Yesterday, I posted the first part of my personal Top 10 Most Anticipated Games of 2019. Zombie games reigned supreme in #10-6. What will be in the top five?
(Note: I did not include The Last of Us: Part 2, Jedi: The Fallen Order, Halo: Infinite, or Beyond Good & Evil 2 in this list. That is because I do not believe these games will release in 2019. If I’m wrong, these games would definitely be near the top of this list.)
5) The Division 2
2016’s The Division was a worthy competitor to Bungie’s Destiny. A Tom Clancy-esque spin on the loot-based RPG genre was refreshing and offered gamers with a ton of early content. The problem I had with The Division was with its endgame.
There wasn’t much to do other than enter the under-utilized “Dark Zone” and I ultimately dropped the game after a few weeks. To be fair, Ubisoft has fixed that issue and The Division is an amazing game right now. It was just fixed too late for me to jump back in.
So, when Ubisoft officially revealed The Division 2 at E3 2018, I was ecstatic. From what I’ve watched, this is a more well-rounded game that has genuinely learned from its mistakes. The Washington D.C setting looks beautiful. It seems that the game’s narrative has been emphasized as well.
The big thing here is the endgame content. Three DLC episodes are coming to The Division 2 post-launch for free. After you complete the story, you will gain access to three specialization classes: Sharpshooter, Survivalist, and Demolitionist. After you select one of these three classes, you’ll be able to go on loot-filled raids with up to 8 of your friends. This is exactly what I wanted the first game to be.
Release Date: March 15th, 2019
Platforms: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Windows PC
4) The Outer Worlds
For a game that wasn’t on my radar until a few weeks ago, The Outer Worlds has left me with a great first impression.
Obsidian Entertainment, the same team behind the beloved Fallout: New Vegas, is developing this single-player project. Your protagonist’s actions and choices will affect the overall story and characters around you. Here is a quick synopsis from Steam:
I don’t really know why I’m so pumped for this game. We haven’t seen any gameplay just yet. My change in attitude towards Bethesda may factor into this. The fact that The Outer Worlds looks like Fallout: New Vegas mixed with Borderlands definitely helps too.
Release Date: Sometime in 2019
3) Anthem
When it was first revealed at E3 2017, I had this as my #1 game to watch out for. Unfortunately, there has been some controversy surrounding Anthem. Game writer Drew Karpyshyn and lead animator Steven Gilmour left Bioware this year. Both were working on Anthem at the time of their departures.
Kotaku’s Jason Schreier reported on Anthem’s troubles. Here’s an excerpt from his report:
If you are interested in learning about Anthem’s development and how other EA titles impacted it, I highly recommend you check out the Kotaku article. As for the excerpt above, it’s a little alarming. There’s no denying that.
Over the last year, as Anthem’s production ramped up and BioWare began putting more and more of its staff on the project, things appear to have improved. When I asked one source recently whether Anthem’s struggles fell more into the category of “this game is screwed” or “game development is really hard,” the source said that over time, it had veered from the former into the latter. Other people close to BioWare have said similar things, although it’s not hard to find developers willing to complain about Frostbite, the game engine initially designed for EA’s Battlefield games, which has impeded many of BioWare’s projects over the past decade.”
Although I’ve talked about many of the game’s issues pre-launch, Anthem is still a game to be excited about. It’s your Destiny-like gameplay experience with customizable exo-suits. Not only that but with Bioware helming the narrative, Anthem shouldn’t be a boring grind to play through. Hopefully, EA/Bioware have learned from Destiny and The Division when it comes to delivering worthwhile endgame content.
Release Date: February 22nd, 2019
2) Death Stranding
Death Stranding was announced at E3 all the way back in 2016. I gotta admit, I still have no idea what this game is about. And I’ve been researching Death Stranding profusely since 2016.
Luckily, I’m not alone. The new Head of Marketing at Kojima Productions, Aki Saito, had this to say after getting his hands on the game:
Good morning! My 3rd day joining Kojima Productions, and the past 2 days is like…Oh My God….the game is…is…nothing I thought it was! pic.twitter.com/Qnyv85VlLc
— 齊藤昭義(Aki Saito) (@akisaitokojipro) December 12, 2018
What does that even mean? I just have so many questions.
Gameplay details are muddy at best, along with details on the game’s story. The best look we’ve gotten from Death Stranding came from its 2018 E3 showing:
All of this sounds bad to some but I love this strategy. Although I would like to see just one full gameplay video before release, there’s something special about this game. Maybe its the mystery surrounding the plot or the lack of details from Kojima Productions. All I know is this. Death Stranding is going to be an interesting experience in 2019.
Release Date: Unknown (assumed to be sometime in 2019)
Platforms: PlayStation 4
1) Cyberpunk 2077
I think its safe to say that CD Projekt Red is the most well-liked developer in the gaming community at the moment. After the immense success of The Witcher 3, CD Projekt Red turned their attention to their next big game, Cyberpunk 2077.
Announced all the way back in 2012, Cyberpunk 2077 was not the highly-anticipated title you see before you today. It started gaining traction from gamers in late 2017 and at E3 2018, CD Projekt Red gave us our first look at Cyberpunk 2077.
This first-person RPG looks stunning. As V, you will be able to fully customize your appearance and skill traits (Strength, Reflexes, Tech, Intelligence, Constitution, and Cool). The choices you make throughout the game will also have an impact on V and Night City (the setting).
The only issue here is the release date. As of right now, there is no concrete launch date for Cyberpunk 2077. But, there’s still hope for a 2019 release. Cyberpunk 2077 producer Richard Borzymowski told Engadget (via IGN) that a version of the game is playable from start to finish. Hopefully, CD Projekt Red gives us an update on Cyberpunk soon.
Platforms: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Windows PC
And that concludes my list of the Top 10 Most Anticipated Games of 2019. Personally, I believe that 2018 was one of the best years for gaming in a while. We had three strong contenders for Game of the Year and all of them could potentially be looked at as games that defined this generation of consoles (RDR2, Marvel’s Spider-Man, God of War). Matt Makes Games’ Celeste was an indie title that was in the running for Game of the Year as well, garnering praise from almost anyone who played it.
Fortnite continued its dominance in multiplayer but there you could make a case for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 as the best multiplayer game of the year. It’ll be interesting to see if Epic Games can continue to thrive in 2019.
All in all, if next year can deliver at least half of what 2018 gave us, 2019 won’t disappoint.
