Max Deville – Special to the Southern News
2014 was a year of highs and lows, joys and sorrows, satisfaction and disappointment, and quite a bit of money spent on the killer roster of games which had come out. But, with all the games coming out, it becomes easy to get lost in the tides of which ones to look for and which ones are actually worth a look at. These are the most anticipated games gamers should keep an eye on over the year, starting off with non-sequels.
The first game, and major release of the year is Bloodborne, and this is looking to be one of the top games for the PS4’s 2015 lineup. Bloodborne is a spiritual successor of the “Souls” series which is notorious for its punishing difficulty curve. Players will now enter the city of Yharnam, a gothic Victorian era styled city where a blood born disease is slowly rotting away the inhabitants of the city and is turning them into grotesque beasts. New features for this game includes the addition of firearms, and a much more aggressive a.i and combat focus.
Next up on the list is Evolve. This game has been talked about for nearly a year now because of the fact that you can play as the big bad monster hunting down other players and leveling up through devouring the game’s wildlife. Players in the game during match setup can either choose to team up on a team of hunters, or as the monster in a series of game modes.
Following up Evolve is the next installment of the Zelda Franchise: Zelda Wii U. This is the latest installment of the series following Skyward Sword, but not much is truly known about the game. Rumor follows that the map will be immense, and will be something to keep an eye on over the coming months.
The next game on the list is Hellblade. This game is being developed and released by Ninja Theory, the company behind DMC: Devil May Cry, and Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. The reason this game is to be kept under close watch is there has been no news about it. Only one trailer, no gameplay, and has left gamers baffled about the mystery behind this tribal looking girl wielding a bloody and cruel looking sword.
That ends the list for the single hit releases, and now the most anticipated sequels of 2015:
The Dark Knight also returns this year in Batman: Arkham Knight. For those of us who played the previous Batman game, Batman: Origins, we can let out a sigh of relief because Arkham Knight is not made by that company. It is made by the makers of the first two games in the Batman series: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. From what we have seen in gameplay trailers, controlling the Batmobile in combat, and giving beatdowns once again to the criminals of Gotham is worth the anticipation and wait.
The next big sequel, of course, is Halo 5: Guardians. Like Hellblade this game, being as large as it is being part of the Halo series, has had very little revealed about it. All we know is Master Chief has gone missing, and the human colony worlds are under attack. It is up to new Spartan Locke to hunt down Chief to save the day once again. Most likely more about the game will be revealed at E3 2015.
The last, but not least, and certainly most anticipated game for many gamers is the finally planned release of Kingdom Hearts 3. Players have waited ten years for this direct sequel to the hit game we all grew up with, Kingdom Hearts 2. Now, we don’t know what is in store for this game, but we will see the return of all our favorite characters as this game signals the conclusion of what developers are calling the “Dark Seeker’s Saga”.
Well, happy hunting to the gaming community, and l wish luck to all in this coming year.