2014 has been a reality check for gamers. Before the Xbox One and PS4 were ever released, publishers spent a lot of energy demonstrating what next-gen would be capable of. It’s been just under a year since Microsoft and Sony released their consoles, and while there have been some good games to play, nothing has been quite like what we were shown in 2013.
We’re beginning to see an industry that is driven by marketing. Games are shown with jaw-dropping graphics and exciting gameplay more than a year before release, and the hype builds. Gamers talk about these games for months, posting screenshots and drooling from the mouth while waiting for their inevitable release. In many cases, these games finally come out and simply aren’t as good-looking or fun-to-play as perceived. The expectations of the current-gen simply haven’t matched with the experience, and game reception has been rocky as a result.
Related: Driveclub Review
We’ve seen a few games stumble so far this year, but in this article we’re going to look into the future, a future where there are games that are purposefully and sometimes unintentionally building unrealistic hype. The world is expected of these games, and it only makes it that much more difficult to succeed. Their goal is to be amazing as expected, leading to scenarios where they’re either stellar and only as good as expected, or less than amazing and considered a disappointment. You can see the list of 11 games in the gallery below.
Overhype: 11 Games That Will Have to Deal with Unrealistic Expectations
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Bloodborne: The PS4 System Seller
Everything about Bloodborne looks like it'll become the PS4 first system seller. It's made by From Software, a proven studio. It's retaining a lot of the qualities that have made the Souls series successful, while introducing new combat mechanics and a new setting. Really, there's almost no chance it won't be great.
The problem is that it's been hyped to incredible levels, both by gamers and Sony. Many regard it as the single most exciting game coming in 2015, although only a few have played it in Alpha or at conventions. Being able to match that immensely high level of expectation with a game that can be positively compared to its spiritual predecessors, each of which are glorified as the best RPGs of the past decade, will make for some huge discussion once the game rolls around in February.
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Final Fantasy XV: A Franchise Hero
Final Fantasy XV has taken forever to develop. Originallly titled Final Fantasy Versus XIII, little has been shown until this year's Tokyo Game Show where a trailer of four young males driving around in a car beating up enemies was displayed for all to see. Director Hajime Tabata has gone on record to say that it will be the best Final Fantasy every made. Consequently, there are many gamers who are expecting it to revive a franchise that has lost its touch. Can it do it? Maybe, but after Final Fantasy XIII it has a steep hill to climb.
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Half Life 3: Does it Even Exist?
Half-Life 3 is the single most mysterious game I've ever witnessed. It must exist, as Half-Life 2: Episode 2 ends on a huge cliffhanger that has been unfollowed since 2007. But Valve has kept its lips tight.
For some reason I get the feeling that Valve has shelved it many years until it thinks it can make something truly stellar. Due to its patience, there's a solid chance that when it comes out it'll be fantastic. However, that hasn't kept gamers from talking about it endlessly, tossing around rumors whenever any trickle of information finds its way onto the internet. The expectations are ridiculously high, especially following Half-Life 2's top tier reception. There is no room to just be great.
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No Man's Sky: Indie Ambition
No Man's Sky is one of those games that just seems too good to be true. It has a procedurally generated world out in space where you can adventure endless landscapes in a spaceship. Sound good? You aren't alone. It won many awards at E3 2014, instantly propelling it to the same level of spotlight as AAA games with multi-million dollars budgets like Assassin's Creed Unity.
As someone who loves exploring, I think I'll get a lot out of it, but there's no doubt that its small development team is feeling the pressure to deliver.
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Sunset Overdrive: Wait, Who Hyped This Game?
Truthfully, I haven't seen any Sunset Overdrive media that has sold me on its premise or gameplay. But I could have said the same thing for Forza Horizon 2, and that has become one of my favorite games of all-time.
Somehow, Sunset Overdrive has built up a ton of hype during the year. Touted as the biggest Xbox One exclusive of 2014, Insomniac's wacky open-world creation is now being looked at with keen eyes. If it does well, it'll push consoles. It even has its own Xbox One bundle that Microsoft intends to market vigorously. It's possible it'll deliver, but the hype may just be beyond its own competence.
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Tom Clancy's The Division: Can Someone Please Explain This Game to Me
Ubisoft has featured The Division in its showings throughout the year, marketing it as the big new next-gen game to look forward to. Unfortunately, it hasn't done a very good job of explaining the game. Sure, it's some kind of open-world pseudo MMO with big ambitions, but we saw how that worked out for Destiny.
Admittedly, a lot of the hype for The Division is fabricated by Ubisoft itself. But there are many gamers that think it'll set the world on fire next year. There's a chance that it might, but with its concepts are as confusing as they are, it'll need to demonstrate itself better to overcome the hype.
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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: The Biggest RPG Known to Man
We've checked out The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt at the two past E3 conventions, and what we've seen looks outstanding. As a result of our positive impressions, as well as those of many other outlets, gamers are looking at it as the single most promising RPG coming out next year. That's a lot of hype to deal with.
The Witcher 2 was great, but The Witcher 3 is going bigger in just about every way. It'll have a massive world, more combat mechanics, a deeper story, and better graphics. Or, at least it's supposed to. If it overcomes the hype, then it will indeed be one of the greatest RPGs of our time.
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The Last Guardian: It's Real, A My Cousin's Uncle Said So
Team Ico has had tremendous success, particularly with Shadow of the Colossus which many would consider to be one of the greatest games of all-time. So when it announced The Last Guardian, it was no surprise that it exploded with hype.
That was in 2009. Since then its silence has caused tumultuous discussion among PlayStation gamers. Is it coming to PS4 now? Does it even exist? Sony says it's still in development, but who knows what it looks like by now.
The development cycle has been so long that its level of expectation is beyond anything it could ever achieve. The best it can do at this point is deliver a beautiful, artistic experience and hope that the pre-release hype doesn't produce too much drama.
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World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor: Return to Greatness
World of Warcraft is celebrating its 10 year anniversary next month. In the past 10 years, it has gone through many phases, with four expansion packs, a climax of subscribers, and now a slow bleed out. Many expect it to go free-to-play, and there are already microtransactions in-place to implement that if Blizzard ever deems it necessary.
In the meantime, Warlords of Draenor is just around the corner, and is the most hyped expansion I've seen since Wrath of the Lich King. It has upgraded character models, something players have been begging for for years. It also has a form of player housing, called Garrisons. It really is a big last hurrah by Blizzard to try and hit the 10 million subscriber mark it desires.
The problem is, players are expecting a psuedo-return to the golden days of World of Warcraft, and it's still, for the most part, the same game as it's always been. Quests are likely to be what we were doing in 2004, and even the classes are being scaled back to most closely resemble their simple nature from 10 years ago. I expect to love it, but there's no way it's going to exceed such expectations.
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Star Citizen: Another WoW Killer
The MMO genre hasn't seen much innovation since World of Warcraft debuted in 2004. Enter Star Citizen, a game so promising that it earned more than $49 million from crowd-funding. It's set in space, and lets you fly around a massive galaxy in space ships. Featuring action combat instead of the HUD-based system of EVE Online, it's exactly what myself and many other MMO fans have wanted from an online game.
However, Cloud Imperium Games hasn't really proven itself. It's fan-oriented, but all of the confidence comes from Chris Roberts' release of Wing Commander, a game that came out in 1990. Asking a new team to develop a massive open-world sci-fi game and make sure gameplay feels right, and the world is immersive is a bit unreasonable. Here's to hoping that works out.
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The Order: 1886: Showcasing the PS4's Power
Developer Ready at Dawn has some great titles under its belt, including the PSP God of War games. Its next title is unlike anything it has ever designed, though. Called The Order: 1886, it's a very story focused game with third-person shooter gameplay.
Playing it at E3 2014, I found it to be underwhelming. Thankfully, it was delayed a few months, and will now debut in February 2015. PS4 gamers are expecting it to be captivating, with a unique take on third-person cover gameplay. There are no doubts that it'll have a stellar presentation. What it does need is to make the minute-to-minute gameplay experience enjoyable so it can help start the PS4's 2015 out right.
