Gamesmaster September 2018

Back in 2014, I remember struggling to believe CD Projekt Red’s lofty promises about its new RPG, The Witcher 3. 100 hours of all-killer, no-filler, it said, an industry-best story told across a world more dense and fully realised than ever seen before. “Yeah, yeah,” I thought. “I’ll believe it when I see it.” And in 2015, we all saw it. Which is to say, CD Projekt Red doesn’t just talk a big game, it… makes big games, and when it promises that Cyberpunk 2077 will be more massive, more engaging, more customisable, more betterthan Geralt’s incredible adventure, those are words we take seriously. And then we make a kind of excited “Eeek!” sound. We can’t help it. So, of course, we had to go behind the scenes to find out as much…

THE MOST DEDICATED TEAM IN THE BUSINESS As the search for GM’s new writer continues, our methods become more… elaborate. This month, a Gladiators-style assault course. Next month, rap battles. That ought to sort the wheat from the chaff. Robin Valentine Our editor’s already booked six months off for when Cyberpunk 2077 comes out. How will the magazine get made, you ask? Easy, we’re going to write it all in advance. How hard can it be to predict all of 2019’s game announcements? What cyberpunk implant would you have? Toaster hands. No bread is safe. Rob Crossland Our motorhead art editor’s ongoing quest to master every form of transportation this month led him to set out to get his motorcycle licence. We like to think of him as GM’s answer to Claire Redfield, though for some reason…

Fortnite! Fortnite! Fortnite! Children of a certain age are all talking about this latest video gaming craze… Chances are, if they’re not actually playing it, they’ll know a friend who is. The game has had a massive impact on families – parents have been complaining all over the UK that their children are addicted to it and depressed when they were told to come off it… I like to think there are always two sides to the story though with psychologists saying that there are benefits to gaming! Even though it’s just a shooting game, players will develop strategic thinking, forward planning, and creative approaches to combat. It teaches a deep amount of collaboration, working together, and saving team mates. I was born in 1980 and I can’t remember a craze such…

SPIDER-MAN Format PS4 ETA 7 September Not long now… Soon, not only will we get to play this ace-looking game, but also we won’t have to come up with any more spider puns. We can’t w-eight… RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 Format PS4, XO ETA 26 October We know Rockstar always plays by its own rules, but it’s still maddening how silent it’s been about RDR2 lately. Just show us those cowboys! RESIDENT EVIL 2 Format PS4, XO, PC ETA January 2019 Months later, and we’re still not quite over that amazing E3 demo. Or the scary zombie corridor they made us walk through before we could play it… FALLOUT 76 Format PS4, XO, PC ETA 14 November Oh no, there Bethesda goes, changing war again, heedless of how embarrassed it must make Ron Perlman. Poor chap’ll have to rewrite his narration. THE…

The best survival horror game ever? Real life. And I don’t want to talk about it. Rob McGregor, @RobMcGregor35 Runescape taught so many people important life skills, such as haggling, and typing fast, and that sometimes the best way to get the stuff you want is to take people who have it into the wilds and make them disappear… Alastair Hector, Facebook I will never forget the day me and a friend picked up the Shadow The Hedgehog issue of GM and pored over proclamations of “Sonic gone GTA!” and “the coolest Sonic game ever!” Sadly, they were a bit off the mark, but seven-year-old me was still hyped. Matthew Ashcroft, @mattrashcroft Nothing in games compares to the feeling of scoring a goal against a mate in FIFA. Leigh Way, @LA_Way Does anybody working on Gamesmaster have a…

“THE ALIENS AREN’T YOUR MAIN CONCERN: 19 OTHER PLAYERS WILL DROP INTO AN AREA OF THIS WORLD AT THE SAME TIME” We’re not sure what we expected next from Yager, developer of the brilliantly subversive Spec Ops: The Line, but… probably not this. The Cycle promises to be a multiplayer game like no other. Let’s start with the setting: from what we’ve seen of the alien landscapes so far, they look absolutely stunning. They’re packed not only with lush, otherworldly flora, but all manner of friendly and not-so-friendly monsters, from tiny, skittering critters to freakish, towering behemoths that could easily crush you underfoot. The creature designs are brilliant; they’re clearly rooted in real biology enough to be believable, yet incorporate enough weirdness to keep things feeling fantastical. The aliens aren’t your main…