It’s no secret that 2017 was a killer year for video games. As we break into 2018, the gaming landscape ahead is coming into focus, and it looks just as promising.
To help you keep your finger on the pulse of what’s coming, we’ve compiled a list of all the biggest video games slated for release in 2018. Inevitably, some of these titles will be delayed and new games will be announced, but as we embark on a new year, here are the biggest games we’re anticipating.
1) Ni Nu Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom
Platforms: PlayStation 4 and PC
Release date: Jan. 19, 2018
Heads up, anime fans: This could be the role-playing game for you. It sports a suitably epic story and art by some of the people behind the animated Studio Ghibli classics Ponyo and Spirited Away.
2) Monster Hunter: World
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC
Release date: Jan. 26, 2018
Speaking of epic, how does hunting enormous beasts sound? That’s the setup for the Monster Hunter series. The basic idea is that you take down a beast, loot its corpse for items, and use those items to craft better gear that lets you take down even bigger beasts. It’s a tried-and-true gameplay loop, so let’s hope it works just as well in Monster Hunter: World.
3) Shadow of the Colossus
Platform: PlayStation 4
Release date: Feb. 6, 2018
The original Shadow of the Colossus is a PlayStation 2 cult classic. It’s a pared-down experience about tracking and defeating 16 towering enemy bosses. That’s really all there is to it. This remake stays true to the original while boosting the graphics to what we’re used to seeing on PS4.
4) Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC
Release date: Feb. 13, 2018
Most medieval role-playing games are set in fantasy worlds, filled with magic and dragons. Not Kingdom Come: Deliverance. This game ditches the fantastical for the historical. In the Kingdom of Bohemia, you play as a villager whose town gets destroyed during the civil war of the 1400s. You set out for revenge in this historically accurate open-world game. Expect to get an education as you alter the course of history.
5) Metal Gear Survive
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC
Release date: Feb. 20, 2018
Game director Hideo Kojima is the creator and visionary behind Metal Gear. He worked on the innovative series for decades before parting ways with developer Konami in 2015. Many fans think there is no Metal Gear without Kojima. We’re about to find out. Metal Gear Survive is the first big-budget spinoff Konami has made since Kojima’s departure. Will it live up to the series’ esteemed reputation, or will it fall flat? We’ll have to wait and see.
6) Far Cry 5
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC
Release date: Feb. 27, 218
The Far Cry series is responsible for some of the most gleefully enjoyable shooters ever made. Each game drops players in an open world filled with enemy outposts that you need to take over. How you do it is up to you. You can go in with guns blazing, or you can use stealth to take out the enemies one by one. If you’re feeling lazy, you can even send in an attack animal to start the carnage.
7) Dragon Ball FighterZ
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC
Release date: February 2018
Dragon Ball Z fans will perk up for this one, regardless of whether they’ve previously dabbled in fighting games. Made by the studio responsible for the ridiculously deep Guilty Gear series, FighterZ promises to be a chaotic romp worthy of the Dragon Ball name. This game oozes style.
8) The Crew 2
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC
Release date: March 16, 2018
The open-world racing game The Crew launched in 2014 to fairly mediocre reviews. With this sequel, developer Ubisoft is aiming for more. Not only can you drive all sorts of land vehicles—cars, motorcycles, ATVs—but you can also pilot boats and airplanes. The question is whether Ubisoft can tie all those elements together into a satisfying game.
9) Sea of Thieves
Platforms: Xbox One and PC
Release date: Early 2018
Developer Rare is best known for classics like Donkey Kong Country and GoldenEye 007. Its next game is Sea of Thieves, an open-world pirate adventure that lets you and your friends band together to run amok and hunt for treasure.
10) A Way Out
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC
Release date: Early 2018
The indie game Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons was an unexpected delight that landed on nearly every platform under the sun starting in 2013. This followup looks quite a bit different. Where Brothers felt like a fable come to life, A Way Out tells a decidedly more grounded story about a pair of prisoners who decide to bust out. The twist is that it’s a multiplayer-only game, designed to be played in split-screen.
11) Crackdown 3
Platforms: Xbox One and PC
Release date: Spring 2018
The original Crackdown was an early Xbox 360 game that did one thing really well: It made you feel like a superhero. Crackdown 3 promises much the same thing. You control a super-cop whose job is to clear criminal gangs from the city. As you do, you collect orbs that make you more powerful and let you jump higher. Before long, you’re blasting through bad guys and leaping from skyscraper to skyscraper like it’s nothing.
12) Red Dead Redemption 2
Platforms: PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
Release date: Spring 2018
Perhaps the most highly anticipated game of 2018 is Red Dead Redemption 2, a follow-up to the now-classic open-world Western made by Rockstar Games. In this prequel, we leave John Marston behind to follow a new character named Arthur Morgan as he and his gang go on a crime spree. Fans of Grand Theft Auto Online can rest assured there will be a major online component here. Topping Red Dead Redemption will be tough, but if anyone can do it, it’s Rockstar.
13) State of Decay 2
Platforms: Xbox One and PC
Release date: Spring 2018
The Xbox One has been suffering from a lack of exclusive games lately, but State of Decay 2 will help. Like its predecessor, it’s a post-apocalyptic survival game that has you start a town and build a community. The only problem is the hordes of zombies trying to kill you. You and up to three friends will have to make choices to manage your resources and stay alive.
14) Vampyr
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC
Release date: Spring 2018
If you played the relatively down-to-Earth adventure game Life is Strange, you might be surprised to hear developer Dontnod’s next game is about vampires. An RPG set in London in the early 1900s, Vampyr centers around a doctor who has only recently become undead. He finds himself in the unfortunate situation where he wants to help and heal his fellow citizens, but also needs to drink their blood to stay alive.
15) Anthem
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC
Release date: Fall 2018
BioWare is probably best known for its Mass Effect series of spacefaring action RPGs. The developer has left that series behind to work on Anthem, a shared-world shooter that looks similar to—but also distinct from—Destiny. Is it somewhat disappointing BioWare is leaving the single-player world it does so well behind? Sure, but just imagine what innovations it might bring to a whole new genre.
16) Skull and Bones
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC
Release date: Fall 2018
Many fans think Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag was the highlight of that series, thanks to the game’s fantastic sailing and sea combat. With Skull and Bones, Ubisoft has built a whole game around the concept. Skull and Bones urges players to “become the ultimate pirate” as they sail around a shared open-world, fighting opponents and acquiring booty.
17) Shenmue 3
Platforms: PlayStation 4 and PC
Release date: Second half of 2018
The original Shenmue is firmly established in the gaming canon as a cult classic. The early open-world game let players explore a realistic world as they went on a quest for revenge. A sequel came out in 2002, but the series vanished after that, leaving loyal fans high and dry. Cut to 2015, when developer Ys Net said it was working on a sequel, but needed money to finish it. Fans kicked in to the tune of $6 million, ensuring that Shenmue would live again.
18) Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Release date: 2018
This game puts players in the cockpits of fighter jets and has them blast enemies out of the sky. The PS4 version will come with two virtual reality missions, playable by anyone with a PSVR headset.
19) Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC, and PS Vita
Release date: 2018
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is widely regarded as one of the best games ever made. The creator, Koji Igarachi, might not control the Castlevania name anymore, but Bloodstained is clearly the spiritual successor. Made with help from Kickstarter fundraising, Bloodstained seems to be shaping up nicely.
20) Days Gone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uED22JERB8
Platform: PlayStation 4
Release date: 2018
This PlayStation 4 exclusive comes from Sony Bend, a development team that spent the past decade making games for Sony’s handheld platforms. Days Gone is a decidedly more ambitious project. It’s an open-world game set in a post-apocalyptic world filled with fast-running zombies. Thankfully, the hero is part of a motorcycle gang, so he can rev his engine and get away fast when the need arises.
21) Detroit: Become Human
Platform: PlayStation 4
Release date: 2018
Set in a near-future version of the Motor City, Detroit: Become Human deals with what might happen to society when realistic androids become commonplace. Oh yeah, and they might be becoming sentient. So there’s that.
22) God of War
Platform: PlayStation 4
Release date: 2018
The God of War series is anything but subtle. It stars Kratos, a muscle-bound hero who hollers every line of dialog and eviscerates enemies with his trusty chain-blades. But that was the old God of War. The new God of War finds a more mature, subdued Kratos. Perhaps becoming a father has mellowed him out. In any case, the game trades its former mythical Greek setting for a mythical Norse one. Now Kratos must lead his son into the wilds, where, to be fair, he still slices up foes.
23) Spider-Man
Platform: PlayStation 4
Release date: 2018
Games like Ratchet & Clank and Sunset Overdrive proved Insomniac knows how to make games that bring joy. So when Marvel put Insomniac in charge of a PS4-exclusive Spider-Man game, it seemed like an ideal pairing. Let’s hope the web-slinging turns out as fun as it ought to be.
