. Developed by former film VFX artists, Cygni is a riot of colour and eye-popping animation. Between missions you can upgrade your ship to stand a better chance of taking down the enemy bosses yet to come. Cygni isn’t looking to reinvent the shooter but is a celebration of everything we love about the genre: eye-candy visuals, screen-engulfing boss battles, and bullet hell mazes, all wrapped in cinematic spectacle. Slip into the cockpit this spring.…

i FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA 2021 PUB NEOSTREAM INTERACTIVE DEV NEOSTREAM INTERACTIVE PLAYERS 1 Looking like a Pixar short mixed with Monster Hunter: World, this RPG’s cute yet dangerous setup draws you in. Your job is to help Professor Vincent catalogue the strange creatures of your world before magic disappears and takes these wonders with it. Aided by the Prof’s close friend Dr Oliver, who creates your arsenal of tools and gadgets, the great adventure begins. The world is free to roam, and across the map are deserts, oceans, and mountains to explore. OPM: What has influenced and inspired Little Devil Inside? Kody Lee: The world of Little Devil Inside did not originate from a single particular inspirational source. It is something that was conceived and grown from our creative…

i FORMAT PS4 ETA 23 APRIL PUB SQUARE ENIX DEV TOYLOGIC INC PLAYERS 1 Don’t let the somewhat clunky title put you off. If you came to the series thanks to Nier: Automata and missed the original Nier on PS3, this is your chance to catch up via a loving remaster of the previously Japan-only version. The main difference between this and the version originally released in the West is that here you play the brother of a dying girl, rather than her father. The story’s as wonderfully complex, however. Nier is crammed full of more surprises than one game has any right to hold. Some sections throw you into a completely different genre, there’s a story twist that shines an entirely different light on your actions, replaying the game…

i FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA 2 FEB PUB SQUARE ENIX DEV PEOPLE CAN FLY PLAYERS 1-3 We’ve seen squad-based looter shooters before, but few that feel like this. With retro-blasts such as Bulletstorm under its belt, People Can Fly has crafted some incredibly moreish, fast-paced shooting. We speak with creative director Bartek Kmita about how the studio blends that secret sauce... “LET’S GIVE THE TOOLS FOR THE PLAYERS TO BUILD A FANTASY, TO BUILD THEIR OWN OUTRIDER.” OPM: One of People Can Fly’s strengths seems to be the guns. What’s the team’s approach to crafting great gunplay? Bartek Kmita: Gunplay for every shooter is this Holy Grail, that you have to do this good and that you have to do this properly. Unfortunately, different players have different opinions on what…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA TBC PUB FOCUS HOME INTERACTIVE DEV FLYING WILD HOGS PLAYERS 1-2 The developer behind the old-school run ‘n’ gun shooter series Shadow Warrior is back on PlayStation with a new game packed with what it does best: chaotic, fast, and gruesome gunplay. The newly announced Evil West plays like Doom meets Call Of Juarez, and we’re excited to see exactly how this shooter mashup will turn out. Stepping into the spurred boots of vampire hunter Jesse Rentier, you’re the weird west’s last chance for survival. In this alt-history a darkness has begun menacing the American frontier. As a member of the secretive vampire-hunting society called The Institute you’re called on to track down every demon, beast, and bloodsucker that’s begun crawling out of the crowd. Playing…

“THE HEADLESS SCHOOLERS LOOK LIKE CHILDREN; THEY’RE SPEEDY AND AGILE.” FORMAT PS5 ETA TBC PUB BETHESDA DEV TANGO GAMEWORKS PLAYERS 1 Tokyo has been devastated by a paranormal event that has seen vengeful spirits released across the city. Before anyone can say ‘who you gonna call?’ you take on the role of the city’s saviour, ready to calm the spirits and find the cause of the disaster. Set in an open but condensed version of Tokyo, this adventure from the team behind The Evil Within series (and the original Resident Evil) is exclusive to PS5. Played in first-person, the standard shooter mechanics have been swapped for close-up martial arts. You can only vanquish the Visitors, the various creatures and ghouls between you and the truth behind the ghostly invasion, by…

FORMAT PS4 ETA 2021 PUB BREAKING WALLS DEV BREAKING WALLS PLAYERS 1 We love nature documentaries. They’re fascinating, and always have something new to teach us. Now we’re on the verge of getting one we can play! This game lets you not only watch, but control a sugar glider (a marsupial a lot like a flying squirrel). As the tiny beastie you run, climb, glide, explore, and fight your way through lovingly detailed environments to save yourself and your cute family, keeping an eye out for both predators and prey. There will be opportunities to briefly control other creatures, too. Fun and educational? Breaking Walls might just pull it off.…

FORMAT PS5 ETA 2021 PUB GEARBOX PUBLISHING DEV NORSFELL PLAYERS 1-10 Bad news: you’re in the middle of a Norse-flavoured apocalypse. (Yes, another one.) Good news: this is an excuse for some epic fights! The gods seem to have abandoned you, but you’re not alone. Although you can play the game solo, you can also work with up to nine other players. Either way, you need to build defences to keep your village safe. This is no mindless hack-and-slasher. Giants are on the rampage, so you need to harvest materials and build items to give you and your team the best chance of protecting the Seed Of Yggdrasil. Stay the Norse.…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA 4 FEB PUB NACON DEV CYANIDE PLAYERS 1 Game director Julien Desourteaux explains why we should sharpen our claws for this eco-horror RPG OPM: How familiar were you and the team with the World Of Darkness before working on Earthblood? Julien Desourteaux Several of the team members used to play the tabletop RPGs Vampire: The Masquerade or Werewolf: The Apocalypse in the late ’90s. Then we started some campaigns of Werewolf: The Apocalypse at work with colleagues to immerse ourself and to help our team members who had never played it before to better understand the universe and what it is to be a werewolf in World Of Darkness. OPM: Has adapting the game from a tabletop RPG presented challenges? JD Of course. It is challenging…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA 2021 PUB ANNAPURNA INTERACTIVE DEV FULLBRIGHT PLAYERS 1 The studio behind Gone Home and Tacoma once again champions narrative, this time telling the story of a mother-daughter journey that uncovers family secrets. After they discover a box in their attic, what starts as a journey to find stolen loot begins to hint at something darker… The hand-animated style helps focus on the characters, as the journey between destinations is as important as searching old properties for clues. Big acting talent helps sell this two-hander: Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart) plays 16-year old Tess and Keri Russell (The Americans) is mother Opal.…

The first-person perspective is a bold choice that pays off in tense confrontations. Just in case you’ve been sleeping under a rock, allow us the dubious honour of yelling “WAKE THE *blorp!* UP, SAMURAI!” CD Projekt Red’s latest immersive RPG is finally on shelves, swapping The Witcher’s rolling fantasy fields for Night City’s dystopian science-fiction cityscape. It’s an impressive pivot for the studio – to say nothing of the widely reported crunch working conditions that facilitated its creation. On PS4 the game is hugely ambitious but skids past the landing strip. On a Pro you will experience crashes, surreal graphical glitches, kneecapped framerates, and more texture pop than you can shake your mantis blades at. These problems are exacerbated on a base PS4, and even on a Pro there’s no…

From sci-fi to western and fantasy, pretty much every traditional gaming genre has been used for a round-based game, with the exception of the 1920s crime drama. Romero Games1 tries to fix this glaring oversight with Empire Of Sin, a crime empire management/ strategy combat hybrid that unfortunately sounds much better on paper than it plays. As one of 14 mobsters, you enter Prohibition-era Chicago, ready to make the city your own. In order to do that, you and your hired hands first need to clear the different buildings of a district of members of the opposing clan, and then turn them into something that makes you money – like a brewery, or a hotel. Empire Of Sin has the idea of a management game with deep systems right – you…

Oddities are always welcome, but Ponpu is slightly too odd for its own good. At heart it’s a new take on multiplayer classic Bomberman, only you control a small duck, laying explosive eggs and kicking them across the top-down arenas. Sounds cute, right? Well, it isn’t. Ponpu’s artwork actually revels in the grotesque1 with unnervingly sinister animations, like a tube that physically inserts special weapon eggs, then seeps dark liquid on the ground. Accordingly, the genre’s usual bright, cheerful visuals are replaced with essentially two-tone artwork, meaning it can get hard to discern between environmental objects, resulting in annoying pitfalls in story mode and confusion in multiplayer matches. Thankfully, the three multiplayer modes are all actually very playable and work well both online and locally, supporting up to four players.…

Don’t be fooled by the slightly unfortunate name; this has nothing to do with someone’s wheeler-dealer tendencies. It’s a tale regarding what appears to be a young girl in a psychiatric hospital who, along with her alter-ego (represented by her shadow), travels through surreal environments that are a mixture of her surroundings and memories. You switch between both characters as they help one another progress. The girl moves in 3D, while her shadow essentially exists in a 2D platformer with some extremely clever twists. You manipulate objects and their light sources to move and create objects in the shadow plane,1 while the shadow girl can also help by using shadows cast by switches as though they were solid. The ‘real’ girl cannot enter the light and the shadow girl cannot…

When we first played through this on PS4, we had a good – not great – rally experience. On PS5, it’s the same game with new-gen bells and whistles. But oh, how clearly the bells ring. How divine the sound of those proverbial whistles. Most surprisingly of all, perhaps, it proves to be an excellent showcase for the DualSense. You’re in for a rough ride in the best possible way. The graphics don’t for a second betray the game’s previous-gen origins. Bumps and scrapes reward you with realistic dents and scratches on the smooth, detailed car models. The environments, with their dynamic weather, finally look as great as the developers intended. Trees and bushes look better than ever as they wave gently in the wind, and water and dust impress…

As good as Cold War’s campaign is, Call Of Duty remains a series that largely sells itself on its multiplayer modes. In that respect, this is something of a mixed munitions bag. It’s good fun – we’ve played dozens of hours already – but there’s a lot of work to do if it’s to reach Modern Warfare’s level, something it just might do yet. Putting Dead Ops Arcade to one side (it’s a neat distraction, but unlikely to consume the majority of anybody’s playing time), we’ll jump straight to PvP. None of the weapons carry the feeling of weight or power that Modern Warfare’s offer, something that is more pronounced online. Scoring a kill isn’t quite as satisfying when there’s a very slight disconnect between your actions and seeing another…

February is looming, and with it the PS5-ifying of both Nioh games via The Nioh Collection. But if you can’t wait to check out the final DLC for Nioh 2, we can’t blame you. The already-packed base game has been beefed up even more by robust post-launch offerings, and The First Samurai finishes it off in serious style, hurling you into even more challenging soulslike action. Once again, the Sohayamaru transports your custom character back to the past to reveal more demonic secrets. This trip down memory lane relates to your mysterious mother, herself yokai (and the reason for your own ‘shiftling’ yokai powers), and how your fate is tied to Otakemaru’s and your connection to the legendary Sohayamaru. And just what is the reality behind the mythical First Samurai…

Bungie’s first truly independent step (after its split from Activision) was a firm one: November’s Beyond Light expansion, which we gave 8/10 to in #183. Not content to rest on its laurels, Bungie’s delivered all of Destiny 2 as a free upgrade on PlayStation 5. Always noted for excellent traversal and responsive gunplay, it feels like a perfect fit for PS5, running at 60fps in 4K. We already got a taste of the much-needed faster loadtimes on PS4 as the game’s backwards-compatible, but on PS5 the effect is transformative. Playing Beyond Light or older material (some of which now includes reworked content from the first Destiny), it feels like a brand-new game. It’s a good job that what you’ve already played gets this new lease of life, as the controversial…

Tetris Effect Tetris, yeah? It might be a great game, but it’s easy to understand why you’d brush this version 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. 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 as well. Rez Infinite Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s vision becomes reality in PS VR.…

How many times now have we stared down from a dropship, standing alongside a huge number of other online players, and prepared to battle to be the last team standing? Scavengers might seem to fit the familiar template, but a few hours with the beta proves Improbable’s take on mass online gaming is a deep, tactical shooter, and something wholly unique. Full matches have 60 players divided into three-person squads, but more often than not you won’t be gunning down other players very quickly. This is PvPvE (player vs player vs environment, not something you need to ask your doctor about), and if you want to top the leaderboards and win you’ll have to secure enough data. Achieving that means grabbing sufficient materials to craft gear to protect you long…

Long-term reader and subscriber. I was there for the original PS release, and I’m still here for the PS5 release. I’m now 33 years old, and have built my digital business around technology and games. I have finally got my own space to call an office (a spare room in my home), and I am in desperate need of gaming posters to disguise the white walls. Please, please, please, include some posters in upcoming issues so that I can be surrounded by the things that make me happy. Kris Middleton We’ve no immediate plans for posters, but we’ll bear it in mind next time we put a gift on the magazine cover. (We could do with some ourselves while we’re all working from home too!)…

“IF YOU SEE INTERESTING LIGHTING IN A GAME, USE IT.” WIN! A Nixplay Smart Photo Frame worth £269.99 The best entry every issue wins a Nixplay digital photo frame to showcase their beautiful game photos. The 15.6-inch Nixplay Smart Photo Frame is the perfect way to show off your photo mode art. Free-standing and wall-mountable, the Nixplay frame works with Google Photos, Dropbox, Facebook, and Instagram. It’s also controllable from the iOS and Google app, and comes with a remote. Best of all, one tree is planted for every Nixplay Smart Frame sold. www.nixplay.co.uk Winner TJ Marinelli Game: Drive Club This issue’s winner loaded up DriveClub for his shot because “all those cars make it a perfect game to experiment with”. The shot took TJ 30 minutes to set up.…

i FORMAT PS5 ETA 2021 PUB CAPCOM DEV CAPCOM PLAYERS 1 Ethan and Mia Winters had put the Baker estate incident behind them but the past has a habit of intruding on the present, especially in this series. The Winters’ idyllic life is brought to a deadly end by none other than Chris Redfield, former Resi protagonist and now apparently an assassin for a counter-bioweapon NGO. The real twist in this tale, though, is that the Winters had been living under the protection of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance – the very organisation Redfield works for. Whether Redfield has gone rogue or the situation is even more complicated, Ethan apparently survives his encounter with Chris long enough to later stumble upon the titular village. Described as both beautiful and terrifying…

i FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA 2021 PUB UBISOFT DEV UBISOFT TORONTO PLAYERS TBC Since Far Cry 3’s Vaas, every entry in the series has had to have a great villain. Antón Castillo, Presidente of the island of Yara, could be the most memorable yet. He’s played by Giancarlo Esposito, who chilled us in the likes of Breaking Bad, Okja, and The Mandalorian, and the acting legend brings real presence to the role. Esposito adds a layer of depth to the cold and calculating dictator that looks like being reflected in the game as a whole. Playing as guerilla fighter Dani Rojas, you’re trying to topple Castillo’s regime, while he does everything in his power to keep Yara under his rule. SAMBA DE AMIGO Against his military force, you’re a true…

i FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA 2021 PUB TBC DEV KO_OP PLAYERS 1 We ask co-directors Saleem Dabbous and Kyle McKernan, “So, is it a bit like Saved By The Bell but with dinosaurs?” The pair respond with uproarious laughter. Dabbous says, after a beat, “Not tonally!” “Yeah… No.” McKernan adds. Well, we had to ask. The project instead draws inspiration from films like Lady Bird and Booksmart as well as some particularly angsty anime, but this story-driven game isn’t trying to be a playable version of those stories either. McKernan tells us, “It’s hard to pin down in a word or two, what it is – which I think is actually to the game’s strength in a lot of ways. [We’re still trying to] figure out ways that we can…

i FORMAT PS5 ETA 2021 PUB PLAYSTATION STUDIOS DEV INSOMNIAC GAMES PLAYERS 1 Talk about smart business moves. When PlayStation bought long-time collaborator Insomniac Games last year, making it a first-party studio, who’d have thought together they’d be releasing one of PS5’s defining launch games, as well as one of its most important new-generation showpieces? Rift Apart is more than just another entry in a long-established franchise. It uses the quirkiness of this third-person shooter to show what the technology in your white-winged box can really do. Don’t let the cartoon visuals fool you (though they look tremendous, and make use of a Resolution/Performance mode toggle); under the hood this new Ratchet & Clank pushes PS5 hard. The zany arsenal of overpowered and comical weaponry makes use of the DualSense…

“ON PS5 THERE’S NO SLOWDOWN; THE 4K VISUALS REMAIN CLEAN.” i FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA SPRING PUB EMBERLABS DEV EMBERLABS PLAYERS 1 After teasing us for over two hours in our demo with the promise of 100 cute and cuddly Rot to collect and use, EmberLabs’ co-founders Josh and Mike Grier finally cave in and show us the mass of wholesome goodness in action. On screen 100 big-eyed, black squidgy creatures dance to our every command. It’s hard not to be impressed by the spectacle. Running on PS5 there’s no slowdown, the 4K visuals remain clean and sharp, and every Rot has its own personality and action. Some will follow obediently, some will dally in the Disney-like colourful scenery, while others play and tussle with one another. We know they’re…

i FORMAT PS5 ETA TBC PUB SQUARE ENIX DEV SQUARE ENIX PLAYERS 1 Forget the likes of Cloud and Noctis, Clive’s our man now. A member of the Rosfield family, as the firstborn son of the Archduke Of Rosaria it’s Clive’s job to protect his younger brother Joshua. His fate, like that of all those in Valisthea, is dictated by crystals (no surprise for FF fans there), and mothercrystals loom over the world’s six realms. Those big ol’ crystals bless the lands around them with aether, keeping the population safe from blight. Each bestows unique magic on the realms it harbours, and is also connected to an Eikon – essentially the Summons we’ve come to know and love, like Shiva, Ifrit, and Titan. These powerful beings are bound to the…

i FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA 2021 PUB WARNER BROS INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT DEV AVALANCHE SOFTWARE PLAYERS 1 You’re late to class, and when we say ‘you’ we really mean it in this roleplayer set in the Wizarding World of the 19th century. Despite being set within the history of the Harry Potter series, you can create your own character, attend classes, solve mysteries, and affect the world around you. We’re sure Potterheads will be taking notes on how their actions could conflict with future events. “TRAVEL THE WORLD, EXPLORING HOGWARTS AND THE FORBIDDEN FOREST.” We’ve glimpsed the world of Hogwarts Legacy and on PS5 it looks fantastic. There’s a little disconnect between the visually photoreal scenery (this has some of the best foliage textures we’ve seen) and the fantastic beasts of…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA TBC PUB DEEP SILVER DEV FISHLABS PLAYERS 1 Our ship coasts through the interior of the Artok, a vast derelict vessel adrift in space. The light from the stars streams through cracks in the hull patterning our tiny craft. It looks beautiful, and recalls the grand descents of fantasy RPGs. But this is spacebound; we’re reminded of our location as debris bounces and rebounds around us in zero-G. “EXPLORE THE GALAXY FOR SIDE-QUESTS, RESOURCES AND LORE.” Exploration becomes easier when we tap into protagonist Nara’s Seventh Sense Detection Wave, a spiritual ‘rites’ ability enabling her to scan the environment. It’s the first sign that Chorus involves more than generic space dogfighting. We leave the wreckage and our demo pivots to later in the game, and Chorus’…

FORMAT PS4 ETA 23 FEB PUB ATLUS DEV OMEGA FORCE, P-STUDIO PLAYERS 1 We’re always ready for adventures with the Phantom Thieves. Set six months after the main game, Strikers follows the friends as they investigate mysterious events across Japan, their investigation turning into a road trip. You won’t be battling turn by turn through the Metaverse. Developed by Dynasty Warriors creator Omega Force, this game is all large-scale real-time action, with you mowing down loads of enemies. But it’s not a Warriors reskin. It incorporates familiar mechanics, from ambushes to elemental weaknesses. Somehow, it still feels like Persona 5.…

“IF YOU HANG ON LONG ENOUGH, YOU CAN COMMANDEER SOMEONE’S CAR.” FORMAT PS5 ETA FEB PUB PLAYSTATION STUDIOS DEV LUCID GAMES PLAYERS 1-16 We reckon if we told you that multiple WipEout series alumni’s next project was a hybrid vehicular combat game, you’d dash straight off to dig out some protective headgear. Well, it is their next project, it will be coming to PS Plus this February, and all subscribers with a PS5 will be able to check out the mayhem for themselves for free. Bargain. Offering a variety of different game modes at launch, every match begins with a dash to your chosen vehicle. Each of the 16 titular AllStars has a preferred set of wheels but regardless of which one you hop into, your vehicle will transform to…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA 2021 PUB 2PT INTERACTIVE DEV 2PT INTERACTIVE PLAYERS 1-2 Our experience of performing tasks in a space station is rather limited, but we feel confident in saying that it’s not easy. It’s especially difficult here because as well as a lack of gravity, you’ve got controls which move each limb individually. Let the comical shenanigans commence! Moving from one place to another requires skill, and simply pulling a lever is a challenge. Add DualSense support that will let you experience sensations such as losing your grip on something and feeling the ship give an unnerving shudder, and this is a game to keep in your orbit.…

FORMAT PS4 ETA 2021 PUB RAW FURY DEV EGGNUT PLAYERS 1 A raccoon named Howard, you say? Working as a private detective? We are most definitely interested. Point-and-click gameplay, with a sprinkle of stealth thrown in, is presented through lovingly crafted pixel art. Even the soundtrack is fascinating, as it’s apparently ‘doom jazz’. Doesn’t that sound awesome? Inspired by film noir, your journey through the city looks set to include lots of rain, sumptuous lighting, and (of course) a trenchcoat for your raccoon detective. There’s even a rabbit with a moustache. The evidence so far is pointing towards a case we want to crack wide open.…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA TBC PUB WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT DEV TT GAMES PLAYERS 1-2 We’ve been waiting to play through the Star Wars’ saga’s greatest moments, and this year will finally see the release of this tour around the galaxy far, far away. While the PS5 version will use the console’s SSD to ensure faster load times, Dawn McDiarmid, lead hub designer at TT Games, tells us that DualSense, ray tracing, and 3D audio won’t be supported at launch, which is disappointing. With the bad news out of the way, we quiz her on what is included, and why this could be the best game in the Lego series. “A MORE IN-DEPTH QUEST SYSTEM FEATURES MORE ELABORATE AND RIDICULOUS QUEST CHAINS.” OPM: How has the extra development time helped you?…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA 22 JUN PUB WARNER BROS INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT DEV TURTLE ROCK PLAYERS 1-4 Four-armed zombie monkeys, muscle beasts, an undead goo-spitting stalker and a horde of walking dead: this coop shooter from the team that created Left 4 Dead is delivers everything you want from a side-step sequel. There have been many imitators on PlayStation but Turtle Rock Studios’ heritage ensures this is the real deal for our console. The gameplay remains resolutely Left 4 Dead-y as Back 4 Blood’s gameplay demos team horde shooting at its best. It’s smooth and fast, with an intuitive momentum that means you’ll upgrade from pistol to Uzi to shotgun on the fly.…

THE FIRST THREE HOURS 1 The Nomad character class prologue sees V bonding with the nicest man in all of Night City, Jackie Welles. 2 The mysterious Evelyn Parker hooks V up with their first Brain Dance and makes an offer they can’t refuse. 3 Head still spinning, V comes face-to-face with the Maelstrom gang – and surprisingly sees eye-to-eye. SECOND OPINION NIGHT RIDER CDPR follows its fantasy detective game with a sci-fi detective game, and its strengths remain – the worldbuilding and atmosphere are intoxicating, and the side-quests bolt on substantial story. It drips ambition. So much so that you struggle to feel it in this PS4 version, which is compromised. I’m waiting for patches or the PS5 version to continue my life in Night City.…

This year, we’ve seen plenty of indies about death, but Mojiken’s When The Past Was Around approaches the subject in its own way. It’s an hour-long story of love and grief with a dream logic twist, all wrapped up in a gorgeous hand-drawn art style. It tells the story of a young woman grieving over the death of her partner, a violinist with the head of an owl (a bit weird but go with it).1 Through magical-realist scenes that combine light puzzle solving with non-verbal storytelling, we get to see how the two met, became close, the unfortunate declining health of our feathered friend, and his subsequent end. You’re taken through a string of the young woman’s memories, with each scene possessing a handful of brain teasers. Puzzles are a…

While there’s always something special about seeing a series make its debut on a new generation of consoles, it’s pretty rare to be more impressed by what’s in your hand than on the screen. But that’s the case with this transitional season of FIFA. All I want to do in the first few games I play is ping simple passes in midfield, purely so I can feel the DualSense indicate which foot a player has taken the ball on. While dinking the ball around doesn’t sound like the most exciting use of this tech, it does show the deep care that has gone into crafting a tactile new-gen experience for EA’s football behemoth. I may not have had the chance to be inside Goodison Park in 2020, but playing there…

The JRPG megahit comes to PS4! Again! Only this time it’s a port of the Switch version, which is a bit weird, but means it includes all the Definitive Edition bells and whistles, which do a lot to provide a smoother experience. You can now speed up battles, switch between English and Japanese voiceovers, swap from 3D to nostalgic 2D visuals, and flick the soundtrack from full orchestral to charmingly bleepy MIDI.1 While the new content seems a little sparse, after a while it becomes strange to imagine playing without the polish.2 Wandering through the vibrant world without the other characters trailing behind you like brightly coloured JRPG ducklings sounds kind of lonely (especially with the new photo mode allowing you to pose everyone to snap pics). Far and away…

Protagonist Sam Higgs has always had a hard time making friends. A prickly investigative journalist, he won few allies when one of his articles led to the shuttering of the mine in his hometown. When his best friend dies in a horrific crash he’s called back to the town, and compelled to stay by his goddaughter’s1 insistence that not all is as it seems. Something is definitely in the water at Basswood – but unfortunately it’s nothing more than an infectious sleepiness. This psychological thriller was significantly reworked during development. Sadly, rather than feeling like a finely honed mystery, the final product feels cut down to size and ultimately left me far from thrilled. From phoned-in voice performances to inexpressive character models and animation, the tension deflates before it can build.…

Two heads, so they say, are better than one when it comes to solving problems. So surely the same rule applies to doggos? That’s what developer Bit Loom Games must have been thinking when making Phogs!, a physics-based co-operative puzzler in which you and a pal must independently captain the two ends of a conjoined, pug-like creature while navigating through imaginatively chaotic levels – ideally without biting each other’s heads off in the process. You’ll need both communication and co-ordination if you are to be successful, as you try your best to manoeuvre each head to the desired position either using separate controllers or sharing two sides of the same DualShock controller. “Levels have been designed to twist and topple any pair who aren’t willing to work together.” The game…

01 The M79 grenade launcher is great fun, especially combined with the Scavenger perk to offset the low ammo. It’s weak against the Flak Jacket perk, though, and doesn’t unlock until level 52. Ouch. 02 The Type 63 is arguably the best tactical rifle. Effective at almost any range, equip rapid fire as soon as you can to turn this single-shot gun into a force to be reckoned with. 03 Ah, the knife, the classic COD humiliation kill weapon (not for throwing here, that’s the tomahawk). Sadly, it’s not really a viable choice for most of the maps, as it’s too easy to see you coming.…

INFO FORMAT PS5, PRICE £69.99 ETA Out now PUB Gearbox Publishing DEV Counterplay Games OFFLINE REVIEW #183, 7/10 PLAYERS 1-3 CROSSPLAY No Godfall is Godfall regardless of whether you’re playing online or off. With friends in tow you’ll get a little more satisfaction from taking down a boss or three in Dreamstones mode. But the same niggles persist: the world is empty, the grind never-ending, and combat remains the game’s greatest hook. Technically there’s no down side – it runs without a hitch online – but you’re on the same loot-hungry treadmill as offline, only now everyone’s in the grind together… as long as they’re friends, as the game doesn’t support matchmaking. This feels like a misstep for a PS5 release with a small community.…

Print & digital Subscribe to OPM today for just £32.50 for six months and get print and digital together. And we’re throwing in a free PS4 controller worth £39.99! Print only If you only want the print edition then subscribe to OPM for just £30 for six months. You get the free PS4 controller and print-only exclusive covers. Try for free Get your first issue for free when you subscribe to our digital edition on iOS, Google, Kindle, and Android devices. Turn to p104 for details.…

SQUARE ENIX MASTERLINE NIER: AUTOMATA 1/4 SCALE STATUES SQUARE ENIX £799-£2,799 BIT.LY/NIER_STATUE Celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Nier series these three sizeable statues from Japan’s Prime 1 Studio are amazing (and admittedly rather costly). They range in price but the quality remains equally high across the collection. The Deluxe version (left) brings together the main cast – 2B, 9S, and A2 – and contains swappable parts to build your own scenes. NIER: AUTOMATA / NIER GESTALT & REPLICANT ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK VINYL BOX SET SQUARE ENIX £55.99 BIT.LY/NIER_MUSIC Across four vinyl LPs and 35 exclusive tracks, this special box set commemorates the games in the Nier series. All the haunting music was composed by Keiichi Okabe, who’s also known for the Tekken series. The classy package…

“SEND YOUR SIM THERE LIKE A CHILD, HOPING TO GOD THEY WON’T FORGET TO WASH THEIR HANDS.” 1 DONUT COUNTY Everything works a little differently in Donut County, a game in which you play a hole in the ground. Donut County is a place where animals and humans share their doughnuts in peace, and where raccoons, just like us, sometimes play mobile games on their tablets in the bathroom. Thus the bathroom turns into a place of great equality between animal and man. 2 HEAVY RAIN When Heavy Rain first came out, it was a source of amazement and amusement because it allowed you to experience even the most mundane tasks in-game. So yes, at more than one point in the game a toilet isn’t merely decoration, but a usable…

1 Kevin McAllister Game: Days Gone “Days Gone is my favourite game, and it’s the game that got me into photo mode,” says Kevin McAllister. He tells us he used Freakers as obstacles to drift around to get the perfect motion shot. “Experiment with all the different sliders, try different angles, and pay attention to the lighting,” advises McAllister. 2 Antonis Gravvity Game: God Of War “I love taking pictures when I see an opportunity. I love pictures with particle effects, and that moment was perfect for me,” says Antonis Gravvity, adding: “I just lowered the exposure and used a filter with low opacity.” Gravvity reveals how he oftens takes 20 photos to get the right one. Patience pays off! 3 Laura Anne Spencer Game: Death Stranding…

VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE – BLOODLINES 2 i FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA 2021 PUB PARADOX INTERACTIVE DEV HARDSUIT LABS PLAYERS 1 PlayStation people may have missed out on the PC-only original, but after a wait of 17 years, a sequel is on the horizon to this vaunted RPG – and we get to join in. Hopefully, it won’t suck. (Sorry, that joke is compulsory for vampire games.) It’s all about choice. What sort of human were you? Which powers will you choose? Who will you ally yourself with? What emotional state do you want your victims to be in? The vampire you are will be up to you, but one thing’s for sure: it’s always dinner time. LITTLE NIGHTMARES II i FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA 2021 (PS5), 11 FEB (PS4) PUB…

i FORMAT PS4 ETA TBC PUB NIS AMERICA DEV GRANZELLA PLAYERS 1 The Bydo Empire is back. Classic shooter R-Type is returning on PS4 with a host of modern tricks up its plasma cannon. You can choose from a hangar of fighters to customise with new and classic weapons, Force units and Bit devices. The stages are no longer static – instead the Bydo ‘corruption’ that is resurrecting the wreckage of old conquests changes the world around you as you fight, meaning the enemy will evolve and adapt. If your old-school skill on the flight stick proves too good, the game’s real-time difficulty meter increases to match your performance.…

THE GOOD LIFE i FORMAT PS4 ETA SUMMER 2021 PUB THE IRREGULAR CORPORATION DEV WHITE OWLS INC PLAYERS 1 More than 12,000 fans Kickstarted this strange, ahem, tail. Directed by Swery of Deadly Premonition fame, you are New Yorker Naomi, a photojournalist who has come to the British town of Rainy Woods in search of a scoop. Little does she know she’s about to stumble on a murder mystery most a-paw-ling. The maiden impaled by a sword in a pond is just the tip of this iceberg as it turns out the town’s residents can turn into cats and dogs! But now we think about it, maybe there was a clue in the town’s name all along… PARTY ANIMAL i FORMAT PS4 ETA TBC PUB SOURCE TECHNOLOGY DEV RECREATE GAMES…

“A MYSTERIOUS,DANGEROUS PLACE FILLED WITH DESERTS AND RUINS.” i FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA 2021 PUB PLAYSTATION STUDIOS DEV GUERILLA GAMES PLAYERS 1 Humanity only narrowly survived a first extinction event, which happened generations before the time Horizon’s set. We won’t go over exactly what went wrong in case you haven’t played the first game (the Complete Edition is on PS Now, so it’s a great time to catch up), but robotic AI animals stalk the land, and civilisation had to start anew. Aloy, having successfully fended off a dark threat in Zero Dawn, now turns her gaze westward, where a new threat of extinction is brewing. This journey takes her towards the Pacific Coast, away from her home in what was Colorado (the first game also featured a lot of…

“THERE IS A SENSE OF HISTORY AND RICHNESS TO THE WORLD AND THE CHARACTERS.” i FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA 2021 PUB SUPERBROTHERS, PINE SCENTED DEV SUPERBROTHERS, PINE SCENTED PLAYERS 1 The devs behind Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP are back with an interstellar journey following a people ‘haunted by oblivion.’ As well as elements of a space-based exploration game that takes you beyond the stars to alien landscapes, it contains shades of the walking sim and immersive sim genres as you interact with both your ship’s crew and alien neighbours. When we ask creative director Craig D Adams how long this spacefaring followup has been in development, he jokes, “It all goes back to the spring of 1917.” The development team consisted of just Adams and his collaborator Patrick McAllister,…

i FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA 25 FEB PUB UBISOFT DEV UBISOFT ANNECY PLAYERS 1-50 (PS5), 1-20 (PS4) Sporting a new title, this spiritual successor to Steep promises plenty of freshness, from a brand-new, neon-soaked attitude to mixing snow environments with other biomes supporting new extreme sports. Bikes are the standout discipline here, promising hectic, crowded multiplayer races and challenging gravity-defying paths to careen down. Within bikes alone, there’s a variety of models available to suit the many different events: road, freestyle, slopestyle, enduro, and downhill. You need to pick the right tool for the job as there’s a range of competitions to take part in, from trick battles to races across 6v6 arenas through to mass starts. If you’re playing on PS5 you’ll be able to take part in races…

i FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA 2021 PUB WARNER BROS INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT DEV WB GAMES MONTRÉAL PLAYERS 1-2 The team behind the criminally overlooked Batman: Arkham Origins return to the Bat-verse with a co-op adventure that you can play solo if that’s your Bat-jam. Hot-swap between Red Hood, Batgirl, Nightwing, and Robin in an explorable Gotham City. The storyline poaches from the Court Of Owls comic, and a roster of villains that has teased Mr Freeze and Two-Face. Embracing RPG ideas you’ll be able to create versions of these famous heroes that fit your style, which also means when going co-op expect to see familiar faces, as two Batgirls can exist in one Gotham. Creative director Patrick Redding sheds a little light on this new Bat-game. OPM: Is the game based…

i FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA 2021 PUB ANNAPURNA INTERACTIVE DEV HEART MACHINE PLAYERS 1 This is one to watch. Taking place in the ‘Ultravoid’, a rift in space that the developer describes as “a dream none can escape”, it’s an action adventure with a bright and distinctive style. If you’re familiar with the developer’s first game, the stylish action RPG Hyper Light Drifter, you’ll be thrilled to know this is set in the same universe, with composer Rich Vreeland supplying the music once again. What’s more, it ticks off a lot of things on our wishlist. Huge enemies? Check. Speedy traversal challenges? Tick. Varied and unpredictable worlds? Of course. Heart Machine is also enthusiastic about the improved framerate, loading times, and DualSense feedback that the PS5 version will offer. We’re…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA TBC PUB MODUS GAMES DEV WE CREATE STUFF PLAYERS 1 Journey into the human mind in a first-person psychological horror. After waking in an unknown building, and discovering bodies of people all killed by the same drug, your investigations take you through a series of unsettling stories, inside disturbed memories, facing a mixture of unique puzzles, taxing boss fights, and sentient mannequins. Producer Ido Tal sheds more light on this game’s dark places. OPM: In what ways does hardware like PS5 enable you to deliver more frights? Ido Tal: Most horror games are dark, relying on high-quality real-time lighting and effects. The PS5 pushes the standards further allowing us to create bigger, scarier worlds using more real-time effects that until recently were costly on the hardware.…

FORMAT PS5 ETA 2021 PUB SCAVENGERS STUDIO DEV SCAVENGERS STUDIO PLAYERS 1 Season is very different, and a lot more personal, than Scavengers Studio’s last game, the free-to-play multiplayer Darwin Project. This is an adventure of the mundane, a bicycle road trip. You play as a traveller exploring the world for the first time… and the last. On the precipice of change, your goal is to travel and record, capturing the last moments of the cultures you discover for posterity. You’re saving the world in the sense that you record memories, rather than make any grand rescue. That mundanity becomes of great importance, and this surreal journey melancholy.…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 ETA 2021 PUB NACON DEV CYANIDE STUDIO PLAYERS 1-2 (TBC) Not familiar with the first two games, or their Warhammer origins? The main thing you need to know is that the series concerns a sport that’s a cross between American football, The Lord Of The Rings, and a busy slaughterhouse. Nobody plays nice. A dozen fantastical teams will be available at launch. You’re literally fighting for the ball in turn-based matches, each of which could be the last that you see. With the ability to tweak the appearance and kit of each team member, we’re looking forward to making fashion choices that will make our teams feel orc-ward.…

FORMAT PS4 ETA 2021 PUB PETOONS STUDIO DEV PETOONS STUDIO PLAYERS 1-4 Ordinarily, we wouldn’t want rats in our PS4. When they’re the stars of a hand-animated metroidvania, though, we welcome them with open arms. This Kickstarted adventure has brains as well as furry beauty. It’s a non-linear quest with combat (including boss fights), puzzles, secrets, and multiple endings. Perhaps this is due to the four playable characters (Douglas, Buffalo, Akane, and Bussa), all of whom can appear on screen at once in local co-op. You’ll chase down the pirate witch(!) who cursed you in order to regain your human form, and find out where your tail ends.…

FORMAT PS4 ETA 2021 PUB HANDYGAMES DEV HEROBEAT STUDIOS PLAYERS 1 Think you’ve seen every possible take on a post-apocalyptic world? Think again. Set in a worryingly realistic future when mankind has ruined the planet, you play as the last adult fox on Earth, doing everything you can to ensure the survival of your three tiny, cubs. So, you know, no pressure. You need to feed, protect, and care for your cubs on your way to the final area, which means a combination of exploration, tracking, and hunting. There’s little room for mistakes, as that tagline makes horribly clear.…

FORMAT PS5 ETA TBC PUB PLAYSTATION STUDIOS DEV POLYPHONY DIGITAL PLAYERS TBC The exciting thing about Gran Turismo 7 is that number: this is a proper sequel and will cram in all of the modes, cars, and events we’ve come to expect from a full-fat series entry. This means we get a campaign mode, with you beginning as a novice in lesser cars before rising through the ranks to unlock the your dream cars. The hub screen, called GT Town, shows all manner of events and modes, including a teased social club called GT Café plus School, GT World, GT Sport Live, and Used Cars. This last entry was missing from GT Sport, and it’s where you can pick up a damaged car for less than a new one. It’s…

Throw blocks and googly-eyed jellies into a blender and you get the sort of forbidden smoothie that shouldn’t taste good, but somehow is incredibly delicious. Tetris and Puyo are both board-based puzzlers, but on paper are very different. So how do they work together? Mainly focussed on battling head-to-head, in PPT2 you clutter up your opponent’s board with junk to force them to fill their screen and lose the game.1 Similarly, Big Bang has you solving board puzzles quickly to the same effect. But where it really gets exciting is in Fusion and Swap modes. In Fusion you play both Tetris and Puyo Puyo simultaneously, with heavier tetronominos sinking beneath puyos, altering their placement, so you need to combine popping groups of the four jellies with clearing Tetris lines. Swap…

Space Invaders is so resolute even Adam Sandler couldn’t put a dent in its venerable reputation. This is a collection of three old-ish games that update the four-decades-old action in numerous ways, with differing levels of success. “Power-ups help to clear a screen and send the musical score into rapture.” The pick of the pack is Space Invaders Extreme, an audiovisual spectacle that takes the classic arcade activity – shoot descending aliens before they crush you – and turns it into a pulsating, rhythmic disco-shooter. Each round presents an assortment of Invaders: some explode on touch taking others with them; some deflect shots; one may dive-bomb you; another will swell to three times its size. Blast chains of the same-coloured alien type and you’re rewarded with time-limited power-ups that help…

Part puzzler, part stealth action game, Wildfire is a unique blend you don’t see often – taking risks that mostly pay off. You play as a witch who can manipulate the elements: Fire, Water, Earth, and Spirit.1 These Elemental powers are combined and intertwined with the stealth gameplay, livening up what could otherwise have been a repetitive adventure. One thing Wildfire excels at is the pace at which it introduces new mechanics, whether it’s a nifty new Elemental power or an additional character who plays a little differently from the witch (such as a cat). Each level has its own objectives with a unique design, forcing you to think quickly when your plan is unexpectedly shattered. It can sometimes be frustrating to get through a stage entirely undetected, but you…

Game protagonists can do many things – store dozens of huge guns in their pockets, scale buildings in a matter of seconds, break international treasure hunting laws with a cheeky grin, and so on – but most of them can’t age. Here, however, it’s a central mechanic. Starting at the tender age of 18, you age one year each time you return from the dead. There’s more to it than growing increasingly amusing facial hair. You’re tasked with saving your land from the threat of a dragon in another dimension. You travel there via a World Stone, landmarks you’ll discover more of which double as spawn points and a means of fast travel. You won’t make much use of the latter feature, though, as you’ll spend most of your time…

Some ill-placed sword swipes and misjudged parries is all it takes to condemn this unnamed Viking to death. Most hack-and-slashers would likely cut you some slack, yet Unto The End’s more deliberate approach to combat – where knowing when exactly to block or attack and at which height is vital for dispatching foes – doesn’t allow for it. Such a brutal challenge can lead to some frustrating bouts, sure, but this is a 2D actioner in which precision and patience are key; the feeling of slowly getting better at them is the ultimate reward. Even the most common 1v1 encounters are punishing, forcing you to read your opponent’s tells ahead of time and deploy your handful of combat techniques. Rolling, shoving, and ducking all prove just as useful as basic…

Oh, how the worm has turned. Or, rather, stopped taking turns. The latest wriggly entry in the series has made the move to real-time combat, and online-only play, in order to slither onto the battle royale bandwagon. It’s a move that works better than you might expect… though not quite as well as you might hope. What on earthworm went wrong with this classic series’ comeback? The new direction has resulted in a cross between a platformer and a twin-stick shooter. Your worm can shuffle along, roll for speed, use zipwires, and wall-jump – they’re well-trained tiddlers. The right stick is used to aim your weapon in any one of eight directions. It’s a system that helps the slightly odd idea of a 2D battle royale work. Weapons and items…

FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £24.99 ETA Out now PUB Ubisoft DEV Ubisoft Montreal OFFLINE REVIEW #119, 8/10 PLAYERS 2-10 CROSSPLAY PS5, PS4 INFO Proving that hide-and-seek is more exciting with guns and explosives, Ubisoft’s 5v5 rescue’em-up is better than ever five years after release… and now, there’s a PS5 version. The graphical upgrade is more of a step than a leap, and crossplay with PS4 means loading times remain largely the same. The DualSense brings a little more depth to drone and weapon handling, though, and the built-in mic makes it easy for anybody to jump in with warnings for their team. It’s not a huge improvement, but this is the definitive edition of a still brilliant game.…

ZOMBIE ARMY 4 – ALPINE BLITZ The Death From Above campaign continues as you and your deadhunter pals find yourself in the sights of a zombie… zeppelin. Attempt to escape via a train packed with zombies as you avoid the UFO (undead flying object). There are new skins and weapons included too, including Christmassy hats. NO STRAIGHT ROADS – CHRISTMAS EDITION We love this rhythmic action game, and the Christmas update brings a lot of new fun. Switch to Christmas Remix and boss stages get a makeover, and 1010’s boss gets a new remix. There are new tunes and outfits too. SOULCALIBUR VI – HWANG Back for the first time since Soulcalibur III, the royal blademaster returns as the final Season Pass 2 DLC character to stomp the competition with…