When you talk about destruction, count us in
In presenting the tale of Rico Rodriguez and his lynchpin role in a revolution against the dictator General Di Ravello, Just Cause 3 is all about handing power to the people, so it’s appropriate that the game has been designed with its players’ desires placed front and centre. That is the sensible way to make a sequel, but not every studio has as much feedback to work with as Avalanche, which saw Just Cause 2 bent into all sorts of shapes by a frenzied modding community, and player-made videos uploaded by the truckload. It was easy to see what everyone wanted: an even more expansive environment, even more toys to play with, and even more ways to unleash hell. Then the studio just had to go and make it.
The result is a game that bundles up the best bits of the previous title, straps explosives to the package, lights the whole thing on fire, and then catapults it into the sun. We spent two days playing Just Cause 3 for this issue’s cover story, and returned only wanting more, which is how these things should always conclude. Our report begins on p58.
Where Just Cause 3 won’t deliver on the demands of its audience – at least not at launch – is in multiplayer. For that, we look to Worlds Adrift (p78), the online sandbox adventure in construction at Bossa Studios. It’s a game that sees the company shaking out its wings and taking flight, following up its physics experiments in Surgeon Simulator and I Am Bread with something equally kinetic but on a different plane when it comes to ambition, exploiting some refreshingly forward-looking technology.
We’ll be focused on the future at Hype, a new Edge conference taking place in London on January 14, featuring guests such as David Braben, Steven Poole and Simon Parkin, along with games including Dark Souls III and Crackdown 3. There are more details elsewhere in this issue, but in the meantime we’re following Avalanche’s lead by inviting your questions for our keynote interview with Phil Harrison. Send your future-fixated topics of discussion to edge@futurenet.com, using the subject line ‘PHQT’.