What a strange month it’s been. How are you doing? We at Edge are in good health right now, and we hope you are too. But even if you’re managing to sta𒐪y safe and well indoors, things haven’t been✅ easy for anybody as of late. With the world and the game industry in lockdown, everybody’s felt the squeeze – including us.

Wh🌃en we sat down together as a team – well, in a manner of speaking – and thought about what this issue would be, with kids under our feet, partners absent and health concerns at the forefront of our minds, we decided ‘business as usual’ wasn’t going to cut it. And then a friend messaged us asking for recommendations for games that might soothe the anxiety they were currently feeling. Suddenly, we realised how Edge might be most useful this month.

• Get your first five issues of Edge, or , for just £5/$5

spotlights and celebrates videogames that serve one crucial purpose: they make you feel better. Most are non-violent. Manᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚy celebrate the healing power of coming together as a community. Others offer distraction, or escape, or messages of hope. Whether it’s the joy of the open ocean in The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker, the laugh-a-minute action of Jazzpunk, the anti-establishment thrills to be found in Jet Set Radio or the endless encouragement of Dragon Quest Builders 2, we hope everyone is able to find their particular tonic amongst our carefully curated recommendations.

The above wraparound cover, featuring many of these games’ characters self-isolating in style, was broughꦉt to life by our regular contributing artist Emmanuel Pajon, and was a real day-brightener when it landed in the Edge in🌟box.

True colours

We’ve also continued the theme inside, with a contents page that might l♑ook familiar to those of you making aꦆs many Zoom calls as we are nowadays – plus a colourful layout design that forms a rainbow when you fan out the pages. Some things, only print can do. We hope that brings you as much joy as it does us.

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Subscribers have been reading since the weekend (if you are one of the many who’ve sent us kind meꩲssages about this unusual issue, we thank you, although rather embarrassingly our loved ones are starting to become suspicious of our “allergies”). As of today, Edge 345 is now on general sale for everybody – and although you won’t find it on shop shelves, you can grab your print copy as usual via MyFavouriteMagazines, andꦦ have it delivered safely to your doorstep.

To make sure you never miss an issue, you can check , including one that gets you your first five issღues for £5/$5. And if you’d rather read digitally, you can sign up today and start your subscription with our .