Games We Wanna Play in 2018! - PART 1
Last week we had a look at some of the games we enjoyed last year (if you missed it, you can see the blog-post here).
However, 2017 is so last year, it's 2018 peeps get with the program! There are some super neat games rolling in this year (and a fair few adventure titles among them) so we thought we'd have a look at some of the ones that we're looking forward to. Typically, it turns out there are quite a few games we want to get our grubby little mitts on, so we'll be splitting the list across two blog-posts. The eagle eyed among you will also notice Danny (who is helping us out on Röki writing duties) has thrown his hat into the blog arena, welcome Danny! Right, fasten your seat belts, here we go with PART 1...
UNFORESEEN INCIDENTS (ALEX)
Unforeseen Incidents is a 2D Adventure game/interactive mystery and looks super sweet. We were lucky enough to have a fleeting look at Unforeseen Incidents when we were down at Adventure X and say hi to the team.
The first thing that slaps you around the face is the art, it's gorgeous with a capital G. Its sketchy & colourful hand-drawn world make it look like you're playing a super stylish indie comic. There is also an intriguing story set-up that you can see in their announcement trailer here.
RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 (TOM)
It’s fair to say that Red Dead Redemption is one of my favourite games ever. Never has riding around on a horse been cooler imo . Although ultimately a little repetitive, the ambient world stuff did a great job of immersing you into the game, and man were those cougar attacks scary the first time they happened!
So it’s little wonder that this year’s release of RDR2 is pinging away on my radar. Set to be far bigger than it’s predecessor, there’s sure to be plenty of world to explore. Judging by the trailer, the story will tick off a bunch of traditional cowboy tropes, which in reality is no bad thing. If the gameplay balance and characters are anywhere near as strong as they were in GTA V, then it is going to be spectacular.
HEAVEN'S VAULT (ALEX)
I've spent a fair amount of time navigating the globe with Mr. Fogg in Inkle's 80 days (mostly played in the bathtub) so am very keen to get my hands on Heaven's Vault, their next title.
Heaven's Vault is billed as an archaeological science fiction adventure game (an intriguing mix in itself) and one of the tantalizing prospects is that it features a lost language for you to uncover, learn and decipher throughout the game, pretty neat!
Anyway Inkle's Jon Ingold did an excellent talk at adventure X that will do a much better job at telling you about Heaven's Vault than I would do so I'd encourage you to check that out here.
PSYCHONAUTS 2 (ALEX)
Follow up to the 2015 puzzle platformer (and the Double Fine's debut game) where you adventure into the minds of the oddball inhabitants of a psychic summer camp. This central concept (of jumping into different characters minds to help them overcome some mental block) made for lots or variety in both visual design, game play and made for some great (weird) character insights.
I've fond memories of the original. It was a unique off-kilter world packed with charm, humor and imagination by the truckload, and to be frank it just felt very different from everything else that was out at the time.
It's pretty cool that now Double Fine are Masters of the Universe™ they can return to their first title and really go to town on it (as you can see by the first glimpses of early playable footage).
WHERE THE WATER TASTES LIKE WINE (ALEX)
Only caught whiff of this one quite recently but it looks like it'll be right up my street. The game is set in the great depression era and you travel around collecting and trading stories with characters you meet. It seems like it has some of the Americana folklore tones that was so appealing in Kentucky Route Zero.
Interestingly they have a large group or writers attached to the project to make sure that there different stories in the game have different voices, pretty cool.
The American bluegrass soundtrack is sounding pretty evocative and the voice cast is not to shabby either (Sting playing a wolf!)
OOBLETS (TOM)
Very recently Stardew Valley has taken over our household. My wife can’t get enough of it, and my 5 year old can’t get enough of watching her play it. The small game loops make it incredibly accessible (and morish). Sadly (and don’t tell them this) my wife will have done most of the quests soon, so they’re going to need something new to play. I’m fairly sure that Ooblets will be the game to fill this void, subsequently becoming the next big household addiction.
From what I’ve seen, Ooblets is kind of a Stardew Pokemon mashup, where you grow creatures through farming, then battle with them - all against the backdrop of a friendly town, full of friendly people who also happen to dance a lot. It’s super stylish, colourful and incredibly charming. If it can combine a healthy dose of short and long term goals with some really satisfying minute by minute experiences, then this is sure to be a winner.
NI NO KUNI 2 (DANNY)
Ni No Kuni II is a Studio Ghibli RPG. For most of us, there’s little more needs to be said about why that’s so exciting. The first managed to combine the overall charm of Miyazaki’s best fairy tales with a great fusion of ‘Familiar’ (pokemon, sometimes with actual weapons) collecting and a satisfying real time battle system involving them, and your party of loveable NPCs.
It was an utter delight, but there was a little too much hand-holding through the already fairly shallow non-combat gameplay. The sequel has promised to add more depth to both battle and open-world. While not a direct sequel, the story features an entirely new cast set in the same universe.
While it’s unlikely to ever match something like Final Fantasy for sheer mechanical complexity, Ni No Kuni II could very well be the perfect Ghibli game, and a damn fine RPG in its own right.
That's your lot for this week, we'll be back next week for the next exciting installment.
Have a good one,
Alex & Tom (& Danny!)