2016
a qua ntu m leap
Hyper Light Drifter Pub Heart Machine Dev Heart Machine RELEASE spring
It’s taken a few releasedate shunts and a new heart valve for project creator Alex Preston, but this blood-pumping action-RPG is finally, finally wafting over in spring. It sees your Drifter – armed with beam sword, an array of secondary guns and a teleport dash – do hyperkinetic battle with dozens of sumptuously designed foes and unravel Byzantine secrets, all in the hope of a cure for a vicious condition. Sounds like our kind of research.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Pub Warhorse Studios Dev Warhorse Studios RELEASE summer
It’s rare to hear a game talk about love – how do you avoid it becoming a mawkish PR spiel? I think you need to be subtle and to be very wary of becoming sentimental and mushy. Basically, that’s what we do with our laidback approach to storytelling. We don’t want to push that stuff on you, ever. It’s more about leaving it up to you to find the story, rather than forcing it upon you, because otherwise it would be very mushy. A big part of it is that it is what you make of it – you can read into it what you like. And I’m all for that. How do you balance that emotional edge, which may draw in non-gamers or younger gamers, with wanting to make a challenging puzzle game? [The game is] difficult in moments, but the thing we’re trying to do is to balance difficulty with the theme. So a more cheerful level might be more easy, and then a darker level might be more difficult. We don’t want to take you out of that moment and be frustrated. One of the biggest goals is to build empathy– if you die 45 times over, you’ll lose that connection. But we’re also against making it too simple, as you want a sense of accomplishment – the quest you’re on has to feel like it has some gravity to it. This is something that is meaningful. @OXM
It might have a name like a religious play performed with puppets, but don’t be fooled. This is actually an ambitious sandbox RPG set in medieval Europe, with an emphasis on historical accuracy – heck, even the food you pick up will spoil over time. Your knight can layer up multiple bits of armour and clothing, ride a horse and wield a bunch of huge, cumbersome medieval weapons for that authentic postDark Ages experience.
Kingdom Hearts III
PUB Square Enix DEV Square Enix RElEASE 2016
Of cartoon mice and men
Is it that time already? Another year has passed and we’re still holding out for the third main entry in Square Enix’s whimsical Final-Fantasy-meets-Disney RPG – it’s a regular Sleeping Beauty. If hero Sora aged like the rest of us he’d be in his mid-twenties by now, most likely peddling sea salt icecream and Jiminy Cricket keychains. Picking up immediately after the events of Dream Drop Distance – one of many spin-off titles – KHIII follows Sora on his quest to find the mysterious ‘Key to Return Hearts’. Nope, we’re not sure what that is either. This entry will conclude the ‘Dark Seeker Saga’, which focuses on the battle between Sora and the maleficent Xehanort. Expect to see some familiar faces, from Mickey Mouse to Donald Duck, not to mention new material from Tangled and Big Hero 6. Form a queue, Disney devotees.
SUPERHOT Pub SUPERHOT Team Dev SUPERHOT Team RELEASE 2016
You might remember the teaser for SUPERHOT: bright-red stylised figures moving and shooting in slow motion against a stark white backdrop. It’s a striking look that hits you faster than anything in the game actually moves. That’s a smartarse way of saying that time in SUPERHOT only moves when you do, so you can watch what your enemies are doing and react tactically. It’s almost more strategy game than FPS, but hey, a slow-mo blood splatter is still a blood splatter.
Final Fantasy XV
Dev Square Enix Pub Square Enix RElEASE 2016
Leather-clad lads on tour
Who says you can’t teach an old JRPG franchise new tricks? Not us, that’s for sure. Big hair and swords might be back on the menu, but with a fresh cast of characters and sleek sports car in tow, this won’t be your average outing in the realm of mages and Moogles. From what we’ve seen so far, FFXV is shaping up to be an epic getaway from the traditional Final Fantasy formula. Prince Noctis and his boys camp out under the stars and throw some steaks on the barbie, all while battling the evil Niflheim Empire over the last remaining crystal. Set in an open world of political intrigue and fancy names like Lunafreya, this is Final Fantasy but not as we know it. Oh, and did we mention that Noctis can conjure weapons out of thin air? No? Well, there’s another reason to add this to your 2016 wishlist. the official xbox magazine / 53