Many of us gamers who enjoy experiencing epic stories, ending our enemies by slicing them to pieces or burning them to a crisp, and spending time with our best friends by shooting them up through our latest online obsession in the comfort of our own homes have a lot of big games on the horizon that look to give us more of what we love to partake in on our consoles and PCs. Us fine folks here at Gaming Respawn have done some soul-searching (and those of us without souls just thought really hard) and come up with the games we are most looking forward to above all others, so check out what games are most in our radars in part 1 of “Gaming Respawn’s Most Anticipated Games”.
Daniel Garcia-Montes
Devil May Cry 5
Oh boy, this year’s E3 was FULL of awesome video game reveals and announcements. From games I wasn’t expecting to be announced to games I was hoping to see more of, E3 2018 had me very satisfied. Not since the days of the PS2 (those were the days) have I found myself looking forward to so many games at once, seriously. This year alone I’ve got Spider-Man, which is just around the corner, as well as Red Dead Redemption II and Darksiders III (a game I never thought we’d get). Beyond that, I’ve got other doozies like Doom Eternal and Nioh 2, then there’s Ghost of Tsushima, which I’m ITCHING to see more gameplay of. Sucker Punch’s upcoming samurai-themed title actually comes as a really close second to the game that, in my heart of hearts, I have to admit I am more hyped for than anything else. And that game is Devil May Cry 5.
The Devil May Cry series was one of my favorite series during the PS2 and PS3 days, right alongside other greats like Metal Gear Solid, God of War, and Prince of Persia. The stories weren’t much, but the characters were still fun and interesting, and the lore behind Dante’s lineage and his father, Sparda, was always intriguing. And of course, the gameplay was absolutely fast-paced and challenging, allowing you to kick major demonic ass through a huge collection of melee weapons, firearms, and demonic powers of your own. When Devil May Cry 4 released on the PS3 back in 2008, it was another great entry for the series. There were still some unanswered questions and vague mysteries regarding new main character Nero, namely the exact nature of his connection to Dante and Vergil and how he is apparently of “Sparda’s blood” (I’m ignoring the “answers” provided in non-canonical novels/comics and comments on YouTube and Reddit about how he’s apparently Vergil’s son, it could easily be more complicated than that). Anyway, DMC4 ended with unanswered questions, and then…nothing. No sequel ever came. Instead, Capcom decided to do what was popular at the time with other games and movies and so on: hit the reboot button. I was of the camp that thought Devil May Cry didn’t need a full-on continuity reboot that completely changed the series’ lore and characters to make things more “edgy”, a simple change in the usual gameplay formula would have been enough. To be perfectly clear, I still want to play DmC: Devil May Cry at some point because it does look fun, I just don’t want to buy it.
Now here we are, a full 10 years later, and Capcom finally wised-up and announced Devil May Cry 5, an actual direct sequel to Devil May Cry 4. I honestly never thought we’d get this sequel, so this was the biggest surprise for me in E3 by far. I was hoping that Capcom including Dante’s Devil May Cry 3 incarnation in Marvel v.s. Capcom: Infinite was a clue that they weren’t done with original Dante yet, but I didn’t have much faith in that theory; however, it seems that was indeed the case. Even with the limited (but awesome) gameplay shown off so far, I have a feeling Devil May Cry 5 will be a true return to form and just the old-fashioned action-focused title needed in this current gaming market largely dominated by time-consuming RPGs, shooters, and battle royale clones. Come March 8th, 2019, I’m sure all Devil May Cry fans will join me in shouting out a collective: “Let’s rock, baby!”.
Lee Pilling
Resident Evil 2 (Remake)
In the upcoming year, the game that I will be waiting for most is the remake for Resident Evil 2, and it feels I have been waiting almost a lifetime for it, well, since 1998, anyways.
With all the different games that are due to come out the next couple of years, this one holds a special place in my heart; as great and engaging as the other games I’m looking forward to appear to be, with their stories being told in ever increasing creative ways, there is something about the zombie genre that keeps pulling me back. The allure of surviving in a world that is hell-bent on destroying you and gives you no quarter or respite from the horrors of a zombie apocalypse has always been too much for me to resist.
Now, I have to give some of the credit to my brother for getting me into this game as in my early days of gaming I was terrified of zombie games. Nothing quite held the same fear as my brother’s nasty habit of passing the controller to me just at the worst possible moment, leading to me fighting for survival while he rolled on the floor laughing as I failed miserably. This might sound like nothing more than nostalgia, but of all the other games at the time, Resident Evil 2 was my first slice of zombie survival gameplay. It left an impression on me for many years to come, so much so that over the years, I grew more accustomed to the term “survival horror” and played more games that were touting this slogan.
Sure, many games since then have performed great strides in achieving visual spectacles that put earlier attempts to shame. Running through narrow streets with fixed camera positions limiting your viewpoint as you go around corners made you truly feel the sheer peril of the situation you were in as you didn’t know what could be waiting for you. Monsters? Zombies? Or nothing at all?
So, when I heard this year that one of my favourite games of all time was getting an overhaul, I was ecstatic with joy.
I have been reading up on the news boards, watching videos released for gameplay demos, the works. Getting together all the information I can to see what was being done, how it was being remade and what was being changed. So far, I have not been disappointed. From the trailers I have watched and the demo gameplays, it looks like there has been a complete overhaul of the graphics engine, now with an over-the-shoulder-style gameplay we have all become accustomed to since Resident Evil 4 through 6.
From what I can tell, the story seems to have also been more fleshed out, so to speak, and the enemies are a lot harder to take down. They also, by the looks of it, are paying homage to the original game’s ideas, like switches and secret passages still needing to be opened with keys, medallions and the like. I always wondered back in the day why this was a thing. Surely, if you had a shotgun and there was a locked door, why did I need a key to open it? I could just shoot at the lock, right? But looking back though, this was a gameplay mechanic that made you go to areas in the game that were necessary to move the game’s story along, and without it you’d be completing the story in no time.
This brings me onto the next point: the extra mission where you get to play as HUNK, the operative tasked with getting the G-virus back to Umbrella. I hope this is added into the game as an extra because playing this back in the day gave me endless joy and frustration at seeing how long I could last against every monster the mission could throw at me. Dodging zombie dogs in corridors to the shambling corpses from prison cells, this made my experience a sitting on the edge of my seat thrill ride from the start to my more certain death a few minutes in.
All in all, to be able to relive this game’s story in today’s gaming environment is something I’m looking forward to, but I’m also apprehensive. Will this remake be as good as the original, or have I put this game on a lofty pedestal that can never live up to the rose-tinted memories I have of the original? I guess only time will tell, and I’ll be eagerly awaiting the release of this new iteration. But until then, I am polishing off the PS2, digging out all the cables and inserting the original disc, ready for some old school, zombie slaying action of the past. My first mission…to find my memory card.
Will Worrall
Cyberpunk 2077
This has been a tough one for me. There is just so much to look forward to over the next few months!!! We’ve got Spider-Man coming in barely a week or two, we’ve got Kingdom Hearts III coming in January, and it won’t be too long before I can improbably leap my way through another zombie infested city in Dying Light 2. Overall, however, the game that I am most excited for (well, except for KHIII, but you can’t just pick the obvious one, can you?) is definitely Cyberpunk 2077.
I’ve been a big fan of cyberpunk as a genre for a long time now. I’ve devoured almost everything that William Gibson ever wrote, and I don’t even want to talk about how many games of Shadowrun I’ve played my way through over the years (if you don’t think that Shadowrun is cyberpunk because it has magic in it, then you are WRONG, but that’s a fight for another day). Aside from all of that, I’ve also been a huge fan of the tabletop RPG that the new game is based on for years, Cyberpunk 2020.
For somewhat obvious reasons, the date has been pushed back a decade or 4 (hell, 2020 isn’t even that far away), but in essence, the game looks to have all of the important elements that the pen and paper version had. A grim, dystopian future. A society teeming with half-human, half-machines. A seedy underbelly populated by cyber criminals and augmented assassins. All-in-all, I can’t see much of a reason not to get excited about the whole thing, especially considering who is helming the project (ha, get it?).
From what we know about the game and what we all expect from CD Projekt Red, Cyberpunk 2077 is shaping up to be the best cyberpunk-themed game we’ve had in a very long time. The popularity of the genre in video games has waxed and waned a few times over the past 20 years or so, but very few of the games that have been recently released have really managed to capture the full style and flavour of one of the most interesting sub-genres of sci-fi to have been born. I for one can’t wait to get my cybernetic hands dirty.
Samantha Brown
Anthem
The game I am looking forward to most is a little game called Anthem. I am sure most gamers will have heard of this game by now. It is due to be released on the 22nd February 2019, so I still have a bit of a wait ahead of me. It is being developed by BioWare, and it will be published by Electronic Arts. BioWare have a key focus when it comes to developing the games we love, and this is to bring players rich stories, unforgettable characters and vast worlds to discover. From the looks of Anthem, they have achieved this completely.
Anthem is an online multiplayer action role-playing video game. You can team up with three other players in cooperative adventures, whether that’s by joining with friends or getting together with other players through seamless and intelligent matchmaking. You can also feel free to explore the massive world of Anthem alone. From what I understand, each player starts with a standard Javelin exo-suit, and it is then down to the player to decide what other type of exo-suit they want to stick with and upgrade. Each exo-suit is completely individual and different. The player also decides which of their exo-suit’s abilities they choose to build up. With each player being able to contribute something different, this will help when creating a strategically strong team with contributions to both defensive and offensive capabilities.
Anthem is expected to be one of the biggest and most creative games ever made. There has been a lot of speculation around the idea of Anthem, that it is BioWare’s response to Destiny, but I completely disagree. I really enjoyed the Destiny games and can safely say that Anthem looks like a completely different game in comparison. Anthem offers an ever-changing world full of unpredictable conditions, hazards and enemies. It promises to develop and expand consistently, introducing new stories, challenges and events. The game will be designed to test you with each adventure you and your team embark upon. The world of Anthem is expected to be both beautiful and deadly.
My husband and I enjoy playing video games together, but we don’t have much to choose from in today’s market. I hope that Anthem will live up to expectations so that we’ll both finally have a video game we can play together for a very long time to come.
Nelson Szewczuk
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
As a huge Star Wars fan, I am always looking for when the newest Star Wars game/movie/TV show is coming out. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is the newest in a long line of Star Wars games, some of which are good, and some of which are not so good. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will take place in the period of time between Episode III and Episode IV and will be taking you on the journey of a young Jedi Padawan who managed to survive the Great Jedi Purge and is now on the run from the Imperials. Sounds like a very interesting set-up for a Star Wars game and also sounds quite different from the Star Wars games of the past, but will it live up to the hype?
Not a whole lot is known about Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order at this stage, but we do know that it will be a third-person action/adventure game. This makes it sound like the developers are trying to copy The Force Unleashed a little bit, but I won’t judge until we know more and until we get to see some actual gameplay footage. For me this is kind of a battle of split allegiances since I love Star Wars, but I hate EA for their money-grabbing schemes and antics in recent years, although I still have hope, and as Darth Vader would likely say to me, “I find your lack of faith disturbing.”
In conclusion, I am very excited for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and I think that this could be the Star Wars game to hit it out of the park and to restore our faith in EA. But we won’t be able to judge until the game actually comes out hopefully later this year or early next year. As always, I’ve been your resident Star Wars nerd, and may the Force be with you.
That’s it for part 1 of this feature, please join us tomorrow for part 2.
In the meantime, check out our list of games that we wish would get sequels HERE (and keep in mind the article predates the feature you are currently reading).
Also, as our wrestling obsessed Michael Fitzgerald would say, take a “goosey gander” at the games we would have wanted to review but never got the chance to right over HERE.
