2018 has felt like an end product of this current generation’s insistence on catering to nostalgia. Regardless of medium, but especially for video games and film, there has never been a better time to push old IPs, reviving them for a new audience or an audience desperately craving more. With that in mind, we’re getting more sequels than ever. For every original video game we got in 2018, we got two or three sequels to pre-existing IPs. If this a bad thing? Not necessarily, but we are in a bit of a creative drought in terms of original content.
Debatably, at least. While it’s not surprising that we’re getting at the very least thirty sequels in 2019, many of these sequels are quite frankly surprising. More than ever, we’re getting a year filled with risky releases that just happen to be sequels. Franchises are being revived, cult classics are getting follow-ups, and long-running series are finally on the cusp of genuine evolution. 2019 is shaping up to be a truly insane year for gaming, giving fans what they want more than ever. This isn’t to say that all these sequels will be hits- realistically, they won’t- but they’re coming; and fast.
30 Tom Clancy’s The Division 2
Tom Clancy games have always been popular, but overall quality tends to ebb and flow from game to game. Although The Division received fairly positive reviews, averaging an 80 on Metacritic on both PS4 and Xbox One, fans have been less receptive. A sequel is the perfect opportunity to fix said issues. Unfortunately, The Division 2 seems to be more of the same which ultimately means it’ll receive, again, fairly positive reviews with some less than stellar fan reception. That’s just the way AAA gaming works sometimes, though.
29 Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 3
Considering how the first two games were unceremoniously pulled from PSN earlier this year, no one could have expected that Ultimate Alliance would get anything even remotely resembling love ever again. Yet here we are, in a post Game Awards world where Ultimate Alliance 3 is actually in active development.
A sequel no one expected.
Releasing exclusively for the Nintendo Switch in 2019, Ultimate Alliance 3 marks a bit of a stylistic departure for the series, but keep in mind how much the times have changed since the second game: the MCU has completely changed the face of the comics industry. Whatever we get next year will solidify the course of comic based video games for quite some time to come.
28 Mortal Kombat 11
After a surprising amount of silence between installments, the medium’s goriest fighting game is finally getting a brand new entry: Mortal Kombat 11. Formally announced at this year’s Game Awards, fans will get a chance to embrace the pure carnage of combat one more time. To be quite honest, there’s not too much to discuss other than the fact we’re getting a proper next gen Mortal Kombat. Granted, it’s a bit late into the generation so perhaps you can expect to see the 11th entry on the PS5 as well.
27 Metroid Prime 4
Although the Metroid Prime sub-series came to a definitive end with its third installment, fans have been clamoring for a fourth game for years. Initially, this wasn’t a good idea. After all, good stories should stay finished. There’s no reason to drag something out. On the other hand, the series has suffered way too much not to warrant a fourth game.
Samus isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Metroid Prime 4 is Nintendo telling fans that Samus Aran is coming back, and actually good this time! To be fair, her 3DS debut actually did that, but Prime 4 is what fans have been clamoring for for years. Now that the franchise actually needs it, Nintendo will be pushing out the sequel in 2019.
26 Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes
Travis Strikes Again is a sequel that no one asked for or wanted. Despite that, Suda 51 is still intent on giving us it under the pretense that we may not get a third installment in the franchise otherwise. We are basically being held hostage and while a third No More Heroes might be good, things aren’t looking so hot for Travis Strikes Again.
Completely different in terms of gameplay, the spin-off is less action beat ‘em up and more isometric gauntlet. It doesn’t look great. If you want a sequel, though, you better be ready to dig out that wallet in 2019. At the very least, it will make for an interesting experience. This is Suda 51, after all.
25 Resident Evil 2
On the flipside, a remake of Resident Evil 2 has been a constant want from fans of the series for years. Ever since the first game was remade on the Nintendo GameCube, Capcom has had to deal with fan demands to remake its far stronger sequel. Thankfully, they’ve finally listened and the game actually looks incredible.
So comes the sequel to one of the greatest remakes of all time.
Using the RE7 engine, Resident Evil 2 is yet another step forward for the franchise, one rooted in the series’ horror roots. Capcom’s approach with the series has been so methodical that it’s easy to forget they turned the franchise into an action series years ago. They haven’t forgotten, though, and 2019 is looking to continue Capcom’s triumphant comeback.
24 Yakuza 4
Speaking of surprising comebacks, Capcom is not the only studio learning from past mistakes, Sega has also been making great use of the past year as a turning point. While Sonic Team is still stumbling far more often than it perhaps should, Sega has been keeping Yakuza alive like it’s their job. Which it is.
Coming in 2019, expect to see a remaster of Yakuza 4 for the PS4. As of right now, the game is scheduled only for a Japan release, but the games have been selling well enough in the West where we can absolutely expect localizations. This does mean we’ll be getting Yakuza 3 as well, so get excited.
23 Team Sonic Racing
To be quite honest, nothing can really compete with Mario Kart in terms of racing, but that doesn’t mean developers shouldn’t at least try to compete. Last generation, Sonic the Hedgehog actually made a respectable name for himself with some surprisingly great racing game and 2019 is giving us a sequel.
Team Sonic Racing likely won’t be as bombastic as the last entry in the series, but the fact we’re getting a sequel at all is great news. This is a franchise that has actually managed to rival Mario Kart in terms of mechanical design. So long as Sega pushes out a quality product, the wait for Mario Kart 9 won’t feel nearly as long.
22 Pokémon Generation VIII
Fret not fans of the series, if you weren’t a fan of either Let’s Go Pikachu or Let’s Go Eevee, Game Freak is going to take care of you real good in 2019. The long-awaited Generation VIII will finally be making its debut appearance and it’ll likely be the biggest shift the franchise has ever seen. For the first time ever, Pokémon is going to a home console. Gone are the days of handheld control. From here on out, you can expect a massive evolution of the series.
21 Kingdom Hearts III
A video game years in the making both in a literal and narrative sense, Kingdom Hearts III is the action RPG fans of the series, genre, and medium have been waiting for since Kingdom Hearts II solidified itself as one of the greatest games on the PlayStation 2. It is finally releasing for the PS4 and Xbox One in 2019.
The end of an era has never been closer.
Honestly? It looks incredible and also feels wrong coming out so soon. This is a game shrouded so deeply in myth that the fact that its release is right around the corner and not years off seems perverse in a sense. This is the real deal, though. Come 2019, the Xehanort saga will come to an end, closing a chapter of video game history.
20 Jump Force
Anime games are always hard to get right, especially if they aren’t adhering to a uniform style. Thus far, Jump Force doesn’t have the aesthetics down, forcing a weird sense of realism unto countless franchises that simply do not mesh with a hyper Westernized art style. It’s hard to look forward to a game with such an awkward identity.
At the same time, Jump Force is a sequel to some truly fantastic games which does give us hope. Originally released for the Nintendo DS, both Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars stood out as the strongest fighting games on the handheld. So long as Jump Force can get the gameplay right, 2019 will be very kind to it.
19 Crackdown 3
The fact that this game exists in any way, shape, or form is quite honestly a miracle. For years now, there have been internal rumors suggesting that Crackdown 3 was canceled with the publishers simply waiting to announce its cancellation at a later date. Yet here we are, mere months away from its 2019 release.
It probably should have been canceled.
Will it actually come out? For the time being, yes, it seems that it will. Will the game actually be good? For the time being, probably not, it will likely be garbage. It was likely only saved from cancellation due to the rumors surrounding the project and the ethics of letting a team work on a game with the intent of canceling it. It’ll be released, but at what cost?
18 Metro Exodus
The Metro series is one of the most criminally underrated in the entire medium. First person shooters with nuanced plots, fantastic atmosphere, and generally great mechanics, Metro is guaranteed to offer you an experience unlike any other and Exodus will not be an exception. All pre-release signs point to Exodus pushing the series further than ever even if it doesn’t net the franchise the popularity it deserves. At the same time, staying niche will likely keep the developers humble which will likely keep each game striving to be better than the last.
17 Devil May Cry 5
Not in one million years did anyone expect Devil May Cry to get a proper fifth entry. Following Ninja Theory’s reboot, it seemed as though Capcom had firmly given up on continuing the real Dante’s saga. What we didn’t expect was for Capcom to fully embrace a beautiful redemption arc.
DMC5 has the potential to be the greatest action game ever made.
Devil May Cry 5 is shaping up to be one of the greatest games of 2019, if not of all time. Three in-depth play styles, an epic story that’ll likely bring the series’ narrative to a close, and a beautiful interpretation of RE7’s engine. Devil May Cry 5 might actually go on to rival the third game in terms of sheer quality.
16 ToeJam & Earl: Back In The Groove
ToeJam and Earl are back! And in the groove, too! A relic of the Sega Genesis era of gaming, the pair’s last game was back on the original Xbox where their game was met with… okay reception. In a generation heavily reliant on nostalgia, there’s never been a more appropriate time to bring ToeJam and Earl into the mainstream
Back in the Groove is more than just a romp through nostalgia, though. It certainly is that- going so far to lift the gameplay style from the Genesis original- but it’s also adding in online multiplayer while seemingly acting like a natural continuation of the series as if it continued on the Genesis.
15 Super Meat Boy Forever
Super Meat Boy is arguably one of the most important indie games of all time if only because it helped solidify indie titles from AAA gaming in a way that gave the former far more prestige. Indies can experiment. Indies can be hard. Indies don’t have to cater to the lowest common denominator.
Meat Boy can punch this time!
Super Meat Boy Forever is a chance to remind the modern audience that indie games are better than ever, offering a wide array of different genres and styles of games that, quite frankly, are better than anything AAA gaming can do at the moment. At least so long as budget isn’t involved. If all goes well, 2019 will see another Meat Boy renaissance.
14 Rage 2
At first glance, Rage is not a game that deserves a sequel. Ugly, clunky, and borderline nauseating, why give the title a chance to become a franchise? That’s an impulse reaction, though. Under an analytical lense, there’s not a better game to make a sequel for. After all, shouldn’t sequels serve to improve on lesser concepts? Rage 2 is a chance to right what was wrong by offering a game that’s intentionally nauseating instead of accidentally. 2019 could very well be Rage’s redemption arc. Probably not, though.
13 Shenmue III
More than any other game on this list, Shenmue III is a title that simply should not exist. Time and time again, the world has rejected Shenmue. Low sales and shockingly surprisingly low critic scores would all seem to indicate that the series should end, but a third game is right around the horizon, and it’s for the better.
Give Shenmue the respect it deserves.
Despite how much modern critics tend to dislike Shenmue, the series is the perfect example of why modern gaming discourse is hurting the industry. This is a franchise that has been rejected for enforcing patience on its audience, using “outdated” mechanics to actually create atmosphere. So long as Shenmue III rejects modern conventions, it’ll be a step in the right direction. Just not critically.
12 Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing is about even-split when it comes to handheld and home console releases. While the series found life on the Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube, and Wii, the more successful entries were on the Nintendo DS and the Nintendo 3DS. Going back to the Switch is a good move all things considered.
Half home console, half handheld, the Nintendo Switch is an ideal platform for Animal Crossing in the same way it is for Pokémon. Going back to a console base will without a doubt allow the series to evolve itself and hopefully enter a new stage. If nothing else, it’ll make a bigger splash than ever before.
11 Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Fire Emblem has been relegated to handhelds for over ten years now. While the 3DS was kind to the franchise, it was clear that the series wasn’t breaking the same ground it was back on the Super Nintendo or Nintendo GameCube. Not to say the handheld games are bad, they aren’t (at least the GBA ones aren’t,) but it was time for a change.
Enter Three Houses, a game which seems to be a bland of the new style the 3DS games pioneered while returning to the home console fare pioneered by games like Genealogy of the Holy War and Path of Radiance. Whichever way the game swings more, 2019 will mark a new shift for the franchise.
