Innehållsförteckning för December 2024 från Edge

MIRRORMOON EP The bottle galaxy of Santa Ragione’s mesmerising indie oddity offers planets and systems designed meticulously by hand and then procedurally scrambled, each one of these low-poly orbs filled with photo ops even before you start moving the sky around above you, with alien architecture that tends towards the crystalline and cathedral-like. If you’ve ever wanted to photograph churches made of fading light, caught rising out of a pink desert, or monoliths beneath an orange sky, this is the game for you. (Or would be, if it included an in-game camera.) JET SET RADIO FUTURE The Sartorialist helped make street fashion photography an art and – perhaps a bit of a cliché – but it’s worth venturing out into Tokyo-To to get the lowdown on what people are wearing.…

Developer/publisher Nintendo Format Switch Release Out now The bed – mightier than the sword? On the evidence of Echoes Of Wisdom, Princess Zelda might argue so. As she finally taking the starring role in a series that has always borne her name on the marquee, Zelda retains the traditional adventure-game structure but uncouples it from all the hacking and slashing. She has people to do that sort of thing for her, after all. And so, in place of a Master Sword, Zelda wields the Tri Rod. This magical staff is able to slurp up almost any object encountered across Hyrule and then, on demand, summon an ‘echo’ of it: a kind of three-dimensional photocopy that pops back out into the world with all its original properties intact. Here’s a brazier…

As much as games evolve, escapism remains one of their common functions. In the face of the eternal doomscroll, we look to digital entertainment as a distraction – another world to immerse ourselves in, a narrative with a certain beginning, middle and end, and a sense of competency where we otherwise lack control. Frostpunk 2, though, is not that game. You can certainly earn your sense of accomplishment in it, and it does have a distinct narrative, but it also renders palpable the tensions of living through the past few years – and the climate-anxiety angle is somehow the least of it. In one moment in our playthrough, it emerges that heating people’s homes with excess steam from the factories is damaging the residents’ health. Installing filters protects the vulnerable…

Developer All Possible Futures Publisher Devolver Digital Format PC (tested), PS5, Switch, Xbox Series Release Out now Little in fiction is as dull as the hero who always wins, in particular those who do so while barely breaking a sweat. So as Jot, the star of The Plucky Squire children’s books, heads off to stop the evil wizard Humgrump once again, it’s hardly a shock that everyone – Jot included – seems to be going through the motions. We’re thankful, in fact, that Humgrump has a trick up his ample sleeves when we arrive to confront him. Having figured out he’s a fictional character in a story, and that he’s destined to lose, the mage has mastered the art of ‘metamagic’ and banishes Jot to the reality beyond the book,…

Developer ColePowered Games Publisher Fireshine Games Format PC (tested), PS5, Xbox Series Release Out now Gaining access to the private life of an NPC is more fulfilling when their behaviour emerges from a complex network of simulations, rather than a series of scripted events. Which is a fancy way of saying that voyeurism is the best part of immersive sims. Apartments in Deus Ex or Dishonored are attractive targets because they can feel like real places inhabited by people with complete and detailed lives. Apply this thought to an entire game, pair it with procedurally generated pixel-art cities and inhabitants, add a 1980s noir cyberpunk aesthetic, and you’re close to the concoction that is Shadows Of Doubt. You control a customisable private detective, investigating murders, kidnappings and affairs by infiltrating…

Developer/publisher Createdelic Format PC Release Out now An astronaut – that’s you – travels a thousand years back in time to prevent an apocalypse. Specifically, an apocalypse that somehow involves Edwin, a young boy with aspirations of being a guitarist, who you control from your spaceship, alongside his more proficient musician friend, Dawn, and occasionally a giant human hand walking on two fingers. As you strive to alter the timeline, you encounter sentient statues, undead composers, existential dread, and a melancholic frog crooner. Confused? Don’t fret. Starstruck: Hands Of Time is a playable prog-rock comedy musical that (mostly) just wants you to have a good time. And beneath the surreal surface of this singing, dancing Earthbound riff you’ll find an accessible and fairly traditional rhythm game, one that should be…

Developer Goodwin Games Publisher Maximum Entertainment Format PC (tested), PS5, Switch, Xbox Series Release Out now The title refers to a ritual, enabling individuals to move on after the loss of a loved one. Playing a recently deceased old man, stuck in a more literal limbo, it’s your job to perform it. All you need is your light-giving magic staff, a personal item belonging to the deceased, and the soul of a fish. Why a fish? Well, Selfloss is steeped in Slavic and Icelandic folklore, which manifests here in a reverence for the sea. The plane you traverse is home to all sorts of aquatic creatures – flying whales, jellyfish gods and venerable turtles. Whether you’re familiar with its mythical influences or not, it’s a fascinating backdrop. Indeed, the dreamlike…

Sony’s long-rumoured PlayStation 5 Pro S hardware finally became a reality on September 10, when a presentation by system architect Mark Cerny revealed that the console will debut on November 7. Following the PS4 Pro approach, the console will offer enhanced graphics-processing capabilities rather than a comprehensive architectural overhaul, although it will ship with a 2TB SSD – an essential upgrade considering that the original PS5’s meagre 667GB of usable SSD space is barely fit for purpose. As could have been expected, given all console manufacturers’ push towards moving consumers to digital-only game libraries, the PS5 Pro hardware will not ship with an optical drive. Less predictable was the price of entry. At £699 in the UK, the console recalls the PlayStation 3 introduction in 2005, when Sony’s Ken Kutaragi…

The mix of historical accuracy and large, furry-pawed characters might be the most surprising thing about Bogdan’s Cross, if its Templar grizzly weren’t the second animal protagonist to feature in this slot in recent months. As it is, though, we’re more intrigued by the unusual creative process of Federico Breser. The 20-year veteran of TV and film VFX has always longed to make a videogame. “However, the coding and programming side always felt way out of my reach, so I focused on animation instead,” he tells us. His dream is finally possible, he says, thanks to a changing development landscape where “tools and game engines have become so much more user-friendly and powerful”. Specifically, Unreal and, more unusually, Quill, the VR illustration tool in which Breser creates all of the…

GAME Spelunky64 bit.ly/spelunky64 As we write these words, UFO 50 is finally touching down for the rest of the world to play. And so, with perverse logic, we pick up its funhouse-mirror image: another game from an imagined 1980s, one where Derek Yu and co were making games contemporaneously to their UFO Soft alter egos. It’s worth the price of entry ($2.99 and the effort of getting a Commodore 64 emulator up and running) just to see see how this game has been squeezed into the console’s 64K memory, and its control reworked for the single-button joystick, and what developer Paul Koller has decided can – and cannot – be lost in the process. But once that novelty wears off, what remains is the incredible moreishness of Spelunky. A reminder,…

Developer/publisher Pearl Abyss Format PC, PS5, Xbox Series Origin South Korea Release TBA Within seconds of starting Crimson Desert, we’re thrust into a fiery battle and insulted by a chorus of roaring brutes in bear-head hats. As swirling embers fill the air and illuminate a grassy arena, a slick cutscene blurs into frenetic combat, but not before we’re led through a breakneck tutorial – a crash course in dodging, swordplay and a surprising Spartan kick. It’s a harsh first lesson, covering Pearl Abyss’s new vision for combat post-Black Desert Online. Yet, even with such a punishing first impression, we can’t help smiling as we’re pounded to death with bats, axes and good old-fashioned fists. Unlike its older MMORPG sibling, Crimson Desert is growing in a more focused direction. A singleplayer campaign centres on a…

MARVEL RIVALS Developer/publisher NetEase Games Format PC, PS5, Xbox Series Origin China Release December 6 ERIKSHOLM: THE STOLEN DREAM Developer River End Games Publisher Nordcurrent Format PC, PS5, Xbox Series Origin Sweden Release 2025 TOWERBORNE Developer Stoic Studio Publisher Xbox Game Studios Format PC, Xbox Series Origin US Release 2025 FATAL RUN 2089 Developer MNSTR Studio Publisher Atari Format PC, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series Origin Brazil Release TBA BONAPARTE – A MECHANIZED REVOLUTION Developer/publisher Studio Imugi Format PC Origin Canada Release Q1 2025…

The camera is just sitting there. Placed on a pile of rocks, its black plastic and dark glass are a perfect contrast to the white pebbles scattered all around, the pearly shore and the distant mountain dithering to grey. It would make a good picture, actually – and that’s the first sign that you’re going to enjoy this. If you noticed that contrast, you’re already thinking like a photographer. Now, pick up the camera. Advance along the shoreline. Wait for a shot to call out to you. The moment will be different for every player. It was important for Matt Newell, the man who put that camera there on those rocks, that his game should not lead you towards each new picture. Rather than a work of concealed guidance, leaning…

Format PC, PS5, Xbox Series Developer/publisher Don’t Nod Origin France Release 2023 How long is a piece of rope? In Jusant, the measurement is precise: a piece of rope is 40 metres long, and that’s a crucial statistic for this most careful and convincing of climbing games. In Jusant, you must reach the top of a tower. It’s science fiction, so the tower is impossibly tall, and yoked to it is a story about an alien world that has long since run out of water. But the climbing is played entirely straight. With its pitons and relays, it wouldn’t be out of place in a book by Chris Bonington. This means that 40 metres is more than just an interesting number. In Jusant, it’s a boundary. And it’s also part…

Developer/publisher Ubisoft (Massive Entertainment) Format PC, PS5 (tested), Xbox Series Release Out now Star Wars has always been at its best when fusing the insignificant with the vital: two droids, sold for scrap metal, carrying a message of galactic importance; a naïve farm boy scratching out an existence on a remote planet, with royal blood in his veins; a single torpedo fired from an X-wing that, when threaded just so, can take down a Death Star. Heroism gains in impact the more modest its wielder. So it is promising that Star Wars: Outlaws opens in the slums of an outland casino planet, in a tavern, in the boots of a petty thief. Kay Vess is as low-status as protagonists come: a broke loner with neither a ship nor a speeder,…

Developer Sumo Digital Publisher Secret Mode Format PC (tested) Release Out now People familiar with the Baby Park course from Mario Kart: Double Dash may argue that the colourful racing series has always been the work of sadists. It’s certainly true that on this tight, largely unadorned loop of track, paved with a disproportionately high number of weapon crates, Nintendo’s cheery mascots become unusually eager to produce a bloodbath out of every lap. But Deathsprint 66 takes the idea much further. With a wealth of laser grids, sheer drops, spinning blades and general splatter, this is a spin on Mario Kart that’s truly made by sadists – and perhaps it’s made for sadists too. None of this is close to being a criticism. After all, even the gentlest of racing…

Developer Blue Manchu Publisher Maximum Entertainment Format PC, PS5 (tested), Switch, Xbox Series Release Out now An alien named Roswell beams down to the planet’s surface. It’s the kind of incident that might confirm 75 years of UFO conspiracies, were it not for the fact that Ros is accompanied by a robot sniper named Judge, and the planet in question isn’t Earth. In point of fact, it’s Aquarius Minor, a frontier world on the edge of the Baal sector, where the locals once mined a dangerously aggressive material named cramm. So dangerous was it that cramm consumed the place, leaving behind a desert landscape populated by roaming coyotes and rageful grizzlies. The paved roads remain, though – a rare blessing in this part of the galaxy, and one we’re happy…

Developer/publisher Revolution Software Format PC, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Switch Release 2024 The Broken Sword games are no strangers to being reissued. Even so, rereleasing the first of the beloved point-and-click adventures again, but in 4K and with a remastered soundtrack? It’s like being asked if you want to hear the Archers omnibus with THX audio. Put another way, to play Shadow Of The Templars in this edition is to be reminded that a game so concerned with history is well on its way to being an artefact itself. It’s still a fiercely charming artefact, however. Dropped into Paris in the loafers of US tourist George Stobbart and asked to investigate a café bombing for the first, fifth, 20th time, the result is still the same. It might’ve felt…

Game Revenge Of The Savage Planet Developer/publisher Raccoon Logic Format PC, PS5, Xbox Series Release 2025 On February 1, 2021, Raccoon Logic studio head Reid Schneider was on the side of a mountain snowboarding with his son when he got a phone call from the office. “Where the fuck are you?” the caller asked, interrupting what was supposed to be a celebration – his team at Typhoon Studios had just shipped the colourful sci-fi shooter Journey To The Savage Planet on Google Stadia, the first game for the corporation’s cloudstreaming tech that came from an in-house team. Google was demanding a meeting, the caller told him. “Whenever they say you have to come, you’re like, ‘Oh, it’s one of those’,” creative director Alex Hutchinson says. “This is not a good…

Developer/publisher 11 Bit Studios Format PC (tested), PS5, Xbox Series Release Out now Back in 2018, Frostpunk showed us how easy it would be to slip into tyranny, asking us to make desperate choices in an alternate history where the world had been plunged into ice. Yet for some, its bitterly difficult survival scenario raised more questions still. You didn’t have to be a tyrant, but you were always an autocrat. Would it have been possible to build something truly good or just in that world? What if the system itself were fundamentally fairer? In Frostpunk 2, the monkey’s paw curls. Here, 11 Bit puts us back in the biting cold, 30 years after the first game’s climate disaster. New London has grown vastly, no longer a huddle of tents…

Nix is a merqaal, a cat-sized mammal with a scaly back and tail, and two ears that each split into three hairy lengths, that is new to the Star Wars universe. He’s more than just a cute addition; as AI companions go – a notoriously troublesome addition to any game – he is skilled and dependable, and usually carries out Kay’s instructions ably and fast. Holding L1 highlights any elements in your field of view, both animate and inanimate, that Nix can interact with. It’s not long before you become adept at sending him off through a vent to lunge at an otherwise-inaccessible door-release button, and most small spaces have been explicitly designed to accommodate the creature. For the lazy player who can’t be bothered to scrabble around behind the…

Developer Saber Interactive Publisher Focus Entertainment Format PC, PS5 (tested), Xbox Series Release Out now Since the release of the original Space Marine, some 13 years ago, an awful lot has happened in the world of Warhammer 40,000. On the tabletop, no fewer than five new editions of the game have superseded their predecessors, while this series’ titular supersoldiers got an in-universe upgrade to their new Primaris forms – an excuse for Games Workshop to refresh its miniatures range with larger, better proportioned, fascist toy soldiers. Videogames have moved on a fair bit in the period too. Back in 2011, Space Marine was something of a rebuttal to the trend of thirdperson cover shooters. Instead of steroidal men cowering behind conveniently placed walls, as in Gears Of War and its…

Developer Good-Feel Publisher Spike Chunsoft Format PC (tested), Switch Release Out now Better late than never for Bakeru, which was released in Japan last year and arrives here at an odd time given its carnivalesque themes, as its native country’s summer festival season draws to a close. Not that the timing matters to chief villain Oracle Saitoru, whose magical troops have brainwashed the people of Bakeru’s alternate-reality Japan into never-ending festivities. So begins the adventure for the titular shape-shifting tanuki boy, as he journeys up and down the country, first seeking the powers of other fairytale heroes, then striving to save seven maidens who have the power to break the festival’s evil seal. While Good-Feel is better known for working on Nintendo properties, this isn’t its first original venture, with…

Developer Studio Plane Toast Publisher Dear Villagers Format PC (tested), PS5, Switch Release Out now Studio Plane Toast’s approach to exploration is in many ways as laidback as it gets. For example, if S the quickest route from A to B is to drive or jump off a cliff? So be it. Expect the merest of bumps on landing before arrowing off towards your destination again. Nor should it take you long to arrive. Spot something interesting in the distance and you can guide your indestructible van nearby in short order, then have driver Sauge hop out and scale any stubborn rocks with unfussy clambering leaps. Caravan SandWitch’s open world is compact and very much at your fingertips. As such, this land of ruin can feel like an oddly utopian…

Developer/publisher Ubisoft (Ubisoft Reflections) Format PC, PS4 Release 2015 Should you decide to be unfairly reductive about Ubisoft’s general approach to game design, you might argue that the publisher prefers to make large, busy games in which interaction is defined by convenience and work. Games such as Assassin’s Creed can give you what amounts to a full-time job, but they at least make that job as easy to carry out as possible, with clear icons scattered on the map and tools that are neatly fit for purpose. Yet now and then Ubisoft will do something different. It will allow a studio such as Newcastle’s Reflections to make something small and weird and yet still undeniably Ubisoft-adjacent. This means Ubisoft occasionally produces games such as Grow Home – and in Grow…