This year’s Fall Preview consists of all the entertainment — from movies to books to classical music — that Vulture writers and editors are excited to consume this season. Below, our video-games list:
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Borderlands 4
Remember Eli Roth’s Borderlands movie? Gearbox Software is probably hoping you’ve memory-holed that box-office bomb based on this franchise when it releases this latest entry in its looter-shooter franchise. Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford promises it will be “badass af.”
Silent Hill f
Konami’s survival horror series is finally heading home to Japan with Silent Hill f, the first new mainline Silent Hill game in over a decade and the first to not take place in New England. Set in the fictional town of Ebisugaoka, Japan, in the ’60s, the new game is (controversially) more combat-heavy than the franchise has ever been. Idk, maybe git gud?
Ghost of Yōtei
The follow-up to 2020’s Game Awards Game of the Year nominee Ghost of Tsushima trades the Japanese island Tsushima for the Japanese mountain Yōtei. Ghost of Yōtei appears to be just as influenced by samurai cinema as its predecessor, bringing back its grainy, black-and-white “Kurosawa Mode.” As you might have guessed given the current media landscape, a film adaptation of Ghost of Tsushima is in the works.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A
Pokémon Legends: Arceus sent players into the past, bopping around the game’s Hisui region inspired by feudal Japan. The second entry in the Legends series, Z-A trades the past for the future, taking place in the Paris-inspired Lumiose City as it’s undertaking an “urban redevelopment.” Most notably, though, this Pokémon ditches turn-based combat for real-time battles. It’s a brave new world out there, trainers.
Keeper
There are two kinds of people in this world: those who hear about a game in which you play a sentient lighthouse that spontaneously grows legs to wander around its surroundings alongside a bird companion and thinks, Hell yeah, that sounds awesome!, and those who have no joy in their hearts.
Once Upon a Katamari
Cult-favorite franchise Katamari is back on consoles after 14 long years, and we couldn’t be more excited to roll around the world causing chaos yet again. Once Upon a Katamari seems a true return to form, with the King of All Cosmos again tasking his dashing son to roll up objects into a bigger and bigger “Katamari ball.” This version also includes a four-player competitive mode, so you can once and for all determine which of your friends has the biggest balls.
The Outer Worlds 2
The follow-up to Obsidian Entertainment’s excellent action RPG The Outer Worlds brings the space-faring adventure to a new setting with a new cast of characters, but with the same emphasis on branching story paths based on how players interact with the game’s NPCs. It’s set in the same alternate future where Theodore Roosevelt never broke up America’s monopolies, allowing megacorporations to take over the world and, eventually, the outer reaches of the universe. Seems quite a stretch, no?
Cairn
Why is climbing in video games so satisfying? Maybe it’s the tangible sense of accomplishment without actually having to hurl yourself up a mountain; maybe it’s just that it feels novel to flip the player-movement mechanics to a vertical axis. Whatever the case, new game Cairn doubles down with this “survival climber” about a mountaineer attempting to summit a grand peak. You control climber Aava’s limbs individually, making sure she’s not overextending an arm or a leg. There’s no player interface; you have to watch Aava’s body for signs that she needs a break. You should probably take breaks, too. Seems stressful.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
With apologies to Mario Kart World, which is genuinely very good, the Nintendo Switch 2 didn’t launch with a very impressive library. Instead, it’s doling out big releases sporadically, like the latest Metroid Prime game, which is set to arrive before the end of the year. First announced way back in 2017, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond transports Samus to a mysterious forest where she seems to have developed some new psychic powers. Neat!
Skate Story
Millennials who grew up on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, this one’s for you. Devolver Digital, the studio we once declared the HBO of video games, is publishing this heavy-metal take on the skateboarding game from indie developer Sam Eng. You play as a demon who makes a deal with the Devil to skate your way to the moon and eat it in order to free your soul. If the game is even half as rad as that logline, we’re in for a good time.
More From Fall Preview
A new Pokémon game, a new Metroid game, a new skateboarding game — wait, what year is it again?
