Developers' Most Anticipated Games of 2012

By Eurogamer staff Published 3 January, 2012

Ken Levine, Peter Molyneux, David Jaffe and friends look to the future.

With 2011 finally consigned to memory, it's time to look ahead to what the next 12 months might hold in store. On paper, 2012 is a tantalising prospect - fat with the promise of new hardware and, mercifully, relatively thin on zombie FPS sequels.

We've got revered franchises returning after long absences (Diablo 3, Max Payne 3, Hitman: Absolution, Luigi's Mansion 2), blockbuster sequels to current-gen perennials (Uncharted: Golden Abyss, BioShock Infinite, Mass Effect 3) and, whisper it, even the odd new IP to get in a lather about (Dishonored, Fortnite).

On top of that, will the Wii U finally throw up a substantial new Nintendo IP? Will The Last Guardian emerge from its excruciatingly protracted incubation? Is this the year we get to see what Bungie, Respawn and Blizzard have been beavering away on in their top-secret high-security bunkers? Will whatever game you're most eagerly anticipating match your expectations or leave you sobbing bitter tears into your control pad?

With all those unknowables buzzing around our heads we rang round various game developers to find out which titles, other than their own, they're most looking forward to playing in 2012. Here's what they said.

BioShock Infinite (Irrational Games/2K)

We first heard about BioShock Infinite in 2010 and we're still gagging to play it.

Greg Kasavin, creative director of Bastion at Supergiant Games:

"My most anticipated game of 2012 shouldn't come as any surprise: it's BioShock Infinite, the successor to one of the best, most memorable games I've played in years.

"BioShock is an important game to me and is indirectly responsible for why I finally gathered up the guts to get into game development about five years ago. I was just blown away by everything about it when I first saw it at E3 2006, and the finished game lived up to all my expectations. I have similarly high hopes for Infinite and can't wait to explore all the intricacies of that world."

Matthew Prior, associate producer of FIFA Football at EA Sports:

"BioShock Infinite looks great. I loved the previous games and the atmosphere they created, particularly the first one. Clearly the next one is going to have a very different feel due to the airborne setting so it will be interesting to see what they do with the new story and environment."

Dishonored (Arkane Studios/Bethesda)

Ivan Buchta, creative director at ArmA 3 developer Bohemia Interactive:

"Let me pick Dishonored. The screenshots suggest the graphics would be very imaginative, which is something the explorer in me always appreciates. What I've seen so far promises some pleasant surprises."

Mass Effect 3 (BioWare/EA)

Lee Perry, lead designer of Gears of War 3 and Fortnite at Epic Games:

"The game I'm most looking forward to in 2012? For so many of the same reasons I loved Skyrim... Mass Effect 3. I wish I had some artsy-fartsy off-the-radar pick that would enlighten gamers everywhere, but the truth is that Mass Effect is what I thought games 'would be like in the future' when I was growing up. The team is amazing, and they pull off some of the best characters in the industry."

Diablo 3 (Blizzard)

"I'm a Diablo whore."

Ken Levine, Irrational Games

Ken Levine, BioShock creator and co-founder of Irrational Games:

"I'm a Diablo whore. I'm going sink my teeth into that sucker. It's just that loot cycle. I am the monkey pressing on the buttons to get the grape. I am proud to be that monkey and I will be that monkey forever. I've been in that particular skinnerbox for many many years and I'm happy to remain there.

"I just enjoy it. They just keep improving their formula. Blizzard always delivers something beautiful and something polished. I'm just really looking forward to that. There are a million things I'm looking forward to playing, but that's probably right now my number one."

Richard Garriott, industry veteran and creator of Ultima:

"Blizzard rarely falters plus Diablo is also a franchise I always love and learn from!"

Brad Muir, design lead on Iron Brigade at Double Fine:

"I just played the beta and it's just like... wow. It's like pure cocaine in a hyperdermic needle injected into my brain. I absolutely love that game and playing it feels like they're doing everything right. It's so mechanics-focused, it's so loot-focused. It's about clicking s*** and getting loot, and levelling up and, man, it's just such an awesome experience.

"And if I wanted to be snooty I'd probably say BioShock Infinite too. That's going to be awesome - I've gone media-dark on that one so I can just experience it fresh. I'm really looking forward to that."

Darksiders 2 (Vigil Games, THQ)

David Jaffe, Twisted Metal co-creator and Eat Sleep Play boss:

"The first Darksiders was one of my favourite games the year that released. I just love that game. Darksiders 2 is the only game I've ever done the geek media blackout for. I won't look at screenshots and I won't click on links."

Kinect Star Wars (Terminal Reality, LucasArts)

Craig Duncan, senior studio director at Rare:

"Lots of awesome features like manipulating the force with your hands and being a Jedi, driving a pod and controlling a Rancor with your body, just being able to play in the immersive universe of Star Wars and its amazing characters like never before is a hugely compelling draw for me as a gamer and fan of the Star Wars universe."

Senior Rare Kinect developer Craig Duncan picks Kinect Star Wars as his most anticipated game of 2012. May the party line be with you!

Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar Games)

Peter Molyneux, creative director of Microsoft Game Studios Europe:

"I guess it would be GTA5, although the curious thing about what's coming up next year is that I'm not sure if I'm not more excited about the promise of some non-triple-A games. With so many new ways to play on so many devices it's going to be a really interesting year."

Stewart Gilray, boss of Leeds-based Just Add Water, developer of Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD:

"This was quite a hard choice, but the mass market geek inside me has won: GTA5 all the way. For a chance to revisit San Andreas and Los Santos again, but this time in a much more in-depth fashion than the PS2 outing. The teaser trailer more than got my excitement levels up through the roof, so unless Rockstar North muck it up I don't think there will be much that has a chance of beating this. Yes it's a sequel, but it's a sequel with a true pedigree, unlike the CODs etc of the world."

The Last Guardian (Team Ico/Sony)

Dino Patti, founder of Limbo studio Playdead:

"There has been a bad trend, where most game teasers and trailers are misleading pre-rendered movies. Also too much is often shown so when I've decided to play a game I stop reading the excessive news which is often released and just buy and play the game when it launches. With that said, I'll buy and play The Last Guardian, which I hope releases in 2012."

We do hope so.

Geremy Mustard, technical director at Infinity Blade and Shadow Complex developer Chair Entertainment:

"I am most excited for The Last Guardian, which will hopefully come out [in 2012]. It looks amazing, and has already captured my imagination. I actually had an emotional attachment to my horse by the end of Shadow of the Colossus, and I can tell that Team Ico will probably accomplish that rare feat again with The Last Guardian. I can't wait!"

Something that isn't a sequel

"I'm tired of sequels, so give me something new."

Dylan Cuthbert, Q-Games

Dylan Cuthbert, founder of PixelJunk studio Q-Games:

"I'm tired of sequels, so give me something new. I'm not sure when Naughty Dog's new IP comes out but that certainly excites me, and Command & Conquer: Generals 2 deserves a mention even though that is my anticipated title for 2013 and not 2012 so it gets away with being a sequel. Wouldn't it be nice to see a year which has no sequels! It would cause people to actually have to think about what game they want to buy instead of buying the same thing again because that's what they know."

Feature compiled by Wesley Yin-Poole, Robert Purchese and Fred Dutton. With huge thanks to everyone who contributed!

Comments (59) Latest comment 5 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Cjail #1 5 months ago

    Kinect Star Wars :eek:

  • shadowmind #2 5 months ago

    At this moment I'm not buzzing with excitement with those above games.

    Mass Effect 3 is probably my most anticipated game. I will enjoy it, but from what I'm hearing will be disappointed it lost its RPG soul. which doesn't make it a bad a game.

  • Squidgywidgywoo #3 5 months ago

    The thought of Bioshock Infinite on the horizon does make me quite moist. Also The Witcher 2 on the 360. I would get it for my PC, but that's currently used for, er, other things.

  • DrStrangelove #4 5 months ago

    All thumbs up for Dylan Cuthbert.

  • Crea #5 5 months ago

    "May the party line be with you!"


    Absolutely brilliant.

  • -cerberus- #6 5 months ago

    AMY, Bioshock: Infinite, Kane & Lynch 3, The Last Guardian and Metro: Last Light for me.

  • golem09 #7 5 months ago

    Molyneux picks GTAV? Now that's surprising.

  • Syrette #8 5 months ago

    Only 2 votes for Bioshock Infinite (just give it 2012 GOTY already)?

    For shame!

  • persus-9 #9 5 months ago

    For me it is 'Dear Esther' although I've made it my New Year's resolution not to buy any more games this year (I've built up a slight backlog over the past four years) so I'll have to wait until 2013. I was searching for it on Steam on the 31st to see if I could get a pre-order in but the page isn't up yet. *sigh*

  • arcam #10 5 months ago

    I'm hoping that the best games of 2012 are ones that I'm not already anticipating. Give me a surprise like Portal in 2007, or Minecraft in 2010.

    Having said that, I'm pretty excited about Diablo 3 too.

  • Monkey_Puncher #11 5 months ago

    Hitman, GTA and Bioshock for me!

  • Po1ymorph #12 5 months ago

    Oh Rare why have you forsaken us?

    Looking forward to Dishonored, Edge did a preview a while back, looks interesting.

  • captain_Carl #13 5 months ago

    Only someone from Rare could say they are looking forward to Star Wars Kinect

  • Deadly_Spike #14 5 months ago

    Darksiders 2 is my most anticipated. Still can't get enough of the first game. I just hope the story holds up as well as the 1st.
    Aside from that, although its technically not a 2012 game, Tales of Graces F is one I'm super excited to get my hands on. My top 5 are:

    1) Darksiders 2
    2) Tales Of Graces F
    3) Prototype 2
    4) Final Fantasy XIII-2
    5) Kingdom Of Amalur: Reckoning
    Edited by Deadly_Spike at 03/01/12 @ 16:11

  • jonharrispro #15 5 months ago

    SSX for me, hope its more Tricky and less SSX3

  • digitalash #16 5 months ago

    'May the party line be with you'. Love it.

  • uninspiredcup #17 5 months ago

    Some kind of pc game, not dumbed down by consoles.

  • ChocNut #18 5 months ago

    Yeah, controlling a rancor with Kinect will definitely be the gaming highlight of 2012.

    Lol

    Wipeout 2048 is my tasty burger this year!!

  • Totza #19 5 months ago

    GTA V THAT IS ALL :)

  • evarofzentral #20 5 months ago

    Looking forward to Far Cry 3, Dragon's Dogma, Kingdoms of Amalur as well as most of the games in the article (particularly ME3). Probably a few others I've forgotten about.

  • oceanmotion #21 5 months ago

    Like that EA guy from the other article being a soulless mouthpiece, the Rare guy in this one sells out too, well maybe, he might be a Star Wars, he would have to be a crazy one though to like that Kinect trash.
    Edited by oceanmotion at 03/01/12 @ 16:17

  • EugenesLair #22 5 months ago

    And that's why Rare is doomed!

  • PlugMonkey #23 5 months ago

    Lots of stuff to be excited about. Bioshock and Mass Effect have been two of the defining games of the generation, so I'm looking forward to those. Hitman is one of my favourite series ever, so that's obviously very exciting.

    GTA V is currently completely off my radar, to be honest. GTA IV felt like it was treading water. Unless I hear about some sort of forward progress, I think I've played that game as many times as I need to already.

  • not_themilkybarkid #24 5 months ago

    Nice to see Prior giving some love to a non-EA game and proving the haters from the last post wrong.
    Edited by not_themilkybarkid at 03/01/12 @ 16:56

  • schnide #25 5 months ago

    DARK SOULS!

    Sorry, I just wanted to annoy whoever complained in the previous article :)

  • ashmon #26 5 months ago

    Black Mesa Source. *Fingers Crossed

  • Azazel #27 5 months ago

    Black Mesa, Age of Decadence and Duke Nukem Forever.

  • carlosdfn #28 5 months ago

    Bioshock Infinite for me.

    I'm also really looking forward to The Last Guardian and The Last of Us but I doubt we'll see them in 2012.

    Oh, and Mas Effect 3.

  • ronecvan_is_here #29 5 months ago

    anything but annual releases, i'm hyped about the last guardian but i'm always a sucker for team ico games. (*fingers crossed* hopefully TLG gets mad into a decent game!)

  • mr2ange #30 5 months ago

    Dragons Dogma for me.

    Then its all down to whatever From Software announce as their next title.

  • mr2ange #31 5 months ago

    @carlosdfn Last Guardian is supposed to be 2012 (At least my uncle Wikipedia tells me)

  • Beano #32 5 months ago

    Senior studio director at Rare looking forward to Kinect Star Wars? Must be the only person in the universe but at least he totally unbiased in his opinion.. cough... cough...

  • Madder-Max #33 5 months ago

    Kinect Star Wars???? Really Eurogamer?????? REALLY????

    I supposed the benefit-free corporate monitoring tool had to be crowbarred in somewhere.....as usual

  • RandyKleen #34 5 months ago

    What about Kingdoms of Amalur and Dragon's Dogma?

  • Alf-Life #35 5 months ago

    ***Expletives removed by mod ****
    he has a vested interest in talking about a Kinect game since that's all Rare's doing these days. And really, Star Wars was the best he could come up with? That looked terrible at E3... EG stop printing this towing-the-line marketing corporate-sucking-up bullshit from these guys.
    Edited by Alf-Life at 03/01/12 @ 22:41

  • Triggerhappytel #36 5 months ago

    Given all the quality that's in the pipeline next year, it's almost a little bit insulting that a senior guy at Rare is looking forward to Kinect Star Wars above all others. Still, I guess he had to get a plug in somewhere, and it seems less biased than saying Fable: The Journey or another internal Microsoft game.

    Would have liked to have seen some love for Journey. That was my most anticipated for 2011, and it's now my most anticipated for 2012.

  • Scimarad #37 5 months ago

    Oooh, Dishonored! I keep forgetting about that one...

  • Triggerhappytel #38 5 months ago

    Also (as I can't edit using my phone), I really like Dylan Cuthbert. The guy seems to really do it for the creativity and love of gaming. He seems like a great studio head, and I love the Pixeljunk games.

  • FenderMaster #39 5 months ago

    not the most exciting year to be a PS3/Wii/DS owner tbh. Not really a Mass Effect, Bioshock, Diablo fan. Might pick upo a 3DS this year and gorge on handheld games instead.

  • Rajin #40 5 months ago

    Starcraft 2:Heart of the swarm

    Curious how they change the multiplayer, the story alone combined with the level design warrants a buy from me.

    Despite the fact that it might be complete rubbish once again: FFXII-2, i hope square can right their wrongs......(QTE's seem to sugges otherwise)

    Kingdom of Amalur: For me it's the game fable was meant to be.

  • JeroenZM #41 5 months ago

    Looking forward to the crazy stuff Nintendo will hopefully pull off with their new console. Willing to give it a fair chance, after their ho-hum E3 presentation.

  • TheGuvernor #42 5 months ago

    Far Cry 3 - indubitably!
    Edited by TheGuvernor at 03/01/12 @ 23:54

  • Mister-Wario #43 5 months ago

    I'm most interested in Bioshock Infinite, although Dishonoured looks like a great game as well. I'm going to try more downloadable titles this year, though. I'm sure there are many smaller games out there that are worth looking at.

  • blackbriar101 #44 5 months ago

    @rogercooke Is that a web cam, does it involve nudity?

    Personally I'm looking forward to Haze 2, I hear it's twice as fucking terrible.

    Hitman, Max Payne, Mass Effect 3.

  • stryker1121 #45 5 months ago

    There's usually one game a year that takes me by surprise. Last year was Dead Island. Want to see if KingdomsofA or Dishonored can deliver a similar jolt. But BioShockInf is my most anticipated title by a long chalk. Looks great and seems like it'll give the franchise a shakeup it needed.
    Edited by stryker1121 at 04/01/12 @ 04:36

  • BloodSaint #46 5 months ago

    Kingdoms of Amalur, Syndicate, Bioshock, Mass Effect 3, Diablo 3, Hitman, and Tomb Raider. Sure 2012 will not top 2011 but it is still gonna be another great year for us gamers!

  • YouJustGotPunk\'d #47 5 months ago

    Hhhhmmm, No Halo 4... Kind of weird.

  • ps-360 #48 5 months ago

    Uncharted 4, and hopefully The last guardian will be something new and good! And also Hitman!
    Edited by ps-360 at 04/01/12 @ 08:43

  • GiarcYekrub #49 5 months ago

    I'm actually very excited by the new Tomb Raider

  • Pinewood_Groves #50 5 months ago

    Craig, no.

  • Harmonica #51 5 months ago

    Predictable choices and much back slapping from rich besuited people ensues.

  • GiarcYekrub #52 5 months ago

    Why? I've gotta say I prefered the Core design games with Legend leaving me quite cold but this one, ship wrecked having to survive could have an epic solitary atmosphere, its powered by the source engine too so should look fantastic

  • Alestes #53 5 months ago

    Games I look forward to, it will be a busy year.

    Armored Core V (PS3)
    Binary Domain (PS3)
    Bioshock Infinite (PC)
    Dishonored (PC)
    Hitman: Absolution (PC)
    Kingdom Of Amalur: Reckoning (PC)
    Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (PS3)
    Prey 2 (PC)
    Tales of Graces F (PS3, although I'm more interested in Xillia)
    The Last Guardian (PS3)
    The Last Story (Wii)
    Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown (PS3)

    And then various digital game releases, such as Monster World IV, Journey and whatever indie games that capture my interest.

  • whatfruit #54 5 months ago

    Call of Duty 17 : Shooting Brown people in the face for freedom.

  • sonicyoda #55 5 months ago

    Dylan Cuthbert's comment makes me want to try and buy nothing but original IPs this year just for a laugh. Too bad I went and bought WRC 2 yesterday :(

  • Baihu1983 #56 5 months ago

    Give me Mass Effect 3, GTA V, The Last Guardian and Conker 2[controller not kinect]

  • Zerobob #57 5 months ago

    Looking forward to The Last Guardian the most, and by a long way too. I really should buy a PS3 before it's release.

    Also looking forward to Mass Effect 3.

    Not looking forward to anything else at this stage.

  • God_Octo #58 5 months ago

    I think Last Guardian and the new Tomb raider are my most anticipated for this New Year. Uncharted:GA, Dishonoured and Ni no Kuni look lovely too.

  • Climhazzard #59 5 months ago

    Tales of Graces f and Mass Effect 3. Halo 4 is the shooter to watch for me. Should be interesting with 343 now developing the game instead of Bungie who clearly ran out of ideas with Reach in terms of multiplayer. The campaign however was spot on for once.