Howdy, folks. We may be in the summer drought but with Gamescom happening this week. Here’s a round-up of some of the incoming titles and news stories that have been announced.
- Callisto Protocol
- Asterix & Obelix XXXL
- Fallen Legion Collection
- Layers of Fears
- F1 Manager 2022
- Deliver Us Mars
- I Was a Teenage Exocolonist
- Puzzle Bobble Everybubble
- CYGNI: All Guns Blazing
- Sonic Frontiers
- PGA Tour 2K23
- Horse Tales – Emerald Valley
- Hardspace: Shipbreaker
- Blacktail
- The Lords of the Fallen
- Moving Out 2
- Dead Island 2
Callisto Protocol
We’ve had our eyes on this spooky space-based survival horror game ever since it was announced and now there’s a legit gameplay reveal which is looking superbly scary. So far there’s quite a bit to get excited about but we’re particularly interested in the telekinesis-based combat which reminds us a lot of Second Sight and Psi-Ops on the PS2. The game drops on December 2nd which is exactly what our pulse rates won’t be doing.
Asterix & Obelix XXXL: The Ram from Hibernia
Okay, so we’re not sure what’s happening with the naming convention on these games by Microids have announced that the latest game in this francophile-friendly series is hitting the virtual shelves on October 13, 2022. For those of you that like stickers and lithographs, a limited edition will also be available as well as a Collector’s Edition that adds a figurine too.
The game itself looks to be a party-style brawler which supports up to four players. We’re hoping for Powerstone-style intensity. Anyway, here’s a trailer.
Fallen Legion: Rise to Glory / Fallen Legion Revenants Collection
This collection of 2D card RPGs has just landed on PSN with even the Vita getting some love. We’re not exactly sure what they are but the art style is looking very nice. Anyway, check out the website and this trailer if you fancy some Eastern-themed
Layers of Fears
Fans of being scared in the dark will be happy to know that Layers of Fears has been announced for PS5 and will be arriving next year. We’ve reviewed the first Layers of Fear and its sequel and they were both decent. Anyway, Polish programmers Bloober Team are ready to reimagine horror with the next one and you can get a sneaky peak of it in the Gamescom trailer below.
F1® Manager 2022
We generally leave the racing games around here to our boy Mike as he seems to like them. Hopefully we can convince him to try a game based on managing an F1 team. It’s a bit niche but, if you’re interested, this simulation game launches on August 30th. It’s also out on early access for PC players.
Deliver Us Mars
Seemingly taking its cues from the films Moon and The Martian, this title follows the story of Kathy, an astronaut whose trip to Mars goes spectacularly wrong and leaves her needing to survive in the most hostile of environments. It’s looking like it’s got a good story to it with Kathy’s past and present both getting time to shine and the game looks to have some really deep exploration elements to it.
It’s currently planned for release on February 2nd, 2023. And actually it’s looking pretty epic.
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist
This deck-building adventure game has quite a bit going on, so you’ll be better off watching the trailer below. But it’s got some nice visual-novel style artwork and promises to let you “explore the consequences and the beauty of growing up as you learn where the boundaries of human nature reside within their community’ which certainly sounds like you’ll be getting a big chunk of gameplay for your cash. It dropped yesterday (August 25th) and so is on PSN right now.
Puzzle Bobble Everybubble
Fans of the classic Puzzle Bobble arcade game haven’t exactly been starved of ports and sequels in the decades since the original coin-op was released but this new title looks to be offering up some great four-player action and we’re already fans of the clean and crisp art style. Look out for it in 2023.
CYGNI: All Guns Blazing
Here at PlayStation Country, we’re not big fans of new games that have meaningless names with coloned subtitles but we are big fans of dope af looking shoot ’em ups and CYGNI: All Guns Blazing looks to be that. With its screen-shredding lasers and epic-looking bosses, we’re already all-in on this one. Some of the boss battles look spectacular. We’ll be wishing away all of 2022 as this one is due in 2023 which can’t come soon enough.
Sonic Frontiers
We’ve got the best Sonic the Hedgehog reviewer in the world on our writing staff but he’s currently dealing with a small bundle of joy keeping him up all night, but we’re pretty sure he’ll be telling you all about Sonic Frontiers when it launches on November 8th. What we know so far is that it’s an “open-zone, action-adventure” game and will be available both digitally (standard or Digital Deluxe Edition) and physically. The standard edition will be £49.99 and the Deluxe Digital version will be £54.99, and will come with some in-game content and a digital artbook.
PGA Tour 2K23
Golf fans can look forward to the new PGA game landing on October 11th (for the Deluxe and Tiger Woods Editions) and October 14th (for the Standard Edition). The game promises “More Golf. More Game” which means more playable pros, more licensed courses, a course designer and ‘MyPLAYERS’ and ‘MyCAREER’ modes. We’re mostly excited about the new 3-click swing option which is how all golf games should be played. Check out the slightly eccentric trailer below.
Horse Tales – Emerald Valley
If you want a horse game that looks like a Zelda game, then Horse Tales is the game for you. It allows you to train horses using mini-games, manage and breed horses in your stables, style them and yourself with all manner of customisation options and, of course, ride them in a lovely looking open-world environment.
Horse games have never really been on our radar apart from when we used to rinse them for gamerpoints on the Xbox 360 but it has to be said that Horse Tales seems to have a stable full of charm to it. Look out for it on November 15th.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker
This space-based salvaging simulator looks to combine some space-opera story beats with some spectacular visuals. Also, it means that we’ll get to say ‘well, there goes our salvage, guys’ every five minutes. The game has been out on PC since June 2020 and has had lots of positive reviews so we’ve got big hopes ahead of its September 20th release on PS5.
Check out the console announcement trailer below.
Blacktail
This fairytale-themed first-person adventure game promises to let you decide which kind of witch you want to be and will be combining some very PlayStation-friendly bow and arrow combat with plenty of witchcraft. Are you going to be the guardian of the woods or the terror that nightmares are made of? Well, you’ve got until Winter this year to decide! This one’s looking pretty special though.
The Lords of the Fallen
We weren’t expecting this. The original Lords of the Fallen dropped in 2014 for PS4 and received a luke-warm reception at the time. If you’re taking on Dark Souls, you’ve got some epic competition there and Lords of the Fallen didn’t succeed in bettering From’s famous offering. But Gamescom has dropped this new announcement trailer. Now called The Lords of the Fallen, this reboot looks to improve the game in all aspects. But far from being an ordinary reboot, this one is set over a thousand years after the original game and is five times larger, making it a hugely expansive RPG. If HEXWORKS can get this one right, this could be pretty special. There’s no release date yet but there is a trailer and it features the song Mother by the evil-Elvis himself, Glenn Danzig.
Moving Out 2
We rather enjoyed the original Moving Out. It was a fun little party game that had you and a co-op buddy trying to move furniture without irreconcilably ruining your relationship in real life. Well, Team 17 have announced a sequel which is going to launch in 2023. We’re certainly up for the promise of over 50 new levels and new locations but we’re mostly pleased to see that the series will now be getting online play. It’s even cross-play enabled.
Dead Island 2
We were huge fans of the original Dead Island on the Xbox 360. I even maxed out the achievements which took ages. The mix of zombie carnage and blue skies was quite wondrous. A sequel, Dead Island: Riptide, didn’t quite live up to the original and aside from a remaster and a spin-off game, our interest in the series died out a while ago. But, if this series taught us anything, it’s that things don’t stay dead and this trailer for Dead Island 2 has peaked our interest.
The trailer below doesn’t show any actual gameplay but what we do know is that the game will be set in LA, covering everywhere from Beverly Hills to Venice Beach, and that there will plenty of brutal melee combat. With full co-op for up to three players, six characters to choose from and a deep skill system, it looks like Dead Island 2 will have some serious RPG chops too. And it drops in January 2023.