It’s the last month of the year and boy was 2019 a great year for gaming! I hope you didn’t spend all your money on the Black Friday sales because we’ve got Christmas coming up! Not to mention that end of year bonus time. Now, who really deserves a good present at the end of the year? You do! Here are all the best games coming out this holiday season.

 

Arise: A Simple Story by Piccolo – December 3^rd

Arise: A Simple Story tells the tale of an old man, at the end of his life. The game’s nameless protagonist wakes up in Limbo and is given the opportunity to relive 10 formative moments from his life, which represent the entire spectrum of human emotion. The central mechanic of Arise is the ability to control time. Some levels represent a single day, others take place across several months, and some occur within a fraction of a second. Each stage will require players to manipulate time at a different scale in order to progress. For example, moving time forward or backwards to control a flower that moves with the sun. There’s also a multiplayer mode where one person controls the man and another controls time.

Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC – Epic Games Store, Mac

 

Everreach: Project Eden by Headup Games – December 4^th

Touted as the next Mass Effect game, Everreach is a story-driven, third-person action-RPG set on the distant world of Eden, home of humanity’s first interstellar colony. You play as Nora Harwood, a member of Everreach’s Security Division tasked with securing the colonization process of Eden. You’ll explore the world, build the city, and discover the secrets of the ancient, long-lost civilization that used to call the planet home. Packed with tactical ground combat, high-speed vehicular warfare and a compelling level and skill system. Everreach is sold as our next sci-fi epic but from the trailer, it looks to be more action-focused.

Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC – Steam Store

 

Mosaic by Krillbite Studio – December 5^th

Mosaic is a single-player, semi-linear narrative game of ordinary monotonous life. You live each day with no real sense of meaning until one day. When strange things start to happen and everything changes. Mosaic is a dark surrealistic and atmospheric adventure game about urban isolation and the dread of being a cog in a machine you can’t understand. The game delights in the surrealism of daydreaming. The main character is shown, to have an active imagination, and it’s something that keeps him going throughout the workday. In the game, you’ll be able to experience a diverse range of experiences throughout the city, and you should expect to play multiple different characters throughout the full experience. Fitting, for a game called Mosaic. The gameplay is narrative-driven, focusing on telling a story of adventure through dystopia.

Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC – Steam Store, Linux, Mac

 

Tick Tock: A Tale For Two by Other Tales Interactive – December 5^th

Tick Tock: A Tale for Two is a two-player co-op adventure game that is all about communication. Players have to unravel a narrative together, talk to each other about what they are doing and what they see in order to solve puzzles. Tick Tock is played on two devices, either mobile, tablet or computer.​ Set in a surrealistic mystery game, time is of the essence in this 2D hand-drawn world. Two players must work together to solve puzzles and unravel a story about two sisters, Amalie and Lærke, who have somehow learned how to manipulate time to grant themselves longer lives. The multiplayer is entirely offline. Instead of connecting to a server, each player selects on their device if they’ll be Player One or Two and that dictates what clues they’ll get. It plays very much like a point-and-click game, though you’re not controlling a character.

Platforms: Switch, PC – Steam Store, Mac, Android

 

Assassin’s Creed: The Rebel Collection – December 6^th

I try not to put re-releases of games on different platforms on this list, but there’s been a significant enough time gap for this one. Introducing the Assassin’s Creed: Rebel Collection offers not one, but two Assassin’s Creed games – Rogue and Black Flag. This includes all the DLCs, plus new features like touch controls and motion aiming. Now the Assassin’s Creed franchise has had some uneven releases in its crazy ten-game lineup. But these two are worth playing. Rogue features a great twist in the story as you don’t play a member of the Assassins but are now an Assassin Hunter. And of course, Black Flag was highly acclaimed because of their naval battles. I’m looking forward to seeing how this will translate on the Nintendo Switch. But since most of the ports have been successful I have high hopes for this one.

Platform: Nintendo Switch

 

Terminator: Resistance by Teyon – December 10^th

Terminator: Resistance, is a first-person shooter set during the ‘Future War’ that we learn about but never see in The Terminator movies. In this game, you’ll experience the events leading up to the decisive final battle for the fate of mankind in the war against the machines. The machines are destined to lose, but at what cost? We follow a brand new protagonist, Jacob Rivers, a soldier in the Resistance. It’s been nearly 30 years after Judgement Day. And despite the fact that Jacob is just a lowly private, he’s been specifically targeted as the latest threat from Skynet marked for termination.

Platforms: PS4, PC – Steam Store

 

Boneworks by Stress Level Zero – December 10^th

Boneworks is a narrative VR action-adventure using advanced experimental physics mechanics. Dynamically navigate through environments, engage in physics heavy combat, and creatively approach puzzles with physics. Designed entirely for consistent universal rules, the advanced physics mechanics encourage players to confidently and creatively interact with the virtual world however you want. Approach combat in any number of ways you can think of following the physical rules of the game’s universe. Melee weapons, firearms, physics traps, environments, can all be used to aid you in fights with enemy entities.

Platforms: PC VR – HTC Vive & Oculus Rift

 

Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York by Draw Distance – December 11^th

Coteries of New York presents the struggle for power between two vampiric factions: Camarilla and Anarchs among the iconic buildings and night lights of Big Apple. It’s a single-player narrative experience, set in a rich, fully licensed, globally recognized universe of Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition. You’ll be able to choose a character from among numerous different clans and choose between different approaches to the situations your character finds themselves in. It’s designed to be played through more than once, with numerous different endings. Your choice of vampiric bloodline will give you a set of Disciplines that can be used to influence the characters you meet. And there are other mechanics in play too—you’ll have to balance your hunger for blood with your dwindling humanity and try not to blatantly vamp it up in ways that break the masquerade.

Platforms: Switch, PC – Steam Store, Linux, Mac

 

Dead End Job by Ant Workshop Ltd. – December 13^th

Dead End Job sends you into a madcap, Ren & Stimpy-esque world to bust up ghosts. It’s a procedurally generated, couch co-op, twin-stick shooter that straps a vacuum pack to your back and puts a plasma blaster in your hand. For you, it’s just another day in the office. You take on the role of Hector Plasm, a worker at Ghoul-B-Gone – ‘the Number One experts in paranormal pest control’ – as you’re tasked with heading to haunted offices, restaurants, and other everyday buildings before freeing them of unwanted guests. One minute you’re sucking up spectres, the next you’re sucking up to your bosses, chasing that promotion.

Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC – Steam Store, Linux, Mac

 

Wattam by Keita Takahashi – December 17^th

We first saw Wattam at this year’s PlayStation’s State of Play. It’s a whimsical game about the joys of friendship and discovery. From the imagination of Keita Takahashi, creator of Katamari Damacy and Noby Noby Boy. In Wattam, players will control a variety of objects. Some of those living objects will ask you do them favours, but sometimes they just want you to dance. Players can make friends and reconnect objects in the world, resulting in big, confetti-spraying explosions of joy. Wattam looks set to be another wacky and joyful adventure filled with unusual and likeable characters. As well as fantastic music and surprising gameplay.

Platforms: PS4, PC – Steam Store