So, here's my list:
- Halo Infinite
- Fable
- Starfield
- Forza Horizon 5
- Hellblade 2
- Redfall
- Avowed
- Forza Motorsport
- Pyschonauts 2
- Deathloop
- Perfect Dark
- Indiana Jones
- The Outer Worlds 2
- The Elder Scrolls VI
- Project Mara
- Ghostwire Tokyo
- Everwild
- Contraband
- State of Decay 3
- As Dusk Falls
- Grounded
- Age of Empires IV
A lot of the placements here are strongly dependent on how far off these games are. I'm almost always going to be more excited about games I can play in the foreseeable future, than something that's years off. Fable is the biggest exception to that in this list for me, because that's a franchise I've just always liked a lot, was really sad to see put on ice, and now I'm just hyped for it to come back. Plus, if Playground comes anywhere close to the level of quality they've achieved in the Horizon games, this could easily be the best Fable has ever been. I can't wait to see it. Another slight outlier would be Hellblade 2. I'm honestly still captivated by the reveal trailer they had at the Game Awards, and I'm really curious to see how Ninja Theory translates this IP from the very intimate AA experience of the first game, to what is now - presumably - a much more ambitious AAA experience.
I am a big RPG guy, so if you told me that all the RPGs on the list were all coming out within the next year, they'd all be pretty much at the top of the list (probably still behind Halo tho). As it stands, I got them mixed in at various spots depending on how long I expect I'll have to wait for them. Like, if ES6 was right around the corner, I'd be unbelievably hyped, but that game is so far out, it's not even real to me yet. In fact, the only reason that Elder Scrolls, which I believe may possibly be the longest wait of all these games, isn't right near the bottom, is because everything bellow it I have a lot more questions about...or am straight up not interested in (at least as of this moment).
The two biggest wild cards are Perfect Dark, and Indiana Jones. I've never played a Perfect Dark game, so I don't know exactly what to expect here, but on paper, I have every reason to think I should be excited. I love FPS, I love the spy/espionage genre, I love badass female protagonist, and The Initiative has been formed around a whole lot of top tier talent to make this game. I'm optimistic, but having no prior attachment to the IP, and this team is ultimately working on their first game as a unit. I'm gonna need to see it in action before I really know what the appropriate hype level is. Then Indy. I love Indy. A lot of the first games I ever played as a kid were Indiana Jones games. Everything from the point and click Fate of Atlantis, to the Tomb Raider style Emperor's Tomb. I honestly hadn't played anything from MachineGames until their games got put on GP recently, and I wasn't super in love with New Order, but Wolfenstein 2 really won me over. Are they gonna make a great Indiana Jones game? Idk. If they do, I'll be HYPED, but I just don't know or trust MG enough to get my hopes up too high at this point. Show me.
