We are back for another year of Player 2 and what better way to start 2018 than to look ahead at what will be gracing our consoles and PC’s in the coming 12 months. With this in mind Player 2 Editor, Matt Hewson has put together a list of anticipated titles for each major genre of game, sticking with games that are likely to get released this year. Now we wander into the massive gaming spaces of Open World Games.
The Most Anticipated Open World Games for 2018
Red Dead Redemption 2
What needs to be said about Rockstar’s next opus? I mean who isn’t excited to return to the Old West? Red Dead Redemption is justifiably in many people’s best game ever lists so to say the hype is strong with its sequel would be an understatement. The only worry I have for this one is the success of Grand Theft Auto Online. I hope this hasn’t changed Rockstar’s focus on creating an amazing single-player narrative. I don’t think it will but sadder things have happened. We will all find out when the game gets released, probably around June sometime.
Ghosts of Tsushima
Many were wondering what InFamous developers Sucker Punch had been up to since Second Son graced our PS4s and that secret was revealed at the most recent Paris Games Week. That secret was Ghosts of Tsushima and boy o boy am I excited. I really dig the Feudal Japanese setting and I can’t wait to see what is on offer. Off all the games on this list though, this is the one that is likely going to be delayed into 2019 but I really hope that isn’t the case.
State of Decay 2
Undead Labs’ original State of Decay was something of a rough diamond. It had some issues with glitchy graphics and some clunky design but the core concept of a zombie survival sim managed to outshine those issues. Now that Undead has been brought under Microsoft’s umbrella they should have all the resources to take the promise of the first game and shoot it into the stratosphere. With Microsoft being short on announced exclusives I expect this one to get the full weight of the Xbox PR machine behind it when it releases later in 2018.
Sea of Thieves
Less open world and more open ocean, Sea of Thieves marks the return of RARE from an enforced prison sentence in Kinect game development hell. From my time with the game, I feel secure in saying this game is going to be wonderful, especially with a group of friends. A true pirate game where the seas exist for players to plunder. Sea of Thieves is Microsoft’s big release in the first part of the year so you can expect it to be plastered everywhere until it releases on the 20th of March.
Crackdown 3
This one could go either way. Crackdown 3 has been on the Xbox slate for quite some time now and development troubles, along with some mediocre press previews have people a little gunshy when it comes to predicting this game’s success. But hopefully that worry is misplaced because I could really go for a slice of open world mayhem, we haven’t really had a good one since the Third Street Saint’s destroyed the earth, so Crackdown 3 is a game I want to succeed. The game doesn’t have a firm release date and with its troubled history, I expect the developers to give themselves as much time as possible so I can’t see this dropping until later in the year.
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