With the imminent release of the next breed of PlayStation consoles into our homes on November 29th here in Europe, what better time to have a look at some of the games that haven’t had the majority of the limelight the day one releases have had?

Wolfenstein: The New Order

The Wolfenstein series has stretched as far back as 1981, 8 games and 5 developers later Id Software hands over to Bethesda to publish the latest incarnation. This time being developed by MachineGames from former Starbreeze Studios staff, who made such games as The Darkness, The Chronicles Of Riddick and Syndicate, so it’s fare to say they know their way around game development.

This version will still have a help in hand from Id Software using their id Tech 5 engine which was first used in Rage. A game famed for it’s aesthetically pleasing landscapes, and of course will also be used for Doom 4.

However, this Wolfenstein game has already picked up a bit of wind amongst gamers for notably being sold thus far as a single player only foray into next-gen. Something I am more than a fan of personally, but can’t help but feel it’s a sure-fire way to lose sales (unless the dreaded add-on culture catches on and multiplayer comes later for a fee).

However, for Wolfenstein (and the majority of Bethesda games) this shouldn’t be that much of an issue, placing fans of the series in known ground with the plot of the game taking place in the alternate WW2 where William “B.J.” Blazkowicz is forced yet again to destroy the impending Nazi forces with their super weapons and super mechs, whilst living with being called “BJ”. However, this time he has spent too much time playing indie games (must have gotten the PS4 early) and has ended up with Amnesia. So could this point towards a more… horror centric Wolfenstein? The game still promises plenty of gun-toting fun throughout though, and as I have yet to play a bad Wolfenstein, I am certainly looking forward to how the single player pans out with not having to spend any time focusing on multiplayer.

This ye olde E3 trailer might do it justice:

Releasing sometime in 2014 for both the PS3 and PS4

The Evil Within

Carrying on with Bethesda and the id Tech 5 engine. Shinji Mikami, who some of you might recognise for such works as Dino Crisis and Resident Evil on the PS1, Killer 7 and God Hand on the PS2 and Vanquish and Shadow Of The Damned on the PS3. He’s got quite the back catalog to boast about when making his new studio in 2010 from some of his former employee friends from Platinum Games and Capcom.

The Evil Within as you may have guessed is a survival horror game, and as Shinji himself has pressed he wants to “embody the meaning of pure survival horror.” Something I feel all giddy inside hearing. However, the majority of past games that have said they are returning to roots of survival horror have failed miserably and have been action oriented jump scares. I hope this one is different.

In The Evil Within you are detective Sebastian Castellanos, and whilst attending a so-called “routine mass-murder” your squad are picked off by the evil within… ooh clever. Before you wake up after an unconscious period and fight your way through your friends own madness. It sounds like it’s got the formula for a gritty genuine thrill with it. And as there has been some hints that Shinji wants this to be his last directorial work, he might have something to prove.

Here’s to reliving the beauty of Silent Hill 2 with the power of PlayStation 4 powering the mist. … and not the HD upscaled … ‘mist’

A live action trailer to whet your appetite, and/or wet your underwear:

The Evil Within is also set to release in 2014 on both PlayStation 3 and 4

Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty

Oddworld is a series acclaimed for not only successfully making multiple incarnations of it throughout its universe, but also for being damn good fun. From the humble beginnings in one of my favourite PS1 games Abe’s Oddysee in 1997, then multiple remakes up to Stranger’s Wrath I’m sure we all played on PS3. Being developed by Just Add Water, the team behind the aforementioned Stranger’s Wrath, but also Gravity Crash early in the PS3s life.

The UK based developer has teamed up with Oddworld Inhabitants before, and will again for this release, which is essentially a remake of Abe’s Oddysee, but built from scratch, utilising the new technology and 3D physics to recreate the 2D Side Scroller for the new species of brain-dead gamers. Running on the infamous Unity engine it’s got potential to be amazing, or a flop… but I trust Just Add Water, and from what I’ve seen so far it’s got everything going for it, being a true homage to the original.

It should feature all the toilet humour, great platforming and puzzle solving that we came to know and love the original had. But with Abe looking even more shiny, maybe this will help:

Releasing this year for download on PS3, and looking like next year for the PS4

Human Element

A game which not much has been announced, except its zombie themed, which pretty much sells it to me already.

In development by Robotoki, a company formed by the departure or Robert Bowling from Infinity Ward, (no don’t leave just yet, it gets better honestly). The game is set to focus on how survivors of a zombie apocalypse cope 35 years after the disaster. Something we haven’t seen in since… forever in a video game is not how to survive the zombies but, your fellow survivors and their unpredictable nature facing human extinction.

It has such an interesting premise, and is said to be playable across multiple devices once it launches, and this will give you a different sense of how the world is and how you play it. With RPG elements and getting to choose such options as an adult with a child, moral systems and being highly narrative, it could set a new bar for creating the feels in a zombie apocalypse. (Something I’m sorry to say The Walking Dead game did not do).

It does have however one of the most glorious websites I have seen in terms of design. http://www.humanelementgame.com/

human_element_2015_game-HD

Set to officially full-scale release in 2015 on the PS4, with episodic content releasing beforehand on the vomit inducing Ouya.

Outlast

Staying with a horror theme, we have Outlast, a game by another new studio Red Barrels, formed by people all over the video games multiverse, people previously working on games like Uncharted, Assassins Creed, Prince Of Persia and Army Of Two there is pedigree inside… but nothing which screams horror… unless you count playing Assassins Creed as a horrifying experience.

Outlast is set in a mental asylum atop a mountain whereby you control journalist and torch dropper extraordinaire Miles Upshur. The game mixes the frantic pace of running from the unknown, with the sweat inducing panic of hiding from the very thing chasing you.

The game will make the most of your camera and its night vision mode to truly capture the boredom thrill and scares of The Blair Witch Project, throwing you with no combat know-how and playing with sound design to new levels of metal copulation. A true survival horror game.

The official trailer does a good job of selling itself, expect this and The Evil Within to be a quick staple of the “record me playing scary video game making funny faces” Youtube trend that the PS4s sharing option will grant us:

Releasing in 2014 for the PS4.

These are just 5 of the games releasing for the PS4 at some point in the future. Expect another article tomorrow showcasing another 5 games we at PlayStationer are exceptionally excited about that will boost the PlayStation 4s already scrumptious looking catalog of games.

 

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