Earlier this year we compiled a list of our upcoming top games for the year. Considering we are right before Gamescom and on the precipice of a lot of the major releases hitting stores, it seemed like the perfect time to compile a list of the most anticipated games for the remainder of the year. There are a lot of big games coming out this fall but this is my list with games that I hope will be in the vein of what I like or can expect from these titles. There is an abundance of great games that are still yet to come this year but I wanted to keep the list somewhat short and decided to pick the top 5. I tried to explain why the game made the list in my opinion but at the end of the day sometimes it’s hard to explain why something connects with you.

First and foremost this list isn’t ranked by order of importance or date, instead its just randomly decided.

Control

This is still one that makes the list even though it was featured on our list at the start of the the year. When we put control back on our list at the start of the year here is what we said “The latest from remedy studios looks to be another solid sci-fi entry as a mix of quantum break with the universe of fringe. The problem with quantum break was that it relied too much on the tv show that was laced in between gameplay chapters. The story didn't hook me and in the time the tv show would launch it would just disconnect you from the immersion. The story of control seems to be a little more interesting with its sci-fi elements and the removal of the forced tv show. You would also assume that the removal of the tv show with paid actors and crew would save a lot on budget which could be allocated to the game development for better writing, gameplay and making sure it launches on time” Since then there have been several in depth previews of the game and what really makes this game stand out to me is that it looks to be the best of Remedy, almost a greatest hits where they have taken everything that they have worked on over their existence and polished it for this game. The combat looks amazing featuring futuristic weapons as well as many force powers and abilities, which would be Max Payne. The writing, characters and setting look to push the boundaries of what we have seen in gaming before thanks to their world from before like Alan Wake and Quantum Break. One thing I wasn’t expecting from this game was that it has puzzle elements to it and features an almost metroidvania like approach from the previews I have seen up to this point. In the game you only have one weapon that can take multiple forms, similar to Metroid and It seems that filling out your characters abilities is done through unlocking via exploration and side quests. Remedy has built out this mind bending universe and they want players to explore it to the fullest. Typically games are limited to their world in which they create, however since it’s clear that Control is about alternate realities and dimensions it would seem as though the team has no limits or rules on what to do or where to take the game next.

In an interview with Game Informer, the game director did say that there would be DLC for the game so hopefully it will be something along the lines that the studio is known for such as the robust expansion to Alan Wake that was American Nightmare. In late July, the game director for Control shared an image on social media of the game going gold. One thing that tells us is that the game is definitely coming out August 27th as going gold that far in advance means you are ready to ship and any smaller bugs that can be found between then and launch can be fixed in a day one patch. The other interesting thing is that the image of the game going gold was that it featured the PS4 edition. I am not sure if there is anything deeper to read into this or if it just happen to be that after three years of development they didn’t think twice about it and just posted it. It could also mean something along the lines of they are working closely with Sony and its possible that DLC might make its way to that console earlier. At the time of this, Control is a little over a few weeks away and I can’t think of a better way for the fall gaming season to begin. Control is set to release August 27th.

Man of Medan

The next game on our list is also making its way to us this month and that is the first entry of what should be eight from The Dark Pictures Anthology, we get the first release with Man of Medan. This seems like the spiritual successor from the team that developed the cult and critical hit; Until Dawn.

As a huge fan of horror games and choose your own adventure type games, Until Dawn really hit the mark for me back in 2015. This is why one of my more anticipated games at the start of the year was the next true horror game from Super massive games. 

Man of Medan looks like a true successor to Until Dawn and hopefully a return to form for Super Massive. One of my favorite reasons for liking these games is that they are a great time to play with my wife as it doesn’t require fast twitch skills. Usually one of us will play for a set amount of time and then pass the controller back and forth.  Both trying to make decisions quickly as they arise before timers run out. They have already announced a new multiplayer mode coming to the game called “shared story” mode.  Basically think of 2018’s “A way out” where both person gets to control different parts of the story at the same time on a sort of split screen format. I am currently unsure if this mode is reserved for online or can work locally but either way this is a great innovation to the already shareable aspect that Until Dawn had. 

They also announced another mode called “movie night” and this works similar to Until Dawn. This mode is for sure available locally in that only one person is playing game at a time but at the start of the game you enter the names of who will be playing the game, up to 5, and when it’s time to switch the game tells you to pass the controller. In this mode you take control of certain characters for the full course of the game. I think I will prefer trying the shared story mode but I applaud super massive for understanding what kind of game they are making and how to get more people involved. 

Which leads right into the next new detail about the game and that is Man of Medan will only be 29.99 which is great but kind of interesting and makes me wonder just how long the game will actually be at that price. Until Dawn was around 8-10 hours so if we are in the same ballpark I would be happy with that. Especially if supermassive hits the target of releasing the dark pictures anthology at 2 per year. They have previously announced that there would be a total of 8 games released under the dark pictures anthology banner. All the games will be there own original story with completely original teams behind each one with just the engine and assets being used which will help the developer hit the mark of 2 per year. Man of Medan is due out August 30th which could be a sweet spot for that game as people will be hungry for new content and it will be right before most of the fall games start releasing. If they place the next one 6 months out as they plan then that would put the next game in the February window which could be a decent sweet spot right before the massive spring of 2020 that is to be expected. I thought until dawn was a blast so I’m very exited to see what 4 years of new technology and experience can do for the team at super massive and how it will affect Man of Medan at the end of August. Im very hopeful for this game as it sets the expectations for the rest of the Dark Pictures Anthology.

Star Wars: Jedi Fall Order

Fallen Order was featured in our earlier list and here’s what we said then “whats not to like about the potential of this game. What we do know, however, is exciting to say the least. The pedigree of this studio in terms of creating gritty polished shooters and worlds is next to none. Modern Warfare changed the game for years to come and both Titanfall games created some of the best feeling shooting and traversal in a shooter. We are safe to say that it will look amazing and feel super smooth but they also have made some pretty great stories from the MW story to the attachment you have with BT and the amazing time travel sections of TF2 campaign. If this game wasn't looking like it would be a huge hit, then it would be pretty safe to say that EA would have cancelled it by now. They are no stranger to cutting the cord if something is looking promising as they have already canceled two Star Wars games since signing that deal in 2013”

Since then we have found out substantially more since the game received a pretty deep dive at EA Play around the time of E3. For starters the visuals of the game look phenomenal with varied landscapes but what makes this games most promising is where the team is drawing inspiration from. During the EA PLAY event, many members of the team sat down to talk to the press about the influential games that Fallen Order is taking after. If you weren’t already excited for this game then hopefully when you hear games like The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, Metroid Prime, Dark Souls, BloodBorne and God of War. In case you weren’t already aware by my inclusion of Control on this list with a large part due to its Metroid influences, it clear that I love games that feature the Metroid formula when done right. In a sit down with Polygon, Stig Asmussen, the game director, said “its not a linear experience. You’re going to different planets, you’re getting new abilities that allow you to upgrade things that are on other planets” This all sounds great as one of my top games of all time personally was the original Metroid Prime as the isolation and exploration of new bio domes which felt like new planets always kept the game feeling fresh and exciting. As for the combat they took a lot of combat inspiration from Zelda with the Z targeting system as well as how BloodBorne has a similar targeting system. The difference between those two games is night and day as one is designed with kids in mind and one is designed with the most hardcore gamer in mind. The challenge for the team came from finding the right balance in the combat “Ones too whimsical and probably too light and not grounded enough. This ones way too punishing. So we have to find something that’s more in the middle and thats what we are trying to get to”

Between all the coverage and gameplay that we have seen since E3 as well as the many interviews with the game team, Jedi Fallen order remains near the top of the list for my most anticipated games this fall. If youre looking to see how the achieved balance in the combat system and how the inspiration for level design gets implemented then be sure to check out Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order on November 15th.

Death Stranding

I put Death Stranding on this list for many reasons. I like Guerrilla Games and like most I was very happy with Horizon Zero Dawn. It was one of my favorite games from 2017. I was happy to see the company go boldly in a different direction even though I was a fan of the Killzone series as well but it felt like that series needed a break anyways and room to breathe. It felt like Sony and Guerrilla were asking for too much from that series to become something along the lines of the next Uncharted level of exclusive. However, what Guerrilla games did with Horizon was nothing short of spectacular. They created a whole new world outside of genre that they had been working in for the past 10-15 years and succeeded. One of the main reasons for the success of Horizon was because of the brand new engine that Guerrilla created, the Decima engine. The reason for that Tangent was that after Kojima and Konami split he created his own studio to be exclusively Sony. Kojima decided that after building Fox engine it might not have been worth the troubles anymore and started shopping around. After meeting with many engine developers he decided to use the decima engine from Guerrilla games. I am excited to see what Kojima can do when he doesn’t need to build the engine from scratch.

I am also very excited to see what Kojima Productions can do without the Metal Gear license. Kojima has pretty much working exclusively on Metal Gear since before 1987 when the first game in the series was released. There has been a few other games released in that time frame but almost none feature him as the writer, director and designer. We are talking about almost 30 years of his life dedicated to Metal Gear. He must have wanted to try new things that didn’t fit the MGS universe. I think it will also be interesting to see how many new people are finally able to get into a Kojima product without the hesitation of not understanding 30 years of lore.

Another reason is that almost no one outside of maybe a few hundred people in the world have played this game and understand what it actually is about. With Gamescom coming up in just a few short weeks it has been announced that Kojima will be bringing all new footage of the game to show but hopefully he will elaborate on. It’s exciting that on November 8th we will all be able to try this game for ourselves when it wasn’t too long ago that many fans and media alike pegged this game as most likely being pushed to the PS5 and not making the PS4 lifecycle.

Modern Warfare

Is Call of Duty really on your most anticipated list ? I know what you are thinking but there are multiple reasons why this annual shooter is making the list.

The fact that the series finally has a new engine after all these years should help the developers get the most out of this title and push innovation in ways that they havne’t before. The goes for every aspect of the game, starting with bullet physics. Gone are the hit scan models of the past and in are real bullet physics for every gun regarding caliber size, bullet drop and authentic recoil patterns. This will affect level design throughout the campaign and the multiplayer modes. As we have recently seen a full reveal of the MP suite we can see just how much a new engine allows designers to create. Bullets can pierce through multiple surfaces depending on type and thickness. This will completely change how you play the campaign and multiplayer. The new engine also allows for a dramatic size increase of multiplayer maps as at the reveal we saw 20v20 on display with the game shipping with 32v32 modes and over 100 player counts will be coming post launch. They didn’t say if that would be in the form of Battle Royale but it would be safe to assume that a mode like that will make its way to the game eventually. Finally the new engine allows for increased audio and visual fidelity including ray tracing, 4K and cutting edge lighting system. Combine this with an all new Dolby Atmos audio system and we are likely to see immersion from Call of Duty that we haven’t seen before.

The story looks to be pushing buttons already and generating reaction. Infinity Ward had hired a few ex Naughty Dog members to help with the story of Modern Warfare. Naughty Dog games have always had very rich characters and storylines so that hope is that the experience can be brought to the Modern Warfare campaign to create real moments that don’t just feel like a Michael Bay movie.

Another big feature this year will be the inclusion of cross play, a feature rarely seen on video games and definitely not seen on a call of duty game until this point. Not only will this allow players across all platforms to settle arguments on who is the best but it should also help open the door further for all other games published after it. The same way that Fortnite and its astronomical success forced the hand it will be interesting to see if a game as large as Call of Duty can help change the landscape in a positive way.

Finally, this year the series is actually getting rid of the season pass. I think this is a huge step in the right direction. This will allow the game to stay relevant for much longer in my opinion as you won’t be segmenting the player base every time you release a new update. This will be free maps and content to all players but this leaves a huge question of how will they monetize instead. The major hope here is that they replace it with a better method of collecting revenue from players rather than loot boxes, cosmetics and micro transactions. I think what they do here will leave ripple effects due to their size and popularity, so you have to hope that they are going to attempt something fair that is a win win for both the company and the gamer.