As above, so below

Call us maudlin, but we’ve been thinking a lot about life and death this month. What’s it all about? Where do we go next? And can we get a flat white to go? That’s the premise of Necrobarista (p98), which casts you as the manager of a coffee shop where departing spirits are given 24 hours to come to terms with their passing. The game grapples with some inevitably difficult topics, but fortunately it does so with style, humour and sensitivity.

Spiritfarer (p96) has a similar theme: your job is to ferry animals to the next world, since Charon the ferryman is retiring. You might think that would be a quick hop over the river Styx, but it turns out to be a voyage, and you’ll spend more time attending your passengers’ every need than rowing the boat.

While the afterlife is still a theme, in isometric Roguelike Hades (p92) you’re attempting pg the reverse v journey, as you strive to escape the underworld. The artistry of its combat and movement give the game a feel all its own, and we’ve been – apologies in advance – dying to go back time and time again to perfect our runs. A different kind of underworld is our destination in Spelunky 2 (p84), the deserved star of this month’s Edge cover. With its predecessor having shaped much of the game industry as we know it today, we were eager to don our helmets and discover just what treasures lie deep within this sequel.

After delving beneath the ground, we soared high above it in Microsoft Flight Simulator (p88). Not only have the aircraft themselves been lovingly and authetically recreated, the developers at Asobo have simulated the entire planet Earth for us, which is nice of them. It feels truly next-gen, with cloud-based tech and data streaming that constantly updates the globe, from its weather to its ground detail. Come to think of it, rarely has a game felt so alive.