Is next-gen finally, truly here?

Beyond the Burning Shores

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It’s hard to believe we’re already two and a half years into this console generation. A new generation of hardware is always an exciting time in the games industry, but despite rumours of ‘Pro’ consoles already starting to swirl, this generation still kind of feels like it hasn’t properly taken off yet.

There’s a feeling that this latest generation is more of an extension of the previous one rather than a genuine leap forward, which is partly due to precious few truly next-gen games being released so far.

It’s admirable (and good business sense) to want to make your games available to the widest audience possible, but there’s little doubt that this generation has been held back by its reluctance to let go of the last.

Even God of War Ragnarök, one of Sony’s biggest games from one of the industry's most technically accomplished studios – whilst spectacular in its own right, don’t get me wrong - still felt a little like PS4’s God of War on Ultra settings.

It’s telling that PS5 exclusives Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Demon’s Souls are still two of the best-looking games around, and feature some genuinely next-gen features such as instant level switching and fast travel, despite being released 22 and 29 months ago respectively.

Of course, stock shortages caused by global events have been partly responsible – why would Sony and Microsoft make games exclusive to consoles that people can’t buy? - But that’s over now, Xbox Series consoles and PS5s are readily available and selling fast. Surely it's time for the floodgates to open?

Which brings us to this week’s release of Horizon: Burning Shores, a next-gen-only add-on to a cross-gen game. And hopefully the start of a period where the decade-old PS4 and Xbox Ones are finally laid to rest.

There are mixed opinions about the Horizon games from a gameplay and narrative perspective, but there’s no denying their technical prowess, and Burning Shores' PS5 exclusivity means Guerrilla Games have taken things up another notch.

It’s not just about shinier surfaces and better textures, either. It’s about gorgeous, screen-filling volumetric clouds that you can fly over, around and through, and bosses, set pieces, and environmental destruction on a scale not possible before. Things that actually change and enhance the experience over just bumping all the graphics settings up to Ultra (which, of course, Burning Shores does too).

Hopefully, the release of Burning Shores signals a final move away from old hardware and towards a future of truly, built-from-the-ground-up next-gen experiences. We already know Spider-Man 2, the other big confirmed Sony game for this year, is next-gen only, and it should be one hell of a spectacle as a result.

Of course, even with advanced hardware it takes skill and expertise (and money) to create great games. But with the technology now familiar to developers, the install base in place and announcement season almost upon us, we could be in for some pretty special next-gen game reveals very soon.

Fingers crossed.

As always, thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoy the rest of the issue.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Jeff

THE WEEK IN GAMES

The best news, deals and gaming content of the week

NEWS

DEALS

  • You can currently save 20% on the stunning LEGO Horizon Forbidden West: Tallneck Building Set over at Amazon.

  • The new Limited Edition Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom OLED Switch is available to pre-order at Amazon, Game and ShopTo.

  • Over on the PlayStation Store, the big Spring Sale is still the one and only sale running, with up to 75% off a huge selection of games both big and small.

  • On Xbox it's the same deal, a big Spring Sale and that's about it. Although there is currently a host of Xbox games on sale over on Steam.

  • On Nintendo's eShop, Wave 2 of the Super Mario Sale has begun. There's also a large selection of AAA and indie games on General Sale.

  • GOG has a Travelling Sale currently running, with up to 90% off a host of games allowing you to "explore new worlds." There's also an Activision Blizzard Publisher Sale with up to 67% off AB games.

  • On the Epic Games Store Beyond Blue and the utterly wonderful Never Alone are currently free to download.

  • Finally, over on Steam (and as mentioned above) there's an Xbox Publisher Sale running, with big savings on Xbox games, and also plenty of games on special offer, including Modern Warfare II, Sea of Thieves and Witcher 3.

MORE!

  • Nintendo World Showcase

Nintendo held a World Showcase showing off a host of new indie games this week. It was a mixed bag overall, but there were a few gems sprinkled in there.

You can check out everything that was announced alongside trailers right here.

  • GameBook: The Unofficial DMG Companion

Described as "An unofficial companion to the Game Boy, looking at the history and iconic games on the platform." GameBook is the latest project from Ninty Media, makers of the brilliant Ninty Fresh magazine. The campaign ends on May 22nd.

You can find out all of the details on Kickstarter right here.

  • Heterotopias Physical Editions

The wonderful and previously digital-only Heterotopias magazines are getting luxury print editions courtesy of the team over at Lost in Cult. Billed as "the leading publication about game spaces and architecture," these are well worth checking out.

Funding for issues 001-003 ends on June 13th. You can get more information and pre-order at the Lost in Cult Store.

  • Frame-A-Game Store Discount

Don't forget that following last week's interview you can still get 15% off at the Frame-A-Game Store using code TWIG15.

NEW RELEASES

All the major releases arriving this week and next

OUT NOW:

OUT NEXT WEEK:

THIS WEEK LAST YEAR

A quick look at what was happening 12 months ago

This week last year Panic's Playdate and Valve's Steam Deck were the talk of the town. I asked if they could overcome delays and production issues to reach a mainstream audience, or if they were destined to gather dust in gaming's collective cupboard?

A (Play)date with destiny

To share and celebrate everything good in the world of video games

https://theweekingames.beehiiv.com/p/playdate-destiny

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…and that’s it for this week!

If you have any comments or suggestions, or if you’re interested in advertising your game, product or service to The Week in Games' passionate readers, you can contact me at [email protected], reply to this email directly, or catch me over on Twitter!

Thanks again, and see you next week!

Jeff