Miriam McDonald

Welcome... and thanks forPlaying

Game over! But a high score? PLAY’s final issue is here, having carried the lineage of Official PlayStation Magazine, PSM, and Play forward from the ’90s to the present

Jess Kinghorn

GAMES EDITOR

Reader radar

Some of PLAY’s regular readers sound off on what they still love about print mags

Milford Coppock

MANAGING ART EDITOR

PS5 of the best

A look back at the most popular covers of the PS5 generation

Leaderboards

Some of the other voices who have guided the PlayStation mags along the way!

Matthew Pellett

PR & COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR AT SECRET MODE, PREVIOUSLY OFFICIAL PLAYSTATION MAGAZINE EDITOR (2014-17)

Louise Blain

LOUISE BLAIN, BLUMHOUSE GAMES CREATIVE LEAD, PREVIOUSLY OPM STAFF WRITER AND CONTRIBUTOR

Sam Roberts

UK PR MANAGER AT BETHESDA SOFTWORKS, PREVIOUSLY DEPUTY EDITOR OF PLAY MAGAZINE (2012-13)

Ben Wilson

FREELANCE WRITER AND EDITOR, PREVIOUSLY OFFICIAL PLAYSTATION MAGAZINE EDITOR (2009-14)

Rachel Watts

THINKY GAMES EDITOR AND FREELANCE ICON, FORMER PLAY STAFF WRITER

Dashiell Wood

HARDWARE WRITER AT TECHRADAR, FORMER PLAY STAFF WRITER, BANANA FAN

Final word

Ian Dean, former editor of Official PlayStation Magazine, PLAY, and so much more, gives a final look back across the years

PS5 Pro to launch

PS5 architect Mark Cerny finally ‘revealed’ one of the worst-kept secrets in gaming history – stick 7 Nov in your calendar

Club Ded

Swery65 discusses Hotel Barcelona, his “accidental” collaboration with friend Suda51

Metal

It’s dangerous to go alone; take these face-melting riffs

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage – Tape 1

Hitting play on Don’t Nod’s coming-of-age tale

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Ready for an art attack?

Spine

Looking to equal gun-fu classics

Atomfall

Cumbria as you are

.45 Parabellum Bloodhound

Cyberpunk action like little else

Crimson Desert

Devils may cry, and so might you after this

Slitterhead

Guts and gore and ghosties, oh, my!

Fantasian Neo Dimension

The Final Fantasy creator’s RPG

Cairn

Reaching the peak of virtual climbing

Two Point Museum

11:30 AM. Entering the town of Two Point

Greedfall II: The Dying World

Be a different kind of outsider in this prequel

ONCE BITTEN THRICE SNFAKY

FORMAT PS5 ETA 2025 PUB KONAMI DEV KONAMI PLAYERS ONCE THRICE 1

SHOCK-A-BLOCK

INDIE DEVELOPERS TALK TO ALAN WEN ABOUT EMPLOYING PS1-ERA AESTHETICS IN HORROR GAMES TO CREATE THE PERFECT COMBINATION OF NOSTALGIA AND DREAD

NOT SO SILENT

With a Silent Hill renaissance on the horizon, the Western developers who worked on the most recent four entries – Silent Hill: Origins, Silent Hill: Homecoming, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, and Silent Hill: Downpour – talk to James Winspear about keeping a light aflame while the fog rolls in

SILENT HILL : ORIGINS

FORMAT PSP, PS2 PUB KONAMI DEV CLIMAX ACTION RELEASED 2007 (PS2: 2008)

SILENT HILL: HOMECOMING

FORMAT PS3 PUB KONAMI DEV DOUBLE HELIX GAMES RELEASED 2009

SILENT HILL SHATTERED MEMORIES

FORMAT PS2, PSP PUB KONAMI DEV CLIMAX STUDIOS RELEASED 2010

SILENT HILL DOWNPOUR

FORMAT PS3 PUB KONAMI DEV VATRA GAMES RELEASED 2012

Late night with the

Andrew Wincott reflects on his performance as the delightfully devilish Raphael in Baldur’s Gate 3 with Emma Withington

Astro Bot

Team Asobi is firing on all cylinders

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown

Flaky servers and unoriginal gameplay saved by decent driving

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

You know what they say: xeno evil, hear no evil

Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis – The Answer

Groundbot Day

Silent Hill 2

A revenant we welcome with open arms

Caravan SandWitch

Buckle up for a cosy adventure through the desert

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection

Hold It! Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth is on the case

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster

This series is one zombie we’re glad to see reanimated

Vampire Survivors

Don’t worry – we made enough gazpacho

THREE TO PLAY

PSN games you might have missed

PS5 Hall of fame

THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO THE NEW GEN’S GREATEST GAMES

PLAY ON

Know what you like and looking for more? Here are alternatives to enjoy on your PS5

PS4 Hall of fame

THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO THE LAST GEN’S GREATEST GAMES

PSVR2 Hall of fame

THE VIRTUAL REALITY HITS YOU HAVE TO PLAY

The Sims 2 (PSP)

There’s something strange in the neighbourhood

DON’T DELETE

Save icons for these November moments spin in the PLAY hive mind. Do you remember this?

Dragon Age: Origins

15 years since Bioware created one tough act to follow

GLaDOS

Katie Wickens notes that GLaDOS was a sweet, perky lass before being stripped of her humanity

FIRE IN THE HOLE

FORMAT PS2 / RELEASED 2003 / PUB THQ DEV KUJU ENTERTAINMENT / GET IT NOW £10, EBAY

Bringing minis to life

The elements of the tabletop game vital to get right

Timesplitters 2

Our time may be up, but we’ll meet again

Endings

All good things must end… PLAY included!

Punching the clock

FORMAT PS4 / PUB BETHESDA SOFTWORKS / DEV ARKANE LYON / RELEASED 2016