Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2018 i Gamesmaster

Everyone knows the classic Jurassic Park quote, “Life finds a way” – but few remember the full line, “Life finds a way out of its cage and starts eating the visitors.” Thought-provoking stuff. Jurassic World Evolution very much embodies that spirit of dinosaur-driven chaos, proving especially disaster-filled when we play it for some reason. I knew that if we didn’t give it the cover feature treatment it deserves, and seize the excuse to put a ruddy great T. rex on the front cover, my inner child would never forgive me. And also that the developer would release a raptor into our office, as those blood-splattered letters have been threatening for months. Read on for our massive preview, including a chat with the team and even a look back on Jurassic…

The Witcher 3 DLCs arguably are better than most other games just on their own! Garalar, @GaryBlower God Of War is the best game of this generation. John Mitchell, Facebook I have so many games that I haven’t played yet, but still think I don’t buy enough. James Champion, Facebook I love Nintendo, and hope Labo does well, but I have no interest. Get back to work on holograms. That, I’ll buy day one! Matt Butler, Facebook I’ve never grown so attached to a videogame character as I did to my squad members in XCOM. Joe Harris, Facebook Chaos for the ZX Spectrum is the best strategy game ever. How many others let you murder someone with an imaginary dragon or use a magical fungus to doom everyone on the…

It’s clunky in places but Desolate has plenty to offer if you fancy a survival challenge with scares along the way. True, some of them – such as The Girl – are cheap shots but still very effective. Aside from her, the feeling is of gnawing fear. Supplies are sparse, enemies are dangerous, and death can cost you everything if you can’t recover your gear fast enough. This is not to be played casually, especially given the lack of pause from the online side of things. Currently it’s rough in a few places but rewarding, if slightly wobbly, combat and objective markers won’t put you off. If it they do however, then watch for future updates because this definitely one to have on your list.…

“AS GOOD AS GOD OF WAR IS, THAT TEMPLATE IS STARTING TO FEEL A LITTLE FAMILIAR” You’re probably aware by now that God Of War’s story takes place within a single, continuous shot. The camera never cuts away: it mostly stays close to Kratos’s right shoulder, occasionally gliding around to take in different perspectives, but it won’t ever jump to a different position. It commits to this idea fully, echoing the cinematic feats of Alexander Sokurov’s Russian Ark and Sebastian Schipper’s dazzling thriller Victoria. Only when the player dips into menus to fast-travel and equip new gear is the spell broken. In truth, it’s the kind of thing you might not notice if you weren’t already aware of it – most third-person games have long periods where the camera is…

Eastside East coast life is all about 90-degree turns through downtown racing circuits, drizzle, and a drive out to the Hamptons when urban greyness gets you down. Boat rides round Lady Liberty recommended. Westside Out west there’s the Golden Gate bridge to tick off the bucket list, the Mario Kart-level weirdness of Vegas and its faux landmarks, LA’s sprawl, and Seattle’s surrounding forests to explore off-road. Southside Head south and you’ll find Florida waiting for you, particularly receptive to boat adventures around Miami and, just further west, journeys up the Great River Road all the way up to Detroit. Countryside Get off the beaten track and The Crew 2 becomes a different game, full of rolling hills to be explored by buggy or dirt bike. We recommend the northern Oregon…

Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Funcom Developer The Bearded Ladies ETA Winter There’s no shortage of games set after armageddon, but we defy you to think of any that feature a humanoid talking duck. Not just a duck either; Mutant Year Zero: Road To Eden, besides having a pretty awkward title, is home to many other anthropomorphic creatures and mutated people, evolved to better survive the wasteland they inhabit. They’re Stalkers, mutants sent out from a last remaining refuge for humans into the world beyond to search for supplies to sustain the community. A dangerous line of work. Dev The Bearded Ladies invited us to have a closer look, and the team of mutants we’re shown are suitably grumpy about their lot. That colourful cast serve as the soldiers for…

Format XO, PC Publisher Capybara Games Developer Capybara Games ETA Winter Long development periods can often spell trouble for games. Many titles come out the other end a shadow of what was promised. Below has been in the making for five years – that’s a lengthy project for any studio but truly a gigantic task for a small one such as Capybara Games. In the case of the mysterious Below, though, time doesn’t seem to have tarnished it at all. If anything, from our time with it, it’s made the game all the better. It’s an action-RPG with survival and roguelike elements. You must collect resources to feed your adventurer as you navigate randomly generated areas, and your progress is dependent on your survival, with permadeath an ever-present threat. ‘Harsh…

Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Frogwares Developer Frogwares ETA Winter For a dude who wrote mostly about how hopeless everything is, Lovecraft has sure achieved some success, eh? Videogames of late, especially, have fallen for the horror writer’s fiction, with his ideas and tentacled beasts making their way into everything from The Elder Scrolls to Bloodborne. Now The Sinking City wants to dip its toes into those monster-infested waters. It’s an open-world detective game set in the 1920s, in the city of Oakmont, New England, which was flooded many years previously. That flood brought with it many strange things, yet the inhabitants don’t seem bothered at all by the appearance of monoliths or sea monsters. Cthulhu in the shed? This lot have got jobs to do mate. Speaking of which,…

Format PS4 Pub Sony Dev Insomniac Games ETA 7 September You’re excited for this game, aren’t you? It’s okay, don’t be shy; we all are. More details of Arachnid-Chap’s new adventure are slowly but surely creeping out, including the fact that he is to be played by Yuri Lowenthal (the voice actor who’s also played, among countless others, Prince Of Persia in Sands Of Time, Alucard in Castlevania, and Sasuke in the Naruto anime). And we’ve seen a nice chunk of gameplay too. Have you seen Infinity War at the talkies yet? If so, you’ve seen Spider-Man in a particularly natty high-tech suit. Pre-ordering the game nabs you a pack of three for his PS4 incarnation to wear, including that one, meaning it should be available to everybody eventually. More…

Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Another Indie Developer Dark Star ETA Autumn There’s no shortage of Dark Souls clones out there but while most go bigger, Sinner aims to be more compact. This takes the brutal combat and twisted creatures of those games but uses them for an elaborate boss rush. In a dark grey world you must use shrines to activate battles with various foes, each one a tough-as-nails encounter that would feel right at home in any of From Software’s works. The twist is that the fights can be tackled in any order but with each fight you’ll get weaker, with less health and stamina. Yes, in contrast to almost every RPG ever you’re strongest at the beginning of the game and each victory is only going to diminish…

Battle royale gaming might still be in its infancy, but the well already runs deep. Outside the big three, Boss Key recently launched gaudy, ’80s-themed Radical Heights in ‘extreme Early Access’ – aka it has ‘lots of placeholder objects everywhere’. Surviv.io conveys all the tension and drama as a 2D top-down shooter, while SOS gives Twitch viewers something to do: vote on the items players come across – weapons or health packs if they like you, bombs if they don’t. The Darwin Project, currently in early access on PC and Xbox One, lets players track each other via footprints in the snow, telltale fires in the distance, and clues left after crafting items. Paladins and Dying Light are both getting in on the action with their spin on battles royale,…

HYPER LIGHT DRIFTER Heart Machine’s blistering debut is punctuated by intense, precise bursts of combat, but for the most part the eponymous drifter is left alone as he probes the mysteries of a diseased world. This is comfortably one of the most distinctive indie games of recent years. AXIOM VERGE Five years in the making, this retro-styled adventure from lone developer Thomas Happ may be indebted to Metroid, but it has ideas that are all its own. An arsenal of weapons helps you deal with the world’s threats, while the best have wider applications, factoring into your exploration in creative ways. STARBOUND Terraria in space, basically, and that’s no bad thing. In truth, this sandbox exploration and settlement-building adventure has a greater sense of purpose than its earthly counterpart, with…

“AFTER EXHAUSTING ANCIENT GREECE, KRATOS TURNS TO NORSE MYTHOLOGY TO RE-ENERGISE THE SERIES” Format PS4 Publisher Sony Developer Sony Out Out now Players 1 Sony Santa Monica Studio has done what many thought impossible: it’s made Kratos likeable. Back in his PS2 and PS3 days, the surly Spartan was perhaps the most unpleasant, hate-filled character to ever appear on PlayStation. But now? Amazingly, he’s a caring father who’s capable of showcasing nuanced emotion. In transforming Kratos from dirtbag deity to doting dad, the studio has pulled off a Herculean feat. Not that the big H turns up in this captivating, killer reboot, you understand… mainly because our brassed-off pal punched his face to bits in God Of War III. Naughty Kratos. After exhausting (and garrotting) Ancient Greece, Santa Monica Studio…

In the campaign, you’ll find some contracts on the planet you’re currently orbiting, but others will take weeks to travel to. In that time, you won’t earn any money, so its often best to exhaust all the local contracts before you look for employment further afield. If you want, you can also just plot your own course and fly to whatever planet takes your fancy, hoping there’ll be work for you when you get there. Check each world’s difficulty ratings before setting out, though: going for the easy ones is a good way to build up some cash early in the story.…

As in real life, broken promises will anger people. Promise to do something and you’ve got a limited time in which to succeed – commitments entered into rashly, be it in the heat of idealism or because of a misunderstanding of the game’s systems, will be punished upon failure by a rise in the Discontent bar and possibly riots among the population. Learning to manage expectations, to under-promise and over-deliver, is the key to maintaining a happy and hopeful city. It’s an excellent representation of the way leaders are expected to deliver on what they say, and unlike in the real world the voters never forget.…

1 FROSTPUNK PC Keeping a colony of desperate survivors alive in a frozen post-apocalyptic wasteland has proved to be disappointingly easy compared to managing a games magazine. Robin Valentine, editor 2 SUPER MARIO ODYSSEY SWITCH Six months and 500 moons later, I’m still chipping away at Nintendo’s seemingly endless platformer. The more I play, the more I’m convinced it’s the best game on Switch. Robin Valentine, editor 3 MONSTER HUNTER WORLD PS4 Still hunting – Capcom has been adding new monsters and events. Maybe this really will be the game that keeps me playing forever. Sam Greer, staff writer 4 FAR CRY 5 PC I’m enraptured by the map editor, Far Cry Arcade. It has a ludicrous number of options, including assets from AC Unity and Watch Dogs. Sam Greer,…

“WE ENDED UP WITH ONE OF THE BEST COMBO-BASED MULTIPLAYER GAMES ANYBODY HAS EVER SEEN” Developer Neversoft Publisher Activision Released 2001 Format PC, GameCube, GBA, PS2, N64, PS1 Get it From the likes of eBay or Amazon It might have risked being lost in the mix; one of the middle releases in the early run of Tony Hawk’s titles, bridging a generation and without a soundtrack quiteas good as those of the two games preceding it. And yet Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 has gone down in history as the best in the series for many a purist. The origin The birth of the Birdman’s third licensed game couldn’t have been more banal: there had been two previous titles with Tony Hawk’s name attached (and so…

Not sure which games to grab? Trust the experts (that’s us) to shine a light of clarity through your fog of confusion. Over this spread you’ll find GamesMaster’s 100 per cent scientifically accurate and indisputable list of the greatest games on modern machines – updated monthly – as well as the top five most vital exclusives on each of the major platforms. Pick one of these up and, buddy, you’re going to have yourself a good time. 1 THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD Switch / Wii U Nintendo casually revolutionises the open-world genre with perhaps the best launch title ever. Explore, fight, and cook your way across Hyrule. 2 GRAND THEFT AUTO V PS4 / XO / PC / PS3 / 360 Rockstar’s most detailed, immersive cityscape…

1 FORZA MOTORSPORT 7 2 HALO 5: GUARDIANS 3 KALIMBA 4 QUANTUM BREAK 5 GEARS OF WAR 4 1 THE LAST OF US REMASTERED 2 SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS 3 HORIZON: ZERO DAWN 4 UNCHARTED 4: A THIEF’S END 5 HELLBLADE 1 THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD 2 SUPER MARIO ODYSSEY 3 MARIO KART 8 DELUXE 4 MARIO + RABBIDS KINGDOM BATTLE 5 ARMS 1 DOTA 2 2 TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER II 3 GUILD WARS 2 4 THE SIMS 4 5 CRUSADER KINGS 2 1 POKÉMON SUN AND MOON 2 FIRE EMBLEM FATES 3 ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW LEAF 4 MONSTER HUNTER GENERATIONS 5 THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: A LINK BETWEEN WORLDS 1 HEARTHSTONE 2 DEVICE 6 3 80 DAYS 4 SORCERY 4 5 MONUMENT VALLEY…

EYES OF A KILLER You’ve got to have a T. rex part. We grabbed the best bit – those shiny peepers. SOLID CHOMPERS Forget sharp teeth, this beastie’s got a bite like a table vice. Watch yourself. HEADFISTS Who needs rubbish little hands? These bronto heads are great for both battle and grazing. DEFENSIVE CREST Intimidating yet practical, this spiny ridge ensures a safe noggin. LOOKOUT TAIL No raptor’s ambushing our girl – she’s alert to danger from any direction. RACING STRIPE This natty look keeps her at the cutting edge of dinosaur fashion.…

“STEAM ALONE RELEASED OVER 7,000 GAMES THROUGHOUT 2017” Not to sound like too much of a killjoy, but ‘a good problem to have’ is still inherently a problem. Such is the issue we find ourselves facing whenever we turn our eye to the big companies’ digital distribution services. More games than ever before continue to be published on a weekly basis across PSN, the Switch eShop, and Xbox Live, yet what good is such an influx of things to play when the titles themselves are given so little room to breathe? Steam alone released over 7,000 games throughout 2017 – that’s almost as many as were released between 2005 and 2015 in total! There are exceptions, of course. Some indies, such as Celeste, strike lucky, finding success thanks to widespread…

ROBIN’S PICK Shadow Of The Tomb Raider The rebooted trilogy is yet to wow me when it comes to story or characters, but I love exploring its wilderness environments. Rise in particular struck a sweet spot for me between cinematic action and grounded survival, and I’m hoping Shadow can do the same. And with its vibrant jungle and Mayan ruins, it feels like the most ‘classic’ setting yet, harkening back pleasingly to the original games. Hey, maybe it’ll even have a T. rex! PS4, XO, PC – 14 September SAM’S PICK Below Ever since my hands-on I’ve been dying to return to that mysterious island, to explore further and figure out just what it’s all about. I’ve been excited about this one for a while but expectations have been exceeded…

SCROLLS BACK The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind is one of a number of Xbox games now playable on Xbox One thanks to the latest update to the console’s backwards compatibility. If you’ve still got the original disc, or buy the digital version of the game from the online store, you can enjoy the RPG classic. MX Unleashed and Destroy All Humans! are among the other Xbox titles coming to the current console. WOLFENSWITCH Bethesda’s Wolfenstein II will be launching on Switch on 29 June – and Nintendo’s colourful portable is getting the full, uncensored version, not some trimmed-back or softened edition, so you’ll be able to punch Nazis and defeat Hitler on your daily commute. HAPPY CAMPO Valve’s added some new development talent to its hallowed halls, with the acquisition…

We’re very kind here at GamesMaster, so went out of our way to get some top tips for you straight from Brookes. This way you can be prepared ahead of Evolution’s release, and have an idea in your head of how you want to play: “You could build an all-scientific island and advance genetic research with your experiments,” he tells us, “or you could build a Jurassic World for tourists, or you could build a military-style security research facility. “Remember that in Jurassic World, Isla Nublar is a tourist destination, scientific research facility, and security outpost all at the same time: it pays to do a little of everything. We like games where choices have meaning and consequences, and where following one route might make other paths harder.” Brookes recommends…

Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Square Enix Developer Eidos Montreal ETA 14 September It’s testament to how influential Star Wars is that the second one used to be the ‘dark’ one, and the third one had the teddy bears in. In 2018, though, darkness reigns. You’re not a hero unless you have a bag of issues. Batman sears his symbol into people’s flesh. Superman is responsible for genocide. And Lara Croft? She’s so vain, she probably thinks this preview is about her. (It is.) To give credit where it’s due, the game she’s in looks amazing. In our hands-on with Shadow Of The Tomb Raider, Eidos Montreal’s final instalment in Lara’s origin story, it’s essentially a greatest hits package of the two preceding games. If you’re a newcomer it holds…

Format PC Publisher Failbetter Games Developer Failbetter Games ETA September Delayed after layoffs at Failbetter Games, Sunless Skies continues to add new content through Steam Early Access, the most recent update bringing a second region to explore: Albion. Your flying steam locomotive – sure to raise some eyebrows among train spotters – is the least strange thing to be found in these skies. Imagine someone had tried to draw the British Empire at its height, but taken the term ‘exploded diagram’ too literally, and you’ve got Albion. You’re certain to run into a famous Westminster clock floating about in Sunless Skies’ weird gravity-free world, but it’s the unfamiliar and the unknown that carve the heart of this narrative/ survival RPG. Sunless Skies, like Sunless Seas before it, is a game…

Format Switch, PS4, XO, PC Developer Inertia Game Studios Publisher Inertia Game Studios ETA Autumn Overcooked in space. FTL with multiplayer. Summing up a game in elevator pitches can easily be condemning, but in Catastronauts’ case it perfectly encapsulates how simple the concept is to understand and just what ingredients it brings together. More importantly, if either of those premises don’t sound enjoyable as heck then we can’t help you. Catastronauts is a four-player co-operative title in which players must work together to keep their ship in one piece as it does battle with an enemy vessel. There are fires to put out, repairs to be done, and someone needs to arm the cannons! Phew. It’s a lot, and there aren’t always enough tools for the job. Then there are…

Format PC Publisher Nolla Games Developer Nolla Games ETA Autumn Five minutes into our time with Noita, three things become abundantly clear. One: the game’s lighting and pixel art style is gorgeous. Two: controls are snappy and responsive. And three: everything – and we mean everything– wants you dead; even your own weapons will do you in if you aren’t careful. This magical action-roguelite comes from the creators of Crayon Physics Deluxe and The Swapper, but here ditches colourful puzzles and cloning devices for a set of magic wands and a barrage of brutality, courtesy of the many nasties lurking around the shadowy, procedurally generated environments. Speaking of environments, every pixel in them will react to what you do. This allows each dank area you traverse…

Format PS4, XO, PC Pub Starbreeze/505 Games Dev Overkill ETA Winter It was starting to look like the secrecy would last as long as Robert Kirkman’s comic series, but Overkill has finally started to spill its guts. We knew it was being designed as a co-op FPS for up to four people. What’s perhaps surprising is the importance placed on story, which is set to be central to the experience. Speaking to our GamesRadar cousins, Overkill repeats the questions “What did the government do? What happened to the military?” hinting that its game will explore these issues.…

Format Switch, PS4, XO, PC Pub Warner Bros Dev Traveller’s Tales ETA 13 July This latest blocky adventure will let you play through the events of both the original film and the new sequel, with all the brick-stacking, character-switching, and puzzle-solving you’d expect. And when you’re not making your way through the story, you’ll be free to explore the open world city and battle with supervillains for control of each district, as well as customise your character’s appearance and powers to your liking. Next issue we’ll have a full hands-on and interviews with the team –don’t miss it!…

Let’s start by stating the obvious: the name of the genre and many of its conventions date back to the 2000 movie Battle Royale, in which Japanese students endure a terrible school trip involving being made to hunt and kill each other on a remote and inescapable island. From this the location, the diminishing safe zone, and the concept of weapon foraging were inherited by the genre. See also: The Hunger Games. AntVenom and SkyDoesMinecraft began running Minecraft servers based on the above movies in 2012, while at the same time modders were trying something similar with Arma 2 mod DayZ. One of those modders, Brendan ‘PlayerUnknown’ Greene developed a particularly popular mod called Battle Royale. He adapted it for Arma 3, then worked as a consultant on H1Z1 before…

“Planet Alpha is an adventure that takes place in a living, alien world where you have the ability to control day and night. It combines fast platforming, challenging puzzles, and stealth moments with a unique art style to create an unforgettable experience. We’re trying to mix different genres and gameplay mechanics into something unique. People that play the game are saying that it’s like nothing they’ve played before – especially when it comes to other platformers. The game doesn’t just stand out just stylistically, and it’s not just about the day/night system which is our poster-child mechanic. It goes deeper than that into the atmosphere and the way we tell a story, and the feeling you get from switching between different mechanics – you’ll go from puzzles to stealth to…

0-39 Awful Avoid it as you would a bullet with your name on. 40-59 Poor Major issues here that won’t be solved with a hug. 60-69 Decent A mixed bag filled with sweets and sharp stones. 70-79 Good Some flaws, but still a very enjoyable experience. 80-89 Excellent Buy it, love it, thank us when you’re done. 90-100 Outstanding A rare and essential piece of brilliance. The small print: We rate games in comparison to what else is available on the same system, in the same genre, and for the same format at the time of release. So this year’s FIFA might score less than a FIFA from three years ago, but still be a better game. Because time, and our expectations, move on. Hey, you’re smart, you get it……

1 Skeleton Warriors (PS1, Saturn – 1995) Neversoft’s first game was based on the short-lived (and excellent) cartoon series of the same name. Sadly it was a forgettable side-scrolling slasher, notable for little else beyond the license – and the fact bats would explode when hit with your sword. Fortunately this wasn’t the beginning of a trend for the studio, and better things were soon to come. 2 Apocalypse (PS1 – 1998) Those better things, though, didn’t arrive in the shape of Apocalypse – the game not based on any movie, but for some reason featuring the digitised mug of one Bruce Willis nonetheless. Not even a bunch of quips from the guy we all know as John McClane could save this utterly mediocre shooter from deserved oblivion.…

SPIDER-MAN Format PS4 ETA 7 September For the first time in months, Red Dead has been punted off the top spot! Congrats to our boy in red and blue – now officially cooler than the Wild West. RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 Format PS4, XO ETA 26 October GTA V was recently revealed to be the most profitable entertainment product of all time by MarketWatch – we wouldn’t be surprised if RDR2 does even better. DETROIT: BECOME HUMAN Format PS4 ETA 25 May Last month’s demo seems to have gotten plenty of GM readers on side. We’re planning to include our full review in next issue, on sale 14 June. DREAMS Format PS4 ETA Winter As it stands, we can’t decide if we’re excited or terrified by the prospect of finding…

1m+ Co-op adventure A Way Out has sold over one million copies, despite mixed reviews – that’s twice as many as EA expected to shift. £660k Three Korean games companies were fined this much combined for deceptive loot box practices. 9 Less than a year after release, this was the peak number of players for LawBreakers in April – not even enough for one match. £75 The price of the new top-tier Leaf Ticket bundle in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. Tom Nook must be rakingit in.…

18/05 DEAD GOOD State Of Decay 2 trudges on to Xbox One and PC today, with an army of zombies in tow. 25/05 (BON)FIRESTARTER Wakey wakey undead! It’s time to die all over again in Dark Souls Remastered, out today. 25/05 FREEDOM OF CHOICE Get ready to join the android uprising, as Detroit: Become Human hits shops. 05/06 SUMMER’S SET Take a load off in the Elvish isles – The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset is out on console. 12/06 CINCO DE DINO Jurassic World Evolution opens the park doors on PC, PS4, and Xbox One today. 12/06 HYPE O’CLOCK E3 is back! Clear your schedules and get ready for all the reveals coming out of LA. 29/05 BLAST OFF! Helmets on, engines started, and blasters at the ready – Everspace…

2003-05 Rollercoaster Tycoon (PC, Xbox) An Xbox port, expansion packs, then the third game all to itself – Frontier worked its way up the series. 2006-07 Thrillville (PC, 360, Xbox, PS2) A misstep maybe, but the decent Thrillville gave Frontier more valuable console experience. 2010 Kinectimals (360) Kinect’s fuzziest game laid the foundations for animal animations we see in JWE… 2011 Kinect: Disneyland Adventures (360) …while Disneyland provided Frontier with experience of working with a gigantic license. 2013 Zoo Tycoon (XO, 360) Many were focused on Elite Dangerous, but Frontier didn’t forget about its park aspirations. 2015 Screamride (XO, 360) A diamond in the rough from Xbox One’s early days, Screamride’s coaster-puzzles were brilliant fun. 2016 Planet Coaster (PC) Frontier’s latest park builder, and the one that has most in…

Format PS4, PC Publisher Double Fine Developer Foam Sword ETA Summer No object harks back to childhood like a bicycle. For a kid, riding one opens up the freedom to go on all sorts of adventures, which is precisely the spirit Foam Sword’s game embodies. You play as best friends Nessa and Demelza (a real friend can drop in to control the latter), seeking adventure in their Cornish island hometown Penfurzy. Though the wonderful art style portrays this through a child’s eye, there are hints at something darker underneath, especially when we play a segment set in a scrapyard, traversing a dilapidated landscape, while abandoned mines float on the water, liable to explode at the slightest touch. The first puzzle finds our path blocked by a fence that we can…

Format PC Publisher Devolver Digital Developer Sectordub ETA Winter At first glance, this surreal title is just another minimalist platformer, populated with bouncing, colourful shapes. But look below the surface and you’ll find there’s far more to Pikuniku. It’s a game of countless bizarre layers, like some sort of mutant onion. You (and a friend if you choose) play as a small red blob named The Beast, who awakes in a cave and is guided to the outside world by a friendly ghost. There the local folk are surprised at how decidedly not monstrous The Beast is and exploit you… er, that is, enlist you in cleaning up their mess. It’s a humble start but don’t let the cutesy visuals trick you, because from there things slowly grow into a…

Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Tate Multimedia Developer Tate Multimedia ETA Autumn While a developer’s natural instinct when conceiving a game about bikers who take on a horde of dangerous robots in an alternate 1940s America might be to make it a fully 3D racing title or similar, Tate Multimedia instead opted to create a side-scroller. An odd choice? Perhaps. But it’s one that absolutely pays off in spades. Steel Rats promises high-speed action, but to start with you’ll be pretty slow as you stop and start, trying to master the controls. Thankfully it isn’t a punishing game, and even when you start you’ll be able to get through levels, you’ll just do it at a crawl. The controls are odd but they certainly make sense. Though it’s a side-scroller…

Format Switch, PS4, XO, PC Pub Studio Evil Dev Studio Evil ETA Summer From the mind of Italian animator Sio (of ‘Learn To Count With John The Toilet’ fame. No?) comes an RPG where… well, nothing makes sense. Steeped in his random style of humour, how much you get out of Super Cane Magic Zero will depend on how funny you find, for example, the phrase ‘bacon explosion’. It misses more than it hits for us, though the action is agreeably chaotic, especially in co-op, with the fun twist that you can pick up and either throw or eat almost any object.…

Format PC Pub Humble Bundle Dev ZA/UM ETA Winter Otherwise known as The Game Formerly Known As No Truce With The Furies. Or ‘squiggle’. Maybe. Anyway, what we have here is a police story with a real difference. For one thing, exactly what kind of cop you are, we’re promised, really is your decision. Through a combination of character building and decision making, just how effective, brave, focussed, and/or randy the character will be up to you. A police RPG with a huge number of ways to approach and solve the case? Sounds worthy of investigation to us.…

Format PC Developer Jump Over The Age ETA Feb 2020 Web bit.ly/gm_otherwaters Game ideas can come at the unlikeliest of times. For Gareth Damian Martin, inspiration struck during a long holiday, while he was swimming in the Aegean Sea. It was the summer before his 30th birthday, and as the clear Grecian waters washed over him, Martin vowed to make a game as a present to himself. But In Other Waters is not that game. “I worked on a game called Salt that I built in Twine, which was about swimming and thinking,” Martin tells us. “You have to keep pressing the spacebar to keep swimming to keep the narrative going – if you stop pressing it and let the stamina bar decrease, then you surface.” While making Salt, Martin…

Atreus eventually proves to be an invaluable ally during combat. Once you upgrade his bow, Kratos Jr will happily arrow and distract enemies with deadly precision. Certain witch-like baddies are only vulnerable after Atreus has tenderised them with a few well-aimed skewers, so it’s always valuable to keep the pint-sized monster basher around. A word of warning, though: there’s a good two-hour period late in the game where he gets super-annoying. Prepare to grin and bear it, God Of War fans. After all, not every character can be Chris Judge-likeable.…

Your generals and governors can be an unruly, ungrateful lot, and they get fractious if they feel they’re being treated unfairly. The following entries, in order of desperation, are some easy ways of ensuring they don’t try anything too rebellious. 1 Finding the right wife for a noble can help calm them down. Of course, the wrong wife will do the opposite. 2 You can pay to secure loyalty, but remember nobles who can be bought command less respect. 3 Nobles love land. Share your estates as you expand – you can always steal them back later. 4 Torture is the quickest way to win an argument. Just don’t expect your victims to stay loyal forever. 5 Still disloyal? Try assassination, or an enforced death in battle. They look heroic;…

If the news that Middle-earth: Shadow Of War is removing its lootboxes has you interested to peek back in on it, we’ve got good news – there’s a whole new DLC adventure for it out now! The Desolation Of Mordor stars Baranor, loyal captain of Minis Ithil, as he battles his way through the deserts of eastern Mordor. As a lowly human, Baranor can’t come back from the dead or mind control orcs, but he makes up for it with an arsenal of canon-defying gadgets – including a Just Cause-esque grappling hook and parachute – and an army of Easterling mercenaries. Also hoping to draw players back in this month is Destiny 2, which has launched its Warmind expansion. New missions see you investigating the ruins of Clovis Bray, a…

CASH AND CARRY This £169.99 Destiny 2 Collector’s Edition is chock-full of goodies, including a snazzy Frontier Bag and a Frontier Kit with a solar panel USB charger, paracord, and solar blanket. Warning: regularly indulge in this kind of extravagance and your destiny is probably to part with an organ or two. WHEEL OF FORTUNE If you’d like to add a statue of JD Fenix riding a COG bike added to your hoard, look no further than the Gears Of War Ultimate Collector’s Edition. Priced at £199.99, this souped-up version also includes a frag grenade key chain, lithograph, steelbook, and season pass. WHADDAYA BUYIN’? If dropping less than £200 on a collector’s edition seems sheer lunacy, then the Resident Evil 6 Leather Jacket Edition might be more your style. This…