10 Games You Should Get Excited About For 2019
After what was an incredible 2018 for video games, how could this new year possibly top it?
In this writer’s opinion, I don’t see it that way. 2019 will not beat last year. Instead, with the slew of games on their way, it is set to match the same level of quality and excitement.
But out of the many many games on their way, what should you get most hyped about? Well, allow me to show you with my list of 10 games (in no particular order).
A quick note before I begin: this isn’t meant to be a negation of other games coming out this year. This is my personal list and I’m fully aware there are plenty of top notch titles set to come out. And I make a couple of bold predictions about games that aren’t actually set for a launch date, but I bet will come out in 2019.
1. The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan
Throughout the timeline of the PlayStation 4, there have been plenty of incredible games. But one stand out hit was Until Dawn - a lovely little horror experience that felt like it took the interactive movie gameplay aspects of the likes of Heavy Rain and perfected them.
After this, Supermassive absolutely killed it on the PlayLink scene with gripping murder mystery Hidden Agenda. For their past few games, they vanished into mediocrity with some average VR games. But now, they’re back in 2019 with a series of standalone horror games - The Dark Pictures Anthology. The first one, Man of Medan tells a supernatural story on board a ghost-ship adrift in the South Pacific.
2. Biomutant
Mixing martial arts with genetics, this one-of-a-kind game from THQ Nordic is turning heads everywhere.
Movement feels fluid and the opportunity to recode your genetic structure to change the way you play is a fascinating extra layer to the 3rd person adventure game - a nice additional to the usual crafting systems you see. Need to traverse long gaps?
Change your DNA to sprout wings. Plus, the vibrant open world around you could not be any further away from the usual and generic, as it’s full of colour and a diversely designed set of characters.
3. Control
After breaking free of their commitment to Microsoft, Remedy Entertainment are back with a fascinating new title that feels equal parts like Second Sight, Max Payne and Quantum Break, without the TV show/video game hybrid guff - made into a flavourful blend of innovative combat gameplay and clinically spooky atmosphere.
Set within a Brutalist Manhattan skyscraper with a definite sense of the Orwellian, you can be sure of a unique experience in a sea of shooters and slashers.
4. Supermarket Shriek
Okay so you’ve got a list of shooters and adventure games here. Let’s switch things up a bit with a kart racer from Belfast - featuring a man and a goat racing across shops, boutiques and supermarkets in a troller. Why?
Well, to quote their own Billy Goat Entertainment’s own press release. “Because, why not?” The controls are so simple (just a two-button operation in single player), getting out of the way of the insanely addictive gameplay. And the comical visual style is one that you will easily become charmed by.
5. Luigi’s Mansion 3
To this day, Luigi’s Mansion continues to be one of my favourite gaming memories. Just good fun in a sea of games that were intended to be dark and mysterious.
Now, for the first time since that GameCube original, Luigi’s flagship franchise is coming to a home console. Not much is known, but we can expect another story of entering a spooky mansion. Feels good to see it coming back.
6. Metro Exodus
And we go from the bright, positive lights of Supermarket Shriek and Luigi’s Mansion to a terrifying vision of the future in Metro Exodus. The third instalment based on the novels of Dmitry Glukhovsky, this FPS with survival horror and stealth elements put you on a journey around the post-apocalyptic wasteland of Russia.
This time around, you seem to be exploring a far wider variety of terrain, as you travel across the continent on a locomotive known as the “Aurora.” Heading east in search of a new life, the trailers show a beautiful graphical realisation of this world, and the pedigree of previous titles makes the gameplay promising.
7. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
FromSoftware return in March with something a little different to the gothic dark action adventures you got from the Dark Souls and Bloodbornes of before.
Set for March of this year, the dynamics of the gameplay have been flipped on their head. No role-playing elements and no multiplayer.
Instead you have a focus on a gameplay style revolving entirely around your katana. You don’t knock points off your enemy’s health bar - attacking their poise and balance by targeting individual limbs, which leads to a single killing blow. Also, the bright and popping colours of late 16th century Sengoku period Japan is a nice move away from the darkness of before.
8. Session
“For the love of God, EA. Give us Skate 4,” the whole world cried out. In response, we got Session. As you look both back and forth, it’s clear to see that game genres (much like film) are cyclical in nature.
Every decade or so, a type of game will renew in fan interest. This is the time of extreme sports to make a comeback, and I have no doubt that Session will be at the forefront of some new announcements (EA, I will kiss you all if you announce an SSX Tricky remake).
9. Shenmue 3
It was easy to forget in the sea of incredible games last year that we’re actually going to get a new Shenmue game in 2019. Set for August this year for PS4 and Windows, the story of teenage martial artist Ryo Hazuki continues across 1980s China, to find his father’s killer.
Of course, you know the backstory of this game - an adventure set to span multiple games, cut short by the death of the Dreamcast. But now, thanks to the highest-funded video game Kickstarter campaigns, we get to go back to this unique universe. May Shenmue continue for years to come.
10. The Last of Us Part II
Well this isn’t a surprising entry at all. One of my favourite games of this decade, the original Last of Us was an emotional tour de force - a fantastically gripping story told in a masterful way by the team at Naughty Dog that leaves an imprint on your very soul. The announcement of a second sent the gaming community into hype overdrive, and the teaser droplets we’ve been getting via developer social media activity and that E3 demo have kept the fire burning in excitement for one.
Plus, if you’re a seasoned reader of New Rising Media, you may remember a couple of pieces I wrote: one about how every second game in a Naughty Dog series is the best and another where I popped my story writing hat on and had a crack at a plot line for The Last of Us Part II. If they’re both anything to go by, plus the lineage of this lore, we have a lot to be excited about once this comes out (I’m predicting) just before Christmas this year.
