Latest news with #post-apocalyptic
ABC News
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Death Stranding 2: When Hideo Kojima and George Miller decided to make a video game together
Hideo Kojima isn't just widely regarded as video gaming's first auteur — as the mind behind cerebral and ground-breaking series Metal Gear Solid — he's seen as a bit of an oracle, too. If the Japanese developer's track record is anything to go by, perhaps Australia should be a little wary. Our country is the main setting for his latest game: the post-apocalyptic Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, where bushfires, floods and earthquakes are as much danger as its anti-matter ghosts, who can be fought off with boomerangs infused with blood. History has revealed several of the Japanese developer's games to be eerily prescient: The shadowy antagonists of 2001's Metal Gear Solid 2, for example, work towards a digital world where disinformation runs rampant, decentring objective truths in favour of echo chambers. Then there's Death Stranding, the first release from his own independent company Kojima Productions. It centres on courier Sam (portrayed by The Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus) delivering parcels across a post-apocalyptic landscape filled with deadly ghouls invisible to most. It was released in November 2019, just before millions became reliant on delivery drivers for food and everyday items due to the invisible threat of COVID-19. "Everyone was also isolated in real life — it was almost like the world of Death Stranding," says Kojima, speaking to journalists in Sydney via translator. While divisive upon release, the game began to widely resonate with more than 10 million players as Death Stranding's overarching themes of connection — with Sam also digitally reconnecting a disparate United States — took on new weight. Now, thanks to some clever COVID workarounds and inspiration from such Australian film greats as George Miller, Death Stranding 2 is here, showing a familiar but stark Australia to the world. While gamers found solace in Death Stranding, Kojima was struggling with the sequel, which he calls "the most difficult challenge" of his career. The Japanese developer, now 61, fell seriously ill during production of On The Beach, and felt as though he may never recover. At the same time, eye pain prevented him from both focusing or escaping, unable to work or watch film — a favourite past-time. "It got to a point where I almost gave up. But I came back. I reconnected with myself, with this project," he says. There were also logistical issues, with travel restrictions leaving Kojima unable to travel to either Australia or Los Angeles, where he was to work on motion-capture with the game's main actors, including Reedus, Elle Fanning and Léa Seydoux. "Usually, when I decide on a location, I go scouting. I go to scan [people and environments] or interview — and the last time was Iceland. This time, I was thinking a little warmer," he laughs. "This is a game where Sam traverses, so you need a lot of great environments, deserts, mountains, animals as well, its own plants, species. That's another reason." So, Kojima worked with a local photographer who travelled across Australia, with the designer watching via a real-time live stream. "I was saying, 'Go a little bit to the right!' But it bummed me out." But Death Stranding 2's setting is probably more indebted to Australian New Wave cinema than any reference photos — Kojima is a noted film buff, and credits watching Mad Max as a teenager as the inspiration to enter gaming. Mad Max creator George Miller, who appeared in conversation at a Sydney Film Festival event with Kojima this June, even features in On The Beach, with his likeness used for a new character. (Also featured are the Australian directing duo behind horror hit Talk to Me, as well as fellow directors Guillermo del Toro, Nicolas Winding Refn and Fatih Akin.) With our cities destroyed, On The Beach's Australian landscapes are as stark, foreboding and alluring as Miller's apocalyptic world, where isolation in the harsh landscape is both a source of safety and danger. It's also hard to not think of Nicolas Roeg's sweltering Walkabout as you wander around orange deserts; or of nature fighting back in Long Weekend as you endure a dust storm or sudden flood; or the unsettling eeriness of Picnic at Hanging Rock while climbing rocky outcrops. Australia also proves more deadly than the US in Death Stranding 2, with an increased focus on combat compared to the first game. It goes hand-in-hand with the sequel's tagline: "Should we have connected?" — a question inspired by COVID. "I felt that, during the pandemic, the direction of the world was heading further and further into digital," he says. "And I thought, 'Is that really good?'… I rewrote everything that we had." For years, Kojima has referred to the first Death Stranding as a "rope" game, riffing off a notion by Japanese novelist Kōbō Abe that the stick was the first tool of humanity, used to attack and defend, while the second is a rope, used to unite and create community. "If you look at all games, they're stick games," says Kojima. "Even though you're connected online, like a big rope, you're still fighting over everything — with a stick." "I wanted to make a rope game. But looking at the world, you can't really connect everything with just the rope. That's one of the themes in Death Stranding 2. In the gameplay, you have a lot of weapons — and that has meaning, too." While gamers battle through apocalyptic Australia, Kojima is making even more connections of his own. These include a film adaptation of Death Stranding, produced by zeitgeisty studio A24, as well as two games: the mysterious Physint, and horror game OD, co-created with Get Out director Jordan Peele. Given a Kojima game takes an average of five years to create, the 61-year-old will be busy for a while — but the concepts (and premonitions) keep coming. "Sometimes, I see movies and get ideas," he says. "But usually, it's just talking to people. Eating, walking, or maybe when I'm in the bath. "It's almost like a disease. I'm imagining things all the time. Even when I'm talking with my family, in my head I'm in a totally different world." Death Stranding 2: On The Beach is now available on Playstation 5.
The Guardian
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
28 Years Later: political parallels, pregnant zombies and a peculiar ending
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland have done it again. In the early 2000s, 28 Days Later became the most popular and influential zombie movie in decades, with its fast-moving, virally infected, not-quite-undead marauders rampaging through a post-apocalyptic England. Now Boyle and Garland have reunited with 28 Years Later, easily the most talked-about horror movie since Sinners, and the biggest zombie movie since the PG-13 dilutions of World War Z back in 2013. Compared with the countless familiar zombie movies and TV shows that have popped up since the original movie, 28 Years Later is a thorny, challenging, unpredictable work, which means there's plenty to discuss now that it's spent a well-attended weekend in wide release. Here are some major spoiler-heavy topics related to the film's style, themes, sociological implications and, of course, that ending. The original 28 Days Later is notable for its zombie efficiency. Rather than the slow shuffling and gradual, varying levels of undead decay often seen in zombie classics from George A Romero (and the many movies influenced by his films Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and so on), these zombies aren't technically zombies at all. They're victims of a lab-leaked 'rage' virus (with the hilariously dodgy origins of … showing monkeys violent news footage?!) that seems to be spread by virtually any exposure to an infected person's blood or saliva. Within a minute or two, the newly infected will be vomiting blood and attacking anyone around them in a deranged frenzy. The victims are analogous to zombies because of their seeming thirst for human carnage (though it's never clear whether they're truly 'feeding' on humans) and the mindlessness with which they pursue it, but they're a less supernatural variation than some of their ancestors. The same was true for the 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later. That's still the case in 28 Years Later, but with the passage of time built into the story, Boyle and Garland introduce new variants on the post-viral populace. There are still mobs of rage-virus victims, often in rags or no clothing at all, roaming the countryside, which remains confined to the United Kingdom. But 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams) and his dad Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) also encounter infected who have been grotesquely swollen by the virus, and now lurch belly-down around in the dirt, often subsisting on worms. On the other end of the spectrum, our heroes are also menaced by an 'alpha' zombie who is bigger, stronger and craftier than the others. He also seems capable of reproducing, and not just because of his, ah, endowments. Later in the film, Spike and his ill mother Isla (Jodie Comer) encounter a woman who is both infected and pregnant – and is even distracted enough by the imminent arrival of her baby to allow Isla to lend a helping hand in the birth. Perhaps most surprisingly, the baby is born healthy, seemingly not infected with the virus. (The idea of an asymptomatic carrier, as seen in 28 Weeks Later, goes unmentioned, but it's a fair bet that if the baby were infected, the humans who carry her around for the next day-plus would probably get sick at some point, too.) The movie's resident philosophical doctor-recluse Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) chalks this up to the miracles of the human placenta, which seems … oversimplified. But these zombie variants raise a lot of interesting questions. Are the alpha zombies evolving closer to what we think of as humanity, regaining some of their intelligence while maintaining a capacity for brutal violence? (He's seen multiple times pulling off heads in tandem with spines, like something out of a Predator movie.) It's vaguely implied that the alpha is the father to this newborn, suggesting that the zombies procreated post-infection, which is something these movies (or any movies? Surely there must be one with zombie sex, but it's not a typical feature of the genre) haven't shown before. Zombie reproductive rates must still be low; Dr Kelson points out that a human baby can't really survive for more than a few days without milk, and if infected women can still breastfeed at all, it's hard to imagine how that would work on a practical level, especially in terms of not spreading the virus. Maybe this baby, saved by Isla and Spike, is the first zombie-born human to survive. Thematically, the baby's arrival fits with the complication of the seemingly functional isolated community where Jamie and Isla have raised Spike. The baby, who Spike ultimately delivers back to the community before striking out on his own, implies that the world that they've understandably cut themselves off from nonetheless keeps turning, and may even produce new humans without the easiest and most comforting signs of renewal. Quite the opposite: the zombie variations give that outside world its own strange new shape, rather than showing the virus simply burning itself out in quarantine. Viewers will probably be split on whether dirt-crawlers or alphas are too cheesy, too reminiscent of other zombie pictures, too far afield from the relatively grounded viral origins of the first film. But in a movie that some audiences will probably also find short on traditional thrills, these elements keep the landscape strange and unpredictable. As a director, Boyle has long been known by a certain degree of flash; 28 Years Later evolves his style even further. The original film made innovative use of early digital video, which has held up remarkably well even as the tech itself has degraded; few movies have reproduced the grimy low-res immediacy that sometimes smears into a kind of poetic abstraction. For the sequel, Boyle and returning cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle haven't reproduced this look, either. Instead, they've updated it, using inventive multi-iPhone rigs to capture similarly bracing images. Boyle and Mantle use this technology to shoot from Boyle's trademark extreme angles and unexpected vantages, add micro-freeze-frames to scenes of particularly tense action, and deftly utilize real locations, adding up to one the most distinctive-looking movies of the year and a major triumph for Mantle. For all of its wild swings, his work never feels overloaded or sensationalized. Instead, the visuals guide the audience through a series of expectations-bending shifts, including passages where the movie feels more akin to a dark fairytale (with the alpha looming in shadow on the horizon) than a traditional horror picture. As with 28 Days Later, it's easy to see how other film-makers might imitate some of these techniques on a superficial level. It's also hard to picture others bringing them together with such virtuosity. Digital cinematography is now the norm; Boyle belongs with Michael Mann, Steven Soderbergh and David Fincher as some of the few mainstream directors who are able to embrace its differences from celluloid, rather than trying to hide them. Somewhat more time has passed in the world of the movie than in our world; technically, they're five years further into the future than we are. In terms of release dates, the movies have taken us from an immediately post-9/11 world to one that still bears the scars and hears the echoes of the Covid pandemic, a rise of authoritarianism, and countless post-9/11 armed conflicts, including one unfolding in the Middle East right now. Boyle has specifically mentioned Brexit as a touchpoint in the development of 28 Years Later, which indeed sees Britain isolated – by force, rather than by choice – and festering. Though the movie doesn't underline any Covid parallels too boldly, it could be ready as a post-pandemic allegory, with Spike's desire to rejoin the world, regardless of how it's been altered from what his parents knew, conflicting with the strictness of the community he was born into – essentially a quarantine within a quarantine. Dr Kelson, in the meantime, is determined to memorialize the dead with his towering bone temple of skulls, rather than using his resources to move on or fortify his defenses (which also sets our sympathies apart from outright Covid denialism or the anti-vaccine crowd). It might be surprising for a sequel to a movie that came out in the shadow of 9/11 to traffic in messaging that could amount to 'never forget', but Boyle and Garland turn that mantra around to grapple with how we, as the collective human race, are expected to proceed as survivors of so many contemporary disasters. How many of those disasters came to pass in the rest of the world, which we're told has been cleared of the rage virus, is another one of the movie's enticing open questions. On paper, 28 Years Later ends on an infuriating sequel tease that leaves the movie largely unresolved. The reality is a bit more complicated than that. The film actually reaches a highly satisfying, if thoughtfully elegiac and open-ended, conclusion. After Dr Kelson makes an approximate diagnosis of terminal cancer for Isla, she asks him to be euthanized, and her son places her newly polished skull at the top of Kelson's monument. Eventually, Spike returns to his island community alone – but only long enough to drop off the infant and a note for his father. He then heads back out into the unknown, alone. This both continues the coming-of-age thread at the beginning of the film, when Spike makes his first trip to the infected-heavy mainland with his father, and rejects it, via Spike not just dabbling in zombieland for some real-life target practice, but deciding to actually explore the country at length. He has prioritized a less regimented, prescribed life over the ritual and safety that he's known, having accepted (at least to some degree) the role of death in life itself, through the loss of his mother. Then a bunch of chavs called Jimmy show up. The final scene of 28 Years Later actually picks up from its opening, set during the original rage outbreak, where a young lad named Jimmy escapes the zombies as his vicar father welcomes them, seeing the hordes as a harbinger of end times. Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Jamie is close enough to a homophone of 'Jimmy' to maybe mistake him as the grownup version of that survivor, but no: an adult version of the real and now tracksuited Jimmy (Jack O'Connell, who also played an interloper in Sinners) pops up to save Spike from another group of zombies. He's commanding a mini-army of imitators and seeming acolytes who gleefully, athletically dispatch the infected as if they've just run in from a Guy Ritchie movie. Then the movie ends, not exactly on a cliffhanger, but leaving the audience hanging on what's next for Spike and the Jimmys. This also involves a cultural touchstone most American audiences will miss, making the whole thing seem even more inexplicable: Jimmy and his gang are dressed like Jimmy Savile, a once-ubiquitous British TV presenter posthumously accused of widespread sexual abuse, including of children. Jimmy Savile died in 2011 and the allegations against him became well-known afterward, which means this Jimmy wouldn't be aware of his namesake's crimes. In the world of 28 Years Later, there's a good chance they never came to light at all. But for 2025 viewers (at least those aware of Savile), the surface goofiness of this sequence gives way to discomfort, and more thoughts about what gets preserved in a fallen world. Is this apparent religious cult formed around the image of a Top of the Pops host a grim joke on the accidental whitewashings of history, or are there more sinister parallels to be mined? Alongside that question, there's also some bonus confusion: the lead character of 28 Days Later, played by Cillian Murphy and unaccounted for in this film (and supposedly a lead in the as-yet-unfunded third film) is also named Jim. Well, Guy Ritchie hasn't directed 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple – and neither has Boyle. Nia DaCosta, who made the 2021 Candyman reboot as well as The Marvels and Little Woods, directed the already-filmed Garland-penned sequel, which is supposedly out in January (though sometimes ultra-short-gap sequels wind up pushed around the schedule, fearful of going out too soon). Its subtitle refers to something that's already been unveiled: Dr Kelson's monument, which the movie seems to have left behind as Spike makes his way in the world. The second film could well circle back to follow Dr Kelson, and leave the Jimmys for whatever Garland and Boyle have planned for the third movie with Murphy; that would certainly fit the new movie's repeated narrative swerves refocusing the who/what/where/when of survival. But Boyle and Garland have said that the Jimmys sequence does set up the second movie, and that Murphy will appear in a similar capacity to set up the third, so it's fair to assume Spike will remain the lead character for that installment. (This would make him, and whoever joins him, the first 28 Days Later series character to really carry over, as Days, Weeks and Years all followed different groups of people.) Maybe the Bone Temple is more of a symbolic reference than a literal one, referring to how Spike carries awareness of the dead with him on his journey, which seems like a pointed contrast to the uniform joviality of the Jimmys. One thing is clear: Boyle and Garland have set up a sequel not by obviously holding over-many characters and stories back for another movie, but by overflowing this post-apocalyptic world with ideas.
CNET
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CNET
18 Tips to Help you Keep Your Balance in Death Stranding 2
Death Stranding 2, the follow-up to Hideo Kojima's 2020 surreal post-apocalyptic survival game Death Stranding expands on the first game with some meaningful quality of life upgrades, as well as earlier access to some of its more useful tools. However, Death Stranding 2 is still a very unique game with a lot of quirky elements gamers will have to wrap their heads around as they spend the next 50+ hours walking across Australia, the setting for the sequel. After spending around 20 hours with the game, here are 18 tips you should remember before starting -- a lot of advice for a game with a ton of quirks. The recap video found on the main menu Sean Booker Watch the recap video From the main menu you can select to catch yourself up on what happened in the first game with their Recap video. Strangely enough, this video doesn't actually spoil much of the story beats from the first game. Moreso, it paints a broad picture of the main quest Sam went on and some of the characters he worked with. In fact, almost everything in the video is told to the player in the first five hours of Death Stranding 1. So if you're playing this before finishing the first game and are worried about having it ruined for you, it's actually pretty safe to watch. Crouch has changed inputs One of the most important actions Sam will need to perform is crouching. There are plenty of moments of stealth in the game and this time around they've changed the button command. Instead of the circle button in DS1 you'll now need to hit R1 to crouch. Unboxing the Death Stranding 2 PS5 Controller Unboxing the Death Stranding 2 PS5 Controller Click to unmute Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Skip Backward Skip Forward Next playlist item Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration 0:45 Loaded : 77.99% 0:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:45 Share Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Close Modal Dialog This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. Close Modal Dialog This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. Unboxing the Death Stranding 2 PS5 Controller Play more aggressively from the start One of my favorite aspects of DS2 is that its beginning portion is nowhere near as slow as the first game's. In fact, you get access to a gun and a vehicle within the first couple of missions. This means you can move much faster, carry more cargo, and don't have to avoid/hide from enemies as much. Feel free to play more aggressively from the get go this time around. Cutscene management This is a Kojima game which means there are a lot of cutscenes and they will be very long. It's important to know whether you can pause them instead of just fearing an accidental skip. Thankfully, hitting the menu button will pause the cinematics. Additionally, there's even a timeline that will pop up when paused to show you how much of the cutscene still has left to play so you can gauge how long you'll be watching vs. playing. It's also worth noting that you can skip the Qpid connection cut scene every time it happens. You'll see it dozens of times and no useful information is conveyed. You'll probably take an hour or two off your total game time by not watching these on repeat. Auto-Arrange Cargo is found in the bottom right corner of the cargo management screen Sean Booker Auto-arrange cargo If there is one tip you remember from our list, make it this one. When you are in the cargo management screen, after you've loaded whatever inventory onto Sam you want, you can hold triangle to automatically arrange it. There's also a controller shortcut: hold up on the d-pad, then to the right, and then press triangle. This moves the load off of just one location – such as his back – and spreads appropriate cargo evenly around. For example, it'll move grenades into the grenade pouches, a weapon on the tool rack, and even some small boxes onto his shoulder harnesses. It makes maneuvering Sam much easier and will ease your trek greatly. Hide in tall grass One of the reasons you won't want your back stack so tall is that it makes you more visible. This is also true when crouching and hiding in tall grass. Even though Sam himself might be hidden from the vegetation, if your cargo is poking out then enemies will still be able to spot you. Keep this in mind when organizing your gear and loading things in tall orientations. The Corpus can be access in the pause menu. Sean Booker Read the Corpus for world lore Death Stranding loves to throw out the most insane proper nouns and expects you to know and accept them. Luckily, the game features an internal glossary called the Corpus that will define these terms and give you additional context. It can also be brought up mid-conversation while someone is talking borderline nonsense to you about rain that makes everything age faster, for example. Your vehicle's battery is shown in the bottom left hand corner when driving Sean Booker Conserve vehicle batteries You'll be driving a lot in Death Stranding 2 and, considering you get them so early, probably more often than the first game. Vehicles let you carry more cargo and traverse the region much quicker. However, you need to keep an eye on how much battery your bike or car has. This is especially important when pressing L3 to use the faster, boosted speed. Boosting uses up more battery than regular so if your destination is quite far away, consider driving slower or make sure you'll have access to a generator at some point (which can be made using a PCC). It's also worth noting that driving through water will consume more power too so plan your routes accordingly. The APAS Enhancements screen Sean Booker Swap APAS enhancements One of the new features in DS2 is the APAS system which acts like a skill tree for Sam. You'll be able to unlock perks such as better balance, more accurate weapon aiming, etc. A great perk to this system is you can swap out your unlocked skills for free and you should do so. Each mission in DS2 will have different types of obstacles and threats. One might be more focused on combat while another sets you to traverse over a rocky mountain. Equip and unequip the skills that fit your playstyle and will suit you the best before heading out. Don't stress about materials Materials are used when fabricating new gear of objects in the environment. I've found that I didn't need to go out of my way and grind to find materials since a lot of missions rewarded me when plenty. Unless you're trying to pave super long roads or a ton of bridges and railways, you'll probably be fine progressing with the default amount the game rewards you. Storing materials It's also worth noting that when you pick up materials out in the world, they won't go to your total collection unless you deposit them. Get them off your back as soon as possible since they're usually quite heavy and pose no benefits from being on your person. You can see how many materials you have and what each item will cost to fabricator or recycle Sean Booker Recycle used equipment Several pieces of equipment have a one time use, such as blood bags. Once they've empty they'll just sit in your inventory and take up space and weigh you down with no benefit. Make sure to recycle these since you'll also get some crafting materials back. Sleep to restock ammo The best way to restock ammo for your weapons is by sleeping in your private quarters. This will automatically fill up your guns for free. It also charges all your gears' and vehicle batteries and restores stamina. Start fights at night Attacking an enemy camp is easier at night since it allows you to hide more easily in the dark. However, keep in mind the suit you're wearing. Each suit will have a different level of camouflage based on your environment. If you're in a sandy area, pick a more yellow-colored suit for example. Using other players' vehicles One of the best features in Death Stranding is interacting with objects built and placed by other players. This can range from ladders left beside a steep cliff to even vehicles stored in various locations. Instead of spending your own crafting materials, just use one someone else has donated online. The only downside is that you can't customize someone else's vehicle with weapons or accessories you've unlocked. If you want to do that you either need to build your own or find someone else who donated one with those upgrades. Constantly scan with the Odradek scanner The Odradek is arguably the best tool Sam will have when making deliveries. Its primary use is to scan the terrain, and it will pinpoint what packages, materials, items and structures are nearby. If it's too dark to see, it will give you a grid letting you know the terrain around you, and it will show how deep a stream of water is so you can avoid crossing areas where it's red, causing Sam to get carried away. Also, when entering hostile territory, it will show where the enemies are patrolling. Pick up items when driving Whether it's on the trike or the carrier, Sam can pick up packages, materials, items and chiral crystals (those golden hands coming up from the ground). You want to try to get as many of these for different reasons. When you're heading to a delivery location, you'll also find other packages meant for that same location. The more packages you deliver to one place, the more stars you get, which unlocks schematics, music and equipment. Materials and chiral crystals are also great to pick up as they can be used to upgrade structures such as metal and chiral crystals used to add another highway section when donated to a paver. When surrounded by BTs, just run Fights with BTs -- the invisible and deadly enemies returning from the first game -- is not easy, but these battles can be avoided. It's pretty obvious when you're about to deal with BTs, as the whole game will pause while the Odradek goes crazy. You'll soon see floating ghosts, referred to as Gazers, around you. Get too close and a tar pit will form around you with figures trying to pull you down. Fall down and you'll be forced into a fight with a giant BT that will take up your time and resources, and it could result in a giant explosion called a voidout that ruins the packages you had with you, damages equipment and destroys your vehicle. The better alternative is to just run as fast as you can or boost your vehicles. Keep away from the Gazers and if you're in the tar, just keep trying to run. With these 18 tips you'll be very well suited to take on the harsh environments of Death Stranding 2. Death Stranding 2 launches on PlayStation 5 on June 26.
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
REVIEW: New 28 Years Later film, shot in Somerset - worth a watch?
AN AWARD-WINNING cast has helped reignite the horror film genre with the release of the new 28 Years Later Film, partly filmed in Somerset. Here's my review: Entering as the third instalment of an already impressive first two films, 28 Years Later, directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland, has delivered one of the best post-apocalyptic survivalist horror-thriller films I have ever watched. READ MORE: Aaron Taylor-Johnson: Innovative filming makes 28 Years Later 'like no other' READ MORE: 28 Years Later, filmed in Somerset, now available to watch The plot takes you on an emotional rollercoaster that isn't your typical zombie horror film. A classic opening scene, starring the Teletubbies, shows the infected attacking a young boy named Jimmy at the start of the outbreak. Fast forward 28 years, we follow a slightly dysfunctional family with Scottish father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), an ill Geordie mother Isla (Jodie Comer), and their son Spike (Alfie Williams) - all living on an island with those who aren't infected. Jamie takes Spike on his first outing to the mainland, where we see him praise his son for getting his first infected kill - wiping out a rather fat infected with a bow and arrow. The two then run into trouble, nearly getting killed by an 'Alpha' infected in the process before making it back to the island. A drunken party then follows, where we see Spike fall out with his father, and if you've watched the film, I think you'll agree this is fair. Then, in an effort to save his ill mum, Spike heads out to the mainland with her. 28 Years Later cast and director (L-R) - Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Alfie Williams, Jodie Comer, Ralph Fiennes, and Danny Boyle. (Image: PA Media) This emotional journey between mother and son is my personal highlight of the whole film. It makes this film unique and makes you realise that there is more to the plot than just the infected vs humanity. Danny Boyle has changed it up from the first two films, and I'll say it's paid off, for sure. We then meet arguably the best character of the film, the 'insane' Doctor Ian Kelson, played by Ralph Fiennes. Known for playing Voldemort in Harry Potter and Chef Slowik in The Menu, Ralph's character helps tie the story together well, with a stand-out performance. I'm in shock at how this film has a 15 age rating, mainly due to Ralph's character and the amount of nudity and gore we get after Spike and Isla leave the island. However, I'm not complaining about the latter, as the kills/violent scenes have come a long way since 28 Days Later was released in 2002. The signature head-ripping off kills are gruesome yet awesome - watch just for this. In parts, 28 Years Later does lack a bit of flow to the storyline, but the strong cast all pay off - including Swedish soldier, Erik Sundqvist, who was effortlessly funny. Spoiler alert - Keeping a keen eye out for when Somerset's Cheddar Gorge would appear, I was a bit sad to only see it featured towards the end of the film. The aerial shots of the gorge are beautiful, and it was 100% a good choice to use it as a set for a film like this. Good news for Somerset, though, as it looks like Danny Boyle and the cast of 28 Years Later will be returning to the southwest county again, after the film was left there on a cliffhanger ending. I would've liked to have seen more of actor Jack O'Connell, who plays Sir Jimmy Crystal, as I think he's a great actor, particularly in Sinners and Skins, among other shows. Overall, this film is a testament to the amazing director that is Danny Boyle, and Jodie Comer's performance is definitely worth some sort of award. Nice to see that 28 Days Later star Cillian Murphy was the executive producer. It would be great to see him on-screen again if there are future films in the pipeline - 4.5/5.
Geek Culture
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Culture
‘Pokémon' Studio's Next Game Is ‘Beast of Reincarnation', An Action RPG Set For 2026
Game Freak, the studio behind the Pokémon franchise, has unveiled its newest game, Beast of Reincarnation, a third-person fantasy action RPG due for launch in 2026. Revealed during the Xbox Games Showcase 2025, the game is set in a post-apocalyptic Japan ruined by corruption, and follows protagonist Emma, 'an outcast cursed as a Blighted One', and her canine companion Koo as they 'journey across an ominous, ever-changing world where dangerous forests can erupt in the wasteland', with the game's trailer featuring slick third-person exploration and combat using nature-based abilities like summoning giant vines for traversal, and combat against both towering beasts and mechanical monstrosities alike. Advertisement ▼ According to the game's description, the core gameplay experience will be built around 'demanding, technical combat', which alludes to it featuring systems and difficulty akin to the souls-like genre, where studying an opponent's attack patterns and reacting accordingly is crucial, as opposed to hacking and slashing, with the trailer featuring what seems to be a timing-based parry system with Emma able to deflect yellow-tinted attacks. Previously under the working title Project Bloom, Beast of Reincarnation's gameplay evokes the same feel as Koei Tecmo's 2023 monster-hunting game Wild Hearts, featuring intense boss encounters with massive beasts plagued by some form of fungal corruption, although it remains to be seen if boss fights will be the focus of the title, or if it will feature a more traditional RPG format. Beast of Reincarnation will launch on Xbox Series X|S and PC sometime in 2026.
