Best upcoming games on Xbox one

the big games coming to Xbox One in 2018

There's been some big new releases recently, with Far Cry 5, A Way Out and Sea of Thieves all arriving almost on top of each other. So plenty to play for the time being, but what about the big games coming to Xbox One in the future? 

The Crew 2

Release date: June 29, 2018

Genre: Online racer

What is it? The sequel to Ubi racer that sees you driving, flying and boating across a huge open world adventure.

What to look out for: The second game has gone all out with its motoring action, by not only letting you drive just about every vehicle imaginable, you can also switch freely between them. If you get bored of racing you can swap instantly to a plane and soar away from the road. Then, seconds later, swoop over a river and switch to a boat. All of this is happening across a huge, open world interpretation of America, giving you the freedom to indulge just about every kind of racing, flying and boating imaginable. If you're hot for The Crew 2 you may want to consider investing in an Xbox One steering wheel to make it as special as possible.

Crackdown 3

Release date: "Spring" 2018

Genre: Sandbox action

What is it? The sequel to the cult hit superhero classic that showed street-wide jumps trump sandbox story-telling any day.

What to look out for: Well, Crackdown 3 might secretly be the most exciting game in the world. The return of the superpowered open-world, third-person shooter was always going to be welcome, but it comes with some very modern tricks up its latex sleeves. The single-player campaign will hark back to the past, but a co-op mode, set in an entirely different city, uses the power of the Xbox One's cloud servers for full destructibility. By which we mean you can knock down buildings and explode things willy-nilly, all without a hint of performance drop. You have to see it to believe it. GR+s has. We believe in Crackdown 3. Although we'd prefer less of this silent treatment. Microsoft last gave an update on the superhero sandbox early in the summer, reassuring people the game had been delayed to 2017 to ensure the final product was as polished as possible.

Vampyr

Release date: Q1/2 2018

Genre: Action-RPG

What is it? You assume the role of Dr. Reid, who’s recently been turned into a blood-sucking denizen of the night. It’s up to you to decide whether to kill enough people to become powerful beyond belief, or heal London’s citizens from the Spanish Flu and bring peace back to the city.

What to look out for: Everyone is very familiar by now with the choice mechanic in games. Pick an option, have it affect the rest of the story. Vampyr takes this one step further and puts the entire city of London in your hands. Lap up the blood of its citizens all you like, as the more iron-rich red stuff you ingest will make you more powerful and you’ll be able to use more vampiric powers. But with the Spanish flu ravaging the streets and considering you’re a skilled doctor, you can also heal Londoners. You don’t have to kill anyone - it’s up to you just how monstrous you become.

Anthem

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Release date: Fall 2018

Genre: Shooter

What is it? Imagine Destiny meets Titanfall, and size down the giant mechs to human-sized exoskeletons called Javelins. That's Anthem.

What to look out for: Looking to be a co-op shooter set some time after nature has reclaimed most of the planet, you're a Freelancer who ventures out beyond the safety of the walls that separate what's left of civilisation from the wilderness. You can explore both underwater and the air using your Javelin exosuit, and by the sounds of it you won't be sticking to one suit either, as Patrick Söderlund described the "unique play style" and "devastating combat" that each suit offers. Four player co-op is looking to be a significant part of Anthem , so get ready to buddy up and explore the lush wilderness with your gun-toting squad.

Red Dead Redemption 2

Release date: October 26th, 2018

Genre: Open-world action-adventure

What is it? Seriously? The sequel to Rockstar’s phenomenally successful Red Dead Redemption, a phenomenally good open-world action game about the wild, wild west.

What to look out for: Yee-haw! Full disclosure: don’t let the convincing cowboy impression fool you. We actually know very little about Red Dead Redemption 2, other than the fact that we want it now. Scraps of information suggest that it’ll be single player with multiplayer aspects, and has been scheduled for a 2018 release. Whispered rumours imply we might be playing as John Marsden’s son, and you’re sure to see some familiar faces as people are theorising that forming your very own band of misfits will be a big part of the game (as suggested by the early concept art). Likely set towards the end of the Wild West era (we see steam trains and brick housing in the trailer), it’s possible that the cowboys will have new struggles to contend with as they start to feel the hot breath of progress on their neck.

Call of Cthulhu: The Official Game

Release date: TBC 2018

Genre: RPG

What is it? The first major Call of Cthulhu game in years, bringing you into the world of H.P. Lovecraft's mythos of reality-devouring elder gods.

What to look out for: Finally: a brand new Call of Cthulhu game for consoles. Cyanide Studios, a team primarily known for modern versions of Blood Bowl and Pro Cycling Manager, is making an Xbox version of the famed tabletop role-playing game. While there have been mobile tie-ins for Call of Cthulhu in the past, this is the first original console version since the ambitious Call of Cthulhu: Darks Corners of the Earth which came out for the original Xbox all the way back in 2005.

Metro Exodus

Release date: 2018

Genre: FPS / action-adventure

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What is it? A return to the notoriously difficult wasteland of Metro, with the low-tech combat and grueling survival management that the previous games are famous for.

What to look out for: Revisiting the Russian wasteland, Metro Exodus looks remarkably colourful for a post-apocalyptic game, but the creatures look just as deadly as before. If the previous games are anything to go by, we're in for a well-written treat, rife with studies of human survival and tense combat. Details about the story elements are few and far between at the moment, but the train that rampaged its way through the end of the trailer might suggest that you'll be travelling around Russia on the railroad for some of the game.

Cyberpunk 2077

Genre: RPG

What is it? The Witcher meets Deus Ex in a sci-fi RPG where advanced technology has both cured and cursed humanity.

What to look out for: And you thought The Witcher was big. CD Projekt RED has already confirmed that its next game is "far, far bigger" than Geralt's last hurrah, another open-world RPG taken from an unusual source - in this case a pen-and-paper role playing game last heard of a decade ago. Details are short, as you might expect from a game initially announced five years before its release, but we know it takes place in an open world called Night City, where the residents speak a variety of non-English languages. The original Cyberpunk games featured cybernetic augmentations, corp-hacking, high tech weaponry and cool, cool 1980s sunglasses, so expect all of that, and more.

Beyond Good & Evil 2 

Release date: TBD

Genre: Action-adventure, space exploration

What is it? The long (looooooong) awaited prequel to the last-last-gen classic.

What to look out for: Space monkeys. A vast sector of the universe to explore with your ever-expanding ship crew. Gameplay that scales from ground-level, action-adventure to full-scale, interstellar flight. A densely textured, philosophically fuelled civilisation that explores slavery, control, genetic engineering, cultural cross-pollination, and all the long-term, spiralling knock-on effects that come with that. It might have taken the best part of 15 years to appear, but Michel Ancel’s follow-up looks so, so much grander, more exciting, and more thoughtful than we ever imagined it could be.