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Resident Evil Requiem
The ninth mainstream instalment in the survival horror series returns us to the wreckage of Racoon City and promises a blend of cinematic action and psychological horror. FBI agent Grace Ashcroft appears to be the main character, but is anything in this series ever what it seems?
Stranger Than Heaven
The latest project from Sega’s Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio (Yakuza, Like a Dragon) is a historical action adventure set in Japan during the early 21st century, featuring moody detectives, street gangs and jazz – a potent combo for this idiosyncratic team.
007 First Light
Surely the dream combination: James Bond meets the team behind the Hitman series in an adventure that seeks to reboot the Bond backstory and legend. Featuring globe-trotting espionage, stealth and gadgets, it’s the most exciting video game outing for Fleming’s character since GoldenEye.
Mandrake
A folkloric rural life sim, where you play as horticultural sorceress, tending to your garden and looking out for the darkness at the edge of the village. Developer Failbetter (Sunless Sea, Fallen London) are pioneers of narrative game design and the team is growing something special here.
Big Walk
Australian developer House House had an unexpected smash hit with Untitled Goose Game – now it’s back with a similarly unusual co-op adventure where players become bird-like creatures, exploring a mysterious puzzle-filled island. Like some sort of hallucinogenic 1970s children’s animation come spectacularly to life.
Beast of Reincarnation
No one saw this coming: a big, dark post-apocalyptic action adventure from Game Freak, the creator of Pokémon. Set in a ruined Japan menaced by robots and monsters, you play as Emma the Sealer, using plants as weapons and aided by a faithful canine companion – and not a Jigglypuff in sight.
Dosa Divas
Developer Outerloop (Thirsty Suitors) returns to its self-created subgenre – the cooking RPG – with this typically colourful sci-fi tale. Two sisters fight an evil corporation by preparing real food rather than artificial slop for their local community. Expect spices and feelings.
Blippo+
Not so much a game as a bizarre TV simulator, Blippo+ encourages players to channel surf an alien broadcasting network, consuming soap operas, sitcoms and news reports in a haze of surreal, glitchy FMV. Hypnospace Outlaw meets Radio Times? Sure, go on then.
Felt That: Boxing
Whoever had “something that combines The Muppets with Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!” on their Summer Game Fest wish list must be feeling pretty happy right now. New developer Sans Strings Studio has utilised the power of Unreal Engine 5 to produce the highly naturalistic puppet boxing odyssey the world desperately needs.
Paralives
After the hugely successful inZOI, here’s another indie take on The Sims, which pares down the experience to a single-player life adventure with no DLC, but lots of home customisation options, characters to meet and pets to, um, pet.
Clockwork Revolution
A time-warping steampunk adventure from the makers of Wasteland and Saints Row. There’s a hint of Bioshock in its setting: a dystopian future city where inhabitants augment themselves with clockwork cyber limbs. What could possibly go wrong?
Persona 4 Revival
Finally, Atlus has confirmed a remake of its legendary 2008 role-playing adventure set amid occult rituals and gruesome murders in rural Japan. Little is known beyond the title, but that’s enough to get us interested.
There Are No Ghosts at the Grand
You’ve inherited a creaky old hotel and now you have 30 days to renovate it while solving puzzles and exploring the labyrinthine hallways. Part renovation sim, part spooky adventure, this was a real standout at the Xbox showcase.
Keeper
The latest bizarre concoction from Psychonauts developer Double Fine has you controlling an anthropomorphic lighthouse as it explores a coastal realm together with its sea bird companion. What are they putting in the water at this studio?
All Will Rise
The world doesn’t need another deck-building strategy game – unless it’s also a courtroom drama in which you’re a team of environmentalists suing a corrupt billionaire for poisoning a river. Timely stuff from Amsterdam-based studio Speculative Agency.
