The build up to Christmas is a very exciting time for gamers, with many game studios aiming to get their product in the stockings of as many people as possible. In fact, the UK gaming industry spends upwards of £128 million on Christmas advertising and titles like FIFA, Call of Duty and Assassins Creed have late Autumn release dates to coincide with Christmas present buying season. Globally, advertising for computer games topped $7.2 billion last year, rivalling car manufacturers and finance companies in terms of advertising spend. Here, we’ve taken a look at some of best upcoming PC games, as well as a few classics that will keep you busy as the nights get darker!
Assassins Creed: Origins
Ubisoft skipped their annual Assassin’s Creed release last year to focus on the 10 year anniversary release that is Assassin’s Creed: Origins. Set in Ancient Egypt, the game takes a slight departure from the usual free-running stealth ’em up, favouring in depth story driven gameplay with more of a focus on combat. With over 100 million copies of Assassin’s Creed games sold, making it one of the most successful video game franchises of all time, Origins has a lot riding on it, with fans eager to see how the gameplay will work without as many tall buildings.
888 Poker
The beauty of 888 Poker is that you don’t have to spend hours downloading a game you’ve just spent 40 quid on. Although there’s the option to play via browser, you can download a dedicated PC app to help enhance the experience even further. Access to the superb range of online poker rooms and tournaments is completely free, allowing you to deposit your money and begin playing. As well as the most popular 3 Card and Texas Hold ‘Em options, you can also play varieties like Caribbean Stud, Fast Fold and Omaha Hi-Lo. 888 Poker have recently introduced a Fast Blast Tournament, the timer runs out in just two minutes on this innovative new game, it is the perfect option for those that fancy a quick game. Once the tournament begins, the timer begins to countdown and when the timer runs out, all the remaining players are all in until there’s a single winner.
Football Manager 2018
Football Manager is one of those titles that has reached living legend status on PC. Each year the game innovates just a little bit, without upsetting the balance that makes managing your own football team quite addictive. With the newest edition not arriving until late November (which is almost a third of the way through the Premier League season!), we’re yet to see what the full game looks like, but features like the injury management centre and team cohesion should help to make Football Manager 2018 the most in-depth version yet.
Call of Duty WWII
Another year and another COD hits the shelves to help contribute to the $15 billion generated by the franchise, which has been setting the benchmark for first person shooters since 2003. The newest game in the series, which hits shelves in November, takes a departure from the futuristic, alternate reality story arcs that have appeared in the Modern Warfare and Black Ops series over the last few years to return to the theatres of World War 2, where COD as we know it was born. With the superb Battlefield 1 taking players back to the Great War, it seems the trend for more historically accurate FPS games.
So, whether your Christmas morning is a football tactics masterclass, a bloody bullet-fest or successful trip to the virtual casino, the exciting new releases and PC staples leave gamers with plenty to get excited about over the next few weeks.