Gong Xi Fa Cai! Wondering what to do with the ang pau money fresh in your pocket? Or the winnings from your latest rounds of cards. Well, think no more! Welcoming in the Lunar Year we have the long awaited Horizon Zero Dawn, Nioh, Halo Wars 2 as well as a couple great looking indie titles.
Diluvion by Arachnid Games – February 3rd
In Diluvion, the future planet is going to be submerged, and mankind trapped under an ice cap. The gods are angered by the actions of the human race, but mankind has been thrown a lifeline by one god who has hidden a secret in the depths. This is a secret you must find, in order to put end to mankind’s dependence on the oceans for survival. Diluvion takes some inspiration from Jules Verne and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. There are three different subs to choose from at the start each with their own specialties. These effectively boils down to a faster, more vulnerable, ship versus a slower, heavily armoured, ship and one all-rounder in between.
Platform: PC
Nioh by Team Ninja, Koei Tecmo, SIE – February 7th
Nioh is an upcoming action role-playing game developed by Team Ninja for the PlayStation 4. Gameplay, which was inspired by the Dark Souls series, revolves around navigating levels and defeating monsters that have infested an area. Set in the early 1600s during a fictionalized version of the Sengoku period, when Japan was in the midst of civil war prior to the ascension of the Tokugawa shogunate. A sailor named William, in pursuit of an enemy, arrives in Japan and is enlisted by Hattori Hanzō, servant to Tokugawa Ieyasu, in defeating yokai that are flourishing in the chaos of war.
Platform: PS4
For Honor by Ubisoft Montreal – February 14th
For Honor is Ubisoft’s upcoming melee-based combat title that is full of fresh new ideas. Knights, vikings, and samurais clash in epic duels to the death against a backdrop of medieval castles, lush forests, and snowy forts. Ubisoft’s melee action game has various classes of Knights, Vikings and Samurai clashing in third-person scraps using a battle system called “The Art of Battle”. Multiplayer will feature a 4v4 capture point-style mode called Dominion, as well as the 2v2 Brawl mode and a 1v1 Duel mode. There’s also a no-respawn mode called Elimination. On the single player side of things, there’s a campaign that sees a warlord called Apollyon inciting conflict between the Knights of the Iron Legion, the Dawn Empire’s Samurai and the Vikings of the Warborn clans. Also playable in 2-player co-op, you’ll be storming enemy castles, partaking in defenses and dueling bosses.
Platform: PS4, Xbox One, PC
Sniper Elite 4 by Rebellion Developments – February 14th
Set in the aftermath of its award-winning predecessor, Sniper Elite 4 continues the series’ World War Two heritage by transporting players across the beautiful Italian peninsula, from sun-drenched Mediterranean coastal towns, to colossal Nazi megastructures, daunting forests and giddying mountain monasteries inspired by Monte Cassino. Covert agent and elite marksman Karl Fairburne must fight alongside the brave men and women of the Italian Resistance to help free their country from the yoke of Fascism, and defeat a terrifying new threat with the potential to halt the Allied fightback in Europe before it’s even begun. If his mission fails, there will be no Operation Overlord, no D-Day landings, and no Victory in Europe.
Platform: PS4, Xbox One, PC
Halo Wars 2 by 343 Industries, Creative Assembly & Microsoft Studios – February 21st
Halo Wars 2 is a real-time strategy video game, in which players command armies from a bird’s-eye view of the battlefield. Like Halo Wars, the game features two playable factions: humanity’s main military arm, the United Nations Space Command (UNSC), who return from the first game, and a new alien faction known as the Banished, who serve as replacement for the Covenant. Each faction has different leader units. The campaign mode is composed of thirteen missions, and will support cooperative gameplay. Combat in Halo Wars 2 is balanced by a “rock–paper–scissors” counter-attack system, in which ground vehicles are effective in combat against infantry, infantry are effective against aircraft, and aircraft are effective against vehicles.
Platform: Xbox One, PC
Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin by Double Fine – February 21st
Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is scheduled to release as a PlayStation VR exclusive. Far from just a technical showcase designed to provide some amusement within the confines of the Psychonaut universe, this VR game will actually pick up shortly after where the first game left off. In it, players will assume the role of Raz who has just been tasked with saving his friends with the help of his fellow Psychonauts and his trusty psychic abilities. The game will be presented as more than just an exploration title. With players being required to use many of the skills Raz learned in the original game to complete a series of puzzles and combat sequences.
Platform: PSVR
Beserk and the Band of the Hawk by Omega Force & Koei Tecmo – February 21st
Beserk and the Band of the Hawk, known in Japan as Bersek Musou. Is a hack and slash game said to be inspired by the likes of Dragon’s Dogma and Dark Souls. In Berserk and the Band of the Hawk, playable characters have devastating abilities that must be “awakened” to draw out their true potential. Awakening abilities offers overwhelming temporary boosts that allow players to demolish hordes of enemies in their path. Players can take advantage of Guts’ Berserker Armor to unleash deadly blows, Griffith’s demonic Femto form to deal swift bursts of damage, and Zodd’s giant Apostle form to effortlessly topple foes.
Platform: PS4, PS Vita, PC
Night In The Woods by Infinite Fall – February 21st
Mae, a college drop-out, heads through her hometown and into the woods. Night in the Woods takes a fair few cues from Gone Home – and it’s all the better for it. Focused as much on storytelling and character-building as it is on exploration and solving the puzzle of just what the melancholy heck is going on, don’t let the cutesy animal personae of NITW fool you: this is a title with big, dark ideas. With a narrative that covers everything from paranormal abilities to a cigarette-smoking alligator, this is no ordinary cartoon mystery – and the closer you get to the secret lurking in the woods, the darker things are likely to turn.
Platform: PS4, PC
Horizon Zero Dawn by Guerrilla Games & SIE – February 28th
https://youtu.be/RRQDqurZJNk
Horizon Zero Dawn is arguably one of the most anticipated games of 2017. We follow Aloy, a hunter and archer who lives in a post-apocalyptic land ruled by robotic creatures known simply as “Machines”. The Machines’ components, are vital to Aloy’s survival, and she can loot their corpses to find useful resources for crafting. Aloy can use a variety of ways to kill enemies, such as setting traps like tripwires, shooting enemies with arrows, using explosives, and melee combat. The game features an open world environment for Aloy to explore, divided into tribes that hold side quests to accomplish while the main story guides her throughout the whole world.
Platform: PS4
Torment: Tides of Numenera by inXile Entertainment, Techland – February 28th
A story-driven role-player with quite the heritage, Torment: Tides of Numenera set the Kickstarter funding record for video games when its campaign finished. The game’s inspiration is Planescape: Torment, arguably one of the greatest RPGs – both when it was released in 1999 and to this day – and Torment very much continues the narrative depth of that title. Based in the tabletop setting of Numenera, combat and collection will sit secondary to storytelling as players steer the Last Castoff – a human previously the host of a powerful entity – through richly rendered realms where interaction is everything.
Platform: PS4, Xbox One, PC
