christmas 2018
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the xbox one and xbox 360 magazine
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ULTIMATE XBOX GIFT GUIDE
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INTRO
Merry Xmas everyone…
ISSUE 171 christmas 2018 Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA Tel 01225 442244 Email oxm@futurenet.com Web www.gamesradar.com/oxm Editorial Editor Chris Burke burkey13a chris.burke@futurenet.com Senior Art Editor Warren Brown wozbrown Deputy Editor Daniella Lucas CelShadedDreams Production Editor Russell Lewin FloatedRelic264 Staff Writer Adam Bryant Firebreedpunk Our Man Down Under Paul Taylor Paulus McT
Contributors Writing Stephen Ashby, Kimberley Ballard, Joe Donnelly, Steve Hogarty, Martin Kitts, Sam Loveridge, Dave Meikleham, Alex Nelson, Alex Spencer, Paul Taylor, Justin Towell, Josh West,Ben Wilson, Robert Zak Art Georgine Hodsdon, Cliff Newman All copyrights and trademarks are recognised and respected Advertising Tel: 01225 442244 Media packs are available on request Commercial Director Clare Dove, clare.dove@futurenet.com Account Director Jeff Jones, jeff.jones@futurenet.com Account Manager Kevin Stoddart, kevin.stoddart@futurenet.com International Official Xbox Magazine is available for licensing. Contact the International department to discuss partnership opportunities International Licensing Director Matt Ellis matt.ellis@futurenet.com Print Subscriptions & back issues Web www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk Email contact@myfavouritemagazines.co.uk Tel 0344 848 2852 International +44 (0) 344 848 2852 Online orders & enquiries www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk Head of subscriptions Sharon Todd Circulation Head of Newstrade Tim Mathers Head of Production Mark Constance Production Project Manager Clare Scott Advertising Production Manager Joanne Crosby Digital Editions Controller Jason Hudson Production Manager Nola Cokely Management Commercial Finance Director Dan Jotcham Editorial Director Paul Newman Brand Director, Games Tony Mott Group Senior Art Editor Warren Brown Printed by William Gibbons & Sons Ltd on behalf of Future
Chris Burke Editor Dear Santa, Chris would like a way of freezing time so that he can play all those brilliant new Xbox games he’s chiefed everyone out for without being distracted by such trivial annoyances as work, or the wife and kids.
Distributed by Marketforce, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU www.marketforce.co.uk Tel: 0203 787 9001 We are committed to only using magazine paper which is derived from responsibly managed, certified forestry and chlorine-free manufacture. The paper in this magazine was sourced and produced from sustainable managed forests, conforming to strict environmental and socioeconomic standards. The manufacturing paper mill holds full FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification and accreditation Disclaimer All contents © 2018 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in England and Wales. Registered office: Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price of products/ services referred to in this publication. Apps and websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control. We are not responsible for their contents or any other changes or updates to them. This magazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein.
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It’s been a particularly exciting month in an exciting year of Xbox gaming, with the release of loads of amazing and much-anticipated new titles. Check out our reviews of the epic and beautiful Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and genuinely gamechanging Red Dead Redemption II this issue. Check back next issue to find out what we’ve chosen to be OXM’s Games of the 2018! But we’re also focused on next year too, and we’ve picked some of the games we’re most excited for to grace our 2019 calendar – free with this issue! Among 2019’s potential highlights is the intriguinglooking Sable, and we visited the aptly named Shedworks (yep, they work out of a shed) to see how that’s shaping up. And since it’s almost Christmas, we’ve rounded-up the best Xboxrelated hardware and gaming collectibles to give as presents, or for your personal Santa list! Enjoy!
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Chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne Non-executive chairman Richard Huntingford Chief financial officer Penny Ladkin-Brand Tel +44 (0)1225 442 244
Daniella Lucas Deputy editor Dear Santa, Dani would like a baby for Christmas, which is exactly what she’s getting having just departed OXM for some nappy-filled months of maternity leave.
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Adam Bryant Staff writer Dear Santa, Adam would like to be let out of the OXM Towers stationery cupboard once in a while. No, Adam, shut up and write more, you wretched urchin.
Warren Brown Senior art editor Dear Santa, Warren would like some new crayons, an Etch-aSketch and a 1982 ColecoVision games console, because old games are the best.
Russell Lewin Production editor Dear Santa, Russ would like a bag of catnip for his cat Boris, a new dictionary so he can spell Odyssey correctly, and for Adam to get his words in on time. the official xbox magazine 003
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contents Everything you can look forward to over the next 100 or so pages
insider 008 The Big Story: id@xbox 012 project xcloud 014 alan wake 016 the big picture: resident evil 2 018 hot topic: collector’s editions 020 opinions
previews 026 control 028 kingdom hearts III 030 the sinking city 032 override: mech city brawl 033 night call 034 close to the sun 036 beyond blue 039 ace combat 7: skies unknown 039 jump force 039 onimusha warlords 039 dead or alive 6 039 team sonic racing 039 monstrum
subscribe now on page 040
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features 042 just cause 4 050 the big interview: the makers of sable 056 christmas gift guide
reviews 068 red dead redemption II 072 call of duty: black ops IIII 074 Soulcalibur Vi 077 this is the police 2 078 assassin’s creed odyssey 083 anodyne 084 warriors orochi 086 hollow knight: voidheart edition 088 wwe 2k19 090 starlink 093 lego dc supervillains
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extra
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098 Now Playing: fortnitemares 100 crash bandicoot n sane trilogy 101 battlefield 1 102 retrospective: second sight 106 wHY i love… gta online’s techno nightclubs 108 top ten sneaky rascals 112 Directories 114 disc Slot: dan efergan
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insider We all love a bit of good news don’t we? And most of the time these days that seems to be in short supply. Luckily though, in the world of Xbox this month there’s plenty to feel good about. First off, on page 8 we report on ID@Xbox reaching its landmark 1,000th Xbox game released through the programme, that was set up to help independent game devs realise their creative potential and publish their games. Then we report on a good period for Microsoft and Xbox, with news of great console sales and the company’s plans for a playanywhere games streaming service – all of which means the future of our gaming platform of choice is in very good shape (p12). There’s more to report from Remedy as its forthcoming game Control gets some new but familiar voice talent added, and Alan Wake is set to return to stores (p14). Finally we report on Capcom’s Devil May Cry 5 special editions on page 18, which are upping the ante when it comes to cool, if expensive, collectibles. Come on, who wouldn’t want a £6,000 leather coat as worn by Dante?
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small acorns
ID@Xbox racks up 1,000 indie titles Microsoft’s programme celebrates a milestone in nurturing creative talent
Sinner winner Dark Star’s Sinner: Sacrifice For Redemption is one of the latest ID@Xbox titles, helping that 1,000-game achievement over the line. A game all about the boss battles, Sinner gives you eight brutal enemies to fight, forcing you to sacrifice strength and stats between each one – the game levels you down between each of its encounters, so that the further you get through it the more difficult it will literally become!
Microsoft’s ID@Xbox, the programme that helps independent game developers publish awesome titles to Xbox One, has just clocked up an incredible 1,000 games. With the release of Klei’s Mark Of The Ninja: Remastered, Dark Star’s Sinner: Sacrifice For Redemption and Crazy Monkey Studios’ Guns, Gore And Cannoli 2 in October, the programme marked this impressive milestone in style. ID@Xbox had its origins back in 2012 when Chris Charla, the programme’s senior director, and his team did a listening tour with more than 50 developers, which helped shape the programme. “At the time, it felt like a lot of people!” says Charla. “It’s almost surreal that we’re now looking at thousands of talented people working at more than 3,000 studios independently creating games for millions of players around the world on Xbox One and Windows 10 with the ID@Xbox program. It’s an amazing feeling to not only see how much the independent development scene has grown over the years, but also to be part of a programme that empowers and helps independent developers continue to do what they love.”
The programme now encompasses 67 countries worldwide, with over four billion hours of games played by the community, and it has clocked up, astonishingly, more than a billion dollars in digital revenue even before reaching its 1,000th title. Additionally, there are 1,600 games currently in active development.
Indy 1000
Brilliant indie titles brought to life by the ID@Xbox program include Studio MDHR’s Cuphead, Fullbright’s Tacoma, Playdead’s INSIDE, Chucklefish’s Stardew Valley, Matt Makes Games’ Celeste and The Behemoth’s Pit People, and just this year programme highlights have included Team17’s Overcooked! 2, Dark Star’s Sinner: Sacrifice For Redemption and Pixel Trip Studios’ The Videokid. Says Charla, “Over these past five years, we’ve seen the releases of incredible titles across every single genre imaginable – and lots of games we never could have imagined when we got started! We’re stoked that ID@ Xbox is continuing to offer developers a place to share their stories in a meaningful way, helping to increase independent game discoverability and shaping Xbox One and Windows 10 as platforms that anyone can the official xbox magazine 009
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Above Beautiful platform-puzzler Flipping Death. right Super Meat Boy Forever is also hugely anticipated.
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make games on and create with. We’re continuing to celebrate this momentum into the future and bring even more rad experiences to players with upcoming titles like Slow Bros’s Harold Halibut, Capybara Games’ Below, Aurora 44’s Ashen, Black Desert from Pearl Abyss and Sable from Shedworks.” A huge number of these titles have featured in OXM in the last few years, with some, such as Cuphead, Stardew Valley and Outlast numbering among our favourite Xbox One titles. The program and its achievement over those 1,000-plus
OXM SAYS Chris Burke
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Thanks to ID@Xbox our beloved platform is a real hotbox of creative genius, with tons of talented game developers able to publish their wonderful gaming creations for us all to enjoy. Congratulations ID@Xbox, here’s to the next 1,000!
“We’re psyched to help developers bring us more surprises” titles speaks to the enthusiasm of the Xbox community as a whole in supporting and nurturing talent and creativity in games. Charla adds, “Thank you to the fans that have shown independent developers an indescribable amount of love on Xbox since day one, and thank you to the developers that keep making awesome games and giving us great feedback on a daily basis about how we can improve our program. We’re psyched to help developers bring us more surprises, more outside-of-the-box thinking
Warren Brown
As triple-A studios and major publishers focus more and more on their core IPs, the importance of ID@Xbox endeavours is obvious. 1,000 though! My wallet won’t be able to keep up with my indie wish list as I’m rather partial to pixel art games.
and discovering new ways to push boundaries within gaming.”
State of independents Several ID@Xbox titles are among those we’re most excited for in 2019 too, including roguelike Below, gorgeous-looking ancient India epic Raji, Super Meat Boy Forever, space exploration title Outer Wilds, Andrew Shouldice’s foxy Zelda-like Tunic,
Russell Lewin
For me, everything about the existence of ID@Xbox is terrific, giving a leg-up to small studios, and small studios are often where imagination is at its most alive. Any programme that gees up a game as stunning as Cuphead can’t be bad.
OXM’s 2018 ID@XBOX HIGHLIGHTS This year has been one of the strongest yet for ID@Xbox. Here are some of our favourites, as reviewed in OXM in 2018
Warhammer: Vermintide 2
Giant rat men have allied with an army of hench bodybuilders in this FPS Warhammer sequel which, we noted, contained strong, satisfying melee combat and smart levels, making both a great sequel and a fantastic multiplayer game, best enjoyed with mates. We liked it so much, we gave it a 9 out of 10.
Dead Cells
An ‘indie must-have’, we proclaimed of this beautiful pixel-art title. Indeed, a game featuring a headless corpse reanimated as its main character, set in a bleak prison, has never looked so lovely. There are secrets everywhere, and it’s a triumph of game design that’s certainly worthy of our 9/10 verdict.
Overcooked! 2
The Onion King has accidentally raised ‘the Unbread’ after reading a dark magic book called the Necronomnom-icon – and other groan-worthy puns that really just provide dressing for what is certainly the best and most fun couch co-op game of the year. 8 out of 10 for those complicated recipes!
Nidhogg 2
This one-on-one duelling game with tight controls and bright violence earned itself a solid OXM 8 out of 10, while we noted that it’s like what would happen if plasticine models got fighty. With perfectly balanced fights and simple yet deviously fun, friend-fighting action, we only wished there were more stages…
right Sinner: Sacrifice For Redemption is a Dark Souls-type game of boss battles. Below Um, Below. We’re excited to get down with this one...
skate game Session, the Moebiusstyled Sable, RPG Ashen and MMORPG Black Desert. And there’s never been a better time for indie games on Xbox, thanks in no small part to Microsoft’s programme. Back in issue 168, OXM investigated what it takes to become an indie game developer, noting that once you’ve got your idea, chosen your software and engine, and of course put in the hours needed to complete your project, you can get
in touch with the ID@Xbox program to get your vision published to the Xbox platform. Developers accepted into the programme will obtain two free development kits and access to the system’s architecture so when you’re making those lovely Xbox games you can support your title with things like achievements. Look out for a celebration of all things indie on Xbox and an exciting year ahead for ID@Xbox in a couple of issues’ time. ■
what are your favourite id@xbox titles? tell us at www.facebook.com/oxmUK M ore Xbox ne w s a t ga m esradar.co m/oxm
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Xcloud
global reach
Head in the clouds Microsoft unveils Project xCloud streaming service and reports encouraging Xbox growth Xbox is at the heart of an allnew ecosystem which promises to allow anybody and everybody to enjoy the very best videogames on the planet. Gaming is still very much divided by brand allegiance. If you want to play the best that Xbox has to offer you’ll need to invest in an Xbox One – this is the way the industry works. At least, that’s how it did work. But what if you could play Forza Horizon 4 on your Android phone while you’re stuck in traffic on the M25? What if you could enjoy Halo Infinite on a tablet as the rest of your household watches The Great British Bake Off? And wouldn’t it be cool if you could engage in Gears 5 co-operatively with your buddies, regardless of whether they have an Xbox, a phone, or a PC in front of them? That’s a future that Microsoft is positing as it officially reveals Project xCloud, a ‘state-of-the art global game-streaming’ service that will truly put you at the centre of your entire gaming experience. Imagine it, access to your full library of Xbox One games from anywhere at the touch of a button, and Microsoft believes this could arrive as early as 2019. “The future of gaming is a world where you are empowered to play the games you want, with the people you want, whenever you want, wherever you are, and on any device of your
choosing,” says Kareem Choudhry, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of gaming and cloud technology. “Our vision for gaming is similar to music and movies – entertainment should be available on demand and accessible from any screen.”
On the up
It’s no secret that the Xbox One had a rocky launch and has been fighting to regain lost ground ever since. But
“Imagine it, access to your full library of Xbox One games from anywhere” it looks like the tide is finally turning. Microsoft reported revenue of $2.6 billion for Q1 2019 from its gaming division – compared to $1.9 billion in Q1 of 2018 – while the Xbox hardware revenue has grown 95 per cent yearon-year thanks to the huge uptake in Xbox One X and Xbox One S systems. Xbox Live users now stand at 57 million players, an increase of four million over the year, no doubt helped by the introduction of Game Pass, which gives Xbox One subscribers dayand-date access to all-new first party
Pushing tech The biggest challenge facing the xCloud initiative will be in preserving graphical fidelity and framerates. The Azure server network is a powerful tool, one that’s been powering Xbox Live servers and helping to build new responsive AI models in first-part Xbox games for years now. What xCloud will ultimately reveal is whether this network is powerful enough to sustain a truly scalable and reactive service whatever device you play on.
Above You’ll be able to go through the Gears pretty much anywhere. right Play Forza in your car even! (Not while driving.)
games alongside an array of awesome third-party titles, and Play Anywhere, which lets you enjoy your purchases between both your Xbox One console and a Windows 10 PC. Perhaps it’s no surprise to see Microsoft committing to an expansion of Game Pass, bringing the service to PC players in an effort to further bolster Xbox globally. The new technology makes use of Microsoft’s Azure services, the cloud tech that the company has been using to power Xbox Live. The company already has data centres in 54 Azure regions across the globe and the folks at Microsoft Research are currently working on ways to combat latency, improve game scalability, and to push what game streaming is capable of across 4G and 5G networks. It’s smart, both in terms of tech and business savvy, and it all means the future of Xbox is looking very bright indeed. ■
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