Each year we talk about the golden age of gaming, and that year or era will be different for most that you ask. The last couple of years though, each years worth of gaming has been pretty bloody good, and personally i think 2018 was a big step up from 2017. There were many stumbling blocks as there are each year. Some we’ve forgotten, and some are still very raw. 2019’s upcoming games are already blowning my mind with the many titles that are slated for release thus far. February and March are already looking like belter months, and I can’t imagine what is going to blow our socks off at this year’s E3 in June, not to mention the many other gaming conventions around the world.
After seeing all of the game previews announced at 2018 events such as E3, Gamescom and the recent Game Awards last month, I thought I’d highlight some games that are already highly ranked on my gaming wishlist. I’m primarily a PC and Xbox gamer, so I’m sure there are many more exclusives for PS4, Nintendo Switch and mobiles that I’ve missed and would be honourable mentions. Here’s a look at 52 game titles that are gracing my ever-growing wishlist.
Images and descriptions below are from the various games and publishers websites, Steam, GOG.com, Uplay and Origin. Release dates listed are US dates, so generally add a day for the Australian releases. Dates and information are subject to change as the year progresses and some titles may even get pushed to 2020.
| Aftercharge is 3 vs 3 competitive game pitting invisible robots against an invincible security squad in high-octane tactical skirmishes. The robots must coordinate their attacks, create distractions and sneak around to destroy extractors. The enforcers on the other hand must cover as much ground as possible and use their abilities wisely to spot the attackers and stop them before they can destroy all the extractors. Multiplayer FPS – Available January 11, 2019 PC & Xbox One |
Legends of Aria is inspired by the original sandbox MMORPGs like Ultima Online. Experience a world that does not hold your hand. A world driven by you and shaped by our community. A world of dangers, where friendships, enemies made, and your actions written into legend. Founders have had access since December 4, however public release on Steam was pushed to January to improve server stability and mid/late game content. MMORPG – Available January 19, 2019 PC |
| At the Gates is a 4X grand strategy game from Jon Shafer, designer of Civilization 5. You are a Dark Age lord. Your destiny is to build a kingdom in the shadow of the crumbling Roman Empire. Explore the dangerous landscape around you, harvest its resources, and build a mighty economic and military machine. Your clans have their own personalities and desires, so carefully consider how you use them. 4X Strategy – Available January 24, 2019 PC |
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 is the new real-time strategy game adapted from Games Workshop’s famous tabletop game that portrays the epic space battles of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The Gathering Storm and the 13th Black Crusade serves as the canvas for three extensive and dynamic campaigns with high narrative values, focusing on the Tyranids, the Necrons, and the Imperium. Real-Time Strategy – Available January 25, 2019 PC |
| In times of political turmoil and social unrest, the people are calling for visionary leaders, who will steer the fate of their country with foresight and ingenuity. Prove yourself once again as a feared dictator or peace-loving statesman on the island state of Tropico and shape the fate of your very own banana republic through four distinctive eras. City Builder – Available January 26, 2019 PC |
In a near future ravaged by wars, corrupt regimes and devastating pollution, influential corporations have created the Genesis program in a last-ditch attempt to save humanity. As the Captain of a Genesis starship, you journey into uncharted space on the ultimate mission. Build and manage a space vessel, farm resources, deal with terrifying alien infestations, clone creatures and explore a vast, randomly generated universe. Roguelike Adventure – Available January 29, 2019 PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
| Plunge into PlanetSide Arena and battle online in this massive multiplayer sci-fi arena shooter. Choose your class, fuel your jetpack, and drop into the fray on the war-torn landscape of Auraxis. Join the fight in a massive clash with 250 vs. 250 player arenas or survive the mayhem of battle royale by yourself or with your squad. Battle Royale – Available January 30, 2019 PC |
It’s 1987 in North West England. An explosion has triggered a controversial act which threatens to erode civil liberties of the population to be rushed into place. You are tasked with investigating and questioning people on their actions from a tumultuous night which resulted in the loss of many lives. Each person has a different account of the night’s event and you must use the tools at your disposal to get the results you need for your investigation. Adventure – Available February 5, 2019 PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
| Metro Exodus is an epic, story-driven first person shooter from 4A Games that blends deadly combat and stealth with exploration and survival horror in one of the most immersive game worlds ever created. Explore the Russian wilderness across vast, non-linear levels and follow a thrilling story-line that spans an entire year through spring, summer and autumn to the depths of nuclear winter. Survival Adventure – Available February 15, 2019 PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
An island “paradise” in the grip of corporate psychopaths, gangsters and butchers, New Providence is home to the highly-secretive and exceedingly-sinister TerraNova Worldwide. Built around the smouldering heart of a volcano only recently and mysteriously reignited, this mega-corp is exploiting every resource in the area – material and human – as they prepare for the next phase of their diabolical plan… and brace for the inevitable showdown with The Agency. Open-World – Available February 15, 2019 PC & Xbox One |
| Dive into a transformed vibrant post-apocalyptic Hope County, Montana, 17 years after a global nuclear catastrophe. Join fellow survivors and lead the fight against the dangerous new threat the Highwaymen, and their ruthless leaders The Twins, as they seek to take over the last remaining resources. Open-World – Available February 16, 2019 PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
Upon an unfinished world, humanity struggles to survive in a savage environment full of diverse threats. Equipped with incredible Javelin exosuits, a faction known as the Freelancers seeks to tip the balance in mankind’s favor. Team with up to three other players in cooperative adventures that reward both combined effort and individual skill. Action RPG – Available February 22, 2019 PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
| DiRT Rally 2.0 dares you to carve your way through a selection of iconic rally locations from across the globe, in the most powerful off-road vehicles ever made, knowing that the smallest mistake could end your stage. Power your rally car through real-life off-road environments in New Zealand, Argentina, Spain, Poland, Australia and the USA, with only your co-driver and instincts to guide you. Racing – Available February 26, 2019 PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
Explore over-the-top action and physics-bending motorcycle racing in the latest opus of the Trials franchise. All new features, more competitions and more tracks mean new challenges. Ride challenging tracks around the world with the new hilarious Tandem Bike – get your friends and try to control one bike with two riders. Racing Platformer – Available February 27, 2019 PC, PS4, Xbox One & Switch |
| Anno 1800 combines beloved features from 20 years of Anno history, such as individual AI opponents, randomly generated maps, multisession gameplay, and more. It delivers a rich city-building experience, including a story-based campaign, a highly customizable sandbox mode, and the classic Anno multiplayer experience. Strategy – Available February 27, 2019 PC |
Dawn of Man is a survival/city-builder from the creators of Planetbase. The game starts in the Stone Age, and takes you up to the Iron Age, spanning more than 10,000 years of human prehistory. You will have to get your people to survive, expand and evolve, just like our ancestors, facing the challenges that the environment will throw at you. Survival City-Builder – Available March 2, 2019 PC |
| LEFT ALIVE tells a human story of survival from the perspective of three different protagonists during the devastating invasion set in war-torn Novo Slava in 2127. Experience the massive power gap between man and machine in pulse-pounding encounters: face off against powerfully armed troops, armored vehicles and towering mechs. Action Shooter – Available March 6, 2019 PC & PS4 |
The Devil you know returns in this brand-new entry in the over-the-top action series available on the PC. Prepare to get downright demonic with this signature blend of high-octane stylized action and otherworldly & original characters the series is known for. Director Hideaki Itsuno and the core team have returned to create the most insane, technically advanced and utterly unmissable action experience of this generation! Action Hack-and-Slash – Available March 8, 2019 PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
| Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 is an online action-shooter RPG experience, where exploration and player progression are essential. Save a country on the brink of collapse as you explore an open, dynamic, and hostile world in Washington, DC. Fight together with your friends in online co-op or against others in competitive PvP. Open-World – Available March 16, 2019 PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
In Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice you are the “one-armed wolf”, a disgraced and disfigured warrior rescued from the brink of death. Bound to protect a young lord who is the descendant of an ancient bloodline, you become the target of many vicious enemies, including the dangerous Ashina clan. When the young lord is captured, nothing will stop you on a perilous quest to regain your honor, not even death itself. Souls-Like Adventure – Available March 23, 2019 PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
| Outward delivers an immersive RPG experience coupled with survival gameplay, offering a deeply-rewarding challenge for the most avid gamers. In order to survive in the dazzling yet deadly world of Aurai, you’ll have to be cunning, clever and prepared. Devise diverse strategies to defeat your foes and don’t neglect your basic needs, sharing your journey with a friend, locally or online. Survival RPG – Available March 26, 2019 PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
Mortal Kombat is back and better than ever in the next evolution of the iconic franchise. The all new Custom Character Variations give you unprecedented control of your fighters to make them your own. The new graphics engine showcases every skull-shattering, eye-popping moment, bringing you so close to the fight you can feel it. Fighter – Available April 24, 2019 PC, PS4, Xbox One & Switch |
| Dive headfirst into a dystopian world devoid of society, law and order. RAGE 2 brings together two studio powerhouses – Avalanche Studios, masters of open world insanity, and id Software, creators of the first-person shooter – to deliver a carnival of carnage where you can go anywhere, shoot anything and explode everything. Action Shooter – Available May 14, 2019 PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
Torchlight Frontiers combines the heart of the beloved Torchlight series with a shared, persistent, and dynamically generated world. In true Torchlight style, players will team up with friends and devoted pets to hack and slash their way through a vibrant world, discover ancient ruins of lost civilizations, and brave dungeons filled with dangerous creatures, deadly bosses, and of course, loads of loot! MMORPG – Available 2019 PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
| Industries of Titan is an industrial city building sim/strategy game, set on Saturn’s moon Titan. Create a sprawling industrial city, design powerful factories, and compete with other Great Houses to stake your claim to the Industries of Titan! Space Sim/Strategy – Available 2019 PC |
In GTFO, up to 4 players get to play as a team of scavengers, forced to explore and extract valuable artefacts from a vast underground complex that has been overrun by horrifying monsters. Gather weapons, tools and resources to help you survive – and work to unearth the answers about your past and how to escape. Co-op Horror – Available 2019 PC |
| Embark on the most incredible odyssey known to humankind: human evolution. Spanning from 10 million to 2 million years ago, begin your journey, “Before Us,” in Neogene period Africa. Explore a beautiful yet ruthless world, from swinging through tree branches in the jungle to stalking prey across the golden savannah grasslands. Open World Survival – Available 2019 PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
Pathway is a strategy adventure game featuring turn-based combat and unique story encounters. Explore temples, tombs and the desert wilderness in a grand pulp adventure! Featuring classic 16-bit pixel art, hidden treasures and each campaign generates a new procedural map and a different set of unique story encounters. Adventure – Available 2019 PC |
| My Friend Pedro is a violent ballet about friendship, imagination, and one man’s struggle to obliterate anyone in his path at the behest of a sentient banana. The strategic use of split aiming, slow motion, and the ol’ stylish window breach create one sensational action sequence after another in an explosive battle through the violent underworld. Action – Available 2019 PC & Switch |
BIOMUTANT® is an open-world, post-apocalyptic Kung-Fu fable RPG, with a unique martial art styled combat system allowing you to mix melee, shooting and mutant ability action. A plague is ruining the land and the Tree-of-Life is bleeding death from its roots. The Tribes stand divided. Explore a world in turmoil and define its fate. Open-World RPG – Available 2019 PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
| The Last Night immerses you in the everyday life of Charlie, a second-class citizen living in a city brimming with augmentation and citizens living a gamified existence. Apathetic and disheartened by the seemingly pointless world around him, Charlie is presented with an opportunity to take matters into his own hands. But at what risk? Cyberpunk Adventure – Available 2019 PC & Xbox One |
Whispers of a Machine is a Sci-Fi Nordic Noir that tells the story of Vera, a cybernetically augmented special agent tasked with investigating a string of murders. A ground-breaking entry to the point-and-click adventure game genre by the experienced developers of Kathy Rain and The Samaritan Paradox. Point-and-Click Adventure – Available 2019 PC |
| Disco Elysium is a ground-breaking blend of a hardboiled cop show and an isometric RPG within a unique urban fantasy setting. You play a disgraced lieutenant detective in Revachol West, a shore town where corruption’s out of control, murders go unsolved, and the kids just want to dance. Chase down leads, interrogate suspects, or get lost exploring a gorgeously rendered city and unravelling its mysteries. Isometric RPG – Available 2019 PC |
From the team that brought you Firewatch, In the Valley of Gods is a sprawling narrative experience in remote, 1920s Egypt. You are Rashida, a disgraced former explorer and filmmaker given one last shot at the adventurous life you desperately miss. Somewhere, beyond the endless miles of dunes, ruins, and tombs lies an incredible archaeological discovery. Adventure – Available 2019 PC |
| Explore the secrets of a mysterious fallen temple and put your Templar faith to the test in Dark Devotion, where no sacrifice is too great in praise of your God. Measure your devotion and your bravery by journeying into deepest darkness for answers to questions that will challenge your very existence. RPG – Available 2019 PC |
Age of Wonders: Planetfall is the new strategy game from Triumph Studios, creators of the critically acclaimed Age of Wonders and Overlord series, bringing all the exciting tactical-turn based combat and in-depth 4X empire building of its predecessors to space in an all-new sci-fi setting. 4X Turn-Based Strategy – Available 2019 PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
| Between the Stars is a space action video game with traces of RPG, management and roguelike elements that puts you in the shoes of a stellar cruiser Captain. Your mission is to protect the civilized world fighting the Children of the Sun, the faction that dominates the outer worlds of the known universe. Space Simulation – Available 2019 PC |
Mr. Prepper is about to be preppered. You know something is wrong, the risk of a nuclear war is in the air and you need to be prepared for what’s coming. They promised freedom but dealing with your paranoid government is just another day in this survival crafting game. Simulation – Available 2019 PC |
| The year is 1923. You play Edward Charles Harden, an American traveller who’s come to Norway to find his missing sister. But you’re not alone: at every step of the way, Edward’s accompanied by his ward, Lissie; a gregarious, independent and enigmatic young woman. Together, you must explore this scenic coastal community in your search for Edward’s sister, and unearth the darkness that lies beneath the picturesque surface. First-Person Noir Adventure – Available 2019 PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
Degrees of Separation requires players to harness the elements of heat and cold to succeed. Two contrasting souls, Ember and Rime, are separated by an enigmatic force, and must use their respective powers to progress through a spectacular world of fantasy and adventure. 2D Puzzle-Adventure – Available 2019 PC, PS4, Xbox One & Switch |
| Imperator: Rome is the newest grand strategy title from Paradox Development Studio. Set in the tumultuous centuries from Alexander’s Successor Empires in the East to the foundation of the Roman Empire, Imperator: Rome invites you to relive the pageantry and challenges of empire building in the classical era. Manage your population, keep an eye out for treachery, and keep faith with your gods. Strategy – Available 2019 PC |
After a secretive agency in New York is invaded by an otherworldly threat, you become the new Director struggling to regain Control. From developer Remedy Entertainment, this supernatural 3rd person action-adventure will challenge you to master the combination of supernatural abilities, modifiable loadouts, and reactive environments while fighting through a deep and unpredictable world. Action-Adventure – Available 2019 PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
| The Forgotten City is a time travel murder mystery set in a mythological city. Deep underground in an ancient Roman city, twenty-six trapped explorers lay dead because one of them broke a mysterious law. Within, a portal leads back into the past, allowing you to change their fate – or witness their deaths in a time loop for eternity. First-Person Adventure – Available 2019 PC |
The Uncertain is a story-driven adventure game by ComonGames studio set in a post-apocalyptic world. Humanity disappeared from the face of the Earth and has been replaced by robots. We will see this through the eyes of one of the survivors named Emily. Together with her, the player must find out the cause for humanity’s disappearance: was it a rogue AI or something else entirely? Sci-fi Adventure – Available 2019 PC |
| Conan Unconquered is a strategy game set in the barbaric world of Conan the Barbarian where you must build your stronghold and assemble an unconquerable army to survive the savage hordes of Hyboria. Wave after wave of increasingly more difficult enemies will rush at your gates and you will need to manage resources, research new technologies to advance your defences, and recruit an ever-growing army if you are to save survive utter destruction. Survival Strategy – Available 2019 PC |
The Last Campfire is an adventure, a story of a lost ember trapped in a puzzling place, searching for meaning and a way home. Travel deeper into the lands beyond the dark forest and overcome the adversities before you. Discover beautiful wilderness filled with lost folk, strange creatures and mysterious ruins. Adventure – Available 2019 PC |
| In Aquanox Deep Descent, players control a variety of customizable ships to engage in fierce battles in the dystopian deep-sea world of Aqua. Soon the Earth’s surface has become uninhabitable. What remains of humankind lives in former mining and research stations, deep below the surface of the sea. First-Person Vehicle Shooter – Available 2019 PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
Lost in transit while on a colonist ship bound for the furthest edge of the galaxy, you awake decades later only to find yourself during a deep conspiracy threatening to destroy the Halcyon colony. As you explore the furthest reaches of space and encounter various factions, all vying for power, the character you decide to become will determine how this player-driven story unfolds. In the corporate equation for the colony, you are the unplanned variable. Sci-fi RPG – Available 2019 PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
| Your name is Rania. This is your first night working for Cloudpunk, the semi-legal delivery company based in the sprawling city of Nivalis. You go everywhere, from the Marrow below to the spires that pierce the grey clouds high above before scraping the edge of the troposphere. No delivery job is too dangerous, and no one is faster than a Cloudpunk driver. Cyberpunk Adventure – Available 2019 PC |
Outer Wilds is an open world mystery about a solar system trapped in an endless time loop. You’re the newest recruit of Outer Wilds Ventures, a fledgling space program searching for answers in a strange, constantly evolving solar system. Open-World – Available 2019 PC & Xbox One |
| Cyberpunk 2077 is a narrative-driven open-world RPG set in a dark version of the future. With fully customisable characters and the story driven by your actions, it is looking like one of the most anticipated titles this year. Cyberpunk Open-World RPG – In Development PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
Build the ultimate pirate fleet. Acquire unique and deadly ships then customize them using a deep progression system to create your own playstyle. Hunt along lucrative trade routes as unpredictable weather, warring factions, rival pirates, and other even deadlier threats constantly change the world around you. Pirates Open-World – In Development PC, PS4 & Xbox One |
So there you have it, 52 of the best of 2019’s upcoming games, and that’s definitely not even scratching the surface. My wallet shivers every year, but this year is looking bloody good already and I cannot wait to get stuck into some of these beauties! Let us know
