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[spectre51]

Q1 2016 sees the highly anticipated Tom Clancy's The Division along with fellow Ubisoft series FarCry: Primal. Other notable releases are the highly rated Rise of the Tomb Raider coming to the PC and the much praised Rocket League making its way to Xbox One. Read on for a selection of titles due for release in Q1.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Release date: January, 2016

Genre: Action/Adventure

Developer: Crystal Dynamics

Publisher: Square Enix

Rating: MA15+

Mode: Single

What is it?: After uncovering an ancient mystery, Lara Croft embarks on a journey throughout the most treacherous and remote regions of the world to find the secret of immortality. Forming powerful new alliances and relying on her intellect and survival skills, Lara will ultimately embrace her fate as the Tomb Raider.

Featuring epic, high-octane action moments set in the most beautifully hostile environments on earth, Rise of the Tomb Raider delivers a cinematic survival action adventure where you will join Lara Croft on her first tomb raiding expedition and witness the rise of an icon.

Features:

• Awe-Inspiring Deadly Tombs: Explore huge ancient spaces littered with deadly traps, solve dramatic environmental puzzles, and decipher ancient texts to reveal crypts as you take on a world filled with secrets to discover.
• Woman vs. Wild: Conquer a world fiercely protecting its secrets, endure perilous conditions and unstable landscapes, face dangerous wildlife that act as guardians to ancient tombs, and explore huge interactive environments.
• Guerrilla Combat: Use the environment to your advantage, scale trees and dive underwater to avoid or takedown enemies, configure Lara's gear, weapons, and ammo to suit your play style, craft explosives on the fly to sow chaos, and wield Lara's signature combat bows and climbing axe.
• Unprecedented Visual Fidelity: Rise of the Tomb Raider comes alive with deeply immersive and interactive spaces delivering the most visually stunning Tomb Raider game ever made.

Similar to: Tomb Raider, Uncharted

Also worth noting:

• PS4 verison still to release Q4 this year.

Platforms: PC

XCOM 2

Release date: 2nd February, 2016

Genre: Strategy

Developer: Firaxis

Publisher: 2K

Rating: MA15+

Mode: Single, Multi(Comp)

What is it?: XCOM 2 is the sequel to the Turn-Based Strategy game XCOM: Enemy Unknown.
Earth has changed. Twenty years have passed since world leaders offered an unconditional surrender to alien forces. XCOM, the planet's last line of defense, was left decimated and scattered. Now, in XCOM 2, the aliens rule Earth, building shining cities that promise a brilliant future for humanity on the surface, while concealing a sinister agenda and eliminating all who dissent from their new order.

Features:

• XCOM ON THE RUN: Take command of the Avenger, an alien supply craft converted to XCOM's mobile headquarters. New open-ended gameplay lets you decide where to guide your strike team, how to grow popular support, and when to combat enemy counter-operations.
• RECRUIT RESISTANCE FIGHTERS: Five soldier classes, each with its own skill tree, let you create specific soldiers for your tactical plan.
• TACTICAL GUERRILLA COMBAT: New gameplay systems offer more tactical flexibility in combat. Use concealment to ambush enemy patrols. Loot enemies for precious gear and artifacts. Rescue VIPs and save fallen comrades by carrying them to the extraction point.
• EACH MISSION IS A UNIQUE CHALLENGE: Go on missions around the world, from wildlands to the heart of the alien-controlled megacities, to the depths of alien installations. There are virtually infinite combinations of maps, missions and goals.

Similar to: XCOM, Xenonauts, Invisible, Inc.

Also worth noting:

• Will have Steam Workshop integration - Community-focused tools allow you to create your own campaign, tactical gameplay, aliens, classes, strategy game features, and share within the Steam Workshop.

Platforms: PC

Firewatch

Release date: 10th February, 2016

Genre: Adventure/Mystery

Developer: Campo Santo

Publisher: Campo Santo

Rating: CTC

Mode: Single

What is it?: The year is 1989. You are a man named Henry who has retreated from his messy life to work as afire lookout in the Wyoming wilderness. Perched high atop a mountain, it's your job to look for smoke and keep the wilderness safe. But when something strange draws you out of your lookout tower and into the world, you'll explore a wild and unknown environment, facing questions and making choices that can build or destroy the only meaningful relationship you have.

Features:

• A stunningly beautiful wilderness environment that expands as you explore.
• A tailor-made story: the choices you make shape the narrative and build relationships.
• An edge-of-your-seat mystery.
• Secrets and discoveries to be made over every hill.

Similar to: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, Myst

Also worth noting:

• A thrilling story and script by Sean Vanaman and Jake Rodkin (The Walking Dead: Season 1, Poker Night at the Inventory)

Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4

Street Fighter V

Release date: 17th February, 2016

Genre: Fighting

Developer: Capcom

Publisher: Capcom

Rating: M

Mode: Single, Multi(Comp)

What is it?: The legendary fighting franchise returns with STREET FIGHTER V! Stunning visuals depict the next generation of World Warriors in unprecedented detail, while exciting and accessible battle mechanics deliver endless fighting fun that both beginners and veterans can enjoy.

Features:

• New and Returning Characters: Classic characters like Ryu, Chun-Li, Charlie Nash and M. Bison return! Many more new and returning characters will be added to the diverse roster, offering a wide variety of fighting styles for players to choose from.
• New Strategies and Battle Mechanics: Highly accessible new battle mechanics, which revolve around the V-Gauge and EX Gauge, provide an unprecedented layer of strategy and depth to the franchise that all players can enjoy.
• Next Gen Visuals: Unreal Engine 4 technology pushes the realism and next-gen visuals to new heights, making this latest entry the best looking and most immersive Street Fighter game of all time.
• Rise up: Ranking leaderboards track players careers and are integrated with the Capcom Pro Tour, the premier league destination for competitive fighting games.

Similar to: Street Fighter, King of Fighters, Killer Instinct

Also worth noting:

• PC and PS4 Cross-Platform Play.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4

Far Cry Primal

Release date: 24th February, 2016

Genre: Action/Adventure

Developer: Ubisoft

Publisher: Ubisoft

Rating: MA15+

Mode: Single

What is it?: Welcome to the Stone Age, a time of extreme danger and limitless adventure, when giant mammoths and sabretooth tigers ruled the Earth and humanity is at the bottom of the food chain. As the last survivor of your hunting group, you will learn to craft a deadly arsenal, fend off fierce predators, and outsmart enemy tribes to conquer the land of Oros and become the Apex Predator.

Features:

• STONE AGE BY FAR CRY: The rich setting of the Stone Age provides a new setting filled with unpredictable mayhem, dangerous threats, and incredible stories that Far Cry is known for.
• RISE ABOVE EXTINCTION: Play as Takkar, a seasoned hunter and the last surviving member of your group. There is one goal: survive in a world where you are the prey.
• FIERCE WILDLIFE AND SAVAGE AND MAJESTIC WORLD: This is earth before man laid claim to it, where deadly sabretooth tigers ruled the world, giant woolly mammoths were kings, and herds of massive Elk stormed through the plains. Discover these and many more daunting creatures in the savage open-world of Oros within the towering redwood forests, harsh taiga, cold glacial mountains and humid swamps.

Similar to: FarCry, ARK: Survival Evolved.

Also worth noting:

• PC verison set to release March 1st.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One.

Tom Clancy's The Division

Release date: 9th March, 2016

Genre: Action/RPG

Developer: Massive Entertainment

Publisher: Ubisoft

Rating: MA15+

Mode: Single, Multi(Comp, Co-op))

What is it?: Black Friday - a devastating pandemic sweeps through New York City, and one by one, basic services fail. In only days, without food or water, society collapses into chaos. The Division, an autonomous unit of tactical agents, is activated. Leading seemingly ordinary lives among us, these agents are trained to operate independently in order to save society.

Features:

• TAKE BACK NEW YORK - Welcome to a next-gen experience in a persistent and dynamic open world environment that is built from the ground up for co-op and where exploration and player progression are essential. Teaming up with other Division agents, your mission is to restore order, investigate the source of the virus, and take back New York.
• A LIVING, BREATHING WORLD - Enter a universe where time of day and weather conditions impact your gaming experience. Use the environment for strategic advantage to dominate fights and ambush your enemies. Utilize your gas mask to provide protection from the virus, and upgrade it to enter the most highly contaminated areas.
• GEAR UP AND CUSTOMIZE YOUR AGENT - Harness state-of-the-art technology, both networked and prototype, as a member of The Division. Customize your character and your backpack, your lifeline in mid-crisis New York. Communicate with other agents at all times with your smartwatch. Loot fallen enemies and customize and level up your weapons, gear, and skills.
• SEAMLESS MULTIPLAYER: THE DARK ZONE - Enter the Dark Zone, a walled-off quarantine zone in the middle of Manhattan where the most valuable loot was left behind when the military evacuated. It's also the most dangerous area in the game, where fear, betrayal, and tension are high. Team up with other players to take down your enemies and extract legendary loot via helicopter. It's your choice to collaborate with other agents, or attack them and steal their loot.

Similar to: Ghost Recon, Borderlands.

Also worth noting:

• Season Pass promises a full year of major expansions and exclusive benefits

Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Other Releases - January

Release date: 2016

• 13th - The Banner Saga - PlayStation 4, Xbox One
• 16th - Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen - PC
• 20th - Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster - PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
• 21st - Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak - PC
• 30th - Sebastien Loeb Rally Evo - PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
• The Witness - PC, PlayStation 4

Other Releases - February

Release date: 2016

• 3rd - American Truck Simulator - PC
• 10th - Unravel - PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
• 24th - Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 - PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
• Rocket League - Xbox One
• The Walking Dead: Michonne - PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One

Other Releases - March

Release date: 2016

• 2nd - Heavy Rain - PlayStation 4
• 5th - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD - WiiU
• 12th - Hitman - PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
• 25th - Killer Instinct: Season 3 - PC, Xbox One

Editor: spectre51

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[Axe99]

Nice one Spec .  Quite a few good games coming out in the next few months .  My highlights would be XCOM 2 (although I'll probably wait for it to hit console), the Banner Saga (after waiting for it to hit console), and Firewatch.  Any catch your eye?

[spectre51]

Firewatch, Unravel, Hitman and the Division all have my interest for varying reasons but doubt I will play any this year bit hard to pay new release prices for new games when much cheaper older games I have interest in are available and still want to get around to.

[Aromaci]

Wait so Tomb Raider is on PC but not PS4?

[spectre51]

PS4 release for Tomb Raider wont be until Q4 this year, probably the holidays. So yes only PC release for now.

[Aromaci]

That's poop and makes no sense.

[SmokeyPSD]

Add to that it did terribly on Xbox as well. There's a lot of unhappy people I'm sure within Crystal Dynamics right now. Sales are probably going to suffer across the board.

[Axe99]

SmokeyPSD, on 09 January 2016 - 03:46 PM, said:

Add to that it did terribly on Xbox as well. There's a lot of unhappy people I'm sure within Crystal Dynamics right now. Sales are probably going to suffer across the board.

To be fair, it's probably not Crystal Dynamic's fault and more a Square Enix thing.  That said, whoever's responsible is a complete twit - by all accounts it's a great game, sent out to die by poor marketing decisions.

[SmokeyPSD]

Axe99, on 09 January 2016 - 08:44 PM, said:

To be fair, it's probably not Crystal Dynamic's fault and more a Square Enix thing.  That said, whoever's responsible is a complete twit - by all accounts it's a great game, sent out to die by poor marketing decisions.

Yeah that's why I said they would be unhappy, completely over their heads what Square did. They better not use it as an excuse to not continue on from Rise.

[Axe99]

SmokeyPSD, on 11 January 2016 - 08:09 AM, said:

Yeah that's why I said they would be unhappy, completely over their heads what Square did. They better not use it as an excuse to not continue on from Rise.

I wouldn't put it past them, but very much hope they don't, Crystal Dynamics have by all accounts put together two games that could be the foundation of an excellent long-term series, in a genre that isn't often done as well as that.

[I_live_4_fun]

My brother bought an Xbox One late last year so one day I might get around to trying out his copy Rise of the Tomb Raider.

I am most excited about the Heavy Rain Remaster from the Q1 list, hehe. Firewatch sounds very interesting too.

[GasClown]

American Truck Simulator - February 3rd! Goodbye!