I’m going to ask what may be a personal question: How are your ya-ya’s? I’m guessing they’re out by now. Like, all the way out. Such is the end of summer — particularly one as hot and/or heated as 2016’s. So what better time than now to look ahead to a season of new gaming horizons, blockbuster sequels and mind-altering auteur titles?
This fall, the video game industry finds itself at an interesting crossroads: Playstation’s horse in the VR race makes its debut, while beloved franchises and follow-ups from some of the field’s most promising voices drop at last. Read on and see what sweet escapism awaits.
Quadrilateral Cowboy
Brandon Cheong’s Thirty Flights of Loving, perhaps the finest argument for game-as-short-film yet, wowed critics and audiences with its Tarantino-esque nonlinear storyline and stylized world. Quadrilateral Cowboy is a quantum leap for the solo developer. Here, his esoteric world-building fills out a full-length title with more in-depth puzzle mechanics: players carry out a series of heists, using chunky 1980s computer technology to scramble robust security systems. — Nick Milanes
Release Date: September (Now Available for Windows)
Platform: Mac, Windows, Linux
Developer: Blendo Games
Gears of War 4
Set 25 years after the Imulsion Countermeasure destroyed the Imulsion, Locust and Lambent on planet Sera, Gears of War 4 focuses on the survivors. Only a few hundred thousand humans remain on Sera, and their world is one of walled-off cities and powerful windstorms that affect gameplay as much as your real enemies. — J. Travis Smith
Release Date: October 11
Platform: Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
Developer: The Coalition, Splash Damage
Dishonored 2
In this stealth role-playing game players can choose to play Empress Emily Kaldwin or Corvo Attano (whom they played as in Dishonored). Players can complete the game by killing their enemies, sneaking around them or, in a “third path,” choose to play the game without the superpowers that defined the original. — J. Travis Smith
Release Date: November 11
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
Developer: Arkane Studios
Rise of the Tomb Raider
The followup to 2013’s critically acclaimed Tomb Raider is finally here for Playstation 4 (the game released last year on Xbox One). Lara Croft travels to remote regions of Siberia in an effort to solve a supernatural mystery that she discovered a year prior in the events of the last installment. To make up for the wait, Playstation 4 gamers can travel to Lara’s childhood home in the “Blood Ties” single-player story. — J. Travis Smith
Release Date: October 11
Platform: (new) PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows
Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Coming Soon: Playstation VR
Coming October 13, 2016, the Playstation VR is the $400 future of gaming. With a pair of goggles, and the help of a PlayStation Camera tracking their movements, players will interact with virtual worlds (given enough space to move around). Here are our picks for the best games to grab for your new VR.
Batman VR
Eve: Valkyrie
Job Simulator
Rez Infinite
Robinson
The Last Guardian
In Japan, it’s called Hitokui no Ouwashi Torico, or, literally translated, Trico the Large Man-Eating Eagle. In fact, you do not play as the titular beast, but instead as his friend, a young boy trying to escape an ancient-looking city alive. By manipulating Trico with incentives like food, the player evades guards and moves through a dynamic, dangerous environment. It’s a hotly awaited game, created by Fumito Ueda, who was also behind Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, and plagued by delays since its announcement — all the way back in 2007. — Chris Wright
Release Date: October 28
Platform: Playstation 4
Developer: genDesign, SIE Japan Studio
Battlefield 1
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare jumped into the future — and was immediately eclipsed by DICE’s big gamble of leaping back more than 100 years, to World War I. The big-world, 64-player FPS takes on the war to end all wars with weapons that are kind of historically accurate, like clanking tanks and biplanes rather than fighter jets, as well as small gameplay tweaks, like a bayonet charge and dynamic weather and terrain. — Chris Wright
Release Date: October 21
Platform: PC, Xbox One, Playstation 4
Developer: EA Dice
XCOM 2
“Turn-based tactical combat” sounds clunkier than sexy. But, as its predecessor proved, this squad-based game makes tactical battles smooth and high-stakes. That’s accomplished through a gripping story of human guerrillas vs. alien overlords and a gameplay system based on odds and random enemies and upgrades. — Chris Wright
Release Date: September 6
Platform: Playstation 4, Xbox One
Developer: Fireaxis Games
