In an age where every major developer only makes 2 or 3 types of games, because they write for what they consider to be the mass market to maximise revenue, some of the developers who worked on older games are separating from the major companies, and using crowdfunding, to create the games that they want to create - and that some of us want to play, but can't, because until now, nobody was making them. If you loved Morrowind but were disappointed by Skyrim, as I was, then you should definitely take a look at some of these.
First off:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] - HELL FUCKING YEAH!!!!!! Words can not express how much I want this game!! Having raised over £2m, David Braben, the brains behind Elite, is writing the fourth game in this series, and it looks to be no less awesome than the first. True, Frontier had its issues, but it's actually a very good game once you learn to play it properly. Elite was the very first true sandbox game, and the game that defined the sandbox genre, and belongs up there with the other classics.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] - There's also this. Another space game, made by the man who brought us Wing Commander, Privateer, and Freelancer. Although I wasn't a fan of those games. They were a bit too railroad-ish for my liking. But this looks like it might be interesting, and has raised a staggering $40m!! Head on over to the forums for some heated debates about the PVP system.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] - Leaving space for a moment, there's this, made by the brains behind the Ultima games. Although I'm not an Ultima veteran (I got into RPGs with Baldur's Gate - before then I was mainly playing WW2 flight sims), this does look good. Apparently Richard Garriot is a hardcore roleplayer - something I've sorely missed in modern games. I hope this will bring some of that back.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] - this is being made by a team of Polish developers, who seem to have been somewhat inspired by the Mount and Blade series. It's more of an action RPG, but with less emphasis on button mashing and silly D&D4e style attack abilities (you know, the whole "I can do a really good attack, but I can only do it once! Now I must use a less effective attack for the rest of the fight!" mentality that seems to be the norm now for all RPGs - I hate that system!). This one is similar to the combat system in the Elder Scrolls games, but without the magic.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] - along a similar vein, this one is in its early stages, made by a Czech developer. It's single-player only, unlike Gloria Victis. Although I'm not keen on having a character forced upon me (this is one of the things that put me off The Witcher, actually, as well as most JRPGs), the combat system might sell it for me.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] - and finally, made by some of the members of Black Isle who worked on the likes of Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, etc, comes this. A return to the classic RPG era, there is relatively little information about this, but...well, anyone who knows me knows the problems I have with modern RPGs: quest markers, regenerating health, and the whole "it's all about combat!" style gameplay, so I really hope they don't do that. It looks promising, though.
So if you, like me, hate modern games, then check these out. If you don't hate modern games, then...well, Elder Scrolls Online is just around the corner.