The end of Summer has just passed and that means one thing for gamers. Games. Shit loads of games. The sales in the run up to Christmas are so important to game companies, this is also the time with the biggest upturn in console sales. This year's releases need to be seen in context. Next year we should be seeing two brand new consoles from Sony and Microsoft, the start of the ninth console generation.
Though it means a slow down in releases it generally means we should get to see some of the best games. Companies know the hardware and software inside out and so are able to push it as hard as possible. Breath of the Wild is known as a major Switch title but it also came out and really pushed the boundary of what the Wii U could do. Sadly no one cared.
There is hope though, new games don’t just dry up towards the end of a generation. PC gaming has no such cycle so it allows for continuous yearly releases with no such issues, plus Nintendo being out of sync (and not caring) allows them to pick up some of the slack. In fact their model of trying to release one big first party game a month should be picked up by Sony and Microsoft.
Sure it’s not always possible with development issues and only so many games can be made but it would be a nice aim. Especially as Microsoft have been buying up lots of studios over the last 18 months, hopefully we see more in their next gen console.
Below is not a complete list of every single game coming out. I have picked out the more noteworthy titles and yes, a lot I am interested in. Most people will only pick two or three titles up over the next few months and deciding what can be agonising. I can only hope that my thoughts below can help! What is on the way?
September
The dying embers of summer brought some major games, with Gears 5 and Borderlands 3 being the big AAA games of the month. Gears has somehow found its way back to form with a new semi open world and ditching Marcus Fenix for a new story with Kait Diaz. As its on game pass it’s sure a must play this end of year for Xbox fans. Borderlands 3 has sold bucket-loads and though didn’t blow all the critics away it’s still a Borderlands game. You cannot argue with shootin’ and lootin’.
Nintendo have been big this month, not only remastering Link’s Awakening but also releasing a handheld focused Switch Lite to good reviews, I am holding out for the Pokemon Edition out in November! These two stellar releases follow the meh release of Daemon X Machina. A repetitive mech fighting game that does have some redeeming features but hasn't set the world alight. As for a better Switch purchase would be the sprawling JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Game) Dragon Quest XI S which has been tellingly labelled by the creators as the best version of the game.
September means football and that of course is FIFA 20 and Pro Evolution Soccer 2020 (I outright refuse to include ‘eFootball’ in the title, it’s PES for fucks sake). Reviews have underwhelmed with the biggest complaints for FIFA trending as #fixcareermode on Twitter in the last few days. Usually one of these titles is brilliant to make up for the other, but alas both are not that great. PES carries on from last years hugely frustrating (and borderline broken gameplay) which means for the first year ever I have not picked up either title. Many others surely will which is fair enough. Expect to see PES in the Game Pass at some point.
Finally on the Indie front we had some brilliant little titles come out, the stand out title was Untitled Goose Game (a review will be out on Monday) where…. Spoilers you play as an absolute prick of a goose who goes around a village, ruining everyone's day. Short game but utterly brilliant and hilarious. As for the best of the rest were Creature in the Well which is a great Hack and Slash / Pinball hybrid, Overland a tough turn based survival game and Cat Quest 2, a feline inspired RPG.
October
Now we enter probably the strongest month of the year, with such a steady stream of quality titles it makes it hard to keep up mentally, let alone financially. So let's start with the biggest and most confusing, Call of Duty Modern Warfare (and no, not number 4, even though no one called it that...). Due to the popularity of Fortnite and other Battle Royale titles the COD series has taken a bit of a hit, it’s no longer the top dog. As a fight back Activision has ‘soft rebooted’ the MW series set in the modern era and with a much stronger emphasis on the single player campaign. Character models have looked insane in videos so far. All eyes will be on to see if this is a return to form.
Shooters in general have not been the go-to genre for a while now so the only major alternative this month is Ghost Recon Breakpoint, an online shoot that is the sequel to the ok Wildlands game from a few years ago. If you are a Tom Clancy fan I am sure it’s great but they hardly pull up trees in each new iteration and my biggest complaint was how repetitive it all was.
For fans of niche genres a new racer is coming from Codemasters, GRID a full reboot of the series. It’s multi-platform and the big hook is it’s own Nemesis System (think Shadow of Mordor) whereby if you keep hitting an AI drivers car they will get more aggressive towards you. Anyway, it will be full of pretty cars and hyper realistic tracks. For wrestling fans WWE 2K20 will come out though as they seem the same as the games from the late 90’s it might be worth waiting for the price to crash nearer Christmas…
Although PS4 exclusives have been slowly drying up we get one this month followed by another next. MediEvil is a 4k remaster of the classic adventure game set 800 years ago with knights, wizards and an undead army! Even though I had a PSone I never actually got the chance to play this and with it being only about £25 it will be well worth a first look for me.
I think a lot of us will have played Fallout New Vegas, a spin off of the Fallout series by Obsidian way back in 2010. It had its flaws but was a delight to play. Well they have only gone and made their own version set in Space and honestly, it looks incredible. The Outer Worlds is an RPG game set in a future dominated by mega corporations the player has to try and survive across various worlds. The developers have worked incredibly hard to allow the player to be able to kill anyone in the game, even those who are vital to quests. It sounds huge and I cannot wait to get a hold of this!
Sadly for me that although the Outer Worlds is hitting all platforms it still does not have a Nintendo Switch release date. This is going to be great to play on a huge TV screen, it's a bright and beautiful looking game but I want to explore such a huge world on the go. So please, no spoilers! Speaking of giant games to delve into, the second most important release this month for me is The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on Switch! Yes I know it’s four years old and has taken a massive downgrade graphically to get it to work on the little handheld but fuck it. 150 hours long, saving it for my Canary Islands trip over Christmas. Expect many references in future writing!
The other title? Well Luigi's Mansion 3 of course! I never played the original on GameCube but have played the Dark Moon on 3DS twice and it made me fall in love with little old Luigi. His whimpering, muttering and singing to himself as he wanders around haunted houses is just so damn charming, I challenge you to not enjoy it!
The best description for gameplay for Luigi’s Mansion 3 is Ghostbusters meets Mario. Except it’s Luigi who is obviously better. In this you must negotiate multiple floors of a haunted hotel trying to find and rescue his friends. Ghost's leap out and you have to catch them by sucking them up as they drag you around the room. It's funny and tense! Each floor is themed with its own unique boss to take on. I have been avoiding as many trailers as I can, it’s going to be brilliant and maybe the second best game of the year for me! There is nothing else like this out there. And what better day to release than Halloween!
November
Writing these previews is actually incredibly difficult, lots of games gets released every month and how should I know which is more important to talk about? Just Dance 2020 and Mario & Sonic at the Olympics come out in November, each selling millions to a more casual gaming crowd. Who am I to say they are all wrong? Each persons opinion counts right? Well… they need educating. There is a reason neither of those will be crowned Game of the Year (GOTY).
Where to start for them? How about Doom Eternal, the much anticipated sequel to 2016s fantastic shooter. Now and improved with a hookshot! It took me a while to get into the original (ok reboot of the original 1993 title) but then I raced through it in a weekend. Fuck chest high walls and cover, its all about sprinting around with ridiculously big weapons. I expect big things of the follow up.
Actually I was wrong, there are two major racing releases this Autumn! Need For Speed Heat is the latest in the series and due to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original. Set in an Open World in the fictitious Palm City (read Miami) the player can explore as much as they want and actually control the day night cycle. By day you take part in legitimate races and at night the illegal street racing kicks off with players forced to escape police and death by crashes!
For those who love PC simulation titles the guys who made Planet Coaster have followed up with the most realistic animal jail game ever in Planet Zoo. Expect lots of pooping monkeys and trumpeting elephants. Planet Coaster looked amazing but struggled to really challenge me, each levels objectives could be quite quickly beaten so hopefully they have really fleshed out the campaign. I will certainly be having a look at this.
Speaking of PC, Football Manager 2020 comes with what I will guess is a typical entry in the much loved series. Sadly, I already know what two teams I am going to be playing as, bring on the Beta in mid October! As for new features there is Club Vision, overhauling the boardroom experience.
Hopefully this means you can really emphasise what you want to do like bringing through youths. Backroom staff and player development get overhauled so hopefully it’s much easier to improve players. Oh and the match engine is improved but no one plays this game for that. Hopefully we have a new nation or two and the same addictive game play.
Probably the most interesting release of this whole period is Death Stranding by legendary games maker Hideo Kojima (of Metal Gear fame). I have no fucking clue how to explain what this is. Action game has been thrown about but that could mean anything. Interestingly the original Metal Gear Solid game was labelled as an Action title until release and then became the first of the Stealth genre. Kojima thinks much the same for this and a whole new genre will be created. We shall see. It star’s the Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus and comes to PS4 November 8th. It’s either going to be brilliant or terrible. Will be fun to find out!
EA aren't really renowned for either the recent quality of their games nor there longstanding working practices. Two very good reasons to avoid any of their titles but one has caught my eye and it could be the best Star Wars game since Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR). Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a single player action adventure title set just after the Revenge of the Sith movie. You are a secret Jedi who goes on the run from the empire. From the few game play trailers it looks like dedicated fans have made this game, with fun looking lightsaber combat and huge Walkers to take down. Anyway, I should quell the hype we have all been burned before but I will be taking a keen interest in reviews.
I am pretty sure I am missing a title, one I have been waiting for for the best part of three years. Some monster based fighting game? Oh yes, POKEMON!!!! Look I make no bones about it, I love this series and it is finally coming to Switch (the Let’s Go games don’t count). Pokemon Sword & Pokemon Shield are full blown sequels, the 8th generation of the games set in none other that Pokemons equivalent of Britain known as Galar.
Of course it’s basically the same game as the others, you collect little monsters and fight other people in turn based battles, aiming to beat 8 gyms and then defeat the elite four to become the champion. Same old but we all love that! It’s the home console debut for the series and from the latest trailers it looks such an upgrade on the 3DS series. Expect lots of new ‘mons, regional variants of older ones and hopefully tonnes of surprises.
GameFreak are notoriously secret about their games which means the avid fan base fills the gap with rumours. Sadly this means that massive theories and huge expectations of the game never match up to fan expectation. We wanted a huge open world game which was never going to happen but there is a large area of the map to explore with lots of overworld Pokemon catch. It won’t please anyone but will turn out to be one of the biggest sellers of the year. There’s an obvious reason for that and for all the hate they will still be good games. For the record I am Team Grookey!
Finally a world on Google’s Stadia. With no other major console releases (bar the Switch lite but that doesn't really count) it has a chance to make a big splash in the console market. It was announced to much fanfare, you buy the controller (for £119 no less), pay a £8.99 a month subscription then buy full priced games on top of that. The selling point is that you can play on anything with a monitor and WiFi which in theory sounds amazing. But it's a lot of money to be shelling out for a lot of games that are already out on other platforms that you can keep forever.
There is a free version coming next year with less stellar specs but Google are notorious for dropping any hardware that fails to go big. Google Glass anyone? My advice is to hold off and see how things go, maybe it will be more preferable in a years time when the new consoles come out but I am very sceptical. They do have the money and infrastructure to make it work, it could completely change how we game. But let's see. Xbox are currently experimenting with their own version and I am a lot more hopeful about that.
December
As I get my present buying done early this month allows me to pick up any major titles I have missed over the last couple of months, particularly as retailers give some new titles heavy reductions to ship more units. In the past I’ve seen some titles go down to around £25, especially a few days before Christmas so keep your eyes out! I will be tweeting out any amazing deals I see over the next few months.
It makes sense for companies to release before this month, time to buy in and wrap / post presents to people but the lack of major releases seems like an open goal to a big game. Last year we got the amazing Smash Bros Ultimate but there is no equivalent this year. I assume Nintendo want to let Pokemon have the limelight for the rest of the year. Hopefully they drop a port of Pikmin 3 *fingers crossed*.
So what is there? A Switch port of Assassin's Creed The Rebel Collection, which includes Black Flag and Rogue. I do need to give Black Flag a proper go so this is great for me and those other 3 muppets that have still not played it. How about Terminator Resistance? A single player shooter that oddly is not tied into the soon to be released movie in the series. I can't think of a good game from this series so I am not holding my breath. Apart from Shifty’s shout of Terminator 2 Judgement Day on Mega Drive!
Actually there is one interesting title, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey finally coming to PS4 and Xbox One. It’s been out on PC for a while and got decent reviews so it will be interesting to see how it does with a bigger market. It has a great hook, it’s a survival game with you as a chimpanzee in a clan trying to survive. You must eat, drink and sleep all the while exploring and trying to help your clan grow and improve.
Death is a major setback with evolutionary traits gained can be lost very easily, especially if it has not spread through to many chimps. The game spans 8 million years (surely the longest of any game!?) and the goal is have you evolve into a brand new species. It’s pretty long in 40 to 50 hours so a major investment of time but I am impressed with the vision to create something like this. I think Spore was the last major title to attempt this and it didn't go that well sadly.
Ok I am out, December has fuck all else. I am sorry but go complain to games companies on Twitter.
2020 onwards
We already know next year is going to be huge, two brand new consoles are coming but who knows when is anyone's guess. Until we know more, let’s have a quick look at the first four months. So a quick word on the four biggest titles. First up is The Last of Us Part 2, the follow up to Sony's hugely successful post apocalypse adventure game with Ellie returning 5 years later. This game has been shifted back four months presumably for polish but huge things are expected.
Another game set in the UK you say? How unusual. Oh wait, it;’s just London. In the future. Hello Watch Dogs Legion. Now I have never actually played any of Ubisoft's open world series, it’s never really grabbed me. Hugely tech focused this years iteration allows players to control a vast number of people from across the whole city. I cannot wait to become a murderous old granny!
Now we have talked about a lot of high octane action, games that grab you but the lapels and shake you until you give in. Life is tough and stressful. Where are the games to help us relax? Thankfully Nintendo have filled the gap with the latest entry in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. You end up on a tropical island with just a tent and must begin building a community for the inhabitants.
The game is full of all the old cute animal characters (damn you Tom Nook!) and has the usual variety of fishing, foraging and collecting of yore with a new deepish crafting system. Up to four players can play together locally (8 online), I assume I better pre-order two copies for our house already.... It look’s a fantastic world to gently waste countless hours together especially in those wet winter weeks of March.
Oh and yes Ryan, Cyberpunk 2077 on April 16th. Forget all the rest, this is the title to look out for next year!
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