What to Play in November and December: 12 Notable Upcoming Games

FPS
Out November 19 for PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One

Originally expected to get the jump on its rival Call of Duty only for a recent monthlong delay to push it back to mid-November, EA's latest Battlefield title ditches the single-player campaigns of past releases to embrace a multiplayer-only approach. But that doesn't mean a smaller game; in fact, 2042 was made by the largest group of developers in franchise history. Expect huge maps, more vehicles, a wider variety of weapons and equipment, and extreme weather events. And the battles will be bigger too, with up to 128-player matches on the newer consoles (and PC), with AI bots filling in when the count of human players is too low.

While a handful of prior Battlefield games (like Bad Company) have been set in the very near future, only 2006's Battlefield 2142 has gone further into the future than this new game, which depicts a planet ravaged by climate change and a recent technological catastrophe that has caused a global blackout (and triggered a world war between the U.S. and Russia). Battlefield 2042 also introduces cross-platform play to the franchise for the first time (though it will be limited to players on the same generation of hardware), and features one of the last performances by the late actor Michael K. Williams, who reprises his character from Battlefield 4. Another intriguing addition is a new "Portal" mode that allows users to create their own levels/modes on existing maps (and not just the new maps from 2042; it will also include classic maps from previous Battlefield games). Before you ask: No, you can't create a battle royale game in Portal ... yet.