The December PC game releases and events you should know about
December is a good time for new games—the top half of the world is extra dark and cold, and we have time off—but no one wants to spend the holidays working on bug fixes, so it's also a risky time to release new games. It's common for late-in-the-year games to be delayed into the new year (stolen to feed February's bottomless appetite), making December a bit of a wild card month.
Good news: This December is one of the cool ones. Marvel's Midnight Suns turned out to be weird and fun, the legendary Dwarf Fortress is finally getting graphics and tutorials, and although we're not sure yet how much we'll like The Callisto Protocol, I can tell you that it'll be super gross, so if you wind up with a new GPU over the holidays you'll have something to put its icky gore rendering capabilities to work on.
Also this month: A new space colony sim, an FPS from the co-creator of Rick and Morty, and the 2022 Game Awards. Here's what to look forward to:
December PC game release dates and events
Need for Speed Unbound | December 1
The new Need for Speed game released somewhat quietly, but early reports say it's fun. We've got a review on the way, but in the meantime, Morgan gave it a try and found that he had no desire to turn off its mildly-controversial cartoon effects—they're the best part, he said.
Battlefield 2042 free weekend | December 1-5
After a year of bug fixes, changes, and free content updates, DICE thinks Battlefield 2042 is ready for a second chance, and has invited players back with a Steam free weekend.
Marvel's Midnight Suns | December 2
Firaxis' deckbuilder and super hero friendship simulator is really good. We gave it an 88% in our review. The verdict: "Who knew Sid Meier's protégés had a secret, and completely brilliant, Persona game in them?"
The Callisto Protocol | December 2
A new horror game from one of Dead Space's creators. On the surface, it's a lot like Dead Space, right down to the neck-mounted health bar, but it's even more gruesome than that game, which might be considered its spiritual predecessor. It could be harder, too, with a heavy focus on risky melee combat.
Dwarf Fortress | December 6
The legendary dwarven society simulation is finally releasing on Steam with, and this is a big deal, graphics. The old version, which has been in development for an astonishing 20 years, still depicts dwarven civilization with ASCII characters. Also exciting: a tutorial.
Ixion | December 7
This cool-looking space station colony builder beings when the moon is blown up. I could go for a nice fiddly management sim during these dark winter nights, so here's hoping Ixion's space problems are fun to solve.
The Game Awards | December 8 @ 7:30 pm ET
Geoff Keighley's big end-of-year show is usually host to a few big game trailers and reveals, which fill in the space between reception speeches, musical performances, and praise for Hideo Kojima. Topping this year's list of nominees is, no surprise, God of War: Ragnarok.
High on Life |December 13
Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland leaves the VR space for a first-person shooter with talking guns. While looking for a trailer, I noticed that they've been posting what look like in-universe TV ads, so here's This.
More games releasing in December
- December 5 — Swordship
- December 5 — Space Wreck
- December 6 — Impaler
- December 6 — Divine Knockout
- December 6 — Hello Neighbor 2
- December 7 — Chained Echoes
- December 15 — Blacktail
- December 30 — Warhammer AoS: Soul Arena