Note: List is in random order.

Firewatch

Developer: Campo Santo
Publisher: Campo Santo, Panic Inc.

Firewatch puts players in the role of a man named Henry, a retiree that has taken a new lonesome position. His new gig has him stationed in the Wyoming wilderness where he simply watches out for forest fires. The only means of communication with the outside world comes in the form of a radio to his companion and supervisor Delilah. Since Firewatch was Camp Santo’s first video game, little was known or expected until Pax 2014. Taking place in the 1980s, the story of Firewatch is one of exploration and mystery as it seems not just the wild animals are lurking in the lush forest.

During Pax 2014, the development team expressed that Firewatch is open-world but not as some would expect. Instead of being able to locate new places and take on different quests, the story will drive players into a more linear path. Nonetheless, Firewatch does carry over elements from Telltale Games, thanks to ex-Telltale Games creative director and designer Jake Rodkin. Expect a number of different responses to choose from when talking with Delilah. Unfortunately, it’s unknown if dialog choices will play a big part endgame.

Rocksteady boss Sefton Hill, in an interview with Official PlayStation Magezine, also revealed that Batman will this time have twice the moves under his belt as he did in the Arkham Asylum. “Without a doubt, the hardest part of moving the game setting from the confines of the asylum into the urban sprawl of Arkham City was simply building the environment,” he said.

“Our objective in this game is not to make the biggest game we can, but to make the best game possible. Gamers who played Batman: Arkham Asylum will know how dedicated we are as a studio to injecting an incredible amount of detail into every environment we build,” he continued.

“It is this attention to detail that gives our games the deep and intense atmosphere that so many players have found so compelling, and so we have had to seriously scale up our art team in order to bring the same level of detail to Arkham City, which is about 4-5 times bigger than Arkham Asylum.”

“In terms of gameplay, we knew very early on that just scaling up Batman’s abilities and gadgets wasn’t going to work as he is fundamentally facing a new game world and totally different range of enemies in this game, so we took his move set from Batman: Arkham Asylum and built from there,” added Hill.

“Looking at the raw amount of animations in this sequel, Batman’s moves have doubled in number and we also wanted to create an authentic sense of continuity from the end of Batman: Arkham Asylum, so the player will begin Batman: Arkham City with many of the same core gadgets that they unlocked in the first game.

“Batman’s cutting-edge technology is a significant part of the game, so gamers can expect to see a range of totally new gadgets, as well as evolved new features built into those tools that they already enjoyed in Batman: Arkham Asylum.”

We will have more info on this wonderful game later.