If there’s anything better than a good game, it’s a good sequel to a game. Whether you like building an empire, being a superhero or just mowing through hordes of demons, here are three games coming out this term that you can look forward to.
Sid Meier’s Civilization XI
The Civilization franchise started in 1991 and still serves as the poster child for the modern 4X strategy game genre. Its latest installment by Firaxis Games, Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, hopes to do its predecessors proud in honor of the series’ 25th anniversary. After Civilization: Beyond Earth was criticized by fans for basically being a re-themed Civilization V, this new installment tries to innovate by improving the game’s basic formula.
Like most games in the series, you play as one of the world’s many civilizations, each with its own unique leader and special abilities. This time around, players are treated to the return of old favorites and the institution of brand new faces. Gandhi returns as the leader of India, and Theodore Roosevelt makes his debut as the leader of the United States.
This title retains the series’ classic 4X strategy gameplay, but now there is a larger focus on each individual city. The game’s more complicated mechanics have also been streamlined. Cities now grow to multiple hexes and can be customized by creating special districts with different advantages. Combat also changed dramatically as the majority of one’s army is on a single hex tile. Finally, the AI is designed to make the game both unpredictable and historically realistic. Other civilizations will have hidden motives and will be more interesting to negotiate with.
Rewrite history on Oct. 26 for $59.99 on PC, Mac and Linux.
South Park: The Fractured but Whole
South Park: The Stick of Truth, created by Ubisoft and the South Park creative team, was well received by fans of the series and gamers alike. The game is basically a 12-hour interactive episode where players can create their very own South Park character and mingle with the show’s colorful cast. It’s no surprise that the game has spawned a sequel, one that promises to be every bit as authentically South Park as the first.
In South Park: The Fractured but Whole, the kids have decided that fantasy roleplaying just isn’t cool anymore and that Superheroes is the new hip game of the week. Sadly, this means your character isn’t a mighty king anymore and is now just a nerd in a crown. Don’t worry though, with new classes, customization options and superhero parody storylines, you’ll likely get over it pretty fast.
From what we’ve seen so far, the game is a turn-based RPG, with the addition of a grid-based battlefield. Now you can strategically position your characters and take advantage of the terrain by knocking enemies out of position or into objects for extra damage.
South Park: The Fractured but Whole was originally set to release on Dec. 7 but has been delayed to an unknown date. Pre-order now for $59.99 on PC, PS4 and Xbox One and get South Park: The Stick of Truth for free.
Shadow Warrior 2
The Shadow Warrior series is for people with particular tastes. If all you really want from a game is to sit back, relax and spend a few hours obliterating hordes of demons while splattering their blood and viscera over otherwise pristine environments, you’re in luck. The 2013 remake of the classic 1997 Shadow Warrior has now inspired a sequel with the upcoming Shadow Warrior 2.
Set five years after the last game, the exploits of the game’s wisecracking main character, Lo Wang, have resulted in a world where humans and demons live side-by-side. As fate would have it, Wang runs into trouble with his old boss, Orochi Zilla, and must use his arsenal of over 70 weapons to slice, shoot and blast through anything dumb enough to stand in his way.
The big additions to this installment are a co-op mode with up to three additional players and elements of procedural generation that give each mission a small amount of variation. Other than that, it’s your classic first-person shooter. Find new weapons, upgrade them and basically kill anything that moves.
You can start slashing demons on Oct. 13 for $39.99 on PC, Mac, Linux, Playstation 4 and Xbox One.
If you’re looking for more games coming out this term, you can check out the Emerald‘s roundup of 12 other games coming out this fall.
Three video game sequels to look forward to this term
Mathew Brock
October 8, 2016
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