With 2019 right around the corner, we've polled GameSpot's staff to find out what games they are looking forward to most in the new year. To be eligible, a game must simply have a release date currently planned for 2019. Of course, we all know nothing is set in stone; there's always a chance some games could slip into 2020. When you're done reading this entry, follow along with all of our other end-of-the-year coverage collected in our Best of 2018 hub.
Kingdom Hearts 3 is set to conclude the Dark Seeker saga, a story that began with the original Kingdom Hearts way back in 2002. Kingdom Hearts 2, the last numbered entry, came in 2005. Over the past 13 years, the series has seen numerous spin-offs across multiple console and handheld generations, and the story has only gotten bigger and more complicated. Kingdom Hearts 3 has the unenviable task of wrapping up 16 years of lore, and for that reason, I cannot wait to play it.
This will be the first time our Avengers-esque team of heroes is fully assembled. Childhood friends Sora, Riku, and Kairi; Keyblade trainees Aqua, Terra, and Ventus; and even Mickey Mouse himself are gathering for a final battle against Xehanort. And if those names mean nothing to you, you can see why over a decade of games has made the lore a bit convoluted.
It's not just the conclusion of a story that has me excited for Kingdom Hearts 3, though. We'll be revisiting fan-favorite Disney worlds like Pirates of the Caribbean's Port Royale and Winnie the Pooh's 100 Acre Wood, and we'll also be exploring a host of never-before-seen levels. We've seen worlds inspired by Frozen, Tangled, Toy Story, Big Hero 6, and Monsters Inc., and each one gives our heroes a new look and set of special attacks.
Speaking of which, combat has a few new hooks in Kingdom Hearts 3 as well. You can run up walls a la Dream Drop Distance, and Sora can even summon Disney theme park rides like Thunder Mountain Railroad and the Spinning Tea Cups to deal heavy damage to the Heartless horde. This is on top of unique weapon transformations based on the Disney world you're currently in. I've enjoyed Kingdom Hearts' fusion of real-time combat and menu-based spellcasting in the past, and based on my time playing the Toy Story and Hercules stages at E3 2018, I'll add that it feels better than ever.
That show was the last time we went hands-on with Kingdom Hearts 3, but we'll get a chance to experience the whole adventure on PS4 and Xbox One on January 29, 2019. If it's the complete saga you're after, you can grab Kingdom Hearts: The Story So Far and experience the entire franchise. And if you'd rather spend far less time getting hyped for the new one, you can enjoy the game's opening song, courtesy of Skrillex and the returning Utada Hikaru.
Ever since its reveal back at E3 2018, Devil May Cry 5 has continually impressed me with every new trailer and detail we learn about it. Sure, it's sticking close to the classic formula of battling legions of demons with gloriously over the top and somewhat impractical weapons, but Capcom's action game series has always been in a class of its own when it comes to high-flying, stylish combat. This all works thanks to its likeable cast of characters, including lead protagonist Dante and his familiar devil-may-care attitude that's just too fun to roll your eyes at. That sort of confidence in its identity, even after all these years, is something I've always loved about the series, and Devil May Cry 5 certainly aims to make up for lost time by offering the most refined and visually stunning outing yet.
Of course, fans who've been keeping up with the series will no doubt notice the obvious elephant in the room when looking at this game. Ninja Theory's 2013 reboot, DmC: Devil May Cry, was a valiant effort that offered an interesting twist on the DMC mythos, but Capcom decided that there's still more to be said with the original series. Though DmC is among my personal favorites--and I wish more players would give it a fair shake--there is something rather special about seeing classic Devil May Cry back in action, especially when many of the trailers and playables demo show that it hasn't missed a beat since its hiatus.
With three playable characters in Devil May Cry 5--Dante, Nero, and newcomer V--and a larger campaign that can bring them all together for co-op gameplay, the next game will be upping the ante in a more extravagant way. It's also especially satisfying to see that DMC5 has taken several cues from the stylish and modern flair that Ninja Theory brought to the series. This is most apparent with the return of dynamic battle themes that ramp up based on performance topped off with the slick slow-mo finishes to the end of an intense clash.
One of the things I've been really enjoying from our early looks at Devil May Cry 5 is that it seems to be keenly aware of its place in the series. Directly referencing the original games, the anime and manga, and even acknowledging the black sheep Devil May Cry 2 in some form--the next entry is aiming to be the title that brings many of the events and characters from past games full-circle. It all seems fitting for Capcom's next stylish-action game to look back on its lineage as a whole, as it plans to finish the main story of the Sparda saga. Whether it'll close things proper, or if it'll lead into the next phase of the series remains to be seen, but Devil May Cry 5 will no doubt revel in the time it has--and it'll definitely look good while doing it.
If you're in need of a refresher with what's new in DMC5, check out our feature on everything we know about the game so far.
I've been a bit of a slow convert to From Software's work throughout the years. While I'm still learning to love Dark Souls, Bloodborne remains an all-time favorite of mine and the first (and only) game from the studio that I ever beat. Its moody gothic setting and speedy tactical combat resonated with me more than the slower, more defensive Dark Souls. But it seems the studio's latest, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, just might dethrone Bloodborne for me in 2019.
I won't lie to you, I'm a big fan of feudal Japan as a setting, so you can imagine why the mere sight of Sekiro has me excited. I can't wait to experience From Software's fantastical interpretation of Sengoku-era Japan, as well as see how it chooses to reimagine both history and myth. In addition, the premise of playing as a nameless shinobi with a weaponized prosthetic arm seeking to save his lord and get revenge appeals to me in its resemblance to ancient Japanese myths and legends.
Similar to Dark Souls and Bloodborne, Sekiro challenges you to make repeated runs through dungeons packed with fierce enemies and hidden traps. But what I find alluring about Sekiro is how it appears familiar but totally reevaluates all the mechanics you generally associate with From Software games. Absent are many of the RPG elements you'd expect, such as character creation, classes, and equipment upgrades. Instead, Sekiro is an entirely new experience set apart from the studio's previous work that emphasizes action, stealth, and platforming.
It's thrilling to see your progotanist use a grappling hook to string together acrobatic jumps from one ledge to the next. The emphasis on split-second attack deflection and hit-and-run assaults in combat is refreshing and exciting. Sneaking around and stabbing foes while their guard is down provides variety to your modes of attack. And then there's the new resurrection mechanic where you can purposefully die to trick enemies, and return when their backs are turned to inflict a lethal surprise strike. There's a bold confidence in the new mechanics From Software introduces in Sekiro, displaying a willingness from the studio to step away from its near-decade-old Soulsborne formula.
Not much more has been revealed about Sekiro since its most recent showcase at Tokyo Game Show 2018. One of the most notable news stories to come out about the project was the fact that it started life as a Tenchu game, From Software's long-dormant stealth-action ninja series. This fact alone was more than enough to seal my interest in Sekiro, as I have many fond memories playing Tenchu in the early 2000s. Regardless, more news is bound to come in the new year--likely once we get closer to the game's March 22 launch.
For a brief rundown on everything there is to know about Sekiro, be sure to read our feature highlighting all the essential details.
A lot of video game stories stumble when it comes to endings, often because the preoccupation to set up sequels works against definitive, satisfying conclusions. Marvel's Spider-Man handled both competing interests pretty deftly, wrapping up its main story while leaving enough plot threads from which to hang a second game, as well as its three-episode DLC expansion The City That Never Sleeps. But while developer Insomniac Games helped Spider-Man stick the landing in the main game, the conclusion of the expansion feels more like it rolls to a slow stop.
Chapter 3 of the expansion, Silver Lining, wraps up the story of Spider-Man battling Hammerhead, a mob boss who consolidated power in New York. He's become a supervillain by stealing tech from the private sci-fi army from the base game, Sable International. Each of the previous chapters saw ancillary characters close to Spider-Man turning into collateral damage in the war against Hammerhead. Black Cat, Peter's former paramour, was caught up in working with Hammerhead in the first episode, and Yuri Watanabe, Peter's friend on the NYPD, was personally devastated by the mob's war on New York in the second. The third episode focuses on yet another woman, Silver Sable, who runs Sable International and returns to New York to try to stop Hammerhead from misappropriating all her ridiculously dangerous military gear.
What made the first two chapters of The City Never Sleeps so engaging was the way they ratcheted up stakes while keeping things personal. Black Cat's episode, The Heist, had Peter trying to save his anti-hero friend from mafia bad guys, while she threw a monkey wrench into his rekindled relationship with Mary Jane Watson. In the second release, Turf Wars, it felt like Spidey was embroiled in a full-on war against Hammerhead's consolidated mafia army as the enemy struck devastating blows against the police, and Yuri in particular, which pushed her character to the brink. The time spent fleshing out Black Cat and Yuri, while putting Spider-Man in a position to fail both his friends, made the story powerful and important, just like the one in the original release.
The trouble with Silver Lining is that the plot threads from the first two episodes never really get resolved in a satisfactory way. Both the women around whom the previous episodes centered have been pretty much removed from the story. Where the first two chapters felt as though they were driving toward putting Peter on his back foot as he struggled to save his friends from Hammerhead's wrath and corrupting influence, the third episode basically drops those ideas in favor of a few fun moments of Peter and Sable warming up to each other a bit. Their goal is to stop Hammerhead, and all the interesting interpersonal stuff gets shoved into underdeveloped hooks for sequels and expansions that may or may not ever exist.
With so much good writing in the first two episodes, Silver Lining is just a letdown. It's interesting, at least, that Silver Sable's character gets rounded out a bit, but after Turf Wars made everything feel so effectively dangerous and personal for Yuri, a character we've been spending time with through the entire base game and much of the DLC, it's incredibly frustrating that her tale gets left for some later potential wrap-up. That's to say nothing of how The City That Never Sleeps resolves what's happened to Black Cat way back in The Heist--because it doesn't.
The rest of Silver Lining also feels a little lackluster compared to previous episodes. Screwball's challenges return one last time before you wrap up that story, but they're another few riffs on things you've done in the past. Neither the challenges, nor Screwball and her story's conclusion, are especially inspired. Along with more Hammerhead bases to clear and more crimes to stop in a few of Manhattan's southern districts, they come off as a little bit of filler to keep you busy for a few more minutes before calling it quits on Spider-Man for good. Unlike in Turf Wars, there aren't really many new story insights to be gleaned from completing the side material. Finishing it all is more rote than rewarding.
On the bright side, Silver Lining is challenging for the seasoned Spidey. Hammerhead's goons are tougher than ever with their Sable gear, and there are now jetpack guys, jetpack guys with shields, mini-gun guys, and machine gun guys all fighting you at the same time. Some of the fights are downright annoying as you get blasted by huge attack after huge attack, but at least Insomniac has continually worked to make the expansion fights harrowing for people who've been continually playing Spider-Man since way back in September and have probably unlocked all of the abilities and gadgets in the game long ago.
For a game as strong as this one, Silver Lining feels like a stumble. The beginning and middle of The City That Never Sleeps were both great reasons to return to Spider-Man in the months after its release. Silver Lining can't pay off that earlier promise, though, and so one of the best games of the year goes out with a whimper. The final chapter of Spider-Man's planned expansions is mostly fine--the core game is strong enough that any chance to revisit its mechanics is going to be fun--but with no other expansions officially on the way, this feels like another classic case of a good game story burdened with propping open the doors for potential sequels. The original version of Marvel's Spider-Man was better than that, and The City That Never Sleeps should have been as well.
Aquaman is one of the craziest movies we've ever seen. It's filled with giant underwater space battles, secret oases at the center of the earth, living, breathing dinosaurs, giant kraken voiced by famed actress Julie Andrews, and more. When we got the chance to sit down with the movie's writers, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Will Beall, as well as DC's famed creator and Aquaman executive producer Geoff Johns, we had to ask: How did Aquaman become so outrageous in scale and inventiveness?
"Have you seen James's Fast and the Furious movie?" Johnson-McGoldrick responded, referring to Aquaman director James Wan's Furious 7, a movie whose making destroyed more than 230 cars by dropping them out of planes and jumping them between 40 foot tall "skyscrapers" built on a soundstage. Yeah, fair point, we replied.
"James allowed us not to have to feel like there were limitations," Johns added. "There was never any 'no,' there was never that 'We can't do that,' there was never an impossible. He wanted to make a big, huge, epic movie, and it doesn't get much more epic than the entire oceans of the world and what's in it."
Warning: Aquaman spoilers follow. Go see the movie before you read any further.
Johnson-McGoldrick recalled the first time he saw an early animatic version of the scene in which the gigantic Karathen sea monster erupts from the ground during the Atlanteans' climactic battle. "Even having been part of this process and the script, I kind of giggled when I saw it," he said. "It was like, you're gonna start off with this guy rescuing this woman on the shore, and you're going to end with a giant kaiju movie."
James Wan did more than simply enable the insanity, though. He also brought the movie's distinct '80s vibe, according to the writers. "One of the things that I feel like James brought to this that is utterly appropriate, is there's an '80s sensibility, sort of a throwbacky-ness," Beall said. "You know, like, the slide into the deserter's kingdom is the Goonies."
"And what [Jason Momoa] brought into the character is that sort of child of the '80s, too," Johnson-McGoldrick added. "He threw in that Cobra Kai reference. You get the feeling that Arthur in this movie is an '80s kid."
Watching Aquaman is often an overwhelming experience. It can feel like sensory overload. And the movie's look doesn't always hold up when you stop to think about things like whether lava can really flow freely underwater (it can't) or how those millions of people in the stadium could even see what was going on while Arthur and Orm were fighting. Johns said they felt "emotional realism" was more important than actual, logical realism.
"I think emotional realism is more important than anything else," Johns said. "You want to emotionally believe in who these people are and what motivates them and what drives them and what challenges them--who do they love, and what do they fight for? As long as you have emotional reality, which to me is more important.
"James really wanted to do a heightened world," he continued. "I mean, it is Atlantis, and so if you wanna start questioning things like lava under the water, I think we're kinda failing the story."
"There's a sort of fantasy fulfillment that it feels good when you're watching that," said Johnson-McGoldrick. "I remember showing early animatic of that scene to my eight and nine year olds, and they saw the lava catapults underwater and they were like, 'This is the most amazing movie I've ever seen in my life.' It appeals to this inner eight or nine year old that wants this world to exist."
"I think for us, storytelling is finding something truthful on this unbelievably broad, sort of phantasmagorical canvas," Beall added. "Like Geoff was saying, if we've done that, you're not sweating the lava so much. You're embracing it."
Nintendo has added a few new rewards to the US My Nintendo program. As usual, these mostly consist of discounts on a selection of recent and classic games for both 3DS and Wii U, although you can also redeem your points for some holiday 3DS themes and a handful of printable Animal Crossing rewards.
In terms of discounts, 3DS owners can get 30% off of the critically acclaimed Legend of Zelda game, A Link Between Worlds, for 50 Gold points. Additionally, Nintendo is offering 40% off of the humorous 3DS life sim, Tomodachi Life (60 Gold points); 30% off of Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D (300 Platinum points); and 40% off of Picross 3D Round 2 (600 Platinum points).
On top of that, My Nintendo members can get discounts on a couple of Eshop-exclusive games for 3DS, including HarmoKnight, a rhythm-platformer by Pokemon developer Game Freak. You can snag 40% off of the title for 300 Platinum points. Nintendo is also offering 40% off of the tank action game Tank Troopers for 240 Platinum points.
Meanwhile, Wii U's new selection of discounts are all for Virtual Console titles. Members can get 40% off of two N64 classics, Star Fox 64 and F-Zero X, for 200 Platinum points each. You can also get 40% off of the SNES title Kirby's Dream Course on either Wii U or 3DS for 240 Platinum points.
Beyond that, My Nintendo members can redeem their points for a couple of holiday themes for their 3DS. Nintendo is also offering printable Animal Crossing holiday cards (30 Platinum points) and a 2019 Animal Crossing calendar (80 Platinum points), the latter of which keeps track of every villager's birthday.
Mario's most recent sidescrolling adventure is coming to Nintendo Switch next month as New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. The title bundles the original Wii U launch game alongside its more challenging DLC expansion, New Super Luigi U, with a couple of new playable characters thrown in for good measure. As it turns out, it boasts another surprise feature over the Wii U version: NES controller support.
As GameXplain discovered, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is compatible with Switch's NES-style controllers, which are one of the company's exclusive offers for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. Nintendo had advertised the NES controllers as only being compatible with Switch's NES game library, but they can indeed be used with other titles; however, given how few buttons the gamepads boast, most games are effectively unplayable with them.
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, on the other hand, very much follows in the vein of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, so the lack of buttons isn't an impediment here. As GameXplain notes, you'll need to tweak the default control scheme so that B serves as the run button, but it appears there will otherwise be no issues if you try playing the game with the NES controllers, just like a classic Mario platformer.
As previously mentioned, the Switch NES controllers are only available to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. If you have a membership, you can order them through Nintendo's website. Each set retails for $60 and comes with two controllers. Just like standard Joy-Cons, these can be recharged by slotting them into the sides of the Switch itself while it's docked.
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe launches for Switch on January 11, 2019. New to this version are two playable characters, Nabbit and Toadette, both of whom have abilities geared toward helping newer players; the former is impervious to damage, while the latter can grab a new power-up--the Super Crown--and transform into Peachette, who can double jump and hover in the air using her billowy dress.
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