As a great man once said, the future is almost here
Our masthead may promise the future of interactive entertainment, but we’ve spent much of the production of this issue in a more reflective mood than usual. That is partly thanks to the annual Edge awards, which once again saw the team decamp to a meeting room for one of our traditional Big Arguments as we whittled down our list of the year’s best games to a top ten. As ever, we’re keen to hear your thoughts on our final selection; do get in touch at the usual address.
Yet this issue is not solely defined by the past. Indeed, that masthead pledge hasn’t been so well served in years. As we send to press, Microsoft has put a name on its next-generation system, Xbox Series X. Few things quicken the pulse like a new console, though having to hastily rearrange a magazine to accommodate one on deadline morning runs it pretty close.
It’s wonderful timing, too, given the game on this issue’s cover. The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum is even further off than Series X or PS5 – it is currently slated for 2021. Our trip to developer Daedelic’s Hamburg HQ offers an early look at what the next generation of consoles will bring, and what it offers creatives. For Daedelic, long a successful but undervalued maker of point-and-click adventures, Gollum represents a chance for it to burst out of its niche, powered by one of the biggest entertainment properties on the planet. The story begins on p54.
Yet for all the future-gazing on offer, and all the excitement around a new generation of videogames, the production of this issue has been tinged with sadness. On December 2, Edge’s second editor, Jason Brookes, passed away after a long illness. A staff writer at launch in 1993, he was in the editor’s chair by issue ten, and played a defining role in what Edge was to become. He and his contemporaries laid down an unspoken set of values that, over 26 years later, we strive daily to uphold. If you knew him, we offer our love and condolences; if you didn’t, we’re sure you’ll join us in offering them to those that did.