The 16 for 2016: Part One

This will be a four part series of games that either I’m personally looking forward to in 2016, or will be a major release in 2016. In this first part, I look at the XCom sequel, Total War: Warhammer,  Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, and Gears of War 4

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (due in August 2016) is the sequel to 2011’s , Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and will star the same protagonist from the previous game (Adam Jenson), set two years after the DE:HR’s finale. It showcases the increasing tension and anger between those with Augments and those without, whipped up by shadowy forces who wish to use the conflict for their own purposes. It’ll be very interesting to see how they assuage folks who went a different storybranch from what they personally did in Human Revolution, but Eidos Montreal has a lot of credit built up after a very successful showing with Human Revolution.

Also interesting is the reports from the New York Comic Con, where folks worried that the PC version would be a console port were told that the Eidos Montreal folks felt porting a game from Console directly to PC was “disrespectful”, and that they were working to make sure that all versions felt like it was designed to use that interface. The game was originally due out in February, but was delayed to August 2016 so that the game could be polished. So it looks like the Arkham Knight debacle is being learned from by other developers.

Total War: Warhammer (current release date is April) scares me a bit, I want to admit. I love the Warhammer world (even though I can’t build minis or paint worth a damn), and when Total War is on, it can be great. And the early footage is wonderful, I mean take a look at this footage from an early build in the game back in September.

Awe inspiring isn’t it? So why am I scared? Because when Total War goes bad, it goes REAL bad, and considering how much people enjoy the Warhammer world, this could turn real toxic real quickly. But, I will sit here, being quietly hopeful, and hope for the best.

XCom 2 (February)  has a storyline that could be referred to as the bad ending from the first XCom game. The war against the aliens has been lost, and some years later, a ragtag band of XCom agents seize an alien command ship (the best I could compare it to was the SHIELD Helicarrier from the Avengers movies) to bring the fight back to the aliens and try to reignite Earth’s freedom.

This will be a PC only release to start, and console versions are a possibility down the road but if you want to get on the XCom train, it’s departing from the station in about six weeks, so it’s time to get on board. And shoot an alien for me, would ya?

Gears of War 4 (Q4 2016) may not be a 2016 release. But while the ever popular franchise has a captive audience, and has four previous games that were all at least pretty darn good, to quote Han Solo, “I have a bad feeling about this.”. Why? First of all, the original folks behind the series will have nothing to do with this game as Microsoft bought the rights from Epic Games, and assigned it to a new developer, The Coalition. I worry that when a long running series goes from one developer to another that may not be as onboard with the game’s history and storyline, that it could be a wrenching change in the game’s play and feel. There are some Epic Games folks at the Coaltion, so, my fears may be unwarranted, but we’ll see if this game comes out this year, and if they can maintain the quality of the series.

So that’s the first four of the 16 for 16. We’ll cover our next four tomorrow.