The Far Shore

Subtitled ‘Indie Games, Superbrothers And The Making Of Jett’, Adam Hammond’s book covers eight years in the development of the ambitious science-fiction adventure. Hammond is clearly aiming for an audience outside the industry – in the opening chapter, he cheerfully reveals that he “knew absolutely nothing” about games beforehand – but that outsider’s perspective is valuable in what is anything but a standard ‘making of’. The literary and filmic aspirations of this “moonshot” are discussed at length, with co-creator Craig D Adams refreshingly honest about Jett’s shortcomings. While the closing chapters, in which the critical response is dissected, overlook our own editorial, we won’t hold it against Hammond – not least since he rightly recognises that there’s no gap in ‘videogames’.