PLAY December 2022 - n.20

Typical. You spend ages waiting for news on a new Assassin’s Creed, and loads come along at once. Not only have we had our first glimpse of cover game Assassin’s Creed Mirage (p48), but a heap of teasers promising that the future of the series is well underway, and there’s no sign of slowing down (for the best, we hope). That includes the long-awaited Japan-set ‘Codename Red’, and the rather mysterious ‘Codename Hexe’, alongside other side-projects like a live-action Netflix series. But it’s really Mirage’s time to shine. And shine it does. Sporting a ‘back to basics’ approach, it’s set in ninth-century Baghdad, and is something of a homage to all previous games (but especially the earliest ones), to celebrate the series’ 15th anniversary. Even so, it’s still moving it into the…

All nine realms will be present, with returning ones feeling distinct from previous appearances. Frosty Fimbulwinter portends the arrival of the apocalyptic Ragnarök, and most of us have been eagerly awaiting more ice-cool info about Kratos and Atreus’ final tussle with the Norse pantheon (God Of War Ragnarök will end the duology). Now, with the 9 November release date beginning to thaw, we have a much clearer idea of what you’ll be doing throughout the game, how it’s evolved from its predecessor, and how it’s going large. While the 2018 soft reboot isn’t something you’d call small, it has a more personal and intimate focus that means moments of truly momentous scale are fewer and further between than they are in, say, God Of War III (that opening remains a stunner). But…

Far from feeling like world-weary gangsters, every time we get the call to play a new Yakuza (or Like A Dragon, as it’s now called globally) we can’t help but grin. There are three titles in the pipeline, announced during developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s own RGG Summit 2022. Yet the series’ future is unfolding in unexpected ways. Ironically, the game arriving first is the one furthest away in Yakuza’s chronology. Like A Dragon: Ishin! goes on sale on 21 February. It’s a remake of the PS3/4 spin-off originally released in Japan, and this PS5 and PS4 release will be the first time it’s playable in English. Set in Japan in 1866, at the end of the Edo Period, it follows samurai Sakomoto Ryoma as he ends up joining Kyoto’s Shinsengumi…

The Mishimas are at it again. Once more son dukes it out against father, and once more Tekken 8 makes a bold re-entrance into the fray seven years after its predecessor’s arcade debut. The 3D fighter is aiming for PlayStation 5, and though we can see it coming, there’s no word yet on exactly when it will strike - that’s one way to keep us on our toes! With a first look at a snippet of story mode boasting 60 frames per second, Tekken 8 does not disappoint in this regard. As part of the spectacular announcement, chief producer Katsuhiro Harada begins, “The Tekken series has always been known for the dramatic pre-rendered movies from its story mode. […] However, for our first announcement, we chose to focus on the content…

Rockstar has broken its silence and released a formal statement after 90 videos of what appeared to be footage from an as-yet-unannounced entry in the Grand Theft Auto series surfaced on a community website. The developer confirmed that the clips, which showcased everything from basic mission objectives to fully voiced NPC interactions, were indeed genuine and had been published as the result of a significant “network intrusion” by “an unauthorised third party”. It’s possible that the clips, some of which were still littered with placeholder textures, are now a few years old. Although what we saw from the game, which Rockstar now refers to as “the next Grand Theft Auto”, was still visibly in the early stages of development, the exact age of this leaked footage remains unclear. Given the rumoured 2024…

How do you reboot an all-time great? That’s what we’re keen to discover as we sit down with director Jeff Negus and writer Brian Bloom to talk about all things Modern Warfare II. The much-anticipated reboot sequel to the rebooted Modern Warfare is being designed to explore new and returning elements from across the Call Of Duty series. And just as the numeral in the title’s changed from 2 to II, so there’ll be plenty that’s familiar but not the same. Events may be set in the same timeline as 2019’s reboot, but Negus argues that it nevertheless represents a “cool opportunity to reimagine elements of the series in new and different ways.” We really are trying […] just to make the best story. One of the most prominent reimagined elements is…