Once Human
PC, smartphones; Starry Studio; Release: 9 July
The market is already crammed with open-world multiplayer survival games, but this post-apocalyptic epic adds cosmic horror to the mix. Its huge world is crammed with grotesque Lovecraftian monsters – including a living bus like the benevolent catbus in My Neighbour Totoro, but just horrible. You have been warned.
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Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn
PC, PS5, Xbox Series X; A44 Games; Release: 18 July
A role-playing action game from New Zealand with intriguingly Bloodborne-like combat. You use an axe, dodges and a pistol to interrupt your powerful enemies’ attacks and gain the upper hand – but this animated world is much brighter and less bleak, inspired by its developers’ antipodean surroundings.
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Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
Xbox, PC, PS4/5; Capcom; Release: 19 July
I have never seen anything quite like this forthcoming game from Capcom: you control a warrior protecting a priestess as she slowly dances her way through monster-infested Japanese mountain scenes, purifying her surroundings as you go. During the day you rescue people and station your troops; at night you attack the monsters, hoping to keep her safe. It’s like tower defence meets Onimusha.
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Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure
PC, PS5, Switch; Furniture & Mattress; Release: 25 July
Genre mashups are popular in the indie scene and this is one of the most interesting – a block-sorting puzzler crossed with a role-playing game. You play as Jemma, a young adventurer whose every move also shifts the row or column she’s standing on, so that exploration becomes a series of geographic conundrums.
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SteamWorld Heist II
PS4/5, Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox; Image & Form; Release: 8 August
The SteamWorld games are all lovable variations on a theme: Dig is a Spelunky-style puzzle-platformer, Quest is an RPG, Build is a city-management game and Heist is a characterful turn-based strategy battler where you control a team of amusing pirate robots. Between bouts you zoom around in a sputtering submarine, exploring the seas.
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Black Myth: Wukong
PC, PS5; Game Science; Release: 20 August
Sixteenth-century Chinese novel Journey to the West has inspired countless anime, movies and video games, and this is the latest adaptation: an action role-playing game with definite Souls-like leanings, it pits players against a wealth of monsters from Chinese folklore in a sumptuous ancient landscape.
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Phoenix Springs
PC; Calligram Studio; Release: 16 September
A point and click detective game for the 21st century, in which the player collects concepts and conversations rather than objects, and the inventory is a mind map rather than a bottomless suitcase; you use the words and ideas you’ve come up with to question people for more information. The visuals have the bold, hyper-stylised beauty of a weird pop video or new wave animation.
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UFO 50
PC; Mossmouth; Release: 18 September
A collection of 50 self-contained games made by a real who’s who of indie developers. Designed to resemble the software library of a fictitious 8-bit console from history, UFO 50 has everything from sports sims to shoot-’em-ups. Bringing modern game design sensibilities to an imagined alternate gaming history is a fascinating idea.
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Slitterhead
PS4, PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X; Bokeh Games; Release: 8 November
Red-eyed children, parasitic brain worms and deserted city streets: it can only be the latest horror adventure from Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama. Early footage suggests gallons of gore and a currently very chic PS2-era aesthetic.
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Wanderstop
PC, PS5; Ivy Road; Release: TBC
The latest project from The Stanley Parable creator Davey Wreden sees retired warrior Alta abandoning her broadsword in order to run a cosy tea shop. You’ll be serving customers and growing all your own ingredients – but trailers suggest Alta’s past isn’t going down without a fight …
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Critter Cafe
PC, Switch; Sumo Newcastle; Release: TBC
When developer Sumo Newcastle held its own in-house game-jam, Critter Cafe was such a popular entrant that it was picked up for a full release. It’s all about saving cute creatures from a magical rift and then allowing them to roam your sweet little cafe, charming the guests and making friends. Likely to be one of the wholesome hits of the year.
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Neva
PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox; Nomada Studio; Release: TBC
From the team behind the ethereal, melancholy Gris comes another emotional adventure, this time about a young girl and her wolf wandering a beautiful yet dying world. Drawing parallels between ecology and parenthood, and featuring some sublime natural environments, Neva looks set to be a poignant yet hopeful experience.
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Unknown 9: Awakening
PC, PS4/5, Xbox; Reflector Entertainment; Release: TBC
Starring Witcher 3 actor Anya Chalotra, here’s an epic fantasy adventure following young warrior Haroona, who has the ability to access a mysterious dimension and supernatural powers – earning her the attention of an evil secret society. It reminds us of both Dishonored and The Darkness, which is no bad thing.
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Fear the Spotlight
PC, PS4/5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch; Cozy Game Pals; Release: TBC
The low-poly mid-90s PlayStation 1 aesthetic is back in a big way, and it really plays into the creepiness of this unusual horror game from a tiny two-person team. Two teen girls hold an ill-advised seance in their school library at night, and what happens next is predictably alarming – solving tactile puzzles as you creep around the school in the darkness really brings to mind the brilliant early days of survival horror.
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