Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Miror Edge

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

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 onearly access.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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?