So here’s the thing: 2017 looks fucking insane. A lot of what’s coming is sequels or reboots, but they have been a long time coming and following up to monumental pieces of gaming history. You can’t really look away when Rockstar Games put something, and Arkane Studios is getting that same sort of (well deserved) credibility. And that’s just two out of the litany here. And we had to cut so many more!
Never mind, now I feel overwhelmed.
Night in the Woods — January 10
What even is this. It looks bubbly yet terrifying, harsh yet fantastical. There’s a rhythm game section, a knife fight bit, something about hack and slash, and sniping deer? Fuck, I don’t know. It looks 100% unmissable, though. Everything on the website sounds scary as fuck.
Coming out for the PlayStation 4, PC, macOS, and Linux.
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard — January 24
Okay, fine, the lead-up to Resident Evil 7 was super confusing. Is it a VR game? Okay, it’s not VR, but it can be? But that’s not the whole thing? And Resident Evil 6 didn’t instill a lot of confidence that Capcom understands what makes a good game, let alone a horror game. And fuck, let’s not even talk about Umbrella Corps.
But you know what? This looks like a simultaneous overhaul and return to what makes a good Resident Evil game. There’s hope. It comes out for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
For Honor — February 14
I’m of two minds about this game. First off, the story looks overwrought and the Dynasty Warriors-style minion combat doesn’t really appeal to me. But the concept of putting vikings in one truck and samurais in another and smashing them together is cool, and the intensely personal and methodical combat against the other hero characters makes me tingle the same way Absolver does. (We’ll get to that in a bit.)
Coming to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands — March 7
Yeah, the entire of Wildlands‘ entire E3 2016 presentation was laughable. Giant Bomb’s reaction is exactly right and wholly earned. But the idea of taking the good parts of the Ghost Recon franchise and putting them into an open world for the first time sounds interesting, just as it seems fun to get some of your friends involved in the matter. Make fun of it all you/I want, but there’s a lot of potential here.
Coming to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Mass Effect: Andromeda — March 21
Hot scoops, right off the press. We got a release date earlier this week plus a new trailer yesterday at Nvidia’s CES keynote. And to its credit, that footage mostly reminds me of the gameplay and story parts that I liked rather than the bits that drove me absolutely nuts. I’m kind of on the side of the crazies of the Internet, though, and agree that the loss of character classes is something to lament.
We’ll see, though. Not like Skyrim suffered from not restricting you from doing whatever the fuck you wanted. It’s coming to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Yooka-Laylee — March 2017
There’s a lot to live up to here. A lot of the key members that made the Banjo-Kazooie games the landmark titles they are today are pretty much making those games again, but with the added promise of modernizing their design philosophies. That should intimidate you whether or not you’re actually working on the game. And as far as I’m concerned, nothing will ever be as perfect of a sound effect as Banjo going DUH HUH.
Coming to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, macOS, and Linux.
Syberia III — Q1 2017
This is 100%, veritable, uncut insanity. The first Syberia came out in 2002 and it was damn good. Easy enough to forget about, though, if you didn’t take the time to play the sequel. But here’s the kicker: that bad boy came out only two years later in 2004. That’s 13 god damn years between games. That’s a Beyond Good & Evil sort of timeline, friends. But hot damn I can’t wait to spend more time adventuring with Kate Walker.
Coming to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, macOS, iOS, and Android.
Thimbleweed Park — Q1 2017
Here’s the thing about Ron Gilbert: he’s a legend. You can’t really escape that when you created out of nothing the Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island series. And his modern games like The Cave and DeathSpank were pretty good, but they always felt like they were missing…something. Like they were one step away from thorough greatness.
And that’s only something you ever find out when it’s out, so all we can do is ride out this development cycle, keep our expectations in check yet mildly hyped because come on it sounds pretty dope so far, and reserve judgment for release. It’s releasing for the Xbox One, PC, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android.
Rime — May 9, 2017
This looks like an almost unbelievable and sweeping gesture towards the entire breadth of Team Ico’s catalog. Like, fuck, just look at it. It actually has slight flavors of Journey and The Witness, too. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Those are all tremendous games. I’m just curious at this point what developer Tequila Works has to say about those sorts of titles.
Coming to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Prey — Q1/Q2 2017
We’ve been looking for not just this Prey game but any Prey game for quite some time now. Prey 2 got swept under the rug and we’ll likely never see Human Head Studios’ vision of that world (which looked like an action-oriented, Blade Runner-inspired thing), but now we get Arkane Studios doing what they do with systems-based, agency-infused concepts. And good god does it look good.
Coming to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Red Dead Redemption 2 — Q3/Q4 2017
Fucking god damn yes. Listen, I’m not saying every game needs a sequel nor do many of them need one, but Red Dead Redemption left a lasting impact on me and the fact that Rockstar Games, a notoriously stoic and studious and discriminating company, thinks they have something to add to that world fills me with indescribable joy. Joy isn’t even the right word. It’s more like…completeness.
Coming to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
South Park: The Fractured But Whole — 2017
South Park: The Stick of Truth was pretty much the reason why sequels exist. Not that it told a story that needs more telling or that you build a world and characters that necessitate exploration but that it had such a specific mindset and grasp of the material that you want to see what else it can offer. The unfortunate thing is that development is now at Ubisoft San Francisco rather than Obsidian Entertainment, which at the time was an absurd relationship to forge but after the fact made so much sense.
But that switch sort of disconnects the whole reasoning behind why we wanted more South Park RPG. There’s nothing to carry forward save for the lessons Trey Parker and Matt Stone learned from Stick of Truth‘s success. Oh well. It’s coming out for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Absolver — 2017
Real quick: either play Furi or Hyper Light Drifter or go read what I have to say about both of them. Now everything that I like about that kind of gameplay? Imagine that it’s right in your fucking face. This is immensely personal combat, meant to be fast and reactive yet deliberate and calculating. That is my god damn jam.
Coming to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, macOS, and Linux.
Little Nightmares — Q1/Q2 2017
Super creepy, tremendously bespoke, and undeniably gorgeous yet grotesque. It looks like all the nightmarish parts of Coraline made into a stealth side-scroller. And based on the gameplay I’ve seen, the puzzles look genuinely interesting, using the setting and the world in clever ways that both surprise and disgust you. I’m sold, guys. Let’s get this show on the road.
Coming to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
