Destiny: The Taken King

The sweet, sweet taste of Exotic loot just got a whole lot sweeter

It doesn’t matter how heavily entrenched you are into the booty systems of this trail-blazing shared-world shooter. It doesn’t matter how deeply you’ve delved into the hidden corners of lore laid down over the last 12 months, nor how keenly you’ve picked the bones of Year One’s two raids, endless PvE arenas, or elite PvP events. No matter how much you might have played Destiny up until now you will, amongst the millions of others as enamoured with the series as you, have come up with some way – likely many ways – that Bungie’s all-conquering blaster could be improved.

Nevermind

It’s not all in your head

Imagine a horror game that knows when you’re afraid, and makes the experience more stressful the faster your heart beats. Then imagine that game being set in the mind of a victim of intense trauma. Good, now if you could just tell us what you see in this inkblot? Is it Nathan Drake eating an icecream or Master Chief on a unicycle? Hmm, let’s move on.

Perception

An echolocation thriller using Bioshock tactics

Horror hides best in darkness. Nightmares lurk in the shadows under our beds, or inside wardrobes, where the glow of a light bulb just doesn’t reach. But now, imagine a world only of darkness – a world without sight. This is what Perception’s blind heroine Cassie is faced with, but she sees in another way, through incredible hearing and an echolocation technique that fills in the world with shifting, glowing outlines. Sound like something special? It is.

Hitman

You could say we’ve been working on it for 15 years,” says the game’s director Christian Elverdam. “The process for this new title began with a desire to try to distil the essence of the previous games, and the 15 years of evolution, to create the best possible game. We’ve taken the best bits of those past five games to build this new one.” From Blood Money comes large, sandbox levels filled with opportunity. From Absolution comes the increased fidelity and more complex AI behaviour. From Codename 47 comes… well, to be honest there probably isn’t much being carried across from Codename 47.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate

The dream combination is finally here – the series has arrived in Victorian London. And with it comes the double trouble of twins Jacob and Evie Frye, gang warfare, a rope launcher, battles atop trains, and a sprawling city map that, frankly, gives us OCD-induced night terrors. Getting our final hands-on before release, it’s hard to know what to do first. Hijack a carriage? Switch out Jacob’s hat for a hood and stalk the streets? Maybe we’ll visit inventor Alexander Graham Bell, who takes on the Da Vinci role this time around? No, it’s clear: the only way is up.

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst

Why Faith’s open-world origin story is a balancing act only DICE can achieve

Scamper across a tall building, hop off the edge, land with a graceful roll, and keep going: Mirror’s Edge Catalyst makes something dangerous and exhilarating look oh-so-simple. Underneath the smooth, clean surfaces, however, lies a fascinating tangle of conflict. Style versus playability. Innovation versus iteration. Punching versus sprinting. Catalyst must appease whooping series fans, yet still offer something fresh. It has to retain the crisp, clinical design of the original, but provide players with an open world there to be explored, not admired. Not so simple.