A List of Upcoming Games

Update 15/08/06 – I’ve added a few more games to the list.

Between AAA publishers and small indie studios, it seems to me there are more games in the making out there than ever before. I’ve piled up so many links to interesting games over the past months, I’m starting to lose track. So here’s a list, in no particular order. Some of these are in concept stage, some in alpha, beta, and some in early access. I’ve not played any of these yet. Maybe I’ll come back and revise the list once in a while when stuff gets released, maybe not.

The Witness – the new game by Jonathan Blow, hopefully out soon. I’ve been looking forward to this mostly for the concept, even though it is also a very beautiful game. The gaming world desperately needs more exciting new gameplay concepts most of all, so I’m hopeful that Blow and his team deliver with this one.

Tom Clancy’s The Division – seems they are trying to do something very dynamic with Player vs. Player vs. Environment here. The concept looked pretty cool judging purely from this E3 gameplay presentation that I saw, I’m looking forward to this.

No Man’s Sky – obviously. Ever since the beautiful Edge magazine cover a while ago, I’m waiting for this one to get released.

The Long Dark – a very beautiful survival game, and one without zombies, for a change.

Duelyst – turn-based tactics with trading cards or something? I think someone from Diablo I is on the team making this?

Satellite Reign – a remake of the classic (1993) game Syndicate. I like remakes, if only to see what the developers

ELEX – a new IP by the studio that made the Gothic series. It’s supposed to be a Science Fantasy thing, so that might be really cool.

Offworld Trading Company – this looks really nice, it’s a science-fiction trading/economy simulation set on Mars.

Ashen Falls – gorgeous art, again. I really hope this turns out good.

Objects in Space – another Space game. The author/designer says: “[…] it’s a space trading game where instead of pretending space ships are WW2 Fighters, we’ve built them more like Nuclear Submarines.” I’d like to play that.

Train Valley – this could be cool as well. A train sim/puzzle?

Fallout 4 – writing this, I’m actually not sure if I’m still looking forward to the next Fallout. I was looking at some screenshots a few days ago, and I already felt tired of the game. And it’s not even out yet. As much as I loved Fallout 3, I’m afraid I will not be able to play it for the specific mechanics of this type of game.

Darkest Dungeon – looks great.

Sword Coast Legends – I love the idea of a new D&D game and even more a Forgottten Realms game. However, I think I love the idea more than the actual play. With Divinity: Original Sin and Pillars of Eternity, two critically acclaimed “old school” RPGs have been released, yet they didn’t excite me as much as I though they would. Likewise the new school Dragon Age: Inquisition didn’t last long for me. I think I suffer from mechanics fatigue, see Fallout 4.

Rymdresa – another space game.

Besiege – I love the art here.

Pathfinder Online – curious where this ends up. It seems like another attempt at an MMO doomed to fail in a time when the MMO concept is no longer as exciting as it was a few years ago, and thus less likely to attract enough players to turn a profit. On that same topic, here is an article at RPS. See also The Repopulation, which reminds me a little of the late Tabula Rasa. And see also Shroud of the Avatar, which is a project by Richard Garriott, coincidentally.

Hyper Light Drifter – I’m really looking forward to this one, the art is gorgeous and emits the kind of atmosphere that I like in games. In my bookshelf, I’d probably put it next to Transistor?

Darkwood – another Horror game. I’m curious.

Brigador – weird. A kind of Mecha game?

Vampyr – made by dontnod, they of Life is Strange and Remember Me. Only seen a concept teaser so far, but this looks interesting.

Necropolis – I like the art on this one. It seems to be a kind of action rpg/roguelike.

Megasphere – another game I like for the art mostly, maybe it’s a bit too actiony for me to actually enjoy.

Mordheim – an adaption of the tabletop game.

Krautscape – a beautiful racing/flying game.

Maia – a space colony sim, I think it borrows from Dwarf Fortress at least a bit?

The Flame in the Flood – again, a game with beautiful artwork. This time, a roguelike where the protagonist drifts downstream on a boat in a rushing flood, gathering material for survival along the way.

Noct – a top-down shooter maybe a bit like Teleglitch? Also see Darkwood.

Routine – a horror exploration game with really beautiful computer displays.

Ghost of a Tale – in this gorgeous looking game you play a mouse. It’s done by a french guy who is an ex-animator and director of animation at Dreamworks and Universal Pictures and has worked on some big projects there. The art and animationreflects his movies background, in my eyes at least.

Soma – this looks really good. It’s a horror game by the makers of Amnesia. And I will probably not be able to play it, because it’s too scary. I couldn’t even play Amnesia properly… so there.

Limit Theory – between Elite: Dangerous, Star Citizen and No Man’s Sky, this is the other space game. It’s a one man show as far as I know, and I’m really curious how it turns out.

Proven Lands – another space survival game, although looking kinda rough at the moment.

Raindrop – very mysterious.

Enemy Starfighter – another space game. Also, this one has great art.

The Mandate – space game!

Reset – a first person puzzler with robots?

Star Citizen – the behemoth among the space games in this list. I personally think the project is just too ambitious, but then again, I’d like to be proven wrong. I certainly remember Chris Roberts’ Wing Commander series fondly – although with a lot of nostalgia as a buffer.

Battle Worlds Kronos – this seems to be a remake of the classic Battle Isle series. I would love that.

Dreadnought – giant spaceships!

Survarium – successor to the great S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series.

Unclaimed World – a space game, this time it’s a colonization sim.

Little Devil Inside – this looks gorgeous.

Into the Stars – another space game. This time you’re controlling a large ship via giving commands to your bridge officers, Star Trek style. Interesting.

EVE: Valkyrie – this has to be the most visually impressive among all those space games. I’m looking forward to it, even if it turns out to be nothing more than a showpiece for VR goggles. With CCP, you never know what you get in the end.

Thumper – an unusual music/rythm game. Watch the trailer, the music is really something.

Firewatch – unique art, this is some sort of mystery adventure.

Aer – a game where you fly as a bird.

New entries 15/08/04

MEG 9: Lost Echoes – apparently one of my favorite authors, William Gibson, is on the team, working on the game’s “narrative driven campaign”.

Star Wars: Battlefront – it looks just like the (original) movies! Yes, it’s from EA and it’s probably gonna be very conservative gameplay-wise being a triple A title, but it sure looks nostalgia-inducingly good.

Curious Expedition – an exploration adventure set in the 19th century. I’m curious.

And that’s it. Well, for now at least. Right now I’m thinking about making a list of games that I had been watching in the past, and write about where they ended up – some got released, some didn’t, some others had other things happen to them. We’ll see.

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