Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2021 i PLAY

01 TREK TO YOMI The feudal Japanese setting reminds us of Ghost Of Tsushima, but Flying Wild Hogs’ side-scrolling slasher is a more focussed adventure. The widescreen format and beautifully choreographed animation ensure this feels like a movie in motion. Expect this in 2022 for PS5. 02 GREAK: MEMORIES OF AZUR This hand-drawn adventure is releasing on PS5 and puts you in control of three characters simultaneously. Playing as Greak, Adara, and Raydel you can tap into each character’s abilities to escape their home of Azur following an invasion. It’s being released on 17 August. 03 SONG IN THE SMOKE Craft, hunt, and survive a painterly prehistoric world in this smart PSVR adventure that looks like it’s been dragged from the pages of 2000AD. Katsuya Terada’s (The Legend Of Zelda)…

“YOU WANT TO BE MAD AT SOMEBODY FOR ANYTHING GOW RELATED – THE DELAY, PS4/5, TROLLS, SUBTITLE SIZE, SIGRUN, WHATEVS – BE ANGRY WITH ME.” CORY BARLOG DEFENDS HIS TEAM AFTER GOW 2’S DELAY. “MY FAVORITE MOMENT: WHEN I STOPPED RUNNING FROM THE ENEMIES AND STARTED HUNTING THEM DOWN INSTEAD :-)” MARK CERNY FINALLY GETS HIS PLATINIUM TROPHY IN RETURNAL. “AS FOR THE FUTURE, I’M 55 YEARS OLD, SO I MAY RETIRE.” SONIC THE HEDGEHOG CREATOR, YUJI NAKA, LEAVES SQUARE ENIX AFTER RELEASING BALAN WONDERWORLD. IS THIS THE LAST WE SEE OF NAKA?…

“WE FEEL THAT THERE’S SOME DRIVING NEED FOR FAST, FLIPPANT FUN.” FORMAT PS4 / ETA TBC / PUB DEVOLVER DIGITAL DEV FLYING WILD HOG / PLAYERS TBC With the splattered blood settling on the recent Doom Eternal DLC, fans of fast-paced, gore-soaked shooters will be seeking a new challenge. As if Flying Wild Hog read your games collection and your mind, it finally announced its new run-and-gun extravaganza will be heading and beheading to PS4 later this year. Praying at the same altar of chaos as the Doom revivals, Shadow Warrior 3 is a fast-paced blast that pits hero Lo Wang against an army of demons hell-bent on destroying a futuristic China. Blending Asian myths and legends with trigger-happy shooting, the game is a uniquely old-fashioned thrill with modern flourishes.…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA TBC / PUB YOOREKA STUDIO DEV EBRAIN STUDIO / PLAYERS 1 The year is 2064 and a journalist with one hell of a scoop has gone missing in a city based on Hong Kong. You are a private detective with a metal arm searching for the journo. Gumshoe Xiang Zi Xu meets violent resistance as he digs deeper, though time is on his side. Caught in what he describes as a ‘death loop,’ you’ll return to replay the same case time and again, newly armed each time. It also helps that our hero knows his way around a blade. With over 100 weapons to unlock as well as upgrades for his prosthetic arm, you’ve plenty of options for dispatching enemies across seven huge platforming stages. The…

FORMAT PSVR / ETA SUMMER 2021 / PUB VERTIGO GAMES DEV VERTIGO GAMES / PLAYERS 1-4 Los Angeles was cool in the ’80s. Literally. So cold, in fact, that hell froze over, preserving it as an icy apocalypse right the way to 2005. It’s here where this VR FPS from the Arizona Sunshine devs picks up, as survivors pick over the ruined remains of a once-sunny 1980s. Unfortunately those Californian chills are the perfect temperature for preserving dead bodies. These Snowbreed are the result of a designer drug, which mutated them into zombies that have terrorised humanity to the brink of extinction. Our survivors are immune to the drug, and now it’s up to them to use their special abilities to turn the tables and survive. As this is in…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 20 JUL / PUB MODUS GAMES DEV DREAMS UNCORPORATED, SYCK / PLAYERS 1 Timing is everything, the saying goes, and for this game’s lead character Crisbell that’s true, as it determines the fates of each kingdom she visits. This JRPG-inspired adventure casts you as a hero with time powers, using them not just to weave a tale where the future has yet to be fully determined, but to create inventive battles and dungeons too. As you explore each town, you’re able to see the past on the left-hand side of the screen, and the current future on the right, with your present focussed in the middle. You need to travel around to track down crystal murals in order to save your world, but how each…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA TBC / PUB NEOWIZ GAMES DEV ROUND8 STUDIO / PLAYERS 1 Games that scratch that gothic horror itch – relying on atmosphere and evoking a sense of dread rather than outright gore – are few and far between. If you enjoy them and long for more, this self-described soulslike which darkly reimagines a classic fairy tale may well be what you’re looking for. As Pinocchio, you must find Mr Geppetto. Forget the small boy of the animated movie, though – with your floppy cuffs and frock coat, not to mention a gleaming metal hand, you’re a rather capable young artificial man. Even so, stranded in a city lost to plague, your task is not an easy one. In this dark Belle Époque world, you can’t…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 2021 / PUB RIOT FORGE DEV AIRSHIP SYNDICATE / PLAYERS 1 The massively popular MOBA series might be in a league of its own, but it’s gaming Marmite. You either love being cussed out by your teammates or you don’t. But the world and characters are evolving into other gaming genres, with this turn-based RPG headed up by Airship Syndicate (which made the marvellous Darksiders Genesis). Combat uses a lane-based system in a cute nod to the original, and has fan favourite Champions exploring Bilgewater and the surrounding Shadow Isles in a pirate-scented voyage. “COMBAT USES A LANE-BASED SYSTEM.”…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 17 SEP / PUB LINCE WORKS, YOOREKA STUDIO (CHINA) / DEV LINCE WORKS PLAYERS 1-3 Stealth doesn’t just mean waiting for enemies to move out of their patrol routes. As a titular aragami, you can control the shadows, able to whip your way through hideyholes gracefully, performing takedowns and stealth kills as you go. This means plenty of looking down from vantage points before you make your move. With a campaign that’s playable with three players in co-op, you can customise your assassin to stand out from the crowd (or to blend in to one).…

FORMAT PSVR / ETA 2021 / PUB BIG SUGAR DEV HAPPYGIANT / PLAYERS 1 When you need something done, you need this naked rabbit and his suited dog pal with a gun almost as big as he is on the case. And this time, thanks to VR, you’re along for the ride. Which includes Freelance Police Academy training, and investigating something odd beneath Cap’n Aquabear’s theme park. Given they’ve previously investigated child-stars-turned-villains, clubbing vampires, and Hell itself, expect off-kilter capers from Sam & Max’s creator Steve Purcell and other LucasArts alumni.…

FORMAT PS5 / ETA 2021 / PUB SUPERBROTHERS, PINE SCENTED SOFTWARE DEV SUPERBROTHERS, PINE SCENTED SOFTWARE / PLAYERS 1 Mei and her co-pilot Isao set out on a one-way interstellar journey. They’re heralded not only by prophecy but also a phenomenon known as The Hymnwave. Acting as a sort of astral call and response, it beckons Mei’s people beyond their own troubled skies. What follows is a narrative-led exploration game. As Mei journeys to a new planet, the story attempts to thoughtfully examine a people’s quest for a home away from home. As you might expect, much of that takes place from the cockpit of your titular aircraft. You glide between the stars and along coastlines alike but there’s plenty to see on foot as well. As Mei explores, we…

“AN ALIENS GAME THAT DELIVERS THE TERROR OF THE FILMS AS MUCH AS THE SPECTACLE.” FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 24 AUG PUB FOCUS HOME INTERACTIVE, 20TH CENTURY GAMES DEV COLD IRON STUDIOS / PLAYERS 1-3 Something is shuffling in the darkness, and it’s not just in front of us. It’s to our right, behind us, above us… it’s inside the room. If you’ve been hankering for an Aliens game that delivers the terror of the film series as much as the spectacle, then Cold Iron Studios is here for you. The team is passionate about the source material. That’s evident in every pinged inch of Aliens: Fireteam’s evocative world. We’ve seen the action take place aboard the Katanga, a space station orbiting a refinery that evokes the industrial design…

“TRAVERSAL HAS BEEN THE CRUCIAL ELEMENT FROM EARLY IN THE PROJECT’S LIFESPAN.” FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 2021 / PUB ANNAPURNA INTERACTIVE / DEV HEART MACHINE / PLAYERS 1 Heart Machine’s latest is in many ways a breezy departure from the studio’s earlier work. In development for at least four years, Solar Ash shares some DNA with challenging action RPG title Hyper Light Drifter – the neon-accented colour palette and fleet-footed movement make the familial link unmistakable. However the two games are definitely siblings, not twins. After Hyper Light Drifter, the team felt their next project needed a new visual approach. The shift to 3D is in service of more than just a change of pace, though; playing as Rei – a gangly figure with a swishy cape and futuristic…

FORMATPS5, PS4 / ETA16 SEP / PUBUBISOFT / DEVUBISOFT MONTREAL / PLAYERS1-4 The long-rumoured offshoot of tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege is a reality, and it’s playing fast and loose with the series’ core gameplay. You’re still breaching and clearing rooms and rescuing trapped folk in strategic masterclasses, but now it’s with an otherworldly twist. Rainbow Six Extraction diverges from the franchise’s realistic near-future setting. Aliens replace terrorists as the game swaps some realism for sci-fi zaniness, in a move that may see die-hard fans raise an eyebrow. A number of years after the competitive events of Rainbow Six Siege, parasitic aliens called Archæans have invaded the Earth, and teams of Operators are sent to hot spots around the world to suppress the outbreaks. Each mission revolves around ‘breaching’ an…

“WIPE OUT THE PARASITE TO BRING HUMANITY BACK FROM THE BRINK.” FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 12 OCT / PUB WARNER BROS GAMES DEV TURTLE ROCK STUDIOS / PLAYERS 1-8 Ever wonder what happened to Left 4 Dead? Well, here it is. Back 4 Blood might not have the license, but Turtle Rock Studios is made up of the same devs who kicked off a zombie horde of imitators back in 2008. And it’s a good job it’s the same team, otherwise we’d feel a little short-changed. There are differences here, but the bones feel like they were ripped right from that first game, from the safe rooms that act as checkpoints throughout a campaign to the different types of Special Ridden Mutations which fit similar archetypes to Left 4…

KALEIDOSCOPE – SOGDO, SOUTH KOREA A vertical map built around glass-fronted skyscrapers just waiting to be shattered or jumped from for those with wingsuits. A tornado will tear through it, forming a moving hazard to avoid or weaponise. MANIFEST – BRANI ISLAND, SINGAPORE A coastal shipyard location that looks perfect for close-quarters shootouts amid its warehouses and shipping crates. The smaller size makes it better for helicopters than jets, and not best suited to tanks. HOURGLASS – DOHA, QATAR This lost city consumed by desert sand gives us flashbacks to Spec Ops: The Line. Here you fight for control of a lost convoy amid the old hotels and enormous football stadium. A sandstorm will sweep through the map, reducing visibility. ORBITAL – FRENCH GUIANA Battle at the base of a…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 26 OCT / PUB SQUARE ENIX DEV EIDOS MONTREAL / PLAYERS 1 Roughly three seconds of footage is enough to suggest that Eidos Montreal might just be the perfect choice to deliver the latest chapter in the interstellar adventures of Marvel’s most lovable oddballs. As Star-Lord slides on his knees, firing twin blasters into the flanks of a quadrupedal alien to the power-pop strains of Bonnie Tyler’s Holding Out For A Hero, it seems the team behind Deus Ex: Human Revolution has adapted brilliantly to a very different brand of science fiction. The colourful action, the irreverent tone, the vintage needle drops? This is the Guardians we know and love. Well, sort of. An inescapable problem with any Marvel game is the ubiquity of the…

“TRAVERSE THE WESTERN FRONTIER, A PREVIOUSLY UNSEEN AREA OF PANDORA.” FORMAT PS5 / ETA 2022 / PUB UBISOFT DEV MASSIVE ENTERTAINMENT / PLAYERS TBC The film took the world by storm. In fact, it was so well received, some fans even had physical withdrawals when they couldn’t get their fix of Pandora. That was 12 years ago. Should you be excited for Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora? In a word: yes. Built on the excellent Snowdrop engine that powers The Division 2, and developed for PS5 (no PS4 version is planned), Ubisoft’s open-world Avatar game is a looker. The trailer revealed at E3 was running in Snowdrop and teases elements of action, from glimpses of running, bow in hand, in first person to riding a banshee into combat against the humans’…

“THE WHOLE ISLAND OF BLACKREEF IS FULL OF ETERNALISTS TRYING TO STOP YOU.” FORMAT PS5 / ETA 14 SEP / PUB BETHESDA SOFTWORKS / DEV ARKANE STUDIOS / PLAYERS 1-2 The immersive sim space may have become rarer over the years but genre fans have dined well on Arkane’s offerings. The studio’s best known for the Dishonored series and Prey, titles in which creative problem solving is encouraged through a host of unique abilities, and its latest throws a time loop into the mix. The aesthetic is a colourful 1960s/70s one; art director Sebastien Mitton says the team merged inspiration drawn from John Boorman’s film Point Blank, James Bond, and Tarantino films. Tasked with assassinating eight targets within the span of one loop, from morning to night, protagonist Colt has…

FOCUS SCANNER Sweep this across the environment to reveal areas of the scenery that you can free climb. This sequel offers greater freedom of movement than Aloy’s original adventure, though, as the Focus Scanner demonstrates, she still can’t climb everything you see. PULLCASTER As the name suggests, you can fire this into areas of the scenery and zip up or across the environment. It’s Batman’s zipline mechanic for a tropical open-world paradise, and in-game ensures a greater flexibility to escape a stampeding Tremortusk. SHIELDWING A new gadget that enables Aloy to glide from great heights, its chaotic spiralling descent means landing where you want will require some luck, but it will certainly come in handy when dropping in on unsuspecting enemies. DIVING MASK Aloy can remain underwater for as long…

INFO FORMAT PS5 PRICE £34.99 (Free upgrade if you already own the PS4 version) ETA Out now PUB Deep Silver DEV Deep Silver, Sperasoft Inc PLAYERS 1 (optional online modes) LENGTH 30+ hours ACCESSIBILITY Basic subtitle options; difficulty options Once again it’s time to party like it’s 2011 – only now the Saints are bringing their mayhem to PS5. Based on last year’s remaster, the extensive overhaul of a PS3 favourite is now enjoying next-gen bells and whistles through a free upgrade. The process of transferring your PS4 save data to the PS5 version of the game is meant to be fairly slick. After downloading both versions of the game plus your old save data, you should be able to pick up where you left off. Alas, first we were…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PRICE £15.99 ETA Out now PUB The Brotherhood DEV The Brotherhood PLAYERS 1 Nobody likes being late to the party. But in the case of this throwback to the days when CRPGs dominated interactive storytelling, the wait for a PS4 port has largely been worth it. Some rather obtuse quest design and irritating input lag persist throughout the post-apocalyptic adventure, true, yet both are worth pushing through to experience Beautiful Desolation’s intriguing vision of an alternate-reality South Africa. Clearly inspired by the style and presentation of the first two Fallout games, the painterly isometric perspective does well to make you feel like a small cog in this messed-up, machine-driven world. Getting out of it and returning to your home timeline of 1986 requires you to pay close…

INFO FORMAT PS5 PRICE £69.99 (free if you paid for the PS4 version) ETA Out now PUB Square Enix DEV Square Enix PLAYERS 1 LENGTH 32 hours ACCESSIBILITY Customisable subtitles; adjustable camera speed; togglable screen shake; swappable combat buttons Just when you thought you could get out, AVALANCHE keeps dragging you back in. Once again we walk the streets of Midgar as Cloud and the gang attempt to stop Shinra from bleeding the planet dry of energy, only this time enhanced for PS5. Separate extra story DLC is exclusive to this version (see opposite), but this core package has enough upgrades to make it the definitive version. Haptic feedback joins the party, used mostly in fights, but adds little (as is the norm with retrofitted DualSense features), and a photo…

INFO FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £16.74 ETA Out now PUB PID Publishing DEV Ustwo Games PLAYERS 1 LENGTH 3 hours ACCESSIBILITY Lots of language options; all dialogue is text Perfectly capturing the feeling of a week away with your grandparents, this summer adventure is suitably warm and unforgettable. It’s set on a small, close-knit Mediterranean island, where your desire to explore nature turns into a quest to save its rundown nature reserve. This is a place Alba has visited throughout her childhood, so she’s familiar with the sunshine and chill vibes, and has made friends with some of the regular inhabitants like Ines, a fellow excitable child. Having once captured a photo of a rare lynx, Alba comes to realise that the environment for the island’s animals is on…

INFO FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £13.99 ETA Out now PUB Clever Plays DEV Clever Plays PLAYERS 2 (mandatory) Any good agent knows it’s better to go into the field with someone to back you up. Here, a partner isn’t just advisable, it’s mandatory – one player takes the role of an Agent in the field, and the other is a Hacker, who sits back and delves into systems to help their partner progress. As the game requests, neither should be able to see the other’s screen. Part of the fun is the challenge of communication, making this either a friendship-maker or breaker.1 When it works, it’s great, mimicking the feel of an espionage thriller. Poking around an empty office as the Agent, you might need to trawl through a…

WHAT YOU DO IN: HIRED GUN HOW TO… MASTER THE HOUND The mastiff can not only make kills but will also highlight all enemies in the level – incredibly useful as a way to scan the environment for targets. Upgrading the creature with new mods can help beyond taking out enemies. Use the mastiff to draw attention away from yourself. FRIENDS & ENEMIES SILVER TALON She’s the big bad. But why is she causing havoc among the Underhive’s gangs? KAL JERICO A star of the tabletop RPG, Kal hires you to track Silver Talon – but can he be trusted? JADO Your guide in the Underhive, Jado will leave markers to follow. That’s handy. LOVING/ HATING THE UNIVERSE Epic in scale and dripping in atmosphere,…

You might expect a tome of complex lore to accompany a Final Fantasy game, but Team Ninja’s approach in Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, a spin-off/ prequel to the very first game, has a premise as simple as it gets: kill Chaos. New hero Jack might look like he opened the wrong door for the beer garden and ended up in the world of Final Fantasy, but in true Team Ninja style he’s got plenty of violent moves to get the job done. Pals Jed and Ash look a bit more believably Final Fantasy, and join Jack for the ride. Between them, they’ll be able to take on different jobs to use the spells and abilities of classes like the Warrior, Black Mage, Dragoon, and more. The subjects of…

Celebrating diversity and invention from around the world, the new publishing label Prime Matter aims to promote small and unique developers wherever they may be. We’re invited to a showcase of 12 new games from studios with unique visions that are happy to be double-A developers. Not all the games on show are stunners, but some look like they could impress. We’ve whittled down the 12 to our preferred seven, and here they are. “The dark side of spirituality? Somewhere Gwyneth Paltrow is gooping all over this.” 1. ECHOES OF THE END Icelandic developer Myrkur Games is taking no prisoners. Its first game is aiming for PS5 and will be developed using Unreal Engine 5. A narrative-driven third-person adventure set in a fantasy world inspired by the landscape of Iceland,…

Featuring all content from the 2019 co-op zombie shooter’s Game Of The Year edition, newly revealed sequel Aftermath promises its predecessor’s 15-million-strong playerbase new thrills and spills. Alongside zombie slaying in 4K and 60fps on PS5, it introduces more options for pushing back the ever-climbing hordes of the undead and features new globetrotting episodes. This includes an all-new melee combat system for when things get uncomfortably close-quarters. Would-be Zeke slayers can bring the pain with sickles and cleavers – and that’s just for starters. But if the thought of a zombie salivating on you is actually your kind of thing, you’ll be pleased to hear Aftermath also introduces a first-person mode. Only your comrades may judge you, though: thanks to cross-play you’ll be able to unite with the party of…

“THE BLOOD HAS DRAWN THE ATTENTION OF SOMETHING VERY OLD AND VERY HUNGRY.” FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 2021 / PUB BANDAI NAMCO / DEV SUPERMASSIVE GAMES / PLAYERS 1 Supermassive Games is known for wearing its horror inspirations on its sleeve, and here it’s sticking to its signature style. Drawing inspiration from The Descent, Aliens, and Predator, its long-limbed ugly mother-flippers announce their presence to five new unfortunate souls by making a spinechilling clicking noise. Ashley Tisdale takes the lead this time. It’s 2003, and her character, Rachel King, is a CIA officer based in Iraq. Investigating what’s thought to be an underground weapon silo, King and a clutch of soldiers from both sides of the conflict get trapped underground. Surrounded by ancient Akkadian ruins, they all quickly realise…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 2021 / PUB FRONTIER DEVELOPMENTS DEV FRONTIER DEVELOPMENTS / PLAYERS 1 Despite the series being an ode to why it’s a bad idea to bring back extinct species, running a dino zoo remains a compelling fantasy. Frontier’s 2018 sim is getting a follow up, this time with an all-new narrative campaign and new dinos, as well as greatly expanded construction and customisation options. The sequel encourages you to make the bad situation waiting to happen feel truly like your own. Both Jeff Goldblum and Bryce Dallas Howard reprise their film franchise roles to chime in that they told you so when your T-rex surely escapes its bounds.…

FORMAT PSVR / ETA 2021 / PUB SCHELL GAMES DEV SCHELL GAMES / PLAYERS 1 There’s no ‘James Bond turning to shoot down a gun barrel’ camera angle here. Instead, you are both the spy and the camera in this ’60s-inspired spy-’em-up that puts you into deviously designed rooms and challenges you to save the day. This is a cohesive set of levels that doubles down on what the community loved about the first game and its extra DLC missions. That means more unique interactions and special tools for each puzzling level, whether that’s reflecting lasers with silverware or sneaking backstage at a theatre to liberate a crossbow and shield. It’s all about the physicality of movement, using your hands and telekinesis to rifle through rooms. The tongue-in-cheek tone encourages…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 24 SEP / PUB SEGA DEV RYU GA GOTOKU STUDIO / PLAYERS 1 One case might have been closed, but if the Yakuza series has taught us anything it’s that on the crime-laden streets of Kamurocho there’s always some new villainy afoot. In series spin-off Judgment, that meant a new lead character, swapping ex-yakuza with a heart of gold Kazuma Kiryu for disgraced defence attorney turned private eye Takayuki Yagami (whose partner just happens to be a different ex-yakuza with a heart of gold, Masaharu Kaito). While the previous games were set in the well-trodden streets of Kamurocho, the heart of almost all Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s crime thrillers, this time the action’s happening across the bay in Yokohama. You’re able to travel between both…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2021 / PUB QUANTIC DREAM DEV RED THREAD GAMES / PLAYERS 1 Words matter – especially when you’re an Anomal (no, not an animal!) with weird superpowers fuelled by misinformation. Which you are in this story-driven action-adventure from the developers behind the excellent fjord-noir Draugen. In a colourful, comic book-style post-apocalyptic world, you’re transporting a mysterious cargo across America. Pursued by Puritans and four months pregnant, as protagonist Pax you’re going to need to gather a crew of fellow misfits around you for support. Away from your tour bus, friendly faces are few and far between. You’ll have to use every trick in the book to reach your destination, using words as literal weapons (belting out MOVE to shift people out of the way, for example)…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 3 AUG / PUB FRONTIER FOUNDRY / DEV RATLOOP GAMES CANADA / PLAYERS 1-4 What if you didn’t need loads of other players to get a squad-based FPS shooter underway? Like a master of puppets, Lemnis Gate allows you to pull the strings of a timey-wimey bout of one-upmanship, as you control an entire team yourself. Each player takes 25-second turns, directing one member of their squad per turn, so you can direct one team member to shoot your opponent before they grab their loot, another to lay traps where you expect them to run next, or simply plop down a load of turrets. More intuitive than it sounds.…

“SHIONNE HARNESSES THE PLANET’S ASTRAL ENERGY TO CALL FORTH A MAGICAL SWORD.” FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 9 SEP / PUB BANDAI NAMCO / DEV BANDAI NAMCO STUDIOS / PLAYERS 1 For almost a decade, Tales games were released like clockwork, with nary a hair’s breadth between them. The three-year gap between Tales Of Xillia 2 and Tales Of Zestiria was the longest between entries, until Bandai Namco took time to reboot the series following 2016’s Tales Of Berseria. Enter Tales Of Arise, a game primed to breathe fresh life into the beloved series. Arise entered development ahead of 2018’s Tales Of Vesperia remaster, time Bandai Namco Studios used to rediscover and refine Tales’ strengths. Arise is fundamentally a Tales game – it’s linear, it uses the series’ Linear Motion…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 2021 / PUB BOSS TEAM GAMES DEV SABER INTERACTIVE / PLAYERS 1-4 World War Z was a surprise co-op shooter package when it launched in 2019. Sabre is back with a similar pitch for Evil Dead, as the famous faces from the film franchise, including Ash, Kelly Maxwell, Pablo Simon Bolivar, Scotty, and Lord Arthur gather at equally familiar locations to battle Deadites and vanquish demons. Expect classic horde survival gameplay set in Sam Raimi’s comic-horror universe, ensuring there’s a vein of violent humour to most things you do – shovelling a zombie’s head off its shoulders requires manically pummelling the spade’s handle until the head pops. The film’s licence is being used to add some new ideas to the team-based survival formula, with vehicle…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 2021 / PUB TBC / DEV SLOCLAP / PLAYERS 1 The odds are not in your favour. Staring down a corridor packed with assailants skilled with both fists and weapons, anyone else would be justified in turning back. But you’ve got your reasons for being here. You’ve also got something better than luck on your side. The developer of fist-flying multiplayer title Absolver, Sloclap, is working on a more focussed experience for its next game. Its latest is a single-player epic inspired by classic kung-fu-flicks, in which a student seeks revenge on the assassination squad that murdered their family. Your fighter can be either male or female, with their quest for payback taking them beyond the tight corridor fights seen in early in-game footage to…

“NEW AREA MARE LAMENTORUM FEATURES AN ASTROLOGY TOWER AND CRYSTAL-LADEN CAVES.” FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 23 NOV / PUB SQUARE ENIX / DEV SQUARE ENIX PLAYERS 1-24 (FOR MULTIPLAYER CONTENT; MANY MORE ON A SERVER) While the Warrior Of Light and the Scions Of The Seventh Dawn were off saving The First in Shadowbringers (Final Fantasy XIV’s previous expansion), something nasty was brewing on their own planet, Hydaelyn. More than a simple bolt-on, Endwalker is promising to be a huge, fully-featured Final Fantasy adventure that ties up the long-running Hydaelyn/Zodiark story arc that’s been running since 2013. The Final Days, the calamity that could result in the destruction of Hydaelyn, is so large that it’s not just limited to the planet’s soil. The journey will take us to the…

“YOU CAN CHOOSE THE SCHOOL HOUSE YOU REPRESENT.” FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 2022 / PUB WARNER BROS GAMES DEV AVALANCHE SOFTWARE / PLAYERS 1 I here are plenty of reasons to be less into Harry Potter these days, whether you have issues with some of author JK Rowling’s comments or have simply outgrown a book and movie series that ended over ten years ago (and was followed by increasingly mediocre spinoffs). That said, there’s something inarguably tantalising about Hogwarts Legacy, the promise of putting a Wizarding World tale in your hands as you create your own character and explore a vast magical open world. You enrol in Hogwarts in the late 1800s (only a century or so after wizards stopped pooping themselves and started using toilets – yes, that’s…

“DUALSENSE ENABLES US TO FEEL EACH MELEE WEAPON, BOW, AND GUN IN OUR HANDS.” FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA TBC / PUB TECHLAND / DEV TECHLAND / PLAYERS 1-4 The world is literally what you make it in Techland’s followup to the hugely successful Dying Light on PS4. Freedom is at the heart of the sequel, and it goes further than how you choose to scale The City’s skyscrapers. There are various factions controlling the different districts of The City, and your actions and choices will affect how the world changes. People you rescue populate safe zones and offer help, for example. The factions are part of Techland’s ‘modern dark ages’ vision; you’re able to shape the new world developing on top of the pre-zombie civilisation’s foundations. This means aligning…

FORMAT PS5 / ETA TBC / PUB BETHESDA / DEV TANGO GAMEWORKS / PLAYERS 1 Coming exclusively to PS5, Tango Gameworks’ horror adventure is intended to make the most of the new technology. In particular, the developer has revealed the DualSense controller will be used to build atmosphere. The game’s version of Tokyo has been devastated by a supernatural event and the controller is going to let you know all about it. Haptic feedback enables you to feel your way through the deserted streets, while the eerie voices emanating from the controller’s speakers send a chill down your spine. The developer is aiming to make your DualSense function as your ‘sixth sense’ while you explore. The idea is you’ll rely on the controller for clues and world-building, as it enables…

“UNABLE TO MOVE ON, MANY SPIRITS ARE SPOILING FOR A FIGHT WITH KENA.” FORMAT PS5 / ETA 2021 / PUB EMBER LAB / DEV EMBER LAB / PLAYERS 1 First things first, it’s ‘Kay-nuh’ and not ‘Key-nah.’ Far from being a caner, though, the protagonist of Ember Lab’s first console title is an extremely hardworking and wholesome sort. She journeys to an ancient village deep within an overgrown forest, searching for a particular mountain shrine. The young spirit guide packs her father’s staff for the journey, but soon finds that she’s in for anything but a quiet retreat in these weird woods. A nefarious influence has pervaded the forest, scarring the land and scattering its denizens. The spirits, too, have become restless, with some even forgetting who they are. In…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 21 JAN / PUB BANDAI NAMCO ENTERTAINMENT / DEV FROMSOFTWARE / PLAYERS 1-4 After all this waiting, it turns out that Horse Souls really is still happening, and due out much sooner than The Winds Of Winter. This collaboration between FromSoftware’s Hidetaka Miyazaki and Game Of Thrones’ creator George RR Martin has resulted in a dangerous-looking open world ripe for exploration, filled with the kind of nightmarish creatures that feature heavily in both creators’ bodies of work. More than a big step forward for the dev studio, this is a long equine stride that evolves the soulslike. After all, much of the premise is deeply reminiscent of that of the very first Dark Souls, which captured the imaginations of so many. Playing as a Tarnished…

“Rift Apart feels like an animated movie you can play.” INFO Format PS5 Price £69.99 ETA Out now Pub PlayStation Studios Dev Insomniac Games Players 1 Length 12+ hours Accessibility Skippable puzzles; simplified traversal toggles and options; adjustable camera sensitivity and motion blur intensity; togglable camera shake and ledge guard; combat assist modes; combat shortcuts; customisable subtitles, HUD colours, and visual contrasts and shaders; game speed options Dimensions in which you can even find a PlayStation 5 have been scarce, and while there are great games on the system, not many have really forced it to show us what it’s capable of. Thankfully, our two galactic heroes are here to make one noisy landing – because Rift Apart has all the bells and whistles. Beyond being a PS5 must-play, this…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PRICE £14.99 ETA Out now PUB Interabang Entertainment DEV Interabang Entertainment, Spoony Bard Productions PLAYERS 1-2 (offline only) Appearing in eight films over 25 years, it’s no wonder Jay and Silent Bob are considered by many to be lovably dumb and crude rather than… just dumb and crude. A move to videogames seemed inevitable, an 8-bit styled brawler much less so. This ‘arcade edition’ sharpens up the graphics and sound, but other changes are minor. It’s essentially still the NES game first released in 2019.1 If you die, you’re sent back to the beginning of the current level rather than the beginning of the whole game, which is great, but otherwise it’s partying like it’s 1988. With a friend locally, or on your own switching between the…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PRICE £34.99 ETA Out now PUB Raiser Games DEV Protocol Games PLAYERS 1 LENGTH 20+ hours ACCESSIBILITY Customisable subtitle size; togglable highlighted hotspots, visual cues when listening, and permadeath Something could go wrong at any moment. In horror, we always expect something around the corner, but in Song Of Horror it’s hard to predict when the scares will come thanks to The Presence, a twisted AI that chooses when to deploy frights like someone following you around the supermarket and blowing a tuba when you pick up your fruit. Spread across five episodes originally released separately on PC, Song Of Horror centres on a music box that plays a tune that curses those who hear it to be terrorised by The Presence. When publishing assistant Dan Noyer…

INFO FORMAT PS5 PRICE £15.99 standalone, £69.99 as part of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade ETA Out now PUB Square Enix DEV Square Enix PLAYERS 1 LENGTH 4-6 hours ACCESSIBILITY Customisable subtitles; adjustable camera speed; togglable screen shake; swappable combat buttons Though she’s a character who’s completely optional in the origin game, this DLC doesn’t skimp on giving Yuffie plenty to do. During the period in which Cloud is separated from Tifa and Barrett, Yuffie teams up with another AVALANCHE cell to meddle with Shinra’s plans, while interacting with major characters, seeing familiar events from another perspective, pushing the overall story forward, and even using a combat style that feels unlike anything in the base game. Hailing from Wutai, a country sinister corporation Shinra has been at war with for…

INFO FORMAT PS5 PRICE £49.99 (free upgrade from PS4) ETA Out now PUB EA DEV Respawn Entertainment PLAYERS 1 LENGTH 20 hours ACCESSIBILITY Adjustable film grain, motion blur, and camera shake; customisable difficulty, UI, and audio prompts; editable control layout Set five years after Darth Vader bellowed that infamous, drawn-out “Noooooooo!” at the end of Revenge Of The Sith, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order explores a galaxy coming to terms with the Empire’s rule. The Jedi are in hiding, planets are under attack, and Fallen Order’s protagonist, Cal Kestis (played by Gotham’s Cameron Monaghan) is doing his best wide-eyed Luke Skywalker impression. What sets Fallen Order apart from other Star Wars games, and the recent films, is its faith in its own heroes and villains. Cal is a Jedi-in-hiding who…

INFO FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE TBC ETA Out now PUB Finji DEV Greg Lobanov, Alexis Dean-Jones, Lena Raine, Madeline Berger, A Shell In The Pit PLAYERS 1-2 One day you’re a dog living a humble life as a janitor, the next you find yourself wielding a magical paintbrush with the responsibility of fixing a world that has suddenly lost all its colour. And what better way to present this than in a top-down adventure where each grid is like the page of a colouring book for you to fill back in, in which you can even use the touchpad for a more natural movement of your brush?1 If it’s not quite precise enough, especially on occasions when you’re asked to draw a picture or portrait on a canvas, that…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PRICE £29.99 ETA Out now PUB Capcom DEV Capcom PLAYERS 1-2 LENGTH 3 hours ACCESSIBILITY Adjustable HUD and control layout; rapid fire option Being bitten by a zombie is a shock to the system in any game, but Chris Redfield never shed his clothes and continued fighting in his grundies after one of the undead tried to chew on his shins. Sir Arthur, however, is made of sterner stuff. Ghosts ’N Goblins has a reputation of being one of videogaming’s toughest challenges, and for good reason. As a kid I nearly lost my tiny mind trying to beat the game. Ghosts ’N Goblins Resurrection embraces the legendary difficulty curve but massages it into a variety of ways to play. On its easiest setting, Page, you’ll be able…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PRICE £15.99 ETA Out now PUB MWM Interactive DEV Flight School Studio PLAYERS 1 When you’re the size of a bug, it makes sense to ride them, fight them, or indeed build a mechanical version of one yourself. It’s the core thread of Stonefly’s adventure, which begins after young inventor Annika makes a mistake that sees her leaving home to recover a missing family heirloom with her own insect-shaped rig. It takes time to get used to the controls, especially if in other games you’ve taken jumping for granted – it’s sort of the inverse here, as pressing q bounces the rig back down to the surface for extra height. The top-down isometric perspective, however, makes it tricky to perceive just how high you are or whether…

Each year E3 arrives and we’re inundated with an avalanche of game reveals. Amid the blockbuster announcements many small, interesting, and innovative games slip under the radar. To celebrate the ones that could have got away, we’ve selected our favourites. Leading the pack is melee combat adventure Soulstice… This made-for-PS5 action game has a darkly beautiful art direction that resembles Nier: Automata crossed with Dark Souls – a gothic diamond in the rough. Developed by the team behind flawed gem Theseus, which itself recalled God Of War and Ico, Soulstice is rapidly rising up our most-wanted list. The world Reply Game Studios is building feels fascinating and vital. A sprawling castle is lit by a needle of light on the horizon, teasing us onwards. Inside dark corridors come alive with…

Unreal Engine 5 is becoming the go-to tech for game developers. Square Enix has revealed Dragon Quest XII will be made in UE5, and the next BioShock from new developer Cloud Chamber will also be using the next-gen game engine. But what does this mean for the kinds of games we’ll get? Unreal Engine 3 pioneered cover-shooter mechanics, and if that’s any indicator, the tech in Unreal Engine 5 will affect how games play for years to come. A recently released UE5 demo reveals how easy it is to create enormous, detailed open worlds in the engine. As BioShock is rumoured to be using it, can we expect the larger levels of BioShock Infinite to be expanded upon? RISK AND REWARD Unreal Engine 5 will enable developers to take risks,…

FINAL FANTASY XIV STRATOCASTER STRATOCASTER £3,499.99 SHOP.FENDER.COM You’ll need to wait until November and pay a hefty price, but this Strat is one of the most exciting things Square has done in years. Just look at it. Now imagine strumming it like Sir Jimi Of Hendrix and watching the thing light up like the Northern Lights – the purple and blue edges glow. Naturally, it won’t do all the work, you’ll need lessons. FINAL FANTASY XIV VINYL LP BOX SQUARE ENIX £86.99 STORE.EU.SQUARE-ENIX-GAMES.COM This impressive boxset brings together all four Final Fantasy XIV vinyl collections: A Realm Reborn, Heavensword, Stormblood, and Shadowbringers. This represents some of the most beautiful music in videogames, in one package. Each LP jacket features new illustrations by Kuroimori and the audio…

FREE AND PROUD What week! We have had 14 minutes of beautiful gameplay showing Horizon Forbidden West, a new trailer for Dying Light 2 with a release date and then to cap it off issue 2 of PLAY. I’m so glad that you’ve become independent as from a reader perspective, however, I know your thoughts on a game are genuine. That’s not to saying before now I questioned them but I’m sure some people will have. Iain Culverhouse We’ve always held genuine opinions on games we preview and review – after all, we’re here to offer advice on how you should spend your cash on games that are getting even more expensive. RATED OR DATED? I was shocked to read online that some websites and bloggers don’t finish a game…

1 Barry Paust Game: Mortal Shell The Enslaved Grisha boss impressed Barry enough to grab this shot. “It had one chain that would hang from the cage around its head; it looked like a tongue.” To capture the movement Barry used the game’s frame advance feature. “I wanted the chain to look like it was being whipped from one direction to the other.” 2 TJ Marinelli Game: Doom Eternal TJ Marinelli loves Doom’s character design but looks to the industry for ideas. “I take inspiration from concept art or films. So I’d always recommend that to anyone,” says TJ, who also advises you look at other people’s work, “and take inspiration from it. That’s how I feel I’ve improved over the years”. 3 Erin Sandler Game: Horizon…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA 27 JUL / PUB CAPCOM / DEV CAPCOM / PLAYERS 1 With the first three Ace Attorney games joining the PlayStation gallery back in 2019, it was a bit of a headscratcher as to when – if ever – any other games in the series would follow suit. Chronicles is a compilation of two games that never had an English-language release, in which a different pointy-haired protagonist takes the stand. Ryunosuke Naruhodo isn’t a legal professional, unlike his descendant Phoenix Wright, but he has the priceless experience of having been accused of murder himself. Exonerated with the help of his friend, law student Kazuma Asogi, the pair travel to England so that Asogi can complete his studies only for the plot to thicken. Whereas Wright often…

FORMAT PSVR / ETA SUMMER 2021 / PUB NDREAMS LTD DEV NDREAMS LTD / PLAYERS 1 Stuck in a snowy mountain fracking facility, you discover the region has been taken over by the aptly named Fracked, interdimensional gun-toting beings. The only thing stopping them from world domination is you. Shoving you into a high-octane action thrillride where the big action is all 1:1, this game aims to turn anyone with a VR headset into an action hero. Creative director Steve Watt promises “no on-rails gameplay and cinematic cutscenes here,” and just like a modern-day James Bond, you do it all, from skiing between parts of the bases to sliding down a zipline, and even base jumping. And you don’t simply walk; your traversal methods include free running, swinging on ropes,…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 2021 / PUB FROGWARES DEV FROGWARES / PLAYERS 1 You’re off to the Mediterranean island of Cortona with your dishy and mysterious mate Jon. This is no lads’ holiday – you, young Sherlock Holmes, are here to mourn your recently deceased mother at your childhood home. But that doesn’t stop you getting into a mess of trouble. You’ve barely checked into the hotel when the game’s afoot. You end up looking into a seance gone wrong and hunting a missing diamond before you can even neck a beer in the sunshine. This opening case which we go hands-on with, Ghosts Of The Past, is classic Holmes stuff, and a great way to settle us back into the deerstalker hat of Frogwares’ famous detective (though here…

FORMAT PS5 / ETA 2022 / PUB TBC / DEV STARWARD INDUSTRIES / PLAYERS 1 “SET IN A FUTURE WHEN THE COLD WAR NEVER ENDED.” Adapting literary works into playable experiences is an egg only a few developers have attempted to crack. New studio Starward Industries’ first project is attempting to do just that for Polish science fiction writer Stanisław Lem’s 1964 novel of the same name. The game’s set in a future when the Cold War never ended and the digital revolution never took root. Caught between superpowers still obsessed with the space race, you play in first-person as an astronaut dependent on analogue technology boasting a distinctly atompunk aesthetic. When disaster strikes far from home, it’s up to you to locate your missing crewmates. In the original novel,…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2021 / PUB DIGERATI DEV GREYLOCK STUDIO / PLAYERS 1 Create your own action movie at high speeds in this FPS that’s as much about stunting and looking cool as it is popping enemies with bullets. Lashings of bullet time helps you stay slick when on the move, chaining together slides, wall runs, and flips, all while continuing to fire and aim with only one hand (your other is an arm cannon that can blast through walls). Thanks to its voxel-based design, the shiny levels can come apart wherever, and are entirely destructible. And it’s all being built with accessibility for one-handed players in mind too.…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2021 / PUB 505 GAMES DEV PRIDEFUL SLOTH / PLAYERS 1 Your home of Alaria was once a beautiful, vibrant paradise. The Withering has taken hold of the land, spreading its thorny tendrils to reduce the Evertree from which life flowed to a mere sapling. It’s up to you to get things growing again, restoring colour and life to the world. Merging life sim and exploration into a 3D sandbox environment, bringing old inhabitants back to grow a sleepy town is sure to be a memorable experience.…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA TBC / PUB SLOW BROS / DEV SLOW BROS / PLAYERS 1 The Cold War isn’t just a setting for Call Of Duty campaigns. It was a real, tumultuous time when the threat of nuclear disaster was all too real. Harold Halibut is set 250 years after an ark launched into space to preserve humanity amid fears of global destruction, and it’s a jaw-dropping stop-motion visual feast. Unfortunately, the spaceship Fedora’s target ‘habitable’ planet turned out not to have any land masses, instead being covered in water with a toxic above-surface atmosphere, meaning that the refugees from Earth have had to adapt to living underwater, tipping their hats to the Fedora for providing them sanctuary. STOP THE PRESSES With classic stop-motion looks and assisted by its…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA 25 AUG / PUB XBOX GAME STUDIOS DEV DOUBLE FINE / PLAYERS 1 Hollis Forsythe, second-in-command at the mysterious Psychonauts, is having a spot of mental bother and Raz must dive into her subconscious to sort things out. Just another mission… Inside Forsythe’s brain stack things have become muddled. Her memories of working in a hospital ER have mingled with those of a Vegas-like casino. It demonstrates Double Fine’s talent for the surreal but also the capacity of this platformer to constantly surprise. One section spins the action from 3D to a retro-feeling 2.5D view as Raz bounces across exposed brains and scampers up and over X-rays. This game’s design choices will see it succeed. There aren’t too many games that force its hero to leap…

“ALEX IS AN EMPATH, MEANING SHE’S NOT JUST WRESTLING WITH HER OWN FEELINGS.” FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 10 SEP / PUB SQUARE ENIX / DEV DECK NINE / PLAYERS 1 Being a teenager can be an emotional ride at the best of times. New Life Is Strange protagonist Alex Chen is an empath, meaning she’s not just wrestling with her own complex feelings but also with the emotions of anyone quietly simmering within touching distance. That can easily skew conversation towards confrontation in this continuation of the incredibly popular superpowered teen drama series. After years spent separated from her brother Gabe within the foster system, Alex hopes she’s finally found a home for both of them in Haven Springs. Unfortunately, the siblings’ fresh start is cut short when Gabe…

FORMAT PS5 / ETA TBC / PUB FOCUS HOME INTERACTIVE DEV ASOBO STUDIO / PLAYERS 1 At the end of the last Plague Tale, subtitled Innocence, siblings Hugo and Amicia headed to pastures new in the hopes of putting the plague and the Inquisition behind them. Alas, if this sequel’s subtitle is anything to go by, neither rodents nor rotters are prepared to be consigned to the past. “SNEAKY TAKEDOWNS SUGGEST STEALTH WILL RETURN, BUT AMICIA HAS A FEW OTHER ARROWS IN HER QUIVER – LITERALLY.” Early in-engine footage opens with a tidal wave of rodents pouring through a medieval street, suggesting the siblings’ search for a home will be anything but easy. A slightly older Amicia emerges to face the onslaught, now with a crossbow strapped to her back.…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 2021 / PUB UBISOFT / DEV UBISOFT ANNECY PLAYERS 1-64 (FREE ROAM), 50+ (IN EVENTS) This extreme sports game might be something of a spiritual successor to Steep, sharing the same dev team and snowy sports disciplines, but it’s a breath of mountain-fresh air too. Social elements have been pushed to the forefront, and with them more events that run a gamut of player counts (and allow you to squad up with friends throughout). “THE GAME’S ULTIMATE CHALLENGES COULD WELL BE THE MASS RACES, WHICH BOAST UPWARDS OF 50 PLAYERS ON PS5.” Trick Battle, in particular, offers something a little different, and makes use of a trick system that’s been revamped from what Steep veterans will be familiar with. This 6v6 mode takes a deck-shaped…

“STATELESS SOLDIERS NOW FIGHT FOR THE PLANET’S LIMITED RESOURCES.” FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 22 OCT / PUB EA DEV DICE, CRITERION, DICE LA, EA GOTHENBURG / PLAYERS 1-128 How many developers does it take to make a modern shooter? Four. Three to make the game and one to take the flak from frustrated neckbeards complaining about the lack of realism. Too cynical? Okay, let’s get crazy… One thing is for sure, having freed itself from the ‘realism’ of the previous game, Battlefield 2042 is a juggernaut of military mayhem that uses its near-future setting to play loose with realism. It plays up to how we all experience Battlefield – weaponsing vehicles, the acceptance of casual deaths from unhappy accidents, and the general on-the-hoof chaos that occurs when 128 players…

“DEATH REALLY DOESN’T FEEL LIKE AN END, BUT JUST SOMETHING THAT HAPPENS THROUGHOUT YOUR JOURNEY.” FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 13 AUG / PUB SUPERGIANT GAMES DEV SUPERGIANT GAMES / PLAYERS 1 Every teenager goes through a rebellious phase, and Zagreus’ is particularly hellish. Literally, as his old man is Hades himself, and Zag wants nothing more than to leave home and cool off with his aunts and uncles in Olympus. The problem? The legions of Hell his dad is using to keep him in line. Supergiant Games fans will know what to expect. The flow of the game is reminiscent of the likes of Bastion and Transistor, except here it’s in a roguelike wrapper. More than just a way of extending players’ time with the game, this is one…

“LEANS ON SOME MATURE THEMES – IT COULD BE THE DARKEST FINAL FANTASY YET.” FORMAT PS5 / ETA 20 JUL / PUB SQUARE ENIX / DEV SQUARE ENIX / PLAYERS 1 Has a new Final Fantasy on a new PlayStation ever not wowed us? Final Fantasy VII was revolutionary. Final Fantasy X pushed PS2 visuals. Final Fantasy XV showed us an open world like no other. And Final Fantasy XVI, a PS5 exclusive, looks set to be no different, combining state-of-the-art visuals with a new action-packed approach. We take on the role of moody sword-wielder Clive. There’s a reason for all his angst, and it’s something we’ll see in-game, as we’ll get to spend time with the character before and after a tragic event alters the course of his life.…

“IN COMBAT, FREY CAN WEAVE A SHIELD OF MAGICAL ENERGY AND THROW PROJECTILES.” FORMAT PS5 / ETA 2022 / PUB SQUARE ENIX / DEV LUMINOUS PRODUCTIONS / PLAYERS 1 Square Enix’s newly established internal studio Luminous Productions is making a statement with its debut project. The narrative-driven adventure game focusses on a young woman fighting for survival in a strange land that’s as dangerous as it is beautiful. The game was formerly known as Project Athia, taking its name from this central setting. In newly-released images from the game, protagonist Frey Holland stares down a number of fantastical beasts, from strange wolf-like creatures corrupted by a magical light to dragons. Athia is littered with crumbling ruins, lush forests, and rocky canyons, so Frey has plenty of hiding places to choose…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA TBC / PUB SONY WORLDWIDE STUDIOS / DEV GUERRILLA GAMES / PLAYERS 1 Put aside your childish things; Guerrilla Games’ sequel is the reason you bought a PlayStation 5 (sorry, Astro Bot…). The moment we see Aloy trot out from the jungle canopy, clamber up a grass hill and gaze out on the crystal-blue shores of the Pacific Ocean stretching out below, it’s clear her return is going to be epic. During previous reveals developer Guerrilla Games boasted Horizon Forbidden West would be a larger and richer world than the post-apocalyptic Colorado it brought to PlayStation 4, yet before seeing it in action we hadn’t expected this open world to feature the curated set-pieces and platforming events more common to the Uncharted games than other…

WHAT YOU DO IN: R&C: RIFT APART THE DUALSENSE DIFFERENCE TRIGGERS The power is in your hands. How far you pull the trigger affects firing modes. Subtle yet crucial, the action becomes second nature. HAPTICS The haptics add a surprising amount of texture to movement, from wall-running to plodding along the ground (aided by little speaker noises). LOVING/ HATING GOOD CHEMISTRY Vocal performances are lovely, from David Kaye’s trademark Clank giggle to Jennifer Hale making Rivet a new favourite. IMPORTANT CHOICE You can choose Fidelity, Performance, or Performance RT visual modes. They all look great, but how can we choose one? COMPEL-O-GRAPH IS IT BETTER THAN? YES Rift Apart evolves everything R&C was doing, with some sharper, funnier writing to boot. YES This simpler fare from former…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PRICE £9.99 ETA Out now PUB Badland Publishing DEV Co5monaut, Stas Pisarev PLAYERS 1-2 Many people grew up with teachers reminding them to Keep It Simple, Stupid. Nowadays, KISS is still an applicable concept in gaming, but it’s something that often gets lost as we gain more and more systems and assumed knowledge with each new generation of consoles, along with the technology that allows for substantially more complicated games. Well, Death Crown is a real-time strategy game with exactly three different buildings to choose from, an incredibly striking 1-bit art style, and that’s basically it.1 So, you might wonder, what are those three buildings that do so much? Mines to improve your income, a defensive structure that shoots at incoming units, and a building that makes…

WHAT YOU DO IN: SONG OF HORROR FRIENDS & ENEMIES ETIENNE BERTRAND His notetaking skill marks more things on your map. GRACE RICHARDS This student can pop caffeine pills to give herself a limited speed boost. ERNEST FINNEGAN His hearing aid helps him hear The Presence through doors. STATPACK  05 Episodes, each set in a different location, from a university campus at night to a cluttered antique shop and surrounding apartments. 13 Playable characters (though a couple are playable in flashbacks only), each with their own unique skills. And when they’re dead, they’re gone. 98 The year the game is set. Classic sci-fi/ horror references abound, including to films like Alien and writers like MR James and HP Lovecraft. HOW TO… SURVIVE Listen at every door.…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PRICE £34.99 ETA Out now PUB Focus Home Interactive DEV Gasket Games PLAYERS 1-2 LENGTH 15+ hours ACCESSIBILITY Subtitles As they’re often laden with more titles than an English duchess, it’s not easy to know where you stand with Warhammer games. Put your Space Marines away; this isn’t based on 40K but on the high-fantasy Warhammer Age Of Sigmar (Games Workshop hates colons, apparently). Storm Ground is the first Sigmar game on console, and looks to the XCOM series for inspiration. You’re not erecting massive monolithic buildings here, rather you command your small group of units to wreak havoc on hex-based battlefields. Each unit is highly customisable and has passives to consider, along with active abilities that you can tweak by giving the unit shiny new equipment.…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PRICE TBC ETA Out now PUB Mixtvision Games DEV Studio Fizbin PLAYERS 1 Time to take out the ol’ squid boat and use the magic allen key to fix the engine that sustains the world and stops the poisonous spores in the air from killing everything. Minute Of Islands is confident enough in its setup that it manages to make that frankly ridiculous concept feel almost mundane. As it should, because this is just the way things are for you, as the game’s protagonist and anointed mechanic Mo. Carrying out her repairs comes in the form of puzzle platforming across a series of islands and caves, while Mo struggles with the physical and mental effects of her role as the Bearer Of The Omni Switch. The environments…

INFO FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £69.99 ETA Out now PUB Focus Home Interactive DEV Streum On Studio PLAYERS 1 LENGTH 10 hours ACCESSIBILITY Adjustable HUD aim assist, and gore; tweakable controller dead zone and sensitivity; frame rate counter Visiting a bar where everybody knows your name isn’t much fun when it’s because there’s a bounty attached. There are no friends in the world of Underhive. A lawless place run by gangs, where house loyalty is worth more than a cold pint and good banter, Warhammer 40K’s newest videogame setting is also one of its most interesting. Some of what makes Necromunda so inspired is transferred into Hired Gun’s first-person shooting. Whether you’re scurrying across the rooftops of a city-sized train or exploring an ancient temple built from skulls and…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PRICE £13.99 ETA Out now PUB Playism DEV Blastmode, MP2 Games PLAYERS 1 Right: it’s a lovely morning in the universe and you are a heroic goose. One with access to heavy weapons, powerful vehicles, and a selection of smart AI companions. While the absurdity of having a waterfowl for a hero is quite happily played on, it’s not the main focus of the game; the developer was too busy making a run-and-gun shooter that’s fun to play. In the process of saving the galaxy from the Void King you run, you shoot things, you occasionally honk,1 and that – apart from breaks when you drive or fly and shoot things – is basically it. It’s a wonderfully simple and pure foundation that is built on with…