2013 rapidly recedes, leaving only trace memories of pirates, guns, storied old mansions and always-online debacles. For now, a moment of peace. What better time to admire the onrushing tide of destruction soon to be wrought on our spare time? Here in 2014, more people are making games than ever. More than 1500 titles line Greenlight's shelves, dozens of Kickstarter projects are coming to fruition and almost everything is headed to early access.
That's just the tip of the joyberg that awaits. Which games will pierce through the screaming throng? Of the thousands of PC games out there, which are worthy of your attention? We're here to help, with the latest in our annual mega-features about the years to come. Sit back, have a cup of tea and immerse yourself in the games of 2014 and beyond.
Ladies and gentlemen, your genres.
Action (mentioned here)
Adventure (mentioned here)
Exploration and Survival (not mentioned here) Stay Tuned
FPS (not mentioned here) Stay Tuned
MMO (not mentioned here) Stay Tuned
Platform (not mentioned here) Stay Tuned
Puzzle (not mentioned here) Stay Tuned
Sport (not mentioned here) Stay Tuned
RPG (not mentioned here) Stay Tuned
Sim (not mentioned here) Stay Tuned
Strategy (not mentioned here) Stay Tuned
There are many more to games come, of course, and we'll be updating the list periodically throughout the year as more are announced. Which games are you most looking forward to this year?
ACTION
Big-budget behemoths often dominate the action category, and so it proves in 2014. The surely-headed-to-PC Grand Theft Auto 5 rubs shoulders with intriguing multiplayer survival games like The Division. The spectres of distant games like Star Wars: Battlefront, Mirror's Edge 2, Deus Ex Universe and Beyond Good and Evil 2 offer haunting glimpses of a time beyond 2014, but all may fall before the return of the space flight sim. Star Citizen is coming. If its team can effectively utilise that vast crowd-sourced budget, we could be in for something a bit special.
Tom Clancy's The Division
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: In-house
Release Date: TBA
Link: The Division site
A disease spread on Black Friday decimates the US in five days. As part of the Division, you are tasked with saving what remains. Go up against both AI and other players in Ubisoft's hugely ambitious third-person shooter MMO. Expect meticulously designed environments courtesy of the promising new Snowdrop engine; expect ludicrous attention to detail (car windshields finally shatter like they should); just don't expect it to come out any time soon. The Division will be done when it's done, as Ubisoft's recently delayed Rainbow Six: Patriots demonstrates.
Watch Dogs
Developer Ubisoft
Publisher: In-house
Release date: Spring 2014
Link: Watch Dogs site
Though in recent years, Ubisoft has been happy to milk the Assassin's Creed licence until its ruddy teats squeaked, let us not forget that the space-wizards-thru-history mega-franchise was born of huge creative risk: a new IP that cost so much develop that, rumour has it, sales didn't cover the cost of development until its sequels were on shelves. Now, the same gigantic studio, Ubisoft Montreal, has unveiled Watch Dogs - a game with no smaller a scope than Assassin's Creed, combining the complex sedition of information warfare with brutish third-person action and, it is suspected, with some sort of clever multiplayer/singleplayer crossover. It's not only a showcase for the kind of polygon-crunching power the cutting edge PC can generate (finally loosed from the shackles of last-gen cross platform releases) but it also establishes a fiction that Ubisoft hopes will see it through the next decade.
Grand Theft Auto 5
Developer: Rockstar
Publisher: In-house
Release: TBC
There's been no confirmation of Rockstar's next blockbuster for PC, but it would be a world gone topsy-turvy if Grand Theft Auto 5 was marooned on consoles for ever. This isn't Red Dead Redemption, a game developed by a studio with around three PC credits to its name – this is GTA, a series whose every main instalment has appeared on PC. And it's developed by Rockstar North, a team that (even including its legacy as DMA Design) has brought all bar seven of its games to PC. And where are the internet petitions to port Walker over from the Amiga, I might ask?
One of the biggest releases of 2013, GTA 5 sees the player take on the role of three different characters trying to make a crust amid the tinseltown glamour and sunbaked squalor of Los Santos. And it's an ill-gotten crust at that, given the series' heritage of exuberant criminality: heists, hits and high-speed chases are the order of the day, interspersed with all the leisure activities a high-rolling hoodlum might desire. The game's online component, GTA Online, lets you do all that but...online, expanding Red Dead Redemption's brilliant multiplayer to envelop the entirety of Los Santos.
Mirror's Edge 2
Developer: DICE
Publisher: EA
Release Date: TBA
Link:
Mirror's Edge site
Mirror's Edge 2 will be an open-world action adventure according to EA Labels president Frank Gibeau, who apparently used the term in the publisher's E3 analyst call last June. It'll be a prequel, too, telling the origin story of tattooed heroine Faith, pre-tattoo. The extent of the sandbox is currently unknown - all we've seen of the game a short trailer featuring a pair of gloved hands and lots of punching. But the change of direction has the chance to make a cult classic look like a practice run. Not least because Mirror's Edge 2 runs on Frostbite 2, Battlefield 4's engine. It particularly excels at physics, so you'll get your money's worth in shattering glass and billowing fabric.
"[Producer Sara Jansson] pitched an idea that frankly could only be built on gen four. It's a stunning concept, and when she came to us we knew we had it. And yes, we've been testing ideas and we've been prototyping stuff, and I'm glad that we waited to get the right idea,” says Patrick Söderlund, executive vice president of the EA Games Label. “I was frankly blown away,” he says.
Mad Max
Developer: Avalanche
Publisher: Warner Bros
Release: TBC 2014
Link:
Mad Max site
An open world Mad Max game from the developers of Just Cause? You don't need to be Bolo Santosi to see the value in that. We've barely seen any of it so far, but Mad Max seems to fuse the the go anywhere, grapple-hook anything attitude of the Just Cause series with brutal weaponry, ammo scarcity, added car customisation and a significantly browner colour palette.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Developer: PlatinumGames, Kojima Productions
Publisher: Konami
Release date: January 9 2014
Link:
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
For action aficionados, PlatinumGames have been sorely missed on PC. For fans of batshit postmodern plotting, the Metal Gear series has also been sorely missed on PC. Here comes Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, then, to bridge the gap between Platinum and Kojima Productions and give us a dose of the expertise behind top console action games, Bayonetta and Vanquish. You play as former boring soldier man and current high-tech cyber-ninja, Raiden, who has a katana that can cut through anything. You use this Katana to exact revenge on, well, everyone. Will there be massive cutscenes? Yes. Will we learn the meaning of the word “revengeance?” Probably not.
Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: In-house
Release Date: 15th January
Link:
Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD micro-site
A return to the Assassin's Creed III timeline might seem an odd choice, given that we're all swigging rum and singing shanties alongside Black Flag's pirates. Even odder is the idea of returning for an upgraded and prettified version of a PS Vita exclusive. Even so, Assassin's Creed III: Liberation was notable for featuring the series' first female protagonist - Aveline de Grandpré - and drew praise for its recreation of 18th century New Orleans. This HD remake will add new missions and remove the original's touch-screen gimmicks.
Watch Aveline take on guards, gators and frilly dresses in the
Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD announcement trailer .
Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow 2
Developer: MercurySteam
Publisher: Konami
Release: February 2014
Link:
Castlevania site
The first Lords of Shadow was a pleasant surprise for many, winning players round with a highly competent (if derivative) mix of third-person action, exploration and puzzling. The sequel skips from medieval times to the modern day, with the protagonist, now going under the name of Dracula, awakening from a long slumber. Expect the acrobatic hacking and slashing of enormous supernatural creatures and enough of the red stuff to defeat even the most powerful of detergent cleaners.
Ultra Street Fighter IV
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: In-house
Release Date: August
Link:
Capcom's Ultra SF4 site
OK, so we're reasonably certain this will be the last version of Street Fighter IV – unless there are any words that supersede 'ultra' – but if you've held out this long to give Ryu and Ken a good beating, this fourth version of the Capcom's classic fighting game should be the one to get. What's new? Extra characters – Rolento, Elena, Hugo and Poison – along with extra stages and modes and every bit of costume DLC released so far. By the end, Capcom will have hopefully made enough money to greenlight Street Fighter V, Super Street Fighter V, and Mega Street Fighter V: Hyper Ultra Omega Arcade Edition.
You'll be pleased to hear that Ultra SF4 will
ditch Games for Windows Live (mainly because GFWL doesn't exist any more). This version comes with a couple new battle systems too, which we've detailed
here .
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Developer: Beenox
Publisher: Activision
Release Date: Early 2014
Your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man will be swinging into town early next year, slightly ahead of the film. Unless it wants to spoil things, the superhero sandbox will take lessons from the first game and pick up right where the movie left off. Expect a more detailed New York City; expect a morality system; expect Stan Lee to pop up somewhere.
ADVENTURE
You can thank Kickstarter for the return of the adventure game. Double Fine's Broken Age showed that there's still a huge appetite for narrative-driven puzzle games. Now we have a number of nostalgic returns to great adventure gaming series like Broken Sword. Elsewhere, Telltale lead the charge with their character-focused and choice-driven take on adventure games. Can Season Two of The Walking Dead live up to the terrific first run? Will The Wolf Among Us capitalise on its strong first episode? We can't wait to find out.
The Walking Dead: Season Two
Developer: Telltale Games
Publisher: In-house
Release date: Episodes 2 - 5 to be released throughout Early 2014
Link:
Telltale's The Walking Dead site
The first series redefined how Telltale approach their licensed adventures. With the second, they're upping the ante: bringing more tales from the dark heart of post-apocalyptic, zombie-ridden America, this time from the perspective of the small but capable Clementine. After a first season spent teaching, protecting and caring for Clem, the creators have removed the middleman, putting the player directly in control of her fight for survival. Expect an affecting mix of heart and horror along the way.
Have Telltale resurrected a winner with the second season?
Read our review of the first episode .
Game of Thrones
Developer: Telltale Games
Publisher: In-house
Release Date: TBA
Link:
The Telltale Games site
Questions abound regarding Telltale's foray into George R.R. Martin's wildly popular fantasy world. Question one: what with this, Tales of the Borderlands, and The Walking Dead, are Telltale spreading themselves too thin? Question two: can Telltale's trademark episodic structure do justice to the sprawling land of Westeros? Question three: will the games presumably cel-shaded style (we've yet to see the game in action) have a trivializing effect? After their award-winning Walking Dead season last year, however, we have no doubt Telltale will strike it big with this one.
Murdered: Soul Suspect
Developer Airtight games
Publisher: Square Enix
Release: Mid 2014
Link:
Soul Suspect site
Being dead is a notable disadvantage when it comes to fighting crime – or so you would think. After being shot and killed by a mystery assailant, detective Ronan O'Connor (that'd be you) decides to put his afterlife to good use by solving his own unfortunate murder. He does this with the aid of the spirit community, and his new found ability to possess (well, a bit) living beings. It's pretty much Ghost, only with seemingly far fewer romantic pottery scenes.
Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure
Developer: Big Finish Games
Publisher: Atlus
Release date: Early 2014
Link:
Tex Murphy site
Subject of yet another unexpectedly successful Kickstarter campaign, this sees the hardboiled PI from the future return for another adventure of mystery, drama, live-action cut-scenes and natty hats. Development of this belated sequel hasn't exactly been smooth sailing, but recent video seems to indicate that it's still on track for an early 2014 release. If you're sad that FMV adventure games didn't take off in earnest - really?Also: you're going to like this
hokey, cheesy, but above all fun trailer very much.
Courtesy: pcgamer (website)
