Just for the hell of it, I'll even include the games that came out in January since I'm so terribly slow on this sort of thing. The January games include games I want to play and those that I have already played. All games listed below come from Wikipedia and all dates are subject to change.
January
- That Dragon, Cancer - This was both a game I was looking to play and one that I did actually play to completion. It was an incredibly emotional experience.
- Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen - This game finally came out on the PC after having come out on PS3 and the 360 in 2012. The best way I can describe it is a wonderful mix of The Elder Scrolls, Shadow of the Colussus, and a Souls game. I have enjoyed my time with this game tremendously.
- Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster - I was looking forward to this one since it was one of the Resident Evil games that I never really played much of. Sadly, the horrific inventory management system in this game has really put me off from playing more of it any time soon.
- The Witness - Jokes about the game's price aside, it's more than worth the price of admission. The Witness does some amazing, beautiful, and perplexing things with puzzles. To those that think it's just a bunch of "line puzzles," you have no idea. There is so, so much more to this game and is already one of my 2016 game of the year contenders.
- Rise of the Tomb Raider - I was a fan of the original Tomb Raider reboot from 2013. I am glad that I finally got to play this one on the PC after its Xbox exclusivity period ran its course. It looks gorgeous even on less than max settings and it's been a blast to play thus far.
February
- XCOM 2 - I never really got into the XCOM games. I played a bit of the previous one. I'm at least interested in trying this one out as well. They are usually great games, but that genre generally isn't my cup of tea to play for extended periods of time.
- Dying Light: The Following - More of one of my favorite games from 2015 sounds like a good thing to me.
- Firewatch - What is Firewatch? That's something I hope to find out come February 9.
- Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 - Sure, the beta for the game kind of put me off, but I'm still interested to see how the final product comes out. I adored the first Garden Warfare and was a bit hyped for the sequel up until the beta when the hype was brought to a light simmer.
- Superhot - Time moves when you move. Very interested to play a full game around this premise after the fun proof of concept demo that was released ages ago.
March
- Far Cry Primal - I did not beat Far Cry 4 and I'm kind of over the Ubisoft "open world formula" by now, but I want to see if they do anything different with this one that actually compels me to finish the game. What a damn shame that this is another game that is out later on PC (consoles have this coming out in February), so it's entirely possible that poor reviews of the console version will mean I don't even bother with this once out on PC.
- Tom Clancy's The Division - The recent beta has won me over. I need a good "loot" game in this lull of no new Borderlands and with Destiny just dropping the ball hard.
- Hitman - I enjoy the Hitman franchise but I'm not a super fan of it. I'm still interested to see how this new "episodic" game comes together in the end.
- Oculus Rift - I cannot afford an Oculus Rift nor can I even use one on my under-powered computer. However, the first consumer versions start to roll out on March 28 along with the first few games. I am very interested to see if people feel if the cost is worth it now or not.
- Adr1ft - VR or not, I'm interested to take a look at this game. Floating in space in a dire situation seems like it will make for a tense experience. I'm sure VR will enhance the experience 100x and maybe I'll find out if it does or not first hand some day.
- MLB 16: The Show - I haven't played a great baseball game in ages. In my time with the PS4, the previous MLB games always had something that turned me away from buying it. Here's hoping 2016 is a different story. I will wait to see reviews before deciding.
April
- Quantum Break - I don't own an Xbox One but I still can't help but see what the public's reception to Remedy's latest will be. There are rumors that it's going to come out later on the PC.
- Dark Souls 3 - I love the Souls games. I love Bloodborne. I love that Dark Souls 3 has an aesthetic that reminds me a lot of the Bloodborne environments. I can't wait to die all over again for the first time.
- Ratchet & Clank - The reboot looks great. I never really got into this franchise in the past but I hope to rectify that now.
- Uncharted 4: A Thief's End - The "final" chapter for Nathan Drake has been on my radar for ages. I'm equal parts excited for the single player campaign as I am for the game's multiplayer, especially after the recent beta.
May
- Homefront: The Revolution - I often feel like I was one of the few that really enjoyed the first Homefront game. I was kind of ticked that it ended on a cliffhanger style ending. I was looking forward to the sequel up until it was revealed to be an open world game. It was that point that I got annoyed and lost most interest in it. I'll obviously reserve full judgement until I can play it for myself or read impressions of the game closer to release but I'm still of the mind that not every game needs to be open world.
- Mirror's Edge Catalyst - If I remember correctly, the first Mirror's Edge was one of my earliest reviews that I did for TGN. I quite liked it. I'm not entirely sure why a reboot was needed already, but I suppose all will (hopefully) be made clear when this one is released. I'm kind of a sucker for this free running style, especially in first-person games.
- Dangerous Golf - I like well made golf games but I wish some of them were more "extreme." Fortunately, some former Burnout devs are working on this one, so my hopes are already high.
June
- No Man's Sky - There's so much hype about this game that it's hard not to be excited for it. The big question that still remains on everyone's mind is: What exactly do you do in this game?
July-December
- Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (August 23) - I was a big fan of Deus Ex: Human Revolution when it came out. It ran well, it was engaging. I liked how you could play it a variety of different ways. It was a very solid game save for the horrible boss encounters. I'm looking forward to this sequel that has been a long time coming.
- Yooka-Laylee (October?) - The spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie from many of the original developers. What's not to be excited about? Well, I was never a really big fan of the Banjo-Kazooie games, but I can see the appeal in having an "old-school" 3D platformer come back in 2016. It's on my radar, even if the blip is small.
Unscheduled
- Allison Road - A PC horror game in the style of P.T.? Yeah, I'm sure as hell interested in checking it out.
- Astroneer - Highly stylized space exploration, resource building, and building game. There are many like it but something about this really looks to stand out from the pack.
- Crackdown 3 - Crackdown was easily my surprise hit of a game on the Xbox 360. Sure, most people bought that game because it gave access to the newest Halo title. What they didn't anticipate was that it was also a great game on its own merit. Crackdown 2 kind of sucked, so I'm interested to see if Microsoft can bring that franchise back for a new generation. It's another I'll be watching from the sidelines, especially to see if their cloud computing is a bunch of hot air or not.
- Dishonored 2 - The first game took the stealth action genre and made it its own. It out-Thiefed the new Thi4f, if that makes any sense. I'm looking forward to a continuation of the story started in the first game complete with diverse levels with multiple paths to take and choices to make.
- Doom - The over the top nature of the brutal kills kind of rubs me the wrong way, but it's hard not to get excited about a new Doom game. If it manages to have the feel of the classic Doom titles, I will be very, very happy.
- Final Fantasy XV - I honestly don't know much about Final Fantasy XV's story, setting, or characters. All I know is that this game has been in development hell for years now. I'm just excited to see it finished and a new, non-MMO Final Fantasy hit the market.
- Gears of War: Ultimate Edition (PC) - Gears of War on the PC? Yeah, I'm down with that, even if the last couple of games were kind of "meh" at best. Just do a good job on the port and release it on Steam (and don't make it some Windows Store exclusive) and there will be a lot of happy consumers out there.
- Gears of War 4 - I'm just interested to see what the developers, The Coalition, can do with the series.
- Grip - A spiritual successor to RollCage from the PlayStation days of yore? Hell yes! (Since writing this, this game has come out on Steam Early Access. It's still super early in development but shows a lot of promise.)
- Horizon Zero Dawn - You fight giant, mechanical dinosaurs. How can I not be excited for this?
- Lawbreakers - I'm quite curious to see CliffyB's big return to game development after a lengthy hiatus.
- Mafia III - Very little has been said about Mafia III since its reveal. I'm hopeful we'll see more in the months ahead. I enjoyed Mafia II, quirks and all.
- Mass Effect: Andromeda - Look, just don't end this one by making me choose between three different endings that ignore everything else I did for countless hours prior and I'll be happy.
- Outlast II - I thought the first Outlast was a terrible game that did nothing to advance the horror genre. It was a by the numbers affair that "YouTubers" ate up for them easy hits. I'm merely interested to see if this sequel manages to do anything new or if it's going to be more of the same cycle of "jump scare, run, hide, repeat."
- Paragon - Epic's take on the MOBA genre sure looks pretty. I want to know if it will be more than just a pretty face once it comes out.
- Persona 5 - I never played a Persona game before. I hear they're quite good.
- Star Citizen - Let's be honest with ourselves here: There's no way this will actually be fully out in 2016. However, it will be very interesting to see what does actually come out for this game in the months ahead.
- Tacoma - I'm interested to see what Fullbright does after having played through Gone Home. I wasn't a huge fan of Gone Home but I do tend to love a number of immersive games that have a good narrative.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle: Mutants in Manhattan - I grew up watching the TMNT cartoons. I loved 'em. I'm not sure what they did to them in recent years. I just hope that this new Platinum game reminds the world (and me) of how great the Turtles are, even though those noses LOOK REALLY DAMN STUPID!
- The Last Guardian - Another game that I really doubt will be out in 2016, but I would love to be proven wrong. I have a bit of a love/"meh" relationship with Team Ico. By that, I mean I loved Shadow of the Colossus but found Ico to be kind of "meh." I'm just wanting to see this game actually come out since it's been in development for nine years now.
- The Legend of Zelda (Wii U) - I'm a fan of the Zelda games and as a result, I'm a bit sad that I don't own a Wii U for this upcoming Zelda adventure. Even still, I'm super excited to see what Nintendo does with this new game.
- Battlefield (2016) - I still play Battlefield 4 pretty much every week (or multiple times in a week) with some online pals. Sure, Hardline was a wash but I'm not really counting that one as a main entry in the franchise. Here's hoping whatever Battlefield comes out in 2016 is a main entry in the franchise and isn't broken as all hell like 4 was at release.
- Titanfall 2 - Again, I enjoyed the first Titanfall but that game quickly and sadly died off on the PC. Here's hoping the sequel has some stronger legs.
- Yakuza 6 - Oh hey, another franchise I never really played but that I heard was great. Eagerly looking forward to finally getting to play one of these games for myself.
It will be interesting to see how many of these games actually come out this year. It will be even more interesting to see which of these titles, or perhaps a few surprise releases (or ones I forgot) make it onto the 2016 "biggest disappointments" list or the "best of" list once the end of 2016 rolls around!
What games are you looking forward to in the months ahead?
For XCOM 2, I find it's more fun to customize the soldiers based on people within a community. Watch your fans and friends die as they miss shots with 90+% chance of hitting!
For Kickstarted games, I'm looking forward to That 90's Arcade Racer whenever that will release after its multiple years of delays (the main menu doesn't look very arcade-style, and the announcer voice sounds too flat to get me pumped up like an actual arcade game, so I'm a bit bummed about that). Then there's River City Ransom Underground, which thank God did not get cancelled when Arc System Works acquired the Kunio-Kun license. I love how these Canadians not only bring back EVERYTHING we love about River City Ransom, but they also know the Kunio-Kun lore like the back of their hands.
And with spacecoyote at the helm handling localization for the Japanese community (who also knows Kunio-Kun lore like the back of her hand), I know this game will work for both River City Ransom fans, and Kunio-Kun fans (she seems to appear in EVERY SINGLE community I follow, from Court-Records, to Game Center CX, to The Speed Gamers/TSG, to River City Ransom Underground!). It's really weird for the Kunio-Kun license to have a game where North America (and it's CANADA out of all places!) develops the game, and then it gets localized into Kunio-Kun for Japan. Normally we've been importing Kunio-Kun games and having them localized as Crash And The Boys, Renegade, River City Ransom, and various sports games, because none of us know who the heck Kunio-Kun is. According to spacecoyote, the reception from Japan is quite good and they're eager to see what this game has to offer. I hope so, because I'd be close-minded as crap if I heard Canadians were developing a Japanese licensed game. But thank God I'm on the other side, and I am REALLY looking forward to how faithful this game will be as a sequel.
On that note, I'll leave this video link riiiiiiight here. (Music with lyrics is not from the game.)
Then there's the VR concert NUREN that Jake Kaufman and many other professional musicians are doing. Looking forward to that.
Oh and I guess I'm interested in seeing what people think of Mighty No. 9 when the multiplayer works and it finally gets released. I kind of lost all hype on it already though.
And last, but never least, I want to see Epsilon grow into the first-person tactical shooter I've always wanted since Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield and SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate (yes I'm including the expansion pack as the last first-person tactical shooter I enjoyed). Serellan will do good with Epsilon. It's shaping up as a damn good game that is still being updated and supported through Early Access. Actually an update came out just a few days ago with both fixes, additions to the planning map (highlight laser tripwires), and a new rifle to play with (G36c). I hope TGN will one day interview Serellan when the game gets into a more polished state with more features and levels to play with (killhouse is being developed next). I know slower tactical shooters aren't exactly a popular genre, so I won't hold my breath over any long lasting interest in this game, but any coverage from TGN (including the ones already done and published) is much appreciated.
Also, Cuphead. I think the idea is super dumb (assuming it's just endless boss rush type encounters) but I'm interested to see if people actually like it once released or if they merely loved the look/style of the previews.
I also forgot to mention Mutant Football League. At the time it was pitched on Kickstarter as a mobile game with 2D cartoony graphics on a side-scrolling plane. Well that Kickstarter failed hard, and many were wondering why there wasn't even a demo included with their pitch, if they were going to convince us that we wanted a mobile 2D cartoon football parody game. Since then, the concept of MFL has been completely reworked after changing engines, going through a bajillion surveys on what we specifically want, and redoing their approach to have a playable demo and focus less on backer rewards. They have yet to ask for any funding, but the game is shaping up to be very faithful to Mutant League Football, but in the style of a dark and gritty version of NFL Blitz. It's looking good. It's looking damn good. I don't know if this counts as a 2016 game, as it may come out next year instead, but they've been working on this for two years now, and they haven't stopped keeping us in the loop with their occasional newsletter (don't worry, it doesn't happen enough so they won't spam you, because they only update when there's something significant to talk about).