20. Wulverblade
Remember Asterix? Well, image the heroic Gaul, only Scottish, and less Bill Oddie. Wulverblade is a side-scrolling, Golden Axe-style cartoon fighter that looks quite slick, and features full 1080p visuals, tons of unlockables and an ‘EPIC twist that you will never see coming’.
19. Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime
With a title as interesting as the game itself, this is a striking-looking indie release that sees you control the titular lovers piloting a spherical spaceship through dangerous space. To fight the various foes you encounter, you have to scrabble around the innards of your ship to man the various gun turrets. It’s kind of like FTL, albeit ramped up, and it looks very tasty indeed.
18. Grave
This is a truly strange title, and is a open-world survival horror with a novel twist. Exploring a strange desert, you find that nasties come out at night, and have to fight them off with any light source you can find, be it a torch, flash bang, or matches. When you sleep, the world around you changes, with new structures and all sorts of environmental details appearing. You’ll always be on edge as you’ll never know quite what to expect, and you’ll need to use the daylight to prepare for the evening’s assault.
17. Inside
Looking very similar in gameplay style to the excellent Limbo (it’s the same studio), Inside was one of the most striking and emotional titles we saw at E3. It’s a side scrolling platformer of sorts that places you in control of a small boy making his way through a dangerous world filled with traps and terrors. It’s much more detailed and colourful than Limbo, but it still looks every bit the artistically-themed and darkness-draped title we loved back in 2010. Few details were released about the game at the show, but it will arrive in the first half of 2015. There’s all out battle, capture the flag, football and more to fight it out in, and these are all complimented by various power-ups. It’s frantic stuff, and looks like it has the potential to be a great multiplayer experience.
15. Project Spark
We thought Project Spark was one of the most promising titles announced during the Xbox One’s reveal, and although it’s hardly made huge waves so far, it’s a title that growing as it goes, and the cross-platform support is still intriguing. The E3 trailer featured the promise of new content, including multiplayer and co-op campaigns, as well as the new galaxies content, offering space combat. And, if you’re wondering what happened to Conker the squirrel, wonder no more, as he’s coming to Project Spark, presumably with a new, special Conker recourse set. It’s a shame Conker has been relegated to this level and not a real game. But hey, at least you can now you can make your own sequel to Bad Fur Day.
14. Lifeless Planet
This is already out for the PC, but it’ll be welcome on the Xbox One too. It’s an atmospheric adventure that puts the emphasis on exploration and platforming, as well as some rudimentary puzzles. It sees you exploring a strange, alien planet that has somehow been occupied by the Russians, despite being 15 years away from Earth by space travel. As you explore the world, you soon find out that the Russian involvement is the least of your troubles, and more dangers introduce themselves. On PC the game delivers a deeply atmospheric romp, with a selection of beautiful environments to explore, and an intriguing story to uncover, so this should be one to watch out for on Xbox if you’ve not managed to play it on PC. The trailer we’ve seen thus far is all CG, but Platinum has a strong pedigree in delivering amazing-looking titles that posses fast, frantic and cinematic action, so there’s no reason not to believe that the final game could deliver what the trailer promises.
12. Cuphead
Cuphead is a platform shooter rendered in the style of old 30s cartoons, such as Max Fleischer, Mickey Mouse, and Betty Boop. It looks gorgeous, and has the 30’s vibe nailed, complete with genuinely unsettling enemies (just look at that sunflower).
11. Ori And The Blind Forest
Revealed by Microsoft during its press conference, Ori And The Blind Forest is an undeniably attractive title, but underneath this eye candy supposedly lies a deep Metroidvania-style title. The game will have a wide selection of skills and abilities that players can unlock to help them explore and survive the world. These abilities can be combined in numerous ways, making for a flexible skill system and a character that the developer claims will push the controls, adding a good deal of challenge. It’s a first person shooter that, along with great visual polish, will introduce a solo and multiplayer-blurring game mechanic which is being compared to the likes of Dark Souls. This will see other players invading your world in such a way that’ll you’ll not know which of your foes is AI, or which is an invading human. The game’s story revolves around exploring and changing the memories of the main characters, and will fuse thriller and horror together. It should be noted that Below will be exclusive to Xbox One for a limited time. So other platforms should also get the game at some point.
8. Forza Horizon 2
The open-world incarnation of Forza is set to return on September 30. It’ll feature a seamless multiplayer mode and support for the Drivatar system, along with a ‘dramatic weather’ system, There’ll be 1000 driver clubs and over 200 cars.
7. Quantum Break
We didn’t see much of this at E3 this year as it’s being saved for later at Gamescom, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s one of the most interesting titles for the Xbox One, and we’re still eager to see more. It’s something of an enigma as to how the whole thing will flow, with the TV-influence and the time travelling mechanic, but if there’s one thing we like to see in games it’s creative innovation, and Quantum Break promises that. The four versus one setup pits four players against a villain player. The latter takes the role of a dungeon master, and set traps and controls the level enemies. The heroes have to conquer the dungeon and defeat the villain. Simple. It’ll drop the open world RPG style of Fable in favour of this more limited action theme, which has caused concern with some fans, but this could be a welcome change until Fable 4 comes along. However, it’s the multiplayer that’ll represent the most value here. A truly epic collection, the multiplayer component will feature over 100 maps, and it’ll run on dedicated servers. The maps will even include those from the original Halo: Combat Evolved and Spartan Ops missions. Oh, and the game will include access to Halo 5‘s multiplayer beta, which will no doubt sell copies all on its own.
4. Sunset Overdrive
We’ve seen much more of the gameplay and features of Incomniac’s Sunset Overdrive, and it’s looking like it could be a big hit. It’s an open-world shooter with an emphasis on over the top weapons and free running, and there’s plenty of customisation.
3. Halo 5: Guardians
The next major Halo instalment doesn’t really need any explanation of its inclusion in the list, does it? It’s a new Halo, what more do you need? Seriously, though, Halo 5: Guardians is hopefully going to be something quite special. As the first Halo game on the Xbox One, the added power and new direction courtesy of 343 could make this great, and with a mysterious new character, possibly one hunting Master chief down, it’s no doubt gong to be a killer app, whichever way you look at it.
2. Phantom Dust
The revival of the Xbox classic, Phantom Dust, is a hugely welcome surprise. The action card-battler was missed by most when it first arrived, with whole regions never actually getting the game. It’s a cult hit, and Microsoft is finally bringing it back to life, and this time it’s coming to everyone, along with the improved visuals and other features made possible by the leap in tech.
1. Crackdown 3
Admit it, even though you’re a hardcore Crackdown fan, Crackdown 2 was pants, wasn’t it? Yes, it was. Despite that fact, we’ve not stopped wishing for another chance to throw cars, jump over buildings and spend countless hours trying to find every last orb, and Microsoft is going to make that wish come true. Please, if you can, support our charity horror stories ebook, Den Of Eek!, raising money for Geeks Vs Cancer. Details here.
