Inhoudsopgave van August 2016 - Gamesmaster

Despite the original release only being five years old, a remaster of Skyrim is on the way, compatible with existing mods and bundled with all the DLC. The revamped graphics include volumetric fog, a new depth-of-field effect and better water (!!!). It’ll be out on PS4, XO, and PC on 28 October. Final Fantasy XII is also being remastered for PS4 and is due for release in 2017, under the title FFXII: The Zodiac Age. This one’s a bit of a deeper makeover than Skyrim, with better combat, a new soundtrack, and various upgrades to make the game faster, like auto-saves and nippier loading times. Action/strategy card-based game Phantom Dust’s remaster was a surprise announcement, especially as many hadn’t actually heard of it. Though it was originally a reboot rather…

 Format NX, Wii U Publisher Nintendo Developer Nintendo ETA Summer 2017 “WE SPOT A BOULDER PERCHED ON A HILL CREST AND SHOVE IT, SENDING THE STONE CAREENING DOWN THE SLOPE AND SMACK BANG INTO TWO BOKOBLINS” Link is the new Rosebud, a name with the power to instantly trigger childhood memories no matter how disillusioned we get and how cavernous our houses become. We’ll always have Zelda, a fantasy adventure series firmly entrenched in the history of interactive entertainment as if shared across a singular hivemind. Everyone’s played it. Everyone wants to play the next. Nostalgia, though, can cloud perception. Breath Of The Wild features familiar elf boys and Triforces, sure, but how does it stand in its own right? Well, we’ll tell you how. Because we’ve played it. Our…

“WITH HIS NEW AXE, KRATOS CAN HACK AWAY AT ENEMIES, THROW IT, SWITCH TO HIS FISTS, THEN MAGICALLY RECALL IT LIKE A CERTAIN GOD OF THUNDER’S HAMMER” Format PS4 Publisher Sony Developer Sony Santa Monica ETA Autumn 2017 He’s back. With more beard, an axe, less anger, and a son in tow. Sony’s Norse return for Kratos has added so many interesting angles and new ideas that it’s hard not to get excited. And it is a return – this isn’t a reboot or reimagining, it’s the same Kratos, just now making a life for himself in viking lands. His young charge is probably the most important new addition. Sony is being super secretive about him – he has no name other than ‘boy’, leading to numerous theories about who…

“THE ROCK-PAPER-SCISSORS BALANCE MAKES HALO WARS 2 PLEASINGLY ACCESSIBLE” Format XO, PC Publisher Microsoft Developer 343 Industries, Creative Assembly ETA 21 February 2017 Like persuading somebody to trade you their copy of Overwatch for your copy of Battleborn, some gaming feats are just impossible. But then, that’s what we thought about bringing the famously fiddly genre of real time strategy over to consoles, until the original Halo Wars came along. While it’s campaign was somewhat unremarkable, it’s intuitive controls were built for the 360 pad, giving us the most accessible console RTS in years. Now with Creative Assembly (of Total War fame) handling sequel duties, we could be looking at the definitive Xbox One strategy game. Online multiplayer mode Domination pits two pairs of commanders against each other. You both…

Format PS4 Publisher Sony Developer Bend Studio ETA Summer 2017 If you’re glancing at these screenshots and thinking ‘well this looks an awful lot like The Last Of Us’ then, well, you get a biscuit, because it does in motion, too. This is a post-apocalyptic open-world game set in the wilderness. It’s two years after a civilisation-crushing pandemic leaving many millions dead and further millions transformed into cannibalistic ‘Freakers’ (not zombies, as they’re technically still alive, and can leg it about the shop faster than a whippet super-glued to a greyhound). Days Gone differs from Joel and Ellie’s Clicker avoidance simulator in one very important way, though: It’s all about escalating action, rather than slow burning tension and emotional release. In it we’ll play as Deacon St John, once a…

Format PS4, XO, PC, Mobile Pub Telltale Games Dev Telltale Games ETA Autumn Your time’s split between cowl and cufflinks in Telltale’s latest five-episode season. In one scene the camera cuts back and forth from Batman demolishing bank robbers to him relaxing later in Wayne Manor as Alfred stitches his wounds. Bruce’s butler questions his motives. As ever, you’re given three choices… “For the thrill”, “No one else will”, and “Gotham needs a hero” are our options. As in previous Telltale outings (The Walking Dead, Game Of Thrones) the choice isn’t about big narrative divergences. Rather, options like this let you define DC’s icon, whether you see him as a reluctant hero, a vengeful force for justice, or a playboy daredevil. Quick-time events are more hands-on. Snap back to the…

Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Bethesda Developer Arkane Studios ETA 11 November Arkane has shed yet more radiant sunlight on the continuing saga of Emily Kaldwin and Corvo Attano, the usurped Empress and her increasingly venerable Royal Protector. Forced to flee the Imperial capital by shadowy conspirators, the embattled pair end up in sunny Karnaca, and the latest in-game footage has shown us even more of the atmospheric industrial slum that is the Dust District. But the French studio has also revealed a brand new stage in which players explore a desolate mansion heaving with elegant furnishings rotted to ruin. At the outset of the mission, the mysterious Outsider shows up to explain that this grand home was once a site of occult ritual, and as such, your otherworldly powers…

 Format PS4, XO, PC, PS3, X360 Publisher EA Developer EA Canada ETA 29 September “ALONG THE WAY RUBBING SHOULDERS WITH FULLY-VOICED FOOTBALLING ROYALTY LIKE HARRY KANE AND MARCUS RASHFORD” Liverpool’s anthem thunders around the Anfield cauldron as young Alex Hunter watches from the bench. 20 minutes before full time, scowling Manchester United manager José Mourinho gives the signal. Hunter strips to his kit and heads out. “Welcome to the Premier League,” says commentator Martin Tyler. This is FIFA 17’s brand new story-driven campaign mode, The Journey, all about taking a teen hopeful from youth academy obscurity to the world stage, along the way rubbing shoulders with fully-voiced footballing royalty like Harry Kane and Marcus Rashford, picking dialogue options in post-match interviews, and poring over Twitter mentions from the likes of…

Format PS4 Publisher Sony Developer Polyphony Digital ETA 18 November Polyphony Digital CEO Kazunori Yamauchi is a properly dedicated petrolhead. He arrives at a reveal event for his latest game draped in a branded racing jacket, weaving his way past an assemblage of pristine motors that you sense he’d rather be throwing around a track at high speeds than talking to the press about. In spite of a certain distracted quality though, it turns out that there’s a lot of novel content to cover. Because the crux of Gran Turismo Sport is a brand new duo of ongoing online tournaments designed to foster a community of competitive car-nuts. The Nations Cup is the first, and it’s a strictly patriotic affair dedicated to the search for the country with the highest…

Format PS4, PS3, PS Vita Pub Square Enix Dev Square Enix ETA 14 October If it’s true that talent borrows and genius steals, then Mensa must be swimming in Square Enix developers, as this latest spin-off from the adorable series is fairly brazen in aping the Minecraft phenomenon. The environment is squared off into easily breakable cubes, you harvest building material by bashing away through the environment, and you can assemble anything you can imagine. Don’t mistake that for criticism though, as there’s a whole dollop of JRPG goodness, typical series charm, and appealing silliness running throughout our hands-on. With the world of Alefgard plunged into an era of darkness thanks to the Dragonlord, you begin as the only person left with the ability to build stuff. This is a…

Format XO, PC Publisher Microsoft Developer Rare ETA Spring 2017 After years of academic debate, Rare answers the most important question of all: what should we do with a drunken sailor? The solution, it seems, is to let the sozzled seadog stumble overboard and then to sail away without him. Or at least that’s how it went down on the good ship GM. Not intentionally, of course – our remaining crew of four were too busy trying to honk out a rendition of Ride Of The Valkyries to notice we were a man down, and when the fact did sink in he had already, well… sunk in. Rare’s latest delivers these anecdotes on tap. On the surface, it’s a simple looking game: you can jump, interact with parts of the…

Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher EA Developer Bioware ETA March 2017 Bioware has finally revealed its newest protagonist, showcasing footage of the bleary-eyed Ryder as she awakens on board your brand new ride, the Tempest. She wasn’t snoozing on the job, though. Rather, she’s been in stasis to survive the long journey from the Milky Way to the Andromeda Galaxy, a trek that may have taken hundreds of years. We’d probably be groggy too. By this point in the Mass Effect timeline, then, the exploits of Commander Shepard are distant history, and instead of fighting against the Reaper threat, you’re searching out a new home for humanity. As such, you can probably expect the occasional wide-eyed stare from the locals as you traverse the game’s galaxy of all-new worlds –…

“WE’VE VISITED TOKYO A FEW TIMES AND THERE’S SOMETHING MAGIC IN THE WAY THE CITY WORKS” Format PC Developer Smac Games ETA Spring 2017 Web http://bit.ly/gmtokyo42 Sometimes games look so irresistible you don’t just want to play them, you want to live inside them. Simply push through the TV and clamber in like a reverse of that scene from The Ring. Tokyo 42 is one of those games. Frankly too gorgeous for words, this ultra-stylish isometric assassination-fest is set in a futuristic Tokyo where you have to carefully find and end your target without dying yourself in the process. For co-creator Maciek Strych, this wasn’t just about imagining a sci-fi world – a key touchpoint was Japan as it is right now. “Most importantly in terms…

“YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO, BUT THE GAME OBSCURES IT BY BEING TOO BUSY AND TOO FAST” Format PS4, XO, PC (reviewed) Publisher Activision Developer Platinum Games ETA Out now Players 1-4 Much like agreeing with Jeremy Clarkson or collecting human hands, liking this dodgy co-op brawler is a thing few decent people are likely to admit. It’s destined to become one of gaming’s guilty pleasures: a title reviewers whisper about in the hushed safety of gloomy pubs, admitting they skipped Uncharted 4 in favour of some broken-but-ebullient action. This might be because it channels the fondly-remembered Turtles arcade game from forever ago. Like the ancient side-scroller, Mutants In Manhattan is a direct, breathless scrapper that lacks finesse. It’s full of things people who played the arcade game…

“THIS IS OFFICIALLY A SEQUEL, THOUGH YOU’D BE FORGIVEN FOR THINKING IT A REMAKE” Format PS4 (reviewed), XO, PC Publisher Focus Home Interactive Developer Spiders ETA Out now Players 1 No matter how good or bad your game is, when you’re taking on epics like Mass Effect with only a fraction of the budget, you surely deserve a little recognition just for trying. Action RPG The Technomancer is not the studio’s first crack at the whip. Back in 2013, Spiders pumped out Mars: War Logs, a tale of powerful water guilds fighting it out after a century of trouble for the human race on the red planet. It wasn’t especially well received, but that doesn’t appear to have perturbed the French studio one bit. Three years on, and The Technomancer…

Format PS4 (reviewed), XO, PC, PS Vita Publisher Bandai Namco Developer SpikeChunsoft ETA Out now Players 1-2 If you don’t know what the Paramount War is, or why seeing a stretchy rubber-limbed pirate screaming the words ‘Gear Fourth!’ might be a cool thing to witness, then hang up your straw hat right now and step away slowly. This 3v3 melee brawler was made for the uber fan and the uber fan alone. As such there’s very little in the way of set up or explanation. You enter One Piece: Burning Blood at the start of one of the more momentous arcs of the manga/ anime, and can chose from a vast roster of characters who if you know them will delight, and if you don’t will confound. If you are…

Whether you’re playing on a creaky netbook or a high-end rig, Overwatch is a blast. But let’s face it, there’s nothing worse than gaming on crumby gear. That’s why the peripheral professionals at Razer have unleashed a celebratory range of Overwatch-branded gaming goodness – and we’re giving the lot away to one heroic reader. Let’s kick off with the keyboard, because it’s a doozy. The Overwatch edition of Razer’s Blackwidow Chroma keyboard not only features mechanical keys for enhanced speed and performance, it also includes backlighting in all the colours of the rainbow. That might sound like a neat gimmick, but there’s more to it than that, as the Chroma will intelligently light keys to highlight action buttons and monitor cooldowns. Partner it with the Deathadder Chroma mouse for a…

THE MOST DEDICATED TEAM IN THE BUSINESS They said it couldn’t be done. They said we’d never get 51 games into 36 pages. They were wrong. We’re starting to think that we should stop listening to the man from Del Monte’s nay-saying evil cousins. Rob Crossland “What games are you excited about then, Rob?” we asked, as if we didn’t already know that he’ll be playing The Division until the cows come home. Or until Dollar Flu becomes a real thing. Wait, did he lend Ben lunch money this week? Evacuate! Zelda item you’d use in real life? Boomerang, for his Yuffie cosplay. Robin Valentine As both prod ed and the youngest member of the team, it’s Robin’s duty to make sure we know what terms likeTrolldad or LOLzy mean.…

Blast Corps… imagine that! Powered by Cryengine! Alex Shute, Facebook Road Rash – I’d happily settle for the same game just with added online multiplayer. Clint Tokley, Facebook Double Dragon – a classic that could look and sound amazing on modern hardware. David Newland, Facebook Medievil… that game was my childhood! (Literally, it was the first video game I ever played.) George G, @fireburnsred292 Black and White deserves a reboot, if only so I can chuck more villagers in the sea using an evil cow. Ben Griffin, Senior Staff Writer Brian Lara Cricket – I used to love summers of recreating the Ashes on it! Ben Tyrer, @bentyrer…

“BATMAN: ARKHAM VR IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPRESSIVE VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCES YET” Virtual reality has hit in a big and mostly unexpected way this year – cue sigh of relief for early adopters. Unsurprisingly, a lot of it is centred around space, including the snappily titled Star Wars Battlefront: X-Wing VR Mission, coming exclusively to PS VR, which aims to fulfill the childhood fantasies of a million fans by sticking you in the cockpit of the series’ most iconic ship and sending you off to dogfight with TIE fighters. All we can say to that is, pew pew, pew pew pew ! But don’t worry if you’re more into Picard and Kirk than Solo and Leia – we’ve got something for you too. Star Trek Bridge…

We’ve all thought about it: making millions from playing games on YouTube. How hard can it be? Load up something, then squawk over it as the dollars roll in. Our resident Steam Early Access expert Leon is pretty sure that’s all you have to do. Here he checks out Youtuber’s Life to see – think The Sims but with a YT-focused twist, where the dream is to make your millions from a life of online video. 1 MINUTE The game immediately earns its authenticity by starting in the future, where I live in a space palace orbiting the Earth because I’m already ‘the most popular youtuber’. (Suck it PewDiePie, you live in Brighton.) Apparently being a big enough deal online (such that you get to leave the planet) frees you…

Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Square Enix Developer Eidos Montreal ETA 23 August Mechanically-enhanced agent Adam Jensen attempts to ease tensions between the have-cybernetic-augments and the have-nots in this dark cyberpunk RPG, a societal conflict echoing civil rights struggles from history (though we’re not sure going around using his special robot powers on everyone is all that great for building bridges). New abilities include projectile nano blades that pin dudes to walls (and you can then explode them to get guys behind cover), a charged-up energy blast, and multiple electrified knuckles fired simultaneously, all of which you can field test while going “No, really guys. Augmented people are totally cool”. It’s not all offense, though. Titan Shielding covers Jensen in a kind of bulletproof Toblerone layer, Aug Focus slows time,…

“REYES USES HIS GRAPPLING HOOK TO WHIZ BETWEEN FLOATING COVER AND HOOK ENEMIES BEFORE SNAPPING THEIR NECKS” Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Infinity Ward Developer Activision ETA 4 November If you’re convinced Call Of Duty hasn’t changed in years, see Modern Warfare Remastered. The visually upgraded 2007 shooter bundled with special editions of Infinite Warfare (don’t worry, it’ll almost certainly be available separately later), provides a pared-down and urgent contrast to Infinity Ward’s new entry. It’s a companion piece that highlights the studio’s recent advances: jetpacks, wall-running, high-tech weaponry, and now, seamless transitions from terra firma to zero-g. Not to mention a story that spans planets. Overpopulation has eaten up Earth’s resources and forced us to expand into the Solar System, but hostile faction the Settlement Defense Front is challenging…

Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Ubisoft Developer Ubisoft ETA 14 February 2017 What better way to spend the most romantic of holidays than hacking up your friends and pitting vikings against samurais and knights? Yep, Ubi’s swordfest is coming out on Valentine’s Day next year, and our hands-on with the newly announced single player campaign proves it’s going to be ridiculously crunchy fun. For Honor is no mere hack ’n’ slash. Both the besieged castle and viking vs samurai missions we play prove you’ll need serious swordplay to succeed. While ordinary soldiers can be satisfyingly mowed down with one swing mid-battle, higher ranking enemies demand a fence-off. Holding the left trigger locks onto your foe, with a shield HUD popping up to show your stance. The idea is to keep…

Format XO, PC Publisher Microsoft Developer The Coalition ETA 11 October The Locust may be dead and Marcus Fenix might not be the star, but some things remain the same in The Coalition’s addition to the third-person franchise. Guns still have chainsaws strapped to them, the world’s still in danger from a monstrous threat, and roadie running’s still a great way to burn calories. There’s also still a preponderance of waist-high walls and glistening surfaces, but now combined for the first time in the form of the grotesque (but conveniently proportioned) egg sacs that your new enemies, the Swarm, use to reproduce. They’re a pretty gross bunch. The presence of extreme weather conditions injects a further dose of novelty into the gameplay mix, with wind storms frequently rolling in to…

Format XO, PC Publisher Microsoft Developer Capcom Vancouver ETA 6 December Everybody’s favourite lumpy-faced photojournalist, Frank West, is dusting off his DSLR for a festive return to the Willamette Mall. Presumably, he was shopping for Brylcreem and lens-caps when yet another zombie infestation broke out, leaving the area overrun with undead. Snap-happy Frank has had to up his game in turn, and Capcom’s been showing off footage of the paunchy paparazzo wielding electrical axes, huge katanas, and a crossbow that shoots fireworks. But if all of that sounds a little dry and self-serious for your tastes, you can always hop into an EXO suit and start chucking cars around or pulling parking meters out of the concrete with which to wail on the unfortunate undead. Combat itself has more flow…

 Format PS4 Publisher Sony Developer Guerrilla Games Out 28 February 2017 “EVERY MACHINE HAS ITS OWN ECOLOGY. THEIR BEHAVIOUR IS GOING TO BE WITHIN THE HIERARCHY” Guerilla Games’ PS4-exclusive tale of the ‘post-postapocalypse’ has had us drooling ever since its initial unveiling, but thanks to new footage showing off a rather clearer picture of the game’s moment-to-moment action, we’re now more excited than a robot dinosaur at a nuts and bolts buffet. Those beautiful, mechanical creatures form their own strange ecosystem, one that protagonist Aloy is able to exploit. In the latest demo, we watch her attack a herd of ‘Shell Walkers’, hermit crab-like robots that gather important resources and carry them on their backs. By targeting the weakpoints on their bums with her bow, Aloy is able to knock…

Format PS4, XO Publisher Warner Bros Developer Netherrealm Studios ETA Spring 2017 Do you love punching people into oncoming traffic, helicopters, and enormous sea monsters? If so, the return of Netherrealm’s DC brawler is excellent news. Once again, a cast of superheroes and villains face off in arenas packed with interactive elements, culminating in extreme, over-the-top Super Moves, all from the studio that brought you Mortal Kombat X. This time, RPG elements are the big addition – an entirely new Gear System allows you to customise Aquaman, Superman, or whoever you might be playing as, with armour and other upgrades, gained from loot drops. These will be character-specific, and you’ll have to experiment with the best options to suit your fighting style. You’ll also be able to level-up your characters,…

“PROMISINGLY IN OUR HANDS-ON NO TWO GOALS ARE ALIKE. THAT’S FOOTBALL” Format PS4, XO, PC, PS3, X360 Pub Konami Dev PES Productions ETA Autumn As as we sit down with this latest season of Konami’s football simulation, we’re asked to avoid using the monitor on the right. There is, we’re told, a problem with its brightness setting that makes the turf look like those luminous green strips butcher shops are so fond of. You get the feeling this wouldn’t be so much a problem in FIFA, celebrating as it does the highlight reel skills and showmanship over the dreary 0-0 grinds, but PES’s football has always been warts-and-all, so darker grass it is. Take our moves in PES 2017. In one match using Arsenal’s Sanchez we dip a shoulder to…

Format XO, PC Publisher Microsoft Developer Playground Games ETA 27 September There are over 350 rides in this exotic open-world racer, and an army of automobiles is absolutely crucial if you want to avoid a call to emergency breakdown services in the middle of shimmering coasts, scorched deserts, lush jungles, and kangaroo-stuffed outbacks. But wait, here’s a segue (no, Segways aren’t in it): our hands-on is a whistle-stop tour featuring Lamborghinis charging down dams, Ford Raptors launching off dunes, and trophy trucks drifting through coves onto golden sands. The elements are as much your competition as drivers, with splattering mud, clouding dust, and water bogs demanding caution. “I’d say the biggest difference between this and the previous one is we were able to carry forward the 3D puddle physics. When…

Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Deep Silver Developer Volition ETA Summer 2017 When a game’s confirmed to be part of the Saints Row universe, there are certain expectations. An open world stuffed with character? Check. Fleur-de-lis everywhere? Check. Over-the-top action? Check. You might think there aren’t many more boxes to tick – but this shooter is trying to think outside a few. It’s colouring outside the lines too, sketching a futuristic cartoon vision of Seoul, South Korea in vivid pink petals and searing blue skyscrapers. We build a team of three anti-heroes to bounce through it. Hardtack’s our first choice: a beanie-clad brute in an adorable sailor collar. His shotgun packs a close-quarters wallop, and his ghostly harpoon special impales foes. Whatcha gonna do now, LEGION baddies? Oh, stand about…

Format PS4 Publisher Sony Developer Kojima Productions ETA Autumn 2018 Norman Reedus stands alone on a desolate shore, bereft of even a shred of clothing to swaddle his toned bod. On his wrist: a handcuff. Beside him: a baby. He clutches the infant close, weeping as he does so, but the mysterious child disappears from his loving embrace, leaving his hands stained in oil. Reedus stands, revealing the scars of a cesarian-section on his abdomen, and surveys a beach covered in decomposing aquatic life. Yes folks, it’s the return of Hideo Kojima, and proof positive that the humdrum, workaday realism of Metal Gear Solid has actually been holding him back all these years. Because the debut trailer for Death Stranding may be the single oddest three minutes of video ever…

Format PS4, XO Publisher Square Enix Developer Square Enix ETA 30 September Screen-filling bosses aren’t exactly a rarity in Square Enix’s venerable series, but even by the franchise’s high standards, the newly-unveiled Titan is hefty. Towering over Noctis and chums, this stony leviathan swipes at the party with an arm like a granite Megabus. The prince and pals strike back, of course, making use of the new fast-paced combat system to warp away from attacks before slashing at the beefy boss character. If speedy fights aren’t your jam, however, Wait Mode is promising something a little more considered, pausing the action to let you survey the skirmish and prioritise targets tactically. In our demo, game director Hajime Tabata explains that the option can be toggled at any time, and has…

Format PC Developer Weappy ETA Summer Web http://bit.ly/gmthisispolice If you like your morals like your EL James book titles, then we might just have the game for you. This strategy simulation puts you into the well worn (gum)shoes of a police chief who needs to make $500,000 before he retires. How you get it is up to you but… well, let’s just say a car boot sale won’t cut it. “I don’t think the game offers ‘right’ choices. There’s not really even a ‘more correct’ and ‘less correct’ option, because at bottom Jack Boyd’s predicament has no solution,” explains game director Ilya Yaovich. “I think people will get that sense from playing just half an hour – that the main character is doomed. In the early stages of development, we…

“FIDDLY JUMP-SHOOTING AND INSTA-KILL OBSTACLES LEAD TO FRUSTRATION AND BOREDOM” Format PS4 (reviewed), XO, Wii U, 3DS, PS3, 360, PS Vita, PC Pub Deep Silver Dev Comcept, Inti Creates ETA 24 June Players 1 This throwback platformer is one of many crowdfunded game reimaginings, reboots, and sequels we’ll be seeing in the next couple of years, alongside the likes of Shenmue III, Psychonauts 2, and Yooka-Laylee. Suffice to say that if they all turn out like this disappointing effort, the spiritual successor to project lead Keiji Inafune’s Mega Man, we should probably stop Kickstarting things. It’s not that it’s a completely terrible game, it’s just mighty boring, and suffers from more technical issues than you’d expect from a game that raised well over $3 million from its fans. You play…

“APART FROM THE ODD HORSE OR WYRMSLAYER ATTACK, IT’S HARDLY A FIRE EMBLEM REUNION TOUR” Format Wii U Publisher Nintendo Developer Atlus ETA Out now Players 1 If the only thing standing between you and the end of the world was Justin Bieber, you’d probably rather throw yourself into the flames than listen to one more word about how ‘Life is Worth Living’ if only you ‘Love Yourself’ and say ‘Sorry’ (or something). Yet that’s the setup of this bizarro Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem mashup, a world where pop idols fuse with medieval warriors to fight an impending apocalypse. Fortunately, Tokyo Mirage Sessions’ cheery J-pop tunes are easier on the ears than the rabid screams of burning Beliebers, and its vibrant medley of turn-based battles and JRPG dungeon…

“THEY’RE YARNS OF THE MOST FANTASTICAL FLAVOUR, GHIBLI BY WAY OF THE BROTHER’S GRIMM” Format PS4 (reviewed), PS Vita Publisher NIS America Developer Vanillaware ETA Out now Players 1 Action games stride along a meandering path, some veering more into the realms of hardcore tightness, all weighted action and contemplative movement systems (see Dark Souls/ The Witcher 3/Monster Hunter), while others confidently trample the verge of edge-of-perception intuitive-ness (see Bayonetta/God Of War/Vanquish). This ludicrously lovely-looking side-on scrapper from Vanillaware, the maker of Dragon’s Crown and Muramasa: The Demon Blade, does something few of its ilk can: it waltzes down the middle of that lane with brash confidence to match its lavish countenance. Before we get into the meat of things: a history lesson. This is actually a remake of the…

“THIS ISH WE’VE GOT 30,000 MGP POINTS, 50 AETHERYTE TICKETS, AND AN IFRIT MASK” Dungeons, dragons, and, er, piggy outfits – FFXIV’s latest update has them all. After a long, emotional journey north of the wyvern-besieged city of Ishgard, the Dragonsong war is at its end, and with it the Heavensward storyline. We’ve seen floating islands, Moogle Kings, sky pirates, and a fair bit of heartbreak along the way, but now patch 3.3 is bringing all of that to an end with an epic eight-player boss battle against the monstrous, wrath-filled Nidhogg. As well as a punch up with a dragon, the latest patch adds two dungeons, a massive new 24-person raid, loads of crafting and housing gear, and the Aquoplis – a loot-filled dungeon that has a chance of…

Format XO Publisher Microsoft Developer Comcept, Armature ETA 13 September Keiji Inafune bloody loves robots. The Mega Man creator’s latest game sees you command a party of them, mixing and matching their powers to hit foes where they hurt. “I think there is this weird relationship that the Japanese, as a race if you will, has with robots,” he says. “Part of that is because of all the content and exposure to that sort of that manga when we were young, in our childhood. The timing of Star Wars, and us growing up as adults, there’s a lot of interaction between humans and robots.” Relatable allies enliven your travels through barren landscapes, from an enthusiastic metal dog, to a rampaging gorilla-type, to a crawling robo-spider. In our hands-on we deploy…

Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher EA Developer EA DICE ETA 21 October We’re sprinting across the verdant fields of St Quentin, enemy fire whizzing by as we charge the nearest landmark – a rather quaint stone windmill – in a desperate bid for territory. Masonry collapses and fences splinter under fire, and artillery shells leave muddy pockmarks in pristine turf. In a sense this is very much business as usual for Battlefield, the push and pull of Conquest mode familiar as we dash frantically between control points. But this new entry is in many ways a very different prospect from what’s gone before, a distinction that’s driven by its setting as much as anything else. Because the battlefields of WWI were places in which the remnants of 19th century warfare…

Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher 2K Games Developer Hangar 13 ETA 7 October So you’ve just chucked a molotov cocktail at a gang boss and burned his face off – what now? Well, in this ’60s-set open-world crime game, now you’ve got to assign a lieutenant to his vacant territory so some other dude doesn’t come along and molotov you . The choices are Irish firebrand Burke, ruthless Haitian Cassandra, and Italian mobster Vito Scaletta, whoever you pick having a different impact for your burgeoning (and illegal) business ventures. Scaletta unlocks armed enforcers you can radio in, for instance, while Cassandra will upgrade your explosives. Be warned, though, because actions have consequences. Ignore Burke too often and he snaps, threatening you before running off to a scrap…

Format PS4 Publisher Sony Developer Insomniac Games ETA Winter 2017 Even though Marvel’s premier web-slinger has always seemed like a perfect fit for a sandbox actioner, the character has something of a checkered past when it comes to gaming. But now that Ratchet & Clank developer Insomniac has been handed the reins of the franchise... lets just say our spider-sense is tingling. Taking place in an open-world NYC and starring an older, more experienced Peter Parker, this PS4-exclusive promises brawling, outlandish heroism, and – most importantly – plenty of web-slinging. Insomniac has revealed that its Spider-Man team is the biggest the studio has ever assembled to work on a single game, and apparently the developer has been beavering away on the project in secret for quite some time. Footage shows…

Format PS4, XO, PC, Mobile Pub Telltale Games Dev Telltale Games ETA December Sure, Clementine may have only aged five years since her debut as a meek nine year old in the first season of this episodic series, but those are post-apocalypse years, so she’s, like, 35 now. And who knows if this is even the same Clem you left? In the trailer she’s missing the top part of her ring finger – we don’t remember doing that… The now-teenage zombie slayer is joined by new character Javier, who you can also play as, but in what capacity it’s not yet clear. Pick one at the start to control throughout? Switch between them at set points? In any case, bouncing between dual protagonists gives Telltale the ability to kill one…

Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Capcom Developer Capcom ETA 24 January Shock, horror! Resi is scary again. Although here’s some advice, Capcom: drop that 7. This is far from the phoned-in iteration that such a bloated number would suggest. What we have here is a reimagining of survival horror; the sort of fright-fest zombie fans have pined for since the series started rotting around Resi 5. Not that there are any actual undead on show here. Well, not yet anyway. The recent Beginning Hour demo Capcom made available to PS Plus members is light on brain-biters, preferring to hone its ghoulish sights on found-footage horror, repulsive surroundings, and a slowly building sense of dread. Of course, zombies may well pop up in the final game. The publisher has confirmed the…

“GONE IS GROUCHY AIDEN PEARCE, AND HIS REPLACEMENT MARCUS EXUDES COOL” Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Ubisoft Developer Ubisoft Montreal ETA 15 November Ubisoft’s open-world hack ’em up is back! Unfortunately, it’s still not a game about gawping at pictures of chihuahuas, labradors, and poodles, but regardless, this sequel looks ready to atone for the sins of its predecessor. Chicago’s out of the picture, replaced by sunny San Francisco, realised as a vibrant, sprawling playground for new protagonist Marcus Holloway to interact with. Described by the developers as the Wild West of technology, it’s built not only as somewhere full of opportunities for mischievous hacking, but also as a realistic area that should feel alive in its own right, reacting believably to the player’s actions. The city’s bustling with underground…

“YOU ADAPT TO SURVIVE, REACTING TO TERRAIN, TIME OF DAY, PASSING PATROLS, AND LLAMAS” Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Ubisoft Developer Ubisoft Paris ETA 7 March Llamas! Llamas as far as the eye can see, flocking in woolly droves as four heavily armed soldiers bound their way past (that’s us). We want to stop and pet them, or at least scrape our rifles down their fur in lieu of a ‘hug’ button, but there’s work to be done in these literal wild lands: finding intel on the local cartel boss. Players are free to go on safari in Ubisoft’s largest ever open world, so the pressure to push forward is entirely on us. “We try different things with each iteration [of Ghost Recon],” says Wildlands’ lead game designer Dominic Butler.…

“CATCHING A GLIMPSE OF FELLOW MANIACS GIVES THE WORLD A TANGIBLE BUZZ OF ACTIVITY” Format PS4, XO, PC Publisher Ubisoft Developer Ubisoft Annecy ETA December If most devs took inspiration from the world outside their window we’d be inundated with adventures set in bland carparks and industrial estates. Er, which we kind of are. Not so Ubisoft Annecy. Situated in what is nicknamed ‘the pearl of the Alps’, its team looks out the window and sees vast slopes and snowy peaks. And, it seems, they also see lunatics strapping themselves to planks and hurtling down them. Ubi’s aim with Steep is to put you right there with that lot, on an open-world mountain shared with other online extreme sports enthusiasts. Plopped into knee-deep snow – displacing beautifully as we wade…

 Format PS4 Publisher Sony Developer GenDesign, Sony ETA 25 October “TRICO CAN SHOOT BOLTS OF RED LIGHTNING FROM ITS TAIL IN AN UNNERVING DISPLAY OF FEROCITY” It’s coming out in 2016. Just take a moment to appreciate that. It seems barely believable that the game which was announced back in 2009 for PS3 will – after a period of agonising radio silence, a generational hardware hop, and the separation of key team members from Sony – be in our hands this year. We’ve even had a chance to play the beginning of it, a gesture perhaps designed to reassure anyone whose reserves of hope have been tested by one too many reneged-upon promises. So it’s with no small amount of relief that we report that The Last Guardian appears to…

“THERE ARE PLENTY OF EXPLOSIVE WAYS TO DEAL WITH ENVIRONMENTS AS YOU LEVEL UP YOUR BALLS” Format PS4, PS Vita, PC Dev Touchfight Games ETA August Web http://bit.ly/gmnuclear What better way to pass the time after the nuclear apocalypse than with a trip to the local nuke-ravaged country club? With 100 Foot Robot Golf also inbound, 2016 is clearly the year that games developers put the ‘win’ back into swing, and this 2D retro-styled side-scroller looks like it might just be crazy enough to work. Nuclear Golf is a race against time. Well, more accurately, a race against the radiation gauge in the corner of the screen that’s counting down the seconds before you turn into a pile of radioactive goo. All you have to do is get the ball…

Everything you do in Catalyst earns points: completing side missions, hunting audio logs and nerdy monostrap bags, running through inexplicable orange orbs no one else mentions for some reason, kicking men in the face, etc. With these points you can upgrade Faith in three distinct ways. Let’s start with Movement, a fairly vital category for most humans. This contains additional manoeuvres like tucking your legs as you jump over railings, double wall-running, sliding longer, climbing pipes quicker, and 180 degree turns. You know, mostly everything you could do in the first game but locked away for some reason. Second we’ve got Gear, which is slightly more ambitious with its magrope – a grappling hook that zips you through skylines and pulls down debris to open new paths – and disrupt,…

Platinum was born from the ashes of Clover Studio, responsible for last-gen classics such as Viewtiful Joe, Okami, and God Hand. Clover was closed by Capcom in 2006 – boo! – but it wasn’t all bad news. Legendary developers Shinji Mikami, Atsushi Inaba, and Hideki Kamiya created Platinum Games in response, with many of Clover’s key members moving across. The studio agreed a four-game deal with Sega, developing Bayonetta, Infinite Space, Mad World, and Vanquish, the latter being the last game Shinji Mikami worked on before leaving to start his own studio, Tango Gameworks. Atsushi Inaba’s Anarchy Reigns was released in 2012, followed by Konami spin-off Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance – a ridiculously named melon slicer starring Hideo Kojima’s least favourite son, Raiden. Two Wii U exclusives followed: superhero game…

“BE PREPARED FOR IT TO TEST YOUR PATIENCE AS MUCH AS YOUR POWERS OF DEDUCTION” Format PS4 (reviewed), XO, PC Publisher Bigben Interactive Developer Frogwares ETA Out now Players 1 London. 1895. A starving urchin is desperately searching for the only parent he has left. It’s been three weeks since his loving father disappeared, and with nowhere else to turn, he heads to 221B Baker Street, the home of world-renowned detective Jon Hamm and his associate Jude Law. Because if there’s one thing that series fans will immediately notice about The Devil’s Daughter, it’s the radical upgrade in character model sexiness. The pasty gentleman Sherlock of the past has made way for a brawnier brand of stubbled sleuth, while the paunchy old Watson we knew and loved now boasts the…

“EVERY FEW REAL-TIME HOURS A WAR KICKS OFF, AND YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE A SIDE” Format PS4 (reviewed), PS Vita Publisher NIS America Developer Monochrome ETA Out now Players 1 You know those super rich footballers earning ludricrous sums for three hour working days spent kicking a ball about? You know how we all hate it when they abandon one incredibly lucrative job for another slightly more lucrative one? It’s a mercenary mindset, where trophies and cash mean more than loyalty. This tactical RPG understands that secretly we’d love to bethose blackguards, picking our jobs and pay cheques however we please and tosh to the consequences. In the world of Resonail (which sounds like a DIY restoration wholesalers) four factions vie for power. You and your customisable troops are based…

Format PS4 (reviewed), XO, PC Publisher Three Fields Entertainment Developer Three Fields Entertainment ETA Out now Players 1-8 Remember Burnout’s Crash mode? The beautiful art of sending your car hurtling through the air, steering it into oncoming traffic, watching the carnage and then waiting for the perfect time to become a portable bomb and do it all over again? Of course you do. It was phenomenal, satisfying and bacon-grade moreish. Unfortunately, what the ex-Criterion devs at Three Fields have done next, a golf-flavoured take on Crash mode, isn’t really any of these things. While the destroy ’em all sim looks beautiful on the surface, chip away at the campaign for any length of time and you’ll find a distinctly sub par experience compared to the team’s past efforts. It feels…

Format XO, PC (reviewed) Publisher Teotl Studios Developer Hourences, Grip Games ETA Out now Players 1 It’s a survival game just out of Steam Early Access, but hold the phone: it’s actually also a startlingly intelligent mystery, and an introspective treatise on isolation with a dash of sci-fi horror. Unlike many of its Greenlit cousins, The Solus Project is intensely polished. You are a lone space-faring scout recently crash-landed on Gilese-6143-C a beautiful yet hostile world with two moons and enough environmental danger to keep you very busy. At first your main concern is staving off hypothermia during the night, but soon you’ll have wildly varying problems to deal with, from violent snowstorms to scorching solar flares. Rather than let survival be the sole goal, however, The Solus Project smartly…