By Andi Hamilton.

Created by the Swedish two-man team of Jonatan Cactusquid S derstr m and Dennis Wedin, Hotline Miami topped game-of-the-year lists in 2012 due to its addictive action, tight game mechanics and effortlessly cool aesthetic. The ultraviolent blend of classic Grand Theft Auto, Robotron and, hell, even a bit of Rainbow Six s Open and Clear murdering, put their two-manned studio—Dennaton Games—on the map as one of the most exciting indie developers. As Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number approaches, the duo talk me through their backgrounds and making the sequel.

I have a band called Fucking Werewolf and I had an idea for a long time that I would like to make a music videogame for it, Wedin says. I started hanging out with Jonatan and his brother. He was making games, so I approached him and asked if he wanted to make this game with me, and he said he would do it on the one condition that I made all the graphics, because he didn t want to make it all himself! So that was the first time I ever did pixel art. We made that game and it was really fun working together, so we kept on going from there.

I have a band called Fucking Werewolf and I had an idea for a long time that I would like to make a music videogame for it.

Dennaton is a truly independent, punk rock game studio. Just the two of them, even after the success of the first game, and they still work from home rather than having an office. Throughout the interview, they repeatedly mention that Hotline Miami is a game they made for themselves and that it is the game that they wanted to make—no outside influence. They re the Ian MacKaye to Notch s Henry Rollins. It seems like an odd pairing, as Wedin had no prior experience in making games. Zero. By this point, S derstr m had already made, by his own estimation about 50 games before he started working with Wedin (I recommend that you check out the wild shoot- em-up Clean Asia! and the Lynchian creepy as hell Mondo games).

From the first time I played a game, S derstr m says, which was when I was eight—it was Super Mario—I always wanted to play as the enemies instead of Mario, because I thought he was a silly character. Once I got older, I realised it might actually be possible to make a game. So I decided to just give it a try.

He reckons the first game he made was probably when I was 14. I tried to make it in Macromedia Flash but I gave up because I couldn t figure out how to do the programming. When I got into high school—I was 16 or something—I started experimenting with GameMaker, which is an application which allows you to make games without doing any code, so I could concentrate on ideas. It seemed like a lot of fun to create games, creating your own worlds. I made a game about a cucumber with a head that jumped over a ball. Then I made a game about spitting on children... They weren t very good. Soon I started thinking it would be fun for other people to play my games, so I started going onto online forums and uploading my games there. I got a lot of response to it so I just kept doing it.

It s no secret that the eventual release of Hotline Miami on Steam wasn t the smoothest of launches. Bugged achievements, rough controller support, and in some cases the game wouldn t run at all. The duo chalk this up to an admitted lack of experience when it came to shipping an actual full release of a videogame, some publisher pressure, and simply running out of money. Obviously, this is something Dennaton are doing their utmost to avoid for the sequel.

First off, we had never released a game for cash, really, and if a game is for free and it doesn t work no one will let you know, Wedin explains. So we didn t know anything about the problems GameMaker had with a new DirectX and stuff like that, because we never got any feedback. So when we released the game we saw that it didn t run at all on Windows 8... it was very hectic at the end. We were out of cash.

With the game patched up, broad acclaim and impressive sales translated into a unique cult status. Hotline Miami has an enviable reputation, with its memorable iconography and deliberately obtuse story justifiably provoking a lot of conversation, not to mention demand for a follow-up.

The sequel has a much more solid base to work with. In fact, Hotline Miami 2 actually started life as an expansion pack for the original.

When we realised that the expansion pack was going to be bigger than the first game, we changed it to a full sequel, S derstr m says.

We also wanted to make the editor and other cool stuff, and that took a lot longer than expected, Wedin adds. We also wanted to call it the sequel , because with expansion packs I find it s the same formula but when you do a sequel it has to be very innovative nowadays—pretty much a whole new game. We wanted to do a sequel like they did with sequels back in the day for people who actually enjoyed the first game and want more, like with Mega Man. So, we felt like we should call it Hotline Miami 2, stick to our guns and just give people that like the first game another game that they will enjoy. Not just trying to get a bigger audience, but making a game for us and people who liked the first one.

It will, however, be a more fleshed-out and varied experience than the first game. The story of the original, the split narrative between Biker and Jacket , is left intentionally vague. (Neither Wedin or S derstr m is willing to divulge which is the canon story, even going to the extreme of banning the question from being asked in some interviews.) Hell, the characters don t even officially have names: Biker and Jacket came from the fan community before being adopted by the Dennaton lads themselves. Hotline Miami 2 features characters that have more clearly defined roles in the story, as well as their own unique abilities.

The biggest inspiration for the second game is actually the first game, Wedin says. When we made the first game we talked about all these back stories to the characters—fleshing out the universe—more for us than the players. We always felt like we could make a second game by expanding on this stuff. That was the biggest motivation for us.

S derstr m is quick to clarify that Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number doesn t deviate from the original game s tone. There s still a big part of the game that s really vague, but part of it that is more set in stone. Much clearer.

Since there s 13 characters, we had to give them some kind of personality otherwise they d all be bland, Wedin says. It worked for Jacket , but for Biker we added dialogue to make him different, so we re working on more stuff like that. The story is jumping between different times and settings, so you ll have to try and connect them.

Jumping around why, exactly, I ask. In this game you re going to have to play as a load of different characters. There s going to be a level for just the fans, just the detective, just the cobra guy, and you ll have to play as all of them. In the first game people would just pick the Tony mask and play the whole game, so in this one we re forcing you to adapt a bit more. You have to adapt to that character s ability. Like, for this character I have to have this weapon, or for this character it s better to use guns, you know?

"I made a game about spitting on children... it wasn't very good."

Music is an integral part of the Hotline Miami experience. The soundtrack, a curated list of some exceptional electro artists, plays a huge part in the trance-like state you find yourself in as you hammer R to restart after an untimely death. As a game that shifted a good 300,000 copies on Steam, the original provided fairly major exposure for a lot of the artists included. It seems like a slot on the soundtrack to the sequel would be a pretty smart move for the up-and-coming musician.

I think we got around 200 songs sent to us, Wedin says, which was cool! Searching for music is really hard. There s loads of cool tracks that we used. It s about 50/50, music that we found and music that approached us.

As much as the original game was recognised for its soundscape, it was celebrated—and criticised—still more for its intense graphic violence. For the sequel that seems to have continued as a trend. Earlier in the year, a demo of the game was shown that featured a character known as Pig Butcher . After going through your typical Hotline Miami level, murdering everything in sight, a post level sequence showed this character threatening sexual assault, before an off-screen director yelled cut! revealing the whole sequence to be part of a movie based on the events of the first game. How meta.

Perhaps like the first game s portrayal of violence, this was an attempt to critique the objectification of female characters in videogames, but a few writers (including Cara Ellison, writing on this site) found it to be in poor taste, making use of an extreme topic to shock, and frankly a bit crass. Dennaton ended up removing the scene from the demo, but when asked if this controversy had affected the development of the game or any of the creative process, S derstr m s answer was simply No. Not really.

At the start of the game, there s an option to choose whether you want the game uncensored or not, Wedin adds. It was stupid to have it in the demo, looking back. It doesn t really work if you can t continue playing and see how it works.

One of the more interesting features of the sequel is the level editor, which is apparently the number one request from fans.

It s not fully working yet, says S derstr m. We need at least another week to work on the features that are missing. We haven t decided how far we want to take it. Like, it would be cool to add custom graphics and stuff, but then you get these kind of problems with what kind of content users can add to the game, like swastikas or whatever, so we re not sure we want to do that. We do want to make it so you can create your own storyline, like a campaign. We also want to make it as easy as possible for users to create their own levels, so you don t have to be good at programming to make anything with the editor. It s on an MS Paint level.

Another thing that fans were asking for was the addition of multiplayer, but that is something that has been left out—after all, the Dennaton duo are determined to make games for themselves. The breakneck pace of the game simply wouldn t work with two players, so cooperative killing sprees are out of the question.

It s hard to keep that press R to restart, die repeat die repeat with two characters, Wedin says. Do both characters die? Or if one character dies, does the other player have to wait? That, he says, would break the whole hypnotic vibe of Hotline Miami.

Hotline Miami 2 recently got bumped from 2014 to early next year. We are in the final stages of our work, Wedin says, and then there s going to be a lot of testing and bug fixing. We ve been very close to being finished for a long time but we also discussed a lot of stuff that we didn t have time to make for the first one, like menus and how to design them so they work well in the game. We made our own achievement list, because we didn t like how Steam s own achievement notification had weird colours from the game on them. We wanted to make everything in the game cohesive. This is the last Hotline Miami because we re cramming everything we have in there. I don t think we can take it any further after this.

It s interesting the duo should hint at the end of the Hotline Miami universe. Providing the game is as—or more—successful than the original, where does the studio progress from here? I m interested as to whether the size of their two-man team restricts them from going as far as maybe they would like. 

We talked a bit about it, S derstr m hedges. We want to keep it just the two of us, but maybe contracting someone to do something in 3D or whatever... something we can t do ourselves.

We want to keep at least one game that just me and Jonatan are making, Wedin says. Maybe a side project that we have creative control over. It s just an idea, though. We never felt like we wanted more people. Things are way more complicated when there s more than two people.

2014 is dead. It was pretty good, but it can do nothing to halt the unstoppable wave of new games 2015 will bring. There are talky games, shooty games, driving games, games that let you bake bread and games that let you become bread. There are new monsters to kill, new plot twists to uncover and new armies to command. Here's our guide to hundreds of interesting games coming our way in 2015, carved into genre chapters for your perusal.

OPEN WORLD ACTION ACTION FPS RPG ACTION RPG 2D SHOOTERS & TWIN-STICK GAMES FIGHTING GAMES STRATEGY ADVENTURE EXPLORATION AND SURVIVAL MMO PLATFORM PUZZLE SPORT SIM RACING

What are you looking forward to playing most this year?

OPEN WORLD ACTION

Open worlds are all the rage at the moment, particularly for big studios with the budgets to create massive virtual playgrounds. There are some promising specimens coming in 2015, including the delayed release of Batman: Arkham Knight. Elsewhere, Assassin's Creed: Victory will give us Victorian London to explore, GTA 5's Los Santos is sure to amaze and we're getting the madness of MGS 5: Phantom Pain on PC as well. We're also excited about The Witcher 3's open world. You'll find that on our RPG page.

Grand Theft Auto 5

Developer: Rockstar NorthPublisher: RockstarRelease date: 27 January, 2015Link: Official site Took them long enough. Grand Theft Auto 5 first came out late-2013 to critical acclaim and commercial success. Last year, it made it to PS4 and Xbox One, and now, finally, PC is getting its turn. It'll be worth the wait. Not only does the PC version get all the features of the enhanced editions—including amassively expanded soundtrack and first-person mode—it will also boast native 4K support. PC is soon to be the definitive way to travel Los Santos.

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

Developer: Kojima ProductionsPublisher: KonamiRelease date: 2015Link: Official site Big Boss returns for the sequel to Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes, and the prequel to Metal Gear 1. Okay, so the timeline—hell, the entire Metal Gear plot—can be confusing. All you need to know is that The Phantom Pain promises an expansive stealth adventure set across a series of large open-world environments. Not only that, but here you're actually building up Big Boss's mercenary haven. You can capture guards, upgrade buildings and even befriend a one-eyed wolf cub.

Batman: Arkham Knight

Developer: RocksteadyPublisher: Warner Brothers InteractiveRelease date: June 2Link: Official site The Arkham series is still one of the best interactive realisations of a superhero fantasy ever, and that s hopefully set to continue with Arkham Knight. It s already clear from early stealth and combat demos that AK is taking a the-same-but-bigger approach to the latest sequel, but technological advances have allowed for a massive leap in fidelity since Arkham City. The new city is huge, incredibly detailed, and full of criminals to punch, and punch them we will repeatedly in June.

Assassin s Creed Victory

Image via Kotaku.Developer:UbisoftPublisher: Ubisoft Release date: TBALink: Announcement (to official site or store page) A collection of leaked images revealed the setting for the next Assassin s Creed game: Victorian London! It s an excellent fit for AssCreed, and we already have very clear opinions about what Ubi should and shouldn t do with it. Most of all we hope it won t slip out with all the technical problems that Assassin s Creed Unity had. Will Ubi s strict annual launch schedule claim another victim, or will Victory be a rainy, smoggy return to form for the series?

Assassin s Creed Rogue

Developer: UbisoftPublisher: UbisoftRelease date: Early 2015Link: Official site It might be easier to think of Rogue as Assassin s Creed: Black Flag 2. It s got the sailing, port assaults and scattered structure of Pirate Creed, but this time you play as Shay Patrick Cormac, a templar with a big musket and a cool jacket. Explore the North Atlantic, visit young New York, see the sights, skin a whale. It came out on console boxes last year, but it s due out on PC early 2015.

Dying Light

Developer: TechlandPublisher: TechlandRelease date: January 27, 2015Link: Official site

The creators of Dead Island have ditched that series, going their own direction with a new open world zombie- em-up. Though, as we learned from a preview build, combat is often unwise and melee weapons break quickly. More important is the ability to freerun over rooftops, avoiding the slow, stumbling infected below. Dying Light also includes a day/night cycle and a story interesting enough that we want to know more (though Techland asks that we don t spoil the setup.) It s out the first month of the year, so there s not long to wait.

Dead Island 2

Developer: Yager DevelopmentPublisher: Deep SilverRelease date: Spring 2015Link: Official site It s best not to take that title literally, Dead Island 2 s zombie apocalypse takes place on the mainland, in California. Techland have handed development duties to Spec Ops: The Line developers Yager, but don t expect any harrowing commentary on war and human nature either, this is going to be another romp about teaming up with friends and chopping up zombies, and will hopefully be a little more technically refined than the first game.

Just Cause 3

Developer: Avalanche StudiosPublisher: Square EnixRelease date: TBA 2015Link: Official site Rico returns in another chaos-filled open world adventure. Expect another absurd romp with your magical grappling hook and infinite parachute. This time, we're off to the Mediterranean, as players are tasked with taking down dictator General Di Ravello. Avalanche has also revealed a more varied terrain; with a map that features more verticality and explorable caves.

Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell

Developer: VolitionPublisher: Deep SilverRelease date: 20 January, 2015Link: Official site It's not exactly Saints Row V, but standalone expansion Gat Out of Hell promises to be a departure from virtual Steelport. Notable differences include the fact that you'll no longer play as The Boss, but rather pick between supporting characters Johnny Gat or Kinzie Kensington. Also: it's set in hell. That means more crazy superpowers, oddball activities and bizarre weapons from an exploding frog cannon, to an armchair gattling gun.

Mad Max

Developer: Avalanche StudiosPublisher: Warner Brothers Interactive EntertainmentRelease date: 2015Link: Official Site The creators of the Just Cause series invite you to play as the titular Aussie ass-kicker in a post-apocalyptic open-world Outback. Build custom cars for vehicular mayhem, dish out devastating combos in melee combat, and hunt down the bandits who stole your iconic Interceptor.

ACTION

Welcome to a collection of action games that don't quite fit into other categories. The rumoured summer release of the Oculus Rift will give us a chance to experience Eve Online's universe in a more hands-on context than the MMO offers. We can expect to hear much more about Ubi's pretty but poorly-explained post-apocalypse co-op survival thing, The Division, and we'll hopefully learn more about IO's return to the Hitman series. We're even more excited to hear details of the next Deus Ex game. 2015's shaping up nicely.

Mirror s Edge

Developer: DICE Publisher: EA Release date:TBA Link: Official site DICE are making a million things at the moment, so it ll be a long time before we see this modern reboot of the cult run- em-up, Mirror s Edge. Producer Sara Jansson posted in June 2014 to remind everyone that the game s still in production, saying that it will feature advanced combat that is integrated into an improved fluidity of movement. Some fans would rather see combat taken out altogether, but maybe DICE and EA can make it work with a revamped system.

Star Citizen

Developer: Cloud Imperium Publisher: Cloud Imperium Release date: Ongoing module launches throughout 2015 and beyond. Link: Official site Chris Robert s remarkably ambitious space sim is slowly coming into focus. A windfall of tens of millions of crowdfunded dollars are going into the production of the ultimate space game. Want to walk around your ship? Want to visit planets and wander around shops with other players? Want to fight for control of space stations in zero-G first-person combat? Star Citizen s feature list has it all. For millions, on paper, it s the dream game. Can they pull it off?

Tom Clancy s The Division

Developer: Ubisoft Massive, Ubisoft Reflections, Ubisoft Redstorm Publisher: Ubisoft Release date: 2015 Link: Official Site Open-world online shooter The Division got our attention when it was announced at E3 this year, though we haven't heard a heck of a lot about it since, other than that it's been confirmed for PC. Featuring co-op squadplay against AI opponents and firefights with other multiplayer squads, we were most taken with the impressive visuals and the atmospheric setting: a wintery New York City a few weeks after a biological attack.

EVE Valkyrie

Developer: CCP Games Publisher: In-house Release date: TBC Link: Developer website Rumour has it that the first consumer model of the Oculus Rift will be hitting in summer 2015, and EVE Valkyrie is looking like one of its killer apps. While Star Citizen and Elite are hardcore sims, this is unashamedly an action-heavy dogfighting game. It works brilliantly in the Rift and seeing EVE s sci-fi universe up-close is a thrill. But Valkyrie is being made especially for virtual reality headsets, so you ll need the hardware to experience it.

Hyper Light Drifter

Developer: Heart Machine Publisher: Heart Machine Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site Beautiful art, snappy combat and a world of robots and monsters await in Hyper Light Drifter. Top-class pixel art recalls the 16-bit era, but Heart Machine promises modernized mechanics and designs on a much grander scale.

Gigantic

Developer: Motiga Publisher: Motiga Release date: TBA Link: Official Site Gigantic is a team-based action game all about destroying the opposing team s guardian which is, well, gigantic. An arena combat game with a unique art style, Gigantic is the first project to come from Motiga. It has a lot of competition from other recently announced arena games like Blizzard s Overwatch, but Gigantic puts a spin on the genre that will help it stand out.

Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age

Developer: Crytek Austin / Crytek Frankfurt Publisher: Crytek Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site

Hunt looked wonderful when we saw it at E3 in June, a combination of Left 4 Dead-style four-player co-op against AI monsters with third-person action and shooting that reminded us of Resident Evil 4-5 set in the 19th century… with procedural level and enemy generation. We got worried when Hunt s studio, Crytek Austin (formerly Vigil Games) experienced significant layoffs, shifting Hunt to Crytek Frankfurt for completion. It s never encouraging to see a game change hands mid-development, but we re still holding out hope that the ex-Vigil team s ambitious and refreshing vision will take shape. A closed beta was announced in December 2014, though it s unclear when it ll run.

Fractured Space

Developer: Edge Case Games Ltd. Publisher: Edge Case Games Ltd. Release date: 2015 Link: Official site

Fractured Space will transition to a free-to-play model sometime next year, but for now it s on Steam Early Access. Tyler has been enjoying its giant spaceship lane pushing, where two teams of five capture mining stations to earn buffs, then go after each other s home bases. It s pretty far from complete, but the essential design is sound—sneaking up on a Flagship in a cloaked Assassin, materializing like a Romulan warship, then blasting it with rockets is one of its especially satisfying joys.

Io's next Hitman game

Developer: Io Interactive Publisher: Square Enix Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Announcement post

In early January 2014, Io Interactive posted an open letter to their fans. In it, they revealed the existence of a new "AAA Hitman game" for PC and current-gen consoles. More importantly, they reassured fans that this wouldn't be another Absolution. "The game concentrates on the core Hitman fantasy of using a wide range of tools to take out a diverse group of targets across expansive, exotic locations around the world," Io wrote. Specifically, the new Hitman is inspired by Contracts and Blood Money, and, with luck, will be a return to the formula that made the series great.

Space Pirates and Zombies 2

Developer: MinMax Games Publisher: MinMax Games Release date: Q1 2015 Link: minmax-games.com The second coming of (the somewhat-unfortunately named) SPAZ transforms the space shooter into a behind-the-thruster action game that s more Freelancer than Asteroids, as its predecessor was. There s still a great focus on random generation and ship building, and you ll have to make careful design choices about component positioning, weight, hull integrity, and engine power. SPAZ 2 also promises a living galaxy that isn t player-centric—200 other pilots are crawling the galaxy who are able to do everything the player can, including forming dynamic factions, building structures, controlling territory, and going to War.

Titan Souls

Developer: Acid Nerve Publisher: Devolver Digital Release date: Q1 2015 Link: Official Site Originally made for the Ludum Dare 28 game jam, Titan Souls has been tapped to become a full sized experience. It looks like a 2D, pixel-art Shadow of the Colossus, the only enemies being large bosses with distinct weak points. The original is available to play for free here and is hard as nails.

Amazing Frog?

Developer: Fayju Publisher: Fayju Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site A sandbox dick-about in the vein of Goat Simulator, Amazing Frog? is set in the magical kingdom of Swindon, UK, where a farting frog frolicks with friends for environmental bonuses. Fire yourself out of cannons, hit bouncy castles for points, jump off things, parkour up things. Swindon is your oyster.

Rebel Galaxy

Developer: Double Damage Games Publisher: Double Damage Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site Rebel Galaxy is a space game about shooting first, learning how to dock later. Unlike Elite: Dangerous, for instance, it emphasizes the action over the minutiae of space travel. It promises a big ship, an open galaxy with randomly generated solar systems and quests, and the experience of feeling the concussion of a broadside blast, and the impact on your deflectors as they absorb a particle beam meant for your shield generator. Also, shady space bars.

Jotun

Developer: William Dub Publisher: William Dub Release date: TBA Link: Official Site An action-exploration game, Jotun challenges you to fight your way through a randomly-generated viking purgatory by killing giant norse elementals in an attempt to reach Valhalla. The game s creator, William Dub , describes it as the mood of Journey and the scale of Shadow of the Colossus in top-down 2D, which sounds pretty great if he can pull it off.

Overgrowth

Developer: Wolfire Games Publisher: Wolfire Games Release date: TBA Link: Official Site Overgrowth, also known as that 3D brawler where humanoid rabbits fight each other, oh man, what is this, doesn t have a set release date, but sometime in 2015 seems like a reasonable guess. It feels like it s been in alpha for forever, but maybe that s just because we really want to be a fighting rabbit-person.

The Very Organized Thief

Developer: Redefinition Games Publisher: Redefinition Games Release date: TBA Link: Official Site Starting as a free Unity game, The Very Organized Thief wants to be bigger, but unfortunately failed to meet its Kickstarter goal. Since then, it s made its way to Steam Greenlight. It s a casual stealth game about sneaking around somebody s house with a list of things to steal, and has no combat. You have to find keys, disable alarms, and get the loot before you get caught.

BattleCry

Developer: BattleCry Studios Publisher: Bethesda Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Not to be confused with Battleborn, this is Bethesda s competitive 32-player third-person brawling game with art direction from Half-Life 2 and Dishonored whizz, Viktor Antonov. It s bloody, thanks to the inclusion of dismemberment and classes that wield massive cleavers, but the sketchy art style keeps things light, and you get to fight in beautifully realised eastern European industrial zones. Classes include archers, punchy brawlers, knife-wielding duellers and enforcers, who wield the aforementioned cleavers.

Kakexun

Developer: Kenji Eno Publisher: Kenji Eno Release date: TBA Link: Game s Indiegogo Famous Japanese game developer Kenji Eno passed away nearly a year and a half ago, but that isn t stopping his friends from creating a game based on his final design. Kakexun is a psychedelic game comprised of a mix of story stages and action stages. It s very hard to explain, and we highly recommend visiting the game s Indiegogo to witness the madness for yourself.

Dreadnought

Developer: Yager Development Publisher: Grey Box Games Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official Site These aren't sleek, swift, easily-maneuverable fightercraft we're talking about. In Dreadnought, a tactical action multiplayer game from the developers behind Spec Ops: The Line, you'll pilot truly massive spaceships and battle other flying behemoths in team deathmatch and elimination modes.

Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin

Developer: From Software Publisher: Namco Bandai Release date: 3 April, 2015 Link: Dark Souls 2 site Prepare to dive into some original sin with From Software's remastered version of Dark Souls 2. That a year-old game is being remastered is unusual, but it's a side-effect of the studio releasing the game on new-gen consoles. Scholar of the First Sin brings enhanced graphics, performance and DirectX support, all bundled with DS2's three DLC add-ons. Fortunately, existing owners aren't being left behind. A free patch for Dark Souls 2 will bring Scholar's expanded story and additional NPCs.

Deus Ex Universe

Developer: Eidos Montreal Publisher: Square Enix Release date: TBA Link: Announcement post Deus Ex: Universe is Square Eidos's name for a whole series of upcoming Deus Ex stuff, including at least one proper "core game". We don't know what this game is called, when it's due for release, or even if it'll be a narrative follow-up to Human Revolution. What we do know is that it'll run on the Dawn Engine, a modified version of Hitman: Absolution's Glacier 2 Engine. Eidos Montreal recently released an in-engine screenshot showing what can be done with the tool, and the result looks awfully Deus Ex-y. We do, of course, have a wishlist of features we'd like to see in any new Deus Ex game.

Halo: Spartan Strike

Developer: 343 Industries/Vanguard Studios Publisher: Microsoft Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site The follow-up to largely ignored Halo twin-stick shooter spin-off Spartan Assault works across both tablets and PC via your Steam saves, and includes Halo 4 s slightly rubbish enemies the Prometheans, as well as the ability to run over enemies in a Warthog. Essentially, it s there to remind you that none of the proper Halo games have come out on PC since Halo 2, but nonetheless it looks pretty enough.

Dungeon Defenders 2

Developer: Trendy Entertainment Publisher: Trendy Entertainment Release date: 2015 Link: Official site The sequel to popular tower-defense action RPG Dungeon Defenders entered early access in 2014, and plans to become free to play once it officially launches. In co-op play, teams defend their base against wave after wave of A.I. creatures with a mixture of automated turrets and third-person combat.

TerraTech

Developer: Payload Studios Publisher: Payload Studios Release date: TBA Link: Official Site Build a fleet of vehicles to fight for an alien planet s resources. As you destroy your opponents you can scavenge parts from them, growing and upgrading your machines even more. TerraTech currently has a demo on its site and will be hitting Steam early access sometime in January.

Human Element

Developer: Robotoki Publisher: Robotoku Release date: November 2015 Link: Developer Site Cooperate with, or battle against, other human players 35 years after the zombie apocalypse. Build and fortify your base, scavenge for resources, and plans assaults on enemy forts, using every weapon at your disposal, including zombies themselves.

FPS

It's going to be a good year for shooters. You've got Rainbow Six: Siege for tactical shooting, Killing Floor 2 for co-op shooting, Evolve for monster shooting and Super Hot for slow-mo shooting. You never know, Battlefield Hardline and Evolve may yet turn out to be surprisingly great, and if they're not, Reflex should provide a nostalgic fix to compensate.

Battlefield Hardline

Developer: Visceral, DICE Publisher: EA Release date: March 20 Link: Official site The 2014 beta test had the tenor of a mod for Battlefield 4, as though opposing armies had been reskinned to fulfill Hardline s cops vs. robbers fantasy. Cops and crooks exchanged RPG fire on deserted city streets and zipped round in slippery cop cars. It was weird, so the devs decided to withdraw for a while to get things right. The finished version comes out on March 20, and comes with a Miami-based single player campaign in which you play a detective, Nick Mendoza, on a mission to bust apart a local drug ring. Expect entertaining cop-movie cliches aplenty.

Call of Duty 12

Developer: Treyarch Publisher: Activision Release date: Late 2015 Link: Call of Duty site Okay, so we don't know what it is yet, but we know it's going to happen. Call of Duty is just too big to skip a year. For 2015, expect Treyarch to be in the spotlight—maybe for a Black Ops sequel, or perhaps something new. All we know for sure is that they've got a lot to live up to. Ghosts had a dog, and Advanced Warfare had Kevin Spacey. CoD 12 is going to need something special to out-gimmick those guys. Perhaps a dog voiced by Kevin Spacey? We can but dream.

Rainbow Six Siege

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal Publisher: Ubisoft Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site (to official site or store page) This fierce, tactical multiplayer shooter rapelled into E3 2014 to much applause, partly because it replaces the dodgy-looking Rainbow Six Patriots, but mostly because of the return of recognisable R6 elements like sneaky SWAT cams, breach charges and tactical shotguns. The Counter-Strike style round system and playable terrorists are new, though. Before each hostage rescue, both teams get a setup phase. The cops can scout the crims with recon cameras while the hostage-takers setup screens and wall-armour to control the cops entry points. Expect lots of destructibility as well, thanks to the new AnvilNext engine.

Killing Floor 2

Developer: Tripwire Interactive Publisher: Tripwire Interactive Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site (to official site or store page) This is sure to be the messiest of 2015 s shooters. This follow-up to Tripwire s excellent co-op monster-blaster is going big on the gore, but we re more excited about the guns. Tripwire also made Red Orchestra and Red Orchestra 2, and are experts at making virtual guns feel deadly and exciting to fire. In addition to the usual array of shotguns and (delightfully meaty) handguns, they re also adding close combat weapons like Katanas. Ready your mop.

Overwatch

Developer: Blizzard Publisher: Activision Blizzard Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Blizzard take on Team Fortress 2 with a colourful team shooter set in a brand new universe. Every hero serves as a different class with unique special abilities and weapons. Play as an armoured ape who can shield his enemies, or a woman who can teleport and plant explosive grenades, or a samurai archer who can clamber up walls that other characters can t. The heroes will be tied together with a story told outside of the game that may well make use of Blizzard s talented CG movie department.

Evolve

Developer: Turtle Rock Studios Publisher: 2K Games Release date: February 10 Link: evolvegame.com Turtle Rock s monster-versus-hunters shooter is ambitious in its asymmetry. The eleven human (and one robot) Hunters are all deliberately different—each of the medics heal completely differently, for example. We love the look of Evolve (it may be the best-looking game on PC when it launches) and its focus on movement, evasion, and teamwork. The big question is whether a dozen maps and a handful of modes will be enough to sustain hardcore players and how much of the game s post-launch content will be paid.

Battleborn

Developer: Gearbox Publisher: Gearbox Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Gearbox describe this as a hero-shooter . Why are we shooting the heroes? The churlish response would be because MOBAs are really popular right now and there s a chance a first person shooter lane-pusher/competitive shooter hybrid might find an audience. And why not, the art is bright and colourful, the characters are bright and varied, but will Gearbox face opposition from Blizzard s upcoming arena shooter, Overwatch?

SUPERHOT

Developer: SUPERHOT Publisher: SUPERHOT Release date: TBA Link: Official site The 7 Day FPS game jam entry impressed us in its early form. The twist is simple: time only moves when you do. Pause mid-fight and you ll see bullets hanging there, tearing beautiful red trajectories through the air. The full version is sticking to the striking red-and-white aesthetic, and will feature swords. HOT.

Fortnite

Developer: Epic Games Publisher: Epic Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site Combining crafting and shooting, Fortnite pits you and your teammates against a horde of monsters—scavenge materials by day, build up your base and defenses, then weather the siege at night. Epic Games announced that it was working on Fortnite quite a while ago, but only recently released hard details and is currently accepting applications for the closed alpha.

Verdun

Developer: M2H, BlackMill Games Publisher: M2H, BlackMill Games Release date: February 2015 Link: Official site The trenches of World War 1 are a relatively unexplored setting for an FPS. Verdun addresses the challenge with a gritty, grim squad shooter that explores WW1 in rifle-deathmatch and Frontlines mode. Frontlines levelling system has you upgrading squads with different tactics and combat roles. One to watch.

Toxikk

Developer: Reakktor Publisher: Reakktor Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site Another shooter taking advantage of the Unreal Engine, Toxikk is a back-to-basics arena shooter that focuses on precise movement and skill. It s a love letter to Unreal Tournament and shooters of the past, featuring weapon pick-ups, health packs, and jump pads. Reakktor is very particular about pointing out it won t be free-to-play, wanting everyone to be on a level playing field, and will be releasing an SDK for the community to make maps of their own.

Reflex

Developer: Turbo Pixel Studios Publisher: Turbo Pixel Studios Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Two words sum up why Reflex represents such an exciting return to old-school twitch shooters: jump pads. Yes! The super-quick movement and classic weapons of Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament have been faithfully recreated in a modern engine that supports quite excellent gib effects.

Block N Load

Developer: Jagex Publisher: Jagex Release date: Feb 2015 Link: Official site A 5vs5 tactical PvP shooter with an emphasis on construction destruction. Players are given immense potential to shape their arenas by building defences, digging tunnels and, of course, blowing stuff up. Helping realise this tactical potential is a cast of heroes that each offer different specialisations; giving players the opportunity to focus on combat, defence or support roles.

Hellraid

Developer: Techland Publisher: Techland Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Visions of Hexen come unbound at the sight of this pulpy new first-person hack n slash game from Techland. The gates of hell have popped open and need closing sharpish before the monsters unleashed overrun the entire planet. Decapitate and de-limb hellbeasts with axes, swords and spears, or throw fireballs to simply melt them.

Homefront: The Revolution

Developer: Deep Silver Dambuster Publisher: Deep Silver Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Mediocre reviews, poor sales and the ultimate closure of both its original developer and publisher seemingly couldn't stop Homefront from getting a sequel. Homefront: The Revolution was originally in production by Crytek UK. They too closed, and now Deep Silver has taken the project on board. It'll be worth the effort if they can deliver on the game's promise of resistance fighters in an occupied open-world Philadelphia.

Bedlam

Developer: RedBedlam Publisher: KISS ltd Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Bedlam is a nostalgic shooter about the history of shooters. Blast through levels that look suspiciously similar to Quake, shop up enemies with flaming swords Hexen-style and blast your way through a Pac Man maze, complete with ghosts. The devs pitch it as a shooter for those who survived online gaming in the 80s and 90s."

Black Ice

Developer: Super Duper Garrett Cooper Publisher: Super Duper Garrett Cooper Release date: Link: Official site In Black Ice you play a hacker trying to fend off waves of viruses using lasers inside the PC—far more exciting than just installing AVG. There s a free demo that you can play in your browser if you want to see Black Ice s Tron-like environments first-hand. A pre-release version is available on Steam early access, but more weapons and randomised loot needs to be added before the game is feature-complete.

Blockstorm

Developer: GhostShark Publisher: IndieGala Release date: TBA Link: Official site A shooter set in a world of breakable blocks, a familiar idea to anyone who s tried Ace of Spades. The neat thing about Blockstorm are the creation tools. The same tools the developers used to build the game are available to players, which means anyone can create a map or mode. It s on Steam early access, of course, and won t be finished until the devs have added 5 new online multiplayer game modes as well as new maps and new characters. There s a free demo here.

Star Wars Battlefront

Developer: DICE LA Publisher: EA Release date: October Link: Official site Confirmed as EA s big first-person shooter for 2015 and arriving just as Episode VII lands at the back half of the year, this is the Frostbite-powered Star Wars shooter you ve been waiting almost ten years for. We know Hoth and Endor are in it. What else will make the cut? Mustafar? We should hear more about Battlefront soon.

Ratz Instagib 2.0

Developer: Lizzard4000 Publisher: Lizzard4000 Release date: TBA Link: IndieDB page The current version of this Unity-built labor of love is freely available on sites like Kongregate, but the 2.0 iteration of the game is getting worked on further in preparation for a full release on Steam. Ratz is marriage of some of our favorite classic FPS stuff: super-sized rats maps, Quake-style rocket-jumping (with railguns), and instagib, the frenetic, one-hit-you re-dead mode from Unreal Tournament.

Interstellar Marines

Developer: Zero Point Software Publisher: Zero Point Software Release date: 2015 Link: Official Site With single-player or co-op story mode and cross-platform multiplayer team deathmatches, this tactical sci-fi FPS features tense battles and a horror-infused atmosphere in immersive arenas across the galaxy. While it's been in development for years, 2014 saw a host of new content released.

RPG

2014 was brilliant for RPG fans. We had Divinity: Original Sin, Dragon Age: Inquisition and Wasteland 2 to keep us going. 2015 is looking good, too. The Witcher 3 could be superb, Pillars of Eternity looks gorgeous and played well in alpha and we can look forward to Bioware's experimental multiplayer RPG, Shadow Realms.

The Witcher 3

Developer: CD Projekt RED Publisher: CD Projekt RED Release date: May 19 Link: Official site The most exciting RPG of the year has suffered a couple of delays—nothing too serious, we hope. It s Geralt s final adventure as the gruff protagonist of the series, but it s his biggest ever. CD Projekt RED estimate that the Witcher 3 is 35 times bigger than The Witcher 2, with a vast and stunning open world populated by strange creatures borrowed from European folklore. If you ve ever wondered what a Bogling is and how to kill it, this is the game for you.

Pillars of Eternity

Developer: Obsidian Publisher: Paradox Interactive Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site Any fan of Infinity Engine classics like Baldur s Gate should take a look at Obsidian s new RPG. A nostalgic elevated camera angle, detailed party customisation and reams of dialogue are all promising signs that Obsidian will do the old-school RPG format justice, but it looks better than any 90s RPG could. The Unity engine allows for beautifully detailed environments and clever lighting effects. We re very excited about this one.

Torment: Tides of Numenera

Developer: InXile Publisher: InXile Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site With over $4 million raised on Kickstarter, it's clear that people are excited about Torment: Tides of Numernera. It's easy to see why, too. It's a 'spiritual successor' to the RPG masterpiece Planescape: Torment. Despite using a different setting—the varied and expressive Numenera RPG ruleset—it retains the philosophy of complex, in-depth storytelling and flexible decision-making. Expect a vast campaign that reacts and shifts in response to your actions.

Cyberpunk 2077

Developer: CD Projekt RED Publisher: TBA Release date: TBA Link: Dev blog (to official site or store page) CD Projekt RED announced this futuristic RPG with a teaser trailer years ago, and barely a peep has been heard of it since. The studio is no doubt busy putting the finishing touches on The Witcher 3, and it s unlikely we ll see this one in 2015, or even 2016. Still, the idea of a cyberpunk RPG rendered with the sumptuous detail of The Witcher games is exciting. We re willing to wait.

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord

Developer:Taleworlds Publisher: Taleworlds Release date: TBA Link: Official site Mounts? Blades? Bannerlords? A safe bet that all will make an appearance in Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlords. The original Mount & Blade—or at least, the standalone Warband follow-up—was a great RPG strategy about starting out with nothing, and building up an army that could shake empires. Yes, it looked ugly as sin, but past that it was as deep as it was compelling. If the sequel can be more than that, it has the chance to be one of the most exciting games of the year.

Darkest Dungeon

Developer: Red Hook Studios Publisher: Red Hook Studios Release date: February 3 (Early Access) Link: darkestdungeon.com Our most-anticipated roguelike. Darkest Dungeon s grounded, low-fantasy art is the perfect costume for its gritty, permadeathy adventure. An XCOM-style party system pairs with Darkest Dungeon s interesting focus on mental health as a mechanic. Characters can lose their cool in the heart of battle and become a liability or spontaneously become more dangerous when shaken by horrific encounters.

Moon Hunters

Developer: Kitfox Games Publisher: Kitfox Games Release date: Q4 2015 Link: Official Site A procedurally generated game about creating and discovering your own mythology for one to four players, Moon Hunters blew far past its Kickstarter funding goal of $45k. You and your allies must complete tasks and deeds to earn yourself a reputation in the world. It has a village building aspect, hack-n-slash combat, and emphasizes that it s easy to pick up and play.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

Developer: Square Enix Publisher: Square Enix Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site The third and final game in the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy. As the title suggests, Lightning's back, and this time is against the clock—given thirteen in-game days to prevent the end of the world. In addition to the time pressures now placed on the player, LR:FFXIII features a new battle system that combines the Final Fantasy XIII paradigm-shift system with Final Fantasy X-2 style costume changes.

Blackguards 2

Developer: Daedalic Entertainment Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment Release date: 20 January Link: Official site The sequel to Blackguards will bring more turn-based tactical battles to fans of the original s band of scoundrels. This time they re led by Cassia, a determined warrior who wants to claim the Shark Throne and return the Blackguards to their former glory. Daedalic say the sequel will involve mechanics that have been requested by players of the first game, like improved line of sight, cover and formation.

Citizens of Earth

Developer: Eden Industries Publisher: Atlus Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site You're the Vice President of the World and, as such, don't want to get involved with all the hard-work and fighting that comes from completing an RPG quest. Far better to get the little people to do it all for you. Described by its developers as "Earthbound meets Pokemon," Citizens of Earth will let you secure the services of any NPC in the game. Their profession defines their skills for battle, so clever recruiting is the way to make it through this quirky RPG.

Dragon Fin Soup

Developer: Grimm Bros Publisher:Grimm Bros Release date: April 2015 Link: Official site That the playable character is described as a "raging alcoholic" is only the second most surprising thing about Dragon Fin Soup's story. The first: the world she lives on exists on the back of a Turtle Dragon God. It's a SNES-style RPG with roguelike elements; offering a simple take on turn-based combat, and a combination of procedurally generated environments and scripted story sequences.

Frontiers

Developer: AAD Productions Publisher: AAD Productions Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Frontiers is a sedate first-person RPG that is more about exploration and discovery than combat and levelling. It draws inspiration from Daggerfall—taking the concept of a massive world full of discovery, but without the need to grind low-level monsters to reach the most interesting places. You can go anyway at any time, and, thanks to the planned mod support, find potentially anything.

SanctuaryRPG: Black Edition

Developer: Black Shell Games Publisher: Plug In Digital Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site SanctuaryRPG is a first-person dungeon crawler roguelike with RPG elements, a deep combat system and a consistently amusing tongue-in-cheek humour. Oh, one more thing: it's rendered entirely in ASCII. Nevertheless, it's a complex and expansive game, and one well worth checking out. You can play the free version from the game's official site. The Black Edition, currently in Early Access, is an updated and further enlarged Steam version.

Heroes of Might and Magic III: HD Edition

Developer: DotEmu Publisher: Ubisoft Release date: 29 January Link: Official site 20-40 words Updated to run in widescreen and HD, this well-liked 15 year-old game quietly nudges onto PC next month, complete with a new online lobby that s Steamworks compatible.

else Heart.Break()

Developer: Erik Sved ng Publisher: Erik Sved ng Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site else Heart.Break() is an exploration-based RPG adventure set inside a digitised city. You play as Sebastian, who has moved to Dorisburg to figure out who he wants to be. Expect friends, romance, and important conversations held over cups of coffee. Also the ability to hack into just about any computer system—allowing you to break into secure facilities and just generally muck around.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Developer: Warhorse Studios Publisher: Warhorse Studios Release date: 2015 Link: Official site If you're an RPG fan you'll be no stranger to plodding through Medieval kingdoms. What's that up ahead? It's a dragon! Better kill it's face off and deliver its gall bladder to the local elf enchantress, before riding a Dwarf to Valhalla. Not in Kingdom Come: Deliverance you won't. It's a realistic RPG. Strictly no dragons. Instead, you'll get sleep at regular intervals, eat hearty meals, complete open-ended objectives and earn reputation among NPCs.

Shadow Realms

Developer: BioWare Austin Publisher: EA Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site This 4vs1 action RPG from the makers of The Old Republic has one player setting traps and altering parameters for the other four players. BioWare is gunning for an episodic structure with this contemporary fantasy game, offering malleable classes and watercooler story moments (because every workplace on Earth has a watercooler).

Serpent in the Staglands

Developer: Whalenaught Studios Publisher: Whalenaught Studios Release date: Q1 2015 Link: Official Site Funded through Kickstarter in April, Serpent in the Staglands is now on Steam and awaiting a Q1 release. It is an isometric, real-time ARPG where you control a party on a perilous quest. It emphasizes an open story and exploration the moment you start the game, putting you in charge of the path you take.

Dragon: The Game

Developer: Red Level Games Publisher: Red Level Games Release date: TBA Link: Official Site True to its title, the game lets you play as a dragon in an open-world RPG where you can choose to be a town-terrifying monster or a benevolent guardian. Fly, hunt, eat, and age as you grow more powerful and do battle with other monsters in the realm.

Dex

Developer: Dreadlocks Ltd. Publisher: Dreadlocks Ltd. Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site In a gritty cyberpunk future you'll travel the dangerous streets of Harbor Prime, earning money for black market cybernetic enhancements by working as a mercenary. Immerse yourself in the story of a rogue A.I. surpassing the limits of human intelligence in this stylish, side-scrolling RPG.

ACTION RPG

There's no announced expansion for Diablo 3 this year, but there's plenty more for action RPG fans to look forward to, not least the visually stunning Lost Ark and the gritty and complex leveling of Grim Dawn.

Grim Dawn

Developer: Crate EntertainmentPublisher: Crate EntertainmentRelease date: TBALink: Official site Path of Exile provided a good distraction for action RPG fans this year, can Grim Dawn steal that crown? You play as a warrior in a land where humanity is on the brink of extinction, and must fight thousands of creatures to avoid going extinct yourself. Expect lots of complex RPG development over the course of your playthrough, accentuated by a wealth of custom items, crafting recipes.

Kyn

Developer: TangrinPublisher: Versus EvilRelease date: TBALink: Official Site A norse-themed RPG with Diablo-like combat, Kyn puts you in charge of a team of adventures battling the undead. Customization of your party and exploration of its open-world are key parts of Kyn, which looks to be trying hard to differentiate itself in the world of top-down, skeleton whacking games.

Bombshell

Developer: Interceptor EntertainmentPublisher: 3D RealmsRelease date: Early 2015Link: Official site She s a bomb disposal expert with nothing to lose. She rides into the world with a robot arm on a Harley Davidson to gun down robots with a big shotgun. This action RPG is the latest from Rise of the Triad developers, Interceptor Games, and is set across four planets full of aliens. Why do the aliens need to die? They ve kidnapped the president, of course. Silly aliens!

Lost Ark

Developer: TripodPublisher: Smile GateRelease date: TBA 2015Link: Official site Close your eyes and imagine Diablo 3. Now imagine that instead of Diablo 3's already impressive attack animations, the particle effects have been ramped up 100x. Now imagine that other players are with you, that their own attack animations are piled into the mix, and that your mouth is agape at the sheer spectacle of it all. That's Lost Ark. No, really. Just look at this trailer.

2D SHOOTERS & TWIN-STICK GAMES

Do you want to kill some pixels? If you like explosions and great weapons look no further than Nuclear Throne. For blood and sweet tunes, you've got Hotline Miami. For environmental destruction and comical uses of the word "bro" check out the brotastic Broforce. For spectacular movement and procedurally generated universes keep an eye on Galak-Z.

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Developer: Dennaton Games Publisher: Devolver Digital Release date: Early 2015 Link: Steam Dennaton invite Hotline Miami 2 players to build Hotline Miami 3 for themselves using the packed-in level editor tools - it s the only way they ll get a sequel. Dennaton are packing every idea they have into the final iteration of their brutal, lightning-quick top-down shooter, but won t deviate far from the proven formula. Expect a great soundtrack, a throbbing neon world and relentless, brutal killing.

Nuclear Throne

Developer: Vlambeer Publisher: Vlambeer Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Vlambeer are masters at selling impact in games. Nuclear Throne is a glorious shooter not just because of the randomised weapons, levels and creatures, but because every time you fire a gun it feels amazing. This one s only going to get better as more levels and guns are added.

Galak-Z

Developer: 17 Bit Publisher: 17 Bit Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Galak-Z A beautiful, frantic arcade shooter set in a procedurally generated open universe. Asteroids, Gradius and R-Type are listed as influences, but none of those games can match Galak-Z s luminous explosions and zippy, responsive movement. We can t wait.

A Fistful of Gun

Developer: FarmerGnome Publisher: Devolver Digital Release date: Spring 2015 Link: Steam page Round up a posse for A Fistful of Gun's top down, co-op action. The Wild West themed shooter will support up to nine players online or off, with a variety of unique character classes that each use a different control scheme depending on the gun they carry. Try out the original freeware version for an idea of what to expect.

Tower 57

Developer: benitosub Publisher: TBA Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Indie DB page Co-op actioner Tower 57 pulls inspiration from 1991's Alien Breed shooter, but its look is 16-bit art deco pixel art crossed with moody cyberpunk. The art may be the star of the show when Tower 57 releases in 2015. Pixel artist Cyangmou previously worked on the charming Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I Don't Know! and atmospheric Halfway.

Broforce

Developer: Free Lives Publisher: Devolver Digital Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site The bro-centric action platformer's Early Access incarnation is already fun and filled with features. Despite boasting a campaign, co-op challenges, and full Steam Workshop support, it's set to expand further next year with an official full release. You play as hyper-aggressive caricatures of action film stars in an all-out assault against terrorists, Satan and undestructed scenery. Expect explosions, carnage and an excitable announcer.

Capsule Force

Developer: klobit Publisher: klobit Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Multiplayer 2D arena battles inspired by 80s space anime. Thanks to the likes of Towerfall this is an increasingly contested niche, but Capsule Force s blazing visuals and big lasers could earn it a spot in our couch-game collection.

Brigador

Developer: Stellar Jockeys Publisher: Stellar Jockeys Release date: Spring 2015 Link: Official site Great Leader is dead. You have one night to liberate the city of Solo Nobre. How? Pick a mech, load it up with weapons, and patrol through the nine districts shooting every enemy that stands in your way. Brigador is an '80s cyberpunk anime disguised as an isometric twin-stick shooter. It oozes style, and its short, highly replayable campaign sounds perfect for frantic, stylish and tactical mecha-combat.

DieselStormers

Developer: Black Forest Games Publisher: Black Forest Games Release date: Q2 2015 Link: Official site

Tom Marks had a few good things to say about DieselStormers when he tried out the Early Access version in mid-2014, though we didn t think it was ready for consumption just yet. There s more to be done in this 2D co-op shooter before release in 2015, but we can sense that it has potential, and that the developer is committed to it.

Assault Android Cactus

Developer: Witch Beam Publisher: Witch Beam Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site This brilliantly named twin-stick shooter is available on Early Access, and has ademo you can try right now. There are eight heroes to choose from and thousands of robots to blow apart with rockets and streams of noisy machine gun fire. Includes co-op for up to four pals.

Rive

Developer: Two Tribes Publisher: Two Tribes Release date: Early 2015 Link: Developer s Site Rive is a 2D shooter about hacking enemies on the fly to fight for you instead of against you. From the trailer, it looks like a lot of robots hacking other robots to blow up more robots, which we are totally on board with in concept. It s not quite as straight-forward as your classic Metal Slug-style shooter, moving much faster and allowing 360 degrees of stuff to shoot.

Mighty No. 9

Developer: Comcept and Init Creates Publisher: Comcept Release date: April 2015 Link: Official Site Keiji Inafune might have left Capcom, but that doesn t mean he wants to stop making Megaman games. Practically, it looks like Inafune remaking and updating the Megaman formula from the ground up, even though the project can t legally be associated with the series that made him famous. Mighty No. 9 raised nearly over $3.8 million on Kickstarter, well past its $900k goal, and is still accepting crowd funding pledges at its official site.

Hatred

Developer: Destructive Creations Publisher: In-house Release date: Q2 Link: Official Site Don t get too close to Hatred or you ll cut yourself, cause it s just so damn EDGY. This embarrassing shooter looks like the kind of thing a developer would release in the late 90s to rile up tabloid newspapers. It prides itself on being controversial, but it s about as subversive and provocative as an episode of Two and a Half Men. If Hatred had a human form, it d be a guy with a ponytail, sunglasses, and a long leather trenchcoat, holding a Fear Factory CD.

FIGHTING GAMES

There aren't enough multiplayer punching-and-kicking games on PC, but that'll gradually change as we bicycle-kick our way through 2015. The immortal Street Fighter series returns this year with cross-platform play that'll let us take on PS4 owners. There's also Mortal Kombat, if you like silly stories and spine-snapping finishers.

Street Fighter V

Developer: Dimps, CapcomPublisher: CapcomRelease date: TBA 2015Link: Official site Finally, we ll have the power to fight against console players in Street Fighter V. Cross platform play makes complete sense for a fighter, as long as Capcom can keep lag away. Anyway, Ryu and Chun-Li are confirmed for the roster, along with returning character Charlie Nash. Watch Ryu and Chun-Li duke it out here and note the neat painterly flourishes for big blows.

Colossal Kaiju Combat: Kaijuland Battles

Developer: Sunstone GamesPublisher: Sunstone GamesRelease date: TBA 2015Link: Official link A low-fi beat em up starring huge kaiju creatures. The giant dino models are simplistic, but that only makes it easier for the community to create their own skins for their favourite stompy fighter. If you re not interested in customisation there are only four fighters to choose from in this release. One for those nostalgic for the likes of Godzilla: Save the Earth.

Mortal Kombat X

Developer: NetherRealm StudiosPublisher: Warner Brothers InteractiveRelease date: April 14Link: Official site Things you will see and hear a lot of in the next entry for the famously gross beat- em-up series: blood, spines, skulls, FATALITY , eyeballs, get over here! , a figure frozen mid-kick, a frozen figure shattering while being kicked, ribs breaking, nyaaaargh , an ogre throwing a knife-wielding little girl at his opponent, NAAAARGH , the wet squelch of a popping heart, SCORPION WINS .

Dead or Alive 5: Last Round

Developer: Team NinjaPublisher: Koei Tecmo GamesRelease date: February 17 2015Link: Official site Team Ninja call this the definitive series finale with 34 fighters—more than the series has ever had in a single game—and lots of absurd but sumptuous stages. We seem to be getting more and more beat em ups on PC, which is brill. Guilty Gear XRD -SIGN- next, please.

Gang Beasts

Developer: BoneloafPublisher: Double FineRelease date: TBA 2015Link: Official site Guide your wobbly fighter to victory by grabbing, punching and falling over your opponent. Gang Beasts is simply hilarious, in the same way that a drunken brawl in a teletubby bar would be. It s in early access at the moment, but all it s already great couch-multiplayer fun.

Dragonball Xenoverse

Developer: DimpsPublisher: Bandai Namco GamesRelease date: Feb 5, 2015Link: Official Site The next entry in a long series of fighting games based on Dragonball Z, this time with a slight twist. Like previous games, you play through events from the show, but Xenoverse has you create a custom character and fight to make sure the original timeline isn t altered by… evil forces. If the anime doesn t interest you then that sentence probably didn t do much to sell you on the game, but fans of the show will be excited to hear that Dragonball Xenoverse will feature an original video anime relating to the game s plot.

Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires

Developer: Omega ForcePublisher: Tecmo KoeiRelease date: Jan. 30, 2015Link: Official Site Let s be real here, you know about Dynasty Warriors. It s an all-out hack n slash about carving through legions of enemies like they were butter on a hot day, and it s a formula that people either seem to love or hate. Empires is the second expansion to Dynasty Warriors 8, which came out on PC in May. Unfortunately, North America will have to wait an extra month past the Japanese and European release date, getting it on February 27th instead.

Brawlhalla

Developer: Blue Mammoth GamesPublisher: Xaviant GamesRelease date: 2015Link: Official site

Brawlhalla is a bit like Smash Bros., only simpler and without Nintendo characters. It s the same set-up, though: four players on a single screen whack each other off platforms. It might not bring serious Smash fans to the PC, but we had a good time with it (and we really need our own versions of the Nintendo games we ll never see ports of). Brawlhalla is currently on Early Access, though it ll be free-to-play when it releases, so keep in mind that you ll be able to try it for free at some point if you re not sure about buying in just yet.

STRATEGY

There's a trio of Total War games coming out this year, and that's just the beginning for strategy fans. Hearts of Iron 4 looks encouragingly complex and the creators of the excellent Wargame series are bringing us an RTS set in the modern era called Act of Aggression.

Hearts of Iron 4

Developer: Paradox Publisher: Paradox Release date: 2015 Link: Announcement (to official site or store page) The long-awaited sequel to the World War 2 strategy series is almost here, and it s looking very slick. Take control of a nation in 1939 and tailor its production facilities, research priorities and battle tactics to win the war. There s lots to think about. Terrain and seasonal change will have an adverse impact on your units and a day-night cycle will grant an advantage to nations who research fast-attack tactics.

Act of Aggression

Developer: Eugen Systems Publisher: Focus Home Interactive Release date: TBA Link: Official site Between RUSE and Wargame: Airland Battle, Eugen has been making some of the most interesting RTS games around. Now they're planning a return to the '90s, and the golden era of the genre. Expect base building, resource gathering and unit production, all set against a near-future techno-thriller story.

Satellite Reign

Developer: 5 Lives Studios Publisher: 5 Lives Studios Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site A cyberpunk, tactical RPG/strategy influenced heavily by classic Syndicate. Form a team, commit cybercrime for clients and get sucked into the hidden power struggle being waged by the city s technocratic elite. The early access edition of the game is already sporting some lovely wet neon streets, but it lacks the interesting structure of the final game. In its finished form Satellite Reign will essentially be an open world adventure that draws you gently along a central plotline as you take jobs and try to get by. That s a great way to realise the Blade Runner fantasy.

Mordheim: City of the Damned

Developer: Rogue Factor Publisher: Focus Interactive Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Mordheim: City of the Damned This take on Games Workshop s overlooked turn-based tabletop game is lingering in Steam s Early access section for now, but with a bit of spit and polish, it could be great. You control a warband from the Warhammer universe and try to avoid horrible death as you loot and pillage the doomed city. The city has been struck by a magical meteor however, and is now full of demons and rival gangs, so look out for that.

Battle of Empires: 1914 - 1918

Developer: Great War Team Publisher: Best Way Soft Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site There aren t many games set during the first world war, so this gritty strategy game could fill a hole in the library of many a wargame aficionado. The early access build contains two campaigns for France and the Russian Empire already, but the team want to test multiplayer to make sure the game is correctly balanced before full launch.

Grey Goo

Developer: Petroglyph Publisher: GreyBox Release date: 23 January Link: Official site The ex-Westwood devs at Petroglyph are returning to the classic RTS formula. This time, there's a twist... or, more accurately, an ooze. One of the three factions, the titular Goo, has massive, moving amorphous blobs for bases—instantly spawning units to make for an unpredictable foe.

Massive Chalice

Developer: Double Fine Publisher: Double Fine Release date: Spring 2015 Link: blog.massivechalice.com Double Fine s take on XCOM, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Fire Emblem has (with Rogue Legacy) the unique distinction of being a game where you have to think well beyond the life of a single character, and forward into the generations of that character s children that you ll also bring into battle. Positive and negative character traits are passed down the lineage, so you ll have to find worthy mates for your best warriors. In October, we called Massive Chalice probably the most mechanically complex game Double Fine has produced since Brutal Legend.

Conquest of Champions

Developer: Kihon Publisher: Kihon Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Conquest of Champions This hybrid collectible card game/turn based strategy has you playing cards to summon units in combat on a gridded game board. Pick a hero and earn experience and gold in ranked matches. You can spend your winnings on new cards or pay real money to unlock decks early. Conquest of Champions is free-to-play in early access, but is already charging money for card sets. We d recommend waiting until the game s actually finished before putting cash into it, though.

Call to Arms

Developer: DigitalmindsoftPublisher: DigitalmindsoftRelease date: Late 2015Link: Official site This spiritual successor to the excellent Men of War games from Digitalmindsoft is set in the modern era and features conflict between two factions, the United States Army and the Global Revolutionary Movement. Expect intense tactical micromanagement of your troops on modern battlefields adeptly rendered by the team s advanced engine. It s heading into Steam early access early next year, and aims to come out before 2016.

Total War: Attila

Developer: Creative Assembly Publisher: Sega Release date: 17 February Link: Official site Creative Assembly return to Rome to oversee its fall. Starting at the end of the 4th Century, Attila stars a Rome huge and bloated, and under constant attack from barbarian forces. Into this steps Attila. For Rome, the Huns are a portent of the apocalypse—and the game will map their rise to the breaking of the Seven Seals. It's not just horsemen, either. Attila brings expanded disease and siege systems to the campaign map, and reintroduces the Family Tree politics of previous Total Wars.

Total War: Arena

Developer: The Creative Assembly Publisher: SEGA Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Arena is boldly attempting to repackage Total War s famously complicated battles into a friendly free-to-play multiplayer format. Each player controls three units led by a powerful general in massive 10 vs. 10 battles. Your units and chosen general can be upgraded with victory points to unlock new units. Arena plays fast and loose with history, so expect to see some strange all-star lineups on Arena s ancient battlefields.

Total War Battles: Kingdom

Developer: Creative Assembly Publisher: Sega Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site The third Total War title announced for this year. What's this one, then? It's a free-to-play tablet and PC strategy from the team responsible for Total War Battles: Shogun. This one promises to be more in keeping with the main Total War series. Both realm building and tactical battles are planned as you compete to secure the dominance of your 10th century kingdom.

Dungeons 2

Developer: Realmforge Studios Publisher: Kalypso Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site A Dungeon Keeper-style management and strategy game loaded with dark humor, we re hopeful that Dungeons 2 will be a better stand-in for its source material than the microtransaction-heavy war crime that EA released in 2014. You take control of a dungeon lord to erect a network of hero-hurting dungeons, taking direct control of minions when you please. Four-player online or LAN multiplayer is on offer too.

Unsung Story: Tale of the Guardians

Developer: PlaydekPublisher: TBARelease date: TBA 2015Link: Official site Playdek's tactical RPG springs from the mind of Yasumi Matsuno, who created Final Fantasy Tactics and the Ogre Battle series. The game uses an interesting triangular tile system for combat, which is a bit different than the usual square or hexagonal grid. Matsuno came up with a new fantasy world for Unsung Story, which is enough to get us excited. Bonus: Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy XII composer Hitoshi Sakimoto is onboard to work on Unsung Story's music.

Galactic Civilizations 3

Developer: Stardock Entertainment Publisher: Stardock Entertainment Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Galactic Civilizations 3 You ll need a 64 GB system to run Stardock s ambitious 4X space strategy sequel. Take command of one of the universe s big movers and face down the alarmingly clever AI the series is famous for. Those GBs will be working hard to simulate dozens, even hundreds of planets, but we can see ourselves accidentally spending more time in GalCiv 3 s advanced ship designer.

War for the Overworld

Developer: Subterranean Games Publisher: Subterranean Games Release date: TBA Link: Indie DB page An Early Access RTS/god game, War for the Overworld clearly has its eye on the Dungeon Keeper legacy. Expect the genre's usual mix of minion management, trap-laying, and hero-murdering. As of the end of 2014, developer Subterranean Games was still cranking away on War for the Overlord's beta, adding modes, features, and smartening up the AI.

Convoy

Developer: Convoy Games Publisher: Convoy Games Release date: 2015 Link: Official Site Described as Mad Max meets Faster Than Light, this tactical roguelike drops you on an arid planet and sends you to scour the wasteland for replacement spaceship parts. Defend your convoy in real-time combat and engage with randomized text-based events.

C-Wars

Developer: Onipunks Studio Publisher: Onipunks Studio Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Imagine if plants vs. zombies was set in a futuristic anime world full of robots that shoot lasers. You move your hero around the layered battlefields striking zombies down with your knife attack, but can summon robot guards, heavy weapon warriors and a huge mech for help. Set manage their formations and watch as your miniature army decimates dozens and dozens of scum. You can download a playable demo for free if you want to try it out.

At The Gates

Developer: Conifer Games Publisher: Conifer Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site It seems to be a Civilization tradition that the series' lead designers end up dissatisfied by what they've made. Civ 5 lead Jon Shafer is no exception: he's publicly expressed his frustration with the game's AI and combat. His next 4X strategy, At The Gates, aims to rectify these issues. It's designed to make the end game more interesting—forcing players to innovate as the world's resources are consumed.

Blitzkrieg 3

Developer: Nival Publisher: Nival Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site An MMORTS set during World War 2 that includes single-player campaigns and free to play online mutliplayer with an optional subscription. Build bases and fend off enemy attack as the USSR, Germany and the USA.

Chaos Reborn

Developer: Snapshot Games Publisher: Snapshot Games Release date: Early 2015 Link: Chaos Reborn Julian Gollop s classic competitive tactical wizard-vs-wizard battles are back in modernised form. You play as a lazy wizard who must summon monsters to do his fighting for him on a hex-grid that represents intervening terrain. Your opponent is doing the same, but both are slave to the unpredictability of magic. Summon illusions to throw your opponent off, and don t take it too hard when a big spell backfires leaving you wide open to a fireball.

Crookz

Developer: Skilltree Studios Publisher: Kalypso Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Crookz is the game version of a '70s B-movie heist flick. It's a tactical strategy about recruiting and managing a team of pro thieves as they plot to the pinch the largest jewels—all while wearing the widest flairs. You'll need full use of espionage, stealth and quick-thinking to make it in and out without detection. Tools such as camera jammers, chloroform and explosive charges should help you get the job done.

Invisible, Inc.

Developer: Klei Entertainment Publisher: Klei Entertainment Release date: TBA Link: Official site Shank, Mark of the Ninja and Don't Starve is an impressive back catalogue to hold, and Klei are set to continue their run of hits with Invisible, Inc. It's a turn-based tactical sneak-'em-up—think a heist version of XCOM. In it, your spy squad must infiltrate procedurally generated corporate buildings, pinching information as they go. If you haven't noticed the pun of the title yet, try saying it out loud.

Caribbean!

Developer: Snowbird Games Publisher: Snowbird Games Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site A strategic trading game built in an improved version of the Mount & Blade engine, Caribbean promises players plenty of freedom on the high seas. You can build a business empire as a merchant or terrorise trade routes with a well-fitted brig and steal your fortune.

Beyond Sol

Developer: Praxia Entertainment Publisher: Praxia Entertainment Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Build huge orbital space-cities and defend them from assault with your customisable ship, then strike out into the galaxy to find resources and amass a fleet of your own. You can even compete with friends in open world multiplayer mode, or form alliances. You can download an early pre-alpha build of the game for free from the game s site.

Toy Soldiers: War Chest

Developer: Signal Studios Publisher: Ubisoft Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site Toy Soldiers expands on its action/RTS/tower defense genre-bending by deploying new hero characters to the battlefield. It also leans more heavily into its toy theme. Why have stodgy World War-inspired battles when the Kaiser could, instead, go up against glittery heroine Starbright and her army of unicorns and kiss-blowing fairies?

Offworld Trading Company

Developer: Mohawk Games Publisher: Stardock Release date: TBA Link: Official site Soren Johnson—lead designer of Civilization IV—is now making a real-time strategy. This isn't your traditional RTS, though. Offworld Trading Company is a strategy in which your primary weapon is money. Your aim is to buy up all of your competitors' shares, thus taking control of the entire planet's economy. There'll be plenty of opportunity for dirty tricks, too. If a rival is, for instance, buying up the world's supply of water, a well-placed EMP attack can destroy his production.

Dwelvers

Developer: Rasmus Ljunggren Publisher: Dancing Devils Release date: 2015 Link: Official Site This early access real-time strategy game puts players in the role of an evil overlord managing a team of minions as they build their own dungeon. Build weapons, manage supply chains, raid other settlements, keep your workers happy, and battle the worst monsters of all: humans.

Worlds of Magic

Developer: Wastelands Interactive Publisher: Wastelands Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site Developer Wastelands Interactive aims to combine classic D20 rules with 4X strategy and procedural generation in this high-fantasy strategy game. Don't forget to use the magic.

Might & Magic Heroes 7

Developer: Limbic Entertainment Publisher: Ubisoft Release date: 2015 TBA Link: Official Site The next addition to the long running Might & Magic Heroes series, the seventh full game looks to continue the story of the sixth. Might and Magic Heroes is a turn-based strategy RPG that takes place on an overworld map. Players take turns building their cities and armies before getting into battles, which are also turn-based on a grid battlefield.

ADVENTURE

Between Game of Thrones and the new Minecraft game, Telltale have plenty on the boil in 2015. If you prefer traditional point 'n clicks then a remastered Grim Fandango and the second half of Broken Age should do nicely. We're particularly keen to explore Firewatch, a funny and intriguing mystery game set in the Wyoming wilderness. 

Minecraft: Story Mode

Developer: Telltale Publisher: Telltale Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Tales of the Borderlands may have proven Telltale's talent at turning an existing game world into a compelling adventure, but Minecraft? That's the challenge the studio has set themselves with Minecraft: Story Mode. Moreover, they've promised not to make it an official telling of "Steve's" story, or to reveal too much about the world of Minecraft. What's left? According to the game's announcement, the story has been inspired by—and made in collaboration with—members of the Minecraft community.

Firewatch

Developer: Campo Santo Publisher: Campo Santo Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Explore the Wyoming wilderness in this beautiful and funny exploration game from the indie superteam at Campo Santo. You re doing rounds of your territory as a summer fire lookout, but start encountering mysterious goings on in the neighbourhood. Luckily, you re not entirely alone. You can reflect on everything with your trusty companion, Delilah, who s always available on the other end of your handheld radio.

Broken Age: Act 2

Developer: Double Fine Publisher: Double Fine Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site Broken Age: Act 1 left us on a cliffhanger that we've waited almost a year to see resolved. Originally planned for the end of last year, the second half of Double Fine's point-'n'-click return is now set to arrive in the early months of 2015. In addition to the conclusion of Shay and Vella's story, Act 2 is set to challenge adventure veterans with a series of larger and more difficult puzzles.

Grim Fandango Remastered

Developer: Double Fine Publisher: Double Fine Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Announcement post Initially announced for PS4 and Vita only, our cries of despair were saved by a Double Fine tweet confirming a fresh PC edition of Grim Fandango, supposedly remastered for modern audiences. We re not sure exactly what that means yet, but we re hoping for widescreen support, a new control system and maybe some high-res renders of the land of the dead s beautiful backgrounds.

Tales From The Borderlands

Developer: Telltale Games Publisher: Telltale Games Release date: Throughout 2015 Link: Last year, Telltale released the first episode of its five-part Borderlands spin-off. Set after the events of Borderlands 2, it tells the story of Hyperion employee Rhys and con artist Fiona as they set out in search of the elusive Vault key. The first episode showed how well the personality of Gearbox's shooter series could translate to and adventure. Hopefully the remaining parts only build on the momentum it generated.

Game of Thrones

Developer: Telltale Games Publisher: Telltale Games Release date: Throughout 2015 Link: Official site Telltale's Game of Thrones series is already underway, and the first episode gave us an idea of how future instalments will work. Starting at the end of the TV show's third season, it tells the story of House Forrester, and shows how their lives are affected by the events and characters from the show. A further five episodes are set to release over the course of the year, taking players up to just before the start of season five.

Life Is Strange

Developer: DONTNOD Publisher: Square Enix Release date: 30 January Link: Official site There are shades of Twin Peaks and Heavy Rain in this episodic mystery about a young girl who can rewind time. Max and her friend Sam embark on a journey through the darker side of their home town, as they attempt to find the truth behind the disappearance of another student. Told over five parts, expect Max's time-tampering to have marked and potentially disastrous effect on their future.

Way of the Samurai 4

Developer: Acquire Publisher: Ghostlight LTD Release date: January 2015 Link: Steam page Turns out there's more to learn about the way of the samurai. By looking at the console version of Way of the Samurai 4, we've learned that they like pink kimonos and swordfighting. The series is known for being a bit of a samurai life sim, splitting gameplay up into combat, character progression, and events that lead to multiple endings. The PC port promises a new UI and support for both gamepads and keyboard controls.

Cradle

Developer: Flying Cafe for semianimals Publisher: Flying Cafe for semianimals Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site A surreal first-person game about exploring a strange science fiction world that also explores your character s relationship with a mechanical girl. You have to restore your clockwork friend by finding parts hidden in the Mongolian hills, which hide strange machines and cities. We don t know much about this enigmatic adventure game but early footage looks beautiful.

Virginia

Developer: Variable State Publisher: Variable State Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Variable State The Twin Peaks influence is immediately clear in Variable State s adventure game. You play a recently-graduated FBI agent on a mission to discover the fate of a missing boy. The devs say it s inspired by our collective love of 90s TV dramas like Twin Peaks, The X-Files and The Outer Limits, we wanted to create a game which captured their mixture of the inexplicable, the absurd and the mundane. We re looking forward to this one.

Syberia III

Developer: Beno t Sokal Publisher: Anuman Interactive Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site The last entry in the Syberia series came out 10 years ago, but creator Beno t Sokal is reviving it along with its signature leading lady, Kate Walker. Syberia is a point and click adventure game with a steampunk theme. It was originally supposed to begin development in 2010, but had trouble with funding. Now, with the recent return in popularity of the point and click genre, Syberia should feel right at home.

The Black Glove

Developer: Day for Night Games Publisher: Day for Night Games Release date: TBA Link: Developer s Site Even though The Black Glove fell woefully short of its Kickstarter goal, Day for Night Games is determined to complete it. Made up of ex-Bioshock developers, the Kickstarter trailer showed us a surreal adventure game with real promise, but even a last minute plug from Ken Levine couldn t push it to its goal. Not many details are known about The Black Glove s gameplay, but its got a great team behind it. Hopefully they can get it done.

That Dragon, Cancer

Developer: Ryan Green, Amy Green, Josh Larson Publisher: Ryan Green, Amy Green, Josh Larson Release date: October 2015 Link: thatdragoncancer.com A touching memorial to Joel, the son of Ryan and Amy Green, who passed away from cancer at a young age. That Dragon, Cancer is important work, a reminder that games have power as expressive records that can capture pain, loss, humanity, and who a person was.

Midwinter

Developer: Chilli Hugger Software Publisher: Chilli Hugger Software Release date: TBA Link: Developer s Blog A remake of the 1989 Atari and Amiga classic, Midwinter is being made by many of the same people who were on the original s team. They aim not just to make an updated version of the game, but a version that fully realizes creator Mike Singleton s vision. It s unclear exactly what they ll add or change, but you can be sure it will be a first person action-adventure game with quite a lot of snow.

Children of Liberty

Developer: Lantana Games Publisher: Lantana Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site It s the eve of the American Revolution and four young spies are on a mission thwart the Redcoats. That s the enigmatic background for a stealth game that blends 2D character sprites with 3D environments.

Sunless Sea

Developer: Failbetter Games Publisher: Failbetter Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Developer s Blog Experience strange happenings on the endless Zee. London has sunk into a subterranean nightmare, but humanity survives. Take a skiff and start exploring the islands nestled in the dark. They re full of strange characters with strange stories to tell. Collect them, report back to the authorities in Fallen London, earn some coin and upgrade your ship so you re ready to go deeper into the darkness.

Last Life

Developer: Rocket Science Amusements Publisher: Double Fine Productions Release date: 2015 Link: Official Site A sci-fi noir adventure featuring a private detective who, after being killed, is resurrected through advanced 3-D printing technology and attempts to close the case on his own murder. If that's not appealing enough, this successfully Kickstarted adventure takes place on Mars.

King s Quest: Your Legacy Awaits

Developer: The Odd Gentlemen Publisher: Sierra Entertainment Release date: Fall 2015 Link: Official Site After several false starts, the reboot of the King's Quest series is due to appear this fall. Developed by The Odd Gentlemen, the makers of The Adventures of P.B. Winterbottom, it will eschew a point-and-click format and instead provided a combination of platforming action and puzzle-solving.

SOMA

Developer: Frictional Games Publisher: Frictional Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site SOMA is a sci-fi horror from the creators of Amnesia and the Penumbra series. It's set in an underwater complex where machines are coming to life—taking on increasingly human traits. Add in corridors infected by strange, alien machinery and you've got a recipe for a chilling and creepy adventure filled with puzzles, exploration, and—at a guess—a fright or two.

Ladykiller In A Bind

Developer: Love Conquers All Games Publisher: Love Conquers All Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Announcement post Or, to give the game its full title, My Twin Brother Made Me Crossdress As Him And Now I Have To Deal With A Geeky Stalker And A Domme Beauty Who Want Me In A Bind!! MTBMMCAHANIHTDWAGSAADBWWMIAB!! is an erotic visual novel about social manipulation from Christine Love, the creator of Analogue: A Hate Story. Given the theme, things will no doubt get pretty kinky. Hopefully they'll at least be some post-bondage cuddling if things get a bit too intense.

Armikrog

Developer: Pencil Test Studios Publisher: Pencil Test Studios Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Steam Greenlight page It's not a sequel as such, but Armikrog has more than a little in common with late-'90s adventure The Neverhood. It's made by the same creators, for one thing. More to the point, it's a claymation point-'n'-click. Armikrog tells the story of space explorer Tommynaut and his blind dog Beak-Beak. Its developers promise a roster of quirky characters and unique settings—all made possible by the $974,000 the game attracted on Kickstarter.

Blackmore s Bane

Developer: iOiOi Publisher: iOiOi Release date: TBA Link: Blackmore s Bane A steampunk graphic adventure about hunting a serial killer through Victorian London, you play as the Blackmores, a genius family of scientists and intellectuals with access to the highest technology. The team list voice talent like David Hayter of Solid Snake fame and Donna Burke, who has acted and sung in Final Fantasy and Metal Gear.

Caffeine

Developer: Incandescent Imaging Publisher: Incandescent Imaging Release date: Mid 2015 Link: Official site That the world has run out of caffeine is only the start of Caffeine's terrifying set-up. It's a first-person psychological horror adventure set in a world where corporations create synthetic coffee by mining minerals in space. You wake on one of these space stations, alone and with no memory. Over three planned episodes, Caffeine will let you explore the station—solving puzzles and unravelling the mystery of who you are and what happened to everybody else.

Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today

Developer: Fictiorama Studios Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site A dark, dystopian point-'n'-click that nevertheless names Day of the Tentacle and Monkey Island as inspirations. Perhaps not to the extent that you'll need to USE DESPAIR ON EXISTENTIAL CRISIS, but expect dialogue trees and inventory puzzles as you take on the role of man-with-no-past Michael. He's got plenty to deal with; namely a series of natural disasters, an unnatural pandemic and the dissolution of time itself.

Decay: The Mare

Developer: Shining Gate Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment Release date: February 2015 Link: Announcement post The first two episodes of horror point-'n'-click Decay: The Mare were released on PC last year. If you missed them, it's because they were only available through the Windows Store. The series has now been picked up by adventure specialists Daedalic, who, alongside a third episode release, will bring the full series to more visible PC storefronts. In it, you play Sam—a recovering addict who visits rehab and, instead, becomes stuck in an seemingly unending nightmare.

Return of the Obra Dinn

Developer: Lucas Pope Publisher: Lucas Pope Release date: TBA Link: Official site From the creator of Papers, Please comes a game about mystery, murder and time travel. In Return of the Obra Dinn you play as an insurance adjustor tasked with discerning the fate of the titular ship, which has returned to port in circumstances as mysterious as its disappearance six years prior. Using 1-bit rendering to create a striking aesthetic, the game asks you to explore the ship, and travel back in time to view a frozen tableau depicting the moment of each crewman's death.

Oort Online

Developer: Wonderstruck Publisher: Wonderstruck Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site Claim land, build a home, and explore a completely player-driven economy in this promising online MMO sandbox with voxel-based visuals. There are monsters to battle, a robust crafting system, and you can fight other players in PvP zones.

EXPLORATION AND SURVIVAL

If you're looking to get lost in some beautiful worlds in 2015 then these games have you covered, whether you're after a horrifying survival experience or a placid hiking sim. No Man's Sky is one of the most exciting options this year, offering an entire universe of planets to claim and weird wildlife to photograph. Also look out for The Long Dark, Project Zomboid, Starbound, Heat Signature and Pathologic.

No Man s Sky

Developer: Hello Games Publisher: Hello Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Explore a procedurally generated galaxy of weird and wonderful sci-fi worlds, each of which could easily form the cover of a pulp 60s paperback. Fly seamlessly from space to planet s surface and dodge pirate fleets and huge monsters respectively. No Man s Sky is an indie game with astonishing scope, but the videos they ve released so far suggest they might just deliver on that promise of a vast and varied universe.

Adr1ft

Developer: Three One Zero Publisher: 505 Games Release date: TBA, 2015 Link: Official site It calls itself an FPX (or first-person experience ), and has a number in the middle of its title. Despite all this, Adr1ft looks like a strong contender for Gravity: The Game. You play as an astronaut, stranded and alone among the wreckage of a derelict space station. Survival means finding resources, solving challenges and repairing a damaged escape pod.

Salt

Developer: Lavaboots Studios Publisher: Lavaboots Studios Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site Explore a vast, procedurally generated ocean, visit mysterious islands, find treasure, and battle pirates and other enemies in this charming indie adventure. Play on a random map or share world generation seeds with others to allow you to sail on the same virtual ocean as your friends.

H1Z1

Developer: Sony Online Entertainment Publisher: Sony Online Entertainment Release date: January 15 Link: Official Site A possible contender for DayZ, H1Z1 is a multiplayer FPS survival sandbox with a focus on scavenging, crafting, building, and, naturally, battling hordes of zombies and other players. It's set to launch on January 15th in paid early-access, and will be free-to-play with microtransactions for cosmetic items when it officially launches.

Solarix

Developer: Pulsetense Games Publisher: KISS ltd Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official Site A sci-fi psychological horror game, Solarix combines stealth and survival elements. You have been stranded on a ship while avoiding your infected crewmates, and now a clean-up crew wants to make sure there aren t any survivors. Solarix also plans to have open-ended levels to offer more choice than linear titles like Dead Space.

Delver

Developer: Priority Interrupt Publisher: Priority Interrupt Release date: 2015 Link: Official site

Delver is a first-person roguelike—which these days is shorthand for permadeath and randomized levels—with a crunchy pixel art style. It s on Early Access now, and the devs say it s playable despite bugs and rough edges. It s all the usual roguelike stuff: monsters, potions, loot, dying. One bit of good news is that it has modding support. There s no estimated release date listed, but we re guessing it ll be complete sometime in 2015.

Project Zomboid

Developer: The Indie Stone Publisher: The Indie Stone Release date: Q1/Q2 2015 Link: projectzomboid.com Zomboid stands out in the sea of zombie survival games as something that s roguelike-like, certifiably sandboxy, and real-time in its combat. You comb a Kentucky suburb for useful weapons and supplies to survive as long as possible, managing your character s fraying emotional state and health carefully while eventually erecting your own shelter in Zomboid s isometric world. The Indie Stone is shooting for a late Q1 release at the earliest, but there s still important work still to do on building stealth, NPCs, vehicles, and overhauling Zomboid s UI.

The Deer God

Developer: Crescent Moon Games , Cinopt Studios Publisher: Crescent Moon Games Release date: Early 2015 Link: Developer s Site

Chris L. played a bit of this Early Access sidescroller and mostly liked what he saw. You, a deer, go on a treacherous journey while avoiding predatory animals and the elements. There s a bit of double-jumping, a bit of reincarnation, and the horror of watching your fawn die in front of you. Eep. It s in Early Access for the start of the year, but should be released soon.

The Long Dark

Developer: Hinterland Games Publisher: In-house Release date: TBA Link: Developer s Site A realistic survival sim where nature itself your biggest enemy, not zombies or bandits. Set in a frozen Canadian wilderness, every day you don t die of exposure, starvation, or a wolf attack is a victory. Scavenge supplies from abandoned houses, craft tools, and hunt and cook food to stay alive. Boasts a unique hand-painted art style, like concept art come to life, and an episodic story mode starring the voices of both Commander Shepards is planned.

The Flame in the Flood

Developer: The Molasses Flood Publisher: The Molasses Flood Release date: TBA Link: Developer s Site Described as a rogue-lite river journey, The Flame in the Flood was recently funded on Kickstarter, pulling in $100k over its $150k goal. We haven t been shown much in the way of actual gameplay, but the art in the trailer looks great, and is paired well with music from Chuck Ragan. Playing it will be a struggle to survive in which we manage hunger, energy, warmth, and the like as we travel down a huge, procedurally-generated river.

ReRoll

Developer: PIXYUL Publisher: PIXYUL Release date: TBA Link: Official Site

PIXYUL has an extraordinarily ambitious goal for ReRoll, an upcoming online open-world survival game: using drones, it plans to map the entire planet to scale and make that the game world. The entire earth. Beyond that not-so-small detail, ReRoll aims to be a pretty standard survival RPG, complete with scavenging and crafting, but that hinges on quite a big caveat. You know, the whole scanning the earth thing.

Shelter 2

Developer: Might and Delight Publisher: Might and Delight Release date: February 2015 Link: Official site

Care for your cubs as a mother Lynx, and probably be devastated when you screw up in the face of unsympathetic nature. Shelter 2, which was slightly delayed in 2014, is one of the most unique-looking games coming in 2015, with a geometric hatching that is bold and appealing. And those Lynx are damn cute.

The Forest

Developer: Endnight Games Publisher: Endnight Games Release date: TBA Link: Official site The creepiest thing about the hunters that surround you in The Forest s forest is the way they stare. They don t just chage up and try and murder you (though it would be easy enough considering your unarmed and toolless state at the start of the game) they just stand off a way and watch. Sometimes they ll circle to get a better look at you. When they think you re easy pickings, then they strike. It adds a chilling edge to a beautiful survival game. Live off the land, construct shelter and build traps and effigies to scare the locals away.

DayZ

Developer: Bohemia Interactive Publisher: Bohemia Interactive Release date: TBA 2016 Link: DayZ It feels like Day Z has been around forever. We ve already had amazing experiences exploring the huge zombie-infested landmass. Day Z is just a brilliantly novel use for Bohemia s engine tech, but still has a long way to go before it s bug-free and feature complete. The zombies still aren t much of a threat, but that doesn t matter when the place is still full of terrifying human survivors. Take it slow, keep your eyes peeled and if you see a clown mask, run.

Death in Candlewood

Developer: Rosebud Games Publisher: Rosebud Games Release date: Late 2015 Link: Official site It s America, it s the 1940s, you re exploring the city of Candlewood, which has over 1,000 navigable buildings , and there s horror afoot. Edgar Allen Poe is a prime influence for the talented team of vets, who have worked on the likes of Silent Hill: Origins, FEAR, The Witcher and more. Explore the city in first-person, keep an eye out for ambling husks and be sure to stock up on shotgun ammo.

Crossing The Line

Developer: Zomboko Entertainment Publisher: Zomboko Entertainment Release date: Spring 2015 Link: Indie DB The titular line refers to the line between life and death. One one side, there s you, a detective trying to figure out the mystery behind his wife s death. On the other side, there s monsters. You can hop too and fro between the real world and the shadow realm to outwit your enemies. When you enter [the shadow world], time seems to stop and you have limited opportunity to destroy your enemy s soul. After that you come back to your body, time resumes its flow and your foe falls dead. This sounds deeply unfair. I can t wait to do it.

Planet Explorers

Developer: Pathea Games Publisher: Pathea Games Release date: TBA Link: planetexplorers.pathea.net If we were being crude, we d call it 3D Starbound. A single- and multiplayer voxel open-world game, Planet Explorers has plenty of Minecraft in its DNA, with collection, crafting, and wandering being some of the big verbs open to the player. The sci-fi focus opens it up to some creative forms of movement that suit it as a sandbox game, though, like jetpacking and gliding. It also features LAN mode.

Submerged

Developer: Uppercut Games Publisher: Uppercut Games Release date: TBA Link: Official site This third-person, Unreal Engine 4 game features a wall-climbing mechanic, which you ll use to explore a ruined, drowned city for supplies. You ll also navigate the world in your humble kayak as Miku and her brother Taku, young Polynesians just looking to survive in some abandoned ancient ruins. This ll be Uppercut s first PC game as a studio (they previously made EPOCH and EPOCH 2 on mobile devices), but it s looking gorgeous.

UemeU

Developer: Omnigon Games Publisher: TBA Release date: Q2 2015 Link: Official site Omnigon Games calls UemeU a "next generation sandbox game" that's as much an engine as a game. The build mode includes tools for altering train, building structures, even controlling weather and time of day, while the Play mode gets all Second Life with customizing an avatar and action abilities and checking out all the weird, weird places other players have constructed.

Project Isolation

Developer: Smalls Studios Publisher: TBA Release date: Q3 2015 Link: Indie DB page Survive in a Canadian wilderness populated by zombies, NPCs, and other players. Project Isolation is a multiplayer survival game with big ambitions. We re a bit worried that the creator has bit off more than they can chew, and in a market already served by DayZ, Rust, H1Z1, and other open-world multiplayer survival games. From the looks of it, though, its focus on hunting and trapping could be a unique addition to the growing genre.

TUG

Developer: Nerd Kingdom Publisher: Nerd Kingdom Release date: 2015 Link: Official site A multiplayer open-world sandbox-RPG (phew) that's already on Steam Early Access. TUG is one of many games iterating on the Minecraft legacy, blending open world exploration with crafting and building. Developer Nerd Kingdom is building its own engine for the game, so expect new features, including the multiplayer, more complex building, and AI to come online throughout 2015

Subnautica

Developer: Unknown Worlds Publisher: Unknown Worlds Release date: 2015 Link: unknownworlds.com/subnautica/ This underwater, first-person exploration game is still taking shape in Early Access, but it s a setting that we desperately want to see more of. The creators of Natural Selection 2 have a knack for great graphics, and we re already curious about how Subnautica will combine Minecraft-like crafting and gathering with survival and science.

Life is Feudal

Developer: Bitbox Ltd. Publisher: Bitbox Ltd. Release date:Q3 2015 Link: Official site

The use of caps-lock on the Early Access store page may dissuade you from trying Life is Feudal now (it s in ALPHA!), but many of those playing now seem happy to be involved in the development of this 64-player survival sandbox (based on the user reviews). Its has medieval farming, building (make a town, make a city), cooking, crafting, and combat, as well as terraforming and tunnel building.

Cult County

Developer: Renegade Kid Publisher: Renegade Kid Release date: TBA Link: Renegade Kid site Cult Couunty s Kickstarter raised less than 10% of its target in 2014, but that won t stop Renegade Kid from pressing on with development of their first-person survival horror game. The Dementium creators want to to make something that blends the episodic story format of The Walking Dead with the spooks of Silent Hill and Resi. Will you join the cult of perfect you? the tagline asks, to which I reply will there be ice cream?

Inner Space

Developer: PolyKnight Games Publisher: PolyKnight Games Release date:October 2015 Link: Kickstarter

Not to be confused with the old shareware game, Operation: Inner Space, this is an abstract exploration flying game where you map uncharted worlds. One thing that stands out: your airplane seems to do just fine flying under water. The project was funded on Kickstarter in late 2014, and its estimated release is set for autumn 2015.

Pathologic

Developer: Ice-Pick Lodge Publisher: Ice-Pick Lodge Release date: November 2016 Link: Official site The original Pathologic was an eerie cult treat—its weird, unique mystery overcoming poor translation and technical issues. Now, thanks to Kickstarter, Ice-Pick Lodge have secured $333,000 to remake it. Once again, the game will give you twelve days to rescue a town from a deadly plague. And once again, you can't save everyone. Who you choose to see, and when you choose to see them, will ultimately define who lives, who dies, and whether you'll progress through this strange and hostile world.

7 Days To Die

Developer: The Fun Pimps Publisher: The Fun Pimps Release date: TBA Link: Official site Building? Crafting? Mining? Exploration? Axes? Yup, 7 Days To Die has it all. It also has zombies, which is how you know it's a survival game. It's been in Early Access for just over a year now, and there's still more being poured into its sandbox world. Expect missions, vehicles and zombie bears to appear before the game's official launch.

Darkwood

Developer: Acid Wizard Studio Publisher: Acid Wizard Studio Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Darkwood Moody top down survival horror set in a forest full of twisted creatures. Use your flashlight wisely—the path you re illuminating is also a beacon to local nasties. The open world is procedurally generated and there will be roguelike elements , so expect to meet a bad end often as you try to unravel the secret of the wood.

AQP

Developer: Chevarria Arts Publisher: Chevarria Arts Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site An ambitious indie attempt inspired by Grand Theft Auto, AQP aims to give players a whole city to explore. You run and drive as a Dave Grohl-a-like called Steve, seeing the sights in environments rendered using Unreal Engine 4. Worried about getting bored? Don t worry, there will be weapons, too, and zombie DLC is planned.

Beasts of Prey

Developer: Octagon Interactive Publisher: Octagon Interactive Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Steam page We praised its accessible crafting system, good sound design and base-building potential in our early access review. It s a sandbox game full of dinosaurs to hunt and buildings to craft. The servers expand procedurally based on the player population, but felt a little empty when we tested things. Hopefully Beasts of Prey can find its audience as it adds more dinosaurs. More dinosaurs solves everything.

Resident Evil HD Remaster

Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Release date: January Link: Official site The 2002 Gamecube remake of the brilliant original Resident Evil has never made it to PC before, other than through emulation, so consider this a treat for early 2015. It s really the best the old-style fixed camera survival horror Resi got—having the game s already impressive textures at hi-res should make for an impressive port.

Heat Signature

Developer: Tom Francis Publisher: Tom Francis Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site The second game from former PC Gamer staff member Tom Francis is about hijacking spaceships by landing on them and making your way through the corridors of a vessel with a Hotline Miami-style top-down shooting interface. The galaxy is procedurally generated and it looks very pretty, too.

Resident Evil Revelations 2

Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Release date: 18 February, 2015 Link: Official site Look, there's no way round it: in Resident Evil Revelations 2 you play as a guy called Barry. Barry Burton, to be exact. Mr. Jill Sandwich returns as one of two leads for this episodic Resi series; the other being Resident Evil 2's Claire Redfield. As always, you're facing a series of bioengineered monstrosities—this time while you attempt to escape a remote island.

Edge of Space

Developer: Handyman Studios Publisher: Reverb Publishing Release date: 2015 Link: Steam Store Page Marooned on a distant planet, it's a desperate fight for survival in this indie sandbox RPG. Harvest and gather resources, craft weapons and tools, build facilities and vehicles, and battle bizarre enemies like jetpack-wearing penguins and laser-sharks.

Starbound

Developer: Chucklefish Publisher: Chucklefish Release date: TBA Link: Official Site Currently on Steam early access, Starbound was initially crowdfunded last year and destroyed the goals it set for itself. A 2D platformer, Starbound is all about travelling to different planets where you can mine, fight, build, craft, or farm as you see fit. It s similar to games like Terraria, and is being actively updated with nightly, unstable builds.

MMO

The traditional subscription MMO is a fading genre, but there are still a few to watch in 2015.

Trove

Developer: Trion Worlds Publisher: Trion Worlds Release date: TBA Link: Official Site The phrase free-to-play, voxel-based, block building, MMORPG could only have more buzzwords in it if Trove was also a MOBA, but thankfully that isn t the case. Currently in open beta, Trove mixes the standard looting and dungeon crawling staples of an MMO with the block-based, or voxel in this case, world building made popular by Minecraft.

Wander

Developer: Wander Publisher: Wander Release date: TBA Link: Official Site Everyone starts as a tree before growing into much more… we think. Wander is collaborative, non-combat MMO that encourages players to explore and experience the beauty of the world together. The game is all about discovery and being in the world with others, not grinding XP and completing quests.

Camelot Unchained

Developer: City State Entertainment Publisher: City State Entertainment Release date: December 2015 Link: Official site Plenty of MMOs have borrowed from Dark Age of Camelot's three-way Realm vs Realm combat, but few have made it the primary focus. Headed by DAoC's lead designer, Camelot Unchained plans to do just that. As an MMO, it will feature no experience game from PvE. Instead, everything is geared towards the three-way war—from the player-driven economy through to the twisted lore.

Triad Wars

Developer: United Front Games Publisher: Square Enix Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Instead of a direct sequel to open world hit Sleeping Dogs, United Front Games is making a spin-off, a massively multiplayer online action game set in the seedy world of the Hong Kong triad. Expect a whole lot of turf raiding, fightfighting and shooting pulled from Sleeping Dogs, and plenty of gang-on-gang violence. And it's going to be free to play.

Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade

Developer: Behaviour Interactive Publisher: Games Workshop Release date: TBA Link: Official site Eternal Crusade bills itself as a third person massive combat RPG. Think an MMO with third-person shooting, space marines, and an unusual quantity of chainsaw swords. Eternal Crusade launched in early access form in 2014 with a $40 buy-in and no ongoing subscription. As you'd expect from Warhammer 40K, this is mostly a PvP affair, so be ready to jump into some marine-on-ork violence.

World of Warships

Developer: Wargaming.net Publisher: Wargaming.net Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site The next in Wargaming's "World of…" series. Previously we've fought on land and in the skies, and now it's time to take to the sea. World of Warships puts you in control of massive, gun-laden boats, and sets you against a team of similarly massive, gun-laden boats. It's a full-scale boat off, utilising an armoury that can include everything from cannons to swarms of aircraft. The diversity of styles should make for one of the studio's most tactically varied games to date.

Entropy

Developer: Artplant Publisher: Artplant Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site Engage in space combat, a dynamic economic system, ship and character customization, and deep space exploration in over a hundred different star systems in this sci-fi MMO. It sounds a bit like EVE but with a great focus on dogfighting. It's been working out its early access kinks since early 2013.

PLATFORM

Games for those who like running, jumping and puzzling, Apotheon and the Iconoclasts both look excellent and a sidescrolling Chinese outing for the Assassin's Creed series could be good, too.

Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China

Developer: Ubisoft Publisher: Ubisoft Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Season Pass page Originally planned as part of Assassin's Creed Unity's Season Pass, Chronicles: China will now release as a standalone 2.5D platformer. Set in China in the year 1526, you play as Shao Jun—last Assassin of the Chinese Brotherhood and trainee of Ezio Auditore. Her mission? Revenge, likely involving a selection of weapons and stealthy tools.

Gravity Ghost

Developer: Ivygames Publisher: Ivygames Release date: January 26 Link: gravityghost.com With game design and art by Erin Robinson (Puzzle Bots), and music by Ben Prunty (FTL), Gravity Ghost will be a mellow counterpart to most other platformers in 2015. You grapple with gravity and inertia as you float in a 2D starfield, gliding gracefully between planets to reach the next screen. It s a uniquely calming take on motion in games.

The Swindle

Developer: Size Five Games Publisher: Size Five Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site A 2D heist-'em-up from the creator of Gun Monkeys and Time Gentlemen, Please. In The Swindle, you play as shady figure hiring thieves for procedurally generated missions. You also play as the thieves—clobbering guards, hacking into systems and stealing cash for future upgrades. It was, for a time, cancelled, but has been brought back as an RPG-lite stealth roguelike with a steampunk aesthetic.

Kalimba

Developer: Press Play Publisher: Press Play Release date: Jan 2015 Link: Official Site A puzzle platformer that originally released for Xbox One in mid-December, Kalimba puts you in control of some adorably fluorescent totems—the catch is that you control two at once with the same input. It features full boss levels, co-op, tons of collectables, and some rather forgiving checkpoints for it s instant-death obstacles.

Ori and the Blind Forest

Developer: Moon Studios Publisher: Microsoft Studios Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site A beautiful and atmospheric 2D action adventure game, Moon Studios cites inspiration from classic games like Super Metroid and The Legend of Zelda. Ori and the Blind Forest has a very distinct watercolor-like style, and appears to be a loving homage to platformers of the past while creating something new.

20XX

Developer: Batterystaple Games Publisher: Batterystaple Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Does that screenshot make you think of Megaman? It s an obvious inspiration for this co-op friendly action platformer roguelike from indie team Batterystaple. Jump around procedurally generated levels collecting weapons and upgrading your little warrior.

Axiom Verge

Developer: Thomas Happ Games Publisher: Sony Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site This action platformer might look like Super Metroid on first glance, but Axiom Verge s trailer reveals mechanics like digging, a lightning gun, some tools we can t quite identify (a gun that shoots blue squares and creates platforms?) and great-looking Giger-esque art. It features a great mix of classic 16-bit pixel art with more modern effects.

Mushroom 11

Developer: Untame Publisher: Untame Release date: TBA Link: Official Site Guide an amorphous blob through a ruined, desolate landscape by nudging its constantly changing shape along. Mushroom 11 is a unique take on a puzzle platformer—one of those concepts that feels like it should have been done before. It was designed with tablets and the PC in mind, so it was designed with simplicity in mind, but that simplicity is one of the most appealing things about it.

SpeedRunners

Developer: DoubleDutch Games Publisher: tinyBuild Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site

We re pretty fond of SpeedRunners, even in its Early Access state, so we have nothing but high hopes for the completed version. It s a 4-player competitive platformer about staying on the screen, and has both local and online multiplayer, as well as AI bots.

The Iconoclasts

Developer: Konjak Publisher: Konjak Release date: TBA Link: Official site A beautiful sidescrolling action game from talented designer and artist Konjak. There are echoes of Cave Story to its open structure and exciting shmup combat. Konjak released alphas in 2011 and 2012 but is working on a bigger, prettier version. Read our hands-on impressions to find out why that s such an exciting prospect.

Four Sided Fantasy

Developer: Ludo Land Publisher: Ludo Land Release date: February 2015 Link: Official site This Kickstarted indie platformer is all about its screen wrap mechanic, the same mechanic that allows Pac-Man to reach the right side of the screen when he enters a tunnel on the right side of the screen. In Four Sided, though, you have the power to lock the screen s position, stopping it from scrolling so that you can move from one opposite corner to another. Four Sided should be a great addition to the family of mind-bending platformers that Braid belongs to.

Apotheon

Developer: Alien Trap Publisher: Alien Trap Release date: January 2015 Link: Official site Apotheon is an action platformer that mimics the style of Greek red-figure vase painting. It's a beautiful look—but it's not just the artistry that makes Apotheon intriguing. It's being made by Alien Trap, the developer of Capsized. That game was a physics playground dressed up like a sci-fi adventure. While Apotheon won't have a jetpack, it seems to utilising a similar physicality in its combat and platforming.

Blackhole

Developer: FiolaSoft Studio Publisher: Playman Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site This 2D futuristic platformer is set inside a black hole, which luckily happens to contain a habitable world and not a crushing, deadly singularity. You play as the coffee guy on board the crashed spaceship who must repair his vessel, escape the black hole and then close it to save Earth. This will involve lots of puzzles that let you manipulate gravity to walk on walls and ceilings. Think of it as a slower, thinkier VVVVVV.

Chasm

Developer: Discord Games Publisher: Discord Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official link Kickstarter-funded, procedurally generated Metroidvania adventures in a hack n slash setting full of skellies, tombs, mummies and traps, all rendered in adorable pixel art. Custom gear and weapon adds some persistence to your spelunking, and you ll find additional challenge in time trial and hardcore modes.

Vagante

Developer: Nuke Nine Publisher: Nuke Nine Release date: 2015 Link: Official site Roguelike Vagante landed on Steam Early Access in December 2014, and at first blush it looks more than a little like Spelunky. It's a 2D platformer, but clearly more actiony than Mossmouth's gold standard roguelike. Vagante launched in alpha, but Nuke Nine plans regular updates and, at some point, online multiplayer.

Deputy Dangle

Developer: Trinary Studios Publisher: Trinary Studios Release date: Q4 2015 Link: Official Site A physics based police-em-up, Deputy Dangle is a game about stopping an evil granny in a comic book style, 3D world. Each limb is controlled with a different button, and it s your job to wobble and fling Deputy Dangle through the world to do his job. It is currently on Kickstarter and aims to be completed by the end of 2015

PUZZLE

Our brains are keen to take on the twisted brain-teasers of The Witness and Quadrilateral Cowboy this year, and the addictive Mini Metro is sure to swallow up more hours than we'd readily admit. 

Quadrilateral Cowboy

Developer: Blendo Games Publisher: Blendo Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Brendon Chung is the best. He made the brilliant short adventures Gravity Bone and Thirty Flights of Loving, but Quadrilateral Cowboy is a bit different. It s a puzzle heist game that has you hacking building systems to pull off seamless crimes. Line up programming commands with your portable deck to disable lasers, open windows, trigger switches with just enough precision to glide through a building s defences.

The Witness

Developer: Thekla, Inc Publisher: Thekla, Inc Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site The newest puzzle game from designer Jonathan Blow, creator of Braid, The Witness almost looks like a spiritual successor to the original Myst. You explore a downright gorgeous looking island, solving puzzles in the form of maze-like panels. The Witness was first announced in 2009, even featuring a playable demo at PAX in 2010, and the team is finally putting on the finishing touches for a 2015 release.

Classroom Aquatic

Developer: Sunken PlacesPublisher: Sunken PlacesRelease date: May 2015Link: Official Site There is no reason for Classroom Aquatic to be underwater, but I m so glad it is. A trivia stealth game, you play the only human in an underwater classroom and have to find ways to cheat off of your dolphin classmates. What s more, it s being designed specifically with the Oculus Rift in mind, so you ll be able to lean over and sneak a peek at your neighbors test like it s grade school all over again.

Obduction

Developer: Cyan Inc. Publisher: Cyan Inc. Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site A spiritual successor to Myst and Riven, Cyan Inc. is going back to its roots with another point and click puzzle game. Raising $1.3 million on Kickstarter, Cyan proved there was a desire for a game like Obduction and it s certainly already proven it can make adventure games well. Not many details about Obduction have been revealed, but it will be interesting to see how much it stays true to the Myst formula, and how much it diverges.

Frog Fractions 2

Developer: Twinbeard Publisher: Twinbeard Release date: September 2015 Link: Kickstarter page We've put Frog Fractions 2 in the puzzle section, despite not knowing what it is. In a very real sense, that's the puzzle. The game will be released not as Frog Fractions 2, but as... something else. Examples given on the Kickstarter page include "'Lost Kingdom: Reckoning,' by Fork Bomb LLC or 'Turbo Finance 2015' by Vespenta Holdings." Anything has the potential to be Frog Fractions 2, and its true identity won't be revealed until "the jig is up," and players discover the ruse. Why such an elaborate reveal? Play the original, free Frog Fractions for an insight into the series' surreal sensibilities.

Mini Metro

Developer: Dinosaur Polo Club Publisher: Dinosaur Polo Club Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site A smart little puzzle game based on London tube maps. Build your own routes to get passengers between stations most as efficiently as you can. Quickly redraw routes as new stations open but be careful about overspending on your limited budget. Don t worry if that sounds too stressful, there s a sandbox mode if you want to ferry passengers around in peace.

Crypt of the Necrodancer

Developer: Brace Yourself Games Publisher: Brace Yourself Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Move with the beat in this clever musical roguelike that gets harder as the music speeds up. You can import your own tracks for personalised dungeons and even play with a dance mat if you re lucky enough to have one. A smart twist on the classic roguelike formula.

Boss Constructor

Developer: Mirko Seithe Publisher: Mirko Seithe Release date: TBA Link: Official site Build a spaceship and fly it through the most dangerous parts of the universe. The detailed customisation tools add depth and complexity to exploration. You have to balance your ship s mass against power expenditure, and spend efficiently to produce the deadliest build you can.

Volume

Developer: Mike Bithell Games Publisher: Mike Bithell Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Winner of the award for least Googleable game name, it's Volume. It's a stealth puzzler from the maker of Thomas Was Alone. Much like the VR levels of early Metal Gear Solids, you're navigating your way through cuboid spaces—only here your primary weapon is distraction, not chokeholds. The story is a futuristic retelling of the legend of Robin Hood, and it stars some guy from YouTube.

Crawl

Developer: Powerhoof Publisher: Powerhoof Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site The four-player competitive multiplayer game in which your friends are the enemies. If you're the intrepid dungeon crawler, they're the ghosts—possessing monsters and activating traps. Their goal is to take you down, at which point the player who strikes the killing blow becomes human, and takes their turn to attempt to escape. Crawl is in Early Access right now, but there's still plenty left to be added as the full game takes shape.

Samorost 3

Developer: Amanita Design Publisher: Amanita Design Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Developer Forums Not much has been revealed about the next game in the enjoyable Samorost series, but we do know it will sport HD graphics and be a full-length game rather than a short, browser-based experience. The developer behind Machinarium plans to release this point-and-click adventure sometime in 2015.

The Devil's Men

Developer: Daedalic Entertainment Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site Solve a series of gruesome murders in England, circa 1871, in this point-and-click adventure. You'll switch back and forth between two playable characters as you follow clues and solve puzzles, but beware: one character's choices will result in consequences for the other.

I Am Bread

Developer: Bossa StudiosPublisher: Bossa StudiosRelease date: [DATE]Link: Official site It turns out every slice of bread you ve ever eaten was on a secret quest to become toasted, at least according to floppy bread sim I Am Bread. There's a fiendish puzzle at the heart of I Am Bread; how do you climb with no limbs? You wiggle around the environments by manipulating the corners of a wriggling slice to vault over rolling pins, microwaves, forks and other kitchen things. Hopefully it doesn t fall into the Goat Simulator camp of games that are funny for five minutes on Twitter, but boring to actually play.

Donut County

Developer: Ben EspositoPublisher: Ben EspositoRelease date: TBALink: donutcounty.com Katamari, but with holes. Developer Ben Esposito (The Unfinished Swan) calls it a whimsical physics toy, so it s unclear how structured it ll be, but the look and sound of the game is already quite charming—we hope the trailer s mellow electronica makes its way into the full game.

SPORT

There will be plenty this year for footie fans. There's still no sign of Madden on PC, but Frozen Cortex should offer American Football fans their Gridiron fix.

Fifa 16

Developer: EA Sports Publisher: EA Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Not yet

It hasn t been announced yet, that s a picture of Fifa 15, but come on, there s going to be a Fifa. There s always a Fifa. But what can EA do to encourage fans to pick up yet another annual iteration? The gaps from game to game seem to be getting slimmer with each release. The game is tweaked, a few new features are added and the sequel is shuffled out again to its massive audience. Imagine if they added something amazing, like a Cantona flying kick button?

Football Manager 2016

Developer: Sports Interactive Publisher: Sega Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Football Manager 2015 site Football Manager is a game series about managing a football team. The most recent entry, Football Manager 2015, was a sequel to Football Manager 2014, which itself was a sequel to Football Manager 2013, which itself… well, you get the idea. We're pretty confident there'll be a Football Manager 2016 before the year is out—likely inspiring the same unhinged fanaticism the series is known for.

Beyond The Sideline Football

Developer: Out of the Park Developments Publisher: Out of the Park Developments Release date: Late 2015 Link: Announcement post From the makers of the acclaimed Out of the Park Baseball comes a new American Football management sim. Beyond The Sideline Football hopes to do for the NFL what OotP did for MLB—provide fans with a deep and realistic set of options with which to live out their managerial aspirations. BTSF promises real teams, players and all the sport's current rules and regulations, making for a realistic depiction of the decisions and tactics behind the Gridiron.

Frozen Cortex

Developer: Mode7Publisher: Mode7Release date: TBALink: Official site Frozen Synapse was a simultaneous turn-based strategy about reacting to what you thought your opponent was going to do. Frozen Cortex takes a similarly prediction-based tactical approach, but applies it to robots playing a futuristic version of American Football. Currently in Early Access, the full version will feature a single player campaign story in addition to the competitive multiplayer.

SIM

Simulation games make the PC special. you'll never find anything as absorbing and clever as Kerbal Space program on a console. Prison Architect is progressing nicely in early access and Euro Truck sim fans can look forward to an epic US outing.

Kerbal Space Program

Developer: Squad Publisher: Squad Release date: TBA Link: Official site Don t be fooled by Kerbal s cutesy visuals, this is a very serious and involved sim about building spaceships and sending them into space. In the beginning it feels like silly space lego, as you try to construct a ship that can successfully leave Kerbal s atmosphere, but soon you ll find yourself slingshotting complex unfolding vessels around moons and planets, sending your little Kerbals on dangerous spacewalks and managing full-scale space programs. It s already well worth the money, and gets better with every update.

American Truck Simulator

Developer: SCS Software Publisher: SCS Software Release date: TBA Link: SCS blog After the surprising success of Euro Truck Simulator 2, a US-based follow up seemed inevitable. Confirmed back in 2013, SCS have been working on the new environments, roads and vehicles of their trans-atlantic trip. Expect straighter roads, bigger cargo and a diverse array of settings, all built on the same detailed handling and management systems that made ETS2 a cult hit.

Big Pharma

Developer: Twice Circled Publisher: Positech Games Release date: TBA Link: Official Site Haven t you ever wanted to exploit the health of the world for personal profit? I know I have, and Big Pharma will let you do just that. It puts you in the shoes of the next big pharmaceutical company and tells you to pop out pills for high profits. It s all about machine placement, researching new drugs, and staying one step ahead of the competition...oh, and saving lives, probably. If there s money in it, at least.

Space Engineers

Developer: Keen Software House Publisher: Keen Software House Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site You play a regular builder in this sandbox engineering sim about constructing spaceships. You float around in zero-G welding beautiful vessels into being. Once you ve created your masterpiece you can fly your ship into the black, do some mining and then use those advanced materials to build an even better ship. If things go wrong and you crash, you can at least enjoy watching the physics system figure out precisely how your precious structure should shatter.

Prison Architect

Developer: Introversion SoftwarePublisher: Introversion SoftwareRelease date: Introversion SoftwareLink: Official site The Theme Park/Hospital games deserve a spiritual successor, and Prison Architect is as close as you re going to get right now. You must manage a high security prison, building cells, break rooms, kitchens, guard outposts and more to create the most efficient penitentiary you can. Fail, and you ll have a riot on your hands.

Clockwork Empires

Developer: Gaslamp GamesPublisher: Gaslamp GamesRelease date: TBA 2015Link: Offiicial site A steampunk colony management sim that challenges you to fuel a new industrial revolution by managing a your colonists carefully and developing new tech to improve their output. Look out for cultists, marauding fish-people, axe murderers as you expand however. Gaslamp promise free-form goals handed down from your imperial overlords and round-robin multiplayer.

Tech Executive Tycoon

Developer: WEB Gaming EntertainmentPublisher: WEB Gaming EntertainmentRelease date: June 2015Link: Official Site We all, deep down in our hearts, hope to become the ruthless manager of a technology company one day. Tech Exec will allow you to make anything from GPUs to gaming consoles to tablets and games with your company. It looks a bit dry and technical, but it seems like it ll have some depth to compensate: you can build new offices, outsource customer service, and manage employee stress levels.

Castle Story

Developer: Sauropod StudioPublisher: Sauropod StudioRelease date: TBA 2015Link: Official site Can you keep your voxel castle from falling to the hostile creatures of Castle Story? You can deploy warriors of your own—the bricktons—but survival will come down to the design of your sprawling fortress. Castle Story has been hanging around on early access for ages. Will it ever be complete?

World of Diving

Developer: Vertigo Games Publisher: Vertigo Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Indie DB page This diving sim (with crucial Oculus Rift support) launched on Steam Early Access in 2014. We were only slightly disappointed to discover it wasn't a canonical sequel to Ecco the Dolphin. Instead, it aims to be an immersive underwater exploration game, with missions of discovery taking you to shipwrecks and spooky caves in single- or multi-player.

Take On Mars

Developer: Bohemia Interactive Publisher: Bohemia Interactive Release date: Q1 2015 Link: mars.takeonthegame.com Take On Mars makes interesting use of Bohemia s tech, taking the vehicle dynamics and big terrain of Arma 3 and DayZ and shooting them to the red planet. In 2014 expanded Take On Mars to include a manned mission mode with multiplayer, and the studio looks to complete these features, as well as the robotic portion of the game, early in 2015 as it takes Take On out of Early Access.

Cities: Skylines

Developer: Colossal Order Publisher: Paradox Interactive Release date: 2015 Link: Official Site Those irked by SimCity's size limitations and online issues will be pleased to hear Colossal Order's Cities: Skylines will feature massive maps and a single-player experience. The city-building sandbox promises urban planning, mass transit, and massive structures, plus mod support through Steam Workshop.

Cosmonautica

Developer: Chasing Carrots Publisher: Chasing Carrots Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site Pilot a rickety space boat around the universe, picking up jobs and managing your crew to keep fuel in the tanks. It s the Firefly fantasy, but with a splash of quirky humour and snazzy visuals that could easily have come from Double Fine s art department.

Factorio

Developer: Wube Software Publisher: Wube Software Release date: Summer 2015 Link: Official Site Mine resources, build factories, research new technologies, and create intricate assembly lines on a hostile planet in this indie simulation. It's a game about automation: building machines to do things for you, and that includes building machines that build machines that build even more machines. The automation in Factorio is seriously addicting: once you've got a taste of machines doing your work, you'll want them to do all your work.

Baking Simulator

Developer: Samoates Games Publisher: Samoates Games Release date: TBA Link: Indie DB site The twee competitive baking show The Great British Bake Off has inspired literally dozens to try and raise a loaf of their own, but that involves using your fleshy real-world hands to squish and shape things. Why not control every finger and thumb on a virtual pair of mitts to mix and prove virtual dough then, as the dev description suggests, simply combine the ingredients in the bowl, then place the bowl in the oven. It s currently looking for upvotes on Steam Greenlight.

Catlateral Damage

Developer: Chris Chung Publisher: Chris Chung Release date: 31 March 2015 Link: Official site Catlateral Damage is a cat simulator; specifically, a cooped-up cat simulator. Left in a house with nothing to do, you revert to your natural state: knocking stuff off shelves for points. It's a race against the clock, but with your excellent agility you can easily traverse the shelves and tables. You can play the free 7DFPS version of Catlateral Damage right now. This year's expanded version promises more levels, along with collectibles, power-ups and unlockable cats.

Autocraft

Developer: Alientrap Publisher: Alientrap Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Autocraft is a sandbox game about building vehicles—cars, rockets, planes, boats, whatever you can make with the parts you ve scavenged. Once you ve assembled your vessel from the Meccano-style building blocks you can drive or pilot your creation through Autocraft s pleasant pastel universe. It s currently in early access on Steam and more parts are added regularly.

Viscera Cleanup Detail

Developer: Runestorm Publisher: Runestorm Release date: TBA Link: Official site Viscera Cleanup Detail is a fantastic concept for a game. An alien invasion has been quashed by a sole hero, and humanity has been saved. You are not that hero. You are the janitor, and must follow in his wake, cleaning up the alien guts and goop left behind. Currently in Early Access, the full janitorial sim will feature multiplayer and mod support.

European Ship Simulator

Developer: Excalibur Publisher: In-house Release date: TBA Link: Steam Excalibur, the masters of the niche simulator game, are turning their periscopes to ships next. Yeah, I know, periscopes are submarines, but whatever. With realistic waves and all manner of ships to control, from cruise liners to speedboats, this is promising to be a treasure chest (y know, pirates, ships) of simulation-style fun.

Maia

Developer: Machine Studios Publisher: Machine Studios Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site A hard sci-fi sim about building and running a small colony on a hostile world. Maia's draw is the detail of its world. Inspired by '70s sci-fi films like Silent Running, its world follows futuristic interpretations of existing scientific systems. That includes a fully modelled alien ecosystem, realistic fluid simulation and genetically engineered super chickens.

From the Depths

Developer: Brilliant Skies Ltd. Publisher: Brilliant Skies Ltd. Release date: 2015 Link: Official Site Design and build a fleet of fearsome flying and floating machines, and then pilot them in first or third-person mode in this block-based sandbox sim. With realistic physics, multiplayer mode, and a planned story campaign, you can try it now out in early access.

RimWorld

D eveloper: Tynan Sylvester Publisher: Tynan Sylvester Release date: 2015 Link: Official Site Kickstarted and planning a release on Steam, RimWorld is a sci-fi colony sim inspired by Dwarf Fortress. Protect your colonists from pirates, build shelters to help them survive storms, and create a custom story for your colony with a choice of A.I. directors.

Rollercoaster Tycoon World

Developer: Area 52 Games Publisher: Atari, Inc. Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official Site The theme park construction and management series is headed back to PC after over a decade, and for the first time will feature multiplayer, allowing you to collaborate with up to four friends to design coasters and other rides, and oversee your shared park.

Star Trek Excalibur

Developer: Excalibur TeamPublisher: Excalibur TeamRelease date: TBALink: stexcalibur.com A promising bridge simulator created by a worldwide team of passionate Trek fans and ex-Bridge Commander modders. Excalibur wants to be the mothership of the genre, packing a reactive story, Newtonian physics, moddability, choice-driven missions, and hundreds of ships and environments into a procedurally-generated universe.

Tabletop Simulator

Developer: Berserk Games Publisher: Berserk Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site Chess, Chinese Checkers, Dominoes, and other tabletop games are able to be played with friends, but that's just the start. Feel free to invent your own games or download any one of hundreds of mods already available in this early-access board game simulator. You can even knock the pieces off the table if you get mad.

RACING

Project Cars plans to take on big boys like Forza this year, and could give us a credible rival to the massive console series on PC. For a more abstract arcade hit, we're looking forward to Distance.

Project Cars

Developer: Slightly Mad Studios Publisher: Slightly Mad Studios Release date: March 17 Link: Official site The screenshots coming out of the Project Cars community are extraordinary. Project Cars has to be one of the best looking games in development on this entire list, but there s plenty of depth behind those shiny bonnets. The advanced driving model allows for precise and detailed car customisation that you ll feel on the road. Slightly Mad promise a Forza/Gran Turismo level of fidelity with advanced features usually reserved for PC-only simulators like iRacing and rFactor.

Road Redemption

Developer: [DEV] Publisher: [PUB] Release date: Q1 2015 Link: roadredemption.com Online multiplayer is one of the big features still to come to this Road Rash spiritual successor, which will wheelie out of its Early Access garage in the first part of 2015. Road Redemption goes a bit further with over-the-top absurdity, having, for example, brought in Shovel Knight as a playable character in late December.

Distance

Developer: Refract Publisher: Refract Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Oh, you can get a car to go around a track? Good for you. Can you get one around a track when it's covered in lasers, circular saws, vertical walls and weird temporal anomalies? If you don't know, you should keep an eye on Distance—the much improved and expanded spiritual successor to the free Nitronic Rush. It's an endlessly inventive game about a spinning, twisting, high-gliding car driving through a digital nightmare.

Calibre 10 Racing

Developer: Bongfish GmbH Publisher: Bongfish GmbH Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site For every driver in this racing game, there s a fellow gunner positioned somewhere on the track trying to take competitors out with missiles, gatling guns and sniper shots. the high concept super cars can deploy counter-measures like chaff to keep enemy ordnance at bay as they barge into one another. It s an unusual framework for a competitive racer, and there s lots of scope for community customisation. It s currently in alpha state on early access.

Next Car Game: Wreckfest

Developer: Bugbear Publisher: In-house Release date: TBA Link: Official site

The terribly-named Next Car Game now has a new terrible name: Wreckfest! But get past the title and you ll find a fun racer with some seriously impressive physics. As races go on, the track (and the cars on it) get increasingly more battered, smashed, broken, and mud-splattered. Remember FlatOut? This is by the same people.

Audiosurf 2

Developer: Dylan Fitterer Publisher: Dylan Fitterer Release date: TBA Link: Official site The music surfing puzzle-racer returns with upgraded graphics and Steam Workshop support. Once again, you're able to pick any song in your music collection and "ride" the track—working through a level that twists and undulates in time to the music. The sequel also brings new modes, a point-scoring trick system and DirectX 11 support. It's in Early Access right now, so expect more features to be implemented in time for the full release.

Thumper

Developer: Drool Publisher: Drool Release date: 2015 Link: [LINK NAME] This rhythm violence game is the work of two Harmonix refugees, a mesmerizing fusion of Wipeout, Tron, and acid-fueled dreams. It feels like Audiosurf if it d been designed by id Software. Thumper s overwhelming speed is built on original technology, and you ll be pushed forward by an original soundtrack.

Carmageddon: Reincarnation

Developer: Stainless Games Publisher: Stainless Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site It's a new Carmageddon. You should know what to expect from the 17-year-old series by now: frenzied driving, violence and murder. Once again, you and your fellow sociopathic racers are battling to mow down pedestrians—collecting a plethora of absurd power-ups to help maximise the carnage. Currently in Early Access, this particular reincarnation is on course for a full 2015 release.

2014 is dead—nyoooo! It was pretty good, but it could do nothing to halt the unstoppable wave of new games 2015 will bring. There are talky games, shooty games, driving games, games that let you bake bread and games that let you become bread. There are new monsters to kill, new plot twists to uncover and new armies to command; it's going to be awesome. Here's your guide to the games of 2015, carved into genre chapters for your perusal.

Page 2: OPEN WORLD ACTION Page 3: ACTION Page 4: FPS Page 5: RPG Page 6: ACTION RPG Page 7: 2D SHOOTERS & TWIN-STICK GAMES Page 8: FIGHTING GAMES Page 9: STRATEGY Page 10: ADVENTURE Page 11: EXPLORATION AND SURVIVAL Page 12: MMO Page 13: PLATFORM Page 14: PUZZLE Page 15: SPORT Page 16: SIM  Page 17: RACING

What are you looking forward to playing most this year?

OPEN WORLD ACTION

Open worlds are all the rage at the moment, particularly for big studios with the budgets to create massive virtual playgrounds. There are some promising specimens coming in 2015, including the delayed release of Batman: Arkham Knight. Elsewhere, Assassin's Creed: Victory will give us Victorian London to explore, GTA 5's Los Santos is sure to amaze and we're getting the madness of MGS 5: Phantom Pain on PC as well. We're also excited about The Witcher 3's open world. You'll find that on our RPG page.

Grand Theft Auto 5

Developer: Rockstar NorthPublisher: RockstarRelease date: 27 January, 2015Link: Official site Took them long enough. Grand Theft Auto 5 first came out late-2013 to critical acclaim and commercial success. Last year, it made it to PS4 and Xbox One, and now, finally, PC is getting its turn. It'll be worth the wait. Not only does the PC version get all the features of the enhanced editions—including amassively expanded soundtrack and first-person mode—it will also boast native 4K support. PC is soon to be the definitive way to travel Los Santos.

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

Developer: Kojima ProductionsPublisher: KonamiRelease date: 2015Link: Official site Big Boss returns for the sequel to Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes, and the prequel to Metal Gear 1. Okay, so the timeline—hell, the entire Metal Gear plot—can be confusing. All you need to know is that The Phantom Pain promises an expansive stealth adventure set across a series of large open-world environments. Not only that, but here you're actually building up Big Boss's mercenary haven. You can capture guards, upgrade buildings and even befriend a one-eyed wolf cub.

Batman: Arkham Knight

Developer: RocksteadyPublisher: Warner Brothers InteractiveRelease date: June 2Link: Official site The Arkham series is still one of the best interactive realisations of a superhero fantasy ever, and that s hopefully set to continue with Arkham Knight. It s already clear from early stealth and combat demos that AK is taking a the-same-but-bigger approach to the latest sequel, but technological advances have allowed for a massive leap in fidelity since Arkham City. The new city is huge, incredibly detailed, and full of criminals to punch, and punch them we will repeatedly in June.

Assassin s Creed Victory

Image via Kotaku.Developer:UbisoftPublisher: Ubisoft Release date: TBALink: Announcement A collection of leaked images revealed the setting for the next Assassin s Creed game: Victorian London! It s an excellent fit for AssCreed, and we already have very clear opinions about what Ubi should and shouldn t do with it. Most of all we hope it won t slip out with all the technical problems that Assassin s Creed Unity had. Will Ubi s strict annual launch schedule claim another victim, or will Victory be a rainy, smoggy return to form for the series?

Assassin s Creed Rogue

Developer: UbisoftPublisher: UbisoftRelease date: Early 2015Link: Official site It might be easier to think of Rogue as Assassin s Creed: Black Flag 2. It s got the sailing, port assaults and scattered structure of Pirate Creed, but this time you play as Shay Patrick Cormac, a templar with a big musket and a cool jacket. Explore the North Atlantic, visit young New York, see the sights, skin a whale. It came out on console boxes last year, but it s due out on PC early 2015.

Dying Light

Developer: TechlandPublisher: TechlandRelease date: January 27, 2015Link: Official site

The creators of Dead Island have ditched that series, going their own direction with a new open world zombie- em-up. Though, as we learned from a preview build, combat is often unwise and melee weapons break quickly. More important is the ability to freerun over rooftops, avoiding the slow, stumbling infected below. Dying Light also includes a day/night cycle and a story interesting enough that we want to know more (though Techland asks that we don t spoil the setup.) It s out the first month of the year, so there s not long to wait.

Dead Island 2

Developer: Yager DevelopmentPublisher: Deep SilverRelease date: Spring 2015Link: Official site It s best not to take that title literally, Dead Island 2 s zombie apocalypse takes place on the mainland, in California. Techland have handed development duties to Spec Ops: The Line developers Yager, but don t expect any harrowing commentary on war and human nature either, this is going to be another romp about teaming up with friends and chopping up zombies, and will hopefully be a little more technically refined than the first game.

Just Cause 3

Developer: Avalanche StudiosPublisher: Square EnixRelease date: TBA 2015Link: Official site Rico returns in another chaos-filled open world adventure. Expect another absurd romp with your magical grappling hook and infinite parachute. This time, we're off to the Mediterranean, as players are tasked with taking down dictator General Di Ravello. Avalanche has also revealed a more varied terrain; with a map that features more verticality and explorable caves.

Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell

Developer: VolitionPublisher: Deep SilverRelease date: 20 January, 2015Link: Official site It's not exactly Saints Row V, but standalone expansion Gat Out of Hell promises to be a departure from virtual Steelport. Notable differences include the fact that you'll no longer play as The Boss, but rather pick between supporting characters Johnny Gat or Kinzie Kensington. Also: it's set in hell. That means more crazy superpowers, oddball activities and bizarre weapons from an exploding frog cannon, to an armchair gattling gun.

Mad Max

Developer: Avalanche StudiosPublisher: Warner Brothers Interactive EntertainmentRelease date: 2015Link: Official Site The creators of the Just Cause series invite you to play as the titular Aussie ass-kicker in a post-apocalyptic open-world Outback. Build custom cars for vehicular mayhem, dish out devastating combos in melee combat, and hunt down the bandits who stole your iconic Interceptor.

ACTION

Welcome to a collection of action games that don't quite fit into other categories. The rumoured summer release of the Oculus Rift will give us a chance to experience Eve Online's universe in a more hands-on context than the MMO offers. We can expect to hear much more about Ubi's pretty but poorly-explained post-apocalypse co-op survival thing, The Division, and we'll hopefully learn more about IO's return to the Hitman series. We're even more excited to hear details of the next Deus Ex game. 2015's shaping up nicely.

Mirror s Edge

Developer: DICE Publisher: EA Release date:TBA Link: Official site DICE are making a million things at the moment, so it ll be a long time before we see this modern reboot of the cult run- em-up, Mirror s Edge. Producer Sara Jansson posted in June 2014 to remind everyone that the game s still in production, saying that it will feature advanced combat that is integrated into an improved fluidity of movement. Some fans would rather see combat taken out altogether, but maybe DICE and EA can make it work with a revamped system.

Star Citizen

Developer: Cloud Imperium Publisher: Cloud Imperium Release date: Ongoing module launches throughout 2015 and beyond. Link: Official site Chris Robert s remarkably ambitious space sim is slowly coming into focus. A windfall of tens of millions of crowdfunded dollars are going into the production of the ultimate space game. Want to walk around your ship? Want to visit planets and wander around shops with other players? Want to fight for control of space stations in zero-G first-person combat? Star Citizen s feature list has it all. For millions, on paper, it s the dream game. Can they pull it off?

Tom Clancy s The Division

Developer: Ubisoft Massive, Ubisoft Reflections, Ubisoft Redstorm Publisher: Ubisoft Release date: 2015 Link: Official Site Open-world online shooter The Division got our attention when it was announced at E3 this year, though we haven't heard a heck of a lot about it since, other than that it's been confirmed for PC. Featuring co-op squadplay against AI opponents and firefights with other multiplayer squads, we were most taken with the impressive visuals and the atmospheric setting: a wintery New York City a few weeks after a biological attack.

EVE Valkyrie

Developer: CCP Games Publisher: In-house Release date: TBC Link: Developer website Rumour has it that the first consumer model of the Oculus Rift will be hitting in summer 2015, and EVE Valkyrie is looking like one of its killer apps. While Star Citizen and Elite are hardcore sims, this is unashamedly an action-heavy dogfighting game. It works brilliantly in the Rift and seeing EVE s sci-fi universe up-close is a thrill. But Valkyrie is being made especially for virtual reality headsets, so you ll need the hardware to experience it.

Hyper Light Drifter

Developer: Heart Machine Publisher: Heart Machine Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site Beautiful art, snappy combat and a world of robots and monsters await in Hyper Light Drifter. Top-class pixel art recalls the 16-bit era, but Heart Machine promises modernized mechanics and designs on a much grander scale.

Gigantic

Developer: Motiga Publisher: Motiga Release date: TBA Link: Official Site Gigantic is a team-based action game all about destroying the opposing team s guardian which is, well, gigantic. An arena combat game with a unique art style, Gigantic is the first project to come from Motiga. It has a lot of competition from other recently announced arena games like Blizzard s Overwatch, but Gigantic puts a spin on the genre that will help it stand out.

Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age

Developer: Crytek Austin / Crytek Frankfurt Publisher: Crytek Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site

Hunt looked wonderful when we saw it at E3 in June, a combination of Left 4 Dead-style four-player co-op against AI monsters with third-person action and shooting that reminded us of Resident Evil 4-5 set in the 19th century… with procedural level and enemy generation. We got worried when Hunt s studio, Crytek Austin (formerly Vigil Games) experienced significant layoffs, shifting Hunt to Crytek Frankfurt for completion. It s never encouraging to see a game change hands mid-development, but we re still holding out hope that the ex-Vigil team s ambitious and refreshing vision will take shape. A closed beta was announced in December 2014, though it s unclear when it ll run.

Fractured Space

Developer: Edge Case Games Ltd. Publisher: Edge Case Games Ltd. Release date: 2015 Link: Official site

Fractured Space will transition to a free-to-play model sometime next year, but for now it s on Steam Early Access. Tyler has been enjoying its giant spaceship lane pushing, where two teams of five capture mining stations to earn buffs, then go after each other s home bases. It s pretty far from complete, but the essential design is sound—sneaking up on a Flagship in a cloaked Assassin, materializing like a Romulan warship, then blasting it with rockets is one of its especially satisfying joys.

Io's next Hitman game

Developer: Io Interactive Publisher: Square Enix Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Announcement post

In early January 2014, Io Interactive posted an open letter to their fans. In it, they revealed the existence of a new "AAA Hitman game" for PC and current-gen consoles. More importantly, they reassured fans that this wouldn't be another Absolution. "The game concentrates on the core Hitman fantasy of using a wide range of tools to take out a diverse group of targets across expansive, exotic locations around the world," Io wrote. Specifically, the new Hitman is inspired by Contracts and Blood Money, and, with luck, will be a return to the formula that made the series great.

Space Pirates and Zombies 2

Developer: MinMax Games Publisher: MinMax Games Release date: Q1 2015 Link: minmax-games.com The second coming of (the somewhat-unfortunately named) SPAZ transforms the space shooter into a behind-the-thruster action game that s more Freelancer than Asteroids, as its predecessor was. There s still a great focus on random generation and ship building, and you ll have to make careful design choices about component positioning, weight, hull integrity, and engine power. SPAZ 2 also promises a living galaxy that isn t player-centric—200 other pilots are crawling the galaxy who are able to do everything the player can, including forming dynamic factions, building structures, controlling territory, and going to War.

Titan Souls

Developer: Acid Nerve Publisher: Devolver Digital Release date: Q1 2015 Link: Official Site Originally made for the Ludum Dare 28 game jam, Titan Souls has been tapped to become a full sized experience. It looks like a 2D, pixel-art Shadow of the Colossus, the only enemies being large bosses with distinct weak points. The original is available to play for free here and is hard as nails.

Amazing Frog?

Developer: Fayju Publisher: Fayju Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site A sandbox dick-about in the vein of Goat Simulator, Amazing Frog? is set in the magical kingdom of Swindon, UK, where a farting frog frolicks with friends for environmental bonuses. Fire yourself out of cannons, hit bouncy castles for points, jump off things, parkour up things. Swindon is your oyster.

Rebel Galaxy

Developer: Double Damage Games Publisher: Double Damage Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site Rebel Galaxy is a space game about shooting first, learning how to dock later. Unlike Elite: Dangerous, for instance, it emphasizes the action over the minutiae of space travel. It promises a big ship, an open galaxy with randomly generated solar systems and quests, and the experience of feeling the concussion of a broadside blast, and the impact on your deflectors as they absorb a particle beam meant for your shield generator. Also, shady space bars.

Jotun

Developer: William Dub Publisher: William Dub Release date: TBA Link: Official Site An action-exploration game, Jotun challenges you to fight your way through a randomly-generated viking purgatory by killing giant norse elementals in an attempt to reach Valhalla. The game s creator, William Dub , describes it as the mood of Journey and the scale of Shadow of the Colossus in top-down 2D, which sounds pretty great if he can pull it off.

Overgrowth

Developer: Wolfire Games Publisher: Wolfire Games Release date: TBA Link: Official Site Overgrowth, also known as that 3D brawler where humanoid rabbits fight each other, oh man, what is this, doesn t have a set release date, but sometime in 2015 seems like a reasonable guess. It feels like it s been in alpha for forever, but maybe that s just because we really want to be a fighting rabbit-person.

The Very Organized Thief

Developer: Redefinition Games Publisher: Redefinition Games Release date: TBA Link: Official Site Starting as a free Unity game, The Very Organized Thief wants to be bigger, but unfortunately failed to meet its Kickstarter goal. Since then, it s made its way to Steam Greenlight. It s a casual stealth game about sneaking around somebody s house with a list of things to steal, and has no combat. You have to find keys, disable alarms, and get the loot before you get caught.

BattleCry

Developer: BattleCry Studios Publisher: Bethesda Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Not to be confused with Battleborn, this is Bethesda s competitive 32-player third-person brawling game with art direction from Half-Life 2 and Dishonored whizz, Viktor Antonov. It s bloody, thanks to the inclusion of dismemberment and classes that wield massive cleavers, but the sketchy art style keeps things light, and you get to fight in beautifully realised eastern European industrial zones. Classes include archers, punchy brawlers, knife-wielding duellers and enforcers, who wield the aforementioned cleavers.

Kakexun

Developer: Kenji Eno Publisher: Kenji Eno Release date: TBA Link: Game s Indiegogo Famous Japanese game developer Kenji Eno passed away nearly a year and a half ago, but that isn t stopping his friends from creating a game based on his final design. Kakexun is a psychedelic game comprised of a mix of story stages and action stages. It s very hard to explain, and we highly recommend visiting the game s Indiegogo to witness the madness for yourself.

Dreadnought

Developer: Yager Development Publisher: Grey Box Games Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official Site These aren't sleek, swift, easily-maneuverable fightercraft we're talking about. In Dreadnought, a tactical action multiplayer game from the developers behind Spec Ops: The Line, you'll pilot truly massive spaceships and battle other flying behemoths in team deathmatch and elimination modes.

Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin

Developer: From Software Publisher: Namco Bandai Release date: 3 April, 2015 Link: Dark Souls 2 site Prepare to dive into some original sin with From Software's remastered version of Dark Souls 2. That a year-old game is being remastered is unusual, but it's a side-effect of the studio releasing the game on new-gen consoles. Scholar of the First Sin brings enhanced graphics, performance and DirectX support, all bundled with DS2's three DLC add-ons. Fortunately, existing owners aren't being left behind. A free patch for Dark Souls 2 will bring Scholar's expanded story and additional NPCs.

Deus Ex Universe

Developer: Eidos Montreal Publisher: Square Enix Release date: TBA Link: Announcement post Deus Ex: Universe is Square Eidos's name for a whole series of upcoming Deus Ex stuff, including at least one proper "core game". We don't know what this game is called, when it's due for release, or even if it'll be a narrative follow-up to Human Revolution. What we do know is that it'll run on the Dawn Engine, a modified version of Hitman: Absolution's Glacier 2 Engine. Eidos Montreal recently released an in-engine screenshot showing what can be done with the tool, and the result looks awfully Deus Ex-y. We do, of course, have a wishlist of features we'd like to see in any new Deus Ex game.

Halo: Spartan Strike

Developer: 343 Industries/Vanguard Studios Publisher: Microsoft Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site The follow-up to largely ignored Halo twin-stick shooter spin-off Spartan Assault works across both tablets and PC via your Steam saves, and includes Halo 4 s slightly rubbish enemies the Prometheans, as well as the ability to run over enemies in a Warthog. Essentially, it s there to remind you that none of the proper Halo games have come out on PC since Halo 2, but nonetheless it looks pretty enough.

Dungeon Defenders 2

Developer: Trendy Entertainment Publisher: Trendy Entertainment Release date: 2015 Link: Official site The sequel to popular tower-defense action RPG Dungeon Defenders entered early access in 2014, and plans to become free to play once it officially launches. In co-op play, teams defend their base against wave after wave of A.I. creatures with a mixture of automated turrets and third-person combat.

TerraTech

Developer: Payload Studios Publisher: Payload Studios Release date: TBA Link: Official Site Build a fleet of vehicles to fight for an alien planet s resources. As you destroy your opponents you can scavenge parts from them, growing and upgrading your machines even more. TerraTech currently has a demo on its site and will be hitting Steam early access sometime in January.

Human Element

Developer: Robotoki Publisher: Robotoku Release date: November 2015 Link: Developer Site Cooperate with, or battle against, other human players 35 years after the zombie apocalypse. Build and fortify your base, scavenge for resources, and plans assaults on enemy forts, using every weapon at your disposal, including zombies themselves.

FPS

It's going to be a good year for shooters. You've got Rainbow Six: Siege for tactical shooting, Killing Floor 2 for co-op shooting, Evolve for monster shooting and Super Hot for slow-mo shooting. You never know, Battlefield Hardline and Evolve may yet turn out to be surprisingly great, and if they're not, Reflex should provide a nostalgic fix to compensate.

Battlefield Hardline

Developer: Visceral, DICE Publisher: EA Release date: March 20 Link: Official site The 2014 beta test had the tenor of a mod for Battlefield 4, as though opposing armies had been reskinned to fulfill Hardline s cops vs. robbers fantasy. Cops and crooks exchanged RPG fire on deserted city streets and zipped round in slippery cop cars. It was weird, so the devs decided to withdraw for a while to get things right. The finished version comes out on March 20, and comes with a Miami-based single player campaign in which you play a detective, Nick Mendoza, on a mission to bust apart a local drug ring. Expect entertaining cop-movie cliches aplenty.

Call of Duty 12

Developer: Treyarch Publisher: Activision Release date: Late 2015 Link: Call of Duty site Okay, so we don't know what it is yet, but we know it's going to happen. Call of Duty is just too big to skip a year. For 2015, expect Treyarch to be in the spotlight—maybe for a Black Ops sequel, or perhaps something new. All we know for sure is that they've got a lot to live up to. Ghosts had a dog, and Advanced Warfare had Kevin Spacey. CoD 12 is going to need something special to out-gimmick those guys. Perhaps a dog voiced by Kevin Spacey? We can but dream.

Rainbow Six Siege

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal Publisher: Ubisoft Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site his fierce, tactical multiplayer shooter rapelled into E3 2014 to much applause, partly because it replaces the dodgy-looking Rainbow Six Patriots, but mostly because of the return of recognisable R6 elements like sneaky SWAT cams, breach charges and tactical shotguns. The Counter-Strike style round system and playable terrorists are new, though. Before each hostage rescue, both teams get a setup phase. The cops can scout the crims with recon cameras while the hostage-takers setup screens and wall-armour to control the cops entry points. Expect lots of destructibility as well, thanks to the new AnvilNext engine.

Killing Floor 2

Developer: Tripwire Interactive Publisher: Tripwire Interactive Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site This is sure to be the messiest of 2015 s shooters. This follow-up to Tripwire s excellent co-op monster-blaster is going big on the gore, but we re more excited about the guns. Tripwire also made Red Orchestra and Red Orchestra 2, and are experts at making virtual guns feel deadly and exciting to fire. In addition to the usual array of shotguns and (delightfully meaty) handguns, they re also adding close combat weapons like Katanas. Ready your mop.

Overwatch

Developer: Blizzard Publisher: Activision Blizzard Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Blizzard take on Team Fortress 2 with a colourful team shooter set in a brand new universe. Every hero serves as a different class with unique special abilities and weapons. Play as an armoured ape who can shield his enemies, or a woman who can teleport and plant explosive grenades, or a samurai archer who can clamber up walls that other characters can t. The heroes will be tied together with a story told outside of the game that may well make use of Blizzard s talented CG movie department.

Evolve

Developer: Turtle Rock Studios Publisher: 2K Games Release date: February 10 Link: evolvegame.com Turtle Rock s monster-versus-hunters shooter is ambitious in its asymmetry. The eleven human (and one robot) Hunters are all deliberately different—each of the medics heal completely differently, for example. We love the look of Evolve (it may be the best-looking game on PC when it launches) and its focus on movement, evasion, and teamwork. The big question is whether a dozen maps and a handful of modes will be enough to sustain hardcore players and how much of the game s post-launch content will be paid.

Battleborn

Developer: Gearbox Publisher: Gearbox Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Gearbox describe this as a hero-shooter . Why are we shooting the heroes? The churlish response would be because MOBAs are really popular right now and there s a chance a first person shooter lane-pusher/competitive shooter hybrid might find an audience. And why not, the art is bright and colourful, the characters are bright and varied, but will Gearbox face opposition from Blizzard s upcoming arena shooter, Overwatch?

SUPERHOT

Developer: SUPERHOT Publisher: SUPERHOT Release date: TBA Link: Official site The 7 Day FPS game jam entry impressed us in its early form. The twist is simple: time only moves when you do. Pause mid-fight and you ll see bullets hanging there, tearing beautiful red trajectories through the air. The full version is sticking to the striking red-and-white aesthetic, and will feature swords. HOT.

Fortnite

Developer: Epic Games Publisher: Epic Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site Combining crafting and shooting, Fortnite pits you and your teammates against a horde of monsters—scavenge materials by day, build up your base and defenses, then weather the siege at night. Epic Games announced that it was working on Fortnite quite a while ago, but only recently released hard details and is currently accepting applications for the closed alpha.

Verdun

Developer: M2H, BlackMill Games Publisher: M2H, BlackMill Games Release date: February 2015 Link: Official site The trenches of World War 1 are a relatively unexplored setting for an FPS. Verdun addresses the challenge with a gritty, grim squad shooter that explores WW1 in rifle-deathmatch and Frontlines mode. Frontlines levelling system has you upgrading squads with different tactics and combat roles. One to watch.

Toxikk

Developer: Reakktor Publisher: Reakktor Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site Another shooter taking advantage of the Unreal Engine, Toxikk is a back-to-basics arena shooter that focuses on precise movement and skill. It s a love letter to Unreal Tournament and shooters of the past, featuring weapon pick-ups, health packs, and jump pads. Reakktor is very particular about pointing out it won t be free-to-play, wanting everyone to be on a level playing field, and will be releasing an SDK for the community to make maps of their own.

Reflex

Developer: Turbo Pixel Studios Publisher: Turbo Pixel Studios Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Two words sum up why Reflex represents such an exciting return to old-school twitch shooters: jump pads. Yes! The super-quick movement and classic weapons of Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament have been faithfully recreated in a modern engine that supports quite excellent gib effects.

Block N Load

Developer: Jagex Publisher: Jagex Release date: Feb 2015 Link: Official site A 5vs5 tactical PvP shooter with an emphasis on construction destruction. Players are given immense potential to shape their arenas by building defences, digging tunnels and, of course, blowing stuff up. Helping realise this tactical potential is a cast of heroes that each offer different specialisations; giving players the opportunity to focus on combat, defence or support roles.

Hellraid

Developer: Techland Publisher: Techland Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Visions of Hexen come unbound at the sight of this pulpy new first-person hack n slash game from Techland. The gates of hell have popped open and need closing sharpish before the monsters unleashed overrun the entire planet. Decapitate and de-limb hellbeasts with axes, swords and spears, or throw fireballs to simply melt them.

Homefront: The Revolution

Developer: Deep Silver Dambuster Publisher: Deep Silver Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Mediocre reviews, poor sales and the ultimate closure of both its original developer and publisher seemingly couldn't stop Homefront from getting a sequel. Homefront: The Revolution was originally in production by Crytek UK. They too closed, and now Deep Silver has taken the project on board. It'll be worth the effort if they can deliver on the game's promise of resistance fighters in an occupied open-world Philadelphia.

Bedlam

Developer: RedBedlam Publisher: KISS ltd Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Bedlam is a nostalgic shooter about the history of shooters. Blast through levels that look suspiciously similar to Quake, shop up enemies with flaming swords Hexen-style and blast your way through a Pac Man maze, complete with ghosts. The devs pitch it as a shooter for those who survived online gaming in the 80s and 90s."

Black Ice

Developer: Super Duper Garrett Cooper Publisher: Super Duper Garrett Cooper Release date: Link: Official site In Black Ice you play a hacker trying to fend off waves of viruses using lasers inside the PC—far more exciting than just installing AVG. There s a free demo that you can play in your browser if you want to see Black Ice s Tron-like environments first-hand. A pre-release version is available on Steam early access, but more weapons and randomised loot needs to be added before the game is feature-complete.

Blockstorm

Developer: GhostShark Publisher: IndieGala Release date: TBA Link: Official site A shooter set in a world of breakable blocks, a familiar idea to anyone who s tried Ace of Spades. The neat thing about Blockstorm are the creation tools. The same tools the developers used to build the game are available to players, which means anyone can create a map or mode. It s on Steam early access, of course, and won t be finished until the devs have added 5 new online multiplayer game modes as well as new maps and new characters. There s a free demo here.

Star Wars Battlefront

Developer: DICE LA Publisher: EA Release date: October Link: Official site Confirmed as EA s big first-person shooter for 2015 and arriving just as Episode VII lands at the back half of the year, this is the Frostbite-powered Star Wars shooter you ve been waiting almost ten years for. We know Hoth and Endor are in it. What else will make the cut? Mustafar? We should hear more about Battlefront soon.

Ratz Instagib 2.0

Developer: Lizzard4000 Publisher: Lizzard4000 Release date: TBA Link: IndieDB page The current version of this Unity-built labor of love is freely available on sites like Kongregate, but the 2.0 iteration of the game is getting worked on further in preparation for a full release on Steam. Ratz is marriage of some of our favorite classic FPS stuff: super-sized rats maps, Quake-style rocket-jumping (with railguns), and instagib, the frenetic, one-hit-you re-dead mode from Unreal Tournament.

Interstellar Marines

Developer: Zero Point Software Publisher: Zero Point Software Release date: 2015 Link: Official Site With single-player or co-op story mode and cross-platform multiplayer team deathmatches, this tactical sci-fi FPS features tense battles and a horror-infused atmosphere in immersive arenas across the galaxy. While it's been in development for years, 2014 saw a host of new content released.

RPG

2014 was brilliant for RPG fans. We had Divinity: Original Sin, Dragon Age: Inquisition and Wasteland 2 to keep us going. 2015 is looking good, too. The Witcher 3 could be superb, Pillars of Eternity looks gorgeous and played well in alpha and we can look forward to Bioware's experimental multiplayer RPG, Shadow Realms.

The Witcher 3

Developer: CD Projekt RED Publisher: CD Projekt RED Release date: May 19 Link: Official site The most exciting RPG of the year has suffered a couple of delays—nothing too serious, we hope. It s Geralt s final adventure as the gruff protagonist of the series, but it s his biggest ever. CD Projekt RED estimate that the Witcher 3 is 35 times bigger than The Witcher 2, with a vast and stunning open world populated by strange creatures borrowed from European folklore. If you ve ever wondered what a Bogling is and how to kill it, this is the game for you.

Pillars of Eternity

Developer: Obsidian Publisher: Paradox Interactive Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site Any fan of Infinity Engine classics like Baldur s Gate should take a look at Obsidian s new RPG. A nostalgic elevated camera angle, detailed party customisation and reams of dialogue are all promising signs that Obsidian will do the old-school RPG format justice, but it looks better than any 90s RPG could. The Unity engine allows for beautifully detailed environments and clever lighting effects. We re very excited about this one.

Torment: Tides of Numenera

Developer: InXile Publisher: InXile Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site With over $4 million raised on Kickstarter, it's clear that people are excited about Torment: Tides of Numernera. It's easy to see why, too. It's a 'spiritual successor' to the RPG masterpiece Planescape: Torment. Despite using a different setting—the varied and expressive Numenera RPG ruleset—it retains the philosophy of complex, in-depth storytelling and flexible decision-making. Expect a vast campaign that reacts and shifts in response to your actions.

Cyberpunk 2077

Developer: CD Projekt RED Publisher: TBA Release date: TBA Link: Dev blog CD Projekt RED announced this futuristic RPG with a teaser trailer years ago, and barely a peep has been heard of it since. The studio is no doubt busy putting the finishing touches on The Witcher 3, and it s unlikely we ll see this one in 2015, or even 2016. Still, the idea of a cyberpunk RPG rendered with the sumptuous detail of The Witcher games is exciting. We re willing to wait.

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord

Developer:Taleworlds Publisher: Taleworlds Release date: TBA Link: Official site Mounts? Blades? Bannerlords? A safe bet that all will make an appearance in Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlords. The original Mount & Blade—or at least, the standalone Warband follow-up—was a great RPG strategy about starting out with nothing, and building up an army that could shake empires. Yes, it looked ugly as sin, but past that it was as deep as it was compelling. If the sequel can be more than that, it has the chance to be one of the most exciting games of the year.

Darkest Dungeon

Developer: Red Hook Studios Publisher: Red Hook Studios Release date: February 3 (Early Access) Link: darkestdungeon.com Our most-anticipated roguelike. Darkest Dungeon s grounded, low-fantasy art is the perfect costume for its gritty, permadeathy adventure. An XCOM-style party system pairs with Darkest Dungeon s interesting focus on mental health as a mechanic. Characters can lose their cool in the heart of battle and become a liability or spontaneously become more dangerous when shaken by horrific encounters.

Moon Hunters

Developer: Kitfox Games Publisher: Kitfox Games Release date: Q4 2015 Link: Official Site A procedurally generated game about creating and discovering your own mythology for one to four players, Moon Hunters blew far past its Kickstarter funding goal of $45k. You and your allies must complete tasks and deeds to earn yourself a reputation in the world. It has a village building aspect, hack-n-slash combat, and emphasizes that it s easy to pick up and play.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

Developer: Square Enix Publisher: Square Enix Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site The third and final game in the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy. As the title suggests, Lightning's back, and this time is against the clock—given thirteen in-game days to prevent the end of the world. In addition to the time pressures now placed on the player, LR:FFXIII features a new battle system that combines the Final Fantasy XIII paradigm-shift system with Final Fantasy X-2 style costume changes.

Blackguards 2

Developer: Daedalic Entertainment Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment Release date: 20 January Link: Official site The sequel to Blackguards will bring more turn-based tactical battles to fans of the original s band of scoundrels. This time they re led by Cassia, a determined warrior who wants to claim the Shark Throne and return the Blackguards to their former glory. Daedalic say the sequel will involve mechanics that have been requested by players of the first game, like improved line of sight, cover and formation.

Citizens of Earth

Developer: Eden Industries Publisher: Atlus Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site You're the Vice President of the World and, as such, don't want to get involved with all the hard-work and fighting that comes from completing an RPG quest. Far better to get the little people to do it all for you. Described by its developers as "Earthbound meets Pokemon," Citizens of Earth will let you secure the services of any NPC in the game. Their profession defines their skills for battle, so clever recruiting is the way to make it through this quirky RPG.

Dragon Fin Soup

Developer: Grimm Bros Publisher:Grimm Bros Release date: April 2015 Link: Official site That the playable character is described as a "raging alcoholic" is only the second most surprising thing about Dragon Fin Soup's story. The first: the world she lives on exists on the back of a Turtle Dragon God. It's a SNES-style RPG with roguelike elements; offering a simple take on turn-based combat, and a combination of procedurally generated environments and scripted story sequences.

Frontiers

Developer: AAD Productions Publisher: AAD Productions Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Frontiers is a sedate first-person RPG that is more about exploration and discovery than combat and levelling. It draws inspiration from Daggerfall—taking the concept of a massive world full of discovery, but without the need to grind low-level monsters to reach the most interesting places. You can go anyway at any time, and, thanks to the planned mod support, find potentially anything.

SanctuaryRPG: Black Edition

Developer: Black Shell Games Publisher: Plug In Digital Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site SanctuaryRPG is a first-person dungeon crawler roguelike with RPG elements, a deep combat system and a consistently amusing tongue-in-cheek humour. Oh, one more thing: it's rendered entirely in ASCII. Nevertheless, it's a complex and expansive game, and one well worth checking out. You can play the free version from the game's official site. The Black Edition, currently in Early Access, is an updated and further enlarged Steam version.

Heroes of Might and Magic III: HD Edition

Developer: DotEmu Publisher: Ubisoft Release date: 29 January Link: Official site Updated to run in widescreen and HD, this well-liked 15 year-old game quietly nudges onto PC next month, complete with a new online lobby that s Steamworks compatible.

else Heart.Break()

Developer: Erik Sved ng Publisher: Erik Sved ng Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site else Heart.Break() is an exploration-based RPG adventure set inside a digitised city. You play as Sebastian, who has moved to Dorisburg to figure out who he wants to be. Expect friends, romance, and important conversations held over cups of coffee. Also the ability to hack into just about any computer system—allowing you to break into secure facilities and just generally muck around.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Developer: Warhorse Studios Publisher: Warhorse Studios Release date: 2015 Link: Official site If you're an RPG fan you'll be no stranger to plodding through Medieval kingdoms. What's that up ahead? It's a dragon! Better kill it's face off and deliver its gall bladder to the local elf enchantress, before riding a Dwarf to Valhalla. Not in Kingdom Come: Deliverance you won't. It's a realistic RPG. Strictly no dragons. Instead, you'll get sleep at regular intervals, eat hearty meals, complete open-ended objectives and earn reputation among NPCs.

Shadow Realms

Developer: BioWare Austin Publisher: EA Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site This 4vs1 action RPG from the makers of The Old Republic has one player setting traps and altering parameters for the other four players. BioWare is gunning for an episodic structure with this contemporary fantasy game, offering malleable classes and watercooler story moments (because every workplace on Earth has a watercooler).

Serpent in the Staglands

Developer: Whalenaught Studios Publisher: Whalenaught Studios Release date: Q1 2015 Link: Official Site Funded through Kickstarter in April, Serpent in the Staglands is now on Steam and awaiting a Q1 release. It is an isometric, real-time ARPG where you control a party on a perilous quest. It emphasizes an open story and exploration the moment you start the game, putting you in charge of the path you take.

Dragon: The Game

Developer: Red Level Games Publisher: Red Level Games Release date: TBA Link: Official Site True to its title, the game lets you play as a dragon in an open-world RPG where you can choose to be a town-terrifying monster or a benevolent guardian. Fly, hunt, eat, and age as you grow more powerful and do battle with other monsters in the realm.

Dex

Developer: Dreadlocks Ltd. Publisher: Dreadlocks Ltd. Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site In a gritty cyberpunk future you'll travel the dangerous streets of Harbor Prime, earning money for black market cybernetic enhancements by working as a mercenary. Immerse yourself in the story of a rogue A.I. surpassing the limits of human intelligence in this stylish, side-scrolling RPG.

ACTION RPG

There's no announced expansion for Diablo 3 this year, but there's plenty more for action RPG fans to look forward to, not least the visually stunning Lost Ark and the gritty and complex leveling of Grim Dawn.

Grim Dawn

Developer: Crate EntertainmentPublisher: Crate EntertainmentRelease date: TBALink: Official site Path of Exile provided a good distraction for action RPG fans this year, can Grim Dawn steal that crown? You play as a warrior in a land where humanity is on the brink of extinction, and must fight thousands of creatures to avoid going extinct yourself. Expect lots of complex RPG development over the course of your playthrough, accentuated by a wealth of custom items, crafting recipes.

Kyn

Developer: TangrinPublisher: Versus EvilRelease date: TBALink: Official Site A norse-themed RPG with Diablo-like combat, Kyn puts you in charge of a team of adventures battling the undead. Customization of your party and exploration of its open-world are key parts of Kyn, which looks to be trying hard to differentiate itself in the world of top-down, skeleton whacking games.

Bombshell

Developer: Interceptor EntertainmentPublisher: 3D RealmsRelease date: Early 2015Link: Official site She s a bomb disposal expert with nothing to lose. She rides into the world with a robot arm on a Harley Davidson to gun down robots with a big shotgun. This action RPG is the latest from Rise of the Triad developers, Interceptor Games, and is set across four planets full of aliens. Why do the aliens need to die? They ve kidnapped the president, of course. Silly aliens!

Lost Ark

Developer: TripodPublisher: Smile GateRelease date: TBA 2015Link: Official site Close your eyes and imagine Diablo 3. Now imagine that instead of Diablo 3's already impressive attack animations, the particle effects have been ramped up 100x. Now imagine that other players are with you, that their own attack animations are piled into the mix, and that your mouth is agape at the sheer spectacle of it all. That's Lost Ark. No, really. Just look at this trailer.

2D SHOOTERS & TWIN-STICK GAMES

Do you want to kill some pixels? If you like explosions and great weapons look no further than Nuclear Throne. For blood and sweet tunes, you've got Hotline Miami. For environmental destruction and comical uses of the word "bro" check out the brotastic Broforce. For spectacular movement and procedurally generated universes keep an eye on Galak-Z.

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Developer: Dennaton Games Publisher: Devolver Digital Release date: Early 2015 Link: Steam Dennaton invite Hotline Miami 2 players to build Hotline Miami 3 for themselves using the packed-in level editor tools - it s the only way they ll get a sequel. Dennaton are packing every idea they have into the final iteration of their brutal, lightning-quick top-down shooter, but won t deviate far from the proven formula. Expect a great soundtrack, a throbbing neon world and relentless, brutal killing.

Nuclear Throne

Developer: Vlambeer Publisher: Vlambeer Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Vlambeer are masters at selling impact in games. Nuclear Throne is a glorious shooter not just because of the randomised weapons, levels and creatures, but because every time you fire a gun it feels amazing. This one s only going to get better as more levels and guns are added.

Galak-Z

Developer: 17 Bit Publisher: 17 Bit Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Galak-Z A beautiful, frantic arcade shooter set in a procedurally generated open universe. Asteroids, Gradius and R-Type are listed as influences, but none of those games can match Galak-Z s luminous explosions and zippy, responsive movement. We can t wait.

A Fistful of Gun

Developer: FarmerGnome Publisher: Devolver Digital Release date: Spring 2015 Link: Steam page Round up a posse for A Fistful of Gun's top down, co-op action. The Wild West themed shooter will support up to nine players online or off, with a variety of unique character classes that each use a different control scheme depending on the gun they carry. Try out the original freeware version for an idea of what to expect.

Tower 57

Developer: benitosub Publisher: TBA Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Indie DB page Co-op actioner Tower 57 pulls inspiration from 1991's Alien Breed shooter, but its look is 16-bit art deco pixel art crossed with moody cyberpunk. The art may be the star of the show when Tower 57 releases in 2015. Pixel artist Cyangmou previously worked on the charming Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I Don't Know! and atmospheric Halfway.

Broforce

Developer: Free Lives Publisher: Devolver Digital Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site The bro-centric action platformer's Early Access incarnation is already fun and filled with features. Despite boasting a campaign, co-op challenges, and full Steam Workshop support, it's set to expand further next year with an official full release. You play as hyper-aggressive caricatures of action film stars in an all-out assault against terrorists, Satan and undestructed scenery. Expect explosions, carnage and an excitable announcer.

Capsule Force

Developer: klobit Publisher: klobit Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Multiplayer 2D arena battles inspired by 80s space anime. Thanks to the likes of Towerfall this is an increasingly contested niche, but Capsule Force s blazing visuals and big lasers could earn it a spot in our couch-game collection.

Brigador

Developer: Stellar Jockeys Publisher: Stellar Jockeys Release date: Spring 2015 Link: Official site Great Leader is dead. You have one night to liberate the city of Solo Nobre. How? Pick a mech, load it up with weapons, and patrol through the nine districts shooting every enemy that stands in your way. Brigador is an '80s cyberpunk anime disguised as an isometric twin-stick shooter. It oozes style, and its short, highly replayable campaign sounds perfect for frantic, stylish and tactical mecha-combat.

DieselStormers

Developer: Black Forest Games Publisher: Black Forest Games Release date: Q2 2015 Link: Official site

Tom Marks had a few good things to say about DieselStormers when he tried out the Early Access version in mid-2014, though we didn t think it was ready for consumption just yet. There s more to be done in this 2D co-op shooter before release in 2015, but we can sense that it has potential, and that the developer is committed to it.

Assault Android Cactus

Developer: Witch Beam Publisher: Witch Beam Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site This brilliantly named twin-stick shooter is available on Early Access, and has ademo you can try right now. There are eight heroes to choose from and thousands of robots to blow apart with rockets and streams of noisy machine gun fire. Includes co-op for up to four pals.

Rive

Developer: Two Tribes Publisher: Two Tribes Release date: Early 2015 Link: Developer s Site Rive is a 2D shooter about hacking enemies on the fly to fight for you instead of against you. From the trailer, it looks like a lot of robots hacking other robots to blow up more robots, which we are totally on board with in concept. It s not quite as straight-forward as your classic Metal Slug-style shooter, moving much faster and allowing 360 degrees of stuff to shoot.

Mighty No. 9

Developer: Comcept and Init Creates Publisher: Comcept Release date: April 2015 Link: Official Site Keiji Inafune might have left Capcom, but that doesn t mean he wants to stop making Megaman games. Practically, it looks like Inafune remaking and updating the Megaman formula from the ground up, even though the project can t legally be associated with the series that made him famous. Mighty No. 9 raised nearly over $3.8 million on Kickstarter, well past its $900k goal, and is still accepting crowd funding pledges at its official site.

Hatred

Developer: Destructive Creations Publisher: In-house Release date: Q2 Link: Official Site Don t get too close to Hatred or you ll cut yourself, cause it s just so damn EDGY. This embarrassing shooter looks like the kind of thing a developer would release in the late 90s to rile up tabloid newspapers. It prides itself on being controversial, but it s about as subversive and provocative as an episode of Two and a Half Men. If Hatred had a human form, it d be a guy with a ponytail, sunglasses, and a long leather trenchcoat, holding a Fear Factory CD.

FIGHTING GAMES

There aren't enough multiplayer punching-and-kicking games on PC, but that'll gradually change as we bicycle-kick our way through 2015. The immortal Street Fighter series returns this year with cross-platform play that'll let us take on PS4 owners. There's also Mortal Kombat, if you like silly stories and spine-snapping finishers.

Street Fighter V

Developer: Dimps, CapcomPublisher: CapcomRelease date: TBA 2015Link: Official site Finally, we ll have the power to fight against console players in Street Fighter V. Cross platform play makes complete sense for a fighter, as long as Capcom can keep lag away. Anyway, Ryu and Chun-Li are confirmed for the roster, along with returning character Charlie Nash. Watch Ryu and Chun-Li duke it out here and note the neat painterly flourishes for big blows.

Colossal Kaiju Combat: Kaijuland Battles

Developer: Sunstone GamesPublisher: Sunstone GamesRelease date: TBA 2015Link: Official link A low-fi beat em up starring huge kaiju creatures. The giant dino models are simplistic, but that only makes it easier for the community to create their own skins for their favourite stompy fighter. If you re not interested in customisation there are only four fighters to choose from in this release. One for those nostalgic for the likes of Godzilla: Save the Earth.

Mortal Kombat X

Developer: NetherRealm StudiosPublisher: Warner Brothers InteractiveRelease date: April 14Link: Official site Things you will see and hear a lot of in the next entry for the famously gross beat- em-up series: blood, spines, skulls, FATALITY , eyeballs, get over here! , a figure frozen mid-kick, a frozen figure shattering while being kicked, ribs breaking, nyaaaargh , an ogre throwing a knife-wielding little girl at his opponent, NAAAARGH , the wet squelch of a popping heart, SCORPION WINS .

Dead or Alive 5: Last Round

Developer: Team NinjaPublisher: Koei Tecmo GamesRelease date: February 17 2015Link: Official site Team Ninja call this the definitive series finale with 34 fighters—more than the series has ever had in a single game—and lots of absurd but sumptuous stages. We seem to be getting more and more beat em ups on PC, which is brill. Guilty Gear XRD -SIGN- next, please.

Gang Beasts

Developer: BoneloafPublisher: Double FineRelease date: TBA 2015Link: Official site Guide your wobbly fighter to victory by grabbing, punching and falling over your opponent. Gang Beasts is simply hilarious, in the same way that a drunken brawl in a teletubby bar would be. It s in early access at the moment, but all it s already great couch-multiplayer fun.

Dragonball Xenoverse

Developer: DimpsPublisher: Bandai Namco GamesRelease date: Feb 5, 2015Link: Official Site The next entry in a long series of fighting games based on Dragonball Z, this time with a slight twist. Like previous games, you play through events from the show, but Xenoverse has you create a custom character and fight to make sure the original timeline isn t altered by… evil forces. If the anime doesn t interest you then that sentence probably didn t do much to sell you on the game, but fans of the show will be excited to hear that Dragonball Xenoverse will feature an original video anime relating to the game s plot.

Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires

Developer: Omega ForcePublisher: Tecmo KoeiRelease date: Jan. 30, 2015Link: Official Site Let s be real here, you know about Dynasty Warriors. It s an all-out hack n slash about carving through legions of enemies like they were butter on a hot day, and it s a formula that people either seem to love or hate. Empires is the second expansion to Dynasty Warriors 8, which came out on PC in May. Unfortunately, North America will have to wait an extra month past the Japanese and European release date, getting it on February 27th instead.

Brawlhalla

Developer: Blue Mammoth GamesPublisher: Xaviant GamesRelease date: 2015Link: Official site

Brawlhalla is a bit like Smash Bros., only simpler and without Nintendo characters. It s the same set-up, though: four players on a single screen whack each other off platforms. It might not bring serious Smash fans to the PC, but we had a good time with it (and we really need our own versions of the Nintendo games we ll never see ports of). Brawlhalla is currently on Early Access, though it ll be free-to-play when it releases, so keep in mind that you ll be able to try it for free at some point if you re not sure about buying in just yet.

STRATEGY

There's a trio of Total War games coming out this year, and that's just the beginning for strategy fans. Hearts of Iron 4 looks encouragingly complex and the creators of the excellent Wargame series are bringing us an RTS set in the modern era called Act of Aggression.

Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void

Developer: Blizzard Publisher: Blizzard Release date: 2015 Link: Official site The third part of the Starcraft 2 trilogy deals with the robo-favouring, reality-warping Protoss. Expect a campaign that deals with the 'Toss's attempts to reclaim their homeworld of Auir—and the return of previous SC2 stars Jim Raynor and Kerrigan. Also expect that, whatever the campaign brings, LotV's true longevity will hinge on the changes Blizzard make to Starcraft 2's multiplayer.

Hearts of Iron 4

Developer: Paradox Publisher: Paradox Release date: 2015 Link: Announcement The long-awaited sequel to the World War 2 strategy series is almost here, and it s looking very slick. Take control of a nation in 1939 and tailor its production facilities, research priorities and battle tactics to win the war. There s lots to think about. Terrain and seasonal change will have an adverse impact on your units and a day-night cycle will grant an advantage to nations who research fast-attack tactics.

Act of Aggression

Developer: Eugen Systems Publisher: Focus Home Interactive Release date: TBA Link: Official site Between RUSE and Wargame: Airland Battle, Eugen has been making some of the most interesting RTS games around. Now they're planning a return to the '90s, and the golden era of the genre. Expect base building, resource gathering and unit production, all set against a near-future techno-thriller story.

Satellite Reign

Developer: 5 Lives Studios Publisher: 5 Lives Studios Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site A cyberpunk, tactical RPG/strategy influenced heavily by classic Syndicate. Form a team, commit cybercrime for clients and get sucked into the hidden power struggle being waged by the city s technocratic elite. The early access edition of the game is already sporting some lovely wet neon streets, but it lacks the interesting structure of the final game. In its finished form Satellite Reign will essentially be an open world adventure that draws you gently along a central plotline as you take jobs and try to get by. That s a great way to realise the Blade Runner fantasy.

Mordheim: City of the Damned

Developer: Rogue Factor Publisher: Focus Interactive Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Mordheim: City of the Damned This take on Games Workshop s overlooked turn-based tabletop game is lingering in Steam s Early access section for now, but with a bit of spit and polish, it could be great. You control a warband from the Warhammer universe and try to avoid horrible death as you loot and pillage the doomed city. The city has been struck by a magical meteor however, and is now full of demons and rival gangs, so look out for that.

Battle of Empires: 1914 - 1918

Developer: Great War Team Publisher: Best Way Soft Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site There aren t many games set during the first world war, so this gritty strategy game could fill a hole in the library of many a wargame aficionado. The early access build contains two campaigns for France and the Russian Empire already, but the team want to test multiplayer to make sure the game is correctly balanced before full launch.

Grey Goo

Developer: Petroglyph Publisher: GreyBox Release date: 23 January Link: Official site The ex-Westwood devs at Petroglyph are returning to the classic RTS formula. This time, there's a twist... or, more accurately, an ooze. One of the three factions, the titular Goo, has massive, moving amorphous blobs for bases—instantly spawning units to make for an unpredictable foe.

Massive Chalice

Developer: Double Fine Publisher: Double Fine Release date: Spring 2015 Link: blog.massivechalice.com Double Fine s take on XCOM, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Fire Emblem has (with Rogue Legacy) the unique distinction of being a game where you have to think well beyond the life of a single character, and forward into the generations of that character s children that you ll also bring into battle. Positive and negative character traits are passed down the lineage, so you ll have to find worthy mates for your best warriors. In October, we called Massive Chalice probably the most mechanically complex game Double Fine has produced since Brutal Legend.

Conquest of Champions

Developer: Kihon Publisher: Kihon Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Conquest of Champions This hybrid collectible card game/turn based strategy has you playing cards to summon units in combat on a gridded game board. Pick a hero and earn experience and gold in ranked matches. You can spend your winnings on new cards or pay real money to unlock decks early. Conquest of Champions is free-to-play in early access, but is already charging money for card sets. We d recommend waiting until the game s actually finished before putting cash into it, though.

Call to Arms

Developer: Digitalmindsoft Publisher: Digitalmindsoft Release date: Late 2015 Link: Official site This spiritual successor to the excellent Men of War games from Digitalmindsoft is set in the modern era and features conflict between two factions, the United States Army and the Global Revolutionary Movement. Expect intense tactical micromanagement of your troops on modern battlefields adeptly rendered by the team s advanced engine. It s heading into Steam early access early next year, and aims to come out before 2016.

Total War: Attila

Developer: Creative Assembly Publisher: Sega Release date: 17 February Link: Official site Creative Assembly return to Rome to oversee its fall. Starting at the end of the 4th Century, Attila stars a Rome huge and bloated, and under constant attack from barbarian forces. Into this steps Attila. For Rome, the Huns are a portent of the apocalypse—and the game will map their rise to the breaking of the Seven Seals. It's not just horsemen, either. Attila brings expanded disease and siege systems to the campaign map, and reintroduces the Family Tree politics of previous Total Wars.

Total War: Arena

Developer: The Creative Assembly Publisher: SEGA Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Arena is boldly attempting to repackage Total War s famously complicated battles into a friendly free-to-play multiplayer format. Each player controls three units led by a powerful general in massive 10 vs. 10 battles. Your units and chosen general can be upgraded with victory points to unlock new units. Arena plays fast and loose with history, so expect to see some strange all-star lineups on Arena s ancient battlefields.

Total War Battles: Kingdom

Developer: Creative Assembly Publisher: Sega Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site The third Total War title announced for this year. What's this one, then? It's a free-to-play tablet and PC strategy from the team responsible for Total War Battles: Shogun. This one promises to be more in keeping with the main Total War series. Both realm building and tactical battles are planned as you compete to secure the dominance of your 10th century kingdom.

Dungeons 2

Developer: Realmforge Studios Publisher: Kalypso Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site A Dungeon Keeper-style management and strategy game loaded with dark humor, we re hopeful that Dungeons 2 will be a better stand-in for its source material than the microtransaction-heavy war crime that EA released in 2014. You take control of a dungeon lord to erect a network of hero-hurting dungeons, taking direct control of minions when you please. Four-player online or LAN multiplayer is on offer too.

Unsung Story: Tale of the Guardians

Developer: Playdek Publisher: TBA Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Playdek's tactical RPG springs from the mind of Yasumi Matsuno, who created Final Fantasy Tactics and the Ogre Battle series. The game uses an interesting triangular tile system for combat, which is a bit different than the usual square or hexagonal grid. Matsuno came up with a new fantasy world for Unsung Story, which is enough to get us excited. Bonus: Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy XII composer Hitoshi Sakimoto is onboard to work on Unsung Story's music.

Galactic Civilizations 3

Developer: Stardock Entertainment Publisher: Stardock Entertainment Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Galactic Civilizations 3 You ll need a 64-bit system to run Stardock s ambitious 4X space strategy sequel. Take command of one of the universe s big movers and face down the alarmingly clever AI the series is famous for. Those GBs will be working hard to simulate dozens, even hundreds of planets, but we can see ourselves accidentally spending more time in GalCiv 3 s advanced ship designer.

War for the Overworld

Developer: Subterranean Games Publisher: Subterranean Games Release date: TBA Link: Indie DB page An Early Access RTS/god game, War for the Overworld clearly has its eye on the Dungeon Keeper legacy. Expect the genre's usual mix of minion management, trap-laying, and hero-murdering. As of the end of 2014, developer Subterranean Games was still cranking away on War for the Overlord's beta, adding modes, features, and smartening up the AI.

Convoy

Developer: Convoy Games Publisher: Convoy Games Release date: 2015 Link: Official Site Described as Mad Max meets Faster Than Light, this tactical roguelike drops you on an arid planet and sends you to scour the wasteland for replacement spaceship parts. Defend your convoy in real-time combat and engage with randomized text-based events.

C-Wars

Developer: Onipunks Studio Publisher: Onipunks Studio Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Imagine if plants vs. zombies was set in a futuristic anime world full of robots that shoot lasers. You move your hero around the layered battlefields striking zombies down with your knife attack, but can summon robot guards, heavy weapon warriors and a huge mech for help. Set manage their formations and watch as your miniature army decimates dozens and dozens of scum. You can download a playable demo for free if you want to try it out.

At The Gates

Developer: Conifer Games Publisher: Conifer Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site It seems to be a Civilization tradition that the series' lead designers end up dissatisfied by what they've made. Civ 5 lead Jon Shafer is no exception: he's publicly expressed his frustration with the game's AI and combat. His next 4X strategy, At The Gates, aims to rectify these issues. It's designed to make the end game more interesting—forcing players to innovate as the world's resources are consumed.

Blitzkrieg 3

Developer: Nival Publisher: Nival Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site An MMORTS set during World War 2 that includes single-player campaigns and free to play online mutliplayer with an optional subscription. Build bases and fend off enemy attack as the USSR, Germany and the USA.

Chaos Reborn

Developer: Snapshot Games Publisher: Snapshot Games Release date: Early 2015 Link: Chaos Reborn Julian Gollop s classic competitive tactical wizard-vs-wizard battles are back in modernised form. You play as a lazy wizard who must summon monsters to do his fighting for him on a hex-grid that represents intervening terrain. Your opponent is doing the same, but both are slave to the unpredictability of magic. Summon illusions to throw your opponent off, and don t take it too hard when a big spell backfires leaving you wide open to a fireball.

Crookz

Developer: Skilltree Studios Publisher: Kalypso Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Crookz is the game version of a '70s B-movie heist flick. It's a tactical strategy about recruiting and managing a team of pro thieves as they plot to the pinch the largest jewels—all while wearing the widest flairs. You'll need full use of espionage, stealth and quick-thinking to make it in and out without detection. Tools such as camera jammers, chloroform and explosive charges should help you get the job done.

Invisible, Inc.

Developer: Klei Entertainment Publisher: Klei Entertainment Release date: TBA Link: Official site Shank, Mark of the Ninja and Don't Starve is an impressive back catalogue to hold, and Klei are set to continue their run of hits with Invisible, Inc. It's a turn-based tactical sneak-'em-up—think a heist version of XCOM. In it, your spy squad must infiltrate procedurally generated corporate buildings, pinching information as they go. If you haven't noticed the pun of the title yet, try saying it out loud.

Caribbean!

Developer: Snowbird Games Publisher: Snowbird Games Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site A strategic trading game built in an improved version of the Mount & Blade engine, Caribbean promises players plenty of freedom on the high seas. You can build a business empire as a merchant or terrorise trade routes with a well-fitted brig and steal your fortune.

Beyond Sol

Developer: Praxia Entertainment Publisher: Praxia Entertainment Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Build huge orbital space-cities and defend them from assault with your customisable ship, then strike out into the galaxy to find resources and amass a fleet of your own. You can even compete with friends in open world multiplayer mode, or form alliances. You can download an early pre-alpha build of the game for free from the game s site.

Toy Soldiers: War Chest

Developer: Signal Studios Publisher: Ubisoft Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site Toy Soldiers expands on its action/RTS/tower defense genre-bending by deploying new hero characters to the battlefield. It also leans more heavily into its toy theme. Why have stodgy World War-inspired battles when the Kaiser could, instead, go up against glittery heroine Starbright and her army of unicorns and kiss-blowing fairies?

Offworld Trading Company

Developer: Mohawk Games Publisher: Stardock Release date: TBA Link: Official site Soren Johnson—lead designer of Civilization IV—is now making a real-time strategy. This isn't your traditional RTS, though. Offworld Trading Company is a strategy in which your primary weapon is money. Your aim is to buy up all of your competitors' shares, thus taking control of the entire planet's economy. There'll be plenty of opportunity for dirty tricks, too. If a rival is, for instance, buying up the world's supply of water, a well-placed EMP attack can destroy his production.

Dwelvers

Developer: Rasmus Ljunggren Publisher: Dancing Devils Release date: 2015 Link: Official Site This early access real-time strategy game puts players in the role of an evil overlord managing a team of minions as they build their own dungeon. Build weapons, manage supply chains, raid other settlements, keep your workers happy, and battle the worst monsters of all: humans.

Worlds of Magic

Developer: Wastelands Interactive Publisher: Wastelands Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site Developer Wastelands Interactive aims to combine classic D20 rules with 4X strategy and procedural generation in this high-fantasy strategy game. Don't forget to use the magic.

Might & Magic Heroes 7

Developer: Limbic Entertainment Publisher: Ubisoft Release date: 2015 TBA Link: Official Site The next addition to the long running Might & Magic Heroes series, the seventh full game looks to continue the story of the sixth. Might and Magic Heroes is a turn-based strategy RPG that takes place on an overworld map. Players take turns building their cities and armies before getting into battles, which are also turn-based on a grid battlefield.

ADVENTURE

Between Game of Thrones and the new Minecraft game, Telltale have plenty on the boil in 2015. If you prefer traditional point 'n clicks then a remastered Grim Fandango and the second half of Broken Age should do nicely. We're particularly keen to explore Firewatch, a funny and intriguing mystery game set in the Wyoming wilderness. 

Minecraft: Story Mode

Developer: Telltale Publisher: Telltale Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Tales of the Borderlands may have proven Telltale's talent at turning an existing game world into a compelling adventure, but Minecraft? That's the challenge the studio has set themselves with Minecraft: Story Mode. Moreover, they've promised not to make it an official telling of "Steve's" story, or to reveal too much about the world of Minecraft. What's left? According to the game's announcement, the story has been inspired by—and made in collaboration with—members of the Minecraft community.

Firewatch

Developer: Campo Santo Publisher: Campo Santo Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Explore the Wyoming wilderness in this beautiful and funny exploration game from the indie superteam at Campo Santo. You re doing rounds of your territory as a summer fire lookout, but start encountering mysterious goings on in the neighbourhood. Luckily, you re not entirely alone. You can reflect on everything with your trusty companion, Delilah, who s always available on the other end of your handheld radio.

Broken Age: Act 2

Developer: Double Fine Publisher: Double Fine Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site Broken Age: Act 1 left us on a cliffhanger that we've waited almost a year to see resolved. Originally planned for the end of last year, the second half of Double Fine's point-'n'-click return is now set to arrive in the early months of 2015. In addition to the conclusion of Shay and Vella's story, Act 2 is set to challenge adventure veterans with a series of larger and more difficult puzzles.

Grim Fandango Remastered

Developer: Double Fine Publisher: Double Fine Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Announcement post Initially announced for PS4 and Vita only, our cries of despair were saved by a Double Fine tweet confirming a fresh PC edition of Grim Fandango, supposedly remastered for modern audiences. We re not sure exactly what that means yet, but we re hoping for widescreen support, a new control system and maybe some high-res renders of the land of the dead s beautiful backgrounds.

Tales From The Borderlands

Developer: Telltale Games Publisher: Telltale Games Release date: Throughout 2015 Link: Official siteLast year, Telltale released the first episode of its five-part Borderlands spin-off. Set after the events of Borderlands 2, it tells the story of Hyperion employee Rhys and con artist Fiona as they set out in search of the elusive Vault key. The first episode showed how well the personality of Gearbox's shooter series could translate to and adventure. Hopefully the remaining parts only build on the momentum it generated.

Game of Thrones

Developer: Telltale Games Publisher: Telltale Games Release date: Throughout 2015 Link: Official site Telltale's Game of Thrones series is already underway, and the first episode gave us an idea of how future instalments will work. Starting at the end of the TV show's third season, it tells the story of House Forrester, and shows how their lives are affected by the events and characters from the show. A further five episodes are set to release over the course of the year, taking players up to just before the start of season five.

Life Is Strange

Developer: DONTNOD Publisher: Square Enix Release date: 30 January Link: Official site There are shades of Twin Peaks and Heavy Rain in this episodic mystery about a young girl who can rewind time. Max and her friend Sam embark on a journey through the darker side of their home town, as they attempt to find the truth behind the disappearance of another student. Told over five parts, expect Max's time-tampering to have marked and potentially disastrous effect on their future.

Way of the Samurai 4

Developer: Acquire Publisher: Ghostlight LTD Release date: January 2015 Link: Steam page Turns out there's more to learn about the way of the samurai. By looking at the console version of Way of the Samurai 4, we've learned that they like pink kimonos and swordfighting. The series is known for being a bit of a samurai life sim, splitting gameplay up into combat, character progression, and events that lead to multiple endings. The PC port promises a new UI and support for both gamepads and keyboard controls.

Cradle

Developer: Flying Cafe for semianimals Publisher: Flying Cafe for semianimals Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site A surreal first-person game about exploring a strange science fiction world that also explores your character s relationship with a mechanical girl. You have to restore your clockwork friend by finding parts hidden in the Mongolian hills, which hide strange machines and cities. We don t know much about this enigmatic adventure game but early footage looks beautiful.

Virginia

Developer: Variable State Publisher: Variable State Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Variable State The Twin Peaks influence is immediately clear in Variable State s adventure game. You play a recently-graduated FBI agent on a mission to discover the fate of a missing boy. The devs say it s inspired by our collective love of 90s TV dramas like Twin Peaks, The X-Files and The Outer Limits, we wanted to create a game which captured their mixture of the inexplicable, the absurd and the mundane. We re looking forward to this one.

Syberia III

Developer: Beno t Sokal Publisher: Anuman Interactive Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site The last entry in the Syberia series came out 10 years ago, but creator Beno t Sokal is reviving it along with its signature leading lady, Kate Walker. Syberia is a point and click adventure game with a steampunk theme. It was originally supposed to begin development in 2010, but had trouble with funding. Now, with the recent return in popularity of the point and click genre, Syberia should feel right at home.

The Black Glove

Developer: Day for Night Games Publisher: Day for Night Games Release date: TBA Link: Developer s Site Even though The Black Glove fell woefully short of its Kickstarter goal, Day for Night Games is determined to complete it. Made up of ex-Bioshock developers, the Kickstarter trailer showed us a surreal adventure game with real promise, but even a last minute plug from Ken Levine couldn t push it to its goal. Not many details are known about The Black Glove s gameplay, but its got a great team behind it. Hopefully they can get it done.

That Dragon, Cancer

Developer: Ryan Green, Amy Green, Josh Larson Publisher: Ryan Green, Amy Green, Josh Larson Release date: October 2015 Link: thatdragoncancer.com A touching memorial to Joel, the son of Ryan and Amy Green, who passed away from cancer at a young age. That Dragon, Cancer is important work, a reminder that games have power as expressive records that can capture pain, loss, humanity, and who a person was.

Midwinter

Developer: Chilli Hugger Software Publisher: Chilli Hugger Software Release date: TBA Link: Developer s Blog A remake of the 1989 Atari and Amiga classic, Midwinter is being made by many of the same people who were on the original s team. They aim not just to make an updated version of the game, but a version that fully realizes creator Mike Singleton s vision. It s unclear exactly what they ll add or change, but you can be sure it will be a first person action-adventure game with quite a lot of snow.

Children of Liberty

Developer: Lantana Games Publisher: Lantana Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site It s the eve of the American Revolution and four young spies are on a mission thwart the Redcoats. That s the enigmatic background for a stealth game that blends 2D character sprites with 3D environments.

Sunless Sea

Developer: Failbetter Games Publisher: Failbetter Games Release date: Feb 2015 Link: Official siteExperience strange happenings on the endless Zee. London has sunk into a subterranean nightmare, but humanity survives. Take a skiff and start exploring the islands nestled in the dark. They re full of strange characters with strange stories to tell. Collect them, report back to the authorities in Fallen London, earn some coin and upgrade your ship so you re ready to go deeper into the darkness.

Last Life

Developer: Rocket Science Amusements Publisher: Double Fine Productions Release date: 2015 Link: Official Site A sci-fi noir adventure featuring a private detective who, after being killed, is resurrected through advanced 3-D printing technology and attempts to close the case on his own murder. If that's not appealing enough, this successfully Kickstarted adventure takes place on Mars.

King s Quest: Your Legacy Awaits

Developer: The Odd Gentlemen Publisher: Sierra Entertainment Release date: Fall 2015 Link: Official Site After several false starts, the reboot of the King's Quest series is due to appear this fall. Developed by The Odd Gentlemen, the makers of The Adventures of P.B. Winterbottom, it will eschew a point-and-click format and instead provided a combination of platforming action and puzzle-solving.

SOMA

Developer: Frictional Games Publisher: Frictional Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site SOMA is a sci-fi horror from the creators of Amnesia and the Penumbra series. It's set in an underwater complex where machines are coming to life—taking on increasingly human traits. Add in corridors infected by strange, alien machinery and you've got a recipe for a chilling and creepy adventure filled with puzzles, exploration, and—at a guess—a fright or two.

Ladykiller In A Bind

Developer: Love Conquers All Games Publisher: Love Conquers All Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Announcement post Or, to give the game its full title, My Twin Brother Made Me Crossdress As Him And Now I Have To Deal With A Geeky Stalker And A Domme Beauty Who Want Me In A Bind!! MTBMMCAHANIHTDWAGSAADBWWMIAB!! is an erotic visual novel about social manipulation from Christine Love, the creator of Analogue: A Hate Story. Given the theme, things will no doubt get pretty kinky. Hopefully they'll at least be some post-bondage cuddling if things get a bit too intense.

Armikrog

Developer: Pencil Test Studios Publisher: Pencil Test Studios Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Steam Greenlight page It's not a sequel as such, but Armikrog has more than a little in common with late-'90s adventure The Neverhood. It's made by the same creators, for one thing. More to the point, it's a claymation point-'n'-click. Armikrog tells the story of space explorer Tommynaut and his blind dog Beak-Beak. Its developers promise a roster of quirky characters and unique settings—all made possible by the $974,000 the game attracted on Kickstarter.

Blackmore s Bane

Developer: iOiOi Publisher: iOiOi Release date: TBA Link: Blackmore s Bane A steampunk graphic adventure about hunting a serial killer through Victorian London, you play as the Blackmores, a genius family of scientists and intellectuals with access to the highest technology. The team list voice talent like David Hayter of Solid Snake fame and Donna Burke, who has acted and sung in Final Fantasy and Metal Gear.

Caffeine

Developer: Incandescent Imaging Publisher: Incandescent Imaging Release date: Mid 2015 Link: Official site That the world has run out of caffeine is only the start of Caffeine's terrifying set-up. It's a first-person psychological horror adventure set in a world where corporations create synthetic coffee by mining minerals in space. You wake on one of these space stations, alone and with no memory. Over three planned episodes, Caffeine will let you explore the station—solving puzzles and unravelling the mystery of who you are and what happened to everybody else.

Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today

Developer: Fictiorama Studios Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site A dark, dystopian point-'n'-click that nevertheless names Day of the Tentacle and Monkey Island as inspirations. Perhaps not to the extent that you'll need to USE DESPAIR ON EXISTENTIAL CRISIS, but expect dialogue trees and inventory puzzles as you take on the role of man-with-no-past Michael. He's got plenty to deal with; namely a series of natural disasters, an unnatural pandemic and the dissolution of time itself.

Decay: The Mare

Developer: Shining Gate Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment Release date: February 2015 Link: Announcement post The first two episodes of horror point-'n'-click Decay: The Mare were released on PC last year. If you missed them, it's because they were only available through the Windows Store. The series has now been picked up by adventure specialists Daedalic, who, alongside a third episode release, will bring the full series to more visible PC storefronts. In it, you play Sam—a recovering addict who visits rehab and, instead, becomes stuck in an seemingly unending nightmare.

Return of the Obra Dinn

Developer: Lucas Pope Publisher: Lucas Pope Release date: TBA Link: Official site From the creator of Papers, Please comes a game about mystery, murder and time travel. In Return of the Obra Dinn you play as an insurance adjustor tasked with discerning the fate of the titular ship, which has returned to port in circumstances as mysterious as its disappearance six years prior. Using 1-bit rendering to create a striking aesthetic, the game asks you to explore the ship, and travel back in time to view a frozen tableau depicting the moment of each crewman's death.

Oort Online

Developer: Wonderstruck Publisher: Wonderstruck Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site Claim land, build a home, and explore a completely player-driven economy in this promising online MMO sandbox with voxel-based visuals. There are monsters to battle, a robust crafting system, and you can fight other players in PvP zones.

EXPLORATION AND SURVIVAL

If you're looking to get lost in some beautiful worlds in 2015 then these games have you covered, whether you're after a horrifying survival experience or a placid hiking sim. No Man's Sky is one of the most exciting options this year, offering an entire universe of planets to claim and weird wildlife to photograph. Also look out for The Long Dark, Project Zomboid, Starbound, Heat Signature and Pathologic.

No Man s Sky

Developer: Hello Games Publisher: Hello Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Explore a procedurally generated galaxy of weird and wonderful sci-fi worlds, each of which could easily form the cover of a pulp 60s paperback. Fly seamlessly from space to planet s surface and dodge pirate fleets and huge monsters respectively. No Man s Sky is an indie game with astonishing scope, but the videos they ve released so far suggest they might just deliver on that promise of a vast and varied universe.

Adr1ft

Developer: Three One Zero Publisher: 505 Games Release date: TBA, 2015 Link: Official site It calls itself an FPX (or first-person experience ), and has a number in the middle of its title. Despite all this, Adr1ft looks like a strong contender for Gravity: The Game. You play as an astronaut, stranded and alone among the wreckage of a derelict space station. Survival means finding resources, solving challenges and repairing a damaged escape pod.

Salt

Developer: Lavaboots Studios Publisher: Lavaboots Studios Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site Explore a vast, procedurally generated ocean, visit mysterious islands, find treasure, and battle pirates and other enemies in this charming indie adventure. Play on a random map or share world generation seeds with others to allow you to sail on the same virtual ocean as your friends.

H1Z1

Developer: Sony Online Entertainment Publisher: Sony Online Entertainment Release date: January 15 Link: Official Site A possible contender for DayZ, H1Z1 is a multiplayer FPS survival sandbox with a focus on scavenging, crafting, building, and, naturally, battling hordes of zombies and other players. It's set to launch on January 15th in paid early-access, and will be free-to-play with microtransactions for cosmetic items when it officially launches.

Solarix

Developer: Pulsetense Games Publisher: KISS ltd Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official Site A sci-fi psychological horror game, Solarix combines stealth and survival elements. You have been stranded on a ship while avoiding your infected crewmates, and now a clean-up crew wants to make sure there aren t any survivors. Solarix also plans to have open-ended levels to offer more choice than linear titles like Dead Space.

Delver

Developer: Priority Interrupt Publisher: Priority Interrupt Release date: 2015 Link: Official site

Delver is a first-person roguelike—which these days is shorthand for permadeath and randomized levels—with a crunchy pixel art style. It s on Early Access now, and the devs say it s playable despite bugs and rough edges. It s all the usual roguelike stuff: monsters, potions, loot, dying. One bit of good news is that it has modding support. There s no estimated release date listed, but we re guessing it ll be complete sometime in 2015.

Project Zomboid

Developer: The Indie Stone Publisher: The Indie Stone Release date: Q1/Q2 2015 Link: projectzomboid.com Zomboid stands out in the sea of zombie survival games as something that s roguelike-like, certifiably sandboxy, and real-time in its combat. You comb a Kentucky suburb for useful weapons and supplies to survive as long as possible, managing your character s fraying emotional state and health carefully while eventually erecting your own shelter in Zomboid s isometric world. The Indie Stone is shooting for a late Q1 release at the earliest, but there s still important work still to do on building stealth, NPCs, vehicles, and overhauling Zomboid s UI.

The Deer God

Developer: Crescent Moon Games , Cinopt Studios Publisher: Crescent Moon Games Release date: Early 2015 Link: Developer s Site

Chris L. played a bit of this Early Access sidescroller and mostly liked what he saw. You, a deer, go on a treacherous journey while avoiding predatory animals and the elements. There s a bit of double-jumping, a bit of reincarnation, and the horror of watching your fawn die in front of you. Eep. It s in Early Access for the start of the year, but should be released soon.

The Long Dark

Developer: Hinterland Games Publisher: In-house Release date: TBA Link: Developer s Site A realistic survival sim where nature itself your biggest enemy, not zombies or bandits. Set in a frozen Canadian wilderness, every day you don t die of exposure, starvation, or a wolf attack is a victory. Scavenge supplies from abandoned houses, craft tools, and hunt and cook food to stay alive. Boasts a unique hand-painted art style, like concept art come to life, and an episodic story mode starring the voices of both Commander Shepards is planned.

The Flame in the Flood

Developer: The Molasses Flood Publisher: The Molasses Flood Release date: TBA Link: Developer s Site Described as a rogue-lite river journey, The Flame in the Flood was recently funded on Kickstarter, pulling in $100k over its $150k goal. We haven t been shown much in the way of actual gameplay, but the art in the trailer looks great, and is paired well with music from Chuck Ragan. Playing it will be a struggle to survive in which we manage hunger, energy, warmth, and the like as we travel down a huge, procedurally-generated river.

ReRoll

Developer: PIXYUL Publisher: PIXYUL Release date: TBA Link: Official Site

PIXYUL has an extraordinarily ambitious goal for ReRoll, an upcoming online open-world survival game: using drones, it plans to map the entire planet to scale and make that the game world. The entire earth. Beyond that not-so-small detail, ReRoll aims to be a pretty standard survival RPG, complete with scavenging and crafting, but that hinges on quite a big caveat. You know, the whole scanning the earth thing.

Shelter 2

Developer: Might and Delight Publisher: Might and Delight Release date: February 2015 Link: Official site

Care for your cubs as a mother Lynx, and probably be devastated when you screw up in the face of unsympathetic nature. Shelter 2, which was slightly delayed in 2014, is one of the most unique-looking games coming in 2015, with a geometric hatching that is bold and appealing. And those Lynx are damn cute.

The Forest

Developer: Endnight Games Publisher: Endnight Games Release date: TBA Link: Official site The creepiest thing about the hunters that surround you in The Forest s forest is the way they stare. They don t just chage up and try and murder you (though it would be easy enough considering your unarmed and toolless state at the start of the game) they just stand off a way and watch. Sometimes they ll circle to get a better look at you. When they think you re easy pickings, then they strike. It adds a chilling edge to a beautiful survival game. Live off the land, construct shelter and build traps and effigies to scare the locals away.

DayZ

Developer: Bohemia Interactive Publisher: Bohemia Interactive Release date: TBA 2016 Link: DayZ It feels like Day Z has been around forever. We ve already had amazing experiences exploring the huge zombie-infested landmass. Day Z is just a brilliantly novel use for Bohemia s engine tech, but still has a long way to go before it s bug-free and feature complete. The zombies still aren t much of a threat, but that doesn t matter when the place is still full of terrifying human survivors. Take it slow, keep your eyes peeled and if you see a clown mask, run.

Death in Candlewood

Developer: Rosebud Games Publisher: Rosebud Games Release date: Late 2015 Link: Official site It s America, it s the 1940s, you re exploring the city of Candlewood, which has over 1,000 navigable buildings , and there s horror afoot. Edgar Allen Poe is a prime influence for the talented team of vets, who have worked on the likes of Silent Hill: Origins, FEAR, The Witcher and more. Explore the city in first-person, keep an eye out for ambling husks and be sure to stock up on shotgun ammo.

Crossing The Line

Developer: Zomboko Entertainment Publisher: Zomboko Entertainment Release date: Spring 2015 Link: Indie DB The titular line refers to the line between life and death. One one side, there s you, a detective trying to figure out the mystery behind his wife s death. On the other side, there s monsters. You can hop too and fro between the real world and the shadow realm to outwit your enemies. When you enter [the shadow world], time seems to stop and you have limited opportunity to destroy your enemy s soul. After that you come back to your body, time resumes its flow and your foe falls dead. This sounds deeply unfair. I can t wait to do it.

Planet Explorers

Developer: Pathea Games Publisher: Pathea Games Release date: TBA Link: planetexplorers.pathea.net If we were being crude, we d call it 3D Starbound. A single- and multiplayer voxel open-world game, Planet Explorers has plenty of Minecraft in its DNA, with collection, crafting, and wandering being some of the big verbs open to the player. The sci-fi focus opens it up to some creative forms of movement that suit it as a sandbox game, though, like jetpacking and gliding. It also features LAN mode.

Submerged

Developer: Uppercut Games Publisher: Uppercut Games Release date: TBA Link: Official site This third-person, Unreal Engine 4 game features a wall-climbing mechanic, which you ll use to explore a ruined, drowned city for supplies. You ll also navigate the world in your humble kayak as Miku and her brother Taku, young Polynesians just looking to survive in some abandoned ancient ruins. This ll be Uppercut s first PC game as a studio (they previously made EPOCH and EPOCH 2 on mobile devices), but it s looking gorgeous.

UemeU

Developer: Omnigon Games Publisher: TBA Release date: Q2 2015 Link: Official site Omnigon Games calls UemeU a "next generation sandbox game" that's as much an engine as a game. The build mode includes tools for altering train, building structures, even controlling weather and time of day, while the Play mode gets all Second Life with customizing an avatar and action abilities and checking out all the weird, weird places other players have constructed.

Project Isolation

Developer: Smalls Studios Publisher: TBA Release date: Q3 2015 Link: Indie DB page Survive in a Canadian wilderness populated by zombies, NPCs, and other players. Project Isolation is a multiplayer survival game with big ambitions. We re a bit worried that the creator has bit off more than they can chew, and in a market already served by DayZ, Rust, H1Z1, and other open-world multiplayer survival games. From the looks of it, though, its focus on hunting and trapping could be a unique addition to the growing genre.

TUG

Developer: Nerd Kingdom Publisher: Nerd Kingdom Release date: 2015 Link: Official site A multiplayer open-world sandbox-RPG (phew) that's already on Steam Early Access. TUG is one of many games iterating on the Minecraft legacy, blending open world exploration with crafting and building. Developer Nerd Kingdom is building its own engine for the game, so expect new features, including the multiplayer, more complex building, and AI to come online throughout 2015

Subnautica

Developer: Unknown Worlds Publisher: Unknown Worlds Release date: 2015 Link: unknownworlds.com/subnautica/ This underwater, first-person exploration game is still taking shape in Early Access, but it s a setting that we desperately want to see more of. The creators of Natural Selection 2 have a knack for great graphics, and we re already curious about how Subnautica will combine Minecraft-like crafting and gathering with survival and science.

Life is Feudal

Developer: Bitbox Ltd. Publisher: Bitbox Ltd. Release date:Q3 2015 Link: Official site

The use of caps-lock on the Early Access store page may dissuade you from trying Life is Feudal now (it s in ALPHA!), but many of those playing now seem happy to be involved in the development of this 64-player survival sandbox (based on the user reviews). Its has medieval farming, building (make a town, make a city), cooking, crafting, and combat, as well as terraforming and tunnel building.

Cult County

Developer: Renegade Kid Publisher: Renegade Kid Release date: TBA Link: Renegade Kid site Cult Couunty s Kickstarter raised less than 10% of its target in 2014, but that won t stop Renegade Kid from pressing on with development of their first-person survival horror game. The Dementium creators want to to make something that blends the episodic story format of The Walking Dead with the spooks of Silent Hill and Resi. Will you join the cult of perfect you? the tagline asks, to which I reply will there be ice cream?

Inner Space

Developer: PolyKnight Games Publisher: PolyKnight Games Release date:October 2015 Link: Kickstarter

Not to be confused with the old shareware game, Operation: Inner Space, this is an abstract exploration flying game where you map uncharted worlds. One thing that stands out: your airplane seems to do just fine flying under water. The project was funded on Kickstarter in late 2014, and its estimated release is set for autumn 2015.

Pathologic

Developer: Ice-Pick Lodge Publisher: Ice-Pick Lodge Release date: November 2016 Link: Official site The original Pathologic was an eerie cult treat—its weird, unique mystery overcoming poor translation and technical issues. Now, thanks to Kickstarter, Ice-Pick Lodge have secured $333,000 to remake it. Once again, the game will give you twelve days to rescue a town from a deadly plague. And once again, you can't save everyone. Who you choose to see, and when you choose to see them, will ultimately define who lives, who dies, and whether you'll progress through this strange and hostile world.

7 Days To Die

Developer: The Fun Pimps Publisher: The Fun Pimps Release date: TBA Link: Official site Building? Crafting? Mining? Exploration? Axes? Yup, 7 Days To Die has it all. It also has zombies, which is how you know it's a survival game. It's been in Early Access for just over a year now, and there's still more being poured into its sandbox world. Expect missions, vehicles and zombie bears to appear before the game's official launch.

Darkwood

Developer: Acid Wizard Studio Publisher: Acid Wizard Studio Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Darkwood Moody top down survival horror set in a forest full of twisted creatures. Use your flashlight wisely—the path you re illuminating is also a beacon to local nasties. The open world is procedurally generated and there will be roguelike elements , so expect to meet a bad end often as you try to unravel the secret of the wood.

AQP

Developer: Chevarria Arts Publisher: Chevarria Arts Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site An ambitious indie attempt inspired by Grand Theft Auto, AQP aims to give players a whole city to explore. You run and drive as a Dave Grohl-a-like called Steve, seeing the sights in environments rendered using Unreal Engine 4. Worried about getting bored? Don t worry, there will be weapons, too, and zombie DLC is planned.

Beasts of Prey

Developer: Octagon Interactive Publisher: Octagon Interactive Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Steam page We praised its accessible crafting system, good sound design and base-building potential in our early access review. It s a sandbox game full of dinosaurs to hunt and buildings to craft. The servers expand procedurally based on the player population, but felt a little empty when we tested things. Hopefully Beasts of Prey can find its audience as it adds more dinosaurs. More dinosaurs solves everything.

Resident Evil HD Remaster

Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Release date: January Link: Official site The 2002 Gamecube remake of the brilliant original Resident Evil has never made it to PC before, other than through emulation, so consider this a treat for early 2015. It s really the best the old-style fixed camera survival horror Resi got—having the game s already impressive textures at hi-res should make for an impressive port.

Heat Signature

Developer: Tom Francis Publisher: Tom Francis Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site The second game from former PC Gamer staff member Tom Francis is about hijacking spaceships by landing on them and making your way through the corridors of a vessel with a Hotline Miami-style top-down shooting interface. The galaxy is procedurally generated and it looks very pretty, too.

Resident Evil Revelations 2

Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Release date: 18 February, 2015 Link: Official site Look, there's no way round it: in Resident Evil Revelations 2 you play as a guy called Barry. Barry Burton, to be exact. Mr. Jill Sandwich returns as one of two leads for this episodic Resi series; the other being Resident Evil 2's Claire Redfield. As always, you're facing a series of bioengineered monstrosities—this time while you attempt to escape a remote island.

Edge of Space

Developer: Handyman Studios Publisher: Reverb Publishing Release date: 2015 Link: Steam Store Page Marooned on a distant planet, it's a desperate fight for survival in this indie sandbox RPG. Harvest and gather resources, craft weapons and tools, build facilities and vehicles, and battle bizarre enemies like jetpack-wearing penguins and laser-sharks.

Starbound

Developer: Chucklefish Publisher: Chucklefish Release date: TBA Link: Official Site Currently on Steam early access, Starbound was initially crowdfunded last year and destroyed the goals it set for itself. A 2D platformer, Starbound is all about travelling to different planets where you can mine, fight, build, craft, or farm as you see fit. It s similar to games like Terraria, and is being actively updated with nightly, unstable builds.

MMO

The traditional subscription MMO is a fading genre, but there are still a few to watch in 2015.

Trove

Developer: Trion Worlds Publisher: Trion Worlds Release date: TBA Link: Official Site The phrase free-to-play, voxel-based, block building, MMORPG could only have more buzzwords in it if Trove was also a MOBA, but thankfully that isn t the case. Currently in open beta, Trove mixes the standard looting and dungeon crawling staples of an MMO with the block-based, or voxel in this case, world building made popular by Minecraft.

Wander

Developer: Wander Publisher: Wander Release date: TBA Link: Official Site Everyone starts as a tree before growing into much more… we think. Wander is collaborative, non-combat MMO that encourages players to explore and experience the beauty of the world together. The game is all about discovery and being in the world with others, not grinding XP and completing quests.

Camelot Unchained

Developer: City State Entertainment Publisher: City State Entertainment Release date: December 2015 Link: Official site Plenty of MMOs have borrowed from Dark Age of Camelot's three-way Realm vs Realm combat, but few have made it the primary focus. Headed by DAoC's lead designer, Camelot Unchained plans to do just that. As an MMO, it will feature no experience game from PvE. Instead, everything is geared towards the three-way war—from the player-driven economy through to the twisted lore.

Triad Wars

Developer: United Front Games Publisher: Square Enix Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Instead of a direct sequel to open world hit Sleeping Dogs, United Front Games is making a spin-off, a massively multiplayer online action game set in the seedy world of the Hong Kong triad. Expect a whole lot of turf raiding, fightfighting and shooting pulled from Sleeping Dogs, and plenty of gang-on-gang violence. And it's going to be free to play.

Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade

Developer: Behaviour Interactive Publisher: Games Workshop Release date: TBA Link: Official site Eternal Crusade bills itself as a third person massive combat RPG. Think an MMO with third-person shooting, space marines, and an unusual quantity of chainsaw swords. Eternal Crusade launched in early access form in 2014 with a $40 buy-in and no ongoing subscription. As you'd expect from Warhammer 40K, this is mostly a PvP affair, so be ready to jump into some marine-on-ork violence.

World of Warships

Developer: Wargaming.net Publisher: Wargaming.net Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site The next in Wargaming's "World of…" series. Previously we've fought on land and in the skies, and now it's time to take to the sea. World of Warships puts you in control of massive, gun-laden boats, and sets you against a team of similarly massive, gun-laden boats. It's a full-scale boat off, utilising an armoury that can include everything from cannons to swarms of aircraft. The diversity of styles should make for one of the studio's most tactically varied games to date.

Entropy

Developer: Artplant Publisher: Artplant Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site Engage in space combat, a dynamic economic system, ship and character customization, and deep space exploration in over a hundred different star systems in this sci-fi MMO. It sounds a bit like EVE but with a great focus on dogfighting. It's been working out its early access kinks since early 2013.

PLATFORM

Games for those who like running, jumping and puzzling, Apotheon and the Iconoclasts both look excellent and a sidescrolling Chinese outing for the Assassin's Creed series could be good, too.

Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China

Developer: Ubisoft Publisher: Ubisoft Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Season Pass page Originally planned as part of Assassin's Creed Unity's Season Pass, Chronicles: China will now release as a standalone 2.5D platformer. Set in China in the year 1526, you play as Shao Jun—last Assassin of the Chinese Brotherhood and trainee of Ezio Auditore. Her mission? Revenge, likely involving a selection of weapons and stealthy tools.

Gravity Ghost

Developer: Ivygames Publisher: Ivygames Release date: January 26 Link: gravityghost.com With game design and art by Erin Robinson (Puzzle Bots), and music by Ben Prunty (FTL), Gravity Ghost will be a mellow counterpart to most other platformers in 2015. You grapple with gravity and inertia as you float in a 2D starfield, gliding gracefully between planets to reach the next screen. It s a uniquely calming take on motion in games.

The Swindle

Developer: Size Five Games Publisher: Size Five Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site A 2D heist-'em-up from the creator of Gun Monkeys and Time Gentlemen, Please. In The Swindle, you play as shady figure hiring thieves for procedurally generated missions. You also play as the thieves—clobbering guards, hacking into systems and stealing cash for future upgrades. It was, for a time, cancelled, but has been brought back as an RPG-lite stealth roguelike with a steampunk aesthetic.

Kalimba

Developer: Press Play Publisher: Press Play Release date: Jan 2015 Link: Official Site A puzzle platformer that originally released for Xbox One in mid-December, Kalimba puts you in control of some adorably fluorescent totems—the catch is that you control two at once with the same input. It features full boss levels, co-op, tons of collectables, and some rather forgiving checkpoints for it s instant-death obstacles.

Ori and the Blind Forest

Developer: Moon Studios Publisher: Microsoft Studios Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site A beautiful and atmospheric 2D action adventure game, Moon Studios cites inspiration from classic games like Super Metroid and The Legend of Zelda. Ori and the Blind Forest has a very distinct watercolor-like style, and appears to be a loving homage to platformers of the past while creating something new.

20XX

Developer: Batterystaple Games Publisher: Batterystaple Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Does that screenshot make you think of Megaman? It s an obvious inspiration for this co-op friendly action platformer roguelike from indie team Batterystaple. Jump around procedurally generated levels collecting weapons and upgrading your little warrior.

Axiom Verge

Developer: Thomas Happ Games Publisher: Sony Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site This action platformer might look like Super Metroid on first glance, but Axiom Verge s trailer reveals mechanics like digging, a lightning gun, some tools we can t quite identify (a gun that shoots blue squares and creates platforms?) and great-looking Giger-esque art. It features a great mix of classic 16-bit pixel art with more modern effects.

Mushroom 11

Developer: Untame Publisher: Untame Release date: TBA Link: Official Site Guide an amorphous blob through a ruined, desolate landscape by nudging its constantly changing shape along. Mushroom 11 is a unique take on a puzzle platformer—one of those concepts that feels like it should have been done before. It was designed with tablets and the PC in mind, so it was designed with simplicity in mind, but that simplicity is one of the most appealing things about it.

SpeedRunners

Developer: DoubleDutch Games Publisher: tinyBuild Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site

We re pretty fond of SpeedRunners, even in its Early Access state, so we have nothing but high hopes for the completed version. It s a 4-player competitive platformer about staying on the screen, and has both local and online multiplayer, as well as AI bots.

The Iconoclasts

Developer: Konjak Publisher: Konjak Release date: TBA Link: Official site A beautiful sidescrolling action game from talented designer and artist Konjak. There are echoes of Cave Story to its open structure and exciting shmup combat. Konjak released alphas in 2011 and 2012 but is working on a bigger, prettier version. Read our hands-on impressions to find out why that s such an exciting prospect.

Four Sided Fantasy

Developer: Ludo Land Publisher: Ludo Land Release date: February 2015 Link: Official site This Kickstarted indie platformer is all about its screen wrap mechanic, the same mechanic that allows Pac-Man to reach the right side of the screen when he enters a tunnel on the right side of the screen. In Four Sided, though, you have the power to lock the screen s position, stopping it from scrolling so that you can move from one opposite corner to another. Four Sided should be a great addition to the family of mind-bending platformers that Braid belongs to.

Apotheon

Developer: Alien Trap Publisher: Alien Trap Release date: January 2015 Link: Official site Apotheon is an action platformer that mimics the style of Greek red-figure vase painting. It's a beautiful look—but it's not just the artistry that makes Apotheon intriguing. It's being made by Alien Trap, the developer of Capsized. That game was a physics playground dressed up like a sci-fi adventure. While Apotheon won't have a jetpack, it seems to utilising a similar physicality in its combat and platforming.

Blackhole

Developer: FiolaSoft Studio Publisher: Playman Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site This 2D futuristic platformer is set inside a black hole, which luckily happens to contain a habitable world and not a crushing, deadly singularity. You play as the coffee guy on board the crashed spaceship who must repair his vessel, escape the black hole and then close it to save Earth. This will involve lots of puzzles that let you manipulate gravity to walk on walls and ceilings. Think of it as a slower, thinkier VVVVVV.

Chasm

Developer: Discord Games Publisher: Discord Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official link Kickstarter-funded, procedurally generated Metroidvania adventures in a hack n slash setting full of skellies, tombs, mummies and traps, all rendered in adorable pixel art. Custom gear and weapon adds some persistence to your spelunking, and you ll find additional challenge in time trial and hardcore modes.

Vagante

Developer: Nuke Nine Publisher: Nuke Nine Release date: 2015 Link: Official site Roguelike Vagante landed on Steam Early Access in December 2014, and at first blush it looks more than a little like Spelunky. It's a 2D platformer, but clearly more actiony than Mossmouth's gold standard roguelike. Vagante launched in alpha, but Nuke Nine plans regular updates and, at some point, online multiplayer.

Deputy Dangle

Developer: Trinary Studios Publisher: Trinary Studios Release date: Q4 2015 Link: Official Site A physics based police-em-up, Deputy Dangle is a game about stopping an evil granny in a comic book style, 3D world. Each limb is controlled with a different button, and it s your job to wobble and fling Deputy Dangle through the world to do his job. It is currently on Kickstarter and aims to be completed by the end of 2015

PUZZLE

Our brains are keen to take on the twisted brain-teasers of The Witness and Quadrilateral Cowboy this year, and the addictive Mini Metro is sure to swallow up more hours than we'd readily admit. 

Quadrilateral Cowboy

Developer: Blendo Games Publisher: Blendo Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Brendon Chung is the best. He made the brilliant short adventures Gravity Bone and Thirty Flights of Loving, but Quadrilateral Cowboy is a bit different. It s a puzzle heist game that has you hacking building systems to pull off seamless crimes. Line up programming commands with your portable deck to disable lasers, open windows, trigger switches with just enough precision to glide through a building s defences.

The Witness

Developer: Thekla, Inc Publisher: Thekla, Inc Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site The newest puzzle game from designer Jonathan Blow, creator of Braid, The Witness almost looks like a spiritual successor to the original Myst. You explore a downright gorgeous looking island, solving puzzles in the form of maze-like panels. The Witness was first announced in 2009, even featuring a playable demo at PAX in 2010, and the team is finally putting on the finishing touches for a 2015 release.

Classroom Aquatic

Developer: Sunken PlacesPublisher: Sunken PlacesRelease date: May 2015Link: Official site There is no reason for Classroom Aquatic to be underwater, but I m so glad it is. A trivia stealth game, you play the only human in an underwater classroom and have to find ways to cheat off of your dolphin classmates. What s more, it s being designed specifically with the Oculus Rift in mind, so you ll be able to lean over and sneak a peek at your neighbors test like it s grade school all over again.

Obduction

Developer: Cyan Inc. Publisher: Cyan Inc. Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site A spiritual successor to Myst and Riven, Cyan Inc. is going back to its roots with another point and click puzzle game. Raising $1.3 million on Kickstarter, Cyan proved there was a desire for a game like Obduction and it s certainly already proven it can make adventure games well. Not many details about Obduction have been revealed, but it will be interesting to see how much it stays true to the Myst formula, and how much it diverges.

Frog Fractions 2

Developer: Twinbeard Publisher: Twinbeard Release date: September 2015 Link: Kickstarter page We've put Frog Fractions 2 in the puzzle section, despite not knowing what it is. In a very real sense, that's the puzzle. The game will be released not as Frog Fractions 2, but as... something else. Examples given on the Kickstarter page include "'Lost Kingdom: Reckoning,' by Fork Bomb LLC or 'Turbo Finance 2015' by Vespenta Holdings." Anything has the potential to be Frog Fractions 2, and its true identity won't be revealed until "the jig is up," and players discover the ruse. Why such an elaborate reveal? Play the original, free Frog Fractions for an insight into the series' surreal sensibilities.

Mini Metro

Developer: Dinosaur Polo Club Publisher: Dinosaur Polo Club Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site A smart little puzzle game based on London tube maps. Build your own routes to get passengers between stations most as efficiently as you can. Quickly redraw routes as new stations open but be careful about overspending on your limited budget. Don t worry if that sounds too stressful, there s a sandbox mode if you want to ferry passengers around in peace.

Crypt of the Necrodancer

Developer: Brace Yourself Games Publisher: Brace Yourself Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Move with the beat in this clever musical roguelike that gets harder as the music speeds up. You can import your own tracks for personalised dungeons and even play with a dance mat if you re lucky enough to have one. A smart twist on the classic roguelike formula.

Boss Constructor

Developer: Mirko Seithe Publisher: Mirko Seithe Release date: TBA Link: Official site Build a spaceship and fly it through the most dangerous parts of the universe. The detailed customisation tools add depth and complexity to exploration. You have to balance your ship s mass against power expenditure, and spend efficiently to produce the deadliest build you can.

Volume

Developer: Mike Bithell Games Publisher: Mike Bithell Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Winner of the award for least Googleable game name, it's Volume. It's a stealth puzzler from the maker of Thomas Was Alone. Much like the VR levels of early Metal Gear Solids, you're navigating your way through cuboid spaces—only here your primary weapon is distraction, not chokeholds. The story is a futuristic retelling of the legend of Robin Hood, and it stars some guy from YouTube.

Crawl

Developer: Powerhoof Publisher: Powerhoof Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site The four-player competitive multiplayer game in which your friends are the enemies. If you're the intrepid dungeon crawler, they're the ghosts—possessing monsters and activating traps. Their goal is to take you down, at which point the player who strikes the killing blow becomes human, and takes their turn to attempt to escape. Crawl is in Early Access right now, but there's still plenty left to be added as the full game takes shape.

Samorost 3

Developer: Amanita Design Publisher: Amanita Design Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Developer Forums Not much has been revealed about the next game in the enjoyable Samorost series, but we do know it will sport HD graphics and be a full-length game rather than a short, browser-based experience. The developer behind Machinarium plans to release this point-and-click adventure sometime in 2015.

The Devil's Men

Developer: Daedalic Entertainment Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site Solve a series of gruesome murders in England, circa 1871, in this point-and-click adventure. You'll switch back and forth between two playable characters as you follow clues and solve puzzles, but beware: one character's choices will result in consequences for the other.

I Am Bread

Developer: Bossa StudiosPublisher: Bossa StudiosRelease date: TBA 2015Link: Official site It turns out every slice of bread you ve ever eaten was on a secret quest to become toasted, at least according to floppy bread sim I Am Bread. There's a fiendish puzzle at the heart of I Am Bread; how do you climb with no limbs? You wiggle around the environments by manipulating the corners of a wriggling slice to vault over rolling pins, microwaves, forks and other kitchen things. Hopefully it doesn t fall into the Goat Simulator camp of games that are funny for five minutes on Twitter, but boring to actually play.

Donut County

Developer: Ben EspositoPublisher: Ben EspositoRelease date: TBALink: donutcounty.com Katamari, but with holes. Developer Ben Esposito (The Unfinished Swan) calls it a whimsical physics toy, so it s unclear how structured it ll be, but the look and sound of the game is already quite charming—we hope the trailer s mellow electronica makes its way into the full game.

SPORT

There will be plenty this year for footie fans. There's still no sign of Madden on PC, but Frozen Cortex should offer American Football fans their Gridiron fix.

Fifa 16

Developer: EA Sports Publisher: EA Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Not yet

It hasn t been announced yet, that s a picture of Fifa 15, but come on, there s going to be a Fifa. There s always a Fifa. But what can EA do to encourage fans to pick up yet another annual iteration? The gaps from game to game seem to be getting slimmer with each release. The game is tweaked, a few new features are added and the sequel is shuffled out again to its massive audience. Imagine if they added something amazing, like a Cantona flying kick button?

Football Manager 2016

Developer: Sports Interactive Publisher: Sega Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Football Manager 2015 site Football Manager is a game series about managing a football team. The most recent entry, Football Manager 2015, was a sequel to Football Manager 2014, which itself was a sequel to Football Manager 2013, which itself… well, you get the idea. We're pretty confident there'll be a Football Manager 2016 before the year is out—likely inspiring the same unhinged fanaticism the series is known for.

Beyond The Sideline Football

Developer: Out of the Park Developments Publisher: Out of the Park Developments Release date: Late 2015 Link: Announcement post From the makers of the acclaimed Out of the Park Baseball comes a new American Football management sim. Beyond The Sideline Football hopes to do for the NFL what OotP did for MLB—provide fans with a deep and realistic set of options with which to live out their managerial aspirations. BTSF promises real teams, players and all the sport's current rules and regulations, making for a realistic depiction of the decisions and tactics behind the Gridiron.

Frozen Cortex

Developer: Mode7Publisher: Mode7Release date: TBALink: Official site Frozen Synapse was a simultaneous turn-based strategy about reacting to what you thought your opponent was going to do. Frozen Cortex takes a similarly prediction-based tactical approach, but applies it to robots playing a futuristic version of American Football. Currently in Early Access, the full version will feature a single player campaign story in addition to the competitive multiplayer.

SIM

Simulation games make the PC special. you'll never find anything as absorbing and clever as Kerbal Space program on a console. Prison Architect is progressing nicely in early access and Euro Truck sim fans can look forward to an epic US outing.

Kerbal Space Program

Developer: Squad Publisher: Squad Release date: TBA Link: Official site Don t be fooled by Kerbal s cutesy visuals, this is a very serious and involved sim about building spaceships and sending them into space. In the beginning it feels like silly space lego, as you try to construct a ship that can successfully leave Kerbal s atmosphere, but soon you ll find yourself slingshotting complex unfolding vessels around moons and planets, sending your little Kerbals on dangerous spacewalks and managing full-scale space programs. It s already well worth the money, and gets better with every update.

American Truck Simulator

Developer: SCS Software Publisher: SCS Software Release date: TBA Link: SCS blog After the surprising success of Euro Truck Simulator 2, a US-based follow up seemed inevitable. Confirmed back in 2013, SCS have been working on the new environments, roads and vehicles of their trans-atlantic trip. Expect straighter roads, bigger cargo and a diverse array of settings, all built on the same detailed handling and management systems that made ETS2 a cult hit.

Big Pharma

Developer: Twice Circled Publisher: Positech Games Release date: TBA Link: Official Site Haven t you ever wanted to exploit the health of the world for personal profit? I know I have, and Big Pharma will let you do just that. It puts you in the shoes of the next big pharmaceutical company and tells you to pop out pills for high profits. It s all about machine placement, researching new drugs, and staying one step ahead of the competition...oh, and saving lives, probably. If there s money in it, at least.

Space Engineers

Developer: Keen Software House Publisher: Keen Software House Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site You play a regular builder in this sandbox engineering sim about constructing spaceships. You float around in zero-G welding beautiful vessels into being. Once you ve created your masterpiece you can fly your ship into the black, do some mining and then use those advanced materials to build an even better ship. If things go wrong and you crash, you can at least enjoy watching the physics system figure out precisely how your precious structure should shatter.

Prison Architect

Developer: Introversion SoftwarePublisher: Introversion SoftwareRelease date: TBA 2015Link: Official site The Theme Park/Hospital games deserve a spiritual successor, and Prison Architect is as close as you re going to get right now. You must manage a high security prison, building cells, break rooms, kitchens, guard outposts and more to create the most efficient penitentiary you can. Fail, and you ll have a riot on your hands.

Clockwork Empires

Developer: Gaslamp GamesPublisher: Gaslamp GamesRelease date: TBA 2015Link: Offiicial site A steampunk colony management sim that challenges you to fuel a new industrial revolution by managing a your colonists carefully and developing new tech to improve their output. Look out for cultists, marauding fish-people, axe murderers as you expand however. Gaslamp promise free-form goals handed down from your imperial overlords and round-robin multiplayer.

Tech Executive Tycoon

Developer: WEB Gaming EntertainmentPublisher: WEB Gaming EntertainmentRelease date: June 2015Link: Official Site We all, deep down in our hearts, hope to become the ruthless manager of a technology company one day. Tech Exec will allow you to make anything from GPUs to gaming consoles to tablets and games with your company. It looks a bit dry and technical, but it seems like it ll have some depth to compensate: you can build new offices, outsource customer service, and manage employee stress levels.

Castle Story

Developer: Sauropod StudioPublisher: Sauropod StudioRelease date: TBA 2015Link: Official site Can you keep your voxel castle from falling to the hostile creatures of Castle Story? You can deploy warriors of your own—the bricktons—but survival will come down to the design of your sprawling fortress. Castle Story has been hanging around on early access for ages. Will it ever be complete?

World of Diving

Developer: Vertigo Games Publisher: Vertigo Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Indie DB page This diving sim (with crucial Oculus Rift support) launched on Steam Early Access in 2014. We were only slightly disappointed to discover it wasn't a canonical sequel to Ecco the Dolphin. Instead, it aims to be an immersive underwater exploration game, with missions of discovery taking you to shipwrecks and spooky caves in single- or multi-player.

Take On Mars

Developer: Bohemia Interactive Publisher: Bohemia Interactive Release date: Q1 2015 Link: mars.takeonthegame.com Take On Mars makes interesting use of Bohemia s tech, taking the vehicle dynamics and big terrain of Arma 3 and DayZ and shooting them to the red planet. In 2014 expanded Take On Mars to include a manned mission mode with multiplayer, and the studio looks to complete these features, as well as the robotic portion of the game, early in 2015 as it takes Take On out of Early Access.

Cities: Skylines

Developer: Colossal Order Publisher: Paradox Interactive Release date: 2015 Link: Official Site Those irked by SimCity's size limitations and online issues will be pleased to hear Colossal Order's Cities: Skylines will feature massive maps and a single-player experience. The city-building sandbox promises urban planning, mass transit, and massive structures, plus mod support through Steam Workshop.

Cosmonautica

Developer: Chasing Carrots Publisher: Chasing Carrots Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official site Pilot a rickety space boat around the universe, picking up jobs and managing your crew to keep fuel in the tanks. It s the Firefly fantasy, but with a splash of quirky humour and snazzy visuals that could easily have come from Double Fine s art department.

Factorio

Developer: Wube Software Publisher: Wube Software Release date: Summer 2015 Link: Official Site Mine resources, build factories, research new technologies, and create intricate assembly lines on a hostile planet in this indie simulation. It's a game about automation: building machines to do things for you, and that includes building machines that build machines that build even more machines. The automation in Factorio is seriously addicting: once you've got a taste of machines doing your work, you'll want them to do all your work.

Baking Simulator

Developer: Samoates Games Publisher: Samoates Games Release date: TBA Link: Indie DB site The twee competitive baking show The Great British Bake Off has inspired literally dozens to try and raise a loaf of their own, but that involves using your fleshy real-world hands to squish and shape things. Why not control every finger and thumb on a virtual pair of mitts to mix and prove virtual dough then, as the dev description suggests, simply combine the ingredients in the bowl, then place the bowl in the oven. It s currently looking for upvotes on Steam Greenlight.

Catlateral Damage

Developer: Chris Chung Publisher: Chris Chung Release date: 31 March 2015 Link: Official site Catlateral Damage is a cat simulator; specifically, a cooped-up cat simulator. Left in a house with nothing to do, you revert to your natural state: knocking stuff off shelves for points. It's a race against the clock, but with your excellent agility you can easily traverse the shelves and tables. You can play the free 7DFPS version of Catlateral Damage right now. This year's expanded version promises more levels, along with collectibles, power-ups and unlockable cats.

Autocraft

Developer: Alientrap Publisher: Alientrap Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Autocraft is a sandbox game about building vehicles—cars, rockets, planes, boats, whatever you can make with the parts you ve scavenged. Once you ve assembled your vessel from the Meccano-style building blocks you can drive or pilot your creation through Autocraft s pleasant pastel universe. It s currently in early access on Steam and more parts are added regularly.

Viscera Cleanup Detail

Developer: Runestorm Publisher: Runestorm Release date: TBA Link: Official site Viscera Cleanup Detail is a fantastic concept for a game. An alien invasion has been quashed by a sole hero, and humanity has been saved. You are not that hero. You are the janitor, and must follow in his wake, cleaning up the alien guts and goop left behind. Currently in Early Access, the full janitorial sim will feature multiplayer and mod support.

European Ship Simulator

Developer: Excalibur Publisher: In-house Release date: TBA Link: Steam Excalibur, the masters of the niche simulator game, are turning their periscopes to ships next. Yeah, I know, periscopes are submarines, but whatever. With realistic waves and all manner of ships to control, from cruise liners to speedboats, this is promising to be a treasure chest (y know, pirates, ships) of simulation-style fun.

Maia

Developer: Machine Studios Publisher: Machine Studios Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site A hard sci-fi sim about building and running a small colony on a hostile world. Maia's draw is the detail of its world. Inspired by '70s sci-fi films like Silent Running, its world follows futuristic interpretations of existing scientific systems. That includes a fully modelled alien ecosystem, realistic fluid simulation and genetically engineered super chickens.

From the Depths

Developer: Brilliant Skies Ltd. Publisher: Brilliant Skies Ltd. Release date: 2015 Link: Official Site Design and build a fleet of fearsome flying and floating machines, and then pilot them in first or third-person mode in this block-based sandbox sim. With realistic physics, multiplayer mode, and a planned story campaign, you can try it now out in early access.

RimWorld

D eveloper: Tynan Sylvester Publisher: Tynan Sylvester Release date: 2015 Link: Official Site Kickstarted and planning a release on Steam, RimWorld is a sci-fi colony sim inspired by Dwarf Fortress. Protect your colonists from pirates, build shelters to help them survive storms, and create a custom story for your colony with a choice of A.I. directors.

Rollercoaster Tycoon World

Developer: Area 52 Games Publisher: Atari, Inc. Release date: Early 2015 Link: Official Site The theme park construction and management series is headed back to PC after over a decade, and for the first time will feature multiplayer, allowing you to collaborate with up to four friends to design coasters and other rides, and oversee your shared park.

Star Trek Excalibur

Developer: Excalibur TeamPublisher: Excalibur TeamRelease date: TBALink: stexcalibur.com A promising bridge simulator created by a worldwide team of passionate Trek fans and ex-Bridge Commander modders. Excalibur wants to be the mothership of the genre, packing a reactive story, Newtonian physics, moddability, choice-driven missions, and hundreds of ships and environments into a procedurally-generated universe.

Tabletop Simulator

Developer: Berserk Games Publisher: Berserk Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official Site Chess, Chinese Checkers, Dominoes, and other tabletop games are able to be played with friends, but that's just the start. Feel free to invent your own games or download any one of hundreds of mods already available in this early-access board game simulator. You can even knock the pieces off the table if you get mad.

RACING

Project Cars plans to take on big boys like Forza this year, and could give us a credible rival to the massive console series on PC. For a more abstract arcade hit, we're looking forward to Distance.

Project Cars

Developer: Slightly Mad Studios Publisher: Slightly Mad Studios Release date: March 17 Link: Official site The screenshots coming out of the Project Cars community are extraordinary. Project Cars has to be one of the best looking games in development on this entire list, but there s plenty of depth behind those shiny bonnets. The advanced driving model allows for precise and detailed car customisation that you ll feel on the road. Slightly Mad promise a Forza/Gran Turismo level of fidelity with advanced features usually reserved for PC-only simulators like iRacing and rFactor.

Road Redemption

Developer: Darkseas Games Publisher: Darkseas Games Release date: Q1 2015 Link: roadredemption.com Online multiplayer is one of the big features still to come to this Road Rash spiritual successor, which will wheelie out of its Early Access garage in the first part of 2015. Road Redemption goes a bit further with over-the-top absurdity, having, for example, brought in Shovel Knight as a playable character in late December.

Distance

Developer: Refract Publisher: Refract Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site Oh, you can get a car to go around a track? Good for you. Can you get one around a track when it's covered in lasers, circular saws, vertical walls and weird temporal anomalies? If you don't know, you should keep an eye on Distance—the much improved and expanded spiritual successor to the free Nitronic Rush. It's an endlessly inventive game about a spinning, twisting, high-gliding car driving through a digital nightmare.

Calibre 10 Racing

Developer: Bongfish GmbH Publisher: Bongfish GmbH Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site For every driver in this racing game, there s a fellow gunner positioned somewhere on the track trying to take competitors out with missiles, gatling guns and sniper shots. the high concept super cars can deploy counter-measures like chaff to keep enemy ordnance at bay as they barge into one another. It s an unusual framework for a competitive racer, and there s lots of scope for community customisation. It s currently in alpha state on early access.

Next Car Game: Wreckfest

Developer: Bugbear Publisher: In-house Release date: TBA Link: Official site

The terribly-named Next Car Game now has a new terrible name: Wreckfest! But get past the title and you ll find a fun racer with some seriously impressive physics. As races go on, the track (and the cars on it) get increasingly more battered, smashed, broken, and mud-splattered. Remember FlatOut? This is by the same people.

Audiosurf 2

Developer: Dylan Fitterer Publisher: Dylan Fitterer Release date: TBA Link: Official site The music surfing puzzle-racer returns with upgraded graphics and Steam Workshop support. Once again, you're able to pick any song in your music collection and "ride" the track—working through a level that twists and undulates in time to the music. The sequel also brings new modes, a point-scoring trick system and DirectX 11 support. It's in Early Access right now, so expect more features to be implemented in time for the full release.

Thumper

Developer: Drool Publisher: Drool Release date: 2015 Link: drool.ws This rhythm violence game is the work of two Harmonix refugees, a mesmerizing fusion of Wipeout, Tron, and acid-fueled dreams. It feels like Audiosurf if it d been designed by id Software. Thumper s overwhelming speed is built on original technology, and you ll be pushed forward by an original soundtrack.

Carmageddon: Reincarnation

Developer: Stainless Games Publisher: Stainless Games Release date: TBA 2015 Link: Official site It's a new Carmageddon. You should know what to expect from the 17-year-old series by now: frenzied driving, violence and murder. Once again, you and your fellow sociopathic racers are battling to mow down pedestrians—collecting a plethora of absurd power-ups to help maximise the carnage. Currently in Early Access, this particular reincarnation is on course for a full 2015 release.

Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and Dragon Quest X have around a million paying subscribers between them. That's not a gigantic number.

The figures were revealed in the company's annual report, which you can see in full here. They have, at the very least, put some nice background art on the otherwise bland statistics.

Square Enix's president and representative director Yosuke Matsuda said these words in a statement:

"Three major MMO titles - 'FINAL FANTASY XIV: A REALM REBORN,' which began operation last August, 'DRAGON QUEST X,' which was launched in August 2012, and 'FINAL FANTASY XI,' which has entered its thirteenth year of operation-maintain nearly 1,000,000 paying subscribers all together, and have established a solid revenue base."

(I like to think he shouted the names of each game).

While the figures aren't huge - less than a million between three games, remember - the fact they have a 'solid revenue base' shows that Square Enix isn't worried.

It's good to see, as it shows you don't need WoW numbers to bring home the bacon in the MMO world. You just need to introduce plenty of F2P mechanics, take much-loved single-player RPG franchises and make them into MMOs and/or make an entire game, realise it's a bit rubbish and re-do almost the whole thing while apologising repeatedly.

Simple!

There haven't been figures released to show the split between PC and console players, but I'd guess the majority of those involved in the three games live in the world of personal computing. Just a hunch.

And PC does seem to be, increasingly, Square Enix's format of choice in some respects.

[Thanks, Polygon]

Get your bargains in while you still can - Steam's Holiday Encore Sale, bringing together 40 of the most popular discounts of the last couple of weeks, ends in just a few hours.

Until 6pm in the UK (10am PST) you can get PC Gamer award-winners like Alien: Isolation, Divinity: Original Sin and Endless Legend for a cut price - or non-award-winners too, if you like.

There's enough choice there to suit most of you and prices are, as you'd expect from a Steam sale, very reasonable in general.

The full list of discounts is right here:

• 7 Days to Die - 50% off
• Age of Empires II HD - 80% off
• Alien: Isolation - 50% off
• Arma 3 - 50% off
• Assassin's Creed Unity - 33% off
• BioShock Infinite - 75% off
• Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel - 50% off
• Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - 25% off
• Company of Heroes 2 - 75% off
• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - 50% off
• Dark Souls II - 63% off
• Divinity: Original Sin - 33% off
• Don't Starve - 75% off
• Endless Legend - 50% off
• Euro Truck Simulator 2 - 85% off
• Far Cry 4 - 20% off
• Football Manager 2015 - 33% off
• Game of Thrones - A Telltale Games Series - 25% off
• Garry's Mod - 75% off
• Kerbal Space Program - 40% off
• Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - 33% off
• Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition - 80% off
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - 40% off
• Mount & Blade: Warband - 80% off
• Payday 2 - 75% off
• Prison Architect - 80% off
• Saints Row IV - 75% off
• Shovel Knight - 33% off
• Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth - 40% off
• South Park: The Stick of Truth - 66% off
• Space Engineers - 50% off
• The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth - 33% off
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - 75% off
• The Forest - 33% off
• The Long Dark - 50% off
• This War of Mine - 25% off
• Total War: Rome II - Emperor Edition - 75% off
• Transistor - 66% off
• Wasteland 2 - 50% off
• Wolfenstein: The New Order - 66% off

Article by James Murff

I'd made a mistake.

In the process of killing an Uruk-Hai captain, I'd attracted the attention of another. This time, it was my archnemesis; a captain whose face was scarred and mauled from all the times I'd defeated him in battle. He let loose a bellow and charged me, and I promptly chopped his head off snicker-snack. He was not to return; it's a little difficult to recover from a decapitation.

Here's the point in the tale where I would normally wax poetic about the loss of such a storied character. Here's the point where I m supposed to talk about how killing a captain I had such a history with affected me on a personal level. Here's the point where I pretend to care.

Unfortunately, Shadow of Mordor makes it impossible to care.

This is a much larger issue, though. Developers have tried to build believable and autonomous NPCs for years, with only one—Tarn Adams of Dwarf Fortress—actually succeeding. Shadow of Mordor is just the latest in a long line of experiments in AAA titles to create NPCs that feel alive and in control. From the enemy AI of Halo to the data-mined character backstories of Watch Dogs, we are obsessed with building a better NPC. An AI-controlled character with initiative, agency, and life. A genuine foe worthy of fighting.

Maybe we're a little too focused on the fighting part.

Shadow of Mordor is a prime example of how the game's primary mechanical loop—fight Uruk-Hai captains, get loot, repeat—fights against the nature of a believable NPC. In Mordor, Uruk have agency—that is, they make decisions amongst themselves—but no life—that is, all their decisions revolve around the player. Uruk exist to be killed en masse by our hero, and the game makes no pretense of affording them any way out. Even the most peaceful encounters, such as the Feast power struggle, are there to give you an opportunity to kill a captain.

Since these characters have no life outside of their purpose as killers, they feel like actors in a play. After seeing a captain I'd killed four times finally die permanently, I wasn't sad because of the loss of history or the genuine death of a rival. I was sad because he was one of the few characters in my play, and I'd promptly killed him off because I had no other interesting choice. The death was a narrative loss, not a personal one, simply because the Uruk had no actual choice. He existed for my benefit and my benefit alone.

Life without choice

Watch Dogs swings the other way. Where characters in Watch Dogs have very little agency— they mostly just respond to yelling or noises—they at least have the illusion of life, thanks to the hacking mechanic. When you walk down the street, you can see countless people, all with their own mini-biographies and sometimes with an opportunity to interact. Of course, these biographies are just flavor text; there's no actual personality behind these lives. But they feel real, even if just for a moment, because of its novelty.

There's also the interesting notion of recurrence. In any city in real life, you tend to run across the same people in the same area, regardless of population density. You see each other on the street and nod or say hello, despite the hundreds of thousands of other people swirling around you to try and get your attention. In Watch Dogs, there's no such recurrence; visiting a block around the same time on two different days gives you two completely different sets of people. While that's partially a resources problem, there are ways to add that sort of recurrence without bringing a computer to its knees.

Here, the game is dragged down by the lack of character agency. Enemies in Watch Dogs exist to run headfirst into a bullet, not ambush or challenge you. They don't make decisions among themselves, and they certainly don't engage in activities outside of missions. This is in stark contrast to Mordor, where every Uruk has the potential to make game-affecting decisions outside of combat, but all of them revolve around giving you an opportunity to kill them.

So where do we go from here? Two games in a single year dropped "believable NPCs" into our laps as a point of pride, and managed to do worse at creating living, breathing people than a game developed by a single person over the past decade.

The answer is twofold. First, the Nemesis system is one of the best mechanical systems for creating an NPC you feel invested in. The neat little deconstruction of traits, the changing of moods and decisions, and the recurrence of a character—complete with an added or lost weakness—all serve to create an NPC that you know the personality of. We should use that in something besides a game about wanton killing.

Second, the hacking system in Watch Dogs is a great way to disseminate information about an NPC's life. While you don't need to make every NPC unique, you can use one or two lines of text to build a basic personality and life that can then be exploited or observed by the player.

Combine these two, and you start to approach the sort of NPC that we, as players, deserve in an open-world game. Imagine roaming a street and coming across a crying man, crushed about the loss of his meager savings to thugs. You give him some money, and he thanks you profusely. Eventually, you come across the man—now a genuine NPC generated by a system (let's call it "Artificial Life") akin to the Nemesis system of Mordor—and he reacts according to your past history. You can interact with him in meaningful ways—socialize, gift, murder, whatever you like—and he remembers, thanks to Artificial Life. As you progress through the game, you keep encountering him in different places, and he changes each time according to both you and the nature of the world he lives in.

It's not that far of a stretch. Mordor already elevates Uruk based on their interactions (namely, they turn into a recurring NPC by killing you), and Watch Dogs already allows you to fiddle in people's lives. If both systems were utilized in tandem, we could build an NPC that you could actually interact with, as opposed to an NPC who exists solely to be shot, stabbed, beaten, or otherwise murdered.

As is, there's simply too much killing.

The death of the PC never did happen, did it? In fact, it was the PC at the forefront of the digital storefront revolution, which has ended up being a big part of why the UK games industry has seen sales rise by some 7.5% in 2014, compared to 2013.

Digital sales saw an 18.8% rise from 2013, hitting the not-too-shabby figure of 1.5 billion for 2014.

Boxed games - and remember, this includes PC and console titles - dropped in sales, bringing in 948.5m - a 6.6% drop on 2013.

But that massive gain in digital copies means the overall chunk of change brought in for the UK games industry was a cool 2.452 billion. Not bad... not bad at all.

It's money news and it's a bit dry, but a healthy industry is only ever a good thing for us who play the games, and the fact that digital is working (I still remember a time when it was laughed out of the building) means the chances for anyone to get their games out there will only increase over time.

The 'other' entertainment sectors both saw drops, with music sales down by 1.6% and movies dropping 1.4%.

We don't need those though, because games have music and cutscenes in them. The total package.

[Thanks, MCV]

Two Sega-published xenomorph-based games - Aliens: Colonial Marines and Rebellion's 2010 version of Aliens vs Predator - are no longer available to purchase directly through steam.

Some might think it's because they're pap, but it's likely because of licenses expiring and all of that silly gubbins that's hard for us normies to understand.

Basically it's a regular thing for licensing issues to stop games from being on sale via certain outlets - we've seen it with a bunch of Activision's licensed titles in recent years, as well as a similar situation with Crysis 2 the other year.

It's alright though, you can still buy both titles in physical form, and digital stores like Green Man Gaming offer both that can still be activated on Steam. (Here and here, in case you want to punish yourself).

And it's even more alright because you can continue to ignore a terrible game (Colonial Marines) and a devastatingly average one (AvP), instead picking up our game of the year, Alien: Isolation, or the infinitely better non-2010 version of Aliens vs Predator.

[via Reddit]

With $68 million raised and counting, by over 700,000 backers, Star Citizen holds the Guinness World Record for the most crowdfunded project ever. Chris Roberts, creator of the Wing Commander series, is the captain of this very expensive ship, and today I have the opportunity to talk to him about his vision for the space sim, how players will shape its universe, and why he thinks people are willing to spend so many thousands of dollars on virtual spaceships.

I start by asking if the money raised is enough. It s never enough! he laughs. We scale development according to how much money is coming in. The level of support dictates our level of ambition. This is a huge open-world game where you can go from planet to planet, so we could spend hundreds of millions of dollars on it quite easily.

We re not having to have conversations with publishers who may have other agendas...

I ask Roberts what it s like being freed from the traditional developer/ publisher relationship and going indie—albeit on a much grander scale than most studios. Every day we can just focus on what we think is going to be the best game. When you re working with a big publisher, a lot of energy gets expended on marketing and sales, and they determine what your budget is... The problem with that is they get a say in what you do with the game. I ve had situations where marketing has said things like Call of Duty has this, so you need to have this, and if we say no, they ll mark the projected sales down by a million units, lowering the development budget. So you end up doing things you don t believe in so you get a good forecast.

Roberts is building a game he believes in. The people backing it believe in it too. We re not having to have conversations with publishers who may have other agendas... The downside—and it s not really a bad thing—is having so many opinions and voices. Everyone has a different idea about what they want the game to be, so you ve got to walk the line of trying to deliver something you re really happy with, while making sure the backers get what they invested in.

Roberts talks to Star Citizen backers regularly—a necessity for any crowdfunded project. On the internet you get people that don t have any sense of how to get something across in a constructive manner. But there are plenty of people who are super positive, and ultimately I don t mind the bad ones, because everyone who backed the game is invested in making it better. You might not agree with them, but they care.

Once a thriving genre on PC, the space sim had, until recently, faded into obscurity. Now we have Elite: Dangerous, EVE: Valkyrie, No Man s Sky, and others on the way. I ask Roberts why he thinks these games are making a comeback. I don t understand why they went away. I think people just love science fiction. They like escapism, and playing computer games is one of the biggest forms of that. I loved games like X-Wing and Freespace, and after taking a break from the games industry, I came back and saw that no one was developing them any more, which is why I wanted to make Star Citizen.

When Roberts was working on Freelancer in 2003, he had an ambitious idea for a dynamic online universe shaped by the players, but which never came to fruition. Star Citizen, he says, is a natural evolution of that. My biggest complaint about online games is that they don t feel like the players have much impact on the world. It feels like a theme park. So one of the big tenets of Star Citizen is player impact.

Your actions will have some effect on the world. If we put new star systems into the game, we won t tell players about them, and the first person who navigates there will be able to name the system. That s an example of players becoming part of the lore, but we won t have a million systems to discover, so not everyone will get a chance to do that.

He adds that the player-driven economy will alter the appearance of certain locations and the missions they offer. If there s a settlement and it s doing well, it ll grow. You can come back six months later and it ll be turning into a city, which will then generate missions to deliver the materials to help build it. But if the economy suffers, there ll be crime and unemployment, and things will begin to look run down.

One of Star Citizen s most fascinating ideas is that your character will die, permanently. We want players to have a lifespan. Your character in Star Citizen, to think of it in arcade terms, will only have so many lives. If you get in a dogfight and your ship blows up, your body will be recovered and taken to a hospital on the nearest friendly planet. But there s only so many times this can happen.

You might get a mechanical hand to replace a damaged one. Every death will age you, and once those lives are used up, your character will pass away, and your possessions will go to a new character.

The idea is that you ll be building a legacy as you play, and a family line that can be traced back. I want it to feel like time is passing, rather than you being this immortal character and nothing ever changing. Ships and items have wear and tear, so if you re getting into fights, your ship will begin to look scratched and beaten up. You can get it repaired, but it ll never be pristine again.

Unlike Elite, which is built around its player s ships, Star Citizen is essentially a first-person game. It just so happens that a lot of time has been spent on the vehicle simulation. This has allowed Cloud Imperium to do a lot more than it would if the player was forever tethered to their spacecraft. We can be walking around on the surfaces of planets, interacting with NPCs and other players. These are places where you can pick up missions, explore, talk to people, and buy and sell cargo.

We ll also have a limited amount of PvE stuff that ll happen on planets. Maybe you ll go down a dark alleyway to sell some contraband to a fence, and as you go down there, you ll get attacked by muggers. You ll have to take them out, Han Solo-style, with your blaster. We want these places to feel like they re alive, rather than just glorified shopping and mission interfaces.

But while Star Citizen is going to be a game for solo privateers as well as mega-corporations, multiplayer will be a massive part of it, Roberts confirms. The bigger ships have been designed with co-op in mind, and players can take on different roles, like piloting or manning turrets. In space you can open the airlock and leave your ship in an EVA, and dock with another ship, or repair your own. Or you could be exploring a derelict sitting in an asteroid field. We want to have interesting, fun gameplay for everyone. It won t be like World of Warcraft where you need a big group to do the really cool stuff.

I finish by asking what he thinks about the grey market: a community built around the buying and selling of Star Citizen ships, sometimes for thousands of dollars, even though the buyers can t even fly them yet.

We thought that if someone is backing the game for $250, they should get a better ship than if they d spent $40. Then we had a lot of requests to sell ships separately, and this is when we had to decide on the pricing. We couldn t really take, say, the Constellation, which was on the $250 pledge, and make it a $30 ship. That s how we set the prices.

He cites the game s insurance system as a big factor. If your ship gets destroyed in the game, you ll get a new one, providing you keep your premium valid... But we decided that, to reward backers, we d offer them lifetime insurance on their ships, and it s those ships that became highly sought-after on the grey market.

Roberts is clearly incredibly passionate about Star Citizen, and you can tell he s approaching its development primarily with a game design brain, not a marketing one. I sincerely hope the game can live up to Cloud Imperium s bold, skyreaching ambitions.