In this month's cover story we swap our trusty +10 hunter's tool for a very different type of axe as we enter the studio with Freestyle Games to witness the rebirth of Guitar Hero. We speak to creative director Jamie Jackson, projects director Jon Napier and Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg about the audacious plan behind the series' comeback tour. Edge 280 is out now in print, on iPad, Google Play and Zinio.
Our features section continues with Filling In The Blanks, in which we investigate the growing trend of leaving out tutorials in favour of letting players find their own way. Then in Collected Works we speak to designer Jake Kazdal about his offbeat career path through psychedelia, cancelled projects and launching his own studio. Finally, in Chaos Theory we look at the way games are increasingly putting players at the mercy of powerful emergent systems.
In Knowledge we lament the fall of DLC from exciting new prospect to constant headache, speak to Jordan Thomas about his game-within-a-game The Magic Circle and celebrate the tenth anniversary of Brighton's Develop Conference.
This month's The Making Of... reveals how Arkane's Dishonored began life in feudal Japan, while Time Extend features Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. We also visit Bridgend for a Studio Profile on Wales Interactive, while comic-book artist James Kochalka chats about classic adventuring and Destiny in My Favourite Game.
In Hype get to grips with Star Wars Battlefront, We Happy Few, Everybody's Gone To The Rapture, StarCraft II: Legacy Of The Void, Shadow Of The Beast, Fire Emblem and more.
And in Play we review Mortal Kombat X, Pillars Of Eternity, Dark Souls II: Scholar Of The First Sin, Broken Age: Act 2, The Hunter: Primal, Code Name: STEAM, Affordable Space Adventure and Boxboy.
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