They said it couldn’t be done, but you went out and did it
We’re often struck by the contradiction innate to videogames, an endlessly forward-thinking medium that forever has an eye on its past. But this month takes that concept to extremes. That’s not to say there is nothing in this issue that reflects the here and now: indeed, halfway through production of this issue we had to scramble to make room for the surprise arrival of the wonderful Apex Legends. Elsewhere we speak to Google’s DeepMind about how it’s built an AI capable of beating pro StarCraft II players, which has tantalising – and arguably terrifying – implications for the future of interactive entertainment.
Yet two of our biggest stories this issue began more than two decades ago. In Grain Of Truth we catch up with Sam Barlow, whose breakout hit, 2015’s Her Story, wove a fascinating murder mystery using live-action interview footage. It did not occur to him at the time that he was reviving FMV, the much-touted 1990s genre that gave us, well, a load of unintentional laughs at Night Trap and very little else. But the way we think of, and consume, story in 2019 has changed greatly since, and it’s high time games caught up. In his new game, Telling Lies, Barlow is ramping up the production values, with big-name talent on hand as he sets about turning FMV’s quiet revival into a noisy revolution.
Then there is Shenmue. It killed the Dreamcast and forced Sega out of the hardware business, but the passionate fans of Yu Suzuki’s series never gave up on the series or its creator. The ‘Save Shenmue’ campaign was a frequent sight in Edge’s inbox until their seeemingly impossible dream came true when Shenmue III was finally announced at E3 2015. Given Suzuki’s famous ambivalence to the concept of deadlines, we still weren’t sure we quite believed it. But Shenmue III is very much real, and it’s almost here. This month we find out how Ryo Hazuki is finally to continue his quest to avenge the death of his father – and a legion of fans will end their agonising, near 20-year wait for closure. Our story begins on p58.