Given the ridiculous time and money investments that are required to make games in this day and age, it’s no surprise that developers and publishers across the industry have become as risk-averse as they have, but thankfully, swinging for the fences is still something we see games doing quite a bit. Whether it’s through their storytelling, gameplay mechanics, the scale of their content offerings, or any number of other reasons, there’s quite a few games coming out in the future that have caught our eye with how ambitious they’re being (or at least how ambitious it seems like they’re being). Here, we’re going to talk about a few such games.
GRAND THEFT AUTO 6
Let’s start with the most obvious pick first, because of course, if Rockstar is making a new game, it’s going to be mind-bogglingly ambitious. Time and again, the studio has pushed the envelope with technical polish, attention to detail, open world design, storytelling, and more, and there’s very little reason to believe that GTA 6 isn’t headed in the exact same direction. Of course, all we’ve seen of it so far is one trailer, but hopefully that’ll change in the coming months.
FINAL FANTASY 7 REBIRTH
Being the second instalment of an entire trilogy of full-fledged games that is collectively remaking one of the greatest games ever made, even in the most basic sense, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is, like its predecessor, looking like an incredibly ambitious game. Then you add to that the fact that it’s set to be a massive, open world behemoth with a bevy of content, combine it with all the many tantalizing narrative mysteries it’s promising, and you get a game we can’t help but be impressed by already, even if it’s on a conceptual level.
DRAGON’S DOGMA 2
At long last, Dragon’s Dogma fans are going to be able to dive into its sequel, and based on everything Capcom has said about it so far, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is looking like it might be worth the wait. The promises it’s making are exciting ones. Take, for instance, the fact that not only will the game have a massive, seamless open world with no loads, Capcom has said that that world is going to be jam-packed with incredible side content that is going to reward players for their time, something that we sadly very rarely see in open worlds of this scale. And then, of course, you have the monstrous boss fights that you’d expect from Dragon’s Dogma, which are looking like they’re going to touch unprecedented heights with their sheer scale.
MAX PAYNE 1 AND 2 REMAKE
Other than the fact that a combined remake of Max Payne 1 and 2 is in development, very little is known about the project, but even from what little we know, we can’t help but be excited about its potential. The long-awaited return of Max Payne being handled by Remedy Entertainment itself is bound to catch attention regardless of any other factors, but add to that the fact that this is going to be a single, contiguous experience that combines the series’ first two instalments into a single, contiguous whole, and our curiosity about what shape this game will take only grows stronger.
CRIMSON DESERT
We’ve been hearing about Crimson Desert for a while now, and it’s certainly in the category of games that certainly look interesting but have question marks over whether or not they’re actually going to end up that way. But if what we’ve seen of Crimson Desert proves to be an accurate representation of the game, it might just end up being one of the most staggeringly ambitious open world experiences in recent years. From parkour, combat, and a multitude of traversal systems to an abundance of side activities, quests, and more, we saw a ridiculous amount of things in its packed Gamescom trailer last year, so at the very least, we can safely say Pearl Abyss’ action RPG is making some pretty lofty promises where its scale is concerned.
WHERE WINDS MEET
It’s always exciting when an unknown developer comes out with a big, ambitious showing for a game out of nowhere, and Everstone Studios did pretty much exactly that with Where Winds Meet. There’s just so much that the developer is promising with this game- a massive open world with Breath of the Wild’s design sensibilities, a fully fleshed-out character creator backed by incredible depth in role-playing systems and mechanics, a bevy of content with considerable focus being placed on choice and consequence mechanics, and so much more. Will the game actually be able to make good on those promises, and do so in a way that feels cohesive? That much remains to be seen, but we’re certainly keeping an eye on it.
LOST SOUL ASIDE
We first heard about Lost Soul Aside nearly seven years ago, when, as a gorgeous-looking action RPG being developed (at the time) by a single person, it instantly caught the collective attention of the masses. But besides the fact that “ambitious” is the best possible way to describe a AAA project being made by a single person (or, as the case is now, a single person and his newly formed development team), the game itself is also making some grand promises, whether that’s on the technical front or with its character action-style hack-and-slash combat. It’s also set to be published as a PlayStation Studios game, which brings even higher expectations of quality- ones that, hopefully, it’ll be able to meet.
SKYDANCE’S CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BLACK PANTHER GAME
We’ve played several Marvel games in recent years, and are set to play several more, and though the licenses’ track record has been hit and miss, Skydance New Media’s untitled Captain America and Black Panther game is looking like quite an intriguing process. Developed by a team that’s led by Uncharted creator Amy Hennig, the game is promising a bombastic, adrenaline-fueled, narrative-driven single player experience, which is an enticing prospect in and of itself. But this is also a game where we’re going to be playing not one, but two iconic superheroes, while with its period World War 2 setting, it’s also looking to set itself apart from the increasingly saturated superhero space in some interesting ways. Hopefully we’ll be seeing more of it in the not-too-distant future.
BLACK MYTH: WUKONG
Every time we’ve seen more of Black Myth: Wukong, it’s looked increasingly more promising, and the fact that it’s coming from a relatively unknown developer has only made us that much more aware of how good it’s looking. Even beyond its impressive technical ambitions though, from a pure gameplay perspective, with its promise of a unique take on Soulslike combat, showpiece set pieces and boss fights, and a story inspired by classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, it has all the right elements in place to deliver something special. Will it be able to make good on those promises? We’ll find out when it launches this August.
THE ALTERS
11 bit studios’ The Alters might not be the technical beast that many other games on this feature are looking like they will be, but it’s caught our attention for entirely different reasons nonetheless. Focused on a single character who must survive alone on an inhospitable planet, The Alters will see players making alternate versions of protagonist Jan, each with different skills and personalities, to further their goals. Narratively, that’s an incredibly fascinating and weird premise- and we’re always down for more weird stuff.
CLOCKWORK REVOLUTION
Over the years, inXile Entertainment has proven itself as one of the best RPG developers around, but appropriately enough for what’s now a first-party Xbox studio, its next game, Clockwork Revolution, is looking so much more ambitious. And that’s not just because, unlike its past works, it’s being billed as a full AAA FPS RPG. Even beyond those very obvious differences, Clockwork Revolution’s premise is looking fascinating, with players being thrown into a vivid steampunk world where time manipulation and choice-and-consequence mechanics will combine to (supposedly) create an incredibly reactive experience. We’re excited to see how the game goes about bringing that vision to life.
CONTRABAND
We’ve seen very, very little of Contraband (in that we’ve seen nothing other than a logo and a CG teaser), but if details on the game that have surfaced through unofficial channels over the last few years are anything to go by, it’s going to be one to keep an eye on. An Xbox-backed open world game that’s focused on co-op gameplay, where your primarily goal is to engage in all manner of heists across a massive map? That’s an incredibly compelling elevator pitch, if nothing else, and hopefully we’ll be seeing more soon to get some concrete details on what the actual game itself is going to look like.
OD
As a rule, it’s easy to assume that a new game being made by Hideo Kojima and his team at Kojima Productions is going to push the envelope for games as a whole in different ways, and sure enough, that’s what his Xbox-exclusive horror game OD seems to be doing. Its very brief trailer showcased what might be the most detailed and shockingly expressive faces we’ve seen in a game (or a game trailer), while Kojima himself is also promising to blend games and film with OD, something that he has, of course, been chasing for decades. Add to that the fact that the game is also set to use Microsoft’s cloud technology for… something, and our curiosity climbs even higher.
DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH
Let’s stick with Kojima for a while longer, because of course, OD isn’t the only game he’s working on. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach recently wowed one and all with its State of Play showing, and once again, it’s looking like a bizarre fever dream, as Kojima’s games often do. Robots that laugh like babies, a villain who shots electricity out of a guitar that doubles as an axe, a living puppet that moves at half frame rate, a story that’s heading in directions we can’t even hope to guess at right now, and more of the original Death Stranding’s unique open world gameplay loop- we don’t know yet how all of these elements will come together, but knowing Kojima, we can at least assume that the end result will be an entirely singular one.
THE ELDER SCROLLS 6 (PROBABLY?)
The Elder Scrolls 6 only started full production a few months ago, which means that it’s going to be several more years before we even see it (let alone play it). So why exactly are we assuming it’s going to be one of the most ambitious upcoming games? Well, because it’s Elder Scrolls, and it’s Bethesda. Regardless of what you think about the quality of Bethesda Game Studios’ games (especially in recent years), one thing that cannot be denied is that they never settle for the norm. Swinging for the fences is in the studio’s DNA, and one way or another, it’s pretty much guaranteed that The Elder Scrolls 6 will do that as well.
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