Along with Amazon and whoever makes hand soap, gaming was one of the few industries that emerged from 2020 relatively unscathed – things look rosy, even, with two shiny new consoles and a quite literally captive audience. We’re yet to really see what the PlayStation 5 and new Xboxes can do, and that makes this year particularly exciting.
This is our list of the best games that have been released so far, and the ones to look forward for the rest of 2021. We’ve been quite liberal with inclusions here – some of these titles will inevitably be pushed back beyond 2021, but we'll keep this list up to date with the latest updates and releases.
Hitman 3
Shiny-headed amoral assassin? Check. A plethora of increasingly implausible disguises? Check. Seemingly limitless ways of murdering your targets? Check. It could only be gaming’s most professional killer, Agent 47, returning for another creative bloodbath across sprawling sandbox maps. There are just six of them this time around, but quality has been emphasised over quality: parachute into Dubai’s tallest building in the world, or stealth through a Berlin nightclub. Hitman remains a great watercooler game, whether you went in all guns blazing, achieved silent assassin, or failed the mission by hurling a sabre in the wrong person’s head.
Release Date: January 20 Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
It Takes Two
Swedish developer Hazelight Studios are experts at making cooperative games, and they’re back with another one – a purely co-op experience called It Takes Two. The art style looks Pixar-ish: a couple are turned into dolls and must race through zany levels together to escape, a metaphor for improving their ailing relationship. Gameplay looks fast, fun and varied, with the companions sliding down icy slides and dodging giant Venus fly traps. Looks like a mix between Fall Guys and 3D Sonic, and should inject some joy in these dark times.
Release Date: March 26 Platforms: PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 5, Xbox One
Monster Hunter Rise
The Monster Hunter series had been a phenomenon in Japan for many years, but it gained worldwide renown with the 2017 release of Monster Hunter World, a title that became Capcom's best selling game of all time. You hunt monsters, find better gear, then hunt harder monsters, all on a sprawling fantasy island. It’s a winning formula, let’s see if they can bring it to Switch. Happily, the graphics look brilliant.
Release Date: March 26 Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Resident Evil 8: Village
The initial E3 trailer for Resident Evil 8 looked like a massive change of direction for the series, featuring supernatural forces such as werewolves. The most recent trailer reverted to type, with many more Zombie-like enemies assaulting the player. A witch seems to be the main antagonist in this game. Will there be more terrifying pursuits like with Mr X and Nemesis from the recent remasters? We can only hope so.
Release Date: May 7 Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, PC
Deathloop
Arkane Studios, who created the underrated steampunk game Dishonoured, are back with another new world. Deathloop looks great, particularly among the endless sci-fi styled titles we’re currently inundated with. The trailer looks like a 1970s blaxploitation film, with two immortal assassins locked in deadly acrobatic combat. If we’re locked down again next summer, Deathloop might be the title to help us ride out the pain.
Release Date: May 21 Platforms: PlayStation 5 and PC
Ratchet and Clank: A Rift Apart
The Playstation staple returns, and it looks fantastic – a truly next-gen title, crafted from the ground up, to rival Bluepoint’s Demon’s Souls Remake. The game evokes Rick and Morty: a cutesy duo leap through great rifts in space and time into colourful worlds, each one packed with alien life. Insomniac Games had been rather vague about release dates (this was expected last year) but we now have a set date in June.
Release Date: June 11 Platforms: PlayStation 5
Back 4 Blood
Left 4 Dead was one of the best zombie games ever: it didn’t take itself seriously, and it understood that the fundamental interest in zombie games is the thrill of fleeing and killing said zombies. Unfortunately, Valve aren’t interested in making Left 4 Dead 3, so Turtle Rock Studios, the developer behind the original game who split from Valve, are making this not-so-subtle spiritual sequel. Expect movie-like thrills, and mowing down wave after wave of zombie.
Release Date: June 22 Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Mario Golf
Golf is not as criminally boring a game as the world makes out, but nevertheless it could do with some modernising – like a battle royale mode, for instance. Step in Mario Golf, adding modes like speed golf where, battle royale style, multiple players simultaneously and must race to the end of the course. You will of course be able to make use of the Switch’s motion sensor to deploy your JoyCons as golf clubs, generating much online amusement as you smash your TVs trying to imitate Bryson DeChambeau.
Release Date: June 25 Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Stray
We are drowning in Cyberpunk themed games at the moment; someone seriously needs to have a word. Stray, we can forgive though, since it's an original take, surely inspired by the wild success of Untitled Goose Game. You play a stray cat, wandering through a bustling night time metropolis of neon lights and...just robots. Where are the humans? Find out later this year.
Release Date: October Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2
The original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (Scavengers, Trespassers, Adventurers, Loners, Killers, Explorers and Robbers) was a horror classic, set in Chernobyl, after a second disaster has released some creepy beings into the world. A loyal modding community has kept the game fresh over the years, but a sequel is a blessing. It will be particularly interesting to see how the developers react to Chernobyl’s new prominence in the public’s imagination – the TV series was critically acclaimed and surprisingly popular, it holds one of the highest ratings on IMDB. Where will S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 fit in? A real coup for Xbox.
Release Date: 2021 Platforms: Xbox Series X and Series S, PC
God Of War: Ragnarok
In the last God of War, Kratos was transformed from an all round bad egg into a grieving and distant father: still a very violent chap, mind, but less outrightly psychopathic. The game itself, from design to voice acting, was peerless, sweeping the Baftas and cementing itself as one of the best PS4 games ever. Having murdered everyone in the Greek pantheon, Santa Monica Studio have decided to jump into Norse lore – expect to murder Loki, Thor and Odin next.
Release Date: 2021 Platforms: PS5
Halo Infinite
Originally meant to be launched alongside the Xbox Series X/S, Halo Infinite sees the return of Master Chief, the iconic central character of the first three instalments in the first-person shooter franchise. The game has been booted to an unspecified date in 2021, but promises to be worth the wait – launch trailers reveal lush landscapes and environments making full use of the added processing power of the new Xbox (although some fans were underwhelmed) and there are a host of new weapons and power-ups to boot.
Release Date: 2021 Platforms: Xbox Series X/S
Gran Turismo 7
It’s not really a new console release without an accompanying slice of car porn, and Gran Turismo 7 promises to have petrolheads sweating into their custom-built racing chairs. The long-running PlayStation franchise always acts as a showcase of the power of a new console, and brings real-time ray tracing, high dynamic range, and a host of other visual improvements that we don’t really understand. It will also take advantage of the PS5’s USP – the DualSense controller – which can change resistance depending on what’s going on in the game, meaning that players will be able to actually feel the difference when driving with anti-lock brakes, for instance.
Release Date: 2021 Platform: PlayStation 5
Sable
An astoundingly beautiful looking indie game inspired by Moebius comics and Studio Ghibli. The minimalist art style looks like a moving painting. Developers Shedworks, named because they were initially based out of a garden shed, have said the game features no combat, just a young girl, Sable, trying to pass a rite-of-passage by returning a mask to her clan. We’ll update this space as we get more info.
Release Date: 2021 Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC
Pokémon Snap
The original Pokémon Snap, released in 1999 on the Nintendo 64, was a masterstroke of simplicity. Your character – Todd Snap (yes, really) – moved around on rails through a world dotted with rare Pokemon to photograph. It became an instant classic and now, more than 20 years later, there’s going to be a sequel. There isn’t a massive amount of detail yet – just a launch trailer unveiled in the summer – but this one is hotly anticipated by Pokemon fans.
Release Date: 2021 Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Final Fantasy XVI
It also wouldn’t be a new generation without a new entry (number 16, for those of you not versed in roman numerals), from Square Enix’s roleplaying behemoth. The story sounds like the usual medieval fantasy fair, with a gang of adventurers travelling across the land of Valisthea, to stop a disease called the blight. Expect high octane battles, entertaining melodrama and fiendish gameplay. It’s a PS5 exclusive.
Release Date: 2021 Platform: PlayStation 5
No More Heroes 3
The original No More Heroes was one of the most ingenious uses of the Wii remote, with players slashing and hacking their controller through the air to mimic the cuts of a lightsaber. Expect more of the same from the third game in the series, as hero Travis Touchdown returns to Santa Destroy after a ten-year absence, to face off against more “crazy dangerous assassins”.
Release Date: 2021 Platform: Nintendo Switch
Psychonauts 2
An infamously long wait for this game, but unlike, say, Beyond Good and Evil 2, we’re confident we’ll see the sequel to Tim Schafer’s witty 2005 classic arrive next year – studio Double Fine managed to raise nearly $4 million in a Kickstarter campaign. You’ll play as Raz, a psychonaut trained to explore people’s minds, recesses that take the form of colourful platforming levels. The original sold poorly, but has since become a cult classic.
Release Date: 2021 Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
Metroid Prime 4
Nintendo’s biggest 2021 releases are all question marks, none more so than bounty hunter Samus Aran’s latest adventure. The project began development with Bandai Namco Studios sometime back in 2017, but in 2019 Nintendo announced that the project was being restarted, as the current game did not meet the company’s high standards. Fear not, because Retro Studios, responsible for the classic original, are now back in control. 2021 is a faint possibility, so we’ll hold this here until we hear different.
Release Date: possibly 2021 Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Starfield
We know basically nothing about Starfield, other than it being Bethesda's first original RPG in decades, and that it is set in space. CEO Todd Howard has confirmed the game is still coming. There’s been a few unconfirmed screenshots of an astronaut looking at some kind of space cruiser on the moon. The same person who leaked these shots says that the game will be released in 2021, so take that with a very big pinch of salt, but we’ll certainly see it before Elder Scrolls 6.
Release Date: possibly 2021 Platforms: Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PC
Age of Empires 4
The Age of Empires community is currently being showered in riches, with total remasters of all three titles now available. Age of Empires 4, the first totally new title since 2005, looks set to return to the medieval setting of AoE2, the strongest game in the series, and abandon many of the missteps the creators admitted were made in the third iteration. The cartoonish graphics of early gameplay trailers have some fans worried, but there’s plenty of time to change the game’s look before release.
Release Date: possibly 2021 Platforms: PC
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2
Despite being one the greatest games of the last generation, Breath of the Wild came with some obvious flaws – repetitive enemy types, irritating rain mechanics, and your bloody hearts not fitting neatly over two bars, driving the perfectionists among us to distraction. Basically, there’s a lot for Nintendo to improve on in a sequel, but since a short trailer at E3 2019, which many fans took as a sign that Ganondorf will return, we haven’t heard much about BotW 2. For now, players will have to content themselves with Hyrule Warriors, a Dynasty Warriors homage based on the art style and combat of the first game.
Release Date: possibly 2021 Platforms: Nintendo Switch
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
