9 Huge Video Games You Forgot Were Coming In 2019
Will EA FINALLY give us the Star Wars game we've all been waiting for?
The year-end lull has arrived and finally, following 12 months of being bombarded with gaming excellence, bank accounts the world over can finally eke out some breathing room before the onslaught begins anew. But 2019, like its predecessor, is keeping that recovery time on a leash.
In the dawn of the new year alone, Capcom's unprecedented remake of a horror classic in Resident Evil 2, as well as Square Enix's (very) belated Kingdom Hearts III will be vying for your cash, a streak of triple-A content that's due to continue in the months following with BioWare's dizzyingly beautiful Anthem and FromSoftware's Sekiro, to name but a few.
The hype machine, for better or worse, is already in full swing, then, but smothered as we are with so many early contenders for 2019's game of the year, it's hard not to become ignorant of the remaining two-thirds of the gaming calendar. As the new year kicks into full swing, hitherto leaks of information for the likes of Luigi's Mansion 3, Code Vein and Respawn's mystery Star Wars title will burst the damn to become a full-blown tidal wave of new details, but until that time, we're left no choice but to remind ourselves of the exciting times yet to come.
9. Shenmue III
Release date: August 27, 2019
Not in this world or the next, will Ys Net be able to deliver a satisfying conclusion to Ryo Hazuki's quest for revenge. It's an impossible task that requires the developer not only pander to nostalgic fans of the original games but new audiences that haven't the faintest inkling as to why a teenaged boy is searching the entirety of Asia for something or someone called Lan Di.
The unprecedented gap between sequels (a whopping 18 years, should Shenmue III actually make it to retail next year), coupled with the revelation that director Yu Suzuki hasn't directed a game of this calibre since 2001's Shenmue II, inevitably starts to foster quiet doubt that Shenmue III will be stuck in the antiquated age of tank controls and quick-time events.
With questionable early tech demos and several delays piled on top, Shenmue III exhibits all the qualities of a potentially catastrophic disaster, and yet, despite the mounting evidence, faith and excitement hold strong.
Shenmue III and 'release date' being used concurrently in the same sentence is a marvel in itself, so even if the third part in Ryo's journey fails to impress modern audiences, so what? Ryo's journey will have an end in 2019 and, really, two decades later, that's all that matters.