Second Half
The second half of 2018 is where the big question mark lies, as we don’t really know what’s coming out yet. Very few games have release dates for later this year, most only coming with vague windows. The only thing we have a definitive release date on is Red Dead Redemption 2, a game that could easily nab Game of the Year and end up being one of the best titles to release in years. Looking at how many GOTY awards GTA IV nabbed in 2008, it’s certainly not unreasonable.
Before we go over what could be in store for the rest of 2018, let’s take a moment to cover just how impressive the rest of 2008 was. July gave us titles like Trauma Center 2, Persona 4, Guitar Hero III, and Soul Calibur IV. August and September brought Braid, Tales of Vesperia, Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise, Yakuza 2, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Lego Batman: The Video Game, and Mega Man 9. The last three months kicked things up to a ridiculous degree with the Fall rush. Some all-time classics made their way onto the market like the horror phenomenon Dead Space, the divisive Far Cry II and Fable II, the hugely influential Fallout 3, the cult hit Mirror’s Edge, Valve’s multiplayer hit Left 4 Dead, and the fighter Dissidia Final Fantasy. While these are simply the highlights plenty of other big games released during this time, to name just a few; Patapon 2, Animal Crossing: City Folk, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Call of Duty: World at War, and Gears of War 2.
This is an absurd list of games, many of which scored incredibly high scores with critics and fans. The quality of 2008 is evidenced simply by the split in GOTY choices. Many years the choice seems obvious, like in 2013 when The Last of Us released, but 2008 had a split due to so many quality titles releasing. Now, what about 2018? Is there any way that it can overcome 2008?
As long as everything meets its release schedule, there’s a lot of potential in the second half of the year, and that’s only what we know about. Sony has big exclusives like Spider-Man, Detroit: Become Human, Dreams, and Days Gone. Square Enix has some tricks up its sleeves with the highly awaited Kingdom Hearts III, Dragon Quest XI, Project Octopath Traveler, and the Front Mission-inspired Left Alive. Nintendo could be bringing us a new Fire Emblem, Pokemon on Switch, Yoshi, and Mario Tennis Aces. Meanwhile, a few other games could be breakout hits like BioMutant, Ace Attorney Switch, Code Vein, Darksiders III, Metro Exodus, and SoulCalibur VI. Interestingly, this year also sees the release of new entries in three series established in 2008 with Valkyria Chronicles 4, The World Ends With You Final Remix, and Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes.
What all of this means is that 2018 certainly has the makings of one of the very best years for video games, even after the incredible 2017. If everything goes right and big games actually make their release dates, 2018 may just go down in the annals of history.
