It seems like every week I hear an announcement for yet another amazing video game that’s going to be released this year. I thought 2013 was good with the Civ5: Brave New World expansion, the X-COM: Enemy Within expansion, Pokemon X&Y, and Fire Emblem Awakening…but it’s going to get even better:
- Final Fantasy X HD Remaster: Okay, I know, this technically isn’t a new game. I played this back in high school, and I’m currently playing through it with Sean (who has played pretty much every Final Fantasy but this one). Man, do the updated graphics look amazing. The game always had beautiful worlds and fantastic looking monsters, but now it’s absolutely gorgeous. So gorgeous that we still haven’t disabled the five minute long aeon summon intros. I technically never finished FFX – like most RPGs, I got to the final dungeon, took a break, and then couldn’t figure out where I was or what I was doing and gave up. But this time I’m committed to seeing the ending! But even though I know the plot, it’s still a lot of fun watching Sean’s reactions as we play. Watching him go through the rite of passage of stupendously failing at Blitzball was pretty satisfying (sorry, Sean).
- Peggle 2: I still don’t quite understand why this game is so addictive, but it is.
- Tropico 5: My first Tropico game was actually Tropico 4, so I’m a newcomer to the series. But I instantly fell in love with planning out my cities and what industries would support my island, and figuring out how I can financially support free health care, education, and lodging. Of course I make my island a socialist utopia! I’m OCD enough that planning out the most efficient layout for my roads is enough to entertain me, but I’m looking forward to the new colonial eras in this game and the expanded building options.
- Mario Kart 8: I like to play a lot of different video games, but if there’s one game I can say I’m actually extremely good at, it’s Mario Kart. It’s to the point where no one will play me because I’m generally so far ahead of the pack that even multiple blue shells won’t stop me (especially now that I’ve learned how to dodge blue shells on certain levels – yes, it’s possible). I’m super excited for the updated graphics and tracks, but I’m mostly excited that people will play with me for a little bit before I’ve committed all the tracks to muscle memory.
- The Sims 4: A couple of weeks ago I was wondering if The Sims was due for a new game, since The Sims 3 came out during my senior year of high school, which is officially forever ago. It was a good feeling to go online and check, only to see that it was coming out this September. Time to recreate characters from Game of Thrones and see who marries who!
- Civilization: Beyond Earth: I was positively euphoric for the whole day when I read about this release. I love the Civilization games – my cumulative number of play hours is definitely in the thousands, not the hundreds. Sean is as much as a fan as I am, and we spend a lot of time conquering the world together in team multiplayer games. For years now he’s been telling me I should play the old Alpha Centauri game because it’s such a classic, but I was holding out. I insisted Sid Meier would come out with a new Alpha Centauri sometime soon. They rebooted X-COM to incredible success, Civ5 was no longer having anymore expansions, they could easily adapt the Civ5 engine to this game, and Steam’s DLC system would rake in a lot of money from hardcore strategy gamers like us who want every expansion. I’ve never been so happy to be right. I can’t wait to explore the crazy alien terrain they come up with, genetically modify creatures and my own people, build giant robot armies…how could you not be excited for a sci-fi Civ game?!
- Super Smash Brothers for Wii U: I mean, it’s the new SSB. I don’t have to say anything more.
- Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire: A gen 3 remake using the new beautiful graphics on the 3DS? Take all my money, Pokemon.
Are there any games you all are looking forward to?
17 comments
Harrison Gross says:
May 7, 2014
I’m super excited for The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, as well as Super Smash Bros for the 3DS. Wii U isn’t really drawing me in at the moment.
Duth Olec says:
May 7, 2014
hahaha
wait new video games are still things?
Never been much of a Mario Kart person at all, but I did love Kirby Air Ride. *glares at Rosalina reveal video for Smash* And a new Kirby just came out. Like, five months after it did in Japan. Hhhow?
I won’t even say anything about Pokemon. You don’t wanna know what my friends and I go on about it. 6th gen might be the first gen I don’t spend any money on though (I got Y for free through Club Nintendo). I just don’t think I liked Hoenn enough to buy it again, especially not with 6th gen…
And you forgot Super Smash Bros. for 3DS. Smash Run on there actually makes me more interested in that than the Wii U one.
To be fair I don’t play a wide variety of video games anyway. I partly blame the death of rental stores.
Kelseigh says:
May 7, 2014
Transistor looks like it’s going to be amazing, from the same people who did Bastion. From an interview I saw recently, Supergiant put a lot of thought into how to make it stand apart from their first hit.
Wander also seems like an interesting concept, and the trailer is compelling. It’s a non-combat MMO with a focus on collaboration, storytelling and body transformation. The game got Greenlit last month, so expect it to pop up on Steam fairly soon.
ParseThePotatoes says:
May 7, 2014
One game I’m looking forward to is Transistor. From Supergiant Games (the people who made Bastion), with narration by Logan Cunningham (the guy who narrated Bastion), with music by Darren Korb (the guy who made the music for Bastion). I really liked Bastion, so I’m really psyched for this. I’m not hoping for (and Transistor doesn’t look like) Bastion 2: Electric Boogaloo, but the writing, art, and gameplay of Bastion has earned Supergiant Games enough good faith that I’m excited to see what they’re going to do here.
Another game that isn’t confirmed for 2014, but as of February they estimated release in “the middle of 2014” is The Witness, by the guy who made Braid. It looks sorta Myst-like, without the minecart-sound-maze (or Rivenlike without that impossible marble puzzle).
And finally, A Hat In Time. It reminds me of Super Mario 64 crossed with the art of Wind Waker.
Ae Kae says:
May 8, 2014
There’s a few games that I’m impatiently waiting on-
War for the overworld, which is meant to be some kind of spiritual sucessor to dungeon keeper looks rather cool- and the dev team looks well dedicated.
I’m also super psyched for Clockwork empires- a city management game set in a satirical cthulu infested new-world colony- It’s being cited as the ‘dwarf fortress but playable’ which gets thrown around a lot- but this looks like it might actually accomplish something close.
Probably upcoming game I am most excited about is “night in the woods”
seriously- just check it out, I can’t do it real justice
latsot says:
May 8, 2014
ELITE: DANGEROUS.
I’m quite aware that I’m going to be disappointed but in the meantime, a person can dream, right?
seth1 says:
May 8, 2014
Three words and a colon. Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Exterus says:
May 8, 2014
What Seth1 said. Dragon Age: Origins is one of my favourite games. Despite being hugely disappointed by Dragon Age 2, I can’t seem to avoid looking forward to Dragon Age: Inquisition. BioWare has made all the appropriate noises about going back to what made Dragon Age: Origins so great, but…well, we’ll see.
Robert Johnston says:
May 8, 2014
I am looking forward to wasteland 2, both out of a sense of nostalgia and out of a desire to see exactly how good a Kickstarter funded game can get.
Samuel Vimes says:
May 8, 2014
I’ve an inordinate fondness for Kerbal Space Program, so I just pretty much wait for the next updates.
Neil Erickson says:
May 9, 2014
Final Fantasy X HD Remaster: Make sure you get everything the first time you get to an area; there’s a decent chance you will have to face a ridiculously powerful boss if you want to re-trace your steps and pick up things you missed the first time around.
I got all the ultimate weapons when I played oh so long ago, and I’ve just given up at this point because it has ceased being fun to play when attempting to get past those things.
sambc says:
May 10, 2014
I’m dubious about the new Sims, for the same reason I’m dubious about the new Dragon Age – it’s EA. They’ve decided that they can ‘beat’ Steam, and roll their own net-enabled platform that… breaks. And sucks.
I’m all about the Civ:BE, though. It’s gonna rock.
Jay Tee says:
May 10, 2014
Not a looking forward to, but I was profoundly dissappointed in the recent SimCity. I prefer The Sims2 to The Sims3, hoping that the Sims4 will recapture the magic of 2. LOVE Civ V.
Ryan Goldblatt says:
May 11, 2014
mmm, now that the Witcher 3 has been delayed until next year I’ve only really got 3 games on my list –
DA 3 Inquisition, Pillars of Eternity and maybe Risen 3.
The rest, not really. I am a bit worried about DA and Risen though, they both had great first games and terrible sequels. So hopefully they will have gone back to the first game for inspiration.
Michael Neville says:
May 11, 2014
If Civilization: Beyond Earth is based on Civ5 then I won’t be playing. I’m still enthusiastically playing CivIV but Civ5 went in directions I don’t care for. One unit per tile means instead of having the Stack of Doom there’s the Carpet of Doom. I have other problems with Civ5 and, quite frankly, I found the game boring. If instead of SMAC2 Firaxis/Steam is selling Civ5 In Space then I’m not interested.
sambc says:
May 11, 2014
I’ve never actually encountered a complete carpet of units in Civ5. The screenshots I’ve seen have been more or less obviously manufactured (using modding tools to add units that weren’t there through normal play). Yes, you have to think about how you’re manoeuvring your units, and yes, the AI sucks at that sometimes, but it’s infinitely preferable, to me, over mindless “biggest stack wins” gameplay.
Also, if you only played vanilla Civ5, that’s not a great way to judge where the game is now. With two expansions, there’s a lot more depth and interest.
Anyway, BE is apparently using the Civ5 engine (possibly with some revisions, I assume they need to change things in it for some of the new gameplay), but quite a different game.
Eric O says:
May 18, 2014
Civilization: Beyond Earth, for sure. Although there are some aspects of Civ 5 that I didn’t much care for, it was still a mostly enjoyable game. I expect Civ:BE to be at least as fun as Civ 5, and possibly better. Also, the sci-fi setting really appeals to me.
I’m also looking forward to Dragon Age: Inquisition. RPGs follow Sturgeons Law (“ninety percent of everything is crap”) like everything else, but even Bioware’s worst games are still far better than average. And DA:I looks pretty promising.