Hyper Issue 269

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim This is controversial, we know. There are arguments to be made for Daggerfall, Morrowind and Oblivion to represent The Elder Scrolls in this list. But Skyrim’s merit carries the most weight. It’s Bethesda’s most convincing fantasy world yet, bringing together varied and spectacular geography, and a civil war storyline that explores the attitudes of its people towards history, to create a land that feels lived in. And those fights against the dragons are also quite cool. DEVELOPER Bethesda Studios PLATFORM PC/360/PS3 RELEASE DATE 2011 Spelunky Derek Yu had been tinkering with a free version of Spelunky on PC for a few years before he polished it up, included an eye-popping graphical overhaul, and released it first on Xbox 360. What is now the definitive version of the game is a procedurally generated…

1. SCREW IT, LET’S JUST END IT HERE I GUESS (FAHRENHEIT) Fahrenheit – which is horrifying nonsense, aside from its very good opening ten minutes – ends the same way a damp wet fart might end a date that was already going poorly. After a horrifyingly protracted quick-time event and a sex scene that both comes out of nowhere (and kind of looks like a woman dry-humping a corpse), one of three terrible, undeserved endings kicks in. It feels like Cage was 100 words short of his upper word limit and said ‘fuck it, no need for revisions, I can do this’. 2. JAAAAAASSSSON (HEAVY RAIN) (Ethan’s terrible son Jason wanders off at the mall, disappearing completely in the four seconds Ethan has his back turned) JAAAASON! (Ethan runs around in a panic,…

1. A BRIEF RESPITE FROM THE HORRORS OF THE FUTURE (Nintendo Switch) Nintendo only put out one game for their aging hardware in 2037, but wow was it ever a nice distraction from the limitless horrors we now face every single day. Although few of us leave our homes now, we enjoyed playing this as we cowered under our blankets. 2. MUTANT BATTLE TRAINING PROGRAM (iPhone XXX) Second might seem high, but few other games released this year actually saved our lives. With radioactive mutants now roaming the streets, lowing and growling as their ability to communicate evolves in disturbing ways, it’s useful to know that their knees are their weak points. 3. LOOT BOX SIMULATOR (PC 2) This retro throwback to a time where loot boxes were an annoyance rather than the dominant form…

Originally we were going to run a list of the top 10 fighting games of all time, but in our attempts to cull our original list of 16 games down to ten we somehow increased the list to over 30 games, so we changed our list to the 20 best fighting games of all time. Then we decided not to number them, because that would be like choosing a favourite child. You could call it a copout, but if you do, we’ll fight you. VIRTUA FIGHTER 2 DEVELOPER: Sega AM2 YEAR: 1996 BEST PLATFORM: Sega Saturn Virtua Fighter 2 was the reason more than one of us in the Hyper bunker purchased a Sega Saturn. The combination of incredible graphics and animation combined with a smooth and deep fighting engine made the game arcade accurate…

Telltale’s take on The Walking Dead changed everything when it came out in 2012, and single-handedly revitalised the flagging adventure game genre. With gripping storytelling, branching narrative and a clever system that remembered even the minutest of decisions, The Walking Dead hid a surprisingly adult story under a cel-shaded exterior. Let’s take a look at some of the most difficult decisions you had to make to get through the zombie apocalypse. HELPING CLEMENTINE GET PAST THE ZOMBIES SO SHE CAN PICK UP SOME CIGARETTES FOR YOU Right from Episode 1, The Walking Dead takes hold and doesn’t let go. Lee desperately needs some cigarettes, but there’s just one problem: he’s a coward. The solution? Sending young Clementine into the abandoned 7-11 to grab the precious cigarettes which lie scattered across the dirty…

It’s all good and well for racing games to recreate some of the amazing real race tracks from around the world for us to hoon around on, but there’s nothing quite like a good fantasy track to really give you the need for speed. Wide street courses, insane mountain passes and stunning sunsets help make up just a small part of what is a list of my 10 absolute favourite fantasy tracks from different racing games over the years. 1 GRAN TURISMO 6 GRAND VALLEY SPEEDWAY When I think of Gran Turismo, I think of Grand Valley; it’s really that simple. From the technical section before the first tunnel to the picturesque bridge section, each collection of corners flow in and out of each other effortlessly, in a way that can make driving…