Battlefield 2042

Available to play on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X from Friday 19 November

Battlefield 6, or Battlefield 2042 as it’s being called, is a multiplayer-only experience, but you can also play offline with AI bots controlling your teammates and the enemy force. With support for a whopping 128 players, the game requires you to constantly adapt to changes on the battlefield, incuding some seriously impressive dynamic weather conditions. The Conquest and Breakthrough multiplayer modes have been updated, and new mode Hazard Zone offers “high-stakes, squad-based” gameplay.

Smalland

Available to play on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch from November TBC

“Honey, I Shrunk The Kids, if the journey home was more harrowing” is how GamesRadar+ describes Smalland. This huge adventure is played from a tiny perspective in the “Land of the Small”, with puddles the size of lakes and trees that seem to reach as high as skyscrapers. From befriending large animals to avoiding heavy rainfall, how will you ensure your survival? 

Beyond A Steel Sky

Available to play on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch from Tuesday 30 November. Available to play on Mac and PC now

Console kids, prepare thee for a schooling in old-school adventure gaming. Released on PC and Mac midway through 2020, this so-niche-it’d-otherwise-pass-you-by gem is in fact a sequel to the 1994 – yes, 1994 – classic Beneath A Steel Sky. A hugely influential sci-fi standard-setter in its own right, this sequel (written by Charles Cecil of Broken Sword fame, no less) retains all of Beyond’s trademark charm, humour and perfect puzzles, while updating the core gameplay to suit modern gamers for whom “point and click” has no meaning. Sigh.

Century: Age Of Ashes

Available to play on PC from Thursday 2 December

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s you, dear gamer, soaring through the skies à la Khaleesi; sat astride a giant, fire-breathing dragon. Old-school gamers au fait with Magic Carpet and Panzer Dragoon, and Game Of Thrones fans alike will feel right at home here, laying waste to villages, castles and other dragons in the only third-person multiplayer dragon-em-up you need to know about. 

Solar Ash

Available to play on PC, PS4 and PS5 from Thursday 2 December

From the creators of the sublime Hyper Light Drifter comes the similarly gorgeous, hyper-stylised Solar Ash. Bearing visual similarities to the meditative puzzler Journey, but with the large-scale battles and fluidity of movement of Breath Of The Wild, file this under “things to play while waiting for BOTW 2”.

Disney Magical World 2: Enchanted Edition

Available to play on Nintendo Switch from Friday 3 December

Disney? ENCHANTED EDITION??? Take my money. Previously only available on the Nintendo 3DS, the Switch edition ups the graphical ante, simultaneously upping the immersive ante of this life simulator set across six Disney worlds. Just remember to take breaks every hour, lest you start sounding like Mickey or spontaneously break into song on your next work call. 

Happy’s Humble Burger Farm

Available to play on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One X and Xbox Series X/S from Friday 3 December

Farm-to-table. Sustainable agriculture. We’ve come a long way as a species in the fight for a fairer world. But you’ll find none of that in this horror-themed cooking simulator. Burgers are served with an extra side of blood as you balance catering to your customers and fending off some grotesquely anthromorphic, and very much not dead food.

Mobile Suit Gundam Battle Operation Code Fairy Volume 3

Available to play on PS4 and PS5 from Friday 3 December

The Gundam series has always been adept at balancing the sweet with the HULKING GREAT BIG MECH SIMULATOR. And here is no different. Following on from volumes 1 and 2 (which are both required to play volume 3), expect more crunching robot-directed action, high-powered weaponry, and super-cute anime characters furthering the plot.

Thymesia

Available to play on PC from Tuesday 7 December

Like Dark Souls? Like deep weapon customisation? Love the literal plague? OK, perhaps you’re not crazy about that last part, but when you see its application here, you might come around to the idea. Battling through the ruins of a once-thriving kingdom now beset by monsters, turn the ever-present plague to your advantage by infusing your weapons, armour and abilities with the sickly stuff.

Halo Infinite

Available to play on PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S from Wednesday 8 December

The sixth main entry in the beyond-legendary Halo series deep dives into the history of ya boy Master Chief more intensely than you dived that near-death Ghost craft right into the FACE of that legendary Elite. (Ask your Halo-obsessed mate.)

Breakwaters

Available to play on PC from Thursday 9 December

Liiiiiike, aaaaaa, bridge, over, (VERY) troubled, waters, you will lay down a multitude of survivor game-approved items. From whittling wood to craft a cabin to whacking down trees and rocks to make weapons, survive as long as you can in the face of an unforgiving isle preyed upon by some truly titanic beasts. IS THERE ANYONE ALIVE OUT THERE?

Among Us

Available to play on PS4, PS5, Xbox One X and Xbox Series X/S from Tuesday 14 December

Shut the front door! And the side door, and the French doors out the back, and the top-floor windows while you’re at it. Because the multiplayer subterfuge, stab-your-mates-in-the-back phenomenon Among Us is hitting consoles! You and your fellow players assume menial roles aboard a spaceship. Seal rogue vents, tinker with electric boards and assure the smooth running of your ship. Yet, with one player designated the murderer at the start of every session (unbeknownst to your fellow players), a spanner is well and truly in the works.

Five Nights at Freddy’s Security Breach

Available to play on PC, PS4 and PS5 from Thursday 16 December

NO THANKS.