Crack your shell, and it’s the first thing you see: broad as a tsunami, tall as a mushroom cloud, blazing like a forest fire. Videogames aren’t exactly running short on global armageddons, but the Cylinder is one of a kind – an almost comically implacable force, grinding up landscapes laid down moments before by the game’s procedural generation systems.
It rarely gives us a moment to breathe during our hands-on, and yet, there is something consoling about it. Held back for brief intervals by ancient towers, the Cylinder limits your time within each swathe of randomised terrain, and thus avoids the exhaustion and aimlessness so many games that proffer ‘endless possibilities’ inspire. It’s a source of terror, yes, but it’s also a reminder not to get over-attached to things, and if nothing else, it leaves you in no doubt as to which way you should be heading.
Where the Cylinder simplifies, flattening alien ecosystems that recall the menageries of Ace Team’s previous Zeno Clash games, players must aspire to ever greater biological complexity. You play a Trebum, a squishy, two-legged bundle of joy with a prehensile trunk and a very unusual digestive system. Based on Q*bert, one of gaming’s own primordial critters, the Trebum begins each run at the bottom of the food chain but is able to evolve rapidly by hoovering up seeds and eggs left by other creatures.
Denne historien er fra December 2019-utgaven av Edge.
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Denne historien er fra December 2019-utgaven av Edge.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
NO MORE ROOM IN HELL 2
You're not alone in the dark
WINDBLOWN
Life after Dead Cells
COLLECTED WORKS - JOSH SAWYER
Journeying to the Forgotten Realms, Infinity and beyond with the RPG veteran
SCREENBOUND
Going deep in a mind-bending hybrid of perspectives
Trigger Happy
Shoot first, ask questions later
Grand strategist
Paradox's Mattias Lilja addresses the publisher's recent difficulties - and the plan to right the ship
Diablo IV
A progress report on the games we just can't quit
Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection
In Capcom's diabolical tribute, evil goes far deeper than the demons on the screen
SERENITY FORGE
How a near-death experience lit a fire in the Colorado-based developer and publisher
THE MAKING OF...ALIEN: ISOLATION
How a strategy-led studio built a survival horror masterpiece in Ridley Scott's image