20 Best NEW PvE Games & Expansions of 2021

If you’re after some new games where you can work with friends as you face hostile enemies or deadly environments with your friends then you’re in luck. 2021 has a few anticipated PvE video games that are coming out brand new in 2021 along with some expansions to already established video games released years prior. In this list, we’re going to highlight a few titles that we think you should be keeping an eye on. Some of these games are expansions, new releases, and titles in early access. So it’s less about specific ranking on this list but instead just a collection games you should be checking into.

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#20 New World 

Amazon might not have had the most outstanding track record for big video game title releases. However, their latest release has become a worldwide hit. New World is a brand new MMORPG where players are thrown into the past where your voyage comes crashing into a mysterious land. It’s here that we learn that this new land is full of supernatural phenomena and treasures to uncover. You’ll explore and colonize the land but just like with any MMORPG. There is plenty of quests to take on and loot to gather up. This is a fairly new game, so we will have to wait and see how well this game holds up over the next several months and years. However, if you haven’t picked this game up, this is a buy-to-play title. There are no subscriptions to take care of when going through this game after you initially purchase a copy.

#19 World War Z: Aftermath

World War Z has been out for a while, and chances are you’re familiar with the game. In this title, players are going through a battle against a swarm of undead zombies. Similar to the likes of Left 4 Dead and Back 4 Blood, you’ll be working on a team. This update adds quite a bit of content into the mix. With Aftermath, players get new characters, a melee system, new creature variants, along with new story areas. Players will be going through Rome and Russia this time around if you already went through the base game when it first launched in 2019.

#18 Age of Empires 4

We probably don’t need to explain Age of Empires for you. The franchise has thrived over the years, and in 2021 we’re receiving the fourth mainline installment. This real-time strategy game where players are going through the middle ages with the center focus around the Norman conquest. It’s all about getting your civilization up and running. Overall, that means gathering up resources and strategizing battles that come up as you attempt to expand your nation. If you enjoyed the past installments, then you don’t want to pass up on this upcoming game. Likewise, you can jump right into the series with this game if you’re completely new to the series.

#17 King Arthur: Knight’s Tale

King Arthur: Knight’s Tale is a different take on the iconic King Arthur story. In this game, you’re taking the role of Mordred, the nemesis of King Arthur. During your bout, both members end up killing each other. However, both were given a second chance of life. While still the same Mordred, you discover that King Arthur has become made and unleashed a nightmarish hell on the world. The only hope there is to survive is for Mordred to strike down the king once again. Fortunately, in this tactical RPG, you’ll be able to add heroes to your party. Although, each hero has their own goals and personality. That will play a big part in this game narrative as you’ll find that depending on what you do within the game campaign could sway a hero in changing their views. At any moment, the decisions and actions you make could create a sudden rival from your once band of heroes.

#16 Aliens: Fireteam Elite

Alien is a massively popular horror franchise, so naturally, we have seen some video game spin-off titles released over the years. One of the latest is Aliens: Fireteam Elite. In this game, the narrative takes place several years after the events of Alien films. You’re taking the role of a special task force member. Created to aid those in distress, players will go through this game mainly fighting off waves of Xenomorphs that pop up within the world. It’s a brutal third-person shooter, and it’s aimed to be more action-based than horror. Fortunately, while you are roaming around the area and gunning down enemies, you’ll be able to join in friends. Players can work together as a team and use the different attributes from their selected class to aid and fight back the waves of enemies. Although, you can play solo and have AI take the role of your fellow team members.

#15 The Ascent

This year, the Ascent was a cyberpunk action RPG hit when it launched for PC and Xbox Series X/S platforms. In the game, players are set in the distant future where players take the role of an employee that’s enslaved with a mega-corporation. At the start of the game, you’re going around and doing daily routines. However, being in a tough corrupted world, you’re battling against all kinds of horrible creatures that pop up. Shortly into your shift, you find out that the mega-corporation comes crashing down, and it’s left more chaos in the area. You will have to battle against different enemies that move into the area. Meanwhile, you’ll have to gather up clues as to what caused such a massive company to go under.

#14 Legion TD 2 – Multiplayer Tower Defense

Tower defense games are always a ton of fun, and this year we saw the release of Legion TD 2. This multiplayer tower defense game has players either going against other players online or enjoying a solo experience. Gameplay is rather typical of what you would expect from this game genre. You’ll have a collection of legions to pick from, each with its unique line of minions to place in the environment. Overall, the game here is to focus on fighting waves of enemies back from your tower. This means deciding where to place minions and what types of minions you should be playing on the board at any given time. It’s all strategy from here, and with the number of minion options available along with the legions you can pick from, there are endless possibilities when it comes to how a game might play out.

#13 MIR4

We’re going to be a bit brief with MIR4. This is a new MMORPG that players can dive into for free right now. The focus of this video game is an Asian fantasy where players are able to create a character and partake in different quests. It has the usual tropes from an MMORPG. There are missions, exploration, raids, clans, and tons of loot to gather up. The reason we are keeping things brief is that while fans have been enjoying this game for the grind, they have noticed there’s been a bot problem. Likewise, their anti-cheat seems to be iffy, with some players actually getting banned from legitimate purchases. Still, this is a new game release, so there’s time for the developers to turn things around here.

#12 Bless Unleashed

Bless Unleashed has been around since 2020 for console platforms, but this free MMORPG just launched into the PC platform this year. This is a high fantasy world that is still recovering from a disaster that humans caused. Seeking their opportunity to attack, a slew of demonic-like creatures have taken their chance to gain control, leaving humanity to go through a battle to persevere in their world. This is a real-time combat style of game as you’ll create your unique character, explore the world, take on quests, and battle against a slew of enemies. However, the game does have some mixed reception so far. Since this game is free to play, you can try it out for yourself right now.

#11 Forewarned

Forewarned is an early access title that puts players into the role of archaeologists. When a mysterious set of pyramids pop up, you and a team of experts head into the tombs in hopes of uncovering new viable information and treasure. Although, you soon find yourself in a haunted tomb with mummies roaming about. It’s a survival horror game where you’re heading into the tomb, completing puzzles, and trying to gather treasure. However, you’ll have to work with your team to stay alive and gather the goods. It’s a gamble to see if staying a bit longer will result in more treasure being uncovered or not risking your life as you attempt to escape. To make things even more terrifying, you have a VR option, so compatible VR headsets can help immerse more players.

#10 Orcs Must Die! 3

If you enjoyed the Orcs Must Die franchise, then in 2021, we received the third installment. This is a tower defense game where players are battling against a slew of orcs that have attempted to invade your kingdom. Of course, you’ll have to work alone or with your friends to build up enough traps to prevent the waves of orcs that attempt to break through. You’ll have machines to destroy, slice up, and burn these disaster creatures that invade the area. Meanwhile, if you have been playing this franchise since the start, you’ll find that Orcs Must Die! 3 takes place twenty years after the events of Orcs Must Die! 2 and has a focus on the order being rebuilt for young apprentices to be trained up. Still, this game is plenty of fun for newcomers that just want a thrilling tower defense game which, again, you can strategize your builds with a friend if you want some cooperative gameplay.

#9 Sprocket

Sprocket is a bit of a unique game. This title puts players in control of building up and customizing tanks. You’ll have the ability to make adjustments to the mobility, visuals, and armor for the tank. Then after you feel the build is complete, you can take off into the field and attempt to fight off other AI-controlled tanks. Fans have been enjoying this game so far and it seems to offer a nice robust collection of parts to adjust a tank. Although, it’s well worth pointing out that this game is currently in early access right now on the Steam platform. What that means is you can expect to see some bugs and even features slowly being implemented to the game while the studio tries to bring the title out into a full video game experience.

#8 Destiny 2

Destiny 2 is not a new game by any means now. This title came out back in 2017 originally as a premium title where players bought the game and the expansions that came out afterward. However, a few years later Bungie brought out the game once again for free so now the floodgates opened up to a bunch of newcomers trying the game out for the first time. Even though this game was released back in 2017, the developers over at Bungie have kept up in their support for the IP by releasing new expansions which brought more storylines and content for players to enjoy. Of course, this game is on the list because we’re not done with the line of expansions quite yet.

For this year we’re still in the Beyond Light expansion which came out in 2020 although it only released during the end of 2020 so we’re talking early November here. With Beyond Light players are traveling to Europa, a moon of Jupiter to confront Kell Eramis, if you’ve been keeping up with the storyline before this fifth main expansion. There are a few seasonal changes that have happened so far with this expansion in 2021 with the latest being Season of the Splicer which came out on May 11, 2021. With this expansion players were given a new six-player activity called Override where players are fighting off enemies as they attempt to hack into the Vex Network to steal various secrets. There are of course raids, new quests, bounties, and missions for players to partake in. We have a good while still with Destiny 2 as well since we know the next two major expansions won’t be coming out until 2022 and 2023.

#7 Warframe

Before Destiny ever became a free-to-play experience we had a solid alternative with Warframe. It had everything fans wanted as a free Destiny-like experience but since Destiny 2 is out as a free game it’s a big competition between the two IPs. Much like Destiny 2, Warframe is not a new video game either. This game came out back in 2013 which is pretty hard to believe at this point but again like Destiny 2 there is no slowing down Warframe. Development studio Digital Extremes have continued to port this game to new platforms and of course, new expansions to keep players logging back into the game regularly.

Currently, the latest expansion for players to dive into is Corpus Proxima which came out back in March of this year. The latest expansion doesn’t add a whole ton of content as developers were more interested in tweaking the Railjack so it’s not too complex for players. You can even purchase them completely now within the game but of course, you do have some new missions as well so that may be appealing for veteran players. This is likely not the only expansion to hit this year for the game especially since the game has hit the latest console platforms, the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox Series X/S, so for now you have a few new missions, but keep an eye out for the next expansion announcement.

#6 Path of Exile

Path of Exile is another game that’s been around the block for a good little bit now with the alpha state for players having access to the game since 2010. It’s a game that acted quite a bit like Diablo and for some, it was the free alternative needed while they waited for the likes of Diablo 3 or at this point the next major Diablo installment. However, 2021 is sort of the last big hurrah for the game because next year we’re getting Path of Exile 2. With that said, Path of Exile 2 will have both storylines and previous expansions so it’s still going to be a good jumping point for newcomers who may have never played this game before. However, the development team did release two expansion updates which are essentially reworked for the end game. There are new areas to explore, the ability to fight multiple bosses through Maven’s Invitation, along with there being a new Ultimatum league for players to go through. Again, this is all content we’ll see brought onto Path of Exile 2 but for now, we have just a bit more gameplay to get through before the next major installment hits the marketplace.

#5 Outriders

Development studio People Can Fly brought out their latest game into the market this year which is a looter shooter. Outriders is a new title that puts players into a timeline where Earth has exhausted most of its resources. With living conditions proving to be near impossible to take, the governments decided to send off colonists to an Earth-like planet called Enoch. However, it’s soon discovered that there is a weird alien anomaly present that has infected some of the humans on the planet, giving them unique abilities. Now, a civil war wages on regarding what to do next, and the fact that the alien life on Enoch is just another element making this colony dream for humanity’s survival into a terrible nightmare. Since this game is so new there will probably be plenty of updates and expansions to tweak the game and make it even more appealing for newcomers and veterans alike. If you’re an Xbox Game Pass subscriber then you can gain access to this game at no charge. So there could be nothing holding you back from trying it out for yourself.

#4 Back 4 Blood

Turtle Rock Studios was responsible for the Left 4 Dead franchise and while the IP is now under the control of Valve, the studio that created it all is not. The folks over at Turtle Rock Studios have been working on their spiritual successor to the Left 4 Dead franchise for a few years now. Called Back 4 Blood, the game is all about being in a group of survivors as they attempt to defeat a slew of different undead monsters that have flooded the world. However, the developers are wanting to outdo themselves with this game, and as a result, players should see plenty of new or unique creatures to battle with, larger levels, more storyline content, and even some new unique mechanics like a card system which can provide buffs and boosts for their different characters. Currently, Back 4 Blood looks to be released in October of this year.

#3 Monster Hunter Rise

The Monster Hunter franchise in general is quite the popular IP. This year we received Monster Hunter Rise, the follow-up title that has come out since the launch of Monster Hunter: World. While this game has a narrative to go through for the campaign, the main reason we have this title on our list is because of its PvE multiplayer. Just like with previous Monster Hunter games, players can join into a group and go off hunting different large monstrous beasts that roam the world. Players are still having to ensure that they are equipped with the necessary gear that will be useful against the enemy monster you’re tracking. Afterward, the monster that is slain can offer different resources to further create new useful gear. Players will find that this game will come with an open-world environment much like Monster Hunter World rather than the game being based around zones from prior game installments. Meanwhile, as the title suggests, there is a new grappling tool that allows players to traverse the world vertically. Currently, this title is available to play right now for the Nintendo Switch with the PC platform receiving the game sometime in 2022.

#2 Hood: Outlaws and Legends

Hood: Outlaws and Legends released in May of this year which is a twist to the Robinhood storyline. Here players are in a PvE game with PvP elements as well. Within the title, players select a class and go through heist-type missions where the goal is to steal some treasure and escape. While you have a team of varied class characters that are going around trying to stealthily take out guards, the main focus is finding the sheriff. This is a strong NPC that has a key to the door where the treasure chest is stored. While you can’t kill this character, you can stun them long enough to steal the key and make your way to the treasure. Moving the treasure is a bit difficult as well since you’ll be slow-moving but if you work with your team, you should be able to make your way to the exit point. Here’s where things can get even more tricky. There is another team somewhere else on the map that’s also dealing with the various guards and trying to navigate the sheriff for the treasure as well so you’re not just dealing with enemy AI.

#1 Icarus

Icarus is an upcoming PvE survival game where the goal is putting players down onto an alien planet where you’re seeking out resources to take back and sell. However, there’s a deadline so if you don’t make it back to the ship with your resources collected then you’re left behind for good. Players are using different mining tools to gather the resources from the planet, but along the way, you’ll have to deal with different critters and animals that pop up so you’ll have to work cautiously to ensure that you’re not in direct danger as you venture out into the hand-crafted world. However, you can play with others online, but again much like The Day Before, we’re still waiting for the official release date to come out to the public.