in the new edition of edge on sale now we meet with alx preston of heart machine to discover how the studio has left behind the shimmering pixel art of hyper light drifter to embrace a fully 3d game universe for the next game in the series in our 14page cover story we explore how drifters combination of melee combat and gunplay works from this new perspective what it has in common with games such as breath of the wild and nier automata how it incorporates coop play and why it will launch as an early access project later this year elsewhere in issue 384 we untangle the puzzles of humanity with director yugo nakamura and two of his key collaborators at enhance games tetsuya mizuguchi and mark macdonald enhance ceo mizuguchi recalls how his initial encounter with the central concept inspired in him the socalled tetris effect summoning tumbling crowds of humans into his dreams the transition from that point to its arrival on ps5 has been a long one as detailed in our extensive report image credit futureas that journey approaches its end we also consider another that is closer to its beginning netflix games has already put its name to 55 releases to date including the mobile versions of immortality and twelve minutes but it also has big plans for the future another 40 netflix games are planned for release in 2023 and the company now employs 450 staff and runs six inhouse game development studios in our indepth examination of the companys ambitions including an interview with head of external games leanne loombe you may be able to discover what it was that motivated joseph staten to recently jump ship from halo studio 343 to sign with netflix as creative director of a triplea multiplatform project based on a brandnew original concept in time extend we fire up final fantasy xv once more to consider what went awry with this royal camping trip but also how its refusal to conform to expectations gives it a distinct flavour that lingers on the palate in the making of we tell the story behind weird west discovering why it sidestepped the immersive sims traditional form and carved out its own identity from an overhead perspectivedead island 2 leads this issues play section followed by other new arrivals including the last worker deceive inc everspace 2 have a nice death terra nil dredge paranormasight and can of wormholes in hype we preview forthcoming releases including diablo iv viewfinder and the elder scrolls online necrom while columnist steven poole chews over the narrative ingenuity of storyteller and adrian hon digs into the game inspirations within the rian johnson tv show poker face edge 384 is available at uk retailers now and by ordering online here