May 2023 - n.26

PLAY

The ultimate guide to PlayStation gaming, offering complete coverage of PS4, PS3 and PS Vita

PLAY1 min read
Leagues Ahead
Massively popular PC MOBA League Of Legends hasn’t made its way to PlayStation yet (while work on a port of Wild Rift, a condensed mobile version, has been underway for the last few years, there’s no concrete release date yet). However, Riot Forge, R
PLAY4 min read
Are They Prepared To Face Justice?
Getting you closer to PlayStation’s most exciting stories, people, and culture The world of superheroes and supervillains is one of dual identities. Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is no different, the latest showcase since the leaked screensh
PLAY3 min read
Marching Orders
Back when it was first announced in 2019, Humanity was a curious and mysterious thing; a game revolving around huge crowds of people, this central focus probably triggers unintended anxiety in a post-pandemic world. The obfuscation of what exactly th
PLAY3 min read
I Ran (so Far Away)
The thrill of taking games from the big screen in your living room to the little screen in your pocket has never really grown old, as both proud PS Vita owners and avid PS Remote Play users can attest. However Ultimate Sackboy, developed by Exient, m
PLAY2 min read
Block Party
Not every videogame needs to leap to the screen as a straight adaptation. Sometimes the stories that surround gaming in the real world can be just as interesting, as is the case with Tetris (just released on Apple TV), which dramatises the true story
PLAY1 min read
Absolute Scenes In Forgotten Realms
The mad lads of narrative design, the team at Larian Studios, are back. Most recently known for the winding paths of 2018’s Divinity: Original Sin II, the developer is returning with a sequel to another RPG titan: over 20 years since the Biowaredevel
PLAY2 min read
Should The Dead Space Sequels Be Remade?
The Dead Space remake is really great, but imagine what PSVR2 would bring to the table. With the headset’s increased fidelity, and the twin OLED screens also offering inky, deep-space black levels, Dead Space in virtual reality could be a truly pant-
PLAY2 min read
Life’s A Beach
Gently lapping tides accompany a rat-a-tat of gunplay that really pops in NDreams’ latest, Synapse. Exclusive to PlayStation’s just-released virtual reality tech PSVR2, it makes the most of the Sense controllers by putting serious firepower in one of
PLAY2 min read
“Hbo’s The Last Of Us Needs To Be The Blueprint For Adaptations.”
WRITER BIO Vic Pheasey’s open-mindedness about screen adaptations is as successful as Joel screaming in a Clicker’s face. It never ends well. When word spreads of a well-loved game coming to the screen, it’s quickly followed by a collective groan. W
PLAY2 min read
Poisons
If you want to add poison to your punches, then FANG is your man, holding many a nasty purple substance up his considerable sleeves. Alternatively, you can play as Poison – that is, the veteran Capcom character who made their first appearance in Fina
PLAY2 min read
“There’s Another Way Developers Could Keep Old Games Alive.”
WRITER BIO To honour his original release, Luke Kemp insists that PLAY uses a severely outdated photo of him, ignoring the latest graphical updates. Of all the entertainment industries us human beanies have, the videogame one is the only sector that
PLAY4 min read
Darkest Dungeon II
Riding in a stagecoach at sunset, charging through piles of leaves, and even finding the odd palmful of coins, we can’t rest easy. As everything is bathed in the dying light, there’s no ignoring that something red is coming for us; ruin has found us
PLAY3 min read
Wayfinder
Watch out World Of Warcraft, this free-to-play title is gunning for your MMORPG crown with its hero shooter combat and highly replayable co-op questing. Helmed by Airship Syndicate, known for its work on the excellent Darksiders Genesis, this wholly
PLAY2 min read
Valfaris: Mecha Therion
Mechs, monsters, and metal? You have our attention! A brief glance might suggest this is a predictable 2D side-scrolling shooter, but that word ‘predictable’ needs to go straight into the bin. We’re pleasantly surprised by what we play, which include
PLAY3 min read
Dead Island 2
We only review finished games, so in Viewpoint we go hands-on with near-final code of a game that just missed our review deadline. Oscar Taylor-Kent got off the plane at LAX for a quick five hours of fame with the starry-eyed Dead Island 2. There’s
PLAY2 min read
Capes
Marvel’s Midnight Suns has set the turn-based superhero adventure bar incredibly high. One thing that immediately works in Capes developer Spitfire Interactive’s favour, however, is that its game does several things differently. If you want a new app
PLAY3 min read
Age Of Wonders 4
You could argue that the real difficulty of Age Of Wonders 4 is getting past its surprisingly robust character and faction creation screen. But after going hands-on and faffing with helmet types, banner insignias, and whether or not to indulge in can
PLAY3 min read
Glitch Busters: Stuck On You
While we enjoy a dark and miserable adventure sometimes (hi Ellie!), it’s nice to break those journeys up with something bright, fun, and full of colour. With a world and art style sitting somewhere between Wreck-It Ralph and Nintendo’s Splatoon game
PLAY2 min read
Party People Of Valisthea
Our protagonist, voiced by Ben Starr. XVI’s inciting incident sees a scrap between fiery Eikons Phoenix and Ifrit burn through everything a young Clive called home. The game charts three periods in his life as he seeks revenge upon whoever calls Ifri
PLAY6 min read
Truly Eikonic
FORMAT PS5 / ETA 22 JUN / PUB SQUARE ENIX DEV SQUARE ENIX / PLAYERS 1 Seven years on from the last mainline Final Fantasy, expectations for the next couldn’t be higher. In celebration of 35 years of history, XVI hews close to series traditions in som
PLAY2 min read
The Anatomy Of A Fight
I Clive chases after a ghost from his past, convinced this mysterious cloaked figure is the one who burned his home to the ground years before. II Winged Eikon Garuda taunts Clive from the air and the ground, keeping the cloaked ghost just out of his
PLAY2 min read
Resident Evil Village – VR Mode
FORMAT PSVR2 PRICE Free update (PS5 & PS4: £34.99) ETA Out now PUB Capcom DEV Capcom PLAYERS 1 The base version of Resident Evil Village uses its first-person perspective to deliver in-your-face horror, so you’d expect it to be primed to impress wh
PLAY3 min read
Spelling It Out
I Valisthea is not an open world, but contains some massive areas to explore. Hiroshi Takai tells us, “We have, I think, four zones that are about two kilometres by two kilometres.” II XVI’s structure is comparable to those of earlier titles such as
PLAY8 min read
Spell Of The Game
Felix Flicker’s book about mixing magic and science is out now When you know how it works, it’s still magical For scientist and author Felix Flicker, magic is that which is “hidden in plain sight”. Helpfully, this also describes Flicker’s personal p
PLAY4 min read
Destiny 2: Lightfall
FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £39.99 ETA Out now PUB Bungie DEV Bungie PLAYERS 1-12 depending on activity LENGTH 6 hrs approx (campaign) ACCESSIBILITY Choice of controller layouts; vibration, motion blur, and hints on/off; colourblind modes; retic
PLAY2 min read
The Upgrade
Just as PS4 games can leap to PS5, so PSVR games can jump to PSVR2. In fact, thanks to a lack of backwards compatibility, it’s all the more necessary – meaning we’re glad the ones we’re looking at this month have been given a fresh coat of paint. Che
PLAY9 min read
Resident Evil 4
FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £54.99 ETA Out now PUB Capcom DEV Capcom PLAYERS 1 LENGTH 14-15 hrs ACCESSIBILITY Customisable subtitles; remappable controls; aim assist, auto-reload; various action hold/toggle settings; motion control camera, motio
PLAY2 min read
Gran Turismo 7 VR
FORMAT PSVR2 PRICE Free update (PS5 version: £69.99) ETA Out now PUB Sony DEV Polyphony Digital PLAYERS 1 LENGTH N/A ACCESSIBILITY Same as base game, no specific VR options Even though this VR update comes to the main game for free, experiencing Gr
PLAY2 min read
Song In The Smoke: Rekindled
FORMAT PSVR2 [reviewed], PSVR PRICE £24.99 ETA Out now PUB 17-Bit, Perp Games DEV 17-Bit PLAYERS 1 LENGTH 15+ hrs ACCESSIBILITY Difficulty options; sitting and standing VR; different locomotion/comfort options; free jump Crouching in the bushes, w
PLAY2 min read
Demeo
FORMAT PS5, PSVR2 PRICE £32.99 ETA Out now PUB Resolution Games DEV Resolution Games PLAYERS 1 Hopping into this virtual quickfire tabletop RPG is a breeze – thanks to preexisting cross-play players, you won’t have to rustle up your own party. And
PLAY4 min read
The Legend Of Heroes: Trails To Azure
FORMAT PS4 PRICE £49.99 ETA Out now PUB NIS America DEV Falcom PLAYERS 1 LENGTH 30+ hrs ACCESSIBILITY Difficulty options; high-speed mode; option to retry and lower enemy difficulty after each game over The good news is that if you played Trails F
PLAY2 min read
Tentacular
FORMAT PSVR2 PRICE £19.99 ETA Out now PUB Devolver Digital DEV Firepunchd Games PLAYERS 1 Like a close misfit cousin to What The Bat, Tentacular lets you loose in a virtual world and then forces you to grapple clumsily with it using non-human limbs.
PLAY2 min read
Garden Of The Sea
FORMAT PSVR2 PRICE £16.99 ETA Out now PUB Neat Corporation DEV Neat Corporation PLAYERS 1 There are all the hallmarks of a chill farming VR game here, from the pastel palette to cute creatures you can feed and pet. But things are muddled by a craf
PLAY2 min read
Cities: VR – Enhanced Edition
FORMAT PSVR2 PRICE £24.99 ETA Out now PUB Fast Travel Games DEV Fast Travel Games PLAYERS 1 We don’t know about you, but we’ve never been in charge of a city. Not so much as a hamlet! We’re pretty sure that this game is unrealistic in one very welcom
PLAY2 min read
Dredge
FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £21.99 ETA Out now PUB Black Salt Games DEV Team 17 PLAYERS 1 LENGTH 10-12 hrs ACCESSIBILITY Colourblind mode; QTE adjustment; menu adjustment HP Lovecraft meets open-water fishing game’ is quite the elevator pitc
PLAY4 min read
Atomic Heart
FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £59.99- £94.99 ETA Out now PUB Focus Entertainment DEV Mundfish PLAYERS 1 LENGTH 15+ hrs ACCESSIBILITY Closed captions; difficulty settings Developer Mundfish’s debut effort is like the hybrid enemies of its campaign
PLAY2 min read
Altair Breaker
FORMAT PSVR2 PRICE £23.99 ETA Out now PUB Thirdverse DEV Thirdverse PLAYERS 1-4 Sometimes it’s hard to work out exactly why a game doesn’t quite work. For example, on paper this is a fairly deep fighter. There are parries, a wide variety of weapons,
PLAY2 min read
The Last Clockwinder
FORMAT PSVR2 PRICE £19.99 ETA Out now PUB Pontoco DEV Pontoco PLAYERS 1 When a game manages to make factory-style production lines compelling, you know you’ve found something special. The twist? You create these production lines, with a great deal
PLAY5 min read
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £54.99 ETA Out now PUB Koei Tecmo DEV Team Ninja PLAYERS 1-4 LENGTH 50-70 hrs ACCESSIBILITY Subtitles Following in the soulslike tradition isn’t easy, and Team Ninja’s Nioh needed a sequel before it could truly est
PLAY4 min read
Labyrinth Of Galleria: The Moon Society
FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £44.99 ETA Out now PUB NIS America DEV Nippon Ichi Software PLAYERS 1 LENGTH 70+ hrs ACCESSIBILITY ‘Gentle world’ difficulty; adjustable movement controls; text for most speech Think you’ve seen everything number-c
PLAY2 min read
Scars Above
FORMAT PS5 (reviewed), PS4 PRICE £34.99 ETA Out now PUB Prime Matter DEV Mad Head Games PLAYERS 1 LENGTH 18 hrs ACCESSIBILITY Subtitles Aboard the spacecraft Hermes, a Sentient Contact Assessment and Response team (or SCAR) is tasked to research th
PLAY2 min read
Three To Play
Every month, loads of games come to the PS Store. You’d be hard-pressed to play them all, so here we’re looking at some that didn’t make the cut for a long review. This month, we’re immersing ourselves in some of PSVR2’s more unusual offerings. Just
PLAY2 min read
Boyfriend Dungeon
FORMAT PS5 PRICE £15.99 ETA Out now PUB Kitfox Games DEV Kitfox Games PLAYERS 1 Romance can be a double-edged sword. It can also be a glaive, a scythe, or even a gigantic axe. At least, it can in Verona Beach, where your cousin is giving you a pl
PLAY2 min read
Battlefield 2042 – Season 4: Eleventh Hour
FORMAT PS5, PS4 PUB EA DEV DICE YEAR 2021 At launch, some people bounced off the latest Battlefield so hard, they got whiplash. If that was you then you’ll be interested to hear that, 18 months later, a huge number of changes and additions – big and
PLAY2 min read
Bonfire Peaks – Lost Memories, Part 1
FORMAT PS5, PS4 PUB Draknek & Friends DEV Corey Martin YEAR 2021 Clonk, thud, fwoom: part of the therapeutic joy of burning all your stuff in Corey Martin’s puzzler is the satisfying sounds it produces. With the first chapter of tripartite expansion
PLAY2 min read
Hitman – Freelancer
FORMAT PS5, PS4 PUB IO Interactive DEV IO Interactive YEAR 2021 This new mode, released as part of the latest free update for Hitman 3, is a surprisingly meaty addition that breathes new life into almost all of the trilogy’s well-worn locations (Car
PLAY2 min read
Midnight Suns – Venom
FORMAT PS5, PS4 PUB 2K DEV Firaxis YEAR 2022 Given the Deadpool DLC released in January didn’t add a lot of substance in terms of story or activity, despite introducing vampires as a new class of enemy, it’s nice to see the Venom DLC take another st
PLAY1 min read
Dead By Daylight – Tools Of Torment
FORMAT PS5, PS4 PUB Starbreeze Studios DEV Behaviour Interactive YEAR 2016 This chapter’s Killer, The Skull Merchant, counters previous addition The Knight’s mediaeval horror with a much more modern angle: hunting people for sport in true The Most D
PLAY4 min read
PS5 Hall Of Fame
Endlessly stylish, we keep coming back to this time and time again. Trapped on a time-looping island, Colt must blast his way out by assassinating eight targets in one day, using special powers to get the upper hand, all while avoiding a (sometimes p
PLAY1 min read
Play On
There are multiple soulslikes in our hall of fame – they’re just that good. Boasting two darkly beautiful worlds full of yokai, and with demanding, satisfying swordplay, The Nioh Collection is a genre heavyweight. Here are three more to sate your hun
PLAY4 min read
PS4 Hall Of Fame
You won’t find another open world quite like this, the streets of Los Santos paling in comparison to this gorgeous western sprawl. Arthur Morgan’s wild west adventure is epic, emotional, and has enough teasing mysteries on every Horizon for no two co
PLAY1 min read
Dash’s Dazzling Deals
An ambitious open-world RPG set in a striking blighted futuristic world, Elex II doesn’t mess around. With no live-service grinding or procedural generation to speak of, this is a good old-fashioned adventure hand-crafted by Piranha Bytes – the studi
PLAY5 min read
PSVR Hall Of Fame
Tetris, yeah? It might be a great game, but it’s easy to understand why you’d brush this version off as ‘just more Tetris’ at a glance. Yet Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s trippy, transcendent take on the block-based puzzler is nothing short of a masterpiece. Su
PLAY2 min read
What’s New Plus-sy Cat?
On PS Plus in March we battled through doomed futures before going deeper underground. On PS5 and PS4 we had multiplayer shooter Battlefield 2042, then on PS4 only we had hack-and-slash spinoff Minecraft Dungeons. The final offering for the month was
PLAY3 min read
MEMORY CARD Grand Theft Auto IV
War vet Niko Bellic chases the fabled American Dream, only to find his cousin Roman’s failing taxi business, dirty apartment, and everything he owes to the loan sharks on the other side of the pond. Fans of the open world crime-’em-up series are no s
PLAY2 min read
DEFENDING Rayman
Leglessness is rarely something to be celebrated, and given the usual connotations of the word, perhaps that’s for the best. But Rayman – the entirely sober, literally limbless platforming mascot, loosely sketched as if original creator Michel Ancel
PLAY3 min read
CLASSIC GAME Severed
By 2016, PS Vita’s star was fading. But that didn’t stop Drinkbox Studios looking to complete a hattrick of releases on the platform, after Guacamelee! and Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack. While debuting a title on the handheld may have seemed
PLAY2 min read
Life Is Strange
Max Caulfield returns to her hometown after a long absence and, after mysteriously developing time travel powers, manages to save the life of her former best friend. We’re not spoiling anything – you know this is a special game, as that’s just how th
PLAY1 min read
A BRIEF HISTORY OF Remakes
Spy Hunter (PS2, 2001) was a remake of a 1983 arcade game. There’s another remade game named Persona 2, subtitled Eternal Punishment. Missile Command reimagined the classic game for PS1 in 1999. Lunar ticks the right boxes Released for PS1 in 19
PLAY2 min read
They See Me Rollin’
FORMAT PS4, PS VITA / PUB SQUARE ENIX / DEV SQUARE ENIX / RELEASED 2016 You don’t have to use your imagination in Dragon Quest Builders. If you like, you can stick to making rudimentary rooms and following blueprints to fulfil the townsfolks’ reques

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