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STRATEGY
Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty
Do I really need to explain why?
Empire: Total War
Finally! Total War is heading into XVIII century. With naval combat!
Jagged Alliance 3
Jagged Alliance series is pure turn-based perfection. now it returns
running on highly modified Silent Storm engine and developed by F3
Games( new developer composed of veteran Russian developers, including
ex-Nival people)
Disciples III: Renaissance
Disciples II: Dark Prophecy was one of best turn-based fantasy strategy
games of last few years. It was released in 2002,around the same time
such “monsters” from this subgenre like Heroes4,Age of Wonders 2 and
Etherlords were released. And yet it stood proudly next to them and
secured it’s place as one of premier franchises of this type. Now it’s
back in full 3D and done by Akella.
Anno 1404
Anno 1701 got 7.6 from Gamespot
Hearts of Iron III
Hearts of Iron 2 scored 8.3 from Gamespot
Majesty 2 – The Fantasy Kingdom Sim
Sequel to 8.8 fantasy management strategy.
League of Legends: Clash of Fates
The makers of the Defense of the Ancients decided a mod wasn’t enough
and the result it this: their first commercial game, expanding on DOTA
concept
Cities XL
City Life turned out be a very good(7.8 from GS) city-builder that
achieved quitenice financial success, so now Monte Cristo is preparting
a follow up with much bigger budget and increased depth (in atempt to
satisfy SimCity fans who were dissapointed by Sim City Societies)
Dawn of War 2
Sequel to 8.8 RTS
Demigod
New strategy game from GasPoweredGames, makers of Supreme
Commander(8.7), a mix of RTS and RPG gameplay heavily inspired by DoA
mod for Warcraft3
Battleforge
A hybrid of RTS and card-game from creators of Spellforce series
Solium Infernum
New strategy card game from maker of Armageddon Empires(87/100 Average on Metacritic)
Hegemony: Philip of Macedon
From makers of Tread Marks(76% at GR)
Star Trek Supremacy
A 4X game that’s a follow up to Star Trek: Birth of the Federation
Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor
Second add-on to Company of Heroes (the original game got 9.0 from Gamespot and the first add-on scored 8.0)
Sins of a Solar Empire: Entrenchment
First mini-expansion to one of best strategy games of recent years (9.0 from Gamespot)
ADVENTURE
Gray Matter
New adventure game from the empress of the genre: Jane Jansen (creator of Gabriel Knight series)
Still Life 2
Finally a sequel to one of most loved adventure games in recent years (9.0 at Adventuregamers).
Gobliiins 4
Sequel to classic adventure series, it’s being designed by a small
indie dev run by Pierre Gilhodes, the original creator of all three
Goblins games
Mata Hari
Adventure game from 4Head (most well known for Europa 1400 (8.5) ),
designed and written by Lucas Arts veterans: Hal Barwood and Noah
Falstein ( guys behind Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade as well as
legendary Indiana Jones games The Fate of Atlantis)
Heaven
An Adenture game from Stephan Martiniere(visual art director at Cyan
where he worked on Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, Uru: The Path of the Shell
and Myst 5), Dylan Cole(who worked on the films Superman Returns,
Daredevil and The Chronicles of Riddick) and former employees from
Digital Domain( James Cameron’s special effects company)
Memento Mori
New adventure game from Anaconda label.
Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper
Alternativa
Cyberpunk adventure from makers of Memento Mori in c.lassic
point&click s.tyle using 2.5D engine with non-linear story and
alternative storylines.
Art of Murder 2: Hunt for the Puppeteer
Sequel to an adventure game that got 7.0 from Adventuregamers
Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual
Archeological adventure game from makers of Art of Murder ( 7.0 from Adventuregamers)
Culpa Innata 2: Chaos Rising
The first one got 7.5 from Gamespot
Untitled Fushiosphere title
Adventure game that takes place in Asia in 30s, from makers of Secret Files Tunguska series
Machinarium
First full lenght adventure from Amanita Design (makers of marvelous Samorost 1-2)
Emerald City Confidential
A noir adventure game set in a world inspired by Wizard of OZ, designed
and written by Dave Gilbert (maker of Shivah and Blackwell series)
The Path
From makers of Endless Forest
Resonance
First commercial game from maker the incredible freeware adventure game “What Linus Bruckman Sees When His Eyes Are Closed”
Love
” First-person-not-so-massively-multiplayer- online-procedural-adventure-game”
Dead Mountaineer Hotel
Last-Express like adventure game(meaning non-linear, NPC have AIs,
goals, daily routines and walk freely over the gameworld) based on
Strugacki Brothers’ novel, made by Akella.
Kaptain Brawe
Indie oldschool comedy adventure game
RPGs
Dragon Age
Bioware next epic
Drakensang: The Dark Eye
Finally a new game based of DarkEye pen and paper RPG (previously used in wonderful Realms of Arkania series)
Dropship
A turn-based SF wargame with RPG elements developed by ex-Troika guys using the Source engine
Reluctant Hero
An innovative RPG that follows entire career of your character, till
his very death from old age. By makers of Kult:Heretic Kingdoms (74% at
Gamerankings)
Kivi’s Underworld
A casual hack and slash game from makers of Depths of Peril
Untitled Carbine Studios MMORPG
Carbine is a team composed of RPG veterans(including Blizzard ones) like Tim Cain
(one of creators of Fallout and Arcanum) and Jeremy Gaffney (founder of Turbine)
Age of Decadence
Hardcore indie RPG
The Broken Hourglass
An old-school Baldurs Gate 2-like RPG, done by Planewalker Games-indie
team consisting of cRPG modders, lead by Jason Compton (the best BG2
modder, he did wonders to NPC and party members dynamic interaction).
The game takes place in Tolmira (sword-and-sorcery setting, which
PlaneWalker licensed) has isometric perspective, unlimited party,
complex party-to-party interactions, lots of good old-school
roleplaying and real-time with pause combat system
Risen
New RPG IP from creators of Gothic franchise
King’s Bounty: The Princess
First add-on.
SIMULATION
Storm of War: Battle of Britain
From makers of Il2 Sturmovik
Digital Combat Simulator: Black Shark
Heli sim from Eagle Dynamics, best known for Flanker 2.0 (8.7 from GS)
Jet Thunder
Historical air combat sim from Thunder Works
Jumpgate Evolution
A sequel to space sim MMO that got 8.6 from Gamespoit
Infinity: The Quest for Earth
MMO space simulator with huge procedurally generated universe
Universe Online
A space sim MMO from team of MMO veterans( Colony studios is composed of people who worked on Eve, Wow and others MMOs)
Microsoft Train Simulator 2
Finaly a sequel to one best train sims ever made( 8.2from GS), this time it
will be made by AcES (company responsible for Flight Simulator series) using
their Flight Simulator X engine
Rise of Flight
A WWI sim.
Steel beasts 2
The follow-up to most realistic and hardcore tank sim ever. First one\ got 8.8.
Seven-G
Indie F-18 Flight Sim.
PUZZLE
Subversion
Fourth Introversion game (after Uplink, Darwinia and Defcon)
Overflow
New fluid-centered puzzle game from makers of The Odyssey: Winds of Athena(8.0 from Gametunnel)
ACTION
Ground Branch
Tactical shooter from Blackfoot( which is composed of RainbowSix, Rogue Spear and Ghost Recon leads)
Shattered Horizon
Muliplayer FPS that takes place in zero gravity setting from Futuremark
Natural Selection 2
Commercial Source-based sequel to one of best mp MODS
Naumachia - Space Warfare
A multiplayer space battle sim in which you can start piloting
individual fighters with standard FPS controls (mouse/keyboard) and
then when your rank advances it’s possible to command capital ships and
their fighter squadrons with a dedicated RTS-like interface. Developed
by people who previously made Specialist mod for first Half-life
Untitled Konjak game
Konjak is the guy who made the great Chalk and Noitu Love 2
Chrome 2
Original Chrome was good(7.2) FPS shooter that had lots of unrealized
potential. Since then Techland has been consistently improving and
their last title:XPandRally has 85% average at GameRankings we can
propably expect good things from this game
Lone Wolf: Flight from the Dark
Action-adventure based on legendary “Choose your own adventure” gamebook series
Alien Swarm: Infested
AlienSwarm was one of very best and definitly the most original
UnrealTournament2004 mods ever. Now the sequel is coming as commercial
game running on Valve’s Source engine
Global Agenda
Tactical MMOFPS running on Unreal Engine 3.0
FinnWars 2
Commercial follow-up to one of best Battlefield1942 mods ever made.
Zeno Clash
Fantasy FPP action game running on Source engine
Ascension
Freeware spiritual successor to Tribes, created by the team that made the Renegade mod for Tribes, Tribes2 and Tribes: Vengeance
They Hunger: Lost Souls
Original Hunger was THE best single-player mod for Half-life. Now the
team returns with commercial follow up based on Source engine
Sugar Rush
Online arena combat game from Klei Entertainment (indie dev responsible for Eets)
Americas Army 3
This version will run on Unreal Engine 3.0
Mafia 2
At last! A sequel to one of very best (9.3) action games ever made.
Mirror’s Edge
DICE’s new first-person action adventure game
Necrovision
FPS from Farm21(company created by people who worked on games like
Painkiller or MOH: Allied Assault), running on heavily upgraded
Painkiller engine
The Crossing
Source based shooter mixing singleplayer and multiplayer. Developed by
Arkane Studios( Arx Fatalis, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic) and
Half-Life 2’s art director
Dungeon Hero
From Firefly studios (makers of great Stronghold series and medicore
Stronghold: Legends and CivCity, we’ll see how they do here)
Alpha Protocol
Spy-themed action RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, makers of Knights of the Old Republic 2(8.5) and Neverwineter Nights 2 (8.6)
Divinity 2
Sequel to one of best action-rpgs ever(8.6 at GS), running on Gamebryo 2.0 engine
(Oblivion, Gothic3, Guild2 all used it)
The Lord of the Rings: Conquest
What Pandemic did to Star Wars with their Battlefront series they will
now do to Tolkien’s world giving us a multiplayer-centered action game.
Tom Clancy’s HAWX
Arcade flight game from Ubisoft
Aliens: Colonial Marines
FPS from Gearbox (known for Brothers in Arms series)
Borderlands
Post apocalyptic shooter from Gearbox (makers of Brothers in Arms series)
Totems
Action-adventure from the makers of Outcast
Agency
Spy-themed action MMO from SOE
Lord of Creatures
Made by lead designers of Commandos and Commandos2.
Precursors
An open ended action/rpg game which takes action in space and on
planets(think STALKER mixed with Privateer), from makers of BoilingPoint
Battlestations: Pacific
Sequel to Battlestations: Midway (7.9 from Gamespot)
The Secret World
A MMO from makers of Age of Conan and Longest Journey franchise
Stormrise
Post apocalyptic RTS from Creative Assembly (makers of Total War series)
The Last Remnant
Epic RPG from Tri-Ace, makers of Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile series
DC Universe Online
Superhero MMO from Sony Online Entertainment (Everquest 1-2, Planetside, Star Wars Galaxies)
FEAR 2: Project Origin
Sequel to FEAR (9.1 from GS)
Project Offset
A fantasy FPS from makers of Savage(which won Indie GOTY 2003)
Alan Wake
A psychological thriller from makers of Max Payne series
Sky Gods
A tactical shooter from BlackfootStudios(made by Red Storm veterans),
bassicaly this is a smaller game that will provide funding for Ground
Branch as well as be a testing ground for the tech and gameplay ideas,
Godfather 2
The first one was scored 8.1 by Gamespot
Singularity
FPS from Raven Soft.
Burnout Paradise
Port of a great arcade racer that got 9.0 from Gamespot
White Gold: War in Paradise
FPS/RPG hybrid that’s a successor to Boiling Point.
Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Adventures
Saints Row 2
The first Saints Row got 8.3 from Gamespot.
Project Owlboy
Retro platformer
Overlord 2
First one got 7.5 from Gamespot
DiRT 2
The first one got 8.3 from Gamespot
Return to Mysterious Island 2
The first one got 8.0 from Adventuregamers and 7.3 from Gamespot.
Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
A remake of 9.3 FPS with additional single-player and multiplayer content.
Fuel
Open-world racing game from Codemasters
Venetica
Roleplaying game from Deck13, makers of Anhk (7.3 from GS) and Jack Keane (7.0 from GS)
Section 8
Unreal 3.0-based FPS from makers of Kohan trilogy(which got 8.6, 7.7 and the last one for 8.5 from GS)
Runaway 3: A Twist of FateHero
Arcania: A Gothic Tale
This game is effectively a Gothic 4.It’s tainted with plenty of drama
with Gothic 1-3 developer breaking away from the publisher, which
resulted in other developer (Spellbound), but at the very least it will
be interesting to see how it will compare to Pyranha Bytes’ (Gothic
creators) own RPG
Champions Online
A Superhero MMORPG from Cryptic, makers of City of Heroes (8.4 from Gamespot)
and City of Villains (8.2 from GS)
Unnamed Ferrari Project
Blimey games (makers of GTR2 and GT Legends) are preparing this game on brand new engine
and they also hired Richard Burns Rally physics coder to create the physics engine for it.
Huxley
A MMO FPS from Webzen running on UE3.0
source: http://adrianwerner.wordpress.com/games-of-2009/
