October
Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising Tide
Release date: October 9
Link: Steam store page
Rising Tide is the first expansion to Civilization: Beyond Earth and, as the name might imply, it adds a whole boatload of water stuff to the base game. It also includes a completely reworked diplomacy system, hybrid affinities, and four new sponsors (Beyond Earth’s name for civs), but let’s be real, it’s all about the water stuff. New water units and resources are available, but the most notable change is the ability to build cities on water. Movable cities on water, allowing you to create an armada of mobile cities if you so choose. You can watch us play Rising Tide right here.
Rebel Galaxy
Release date: October 20
Link: Steam store page
From some of the makers of Torchlight, Rebel Galaxy is a space-action game which we affectionately described as feeling like “bikers in space”. Unlike its space-sim relatives, Rebel Galaxy focuses more on fast combat and having fun than learning how to park your spaceship properly. Combat takes place on a 2D plane, playing out very similarly to Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag but with laser cannons and aliens—key features that Black Flag was clearly missing. You can choose how to approach every situation in the game, from being diplomatic, cowardly, or even downright hostile.
Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns
Release date: October 30
Link: Official site
The Heart of Thorns expansion changes up Guild Wars 2's progression system with the 'Mastery system,' adds a new jungle area, will start to introduce 10-player raids, and a bunch more. Extra notable is the addition of guild halls, a new PvP mode, and a new world vs world map.
There was some controversy around the business of the expansion, but it's exciting nonetheless.
The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth
Release date: October 30
Link: Steam store page
This expansion for The Binding of Isaac sounds like it has enough content to keep fans of the baby-based action roguelike busy for a long, long time, with over a thousand new rooms, more than 100 new items, daily challenges, an expanded soundtrack, a new playable character, new enemies and bosses, and a brand new mode, called Greed Mode, featuring a mob rush survival challenge. The developer has stated this expansion will add over 100 hours of content to the base game.
November
Anno 2205
Release date: November 3
Link: Steam store page
Anno 2205 takes the previous futuristic city-builder, Anno 2070, and makes it even more futuristic. You can build cities on the moon—that’s how much future we’re talking. Dan Griliopoulos got a pretty good look at it recently.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
Release date: November 6
Link: Steam store page
Black Ops 3, or Blops 3 as it’s more fun to call it, is Treyarch’s latest CoD. As usual, there’s some twisted plot to beat up the world or something, and like Advanced Warfare, it takes place in the future. (Which means wall running this time.) Also new to Blops are Specialist characters in muiltiplayer, which compliment a traditional CoD progression system—more on that here. And finally, there was no way Treyarch was going to put out a new CoD without Zombies, which’ll be there at launch with the “most immersive and ambitious” version of the mode ever, so they say.
Fallout 4
Release date: November 10
Link: Steam store page
We recognize a lot of what we’ve seen of Bethesda’s next RPG: VATS combat, familiar enemies, and an improved yet not wholly different game engine. There’s plenty of new stuff we’re curious about, however, from the robust-looking weapon modding system to the optional settlement building feature to the new character creation utility we’ll use to build the first fully voiced protagonist in Fallout history. The Boston-based story remains a mystery, but we’re promised hundreds of hours of content, and if it’s as mod-friendly as previous games we can expect the community to provide hundreds more.
StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void
Release date: November 10
Link: Official site
After several months of invite-only beta, the standalone expansion of StarCraft II is set to arrive, and with it some considerable changes. We took a look at it back in April, and found it geared toward getting players into the action more quickly, steering the focus away from big map management, and putting more emphasis into individual engagements. The addition of new units, like the Protoss Disruptor and the Terrans’ Cyclone, that are designed to completely turn the tide of a game feel like a push by Blizzard to keep Starcraft relevant in the growing esport arena.
Star Wars Battlefront
Release date: November 17
Link: Official site
Battlefront’s going big and beautiful thanks to DICE and the powerful Frostbite engine, and the developers have spent most of 2015 talking about how authentic the game is. They went to the Lucas archives and scanned original props and models to recreate stormtroopers and AT-ATs and blasters down to the last detail. Our brief hands-on time so far was fun and felt surprisingly like older Battlefront, but had us wishing for a bit more depth beyond its simple aiming and laser-hose weapons.
Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
Release date: November 19
Link: Steam store page
It’s arriving on PC a month after it hits consoles, but perhaps that’s a good thing after the rushed and buggy PC launch of Assassin’s Creed: Unity in 2014. This time the stealth, action, and conspiracies come to 1800’s London, complete with horse drawn carriages, Big Ben, battles atop moving trains, and a grappling hook to create zip-lines between buildings. Syndicate is also the first entry in the main series to feature playable female protagonist: players will be able to inhabit Evie, a stealthy assassin, or her twin brother Jacob, a close-quarters brawler.
Even more games coming this autumn
Final Fantasy V — September 24
Grand Ages Medieval— September 25
Might & Magic Heroes VII — September 29
80 Days — September 29
Armikrog — September 30
Tales of Zestiria— October 20
The Crew: Wild Run — November 17
Mayan Death Robots — November 20
Trackmania: Turbo — November
...And about a thousand more. What are you looking forward to most?
