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Our 10 Most Anticipated Adventure Games Of 2016
2015 was fantastic for gamers who love quality adventures. Life is Strange, Tales From The Borderlands, SOMA, Broken Age, and more helped form one of the strongest years in recent memory for the adventure genre, and it looks like 2016 might be just as exciting. As a staff, we discussed all the upcoming adventure games we’re most excited for and these were our picks.
10. Last Life (PC)
Release: 2016
Last Life is an adventure game that begins with protagonist Jack Parker’s death, but it’s okay – he’s brought back to life via the technological miracle that is 3D printing and goes back to investigating the case that led to his murder. Another twist: he's only got four hours to get the job done before he's dead again. No pressure. Outside of its intriguing premise, Last Life is also a visual feast with a slick presentation of Mars cityscapes that gives off a strong noir vibe. We’re looking forward to seeing what treacherous alleyways and night clubs Parker’s dark journey leads us down.
9. Routine (PC)
Release: 2016
If you couldn’t get enough of Alien: Isolation’s masterful fidelity to the original film’s visual design, Lunar Software’s Routine just might be up your low-gravity alley. Like Isolation, Routine embraces a low-fi science fiction aesthetic that makes the deserted facility you’re navigating look both rustic and futuristic at the same time. You play as an astronaut exploring a base on the moon stashed with all sorts of secrets, as well as dangerous robots ready to put you down. Also, you upgrade your equipment with floppy disks.That’s pretty rad.
8. Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma (3DS, Vita)
Release: 2016
Zero Time Dilemma is the third game in a series that, for a very long time, fans thought was dead due to a lack of interest for it in Japan. Operation Bluebird, a grassroots funding campaign by fans of both 999 and Virtue's Last Reward for a third game in the series, helped bring about Zero Time Dilemma’s development, giving you an idea of just how strong the cult following is for this Saw-esque adventure game. If Zero Time Dilemma can offer up half of the ghoulish, convoluted delights its predecessors did, players are in for a good time escaping from dangerous situations and making choices that affect how their story plays out.
7. Abzû (PlayStation 4)
Release: 2016
Abzû is a gorgeous exploration game from Giant Squid. The studio was formed by Matt Nava, the art director of Journey. Though Abzû definitely shares visual similarities with one of the PlayStation 3’s most iconic exclusives, this is a different game entirely where players explore a beautiful (and somewhat dangerous) underwater world brimming with life and filled with wonders to uncover.
6. Kentucky Route Zero Act 4 (PC)
Release: 2016
Fans have been waiting a long time for the newest act of Kentucky Route Zero, and they might not have to wait much longer. Back in November, Cardboard Computer tweeted out that “Act IV is almost done!” The previous episodes of the game have been well-received and given the time taken with this piece of the mythical puzzle that is Kentucky Route Zero, there’s fair reason to believe the next Act could also be a memorably unique and poetic experience.
Continue to page two to find out our other highly anticipated adventure games.
5. Batman: A Telltale Game Series (TBA)
Release: 2016
Not much is known about this game except that it’s Telltale adapting a Batman game. At this point we have burning questions more than anything else. How will choice figure into the game? Is it set during a particular story arc like The Long Halloween or The Killing Joke? Are we even playing as Bats or someone else? We’re curious to see how the developer is going to situate Gotham and its colorful cast of rogues and misfits in its established model of interactive storytelling.
4. Allison Road (PC)
Release: 2016
P.T. is dead and gone but it might live on in Allison Road, a first-person survival horror title inspired by the infamous interactive teaser for the game that wasn’t meant to be. Allison Road started out as a crowdfunded project, but just a few days from the campaign wrapping up, Team17 (best known for The Worms series) stepped in to cover the development costs. Allison Road as an extension of the ever-bizarre and sad P.T. debacle with Konami is interesting enough on its own, but the assets developer Lilith has shown off of the game are promising, so far.
3. Firewatch (PlayStation 4, PC)
Release: February 9
Comprised of veterans from Telltale who worked on The Walking Dead, developer Campo Santo’s Firewatch is easily one of the strangest and our most anticipated games of 2016. Taking place in 1989, players are cast as Henry, a lookout keeping an eye on things at Shoshone National Forest. After finding his tower disturbed, Henry discovers strange happenings in the park, including a mysterious figure who’s watching him from afar. Though much of Firewatch’s story remains under wraps, the talent behind the game, as well as its gorgeous visuals, are reason enough to be excited for this adventure.
2. Adr1ft (PC)
Release: March 28
Adr1ft puts players in the role of an amnesiac astronaut exploring a destroyed space station as he tries to piece back his memory and get home safely. Cribbing a bit from Gravity, developer Three One Zero is clearly trying to create a dazzling and intense experience that makes the most of the horrors of space. If Three One Zero can pull of this ambitious premise, Adr1ft could end up being one of the most thrilling games of 2016.
1. Tacoma (Xbox One, PC)
Release: 2016
Fullbright is following up the innovative first-person exploration of Gone Home with another first-person title. However, this one is set on a space station 200,000 miles from Earth. From what we’ve seen so far, aesthetically, Tacoma has more in common with the likes of System Shock than the slow-building emotional storytelling of Gone Home. Much of Gone Home’s appeal lay in how mundane it was, so it’ll be interesting to see how Fullbright handles setting that sort of exploration in the fantastical. You can check out our full coverage of Tacoma here.
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