Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2023 i PLAY

We won’t force you to read this one, but we think you’re going to want to, as cover game Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (p42) looks set to make a current-gen splash on PS5 as soon as March. Add on PSVR2’s imminent launch, and we’re gearing up for PlayStation to really start blowing up 2023 even this early on. While Survivor hails from a franchise we love, we’re not being blinded by the light(saber) of brand loyalty. We sat down with director Stig Asmussen to catch up on events since talking Fallen Order in 2019, and he filled us in on the huge improvements being made to make use of PS5, from new lightsaber styles to team-ups, and what sounds like a thrilling story. PS5 games are evolving at a steady…

This might be Supergiant Games’ first-ever sequel, but then a gameplay loop like Hades’ isn’t something we want the studio to give up iterating on. Just like Zagreus’ journey in the first game, though, this isn’t a straight redo but a fresh way to battle through Greek myth. Where Zagreus had to fight the hordes led by his father in order to escape the underworld, this time his sister Melinoe must take on the Titan Of Time. Her mastery of magic will be one of the big changes, allowing you to infuse Night weapons with spells to power them up. As well as influencing the game’s mechanics, your witchy nature plays into the side of Greek mythology it explores. The mythological figures who will grant you boons to help out…

1 RESIDENT EVIL 5 Umbrella might as well ask all its boffins to take a psychological exam and only hire them if they fail badly enough. Albert Wesker sits at the head of the crowded Resi mad science table. Raised as part of a eugenics program, he has been off his rocker in the most complicated and brilliant ways every time he’s appeared in the series. 2 OUTLAST Talk about gonzo journalism! Miles Upshur is trying to unearth and document the unethical happenings at Mount Massive Asylum. Some truly intense dream therapy, nanomachines, and a lot of murder are involved. After picking through the wards he even gets to take a look at the underground lab. 3 KINGDOM HEARTS III There’s a lot of mad science going on in this…

FORMAT TBC / ETA 2024 PUB EXTREMELY OK GAMES DEV EXTREMELY OK GAMES PLAYERS 1 Despite being part of a crowded genre, Celeste has managed to become the poster child for twitchy, challenging platformers. Earthblade, from the same team, looks to do the same in the metroidvania genre. While there’s plenty of shared DNA, such as tricky jumps, small characters, and lush pixel art, Earthblade is something of a departure. Where Celeste was made up of bite-size stages, Earthblade’s lush environment is boundary-free, pushing you to explore. It’s Earth you’re poking around, but not as you know it. Hero Névoa is returning after a long time away, and putting together just what happened to the planet to create these strange, dangerous ruins is the thrust of the story.…

FORMAT PS5 / ETA TBC PUB PRIVATE DIVISION DEV PICCOLO / PLAYERS 1 Things did not go well on Earth, and it’s all humanity’s fault. Enter Gaia, sent by Mother, who’s come to the planet to explore the wastes humanity left behind, track down the final moments of the wonders of nature, and retrieve the souls worth saving from their mortal vessels (the last whale, for instance). While the remnants of a heavily-industrialised civilisation tower over Gaia, she’s not quite alone. Devourers, oil-loving machines, still run rampant, and she’ll need to dodge them and clear up their spills as she deftly platforms across girders and junkyards alike on the hunt for beauty. The studio previously made Arise: A Simple Story, so we’re confident that it can make a tearjerker worth…

L ooking for something to completely change the way you play? We’ve got just the thing you need: PSVR2. The tech in the box is impressive, but what’s really special about it is how it empowers developers to explore new ways to play, and take gaming to a new level. We’ve played around with the hardware and some of the games, and sat down to chat with the studios putting it into practice in their boundary-pushing projects. With the big launch almost upon us, we’ve collected all the reasons why you should be excited in one place. So flip over the pages and slip into the wonderful world of VR.…

INFO FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4PRICE £32.99ETA Out nowPUB CapcomDEV CapcomPLAYERS 1-4LENGTH 20+ hrsACCESSIBILITY Subtitles; motion control support for aiming and camera; defender weapons help reduce grind Five years ago, Monster Hunter: World finally brought Capcom’s long-running series kicking and roaring into the modern PlayStation age, and its newfound popularity showed other loot-driven multiplayer-based action RPGs how it’s done. That we haven’t had a brand-new followup since – this is a belated port of a Switch game – might be disappointing for some. However, we reckon this is the next monstrous evolution. It might not look it at first glance, though. Monster Hunter Rise lacks World’s photorealistic detail even though it’s made in the fantastically versatile RE Engine. Instead, it breaks new ground in terms of how you play, especially in…

INFO FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4PRICE £59.99 ETA Out nowPUB Bandai Namco Entertainment DEV ILCAPLAYERS 1LENGTH 35-40 hrsACCESSIBILITY Subtitles; sprint toggle/hold; no difficulty modes; camera control auto-compensation; map rotation toggle; trigger effect toggle Halfway between an original story and an adaptation, this JRPG based on the anime/manga attempts to please series fans and newcomers alike. It mostly succeeds, thanks to a strong connection to the source material, ensuring this is an RPG that feels distinct, even if the gum-gum adventure can be a bit, er, rubbery. To cut a (very) long story short in case you’re unfamiliar with One Piece: Monkey D Luffy leads an eclectic group of pirates named the Straw Hats (after his headwear) on a quest for the titular legendary treasure, which is hidden on the far side…

INFO FORMAT PS4PRICE £17.99 (or £32.99 with Persona 3 Portable)ETA Out nowPUB SegaDEV AtlusPLAYERS 1 Back in the day, this PS Vita version of the PS2 game was a must-play for owners of the handheld, though while this calendar-based dungeon crawler with social mechanics was perfect to take on the go, it still shines on the big screen. Unlike P3P across the page, this actually is the best version of the game (thanks to PS Vita’s superior hardware). You’ve transferred to a new school as you’ve relocated from the big city to enjoy a quiet life in rural Inaba. Quiet, that is, until you end up neck-deep in a murder mystery where victims disappear inside a TV before their bodies are dumped outside. Cue clearing multiple dungeons based on the…

01 Deathloop Endlessly stylish, we keep coming back to this time and time again. Trapped on a time-looping island, Colt must blast his way out by assassinating eight targets in one day, using special powers to get the upper hand, all while avoiding a (sometimes player-controlled) rival hunter, Julianna. With everything we love about Arkane’s games distilled into one hyper-slick experience, this is a must-play. 02 Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart A delightful return for the lombax/robo duo, using PS5’s power to allow seamless portal hopping and stunning vistas and DualSense to give the comically large arsenal real oomph. A real showpiece that feels marvellous in the hands, and makes the case for PS5 exclusives. 03 God Of War Ragnarök Mastercrafted to the point that would make Brok and Sindri…

UNDER £20 Far Cry 6 Yara Edition £17.99 approx. (PS4, base.com) Revolutionary value A colossal map packed with activities, the latest Far Cry is a formidable beast. The single-player campaign, which sees revolutionary Dani Rojas take down the oppressive Castillo regime, has been updated with new live-service content since launch, making this the perfect time to jump in. The Yara Edition is bundled with a code for the Croc Hunter Pack DLC, which includes a few powerful weapons and hunter-inspired cosmetics to give you a head start. Other retailers offer the PS5 edition at a similar price (without the DLC), but this PS4 copy includes a free PS5 upgrade. UNDER £15 Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 £12.99 approx. (PS5, game.co.uk) Two great puzzlers for the price of one A superb rendition…

Sony has never been interested in the cheap and cheerful angle. For the first time, I’m starting to feel slightly embarrassed of my gaming hobby. Not because I think it’s a waste of time – I don’t believe that’s any more or less true of videogames than it is of TV or books – but because, looking specifically at PS5, it’s something that has moved out of the reach of modest budgets. Sony has never been interested in the cheap and cheerful angle when it comes to its game consoles, but PS5 has rocketed along a very worrying trajectory. The global shortage of the console at launch instantly gave it a mystique soaked in FOMO and, while today it is finally significantly easier to find, its popularity has been exploited…

FORMAT PS5 / ETA 2023 PUB FOCUS ENTERTAINMENT DEV DON’T NOD / PLAYERS 1 “So, you’re a Banisher, eh?” the innkeeper asks our gruff, bearded protagonist before asking, “So, what, you track and kill ’em?” A quiet, melancholy whisper from our hero in response as his female companion fades away: “We banish them.” This almost painful sincerity tells you all you need to know about Don’t Nod’s latest, its lineage tracking back to choice-driven ARPG Vampyr rather than the Life Is Strange games. Banishers promises a charming level of melodrama, but its combat chops look slicker than the previous game’s fangier stop-start fare, our unnamed protagonist using a sword and flaming torch to fend off ghoulish foes alongside his departed, ethereal ally.…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 2023 PUB TYPE-MOON, KOEI TECMO DEV KOEI TECMO, OMEGA FORCE PLAYERS TBC While Fate fans continue to await an official localisation of the original and iconic visual novel Fate/Stay Night, this more action-packed spinoff should keep them busy. It’s set in feudal Japan, where our samurai protagonist avoids death at the hands of a hulking, armoured foe by summoning a Servant with a wickedly curved blade through force of will. As such, he ends up taking part in a new Holy Grail War – the Waxing Moon Ritual. It also appears you’ll face off against Miyamoto Musashi in either Servant or Master form. Omega Force is known for over-the-top combat, so expect the most thrilling Holy Grail War to date.…

We only review finished games, so in Viewpoint we go hands-on with near-final code of a game that just missed our review deadline. Exploring the first chapter of Scars Above’s campaign, Dashiell Wood touches down on a hostile planet. Protagonist interplanetary biologist Dr Kate Ward is a scientist, not a fighter. When a colossal alien structure suddenly appears in Earth’s orbit, it’s up to you as Kate, plus the rest of the Sentient Contact Assessment and Response team (that’s ‘SCAR’ for short) to get to the bottom of things. The mission is simple, but your expedition soon takes a sinister turn. After an introduction dominated by apocalyptic premonitions and creepy visions of a mysterious alien race, we wake alone on an unfamiliar planet surrounded by fragments of our ruined ship.…

‘‘Song In The Smoke launched at a weird time,” Jake Kazdal, CEO and creative director of developer 17-Bit, reflects as we discuss the game’s original October 2021 launch. “Sony support was great [in terms of] getting the title going, and funding things, and supporting us developing the game, but PSVR1 was losing steam. Sony wasn’t really focused on it, and PSVR2 had just been announced, so all the excitement was going on that. It was kind of a really unfortunate launch window for us.” Fortunately, the survival game won’t be lost to the mists. Song In The Smoke Rekindled is one of over 30 launch games coming to PSVR2 on 22 February. Thanks to the capabilities of the new hardware, Kazdal tells us, Rekindled is far more than a simple…

INFO FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £13.99ETA Out nowPUB The Arcade Crew DEV JoyMasherPLAYERS 1 Like a Twitter celeb turning on the platform’s new owner, the mechanical samurai hero of Joymasher’s new retro fling doesn’t sign up to put down the world’s citizens. Instead it goes on a rampage to rid the place of eight machine overlords. Don’t you just love retro game setups? Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is the new platform hack‘n’slash from the creator of the Contra-like Blazing Chrome, and proves simplicity is an art form. It recalls similar 16-bit games (mostly Revenge Of Shinobi) while sprinkling in modern ideas. Once you’ve sliced your way through the initial stage all other levels are open to dip in and out of at leisure. Each stage is themed – an underwater…

INFO FORMAT PS4 PRICE £17.99 (or £32.99 with Persona 4 Golden)ETA Out nowPUB Sega DEV Atlus PLAYERS 1 Despite the name, this long-awaited remaster of the Persona that started it all1 clearly isn’t portable. But keeping the name of this edition intact makes it clear that, in many ways, this version is more of a nice compromise than anything truly definitive. This version has no anime cutscenes (instead you get stills and visual novel descriptions), no walking around the map (you click on locations to investigate), and certainly not Persona 3 FES’ epilogue scenario. Conversely, P3P has bonuses FES doesn’t, like the option to play as a female protagonist2 and the option to control your party members. You can see, then, why P3P would perhaps be our choice if we…

Mixing elements from the metroidvania and soulslike sides of the action adventure genre, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order let us feel the Force. Whether you’re a fan of Cal Kestis or think he’s the blandest thing since blue milk, we’ve got three crowd-pleasing recommendations for you. PICK #1 The Surge 2 One hell of an upgrade Scrappier than Respawn’s stab at the soulslike formula, Deck13 Interactive’s 2017 effort isn’t without its own bright ideas. Combat sees you squaring off against mechanical monstrosities souped up by a nanotech apocalypse. Thinking on your feet means balancing blows and dodges, but also thinking up a list of parts to lop off. Dismembering enemies nets you upgrades, and is vital if you don’t want to end up strapped to someone else’s war machine. PICK…

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…

INFO MAIN GAMES Genshin Impact STATS Paimon happens to share the name of one of the demon kings who is said to be most loyal to Lucifer. One of Paimon’s nicknames is Emergency Food, an in-joke that’s become quite popular in the GI community. Paimon also hosts a daily quiz where knowledgeable players can win some mora. SPIN-OFFS N/A HOW TO PLAY? PS Store, free For all Genshin Impact’s open world charms, there are admittedly a few barriers to entry: your possible aversion to anime aesthetics and tropes; the concern its gacha mechanics might tempt you to open your wallet in order to pull its many alluring five-star characters; and a talkative sidekick you encounter the moment you first set foot in Teyvat. Paimon is a pint-sized fairy who accompanies…

FEAR’s slow motion allowed for some immensely satisfying shotgun kills. You can wield shotguns in the largely pacifistic Mirror’s Edge. Battle royale Apex Legends features not one but four different flavours of shotgun. TURN TO ASH The original chainsaw man Ash doesn’t have a chainsaw for a hand just because it looks cool. In the movie Evil Dead 2, he uses a shotgun to defend himself throughout… at one point from his own hand, which he cuts off after it becomes possessed. In an attempt to contain the rogue appendage, he traps it under a bucket, weighing it down with books. The book on top? A Farewell To Arms, naturally. THE ONLY THING MORE INTRINSIC TO EVIL DEAD’S ASH THAN HIS CHAINSAW IS HIS SHOTGUN. HAIL TO THE KING, BABY!…

MILFORD COPPOCK MANAGING ART EDITOR WITH AMAZON AT THE HELM, I’M ECSTATIC AT THE PROSPECT OF PLENTY OF MICROTRANSACTIONS.” Like Indiana Jones trying to evade being squished by a massive boulder, I‘m expecting that I’ll forever be trying to outrun Amazon’s relentless sales pitch henchmen of microtransactions and battle/season passes. In all seriousness though, I’m hoping for a return to large-scale puzzles, with less reliance on gunplay. The optional tombs in the last couple of games were great fun, so I’m hoping for more of those. And the location? I’d hazard a guess the game will be set in the AMAZON, because, well, of course it will. I’m hoping for a return to large-scale puzzles, with less reliance on gunplay. DASHIELL WOOD CONTRIBUTING WRITER I’M BEGGING FOR ANYTHING EXCEPT A…

No matter what you do, you accrue battle pass points. As gamers, we love to play systems. But even those of us who think we’re able to get one over on money-hungry games (good luck getting me to buy a single microtransaction in MultiVersus) have a wobble now and then. Considering how much enjoyment I’ve got out of Genshin Impact for free, what’s a pricy skin here and there, for example? At least with one-off purchases there’s a clear line, but it’s the monetised parts of a game that are impossible to not engage with on some level that can be the trickiest: battle passes. Blizzard, for example, shifted from a lootbox model for Overwatch to a battle pass one for its sequel. No matter what you do, as you…

FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA TBC / PUB GOOD SHEPHERD ENTERTAINMENT DEV UPSTREAM ARCADE / PLAYERS 1 Fans of the horned red lad breathe a sigh of relief – this new game looks to be doing right by the character. Creator Mike Mignola has been involved with the creation of this roguelite from the very start, helping to craft the storyline. He also created the game’s key art (pictured), with the visual direction staying faithful to his distinctive black-heavy aesthetic. Voiced by Lance Reddick, Hellboy must explore the Butterfly House on behalf of the BPRD. Due to the house’s shifting layout (great for a roguelite), cultist Pasquale Deneveaux has managed to use it open a doorway to the Wyrd. Combining melee and ranged combat, Hellboy will have to fight through…

FORMAT PS5 / ETA 2023 PUB 505 GAMES / DEV INGAME STUDIOS / PLAYERS 1-4 Michael Madsen, Chuck Norris, Danny Trejo, Vanilla Ice, Michael Rooker, Kim Basinger, Danny Glover, and Damion Poitier star in this crime-empire-building FPS. ’Nuff said? Perhaps – though don’t think Crime Boss is simply using all that star talent to distract us from any deficiencies. Playable either solo or with friends, you’ll be pulling off loot-grabbing heists, yes, but it promises not to lose sight of the individual characters who are participating in this violent struggle for power. Whether that’s your own gang, rivals vying for your turf, or the law, everyone in Rockay City has a story, and potentially something you can leverage. And with a roguelike campaign, it keeps pulling you back in.…

FORMAT PS5 / ETA LATE 2023 PUB AMAZON GAMES / DEV BANDAI NAMCO ONLINE / PLAYERS MULTI There’s nothing sedate about this anime-styled MMORPG. On a journey to save Regnas and uncover what’s causing its hopefully-evitable devastation, it promises to have you “become the hero of your very own anime adventure”. Cue in-depth character customisation, and the ability to choose from one of five classes. Whether you opt for the ranged bow of a Keen Strider or the honed steel of a Blade Warden, you’ll be taking part in fast-paced, real-time battles, able to choose your own loadout of skills and abilities. While playing with pals is the ideal, dungeons can be approached with skill-based matchmaking or even simply taken on solo.…

ACTION Make sure you’ve got some space, it’s time to cut loose HORIZON CALL OF THE MOUNTAIN Climbing to the top of the pile ETA 22 FEB / PUB SONY / DEV GUERRILLA GAMES / PLAYERS 1 Not making Aloy the playable character in Horizon’s first spin-off is a smart choice on the part of Guerrilla Games. The person you play here, disgraced Carja warrior Ryas, is much more of a blank slate, meaning when you fumble the action in this incredibly immersive PSVR2-headlining adventure, the mistakes feel like your own. You didn’t expect to be able to match up to Aloy, did you? Despite that, you’ll try to be as good as she is, which makes those moments of victory all the more satisfying. Where Aloy can clamber up…

INFO FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £32.99 ETA Out nowPUB WayForward DEV WayForward PLAYERS 1-4 Not much has changed for this street-fighting sequel, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s hard to go too far wrong when you’re building on the already-strong foundations of 2019’s excellent River City Girls. The sublime combo-driven arcade combat here is almost identical to that of its predecessor, challenging you to deliver beatdowns to wave after wave of yakuza grunts.1 Past highlights like intelligent boss design and beautiful pixel art also remain standouts this time around, while the consistently hilarious writing does a commendable job of carrying a plot that is as thin as ever. Perhaps the only notable gameplay addition comes in the form of a new companion system that allows you to…

Every month, loads of games come to the PS Store. You’d be hard-pressed to play them all, so we’re looking at some that didn’t make the cut for a full review. This month, we look at strange twists on standard relationships across love, deaths, and, er, neighbours. Thought the moustachioed Mr Peterson from the first game was creepy enough? Well, Hello Neighbor 2 brings him back and adds a whole cast of oddball neighbours to the town of Raven Brooks. It boasts advanced AI; all we can attest to is that playing as an investigative journalist hero trying to avoid the patrolling threats is a tough challenge. Stealth is a must if you want to avoid being hunted down, but you’ll need to poke around the homes of all the…

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…

January’s PS Plus games featured surviving against the odds. Leading the charge on PS5 and PS5 was a title that needs no introduction this issue, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Also on both consoles was Axiom Verge 2 and, only on PS4, Fallout 76 closed out the month. We’re spotlighting Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order in this month’s Play On column on p85, so we’re going to look at the other tricky metroidvania here, Axiom Verge 2. This followup goes big, offering two large maps that you explore more or less simultaneously. One centres crumbling ruins while the other, known as the Breach, features acid-toned science-fiction landscapes. Each plane has the typical traversal puzzles you’d expect from a metroidvania, but an interdimensional hop allows you to bypass blockades in one…