Critically acclaimed Skate Story by Sam Eng is also available on the service, and from December 16th, you can also access Granblue Fantasy: Relink. Released after years of delays, the action RPG follows Gran/Djeeta as they venture to the Zegagrande Skydom and deal with a dangerous cult.

Other notable additions include Planet Coaster 2 and LEGO Horizon Adventures on PS5, the latter also recently added to PlayStation Plus Essential. Cat Quest 3 is playable on PS5 and PS4 alongside not one but two Paw Patrol titles – Grand Prix and World.

As for Premium subscribers, they receive exclusive access to Soulcalibur 3 on both platforms. Based on the PS2 version, it includes quick save, custom video filters, rewind, and more.

February sees the arrival of custom video billboards and speakers, interchangeable coaster cars, stock coasters, and synchronized coasters. The Pathos 3 flat ride from the first game also returns. Meanwhile, multi-select, guest navigation, and so on will receive adjustments alongside improvements to performance, economy, stability, etc.

Update 2 in March will add guests jettisoning off flumes, a highly requested feature, alongside round-bottomed flumes and deformation for inflatables. It enables Career mode maps as starting layouts in Sandbox mode and adds another returning ride with the second part of stock coasters. Further enhancements to stability, performance, management, and whatnot are promised in addition to ride attendant adjustments.

April is barren outside of “new features” (and May lacks even that) so expect more details in the coming months. Frontier will factor in themes from the first game, though more details are forthcoming. In the meantime, the next Frontier Unlocked livestream is set for February 26th and will detail Updates 2 and 3.

Planet Coaster 2 is available for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Check out our review of the PS5 version here.

Star Wars Outlaws

As iffy as certain things looked before launch, there was still some hope for Star Wars Outlaws from Massive Entertainment’s involvement alone. The Reputation and Wanted system, more organic exploration, and focus on single-player were all the right moves, but it didn’t land for consumers. Those who took the plunge suffered numerous bugs and issues with movement, combat, AI, stealth, and so on. It’s a better game now, but Outlaws still needs work.

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League

Even with successes like Helldivers 2, this year just wasn’t it for live-service titles. However, the negative response to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League began well prior, with many criticizing the looter shooter’s format. The release sadly did nothing to rise to the occasion, featuring a horrendous story that falls off a cliff, insufferable characters, and the same dreary games-as-a-service mission structure seen hundreds of times before. With a $200 million impact on Warner Bros. Discovery’s revenue, Suicide Squad clearly didn’t meet expectations.

Skull and Bones

Alleged reboots, high-profile departures, constant delays, and a ballooning budget – Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones had all the key ingredients for a potential disaster. Adding in all the live-service staples like seasons, always-online gameplay, a focus on multiplayer, and whatnot hastened the game’s doom (calling it a quadruple-A title also didn’t help). With player numbers reportedly coming in at less than a million around launch, it was a failure before it even got started.

Planet Coaster 2

Incredible visuals and the studio’s penchant for attention to detail did little to make a difference for Planet Coaster 2, which is, by all accounts, a hotly awaited sequel, that much more palatable. The awful UI, pathing issues, lackluster pools, awful characters and various bugs were just too significant to ignore, even with the better campaign. Frontier has rolled out improvements, and it will likely excel in the long run, but for now, Planet Coaster 2 is an underwhelming ride.

Farming Simulator 25

After the failure of Farming Simulator 23 (at least on Nintendo Switch), Farming Simulator 25 marked a return for the franchise to consoles and PC. It shipped with extensive bugs, an annoying user interface, jarring physics, and multitudes of other issues that remain. That’s on top of the unoptimized performance on PC, which hinders the otherwise strong environmental effects and textures. Mods will likely make it a better experience over time but at this point, fans would appreciate a strong title out of the gate (which certainly applies to our next choice).

Starfield: Shattered Space

Starfield had its share of mixed impressions after launching last year and Shattered Space seemed like the perfect opportunity to address many issues while offering a fresh slate. However, the hand-crafted planet of Var’uun’kai delivered the most rudimentary content and barren surroundings to go with lackluster characters and story-telling. Even the intriguing gravity anomalies barely appear after a point.

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead

I was excited about Stormind Games’ first-person horror, especially with how it leveraged the films and their mechanics. Unfortunately, A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead is a hugely linear, highly scripted experience with bizarre AI, questionable design decisions, and a predictable story that fails to really leverage its endearing characters.

Concord

Sony’s biggest first-party failure in years, Concord was seemingly doomed from its first proper reveal, especially when the hero shooter elements became apparent. After a beta with abysmal numbers, it would launch to middling reviews and reportedly sold only 25,000 copies. Sony initially pulled the title from sale and shut down servers before eventually shuttering it and Firewalk Studio.

Rise of the Ronin

Director Fumihiko Yasuda revealed around June that Rise of the Ronin was Koei Tecmo’s best-selling game so far, with the publisher even reporting higher sales than Nioh. That’s all great, but the game itself fell short of what we expected in terms of open-world activities and storytelling. At least the combat remains enjoyable, and Team Ninja has provided some extensive post-launch content for free.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

The first Dragon Age title in ten years was bound to have astronomical expectations, especially with all the rumors and reports of reboots. Combat was sharp despite pivoting to a real-time hack-and-slash approach and the environments are gorgeous, without a doubt. It’s everything else that either whelmed or disappointed, from the uneven characterization and writing to the mission structure. Though it wasn’t BioWare’s worst, it’s far from being its best.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Significant improvements over last year’s game don’t excuse Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 from disappointing in other ways. Despite a superior campaign, its story ultimately felt flat (and continued the same cliffhanger approach), while multiplayer fell short with its map design. Zombies is surprisingly good despite some balance issues, and while the overall experience classifies as “good,” it’s nowhere near the series’ heights.

Unknown 9: Awakening

There’s always some skepticism when a developer gets ahead itself and plans out an entire universe for its IP before the first game even launches. Unfortunately, Unknown 9: Awakening loaded its bland premise with dull writing and boring combat, while various bugs and performance issues weighed even heavier. Suffice it to say that with an all-time peak concurrent player count of 285 on Steam at launch, Unknown 9: Awakening failed to meet any expectations heaped on it.

MultiVersus

From promising platform fighter to being pulled and relaunching earlier this year in a worse form, MultiVersus has had quite the journey. It’s hard to pinpoint all the issues, be it the sheer lack of quality-of-life features at launch or how underwhelming Rifts felt after they finally went live, but above all else, the feel and fluidity from the open beta felt like it was missing. And unfortunately, Player First Games hasn’t been able to capture the magic ever since.

XDefiant

Initially revealed as part of the Tom Clancy series, XDefiant would become a standalone entity while still crossing over with the publisher’s various other titles. However, despite some responsive shooting, it couldn’t match the features and content of other free-to-play shooters at launch. Various issues like network performance also affected it, causing a sharp downturn. Maybe there’s still time to right the ship, but based on the company’s other live-service endeavors, XDefiant’s days could be numbered.

Outcast: A New Beginning

Developing a sequel to a niche title from the late 90s is unusual on its own, but perhaps Outcast: The New Beginning could cater to long-time fans. What it offered was a massive world with nothing exciting, loading up players with menial tasks and awful writing. Appealing as it may be for those seeking more old-school-style titles, A New Beginning felt more like an awkward continuation for a cult-classic series.

NOTE: This interview was conducted prior to the game’s launch.

"We had great enthusiasm from the community of the original Planet Coaster for making waterparks and we were excited to add it as part of the sequel."

Going into the development of this game, what was the primary guiding principle for the development team, especially coming off of the success of the first Planet Coaster?

Dave Bamber (Principal Lead Designer): As a returning developer from Planet Coaster, there was so much to consider during pre-production, with literal years of suggestions and ideas from inside the company and the community beyond. The guiding principle at this early stage was to enhance and expand upon as many features as we could – to re-examine what players enjoy about the game, and double down on that feeling. We had great enthusiasm from the community of the original Planet Coaster for making waterparks and we were excited to add it as part of the sequel.

For Design as a discipline, we used that principle to break down the gameplay into Coasters, Guests, Economy, Staff, Beauty, Story, and Online Interaction. Looking at the concepts of Simplicity, Guidance, Depth, Effort, Breadth, Charm, Community and Immersion as they applied to the gameplay allowed us prioritise features and ideas we want to pursue.

The addition of water parks is among the biggest highlights in Planet Coaster 2, but much variety can players expect in the options available for rides and attractions?

Bamber: We’ve worked hard to give players a wide variety of things to build for standalone theme parks. There are over 60 coaster and tracked ride types to build, and over 50 amazing coaster blueprints ready to use right away. A brand-new feature is the ability to customise the coasters cars with scenery items, expanding creativity in a whole new creative direction providing players with incredible potential for customisation. It’s a great example of doubling down on the gameplay players love, and we’re so excited to see what players do with it next, we’ve seen such wonderful (and weird!) examples in the office.

Flat Rides are making a return in a huge way. Players loved the heavily themed flat rides in the original Planet Coaster but wanted more flexibility and controls over that theming to allow them to have more versatility on where they could be placed in their parks. We’ve revolutionised the flexicolour options by introducing pattern choices, too. There are over 30 flat rides, some of which were remade from ones from the original game to a more stripped-back feel ready for players to customise with scenery items that animate with the rides.

Our community will also now be able to tinker and share Flat Ride Blueprints to their heart’s content via the Frontier Workshop, and we’ve included 25 Flat Ride Blueprints for launch. From a coaster Blueprints point of view, we’re excited for players to discover that paths and queues are included now.

What are some of the biggest improvements and changes that Planet Coaster 2 is making in terms of coaster customization options?

Bamber: Aside from an unparalleled level of customisation for the overall look of the coaster as we’ve touched upon, the headline feature has to be the animated coaster pieces, these complex track pieces are a high point of modern rollercoaster design.

Less flashy, but just as important is how coasters are made. We’ve overhauled how the ‘twist’ value is stored for coasters, the results are the smoothest coaster rolls we’ve seen, before the player even opens the smoothing tools. Speaking of smoothing tools, we’ve made quality of life enhancements to adjust the strength and direction of the smoothing, to allow for more power and precision.

Dedicated players will also notice that selecting, moving and banking sections of built track is easier and more flexible than before, applying to swathes of track with smooth ins and outs (check out the Setting tab for move Track settings!).

"Aside from an unparalleled level of customisation for the overall look of the coaster as we’ve touched upon, the headline feature has to be the animated coaster pieces, these complex track pieces are a high point of modern rollercoaster design."

Diving into the weeds with guest management is a big part of the experience for many genre fans. The first Planet Coaster already had plenty going on that front, but what are some of the most interesting improvements players can expect here?

Bamber: We saw that players wanted more detail in the guest simulation, and more understanding of how guests acted, leading to a range of enhancements.

We’ve overhauled guest happiness into Guest Moods, which feeds into the overall ‘Guest Experience’. Moods allow guests to build up a bigger picture of the things which make them happy and sad over their whole park stay, beyond a simple happiness meter.

Guests now arrive in the park in organised waves, giving you peaks and troughs of behaviour for guests en masse with an ebb and flow as guests move around your parks. This also gives us tighter control of guests and the economy – if a guest leaves the park early, they take their dollars with them until the next wave.

We’ve made a ‘Luxury’ guest need which controls buying souvenirs from the gift shop, an Entertainment need for going on rides, and a Panic need for high fear rides.

We’ve given guests Dietary Restrictions, so you need to think more about the variety of shops you are placing.

Additionally, we’ve given guests new Ride Tolerances for height, speed and g-forces that benefit from a wider selection of ride types.

This means players will have some interesting new challenges and decisions to make as they build and expand their park with all the incredible enhancements we’ve added in the game.

With simulation and builder games like these, a lot of the experience lives in the details, the smaller things like the menus and the building and pathing interfaces. What kinds of improvements can players expect to those areas in the sequel?

Bamber: We’ve made feature and tool access easier, for example, double clicking or holding A on controller will open the editing tools for that feature, and the radial menus from Planet Coaster Console addition have been expanded and are even available to players on keyboard as well.

Alongside the tutorials on teaching you how to run a theme park, we’ve also made the game easier to pick-up for newcomers by making sure that useful keyboard shortcuts in the original Planet Coaster are visible in the UI too, to make it more intuitive to learn as they play.

Being heavily involved in the path system, I can tell you it wasn’t a simple interface to make! A lot of work went into the system itself to let the player be able to build more often without being obstructed. But from the player’s point of view, the path and pool interfaces are organised into useful tools that can be used immediately – building a plaza is as simple as placing a single stamp of path! For players that want more, the path tool options let you customise to an amazing degree, and we really do expect some players to use them!

From a feature point of view, being able to scale scenery is also a game changing improvement. As a result, the scenery menu is cleaner with fewer duplicates for sizes, and the player can adapt scenery on the fly to multiple situations.

What can you tell us about the event sequencer tool? What kinds of things can players pull off with this?

Bamber: The Event Sequencer is a timeline with a visual interface for organising animated scenery, visual effects, audio effects and lighting changes. It can be standalone, or can link with flat rides, coasters or tracked rides, and the visual interface makes it easy to trigger elements in sequence or in parallel. This visual way of understanding how your effects, scenery and speakers are working in tandem makes it incredibly powerful to construct amazing sequences of events to delight your guests.

On the simple side of examples, players can trigger a flamethrower effect when a coaster goes over a track section, or when a flat ride begins a movement. A common example of something more detailed is to build a ‘Dark ride’, where a richly decorated tracked ride progresses through an indoor series of animated scenes that make up a whole story, such as an undersea adventure constructed using our Aquatic theme, complete with sea monsters and water jets!

Collaborative cross platform saves for the sandbox mode sound like a great addition. Will there be any limitations to the feature, in terms of save file sizes, the use of mods or platform specific features, and so on?

Simon Jordan (Tech Lead): Cross-platform play in the new Franchise mode, as well as collaborative Sandbox saves, presented an interesting technical opportunity, with the need to ensure a seamless experience between console and PC as players jump one at a time into a shared save or compete in a Franchise challenge together.

If you played Planet Coaster 1 on console, you may remember the Oswald Eugene Counter. Similarly, Planet Coaster 2 features a helpful ‘Complexity Meter’ on consoles, which ensures a smooth experience regardless of platform. When sharing across platforms, PC players will also be able to see how their park stacks up against the Complexity Meter, to ensure their friends can open and build/manage the park seamlessly on their consoles.

Are there any plans to make the game PS5 Pro enhanced?

Jordan: Planet Coaster 2 will be PS5 Pro enhanced on launch. We are using the enhancements to push more pixels at a native 4k resolution for even more incredible visuals.

"Players will have some interesting new challenges and decisions to make as they build and expand their park with all the incredible enhancements we’ve added in the game."

As a developer, what are your thoughts on the PS5 Pro? How does boost in GPU help in developing your game compared to the base PS5?

Jordan: It is great to see advancements in hardware, as it gives developers unique opportunities to push the envelope of what is possible in games. We are always keeping a close eye on developments in both console and PC technology, and with the PS5 Pro, we’ll be researching this technology as it rolls out.

What are your thoughts on PSSR? What kind of opportunities will this open for the game?

Jordan: Sony have achieved a console first with AI-enabled upscaling and it’ll be interesting to see how this evolves. In the past we’ve seen advancements in the core set of hardware technologies pushing the envelope of what is possible, now we’re seeing AI being driven by custom hardware changing this landscape. It’s an exciting time to be making games; I think we’re about to start seeing a new era of console innovation.

What resolution and frame rates will the game target on the Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PS5 Pro?

Jordan: We run at a stable 30 fps across all consoles to ensure a smooth and consistent gameplay experience. The base PS5 and Xbox Series S runs at 1440p upscaled to 4k. On Series S it’s 960p scaled up to 1440p and PS5 pro it is native 4k.

Regardless of other titles, it’s somewhat intriguing that it took this long for Planet Coaster 2 to happen. Between the improved visuals, the new Career Mode with its various scenarios, fresh systems like water park attractions and flumes, and more, it seems to build on everything that made the original great. Unfortunately, between the annoying bugs, questionable user interface, lackluster themes and more, it’s hard to recommend in its current state.

"Outside of the writing, Career Mode (and Sandbox Mode, by extension) also suffers from another significant flaw with Planet Coaster 2’s design: The UI."

Planet Coaster 2 starts you off with the rudimentary modes – Career, Sandbox, and Franchise (playable online with other players). Career has you scouring different locations around the globe and partaking in various scenarios. It starts simply enough, outlining the basics of park management and the new water attractions before delving into more specific missions, like restoring four busted coasters. Of course, you can also hang around in some scenarios and complete additional objectives, which helps you get a grip on other systems, like purchasing land and building flat rides, paths and more from scratch.

The problem is the writing. I know – no one is playing a theme park management title for the characters or the dialogue. Yet Planet Coaster 2 insists on pushing them onto you while ensuring they’re as irritating as possible. I’m sure someone thought an interaction between the Newton brothers regarding a distressed guest in a swimming pool where Eugene lost his wits while his brother had to comfort him would have been hilarious. However, even if you like these characters, the bit goes on too long, interrupting the pacing.

The constant stream of jokes and sarcasm also begins to wear after a point, but the worst part is if you’re a new player, there’s no way to skip to the next dialogue. You can only skip the entire interaction, leading to some awkwardness when you suddenly have to build a power distributor and connect it to the power grid while wondering why there’s a heat map suddenly brought up. At least the voice actors try their best to inject some enthusiasm into the proceedings, saddled as they are with this “material.”

Outside of the writing, Career Mode (and Sandbox Mode, by extension) also suffers from another significant flaw with Planet Coaster 2’s design: The UI. I’ve already seen impressions from PC players bemoaning how unintuitive and “made for consoles” it is, but there’s good news – it’s equally frustrating on PS5. Moving around the park with the camera, zooming in and out while rotating, isn’t too bad. Anything slightly deeper than that is where problems begin to emerge.

"Don’t even get me started on the flumes themselves. Meticulously balancing the lateral and vertical Gs with the right amount of excitement, ensuring the fear and nausea are at a minimum, is irritating when guests mysteriously stop riding on them."

When selecting a building, you must navigate to “Edit Building” to make changes. This is fine on its own but becomes all the more tedious when dealing with flumes. Several additional menus must be navigated for aspects like testing (with three separate buttons for closing, testing and opening a ride), selecting different components, assigning staff, and whatnot. All those clicks for one aspect of one part of the theme park get tiring.

It’s not much better when generally navigating menus. To select facilities, you must navigate to different tabs using R1 and L1, go through several different icons for the desired one, scroll through those options, and then plop it down. And don’t forget that there are also custom creations and pool extras to deal with as well, tucked away in their own menu. I can only imagine how much more annoying this will get when throwing in community creations from the workshop. The sheer amount of navigation and selection wears you down at best. At worst, it feels downright unenjoyable and demotivating.

As for the whole water attraction aspect, there is much to improve on. Pools don’t really offer much on their own, and some elements, like ladders, feel outright useless since guests will just get up and out on their own. Good luck building a pool according to your desired path as well. You can put down points and attempt to curve them around, go with differently shaped stamps that end up looking awkward, and whatnot, but they just don’t feel intuitive enough.

Don’t even get me started on the flumes themselves. Meticulously balancing the lateral and vertical Gs with the right amount of excitement, ensuring the fear and nausea are at a minimum, is irritating when guests mysteriously stop riding on them. Frontier is at least looking into the physics, seemingly implementing scenarios where guests can fall off of slides, but there’s no ETA. There are several features yet to be implemented, from billboards and custom music to having several guests on a flume at a time and changing the weather in Sandbox Mode.

Here’s hoping for some adjustments to pathing as well. Placing a staff building and mechanic workshop side by side, and getting the option to create a merged path, only for it to not work multiple times in a row is frustrating. I also found the results somewhat perplexing – after receiving reports of guests being thirsty and navigating to the drink stand, I found no problems. This is on top of other bugs like character models clipping, shaky buildings when attempting to snap them near a specific path, etc.

"As it stands, this feels like a less refined version of the original – prettier but ultimately lacking intuitiveness, ingenuity or the right amount of polish to really make it shine."

It’s all the more disappointing because between all these design choices, missing features, and bugs, there is a genuinely enjoyable experience in Planet Coaster 2. Even if its difficulty doesn’t try to push or stress you out, setting up the ideal park with scenery pieces, building complex rollercoasters and testing them – watching the rides careen off horribly before getting them right, and just observing your staff can be fun.

And despite running at only 30 frames per second on PS5, the visuals are better than ever, be it the textures and intricacies of different coasters, the guests and their animations, or the environments. I also quite like the soundtrack with its relaxing tones, and the sound effects are on point. There’s a satisfying twang when plopping down a diving board or hearing a staff manager exclaim in surprise when lifting and placing them onto specific places.

Planet Coaster 2 has some interesting ideas and with further refinement, I could see it becoming something special. However, as it stands, this feels like a less refined version of the original – prettier but ultimately lacking intuitiveness, ingenuity or the right amount of polish to really make it shine. With time and updates, I can see Frontier turning this into a much more involving experience, but right now, it’s nowhere near as addictive or magical as its predecessor when it first burst onto the scene.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

Another developer impressed with the feature is Frontier Developments’ Simon Jordan, tech lead on the recently released Planet Coaster 2, who spoke about his excitement for the feature and what it will enable in a recent interview with GamingBolt.

“Sony have achieved a console first with AI-enabled upscaling and it’ll be interesting to see how this evolves,” he said. “In the past we’ve seen advancements in the core set of hardware technologies pushing the envelope of what is possible, now we’re seeing AI being driven by custom hardware changing this landscape. It’s an exciting time to be making games; I think we’re about to start seeing a new era of console innovation.”

Jordan went on to touch on the PS5 Pro’s boosted GPU as well, which he hopes will allow developers to continue to “push the envelope” of what they make.

“It is great to see advancements in hardware, as it gives developers unique opportunities to push the envelope of what is possible in games,” he said. “We are always keeping a close eye on developments in both console and PC technology, and with the PS5 Pro, we’ll be researching this technology as it rolls out.”

This isn’t the first that we’ve heard of PSSR’s potential benefits, and how it will empower developers to create more technically impressive games. Dying Light franchise director Tymon Smektala said in a recent interview with GamingBolt that the tech could end up being the PS5 Pro’s defining feature, while War Thunder developer Gaijin believes PSSR to be on par with DLSS and Intel’s XeSS.

The PS5 Pro is currently available worldwide, with over 50 titles currently sporting enhancements for the console.

Pkanet Coaster 2 is set to expand on the foundations of its acclaimed predecessor – which launched nearly a decade ago, in 2016 – in a number of ways, chief among them being the addition of water parks. In addition, the game touts a new and improved pathing system, a vast number of new elements and decorations to use in your parks, and even support for cross-platform multiplayer, allowing players to build parks together. 

Planet Coaster 2 launches on November 6 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. 

Planet Coaster 2

It’s almost bizarre that it took this long for Frontier’s Planet Coaster to receive a sequel, especially given its success and acclaim. Planet Coaster 2 launches on November 6th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, and once again has players building and managing a theme park. The twist is the addition of water attractions and rides, including water coasters, slides, and rivers. Everything is customizable, and your creations can be shared online with other players. You can also team up with others to create a park together or explore in first person as a visitor.

Empire of the Ants

Microids’ Empire of the Ants offers a real-time strategy experience at a decidedly smaller scale. Despite this, the overarching goal of your colony remains the same – survival and strategic domination. Throughout the 20-hour campaign, you’ll opt for different unit types (including other species like Snails and Rhino Beetles), unleash abilities, manage a war economy, and more. There’s also multiplayer three-player free-for-all and 1v1 ranked play.

Mario and Luigi: Brothership

The brothers find themselves exploring the world of Concordia, composed of multiple islands with different residents, climates, and challenges.

Utilizing Shipshape Island, a ship/island hybrid, to get around, Mario and Luigi also rely on different traversal techniques for platforming when they’re not relying on timing-based Bros. Attacks and Battle Plugs to conquer enemies. Launching on November 7th for Nintendo Switch, Brothership looks to be yet another incredible addition to the Switch’s hallowed line-up.

Slitterhead

From the mind of Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama and Bokeh Game Studio comes an unorthodox action-adventure set in Kowlong. Players control Hyoki, an amnesiac entity committed to defeating the Slitterheads, monstrous beings who can mimic humans. Hyoki’s main means of fighting is possession, taking over other beings and using their blood to create weapons.

It’s also great for getting around and accessing different parts of the city (depending on the host’s identity). Overall, it’s a significant departure from Toyama’s previous works, and we’re keen to see more when it launches on November 8th for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Farming Simulator 25

After last year’s Farming Simulator 23 performed decently on phones (and horrendously on Nintendo Switch), GIANTS Software is finally releasing a full-fledged sequel for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC on November 12th. Farming Simulator 25 features over 20 new crops, more than 400 vehicles, tools from 150+ brands, and a new East Asian environment. Even more notable are the visual improvements over previous titles, from terrain deformation and dynamic weather to improved shadows.

Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake

The legend of Erdrick is finally coming to contemporary consoles when Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake launches on November 14th for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC and Nintendo Switch. Featuring the HD-2D visual style, the story sees the protagonist, child of the great Ortega, embarking on a journey to defeat Baramos, the Archfiend.

Recruiting allies with customizable appearances and vocations, players can explore the world, engage in side quests, venture into dungeons, and even rescue monsters for battling in the new Monster Arena. There’s also a new Vocation, the Monster Wrangler, and quality-of-life features, like combat orders, which make for a more approachable experience.

LEGO Horizon Adventures

Have you ever wanted to re-experience Guerrilla Games’ Horizon Zero Dawn in a new way? Yes, aside from the upcoming remaster. In that case, Studio Gobo’s LEGO Horizon Adventures has you covered. It carries the charm and light-hearted atmosphere that the Lego series is known for, downplaying some of Zero Dawn’s darker elements in the process.

You’ll still play as Aloy in search of her mother, solo or teaming with other characters like Varl in an action-adventure (and not a beat ’em up where you’ll collect Studs like other Lego titles). It’s an odd ask, to be sure, but LEGO Horizon Adventures could surprise us when it launches on November 14th for PS5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024

With the breakout success of its 2020 flight sim, it was only a matter of time before Microsoft went back to the well with Flight Simulator. Developed again by Asobo Studio, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 launches on November 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PC. Thus far, it looks like a staggering effort that builds upon its predecessor while completely blowing it out of the water.

A new Career System where you take tests, learn everything there is to know and then embark on different mission types, from commercial flights and rescue missions to escorting VIPs. There are new aircraft and avionics systems to master, a new flight planner with IFR charts and route planning, over 150 hand-crafted airports (alongside 40,000 procedurally generated airports); and 27 biomes that you can explore on foot. The original is one of the biggest games in scale, but Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 could very well dethrone it.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl

If one big console exclusive wasn’t enough for Microsoft, then perhaps S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl will seal the deal. After multiple years of delays, to say nothing of the real-world challenges that GSC Game World endured, it’s finally launching on November 20th for Xbox Series X/S and PC. As Skif, players enter the Zone and pretty much have full reign if they can survive.

They’ll encounter other factions, both friendly and hostile, battle mutants, discover Artifacts, and have one too many run-ins with environment-altering Anomalies. The world is seamless, fully hand-crafted and teeming with secrets, which the developer says will necessitate over 100 hours to discover. There’s a lot of hype and expectations on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, and in just a few weeks, we’ll see if it finally delivers.

Tetris Forever

Why explore one golden year of the Tetris franchise when you could experience them all? Digital Eclipse’s Tetris Forever collects over 15 titles from the puzzle series into one collection, from recreating the very first Tetris released in 1984 to Japan-only games that are playable for the first time worldwide.

It even includes Tetris Time Warp, a brand-new title where players warp between different eras of Tetris in a single game, playable solo and with three other people. If you’re keen on history, there’s a museum with original ads and photos on top of new documentary featurettes detailing the original game’s development. Tetris Forever launches on November 12th for Xbox One, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Nine Sols

If the wait for Hollow Knight: Silksong has gone from depression to acceptance, Red Candle Games’ Nine Sols may provide a worthy diversion. Available earlier this year for PC, it’s coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch on November 26th.

Combining elements of platforming with hack-and-slash combat, including a robust parry system inspired by Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Nine Sols focuses on Yi, who embarks on a quest to slay the titular 9 Sols. Presenting sleek animated visuals, players learn more about Yi, the nature of New Kunlun and unlock abilities to access new areas. If you’re a fan of challenging combat or action platforms in general, it’s worth a look.

Towers of Aghasba (Early Access)

“Fantasy building with a mix of open-world exploration and restoration” describes Towers of Aghasba, which enters early access on November 19th for PS5 and PC. Inspired by films like Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke, it sees players building a new city for their people while venturing into the world to cleanse a mysterious corruption.

Early access features three ecosystems and town types, more than 40 creatures, over 120 plants, and 150 recipes for decorations. You can go it alone or play with up to three other players, engaging in combat, farming, fishing or discovering ancient ruins. If its gameplay can live up to the gorgeous aesthetic, then Towers of Aghasba could end up as yet another hallmark open-world sandbox crafting title.

DRAGON AGE: THE VEILGUARD

Let’s start things off with what’s probably the most obvious pick. Of the games still due out in the remainder of 2024, it’s fair to say that Dragon Age: The Veilguard is easily among the biggest ones, if not flat out the biggest, period. The wait for a follow up to Dragon Age: Inquisition has stretched on for over a decade, but based on everything that we’ve seen of it so far, it’s looking like The Veilguard may actually end up being worth that weight. In particular, the game’s cast of companion characters and its new combat system – which blends traditional Dragon Age tactics with more aggressive real-time action – have looked promising, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of why exactly The Veilguard has caught our eye in the lead up to its release. Hopefully, this will be the return to form that BioWare fans have been hoping to see from the studio for so long.

The latter includes the base game and the Vintage Funfair Ride Pack with ten additional attractions like wooden coasters and a Grand Carousel. Those who pre-order either edition will get the Bonus Ride Collection, offering three rides – the Outamax (water coaster), FD Vision (rotating ride), and The Cube (thrill ride).

As the sequel to Frontier’s popular theme park management sim, Planet Coaster 2 features new water attractions, from slides and pools to entire parks. Sandbox Mode supports asynchronous multiplayer to let you and several friends play on a single save file, and the Frontier Workshop is available for uploading and downloading blueprints and parks.

You can also take a tour of parks from a first-person perspective. For more details, check out the developer’s deep dive here.