After a disappointing year of notable celebrity deaths and political disenchantment, gaming was one of the few bright lights in a dismal 12-month spell. It looks like 2017 will have some great games in store, so here’s five that shouldn’t be missed.
1. Get Even (PC, PS4, Xbox One)
Get Even is a first-person survival-horror game that has been in the works for a while. It was first announced way back in 2013, and despite the development hell, it looks to be a polished offering.
Both graphics and gameplay have been refined in recent months, and it could be a sleeper hit if it launches smoothly. It'll have to contend with the release of Resident Evil 7 aiming to be the dominant force in the market, but there’s no reason why Get Even can’t be one to watch out for in 2017. Let's hope that the extended development time was well spent. It’s scheduled for release in March 2017.
2. South Park: The Fractured But Whole (Multiplatform)
South Park’s satirical style tends to divide opinion, but it translated into one of the best turn-based RPG’s of recent times in the form of The Stick of Truth. It stayed true to the formula of the show, but the style and theme will always leave a section of gamers unwilling to make the plunge in the first place. The sequel is due for release in the first quarter of 2017, and it promises to expand on the original with new classes and features. It was originally supposed to come out in December 2016, but was pushed back to “improve the game experience” because of the “high expectations of fans.” Will it be able to gather a wider audience the second time around?
3. Fear Effect: Sedna (Multiplatform)
The original Fear Effect was released on the PlayStation One back in 1999, spawning a sequel just 12 months later. It’s known for being a third-person shooter with interesting camera angles and art direction, as well as a reliance on the allure of the lesbian protagonists as a USP. (It was a different time.) Thought to be consigned to the history books, it was kickstarted successfully in April 2016, although it only just managed to reach the £100,000 goal. It’s more of a spiritual successor, with a 10-man team working on bringing it back to life. It’s a small-scale operation, but there’s clearly a lot of love for the source material. It might not be an AAA title with bundles of marketing moolah, but it could breathe new life into a series that many thought was gone for good. If you remember the originals, it could be worth it for the nostalgia alone.
4. For Honor (Multiplatform)
If you're looking for something that's a little different when it comes to multiplayer action, For Honor could take up the next few months of your life when it releases in February 2017. It's a melee-action game that features some of the most exciting troops in history, pitching Vikings, Knights and Samurai against one another with duels and realistic melee combat. Additional maps will be added free of charge to ensure that the player base isn't split, and it has the potential to be the next big thing in multiplayer gaming. thing. Recent reports have surfaced highlighting numerous connection issues, and they’ll have to be sorted quickly if it wants a fighting chance.
5. Vampyr (Multiplatform)
Vampyr is an action role-playing title that centres around the mythological creatures of the night. The monsters themselves have been heavily overdone in films and TV over the past decade, but they haven't featured frequently in video games. There's a gap in the market, but Vampyr looks to be more than a cash grab.games. In fact, there’s been a noticeable lack of fanged content on consoles over recent years, and this could be the one to spark off a host of clones if it’s commercially successful. It seems more like a work of art, and when it comes time to explore Victorian London the E3 trailer showed off the Victorian London backdrop and story driven gameplay. It focuses on the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic that gripped the city in real life. Recent demos have confirmed that it could live up to the hype, even if the subject matter has been passed up by everyone else.
James Ashmore
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