Every year, as the holiday season approaches there are new, ‘must play’ games coming out every week. It can be overwhelming and if you’re anything like me you want to play all of them, of course with busy schedules and the price of new games that simply isn’t feasible. To help ease the struggle of deciding what to play I have compiled a list of what I believe will be some of the best games coming out between now and the end of 2021. You won’t see FIFA or Call of Duty in this list because we all know they will likely be great and they get more than enough exposure in my view. This list is about the games that maybe you haven’t even heard of.
1. Age of Empires IV
This one is for the PC gamers. With the last iteration of this title being released in 2005 it has been a long time coming. If you have ever played these games in the past you know there’s a lot to get excited about. Especially considering the developers are looking to the more successful Age of Empires II for inspiration. With eight civilizations to choose from at launch there are enough options to keep aspiring conquerors busy. There will also be four campaigns to choose from, two of the more interesting of these include taking control of the Mongols and The Rise of Moscow. With up to 8-player multiplayer available, controlling hundreds of soldiers, naval and land combat and the opportunity to fight the English, what more could you want from an RTS?
Release Date: October 28th, 2021
Systems Available: PC (available for free download via Xbox Game Pass)
2. Back 4 Blood
Substituting words with numbers is something that should be left in the past but the Left 4 Dead franchise shouldn’t be. This sees players take on a wide variety of zombies in a post-apocalyptic world. Nothing new there but the draw here is the co-op play, teaming up with friends online. At this time there is no split screen co-op available but the developers know how keen players are to see this feature and will likely add it in a future update. It may not be the most polished or original game but it will be one of the most fun.
Release Date: October 12th, 2021
Systems Available: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Series X, PC
3. Halo: Infinite
I know I said I wasn’t going to mention any of the big titles here but after a decade of good, if underwhelming releases I’m not so sure Halo is the big franchise it used to be. I’m expecting that to change after this drops. 343 Industries are venturing into the games as a service model which has been so successful in recent years with games such as Destiny, Fortnite, Apex etc.. and the developer has stated that this will likely be the only Halo release we will see for the next decade so expectations are high. The campaign mode will once again see players take control of Master Chief. Unlike previous games the story will be less linear with an open world and day/night cycle.
Release Date: December 8, 2021
Systems Available: Xbox One, Series S, Series X, PC (Available on Xbox Game Pass)
4. Dying Light 2: Stay Human
Michael Scott’s favourite game. This parkour survival game sees you thrust into yet another post-apocalyptic world fighting for survival in an open world filled with zombies. With the team of writers that worked on The Witcher 3 involved in this I am hopeful the promise of branching storylines will be fulfilled.
Release Date: December 7th, 2021
Sysems Available: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Series X, PC
5. Death Loop
The catch with this game is you can choose to play as a saboteur and protect the time loops partygoers, jumping into a random players game your aim is to stop the assassin. The best thing about this game is that by the time this issue of SIN is released this game will be too. So jump in, early reviews are good and are suggesting the less you know before playing the better.
Release Date: September 14th, 2021
Systems Available: PC, PS5 (timed exclusive)
