Innehållsförteckning för #70 från Wireframe Magazine

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Dystopian games revel in the power of choice – or the illusion of it

When there are no more rules to break, what kind of person will you become? It’s the question at the heart of every dystopia – each a highly politicised space, existing at the extremity of either authoritarian control or total societal collapse. There’s really little room for neutrality in a zombie apocalypse and cyberpunk technofuture. We must all make our choice, with only our own moral compass to guide us. In Fallout 4, nuclear war leaves behind a parched and radiated Earth in which its few survivors must lay their claim, by any means necessary. The Institute, and its synthetic humanoids, promises a better world, but at what cost? Or would you be willing to sacrifice the most important thing in your life in order to ensure humanity can carve…

Dystopian games revel in the power of choice – or the illusion of it

Climb every mountain

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Climb every mountain

In the midst of the global pandemic in 2020, Animal Crossing: New Horizons provided a cosy escape route for many. But as well as a distraction from the isolation and stress of lockdown, Nintendo’s life sim also helped bring together Jasper Oprel and Indiana-Jonas Sundberg, the creators of Surmount. “We met over Animal Crossing just as the pandemic was getting started,” says Oprel, the game’s programmer and co-designer. “And through a mutual friend, we started visiting each other’s towns and started talking from there.” At the time, Sundberg had a prototype for a climbing game intended for mobile devices; taking its cue from Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber, it had the player swipe the left- and right-hand sides of the screen to propel their character up a procedurally generated mountain. As…

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Video games to look forward to in 2023

RESIDENT EVIL 4 Another year means Resident Evil 4 coming to another console generation. But at least this time Capcom is putting in the work to make its beloved survival horror classic a true event. Leon S Kennedy’s mission to rescue the president’s daughter from a supernatural Spanish cult is being rebuilt from the ground up, with the RE Engine treating us yet again to some strangely satisfying gory visuals. This remake of Resident Evil 4 also wisely does away with the original’s overly brown colour palette, replacing it with a moody dark tone to help set in modern scares. FINAL FANTASY XVI Having previously rescued Final Fantasy’s fledging MMORPG from the brink of failure with the much celebrated A Realm Reborn reboot, all eyes are on director Naoki Yoshida…

Video games to look forward to in 2023

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Wireframe magazine’s GameDev.tv course bundle

Get over £600 of online courses for around £30!* Visit wfmag.cc/gamedevtv Ever wanted to make a 2D platformer in Unity? Fancy learning how to make your first 3D models in Blender? How about diving into some C++ programming in Unreal Engine? You can learn all this and more for a bargain price thanks to GameDev.tv and Wireframe’s exclusive reader offer. You’ll get full lifetime access to three online course bundles for a single one-off fee! COMPLETE C# UNITY GAME DEVELOPER COURSE Learn Unity in C# and code your first five 2D video games for web, Mac, and PC. Learn how to create video games using Unity, with the world’s most popular online game development courses. We start super simple, so you need no prior experience of Unity or coding! You’ll…

Wireframe magazine’s GameDev.tv course bundle

Wireframe Magazine|#70

The ZX Spectrum’s colour clash was a good thing: this game proves it

That people are still making modern games for an old computer like the ZX Spectrum is a joy in itself. But what’s even more exciting is when someone makes a game capable of surprising you, even after all these years. I encountered one such example this month: a game that uses the Spectrum’s limitations in a way that feels incredibly new. This is not a bad thing to see from a 40-year-old computer, it has to be said. The game’s called Triangle, Circle, Square – or TCQ for short – and it takes one of the Speccy’s signature traits, colour clash, and uses it in ways that totally turn it on its head. Colour clash, back in the commercial days of the system, was seen as something to be avoided…

The ZX Spectrum’s colour clash was a good thing: this game proves it

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Animal Crossing-style season changes in Unreal Engine 5

Time will pass and seasons will come and go – well, they will after you’ve read this guide! Today, we’ll look at how to replicate the season functionality from Animal Crossing to give us a virtual world that reacts to the real world’s seasons! We’ll use the Top Down example from the Create Project option in the Unreal Engine 5 launcher for this example. If you already have an existing project, you can follow along by clicking the Add button in the Content Browser, selecting ‘Add Feature or Content Pack’, and then picking the Top Down example. To get things started, we’re going to figure out the season. We need to do this in a central place, so all of our actors in our project have access to the same…

Animal Crossing-style season changes in Unreal Engine 5

Wireframe Magazine|#70

How we used sound to craft the world of Moss: Book II

Multiple systems went into creating the immersive experience of Moss: Book II. We wanted to elegantly transport players into its world and create a believable experience from the perspective of our mouse-sized hero, Quill. Here, I’ll talk about our ambient sound system that used virtual speaker arrays as well as some dynamic systems that added to the feel of reaching into the world of Moss. Moss: Book II is an action-adventure puzzle game designed for VR. The game has a combination of both third- and first-person gameplay as you team up with young hero Quill to try and save the world. While guiding Quill in combat and platforming using familiar action-adventure controls, you also take on the role of the Reader, Quill’s friend and key ally. As the Reader, you…

How we used sound to craft the world of Moss: Book II

Interactive / OTXO

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Interactive / OTXO

Are you a solo developer working on a game you want to share with Wireframe? If you’d like to have your project featured in these pages, get in touch with us at wfmag.cc/hello It used to be that firing away at endless enemy waves was enough. These days, however, indie devs have been quick to notice the John Wick generation’s desire for an experience far slicker, more stylish, and faster-paced when it comes to top-down shooters. Enter OTXO (pronounced oh-cho), an unabashedly violent genre entry that fits squarely into the rogue-lite template, but lets players see the level of chaos they are able to inflict by liberally painting the black-and-white walls with blood. As artful as this presentation style seems, as is often the case with solo projects, it was…

Somerville

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Somerville

Aliens have invaded, the Earth is in ruins, yet here I am standing next to a pile of rubble, holding a bucket I’ve dredged out of a well. I think I’m meant to take the bucket and use it to scoop up some voxelated alien goo which I can then use to encourage some spherical, skittering, miniature aliens to do… something or other. I haven’t worked that part out yet. Mostly, I keep trying to remember whether the protagonists in H.G. Wells or John Wyndham novels ever survived an alien invasion through the cunning use of a bucket. In its opening moments, meanwhile, Somerville really does echo the mundane nightmarishness of War of the Worlds or The Day of the Triffids. It follows a typical modern family as their quiet…

The Knight Witch

Wireframe Magazine|#70

The Knight Witch

Full marks for originality. Putting the disparate genres of Metroidvania and bullet-hell shooter together in one game is an inspired choice, and in motion, The Knight Witch can look nothing short of spectacular. Glowing bullets fill the screen with a riot of colour, spiralling out in all directions, while you cast kinetic spells that conjure giant swords from thin air, or send a giant ball and chain barrelling outwards. It’s a trip. But a rocky one, at times. The game starts astonishingly badly. You’re thrown into a prologue where you play as Robyn, the leader of the Knight Witches, going up against the Emperor Erebus in a battle so incredibly difficult that I still can’t quite believe the developers thought it was a good idea to stick it in at…

Itch.io roundup

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Itch.io roundup

Edge of the Universe theStoff / Free / wfmag.cc/edgeverse I’ve long held that the real trick to both Meat Boy and Hotline Miami is the lightning-quick respawn time. We’ll put up with a lot of death if the respawn isn’t frustrating, and for Celeste-style platformer Edge of the Universe, it’s a satisfying animation that warps your cat-eared PC back to the level opening in a glitchy haze of bubble-gum fractals. It’s all very encouraging. Hazardous though its stages may be, everything else about this world – from its warm colour palette to its none-more-retro soundtrack – is pure sugar. Tight jumps, double jumps, and wall-slides play against gravity to help you pull off tricky manoeuvres through spike-laden labyrinths. Agent no. 6 jaimejaime / Free / wfmag.cc/agent6 A tribute to the…

PC Top 10

Wireframe Magazine|#70

PC Top 10

1 Elden Ring / 95% (Issue 61) A game of massive scale, packed with intelligence and mystery. A towering achievement. 2 Disco Elysium / 94% (Issue 28) Smarter and deeper than anything else; truly an RPG in a class completely of its own. 3 Hades / 94% (Issue 44) Proving ‘roguelike’ isn’t a dirty word, learning-and-dying is a joy from start to finish. 4 Assassin’s Creed Odyssey / 93% (Issue 1) The point where Ubisoft realised over-the-top adventures were the right direction. 5 Telling Lies / 92% (Issue 24) This FMV mystery asks more of the player than most, with rewards to match. 6 If Found / 92% (Issue 44) A compelling and beautifully illustrated narrative, as moving as it is memorable. 7 God Of War: Ragnarök / 91% (Issue 69) Gaming’s…

On the war path

Wireframe Magazine|#70

On the war path

Nobody forgets a great video game opening. Entering the bathysphere and descending into Rapture in BioShock. Leaving the vault for the first time in Fallout 3. Channelling Darth Vader’s full power by slaughtering endless Wookiees in The Force Unleashed. The list goes on… However, one bombastic opening set piece that has always stuck with me is the one seen in God of War III, where Kratos rides on the back of the titan Gaia, fending off a giant water horse, as he attempts to climb Mount Olympus to exact his revenge on Zeus. It’s in epic moments like this where I’m reminded that, before turning all introspective and brooding in the recent soft reboots, this was a man full of unbridled rage. Such rage beautifully translates into what is still…

Wireframe Magazine|#70

FAREWELL…

Crikey, this is harder to write than I thought it would be. In fact, I’ve deleted several versions of this editorial before finally settling on the one you’re reading here, and look – I’m still waffling without getting to the actual point. Long story short: this is the final edition of Wireframe in its printed form. Yes, after 70 issues, over four years, and copious cups of coffee, a confluence of factors mean it’s time to wind the magazine to a close. A big thank you, first of all, to everybody who’s helped us make Wireframe what it is. From our amazing contributors to our designers to our sharp-eyed sub-editors, there have been all kinds of talented, clever people helping to make every edition a polished gem. Then there’s Eben…

FAREWELL…

Absolutely knackered

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Absolutely knackered

Whether we’re feeling overwhelmed by work or bewildered by crises at home or abroad, it’s probably safe to say that many of us can identify with the torpid protagonist in Exhausted Man. Certainly, this curious puzzle game, in which players flex, guide, and corral a flaccid human figure around a series of domestic environments, has captured the attention of such outlets as Kotaku and Rock Paper Shotgun since its announcement in late 2021. “Yes, I think most players and press are interested in Exhausted Man because the theme’s so universal,” agrees developer Gao Ming, founder of Beijing’s Candleman Games. “The reasons for feeling exhausted may vary, but the result is the same. Maybe it’s related to the high competition in modern society, or the explosion of information.” Exhausted Man first…

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Snakes on a phone!

“So iconic has it become that there’s been a version of Snake on every Nokia phone since” I’ve gone and messed up my sleep patterns. I’d temporarily misplaced my Kindle, you see, and reading a book at night is generally how I fall asleep. The first game to pay a nod to the horror genre was Haunted House on the Magnavox Odyssey. Via a rather attractive overlay placed on your TV screen, one player controlled a ‘detective’ (represented by a dot – a ‘dotective’, perhaps) as they wandered through the titular home searching for clues. A second player adopted the role of the resident ghost, and before the game began would hide in one of the clue boxes while the detective player kept their real-life eyes closed. I have the…

Snakes on a phone!

Melatonin

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Melatonin

Half Asleep’s pastel-coloured rhythm game aims to take players away from the stresses of everyday life and into a dream-like flow state. The lo-fi, melodic beats accompanying Melatonin’s 20+ minigames go some way to achieving this, but equally important are the gentle art style and muted tones. “The colour palette has a soft feel to it which seems to appeal to a lot of people and stands out when compared to ‘edgier’-looking games,” lead developer David Huynh reveals. “It also gives the game a slightly surreal vibe, which is fitting for a game about dreams.” With the music and often surreal visuals working in harmony, Melatonin is designed to make players feel relaxed, says Huynh. “Since Melatonin is a rhythm game, a lot of the visuals need to move to…

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Stop when you’ve had enough

There have been three games in the last few years which have featured a unique structure not found anywhere else in the medium. For the purpose of this article, let’s call this the ‘In Your Own Time’ structure. From what I can tell, the first game to format itself this way was The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, in which, of course, you play as Link, the recently awakened Hero of Hyrule. An evil monstrosity named Ganon terrorises the land, and from the very start, you know it’s your job to defeat him. After a brief tutorial area, you’re released into the world, and if you so choose, may immediately go and engage Ganon. It’s possible to beat him then and there, without engaging with any of the…

Stop when you’ve had enough

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Tower defence wall building in Python

As the eighties drew to a close, a new strategy genre emerged. The tower defence game involved building walls or barriers around your castle to prevent an enemy destroying it. One notable early entry in the genre was Rampart, released by Atari. The game took in two phases. In the building phase, the player filled holes in the walls around their fort and placed cannons. In the second phase, the player’s fort would be attacked from the sea by an armada of ships, and the player could fire back with their cannon. This cycle would continue until the player could no longer fill the gaps in the walls or they’d destroyed all the attacking ships. For our Pygame Zero example, we’ll look at two tower defence mechanics: the wall building…

Tower defence wall building in Python

From obscure Game Boy title to indie darling

Wireframe Magazine|#70

From obscure Game Boy title to indie darling

When it comes to indie gaming success stories, few share the rich history of the Shantae franchise. Since its low-key debut on the Game Boy Color in 2002, the 2D platforming series starring a hair-whipping half-genie has become a multiplatform fixture of the indie scene, with five games under its belt and a regular stream of re-releases and merchandise. Even 20 years later, its influence continues to grow. At the centre of it all are Matt and Erin Bozon, the husband-and-wife team who have been breathing life into Shantae’s world from the beginning. Erin created the character and gameplay concept back in 1994 with the hopes of it growing into a franchise that could expand to comics, TV, and other merchandise. She collaborated with soon-to-be-husband Matt, who helped flesh out…

Infinity Hero

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Infinity Hero

Rarely will you find a person who’s worn as many development hats – especially within a publisher as large as Activision – than Brian Bright. A true industry veteran, these days he’s arguably most known for being one of the main faces of the re-formed Infinity Ward, heading up all things co-op and Zombies-related for Call of Duty following the high-profile exit of founders Jason West and Vince Zampella, before just recently moving on to new horizons himself. The truth, however, is that Bright’s experience in gaming runs much deeper than simply futuristic and real-world military action. His career also includes a large musical bent, which has always been his first love. “Growing up in the late seventies and early eighties, I would listen to the local college radio station…

The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me

Wireframe Magazine|#70

The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me

Compared to Supermassive’s tent-pole releases, each Dark Pictures instalment represents both an experiment and an exercise in economy, its boundaries defined by budget limitations and the creative ways the Guildford-based studio comes up with to camouflage them. Thus, only a few months after their triumphant return to form with The Quarry, The Devil in Me arrives with less fanfare, a downsized cast of playable characters, and disappointingly lacklustre writing to pay homage to a different sub-genre: true crime. Documentaries based on real-life serial killers are a dime a dozen nowadays, so Charlie Lonnit’s production company – unbeknownst to his bickering crew – is barely keeping afloat. No surprise, then, that the manipulative director jumps at a last-moment opportunity: filming an episode on H.H. Holmes and his infamous Murder Castle (as…

Marvel’s Midnight Suns

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Marvel’s Midnight Suns

Action games may be the obvious choice for digitally representing Marvel superheroes, given that their world-saving antics usually come down to smashing up amassed evil‑doers. But Firaxis shows with Midnight Suns that turn-based strategy can be an equally effective vehicle for showing off the dynamism of these mask-wearing champions. Add in a generous helping of lore and quality time to get to know an assortment of Marvel’s finest up close and personal, and you have an especially rigorous treatment of this well-trodden source material. The loop of Midnight Suns is divided into days, and each of those into three phases – an early morning session of resource management at home base, the Abbey, then a mission centred on a turn-based dust-up, and finally an evening of extracurricular activities (except when…

Wireframe Magazine|#70

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

What would you say is your favourite game of all time and why? I’m kind of known as the Returnal queen amongst the gaming community, and I’ll continue to wave its flag forever. It’s probably one of the most challenging games I’ve ever played, but when it clicks, it becomes an addictive time loop that you simply can’t put down. I picked it up when I got my PS5 at the latter end of the pandemic, making lots of friends in the gaming community through it! I would share clips, they would share their journey or any tips they had, and it was as if we were all going through this incredibly difficult but rewarding journey together. Can you remember the game that first got you into gaming? My most…

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Backwards compatible

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Backwards compatible

Custom SP First released 20 years ago (on the 14 February 2003, precision fans), the Game Boy Advance SP was Nintendo’s most compact iteration on the handheld up to that point. With its narrower form factor and hinged screen, it was perfect for slipping into a trouser pocket or throwing in a school bag, but still (just about) bulky enough for extended play sessions. It was certainly comfier to hold than its successor, the absolutely diddy Game Boy Micro, which came out in 2005 and promptly gave approximately 2.4 million purchasers terrible eye strain (we’re guessing). With 20 years under its belt, those GBA SPs are probably starting to look a bit worn. The one I acquired recently certainly is. Handily, replacement shells and other assorted bits are readily available…

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Frankie Goes to Hollywood

DENTON DESIGNS / 1985 / ZX SPECTRUM, AMSTRAD CPC, C64 You don’t tend to find much in the way of innovation in licensed games, but Frankie Goes to Hollywood bucked that trend in the middle of the 1980s. At the time, the Liverpool band that inspired it was at the height of its commercial powers; in early 1984, BBC disc jockey Mike Smith had made a big deal of banning the single Relax from his radio show, which (predictably) helped turn it into a smash-hit. Superstar status soon beckoned. As follow-up singles appeared in the charts and Frankie T-shirts became a must-have fashion item, someone decided the band ought to get its own video game. The job of actually making it fell to Denton Designs, a Liverpool-based studio formed from…

Frankie Goes to Hollywood

The sun always shines on TV

Wireframe Magazine|#70

The sun always shines on TV

More than just a useful parental tool to get kids in bed at a reasonable hour, the old adage “watch too much TV and you’ll get square eyes” also has a degree of truth to it. Particularly in the case of reality shows, where viewers who get drawn in are constantly being blindsided by the producers, editors, and script doctors who chop it up in the edit, doing their best to fool the audience into thinking that a world they know deep down to be false is somehow genuine. Or worse, perfect. Someone who isn’t fooled, however, is Trevor Hills, one of the ordinary-seeming stars at the centre of Earth’s most-watched TV show: American Arcadia. At first this seventies-inspired metropolis looks like the perfect utopia in which to make a…

That was the month that was

Wireframe Magazine|#70

That was the month that was

01. Business blocked Microsoft’s long-drawn-out pursuit to have its Activision purchase cleared by global industry regulators has hit its biggest roadblock yet, as the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) announced plans to sue and block the acquisition after fears it would cause a monopoly. “Microsoft has already shown that it can and will withhold content from its gaming rivals,” the FTC’s Holly Vedova said in a statement. “Today we seek to stop Microsoft from gaining control over a leading independent game studio and using it to harm competition in multiple dynamic and fast-growing gaming markets.” Condolences to anyone hoping Diablo 4 would hit Game Pass at launch. 02. Elden king As if it were ever in doubt, the winner of the biggest award at the annual Geoff Keighley extravaganza was none…

How hard can it be to bring your indie game to mobile?

Wireframe Magazine|#70

How hard can it be to bring your indie game to mobile?

Unfortunately, making a mobile port isn’t quite as simple as clicking some kind of ‘Export To Mobile’ button in Unity, then watching the cash roll in. Whereas porting games from PC to console has generally become a lot simpler over the years (although still far from easy), porting to mobile is akin to exploring a different country. People do things very differently over there. There are dozens of different things to consider. Will your game work with touchscreen controls? What parts of the graphics will be covered by a player’s hands? Will the text be legible on a tiny screen? How will you cater for the various devices out there, with their huge variations in processing power and screen size? Getting your game to work on mobile might involve radically…

Mega Drivers

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Mega Drivers

For three months in the autumn of 2019, the offices of British indie studio Bitmap Bureau were turned into a miniature production line. In one part of the room, developer Matt Cope was flashing data onto PCBs, before handing the boards over to co-founder Mike Tucker, who assembled the cartridges, applied the labels, and placed them into boxes. Then those boxes would have to be parcelled up to be sent to the local Royal Mail depot for shipping. “It was a big process, and there were some days where we’d be absolutely shattered, preparing all these packages,” Tucker recalls. “You’re burning it to the depot for 5pm, and you can’t even see out of the car windows because it’s so full of bags.” “One time,” Cope chips in, “he did…

Wireframe Magazine|#70

The principles of game design

“Talent borrows, genius steals.” Oscar Wilde coined this phase before the concept of video games ever existed, yet he pretty much captured the industry in these four words. Look at the ratio of original productions to knock-offs – it’s abysmally low. That’s not an indictment of developers. It’s hard to make viable creative innovations. And we all must service the gaping hungry maw of revenue targets if we are to continue producing anything at all. Given the cost of development (particularly for consoles and PCs) and the desire to keep eating and paying rent, companies naturally mitigate risk by knocking off popular game concepts far more frequently than launching new ones. We all understand this dynamic. It’s not a surprise; it’s just a shame, in my humble opinion. What is…

The principles of game design

How I became an… Audio Director

Wireframe Magazine|#70

How I became an… Audio Director

“Audio can communicate elements of gameplay or strategic opportunity that are off-screen or otherwise obscured visually” What was the game that made you first want to work in games? I was always interested in computers, games, and computer-generated music from an early age – I used to stay up late with my dad and code basic games on the Texas Instruments TI-99/4 and still remember that loading noise fondly! The first game to make me want to make game audio, and not solely music, was Final Fantasy VII. The combination of story, world-building, mechanics, and characters was captivating and made me feel that games had truly arrived as a complete storytelling medium. How did you break into the industry? In 2002, I was studying for a degree in Music and…

Interactive / Video Game Fables

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Interactive / Video Game Fables

Are you a solo developer working on a game you want to share with Wireframe? If you’d like to have your project featured in these pages, get in touch with us at wfmag.cc/hell On the one hand, there’s never been a better time to make video games. There are a wealth of free tools out there to help you, from game engines to image editing software. There are thousands of tutorials, online stores where you can sell your work, and social media networks you can use to reach millions of potential players. One reality remains unchanged, though: making games is time-consuming. If you’re working alone, it can be frustrating and lonely. And at the end, there’s no guarantee that your countless hours of work will be rewarded with much-needed sales.…

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Full Steam (Deck) ahead!

Last month, I succumbed to temptation and bought a Steam Deck. I had earmarked the money to pay my dentist to get me legally off my face when I had a wisdom tooth out, but when my anaesthetist skipped the appointment, I decided to be brave and get a Steam Deck instead. For the first few weeks, I mainly used it to blow money on Steam sales, but then, finally, I started to get the twitch that I should be doing more with it. Some brief research showed me how to set up Microsoft Game Pass on it and… it works! There’s no official app as such but, if you follow Microsoft’s own workaround guide and you have a half-decent internet connection, it works a treat – even a game…

Full Steam (Deck) ahead!

Goat Simulator 3

Wireframe Magazine|#70

Goat Simulator 3

Throwing my goat-shaped physics body across a vast expanse for what must have been the hundredth time, I caught myself giggling at the sheer absurdity of Goat Simulator 3. Coffee Stain’s latest is a laugh-a-minute experience, but it’s in the quiet moments when you’re hurtling a few hundred metres over a mountain covered in alien goo that the surreal nature of this viral-friendly sandbox really dawns on you. Goat protagonist Pilgor is back wreaking havoc in a new, better-looking environment full of uncanny valley NPCs. And that’s all we ask of him, really. Awkward-to-master controls and frustrating yet fun ragdoll physics still sit firmly at the centre of the experience, but the introduction of robust open-world mechanics provides a greater sense of purpose. Goat Towers serve as fast-travel waypoints that…

The Callisto Protocol

Wireframe Magazine|#70

The Callisto Protocol

Living up to any legacy is tough, especially when it’s your own. That’s the position veteran game director Glen Schofield finds himself in, however, following up 2008’s Dead Space with a spiritual successor in all but name. The similarities are undeniable. A working Joe trying to survive a viral outbreak within a dank and dreary sci-fi setting? Check. A minimal HUD to increase immersive tension? You bet. That said, The Callisto Protocol doesn’t pretend to reinvent this oddly specific sub-genre of survival horror. Even if it can’t quite escape the shadow of Isaac Clarke’s original outing, there’s plenty here to make your skin crawl despite a few narrative and mechanical shortcomings. The primary way The Callisto Protocol differentiates itself is via its combat. Whereas other third-person horror outings often make…

The Wireframe HOTLIST

Wireframe Magazine|#70

The Wireframe HOTLIST

The games for… BIG ADVENTURES Elden Ring / Bandai Namco / 95% (Issue 61) Assassin’s Creed Odyssey / Ubisoft / 93% (Issue 1) God of War: Ragnarök / Santa Monica Studio / 91% (Issue 69) Yakuza: Like a Dragon / Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio / 90% (Issue 45) Amnesia: Rebirth / Frictional Games / 87% (Issue 46) Death’s Door / Acid Nerve / 87% (Issue 55) The Last Campfire / Hello Games / 86% (Issue 47) Resident Evil 2 / Capcom / 86% (Issue 7) Stray / BlueTwelve Studio / 86% (Issue 65) Lost in Play / Happy Juice Games / 86% / (Issue 66) The games for… REPEATED PLAY Hades / Supergiant Games / 94% (Issue 44) They Are Billions / Numantian Games / 88% (Issue 20) Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice…