Spaera
Spaera by Blazing Orb is a head to head puzzle title with strategic versus elements. Choosing one of 8 unique characters each with their own story arc and special moves you head out, “on a journey to uncover the truth behind the catastrophic FINAL FUSION and unite the mystic force know as the Spaera.”
The puzzle style looks straight forward enough, appearing to be a variation on what made Tetris so successful. The twist with Spaera is the strategic aspect where you make real time decisions of what is needed to win. With each character being drastic different in strengths and weaknesses to the last to keep you on your guard and second guessing whether it’s best to push forward aggressively, or prepare to counter your opponents approach
Space Dust Racers
Space Dust Racers is an upcoming retro inspired combat kart racer by Space Dust Studios. Taking place across the Milky Way on makeshift courses in a post-human future between cartoon styled aliens.
While there is a single player mode where you can compete against the AI to win ancient artifacts, Space Dust Racers is really all about the party play options. Space dust Racers will come with local and online multiplayer and will support up to a staggering 16 players by allowing you to use smart phones as controllers. Any party play is bound to become even more competitive when you realize that you also share the same screen and that if you slip too far behind you are out.
Munch Time 2
Dutch Studio Gamistry will be making their first outing on Xbox One in 2016 with their metroidvania title Munch Time 2. Initially a puzzle platform title taking place in small levels and rewarding stars for quick completion, Gamistry have retained the platform and puzzle elements but instead expanded it for consoles into a fully explorable world rather than multiple set pieces.
Taking control of the chameleon Munch players will running, jumping, fighting and thanks to Munch’s sizable tongue, swinging their way through the world and assisting the living plant tribe known as the Leaflets
Raging Justice
Inspired by classic side scrolling beat ’em ups such as Double Dragon and a desire to bring those classic gaming ideals into the current gen comes Raging Justice by MakinGames.
Maverick cops Rick Justice and Nikki Rage set out to battle gangs on route to prove that no one is above the law.
With options in how you approach even in terms of whether you arrest enemies or just beat them down you choices will have consequences. Combat is visceral with levels littered with weapons both makeshift and specific from knives or bats to barstools and even lawnmowers. Couch co-op is in from launch, online co-op is planned and being pushed towards for launch and while there is no set date MakinGames are pushing towards a late summer release.
Want to hear more? Then be sure to check out our very own Kor x Kal El’s “On the Red Carpet” TiC Podcast special with MakinGames CEO Nic Makin by clicking here for info about Raging Justice, their experiences with ID@Xbox and more.
Sword Coast Legends
From n-Space comes an RPG adventure set in the Forgotten Realms that brings a new way for Dungeons and Dragons fans to play.
With a single player story forged by some of the team responsible for Dragon Age Origins and working in tandem with industry specialists Wizards of the Coast, Sword Coast Legends is aiming to bring the world of Faerûn home like never before.
With multiple races to choose from and 6 unique character classes, co-op for up to 4 players and a fully fledged Dungeon Master Mode that allows you to either share your creations for friends to play through or to ramp up the difficulty by affecting their experience real time, Sword Coast Legends is looking to corner the party based tactical RPG market.
Prismatica
When it comes to puzzles it’s often the case that the more straight forward the concept the more successful the game. Whether it’s the block arranging of a Tetris, the logical arranging of numbers for Sudoku or the massive mobile successes of the countless match three games like Candy Crush, simple sells.
To that end Loomus Games are bringing Prismatica to consoles in the future (no date as of posting). Inspired by “Rubik’s Cubes, Sudoku and Dodecahedrons and way too much caffeine” Prismatica takes place on a simple colourful hexagonal grid, grouping primary coloured hexagons around central pivots and changing the overlapped hexagons to secondary colours based on the primary colours that overlap. Like a Rubik’s cube those segments are then shuffled and have to be moved into the correct colour grouping positions in order to finish the level. A simple premise when you are dealing with 3 rotating sections in a line, not so simple when it scales up as seen in the trailer.
With it’s clean appearance and laid back soundtrack by award winning indie folk musician Svarar Knutur the focus isn’t on flashy gimmicks or distractions, only on the puzzles themselves. Deceptively simple or crushingly difficult?
Gemini
Gemini is a game with a simple goal, take two stars that have fallen and fly them back to the heavens while lightining up the sky. Described as a “poetic title” by designers Nick Zhang and Atlas Chen it started life as a Game Jam entry and university project.
Almost as if painting a picture the star you control will hit markers that fill areas of the screen with light and act as beacons to show you the way forward, keep your 2 stars close and crossing over each other to keep yourself heading ever upwards. The further apart the stars are the less momentum you’ll have and will eventually your stars will start to drift back down to Earth.
The idea seems simple but, as seen with the likes of Journey a simple premise can translate into an incredible experience if handled correctly.
Tachyon Project
Twin stick shooter Tachyon Project by Eclipse Games is a fast paced title but one that seeks to do the genre a little differently. Combining the versatility and speed that is traditional to the genre with the weapon variety of a shooter and even in some levels a degree of stealth as you choose carefully when to shoot as to not blow your disguise, but what exactly is Tachyon Project?
Originally designed to hack into the most secure servers on Earth you will take control of the software program Ada who has found herself locked out of the test server it lived in and out into the internet. Unable to gain access to the test server she embarks on a mission to try and find out what happened to her creators
With supported local 4 player co-op, a selection of weapons and perks to be collected, 3 challenge levels and leaderboards Tachyon Project will be arriving on Xbox One on July 15th.
Zenith
Coming in late 2015 is the action RPG Zenith by Infinigon. An action RPG that appears to have no issue with soaking itself in parody and humour and poking fun at the genre and in turn itself.
Players will assume the role of Argus a wizard who has done it all from adventuring, ruin exploration, releasing the apocalypse and subsequently saving the world. He’s now fed up of the lifestyle and wants to settle down. However when someone has ideas involving ancient artifacts and unleashes another apocalypse Argus is forced to deal with it all once again.
Phantasmal: City of Darkness
Phantasmal: City of Darkness is a procedurally generated survival horror title from Eyemobi.
Taking place in Kowloon Walled City, a real life densely populated area where the buildings were so tightly packed that it formed an almost perfect claustrophobic box of apartment buildings, before it’s destruction in the 90’s. The setting lends itself perfectly to procedurally generated gameplay and as a result no two playthroughs will be the same.
The otherworldly horrors you face will do more than just hurt you physically too, the longer you fight the more your sanity will unravel, as a result you will need to be cunning and quick to be successful. Fight when you absolutely have to but be smart and treat softly in a game where even something as vital as light can be a liability.
Speaking of light, the environment has been crafted by Brian Bell, the lighting director for huge films such as Riddick, Life of Pi and The Ring 2 so that horror and creepy factor is certainly in good hands.
