RAGE 2

Released: 2019 — API: Vulkan — Engine: Avalanche

At long last, id Software's Rage gets a page-turn with Avalanche Studios taking over the IP. This is the same studio that worked on Mad Max, and you can see clear creative influences from there. There's also a weird "mutant neon" color palette that's inspired by Far Cry New Dawn and the film Annihilation. This is also one of the first id titles not to use the famed id Tech engine and "Avalanche" instead, which takes advantage of the Vulkan API. You play as "Walker", the last of the Rangers who survived an apocalyptic event that killed off most of the Earth's population, leaving behind deadly mutants and anarchy.

Rainbow Six: Siege

Released: 2015 — API: DirectX 11 — Engine: AnvilNext 2

This latest Tom Clancy themed game is an online FPS in which the tactical combat operators of the Rainbow program chase down a new global terrorist organization known as "The White Masks". Based on Ubisoft's AnvilNext game engine with large-scale destruction effects, Rainbow Six: Siege takes advantage of DirectX 11, but is only moderately taxing on your machine partly because of its near close-quarters-combat FPS setting and partly because it's trying to win over a massive user base from similar online shooters, like Counter Strike: Global Offensive.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Released: 2019 — API: DirectX 11 — Engine: Souls Engine

The Japanese Sengoku Period meets magic and fantasy in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, a love letter to games such as Tenchu. You play as Wolf, a shinobi who seeks to avenge a rival Samurai clan that has attacked and kidnapped his lord. Sekiro follows the theme of other From Software titles, featuring high difficulty and a long learning curve, but will reward you accordingly. Based on a proprietary cross-platform engine, the game takes advantage of DirectX 11 and is moderately taxing on your machine.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Released: 2018 — API: DirectX 12 — Engine: Foundation

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the third game since the 2013 franchise reboot and follows the story of adventurer Lara Croft as she explores Mesoamerica to discover the legendary city of Paititi and races to stop a Mayan apocalypse she accidentally unleashed, while battling a paramilitary organization bent on stopping her.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is powered by a refined version of the Foundation engine by Eidos Montreal. It takes advantage of DirectX 12 and can be reasonably taxing on your hardware.

Strange Brigade

Released: 2018 — API: DirectX 12 — Engine: Asura

Strange Brigade, from the house of Rebellion (Sniper Elite series) is an interesting twist to the cooperative action genre. It uses elements from Serious Sam and has a Tomb Raider aesthetic feel to it. You play as one of four very diverse heroes who team up with either human or AI squad-mates to explore and seek out an evil enemy who sends swarms of enemies your way.

Based on an up-tuned Asura Engine by Rebellion, the game stays on the bleeding edge of today's consumer graphics feature set even if the photorealism doesn't match up to it. The game is the first to support both DirectX 12 and Vulkan and can take advantage of mixed-multi GPU. We used the DirectX 12 renderer.