Leslie Benzies has been making videogames since he was 11 years old. "And for 26 years professionally now," he adds. Those latter years span the entire 3D renaissance of GTA at Rockstar, along with LA Noire and the first Red Dead Redemption, right through to the advent of GTA Online. "And this is probably the most ambitious project that I've ever worked on." Given Benzies' back catalogue, that is no small claim. But after a day at the Edinburgh offices of the studio he runs today, Build A Rocket Boy, where talent both from the Rockstar days and from across the breadth of the industry have spent more than six years and many millions of pounds making Everywhere, we're rather inclined to believe him.
As we're taken on a tour of Every where's many, many facets, we catch occasional flashes of the familiar: the pop-cultural melting pot of Fortnite; the between-battle hangout spaces of Destiny; the tools for player expression provided by Minecraft, Roblox and Dreams; the open world playground and endless diversions delivered by GTA Online. If this seems like a random grab-bag of components, we're assured that it's all held together by a single vision one that Benzies has had in his head since the very beginning of the project, in 2016, when he found himself unexpectedly striking out on his own after parting ways with Rockstar under unusual, and legally contested, circumstances. (We won't detail those here you can easily look up the specifics if you missed the story at the time.)
This story is from the May 2023 edition of Edge UK.
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 May 2023 edition of Edge UK.
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