Alright I haven’t written an article in forever, and that’s mainly due to most of my time these days being spent towards making a game (Cyberstory, follow us here: https://twitter.com/cyberstorygame and here: https://www.instagram.com/cyberstorygame/).  Personally, I’m looking to find some other writers to take over for me just because it’s incredibly hard to juggle two things I really care about.  However, I just kind of had to write this article.  Let’s just jump into it 🙂

11. Days Gone – April 26, 2019

You have hordes of zombies in an open world AAA game.  What’s not to like?  While I would’ve preferred a more colorful atmosphere just because that’s my type of game, I like the narrative focus.  My only concern is how much of an impact it’ll actually make considering it seems like zombie survival games are all the rage right now (more on that later).  It’s by Bend Studio, owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment, and they did the Syphon Filter series, which is an older Playstation stealth title.  Since the developers have said that Days Gone focuses primarily on a constant sense of terror in this vast open world, I think they can pull it off.  It’s a PS4 exclusive.

10. Rage 2 – May 14, 2019

The newest game from industry titan Bethesda Softworks, Rage 2 is the sequel to rage.  It was developed by Avalanche Studios of Just Cause fame and id Software, which is famously known for Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake.  So you have some powerhouse people working behind this project, and all those aformentioned games tend to lean towards craziness than realism.  For a game called “Rage,” I really hope it embraces the wacky nature of the Mad Max-inspired post-apocalyptic world.  It comes out on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

9. Ori and the Will of the Wisps –  TBA 2019

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is the sequel to the hit indie game Ori and the Blind Forest.  As a lover of indie games in general, I loved the first Ori’s combination of classic platform Metroidvania with surprisingly calm aesthetics and colors.  From what I’ve seen, the design itself isn’t getting too many upgrades, but that’s fine since it seems like this game is trying to further the narrative behind Ori’s world.  It is coming out on Xbox One and PC.

8. Spelunky 2 – TBA 2019

If we’re talking about indie games in general, then we have to talk about one of the best ones, Spelunky.  Spelunky 2 is the sequel to Derek Yu’s hit platformer and continues the addictive randomly generated platform design.  I’m a huge fan of platformers and arcade style games, and the first Spelunky hit the perfect sweetspot where you can just pick up the game and play in seconds without much thought.  There’s also a good learning curve to the game that always feels fresh because you’re dealing with randomly generated dungeons every time.  It comes out on PS4 on PC sometime this year.

7. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order – July 19, 2019

It’s Marvel Ultimate Alliance.  I’m in.  I don’t know anything about the story, and I don’t need to know.  I’m assuming it has to do with Thanos and his Black Order, which makes sense from a business standpoint with Avengers: Endgame coming out and all.  An interesting thing to note is that it’s a Nintendo Switch exclusive, which is different from past games, but I don’t know if that will hurt the game’s performance.  It’s being developed by Team Ninja, which developed Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive, and most recently Nioh so they’re very versed in action games in general.  I have pretty high hopes for this one.

6. Gears 5 – TBA 2019

I’m going to be honest, I actually haven’t played Gears of War 4 so I’m not familiar with developer The Coalition’s changes to gameplay after they took over from Epic.  I played the first two games a very long time ago, and I haven’t followed the story.  However, as we get closer to launch for this title, I’m going to get back into the plot to prep me for this game because I really like how the first two games handled 3rd person action.  Gears 5 is coming out on Xbox One and PC.

5. Doom Eternal – TBA 2019

I absolutely loved everything about the 2016 Doom from its stylish gameplay to freeing movement.  I felt like I could do anything in that game and it was just so much better than the typical cover shooter, especially if you’re on console.  It took me back to the older Halo firefight type stuff where you can just go crazy and destroy everything in your path, only Doom has way more orange in its color palate.  Eternal seems to pick up right after the first game, but to be honest, I could care less about the plot as long as the level design is great.  It’s being published by Bethesda Softworks and is releasing on PC, Switch, Xbox One, and PS4.

4. The Outer Worlds – TBA 2019

It’s from Obsidian Entertainment, the people who brought us Fallout: New Vegas and one of my favorite games ever, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, so right off the bat I’m so excited.  It seems like this is going to be a huge new IP that will eventually spawn a whole franchise of games because I love the way this game looks.  If it has the narrative flair that their past games are known to have and if it sticks with a player focused design philosophy that allows players to really do whatever they want as opposed to sticking them to the core linear story, I’m going to be so happy.  It’s coming out on PC, Xbox One, and PS4 sometime this year.

3. Mortal Kombat 11 – April 23, 2019

I love fighting games in general, and Mortal Kombat has always been a staple in the genre.  This new title from NetherRealm Studios promises to up the stakes in the competitive scene and adds all new features with character customization, allowing for a far greater variety in the playstyles you could be up against online.  It’s coming out next week so I really don’t need to hype this up, and it’ll be out on PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch.

2. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – November 15, 2019

This game was just announced, and it’s already one of my most anticipated games of the year.  This game comes from Respawn Entertainment and is set in the Star Wars universe between Episode III and IV during the rise of the Galactic Empire.  You play as a rogue Jedi in hiding trying to not reveal yourself to the Empire, and that’s all I know.  I love the idea that this is a single player story with no multiplayer and no microtransactions.  I mean, this is from Respawn, which recently gave us Apex Legends and before that the Titanfall games so I’m ready.  It’s coming out on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

1. Pokemon Sword and Shield – TBA 2019

It’s Pokemon.  It’s Pokemon on Switch.  I wrote a whole thing about this here.  You knew this was going to be at the top.  I really don’t need to justify myself for putting this on top.

Alright that was fun!  If you liked this article, please feel free to check out my 20 most anticipated movies of 2019!  What games are you most looking forward to this year?  Please feel free to let me know in the comments section!  Thanks 🙂

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