Dark Souls is one of the best games in its generation. Although it probably will not show the same jump in quality that was Demon's Souls to Dark Souls, Dark Souls II should offer a more polished and stable experience. The online issues that marred the first one should be a lesson for the devs, and even though there's a new director, the game looks just as evil as ever. Rob participated in the brief beta test last October and reported that the atmosphere, excellent level design, and difficulty are all intact. Get ready to die, get ready to throw a controller, and get ready to team up with strangers to overcome the darkness.

Writeup by Kyle E. Miller

We saw Lords of the Fallen at E3, and it looks like a dark fantasy action RPG that would fit on the shelf right beside the likes of Dark Souls. Headed by Tomasz Gop of The Witcher 2 fame, Lords of the Fallen features giant weapons, immense enemies, and spacious level design: there's an emphasis on the epic. The story is, after all, about gods and how they've failed humanity. Though we might come for the combat, the skill trees, choices with consequences, exploration, and plenty of secrets will keep us there. We can't wait to see if Lords of the Fallen can stand up to the best WRPGs of the year.

Writeup by Kyle E. Miller

The conclusion to Lightning's saga is less than a month away, and hopefully our lingering questions will finally be answered: why are the gods of her world such jerks? What's up with Vanille's new headdress? How many chocobos could a chocobo choco if a chocobo could choco chocobos? Jokes aside, Lightning Returns looks to be an exceptionally fun game, even if the story doesn't pan out like we hope it will. The combat system is speedy and responsive, Nova Chrysalia boasts an impressive visual design, and the soundtrack is a surefire knockout. Despite all of the criticism this trilogy has received, there are at least a few RPGFan editors still interested in experiencing the climax of this complicated story.

Writeup by Derek Heemsbergen

A few months ago, we were certain that Drakengard 3 was going to appear in our "localization hopefuls" list, but Square Enix surprised everyone when they confirmed the title for a North American release. This prequel to the macabre Drakengard series features a brand-new protagonist, Zero, whose mission to kill her "Utautai" sisters is more than a tad disturbing — as is her penchant for becoming stronger as she bathes in the blood of her enemies. This time, the game looks to be worth playing for its combat as well as its twisted story, as the gameplay has been refined for both land-based skirmishes and dragon-riding aerial sequences. Audiophiles are in for a special treat, as NieR composer Keiichi Okabe returns in conjunction with MONACA to provide a soundtrack that we can only describe as equal parts insane and intensely emotional. Drakengard 3 is sure to be a thrill ride, and hopefully it releases sooner rather than later. Our bloodlust is strong for this one.

Writeup by Derek Heemsbergen

Though we know nothing more outside of Telltale Games' VGX 2013 announcement, expectations have been high ever since the news was leaked beforehand. George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels have spawned an equally enthralling HBO series and of far lesser note, two games: a subpar action RPG and an even more subpar strategy game. After all their success and critical acclaim with The Walking Dead, Back to the Future, and most recently The Wolf Among Us, Telltale's involvement is more than welcome by Game of Thrones fans. We will suffer all year if we have to, because we can't wait to see what difficult choices await us in Westeros.

Writeup by Liz Maas

Few names garner as much vocal praise and vehement demand for a new game as Persona, so we're ecstatic that Atlus is delivering not only Persona 5 (and Arena 2), but also Persona Q, a first-person dungeon crawl featuring all our favorite SEES and Investigation Team faces in a brand-new story developed by the lovely folks behind the Etrian Odyssey series. While it certainly seems to smack of a particular brand of fan-service, the stellar production values of the Arena spin-off and Portable/Golden re-releases, as well as the general level of care Atlus typically puts into the series makes me confident that this could be a delightfully meaty RPG romp on the 3DS with some of RPGdom's most beloved characters. Toss in a Shoji Meguro-penned mash-up of Mass Destruction and I'll Face Myself, and you can put this editor down for a guaranteed buy.

Writeup by Stephen Meyerink