As we approach the end of 2015, we've already got one eye on the glorious things that await us on the gaming scene in 2016. Uncharted 4, Deus Ex: Mankind Divide and Mass Effect: Andromeda are just few of the big hitters to look forward to, but those are the kinds of games that'll be getting so much pre-release hype that they're pretty much guaranteed to imprint themselves into your mind whether you want them to or not. The majority of games coming out in 2016 won't have a multi-million dollar marketing budget or name value or AAA name value, and will rely instead on small yet dedicated followings of fans, Kickstarter campaigns, or just ingenious ideas to get noticed. So why not check out the promising titles you might not have heard of, because by the end of 2016 they could well be ranking among the year's biggest hitters, giving you the bragging rights to say you heard about them 'before they were famous'.
10. The Witness (PC, PS4)
The Witness rests in that strange limbo of being one of the most eagerly anticipated indie games of recent years, while remaining relatively unknown to the mainstream crowd. It's the long-awaited first-person puzzle game from the visionary mind of Jonathan Blow (Braid), and is finally set to come out early next year. Right from the off, you can see that The Witness takes heavy inspiration from legendary 90s puzzle game Myst. You wander around a gorgeous island in the first-person, solving brain-bending puzzles across a series of distinct regions with the ultimate aim of reaching the mountain at the island's centre. There will be a total of 650 puzzles in The Witness, though not all of these will be necessary for the player to complete the main game. Just as well, considering Mr. Blow said that there's one puzzle that only 1% of players will be able to solve (cue millions of players attempting to solve it to just to prove that they're geniuses).