STACK #213 July 2022

GAMING FEATURE

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There have been some great game releases this year, but it has been a little quieter than we’ve become accustomed to. However, we can rest assured that dozens of promising titles are on their way, and we’ve plucked out 15 that are expected in the next 12 months that we reckon are well worth watching out for. Words Amy Flower

ALIENS: DARK DESCENT Release date: 2023 A new Aliens game always brings high expectations, and this one's looking just as claustrophobic and creepy as you’d hope. It’s a single-player, real-time squad-based action experience that brings an original new story into the Aliens universe. Players will lead a squad of new marines in combat “against the deadliest creature mankind has ever faced,” in a bid to uncover the sinister secret that the planet Lethe holds.

CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE II Release date: 28/10/22 This sequel to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is set to follow on directly from the action of the 2019 game, as players join Task Force 141 for their next global campaign in what we're promised will be “a generational leap forward”. The campaign involves a new threat that will have our team trotting the globe from Europe to Asia and the Americas, while Special Ops co-op sets the scene for the franchise's legendary multiplayer.

FORZA MOTORSPORT Release date: 2023

The next track-based iteration of the legendary Xbox series is going back to its roots by name, but it’ll look like nothing that has come before it. Harnessing all the technical wizardry of the latest hardware, such as 4K graphics at 60fps and on-the-fly ray tracing, this is set to be the shiniest Forza yet. Add truly dynamic weather and a cavalcade of cars and tracks and we’re rather excited!

THE CALLISTO PROTOCOL Release date: 2/12/22 The Dead Space vibes are strong in this one, which isn't surprising when that classic game’s creator, Glen Schofield, is heading this one up. A narrative-driven, third-person survival horror outing with plenty of shooting action and close-quarters combat, it's set 300 years in the future, where the player as Jacob Lee, a prisoner in a maximum-security penitentiary located on Jupiter’s moon, must try to escape when fellow inmates start transforming into grotesque monsters.

EVIL WEST Release date: 20/9/22

GHOSTBUSTERS: SPIRITS UNLEASHED Release date: 2022

Polish studio Flying Wild Hog, the people behind the ShadowWarrior games, are back, taking us on a trip to a Wild West with a bit of a difference – there be vampires! It's all good though, for the player steps into the boots of one of the last agents from a top-secret vampire-hunting institute, protecting humanity from the evil that lurks in the shadows – presumably with big, pointy teeth - in wild, gory combat for one or two players.

There have been several Ghostbusters games over the years, dating right back to the 1980s. Some were good, some bad – where will Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed land? From Illfonic, the people behind Friday the 13th: The Game and Predator: Hunting Grounds , it's set to be a multiplayer FPS experience in which, not surprisingly, players bust ghosts. A cool twist is that we'll also be able to play as the ghost.

28 JULY 2022

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