Horizon Forbidden West leads PLAY’s Games Of 2022 issue
Plus, hands-on with Elden Ring and Dying Light 2, verdicts on Battlefield 2042 and Call Of Duty: Vanguard, PS5’s first year in review, and more!
With PlayStation 5’s first year behind us, it’s time to look to the future. And boy howdy there’s already lots of reasons to get excited for 2022, whether you have your PS5 secured or are sticking with PS4. We look back over the former system's launch year, and also dig into over 70 games that are lighting the way to the future of gaming. Plus, subscribers received one of four incredible covers by comic artist David Nakayama (scroll down to see them all!).
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Horizon Forbidden West
Horizon Forbidden West is coming to both PS4 and PS5, but we’re extremely impressed with how great it’s looking on the new generation hardware in particular. We loved the first game, but at times it could be a little stiff compared to what we were used to. None of that here, as Aloy now handles like a dream, chaining together quick attacks with heightened mobility to always stay on the move in the lush world of machines.
Elden Ring
We spent many hours playing FromSoftware’s Dark Souls successor, and we have to let you know that our initial anxieties have gone out the window. This is an open world take on a Soulslike of a sort, but it’s so dense with things to do that it never feels like there’s fluff. Plus, there are more systems here that are different than you’d expect. We’ll keep covering this well up to launch, but get a sense of our initial impressions right here.
God Of War Ragnarok
Kratos and son are back, with what might be PlayStation’s biggest blockbuster of next year. Forget the idea that this Norse Saga could be a trilogy -- this is the end point. Combined with the soft reboot we all fell in love with, this will complete Kratos’ fight against this new pantheon, which means it’ll be going big. Not only will we take on Thor, but finally take the fight to Odin and see what Asgard is all about.
Dying Light 2: Stay Human
Going hands-on, we took to the zombie-infested city streets to see how parkour has changed. With something like double the moves, it’s more fluid than ever, giving you a wealth of options to take on encounters whether they be with rotting flesh or some of the gangs that have taken control of parts of the city with their “modern dark age” tech. Promising plenty of opportunities to make big decisions in the RPG-like story, we can’t wait to see how our adventure will play out.
Stray
Not only is this one impressing us with how great the lil’ kitty looks on PS5, it’s also looking like it’ll be pretty great to play. Teaming up with an equally as cute robo, you’re trying to get out of an underground world inhabited by robots and a strange goo. Which means using all your cat tricks, clambering all over the place to get away from danger.
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Reviews and retro
Plus, there’s way more. We’re not just stuck in the… future. We’ve got some huge reviews from Skyrim’s PS5 debut, to calling this year’s battle between Call Of Duty: Vanguard and Battlefield 2042. If that’s not enough, we get old school in RetroStation with a behind-the-scenes “making of” for the Devil May Cry-inspired Evil Dead: Regeneration, and revisit the likes of Steambot Chronicles, Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, and Gravity rush! No matter what kind of PlayStation fan you are, there’s something for everyone.
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Games Editor Oscar Taylor-Kent brings his Official PlayStation Magazine and PLAY knowledge to continue to revel in all things capital 'G' games. A noted PS Vita apologist, he's always got his fingers on many buttons, having also written for Edge, PC Gamer, SFX, Official Xbox Magazine, Kotaku, Waypoint, GamesMaster, PCGamesN, and Xbox, to name a few.
When not knee deep in character action games, he loves to get lost in an epic story across RPGs and visual novels. Recent favourites? Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree, 1000xResist, and Metaphor: ReFantazio! Rarely focused entirely on the new, the call to return to retro is constant, whether that's a quick evening speed through Sonic 3 & Knuckles or yet another Jakathon through Naughty Dog's PS2 masterpieces.