The first half of 2013 is pretty packed in regards to huge game releases. Look no further than the likes of Grand Theft Auto V, Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider and Gears of War: Judgment to know that there are plenty of AAA games from beloved series to keep your attention for the entire year; but what about some of the less recognised games coming out? Perhaps they don't have the budget to compete or aren't a known franchise but they deserve your attention nonetheless. I'm not saying the following games will be great, but they all have different and interesting ideas and don't deserve to be buried in the crazy release schedule of 2013. Here are 5 games that you may have forgot are coming soon and should be on most gamer's radars.

Injustice: Gods Among Us (PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360)

NetherRealm Studios, headed by Ed Boon - the creator of Mortal Kombat - is introducing a new fighting game IP which will focus on the DC Universe. The DC universe has been visited before by the Mortal Kombat developers in the generally well-received Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. After a rough few years for the Mortal Kombat series, 2011’s release raised the bar and gave the fans what they have been clamoring for years. With a new IP and a welcome resurgence from a prolific fighting game developer, Injustice: Gods Among Us is definitely a game to look out for on April 16th.

Killzone: Mercenary (PS Vita)

Ever since the Playstation Vita was announced by Sony the dream and main promise for gamers was to finally have a console quality first person shooter on a handheld for the first time through the use of dual sticks. The first attempt at this was Resistance: Burning Skies. The game wasn't developed by its usual developer, Insomniac Games but was handed to Nihilistic Software for the difficult task at hand. A series which has produced solid games over the past few years many hoped would be the definitive handheld shooter. Unfortunately the game had a myriad of problems but mostly importantly a bad online infrastructure. The next attempt and the most ambitious so far was Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified. Unfortunately many feared the worse when Treyarch was not on board to develop the game and again it was given to a another developer, Nihilistic Software once more. Fears were compounded when the game was released to terrible reviews and it seems not even the FPS behemoth of Call of Duty can save the Vita.

Well that small task is now at hand for Killzone: Mercenary. Developed by Guerrilla Cambridge with main series creator Guerrilla Games assisting it's production, not much is known about the game so far. However the game seems to be in the right hands and hopefully won't be rushed out like the two previous games I mentioned. This game could be the definitive FPS the Vita so terribly needs and it really couldn't come any sooner with the release schedule for the Vita for 2013 looking incredibly bare. This game currently has a tentative release date of 2013.

Metro: Last Light (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

Metro: Last Light is the sequel to 2010's Metro 2033 which came out to incredibly mixed reviews upon its release. The game was praised for its tone and style but many found the combat frustrating and not as fluid as many other FPS on the market. The game did find a niche audience and is somewhat of a cult favorite nowadays and many fans were overjoyed when a sequel was announced.

The potential for this game is pretty huge. If it delivers on its initial promises from the first game and tightens up all of the problems people had we could see something very special. Scheduled for a release on March 31st this game couldn't have picked a more crowded time to get noticed. Tomb Raider, Bioshock Infinite and Gears of War: Judgment all release the same month. If this game sells well enough to keep the franchise going it will be a minor miracle, and that is a real shame.

Fuse (PS3, Xbox 360)

Fuse is the upcoming co-op shooter from Insomniac Games. It is the first game in many years from the developer that will be multiplatform, with this game coming to both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. We haven't seen much of this game so far but the real reason you should be interested is that Insomniac rarely make bad games and if you only own an Xbox 360 this will be the first game of theirs you can play this generation.

I do however worry about this game and it's release for many reasons. Firstly it has an extremely generic name that wouldn't entice people at all to pick up and see what this game is about. Secondly, it has terrible box art. I mean look at the above image, why cut off your character's heads? Just awful. Lastly, it's release date of March. So many huge games come out that month as I mentioned and many are shooters in direct competition with this game. I can't see this doing particularly well sales wise I just hope the game itself is great which may help in the long run through word of mouth.

State of Decay (PC, XBLA)

This game won't be on many people's immediate radar due to it being quite far from release but once we know when it's coming you won't want to miss it. A zombie survival open world game coming to Xbox Live Arcade in the same style of DayZ but a more linear and story driven experience. Everything we have seen so far about this game looks fantastic from the screenshots to the trailers. This game looks new, exciting, interesting and truly one of a kind for console gaming.

I imagine this game will be the sole focus of this years Summer of Arcade promotion, probably the last for the current Xbox, and I can't think of a better way to end one of this generation's best and most consistent annual events. State of Decay, remember the name.

Until Next Time...

So there we have it. 5 games that are far from blockbuster titles but all could be interesting and important games for many different reasons. It's a shame of a lot of the games I mentioned won't be best sellers and probably won't win any game of the year awards, this doesn't mean they don’t deserve to be played. In the next 4 months when the dominant games will likely come and steal the limelight away from the opposition, spare a thought to the games that only misstep was launching at one of the busiest release windows in recent memory.

There is only one game in that list that I care about and its name is Metro Last Light.

Nice list! Cool idea

I got Metro 2033 for £3.50 last year, and it was the best game I played all year.

Will be buying Last Light at launch to give them the appreciation the deserve this time!

Either Injustice is going to play exactly like the MK rehash, or it'll be terrible. But honestly, I have 0.0 faith in a studio headed by the likes of Ed "How many shitty fighting games did I make?" Boon

EA putting out Fuse in March is insane, I really can't see that game doing very well at all. I really hope it gets delayed to later in the year.

Meh. Ok list. Honestly only 1 or 2 games are on here I didn't know about. And fuse looks terrible. At least I think so. Although I do hope that kills one vita game turns out solid

@GunstarRed: Is that really the date? I thought it was later in the year. It's going to get crushed.

Oh well. Another EA Partners casualty

1. Don't care about fighting games.
2. Don't own a Vita
3. Still need to play Metro 2033
4. Looks generic, and I don't have any friends so co-op games are a massive bummer
5. Never heard of it.
 
Europa Universalis IV will probably be ignored by 95% of gamers. It will also probably be better than 95% of all games released in 2013.

Fuse might be fundamentally pretty sound, but it's crazy how Overstrike was all "Incredibles meets Ratchet & Clank cartoony fun crazy weapons violence" to Fuse's "Generic Generic Generic Generic"

My excitement went wayyyy down when the remodeling was announced. Hopefully I'm wrong, but jeez

@Sackmanjones said:

Meh. Ok list. Honestly only 1 or 2 games are on here I didn't know about. And fuse looks terrible. At least I think so. Although I do hope that kills one vita game turns out solid

I disagreed with the list too! I thought others would be better, but it was basically for most people who only really know about the big blockbusters. We were tempted to put in others such as Luigi's Mansion, SimCity, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Beyond: Two Souls... Not unknown games, just ones we think were either not going to be marketed well or by completely overshadowed by the big hitters.

@BjornTheUnicorn said:

Fuse might be fundamentally pretty sound, but it's crazy how Overstrike was all "Incredibles meets Ratchet & Clank cartoony fun crazy weapons violence" to Fuse's "Generic Generic Generic Generic"

My excitement went wayyyy down when the remodeling was announced. Hopefully I'm wrong, but jeez

I feel exactly the same, my want for the game took an incredible blow when it stopped being Overstrike. I really do hope we're wrong, though. I have my faith in Insomniac.

I'll definitely be following Injustice and Metro, though the latter will be out of curiosity rather than excitement. I never played the previous game.

I honestly forgot Fuse was OverStrike, that Borderlands-like team game Insomniac showed a couple years ago. But everything announced after that original press conference was a disappointment, and Fuse is a far worse name. Here's hoping that game recovers from a relatively underwhelming development press cycle.

Will try to remember State of Decay, but I doubt it'll matter as much as, say, the official Day-Z launch in a couple months.

Oh, and I have no interest in a Killzone game for the Vita. And that's not just 'cause I've never owned a Killzone game and don't own a Vita. I'd just rather play Super Hexagon.

@believer258 said:

There is only one game in that list that I care about and its name is Metro Last Light.

Yup.

@BjornTheUnicorn said:

Fuse might be fundamentally pretty sound, but it's crazy how Overstrike was all "Incredibles meets Ratchet & Clank cartoony fun crazy weapons violence" to Fuse's "Generic Generic Generic Generic"

My excitement went wayyyy down when the remodeling was announced. Hopefully I'm wrong, but jeez

Agreed. :\

That said- it didn't exactly hold my interest with its first style either. So either way, it seems like I won't be a part of Fuse's audience- unless something absolutely amazing about it pops up out of nowhere.

Of the 5 you listed the only one that potentially interests me is Injustice, and that's a definite 'wait and see' prospect for me right now. :P

The other four I've either never ever heard of, and/or simply aren't interested in for genre/platform reasons/interests. :(

I might check it out Metro, but probably when it is on sale.

Man, expecting that Vita game to not be awful is a hell of a show of trust.

Starting to wonder if the same is true of fuse, especially with certain retoolings it's received.

State of Decay has some potential, but I'm not expecting much. It also looks like ass, which makes me and my awesome PC really sad.

Metro will be gorgeous, hopefully better optimized, and if nothing else, have awesome atmosphere, so I'm excited for that. I don't really ever have the time to invest in fighting games, but I expect Injustice to be awesome.

I wouldn't call any of them hidden really especially since one has the whole DC brand behind it. Most of them look pretty neat though especially Metro and I might get Injustice and fuse as well if they turn out decent

I'm not sure how hidden Injustice is. It's a DC licence and being made by Netherrealm with considerable hype behind it. It'll probably be one of the biggest sellers of the year.

I don't think Fuse is at all noteworthy either. The original trailer for OverStrike looked fantastic and they managed to turn it into the most generic looting shooter of the year.. It'll be mediocre at best and sink without a trace, running the risk of killing Insomniac in the process. I really don't know what they're thinking with that game. And Killzone? Well, whatever floats your boat.

Really looking forward to FUSE. I hope FUSE and Army of Two: the Cartel get early reviews. I'll probably buy both, but I wanna know which one to get first since they are both out in March.

2013 seems like a good year for co-op!

If Killzone Mercenary can receive positive review scores then I may just buy a Vita for the game, if not then that will be the end of it because next gen consoles will be coming soon afterwards. Looking forward to Metro: Last Light, everything I've seen of it looks superb and I hope THQ's demise doesn't hurt the release of the game.

@believer258 said:

There is only one game in that list that I care about and its name is Metro Last Light.

You are like me. Uncanny..

If this was just a list I'd probably blow it off but the reasons you've given for each are interesting and solid.

You mean posting something he wrote on two different sites? Did you miss the part where it's the same author?

@BillyTheKid said:

Copying shit isn't cool.

Haha, yes it is the same person. I posted it here and on IGN. Thanks for noticing, though!

@Atlas said:

1. Don't care about fighting games.2. Don't own a Vita3. Still need to play Metro 20334. Looks generic, and I don't have any friends so co-op games are a massive bummer5. Never heard of it. Europa Universalis IV will probably be ignored by 95% of gamers. It will also probably be better than 95% of all games released in 2013.

Well aren't you a bundle of joy.

Id try Injustice but It's dropping in the middle of a bunch or other shit I'd rather play. And I was one of the crazy people who bought. Mortal Kombat Tourney Edition with the arcade stick.

@Baillie said:

@BillyTheKid said:

Copying shit isn't cool.

Haha, yes it is the same person. I posted it here and on IGN. Thanks for noticing, though!

Oh ok, I just wanted to make sure they weren't ripping peoples work, because that is annoying and wrong.

With that out of the way good list, except I have been excited about Metro since Metro 2033. But I had no idea Killzone was coming out at all.

@RazielCuts: *shrugs* Was just throwing in my two cents. I can give you 5 games that I'm super excited to play in 2013 - EUIV, TW: Rome 2, BioShock Infinite, South Park, and SimCity - and I'm sure there'll be some great games that flew under my radar, so please don't assume that I'm pessimistic about the year in games just because I can't get excited about Vita games, co-op games, fighting games, or games I know nothing about.

wow what the hell happened to injustice? we havent heard anything about that game in a while. same with metro last light.

now that i know those are coming in march, im honestly more excited for those more than bioshock and tomb raider.

Also the 3rd neptunia game

Metro: Last Light is looking like the only game I'm really excited for. Injustice is a mild curiosity that I'll look at after reviews go up.

As a huge XBLA fan I'm pretty excited for State of Decay. I've got a bad feeling the game will be pretty underwhelming though, but hey I've been wrong before.

1. Actually excited to see a new fighting game, and from Netherealms no less. Can't see them fucking this one too bad.
2. Yet another FPS on Vita? That's been working out well.
3. Definitely. As a Russian fellow, stoked to see more Russian seeping into the mainstream. From the demo's, I'm feeling right at home - if home was a goddamn metro station in the nuclear apocalypse.
4. Overstrike > Fuse. They fucked the game before it even got out of the gate. WHY U SO INFURIATING INSOMNIAC
5. A total unknown. Could take the world by Minecraft/zombie-esque storm, could be mediocre. I'm not betting on either scenario yet.t

@Atlas said:

Europa Universalis IV will probably be ignored by 95% of gamers. It will also probably be better than 95% of all games released in 2013.

I own EUIII, and had one amazing go at a globe-spanning empire based in Lubeck. Victoria and HOI have never done it for me, but holy balls I could go for a new EU game.

@believer258 said:

There is only one game in that list that I care about and its name is Metro Last Light.

In fuses case it's funny that borderlands did the complete opposite changing its generic bland brown appearance for a the dramatic cell shaded cartoon style that allowed it to have it's own obvious style and attract attention.

In 2011 it was Bulletstorm*, in 2012 it was Syndicate. In 2013 Fuse will be EA's high quality shooter developed by an external studio that they put out on the market to die in the first few months of the year. Then again it seems Insomniac really played ball and did everything I'm guessing EA asked - which is why we have Fuse rather than Overstrike, so maybe EA will put some marketing effort behind it.

(*well, EA did release a lot of trailers for Bulletstorm but they were horrendous and so half the internet were super angry about the game's existence and wrote it off :( )

(On that note, I know Fuse looks painfully generic compared to that original Overstrike trailer, but I really wish people wouldn't just write it off because of that. I'm sure it'll be a game of very high quality. Open your minds MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN)

Injustice is shaping up nicely but I'm not sure about Fuse. 
 
I liked the old trailer a lot, I hope they keep some of that style.

I'll see how Injustice turns out, if it's anything like Mortal Kombat then no thanks, the animations on that game are so tacky, every fighter looks like they need to take a dump.

I'm curious to see how State of Decay turns out.

can't wait for metro last light. I predict it's going to be AMAZING (if it ever comes out)

Bad list, other then Metro.

@MEATBALL said:

In 2011 it was Bulletstorm*, in 2012 it was Syndicate. In 2013 Fuse will be EA's high quality shooter developed by an external studio that they put out on the market to die in the first few months of the year. Then again it seems Insomniac really played ball and did everything I'm guessing EA asked - which is why we have Fuse rather than Overstrike, so maybe EA will put some marketing effort behind it.

(*well, EA did release a lot of trailers for Bulletstorm but they were horrendous and so half the internet were super angry about the game's existence and wrote it off :( )

(On that note, I know Fuse looks painfully generic compared to that original Overstrike trailer, but I really wish people wouldn't just write it off because of that. I'm sure it'll be a game of very high quality. Open your minds MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN)

Yeah, the promotion for Bulletstorm was a modern equivalent of "John Romero's about to make you his bitch." It was a really fun game though.

@rebgav said:

@KittyVonDoom said:

I have 0.0 faith in a studio headed by the likes of Ed "How many shitty fighting games did I make?" Boon

I believe it was the great American philosopher Axl Rose who said it best; You're fucking crazy.

good call

Whatever Team Meat is working on.

Wasn't there already a game called Fuse? Or like, two or three different games all called Fuse? Maybe it's just the curse of the super generic name making me think that.

State of Decay looks interesting, I forgot those guys were even making that zombie MMO, and never knew there was going to be a Kingdoms of Amalur-style prequel-thing to test the water. Hope it comes out soon.

No love for Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2?