Issue April 2024 - PLAY (2025)

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Official PlayStation Magazine is the complete guide to PlayStation gaming, offering complete coverage of PS4, PS3 and PS Vita. Famed for our trademark biting opinion, unique spin on news, offbeat, innovative features, independent reviews and retro features - and with PS4 the unquestionable victor for new-gen gaming - there's never been a better time to join Team OPM on our PlayStation journey.

in this issue

IN THIS ISSUEWelcomeFinal Fantasy and PlayStation go hand in hand like little else third-party. For many, the defining memories of both PS1 and the RPG series are of being blown away by the seventh entry, but it’s a series that has grown and flourished, taking many directions over the years. Which makes this month’s cover takeover a special one.The next wholly new adventure on the horizon is Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail (p42). With the MMORPG’s tenth anniversary on PlayStation, and the epic tale that we followed through many expansions now at an end, we’re literally setting off to unexplored horizons as we sail to the sunny continent of Tural. It’s a bold new era for the long-running online adventure that seems committed to many more, and we’ve a big chat with Naoki…3 min

InsiderKojima doubles down on PS5“Kojima announced a completely new stealth game, his first since the almighty Metal Gear Solid V.”We’d assumed Hideo Kojima was all-in on Xbox after he spent five hours of his allotted stage time at last year’s Game Awards talking up the game he was making for that console. But then he appeared in Sony’s first State Of Play stream for 2024, and it couldn’t have been more of a Kojima love-fest unless Mads Mikkelsen had leapt out of a cake. We knew Death Stranding 2: On The Beach was well under way, but Kojima also announced a completely new stealth game, Project Physint, his first since the almighty Metal Gear Solid 5.The hopefully working-titled Project Physint is described as an ‘action espionage’ game as opposed to Metal Gear Solid’s ‘tactical…6 min

InsiderNo exitSilent Hill is a series about being trapped by the past. In both the 2001 PS2 original and Bloober Team’s upcoming remake, James Sunderland travels to the town of Silent Hill in search of a time in his life he knows on at least some level is impossible to truly recapture.The Silent Hill 2 remake currently has no fixed release date, but, like a spectre, it did recently appear to us once more. Moody shots of the Woodside Apartments remade in Unreal Engine 5 and accompanied by Akira Yamaoka’s Magdalene definitely tug at our heartstrings. But remakes need to trade in more than nostalgia. After showcasing puzzles reimagined in gorgeous detail, the latest gameplay reveal takes another direction, almost half of its runtime dedicated to combat, with a more modern…3 min

InsiderMind the mutantsWhen there’s nowhere left to run, sometimes all you can do is go back to the beginning. Metro Awakening presents a prequel to the subterranean scares of Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky’s post-apocalyptic novel series – with a gripping twist. Like in 4A Games’ previous adaptations, you’re stealthing and scavenging through derelict tunnels criss-crossing beneath Moscow, though this time you’re scrabbling for survival in a fresh VR vision from Vertigo Games.“Donning your respirator, dispensing shell casings, and cocking the shotgun all takes on a pleasing tactility.”Metro’s retrofitted tech comes into its own in VR. Donning your respirator, dispensing spent shell casings, and cocking the Shambler shotgun all takes on a pleasing tactility thanks to the Sense controllers. It really sells the stakes of life in mutant-ridden Moscow, to say nothing of…1 min

InsiderA Grand Prix star is risingOur team can all fit round a table. There’s only ten of us,” says New Star Games’ community manager Mark Baldwin. “We’ve never done anything like this before, it’s completely out of our comfort zone.” Well, if that’s the case, how come the studio’s Grand Prix game is packing more features than many full-price racers? Let’s get under the carbon fibre bodywork and take a look.Visually, New Star GP’s flat-shaded polygons nod to Sega’s 1993 arcade classic Virtua Racing, but it feels deeper thanks to some impressively interwoven sim-like additions including staff management, car upgrades, and driver rivalries. But just like its arcade inspiration, New Star GP distils the sport. This pick-up-and-play ethos looks likely to set New Star GP apart from its peers. “The way that we always try…4 min

InsiderTasting TartarusWhat are you to do after a long Dark Hour slaying shadows? Slurp some ramen with a Social Link bestie, that’s what, whether in a game or in real life. Noodle restaurant chain Yokocho is celebrating the release of Persona 3 Reload (read our review on p78) with a limited-time menu at London locations 8 Heddon Street and 35a Panton Street. We donned our S.E.E.S gear to investigate.The Protagonist set menu, led by the tonkotsu-style Gourmet King Ramen, followed by a coffin-shaped chocolate brownie dessert called Sweet, Sweet Thanatos (hopefully not a transformed person), and all washed down with a blue melon-flavoured Balm Of Life fizzy drink, seems an obvious choice for any fan of the game. So obvious, in fact, that we ordered something else.THOU ART IThe Mitsuru Kirijo…3 min

Issue April 2024 - PLAY (2025)

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