The best upcoming games of 2018
1 . Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom
Platform(s): PS4, PC
Release date: January 19, 2018
With its beautiful, Studio Ghibli-inspired art direction, Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom is unmistakable, and it looks like the sequel iterates on the original's gameplay in all the right ways. Ni no Kuni 2's RPG action is more Pikmin than Pokemon: instead of controlling individually collected Familiars from the sidelines, your party members Evan, Roland, and Tani are always in the thick of each real-time fight, assisted by a horde of cutesy elemental creatures called Higgledies. Though the events once again takes place in the parallel realm of Ni no Kuni, this story has a much grander scope than the first, as the deposed young king Evan endeavors to reclaim his kingdom of Ding Dong Dell after a hostile takeover.
2 .Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC
Release date: February 13, 2018
Kingdom Come: Deliverance is like a historically accurate Skyrim - this large-scale, first-person medieval RPG takes place in a massive open-world devoted to the real-world history of Bohemia (no Rhapsody here). In some ways, it's even more hardcore, stripping away the HUD indicators and minimap markers you've probably come to expect from giant RPGs. And amazingly, quests and world events will carry on with or without you, adding a real sense of urgency to your hero's actions; stopping to chit-chat with every NPC could mean missing out on the melee battle of a lifetime. Kingdom Come's refusal to hold the player's hand sounds like a refreshing change of pace, and if the finished product can pull off the kind of grandiose living world suggested by our preview, it should be something special indeed.
3 . Far Cry 5
Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC
Release date: February 27, 2018
Far Cry 5 won't take place in some exotic far-off region like Far Cry 4's Kyrat, or an ancient history setting as in Far Cry Primal - it'll be bringing its first-person mayhem to the US of A. The fictional region of Hope County, Montana is thrown into disarray by a cult known as the Project at Eden's Gate, led by the charismatic Father Joseph who advocates religious fanaticism and militia-style stockpiles of high-powered firearms. As Hope County's newest deputy sheriff, you'll have to band with the unturned townsfolk to take down Eden's Gate in the most chaotic ways possible - including aerial dogfights and bombing runs in a pilotable plane, or vicious takedowns using pitchforks, sledgehammers, or trusty animal companions, to name a few options.
4 . Dragon Ball FighterZ
Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC
Release date: February 2018
Previous Dragon Ball Z games have certainly found their fans, but this 2.5D, 3v3 team fighter from Arc System Works (makers of the legendary Guilty Gear series) looks like it's going to finally tap into the mainstream's powerful DBZ nostalgia. Using the same ingenious, gorgeous art style as Guilty Gear Xrd, Dragon Ball FighterZ's bold, bright 3D models look like they jumped straight out of the anime, courtesy of some clever lighting techniques - and even better, almost every attack animation is a reference to the manga and anime source material. Being able to unite Goku, Vegeta, and Cell on a single team, chaining flashy supers and assists together, looks like the realization of the secret dream we've all been having ever since Marvel vs. Capcom 2.
5 . Monster Hunter: World
Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC
Release date: Early 2018
This marks the new era for Capcom's beloved, long-running action series, as Monster Hunter: World trades handheld portability for exceedingly shiny graphics, refreshing the co-op, third-person hunts for the modern market. This new Monster Hunter has you pursuing some very big game - think dinosaurs and dragons - as you lurk through tropical jungles and conceal your approach using foliage-based camouflage. It's all in the name of fancier armor and outlandishly large weaponry, and a new grappling hook should add a new layer to the series' hard-to-master movement and attack options.
6 . Sea of Thieves
Platform(s): Xbox One, PC
Release date: Early 2018
Who doesn’t love pirates? The swashbuckling, the loot, the rum, the fabulous hats - most of us have at one time or another wished we could leave our world all behind and run away to sea. The time has come to live out that dream and to bring friends along for the ride. Sea of Thieves is Rare's latest, with first-person pirating (the fun, family-friendly kind) full of cooperative crewmates collaborating in the pursuit of treasure. Competitive types can also try to rule the seas by battling (and ideally sinking) other players' ships.
7 . A Way Out
Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC
Release date: Early 2018
Now you can experience your very own Shawshank Redemption courtesy of A Way Out, a co-op only jailbreak story written and directed by the mind behind the affecting puzzle adventure Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. Whether you're playing with a partner on the couch or online, A Way Out is always played in splitscreen co-op, as inmates Leo and Vincent begrudgingly work together to bust out of prison and reclaim their freedom. The persistent splitscreen presentation creates some intriguing opportunities for teamwork; for instance, one player might be locked in a cutscene, while the other can freely move about, planning the duo's next move or viewing critical story scenes from a different perspective.
8 . Days Gone
Platform(s): PS4
Release date: Early 2018
If you think zombies have been done to death, well... you're right, but that isn't stopping the PS4-exclusive Days Gone. The enemies in this open-world post-apocalypse aren't technically undead - the so-called 'Freakers' are actually infected humans who have gone feral and seem eager to devour our hero Deacon (voiced by and modeled after Sam Witwer, who you might recognize as Starkiller from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed). What really sets the Freaker horde apart is just how many can be chasing you at once; there are times when they're practically flooding out of the environment, and all you can do to survive is simply run.
9 .Red Dead Redemption 2
Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One
Release date: Spring 2018
Red Dead Redemption 2 has a lot to live up to, so it's reasonable that Rockstar Games wants a little more time to get this open-world Wild West sequel just right. Given the delay from 2017 into mid-2018, concrete details on RDR2 are relatively scarce, besides the fact that there'll be a multiplayer mode to complement the single-player story this time around. The newest batch of RDR2 screenshots tides us over while we wait with visions of lush woodlands, dusty prairie roads, and grandiose train robberies.
10 . Crackdown 3
Platform(s): Xbox One, PC
Release date: November 7, 2017
In Crackdown 3 you’re a super-cop in an open-world city, using your powers to fight crime and smash the whole place up in the process. While there’s still a story campaign to tackle, the online co-op for up to four players is where it's at, letting you and your Agency buddies tear up this futuristic metropolis in chaotic style. You'll be leaping between buildings using your jumpjets in one moment, then raining down high-tech bazooka missiles onto any poor criminals the next. The addition of Terry Crews as a playable character is the perfect cherry atop this city-obliterating sundae.
11 . State of Decay 2
Platform(s): Xbox One, PC
Release date: Spring 2018
If The Walking Dead has taught us anything, it's that forging bonds between survivors and building up a community is essential to surviving the zombie apocalypse. State of Decay 2 takes those values to heart with co-op for up to four players, provided you all agree to work together instead of backstabbing one another for precious supplies. To build up your customizable encampment, you'll need to scavenge on foot or four wheels, splattering the skulls of countless undead along the way. And if someone's unfortunate enough to get bitten, their allies will have the tough choice between curing them with a limited supply of medicine, or ending their impending suffering with a bullet to the brain.
12 . Detroit: Become Human
Platform(s): PS4
Release date: TBC 2018
As is the trend nowadays, Detroit: Become Human is a choice-driven adventure revolving around androids achieving sentience. Remember the Kara tech demo Sony showed off years ago? She's back as one of three playable androids in a futuristic Detroit, along with detective 'bot Connor and the aspiring revolutionary Marcus. It’s a game of staggering ambition - it took David Cage two years to write the script, and hundreds of actors have done mo-cap work for it.
13 . Code Vein
Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One
Release date: TBC 2018
You'd be hard-pressed to find a game that blends anime vampires, gothic horror, and grim depictions of a metropolitan apocalypse than Code Vein, an intriguing new action RPG from Bandai Namco. You and your AI-controlled partner will roam the thorny, defiled wastes, slaying monsters and sucking up blood wherever you can as you slice up enemies in familiar 'dodge, attack, disengage, repeat' fashion. The enemy designs are Anime Bloodborne to a tee, with slime waifus and knights clad in impossibly bulky armor, and it looks like you'll be able to transform when it's time to deal the finishing blow.
14 .Spider-Man
Platform(s): PS4
Release date: TBC 2018
This open-world superhero game should be an interesting departure for Insomniac Games, the studio most famous for the Ratchet & Clank series. You'll be web-swinging between buildings and beating up thugs as your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, dealing with the likes of Kingpin and Mister Negative in your efforts to keep the peace in the Big Apple. This game isn't tied to any specific comic or movie, so the creators aren't bound by an existing storyline; here's to hoping we don't have to see any origin stories play out for the umpteenth time.
15 .Final Fantasy 7 Remake
Platform(s): PS4 (Timed exclusive)
Release date: TBC 2018
You've wanted it so badly, and eventually, you're going to get it. Fans had been pining for the seminal RPG Final Fantasy 7 to be remade with slick modern visuals, and at E3 2015, Square-Enix finally obliged with a glorious glimpse at Cloud Strife's big comeback. We've since learned plenty about Final Fantasy 7 Remake, like the fact that it's planned to be split up along full-game-sized episodes, and features action-heavy real-time combat in the same vein as Final Fantasy 15.
16 .Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Platform(s): Xbox One, PC
Release date: TBC
Ori and the Blind Forest is an absolutely enchanting game, with gorgeous, hand-painted backdrops, an affecting story, and the kind of demandingly difficult 2D platforming that's hard to put down. And fortunately, this gem is getting a sequel: Ori and the Will of the Wisps, which takes us back to Ori's beautiful but treacherous world and shows us new regions and creatures in the lush Nibel forest. Details are still hazy, but it looks like Ori will be teaming up with a purple-feathered owl whose species seems to have been wiped out (save for one) by some calamity.
The best upcoming games of 2018 (and beyond)
By Lucas Sullivan 20 days agoNews
17 . : Become Human
Platform(s): PS4
Release date: TBC 2018
As is the trend nowadays, Detroit: Become Human is a choice-driven adventure revolving around androids achieving sentience. Remember the Kara tech demo Sony showed off years ago? She's back as one of three playable androids in a futuristic Detroit, along with detective 'bot Connor and the aspiring revolutionary Marcus. It’s a game of staggering ambition - it took David Cage two years to write the script, and hundreds of actors have done mo-cap work for it.
18 . Code Vein
Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One
Release date: TBC 2018
You'd be hard-pressed to find a game that blends anime vampires, gothic horror, and grim depictions of a metropolitan apocalypse than Code Vein, an intriguing new action RPG from Bandai Namco. You and your AI-controlled partner will roam the thorny, defiled wastes, slaying monsters and sucking up blood wherever you can as you slice up enemies in familiar 'dodge, attack, disengage, repeat' fashion. The enemy designs are Anime Bloodborne to a tee, with slime waifus and knights clad in impossibly bulky armor, and it looks like you'll be able to transform when it's time to deal the finishing blow.
19 . Spider-Man
Platform(s): PS4
Release date: TBC 2018
This open-world superhero game should be an interesting departure for Insomniac Games, the studio most famous for the Ratchet & Clank series. You'll be web-swinging between buildings and beating up thugs as your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, dealing with the likes of Kingpin and Mister Negative in your efforts to keep the peace in the Big Apple. This game isn't tied to any specific comic or movie, so the creators aren't bound by an existing storyline; here's to hoping we don't have to see any origin stories play out for the umpteenth time.
20 . Final Fantasy 7 Remake
Platform(s): PS4 (Timed exclusive)
Release date: TBC 2018
You've wanted it so badly, and eventually, you're going to get it. Fans had been pining for the seminal RPG Final Fantasy 7 to be remade with slick modern visuals, and at E3 2015, Square-Enix finally obliged with a glorious glimpse at Cloud Strife's big comeback. We've since learned plenty about Final Fantasy 7 Remake, like the fact that it's planned to be split up along full-game-sized episodes, and features action-heavy real-time combat in the same vein as Final Fantasy 15.
21 . Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Platform(s): Xbox One, PC
Release date: TBC
Ori and the Blind Forest is an absolutely enchanting game, with gorgeous, hand-painted backdrops, an affecting story, and the kind of demandingly difficult 2D platforming that's hard to put down. And fortunately, this gem is getting a sequel: Ori and the Will of the Wisps, which takes us back to Ori's beautiful but treacherous world and shows us new regions and creatures in the lush Nibel forest. Details are still hazy, but it looks like Ori will be teaming up with a purple-feathered owl whose species seems to have been wiped out (save for one) by some calamity.
22 . The Last of Us Part 2
Platform(s): PS4
Release date: TBC
The Last of Us Part 2 picks up the story of Joel and Ellie five years after the original game. While survival in a post-outbreak world will still be the key theme of the game, we know very little else... other than the fact that Ellie is seriously pissed off about something in the reveal trailer. Fan theories suggest that Joel is actually dead and Ellie is simply imagining him, but we won’t know for sure until Naughty Dog reveals more. Don't hold your breath for this one to be out in 2018, though - it's reportedly still early in development.
23 . Death Stranding
Platform(s): PS4
Release date: TBC
Death Stranding is Hideo Kojima’s first game after the Metal Gear franchise, and it’s exclusive to PS4. Naturally, it features weird old babies and stars Guillermo del Toro and Mads Mikkelsen. Trailers have been incredibly enigmatic so far, but fans are already pulling them apart for hidden meaning. Here’s the best breakdown you’ll read, but if you want the TLDR version: it’s Kojima doing another high-quality action adventure, so get excited.
24 .Beyond Good & Evil 2
Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC
Release date: TBC
At long last, Michel Ancel and his team at Ubisoft have confirmed one of the most asked-for, anticipated sequels of our time. Beyond Good & Evil 2 is actually a prequel to Jade and Pey'j's journalistic escapades in the original game, taking on a much grander scale in a cyberpunk, Luc Besson-looking future full of high-tech ships and anthropomorphic animals. The lively crew of space pirates in BG&E2's cinematic reveal trailer are just some of many - you'll be starting from scratch with the hopes of one day reaching their level of professional thievery, visiting (and stealing from) the residents of multiple cities on myriad planets.
25 . Kingdom Hearts 3
Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One
Release date: TBC
Our relationship with Kingdom Hearts 3 feels like a Jane Austen novel: we constantly write letters professing our love and pining need for it, yet we only get a fleeting glimpse into how it's doing every few months. While you wistfully wait for more of Sora, Donald, Goofy adventuring through Disney-themed worlds, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 should help ease the pain, because it includes an all-new playable prologue (made in Unreal Engine 4) leading up to KH3. Otherwise, you'll just have to longingly gaze at those in-game pictures of Hercules' Mount Olympus and dream of Sora riding atop Baymax over Big Hero 6's San Fransokyo.
26 .Cyberpunk 2077
Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC
Release date: TBC
This is probably a case of a game being teased way too early, but after what CD Projekt Red's accomplished with The Witcher series, anything new this studio makes demands your attention. We've heard little from Cyberpunk 2077 since its cinematic teaser debuted all the way back in 2013, but it promises a Blade Runner-style dystopian future with Deus Ex-like RPG elements. That core concept, as made by developers promising a world even larger than The Witcher 3's, is more than enough to get our excite-o-meter peaking.
27 . Anthem
Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC
Release date: Fall 2018
Anthem is essentially EA's answer to Destiny: a shared-world shooter that aims to fully immerse players in a gigantic sci-fi universe. You play as a Freelancer (don't call them Guardians) engaging in third-person, Mass Effect-style shootouts, armored up in your Javelin exosuit to explore and exterminate within some gigantic alien biomes. As you might expect, there's an emphasis on party play (for up to four-player co-op) and the pursuit of increasingly impressive loot, and it's promising to hear that Anthem will be penned by the writer of KOTOR and the first two Mass Effect games.
28 . Skull and Bones
Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC
Release date: Fall 2018
Sea of Thieves isn't the only open-world pirate game on the horizon - Ubisoft's Skull and Bones is also setting sail for 2018, with a much more realistic take on pirate battles on the high seas. Skull and Bones is basically Assassin’s Creed Black Flag without the Assassins, as it's being developed by much of the same team behind Black Flag, and promises a sweeping solo campaign as you vie for control over the 18th-century waters in the Indian Ocean. But the real focus looks to be player-versus-player ship skirmishes online, where each player controls their very own warship in team-based fleet battles. There will also be supernatural elements amidst all the cannon-fire, like the colossal tentacles of a terrifying kraken lurking in the deep.
29 . Shenmue 3
Platform(s): PS4, PC
Release date: Second half of 2018
The Shenmue series was never a huge commercial success, but thanks in part to Kickstarter and thousands of fans' hard-earned dollars (plus some generous funding from Sony), the project is fully underway. In Shenmue 3, you'll take the role of a martial artist named Ryo Hazuki as he attempts to uncover who is responsible for his father's murder. The game promises to have gameplay reminiscent of the previous titles, enabling players to take on enemies in hand-to-hand combat, upgrade combat abilities, and explore a living world full of villages, shops, and an active populous.
30 .God of War
Platform(s): PS4
Release date: TBC 2018
Having torn the Greek pantheon asunder, Kratos (now sporting a scruffy beard) has set his sights on a new mythology to conquer: Norse. The fourth main entry in the legendarily brutal PlayStation series - God of War - drops the numbering and looks like it'll force Kratos to control his endless rage, as he raises his young son Atreus to become a hardened warrior. Don't worry, you'll still slay plenty of fantastical creatures along the way, using Kratos' new lightning axe main weapon - but expect a lot more character development and quieter moments in between all the carnage.