The video game industry seems to be announcing new titles with hardly any descriptive information to accompany the announcement. Studios shroud the details of games, waiting to reveal the specifics at large industry conferences like the Electronic Entertainment Expo. E3 has always been a hotbed for developers to debut new features in games, hence the sparsely detailed announcements over which fans are left to salivate in the months surrounding the event.
Unsurprisingly, 2015 is brimming with games that have towering expectations and little to show for it. Four of these titles are particularly noteworthy and could prove to be either revolutionary or disappointing, depending largely on whether the developers can take advantage of new hardware inside gaming consoles.
"No Man’s Sky"
(Photo courtesy of Hello Games)Everyone has been quick to call Hello Games’s procedurally generated universe the most promising title of 2015. Admittedly, the idea of seamlessly transitioning between exploring planet surfaces to warping through entire solar systems in a matter of seconds is tantalizing. However, having an endless amount of space to explore and conquer can only be awe inspiring for so long. There needs to be an underlying objective and as of now, Hello Games has been annoyingly vague about exactly what it is players will be doing. The majority of player’s attention spans will falter without a clear or meaningful goal and until one is explained, many are left skeptical about "No Man’s Sky."
"Just Cause 3"
Avalanche Studios’ open-world romp through Caribbean espionage and over the top stunts was a sleeper hit in 2006 and again with its sequel in 2010. Specializing in the chaotic, "Just Cause" has always been a spectacle to behold and undeniably fun despite brandishing a sloppy polish. If Avalanche can utilize the upgraded PlayStation 4 and Xbox One hardware to smooth out its product and add a multiplayer mode that supports thousands of players at once, "Just Cause 3" could really be something to behold.
"Persona 5"
The surprise announcement for "Persona 5" sort of came and went, leaving fans with little more than a logo to stare at during the cryptically brief trailer. A series so revered and cherished should garner more buzz. Considering developer Atlus’s track record with the series, "Persona 5" on the PlayStation 4 could be a revelatory experience. If Atlus can manage to maintain its wildly off-kilter look into the lives of investigative high school students by delivering another sprawling journey with excellent characters, "Persona 5" could be a winner. For now, we are left wondering.
"Assassin’s Creed: Victory"
Ubisoft failed to impress with its 2014 lineup. Every other month seemed to bring with it yet another botched high budget title, riddled with bugs and mediocrity. "Assassin’s Creed: Unity" fell victim to the same syndrome and suffered a storm of public backlash as a result. The supposedly accidental leak of Victory’s setting being in Victorian era London, definitely turned a few heads. News then broke that Ubisoft Quebec, rather than the usual Montreal studio, would be helming the project.
There’s no doubt "Assassin’s Creed" is a resilient series – it has been through rough patches before – but if "Victory" doesn’t manage to iron out the kinks, dazzle with technical prowess and innovate the core mission structure, we could very well have another Unity on our hands.
There is a lot to look forward to in 2015, but being optimistic about any of it is going to be difficult when so little is known about many of the year’s flagship releases. Many games are hardly guaranteed to see a 2015 launch because delays are all too common in today’s industry. Regardless, 2014 was filled with such a high volume of let downs that developers really owe it to gamers around the world to salvage what’s left of their dignity. Hope is all we have.
Tell the reporter your most anticipated video games of 2015 at nlatona@asu.edu or follow @Bigtonemeaty on Twitter.
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