Star Wars Battlefront, Halo 5 and the latest Final Fantasy: the next 12 months will see some of the biggest gaming releases yet. Some of you will play them all but when pushed we decided that these are the five we're looking forward to the most. What's on your radar?
Batman: Arkham Knight (Xbox One, PS4, PC)
The finalé in the hugely popular Arkham series might be the most feverishly awaited by fans in 2015. With the trend of endless sequels, reboots and spinoffs, you have to admire Rocksteady’s commitment to quit while they’re ahead. Not that this will be the last we see of Batman.
Arkham Knight is set a year after Arkham City, and sees Batman taking on Scarecrow, who has come to Gotham to unite our hero’s enemies against him. Most of the gadgets and gameplay will stay the same (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it), but finally introduces a drivable Batmobile. As well as driving, you can summon the Batmobile and drive it remotely to solve puzzles and access areas. The game has already won piles of awards, and is set to be one of the defining games of the year.
Out June 2nd
Uncharted 4 (PS4)
This may be the fourth in the successful Naughty Dog series, but as the first instalment since the departure of series creator Amy Hennig it will be interesting to see what’s on offer. At the helm for Uncharted 4 is Neil Druckmann, writer and director of the award-winning The Last of Us. If anyone can breathe fresh life into this series, he can.
Uncharted 4 will see our protagonist come out of retirement as a fortune hunter to solve a historical mystery about a pirate treasure. Standard stuff really. On the gameplay side Naughty Dog have revealed several new elements including a complete overhaul of the AI, multiplayer mode and a more sandbox approach to missions.
Out late 2015
Evolve (Xbox One, PS4, PC)
As the only game on the list that isn’t a sequel, it’s no surprise that Evolve is promising a completely new player experience. Set on the distant planet of Shear, human colonies are being attacked by alien monsters and a team of hunters are formed to wipe the aliens out. What makes the game unique is that it’s completely multiplayer. Four hunters will be pitted against one alien – all player-controlled.
This won’t be a single Tekken-esque battle. The game will feature a huge number of maps, where all players can engage in stealth attacks or complete objectives to increase their power. Both human and monster players have a variety classes and types to choose from, so if your life-long dream was to be a Kracken, now’s your chance. There will also be a single-player mode, though no details have been released so far.
The game has not been without problems. It was originally going to be published by THQ, for a 2013 release. After THQ filed for bankruptcy in 2011 it was scheduled for an October 2014 release under 2k Games, but was delayed again to February 2015. By all accounts however, it will be worth the wait.
Out February 10th
Assassins Creed Victory (Xbox One, PS4, PC)
Still reeling from the backlash from Assassins Creed Unity, Ubisoft got another shock when footage from the upcoming 2015 game was leaked to the gaming news site Kotaku in December. While Ubisoft have been known to leave false clues to future games around, this leak seems to have been confirmed.
The new game is titled (or codenamed) Assassins Creed Victory and is set in Victorian London. The details are a bit scanty, but it will be released on the current gen consoles only, and seems to be using the same engine as Unity. We can only hope they’ve ironed out all the bugs this time.
Unless there are more leaks, we can only speculate until the official trailer is revealed at E3 2015 this summer, but such a modern setting could change the game massively. We’ll have to wait until the end of the year to find out for sure.
Out late 2015
Rise of the Tomb Raider (Xbox One, Xbox 360)
The sequel to the 2013 reboot Tomb Raider, Rise of the Tomb Raider will see Lara Croft recovering from the trauma of the first game and learning to embrace her true exploring, puzzle-solving, artefact-destroying self.
Not released until the end of the year, not many details outside of the E3 2014 trailer have been revealed, but it seems to be continuing the gritty realistic feel of the last one. One thing that will disappoint fans is it’s getting an Xbox only release for the time being, though PC and PS4 releases are still possible down the line.
Out Christmas 2015
... and rounding off the top ten:
The Witcher 3 (Xbox One, PS4, PC) - Out May 19th
Star Wars Battlefront (Xbox One, PS4, PC) - Out late 2015
No Man's Sky (PS4, PC) - Out late 2015
Halo 5: Guardians (Xbox One) - Out late 2015
The Legend of Zelda (Wii U) - Out late 2015
