God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla, Avatar Frontiers of Pandora, More: December Games on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Apple

Other standouts include Baldur’s Gate 3’s arrival on Xbox, Lego Fortnite, and The Finals.

Written by Rahul Chettiyar, Edited by Manas Mitul | Updated: 20 December 2023 19:06 IST

Photo Credit: Santa Monica Studio

God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla pits Kratos against enemies from his past life in Greek mythology

Highlights

Resident Evil 4 remake is out now on Apple devices
God of War Ragnarök’s Valhalla DLC adds a lore-heavy roguelite mode
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s mechanics are quite reminiscent of Far Cry

We've reached the last month of an incredible year in gaming, closing the season with a final rush of exciting titles as the Christmas holiday period fast approaches. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora — out now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X — is easily the biggest launch in December, transporting players to the never-seen-before Western Frontier of Pandora, teeming with awe-inspiring creatures and luminescent vegetation. It's a bit reminiscent of the James Cameron movies, in the sense that you awaken as a Na'vi orphan and are thrust into battle against the Resources Development Administration (RDA), the corporation looking to harvest natural resources from the beautiful alien moon planet.

By exploring its large open world and going out on hunting trips, you learn about the history of its inhabitants, which some might mistake for a virtual tour of Pandora. Others might see this as a reskinned Far Cry game — it depends on how you see the Ubisoft formula. As such, expect tons of enemy outposts to unlock, as you swap between both primitive and modern-day firearms before delving into some stealth affair, thanks to your heightened senses. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is also getting a season pass next year, adding bonus story packs that would expand on its infiltration missions. Follow that up with a free new DLC for God of War Ragnarök, which throws you into a roguelite setting accompanied by the always-jabbering Mimir. But since the game doesn't have a large weapon pool, it rewards you with Runic abilities at every checkpoint, in addition to expanding on the lore as Kratos begins facing his past demons from Greek mythology — and even wields the Blade of Olympus. God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla is out now on PS4 and PS5.

Fortnite saw a huge resurgence last month when it brought back the original core battle royale experience with classic weapons and vehicles, allowing both old and new fans to hop back in for a jolly good time. Heralding a new phase for the game, it has now launched a new experience called Lego Fortnite, which adds an element of survival-crafting on top of the block-building toy sheen the brand is notorious for. Clunkily fight off deadly creatures and hack down trees to harvest resources, which can then be used to build temporary shelters to weather the night — leveraging the same building technology that vanilla Fortnite does, as you hope from one biome to the next, each hosting different environmental conditions. It's out now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X.

Then there's The Finals, launching you into a virtual combat show, reminiscent of The Hunger Games, to hunt down opponents in a 3v3v3 arena and stack up the most cash to emerge victorious. After spending months in early access, Embark Studios made it live during The Game Awards 2023. Not to mention, Baldur's Gate 3 finally made it onto Xbox, the same day, inviting a host of new players to its Dungeons & Dragons-inspired dark fantasy realm.

Here's another big one: Resident Evil 4 Remake is out today across the Apple ecosystem — iOS, iPadOS, and macOS — with support for Universal Purchase; so, the one-time-purchase app can be used across other devices. As you'd expect, it's a basic port that puts you in the shoes of the pretty-boy cop Leon S. Kennedy, tasked with locating and saving the President's daughter from a ghoulish Spanish village. Considering this is a graphics-intensive game, don't expect anything more than an unstable 30fps and having to deal with overlay buttons, which could get annoying really fast.

With that, here's a list of all the games releasing in December 2023.

December 1 — SteamWorld Build (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Nintendo Switch)
December 1 — Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince (Nintendo Switch)
December 1 — Batman: Arkham Trilogy port (Nintendo Switch)
December 7 — Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (PC, PS5, Xbox Series S/X)
December 7 — Lego Fortnite (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X)
December 7 — Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (PC, PS5, Xbox Series S/X)
December 8 — Baldur's Gate 3 (Xbox Series S/X)
December 8 — The Finals (PC, PS5, Xbox Series S/X)
December 12 — God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla (PS4, PS5)
December 13 — Ready or Not (PC)
December 14 — House Flipper 2 (PC)
December 14 — Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising (PC, PS4, PS5)
December 15 — Cookie Cutter (PC, PS5, Xbox Series S/X)
December 20 — Resident Evil 4 remake port (iOS, iPadOS, and macOS)

What are the most exciting titles that gamers can look forward to in 2023? We discuss some of our favourites on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Genre Action-Adventure

Platform Amazon Luna, PlayStation 5 (PS5), Xbox Series S/X, PC: Windows

Modes Single-player

PEGI Rating 16+

More Ubisoft Games

God of War Ragnarök

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Good
Very cinematic
Writing, direction are solid
Character growth defined by your playstyle
Combat does more with less
Variety and diversity
Elemental effects look cool

Bad
Camera is too tight
Companions could have been more helpful
Too much old-school level design
Plays like a loot simulator in places

Read detailed Sony God of War Ragnarök review

Genre Action-Adventure

Platform PlayStation 4 (PS4), PlayStation 5 (PS5)

Modes Single-player

Series God of War

PEGI Rating 18+

More Sony Games

LEGO Fortnite

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Genre Adventure

Platform Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 (PS4), Xbox One, PC: Windows

Modes Single-player, Multiplayer

PEGI Rating 7+

God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla, Avatar Frontiers of Pandora, More: December Games on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Apple

More Epic Games Games

Baldur's Gate III

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Good
Deeply thought-out writing
Highly reactive world
In-depth character customisation
Charming characters; stellar voice acting
Combat that rewards creativity
Flexible navigation around the map
Stunning cinematics
No microtransactions or always-online requirement

Bad
Performance issues in Act 3

Read detailed Larian Studios Baldur's Gate III review

Genre RPG

Platform PlayStation 5 (PS5), PC: Windows, PC: macOS

Modes Single-player, Multiplayer

Series Baldur's Gate

PEGI Rating 18+

More Larian Studios Games

Resident Evil 4 (2023)

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Good
Looks amazing and is well-optimised
Massively improved controls
Characters are more suited to the times
You can parry incoming attacks now
Knife durability adds a sense of resourcefulness
Over-the-top action sequences
Gory combat

Bad
Ada Wong's voice acting feels off
Shadows can get too dark
Some bonus modes have been scrapped

Read detailed Capcom Resident Evil 4 (2023) review

Genre Survival horror

Platform PlayStation 4 (PS4), PlayStation 5 (PS5), Xbox Series S/X, PC: Windows

Modes Single-player

Series Resident Evil

PEGI Rating 18+

More Capcom Games

SteamWorld Build

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Genre Simulation

Platform Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 (PS4), PlayStation 5 (PS5), Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC: Windows

Modes Single-player

Series SteamWorld

PEGI Rating 7+

More Thunderful Group Games

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Genre RPG

Platform Nintendo Switch

Modes Single-player, Multiplayer

PEGI Rating 12+

God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla, Avatar Frontiers of Pandora, More: December Games on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Apple

More Square Enix Games

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Genre RPG

Platform PlayStation 5 (PS5), Xbox Series S/X, PC: Windows, PC: macOS

Modes Single-player, Multiplayer

Series Warhammer 40,000

PEGI Rating 18+

God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla, Avatar Frontiers of Pandora, More: December Games on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Apple

More Owlcat Games Games

Ready or Not

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Genre Shooter

Platform PC: Windows

Modes Single-player, Multiplayer

PEGI Rating 16+

God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla, Avatar Frontiers of Pandora, More: December Games on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Apple

More VOID Interactive Games

House Flipper 2

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Genre Simulation

Platform PlayStation 5 (PS5), Xbox Series S/X, PC: Windows

Modes Single-player

Series House Flipper

PEGI Rating 3+

God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla, Avatar Frontiers of Pandora, More: December Games on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Apple

More Frozen District Games

Cookie Cutter

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Genre Action-Adventure

Platform PlayStation 5 (PS5), Xbox Series S/X, PC: Windows

Modes Single-player

PEGI Rating 18+

God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla, Avatar Frontiers of Pandora, More: December Games on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Apple

More Rogue Games Games

Comments

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