The 16 for 2016: Part Two

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (scheduled for a March release) will be the concluding game in the Nathan Drake saga. This is kind of interesting, that it was rebooted during development, when the series writer and game director left Naughty Dog in March 2014 to join other gaming companies, the change of plans that went through with the change at the top meant that 8 months work of shooting, voice work and much of the existing storyline was scrapped.

This feels like a farewell, not only is this the final game featuring Nathan Drake, but Naughty Dog will not be involved in future Uncharted games. Hopefully, it will be a love letter to what has gone before, and wrap up a character that many people have enjoyed over the past few years.

Mighty No. 9 (February) led me to coin a new phrase to properly describe this game’s difficult birth. The Hype Trainwreck. When it was announced that the creator of the Mega Man series wanted to do a spiritual successor to the popular series, fans rejoiced. The initial kickstarter goal was met in two days. The kickstarter finished with $4,000,000 in funding. All was well with the world.

That world was in 2013.

The game was estimated as an early 2015 relase, but two delays have sapped a lot of the good will and you get the feeling that no matter how good the game is on release, the delays and missteps during the game’s creation will be in everyone’s mind when they play the series. However, there is still a lot of interest in games like this, so, the fans hope that the hype train for the game’s release doesn’t derail and explode. Again.

Overwatch : (Spring 2016/estimated by Blizzard on or before 6/21/16) The beta for this game proved that yes, Blizzard can do a shooter game very well with unique charcters and ideas that didn’t rely on concepts from their other popular games (like Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm did. There is still some parts to be worked on, however (Blizzard scrapped the proposed advancement system, and will be trying a new system. in their upcoming beta.

Blizzard is not one to break new ground easily in their gams, but this seems like something new and fresh, and reports on gameplay in the beta seemed very positive. I think Blizzard disappointed folks by moving it to a full release instead of a free to play game supported by microtransactions, but if the game’s good enough, the fans will be there. And so far, the belief is that the game will be more than good enough.

And finally today, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst (May) is the reboot of cult parkour/freerunning game Mirror’s Edge, which in 2008 was labeled with the somewhat backhanded compliment of being “the best game nobody played”. Maybe because it broke such new ground in that it wasn’t a combat slugfest like most games using that point of view (the game rewarded avoiding enemies, not eliminating them), and that the game rewarded both twitch reflexes and careful study of the futuristic city’s terrain.

Hopefully it will be more popular. It’s not my cup of tea (even watching the alpha gave me queasiness a bit), but it’s good to see games dare to be different and this looks interesting even while it’s nauseating.

Eight down, eight to go. What games do you think haven’t appeared on the list so far that you think should be there?