2019-03-01_Official_PlayStation_Magazine_-_UK_Edition

071

INDIE GAMES

OPM: What do you think

indie games offer that

Triple-A ones can’t?

Michael Angst: Because

players often view indie

games with a lens that

prioritises individuality and

innovation over scope of

production, there is an implicit

invitation to take chances with

themes and perspectives that are

under-explored in the medium.

OPM: Never Alone featured a lot

of documentary snippets. How is

this carried on into Beyond Blue?

MA: Through Ocean Insight videos

that will feature original footage

from the BBC’s Blue Planet II

production, players will witness the

diverse natural life featured in the

game through stunning real-world

footage and meet the scientists and

explorers working on the cutting

edge of ocean exploration who have

helped guide our creative decisions

during production.

OPM: Will being set in the near

future affect Mirai’s journey?

MA: The scientists that are helping

to guide our creative decisions are

hopeful that the pace of

exploration and increased

understanding of our ocean will

greatly accelerate over the next ten

to 15 years as technologies that

promise to help overcome some of

challenges to exploring this vast

world can be put into practice at

meaningful scale. In addition to

wanting to build excitement for

this potential renaissance in ocean

exploration, we chose a near and

plausible future to invite our

players to consider a future for our

ocean in which we all have real

agency in affecting.

OPM: What do you hope players

take away from Beyond Blue?

MA: An expanded sense of wonder

for the beauty and mystery of our

natural world and an expanded

appreciation for the amazing

contribution that modern scientists

and explorers make.

QA&

Super Meat Boy Forever

T

hat slab of meat is back, and

we really did miss him in a

way. For many, the original Super

Meat Boy defined a whole era of

hard-as-nails slick indie

platformers when it became a

darling back in 2010.

But now he’s redefining what it

means. It’d be easy for Team Meat

at some point in the last few years

to have just turned around a Super

Meat Boy 2 with new levels and

features. But that’s not what

Forever is. It’s taking the core of

Super Meat Boy and using it to

explore something different.

Stripping down the sometimes

complicated and intimidating

controls of indie platformers to

just two buttons, it’s more

approachable than ever. You simply

have one button that makes your

character jump (or punch, when in

the air), and another for sliding.

But you use that simple toolset to

traverse levels (an endless supply of

them) that feel just as compulsive

and challenging as the original

Super Meat Boy was at its peak

• it’s pure mechanical ingenuity.

FORMATPS4/PLAYERS 1 /DEV TEAMMEAT

Two buttons good

Platforming

Sliding

Blood trail

Meaty

Sawblades

Two but tons

Tension

Jumping

Beyond Blue

Director Michael Angst talks about how working with the BBC

allows E-Line Media to dive deeper for its next game

“LEVELS FEEL JUST

AS COMPULSIVE

AND CHALLENGING

AS THE ORIGINAL

SUPER MEAT BOY’S.”