Guide to the games of 2017

RPGs

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord

Release date: To Be Announced
Developer: TaleWorlds Entertainment
Link: https://www.taleworlds.com/en/Games/Bannerlord/News

Part spectacle, part sim, part sandbox RPG, Mount & Blade remains a one-of-a-kind blend of systems and ideas. It's the thrill of being in a battle that's way bigger than you, of launching a single arrow into a horde of 50 dudes storming your castle. And it's the fun of being an average lord in a churning political and military sea of medieval NPCs.

The original (excluding Warband) is almost 10 years old, so as much as anything we're glad to see Bannerlord bringing a visual and technical overhaul to the series. Character customization, as we saw at the PC Gamer Weekender, offers enough flexibility to sculpt convincing dark ages replicas of Adam Driver, Vladimir Putin, Arnold, and others, but we're equally interested in the new item crafting system, which seems like it'll let you build weapons with personality and history. And lord, those sieges look nuts.

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Divinity: Original Sin 2

Release date: September 14, 2017
Developer: Larian Studios
Link: http://store.steampowered.com/app/435150/

Early Access has already given us a taste of Original Sin 2, which could easily be the best RPG of 2017. Larian has heavily iterated on its dense turn-based battle system, adding an armor system, elevation, and bless and curse statuses that can completely turn your intentions on their head. Set fire to a pool of oil and it will burn your enemies alive—but if they bless it, suddenly it has healing properties. The most obvious change this go-round, though, is a heavier focus on writing and roleplaying, with a stable of writers including Chris Avellone bringing a darker tone and more racial tension into the opening hours of this story. It's a big shift, but the story ended up Original Sin's weakest link, and Larian seems determined not to repeat that mistake.

There's already working four-player co-op for a slice of Original Sin 2's first act, and the full game is out sometime in 2017. Larian's still being secretive about its planned Dungeon Master mode, but that may well turn OS2 into a canvas for our own RPG adventures.

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Vampyr

Release date: November 2017
Developer: Dont Nod
Link: http://www.vampyr-game.com/

As a doctor stricken with vampirism, you’ll face the challenge of trying to honor the Hippocratic Oath while also devouring people for their blood. What’s more, you’ll be able to feed on any NPC in the game, including important, quest-giving characters, though they’ll not only be dead for the remainder of the game but their absence may also be noticed by other characters and have an impact on the world. In other words, choose your victims very carefully or suffer the consequences. Since you have to feed, we don’t imagine there will be options for a non-lethal playthrough, but it sounds like you can be ‘good’ by focusing on eating bad people.

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South Park: The Fractured But Whole

Release date: October 17, 2017
Developer: South Park Digital Studios, Ubisoft San Francisco
Link: http://southpark.ubisoft.com/game/en-US/home/index.aspx

The sequel to comic fantasy RPG The Stick of Truth, The Fractured But Whole is taking a stab at superhero fiction this time around. Showrunners Matt Stone and Trey Parker are back on as writers, but Ubisoft San Francisco is taking the development reins from Obsidian. Even so, it looks to be a similarly structured game, a streamlined RPG romp through a ridiculous small town that uses an active turn-based combat system, a la Paper Mario. If you like South Park’s crass, topical humor, this one is probably a safe bet.

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###Dauntless

Release date: 2017
Developer: Phoenix Labs
Link: https://playdauntless.com/

Apparently the developers at Phoenix Labs, veterans of Bioware and Riot, got tired of waiting for Capcom to bring a Monster Hunter game to the PC in the West, and decided to make their own. The F2P action-RPG will be about hunting big beasts called Behemoths across a fantasy world, with four-player co-op a big part of the appeal. Yeah, that's Monster Hunter all right. Let us at them beasties.

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Hand of Fate 2

Release date: 2017
Developer: Defiant Development
Link: http://store.steampowered.com/app/456670/

The sequel to 2015’s Hand of Fate, Hand of Fate 2 is a tabletop RPG where you build a deck of campaign encounters, then deal them out and try to make your way through the randomly built level. The twist is that combat encounters play out in real-time action combat, similar to that of the Arkham games. The second game in the series improves the visuals and refines the combat and randomness mechanics to make things a little bit smoother.

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Seven: The Days Long Gone

Release date: TBA
Developer: IMGN.PRO and Fool’s Theory
Link: http://seven-game.com/en/

A few of the minds behind The Witcher 3 are working on this, an isometric adventure inspired by Thief, which makes us tingle all over. Seven: The Days Long Gone is set long, long after an apocalyptic event. Humanity is starting to rebuild, which means there’s a lot of stuff to steal and places to explore. Seven has had a release date of “when it’s done” for a long time, but it was recently upgraded to “2017 for sure.”

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Nier: Automata

Release date: March 17, 2017 (Out now)
Developer: Platinum Games
Link: https://www.platinumgames.com/games/nier-automata/?age-verified=b55c527ce6

Nier was a fascinating oddity: a Japanese RPG starring a father trying to save his daughter in a post-apocalyptic world of cursed shadow people, with mediocre beat 'em up combat and occasional tangents into block pushing puzzles or a text adventure. The small cult of fans mostly praise how it tells its story, unveiling new perspective and layers of understanding on repeated New Game+ playthroughs. Nier: Automata looks to be just as weird with creator Taro Yoko directing once again, but this time the development is being handled by Platinum Games. In our review, we called it "a beautiful, melancholy action RPG that’s effortlessly stylish and utterly unpredictable."

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Mass Effect: Andromeda

Release date: March 21, 2017 (Out now)
Developer: Bioware
Link: https://www.masseffect.com/

Andromeda had a rocky reception, but there's still some good Bioware to be found in this sprawling space adventure. In our review, we wrote "This is a series that has always been good at getting under your skin, that has built its reputation on the moments when all of those disparate elements, good and bad, cohere into an adventure that feels like it's happening to you. Andromeda can still do that. It's not perfect. It's not consistent. But for a story about vast journeys and fresh starts, it also feels a little like coming home."

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Two Worlds II: Call of the Tenebrae

Release date: July 13, 2017 (Out now)
Developer: Reality Pump Studios
Link: http://store.steampowered.com/app/456220/

We know what you're thinking. "Wait a second, didn't Two Worlds II come out in 2011?" Why yes it did. Good memory, reader! Six years later, there's another expansion for the sequel to an RPG best known for looking an awful lot like a knock-off of Oblivion. Two Worlds II was never an A-list RPG, but we liked it well enough half a decade ago, and this expansion promises an upgraded engine that may help disguise its age.

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Resource: http://www.pcgamer.com/new-games-2017/5/