Hyper #259

E3 2015 has been one of the most exciting ever, with a huge range of new IPs, much anticipated sequels and new technologies on display. More than any other E3 in memory, 2015 has proved that ideas are still alive and well in the industry, with titles that look set to redefine franchises or simply start new trends in gaming. Paired with this we have the dawn of affordable, meaningful VR with Morpheus, Oculus and HoloLens, new display formats and paradigms, new methods of control and more. Be excited. The future looks grand.…

PLATFORM: Xbone, PS4, PC / CATEGORY: RPG / DEVELOPER: Bethesda Game Studios / PUBLISHER: Bethesda Softworks / DUE: November 10 The Fallout games have all had narratives revolving around a single character reshaping the world after the catastrophic war that all but destroyed humanity and rendered the Earth a radioactive wasteland. The original Fallout saw the Vault Dweller from Vault 13 trying to retrieve a Water Chip to save his vault but eventually having to foil a plot to release a mutagen that would transform any effected survivors into Super Mutants. Fallout 2 saw The Chosen One try to find a Garden of Eden Creation Kit (GECK) to save Arroyo. Fallout 3 had the Vault Dweller of Vault 101 tracking down their father and eventually trying to complete plans to…

PLATFORM: PlayStation 4 / CATEGORY: Action role-playing / DEVELOPER: Guerrilla Games / PUBLISHER: Sony Computer Entertainment / DUE: 2016 Having worked on five Killzone games in a row the team at Guerrilla Games were understandably hungry for something new to sink their teeth into. But even for an experienced studio in need of a change their new venture, Horizon Zero Dawn, seems like an incredibly big task to take on. Gone are the linear paths and dark, gritty graphics from their signature sci-fi shooter series, Horizon is an open-world action RPG set in what has been dubbed a ‘post-postapocalyptic’ world filled with lush green forests, wide open spaces and deadly, murderous robot monsters. The game centres on a hunter named Aloy as she hunts these animal-like machines in an effort…

PLATFORM: PS4/PC / CATEGORY: Action / DEVELOPER: ACE Team / PUBLISHER: Atlus / DUE: FALL 2015 ACE Team is one of those indie devs whose next project you never really see coming. After first-person brawler Zeno Clash, the Santiago-based team has done the strange pinball/tower defense hybrid Rock of Ages and the surreal, Chilean mythology inspired action/RPG game Abyss Odyssey. Their next title, The Deadly Tower of Monsters, might be their most “mainstream” yet… but even that’s a bit of a stretch. From the game’s promo art, it’s easy to see the inspiration for Deadly Tower of Monsters: schlocky Hollywood sci-fi B-movies of the 50s and 60s. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a game has used retro-cinematic imagery to effect. And it certainly wouldn’t be the first game…

PLATFORM: PC / CATEGORY: Strategy / DEVELOPER: Creative Assembly / PUBLISHER: Sega / DUE: TBA 2016 Some things seem like such a foregone conclusion that you’re honestly shocked that it took so long for them to happen. When Creative Assembly announced earlier this year that they were going to be creating a Total War title based on Games Workshop’s world-beloved line of Warhammer fantasy figurines and tabletop games, the reaction was one of expected exuberance, but also relief that the seemingly inevitable had finally come to pass. I, too, was curious on how the match made in heaven was finally put together. Was it the death of THQ – and the subsequent acquisition of many of their assets by Sega – that allowed things to come to fruition? “Actually,” says…

PLATFORM: PC / CATEGORY: Turn-based strategy / DEVELOPER: Firaxis Games / PUBLISHER: 2K Games / DUE: NOVEMBER 2015 So it turns out we lost. That’s how XCOM 2 sees the world anyway. All that base building and money grubbing in the first game was for nothing – the humans were taken over by the alien invaders and now are forced to cheer for our prison wardens or risk being annihilated. “A lot of our players lost the first time they played XCOM, or even the first few times,” said Garth DeAngelis, senior producer of XCOM 2. “So we said ‘what if in our lore, they failed’ and we thought that would lead to an interesting premise.” Because the XCOMs are no longer a big budget government operation they’ve lost their…