November
Football Manager 2017
Release date: November 4
Football Manager breeds a certain kind of die-hard fan. Supporters of this series dive into the same complex sim every year, loving the impossible minutiae and complexity that turns everyone else off. As of 2016, Football Manager still had a wonky 3D engine and a restrictive save management system that made Ben grumpy. Those new features may be rough, but the game underneath is still the best, most powerful management sim ever made—or the most complicated, frustrating pile of paperwork ever devised.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Release date: November 4
It wouldn’t be November without it, but we’re feeling more curious than usual about CoD: Infinite Warfare. Even though the core style of the heavily-directed campaign (‘go go go,’ ‘wait,’ ‘stay frosty,’ ‘you take the one on the left’) never changes too much, there’s always something interesting in these bombastic games. We didn’t love Ghosts by any means, but the zero-G space stuff was a good bit of set and movement design. Infinite Warfare goes all in on space, and all the zero-G grappling around in the gameplay trailer from E3 does look pretty cool. Not every CoD fan, however, is excited about the futuristic direction.
Dishonored 2
Release date: November 11
Dishonored was a great game, but even more exciting is a chance to return to Dunwall, which is an amazing place. Arkane’s sequel follows the structure of the original, with each mission functioning as a self-contained open world full of traps, guards, and backdoors. Corvo is now fifteen years older, but players can still sneak around as the gruff royal bodyguard. Missions can also be played as Emily, who is now a badass adult with her own set of powers. And Dunwall isn’t the only setting now: Karnaca is a whole new city with its own architecture and culture, mostly modeled after Spain and Southern France. Arkane is famous for its attention to detail, which Chris praised in his in-depth July preview.
Watch Dogs 2
Release date: November 15
Set in the San Francisco Bay Area, Watch Dogs 2 looks a little more whimsical than its predecessor—or at least, the protagonist isn’t a sulking trenchcoat man named Aiden. Like last time, though, the focus is on freeform open world hacking with a magic phone that can mess with city systems, construction equipment, and personal devices. Sam found it more playful than the original when he got some hands-on time.
Planet Coaster
Release date: November 17
Frontier’s deliriously uplifting theme park sim promises powerful design tools—you can shape the terrain (James dug a giant pit and stuck a carousel in it the other day), construct buildings from little bits and pieces, and design giant, twisting, looping coasters. Andy was happy about what he played in his preview, saying it's clear that Planet Coaster is going to spawn a passionate community.
What else is coming out?
Riot: Civil Unrest — This is a fascinating one: a strategy simulation of rioting, from the perspective of the public and the police, created "to tell the stories and express the feelings experienced during these clashes." Riot is inspired by the designer's first-hand experience with the No TAV protests in Italy.
Calm Down, Stalin — Control Stalin's arms to threaten a nuclear attack, or just deal with paperwork and smoke your pipe.
Virginia — A first-person thriller that James says "brings the weird mystery and TV pacing of True Detective to games."
Smash + Grab (Early Access) — The creators of Sleeping Dogs are back with a 3v3 online combat game.It's part looting, part fighting in a dystopian future.
LawBreakers (Early Access) — We don't know exactly when, but Cliff Bleszinski and Boss Key's new multiplayer shooter is on its way to Early Access soon. We have some impressions from one of the alpha tests.
Clustertruck— Hop between the tops of big rigs as they collide and explode, like an "incredibly clumsy Neo," said Tom.
Mother Russia Bleeds — A classic-style beat 'em up set in the U.S.S.R.
Astroneer — Explore new planets and burrow to their centers, if you want.
Outlast 2 — We're not sure about the exact release date, but we are sure that it's scary—or at least very discomforting.
Steins;Gate — A popular visual novel that's getting its first Steam version.
Desync — An '80s inspired twitch FPS that Shaun called "punishingly fast."
Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location — Yep, another one of these. The release date is October 7 but it might suddenly appear at any time, knowing the series.
Shadow Warrior 2 — There's no solid release date yet, but Flying Wild Hog's boisterous shooter has been fun for us so far.
For obvious reasons, we haven't included absolutely every game announced for the fall—tell us what you're looking forward to most in the comments.
