Why play with AI when it's so much more fun beating humans?
If you’re like me, you love playing competitive video games. But there’s so many out there, it’s hard to choose which one to play next. Well, here’s a nice list of some cool pvp-focused games.
1) League of Legends
League of Legends “A New Dawn” Cinematic Trailer shows off an action-packed dramatization of a typical League game.
In League of Legends, you join a team of five to fight other players in the Fields of Justice, with the ultimate goal of pushing them back to their base and destroying their “Nexus”.With over 27 million players monthly, League of Legends is sure to provide a unique experience with each match. Players first choose their champion, which might sound easy if you don’t know that there are over 120 to choose from, each with its own unique style of play.
There are four main roles in the game: Top lane, which tends to produce tanks who soak up damage or fighters to dish it out; Mid Lane, usually assassins who can do fast, high damage to assist other lanes when needed; a Jungler, who travels between lanes killing NPC monsters for damage or mana/health buffs; and in Bottom Lane you have two players. The ADC, attack-damage carry, who is meant to attack from range and build straight attack damage to get an edge over the other team. Finally, there’s the support, whose main function is to take the blame when the ADC can’t do his job right keep the ADC and to an extent anyone else who comes near him alive and hinder the enemy’s movement.
That’s the meta-game: what everyone expects you to do. For each role, there’s about 30 champions to fit it. But there’s no rule saying you can’t take, say, Teemo, a champion traditionally seen as literally Satan and a top lane damage dealer in bottom lane as a support. It might not work very well, but there’s nothing stopping you from trying.
Although your teammates may not like it…
After joining a game, you’ll spawn into the arena. From here, you can choose from three special abilities or spells that you can cast in combat. Let’s say you’re using Teemo and going top lane. When you first spawn in, you can choose to take as your first spell “Blinding Dart”, an extra powerful blowdart that blinds the opponent, preventing him from hitting anything for a couple of seconds. Or you can choose “Move Quickly”, which gives you a movement speed bonus for escaping an aggressive opponent. Or if you like, you could pick his third spell, “Toxic Shot” which applies poison to every attack you deal out. As you level your champion up in a match, you can and will upgrade all these spells to make them more powerful.
At level six, you unlock your “Ultimate Move”, generally an extremely powerful spell with a very long cooldown. For Teemo, it’s instant death invisible poison mushroon landmines. For other champions like Garen, a swordsman, it’s a powerful sword strike that deals more damage the lower the victim’s health is. Other champions might be able to give temporary immunity to all damage. It depends on who you pick.
Besides levelling up, you can make your champion more powerful by buying things in the in-game store. Don’t worry. It’s not microtransactions. Champions start with a set amount of gold, 500 in a normal game, though this can be raised by using runes and masteries, things bought with out-of-game points I’ll get into later. To gain more gold, kill things. Minions, jungle creeps, other players, turrets and inhibitors… anything you kill will give you gold. In addition, you have a passive gold gain, getting a set amount of gold every few seconds. In the store, you buy things that will increase your defense, health, or damage, as well as some that increase gold gain and a few with active abilities like dealing a percentage of the opponents health in magic damage.
Outside of the game, you can increase your stats across all champions through masteries, special perks gained by levelling up your account, and runes, bought using the points you earn by playing the game.
The developer team, Riot Games, is constantly patching the game and adding new characters or features. It has a total player base of around 67 million players a month, and is still growing. Each year, more and more people watch the League of Legends world championship, to the point that 2016’s championship will be held in Madison Square Garden.
Behold the face of true evil.
Counterlogic Gaming vs Liquid, the NACLS Quarterfinals
2) Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2’s “Meet the Pyro” trailer offers an inside look at one of the game’s more mysterious player classes.
Your main objective is to capture the command point, killing anyone in your way. You belong to either Reliable Excavation and Demolition(RED) or Builders’ League United(BLU), two companies that are fronts for opposing intelligence agencies. Both teams are given their intel by the same guy, and, well… Hilarity ensues.
You control one of nine mercenary classes in game ranging from the “Jack of all stats” soldier to the medi-gun wielding Doctor, to the stealth expert and assassin Spy. The controls are mostly the same through all the classes, but each class has unique abilities usually activated with the right mouse button. For the spy, it causes you to go invisible. For the sniper, you zoom in through the scope. Other than that, the controls are the same familiar FPS controls we’re all used to.
Where the game becomes unique is in the tone. This is not a serious game. Look at that video up there. See? The game’s charm comes from how the developers have embraced the whacky slapstick that a lot games eventually become. From silly hats to in-game dialogue, there’s almost nothing serious about the game.
The game boasts over 200 hats, both silly and otherwise. It’s developer team has been providing consistent patches and updates since launch, as well.
A blue heavy makes a stand against the red team.
Gameplay video showing off the glory of Pyro
3) Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade
The Eldar Trailer for Warhammer 40K:Eternal Crusade shows off the Eldar Race’s loadout and general badassery.
Your chosen race must fight three others for the right to claim whole planets. This upcoming Third Person Shooter MMO takes place in the popular Warhammer 40k universe. Taking control of one of four races- Eldar, Space Marine, Ork, and Chaos Space Marine- at war with the other three. As a third person shooter the controls are pretty standard, though still being improved since it’s still in early access. Your character will have many different abilities. One I saw was the healing beam from the sorcerer class, which does exactly what you’d think it does by undoing the target’s wounds and allowing him to carry on the fight. One of the more interesting weapons I saw was the chainsaw sword, again, exactly what you think it is. With it, you can slash and beat and chop your enemy into a downed state before performing a finisher by impaling him on the running chainsaw and lifting him into the freaking air before slamming him into the ground!
The game also features some customization, allowing you to make a unique character. The setting as well is also unique: Orcs and Elves in space with high tech guns and weaponry.
Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade is expected to be released this summer.
The kind of battle you can expect to be a part of in Warhammer
Just a normal guy trying to survive the war.
4) World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft: Legion cinematic trailer introduces the latest expansion for the already massive MMORPG
Choose your side: Horde or Alliance. The two factions have been at odds for years, ever since the First War. You are a soldier for whichever side you choose, moving up through the ranks and getting more and more powerful as you go. The story of WoW is the story of its factions, and the long and short of it is that whether facing an undead scourge or an army of demons, these two factions just can’t get along.
The World of Warcraft isn’t an active-combat game. Rather, when you attack someone, your character will auto-attack and you can activate different special attacks keyed to your number bar by default. For example, I play a rogue. My guy attacks the boss with his daggers, and as I’m doing these attacks, I can activate my special: Hemorrhage, which deals bonus damage and causes a bleeding status effect so I can watch in perverse joy as my opponent slowly bleeds out. I can activate other abilities that might increase my attack speed or lower my threat level so I don’t aggro an enemy. I can completely ruin anyone’s day by using these attacks in specific orders depending on the enemy. In addition, I have some out of combat abilities, and stealth attacks like a backstab or pickpocketing.
Every single class in the game has something similar to what I described, but tailored to that class. A ranger character will have abilities centered around his ranged weapon and battle pet, and a wizard’s abilities center around the use of spells. As well, each class has two to three specialties. I’ll use my rogue again as an example: When I got to level 10, I could choose a specialization that was most suited to my playstyle. I could choose from assassination, combat, and subtlety. Each is a vastly different play experience within one class. In short, no two characters are exactly alike in this game, and I haven’t even mentioned racial spells and abilities.
After finishing your character creation, you’re released into a truly massive world to do pretty much whatever you want. And that includes finding players of the other faction and kicking their asses. World of Warcraft has dedicated PVP servers, which means if you enter contested territory on that server, you’re automatically flagged for pvp and any passing opposite-faction player can attack you. Or you can attack them first to ensure victory for the Horde. Or, you know, Alliance, whatever.
You can also join skirmishes, which are smaller maps for pvp play without needing to be in a pvp server. Outside of skirmishes, the point of pvp is to capture territory for your faction. In Outland, the site of WoW’s first expansion, the first area had three towers you had to capture from opposing players and really helped sell the Alliance vs Horde narrative. Skirmishes are smaller scale, 2v2 or 3v3, to compete in arena style matches to earn Honor and other bonuses, which you can use to buy pvp-specialized equipment.
World of Warcraft is by far the most popular MMO in the world today, and is gaining even more players as it prepares to launch its sixth major expansion, LEGION, which sees the return of the demonic Burning Legion and the introduction of a new hero class, Demon Hunters.
Going against a dragon? Okay, man, if you really think you can.
Players facing off against the Lich King, possibly WoW's most chilling villain.
5) Elder Scrolls Online
The Elder Scrolls Online cinematic trailer provides a great introduction to the game.
One thousand years before Skyrim, the Daedric Prince Molag Bal tried to take over all Tamriel. It’s up to you to stop him. Join one of the three alliances vying for control of Cyrodiil, the Imperial Province last seen in Oblivion, and take the fight to him.
The controls are slightly different from the main Elder Scrolls games, in that, like most MMOs, your character has some special abilities he can use, which use stamina, magicka, or health, and have to recharge if your resource drops too low.
You control a member of one of three alliances: The Aldmeri Dominion, the Ebonheart Pact, and the Daggerfall Covenant. Once you complete your character with the excellent customization we’ve come to expect from the Elder Scrolls, you’re off into the wider world of Tamriel! Once you hit tenth level, you can join the PVP war in Cyrodiil. This is the only PVP area in the game, and it’s about as big as it was in Oblivion. The basic objective for battles there is to capture the base. And the base could be a fort, a town, a castle… Once your faction has captured all the castles, it is in control of Cyrodiil and the strongest player on the battlefield is crowned emperor!
It’s a live MMO, meaning the dev team is still making content to be released as DLC packs.
Fire Atronachs? For real? C'mon, I can take them.
A PVP video showing off the Nightblade and Templar classes.
6) Starcraft 2
Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty trailer showcases the new release from 2010
Outwit your opponent in real-time and destroy his base! You are a military commander for one of three races, Protoss, Terran, and Zerg, and must use the resources around you to produce an army that you then lead to victory in this Real Time Strategy game from Blizzard. Starcraft 2 has three parts, each focusing on a different race. In the Terran campaign Wings of Liberty, Jim Raynor and his men try to take down the corrupt Terran Dominion. The Zerg campaign, Heart of the Swarm, sees a human psychic trying to find a place for herself and the Zerg in the galaxy. The Protoss campaign features a Protoss, General Artanis, trying to unite all the different Protoss clans into one unified whole. And through it all, the main villain has succeeded in making Protoss-Zerg hybrids…
It’s a real time strategy game, meaning while you’re trying to outsmart the other guy, he’s also trying to outsmart you and you manufacture and deploy units at the same time. As in most RTSes, resource management is a huge part of a victory. You need to collect resources in order to build units and buildings, and if you lose all your buildings, well, you’re screwed because now there’s nothing standing between your enemy and your main base.
Despite having three very different races to play as, the game is incredibly well-balanced, so that if two equally-skilled players have a match, no matter what races they pick it could still go either way. And even now, years after the game was released, players are discovering new tactics and strategies to help them win.
Starcraft 2 has sold at least 3 million copies worldwide as of 2010 and was the fastest selling RTS of all time.
I'm no expert, but it looks like someone is about to have a bad time.
Recording of a professional Starcraft 2 match.
7) Hearthstone
The Hearthstone: Whispers of the Old Gods cinematic trailer reveals the latest expansion in the popular card game.
Are you tired of fighting those stupid Alliance loyalists all through Azeroth? Are you sick of getting Night Elf blood all over your new Orgrimmar tabard? Want to take a break from ghetto-stomping gnomes? Come down to the tavern, then, where you can sit back, have a pint, and destroy your opponents in a game of cards!
Hearthstone is a wonderful online card game in which you take control of a class-based deck, with a hero card featuring an archetypal character found in World of Warcraft, such as Garrosh Hellscream(long may he reign) for the Warrior deck. Each deck is made up of standard cards and class cards, as well as some special cards or legendary cards. For example, I, playing as the Rogue(she may be alliance aligned, but she’s a Blood Elf, so I give it a pass), could play the Frostwolf Grunt card, but so could my opponent playing as the Paladin.
However. If I’m feeling particularly cruel, I can ruin my opponent’s whole life by slapping down an Assassinate on that son of a bitch, which is a rogue-specific card one-shotting one of the opponent’s minions.
To win, you and your deck have to bring the opponent’s hero card down from 30 HP to 0. You can do this in a couple of ways, from damaging spells, to attacking with minions, to using your own hero power(a dagger dealing one damage, for the rogue) to shank a mother.
You can customize your decks, too. In fact, no two decks are the same at all, though there are standard setups and builds. But as long as you like your deck and can win with it, it won’t matter.
Hearthstone has recently released an expansion, “Whispers of the Old Gods”, in which you can add C’Thun to your deck. His “battlecry”(an effect that activates as soon as you play the card) is to deal damage equal to his attack, randomly split among all enemies. Okay, whatever, right? He’s a 6/6(six damage, six health), what’s he gonna do? Well, the thing about that is that Cthun has worshippers, with cards that add +1/+1 to his damage/health at the end of every turn. So if you aren’t careful, you might get smacked the fuck down by a 20/20 Old God, effectively ending the game.
What I’m saying is, Hearthstone is awesome. Play it.
Firelord's about to get OWNED
Video showcasing a warrior deck playing against a rogue, wizard, and shaman deck.
8) DayZ
The DayZ Early Access Trailer, announcing the game’s move from an ARMA II mod to its own standalone game.
Do you enjoy trying to help other people get through a zombie apocalypse? If so, DayZ probably isn’t for you. If, on the other hand, you like shooting zombies, travelling through a Siberian wasteland, and killing any other sentient human you see, you’re in luck!
DayZ is a sandbox zombie apocalypse game set in post-Soviet Russia. Players have to survive both said zombies and each other, and the game is known for having a cruel player base.
It’s a survival game, meaning you’ll spend a lot of time gathering resources like food or first aid supplies. And you may even run across another player. If you do… Kill him. Kill him and take all his things, because if you don’t, he WILL do it to you. Even if he says he won’t and helps you for a bit. Especially if he says he won’t and helps you for a bit. This is a game where you should never trust anyone, because if you do they’ll mug you and leave you naked for the zombies.
Doesn't matter if it's zombies or players, running away is always a good idea here.
A stream of a sniper player having some fun.
9) Smite
Smite's cinematic trailer introduces a few of the gods you'll be kicking ass with.
I’ve always wanted to bring the wrath of Odin down on all those who oppose me, and now I can, with SMITE. Although, Loki’s a better champion, so… wrath of Loki, I guess. Smite is a MOBA, much like League of Legends, where you choose a champion, and fight your way down a lane past some turrets and a phoenix, to destroy the enemy team’s Titan, and win. Where it differs from League of Legends, however, is in the champions. They are real-world gods like Loki or Thor, or Sun Wu-Kong the Monkey King, or Ao Kuang, Dragon of the Eastern Seas(seriously, that is the most metal name). There are gods in the game from almost every major culture on Earth, from Greek to Hindu to Aztec.
Each God has his or her own unique skillset, again, much like League. These work off of mana, and operate on cooldowns. You also have an ultimate ability and a game store to buy items to buff your attack or defense.
There are multiple game modes in Smite: Arena, Joust, Conquest, Assault, and Siege. My favorite mode to play is Arena, where each team has a portal and must destroy the other team’s portal first by either hitting it or ushering their minions into it to overload it. This takes place in an arena, oddly enough, with a crowd of spectators watching and no lanes. No objective but destroy the portal.
At the end of the day, Smite is a really fun MOBA with a lot of unique characters.
Looks like a team fight just went down.
Video showcasing Poseidon’s abilities.
10) Brawlhalla
The Open Beta trailer for Brawlhalla shows off the absolute mayhem that is this game.
Utter. Freaking. Chaos. When you play Brawlhalla, prepare for absolute mayhem. You pick a champion to play, and you fight up to seven others online. And your goal? Knock them offscreen to their death.
The game plays like any platform fighter game, but with a twist. Your champion’s moveset will change based on what weapon you pick up. This can cause quite a bit of confusion if you’re used to the sword moveset and suddenly find yourself using a rocket powered lance. Luckily, your opponents will be just as surprised by the sudden change in play style.
Brawlhalla is a really fun game with a really simple premise: Brawl.
And here we see utter freaking chaos in action.
A video of a ranked Gnash player trying his luck.
11) Quake Champions
The E3 2016 Announcement Trailer reveals the Quake reboot.
Much like DOOM, Quake originally didn’t have a “story” so much as a “Here’s a gun, there’s some things trying to kill you. Have fun!” setup. And that’s just fine by me. In Quake Champions, players choose a Champion to play as, out of several different named characters including some from earlier games. Each champion has his or her own unique set of skills to help the player win.
Not much is currently known about which characters will be included, but we do know that Ranger from the first game and Visor from the third will be playable.
Quake Champions is sure to be one of the most anticipated titles of 2016.
Some poor sap about to lose a 2v1 skirmish.
Although edited for effect, the debut gameplay trailer shows some of what players are going to be in for on release.
12) EVE Online
The action-packed Citadel cinematic trailer announces EVE’s latest expansion allowing player corporations to create new citadels and ever bigger superweapons.
Players join the game as spaceship pilots and from there, well, what do you want to do? You can probably do it, from being a mercenary to leading a player-run corporation. Seriously, pretty much everything is player-run. As such, there’s no real story or even level progression. Whatever you want to do, do it. Maybe another player will stop you, maybe not. Each character has different tools, depending on your skills, and how you use them is up to you. Since this applies to every player, it results in the players themselves determining the history and socio-economic landscape of the game, rather than precoded or prewritten lore from the developers.
The gameplay is a bit slow, in that it might take a long time to achieve your goals due to lack of a levelling system. It’s a very dense game, as well, and you might find yourself utterly lost for the first few days until you get the hang of things.
Except for bug abuse, any action possible in game is legal, from betraying and attacking your allies to massive Ponzi schemes robbing corporations of billions of in-game currency.
EVE is a game in which you have to make your own fun, rather than wait for it to find you. With no real questing system, you can make up your own, which some will say is the best part of the game.
EVE Online boasts a large and very involved player base, whose in-game wars occasionally even make real-world news!
Picture of the Battle of Asakai, possibly the largest and longest video game battle in history.
Footage of one of the game’s biggest battles: more than 4000 players fighting.
13) Friday the Thirteenth
Friday the Thirteenth’s announcement trailer has a slow build to the reveal of this new horror game.
Have you ever wanted to slaughter a bunch of your friends in a gruesome fashion while they try to get laid on a camping trip? If so, you might need professional help. Or you might just be wanting to play the new Friday the Thirteenth game, in which seven players play seven camp counselors, while the eighth plays Jason Vorheez and tries to, well, gruesomely slaughter them.
As a counselor, your goal is to survive the night. As Jason, you make sure they don’t. To do this, you have to use your skills, which include a sort of infrared vision for tracking and a teleport to close distance. The counselors, however, must rely on their own wits and the environment in order to trick Jason and get away.
Friday the Thirteenth is set to be released this fall and is a must for any fan of survival horror games.
Welcome to Camp Crystal Lake, your home away from home!
Some early gameplay footage featuring Jason bringing the pain to some counselors.
14) H1Z1: King of the Kill
The H1Z1: King of the Hill teaser trailer shows off the playable characters in a very chaotic fashion.
Drop into a an utterly chaotic grudge match and just kill things. Choose a character, whether the Scarecrow like Brian Moore or the pigheaded killer Kyle Bacon, and just go ham.
The game was created after the original H1Z1 was split into two projects back in February of 2016. Though still in early access, it provides a fun chaos deathmatch experience.
Although, if you didn’t care for H1Z1 before it split, you probably won’t care much for this. It seems like they might be trying to hype it up way too much for what the actual experience is, and the gameplay doesn’t lend itself well to the whacky, utterly chaotic tone of the trailer. It boasts that it is a “fight to the death” shooter, but really, what shooter isn’t?
However, King of the Kill has a lot of potential in the playerbase, which is in my opinion the one thing that, for a published game, will make or break the experience and the base for this game is both creative and, well, murderous. So even if the game might be slow-paced, you have a lot of creative freedom in how you murder the other guys.
Yeah, that seems about right.
Gameplay footage of a man trying to beat 100 opponents in the game.
15) GTA V Online
GTA V Online Heist trailer, revealing the new heist system for online play
You know the drill: Steal from everyone, murder some hookers, shoot up a strip club, get killed by that idiot who just joined the game... It’s GTA V Online!
Players make a character and then go wild in a sandbox Los Santos, where they can do missions such as heists or just screw around and kill each other. It’s all the fun of GTA V’s base game mixed with all the fun of murdering the crap out of other players at your leisure!
With fully customizable characters and vehicles, and a huge range of weapons to choose from, no two characters are the same and every player’s experience is sure to be exciting and probably very, very violent.
Only in GTA V...
Some in-game footage of a player experiencing GTA V as it was meant to be: aimless and open.
16) Tribes Ascend
Tribes: Ascend Blood Eagle Teaser announces the game and shows off the impressive armor of the tribesmen.
Way out on the edge of space, isolated tribes of humanity battle for territory and resources. With jetpacks! Players take control of individual members of a Tribe and duke it out in a number of large, sprawling, open maps.
The game is different from other FPS’s in that you can FLY with a freaking JETPACK, which adds an entire new dimension to combat. You can attack or be attacked from literally any direction! Another fun feature is the “ski” feature. Originally a glitch, now in Tribes Ascend you can press a button and glide downhill to gain speed to either overtake your opponent or escape him.
Tribes Ascend has five different game modes, so whether you like Capture the Flag or all-out Deathmatch, there’s probably something here for you.
Fast-paced. Skiing. JETPACKS. What more could you want?
Whatever else might be said about it, Tribes Ascend is gorgeous.
Tribes Ascend Gameplay teaser shows off some of the combat including jetpack action and some skiing.
17) Dead By Daylight
The chilling Dead by Daylight launch trailer shows off the game’s mood and killer.
A serial killer mercilessly kills anyone who enters his hunting grounds, and it looks like you’re his next prey. You know, unless you play as the killer, and then, well… Great! Happy murder! This new survival horror game features asymmetric multiplayer; one serial killer against up to four survivors just trying to get away, much like Friday the Thirteenth up above. Unlike that eighties horror love letter, however, Dead By Daylight features three different killers: the Trapper, the Wraith, and the Hillbilly, each with a different playstyle.
To survive and escape, the survivor players must run. That’s it. You can’t fight the killers. The killers are faster than you, too, so you have to run smart and use physical obstacles to delay them. You’ve seen slasher films, you know how that works. If you’re in it for yourself, you can try to sell out the other survivors, but if you fail karma tends to bite quickly.
Dead By Daylight is a fascinating way to terrorize your friends or internet strangers.
I don't want to say that guy's dead, but he's probably dead.
The Devs’ own Twitch stream shows off the utter horror a survivor experiences at the hands of a remorseless killer.
18) Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm Cinematic trailer features characters from Diablo, Warcraft, and Starcraft all fighting each other.
Anyone who’s ever wanted to see Diablo fight the Lich King is about to have their wish granted. Heroes of the Storm is a MOBA from Blizzard which sees their most popular characters fighting as a team to secure objectives and beat the other team. It features characters from World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, and now that Tracer is in, Overwatch.
Heroes of the Storm has a focus on secondary or bonus objectives, such as bribing a group of pirates to bombard the other team with cannonfire. Unlike it’s competitors League of Legends and DOTA2, these secondary objectives generally dish out damage directly to the opponent rather than buffing allied teammates.
Heroes in the game, such as Raynor from Starcraft 2, are very customizable. They come with Talent trees instead of gold and items, and have two different heroic abilities(“Ultimates” for you leaguers out there).
Heroes of the Storm has seen continual patching and updates since launch, with the latest character added being World of Warcraft’s Gul’Dan, the Orc Warlock also known as “that asshole from the movie”.
Looks like somebody just scored big.
In this video, we can see the player using Sylvanas from WoW in a quick match.
19) Tom Clancy’s The Division
The Division’s E3 2015 trailer, we are told by members of the Division itself what’s happened to America.
A deadly virus has been released in New York City. Your mission is to investigate and contain the fallout at any cost.
This Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game Open-World Third Person Shooter(there’s a mouthful…) from Ubisoft mixes gameplay elements of Watch_Dogs and Ghost Recon to make an exciting over-the-shoulder shooter with RPG elements(isn’t that easier to say?) such as levelling, looting, and a perks system to help you grow stronger as you work with other agents to contain the virus.
And then there’s the Dark Zone. In this area, players are free to attack one another as they see fit. The payoff is worth it though. Loot in the Dark Zone is generally higher level than in single player areas. Of course there’s a catch: You die in the Dark Zone, you lose all the cool stuff you picked up.
While you can enter the Dark Zone as a single player, I wouldn’t reccommend it. You’re more likely to run into packs of four players than any loners.
There are no game modes in the Dark Zone. It’s just a free for all with no scoreboard or winning objective.
Basically, picture “The Warriors” mixed with United States Special Forces.
Tom Clancy’s The Division grossed over 300 million dollars in its first week of release and remains fairly popular on Steam.
A player defends herself next to the no-doubt "iconic" "God Can't Save You" graffiti.
A Youtuber records his fight with the leader of one of New York’s anarchic gangs.
20) Rust
Your First Day In Rust shows a montage of the things you might get up to in game, from crafting to shooting some poor sap.
You wake up naked in the middle of nowhere. You must survive. Do whatever it takes. Gather resources, cook food, make a small hut, and call it home.
Inspired by games like DayZ and Minecraft, Rust is a survival game with a heavy focus on crafting. You may have noticed from the previous paragraph. And much like in DayZ, if you see another player, kill them. Show them no mercy, because they will show you none. Seriously, I can’t stress that enough. Just like you, they’re on the very edge of survival and have turned into animals, so when you see some other player in your game, pin him down and bash his head in with a rock. Then take his stuff. He probably deserved it anyway.
Although it’s still in Alpha and available on Steam Early Access, Rust is still one of the most popular indie games there is. And since it is still in Alpha, things get added to it all the time.
These three are either all about to die, or are about to share a meal. And then kill each other. Either way, they're all going to die.
In this video, players fight to take down a freaking attack helicopter.
21) APB Reloaded
The APB Reloaded trailer shows off the enforcers and criminals in a montage of cars, guns, and girls.
Pick a side: Enforcers or Criminals. Now take over the city.
Typically a mission will go like so: A group of criminals will commit a crime. The game will send out an “All Points Bulletin” on the criminals, summoning Enforcer players to try to stop them. A successful mission will yield money, which is used to buy or modify items and clothing, much like how it’s used in the real world.
One of the game’s biggest strengths is its level of character customization. Notably, the devs showed off several in-game doppelgangers of people like Shigeru Miyamoto and Peter Molyneaux.
A criminal about to try to take a security convoy.
A player demonstrates some of the game’s missions
22) Street Fighter 5
Street Fighter 5 : A Shadow Falls Story Trailer sets up the new cinematic story mode with an impressive CG film.
The most powerful warriors on earth fight both each other and their enemies to try and stop an evil organization from bombing six of Earth’s biggest cities.
In this fighting game, choose from twenty different warriors to beat your opponent and prove your superiority. Each character has its own play style and moveset, as with most fighting games, to provide a unique exeperience for every match.
Players can choose from over twenty characters including returners Ryu, M Bison, and Chun-Li, and newcomers F.A.N.G, Rashid, and Necalli.
The game adds in a new feature: the Variable Gauge, used to activate V-Reversals or V-Triggers, character specific actions that provide an edge in combat. You can also interact with some parts of the maps and trigger specific ending cutscenes based on where you beat your opponent.
Street Fighter V has sold nearly 1.5 million copies as of March, 2016. It’s dev team recently released the “A Shadow Falls” story mode, which bridged the gap between Street Fighter 4 and Street Fighter 3.
A classic matchup: Ryu v Chun-Li.
Karen vs Ken in suitably epic Street Fighter style.
23) Fistful of Frags
Fistful of Frags: The Third Coming is a trailer made in the style of Fistful of Dollars and Once Upon A Time In The West.
In a world where Old West shooters are few and far between… we have Fistful of Frags. Unlike shooters set in modern times, there’s a focus on ammo conservation and accuracy. The guns are modeled after the technology of the wild west and are inaccurate and slow to load.
Another difference from other shooters is in the scoring system. Your score is based on your notoriety, not your number of kills. In other words, style matters. There’s also no regenerating health, instead you have to recover it by drinking whiskey. I like it.
This FPS is not for any “spray and pray” players out there, due to the historically accurate inaccuracy of most of the weapons. However, I have a feeling any fan of Team Fortress 2 would probably enjoy Fistful of Frags a great deal.
After a succesful kill, the player must now survive long enought to reload.
A group of friends tries to dominate the game.
24) Street Warriors Online
This trailer shows some of the street fighters in an all-out brawl.
Have you ever wanted to take part in a street fight? Either Fight Club style or all out gang war? Here’s your chance. This online fighting game may not have any projectiles or magic, but you can have the up-close and personal experience of beating another human to death with nothing but your fists.
The fighting style is brutal, very similar to something you’d see in GTA V or Saint’s Row, but only melee. Fast-paced, up close, personal… Like something out of The Warriors or Goodfellas. But without the guns. It’s street fighting, people, it’s not pretty.
Conquest, Skirmish, and “Capture the Bag”; choose your favorite and go beat people up in matches of up to 8 vs 8.
Street Warriors Online is a nostalgic homage to the days of PS2 brawlers, and is worth a shot if you enjoyed that time in video game history.
Ah, a good old fashioned football field brawl, just like in high school...
Seven minutes of gameplay detailing the Capture the Bag Gamemode.
25) DOTA 2
The Gamescom DOTA 2 trailer asks “What does a hero need?” and gives three answers: Strength, Speed, and Wisdom.
In DOTA 2, you must pick a champion along with four other players. Then, divide into lanes and try to destroy the other team’s base. Each champion comes with their own unique skills and talents to provide players with a diverse range of play styles.
This game has a fairly steep learning curve and its playerbase is infamous for being at least as toxic as League of Legends’ players. But at the end of the day, the game is a fun and challenging hobby that any MOBA fan can get into with little trouble.
Aw, man, team fights for days!
A montage of “epic” gameplay moments in DOTA 2
26) Ark: Survival of the Fittest
The Survival of the Fittest Launch Trailer sets the stage for the Multiplayer Online Survival Arena game.
Up to 72 combatants, all in one arena, trying to survive dinosaurs and each other and come out on top. Holy crap. This game, originally a mod for ARK: Survival Evolved, is now seeing a standalone release on Steam Early Access and is currently free to play.
The game is a competitive version of the original, which can be summarized neatly as “DayZ with Dinosaurs”. You play as a primitive man and must survive by finding resources, building shelters, and even taming dinosaurs and other incredibly dangerous animals.
Survival of the Fittest looks like a promising new Esports game, a welcome breath of fresh air from constant MOBAs and FPS’s. It has a unique premise and gameplay for a competitive game and is well worth a try.
I can only imagine what's going through his head right now.
A montage of some of the crazy things that might go down in-game.
27) Chivalry Medieval Warfare
The Chivalry Medieval Warfare Release Date Trailer shows some impressively realistic medieval action.
A civil war has broken out in the kingdom of Agatha, between the Agatha Knights and the Mason Order. Play as a member of either army and take your enemy down as one of four classes in this first person medieval fighting game.
Players get up close and personal, playing as either an archer, man-at-arms, vanguard, or knight. Your weapons and defense are determined by which class you play as, with archers using the obvious weapons. Man-at-arms use medium weight melee weapons like axes, longswords, or maces. Vanguard characters use long pikes and greatswords, and knights use battleaxes and assorted heavy weapons as well as shields.
Combat is very well-designed. There are three melee attacks: a medium damage sideways slash, a heavy overhead bash, and a quick, straight stab. You can combo these together, or cancel them with a feint. You can block, but you have to match the angle of the attack. If you use a projectile weapon like a bow or javelin, you can also kick your opponent to interrupt their attack or block and leave them open to a counterattack.
Chivalry also features an expansion called “Deadliest Warrior”, tying in with the television show, and introduced the new classes, Ninja, Samurai, Pirate, Spartan, and Viking to the game.
A vanguard charges, greatsword in hand.
A player tries his luck at taking Jerusalem.
28) Warframe
The Warframe trailer gives an exciting first look at the game.
The fascist Greneer empire is trying to take over the galaxy. In response, you, a Tenno, master of guns, blades, and a pretty nifty suit of armor, are awoken from cryosleep to fight back.
Players can choose from thirty different individual named Tenno as a sort of class, with different strengths and playstyles. Some Tenno focus more on stealth, some on melee, some on ranged attacks. Or any combination of the above. The combat itself flows seamlessly between melee and range and the game overall is very fast paced and exciting.
While Warframe overall is focused on PvE and teamwork, there are some PvP game modes. First, you can challenge another player to a one on one duel. Second, there is the Conclave, which provides PvP missions in the form of Annihilation, Capture the Flag, and “Lunaro”, which is a teamwork-focused sport rather than a bloodbath.
Warframe’s developer team still puts out updates and changes to the game, in response to player input. The game is free to play and a lot of fun.
A Tenno taking down a group of Greneer Clones.
Player vs the Boss Kela, added back in 7.0
29) The Culling
In the style of a reality TV show ad, this trailer introduces the premise of the game and shows off the incredible violence within.
You’ve been selected to take part in the Culling! You’ll have twenty minutes to create or find weapons and traps and kill every other human being on the island. Good luck!
This is a game in the Battle Royale genre, similar to Ark: Survival of the Fittest, but The Culling began as a standalone game rather than as a mod for another game. Each match sees sixteen players either in a free for all or teams of two dropped onto the island and left to forage.
The game focuses heavily on melee combat, though you can find guns. That’s not a guaranteed win, however. You could miss. And a gunshot is not a one hit kill guaranteed. Probably safer to just use a chainsaw. Or an axe. It’s a lot more fun, too.
One of the most interesting features of the game is the map itself. It’s a tropical island. Fascinating, right? Well, as the game goes on, poison gas is released that slowly pushes people toward the center, making the map smaller to encourage fighting.
The Culling is currently in early access and has a fairly positive review score.
There’s nothing about this screenshot that isn’t beautiful. The trees, the sky… the poor sap getting tasered in his freaking skull….
An average match in the Culling, complete with crafting, running, and death.
30) Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
The COD: Infinite Warfare reveal trailer reveals yet another entry in the seemingly endless FPS series.
You know the drill. The terrorists are attacking, you gotta stop them! Only this time, it’s in SPACE! The United Nations Space Alliance has set its sights on colonizing space, but the Settlement Defense Front is disgruntled because they don’t have enough precious resources to survive. So they do the obvious thing and attack Earth, using… their resources? We don’t play COD for the story folks, we’re here for the online. And it looks pretty promising.
First, the thing I’m really excited for. Zero-G combat! That’s right, zero. Gravity. Combat. I assume this means we’ll be using jetpacks a lot. The other thing I’m really excited about? Aerial dogfights. In space, and in atmosphere. These two features are said to be pretty important to gameplay, which makes sense if it’s taking place in space.
Returning in this entry are COD’s classic multiplayer and zombies modes, which most everyone is familiar with. In addition, special editions come with the remastered Modern Warfare. The game is set for release on November 4, 2016.
SPACE!
"Black Sky" in Infinite Warfare sees the player character fighting back against an attack from the space terrorists!
31) Titanfall 2
The Titanfall 2 Single Player Trailer features everything from guns to mechs to weird spider robot brains.
Jack Cooper gets his wish, to be a titan pilot, when a pilot is killed in action and he has to take over. Lost behind enemy lines, he and the titan must fight their way to safety.
Titanfall 2 is a competitive multiplayer first person shooter mecha game planned for release in October of 2016. It features both infantry combat and mech battles, with players taking control of large suits of powered armor to gain an edge in matches.
If it’s anything like the original(it is), the multiplayer matches will be fastpaced and exciting, a mix of a kind of Modern Warfare gameplay and fantastic giant robot combat. To take down a Titan, players can either hit it a lot until it stops moving, or climb onto it and attack its weak points directly. Players can also utilize some parkour to move around the map and escape the titans.
This time around, there is an increase in customization options and total base Titans. The player progression system in multiplayer is also said to be more in depth than the first game, which means more and more interesting skills as you gain experience.
Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down, don't look down....
A first look at Titanfall 2's multiplayer from E3. Looks fantastic and fun.
32) Miscreated
The official trailer shows off some of the hazards players will face in the post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Well, the world’s over, mutants are everywhere, the animals hate you, and even other humans probably want to kill you. Have fun out there!
Players are stuck in a post-Nuclear war world and must survive among the various hazards coming with it. To do this, you can create a base, join a clan, or go it alone and probably die screaming.
The PvP in the game is chaotic free for all. Kill anyone, anytime, and take their stuff. They won’t be using it when they’re dead, after all. Though be careful: If you get killed, you’ll lose all your things if a player gets to your broken corpse first. Players can interact in more ways than killing each other, though. Any player can interact with your base, doing anything to it except straight up destroying it. Despite what it sounds, the gameplay is actually exciting, featuring active combat with melee and ranged weapons, as well as vehicles.
Miscreated is currently in early access. Unusually for its genre, it features a full 24 hour day/night cycle based on what server you join.
As he sinks slowly into his rock, a man surveys the town beneath him.
In which a man murders four others and takes a truck. Survival Shooters at their best.
33) Overwatch
The cinematic trailer introduces the Overwatch team in an exciting CG movie
An international task force of soldiers, scientists, and misfits must fight the Talon terrorist syndicate and help make the world a brighter place.
Players can choose from a large number of heroes and villains to play in this Hero Shooter from Blizzard Entertainment. Matches consist of 2 teams of six competing against each other to capture command points or escort a payload across the map while fending off the other team. Heroes are divided into four classes: Offense, Defense, Tank, and Support. Offense deals damage, Defense specializes in crowd control and protecting people, Tanks soak up damage, and Support heroes buff or debuff their team and the opponents respectively.
Matches are fast paced and exciting to even watch, let alone play. Each hero comes complete with several abilities to complement their role. This includes Widowmaker’s grappling hook or Roadhog’s chain.
Overwatch features a current total of twenty-two playable heroes, with plans for nine more at the time of this writing. It’s sure to be a modern classic.
Satisfaction in one image.
Here's a montage of various "Plays of the Game", the most impressive plays by the best players of each team.
34) Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars 2 Heart of Thorns trailer announces the latest major expansion to the game.
Five Elder Dragons have awakened. They’re a little bit grumpy. They’re also trying to kill everything. Customize your character using five different races and nine different classes in order to best combat the dragons.
Speaking of combat, this game operates on traditional tab-targeting combat. Guild Wars 2 plays much more like World of Warcraft, with weapon skills, healing skills, and others keyed to the number bar by default that can be activated when your character is in “combat mode”.
The pvp in Guild Wars 2 has three different main modes. Structured, “WvW”, and “Activities”. Structured pvp is what we’re all used to: small groups of players competing in deathmatches or conquest. “WvW”, or World vs World, sees hundreds of players at once duking it out in their own open world. Activities are less serious and more fun. Like party games, through a fantasy world filter. You can use tonics to take on the form and abilities of monster and fight other transformed players. Or you can play a game of Crab Toss, which is exactly what it sounds like. There’s also the sport “Keg Brawl”, which involves a lot beer and a lot of brawling.
Guild Wars 2 foregoes traditional subscription fees in favor of a one-time purchase providing access to the base game and any and all expansions, both released and future.
I don't know what he's attacking, but I'm pretty sure it's not having a good day.
A player takes on two bosses in one video, along with some help from other players.
35) For Honor
The World Premier trailer shows us an impressive CG battle featuring some of the playable factions in the game.
Knights vs Samurai vs Vikings. What more could you want from a competitive multiplayer close combat game?
Players take control of a member of either the Samurai, the Knights, or the Vikings and fight each other in gritty, exciting battles. The game uses a new system called the “Art of Battle”, in which two players go into a sort of duel mode and aim their strikes at specific target points on the other’s body.
Currently in Alpha, For Honor is set for release in February of 2017.
Well, I guess the Samurai lost. This time, anyway.
The Developers themselves join the fray to show off their project.
36) Mechwarrior Online
The Launch Trailer marks the official debut of this mecha-MMO.
Pilot gigantic robot mecha-warriors in 12 v 12 battles. Players can customize the look and loadout of their Mechs to suit their preferred playstyle. Competing earns you both experience points and “C-Bills”, in-game currency to spend on better weapons or more customization options.
Gameplay is in the first-person, and the HUD is from the pilot’s perspective. The mechs are large and heavy, but that doesn’t mean they’re slow. Current game modes are team deathmatch, assault, conquest, and domination. But the main point is, kill the other mechs and take the objective.
Mechwarrior Online has some surprisingly in-depth and thought-out gameplay, with the concept that tanks in the future are basically tanks now, but with legs. So you operate the legs and physical steering, and aiming, independently. Another interesting feature is the Information Warfare feature, in which scout players can feed information back to the rest of the team and the team leader, allowing the Mechs to gain an advantage. You know, like spying.
MWO looks pretty sweet, honestly.
Overheating is worth it for that sweet, sweet explosion.
Watch as this youtuber attempts to excel at the game.
37) Lawbreakers
Lawbreakers Announcement Trailer introduces the game’s world and mood.
The moon is gone, and with it gravity is all screwed up. Humanity has survived and even rebuilt society, but its problems are far from over. In the chaos, crime thrives and it’s up to you to choose to fight for either the Law or the Breakers.
Rather than creating a new character, players choose a role in battle. For each role, there are two named characters, one for each faction. For example, if I wanted to play the assassin, and I do, I would select that and I would play either Kitsune for the Breakers or Hellion for the Law. Regardless of which team I pick, my loadout is the same. Knives, shotgun, grappling hook, the whole nine.
Lawbreakers is a fast paced and somewhat unique shooter, still in Alpha, that promises players a fun and chaotic experience.
Shoot him! Shoot him, you fool!
Here's a video showcasing one youtuber's experience with the game, including the assassin class.
38) Hurtworld
Hurtworld’s trailer shows off the extensive crafting system and combat players will face in the wasteland.
Yeah, this one’s going to hurt. Bad. A multiplayer hardcore survival game that specifically aims to punish? Sounds great, sign me up!
Players spawn in a large world and have to forage for resources to survive. Unlike other survival games, Hurtworld doesn’t become easier once you set your basic needs. Instead, it just throws more challenges at you. More powerful monsters, worse weather, but better rewards.
In addition, some resources only appear in certain places. Other players might want them too, so what should you do about it? Talk it out Kill them with whatever comes to mind, of course! This procedurally generated game features pvp areas such as ruined towns, which house rare resources or items, that are highly contested among the players.
Hurtworld is still in Early Access, but looks very promising. Something to note is their Infamy system, where the amount and type of loot you drop when killed is dependant on how many players you’ve killed recently.
What- is that? Is that Bigfoot?! YOU CAN KILL BIGFOOT IN THIS GAME.
Bad things happen to good people in Hurtworld.
39) DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE 2
The Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 trailer proves that, if nothing else, it's definitely Dragon Ball.
After saving the universe in the first game, things start going to hell again and it’s up to you to fix things. Again. This sequel to the 2015 game is set for release in October of this year.
You can play as your own unique character, or choose from several pre-existing characters including Goku and Turtles. Players fight in competitive multiplayer matches of up to 3v3, in traditionally epic Dragon Ball fashion. Flying around, throwing fireballs, absurdly overdramatic powerups… It’s almost like watching the show.
If you liked the show, or the first game, I’ve got a feeling you’ll enjoy Xenoverse 2.
The new game looks absolutely beautiful. With its cel-shaded aesthetic, it looks more like the show than a game.
Android 16 vs Janemba in an action-packed match.
40) Magic Duels
The Eldritch Moon Trailer reveals the premise of the newest expansion and the danger to Innistrad.
The magical wards over Innistrad are failing, and eldritch horrors now seek to take over. It’s up to you to fight the darkness.
Magic Duels is literally Magic: The Gathering, over a computer. There’s a story mode, and offline mode, and multiplayer. You can play co-op with a friend, or 1v1 or 2v2 card games. Any MTG fan should love this game.
Put together a deck of spells, creatures, and lands to destroy your opponent in this world-famous fantasy card game. No two decks are the same, meaning no two games will be the same.
Best play your cards right in this one, kids.
Like a more complicated, less flashy Hearthstone, this video shows some basic gameplay using a specialized deck.
41) Mortal Kombat X
The Announcement Trailer, obviously, announces the next installment in the popular series, showing off the new game engine and graphics.
Take control of the universe’s greatest warriors and fight to the death in gratuitously bloody matches.
Along with many, many classic MK characters, there are a number of newbies making their series debut as playable characters, including but not limited to Johnny Cage’s daughter Cassie, cowboy Erron Black, and third party characters Xenomorph, Predator, Leatherface, and Jason Voorhees. Players fight in one on one matches using their character’s unique skill sets.
Each character has a set of different archetypes, with different moves depending on which you choose. Example: Erron Black’s Gunslinger variation focuses on his revolvers, but the Outlaw and Marksman variations give him a bladed weapon and rifle respectively, and different moves incorporating them. So there’s a lot more variability than just choosing a character each match.
You heard the announcer! END HER.
Showing off at max settings, here. Just sit back and enjoy the beatings.
42) Tekken 7
The E3 trailer gives us a glimpse of the story to the game as well as what we can expect in terms of action.
Engage in brutal one on one battles in this fighting game from Bandai Namco.
Players can choose from over 30 characters, both new and old including, from the returning category, Bob, Devil Jin, and Steve Fox; and from the new column, Gigas (a large red cybernetic guy), Lucky Chloe (a cat girl who breakdances as a fight), and the beginner-friendly Katarina Alves, just to name a few.
Ideally, a match would have two players beating the tar out of each other and racking up combos and eventually, one beats the other. One new mechanic in 7 is the Rage Art, which allows players to activate a critical hit for about 30% damage, depending on the character. Another new one is the Power Crush, allowing players to attack through the enemies hits, but still take damage as normal.
Basically, it’s up there with Mortal Kombat X or Street Fighter 5 as far as fighting games go. Though whether or not you enjoy it as much as or more than the others is up to personal taste.
King v Bryan in an epic boxing match.
43) Counterstrike GO
Here we go: the CS:GO trailer introduces us to the world of the game and the premise: don't let the terrorists win. Or, you know, do, if you're on the terrorist team.
Terrorists and counter-terrorists fight for supremacy. It’s a very simple game. Objective based multiplayer game in which you shoot the crap out of anyone that moves.
CS:GO is pretty much just that: two teams shooting each other. It was Modern Warfare before Modern Warfare. Pick a class loadout and go have some fun. It’s a typical tactical shooter, with the most common game mode being “Classic”, with two variations: a hostage situation and a bomb threat. Counterterrorists’ objective is to stop the bomb going off or save the hostages. Terrorists’ objective is to… not let them do that.
CS:GO is one of the biggest games in the esports scene, with tournaments offering a pool of up to one million dollars.
That's not a knife, mate. This is a knife.
Inferno Gameplay. Featuring "Fire in the Hole", and terrorists.
44) Duelyst
The Duelyst beta trailer shows some gameplay in action.
Combine a fast paced card game with a tactical turn based strategy, and you get Duelyst.
Players face each other in one on one matches, using their cards to position minions on the board and cast spells. It’s turn based, so you won’t be interrupted when you take your turn. The game bears some similarities to Hearthstone, but includes movement on a grid like you’d see in a game like Fire Emblem.
Some may have flashbacks to the Witcher 3’s Gwent card game in terms of addiction.
Positioning is key in the game.
Youtuber tries out a new deck with some degree of success.
45) World of Tanks
The World of Tanks trailer announces the game and shows off some of the tanks players can use.
Sometimes, running around on foot with a pistol and an SMG isn’t enough. For those times, we have World of Tanks.
You can choose from a few different tank models from light tanks to heavy ones, depending on your playstyle. These tanks are modeled off of tanks from World War I through around the Korean War, give or take a few years.
It’s basically a shooter game, though instead of a two-legged soldier, you play as a literal tank. I was reminded very much of Arkham Knight’s Batmobile, although obviously much better implemented and polished. Not that it would be difficult to do tanks better than Arkham Knight, but that’s a discussion for another day.
World of Tanks, in the end, promises a very entertaining and interesting take on competitive shooter games, and is worth a look to anyone who plays shooters as a hobby.
Beautiful sunsets aren't what comes to mind when someone says "World of Tanks", but hey, I'll take it.
Twelve kills, ten minutes. I like this guy.
46) World of Warships
2013 Cinematic Trailer shows us what serious naval battles can be like.
This team based shooter, from the same developers as World of Tanks(who saw that one coming?) pits teams of players against each other in naval battles. Players can pick from among several navies including America, England, and Poland(no, seriously this time, who saw that coming?). Each faction has different types of boats fitting into the standard team-game roles of tank, support, damage, all that.
Gameplay is slightly slower than in World of Tanks, although I guess that’s to be expected; warships aren’t exactly fast, and the game itself has a more tactician’s feel to it, almost like a real-time strategy game. But not quite.
World of Warships was released in 2015 and was nominated for the British Academy Games Award for Multiplayer, though it ultimately lost to Rocket League.
Ah, a nice long range view of the battle that's aobut to be joined.
A brief look at naval gameplay in action.
47) Wildstar
Wildstar’s slightly goofy look and comedic tone is exemplified by the Free to Play launch trailer.
A new planet has been discovered: the Homeworld of a precursor race. Naturally, two factions are fighting over it and you have to choose which side you’ll be on. On one side is the Dominion, an empire of sorts believing itself to be the rightful heirs to the precursors’ home planet. On the other is the Exiles, made up of criminals and mercenaries who really just want the planet to live on.
You can choose from many different classes, each covering a standard archetype for the genre. For advancement, players can follow archetypes: Explorer, Settler, Scientist, and Soldier.
Each class gets their own unique abilities keyed to the number bar by default, and combat works in a way similar to WoW, but a bit more action-y.
It sounds a little bit like Firefly… maybe mixed with Borderlands. My kind of game. PVP in Wildstar is, surprise surprise, focused on the Dominion vs the Exiles. There are different types of gamemodes for this. Open World is pretty much what it sounds like: you’re in the world, and you can attack other players, of the opposite faction. Or you can duel. It’s pretty standard MMOPVP stuff, honestly.
Looks like an MMO, alright. The player's going ham on some mobs right now.
Brief examples of the classes and how they play.
48) Insurgency
Insurgency: Molotov Spring introduces the first major content update for the FPS.
There’s a war on in the Middle East, better join up and fight the good fight. Insurgency began as a Half-Life 2 mod, before gaining ground and eventually seeing full release. It’s a pure pvp tactical shooter with a sharp focus on realism. This means, you get shot, you die. You know, like in real life. You can of course use body armour to stave off damage, but only if you get hit in that body armour. Again, like in real life.
The game is tense. You play as part of a small squad of soldiers trying to hunt down and kill the other squad. Due to the whole “realism” thing, you probably won’t see many large scale battles here, but rather many smaller skirmishes and “cat-and-mouse” games.
I'm not entirely sure what's happening, but it looks exciting!
Some gameplay footage of a sniper doing what he does best.
49) Rainbow Six Siege
The Rainbow Six Siege “Accolades” Trailer celebrates the game’s awards.
This isn’t a game where you can just go in guns blazing. No, unlike other games(*cough* COD MW *cough*) this is a game where you have to think, or die. Players take control of an operator, which is Ubisoft’s iconic way of saying “character” or “class”, each of which has its own unique abilities or perks.
Rainbow Six Siege features destructible environments and is designed for teamwork and communication. Standard FPS controls apply.
The game has an asymmetrical system, meaning teams are not always balanced. The matches are made up of attackers and defenders. At the start of the match, the attackers choose their spawn points and begin. As the attackers survey the area with drones, the defenders can build fortifications to help defend. To help counter the drones, defending players have access to security cameras. Real black ops stuff. Players cannot respawn until the end of a round, encouraging tactical thinking and smart playing.
Where could the enemy be hiding....
This beta gameplay demonstrates the mechanics and new features in Siege.
50) Hawken
The official launch trailer introduces us to the world of Hawken.
The world of Illal has been ruined by war. Among other things, a virus called Hawken was released, which is converting the entire world into a labyrinth of metal called the giga-structure. In the rubble, two megacorporations, Prosk and Sentium, are at war over the planet’s few remaining resources. Your job is to take control of a mech and fight for your corporation.
Hawken is a mech-fighter game in which players choose from three basic mechs, a light, medium, or heavy model, and can customize the weapons loadout, items, and cockpit. Gameplay consists of running around a map and shooting people. In a refreshing twist, guns have unlimited ammo. The catch is that they tend to overheat when used too much. When that happens, you’d better run and hide because it shuts down all your guns.
One key feature of Hawken is in the Mechs: you can use jet thrusters to double jump, or hover, or do a short dash in any direction, adding some cool new maneuvres to the game.
The view from the cockpit of a player tank. Looks like something's about to go down.
Get a feel for the game with this four minute video. Bit tricky getting used to the HUD, but once you do....
51) Battlefield 1
The Announcement Trailer reveals the setting of the game and shows off the impressive visuals
Oh, god, not another modern warfare game… Wait, what’s that? You say it’s a World War 1 game? FINALLY. I’m completely on board with this, there are not enough WWI game out there and this new entry in DICE’s Battlefield franchise looks pretty promising.
You can play as any WWI soldier. That’s… That’s it. That’s who you play. In Battlefield tradition, environments are destructible and players can enter vehicles such as cars, tanks, planes, and freaking ZEPPELINS. Yeah, like a blimp, but better. Also added to the game are two categories of melee weapon, light and heavy, which include such wonderful toys as clubs, swords, and shovels.
Not much has changed from a gameplay perspective, but that’s alright in my book; Battlefield has always been a pretty solid game. The main draw for me is the WWI setting, which, okay, seriously? I’m not being pranked, there’s actually a WWI shooter coming out? Sweet.
Nice gun. It's seriously refreshing to see some WWI action in gaming
LOOK AT WHAT YOU CAN DO ON A HORSE
52) Planetside 2
The official trailer showcases a heated battle between the factions of Planetside
Get ready for an insane battle for control of a world in the MMO from Daybreak Game Company. Three factions: the slightly totalitarian Terran Republic, the more democratic New Conglomerate, and the cultlike Vanu Sovereignty are at war over the planet of Auraxis, and as you can probably guess, you as the player will take control of a soldier from one of those factions.
What sets Planetside 2 apart from other MMOFPS’s is its territory system. Somewhat similar to Elder Scrolls Online’s Cyrodiil area, only there are five entire continents to fight over. Much larger in scale, the continents have the potential to host up to 2000 players. A faction has won the territory when it links the continent’s three warpgates together, or controls ninety percent of the territory.
As players level up, they can gain improvements to the loadouts and vehicles of their chosen class, be it heavy assualt or medic.
Although the first game was rather slow paced, Planetside 2 really kicks it up, with the matches played resembling something you’d see back in the days of Halo 2.
Planetside features some beautiful landscapes just waiting to be ruined by war.
A montage of some fairly impressive plays.
53) Arma 3
The Apex Launch Trailer announces the release of the latest expansion to the open world shooter.
NATO is fighting the Canton-Protocol Strategic Alliance Treaty(CSAT) in the Aegean Sea. Your job as a NATO soldier is to take down the enemy. You know, like most shooter games.
Arma is also known as the game that gave birth to DayZ, so a bit of the gameplay is the same, though DayZ is now a much different experience. Arma is a bit slower than something like COD or Battlefield, but more tactical and emphasizes teamwork and strategy to gain the victory.
The game also has an editor, in which you can make online maps and missions playable by anyone.
Arma 3 pvp has no player cap, except what a server can handle without lag.
The view from a helicopter, probably about to drop some bombs.
In the launch trailer, the heroes show off their skills in battle.
54) Battleborn
In the launch trailer, the heroes show off their skills in battle.
From the makers of Borderlands comes this futuristic hero shooter in a similar vein to Overwatch. There is one last star in the universe, and everyone left alive understandably wants to live near it. So what else can you do, but fight it out? Obviously talking never works, and would never make for a good game. But what’s more, even with the factions struggling for the last remaining star, an outside force is looming: the Varelsi, the star-eaters. So… It’s about to go down.
Battleborn retains the sense of humor found in Borderlands, but the gameplay is more similar to a MOBA, with teams of five fighting alongside minions, with the main difference being that this game is in first person. With that change in mind, the game feels a lot more fastpaced than some of its contemporaries in the MOBA genre. Many might compare it to Overwatch in terms of gameplay, and you’d be pretty close to the mark. Each hero has a unique skillset and playstyle to complement the other members of your team.
As I watch the gameplay, I can’t help but want to try it out. But at the same time, it seems incredibly derivative of Overwatch…
In the midst of a battle, only one side can win.
A pretty great match from a Battleborn tournament.
55) Gloria Victis
The early access trailer announces the medieval MMO’s initial Steam launch.
Man, there’s nothing like medieval realism. This gritty new early access MMO promises such features as territory control and open pvp, an immensely comprehensive crafting system, and, to quote the website, “non-target combat in Mount n Blade style”. Any Mount and Blade players out there will recognize this as a good thing.
This game has active combat in a realistic style, which in this case means stamina management. After all, it would be ridiculous to have someone swinging a greatsword around all day without tiring himself out. Equipment, as well, in that there is no class system. Whatever you want your character to do, go for it. Nobleman or farmer, anything is open to you.
Gloria Victis, though again, still in early access, promises some amazing new improvements in the form of sieges in towns, cities, and castles. Whether they follow through remains to be seen, but it’s still definitely worth checking out.
Knock the gate down! Take the castle!
Medieval warfare at its best, here.
56) Paragon
This early access gameplay trailer really shows what the game is all about.
Choose your hero and fight to defend the world of Agora! …. From other heroes. Paragon is a MOBA from Epic Games. You know what that means: countless accusations of being a LoL or DOTA2 ripoff. My opinion is that Paragon at the very least looks MUCH better than either of its contemporaries.
As in most MOBAs, players choose a hero to play with a unique skillset and playstyle. Whether you stick to that playstyle is up to you, of course, but generally if you play a healer you probably shouldn’t be on the front line. As the match progresses, players attempt to kill enemy towers and minions for both EXP and Card Points. Card Points can be used to buy Cards(who knew?), which in turn are used in much the same way as masteries, runes, and store items in League of Legends: to buff your hero before the match starts and so gain an edge against the enemy.
Gameplay itself seems quicker than others in the genre, akin to a slightly faster version of Smite.
Paragon is ambitious, I’ll give it that. Exciting, even. The game engine alone ensures it looks far better than its competitors.
A player prepares to charge into battle. Also, that skybox, though.
Some alpha gameplay footage. Even at that early stage, the game looks and plays beautifully.
Wow. Long list. 56 items, was it? With all those games, there’s no way you’ll have trouble finding a good pvp experience, whether you’re into FPS’s or Survival Horror, or just some good old fashioned MMO’s, chances are there’s something you like up there. Happy gaming!
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