Most Anticipated 2016: Daniel's Picks

Shacknews is starting the new year taking stock of the next 365 days. These are the games set to come in 2016 that we're most looking forward to playing.

Day of the Tentacle Remastered

While I was disappointed by the “remastered” treatment Grim Fandango received, it looks like Double Fine Productions is putting more work into Day of the Tentacle. The art style looks extremely crisp when compared to the source material and the controls have also been upgraded to offer a more streamlined approach. Instead of moving your cursor to select an action and then an item, you’ll move it over an item and be presented what you can do with it when it’s selected.

Day of the Tentacle may be one of my most favorite games ever as it combined classic LucasArts-style puzzle solving with a lot of imagination. There are some moments from the game that still make me laugh to this day, such as a puzzle involving using fake vomit in order disqualify a contestant in a human beauty contest held in the future. Or the way Hoagie summons a thunderstorm for Ben Franklin by washing a car. Day of the Tentacle Remastered is a game I cannot wait to play when it releases this year.

Dead Island 2

I don’t know what exactly is going on over at Deep Silver after it pulled Yager from developing Dead Island 2, but after experiencing what Techland was able to do with Dying Light, I’m hoping the publisher can also offer a similar experience.

Dead Island 2 was originally announced back in June 2014 and was hit with a delay several months later for “developmental reasons”. After releasing Yager from developing the game, Deep Silver has yet to announce who exactly has been working on the game.

With all of that uncertainty, I’m still looking forward to see where Deep Silver can steer Dead Island. Dying Light was an incredible experience, and if Deep Silver can improve on Techland’s zombie-slaying experience, then I’ll certainly be hooked.

Overkill’s The Walking Dead

Overkill Software may not ring a bell to console players, but PC players know the developer quite well as its Payday series has kept us playing with our friends and other like-minded criminals for years.

Overkill’s The Walking Dead is yet another game we don’t know much about, although our preview of the game running on StarVR had us waking up as a paraplegic in a hospital just as a zombie outbreak is taking place. We were assisted into a wheelchair by a pair of people, who then handed us a shotgun to defend ourselves.

At the time, we weren’t exactly impressed with The Walking Dead, but I’m optimistic based on how tight of an experience Payday 2 is. I’m hoping the developer can offer a similar experience, but in the world of The Walking Dead. I know not all Walking Dead games have been good as I’d like to forget The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct ever existed. But with Overkill behind this one, I’m very hopeful the end result will be worth playing.

Thimbleweed Park

Maniac Mansion co-developers Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick are returning to video games with an all-new point-and-click adventure game called Thimbleweed Park.

Thimbleweed Park offers very similar visuals to Maniac Mansion, as well as the way players interact with the world around them. If you’re familiar with LucasArts-style games, then the inclusion of actions and inventory items during gameplay will feel right at home.

The game stars a pair of washed-up detectives that are called in to investigate a dead body found in a local river. How exactly the body got there and who it is is a complete mystery, which we’re sure players will be working to discover.

Thimbleweed Park is expected to release in June 2016.

Persona 5

I’ve been a huge fan of the Persona series ever since Persona 3 released on the PlayStation 2 back in 2006. Since then, I’ve experienced a wide variety of Persona games across a number of systems, including Persona 4 Arena, Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, and Persona 4: Dancing All Night. It's been nearly eight years since Persona fans had a numbered sequel, which has me even more pumped for the release of Persona 5 this year.

Persona 5 will star an all-new cast who are teenagers going to school in Tokyo. The main protagonist is a second-year student who has just transferred to Tokyo in the spring, and meets Anne, Ryuji, and Morgana early on in the game. The combat will once again be turn-based, and judging by the various trailers that have been released for the game, it’ll be the best-looking Persona game yet as the in-game engine and cutscenes all look great.

I’m also looking forward to all of the different pieces of Persona 5’s story as previous titles I’ve experienced emphasized relationships with various characters. The stories in both Persona 3 and Persona 4 continued to leave me guessing as to what exactly is going on, and I’m sure Persona 5 will continue this trend of experiencing the unknown.