Wasteland 3
Wasteland 2 was the unlikely return of a franchise that had lain dormant for more than two decades. It was a fan-pleasing return to gritty role-playing and tactical combat in a deadly, post-apocalyptic world. Now Wasteland 3 is where it starts to get weird. The trailer for the game took us from sunny Arizona to frigid Colorado, which is overrun by freaky factions that include giant spider robots, a guy in clown makeup, and a man wearing a tartan luchador mask. The tone is far more wacky, at least for what we've seen so far, but the turn-based combat looks just as demanding as before.
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Platforms: PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One
Release date: 2020
It's bizarre to think that we'll have been playing Lego Star Wars games for 15 years when Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga comes out, and it's even stranger to think it's all been leading to this. This is being billed as a "brand-new Lego video game" so hopefully it won't just be filled out with repurposed levels from the many games of yesteryear. All 9 films in the Skywalker Saga will be covered, from The Phantom Menace to The Rise of Skywalker, and yes that does mean we'll finally get to play the events of Star Wars: The Last Jedi in brick form.
Gears Pop
Platform: Mobile
Release date: Early 2020
First announced at E3 2018, Gears Pop takes the hardened war veterans of the Gears series and renders them in cutesy Funko Pop style for a mobile game copying Supercell's popular multiplayer battler Clash Royale. You'll deploy Gears or Locust soldiers down two lanes in an attempt to wreck your opponent's entrenchment before they can do the same to you, utilizing cover along the way. It looks appropriate cute and simple for a mobile game, though the Gears tie-in still seems like such a strange choice.
Age of Wonders: Planetfall
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One
Release date: August 6, 2019
Turn-based strategy gets weird and wonderful in Age of Wonders: Planetfall. The latest edition of the series takes players to an alien planet occupied by a number of different factions as well as some unpredictable wildlife. You may find yourself facing off against cyborg zombies, giant alien mechs, and actual dinosaurs with lasers attached to their frickin' heads all in a single match. As is Age of Wonders custom, you'll navigate tech trees throughout the course of each match and expand your territory one hexagonal tile at a time. Oh, and there are giant penguins, because this is an alien planet and it can do whatever it wants.
Watch Dogs Legion
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Google Stadia
Release date: March 6, 2020
You might have been expecting Watch Dogs 3, but Watch Dogs Legion is something much, much better. Set in a post-Brexit, very dystopian, alternative near-future London, Legion allows you to build your own DedSec crew from a pool of everyone living in London. That ranges from parkouring grandmas to streetwise cockney gangsters that look like rejects from a Guy Ritchie movie. You can recruit up to 20 active agents, who you can train up to be members of your resistance to take down an ineffective government and a new private security firm known as Albion. This near-future Britain is also all about technology, reinforcing the idea that London is currently one of the most surveyed places in the world, so this is a hacker’s paradise. Watch the gameplay trailer to see exactly what kind of antics you’ll be getting up to, ahead of the release date on March 6, 2020.
Ghost Recon Breakpoint
Platform: PC, PS4, Xbox One
Release date: October 4, 2019
Ghost Recon Breakpoint was Ubisoft's big pre-E3 reveal this year; we'd already seen how Jon Bernthal was gonna be our new nemesis and how his small army of ex-Ghosts used stolen drone tech to lock down a fictional island. That said, Ubisoft still had plenty more to tell us about the game, including our first extended look at Breakpoint gameplay - a mix of familiar open-world chaos and a few intriguing nods to the new emphasis on surviving in a hostile landscape. Ubisoft also revealed that the Ghost Recon Breakpoint beta will begin on September 5, so you won't have to wait too much longer to try it yourself.
Gods & Monsters
Platform: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Release date: February 25, 2020
The team behind Assassin's Creed: Odyssey is taking a break from the story of the Assassins and the Templars to create Gods & Monsters. It's staying in ancient Greece, but this time it's going much heavier on the mythology: you play as a forgotten hero who is summoned to aid the gods of Olympus by slaying Typhon on the Isle of the Blessed. You're free to explore the island as you face down beasts of legend, solve puzzles, and navigate dungeons. The trailer Ubisoft showed only offered a brief glimpse at the game, but at least you'll only have to wait until February to play the whole thing.
Rainbow Six Quarantine
Platform: PC
Release date: Early 2020
Ubisoft isn't making a sequel to Rainbow Six Siege anytime soon, but that doesn't mean it can't make a spin-off title set in that world's dystopian future. Inspired by Siege's popular Outbreak PvE mode, Quarantine is a 3 player, co-op survival game that sees Team Rainbow Six take their last stand against a deadly alien virus. We don't know too much about the multiplayer focused title just yet, and Ubisoft refrained from showing any gameplay at E3, but - given that it's scheduled for an early 2020 launch - you can expect to hear more about Quarantine soon. Heck, if the company knows what's good for it, then we'll all be playing an open beta before Christmas.
Roller Champions
Platform: PC
Release date: Early 2020
Roller Champions isn't just Rocket League on skates. It's if Rocket League did a roller derby mode but kept the ball, and it sounds like a fantastic good time. Like roller derby, Roller Champions is a team sport that involves skating at high speeds around a ring while players jockey for position. Unlike roller derby, you can skate on walls and the only way you can score is by making at least one full lap then slamming the ball into a goal. As you play your own personal Roller Champion goes from street contender to pro champion, racking up sponsorships and bigger crowds along the way. Best of all, just check out how to download Roller Champions and you can start playing the PC demo from now through June 14.
Battletoads
Platforms: Xbox One, PC
Release date: TBA
Get ready for some arcade-style, beat-'em-up action with the return of Battletoads, one of Rare's oldest series. Buff frog buddies Rash, Pimple, and Zitz will be punching out plenty of baddies using a bevy of body-morphing attacks, all lavishly animated in a hand-drawn style. This new Battletoads looks like a playable Saturday morning cartoon - including the return of the infamous Turbo Tunnel level that gave NES players nightmares - with support for three-player couch co-op.
