Come on, you raver,
you seer of visions
This year started out dark, and proceeded to get even darker. When the
horizon looks indistinct, it’s the trailblazers that we need the most: those
who are confident enough to charge ahead into the unknown, like a
beacon, for the collective benefit of everybody following behind.
Arthouse videogame festival A Maze Berlin has been doing exactly that
for 12 years now. Set up to spotlight the kind of openly political games the
mainstream industry wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole, over the years it’s
become a staple community event. After the festival’s funding request was
rejected last year, and a pandemic hit at the beginning of this one, any
sensible organisation might have admitted defeat. Fortunately, A Maze is
anything but sensible. In Knowledge this month, we talk to its founder
about how his team translated a physical convention to an all-digital
experience – all while protecting its core values. The answer involves more
flamingos than you might expect.
On the other end of the spectrum is publishing giant Microsoft, which
recently unveiled a next-gen strategy that – while not exactly unexpected
for those of us who’ve been paying close attention to what it has been
doing with Game Pass for the last few years – takes a different view to its
competitors as to what next-gen gaming should be: creative, diverse and,
above all, accessible. Outside The Box takes a look at just some of the
titles coming to Xbox Series X via Microsoft’s subscription service.
But one in particular deserved a spot on our cover. That game is
Psychonauts 2, the long-awaited sequel to Double Fine’s brilliant and
unabashedly bizarre 3D platformer – which we’ve played before any
other media outlet. Psychonauts has always been ahead of its time: back
in 2005, its brain-hopping premise touched on themes that the high-profile
videogames of today are only just daring to tackle. But right now, it feels
very of the moment. When things get dark, it’s those who stay true to
themselves, and each other, who shine brightest. The story begins on p54.
Special glow-in-the-dark cover