It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and a bunch of other religious holidays: it's cold and wet outside, the neighborhood is lit up with twinkling lights, and Jack Frost is nipping at your nips. The one constant in the video game industry is that the closer we get to December 25th, the shittier the game releases become, and rest assured that we have a bucket of holiday shit this week. New releases this week feature the ability to land spacecraft, a disturbed European with cabin fever, King Graham declares war on goblins, the local arena genre gets a portable port, a stealthy girl in a hoodie counts to four, the Japanese find pigeon love, and Steve eats his vegetable.
Elite Dangerous: Horizons
Platform: PC
Release Date: December 15
This huge space exploration title contains billions of planetary systems, and with the addition of the Horizons expansion, players can now land on all of them.
Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star
Platform: PC
Release Date: December 15
What would the holiday be without an anime-inspired holiday expansion featuring pigeon boyfriends? We're going to find out, because I'm not buying that shit for Christmas. This expansion to this hand-drawn Japanese title brings more avian adventures, more birds, and a holiday theme centered around lab-created birds stealing Christmas.
King's Quest Episode 2: Rubble Without a Cause
Platforms: XB1, 360, PS4, PS3, PC
Release Date: December 15
This episodic adventure centers around the new king learning the ropes of his reign.Young King Graham must put an end to the kidnapping escapades of some unruly goblins terrorizing his kingdom. Sorry Nintendo fans, no Kings Quest for you, but maybe The Odd Gentlemen will send you some coal to keep you warm. Just kidding, coal is too expensive for the likes of you.
Towerfall Ascension
Platform: PS Vita
Release Date: December 15
Local arena favorite is getting the portable treatment for fifteen bucks. Throw in another ten and you can pick up the Dark World expansion. There is currently no cross-platform support between the Vita and PS4, but the dev promises that it will be in a future patch.
The Delusions of Van Sottendorff and His Square Mind
Platform: 3DS
Release Date: December 17
Help an insane aristocrat escape the mansion of his mind in this devious portable puzzler.
Minecraft: Wii U Edition
Platform: Wii U
Release Date: December 17
For those of you who do not know what Minecraft is, and there's one in every crowd, it's the heartwarming tale of the friendship of a miner, named Steve, and his hissing asparagus, named Creeper. Together they dig, fight, and swing their swords in a beautifully rendered (don't let the pics fool you) world of adventure.
Republique: Episode 4
Platforms: PS4, PC
Release Date: December 17
This Metal Gear inspired stealth title got its start on iPhones and tablets before making the jump to Playstation and PC. Republique is an episodic title, and has been given the HD makeover for the upgrade to accepted gaming platforms.
