Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2022 i PLAY

“Factor in Sony’s plans to release ten live-service games by 2026 and the partnership makes sense.” As news broke that Sony had acquired Destiny developer Bungie, two new posts appeared on the studio’s website. One detailed how both companies shared “a dream of creating iconic franchises that unite” people, places, and platforms, and the view that games have “limitless potential”. The other really, really wanted us to know that the companies’ “shared vision” definitely didn’t include platform exclusivity. It’s a curious one, isn’t it? If Sony didn’t rock up to Bungie with a truck full of money – $3.6 billion dollars, to be precise – to make Destiny 2 (or 3) a PlayStation exclusive then what, exactly, is Sony buying Bungie for? Destiny spin-offs? The studio’s unannounced projects? The team’s…

Sony has released a handful of new UI enhancements and updates in the form of a second PS5 system software beta. The update, which will be made available to everyone sometime later this year, has a wealth of new party chat options, accessibility settings, and UI changes. As with previous betas, some of the features might not make it into the final version of the update but here’s what Sony has planned for now. “Sony is testing a voice command feature that lets you find and open games, apps, and settings.” One of the biggest changes in the update is to PS5’s multiplayer capabilities. Playing with friends has always been a somewhat finicky process, but a new party system is making playing with others easier. You can create open and…

“WE’RE VERY EXCITED FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPAND THIS BELOVED IP BEYOND GAMING, FOR BOTH NEW AND RETURNING FANS TO APPRECIATE.” HAZELIGHT STUDIO MANAGER OSKAR WOLONTIS ON THE PLANS TO ADAPT IT TAKES TWO FOR FILM AND TV. “COMING UP WITH NEW IDEAS IS REALLY WHERE MY HEAD IS AT RIGHT NOW.” DOUBLE FINE BOSS TIM SCHAFER EXPLAINS THE STUDIO’S NEXT PROJECT WILL BE SOMETHING COMPLETELY FRESH. “THE MINUTE YOU TRY TO PROTECT THE PAST, YOU BECOME IRRELEVANT.” CEO OF ROCKSTAR GAMES PUBLISHER TAKE-TWO STRAUSS ZELNICK ABOUT WORKING ON THE NEXT ITERATION OF GRAND THEFT AUTO. (YES! IT’S COMING!)…

Rolan is new to Granblue. A vicar in a small town, he runs a handyman business on the side and is not immediately forthcoming about his motivations. Captain of the Holy Knights Charlotta makes a big first impression. What she lacks in stature she makes up for in skill – just don’t mention her height. Yodarha was renowned for his skill with a blade. Now he prefers a pole, a hook, and some bait. Whether he’s fishing or fencing, he’ll be an asset to your team.…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 2022 / PUB TEAM17 / DEV STORMIND GAMES / PLAYERS 1 An intriguing blend of arcade twin stick shooting and rapid hack-‘n’-slash combat is showcased in Batora: Lost Haven’s fights, and we see enough of those in our brief taste of its latest alpha preview to sense developer Stormind Games has all the ingredients of an engaging science-fiction adventure in its hands. The opening cutscene reveals a near-future Earth ravaged by disaster – our 16-year-old protagonist Avril and her childhood friend Mila are lucky to have escaped unscathed. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for their now-deceased families and, having lost everything, the pair embark on a perilous intergalactic journey to try to save what remains of their home from certain annihilation. “THE THEME OF…

FORMAT PS5 / ETA TBC / PUB SCRAMBLER, PEOW STUDIO DEV BEAU BLYTH, NELSON BOLES, VALENTIN SEICHE, DOSEONE, ADAM ROBEZZOLI, EVAN HEMSLEY, YELLOWAFTERLIFE / PLAYERS 1-4 When the first Samurai Gunn released in 2013, the bushido brawler quickly became known for its lightning-fast action, tight platforming, and combat that was deviously simple yet difficult to master. After eight years, the slick samurai fighting game is back, and it’s bringing new characters, additional techniques, and some familiar faces. Samurai Gunn 2 will have 18 colourful characters to choose from, including a badass revolutionary princess, a supernatural suit of armour, and a malevolent demon hunter. Classic fighting techniques such as boosting your jump with a sword slash remain the same, but characters will now have unique abilities like being able to run…

Brittle Beaks are easy to smash with NightStar – that’s if you can catch them on their swooping flight paths (which can easily knock you into pits). Skulkers are hulking and powerful, but need to get close to hurt you. Burrow to safety and strike them from a distance (across pitfalls if you have to). The Duchess is the first boss we face in our hands-on. With tentacles aplenty she strikes all over the room, using the head of a statue for defence.…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA 24 MAR PUB WIRED PRODUCTIONS DEV LUMINAWESOME GAMES LTD PLAYERS 1 The trailer for Lumote makes one thing obvious: Luminawesome Games is a great fan of both bioluminescent creatures and David Attenborough, even though the game’s environment looks less like the ocean and more like the inside of a network, Tron-style. Lumote is more than a platformer; it hopes to entice with logic puzzles too. But, as Luminawesome puts it, if you stay just because Lumote is the cutest thing you’ve ever seen, that works for the studio, too. The nature of the puzzles is difficult to discern from appearances, but if fake Attenborough’s plea to give it a go moves you, you’ll be able to play Lumote for yourself soon.…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA APR 2022 / PUB TINYBUILD DEV EERIE GUEST, TINYBUILD / PLAYERS 1 The first Hello Neighbor was a family-friendly stealth game, and in this equally sneaky sequel, Mr Peterson, the original titular neighbour, has disappeared. As it turns out, a shadowy personality and an eerie secret are prerequisites for renting a house in the town of Raven Brooks, so there are now plenty of houses you’ll have to break into in order to find out what happened to him. Getting in is part of the fun, and from the looks of it that will be satisfyingly challenging once again.…

FORMAT PS5 ETA 25 MAR PUB BETHESDA SOFTWORKS DEV TANGO GAMEWORKS PLAYERS 1 When survival horror specialist Tango Gameworks announced it was working on a story-driven ghost-hunting action-adventure back in 2019, it came as quite a  surprise. The Evil Within developer’s games have never been for the squeamish or faint of heart, but that’s what you’d expect from a studio founded by Shinji Mikami, the man behind the Resident Evil series. “GET READY FOR TALES OF VENGEFUL SPIRITS AND YOKAI.” The studio has gone in an entirely new direction with Ghostwire: Tokyo, but that doesn’t mean its horror roots have been ghosted. Ghostwire is an adventure with Japanese mythology at its core, so get ready for tales of vengeful spirits, creepy phantoms, and deadly yokai. There’s plenty of horror potential…

MEET THE LOCALS Sure, most of them are bloodthirsty spirits, but they’re a fascinating, if aggressive, insight to Japan’s wonderful mythical creatures. WANDER THE CITY Take your time to explore the parks and shrines nestled in the city; there might be items hidden there that can help your spiritual abilities. EMBRACE LOCAL DELICACIES You won’t be doing much eating in Ghostwire – helping lost souls pass into the afterlife and absorbing their energy is as close as it gets. PET RANDOM DOGS Take a break from punching malevolent ghosts in the face and help soothe your soul by petting the city’s dogs (cats too!).…

01 Mickey Mania We were tempted to spotlight King Mickey’s monologuing about darkness in Kingdom Hearts, but this PlayStation platformer is far truer to the character. Every level pays tribute to a pre-’90s chapter in Mickey’s history and is brought to life with wonderful art direction that still sticks the landing today. 02 Mina The Hollower A new adventurer appears! If you’re scratching your head at this particular rodent hero, don’t worry – you haven’t lost your memory, she’s new. Learn more about the pint-sized protagonist of Yacht Club Games’ latest, her Victorian gothic world, and her handiness with a whip on p42. We dig it! 03 Ghost Of A Tale As a bard Tilo can play a beguiling tune, but as a mouse he also knows the value of…

INFO FORMAT Cinema PRICE Your local cinema’s ticket prices ETA Out now PUB Sony Pictures Entertainment DEV Columbia Pictures, Arad Productions, Atlas Entertainment, PlayStation Productions PLAYERS N/A LENGTH 2 hrs ACCESSIBILITY Check your local cinema You could call it a blessing in disguise that the Uncharted movie got stuck in development hell for over a decade and has only now been released, years after we bade farewell to Nathan Drake and his adventures. Having that figurative line drawn in the sand makes it easier to reboot PlayStation’s biggest blockbuster action hero via an origin story for his big screen debut. While a brand-new story, the film nonetheless takes inspirations from the games, as fans would always have wanted it to. The most notable borrowings are Uncharted 3’s flashbacks to a…

WHAT YOU DO IN: CYBERPUNK 2077 15% Stopping mid-gunfight to take a selfie or snap a cool-looking foe. 8% Texting back and forth with your NPC crush. 5% Noticing a marked decrease in the number of dildos littering the streets. 37% Revelling in a lot more frames and far fewer bugs. 22% Wishing Night City’s personality was ever so slightly less abrasive. 13% Wincing extra-hard at your latest head-on collision thanks to haptic feedback. HOW TO… PICK UP WHERE YOU LEFT OFF If you’re a PS Plus subscriber, download your PS4 cloud saves and they’ll be read by the PS5 version of the game. Without PS Plus, it’s fiddlier. In the PS4 version of the game’s save file menu, you can upload only one save file and then import…

I N FO ETA FORMAT Out now PS5 PUB (reviewed Dear ) Villagers , PS4 PRICE £34.99 DEV Midgar Studio PLAYERS 1 The developer’s name is a big hint: French indie Midgar Studio loves Final Fantasy, something that’s evident in this homage to classic 3D JRPGs. Borrowing liberally from the genre, it’s got ATBinspired turn-based combat that incorporates tactical RPG grid movement, while attacking enemies reveal their elemental resistances and weaknesses á la Persona, and there are even optional exchanges between party members when you rest at an inn that feel very Tales. Edge Of Eternity is an impressive achievement given the team’s modest size,1 though it doesn’t take long for its rough edges to show. Sure, the large environments can look uniquely pretty thanks to a blend of fantasy…

WHAT YOU DO IN: GRID LEGENDS 10% Whizzing past an opponent, grinning at the Slingshot alert. 12% Laughing at one of the story scenes for entirely the wrong reasons. 10% Agonising over which upgrade to choose to improve your chances. 40% Feeling the constant yet pleasurable tension of a good race. 23% Radiating with smugness after a super-smooth overtake or corner. 5% Hurling your car into a wall at embarrassing speed after misjudging a corner. HOW TO… LEVEL UP FAST A good way to increase your XP in races is to stick to the racing line as much as possible, as doing this for extended periods triggers a combo. Race clean and fair and you’ll get bonuses for overtakes, clean sections, and more. Story has no upgrades, so…

“Elden Ring helps us get good by making exploring all part of the power loop.” INFO FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £49.99 ETA Out now PUB Bandai Namco Entertainment DEV FromSoftware PLAYERS 1-4 LENGTH 40+ hrs ACCESSIBILITY Auto-lock options; adjustable camera speed; subtitles; more accessible multiplayer features for groups; controller remapping Shield up, sword at the ready, we’re exploring the ramparts of Stormveil Castle. As we think we’re on a roll, we’re jumped by eagles with knives on their feet who drop bombs on us. Before we can flee, a knight with a powerful wind attack we can’t back away from intercepts. You died. But instead of grinding out the sequence, Elden Ring helps us get good by making exploring part of the loop. The huge open world of the…

INFO  FORMAT PS4 PRICE £24.99 ETA 10 Mar PUB Lienzo DEV Lienzo PLAYERS 1 An uncolonised, hyper-advanced Mesoamerica1 now threatened by ancient deities makes for an interesting premise. And as Achtli you’re responsible for accidentally awakening the gods. Wielding an advanced stone arm called Lightkeeper that enables you to fly, it’s your mission to stop them, your destiny becoming intertwined with that of Tez, another god from a bygone era. This isn’t simply a boss rush affair, though you could be forgiven for thinking it is. There’s an explorable futuristic metropolis you can fly across, offering things like timed fights and races, plus shops selling cosmetic items and Lightkeeper upgrades. However, the core of the game is the god-slaying. Each boss is based on a mythological figure, and the fights…

INFO FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £49.99 ETA Out now PUB Prime Matter DEV SNK PLAYERS 1-2 LENGTH N/A ACCESSIBILITY Togglable vibration; volume mixer; button config Once upon a time there was a console called Neo Geo, and it cost as much as a secondhand car. The cartridges for its games weren’t cheap either. Most of its games were arcade-perfect fighting ports, and this series pits a selection of characters from various arcade fighters (and a few non-fighting series for some reason) against one another. Little has changed over the years… The title, therefore, isn’t a bold claim to be the best in the genre, but a reference to the opposing SNK teams. And there are canon teams, in which characters are grouped by their game of origin (such as…

INFO FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £53.99 ETA Out now PUB NIS America DEV Furyu PLAYERS 1 LENGTH 35 hrs ACCESSIBILITY Casual difficulty option; subtitles Waking up for school is never pleasant, but at Shin Mikado Academy an early start is the least of your worries. You awaken to find the campus trapped beneath a supernatural dome, remembering nothing but the words of a woman from your dreams. She tells you to defeat the Pactbearers, seven students who have gained supernatural abilities by forming pacts with demonic Monarks. The setup is simple, but the speed at which events unfold early on can be overwhelming, especially given the volume of obtuse terminology which dominates dialogue. Things become easier to follow after the arrival of Vanitas, the delightfully pompous Monark of Vanity…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PRICE £21.99 ETA Out now PUB TribeVR DEV Ramen VR PLAYERS 1 LENGTH 50+ hrs ACCESSIBILITY Smooth movement modes; adjustable run speed, camera shake, and focus UI While it might seem strange for a game as ambitious as Ramen’s anime MMORPG to drop on PlayStation VR so late into the headset’s lifecycle, the truth is it couldn’t have arrived at a better time. It’s been a while since immersing yourself into a game world this intimately felt truly special, after all. And while it doesn’t quite overcome the platform’s usual issues from a technical or creative perspective, Zenith: The Last City lays the foundation for what could one day be a thriving universe to share with others. Quickly setting you off within the titular city, no time…

INFO FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE Free with microtransactions ETA Out now PUB Konami DEV Konami OFFLINE REVIEW N/A PLAYERS 1-2 CROSSPLAY Android, iOS, PC, Switch, Xbox Fond memories of the anime/manga will only get you so far here. As a card game, Yu-Gi-Oh!’s embrace of its own chaotic nature has only got stronger. Like it or love it, it’s all here in the free-to-play Master Duel. It marks the first time Konami has attempted to properly create a 1:1 digital version of the TCG, and it’s remarkably successful. “Blazing-fast decks search cards in a way almost designed not to be followed word for word.” Even if you’re at the bottom of the ranked ladder, you should be prepared to lose matches in a single round, especially during the launch…

INFO FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £44.99 ETA Out now PUB Ubisoft DEV Ubisoft Montreal OFFLINE REVIEW #11, 7/10 PLAYERS 1-3 CROSSPLAY PC, Xbox Few people are interested in using a mic. This makes every stab at the Quick Play button a dice roll. If we’re matched with experienced, respectful players, things just about work, although the lack of chat leaves a hole in the experience. That’s if we’re lucky… A difficulty filter is needed; critical missions with uncommunicative teammates are almost certain to fail. Losing an Operator thanks to lone wolf teammates feels like being punished for bad luck, and having to bail out if/when the team can’t work together properly is frustrating. When you enjoy the game it’ll be in spite of the design, not because of it.…

01 Red Dead Redemption 2 You won’t find another open world quite like this, the streets of Los Santos paling in comparison to this gorgeous western sprawl. Arthur Morgan’s wild west adventure is epic, emotional, and has enough teasing mysteries on every Horizon for no two cowboys’ journeys to feel the same. Train robberies, tootin’ headshots, and killing racists, there’s never a dull moment in Rockstar’s greatest. 02 Grand Theft Auto V Laughing in the face of other cross-gen ports, GTA V on PS4 is more than a mere HD remaster. Upped to a glorious 1080p, it weaves together everything that made the PS3 original great, with new music, more dynamic weather, and a game-changing FPS mode. 03 God Of War A departure in some ways but a resounding return…

Disney has announced a kart racer, Disney Speedstorm, recasting its colourful roster of animated film characters as hot-headed speed demons. The recently revealed free-to-play racing game, which you will be able to enjoy solo or versus friends in local and online multiplayer (including cross-platform play) will hit consoles later this year, though which generation of PlayStation it’ll be on has yet to be confirmed. Disney Speedstorm looks like being a Mario-Kart-style racer with a handful of Disney and Pixar characters. The driver lineup includes Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Mulan, Sully from Monsters Inc, Captain Jack from Pirates Of The Caribbean, and Belle from Beauty And The Beast (who was spotted in the promotional art by eagle-eyed fans). Each character has a bombastic ability to help them battle it out on…

Knowledge of new cultures and remote parts of the world is one of the most beneficial things games can give you, and island exploration game Tchia is certain to teach you plenty. Tchia’s world is inspired by New Caledonia, a small archipelago in the southwest Pacific bursting with animals and plant life, and the perfect place for a whimsical island adventure about a young girl discovering her newfound magical abilities. Early in development, indie studio Awaceb made the decision that Tchia would be both a homage to New Caledonia and an adventure with fantastical elements. “The very first thing we did was to base the actual game world on the locales of New Caledonia, like the landscapes and the landmarks,” game director and Awaceb co-founder Phil Crifo says. “We thought…

Over the years, other racing series have been more bombastic, more wild, more #lit. But Gran Turismo isn’t about all that loud noise. It’s in the quieter noises, the thrum of an idling motor, the sound of rubber catching asphalt around an elegant corner. For Kazunori Yamauchi and the Polyphony team, capturing the joy of racing in real life is an obsession, and one PS5 can realise in new, absurd depth (we’ll have our full impressions next issue). DualSense haptics and adaptive triggers make holding the pad feel as close to driving as possible, from the push of the tyres locking as you brake to the way your front tyres are spinning based on how you take a corner. It’s all based on a detailed physics system (which goes so…

FORMAT PS5 / ETA 2022 / PUB PRIME MATTER / DEV MASSIVE WORK STUDIO / PLAYERS MULTI This is one of those games that’s just close enough to Dark Souls to feel familiar, and just different enough to have you bungling the controls for the first couple of hours. While few developers can match FromSoftware’s mastery of the genre, our hands-on makes it clear that Dolmen is doing enough to be interesting in its own right. “YOU CAN FLOOD YOUR SUIT WITH ELEMENTAL POWERS.” It’s pitched as science-fiction cosmic horror. Your custom character must travel to Revion Prime to hunt for dolmen crystals. Able to interact with different realities, the crystals have the potential to change the fundamental understanding of the universe (and also allow the soulslike checkpointing and ‘timeline’…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA TBC / PUB EPIC GAMES / DEV IRON GALAXY / PLAYERS 40 Any battle royale fan will tell you that in a market dominated by blockbuster hits like Fortnite and PUBG, a game’s got to be truly original to stand out from the crowd. Fortunately, from our recent hands-on, it seems Iron Galaxy is preparing a unique indie battle royale that punches well above its weight. Although the overall battle royale format remains relatively unchanged, the bold choice not to include guns in this free-to-play online fighter introduces unique opportunities for frantic, fast-paced fun. Where well-concealed players armed with powerful sniper rifles are an ever-present annoyance in Rumbleverse’s more conventional contemporaries, Iron Galaxy’s fist-fighting focus necessitates an almost constant barrage of close combat confrontations –…

“EPISODE ONE INTRODUCES DOROTHY AND OTHER OZIANS SUCH AS THE TIN MAN.” FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 2023 / PUB TELLTALE GAMES / DEV TELLTALE GAMES, ADHOC STUDIO / PLAYERS 1 The more things change, the more they stay the same. Following the messy lives of storybook characters within New York City in the ’80s, season one of this murder mystery debuted almost a decade ago. Since then developer Telltale Games has died a death, only to be resurrected under new management some years later, and even the long-concluded Fables comics that form the basis for this game will make a comeback later this year. But for Bigby Wolf it’s only been six months and he is feeling the chill of winter. Following a trail of bodies – and ribbon…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 12 MAY PUB SQUARE ENIX / DEV HAND INC. PLAYERS 1 If the words ‘live-action game’ and ‘Square Enix’ make you think of the The Quiet Man, know that the publisher has been involved with FMV games much longer, and much more successfully than that. The Centennial Case is a whodunnit focussing on murders that happened in the Shijima family across a hundred years. After witnessing the murder and getting to know the family members in each era, you search for clues and deduce the culprit in a sequence similar to Frogwares’ Sherlock Holmes games. An unlikely candidate for a localisation, but with former 428: Shibuya Scramble writer Koichiro Ito directing, it could be a hit with FMV fans.…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA SUMMER 2022 PUB CHIBIG / DEV CHIBIG, TALPA GAMES, UNDERCODERS / PLAYERS 1 Koa, the protagonist of Chibig’s farming adventure Summer In Mara, is back, this time in a jump ‘n’ run game set during her childhood. Clearly, Chibig has a lot of love for Mara. The island looks as vibrant and colourful as ever, but now that we know it houses active volcanoes and tentacle monsters we’ll respectfully take our holiday somewhere else. The gameplay in Summer In Mara was rough, so it’s all the more encouraging that the platforming and the boss battle you can see in the trailer look speedy, with plenty of variation between levels to make use of Koa’s moves. Between this, Lumote, and Klonoa elsewhere on this page, platformers look…

Here are three spectacular real-life locations that you visit in Ghostwire: Tokyo – just try to look past all the bloodthirsty spirits who are trying to kill you TOKYO TOWER Beat the queues and magically jump and grapple your way to the top of Tokyo’s most famous landmark. SHIBUYA CROSSING Usually one of the busiest pedestrian crossings in the entire world, in Ghostwire it’s eerily empty. NEZU SHRINE These crimson torii gates are common in Japanese shrines, and Nezu Shrine has a splendid set.…

FORMAT PSVR / ETA SPRING 2022 / PUB POLYARC DEV POLYARC / PLAYERS 1 Once upon a time, a tiny mouse introduced herself using American Sign Language and signalled her way into the hearts of many. Whiskered protagonist Quill found herself among even more friends when she embarked on her first PSVR adventure a few months later. Since her 2018 debut in Moss, Quill has solved more than her fair share of puzzles, saved her uncle, and defeated the fire-breathing snake Sarffog – but that’s far from the end of the story. Moss: Book II continues the tale later this spring. Lincoln Davis, publishing director at developer Polyarc, begins: “We wanted to double down on all those things that we fell in love with in Book I – the depth…

WHAT YOU SEE IN: UNCHARTED 15% The kind of far-flung locales you see in the games. 12% Going underground in Barcelona. 5% Tom Holland’s pecs. 43% Nate, Sully, and Chloe trying to work together while not trusting each other. 16% Action set-pieces in the air. 9% The cast dressed sharp at a fancy auction house. THE DUALSENSE DIFFERENCE DUALSENSE SPEAKER It’d be great if you could hear Sully’s voice through the speakers like it’s coming from an earpiece. Just don’t hold your hand to your ears, it looks daft. ADAPTIVE TRIGGERS If you sneak a DualSense into the cinema to get an idea what it’d be like to ‘play’ the movie, you can flick those triggers as Nate tries to get his lighter to work. LOVING/ HATING…

INFO FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £24.99 ETA Out now PUB Private Division DEV Roll7 PLAYERS 1 (with leaderboards) LENGTH 5 hrs (plus daily challenges, endless modes) ACCESSIBILITY Togglable vibration Riding a skateboard is like, er, riding a bike. Pushing ourselves off the first slope, memories of the hours we spent getting our lines just right in the first two games come flooding back. Thankfully, those memories help – every addition in World fits right next to the old so naturally, you’d almost think it’d been a part of OlliOlli from the very first kickflip. But let’s hit rewind on the skate video. You play a custom character (there’s a ton of options), who’s next in line for tryouts to become the new Skate Wizard, a conduit between skaters and…

I N FO ETA FORMAT Out now PS5 PUB , PS4 Winking (rev) PRICE Skywalker £15.99 Entertainment DEV Litchi Game PLAYERS 1 This sequel to 2019’s Paper Dolls: Original, Paper Dolls 2 sees you once again roaming a creepy and definitely haunted Chinese manor as you search for your daughter. Probably. There’s no real introduction or recap, putting it in the ‘Evil Geoguessr’ school of horror where you’re plonked somewhere spooky and just sort of left to it. Unfortunately, that’s the tone for most of the game, and if you don’t know what you’re doing it isn’t particularly inclined to fill you in. Despite such a shaky beginning, its setting and atmosphere are fairly solidly constructed. You go around gathering scraps of paper that hint at the goings-on in the…

INFO FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £59.99 ETA Out now PUB Techland DEV Techland PLAYERS 1-4 LENGTH 20 hrs (campaign) ACCESSIBILITY Left/right-handed controller setup; adjustable subtitle size and colour, and speaker volume; custom HUD; colourblind mode; three graphics modes – performance, quality, resolution The stakes in Villedor are getting higher but it’s hard to care. When a floating cigar jiggles menacingly in our direction instead of shock we feel confusion. Not since Daryl Hannah stared blankly at the shadow of Chevy Chase has so much heavy lifting been done with such little substance. While that 1992 Invisible Man movie (we’re old, okay) was meant to look as it did, unseen characters in Dying Light 2’s cutscenes is just one of many bugs that dampen the fun of parkouring across this…

WHAT YOU DO IN: ELDEN RING FRIENDS & ENEMIES MELINA Gives you Torrent and helps you level up in exchange for passage to the Erdtree. FIA Known as the ‘deathbed companion’, she hangs out in the Roundtable Hold. D Desperate for D? He has an eye only for Deathroots, dropped by certain large foes. ALSO ON PLAYSTATION 4 & PS4 PRO Tens of millions of PS4 players can get in on the action. Longer loads do hamper the open world fast travelling, there’s much more noticeable texture pop-in, and the framerate chugs a lot more than it does on PS5. But even on base models it’s immensely playable. STATPACK  02 Types of checkpoint: Graces where enemies respawn and you can level up and fast travel, and…

INFO  FORMAT PS5, PS4 (reviewed) PRICE £54.99 ETA Out now PUB Koei Tecmo DEV Omega Force PLAYERS 1 This refresh attempts to expand the scope of Dynasty Warriors 9 by attaching a military strategy simulator to it. This increases the game’s overall depth and, at its best, serves as proof that the Warriors franchise deserves the strategic tinge Empires updates often provide (most previous Dynasty Warriors titles have received one). At its worst, it serves as a reminder that the series has already gone in many exciting directions since the lacklustre Dynasty Warriors 9. Empires achieves its goals in a graceless manner, focussing mostly on scaling back the parts of 9 that don’t work – such as the open world – without adding many new ideas to replace what has…

WHAT YOU DO IN: KOF XV HOW TO… USE CLIMAX MOVES Climax Super Special Moves are powerful attacks, requiring three power gauge bars. Starting with 2, make a quarter circle away and then a half circle towards your opponent, followed by HP+HK. All of them can be blocked and/or avoided, so use – and counter – wisely. FRIENDS & ENEMIES CHRIS Just ‘Chris’, like ‘Madonna’. He’s a young teen, but don’t go easy on him. SHERMIE Her fringe is out of control, but she can still (somehow) see you just fine. YASHIRO NANAKASE He’s a singer keen to write you a concerto… OF PAIN. STATPACK 13 Canon teams, including Ikari Team (Ikari Warriors characters) and Galaxy Anton Wrestling Team (brawler-style fighters). 02 DLC packs already announced:…

INFO FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £39.99 ETA Out now PUB Slocap DEV Slocap PLAYERS 1 LENGTH 6 hrs min ACCESSIBILITY Subtitles; in-depth control remapping; adjustable camera speed, shake, and smoothing Seek revenge and you should dig two graves.” Confucius may have got that right for most of us, but what he didn’t expect was a magical talisman that’d allow you to rise from one of those graves, albeit older with each resurrection. In Sifu, your vengeance is more likely to come to a premature end when you simply give up in frustration and walk away – this brawler is brutally punishing. Having spent eight years training to exact revenge on your father’s killer, you’re now ready to bust into five lairs to take down each of his henchmen, then…

INFO FORMAT PSVR PRICE £34.99 ETA Out now PUB Wanderer Ltd DEV M-Theory, Oddboy PLAYERS 1 Have you ever wished that you had a talking watch, with a voice like the one Colonel Sanders has in your head? Then this is the VR game for you. Somebody’s been causing chaos throughout time, and it’s up to you to discover who, how, and why, then stop them. “You’re free to explore each environment and there’s plenty to interact with in each time zone.” It’s admirably ambitious for a VR game. You begin in a post-apocalyptic future, but later travel to locations including the Maya civilisation and the first moon landing, and you even get to meet Nikola Tesla. You’re free to explore each environment, and there’s plenty to interact with. If…

INFO PUB Housemarque DEV Housemarque RELEASED 2017 GET IT NOW PS Store £15.99 NEED TO KNOW 1 Nex Machina means ‘Death Machine’ in Latin. 2 Eugene Jarvis, the creator of Robotron, was a creative consultant on the project. 3 Nex Machina’s disappointing sales prompted Housemarque to move away from arcade-style titles. Housemarque may now be best known for PS5 exclusive Returnal, but its track record of turning out top-notch PlayStation games stretches back much further. Throughout PS3 and PS4’s lifespans, the Finnish studio established a reputation for reimagining all-action arcade classics with added depth and eye-melting visuals, culminating in 2017’s explosive Nex Machina. At its heart, Nex Machina is a twin-stick shooter inspired by early ’80s coin-op Robotron 2084. In each compact level, hordes of killer robots charge towards you…

INFO PUB Vivendi Universal Games DEV Monolith Productions RELEASED 2007 (PS3) We’re only three years away from FEAR’s internal timeline and somehow it’s easier than ever before to believe there’s a troop of psychic paramilitary soldiers running around, controlled by a ten-year-old girl. It’s 2025, and the FEAR unit is sent to take down a rogue army of telepathically controlled clone supersoldiers.1 You’re Point Man and have superhuman reflexes, so that’s a leveller. In-game this boils down to a form of slow-mo that recalls the balletic shootouts of a John Woo movie. How we loved John Woo movies in the early noughties. Despite the explosive gunplay FEAR is pitched as the thinking person’s shooter. Equal parts psychological horror and corridor shooter, there’s a veracity to the combat that still feels…

Tekken Force was a beat-’em-up mode in Tekkens 3 and 4. PS2’s The Bouncer supported up to four players via Multitap. Anarchy Reigns (PS3) featured Bayonetta. 2004’s Viewtiful Joe enjoyed the working title Red Hot Man. BARGE SIMPSON Beat my shorts There’ve been many Simpsonsbranded games, but one of the most loved is the 1991 arcade beat-’em-up. The Japanese game had a number of differences from the English-language version: there was a screen-clearing mini-nuke item, points were doled out differently, and health bars could be extended past their usual limit. Neither version gave you the ability to have a cow. THE SIMPSONS CAME TO PS3 VIA PSN IN 2012 FOR ABOUT A YEAR, LAUNCHING FREE FOR PLAYSTATION PLUS SUBSCRIBERS. WHO FIGHTED? You look Haggard, my Guy Final Fight, first released…

SEE PAGE 054 FOR MORE DETAILS Free wired Nacon pad Subscribe to PLAY – The Magazine and get a free wired Nacon compact controller worth £34.99, plus your mag delivered every month. Print only If you just want a print edition then you’ll pay from £15.75 per quarter. Each issue is delivered to your door in environmentally-friendly packaging. Print & Digital Get the best of both worlds, with a print and digital bundle from £19.50 per quarter, for iOS, Google, Kindle, and Android devices. See p102.…

With Bloodborne fans still in the dark about whether FromSoftware will bless them with a glossy remaster for the PS5, their yearning to explore the city of Yharnam grows ever stronger. If you’re looking for something to scratch that soulslike itch, then Bloodborne PSX is the cure for what ails you. Developed by Lilith Walther, Bloodborne PSX is a fan-made project for PC that has recreated the gloriously gothic PS4 classic in the style of a PS1 game, and it’s surprising how well Bloodborne suits the rougher graphics of the PS1 era. Everything has been recreated in full polygonal glory; the chunky visuals really pluck on our nostalgic heartstrings. They’re matched by appropriately fuzzy sound effects too. Walther has even included the PS1 loading screen before the game’s start menu,…

THE CREATIVE GENE BY HIDEO KOJIMA WATERSTONES £18.99 WATERSTONES.COM This book feels like you’re peering directly inside Kojima’s mind. It’s a collection of essays and stories that explore the inspirations behind Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding. Kojima shows how books, movies, and music have influenced his artistic vision during his life, from game developer to studio director. FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE: MATERIAL ULTIMANIA SQUARE ENIX £29.99 STORE.EU.SQUARE-ENIX-GAMES.COM This artbook is stuffed with visual references from behind the scenes of Final Fantasy VII Remake: CG assets for character models, illustrations of locations, detailed backdrops, drawings of weapons, costume references, storyboards, song notes, and even interviews with the Japanese voice actors. CYBERPUNK 2077: BIG CITY DREAMS WATERSTONES £16.99 WATERSTONES.COM This Cyberpunk 2077 spin-off comic’s story…

“EACH CHARACTER HAS THEIR WEAPON OF CHOICE, ALTERING HOW THEY PLAY.” FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 2022 / PUB CYGAMES DEV CYGAMES / PLAYERS 1-4 The road between this high-fantasy action RPG first being announced and its release later this year is a winding one. For one thing, it began with a different developer on board in 2016, and is now being developed solely by Cygames. But before we dig into all that, let’s begin with ‘Once upon a time…’ Granblue Fantasy debuted as a mobile-and browser-based game in 2014. Boasting the talents of both longtime Final Fantasy tunesmith Nobuo Uematsu and art director Hideo Minaba, the game quickly found success to the tune of millions of downloads. Released exclusively in Japan, the app features a fully localised English-language script…

02 months FORSPOKEN Can Luminous Productions prove Square’s bespoke engine worthwhile? This is certainly looking pretty. FORMAT PS5 / ETA 24 MAY PUB SQUARE ENIX 04 months SKER RITUAL Slow, stealthy horror? Nah. Shoot ’em in the face. This co-op blaster is a fun shift in pace from predecessor Maid Of Sker. FORMAT PS5 / ETA Q2 2022 PUB WALES INTERACTIVE 06 months SONIC FRONTIERS This reimagining of Sonic The Hedgehog as an open-world adventure is speeding our way. FORMAT PS5 / ETA Q4 2022 PUB SEGA…

“PARLIAMENT IS IN THE PITS AND QUEEN VICKY IS HIDING IN HER PALACE.” FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA TBC / PUB FAILBETTER GAMES DEV FAILBETTER GAMES / PLAYERS 1 After a successful Kickstarter campaign, Failbetter has returned with another supernatural Victorian adventure. This time instead of controlling a steam locomotive among the stars or captaining a deep-sea vessel, you’re living in a version of London that’s been swallowed up by the Earth and now exists in a vast cave beneath the planet’s surface. Since London’s fall, its residents have been trying to pick up the pieces. Parliament is in the pits and Queen Vicky is hiding in her palace; a new group of tall, cloaked humanoids run the city. We’ve seen this curiously dark world in Failbetter’s text-based RPG, Fallen…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA DEC 2023 / PUB YACHT CLUB GAMES / DEV YACHT CLUB GAMES / PLAYERS 1 Taking inspiration from what came before is far from a bad thing, and few studios do it with the pizzazz of Yacht Club Games. Its debut hit Shovel Knight was a stylised cross between Mega Man and DuckTales with some Dark Souls seasoning. Its next project, Mina The Hollower, keeps that Souls energy but adds Castlevania flair with lashings of Zelda to create a love letter to Game Boy Color. It also means that, going hands-on, we can allow our ’90s selves to manifest and go into gaming autopilot, the top-down screens that scroll when we reach the side and the chunky combat a language we still know. That said,…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA 24 JUN PUB SPIKE CHUNSOFT DEV SPIKE CHUNSOFT / PLAYERS 1 After AI: The Somnium Files’ bizarre take on brain-visiting and body-hopping serial killers that melded Inception with a good dose of anime logic, we don’t expect anything but the unexpected from its successor. Our latest look doubles down on mystery, featuring characters both old and new in a story set six years after the original and a new string of gruesome murders. While AI: The Somnium Files’ point-and-click psychoanalysis was obtuse at times, Spike Chunsoft promises improvements in that area, as well as “mysteries that stimulate your critical thinking”. The first game was truly unique – it will be exciting to see whether the sequel can top it.…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 8 JUL PUB BANDAI NAMCO DEV BANDAI NAMCO / PLAYERS 1 Back in 1997, at the dawn of the 3D platformer, Namco decided it was time it had its own mascot. The result was Klonoa, a character who could be any number of animals put into Sonic-style sneakers and gloves. Now the Wii version of Klonoa 1 and the original Klonoa 2 are being packaged together for the Phantasy Reverie Series, a crisp-looking remaster of both side-scrolling 2.5D platformers. This is another chance for Bandai Namco to introduce players to its mascot, who never quite got the chance to soar as they deserved. Klonoa received praise for its story, which is a lot sadder than it appears, back in the day. We didn’t have Klonoa…

FORMAT PS4 / ETA 2022 PUB CHIBIG / DEV CHIBIG, NUKEFIST PLAYERS 1 Continuing on its mission to make games about girls helping out island communities, developer/ publisher Chibig created Mika & the Witch’s Mountain, a game that sees you delivering packages to people. Anime connoisseurs will think of Kiki’s Delivery Service at this point, and the presentation, complete with charming 2D cutscenes, and the story, described as a “heartwarming tale about growing up” don’t discourage this association. While Mika & The Witch’s Mountain will be a short, narrative-focussed game, we can’t help wishing the in-game visuals had more going on, just like the beloved Studio Ghibli movie.…

Ghost Giant As the titular presence, the dynamic between you and young Louis is not mechanically dissimilar to the one between the Reader and Quill in Moss. You push and pull scenery, peek inside the tiny houses in Sandcourt, and even teach Louis the value of friendship. Gnog Take hold of a world full of colourful dioramas – they’re the insides of monsters’ heads! Pick a gnoggin and dive into levels full of pleasing tactility. There are clicky sliders, switches to flick, and even trap doors to uncover here. Statik Coming from the studio behind Little Nightmares, the atmosphere here is very different to the warm, fuzzy tone of Moss. What is fuzzy here is your protagonist’s memory and the story behind why their hands are now trapped in a…

WHAT YOU DO IN: HORIZON: FB 18% Giddily lobbing yourself off a cliff so you can glide down with the Shieldwing. 12% Murdering wildlife in the name of deeper pockets. 7% Hoping Varl will grow out his beard again. 21% Taking a deep breath and appreciating some soggy sights underwater. 9% Wishing Aloy could kiss any of the NPCs – but especially Petra. THE DUALSENSE DIFFERENCE HAPTIC FEEDBACK Hearing and feeling the crackle of electrified ammo (for instance) is something we definitely miss playing the PS4 version. ADAPTIVE TRIGGERS As you concentrate on your target, every pluck of the bow has a satisfying weight. SECOND OPINION HUMBLE HUNTER Gorgeous to look at and smoother to play than Zero Dawn, it’s nevertheless still a little clunky, perhaps held…

INFO FORMAT PS5 PRICE £39.99 (or free upgrade from PS4) ETA Out now PUB CD Projekt Red DEV CD Projekt Red PLAYERS 1 LENGTH 40+ hrs ACCESSIBILITY Adjustable subtitles for dialogue and ambient noise; adjustable trigger effect; aim assist options; colourblind modes More than a year after a debut that has gone down in infamy, CD Projekt Red’s massive first-person RPG re-emerges with a native PS5 release. One question demands to be asked: is this finally the neon-soaked vision almost a decade of hype promised? Well no, but little could live up to that wildly unmanaged level of expectation. So, let’s rephrase the question: how does it run now? In two words: much better! Gone are the sudden crashes and the death rattle of our PS4’s fan, just for a…

I N FO ETA FORMAT Out now PS5 PUB (rev), Annapurna PS4 PRICE £15.99 Interactive DEV Beethoven & Dinosaur PLAYERS 1 When we first meet Francis Vendetti, he’s standing on a precipice, both literally and figuratively. Two sides wage war within him: the folk musician about to step into the shoes of his folk singer uncle versus the musician he truly wants to be, a psychedelic rocker ready to let loose. Just before his first concert, Francis gets whisked away to The Cosmic Lung, a party spaceship fuelled by the funky riffs of a certain Lightman. If Francis wants to return home, he needs to play three gigs across the galaxy and entertain alien music critics1 sufficiently for them to send him back in one piece. A side-scrolling adventure with…

INFO FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £59.99 ETA Out now PUB EA DEV Codemasters PLAYERS 1-22 LENGTH 4-6 hrs story, plus career, race creator, online ACCESSIBILITY Racing assists; customisable racing line visual on/partial/off; adjustable first-person field of view; adjustable camera shake elements Let’s get the motorised elephant in the room out of the way first: releasing this so close to the much-anticipated Gran Turismo 7 is a bold move. Grid’s graphics don’t have the photorealism Sony money can buy, and this isn’t nearly as comprehensive an experience for gearheads. Nonetheless it’s fun, it’s accessible, and it’s one of the best racers PlayStation has seen in years. Racing games often struggle to accommodate players of all skill levels, but Grid Legends does a pretty good job of it. Is nails-hard competition…

WHAT YOU DO IN: DYING LIGHT 2 11% Ooh, a new pair of trainers with +2% stamina bonus. Don’t mind if we do. 13% Not loving nights in the city as much as days; too stressful. 10% Climbing to the top of the tallest building to see what’s there. 41% Running, jumping, climbing about a vibrant open world. 21% Knocking the heads off zombies and bandits with bloody gusto. 4% Trying to forget one of the worst final boss fights since the PS1 era. FRIENDS & ENEMIES AITOR This Peacekeeper leader seems decent. Will you side with him? He’s happily married. SOPHIE Help her become leader of the Survivors and she may like you. Or don’t. Your choice. LAWAN A fellow freerunner with a ‘hit list’. Will…

INFO FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £32.99 ETA Out now PUB Square Enix DEV Deck Nine, Dontnod PLAYERS 1 LENGTH 24 hrs ACCESSIBILITY Subtitles; puzzle hints After a significant delay, Square Enix’s remaster of its time-travelling teenage drama is finally here. Life Is Strange Remastered Collection bundles up the 2015 episodic adventure Life Is Strange with its 2017 prequel Before The Storm, with promises of a major visual overhaul adding more character detail, motion-captured facial animations, and dramatic lighting upgrades to both games. It might sound as though Arcadia Bay is finally getting the glow-up it deserves, but Remastered Collection is far from a spruced-up remake. Before The Storm manages to avoid many of the problems but the original Life Is Strange has taken the brunt of the mess, and…

INFO  FORMAT PS4 PRICE £13.99 ETA Out now PUB Playism, Active Gaming Media DEV Cavyhouse PLAYERS 1 What do 300 pieces of lemongrass and four vials of kidney fluid have in common? Both are the kind of item you’re harvesting in quirky farming dungeon crawler The Sealed Ampoule. Budding alchemist Irene buys a dungeon on the cheap and gets more than she bargained for. Said dungeon is crawling with monsters, inhabited by a pair of creepy twins, and there’s been a murder.1 Dealing with all of the above becomes part of Irene’s objective, but primarily she’s here to grow and harvest those all-important alchemic ingredients, like commonplace garden herbs. It’s an interesting setup, with enough to keep your curiosity but not such a burning mystery that it makes the constant…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PRICE £49.99 ETA Out now PUB Koei Tecmo DEV Gust PLAYERS 1 LENGTH 25-30 hrs ACCESSIBILITY Subtitles; togglable motion blur; sprint toggle or hold; adjustable camera speed Stamped upon by a dragon, our RPG party is wiped out. We could grind to level up roguish bodyguards and cute magicians, but in the world of Atelier level ups only go so far. We need better equipment and stronger items, and the only way to get those is to roll up our sleeves and make them. This direct sequel to the 2015 game returns to the story of alchemist-in-training Sophie and her ancient master Plachta (whose soul is bound into a doll’s body). Spirited away by the Dream Goddess, they enter a liminal world where people from across time…

WHAT YOU DO IN: SIFU LOVING/ HATING WATCH CLOSELY Great visual direction is matched by excellent sound direction, whipping up scenes that are wonderful simply to be within. LOW BLOW Low attacks are infrequent enough that it’s hard to practise dodging them. Try to remember when bosses will go for them. THE DUALSENSE DIFFERENCE DUALSENSE SPEAKER Plenty of thunks come through the DualSense by default, creating a compelling and immersive 3D-style soundscape. HAPTIC FEEDBACK You can feel droplets of rain via the controller throughout the moody opening (though it’s not really used elsewhere). HOW TO… PLAY DETECTIVE Hidden collectibles nudge you towards the action you need to take for the true ending, with the core ones requiring going back and forth between levels. To access a…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PRICE £15.99 ETA Out now PUB Dotemu DEV Dotemu OFFLINE REVIEW #11, 7/10 PLAYERS 2 CROSSPLAY No While it’s a pretty short-lived, weak experience offline, this game flexes its digital muscles online. There’s a total player count available – we never see it go higher than 20, but so what? That’s enough to find one person to play against! Ranked or unranked, the experience hinges entirely on the skill of your opponent. If it’s somebody who doesn’t know what they’re doing, wins feel almost unfair. Find a competent Windjammer, though, and you’re in for a tense, twitch-reaction-driven battle. It’s still not something to play for hours, but great for bursts of adrenaline when you find the right opponent.…

01 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 PSVR, but in the virtual space it really becomes next level, transforming one of the tightest puzzle games ever made into an emotional ride. 02 Hitman 3 Every mission in the World Of Assassination trilogy can be played in PSVR via the latest entry in the series. That’s a lot of murderous action. It all plays brilliantly too, with the act of puzzling through hits as Agent 47 perfectly suited to virtual reality. One of PSVR’s best. 03 The…

At one point, Castlevania was just a platformer about whipping monsters. Enter Koji Igarashi. 1997’s Symphony Of The Night didn’t just look and play beautifully, it started the ‘metroidvania’ genre, and founded a universe that’d last through to Netflix’s anime. It came at a time when PS1 was hitting its stride, with formative works in many series being released. “PlayStation back in the day felt like it was required mandatory ownership of Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid and/or Symphony Of The Night,” notes @1Nogarda, then adds: “This also reminded me to sort out my coffin as apparently I’m going to need one soon enough.” Don’t forget to keep some soil handy. Sticking to 2D in the early 3D era was a brave choice, but it paid off, the high-detail…

“Foes are shrouded in a protective barrier of darkness, which you need to burn through with your flashlight.” FORMAT PS5, PS4 / RELEASED 2021 / PUB EPIC GAMES INC DEV REMEDY ENTERTAINMENT / GET IT NOW PLAYSTATION STORE, £24.99 We know what you’re thinking: ‘Last year is neither ‘retro’ nor ‘classic!’’ That’s true, but this story is a winding tale that begins on a completely different platform, and last year’s PlayStation remaster is far from the end. So, now you’re thinking, ‘Wow! Sounds twisty!’ It is. And now you’re thinking, ‘Wait, how do you know what I’m thinking?’ Well, that’s simple – we know because we wrote it down. In case you’re not familiar, here’s what it would say on the dust jacket: Alan Wake is a successful crime author,…

Your journey begins in silence and darkness. The first light comes from a hovering tetromino, and the first sound as you spin and then drop it with an echoing boom. As you mesh more shapes into a wall to clear a few lines, fluorescent blue particles rain down and the tick of a hi-hat binds your moves to a rhythm. You reach 12 lines with a Tetris. Particles spray like celebratory fireworks, then coagulate to form luminescent manta rays as a bass drum starts to thump. A softly assertive song rings out. “Every passing day the wind’s might blows stronger.” More lines. Mantas soar across the screen. You work to reclaim a few gaps and that’s 24. A blue whale emerges from the explosions of light. “It’s all connected.” Boom,…