New video games are being released left and right, either new games or sequels. However, most players don’t know what games are good, and which are not the best. Most games that players are liking so far are Rumbleverse, Multiversus, S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2: Heart of Chhornobyle, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, Hogwarts Legacy, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2,  and Splatoon 3. These games are what the gaming community really likes, with high ratings. These games also have a plethora of people playing them everyday, or will once they release.

Rumbleverse

Rumbleverse was released August 11. It’s a free to play game, meaning that you can download this game for free. It was developed by Iron Galaxy, and was published by Epic Games. It has matches for up to 40 people dropped into a city. These fighters don’t have any guns or explosives. Instead, they use melee combat, with several base attacks, such as kicks, punches, and elbow drops. However, you can pick up objects, such as chairs and baseball bats, to defeat your opponents. You are able to dodge these basic attacks, but stronger, special attacks are harder to dodge. There are different game modes, such as solos, duos, and playground. In solos mode, you are by yourself against 39 different players, fighting to become the ultimate champion. In duos, you pair up with a player, and battle 24 other duos. In Playground mode, you can explore the map, and get used to certain mechanics, without the worry of fighting opponents. At the beginning of a match, players will need to explore the city, and collect magazines in boxes, which can teach players certain moves and takedowns, and potions that can increase the player’s strength, stamina, and health. However, you can only hold 10 of these potions. All buildings in Rumbleverse are climbable, meaning that you can quickly navigate the city. Similar to most games, players must stay in a shrinking circle to stay alive. If you are out of the circle, you have 10 seconds to get back into the circle, when that time is up, you will be disqualified. Matches are estimated to be around 12-15 minutes. Rumbleverse is recommended to play with friends, and this makes the game more fun.

Multiversus

Multiversus is a free to play fighting game, very similar to Super Smash Bros (a multiplayer fighting game). There are a variety of characters, however most of them require coins, or gleanium (their currency), to buy. You can complete quests to get more coins, and buy more characters. The characters have different prices to purchase, because of their mechanics. However, there is a free rotation, meaning that there will be free characters to play as, until the next free rotation. There are a few game modes, such as “1v1”, “2v2”, and a bot game mode, where you fight bots. Whether you win or lose, you get xp to level up your character that you played as, which can lead to getting perks. Perks are a way to level up your character’s skill. You can equip a total of 4 perks. These gears can be strength, speed, and an exclusive perk to that character. You can get certain perks at different levels. There is no level cap, however, at level 15, you stop getting rewards, such as perks and xp. If you’re worried about your skill, you can revisit the tutorials and extra tutorials to help you get better, and maybe learn some combo moves to win. 

S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2

  S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2: Heart of Chhornobyle is a first person shooter survival horror video game developed by GSC Game World. It will be released for Microsoft Windows and the Xbox Series X/S, on December 8th, 2022. It is rated M for mature (for intense violence). It will be the fourth S.T.A.L.K.E.R game released. S.T.A.L.K.E.R is set in a fictional version of Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, in which the power plant exploded, causing supernatural events that defy scientific reasoning and mutated beasts that began to roam. As a result of this explosion, special artifacts were created. These artifacts provide special effects to the person that holds them, such as healing or protection from the radiation. Due to how valuable these artifacts are, many have made a living sneaking into the Zone to collect them to sell to the outside world. GSC Game World stated that the game will feature an “epic, non-linear story” that will be driven by player choice in both the short term and long term. If you’re worried about not understanding the previous S.T.A.L.K.E.R games, you won’t need to play them to understand and enjoy the S.T.A.L.K.E.R story. Be prepared when this game releases, on Xbox Series X/S and Windows.

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is coming to the Nintendo Switch. It is a sequel to Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, one of the first official Nintendo games released on the Nintendo Switch, made in 2017. It is an upcoming turn based strategy game and is scheduled for release October, 20. This game is a crossover between Nintendo and Ubiosoft’s Rabbids franchise. It will be a single-player game with a ton of adventure. The plot of the story is that an evil entity, called Cursa has been spreading dark matter called Darkmess, and seeking out energy of titular Sparks. Creatures were formed by the fusion of Lumas and Rabbids, while doing so has turned the galaxy into chaos. Mario and his friends must travel to many different worlds and restore peace to the galaxy, save the Sparks, and defeat Cursa’s minions. Mario and the party are joined by new allies, including Bowser, stating that his army was stolen by Cursa, and wants to reclaim it. Lead a team of your favorite Mario and Rabbids characters to save the universe and save the sparks. Collecting and protecting the sparks can help you in battle. You can use the sparks as special abilities to defeat your opponents. There are a plethora of sparks to collect, each with different abilities. Try and collect them all!

Hogwarts Legacy

Hogwarts Legacy is releasing February 10, 2023. It is an open world game that takes place in the 1800’s. In this game, you have possession of a secret that could ruin the wizarding world forever. You get to explore hogsmeade, the forbidden forest and much more. During this game you will learn and master spells, tame magical creatures, brew potions, and plant magical plants. You will battle fierce beasts such as trolls, dark wizards, goblins, etc. This game will be available on Xbox, Playstation, PC, and Nintendo. There is sadly no online multiplayer, or co-op either. From the trailer, this game looks like anything a Harry Potter fan could ask for.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II comes out October 28. This game starts off from the same events as Modern Warfare. You will be playing as the same characters as you were in Modern Warfare. The campaign seems to have some ideas from Call of Duty Cold War, such as narrative dialect, choices to choose which path you want the campaign to go. Like most Call of Duty games, there will be a campaign, and online multiplayer. One new thing this game has that no other Call of Duty game has is a separate campaign for co-op. For the multiplayer mode, there will be different maps than Modern Warfare, more game modes, seasonal events, community events, and more. Microsoft bought Activision and that has led to some Playstation gamers worrying if they will still release Call of Duty on their platform. Luckily Modern Warfare II will be released on Playstation, however that may not be the case in 2023. Some Call of Duty fans may be wondering, wasn’t there already a Call of Duty Modern Warfare II?. Yes, there was, however, Activision said this is going to be a sequel with the same name, not a remake. It will not be a remake of the 2009 Modern Warfare II, but a sequel to the 2019 Modern Warfare. For the Call of Duty fans who can’t wait for the beta release, here is what to know:

• The beta release will only be available to those who have pre-ordered the game. If you did pre-order it, then the beta release date will be one week earlier than the full game release date.
• The multiplayer mode will not be available in the beta version. However, the campaign will be entirely open.
• Sadly, Call of Duty Modern Warfare II will not feature a Call of Duty Zombies Mode, which some fans are not happy with.
• Call of Duty Modern Warfare II will include some familiar weapons such as the Vector SMG, prized VLK 3.0 optic on an assault rifle, and a molotov cocktail.
• The multiplayer maps will be smaller than the 2019 Modern Warfare games, which some fans are happy with.
• Swimming will also be available in multiplayer as well.
• Activision stated that they have improved the AI drastically to be much more realistic.
• They have also improved the gunsmith for multiplayer, allowing much more options to add to your weapons.
• The multiplayer modes will be Knockout, Ground War Bomb, Infected, Demolition, CTF, Cyber Attack, Headquarters, and Cranked.

Splatoon 3

Splatoon 3 has finally been released. There is an all new splatsville which will include a main square, lobby, grizzco industries, and the shoal. The main square is where players will be able to shop, socialize, upgrade, and customize their gear. The lobby is going to include online battles, and a practice range. Like in Splatoon 2, there will be a grizzco industry which is where players can train and learn the gist of the game as well as purchase exclusive weapons. The last biggest thing in splatsville which is The Shoal which is where players will be able to customize, and host their own multiplayer games. There will be lots of new maps including Scorch Gorge, Eeltail Alley, Hagglefish Market, Undertow Spillway, Mincemeat Metalworks, Hammerhead Bridge, Museum D’alfonsino, Mahi-Mahi Resort, Inkblot Art Academy, Sturgeon Shipyard, Makomart, and Wahoo World. Scorch Gorge looks like a classic Splatoon map with high towers to splat ink down from above, and lots of alleyways as well. Eeltail Alley looks slightly similar to one of the Splatoon 2 maps and has lots of criss-crossing walkways for options for vertical warfare. Hagglefish Market is a very colorful map with lots of good opportunities for vantage points, however there are traps scattered around the island so watch out! Undertown Spillway is an industrial type map not too different from a lot of Splatoon 1 maps. Mincemeat Metalworks is a scrapyard with lots of vehicles but not many vantage points, this map is definitely not one people are excited for because of its dullness and blandness. Hammerhead Bridge is a returning map all the way from the first Splatoon with opportunities for tight fights, like the Hagglefish Market. Museum D’Alfonsino is another returning map from the original Splatoon and is a very open map with lots of traps around every corner. Mahi-Mahi Resort is the third returning map from the original splatoon, this map is much different from others because this one moves up and down every 90 seconds allowing players to drop down from above on opponents. Inkblot Art Academy is a returning map from splatoon 2 but instead of inside the academy you are outside on the campus of the academy. Sturgeon shipyard is yet another returning map from Splatoon 2, and like Mahi-Mahi Resort, it changes in height every so often, and the platform will raise and drop as well. Mako Mart is a grocery store map with lots of areas for cover and vantage points. Finally, Wahoo World, which takes place in the middle of a huge theme park, but sadly, you cannot ride any rides. Like all Splatoon games, the multiplayer will be 4 people on each team. The game modes will include turf war, and anarchy battle. Turf War is your classic Splatoon match, with a battle to the death to see which team can cover the most ground with ink in a certain amount of time. Anarchy is a gamemode that puts your rankings on the line and will include 4 modes you can play it with. Splat Zones are where players have to cover certain zones in ink, and whichever team gets to 70% of the zone covered first they earn that zone, the team with the most zones wins. Tower control is when two teams compete to maintain control of one tower in the middle of the map. Rainmaker is similar to a regular match, except there is one weapon that the team can get that will be crucial to their success, as the weapon is extremely overpowered. Finally, clam blitz is where you have to find clams around the map and put it into your basket and you can also take clams out of other peoples baskets, the people with the most clams by the time the time runs out wins. Splatoon 3 will bring back the campaign of this game. You will play as Agent 3 and be aided by the new Squidbeak and battle the Octarians to discover secrets about Alterna and the fuzzy ooze. The last thing to cover are the weapons. The Splatana is a melee weapon that will fire ink in a large range once swung, this will kill players in two hits. The big bubbler can be placed down from players and acts as a shield to prevent enemy players from harming the person inside the shield. The trizooka is a bow that will shoot three huge ink splats once fired, and is great for dealing a plethora of damage and covering ground quickly. The wave breaker will release computer played allies to help the team. The reef slider is a whale-like animal you can ride that leaves an ink trail when used and deals loads of damage. The tri-stringer is a more tame version of the trizooka. The ink vac will suck up enemy ink and is really great for settling the score, however you can not deal damage with it. The crab tank can be driven by players and shoots huge amounts of ink, it can also climb up walls as well. The triple ink strike is like an air strike for ink, it shoots up three ink missiles and instantly kills players once it hits them and covers a humongous amount of ground. The killer wail 5.1 is 6 cannons surrounding you that shoot enormous amounts of ink, and whichever team has this gun is almost guaranteed to win. The zipcaster allows players to use a grapple for a limited amount of time. The tacticooler will spawn four sodas for each player on the team and once they drink it they will have damage and speed increased. Finally, the angle shooter, which is a fast moving projectile ink grenade. This Splatoon game has the gaming community really excited for it’s release.

Overall, these video games look very promising. These video games look like they will not disappoint. Hopefully they will make up for all of the disappointment that we had in 2021, such as delaying and disappointing video games. A lot of people are excited this year, and are looking forward to these video games in the gaming world. Maybe 2022 will blow the previous years out of the water.