The top 10 games of 2014

By Calum Wilson Austin
Updated April 30 2014 - 4:14pm, first published March 9 2014 - 3:00am

The uproarious success of the new Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Xbox One consoles has launched us headfirst into the world of next-generation gaming. A plethora of exciting games listed for release this year offer a glimpse into the future of the industry. Here are 10 of the most hotly anticipated games we can look forward to in 2014.

South Park: The Stick of Truth

As it has already been censored in Australia, we won't be getting the same 2D RPG antics as the rest of the world. Regardless, the game promises to be laugh out loud funny. You play as the "new kid", a blank slate mute who must resolve a battle between good and evil that is brewing in South Park. Hopefully the frequent delays have been used to polish the game rather than just to release it in a less competitive season than originally planned.

Titanfall

Trying to top the multiplayer popularity of Call of Duty for the next generation is no mean feat, so who better to try than some ex-Infinity Ward developers in the form of the fairly new Respawn Entertainment. Piloting giant mechs in tandem with human players zipping around levels is a blast and the developers are not shy about making interesting changes to tradition. Eschewing a single player campaign for an integrated online campaign could be just what multiplayer gaming needs.

Metal Gear Solid V

Metal Gear Solid fans rejoice, you have not one but two games in the series coming out in the same year. Together they form one storyline, with Ground Zeroes acting as a prologue to Phantom Pain. Ground Zeroes seems to be designed to take advantage of the next-gen power by moving the series to an open world format and, while we don't know too much about the story, the gameplay videos we've seen show a vast and beautiful world to sneak around in.  

Elder Scrolls Online

It's probably a good thing the concept of a massively multiplayer online (MMO) Elder Scrolls game has taken so long to come to fruition. Considering the quality Bethesda have adhered to since they began the series, Elder Scrolls Online has a lot to live up to. Though it is being handled by their affiliate, Zenimax Studios, expect the same level of polish we've come to expect from Bethesda. For the first time ever, we will be able to traverse the whole of Tamriel, rather than being limited to one country. With a focus on personalised stories and fluid character progression, players can be anything from a lowly warrior-mage to the Emperor himself. Elder Scrolls Online is also being released on next-gen consoles but the studio is playing those cards very close to the chest for now.

Destiny

This game will be topping many "most anticipated" lists in the coming months. Take Bungie, the studio that created the behemoth game series Halo, and give them free reign to create a persistent, online sci-fi world, and you have a recipe for success. So far the gameplay released isn't reinventing the wheel but the combination of huge original worlds, mysterious alien artefacts and seamless co-op action has Bungie written all over it. We should know more specifics when the beta hits the PlayStation 4 in mid 2014.

Watch Dogs

Ubisoft's long awaited hackathon suffered a recent delay to give the game an extra level of polish, though taking the game from the packed late-2013 release period probably had something to do with it as well. You play as Aiden Pierce, a man of mixed morals and god-like hacking skills. Watch Dogs promises an open-world Chicago to control at a whim. Raising bridges, fiddling with traffic lights and stopping trains are just some of the abilities at your disposal as you seek revenge and redemption. Expect big things from the game as Ubisoft are using it to launch a new next-gen franchise. 

Dragon Age: Inquisition

This could be any game from Bioware and it would be on this list. They've proven themselves to be one of the best RPG makers out there, and a new entry into their Dragon Age series is a welcome sight. When a huge tear rips open the skies of Thedas and begins disgorging demons, it's up to the player to reform the shattered Inquisition, drive back the demon horde and discover the plot behind the rift's appearance. Back are the world-altering decisions, multiple playable races and a new engine. After the slight letdown of Dragon Age 2, it seems lessons have been learned. Keep an eye out for a release date in the coming months. 

Witcher 3

Witcher 3 is the main competitor to Dragon Age: Inquisition for the "most ambitions RPG of 2014" award. Developer CD Projekt Red has made its name adapting the world of the Witcher from the books by Andrzej Sapkowski. Witcher discards the black and white moralising of many RPG games in favour of a complex and conflicted protagonist who is liable to get nasty if you rub him up the wrong way. Add to this an open-world continent more than 30 times bigger than the previous game, persistent AI that takes into account your actions throughout the whole game and the prospect of an epic conclusion to the arcs hinted at in Witcher 1. We might just have a hugely ambitions, non-traditional, game on our hands that takes advantage of the true power of next-gen.

Dying Light

Dead Island was a contentious game – many found it to be prohibitively buggy but others found the co-op zombie killing madness transcended the sum of its parts. Developer Techland has taken what worked in Dead Island and applied it to next-gen. Oft described as Dead Island filtered through Mirror's Edge, your character is a free-running expert in a quarantined zombie city. With four player co-op and a persistent day-night cycle (the zombies become faster and angrier at night), Dying Light looks like the game that Dead Island always wanted to be.

Star Citizen

Star Citizen is on this list for two reasons. Firstly, it looks incredible, but it also represents a growing trend of crowd funded AAA games to compete with the big-name studio offerings. After making $US35 million on Kickstarter, Star Citizen aims to offer both a single player campaign in which you serve your mandatory time in the space-army, which leads seamlessly into a fully-open space sim experience. Complete your tour of duty and you are cast out into the galaxy with naught but one ship. Then it's up to you. Want to be a pirate or a trader? Want to re-enlist? Want to be a bounty hunter? Chris Roberts – the man behind Freelancer and Wing Commander, both hugely popular space-sims – has promised the ability to pursue your own interests free of classes and restrictions. Expect many, many pirates.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but even in this small slice of what's in store for gamers this year, it's possible to see a few trends. With the increase in processing power and advances in private internet connections, we're seeing a huge swell in the number of open world games, but now with an emphasis on integrated multiplayer experiences. Watch Dogs, Destiny and Star Citizen are perfect examples of a trend in the making. Having other players seamlessly join your world, should you desire it, to both help and hinder you will inevitably become a staple. Wisely, the big name developers seem to also be aiming towards personalised player experiences. Giving the player the ability to not only play the game their own way but to do so with friends is still a fledgling concept in the games industry but fear not, it's one that's here to stay.

Subscribe now for unlimited access.

$0/

(min cost $0)

or signup to continue reading

See subscription options

Get the latest Port Macquarie news in your inbox

Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date.

We care about the protection of your data. Read our Privacy Policy.