SHENMUE 3
SHENMUE 3 Format PS4 ETA 2019 Pub Deep Silver Dev Ys Net
Thanks to the PS4 Shenmue I & II collection that landed earlier this year we’ve never been more prepared to experience the next chapter in Ryo’s quest to avenge his father, and uncover the spiritual mystery behind the dragon and phoenix mirrors. With the second game ending on a cliffhanger in 2001 it’s no wonder fans enthusiastically backed this one’s Kickstarter in 2015. But it’s not a game that should be rushed.
LEFT ALIVE Format PS4 ETA 5 Mar Pub Square Enix Dev Square Enix
You won’t need to know much about Front Mission to appreciate Left Alive, which is set in the same mech-infested universe. Playing as three different characters, you need to survive and escape the 2127 invasion of the war-torn city of Novo Slava. As a regular person just trying to make it through the incident and help out other survivors, you’re acutely aware of the gap between man and machine, and every confrontation is fraught.
BABYLON’S FALL
Format PS4 ETA 2019 Pub Square Enix Dev PlatinumGames Studio head Atsushi Inaba calls this one “a new challenge for PlatinumGames.” It’s a mysterious game about humans in big knight suits fighting to reclaim souls from Gaia in a super-stylised setting. It’s testament to the consistently high quality of PlatinumGames’ combat mechanics that we’re super-excited about anything coming from the studio. The half-sci-fi, half-high fantasy aesthetic has us hooked already. If the gameplay can match the teased lore, then we’re all in.
JUMP FORCE Format PS4 ETA 15 Feb Pub Bandai Namco Dev Spike Chunsoft
This tag team fighter looks set to settle every ‘Who would win?’ disagreement within anime fandom this side of the millennium. Boasting a roster of 24 characters from ten different popular series, as well as a few original additions, it should fulfil all of your fanfic fantasies in February. You can tear it up across a number of 3D environments, both fictitious and based on real-world locations, in 3v3 fights.
CODE VEIN Format PS4 ETA 2019 Pub Bandai Namco Dev Bandai Namco
This fang-tastic action RPG is far more than ‘anime Dark Souls’… in fact, it’s probably fairer to say it’s more ‘anime Bloodborne by way of God Eater’, seeing as the director of a number of entries in that latter series is also directing this post-apocalyptic blood drive. As you might expect from that slew of comparisons, your wardrobe is cool but improbable, fights must be thoroughly considered affairs, and death is closer than you think.
CATHERINE: FULL BODY
Format PS4 ETA 15 Feb Pub Sega Dev Atlus The nightmare returns in this expanded remaster. While there are new storyline elements for both Katherine and Catherine, philandering Vincent can now acquaint himself with a new love interest, Rin. As the reveal trailer puts it, the love triangle has become a sexy square! You’ll still be pushing blocks in a bid to survive the night, though this too has new content for the re-release. From the maker of Persona, you can expect this puzzler to have a suitably supernatural spin.