It’s strange feeling to look at the gaming landscape and know that for the most part, I’ve managed to catch up with many games. Now, when there’s news of upcoming games, I can be excited about them as much as the next person, knowing that I might actually get to play them when they’re released.
Case in point, Batman: Arkham Knight comes out next Tuesday and I’ve pre-ordered the Premium Edition and will booked myself half a day off to play it.
I suppose you could argue that these pointless list entries—which are more for myself anyway—should really not be anything I published.
But I like writing them.
Months, or even years, after this I can go back and find myself surprised at the amount of games I was excited about and then preceded to forget all about by the time they were released.
Some games, like Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and ReCore didn’t make the cut because they’re Playstation 4 exclusives and I know I’m not going to get both consoles—it’s bad enough that I’m probably going to have to get an Xbox One.
But those aside, here’s the games I’m eagerly and alphabetically awaiting.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Despite some of its criticized flaws, I really enjoyed the previous Deux Ex: Human Revolution and hopefully Eidos Montreal has learned from its mistakes, not to outsource boss fights and then start playing the blame-game.
Like many games, where stealth is an option, I tend to favour it only to fail miserably and then have to resort to the, “Run and gun,” approach anyway, much to my untimely demise.
What I’m saying is that I, kind of, suck at many games that I enjoy.
Excitement Level: 3 and a half out of 5 retractable blades
Dishonored 2
In the anticipated follow-up to Arkane Studio’s Dishonored you can play as either Corvo—again—or the Empress’ daughter Emily Kaldwin.
My money is on Emily taking this year’s BadAssAssin Award—a thing I just made up but might revisit later—as I don’t care that much about Corvo any more. Come to think of it, I didn’t care much for him to begin with.
What I did care about, and enjoyed was jumping up on people and surprise neck stabbing them, which I wrote about in Corvo’s Journal of Awesomeness. I foresee the same amount of enjoyment out of Dishonored 2.
Excitement Level: 4 out of 5 tins of Pratchett’s Jellied Eels
Fallout 4
Clearly, Bethesda does want my money after all. And I’m glad to give it—anything really—to them to get another Fallout game.
Some people have already complained about the graphics but let’s take a moment and step back, a) This is a Bethesda game, of course it’s going to be ugly, have you been living under a rock and b) I don’t care. I frequently enjoy Minecraft for its graphics and this is much more to my aesthetic liking.
I’m not too sure about the dog—whom I shall call Meatdog—but have you seen the crafting?
Oh, I’m going to craft the shit out of… ummm.. shit, I guess?
And with only 146 days to go before I can play I can hardly contain my excitement. I’m even considering getting the Pip-Boy Edition which comes with—you guessed it—your very own Pip-Boy.
Excitement Level: 5 out of 5 water chips
No Man’s Sky
No Man’s Sky is a procedurally generated open universe game from four-man studio Hello Games. Yeah, there’s apparently only four of them.
You take on the role of a planetary explorer with a spacecraft, allowing you to explore the surface of numerous planets and interact with the flora and fauna, and take to space, engaging in combat with hostile forces and travel to other worlds.
Maybe you’ve already seen a trailer of it before but still, “Wow.”
Just, “Wow.”
Excitement Level: 5 out of 5 procedurally generated boners
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Laura is back, voiced again by Camilla Luddington whose vulnerable yet determined portrayal is just fucking perfect.
I really, really enjoyed the gut-punching heart-pounding experience that was the rebooted Tomb Raider. Few games—even the great games—are without flaws but I can honestly not remembering anything about Tomb Raider I didn’t like, that’s how good it is.
I’m really looking forward to see where they take the next instalment.
Excitement Level: 5 out of 5 makeshift longbows
Sea of Thieves
Raise your hook hand if you love pirates!
That’s what I thought.
After Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag—or AssFlag as I’d like to call it—reminded us how much we all love pirates, Rare has stopped making pointless Kinect games and intends to give us something which could sooth even the hardiest of sailors.
The art style is wonderful and reminds me a bit of Fable 1 and 2—coincidently the Fable games I still liked—and the gameplay looks boatastic.
Excitement Level: 4 out of 5 pieces of eight