With E3 2018 safely over our shoulder, we pick the best games we saw at the show.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

When Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was first revealed at the Xbox press conference, it honestly looked like Dark Souls: Japan. I figured it'd be the same riff on ancient Japanese history in the way that Bloodborne twisted Victorian England. But man was I wrong. Not only is Sekiro gorgeous, it's also a near complete subversion of everything we associate with Dark Souls. It's not an RPG, it has no multiplayer, and it's character isn't customizable.

But for each piece of that formula it rips out, From Software sticks a new one in. Sekiro is much more open-world, with levels designed to be scaled vertically using a cool new grappling hook. While it still has the same combat, it's completely reworked to capture the feel of dueling rather than hacking enemies to bits. It has stealth and enemies that look a lot more intelligent than your average Dark Souls lot. Simply put, it's everything I could have wanted from the next Dark Souls—which is to say, it's nothing like Dark Souls. —Steven Messner

Control

With a transforming, supernatural gun and powers like levitation and telekinesis, Jesse is sent in to figure out what went wrong inside The Oldest House, which won't be the linear environment we've seen in games like Alan Wake, but more metroidvania in its structure. My favorite part of the demo was when Faden comes upon an employee inside an observation chamber. As he hears Faden approach, he starts begging for her help: "Oh god, are you here to relieve me?" He's been staring at a refrigerator for days, possibly longer—if someone isn't looking at it, he warns that it will "destabilize." This is but one strange side quest within The Oldest House, Remedy says. —Evan Lahti

My Friend Pedro

Devolver Digital's surreal anti-conference, now in its second year, has become a highlight of E3. After last year's frenzy of satire somebody obviously said, "Hey, that was quite popular but maybe we could show some more games next time?" And so they did. Between Metal Wolf Chaos XD and SCUM was a trailer for My Friend Pedro, a game you'd be forgiven for thinking was just another of their blood-drenched parodies. But no, I've been following My Friend Pedro's development on Dead Toast's Twitter for a while now, and it's definitely real.

The pitch is basically "2D Max Payne but even more over-the-top". There's a generous bullet time meter and physics has been bribed to look in the other direction while you flip and pirouette your way through levels, doming bad guys with bullets and sometimes frying pans. The frying pans can also be used to ricochet bullets off, making for the wonderful possibility of throwing one up in the air, slowing down time, pinging a few bullets off it into bad dudes, then kicking the frypan out of the air and into a final enemy's face just as time spools back up again.

There's also skateboarding and motorbike chases and dual-wielding that lets you lock onto separate targets with each gun. Best of all there's a built-in capture that saves your best moments in each level and lets you upload them as a gif, like Opus Magnum but with more slow-motion headshots. When this game comes out next year Twitter's going to become a parade of nonsensical violence. It'll be like that one cool fight from Deadpool only I won't have to sit through all of Deadpool again. I'm down with that. —Jody Macgregor

Phantom Doctrine

The action is turn-based XCOM-style strategy featuring both stealth and shooting, but successful extraction from a mission doesn't result in anything as grand as an armored airlift. Instead, a nondescript van pulls up to the curb and then speeds away once your agents are inside. Your army in Phantom Doctrine, being developed by CreativeForge Games, isn't comprised of soldiers, but spies during the Cold War of the 1980s.

Between missions, when you head back to your upgradable headquarters, Phantom Doctrine is awash with paranoia. It even has a conspiracy board, where you can examine gathered intel and link clues together with red string and pushpins to unlock new missions. While you're dressing up your agents and forging them new passports you'll also want to rifle through their skills and abilities looking for anything that wasn't there the last time you checked. There's a chance they may have been captured while out in the field and brainwashed by your mysterious enemy. That's right, one of your own spies may be a double agent, and the presence of skill you didn't assign them might be your only clue.

The idea of having a squad of NPC agents you can never completely trust is wonderfully intriguing. So is the fact that you can brainwash enemy agents yourself, and then activate them during a mission, essentially flipping them to your side. You can even plant a tiny bomb in the head of an agent, so if they're captured they won't have the chance to talk, with the added bonus that they'll blow up whoever captured them—though this will mean the loss of whatever intel happens to be in the room when it explodes. Er, plus the loss of your agent, naturally.

The cat-and-mouse one-upmanship of espionage and counter-espionage looks incredible and makes me desperately wish Phantom Doctrine was out right now (it's coming this summer). There were a lot of great games on show at E3, but this one especially piqued my interest. Jody also got some hands-on time with it recently. —Chris Livingston

Destiny 2: Forsaken

Look, I know. I bloody know. I am the boy who cried Destiny, and I do not blame you for not wanting to hear more about it. And certainly not how this next expansion is going to fix most of what went wrong. But, but, but! From speaking to Christopher Barrett and Scott Taylor at E3, it's clear that both Bungie knows it has a mountain of trust to earn back, and more importantly has a plan that addresses the most egregious problems. That means bringing back random rolls on weapon and armor and leaning into the endgame activities that keep players coming back.

Of what I was able to try at the show, the slice of opening story mission featured typically bravura alien-shooting, with Cayde-6 front and centre Golden Gunning-escapees from the Prison of Elders and then nonchalantly tossing a 'nade over his shoulder to clear up the survivors. Until he isn't. Suddenly I was jump cut into the climactic cut scene in which Cayde dies at the blue hands of Prince Uldren. It was different, and even colder, than the moment in the story trailer released during E3. If we ignore the slight suspicion that the developer just didn't want to keep paying Nolan North for voice work, then it really does feel like Bungie is full committed to Forsaken taking a much darker turn.

Perhaps even more of a surprise was what an instant hit the new Gambit mode felt like. This hybrid of PvP and PvE provides plenty of scope for 'hero moments' as players hop into each others' arena to wreak havoc or face plant spectacularly. In order for Gambit to truly stick around, the four promised maps will need to be sufficiently varied and the loot pool will have to be worth grinding for. That latter point will conclusively answer whether the game is back on track, but with September 4 looming I now feel pretty optimistic. Don't make that face. —Tim Clark

Dying Light 2

Dying Light has quietly become one of the best and most successful zombie games in modern memory. It's basically a dramatically improved version of Dead Island: more satisfying melee combat, smoother shooting, more interesting RPG elements, and topped off with a first-person parkour system that, for my money, is infinitely more fun than holding up to climb in Assassin's Creed or Tomb Raider. Plus it lets you dropkick the hell out of zombies. 

It was darn good at launch, and it's only gotten better as Techland's handed out heaps of free content over the years. But Dying Light has one problem no amount of DLC can fix: the writing is terrible. I remember exactly two things about the main story: there was a bit where a kid got turned into a zombie and I wasn't sad at all, and the main villain had a bit where he screamed the protagonist's name at the sky like that scene from Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan. The dude you play as is so forgettable that I don't even remember the name the bad guy screamed. 

But! Dying Light 2 is a golden opportunity for Techland to deliver a good story and a fun zombie sandbox, and it sounds like they're making good headway. They've enlisted the help of some of The Witcher 3's writers, for starters, and based on what Steven saw at E3, he reckons the sequel is ripe with meaningful, world-altering decisions. And I'm so down for a humanity-driven Dying Light that takes itself seriously. — Austin Wood

Maneater

“Just a small town shark. Livin’ in a lonely seaaaaaaaaaaaa. I killed a load of stuff to upgrade my teeeeeeeeeth.”

I was knee-deep in magazine deadline when I watched the Maneater trailer from the PC Gaming Show. As a trailer it seemed pretty average. It was the moment after the trailer finished which had me enraptured. Sean ‘Day9’ Plott clarified that you play as the SHARK and it’s an RPG kind of thing so you can upgrade your shark to fulfil its lifelong dream of killing all humans (and some other fish). Then I read a bunch more promising details in Wes' Maneater interview.

Obviously there’s a bit of dissonance here—sharks are amazing, beautiful, curious creatures and we are far, FAR more of a danger to them than they are to us. But it’s also an RPG where I get to be a SHARK on a revenge quest instead of some blank-faced human on a revenge quest. I hope this ushers in a golden age for animal RPGs—geese, praying mantis protagonists, mage bees… Turns out I’m perfectly happy to park my “we shouldn’t anthropomorphise creatures” philosophy if it means I can ruin human holidays. —Pip Warr

WINNER - Cyberpunk 2077

I never want to forget that weird feeling of vertigo I had during the opening moments of the first-ever showing of Cyberpunk 2077's behind-closed-doors demo. I had a mountain of expectations, of course, but CD Projekt Red toppled all of them the moment the character creation screen closed. It almost took me a minute to understand what I was seeing—is Cyberpunk 2077 a… first-person shooter? Holy hell. I don't know why I didn't see that coming.

The next 50 minutes held several more moments when I had to sit back and check my expectations for what kind of game this would be. Drivable vehicles? Real-time dialogue choices that don't break up the action? One of the most densely packed and detailed cities I have ever seen in a game? Cyberpunk 2077 wasn't content with merely being The Witcher 3 but with androids—but it all was still pinned together by those familiar RPG systems.

It was an impressively meaty showcase (one that was running on a single 1080 Ti to boot) that showed CDPR was willing to take bold risks and try new things. And, when you consider the leap from The Witcher 2 to The Wild Hunt, that's exactly what made The Witcher 3 so great in the first place. It was a great demo that offered an exceedingly detailed look into a game that might not be out for years, which is a refreshing reveal to have at E3. So, yeah, Cyberpunk 2077 was definitely the best thing I saw all week. —Steven Messner

A short distance away from the sound and fury of E3, literally across the road from the LA Convention Center, there's an alternative show called Indie Heaven. Publisher Good Shepherd is taking the opportunity to showcase some smaller games, and one of them is turn-based tactics game Phantom Doctrine.

This new story trailer sets up the plot, which takes place during the Cold War and features spies who go rogue to take down a global conspiracy called "the Beholder Initiative". It shows off a little bit of gunplay, but also what looks like experiments with combat drugs and hypnotic brainwashing.

We went hands-on with the version of Phantom Doctrine that's playable at E3 and our first impression was a positive one. It's due out later this year on Steam and GOG.

There's a thin red line between me and danger. It marks where I can walk carefree, a disguise of a hat and some glasses keeping me safe, and where I'll be at risk of setting off alarms just by being seen. During the infiltration stage of Phantom Doctrine I walk this perimeter, testing the boundary, before finding a choice spot to break it. In this opening level all I have to do is wait for a guard to loop past on his patrol, slip through a fence, disable a security camera, and I'm in. 

I'm immediately faced with another guard, but this is all according to plan—he's a sleeper agent who has been brainwashed, and can be activated with a code phrase. (Probably something innocuous like "banana bread".) My brainwashed buddy then explores the red zone freely, and the alarms stay quiet for one more turn.

Phantom Doctrine is set in 1983, during the Cold War but later than you might expect. When I first heard about it I figured it would be more of a 1970s, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy kind of deal. The advantage of a later setting is more high-tech spy gadgets, with things like GPS a reality. Also the hair is bigger, as I find out in the character creator, which you can go back to whenever an agent needs a new cover identity. There's a nice selection of hats too.

But back to the mission. The sleeper agent walks ahead, silently taking down a guard and clearing the path to the intel we're here to steal. The room it's in has a window, so I call a support agent—a team-mate deployed off the edge of the map—and she looks through a telescope from her position in an overlooking building. Now I can see the entire room, which has two guards keeping an eye on the safe full of documents. If my support was a sniper they could take a shot, but the spotter's ability to lift fog of war and give a temporary damage to bonus within that area will be good enough for us.

I can't send the sleeper in to do another takedown because the second guard will spot him, so it's time to breach. That means getting both of my agents into position at the two entrances and then having them act simultaneously, which adds another damage bonus. It also looks cool, which is very important. They each open a door and fire a spray of machinegun bullets into a separate guard in a single, fluid motion. After taking it in turns for so long, watching co-ordinated simultaneous action like this is cool as hell.

Of course, all that shooting means the alarm finally goes off. This is fine. All we have to do is grab the documents out of the safe and hold our position until evac arrives. During the infiltration stage Phantom Doctrine reminds me of Invisible Inc. but once you go loud it starts to feel like XCOM, complete with the little shield icons telling me whether I'm in half cover or full cover.

Overwatch works slightly differently, needing to be directed toward a specific spot, and instead of a skyranger, rescue comes in the form of a regular old van, which skids into the street outside so we can leap out of the facility's windows and run for it. I pause to switch to a pistol that does bonus headshot damage and take out one more guard on the way, then we're off.

A successful tutorial mission over, it's back to headquarters to decipher the intel. The Phantom Doctrine's HQ is your classic upgradeable ant farm, with areas like an infirmary, workshop, and interrogation rooms. The whole thing can be picked up and moved to a different city if enemies find its location, which is a nice touch. 

My favorite part of the base is the conspiracy corkboard where I get to analyze the documents. Each scrap of text full of blacked-out secrets has to be pored over for codenames and locations, which can then be connected to the same names when they show up in other documents. It's a simple matter of clicking on, say, a photo of a suspect and dragging a piece of string to a corroborating folder or piece of microfiche, but it quickly becomes a tangle of pushpins and color-coordinated string just like in the movies. Make enough connections and a new mission unlocks, whether to raid a location or take out a target or steal some more info.

There have been other games about spies over the years. There was Sid Meier's Covert Action, Alpha Protocol, and No One Lives Forever, as well as various James Bond and Tom Clancy games of course. More recently there's SpyParty and Invisible Inc. But it's not exactly a crowded genre, and emulating espionage cliches like the interactive analysis board has an impact simply because it's not something we see games do very often.

I'm playing as the CIA but you can also choose the KGB, and there's a secret third faction who will be unlocked in New Game Plus mode. No matter who you choose the overarching story is about trying to defeat an organization working in secret to pit the east and west against each other, keeping the Cold War going for reasons of their own. Your choice of faction alters how things start but once the main plot begins the missions dovetail, which sounds kind of like how Dragon Age: Origins handled it.

A later mission goes very differently. This time I start with two agents and my target's a guy named Aguirre I need to capture or kill. In the infiltration phase I cautiously make my way around the office he's in, taking out a couple of guards and disposing of the bodies (which happens in a cutscene, there's no need to drag them to actual hiding places). Through a ground floor window I spot the target, who is distracted and staring at a conspiracy corkboard of his own. There's a camera on him at all times and both the neighbouring rooms are covered by cameras as well. Luckily I spot an empty security room nearby, so one of my agents clambers through the window and turns off a camera—but it's not the right one. 

Faced with the prospect of engaging in a more thorough room-by-room infiltration of the office, which is full of civilians and even more cameras, I give up on the idea of kidnapping the target and opt for a blunter solution. I station both agents on the street outside the room the target's in, call for evac, and then open fire. It takes three rounds of full auto to drop him, and as soon as the first one goes off the alarm rings and reinforcements start coming, but it turns out I have exactly enough time to get in the van and get the hell out of Beirut before they get close. It wasn't subtle, and I missed out on some bonus intel somewhere in the level, but I did the job and nobody got hurt.

Nobody but those two guards and the target, I mean. Nobody we know, or at least care about.

One of the most promising things about Phantom Doctrine is that it seems happy to allow for both stealth and shootier strategies, as well as an adaptive blend of both (building on XCOM 2's groundwork in that respect). Being herded into one or the other for an entire campaign could get dull, but having the freedom to switch things up when necessary makes it stand out from the increasingly crowded genre of turn-based tactics games. Plus, I think I could happily connect lines of string between names on that corkboard for hours.

Phantom Doctrine is being developed by CreativeForge Games (previously responsible for Hard West) and published by Good Shepherd. It's due out in late 2018.

If you're looking for games like XCOM on PC, you're in luck. XCOM is now its own genre, as creator Julian Gollop explained on this website late last year. This is a good thing. Turn-based strategy games have gotten surprisingly big, and it's not just happening on PC—it's evident in the XCOM-like Mario + Rabbids on the Switch, and in the Fire Emblem series.

On PC, we've got a lot of different games coming in the XCOM/X-Com vein, including one from Gollop himself. Below, we've rounded them up. 

Phoenix Point

Julian Gollop’s modern take on the original X-Com idea, Phoenix Point goes for a much more granular, simulation-heavy combat system than Firaxis’ XCOM reboots. Bullets are modelled individually, location damage can cripple enemies or remove combat abilities mid-fight, you can alter movement mid-run if you spot an enemy, and enemies include monsters the size of buildings.

There’s a much grittier tone, too, and the devs have talked about working Lovecraftian horror influences into the design of the enemy crab creatures menacing humanity. The creatures evolve to counter your tactics, growing gun arms to counter aggressive close combat squads, or chitinous shields to repel squads lacking in armour penetration. 

We played the first backer build a little while ago, and there's a second one available to backers now—you can get access with the game's luxury digital edition, but it's a steep $50, whereas a regular pre-order costs $30. It's got a long way to go, but its differences from XCOM are pretty exciting. 

Phantom Doctrine

It's exciting to see the XCOM formula applied to different themes. Phantom Doctrine is set during an alternate history Cold War, with both KGB and CIA storylines to choose from. You run a counterintelligence agency, and you can brainwash, interrogate and chemically enhance your operatives in order to battle a global conspiracy that's basically actioning the Cold War. 

You've got the option to play in a stealthy way with silenced weapons and quiet takedowns, or be noisy about how you operate. You also maintain a hideout where, among other things like pinning evidence to a conspiracy corkboard, you can change your agents' identities if they're at risk. There's a lot going on in Phantom Doctrine, then, and beating it will apparently take a massive 60 hours, but the mix here is compelling. 

Jody played Phantom Doctrine in June, and loved the aforementioned corkboard. During the initial infiltration stage, Phantom Doctrine is closer to something like Klei's Invisible Inc, but when the action kicks off, that's when it reminded him more of XCOM. You won't have to wait long to play it—it's out in August.

Xenonauts 2

We praised the original Xenonauts for hewing closely to the old X-Com formula but also building its own layers on top of that, including more flexibility for unit customisation. Years later, Xenonauts 2 is a nicer-looking sequel that has a pre-alpha combat demo on GOG Galaxy. It passed its Kickstarter goal of £50,000 within half a day.

In Xenonauts 2, the Cold War never really ended, and you have to rebuild your organisation from scratch. It's not a story sequel to the original, rather "an updated portrayal of similar events", according to the Kickstarter. The Geoscape has been expanded from the original, and Goldhawk Interactive calls this a game "loosely inspired" by classic X-Com and not a direct remake like the first game was. Some backers will get access to a closed beta, estimated to arrive in September, and the game will launch in Early Access before a full release. 

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden

Based on decades-old pen-and-paper RPG Mutant, and from ex-Hitman developers, Mutant Year Zero is an unusual mix of stealth game and turn-based RPG. You explore environments in real-time, but when a fight kicks off, it enters a more familiar-looking XCOM combat framework. Wes described it as "really fucking cool", which is the sort of assessment italics were created for. 

Mutant Year Zero is set in a post-apocalypse where mutated humans and animals are vying for survival. This means one of your characters is Duck (called Dux), which is something none of the other turn-based games in this list can boast. Your party is limited to three, and around 30 mutations, granting different abilities, are spread out across the playable characters. These include moth wings, that let a character fly to get a better sniper spot. 

It looks beautiful, and it should be out later this year. 

Gears Tactics

Made by long-time Gears of War collaborators Splash Damage, this PC-exclusive spin-off was a big surprise from Microsoft's 2018 E3 conference. The Coalition's Rod Fegusson described it as their "take on the classic turn-based strategy genre, with a character-driven story, faster, more aggressive gameplay, a customizable squad and equipment". It'll also feature huge boss battles, in the style of Gears.

We're curious to see how well this universe translates to turn-based games, but that's pretty much all we know at this point. The screenshots suggest something familiarly XCOM-like, though. 

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus

Warhammer 40K plugs so easily into the XCOM format that it’s puzzling there aren’t more. We’ve had Space Hulk, and a version of Mordheim based on the Warhammer Fantasy Battle skirmish game, but Warhammer 40,000 Mechanicus will hopefully be the first game to do the licence justice. It's early days, but as you can see above, you'll get to fight Necrons, which is an interesting choice of foe.

The Adeptus Mechanicus are transhuman builders and worshippers of the machine god. They work with the Space Marines, building their armour and running their massive Titan walkers, but they are an interesting fighting force in their own right. Their tendency to upgrade their limbs with experimental weapons could be very entertaining in an XCOM-style campaign. “DIFFICULT DECISIONS” are promised, as well as alternative endings and a story penned by Warhammer Black Library author Ben Counter.

Whether you enjoy turn based games or a good RTS, 2018 will present some interesting options. Naturally, the brace of current 4X games like Civilization 6, Stellaris and Endless Space 2 will continue to receive expansions and updates throughout the year, but there are a bunch of new titles to look forward to besides. Here are the ones we're most excited about, and a few that we can expect to see appearing in 2019 and beyond.

Frozen Synapse 2

Developer: Mode 7 | Release date: 2018 | Link: Official site

Frozen Synapse was a sleek, streamlined tactical squad combat game released in 2011. A tight variety of weapon types and smart asynchronous multiplayer helped it to stand out, now the sequel plans to couch these combat encounters in a procedurally generated city populated by embattled corporations. As in the original game, you give orders to your neon operatives in five second bursts by drawing out pathing and aiming instructions, then you press 'go' and watch your orders play out. The core combat is proven, but we'll have to see how the addition of an overworld relic-hunting metagame builds on those fine foundations. The digitised cut-glass cities already look gorgeous.

A Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia

Developer: The Creative Assembly | Release date: 2018 | Link: Official site

Total War fans waiting for a return to history could be in for a treat as The Creative Assembly debut the "Saga" series. It's a sizeable Total War game with a much tighter focus on a particular flashpoint in history, namely the aftermath of Alfred the Great's victory against the Vikings at the battle of Edington. Three factions are poised to fight for control of the British isles, but the country is rendered at a much greater scale than we've seen before in a Total War. Take a look at the map at the end of the video below and you can see how the game intends to zoom in and explore the territory in detail.

BattleTech

Developer: Harebrained Schemes | Release date: Early 2018 | Link: Official site

We like everything we've seen so far of this turn based mech combat game. You spend half of your time engaging enemies with a squad of highly customisable mechs, and half managing your mercenary organisation in a tough universe where betrayal is a constant risk. Learn more in our interview at the PC Gaming Show, where we learned more about your home base and the strategic metagame that binds your missions together. BattleTech/MechWarrior creator Jordan Weisman is onboard, so long-term fans of the BattleTech universe can expect a detailed and authentic take on the universe.

Into the Breach

Developer: Subset Games | Release date: TBA | Link: Official site

It is a good year to be a mech fan. Into the Breach, from the developers of FTL, doesn't have an official release date yet even though from what we've played it could come out tomorrow and be brilliant. It's a turn based tactical combat game set over a tightly limited turn count. In each encounter you have to do is survive an onslaught of giant creatures burrowing up from beneath the planet's surface, but where many strategy games rely on dice rolls and happenstance to generate drama and tactical dilemmas, Into the Breath shows you everything. You know exactly how and where each enemy is going to strike next, and how much damage they will do. Then it's up to you to craft a perfect series of attacks to push enemies around the battlefield and blow them up for sweet XP.

Phoenix Point

Developer: Snapshot Games | Release date: 2018 | Link: Official site

The creator of the original X-Com, Julian Gollop, is returning to the genre he helped create with an exciting modern take on the formula. Bodypart targeting, mutating enemies and a grittier look all help separate Phoenix Point from Firaxis' recent XCOM reboots. Soldiers will have willpower and endurance stats to model how stressed they feel when they get shot by alien crabs with miniguns for arms, and there are multiple human factions with their own tech preferences. Of course you can expect to repurpose crab tech for your own purposes, in true X-Com fashion.

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition

Developer: Microsoft | Release date: Early 2018 | Link: Official site

This could be a dream remaster of one of the best loved PC series ever. The art has been updated to look good at modern resolutions, the population cap has been increased, you can zoom out, pathfinding has been adjusted, you can attack-move, there's an "enhanced orchestral soundtracK" and more. The package will include the original campaign and the scenario editor. The only drawback is the game is releasing "exclusively to Window 10 PCs" according to the Microsoft Store page. Hopefully we'll see it coming to a wider range of PCs later.

Wargroove

Developer: Chucklefish | Release date: Early 2018 | Link: Official site 

This will look very familiar to Advance War players, but we're sorely lacking bright turn based tactical games like this. Wargroove's four factions are depicted in vivid pixel art, and include exciting unit types like 'dog' and a very excited archer. Careful positioning and adjacency bonuses are everything in the Advance War formula.

Abandon Ship

Developer: Fireblade Software | Release date: Early 2018 | Link: Official site

An FTL-esque oceanic romp set in a procedurally generated seascape full of pirates and the odd tentacle monster. You order your crew around your vessel during sea battles as they load cannons, fix holes in the hub, and fend off boarding attempts. Meanwhile you have to target your enemy using a range of attacks, from cannons to chain shot that ruins sails. Between battles you navigate between ports to take on missions, earn bounties and upgrade your ship.

Phantom Doctrine

Developer: Creative Forge Games | Release date: 2018 | Link: Official site 

If the phrase 'Cold War XCOM' piques your interest, keep an eye on this tactical squad game in which you command a team of agents. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to sabotage opposing nations, recover intel and flip enemy agents. Stealth is preferable of course, but you can charge in with a machinegun if the circumstances warrant. There is no in-game footage yet, but the first screenshots are full of moody lighting and period outfits.

Looking further ahead

Age of Empires 4: Easily one of the most exciting  strategy games on the horizon. A slim concept-art only teaser trailer reveal suggests that it could be some way off, but genre-specialists Relic Entertainment are developing the project, It's a great opportunity to bring back a bastion of PC gaming.

Warhammer 40,000: Gladius—Relics of War: In the grim darkness of the future there is war on hexes, where futuristic units take it in turn to annihilate one another for the glory of their respective factions. Warhammer 40K stalwarts the Ultramarines, Orks, Imperial Guard and Necrons  duke it out in this follow up to Slitherine's Sanctus Reach and Armageddon.

Forged Battalion: Forged Battalion is a colourful RTS from the vets at Petroglyph. You forge your battalion using an extensive unit customisation suite before taking them to the field to battle The Collective. It's due to enter Early Access soon but the final release date is as yet unknown.

Phantom Brigade. Another mech game—hooray! This one features turn-based battles in destructible environments and, true to the genre, heavy war machine customisation between missions.