PLAY

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

PLAY3 min read
Welcome
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a little movie called Star Wars helped to shape pop culture as we know it, just as the gaming medium was beginning to gain momentum too. From inspiring Final Fantasy games to having games of its own, it’s h
PLAY4 min read
Insider
A peek behind the Summer Game Fest’s Play Days curtain – has E3 been usurped? Slap-bang in the middle of the endless urban sprawl that is downtown LA lies a small cluster of buildings and courtyards which for three days are retrofitted into a modern
PLAY3 min read
Software Update
Things have been changing at PlayStation: studios have been closed, the executive suite shaken up, internal interview gaffes made, and goalposts shifted. It’s a tricky time to drum up excitement for a summer of gaming, though Sony’s most recent State
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Rise Again
Uh, should we kick off this news piece with a spoiler warning? Or simply ask the question ‘If you haven’t played either of the Last Of Us games or watched the first series of the television adaptation, then why are you reading this?’ Joking aside, th
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Your PS5 Is Bugged
My.Games has announced its new publishing label, Knight’s Peak, and it’s coming out blasting, as it’s handling the PS5 release of Offworld’s Starship Troopers: Extermination on 11 October. Also in its announcement lineup are mascot platformer Nicoder
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Sheer Art Attack
Simply making a start can be a challenge, but starting again is daunting on a completely different level. Final Fantasy XIV Online’s ten-year-long story arc concluded with Endwalker, but the adventure isn’t over. Upcoming expansion Dawntrail ushers i
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Hidden No More
Finally emerging into the light, and coming to PS5 on 15 November, Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes place during the late Sengoku, or ‘warring states’, period in Japan’s history. In it, dual protagonists explore the historical provinces of Iga, Omi, an
PLAY2 min read
Did The Recent State Of Play Deliver The Goods?
MANAGING ART EDITOR I’m sorry to say that most of the announcements left me cold. To be honest, I’ve had my fill of dark fantasy soulslikes, and, like Mim, I’m a fan of single-player narrative-driven games, so hero shooters Concord and Marvel Rivals
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Philosophy
Sticking to your ethical guns isn’t easy at the best of times, so how quickly will you bin your principles when things get truly bleak? Trying to stay alive with scant resources is tricky in Pathologic 2, never mind saving others from a horrifying pl
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“Helldivers 2 Shows Live Service Games Need To Keep Surprising Players.”
Live service games have really had a reckoning in the last 12 months. What once was a genre bustling with tons of thriving games has felt like a walking corpse slowly shambling towards losing all of its limbs. The big titles are trucking along throug
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“Good, Bad, I Don’t Know? Can I Repeat The Quest Quest If I Get It Wrong?”
How do you want to play? When asking you to make a decision, a lot of games make it pretty clear which choice the developers think is the morally good one and which ending that will lead to – just think of Mass Effect’s famous paragon-renegade binary
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Metaphor: ReFantazio
FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 11 OCT / PUB SEGA DEV STUDIO ZERO / PLAYERS 1 Amid a summer games lineup drowning in futuristic shooters and gritty slashers, ReFantazio feels like a breath of fresh air. Not only because it’s got drop-dead gorgeous art that’s h
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Fatal Fury: City Of The Wolves
FORMAT TBC / ETA EARLY 2025 / PUB SNK / DEV SNK / PLAYERS 1-2 Twenty-six years is a long time to wait for a new instalment of a fighting game. To be fair it’s been less than a decade for team PlayStation, given that Garou: Mark Of The Wolves got its
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Hades II
FORMAT TBC / ETA TBC / PUB SUPERGIANT GAMES DEV SUPERGIANT GAMES / PLAYERS 1 Our first few encounters in Hades II are awkward and stumbling, protagonist Melinoë hacking clumsily at nearby ghouls. But as we start to move through the woods of Erebus, o
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Just Crow Things
FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA TBC / PUB UNBOUND CREATIONS / DEV UNBOUND CREATIONS / PLAYERS 1 Chaotic animal sims should be a well-defined genre at this point. We’ve played as a disgruntled goose in Untitled Goose Game, a ravenous possum in Pizza Possum, and
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2xko
FORMAT PS5 / ETA 2025 / PUB RIOT GAMES DEV RIOT GAMES / PLAYERS 1-4 Although it’s better known on PC, where the rigorous multitasking and twitch reflexes required by MOBAs and FPSs feel at home on keyboard and mouse, that hasn’t stopped developer Rio
PLAY10 min read
Star Wars – A Celebration
Seven seasons of children’s television prove that the gap between Episode II and Episode III is prime ground for storytelling. The Clone Wars, originally referenced in the very first movie to be released, take place at this point. When civil war brea
PLAY9 min read
Hands-on star charts
Back in 1972, two stark shapes cleaved their way through black space, simultaneously hurling blasts back and forth. That was Pong. It changed gaming forever. Only five years later, in 1977, the film titled simply Star Wars would do the same for movie
PLAY11 min read
Star Wars – A Celebration
Midway through Episode I, ten whole minutes are devoted to podracing across the desert planet of Tatooine. Laden with CG, it may seem pedestrian today, but in 1999 and on the big screen it was a fast-paced thrill-ride like little else. It’s no wonder
PLAY6 min read
Shooting First
FORMAT PS5 / ETA 30 AUG / PUB UBISOFT / DEV MASSIVE ENTERTAINMENT / PLAYERS 1 Over-saturation can make it easy to become jaded. Even the most ardent Marvel fans found their interest waning when four movies and three TV shows were being released every
PLAY9 min read
Die Tonight, Live Forever
FORMAT PS5 / ETA OUT NOW / PUB HALF MERMAID PRODUCTIONS DEV HALF MERMAID PRODUCTIONS / PLAYERS 1 Before saying anything about film or game making, before even asking Immortality’s director Sam Barlow how he actually feels about the term ‘interactive
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Follwing The Thread
Cosplay. It’s everywhere. You can’t move for cosplay online, at conventions, or at fan events these days; it’s great! A vibrant, living community whose members love to express their passion in the most artistic way, cosplay has been part of pop cultu
PLAY5 min read
Crow Country
Ahhh PlayStation-1-era horror! Truly a golden age for 3D frights. We got our first visit to Silent Hill, several great Resident Evils… in fact, let’s go and play some Resident Evil Director’s Cut on PS Plus right now. *Plays it for ten minutes* Oh go
PLAY4 min read
SaGa: Emerald Beyond
Green all over, but certainly not behind the ears, ’80s RPG series SaGa has returned with its strange ‘free scenario’ system intact. Yet while some of its defining oddities remain and function better than ever at ensuring your quest feels like your o
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Indika
Should someone ask me about my own relationship to religious faith, I usually answer, “Me and the big cheese upstairs don’t talk.” God does not speak to put-upon nun Indika either – instead, something devilish bends her ear, and it’s up to you whethe
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Eternal Threads
Despite time travel being central to this game’s plot and action, the adventure takes place entirely in one house. And that’s great. You want a game that does something different? This is your stop, off you get, remember to thank the bus driver on yo
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System Shock
The greatest mystery surrounding the space station this remake of a classic game takes place on isn’t the origin of the malicious, super-advanced AI SHODAN. Nor is it why there are so few toilets for so many people. What we really want to know is how
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Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings Of Ruin
Are you in the ‘Think of the poor monsters’ camp when it comes to Capcom’s does-what-it-says-on-the-tin series? Then this may be just the spinoff for you. Quite a bit of the formula from the mainline series has carried over here, along with beasties
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Read Only Memories: Neurodiver
Released in 2018, 2064: Read Only Memories was a cyberpunk visual novel with point-and-click elements in which you solved a kidnapping with the help of the world’s first sentient robot. While also set in a near-future California, Neurodiver doesn’t h
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Cyber Citizen Shockman 3: The Princess From Another World
Aside from some questionably yonic imagery and the unfortunately-named ‘Legendary power of Gash’ that you’re trying to stave off, this is wholesome platforming. The Kaizō Chōjin Shubibinman series was released only in Japan on PC Engine in 1992, but
PLAY3 min read
Sea Of Thieves
Arrrrr you ready for the best pirate experience on PS5? Okay, that’s not saying much, but a win’s a win. You can sail a ship, follow maps to buried treasure, steal and sell loot, and get drunk on grog (not a good idea in battle); though you’ll be fig
PLAY4 min read
PS5 Hall Of Fame
Based on fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, developer Larian has apparently bottled the essence of only our most electric tabletop sessions to serve up an incredible RPG return. Offering a wealth of options for crafting your own adventurer – and ‘yes,
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Play On
Tekken 8 has it all: a huge cast, generations of family drama, and bustups in unlikely spaces. While the story mode attempts to wrangle all that with mixed results, the action in each round is thrilling. It’s a tough act to follow, but here are three
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, realistic western sprawl. Arthur Morgan’s wild west adventure is epic, emotional, and has enough teasing mysteries on every horizon fo
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Taylor Made Deals
£19.85 approx (PS5, hit.co.uk) Finally in our web We love all three Spider-Man adventures from Insomniac. While PS5 launch game Miles Morales might be the slightest, that also means it’s the most focussed. Avoiding open world bloat, this is a fast-pa
PLAY4 min read
PSVR2 Hall Of Fame
NEW They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, this modern classic sees that aphorism and raises it with righteous, rebellious rage. Ostensibly an immersive photography game, you have a range of lenses, camera settings, and filters to play w
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What’s New Plus-sy Cat?
June’s PS Plus offerings all contained larger-than-life personalities and over-the-top action. Available on both PS5 and PS4 were colourful cartoon platformer SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake and pro-wrestle-’em-up AEW Fight Forever. For this
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Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga
Six tribes vie for control of the Junkyard, an apparently post-apocalyptic place where the rain never stops. (No, it’s not the UK; there are no red postboxes.) In the middle of a firefight between the Vanguards and your own party, drawn from the Embr
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Ramon Salazar
He’s a ponytailed, pint-sized, preposterous little twerp, and for many Ramon Salazar is justification personified for why Resident Evil 4 needed a more serious remake last year. For me personally, everything camp, fun, and charmingly ridiculous about
PLAY3 min read
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
BOOM! Cannonballs soar over the ocean waves and slam into the opposing ship. Your crew members cheer upon impact, reloading so you can line up another shot. You could blast a few extra rounds into the enemy ship’s weak points to add insult to injury.
PLAY2 min read
G-Police
The original PlayStation enabled and encouraged developers to create fully 3D experiences, but a lot of them have aged like a fine milk. So it should come as no surprise that this one is… great actually? Huh. Proof that great game design is timeless,
PLAY2 min read
Burning Out
FORMAT PS3, PS2 / PUB CAPCOM / DEV CAPCOM / RELEASED 2001 Claire Redfield’s assault on an Umbrella base goes pear-shaped when she’s captured and shipped off to a prison island, and then (of course) it’s overrun by a zombie-creating virus. The only th
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A BRIEF HISTORY OF Movie Stars In Games
The cast of Kingdom Hearts II (2005) included Christopher Lee. Patrick Stewart plays the Emperor in The Elder Scrolls IV (2006). John Goodman can be found in 2011’s Rage (Dan Hagar). Gary Oldman has acted in Spyro and Call Of Duty. Confusingly, singe
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Editor Oscar Taylor-Kent @MrOscarTK [email protected] – 01225 442244 Managing Art Editor Milford Coppock Operations Editor Miriam McDonald Games Editor Jessica Kinghorn @KoeniginKatze Editorial Director, Games Tony Mott Group Art Direct

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