EDGE #400 September 2024 - Astro Bot Collector's Edition (10 different Astro Bot covers)
KNOWLEDGE
State of decay - What does the biggest month in the videogame calendar tell us about the industry's direction?
The wind rises - Why Indie Game Incubator and the So-Fu project are a breath of fresh air for Japan's indie dev scene
Weird science - A snapshot of the grittily beautiful world of platformer Bionic Boy
DISPATCHES
Trigger Happy - Steven Poole rewinds time to look at how Jordan Mechner's story is more than just Prince of Persia
The Outer Limits - Locked in a shipping container, Alex Spencer discovers just how sensational videogames can be
Narrative Engine - In enough words to fill a page, Jon Ingold explains that, when it comes to writing, less is more
FEATURES
A Gallimaufry of 400 Extraordinary Videogame Delights
Collected Works: Ken Levine
The Making of...Balder's Gate 3
Nightdive Studios profile
Time Extend: Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
The Long Game: Shin Megami Tensei V
HYPE
Astro Bot
Slitterhead
Star Wars: Outlaws
STALKER 2
Monster Hunter: Wilds
Lego Horizon Adventures
REVIEWS
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
"This is FromSoftware in unrivalled form, although the variety of builds now available to players means that, when stuck, you inevitably question every decision that led you to settle on this weapon, or that piece of armour. This is a realm that rewards those with the courage of their convictions, however - a principle in which the world is firmly rooted. Extending the idea of Elden Ring presented a slew of challenges, not only balancing its economy and systems, but also managing expectations. This is a jewel of a response, one that catches the firelight in different ways depending on how you approach it, but always dazzles." [9]
Destiny 2: The Final Shape
"The Final Shape grasps and communicates what Destiny is made of louder than ever. It's the greatest hits of a ten-year evolution, leveraged and retold. Some bugs get in the way, some challenges are overlong, and some balance decisions are confounding. But that, too, is quintessentially Destiny. The Final Shape has validated all the efforts that led to this moment, from players and developers alike. It affirms that Bungie is prepared to guide this game to a brighter future still." [9]
Thank Goodness You're Here
"Which brings us back to those layers. There's game craft here of a kind that plays with perspective, with input and expected outcome, and with quest design. The people of Barnsworth are, after all, RPG quest-givers, making demands of you, a complete stranger, that you end up fulfilling through playful curiosity and extraordinary misfortune. Sure, like a Scarborough Kiss me quick' hat, the whole game is something of a novelty item., But there's no denying it's a classy product, and since when do we want less novelty? What can we say? Coal Supper: thank goodness you're here!" [8]
Arranger
"Arranger's cheeriness and playfulness thus works its way into every facet of its design, from the craft of its puzzles to the personality of its world and its inclusive embrace. This year has already supplied a pair of best-in-class puzzle games in the shape of Animal Well and Lorelei And The Laser Eyes; now they need to shift over and make room for one more." [9]
Nine Sols
"If there's one area where Nine Sols might have taken more cues from From's games, meanwhile, it's in the script: dialogue interruptions are a little overfrequent and long if you make the most of allied NPCs and their wares. Yet the story is intriguing, as Red Candle sticks to its political and philosophical guns. The Taopunk aesthetic that melds sci-fi with Chinese iconography mirrors a struggle between spiritualism and rationality that yields few clean answers - even the most scientific minds are flawed, it reminds us, sometimes catastrophically so. Of course, horror as reflection of the social and psychological is what we've grown to expect from Red Candle. That it couples here with such a confident step into pastures new, though, means we're keener than ever to see what's next." [8]
Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus
"If that's enough to see you through, however, it's rarely much more. It doesn't help that you probably won't navigate those courses as gracefully as you'd hope, or that the second phase of the fox boss demands midair grappling that's maddening to execute. But even aside from such issues, the bar set by genre leaders nowadays is beyond little Bo's reach. Not much here could be called outstanding - if we're hyper-critical, even though the game's visualisation of Japanese myth is a treat, it's not one we haven't sampled before. While there's a decent brew here, then, it doesn't refresh like a really good cuppa." [6]
XDefiant
"That said, XDefiant does have its merits, at least once the thin pretence of teamwork has been shown the door. There's an impressively varied selection of weapons, all realistically rendered, competently animated and satisfying to fire. The most interesting maps smartly incorporate elements from their respective series, lending them a refreshingly distinct flow. The Echelon HQ map is a particular highlight on that count, featuring no shortage of traversable vents and tiny passageways geared towards stealthier play the kind of design that implies some cohesive planning after all, If only the rest of XDefiant's structures had emerged from such focused blueprints. Hopefully it'll evolve in this direction from here onwards." [5]
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble
"Elsewhere there are races, banana collections, downhill gate runs and a slightly odd arena mode in which you attack giant plastic robots to score points. All are entertaining enough with 16 players although the framerate doesn't appear to be having much fun - but all follow the approach taken by games such as Fall Guys, relying on chaos and confusion, and valuing carnage over precision. This is entirely fine on its own merits, but a far cry from the original game's Monkey Target, which redrew multiplayer as a bright, perversely lonesome challenge, in which your most satisfying competition was always with yourself. Notions like this haunt Banana Rumble. Beyond a reliance on - surprisingly thoughtful - gimmickry and a foregrounding of knockabout thrills, behind even a slightly softer and more harmonious art style, lurks the real challenge this game struggles to overcome. Super Monkey Ball had the sad fate of being born perfect which means that, ever since that GameCube launch title, the series has been competing with memory. Not even a spin dash will get you past that." [6]
Schim
"That you can't, say, honk the horn of a parked car to attract passersby and then slip into their shadows feels like one of several tricks missed. If that's too much to ask, alternatively Schim could also do with a sharper sense of mischief and fun. What's the point in chucking litter around if it's not going to irritate anyone who spots the mess? The one running joke here is that you strive and toil to catch up with your human, only for him and his shadow to exit the scene as you approach, leaving you to latch on to some other mobile entity (a bus, a cat) in order to continue the pursuit. But in isolation, it's a little thing if not dispiriting - a purgatory of princesses in other castles - and as you criss-cross town to the supermarket, the zoo, the beach and other less distinctive locations, you may feel like you're stuck in a preschool storybook stretched to the length of a novella. Now that's a horror pitch." [5]
Until Then
"At the same time, Polychroma seems to forget the potency of its alarming start and player participation. Tiny activities, such as inserting a USB stick or skewering fish balls at the fair, reveal something about Mark, yet are few and far between. Most egregiously, when he spends the story's middle spurred into practising a recital for the school piano club's initiation, tickling the ivories only turns into a minigame on the day itself. If we'd been learning the piece along with him, it could have meant more. As it stands, for all the words you cycle through, Until Then does its best work when it focuses on the visual and the novel." [6]
KNOWLEDGE
State of decay - What does the biggest month in the videogame calendar tell us about the industry's direction?
The wind rises - Why Indie Game Incubator and the So-Fu project are a breath of fresh air for Japan's indie dev scene
Weird science - A snapshot of the grittily beautiful world of platformer Bionic Boy
DISPATCHES
Trigger Happy - Steven Poole rewinds time to look at how Jordan Mechner's story is more than just Prince of Persia
The Outer Limits - Locked in a shipping container, Alex Spencer discovers just how sensational videogames can be
Narrative Engine - In enough words to fill a page, Jon Ingold explains that, when it comes to writing, less is more
FEATURES
A Gallimaufry of 400 Extraordinary Videogame Delights
Collected Works: Ken Levine
The Making of...Balder's Gate 3
Nightdive Studios profile
Time Extend: Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
The Long Game: Shin Megami Tensei V
HYPE
Astro Bot
Slitterhead
Star Wars: Outlaws
STALKER 2
Monster Hunter: Wilds
Lego Horizon Adventures
REVIEWS
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
"This is FromSoftware in unrivalled form, although the variety of builds now available to players means that, when stuck, you inevitably question every decision that led you to settle on this weapon, or that piece of armour. This is a realm that rewards those with the courage of their convictions, however - a principle in which the world is firmly rooted. Extending the idea of Elden Ring presented a slew of challenges, not only balancing its economy and systems, but also managing expectations. This is a jewel of a response, one that catches the firelight in different ways depending on how you approach it, but always dazzles." [9]
Destiny 2: The Final Shape
"The Final Shape grasps and communicates what Destiny is made of louder than ever. It's the greatest hits of a ten-year evolution, leveraged and retold. Some bugs get in the way, some challenges are overlong, and some balance decisions are confounding. But that, too, is quintessentially Destiny. The Final Shape has validated all the efforts that led to this moment, from players and developers alike. It affirms that Bungie is prepared to guide this game to a brighter future still." [9]
Thank Goodness You're Here
"Which brings us back to those layers. There's game craft here of a kind that plays with perspective, with input and expected outcome, and with quest design. The people of Barnsworth are, after all, RPG quest-givers, making demands of you, a complete stranger, that you end up fulfilling through playful curiosity and extraordinary misfortune. Sure, like a Scarborough Kiss me quick' hat, the whole game is something of a novelty item., But there's no denying it's a classy product, and since when do we want less novelty? What can we say? Coal Supper: thank goodness you're here!" [8]
Arranger
"Arranger's cheeriness and playfulness thus works its way into every facet of its design, from the craft of its puzzles to the personality of its world and its inclusive embrace. This year has already supplied a pair of best-in-class puzzle games in the shape of Animal Well and Lorelei And The Laser Eyes; now they need to shift over and make room for one more." [9]
Nine Sols
"If there's one area where Nine Sols might have taken more cues from From's games, meanwhile, it's in the script: dialogue interruptions are a little overfrequent and long if you make the most of allied NPCs and their wares. Yet the story is intriguing, as Red Candle sticks to its political and philosophical guns. The Taopunk aesthetic that melds sci-fi with Chinese iconography mirrors a struggle between spiritualism and rationality that yields few clean answers - even the most scientific minds are flawed, it reminds us, sometimes catastrophically so. Of course, horror as reflection of the social and psychological is what we've grown to expect from Red Candle. That it couples here with such a confident step into pastures new, though, means we're keener than ever to see what's next." [8]
Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus
"If that's enough to see you through, however, it's rarely much more. It doesn't help that you probably won't navigate those courses as gracefully as you'd hope, or that the second phase of the fox boss demands midair grappling that's maddening to execute. But even aside from such issues, the bar set by genre leaders nowadays is beyond little Bo's reach. Not much here could be called outstanding - if we're hyper-critical, even though the game's visualisation of Japanese myth is a treat, it's not one we haven't sampled before. While there's a decent brew here, then, it doesn't refresh like a really good cuppa." [6]
XDefiant
"That said, XDefiant does have its merits, at least once the thin pretence of teamwork has been shown the door. There's an impressively varied selection of weapons, all realistically rendered, competently animated and satisfying to fire. The most interesting maps smartly incorporate elements from their respective series, lending them a refreshingly distinct flow. The Echelon HQ map is a particular highlight on that count, featuring no shortage of traversable vents and tiny passageways geared towards stealthier play the kind of design that implies some cohesive planning after all, If only the rest of XDefiant's structures had emerged from such focused blueprints. Hopefully it'll evolve in this direction from here onwards." [5]
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble
"Elsewhere there are races, banana collections, downhill gate runs and a slightly odd arena mode in which you attack giant plastic robots to score points. All are entertaining enough with 16 players although the framerate doesn't appear to be having much fun - but all follow the approach taken by games such as Fall Guys, relying on chaos and confusion, and valuing carnage over precision. This is entirely fine on its own merits, but a far cry from the original game's Monkey Target, which redrew multiplayer as a bright, perversely lonesome challenge, in which your most satisfying competition was always with yourself. Notions like this haunt Banana Rumble. Beyond a reliance on - surprisingly thoughtful - gimmickry and a foregrounding of knockabout thrills, behind even a slightly softer and more harmonious art style, lurks the real challenge this game struggles to overcome. Super Monkey Ball had the sad fate of being born perfect which means that, ever since that GameCube launch title, the series has been competing with memory. Not even a spin dash will get you past that." [6]
Schim
"That you can't, say, honk the horn of a parked car to attract passersby and then slip into their shadows feels like one of several tricks missed. If that's too much to ask, alternatively Schim could also do with a sharper sense of mischief and fun. What's the point in chucking litter around if it's not going to irritate anyone who spots the mess? The one running joke here is that you strive and toil to catch up with your human, only for him and his shadow to exit the scene as you approach, leaving you to latch on to some other mobile entity (a bus, a cat) in order to continue the pursuit. But in isolation, it's a little thing if not dispiriting - a purgatory of princesses in other castles - and as you criss-cross town to the supermarket, the zoo, the beach and other less distinctive locations, you may feel like you're stuck in a preschool storybook stretched to the length of a novella. Now that's a horror pitch." [5]
Until Then
"At the same time, Polychroma seems to forget the potency of its alarming start and player participation. Tiny activities, such as inserting a USB stick or skewering fish balls at the fair, reveal something about Mark, yet are few and far between. Most egregiously, when he spends the story's middle spurred into practising a recital for the school piano club's initiation, tickling the ivories only turns into a minigame on the day itself. If we'd been learning the piece along with him, it could have meant more. As it stands, for all the words you cycle through, Until Then does its best work when it focuses on the visual and the novel." [6]
