Innehållsförteckning för October 2024 från Edge

DEATHSPRINT 66 Developer Sumo Newcastle Publisher Secret Mode Format PC Origin UK Release TBA A multiplayer test run has us convinced that E395’s cover star has its titular fundamentals in order. Keep your head and you move at a fair old lick, your initial, self-propelled sprint soon juiced to improbable levels by passing over turbo pads and grindable rails. Yet until you’ve learned the foibles of each multistorey track – wall runs, mines, spiked pits and spinning blades – don’t be surprised if death soon catches up with you. Less clear at this stage is how running battles with opponents will gel with precision racing once our proficiency increases. Answers will have to wait until we can revisit Sumo’s futuristic dystopia. INFINITY NIKKI Developer/publisher Papergames (Infold) Format PC, PS4, PS5…

ROMANCING SAGA 2 Developer/publisher Square Format Super Famicom Release 1993 MOON: REMIX RPG ADVENTURE Developer Love-De-Lic Publisher ASCII Entertainment Format PS1 Release 1997 CHULIP Developer Punchline Publisher Victor Interactive Software (JP), Natsume Inc (US) Format PS2 Release 2002 RULE OF ROSE Developer Punchline Publisher Sony Computer Entertainment (JP), Atlus (US), 505 Games (EU) Format PS2 Release 2006 NO MORE HEROES Developer Grasshopper Manufacture Publisher Marvelous (JP), Ubisoft (US), Rising Star Games (EU) Format Wii Release 2007 LITTLE KING’S STORY Developer Cing, Town Factory Publisher Marvelous (JP), XSeed Games (US), Rising Star Games (EU) Format Wii Release 2009 SHADOWS OF THE DAMNED Developer Grasshopper Manufacture Publisher EA Format 360, PS3 Release 2011 DANDY DUNGEON: LEGEND OF BRAVE YAMADA Developer/publisher Onion Games Format Android, iOS, PC, Switch Release 2017 BLACK BIRD Developer/publisher…

When Flintlock made its appearance in June’s Xbox Games Showcase, we were, of course, already well acquainted, the game having graced E370’s cover back in 2022. But one word, spelled out in bungalow-sized capitals on the auditorium screen in LA, caught our eye precisely because it hadn’t come up in that conversation two years earlier: “SOULS-LITE”. Of course, this is a marketing line – as with any genre label, ultimately. But given we’ve seen the term repeated in practically every piece of writing about the game since, if nothing else it’s effective. What exactly does it mean? If we trace it back to the obvious etymological roots, it suggests a game that is to Dark Souls as the‘Roguelite’ is to 1980’s ASCII dungeon crawler. The latter term encompasses everything from…

Developer/publisher Thunderful Publishing (Thunderful Development) Format PC (tested), PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series Release Out now Things can get cold in the far north. So cold, in fact, that your rattly steambot units can freeze up mid-battle and take atmospheric damage. Help is at hand, though, in the form of some time-tested harsh-weather technology. Back at the nearest bar, the landlord has knitted you a scarf. Equip the woolly wonder and never worry about the cold again. This stray moment, merely one sly aside in a game of hundreds, gets right to the heart of what makes SteamWorld Heist II such sweet-natured and ingenious entertainment. It’s funny, for one thing. But it also displays a keen awareness of the mechanical possibilities lurking in every element of the game’s…

Developer Nihon Falcom Publisher NIS America Format PC, PS4, PS5, Switch (tested) Release Out now For 20 years, The Legend Of Heroes has built an ambitious interlinked narrative with its Trails sub-series that rivals that of the MCU. While its Japanese RPG peers start from scratch with every instalment, Falcom has relied on dense worldbuilding, its story arcs spanning multiple games, each further expanding the science-fantasy fiction on the continent of Zemuria. As such, it’s been no simple task to tackle the series in these pages as its star has risen, with no obvious point of introduction – at least until now. Enter Trails Through Daybreak, released worldwide three years after its Japanese debut, and by far the series’ most approachable entry. Its fresh story arc is set in the…

Developer Franek Nowotniak, Max Cahill, José Ramón García, Antonio Uribe Publisher Panic Inc Format PC Release August 15 Before you embark on a journey of revenge, so the proverb goes, dig two graves. Sound advice, although in Arco you should really dig a few dozen more. Tearing across a magical-realist Latin America, you’re propelled as much by hatred as your skipping llama mount. A gang of poachers or bandits isn’t the target of your ire, but it’ll do for now. Swift feet and a few well-placed arrows are all it takes, then loot the corpses – you can sell those pelts – and skip away. The guilt is a bridge you’ll cross when you come to it. Arco makes life cheap in a way that often only strikes in hindsight.…

Developer/publisher Impossible Format PC Release Out now You wouldn’t know from playing Été that Montreal was a substantial city. For developer Impossible, it’s a gentrified enclave, a hipster’s paradise where everyone is a small business owner, presumably making ends meet by purchasing each other’s artisan produce. You enter as a painter looking to spend a pleasant summer practising your art. $1,000 gets you a pretty but empty apartment in walking distance of the market square and the park and the disused railway that’s now a bohemian commune. On your first day you earn $300 by selling a picture in the local café. Été is as an escape, in other words, nestling into the bosom of cosy gaming. Yet if its creative spirit is somewhat twee, it’s nonetheless quite gratifying to…

There’s long been an assumption among XR enthusiasts and evangelists that Apple’s entry to the market would be a watershed moment. That faith was sorely tested by the announcement, at last June’s WWDC, that Vision Pro would set users back a whopping $3,499. A year later, the headset has finally made its way beyond US borders, arriving for sale in nine other regions including the UK. Now that it’s getting a more concerted push, it’s worth taking a closer look at the hardware, and also asking what it means for XR gaming overall. That price tag does at least have clear consequences in terms of build and materials quality, making every other piece of VR hardware we’ve tested feel lesser in comparison. Despite its fabric headband, the device feels determinedly…

Aspiring novelist Nico travels Europe by rail as the continent rebuilds after a great war, during which he served on the front lines. If that sounds like a work of historical fiction, we should note some skipped details. The year is 797, the conflict was between the Rhine Alliance and the Coalition Of Vitucke, and – as you may have noticed from the art on this spread – everyone is a dog. Inspired by a doodle of producer BD Robin’s family pet (also named Nico), Sunset Hills was first conceived as a straightforward 2D narrative adventure. That was back in 2019, however, and in the years since then the game has evolved to include 3D models, and – after an early prototype was deemed “not very fun” – its puzzles…

Developer Nomada Studios Publisher Devolver Digital Format PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox Series Origin Spain Release 2024 Nomada Studio’s debut, Gris, was a meditation on grief – but one that kept the exact source of trauma off-screen, only ever glimpsed through a (very pretty) metaphorical filter. This time, though, the developer isn’t beating around the bush. Within three minutes of the game beginning, it’s pulled a Bambi on us, an opening cutscene introducing protagonist Alba and her two twig-antlered wolf companions – one huge, one tiny – before killing off the adult one. An easy heartstring to target, perhaps, but one Nomada tugs at with such style that it’s hard to fault. The whole sequence is wordless – as is most of the game, the only line we hear spoken being “Neva”, as Alba…

Game Dragon Age: The Veilguard Developer BioWare Publisher EA Format PC, PS5, Xbox Series Origin Canada Release Autumn The Dragon Age universe wasn’t born from a big bang or the palm of an ancient god. Instead, itwas created to solve a problem. BioWare was tired of battling Hasbro during the making of Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights, and wanted a Dungeons & Dragons-like setting of its own. A small team was instructed to invent a new fantasy world in which the studio could continue its groundbreaking work in the field of western RPGs, free of constraints. Well, almost free. BioWare’s leaders mandated that the makers of this new world stick to Eurocentric fantasy, and include a fireball spell – since studio co-founder Ray Muzyka had a weakness for offensive magic.…

Blumhouse Games president Zach Wood and creative lead Louise Blain first met in 2020, on a private island. It’s how you might have always imagined big Hollywood deals being done, especially after realising that Wood’s younger brother is movie star Elijah. But then Blain adds an extra detail to the scene: “Zach was visiting to sell his turnips.” Animal Crossing: New Horizons mightn’t be quite the origin story you’d expect for two people building a new game label dedicated to horror, but it makes considerably more sense in light of the reveal trailer Blumhouse debuted during this June’s Summer Game Fest showcase. In between the usual screaming maggot-ridden faces and hunks of flesh mangled into impossible shapes, this whistlestop tour of the publisher’s initial slate also found room for a…

Format PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series Developer/publisher Sega (RGG Studio) Origin Japan Release 2024 Kazuma Kiryu’s curtain call was supposed to have happened in Yakuza 6. For its sequel, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, a new leading man stepped up in the form of the younger (if still middle-aged) Ichiban Kasuga, whose passionate personality and even louder hair couldn’t be more of a contrast to the stoic Dragon Of Dojima. Save for a cameo late in that game, which felt like a symbolic passing of the torch between the two, a new chapter for the series seemed inked. It was met with both surprise and trepidation, then, when it was revealed that in Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth Kiryu was not only back but joining Kasuga as a joint…

Developer/publisher Capcom Format PC, PS4, PS5 (tested), Xbox One, Xbox Series Release Out now The elegant acrobatics of videogame combat are often comparable to a dance, but rarely as obviously as in Kunitsu-Gami. Your avatar, Soh, wields his katana with balletic grace, attacks flowing into single movements, painting ribbon-like arcs with each swing. And far from being a solo performer, Soh has a troupe of backing dancers, villagers-turned-makeshift warriors who jig in formation as demons close in, and again when the threat subsides. It’s near certain you’ll also succumb to the rhythm. The choreographer at the centre of it all is Yoshiro, the maiden of the mountain your journey zig-zags down from peak to base. She’s queen of the ceremonial Kagura dance, a purifying ritual that can see off the…

Developer Critical Hit Games Publisher Plaion Format PC (tested), PS5, Xbox Series Release Out now Left to pick between a pill bottle or another gulp of imitation whisky, we begin to appreciate how Detective James Karra is coping with his forcefully elongated life. Starting afresh in a new body, having already racked up a hundred years, his lack of joie de vivre is to be expected, especially considering his wife is now absent and the world’s a hyper-capitalist hellscape where crime pays better than detective work. Still, Karra is no quitter, an outlook you’ll also have to adopt as you weave together the pieces of a high-profile case while staring down the barrel of a vicious existential quandary: what becomes of us if we live beyond our expiry date? In…

Developer/publisher HoYoverse Format Android (tested), iOS, PS5 (tested), PC Release Out now Rarely can a gacha service game be described as daring. But, within the context in which it is operating, HoYoverse’s output does have a certain pluck. Nowadays it’s impossible to navigate a digital storefront without being assaulted by banners for hero shooters, extraction shooters and battle royales, many suffocatingly similar. The Chinese developer stands out because it tries to pursue different genres within that space, while wrapping its efforts in premium production values and lashings of free-to-play solo content. Still, it’s all relative, and daring by these standards looks more than a little derivative from a wider view. Genshin Impact is an open-world adventure that riffs on Breath Of The Wild. Honkai: Star Rail is a turn-based RPG…

Developer A44 Games Publisher Kepler Interactive Format PC, PS5 (tested), Xbox Series Release Out now The gods are loose. And – there’s no getting around it – it’s all your fault. Flintlock opens with the (sub)titular assault on Dawn, a broken city where a door to the afterlife leaks undead souls back into the world of the living. The musket-wielding forces of humanity have sent in their sappers to plant a bomb that will close it for good, but they’re rebuffed by a shimmering forcefield. Until, that is, Nor Varek arrives, flintlock pistol in hand. It seems the story of Pandora doesn’t exist in this world (too many real gods and monsters to worry about, presumably), so Varek is surprised by what happens when she smashes this barrier open and…

While Kunitsu-Gami may be only a partial triumph on its own terms, it could be seen as an unqualified success for Capcom’s wider scheme. Nintendo aside, the Osaka corporation increasingly feels like Japan’s apex developer-publisher these days. The three pillars of Resident Evil, Street Fighter and Monster Hunter continue their relentless march, supported by the return of Dragon’s Dogma and a slew of second-tier updates and collections: Dead Rising, Ace Attorney, Mega Man. But in a sense, Kunitsu-Gami is the crowning glory of the library. More than many of the remakes, even, Kunitsu-Gami is a throwback – in some ways literally (the final stage is preceded by an extended boss rush), but also in the quirky double-A spirit of the PS2 generation. Or should that be GameCube, and specifically the…

Developer Microbird Games Publisher Curve Games Format PC (tested), Xbox Series Release Out now Luisa Dorfer, lawyer by profession and disgruntled by disposition, has recently arrived amid a throng of thrill-seekers on the Alpine slopes of Hinterberg in Austria, sporting a puffer jacket and hiking boots, carrying a backpack and a hi-tech sword. She’s a vacationer clearly prepared for the job at hand, but there’s more going on in these parts than she bargained for: her introductory outing is cut abruptly short after a series of violent tremors causes the training area to collapse on itself, prompting her instructor to hint at something sinister behind the idyllic façade. From here, Dungeons Of Hinterberg presents something of a paradox. A breezy action RPG, it’s pervaded by a yearning for unfamiliar joys,…

Developer Hollow Ponds, Richard Hogg Publisher Annapurna Interactive Format PC (tested), PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series Release Out now You can tell a lot about any creature-collection game from the specifics of how you, well, collect its creatures. Consider, for example, the way a Pokéball rattles before settling down, a white light confirming your quarry is secured within. There’s a gambler’s thrill in that stretched-out moment of anticipation, but watching the animation play out for the thousandth time does rather invite those creeping thoughts about incarceration and dogfighting that eventually haunt every new generation to discover the games. You’ve no such concerns in Flock, though, where the critters in your trailing menagerie are less caught than softly coaxed into joining the gang. Here’s how it generally plays out: zooming…

Developer Free Lives Publisher Devolver Digital Format PC Release Out now Don’t let the ‘Foot’ part trip you up. The latest from Free Lives (Broforce, Genital Jousting, Terra Nil) puts its big gimmick front and centre, in the title and on the screen: an almighty green-toed kick that launches out to tear doors from their hinges and topple bodies like bowling pins. After the credits roll, we’re greeted with a stat: “You kicked 10,238 times”. In truth, though, we probably pulled the trigger even more – because Anger Foot is at least as much a firstperson shooter as it is a booter. Guns are all disposable, dropped with a single non-reloadable magazine, but they’re essential to surviving Anger Foot’s tracksuited mobs, who come armed with everything from shotguns and samurai…

Developer/publisher Hello Games Format PC, PS4, PSS, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series Release 2016 Has time been kinder to any other game? No Man’s Sky’s rehabilitation is so far-reaching that it’s hard to recall why Hello Games’ procedural space sim caused such a ruckus in the first place. From the highs of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to the lows of a critical carpet-bombing, the emotions that initially orbited No Man’s Sky have now drifted deep into the void, another faint glimmer in the constellation of history. Except, of course, it isn’t time that has put the work in here. Hello Games has relentlessly pursued No Man’s Sky’s redemption with update after update, transforming the game from what its harshest critics described as a playable screensaver into an intergalactic…

Developer/publisher Nintendo Format Switch Release 2024 We don’t usually dig quite as far into the past as Donkey Kong or Super Mario Bros in The Long Game, but then Nintendo is playing a long game all of its own. You’d be forgiven for feeling that the NES back catalogue has already been milked for all it’s worth yet, like a regenerating Time Lord, Nintendo always finds another form. And if suspicions arise that this latest repackaging may tread on the toes of NES Remix, they soon settle once we get stuck in. Nintendo World Championships pays tribute to the live competitive events of yore, chopping 13 NES games into pieces of varying lengths, then serving them up as speedrun challenges. Mario dominates the roster, but it’s a wide spread, with…