Video game release dates: When will this year's biggest games arrive?

A year full of potentially amazing games, but when are they coming out?

Brett Phipps
Monday 18 January 2016 15:56 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

One thing's for sure: 2016 looks set to be one of the biggest and best for video games. From The Division to Dark Souls 3 to Uncharted 4 and more, there's something coming out this year for every type of gamer.

Although a large number of games are yet to be given a firm release date, there's still loads of quality releases which have been dated. Let's just pray we don't see as many delays as years gone by. Take a look below for all the year's biggest games and their release dates.

January

The Banner Saga - PS4, Xbox One - January 12

Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India - PS4, Xbox One, PC - January 12

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen - PC - January 15

Resident Evil: Origins Collection - PS4, Xbox One, PC - January 22

The Witness - PS4, PC - January 26

The long-awaited follow-up from Braid developer Jonathan Blow finally comes to PS4 at the end of January. The Witness tasks players with the exploration of a large island, with a huge number of puzzles to solve in order to progress the narrative.

Having been delayed for so long, players will be desperate to find out what exactly this game is all about, though don’t expect The Witness to welcome you with open arms. It’ll require intuition, cunning and a lot of thought to make it to the end.

LEGO Marvel Avengers - PS4, Xbox One, PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, Vita, 3DS - January 29

February

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 - PS4, Xbox One, PC - February 5

XCOM 2 - PC - February 5

Unravel - PS4, Xbox One, PC - February 9

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime - PS4 - February 9

Earth Defense Force 2 - Vita - February 12

Earth Defense Force 4.1 - PS4 - February 12

Mighty No. 9 - PS4, Xbox One, PC, 3DS, Vita, Wii U - February 12

Street Fighter V - PS4, PC - February 16

The world’s most popular fighting game returns with the fifth main entry to the series. Sticking with a similar art style to Street Fighter IV, V brings a vibrant colour palette with beautiful graphics to new-gen consoles, with punches and kicks brought to live with paint brush swipes.

New fighters are also introduced in the form of Necalli, Rashid and Laura, as well as familiar favourites like Ryu, Bison and a much older Dhalsim. Having had a chance to play the game, I can say it’s shaping up to finally bridge the gap between newcomers and veterans with welcoming new mechanics that are easy to learn, but very difficult to master.

Project X Zone 2 - 3DS - February 19

Far Cry Primal - PS4, Xbox One, PC - February 23

Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 - PS4, Xbox One, PC - February 25

Superhot - PC, Mac, Linux - February 25

Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow - Nintendo 3DS eShop - February 27

March

Heavy Rain - PS4 - March 1

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD - Wii U - March 4

The Division - PS4, Xbox One, PC - March 8

Ubisoft’s highly-anticipated third-person action-MMO finally launches in March. Set in the midst of a crisis in New York, with a deadly virus sweeping the city, players are tasked with sweeping the city to find the source of the plague. You can team up to gather and trade resources, as well as take on missions together.

However, at any time, squadmates can also choose to betray their team if the loot looks too good to share. It’s an intriguing prospect, and one which has been speculated about for years thanks to Ubisoft’s signature early tease back at E3 2013, but we won’t have much longer to wait to see if Reflections has pulled it off.

Hitman - PS4, Xbox One, PC - March 11

Samurai Warriors 4 Empires - PS4, PS3, Vita - March 11

EA Sports UFC 2 - Xbox One, PS4 - March 17

Pokken Tournament - Wii U - March 18

Hyrule Warriors: Legends - 3DS - March 25

MLB The Show 16 - PS4, PS3 - March 29

April

Ratchet and Clank - PS4 - April 4

Dirt Rally - Xbox One, PS4 - April 5

Quantum Break - Xbox One - April 5

Dark Souls 3 - PS4, Xbox One, PC - April 12

The Dark Souls series is known for its bone-crushing difficulty, and that trend continues with the third entry in the main series. Taking inspiration from spiritual successor Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3 will bring much faster gameplay to the traditional sword-and-shield combat. Terrains will still presents varied and open expanses with many possible paths to take to the land’s many locations, and with the leap to PS4 and Xbox One Souls finally gets a facelift, too.

Star Fox Zero - Wii U - April 22

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End - PS4 - April 26

Nathan Drake’s bombastic and world-winding story looks set to come to a close with A Thief’s End. Naughty Dog finally get the chance to develop a game from the ground up for the PS4, and early footage show breathtaking detail in every aspect.

Gameplay looks set to follow the same style of the series, as you might expect, but the visuals are a huge leap forward and players will get to enjoy madness of a Michael Bay movie. Will Drake survive? We’ll find out in April.

Total War: Warhammer - PC - April 28

May

Battleborn - PS4, Xbox One, PC - May 3

Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst - PS4, Xbox One, PC - May 24

Faith is back and is on new-gen consoles as EA finally gives fans the highly-demanded sequel in the form of Mirror's Edge Catalyst. Set in the city of Glass, players will once again be fighting against a corrupt system, this time following the rise of Faith in her origin story, but once again experiencing the free-flowing parkour that made the original game such a hit.

June

Ark: Survival Evolved - Xbox One, PS4, PC - Date TBA

August

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - PS4, Xbox One, PC - August 23

TBA 2016

Adr1ft - Xbox One, PS4, PC

Attack on Titan - PS4, PS3, Vita

The Banner Saga 2 - Xbox One, PS4, PC

Crackdown 3 - Xbox One

Cuphead - Xbox One

Day of the Tentacle Special Edition - PS4, Vita

Dishonored 2 - Xbox One, PS4, PC

Doom - Xbox One, PS4, PC

Fable Legends - Xbox One, PC

Final Fantasy XV - Xbox One, PS4

For Honor - PS4, Xbox One, PC

Gears of War 4 - Xbox One

(Microsoft)

Now in the hands of a new development team, The Coalition, Gears of War 4 will see new COGs join the war against the Locusts. While little is known about the game, we're set for a fall 2016 release but not before a multiplayer beta this summer. With this being the first game built from the ground up for Xbox One, many will expect a visual spectactle, as the series was always known for setting the standard in both look and first person gameplay on Xbox 360.

Ghost Recon Wildlands - PS4, Xbox One, PC

Gran Turismo Sport - PS4, PSVR

Gravity Rush 2 - PS4

Halo Wars 2 - Xbox One, PC

Hellblade - PS4

Homefront: The Revolution - Xbox One, PS4, PC

Horizon: Zero Dawn - PS4

Kingdom Hearts 3 - PS4, Xbox One

The Last Guardian - PS4

The Legend of Zelda - Wii U

Unfortunately delayed out of 2015, The Legend of Zelda for Wii U is still yet to be given a firm release date. With the impending reveal and release of Nintendo’s next console, the NX, it’s fair to speculate that Nintendo will once again launch the game across both consoles at once, much like the company did with Twilight Princess for Gamecube and Wii.

Either way, the early footage and talk of a vast open world similar to that of the original Legend of Zelda has fans frothing at the mouth with anticipation, and whichever console it launches on, Nintendo fans will buy it.

Mafia III - Xbox One, PS4, PC

Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games - Wii U, 3DS

Mass Effect: Andromeda - Xbox One, PS4, PC

Metroid Prime: Federation Force - 3DS

No Man’s Sky - PS4, PC

Another perennially-delayed game that has set itself the impossible task of coping with the mountain of hype it’s built. After seemingly endless hours of gameplay trailers, the bar has been set very high as to the experience players will get once No Man’s Sky is finally in our hands.

Will Hello Games be able to deliver an experience to keep us exploring a seemingly endless universe? It’s a big ask, and hopefully we’ll find out the answer to that question sooner rather than later in 2016.

Outlast 2 - Xbox One, PS4, PC

Overwatch - Xbox One, PS4, PC

Persona 5 - PS4, PS3

Pokken Tournament - Wii U

Psychonauts: In the Rhombus of Ruin - PSVR

Shadow of the Beast - PS4

Shadow Warrior 2 - Xbox One, PS4, PC

Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem - Wii U

South Park: The Fractured But Whole - PS4, Xbox One, PC

Star Ocean V: Integrity and Faithlessness - PS4

Tacoma - Xbox One, PC, Mac, Linux

Tekken 7 - PS4, Xbox One, PC

Batman: A Telltale Game - Platforms TBA

The Tomorrow Children - PS4

Umbrella Corps - PS4, PC

Until Dawn: Rush of Blood - PSVR

The Walking Dead: Michonne - Xbox One, 360, PS4, PS3, PC, iOS, Android

Wild - PS4

World of Final Fantasy - PS4, Vita

Worms W.M.D. - Xbox One, PC

Yooka-Laylee - Xbox One, PS4, Wii U, PC

Zero Escape 3: Zero Time Dilemma - 3DS, Vita

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in