Are you one of that rare breed of players, those who play games for fun? Well, then you should know that you’re in a minority and in risk of extinction, right? No matter how hard you look, every game seems to be taking a competitive, serious as heck approach to its gameplay, leaving any sort of enjoyment as an afterthought.

However, fear not. We have compiled five upcoming games that could eventually provide the amount of fun that the doctor ordered for 2019, while still maintaining some of that competitive appeal. These are five fun and hopefully top-notch online games that will eventually deserve a lot of talk during the next year. In no particular order, here is our top fun online games for 2019.

TORCHLIGHT FRONTIERS

The Torchlight games aren’t just fun because of the tons of cool loot that you get and that rewarding feeling – you know, when you’re playing a good game and it is truly worth your time. However, they are also filled with little comical touches that make the experience even more worthwhile.

Torchlight Frontiers goes down the same path. From what we were able to see from the alpha – sorry, but we can’t spoil it for you –, the game is just fun. Fun to play and sometimes fun to watch. Those freaking little goblins are awesome in so many ways. For example, the goblins that fall due to the recoil of their larger-than-life musket are just too cute. And the way that these little creatures show up bouncing, or climbing stairs, or the way that they walk, there are so many details that these and other creatures show.

But Torchlight Frontiers is just fun to play. It’s an extremely enjoyable game that brings some interesting ideas to the action RPG genre such as the horizontal progression system. If Perfect World manages to look for Path of Exile as inspiration for the monetization system, this could be one of the greatest free-to-play MMORPGs ever made.

Torchlight Frontiers had its second closed alpha in December 2018 and the release is planned for 2019 for PC, with Xbox One and PS4 coming sometime later.

KURTZPEL

KurtzPel is shaping up to be a lot of fun in a sadistic, having your ass handed to you kind of way. Fans of Grand Chase will love how developer KOG is creating a sort of multiverse – it’s yet to be seen if Elsword also plays a role in all of this.

But KurtzPel is going to be fun because it looks like a stunning anime with some deep combat mechanics. It feels like a game built out of love and while it has a focus on PvP, they didn’t ignore PvE-focused players, adding a story campaign that is mostly comprised of boss battles – if they went all the way and developed some sort of Dragon Nest MMORPG with the visuals and combat system of KurtzPel, this could be one of 2019’s greatest hits, but as it stands, KurtzPel is already a very promising game.

The combat system will have you using tons of moves and skills, with the ability to chain combos like crazy, especially when you do so with the help of your co-op partner. Sometimes things are so destructive that the screen is filled with an array of colored flashes and effects, but hey, isn’t that what anime is all about?

KurtzPel held its North American and European alpha in late 2018, so hopefully we will get an open beta during the first semester of 2019. It’s already great news to see that we didn’t have to wait a couple of years in complete uncertainty before getting this South Korean import, as it is usually the case.

SPELLBREAK

‘Oh noes, not another Battle Royale!’ Yes, I know that this is what many of you instantly say when such a game is announced, but Spellbreak looks terrific. Not only that, it has a truly original setting for the genre and some clever tricks up its sleeve.

First and foremost, who wouldn’t want to be a Harry Potter kind of fighter in a medieval fantasy world? Well, personally I’m not the greatest fan of the young magician, but the idea is tempting. Spellbreak allows you to pick one of several classes of magicians with compelling names such as Pyromancer, Toxicologist, Conduit and Tempest.

The fun part comes from the spell combinations. Cast a fireball spell into a poison cloud and you will get some flame burst and dissipation. There are tons of combinations and since the spells are based on the six schools available (fire, poison, ice, lightning, earth, and wind), you can already imagine the possibilities and your disposal.

And man, Spellbreak looks good! Think of a mix between The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Motiga’s Gigantic and you should get the idea. Sadly, there are no plans for a PvE mode, so you should enter Spellbreak only if you want to spell the heck out of other players.

Developer Proletariat hasn’t announced any monetization plans for Spellbreak, which makes it sound like there is a very good chance of it being free-to-play.

VETERANS ONLINE

Veterans Online was supposed to enter open beta in… what, March 2018? Well, that is nearly a year of delay already. What a shame then, because this top-down shooter evokes warmhearted memories of classic games from another era. Commando, Ikari Warriors, Cannon Fodder… All names that Veterans Online seems to take inspiration from, or at least acknowledges their existence.

The game just seems like a lot of fun for some quick matches, and – god forbid giving them the idea – it could really work out well with a Battle Royale mode. Veterans looks like the kind of game that Team 17 would develop, as it seems to share that joy that very few games such as Worms can convey – grab a bunch of friends and go for a few rounds while taunting each other in a friendly way.

The developer is the Tunisian studio Nuked Cockroach, and we’re wondering why such a delay and lack of communication. Probably a ton of bugs crept in and they are taking care of it before launching the beta. We’ll see in 2019.

STEEL CIRCUS

Anyone who misses Speedball 2, put your hand in the air. Yes, just as I thought, the Bitmap Brothers’ masterpiece is still loved to bits (pun intended) to this day. Maybe throw a bit of Rocket League for good measure and you get Steel Circus. At least, in theory.

Recently announced by developer Iron Mountain Interactive, this is a competitive futuristic sports game with obvious eSports ambitions. You must choose a champion from a diverse roster which includes the walking Scottish stereotype Lochlan, complete with kilt and bagpipes.

It’s too soon to know if Steel Circus will be free-to-play, or if it will be as fun as we’re hoping, but my inner child is longing for some sort of Speedball 2 return. Even if it’s under a different guise.

Original post published on FreeMMOStation.com

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