Divinity Original sin: Enhanced edition (October)
Divinity Original sin is a fantasy game that was successfully funded on Kickstarter in April 2013 and came out on the PC June last year. Whilst part of the Divinity series, you don’t have to have played any of the previous games to understand the plot.
I’ve played the PC version of the game and loved it, so I’m pretty excited for when Enhanced edition comes out later this year and with it coming to the Xbox One it’ll be a good excuse to play through it all over again.
The game puts the player in control of two “source hunters” people who locate and destroy dangerous magic- or “source”. When starting the game you choose the class and looks of your characters, there’s a long list of classes to chose from- 11 in total and looks-wise the avatar’s are fairly customisable, though with the way the camera is you’ll not really notice the finer details. When playing the game in single-player you’ll control both characters, whereas in multiplayer you’ll get control of one character each.
The game starts out with you investigating the murder in a small town and the main quest spirals from there. There are also numerous side-quests that you can take part in along the way. Gameplay wise you can freely explore towns and “safe zones” back walking around and interacting with objects and people.
When in combat the game puts in you a turn based grid format. When it’s your turn you can spend your action points (determined by your level and build) to move and use attacks and other actions. Such a format allows you to be tactical as you want in your fights.
So what’s going to be included in the enhance edition? Well there’ll be local co-op with split screen support, new quests characters and content, new gameplay modes and character builds, re-writing to the story and ending, reworking to the visuals and sound effects plus more to be announced.
Most of this stuff sounds fantastic to me- though I am admittedly a little worried about the story changes, the story and lore was so great that I’m hoping the changes aren’t too drastic and it really was the story that had me hooked.
So if, like me, you’re a big fantasy fan who’s a sucker for story and lore and orcs and trolls then you’ll love this game! Want to know more? Check out the video below for a sneak peek- and trust me we’ve not had a great fantasy game like this in a long time. 
Rare Replay (August)
Announced at E3, Rare Replay is a collection I imagine a lot of people have been waiting for- after all there is nothing worse than wanting to take a trip back down your childhood only to be stopped because old consoles don’t work with modern TVs.
For me the announcement was rather unexpected and sort of snuck out with getting as much attention as I thought it would- I’m blaming Fallout 4 for that.
So back on track, why am I looking forward to the Rare Replay collection? Quite simply put it’s a combination of nostalgia and getting to play classics that I never had the opportunity to back in the day.
I have fond memories of being in a caravan in Wales with my family on holiday and player Perfect Dark co-op with my older brother and dying numerous times but still having great fun- I still probably have the ill-proportioned doodles I did of Joanna dark lying around. And I am positive that lots of you also have great memories of many of the games included in this collection.
Then there are games like Conker’s Bad Fur Day, of which I hear nothing but great things, but have never had a chance to play. All in all it’s going to be a pretty jam-packed August.
Guitar Hero Live (October)
The Guitar Hero franchise started way back in 2005 and the last in the series, prior to Guitar Hero Live being announced, was released in 2010. So after a five year absence I think it’s safe to say that I’m ready for a new one- even if I can only handle the game on easy.
A big part of Guitar Hero is the song choice, and as of writing 74 playable songs have been announced- with many more to come it seems with the site boasting “Hundreds of songs…playable on Day One.” I’m particularly excited for the Lumineer’s “Ho Hey” and Green Day’s “American idiot”. Although admittedly I’m not all too familiar with most of the announced tracks, here’s hoping for some more classics by Queen, Blondie and Bon Jovi.
Lego Dimensions (September)
Everybody knows that if you want a family fun game that’ll make everyone laugh and have a great time, then the Lego franchise is a safe bet. So what’s going to be so special about Lego Dimensions I hear you ask? Well the fact that it is going to unite so many classic and popular games, TV shows, films and just generally awesome things that we’d never think would be brought together.
In Lego Dimensions your main characters are Lucy/Wildstyle, Batman and Gandalf from The Lego Movie and you’ll control these characters in a similar way as the Skylanders and Disney infinity games work, with mini-figures and the usual controller. Also, just like those games, you will be able to buy more figures and so get access to more gameplay.
Here are a handful of some of the franchises that will feature in the game: Portal, The Simpsons, Scooby Doo, The Wizard of Oz and Back to the Future. There really will be something for everyone in this game, check out more in the trailer below.
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