According to trailers and previews, the game blends its well-known 2.5D platformer mechanics with a Metroidvania design (meaning an interconnected world you’ll repeatedly traverse as you gain new abilities/items), which seems like something the franchise should have done before.
While the visuals don’t look award-winning, the combat is meaty and engaging, which is paramount for a game that reportedly takes about 24 hours to complete.
2 The Last of Us Part II
Released: January 19
Available on: PS5
The Last of Us Part II is a narrative heavyweight – traumatic, engrossing, draining and hypnotic. The original PS4 game is well worth playing, but the remaster offers a few new upgrades and extras.
There is a new mode called No Return, a survival mode featuring a variety of playable characters from the franchise. Another bonus is Lost Levels – playable but not fully finished levels cut from the original game. (Developer Naughty Dog frames this as a behind-the-scenes treat for gamers.)
Then there are upgraded graphics and better load times and, since this is on the PS5, haptic feedback integration with the console’s DualSense controller.
If you haven’t played the original, the remaster is the perfect opportunity to dive into this phenomenal game. (Those who own the original game and a PS5 can upgrade their version for US$10, rather than paying the full US$49.99.)
3. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Release date: January 26
Available on: PS5/4, XSX/S, Xbox One, PC
The Like a Dragon games (known as the Yakuza series until 2020) are wild, nonsensical and completely addictive. One minute you’ll be singing karaoke, and the next you’ll be thrown into a massive, multilevel brawl where you’re just as likely to perform a wrestling move as you are to brandish a traffic cone as a weapon.
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, a sequel to 2020’s Yakuza: Like a Dragon, continues this chaos with colourful aplomb – and, for the first time, adds a non-Japan location to the mix: Hawaii.
Along with Like a Dragon’s Ichiban Kasuga, long-time protagonist Kazuma Kiryu makes his knuckle-brawling return as the two team up to … well, if previous games in the long-running series have taught us anything, it’s that we have no idea what’s going on in any Yakuza/Like a Dragon game.
Perfect your fighting styles and you’ll be good to go.
4 Pacific Drive
Release date: February 22
Available on: PS5, PC
Why is it that every game set in the US’ Pacific northwest has to be a horror game? (Maybe it’s all the trees?) In Pacific Drive, a first-person survival game from developer Ironwood Studios, you explore the haunting Olympic Exclusion Zone where some dangerous research has transformed the area into something twisted.
You’ll drive around in your trusty car as you collect material so you can build tools and upgrade your garage (where you’ll use said tools to improve your car). Your goal: to escape the anomalies (and oddly disturbing metal monsters) plaguing the Exclusion Zone.
Here’s hoping there are some rockin’ tunes on the radio to keep us distracted from impending doom.
5 Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Release date: February 29
Available on: PS5
At the end of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Remake, we were introduced to an alternate version of the 1997 original, where protagonist Cloud Strife and his teammates defied fate and changed their future.
As ByteDance retreats in video games, miHoYo claims global wins with new title
As ByteDance retreats in video games, miHoYo claims global wins with new title
It was also the first of a trilogy. The second game, Rebirth, is slated to diverge even further from the original classic.
While combat and visuals look similar to 2020’s Remake, other more important questions abound.
What does it mean for that character to be alive in this timeline? Will that character die this time, or will they be saved?
We know Rebirth’s storyline will take us from leaving Midgar to the Forgotten Capital (where one of the gaming world’s most famous deaths happens – or does it?), but what happens along the way is more of a mystery fans will be eager to see play out.
6 Destiny 2: The Final Shape
Release date: June 4
Available on: PS5/4, XSX/S, Xbox One, PC
The Final Shape is meant to wrap up Destiny’s decade-long Light and Darkness Saga and answer long-standing questions about the Traveler, the Witness, the Guardians and so much more. But the real mystery lies in our reality.
Sony-owned Bungie has hit some rocky times recently. The Destiny developer in late October announced lay-offs and title delays following reportedly missing revenue projections by 45 per cent.
The reported reason for the financial turmoil was a drop in the player base for Destiny following last February’s lacklustre Lightfall expansion.
So players are rightly concerned about what will come with The Final Shape, which was delayed until June. Here’s hoping the company pulls out all the stops for what should be (and, for Bungie, what must be) a competent and celebratory moment for the company and Destiny community.