Developer Draknek and friends
Publisher Draknek Format PC Origin UK
Release Autumn
Five years ago, Alan Hazelden and a few of his friends taught us that A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build. A good videogame? Well, that’s tougher still. “The process begins with getting a team together to make something with some kind of plan that it’ll take two to 12 months,” Hazelden tells us. “Then it’s obviously always longer than that.” He clearly didn’t expect it to take three years and counting, but A Monster’s Expedition (Through Human Exhibitions), to give it its full title, already looks like it’s been worth the effort. An ‘hour-long’ build turns out to be twice that, and that’s only partly down to our sluggish brains; naturally a game’s designer can get through their puzzles quicker than any player, but the relaxed ambience of the game’s verdant archipelago positively invites you to take your time.
This story is from the July 2020 edition of Edge.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the July 2020 edition of Edge.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles
Anyone familiar with the concept of kitbashing is already halfway to understanding what Tomas Sala’s open-world builder is all about.
Children Of The Sun
René Rother’s acrid revenge thriller – an action game with its limbs broken and forcibly rearranged into the shape of a spatial puzzler – is at once a bonafide original and an unlikely throwback. Cast your eyes right and you wouldn’t blink if we told you this was a forgotten Grasshopper Manufacture game from the early PS3 era (we won’t be at all surprised if this finds a spot on Suda51’s end-of-year list).
Post Script
What does Rise Of The Ronin say for PS5 exclusivity?
Rise Of The Ronin
Falling in battle simply switches control to the next person up, and then quick revive fixes everything
Post Script
The pawn and the pandemic
Dragon's Dogma 2
The road from Vernworth to Bakbattahl is scenic but arduous. Ignore the dawdling mobs of goblins, and duck beneath the chanting harpies that circle on the currents overhead, and even moving at a hurried clip it is impossible for a party of four to complete the journey by nightfall.
BLUE MANCHU
How enforced early retirement eventually led Jonathan Chey back to System Shock
THE MAKING 0F.... AMERICAN ARCADIA
How a contrast of perspectives added extra layers to a side-scrolling platform game
COMING IN TO LAND
The creator of Spelunky, plus a super-group of indie developers, have spent the best part of a decade making 50 games. Has the journey been worth it?
VOID SOLS
This abstract indie Soulslike has some bright ideas
