Hardcore gamers are ever so willing to dish out a bit of extra bucks on the Limited or Collector’s Edition versions of games they crave. Many times the offerings in these editions allow us to profess our undying love to the masses in more common or even fantastical ways. 

In the past, we’ve seen collector’s editions offer quivers, drones, cosplay helmets, statues, lockers, night-vision goggles, fight sticks, and even vinyl record players. Fandom is a precious thing and our beloved developers of triple A titles know this! With that said, a collector’s edition that gamers feel is actually worth the high price tag is often hard to come by. 

Let’s delve into some upcoming games that could use some collector’s edition advice.

State Of Decay 3

Undead Labs provided the gaming world with a unique action strategy take on the zombie apocalypse that was deserving of much more praise than it received. Honestly, when you think about it, providing special geek loot for a zombie game is a bit hard to do. When you look at what was offered for the State of Decay 2 Collector’s Edition (which also didn’t include the actual game), we’d like to offer a bit of fan guidance to the decision making process!

 Here’s what we wish could be in that loot filled package:

• Official Soundtrack – Gaming composer legend Jesper Kyd has provided some atmospheric music to accompany every survivor in each State of Decay game. Any edition of this game that isn’t standard should provide this soundtrack for free!.
• Apparel with the Logo – The eagle spreading its wings enough to look like a version of a skull is brilliant. A T-shirt, hat, or weathered leather jacket with this amazing logo would be fitting. Undead Labs could even have a contest where digital artists make a design using the logo that could be used on a select piece (or various pieces) of apparel.
• Parody themed digital heroes – The Breakdown mode of the first game introduced special heroes that could be found and added to your survivor roster. Special parody characters of zombie and horror movies could be added. How about a Lt. Ripley (Aliens movies), an Alice (Resident Evil movies), Gecko brothers (From Dusk till Dawn), or Tallahassee from Zombieland would be perfect parody characters to add (if not added already)
• A zombie survival kit – complete with camping gear styled loot, this kit could have a backpack, a hatchet or machete, first aid kit, gourmet jerky, and a water filter would be just what a hardcore fan needs to brave a gaming or comic convention!
• Camping Backpack with Logo – One of the standard items every survivor uses in the game is a backpack. As a result, a customized camping or even regular backpack with the game’s logo or Undead Labs logo would be a perfect ‘container’ to hold all of the items included in this fantasy Limited Edition.

Halo Infinite

Xbox’s flagship title is coming to next gen this year so a Collector’s Edition must surely be in the works. When it comes to collector’s edition Halo games, we’ve seen figurines, digital content, printed maps, Spartan armor schematics, and even a Spartan Helmet. Of course, we can do better!

• Digital Content – Let’s face it. Halo Infinite is going to have a free-to-play multiplayer mode that has a ton of armor customizations. With that said, this collector’s edition should have some collector’s edition exclusive cosmetic content to show off your fandom. Not only that, there should be digital content for your computer or cell phone that would be animated backgrounds, screen savers, or even exclusive overlays for streamers!

• Xbox Series X/S Expansion Slot Drive – Considering that both editions of the next-gen Xbox will have space issues, how about an improved performance expansion drive? You know, one that doesn’t compromise the loading speeds and such so that you could put Halo Infinite and other games on the drive and not see much of a difference in loading times. This would be HUGE!

• Special Controller –  Many people don’t remember the Gamemaster FPS controller from back in the Original Xbox/PS2 days. This controller was styled like holding twin pistols connected together. The buttons were on the grips so that your thumbs could always be on the thumbsticks. This allowed for some intense FPS sessions that made it a favorite lost controller. 343 Industries should partner with a controller maker and remake that controller for this collector’s edition. The response would be epic!

• Keypad/mouse – On the flipside, 343 Industries could also release a wireless Xbox Series X/S compatible keypad and mouse for use on FPS games as well. Many gamers on PC always tout the benefits of using this setup over a controller for FPS games, so, let’s even the playing field!

• Jacket/Apparel – One thing that hasn’t really been offered in these editions is apparel. Halo has so many different icons and logos and images that make really great apparel. This should be applied to something substantial like a UNSC flight jacket or a hoodie that has premium patches applied to it or something. 

Gotham Knights

The Batman Arkham series has brought us some amazing experiences and games. Occasionally, the game would put us in the shoes of another hero like Robin, Catwoman, Joker, and many others in special DLC challenges. Now, in Gotham Knights, Batman is dead. So you must play as Batgirl, Red Hood, Robin, and Nightwing in order to defeat the villains of Gotham. Oh the fun that this Collector’s Edition could bring!

• Original Lithograph Cover Art – Providing cover art styled lithographs of the playable characters in this game is an easy way to appease the fans of individual characters. Much like the Avengers game tried to do with their collector’s edition, something in this edition needs to be unique for each character. Artwork is an easy way to achieve that.

• Statues/Book ends – A usual way to provide value in collector’s editions is to provide a limited edition statue for the main characters. In this instance, maybe a statue of the main villain or a larger one with all of the heroes together would be suitable.

• Mock Police (Gotham PD) Case Files on each hero – While many players may be familiar with Batman, not all of them will be familiar with the backstory of each of these heroes. An easy and interesting way to remedy that is to provide mock ‘case files’ for each of the heroes describing their psych profile, exploits, and other goodies to flesh them out for players who want to dig deeper.

• Nightwing cosplay Batons – Nightwing’s iconic batons are an easy collector’s addition to this gift pack. Mock cosplay batons with blue LEDs installed to highlight his insignia could be a memorable way to add a unique touch to this collector’s edition.

• 3D Fan Hologram Projector – 3D fan hologram projectors are a cool way to provide ‘wow’-factor to anything! Providing one that is programmed to display hero insignias, faces of villains, and maybe even special scenes from the game could be a memorable way to provide something fans will never forget!

Baldur’s Gate 3

The Baldur’s Gate series is the epic culmination of years of decent Dungeons and Dragons video games. As a result, RPG fans have salivated over the idea of another addition to the legendary Baldur’s Gate series. While it is still in early access, fans are getting a taste of the immense amount of character and story that the game will be able to provide for them. Results look promising so a collaborative game like this deserves and epic Collector’s Edition!

• Digital D&D Books – As a love letter to the platform that began the whole she-bang-a-bang, Wizards of the Coast undoubtedly should include a digital code for one or more of the digital handbooks for the tabletop version of D&D. A Player’s Handbook and/or a Dungeon Master’s Handbook would be perfect. To make things interesting though, how about a sourcebook for the Baldur’s Gate city to help learn more about it and the various factions and heroes that live there. 

• Fake Gold Coins w/ Baldur’s Gate symbol & a leather coin purse/sack – Every adventurer needs a coin purse to hold their riches. Providing a little keepsake like this would be an interesting way to give cosplayers a little something to add to their accessory chest.

• 3D Printer Hero Voucher – 3d printers are used for everything nowadays. A brilliant way to make this collector’s edition memorable is to provide a way for fans to send in their created character’s information to the developer. This info could then be used to send to a vendor that makes miniatures for tabletop gaming. This would not only provide a boost to the tabletop printing company, but would also encourage tabletop gaming with miniatures as well!

• Miniatures of in-game characters and villains – Going one step further, this edition could hold a number of characters, villains, and monsters as painted miniatures too!

• Tabletop map of Baldur’s Gate – Sticking with the tabletop theme, a large tabletop map of a portion of the city of Baldur’s Gate would be a cool addition as well.

• Leather Chest – Every collector’s edition needs something to hold all of the goodies making it an unboxing event for all involved. Providing a specially designed leather bound chest of some sort would be a beautiful way to hold all of the goodies and be practical for showing off their fandom as well. 

Let’s face it. Companies need to go all out in providing an experience when the ‘collectors’ title is applied to a video game offering. Sound off on what kind of things could be offered for your favorite games!