The gaming season has barely begun, yet it already looks to be a lot more promising than the last, which was, as far as I can remember, one of the best in video game history.
With titles such as The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, Horizon Zero Dawn, Super Mario Odyssey, Persona 5 and Nier: Automata (and, believe me, those were only just a few!), 2017 was considered a triumph for the video game industry. It was the year that proved beyond a doubt that the developers had now fully grasped the capabilities of the eighth generation consoles and were able to deliver better quality content having understood the game engines that were necessary to bring these worlds to life.
It was also the year that the "player one" in a lot of gamer's hearts, Nintendo, proved that not only were they not out of the game just yet, but thanks to their innovation and reading of the needs of the players themselves, they could make quite the strong statement that "we're still here!", through their new semi-portable console (a term that we had to come up with thanks to Nintendo themselves), the Switch.
A lot of powerful stories were told. Some developers even dared to venture within areas that were considered "taboo" or that "they shouldn't be talked about by something as shallow as a video game". Like the unforgettable Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, that spoke about dementia. Or the powerful What Remains Of Edith Finch, that tackles life beyond the death of a loved one.
However, as commendable a gaming season as 2017 was, there are strong suggestions already that 2018 might leave it in the dust as a poor memory! And in order to prove that point, here are just some of the titles that have been confirmed to be released within this fresh new year. Some of the titles of these games may be known from previous entries and some may be entirely new, but very promising, franchises.
First of all, we have the two games that were released yesterday. One is Dragon Ball FighterZ, a fighting game as implied by the title of the well-known franchise that made anime known all around the world. This game is created from the specialists of the genre, Arc System Works, and if the reviews do it justice then it might easily be the best game that has tried to capture the feeling of the show ever since Budokai Tenkaichi 3. And there have been a lot of them! The controls are easy to learn yet difficult to master, which makes the game fun for everyone but at the same time rewarding to those that stick with it and put in the effort to learn it.
The other game that came out yesterday was Monster Hunter: World. This Capcom franchise finally made its way to the big consoles and to raving reviews! Apparently the loot system is very complex, in that you have to find the proper equipment for the proper monster, but in order to acquire it, you have to kill a slew of other beasts first, and by the time you do that, you end up with a lot of other stuff that give you access to more weapons and more equipment. Also, the story is well executed and the monsters themselves appear to be very unique, in that their AI has been masterfully crafted so that they can be territorial and protect their space, even when another AI-controlled beast goes to invade it and not just automatically respond to the player alone.
And this was just the start of it. Now let's talk about some of the most anticipated titles to come, such as God Of War. Kratos returns and this time he has a... son? From what we've seen so far from this game, the visuals are marvelous and the beasts seem larger than life as usual. What seems most intriguing though, is the story itself and how this child's relationship with Kratos will affect him.
Another eagerly anticipated title is Detroit: Become Human by developers Quantic Dream and the man behind Heavy Rain, David Cage. What if androids occupied certain important employment positions within today's society? What if they somehow came to better understand human emotion? What if they eventually reached a point of comprehending their position that they began demanding better treatment for themselves? What would the similarities be between human and android then? These seem to be the questions that this title is going to try and answer. Or, rather, leave it to the player to answer.
Of course one would be remiss if they spoke of games in 2018 and didn't mention Red Dead Redemption 2. The return of the western-themed open-world third-person shooter from award-winning developers Rockstar (also known for the Grand Theft Auto franchise), this title was initially scheduled for release last September but was later delayed for the Spring of 2018. This time it'll be centered around Arthur Morgan, a member of the Dutch van der Linde thief group and is considered a prequel to the original.
Now, many are speculating that this next title will probably be pushed to early '19, but for now it is scheduled to come out this year. I am speaking of course about Kingdom Hearts 3. This series, and this title in specifically, have been through the ringer, with more spin-offs, prequels, awkwardly numbered sequels (2.8, 0.8, really?) than any other, but after over a decade since the release of the previous official entry, it was finally confirmed last summer that this will be the year that Sora, Donald and Goofy embark on the Gummi Ship to continue the adventure and put an end to Xehanort. And, if last year's 0.8 was any indicator, we really don't wanna miss this one!
Another well-known franchise that will be making its return this year is that of Far Cry. The previous entry was rather conflicting, in that it took players back to the stone age, yet developer Ubisoft sets to make this entry even more controversial! Putting players in the middle of a struggle between a religious cult heretic and his followers and the rest of the town, this promises not to be your typical "get-the-bad-guy" type of game! In fact, it wouldn't be surprising if there were one or two news articles about this particular game and the themes its going for. Definitely one to look out for (take that as you will!)
The last one to be mentioned here is Shenmue III. By now this story must be already known, but when this game was initially announced back at the crazy Sony E3 2015 presentation, it was nowhere near production. In fact, it was nowhere near pre-production! The producer of this title and series creator, Yu Suzuki, went on stage and made a plea toward the players that if they wanted to see this game ever created, they would have to make donations towards his Kickstarter campaign. Within the hour, the game had surpassed its target amount. So now it's time to see if all those fans' investment will be rewarded with a good enough sequel. After all, this is a game made by the people, for the people.
Shenmue III may be the final mention on this list but make no mistake, in no way does it end there! There are literally dozens of other titles, such as Days Gone, Ni No Kuni II: Reverant Kingdom, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, Dreams, Code Vein, Shadow Of The Colossus and others that leave us with many promises for this year. Unfortunately, BioWare's new open-world shooter Anthem was recently announced to be delayed till 2019, but then there's always E3 in June, which has its fair share of surprises as well. However, just because there are a lot of games coming out doesn't mean that they all have to be good, but if last year was any indicator then yeah, we're in for a hell of a ride!
With titles such as The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, Horizon Zero Dawn, Super Mario Odyssey, Persona 5 and Nier: Automata (and, believe me, those were only just a few!), 2017 was considered a triumph for the video game industry. It was the year that proved beyond a doubt that the developers had now fully grasped the capabilities of the eighth generation consoles and were able to deliver better quality content having understood the game engines that were necessary to bring these worlds to life.
It was also the year that the "player one" in a lot of gamer's hearts, Nintendo, proved that not only were they not out of the game just yet, but thanks to their innovation and reading of the needs of the players themselves, they could make quite the strong statement that "we're still here!", through their new semi-portable console (a term that we had to come up with thanks to Nintendo themselves), the Switch.
A lot of powerful stories were told. Some developers even dared to venture within areas that were considered "taboo" or that "they shouldn't be talked about by something as shallow as a video game". Like the unforgettable Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, that spoke about dementia. Or the powerful What Remains Of Edith Finch, that tackles life beyond the death of a loved one.
However, as commendable a gaming season as 2017 was, there are strong suggestions already that 2018 might leave it in the dust as a poor memory! And in order to prove that point, here are just some of the titles that have been confirmed to be released within this fresh new year. Some of the titles of these games may be known from previous entries and some may be entirely new, but very promising, franchises.
First of all, we have the two games that were released yesterday. One is Dragon Ball FighterZ, a fighting game as implied by the title of the well-known franchise that made anime known all around the world. This game is created from the specialists of the genre, Arc System Works, and if the reviews do it justice then it might easily be the best game that has tried to capture the feeling of the show ever since Budokai Tenkaichi 3. And there have been a lot of them! The controls are easy to learn yet difficult to master, which makes the game fun for everyone but at the same time rewarding to those that stick with it and put in the effort to learn it.
The other game that came out yesterday was Monster Hunter: World. This Capcom franchise finally made its way to the big consoles and to raving reviews! Apparently the loot system is very complex, in that you have to find the proper equipment for the proper monster, but in order to acquire it, you have to kill a slew of other beasts first, and by the time you do that, you end up with a lot of other stuff that give you access to more weapons and more equipment. Also, the story is well executed and the monsters themselves appear to be very unique, in that their AI has been masterfully crafted so that they can be territorial and protect their space, even when another AI-controlled beast goes to invade it and not just automatically respond to the player alone.
And this was just the start of it. Now let's talk about some of the most anticipated titles to come, such as God Of War. Kratos returns and this time he has a... son? From what we've seen so far from this game, the visuals are marvelous and the beasts seem larger than life as usual. What seems most intriguing though, is the story itself and how this child's relationship with Kratos will affect him.
Another eagerly anticipated title is Detroit: Become Human by developers Quantic Dream and the man behind Heavy Rain, David Cage. What if androids occupied certain important employment positions within today's society? What if they somehow came to better understand human emotion? What if they eventually reached a point of comprehending their position that they began demanding better treatment for themselves? What would the similarities be between human and android then? These seem to be the questions that this title is going to try and answer. Or, rather, leave it to the player to answer.
Of course one would be remiss if they spoke of games in 2018 and didn't mention Red Dead Redemption 2. The return of the western-themed open-world third-person shooter from award-winning developers Rockstar (also known for the Grand Theft Auto franchise), this title was initially scheduled for release last September but was later delayed for the Spring of 2018. This time it'll be centered around Arthur Morgan, a member of the Dutch van der Linde thief group and is considered a prequel to the original.
Now, many are speculating that this next title will probably be pushed to early '19, but for now it is scheduled to come out this year. I am speaking of course about Kingdom Hearts 3. This series, and this title in specifically, have been through the ringer, with more spin-offs, prequels, awkwardly numbered sequels (2.8, 0.8, really?) than any other, but after over a decade since the release of the previous official entry, it was finally confirmed last summer that this will be the year that Sora, Donald and Goofy embark on the Gummi Ship to continue the adventure and put an end to Xehanort. And, if last year's 0.8 was any indicator, we really don't wanna miss this one!
Another well-known franchise that will be making its return this year is that of Far Cry. The previous entry was rather conflicting, in that it took players back to the stone age, yet developer Ubisoft sets to make this entry even more controversial! Putting players in the middle of a struggle between a religious cult heretic and his followers and the rest of the town, this promises not to be your typical "get-the-bad-guy" type of game! In fact, it wouldn't be surprising if there were one or two news articles about this particular game and the themes its going for. Definitely one to look out for (take that as you will!)
The last one to be mentioned here is Shenmue III. By now this story must be already known, but when this game was initially announced back at the crazy Sony E3 2015 presentation, it was nowhere near production. In fact, it was nowhere near pre-production! The producer of this title and series creator, Yu Suzuki, went on stage and made a plea toward the players that if they wanted to see this game ever created, they would have to make donations towards his Kickstarter campaign. Within the hour, the game had surpassed its target amount. So now it's time to see if all those fans' investment will be rewarded with a good enough sequel. After all, this is a game made by the people, for the people.
Shenmue III may be the final mention on this list but make no mistake, in no way does it end there! There are literally dozens of other titles, such as Days Gone, Ni No Kuni II: Reverant Kingdom, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, Dreams, Code Vein, Shadow Of The Colossus and others that leave us with many promises for this year. Unfortunately, BioWare's new open-world shooter Anthem was recently announced to be delayed till 2019, but then there's always E3 in June, which has its fair share of surprises as well. However, just because there are a lot of games coming out doesn't mean that they all have to be good, but if last year was any indicator then yeah, we're in for a hell of a ride!
