PLAY January 2023 - n.22

PS5 is now over two years old, yet it’s still not had a defining year. 2023 looks set to change that, however, with several games set to push the power of this console generation, kicking off with cover game Dead Space (p42) when it launches in January. It’s sure to be a PS5 must-play… as long as you can stand the horror, that is. We spent plenty of time talking with the developers behind the big remake, revealing how they revelled in upping the gore factor, how they’ve changed the games in some interesting ways, and how they’ve leveraged PS5’s power to enhance the original, from gorgeous lights to creepy shadows. There’s no wonder that our huge 2023 preview feature (p26) is packed with horror games. After all, the level of immersion…

Getting you closer to PlayStation’s most exciting stories, people, and culture Switchback is aiming for something more than ‘more of the same at a higher resolution’. The secret is out. People around the world will start pulling on Sony’s new headset on 22 February, but they’ll need to pay an eyebrow-raising £529.99 (or £569.99 for the package with a Horizon Call Of The Mountain code) in order to do so. That price demands examination, but first let’s take a look at some of the games they’ll be playing on the new hardware. Original PSVR players may be familiar with Until Dawn: Rush Of Blood, a literal rollercoaster of a shooter with plenty of scares. A spiritual successor (pun not intended, but welcome) has been announced in the form of The Dark Pictures: Switchback…

Can anything stop The Last Of Us from achieving total cross-media domination? Probably not, as the post-apocalyptic series is now targeting tabletops, meaning you’ll have to enjoy your tea slightly to the left of the cards, minifigures, dice, and tokens that make up The Last Of Us: Escape The Dark. The official boardgame has breezed past its Kickstarter goal by almost five times at time of writing. Tabletop gaming aficionados might already recognise the game’s subtitle. Escape The Dark is more than an alluring name, it’s the title of a complete gaming system from Norwich-based studio Themesborne. Needless to say, this The Last Of Us boardgame is built around the latest iteration of that system. Themesborne is a great studio to dive into Naughty Dog’s bleak world, as the ethos behind its…

Retailing at an eye-watering £249.99, Razer’s first foray into the world of licensed PlayStation 5 controllers certainly isn’t cheap. As an even higher-end alternative to the already expensive DualSense Edge, the Wolverine V2 Pro justifies its increased price tag and ‘Pro’ name through a host of specialist features. With its ergonomic shape and offset analogue sticks (an alternate stick positioning more commonly found on esports-oriented controllers for PC and Xbox) lightning-fast competitive gaming is clearly the focus here. This is also evident in the decision to include ‘Mecha-Tactile’ face buttons, Razer’s own mechanical-feeling switches that offer a far lower actuation distance than traditional membrane buttons. In theory, these give you the edge in online games by allowing for far quicker button inputs. Similarly, the fully adjustable trigger distance enables FPS players…

The age of the developer is over,” Wreckreation’s executive producer Alex Ward proclaims – a bold choice of words when revealing Three Fields Entertainment’s new game. But that’s not to say he’s putting himself and the rest of the studio out of work, any more than ‘the death of the author’ has stopped people writing books. Given the studio’s history – it was set up by former Criterion employees, and its previous games have taken inspiration from Burnout (Danger Zone was essentially Crash mode as a standalone game; Dangerous Driving was very much a spiritual successor to Burnout) you’d expect it would eventually produce an equivalent of Burnout Paradise. Is this it? There’s certainly a large open world island you can drive around, but that barely scratches the surface of what’s…

The 40th Anniversary Edition of the Golden Joystick Awards went off with a bang (and not only because we, dear reader, were part of the prestigious judging panel). Hosted by Laura Bailey and Troy Baker, it was a great evening of industry celebration and some trailers to boot. While plenty of winners stepped up to the podium, Elden Ring ruled the dragon roost. Picking up no fewer than four of the coveted awards, it won Best Visual Design, Best Multiplayer Game, Critics’ Choice, and the all-important Ultimate Game Of The Year. In addition, developer FromSoftware won Studio Of The Year. It’s great to see so many people rally behind a shared love of a game. While Elden Ring has certainly been popular enough that its victories aren’t unexpected, it’s worth remembering…