As September begins winding down, there's no denying we're rapidly approaching gaming's holiday release season. While recent weeks brought us some amazing experiences like Deathloop and Tales of Arise, the next few weeks are absolutely jam-packed with highly anticipated releases the gaming community as a whole is looking forward to.
As the busiest months of game releases approach, we're just as excited as you are to get our hands on the huge games of this holiday season. As such, we ran down a list of our staff's personal most-anticipated games. You can see the list of the games each editor is most looking forward to for the remainder of the year below. After checking out our picks, sound off in the comments about which game you're most excited about as we brace ourselves for the fall release slate.
Sable – September 23
I’ve been keeping my eye on Sable since 2018 and was happy to get my hands on its E3 demo earlier this year. First and foremost, the game is absolutely stunning. The art style is bright, bold, and so incredibly distinctive. Somehow, playing the game and seeing the art come to life around my character made Sable look even better. I took time in the game just to watch the shadows move over the desert floor. I was glad to see the visuals held up under my expectations, but I was even more pleasantly surprised with how the game felt. This was truly an unknown element going hands-on with the game, but Shedworks nailed this aspect, too. Gliding across the sands on my speeder is ridiculously fun, the Breath of the Wild-style climbing simply works, and the ability that lets you hover through the air in a bubble makes me feel invulnerable. We didn’t get too much of the story, which revolves around the main character’s coming-of-age journey, so it’s hard to say with confidence that the narrative will be Sable’s cherry on top, but I’m optimistic. Everything I’ve seen and experienced so far makes Sable one of my most anticipated games coming up this year.
Metroid Dread – October 8
MercurySteam's Metroid: Samus Returns was one of my favorite games of 2017. As much as I loved that title, it was also a remake of the 1991 Game Boy entry, which left me hoping for something completely new. Nintendo heard our collective cries for a brand new 2D Metroid ... and it only took 19 years! Metroid Dread will, reportedly, conclude the main "Metroid arc" that has been running through the franchise for decades. But I can't wait to explore the remote alien world of Planet ZDR and collect new weapons and gear, such as the Spider Magnet that allows Samus to climb walls or the Phantom Cloak that turns her invisible for a short time. Metroid Dread has been a long-time coming, so I hope Nintendo will make it worth the wait.