Edge的December 2020目录

When we call up Hosni Auji, he’s just putting the finishing touches to a game that simulates a six-hour economy-class flight in real time. So we’re caught off guard when we ask how his debut got started, and he reveals he is – or was – an anxious flyer. “Generally, a week before I had to fly, I’d always read anything I could find online to calm myself down and reassure myself that flying is fine.” In that process, and from talking to people about their airborne experiences, he ended up with what he initially thought was “a useless bag of factoids,” albeit one that prompted a keen interest in civil aviation. As such, when Auji was tasked with developing a thesis project for a Masters programme at the NYU…

MOD Rivals Of Aether Joy-Con mod bit.ly/joyconmod Dan Fornace’s multiplayer fighting game is basically an indie Smash Bros., but its debt to Nintendo hasn’t stopped one Steam Workshop user from expressing frustration with Kyoto’s finest. Chilean modder srPerez has already created playable tributes to Bowser and Jigglypuff, but his latest effort is a rather cheekier homage. Joy-Con – based on the detachable Switch controllers, of course – is a surprisingly decent choice of fighter. There is, however, one minor, but crucial, caveat to the portable pairing: if idle, they’ll slowly drift to the left. Full marks to srPerez for authenticity, but in a month when drift claimed our final left Joy-Con, it’s a reminder that Nintendo is yet to properly address an increasingly pervasive issue among Switch owners. GLASSES Oakley…

Developer Sumo Newcastle Publisher Focus Home Interactive Format PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series Origin UK Release 2021 Robin Hood is the man with a thousand faces. Even laying aside his endless appearances in fiction, history teems with competing incarnations of the altruistic outlaw. There are at least five people who might have been the original Robin, with some scholars claiming it was a stock alias for any highwayman of a certain notoriety. That lack of a solid origin story explains the legend’s popularity among writers, but it’s also an oddly good fit for a multiplayer game where everybody wants to play the title character. Step forward Hood: Outlaws & Legends, a competitive infiltration game that pits all those rival Robins against each other. Developer Sumo Newcastle is the outfit formerly known as CCP…

On September 1st 2020, Vlambeer celebrated its tenth anniversary by announcing its closure. It was, Rami Ismail points out, a quintessentially Vlambeer way to mark the milestone. “It’s very loud. It’s overly dramatic. It’s a little obnoxious, maybe? To say, ‘We’re ten years old! Also, we quit.’” Yet it’s a happy ending, too. Ismail and Jan Willem Nijman, Vlambeer’s two mismatched halves who have consistently managed to make their differences work to their advantage, are ready to move on. “Vlambeer was born of necessity,” Ismail continues. “And I think the end result is that JW and I grew enough that for us, it’s no longer needed. And it’s no longer needed for the industry around it. It did its job, you know? Let it sleep.” Nijman and Ismail never had…

Developer Paradox Development Studio Publisher Paradox Interactive Format PC Release Out now The early medieval period, as Crusader Kings III paints it on its seductive world map, is a time of affectionless psychopathy. Less a game of nations, this is instead a grand strategy game about smaller, more intimate stories. And all of them are about furthering your bloodline. It teaches you to view people only in terms of what their personalities and genetics can do for your claim to the throne, and ultimately, that everyone’s a massive liability who’s just as likely to catch a debilitating STD as they are to plot your death, or perform their job as your steward. It is, of course, wonderfully compelling. Paradox’s breed of strategy has never lacked depth or long-form intrigue. Historically,…

Developer/publisher Inkle Studios Format PC Release Out now That one brief shining moment is all but over. Inkle’s narrative strategy game paints a bleak picture of Camelot’s end, effectively letting you pen its epitaph as you play through the days leading up to Arthur’s confrontation with estranged son Mordred. The latter, a self-styled ‘man of the people’ who seems to be actively making those people’s lives significantly worse, has all but torn down the old world. Whether you save Arthur from his fate is ultimately moot; any victory is Pyrrhic at best. Yet the desire to fight on remains. Each playable character, from the determined Guinevere to the drunken Gawain, manages to find a sense of purpose when all seems hopeless. We might be in folkloric territory, but at times…

Developer Love-de-Lic Publisher Onion Games Format Switch Release Out now They say love doesn’t come with an instruction manual, but here the latter is pretty much essential. The early stages of Love-de-Lic’s 1997 ‘anti-RPG’ – never previously released outside Japan – are an unwieldy reminder of a game from a different age. Co-director Yoshiro Kimura’s Onion Games has supplied a downloadable booklet to guide you through this localised port, but it’s still an off-puttingly cumbersome start. You won’t be able to survive an in-game day without at least one meal in you, while sleeping is the only way to recover energy and save your game. Happily, these survival mechanics become far less intrusive. And, as we write ‘Don’t starve’ as a reminder to snack once our hero’s shoulders start drooping,…

Developer/publisher Psyonix Format PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One Release 2015 There’s perhaps no greater indignity in gaming than Rocket League’s simple button prompt: “What A Save!” Sure, being on the wrong side of a Perfect KO in Street Fighter may sting, but at least Ryu and co have the good grace not to bang on about it. Make a mistake in Rocket League and you can expect to see your screen overflow with sarcastic taunts. Yet it’s a testament to the longevity of the concept of this excellent sports racer mash-up that those messages don’t frustrate for long – thank goodness, as Psyonix is opening up Rocket League by making it free-to-play. It’s a shrewd move, allowing the San Diego developer an opportunity to rebuild momentum as the current generation…

A booming tourism industry has sprung up around the 25 eponymous – and deeply magical – dungeons of Hinterberg, with adventurers from around the world drawn to the Austrian hills to fight their way through the challenge. Dungeons Of Hinterberg’s distinctive style, the work of Regina Resinger, is inspired by graphic novels and the art of Jon Juarez and Pierre-Abraham Rochat, while the visual effects take cues from animated movies like Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. Microbird’s rendering pipeline converts normals into coloured lines, resulting in a style reminiscent of hand-drawn detail. “All our effects are aware of other objects on the screen and their materials, as well as how much light hits them, “programmer and designer Philipp Seifried says. “So we can apply halftone effects for specific materials and only…

Developer Nerial Publisher The Dairymen Format Android, iOS, PC Origin UK Release Winter They say timing is everything – and it’s hard to think of a more relevant moment for a videogame based on Animal Farm to surface. Then again, it’s difficult to imagine George Orwell’s satirical classic will ever go out of style, its scathing study of inequality, power and control seemingly not enough to dissuade humanity from its unbroken streak of punching itself in the face. Nerial, however, has high hopes that a videogame – in which you manage a farm-society whose success or failure pivots on the inequities of its social strata and corruptibility of its leaders – might help the message to sink in. Adapting Orwell’s classic has been a decades-old ambition for creative director Imre Jele, who witnessed communism at…

Developer/publisher Tallboys Format PC Origin Russia Release TBA Ever get the feeling you’re being watched? It’s an awful sensation: a nauseating prickle on the back of your neck, a burning about the ears. Usually, it’s just a feeling, but the horror of Militsioner is that it’s not just your mind playing tricks. The eponymous Militsioner is unnerving, to say the least. The gigantic policeman sits on the outskirts of the post-Soviet town, legs drawn up, arms resting upon his knees. And he just stares at you. You must use physicsbased puzzling to MacGyver an escape. Militsioner’s objective is to observe your every movement – and, when your getaway seems assured, to slowly reach down with a huge hand, thumb and forefinger primed in a pincer of annoyance, to arrest your…

Game Destiny 2: Beyond Light Developer/publisher Bungie Origin US Format PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, Xbox Series Release November 10 Making Destiny 2 sounds painful. Three years of expansions have seen it grow into a vast sprawl of multifarious activities, demanding an install of over 120GB on PS4 and developer Bungie’s constant maintenance so the monster-shooting never ends. Bungie knows there won’t be a Destiny 3. “We sometimes think of Destiny like running Disneyland, and there’s only so much space inside the Disneyland – but unlike Disneyland, it doesn’t close at 10 o’clock at night and is always running,” Mark Noseworthy, general manager of Destiny 2, tells us. And now, on the cusp of a new generation of consoles, it’s only halfway through its life. As Destiny 2’s attractions…

Format PC, PS4, Xbox One Developer Mimimi Games Publisher Daedalic Entertainment Origin Germany Release 2016 When Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun released on December 6, 2016, it was the culmination not only of two years’ development, but also of a near-lifelong dream for one of its creators, and a project they’d begun joking about almost a decade earlier. It also happened to be the date of the German Game Developer Awards. The Mimimi team travelled from their native Munich to Cologne and that night, Shadow Tactics swept the board. “We were nominated in lots of categories, and we won almost all of them – four or five trophies,” lead designer Moritz Wagner says. “All that, having this game launch, checking Steam and being number one in global topsellers, being…

For decades, the medium’s trajectory was unwavering: lines of text were to be replaced by 2D scenes, then 3D objects, then fully interactive environments with soft shadows and discernible pores on each character’s mocapped face. By the late 2000s, a passage of text was an admission of failure on a technical level: we couldn’t render this thing happening, so, here, read about it instead. The indie gaming boom began to change the consensus on reams of writing, though. Viable digital distribution meant smaller target audiences, including players with a nostalgia for text adventures and 8bit visuals, both of which proved a necessity for singleperson teams making their first titles. But that nostalgia quickly gave way to evolution and innovation as Dear Esther and Emily Is Away created new forms of…

Developer Hollow Ponds, Richard Hogg Publisher Annapurna Interactive Format PC (tested), Switch Release October 8 Nosiness is a thoroughly British concept. (And even if it isn’t, we’re having it anyway, because taking ownership of things that aren’t ours is just what we do.) There’s something distinctly passiveaggressive about it: peering over fences and snooping into affairs, all while maintaining an air of polite nonchalance. It’s not I Am Dead’s setting – a seagullfilled, rural-accented, North Atlantic island – then, that makes it feel most like a product of Edge’s home country. It’s its central mechanic: sticking your nose into everyone’s (and everything’s) business. The justification for it is wonderful, too. You are Morris, the deceased curator of Shelmerston’s museum; when the spirit of your dog, Sparky, warns you that the…

Developer Dontnod Entertainment Publisher Xbox Game Studios Format PC (tested), Xbox One Release Out now We tell stories to make sense of our lives. Twins Tyler and Alyson Ronan know all about this: ever since a traumatic childhood incident ending with the death of their mother, for which Tyler was indicted, things haven’t really added up. And so the two reunite in their hometown of Delos Crossing, hoping to piece together the past – we tag along, but struggle to see how things fit together ourselves. At times, Dontnod’s exploration of the line between myth and reality is beautiful. It feels like an elevation of the Life Is Strange universe’s framework: kid receives a superpower relevant to their struggles, coming-of-age tale ensues. Tyler and Alyson’s ‘powers,’ while presented as supernatural,…

Earlier this year, Tinybuild CEO Alex Nichiporchik made an assertion: “Indie publishing is dead.” Currently, the Hello Neighbor franchise co-founder pointed out, the videogame market is saturated with mid-size publishers. Those who do find success manage to trade in not just games, but their very identities – think the punk posturing of Devolver Digital, or the arthouse stylings of Annapurna Interactive. “Instead of focusing on one-off publishing deals,” Nichiporchik suggested, “it’s better to build strong and entertaining brands.” Enter MWM Interactive, a new arm of entertainment company Madison Wells Media, that’s looking to make a name for itself by doing just that. MWM’s film division is notable for producing pictures such as Nicholas Winding Refn’s neon-spiked noir Drive, as well as 21 Bridges, which stars the late Chadwick Boseman. Not…

“The big game showcases which have only been viewable this year virtually have meant I look forward to them like I do live-event, appointment-to-view TV.” “We’re supposed to paint this picture of nirvana; however, I just don’t think it’s nirvana. Nirvana is making great hits, and people will find them.” “After more than 30 years, I’ve decided to stop working on videogames and fully focus on my second passion: wildlife!” “Real change will take time. But I am determined to do everything in my power to ensure everyone at Ubisoft feels welcome, respected, and safe.” ARCADE WATCH Keeping an eye on the coin-op gaming scene Cabinet Astro City Mini Manufacturer Sega Alright, so it’s not exactly coin-op: you’d be hard-pressed to cram a quarter into this dinky thing. Nevertheless, the…

MONSTER HUNTER RISE Developer/publisher Capcom Format Switch Origin Japan Release March 26 FINAL FANTASY XVI Developer/publisher Square Enix Format PC, PS5 Origin Japan Release TBA MONSTER HUNTER STORIES 2: WINGS OF RUIN Developer/publisher Capcom Format Switch Origin Japan Release Summer THE CLIMB 2 Developer Crytek Publisher Oculus Format Quest 2, Rift Origin Germany Release Winter NOUR: PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD Developer Terrifying Jellyfish Publisher Panic Format PC, PS5 Origin US Release TBA…

Developer Kaizen Game Works Publisher Fellow Traveller Format PC, Switch (tested) Release Out now Kaizen Game Works’ open-world detective game begins with a death-defying dive onto its sunkissed island setting. It could hardly be a more appropriate start. Paradise Killer is a daring, headlong plunge into a quixotic world, one that will initially leave you floundering and gasping for air. For its opening hour or so it’s as dense, confounding and overwhelming as our first visit to Night City, with its strange characters, unfamiliar terminology and arcane rules. And yet it’s similarly true to the spirit of cyberpunk: its retrorevivalist aesthetic brings together a diverse collage of influences, just as Barry Topping’s fantastic soundtrack marries city pop with jazz fusion, ’70s funk and disco. It’s almost too much, and yet…

Developer Alan Hazelden Publisher Draknek & Friends Format iOS, PC (tested) Release Out now Assembled with trademark elegance, Alan Hazelden’s latest puzzler serves up a generous helping of serene Sokoban-style challenges while taking a sideways look at humanity’s little peculiarities. A light-hearted museum tour set among a series of archipelagos, it stars the monster from Hazelden’s A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build – but if the affectionate embraces in that game suggested a gentle giant, it’s clear they’re no tree-hugger. The conifers here are swiftly uprooted with a sharp shove, becoming logs, which can be rolled or pushed to form a bridge to the next island. With two, you can make a raft; push off from a rock and you’ll sail to the next area. Like any good museum,…

Developer Massive Damage Publisher Raw Fury Format PC (tested), PS4, Switch, Xbox One Release Out now Back in E344, we suggested we’d be unlikely to skip Star Renegades’ glorious battle animations. Not quite: we fast-forward them instead. Sure, we relish watching roguish saboteur Nodo Kalthoris roll towards a colossal mech and vanishing briefly, only to appear behind it before spinning one gun and firing the second without looking, leaving it stunned. Yes, the high-quality pixel animation, dynamic lighting, post-processing effects and screen shake combines to create impact and spectacle that trumps turn-based inspiration Octopath Traveller. But the game’s Roguelike structure combined with its RPG grind means you’ll be seeing a lot of the same battles against the same enemies playing out in nigh-identical fashion. Before it descends into repetition, the…

Developer EAD Tokyo Publisher Nintendo Format Wii Release 2010 No one working at Nintendo, we’re fairly confident, was thinking of Roxette when EAD Tokyo started developing the successor to Super Mario Galaxy. But the much-derided Swedish pop duo’s greatest hits album Don’t Bore Us, Get To The Chorus is an uncanny match for the design ethos of the sequel, a mission statement to which the studio holds fast throughout. From the very beginning, it’s clear it has places to go: we’re hurried through the narrative setup, the fanfare that greets our landing at Sky Station Galaxy bursting from our speakers much sooner than that initial touchdown in the Good Egg Galaxy. Yes, Mario’s ‘faceship’ is a more underwhelming hub than Rosalina’s comet observatory. But it compensates with the speed at…