Coming Next Spring

2015 isn't exactly over yet, but I'd like to take a moment to talk about three games of note that have been pushed back until next year.

A Kickstarter project that has been funded and in development for almost exactly to years now, Hyper Light Drifter shares DNA with the like of the Zelda franchise.  The key difference being this game has a bit of sci-fi mixed in with the fantasy.  While I'm glad the game has a set release date, it feels like this should have come out this year.  It's understandable though given the creative director's heart condition and the relatively small size of the team.  Plus, the preview build sent to Kickstarter backers suffered from an inexplicably poor frame rate.  So, hopefully they'll have enough time to get that ironed out before the full release.

XCOM 2 coming out this holiday season sounded too good to be true when it was announced during the reveal trailer, and...surprise!  It turns out the release date was far too optimistic.  Supposedly the reason for the delay has to do with the developers wanting to increase the replayability of the game.  That's part of the reason, I'm sure.  My gut instinct tells me that the rest has to do with cleaning up buggy code and time to give the console ports developers a chance to catch up to the lead platform on the PC.  Regardless, I'm still looking forward to playing the game when it finally does come out next spring.

With regards to games made by Naught Dog Studios, I prefer The Last of Us to Uncharted.  That said, I'm still looking forward to Uncharted 4.  Not so much in a binge-play-it-to-the-finish-for-the-story kind of way, but more for the technical aspects of the game.  In all likelihood the graphics on display in this PS4 exclusive title will be the best yet for Sony's current gen home console.  In other words, I'm more curious to see the hardware potential of the PS4 than the ultimate fate of Nathan Drake.  If anything, the delay just means more polish will be applied that what would have otherwise been had the game come out this year.

So, those are just a couple of games set to hit store shelves (and digital marketplaces) early next year.  It's a bummer having to wait longer than expected, but overall at least it isn't as bad as 2014.  It seemed like the majority of games originally planned to come out that year were pushed back to this one.  Now if only we can ensure that delayed games don't launch in a broken state...