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Strategy
Brain Age: Concentration Training – Nintendo SPD (3DS)
Game site
February 10, 2013
What is it?
Nearly five years after the last Brain Age game came out in North America, this puzzler hopes that its fans haven’t forgotten about it as it takes the series to the 3DS. This time, it’s packed with exercises to help you focus and concentrate as well as flex your short term memory.
Command & Conquer – BioWare Victory (Windows)
Game site
TBA 2013
What is it?
This went through a number of changes since its debut trailer at 2011’s Spike VGAs. At first touted as a sequel to 2003’s C&C Generals, it’s now being made as a free-to-play online game powered by DICE’s Frostbyte 2 engine. According to their FAQ, it’s not browser based but will be a “full standalone client” and will be different from Tiberium Alliances, another free-to-play game that is already online.
Company of Heroes 2 – Relic Entertainment (Windows)
Game site
Early 2013
What is it?
It’s the sequel to the epic WW2 strategy title, Company of Heroes, which focused on the Western Front between the Allies and Germany. This time, it’s off to the East to defend the Motherland against the Nazi’s goosestepping heels with the power of Soviet steel and more than a little encouragement from your local political officer. It hopes to take players to the brink of Soviet defeat before making them work to roll the Germans back all the way to Berlin. If it’s anything like the last game, the WW2 genre could become fashionable all over again.
Europa Universalis 4 – Paradox Development Studio (Linux, Windows)
Europa Universalis Development Diaries
TBA 2013
What is it?
The fourth installment of the grand strategy series promises more of the same, deep gameplay involving strategy, politicking, tech building, war making, and trading across the Continent with new additions to the formula for would-be Holy Roman Emperors, Ottoman Sultans, or whoever else fits your fancy. Dynamic historical events based on pivotal, real-world moments, will play a deeper part in the actions you decide on for your chosen country. Then there are the rebels itching for independence. And these are only a few of the new tweaks that Paradox is bringing to this gigantic, historical strategy sim.
Fire Emblem: Awakening – Intelligent Systems (3DS)
Game site
February 4, 2013
What is it?
It’s the latest entry in the long running Fire Emblem series from Intelligent Systems promising new tweaks to the original formula while keeping everything that fans love about the series. Players will go up against a devastating new enemy, the undead, and a fantasy world filled with characters, classes, and a story arc tilting empires against each other.
Might & Magic Heroes VI: Shades of Darkness – Black Hole Entertainment (Windows)
Game site
February 28, 2013
What is it?
An expansion to the tactical fantasy epic, this one is actually being planned out as a standalone game that won’t require you to have the original Might & Magic Heroes VI. This title will continue to plumb the lore being set down by the newly revived series with a new hero and a new faction.
Omerta: City of Gangsters – Haemimont Games (Windows, Xbox 360)
Game site
February 5, 2013
What is it?
Bulgaria’s Haemimont Games are no strangers to strategy as RTS titles make up most of their catalog and they’re focusing that experience into Atlantic City of the 1920s with Omerta. Players will use thugs to snoop on the competition, use its RPG system to develop characters and load them up with heaters, and tactical combat to rub out whoever is in your way. It’s probably as close as we might get to a game allowing you to pretend to be Steve Buscemi’s Nucky Thompson with their own Boardwalk Empire.
Pikmin 3 – Nintendo (Wii U)
Game site
Spring 2013
What is it?
The third installment of the popular Pikmin series will take advantage of the Wii U’s features to present a more detailed world, introduce a new type of Pikmin (and perhaps a few hidden ones), and use the gamepad to aid in managing the world and where you want your Pikmin to go. Players that couldn’t get enough of these plant-like minions in surviving the world will get their chance to see how it goes on the Wii U.
Planetary Annihilation – Uber Entertainment (Linux, OS X, Windows)
Game site
Q2 2013
What is it?
It’s the long awaited return to the “Annihilation” series by the veteran team behind the original Total Annihilation and, more recently, Supreme Commander, thanks to a massively successful Kickstarter bid. This time, it’s taking its RTS mega-bag to the stars where players will no longer wage war on the ground between continents or other puny chunks of land. This time, entire planets will lie before players like a buffet as they lead fleets to seek out and take over hundreds of worlds. There will still be a fair bit of ground pounding, but now you’ll also have giant space fleets to drop rocks on planets for those personal touches.
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm – Blizzard (Macintosh, Windows)
Game site
March 12, 2013
What is it?
The long awaited second part of the sequel focusing on the Zerg and the return of Kerrigan is finally expected for a release next year after a long beta period as Blizzard continues to polish things. Picking up right after Wings of Liberty, the story continues the epic arc that Blizzard has put together in a three-part series.
Total War: Rome II – The Creative Assembly (Windows)
Game site
October, 2013
What is it?
The bigger, more epic sequel to Total War: Rome as the devs take us back to the days of the republic – or the empire, depending on what you choose for it to become through your actions and choices – with plenty of new tweaks featuring a scalable engine, more details such as seeing the cost of morale on the faces of your soldiers, and even more naval power on the waves. I loved the last Rome and this one looks to top it off with enough enhancements to make it worth revisiting again as one of the Roman families destined for greatness or as a Grecian city-state eager to stake its own place in history.
War for the Overworld – Subterannean Games (Linux, OS X, Windows)
Game site
August 30, 2013
What is it?
This Kickstarter project promises a rebirth of the same kind of gameplay that made Dungeon Keeper incredibly fun. In this dungeon sim, and just like in Dungeon Keeper, players build up a dungeon, stock it with traps and monsters, and then lure good guys in to get squashed. It’s all good fun, especially if you want to see how the bad guys do it from their side of the moss covered wall.