The Most-Anticipated Videogames Coming This Fall

▣ 11-11 Memories Retold (PS4/XB1/PC: Nov. 9)
An atypically serious title from Aardman Studios (in collaboration with Bandai Namco and DigixArt), this story-based game with painterly visuals follows the emotional journeys of two opposing soldiers at the end of WWI.

▣ Artifact (PC: Nov. 28)
Valve's first new release in several years is a PvP collectible card battle game set in the world of Dota 2 and comes from Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield. The base set comes with 280 cards, which will be tradeable on Steam.

▣ Dark Souls Trilogy (PS4/XB1: Oct. 19)
If you haven't played the three hugely acclaimed and fiendishly difficult games in the Dark Souls series yet, this $80 compilation has you covered. Included is the recent remaster of the first game (which also arrives separately today for the Switch) and the fully updated versions of the second and third games, which include all previously released DLC.

▣ Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (PC/PS4: Sep. 4; Switch: tbd 2019)
(PICTURED ABOVE) The year-old JRPG gets its first Westernized release (at least for a few platforms) next week. There are actually some enhancements (including new voice acting and some UI changes) for this new version of Dragon Quest XI aside from a mere translation, and newcomers can jump right in without having played the previous chapters.

▣ The Elder Scrolls: Blades (iOS: tbd)
This free-to-play, mobile-only installment in the action-RPG series won't have an open world, but will include procedurally generated dungeons. Don't expect combat or city/character-building on par with the main series, though do expect fairly advanced graphics for a mobile game.

▣ The Gardens Between (PC/PS4/Switch: Sep. 20)
This indie puzzler puts you in charge of two teenagers exploring a chain of surreal islands. You are tasked with solving a series of puzzles (revolving around the themes of friendship and childhood) by manipulating the flow of time.

▣ GTFO (PC: tbd)
This indie co-op shooter set in a horrific, monster-filled world is the debut release from the new studio founded by some of the development team behind Payday.

▣ Harry Potter: Wizards Unite (iOS: tbd)
While it's likely that this Harry Potter mobile game will be the next big thing in location-based, augmented-reality gaming—especially since it comes from Pokemon Go developer Niantic—what remains uncertain is whether the game will hit its original end-of-year launch target or get bumped into 2019. (We're betting on the latter.)

▣ Marvel Battle Lines (iOS: tbd)
Marvel's second attempt at a digital collectible card battle game should fully arrive for mobile devices this fall after soft launching in Australia over the summer. The free-to-play game will feature a single-player story campaign as well as PvP battles.

▣ Mineko's Night Market (PC/Switch: tbd)
There's still no firm release date for this whimsical, cuter-than-cute indie from newcomer Meowza Games (whose founder worked on Bushido Bear), which is an Animal Crossing-inspired title set on a Japanese island overrun with cats. The open-world setting allows for exploration, foraging, and crafting at your own pace while a story unfolds in the background.

▣ Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden (PS4/XB1/PC: Dec. 4)
Based on an '80s-era Swedish RPG series (Mutant) and hailing from a brand-new indie studio (featuring veterans of the Hitman and Payday franchises), this tactical adventure game blends XCOM's turn-based combat with stealth and the odd anthropomorphic duck. It's set in a distant future where humans have been wiped out by a nuclear apocalypse and replaced with mutated animals.

▣ Outer Wilds (XB1/PC: tbd)
In development for over three years, this crowdfunded, open-world space exploration game immediately places you in a crisis: your local sun will go supernova in just 20 minutes. Fortunately, you happen to be caught in an endless time loop, so you'll get to re-play those 20 minutes over and over, learning more about your world along the way.

▣ Overkill's The Walking Dead (PC: Nov. 6)
Unlike Telltale's episodic adventure take on the zombie comic/TV series, this long-delayed adaptation from Payday studio Overkill Software is all action. Specifically, it's a four-person co-op first-person shooter, featuring four playable characters and a variety of weapons to choose from While the PC release has a firm date, the console version may not arrive until early next year.

▣ Phoenix Point (XB1/PC: tbd)
This crowdfunded, turn-based strategy game doesn't just seem a bit like a successor to the classic sci-fi game X-Com. It pretty much is one, coming from the original game's creator, Julian Gollop. The setting is 2057, when Earth is mostly destroyed and the remaining humans are divided into factions. Everyone is plagued by aliens—and a destructive mist. Developers are aiming for more complex gameplay than what the X-Com franchise has traditionally offered, blending tactics with strategy elements borrowed from 4X-style games.

▣ Reigns: Game of Thrones (PC/iOS: Oct. 18)
This new version of the hit card-based strategy game Reigns features similar swipe-controlled gameplay, but with one major change: the setting is now Westeros, and all of the characters come from Game of Thrones.

▣ Starlink: Battle for Atlas (PS4/XB1/Switch: Oct. 16)
Aimed at gamers of all ages, Ubisoft's new outer space action-adventure property is set in an open world—the Atlas star system—where you battle and form alliances with alien races in both outer space and on various planet surfaces. What makes it a bit different from, say, No Man's Sky, is the "toys-to-life" physical aspect of the game: a custom controller mount (included in the $75 starter pack) allows you to attach various spaceship components to your game controller, giving you unique abilities. The Switch version will also get an exclusive character: Star Fox.

▣ Super Meat Boy Forever (PS4/XB1/PC/Switch/iOS: tbd)
This sequel to the notoriously challenging and critically acclaimed 2010 platformer Super Meat Boy is expected to arrive before year's end (at least for the Switch). Originally intended to be a mobile-only game, Forever blossomed into a huge, full sequel headed to nearly every platform. Gameplay has been changed: the game is now an auto-runner, and both Meat Boy and Bandage Girl are playable, and can fight their way through the now procedurally generated levels using only two buttons. It's still hard.