Edge’s 30th anniversary celebrations continue with issue 391, on sale today, which is bundled with a 2024 calendar showcasing a collection of classic game art from the past three decades. Featuring key entries from the 100 Greatest Games Of Edge’s Lifetime, the calendar hosts iconic illustrations from games including Bloodborne, The Last Guardian, Doom, The Wind Waker and Rez, and will look as fetching next to your desk as it will the kitchen wall.
Inside the magazine itself, we have an exclusive report from 11 Bit Studios, whose highly original The Alters comes under our microscope, alongside the developer’s much-anticipated sequel, Frostpunk 2. We also visit IO Interactive’s development HQ to discover how it battled back from the brink of disaster to reinvent Hitman, and what it all means for the studio’s forthcoming 007 project.
In Collected Works, we talk to Masaya Matsuura about PaRappa The Rapper and beyond, and continue on a musical theme for The Making Of…, in which we discover how Tango Gameworks confounded expectations to deliver the irrepressible Hi-Fi Rush. In Time Extend, we return to MercurySteam’s often-forgotten Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow, and in Studio Profile pay a visit to The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood creator Deconstructeam.
As you’d expect, this is a packed issue for reviews, led by high-profile candidates including Super Mario Bros Wonder, Lords Of The Fallen, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, Forza Motorsport and Counter-Strike 2, followed by more modestly proportioned games such as Saltsea Chronicles, Jusant, The Lamplighters League and Subpar Pool. In Hype, meanwhile, previews include Dragon’s Dogma 2, Pacific Drive, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Helskate and Balatro.
At the front of the magazine, we weigh up the challenges posed to the development community by Unity’s recent fumbles, Steven Poole considers the pleasure of the videogame as an absolutely useless exercise, and we welcome a new columnist whose mission is to explore the farthest reaches of interactive entertainment. Issue 391 is in UK newsagents now, and can also be ordered online here.