FE ATURE
2022 Preview
SHADOW WARRIOR 3
Thought the third game would tone it
down? Think again. If anything, the
newest entry promises an even more
outrageous, silly, frenetic, and gory
first-person quipfest than the first two,
and that’s saying something. Expect slick
action and questionable gags.
RELEASE 2022STARFIELD
B
ack in 2018, Bethesda
announced that it was planning
to release a game that wasn’t
Skyrim. A brand new IP, in fact; still a
Fallout/Elder Scrolls style RPG, but this
time, in space. It’s a typically ambitiousRELEASE Q4 2022 | DEV Blackbird Interactive | PUB Gearbox | LINK gearboxpublishing.com/game/homeworld-3P
roducing a sequel to a
game almost two
decades old isn’t that
strange nowadays. Nor is
such a game happening thanks to
crowdfunding. The level to which the
developer of this space RTS seem to
be allowing backers to steer
development, however, is intriguing.
Backer survey responses have
shaped both writing and gameplay
design, with Blackbird listening
carefully to what they’ve been told are
the most important parts of
Homeworld to its fans. Will all that
community input result in a better
game, or is it a case of too many
cooks? We’ll find out later this year.HOMEWORLD 3
project for the studio, so much so that
it’s only had time to re-release Skyrim
once since Starfield was announced.
In the 24th century, a big ol’ space
kerfuffle known as the Colony War takes
place. The game begins two decadesafter things have settled down, as your
typically customisable character
embarks upon “an epic journey to
answer humanity’s greatest mystery”. It
looks set to be one heck of a huge
game, with plenty of choices. “It’s all the
paths you didn’t take that make it
special for you,” is the pretty neat way
Todd Howard puts it.
Bethesda RPGs have a moment
when the scale of the open world is truly
revealed to you (like the end of the
prison escape in Oblivion). Bethesda
calls these ‘step-out moments’ and,
interestingly, it’s saying Starfield
actually has two. Could the second be
the introduction of planet-hopping
space travel?
The potential seems enormous –
Skyrim but on a galactic scale is a hell of
a pitch. The question is, will such
enormous scale lead to even more of
the developer’s trademark open world
jank and bugs?
Based on past form, it’ll still be a
must-play even if so. And perhaps with a
new series to focus on, Bethesda might
finally stop re-releasing Skyrim.RELEASE November 2022 | DEV Bethesda | PUB Bethesda | LINK bethesda.net/en/game/starfieldSLIME RANCHER 2
The first game was a brilliantly charming
twist on a farming sim, and the sequel
looks equally adorable. It sees heroine
Beatrix LeBeau sailing her way across the
Slime Sea to Rainbow Island, to hoover up
even more lovely little slimes – including a
bunch of new ones.
RELEASE 2022