Romeo is a Deadman is the first big one. Suda51's a director who has my undying loyalty, even if I feel he's taken a somewhat passive-aggressive attitude towards people like me who put his early work on a pedestal. Still, even when he's clearly taking the piss, he's still consistently entertaining and original. As long as he's making games, I'm there.
Arknights Endfield is the closest one. Been getting into Arknights recently. There are certain aspects of the game design of Gacha games that just feel alien to me but I will have to admit, it did capture my interest. Great art direction and world building and some pretty strong writing. Excited to see how it translates to an open world action game. Visuals look on point.
Crimson Desert looks interesting. Intriguing synthesis of western medieval fantasy and East Asian martial arts cheese, what seems to be a combat system with a very high skill ceiling and what appears to a huge world presented with gorgeous graphics. Has some potential to be another Forspoken, might also turn out to be another Ghost of Tsushima. Either way, looking forward to see which one it is.
Showa American Story: Looks like the kind of quirky, high concept Double A fare that always has my good will. Not sure if it's gonna be any good mechanically, but its creative setting and visual style and general punk rock flair have me intrigued.
Control 2: Well. You know. Another Remedy game. I don't like all their work equally but they can always be trusted to deliver a densely written cinematic spectacle. Arguably often a tad overwritten and overdirected but I'll take something that's trying too hard over something that's not trying hard enough.
Phantom Blade Zero: Character action games are like boomer shooters, they come out, I play them and whether they're especially good or not, well, I almost always get some enjoyment out of them. This one's looking quite good so far so I'm optimistic.
Neverness to Everness: Another Gacha game. This one with an urban open world setting. The first game to go for an anime GTA vibe and I'm here for it and, frankly, more excited for it than for the actual GTA that may or may not come out this year. Has a cool chill slice of life urban fantasy vibe and I'm always up for an open world game set in an Asian city. Big Ghostwire Tokyo fan. Looks neat.
Pragmata: The demo was fun, I enjoy the faux Shinkawa character and mecha design, I'm always there for some quirky space stuff. Plus, the demo did feel good to play.
Other stuff that looks interesting but I'm not actually expecting to come out this year: OD, Tides of Annihilation, Ananta, Silent Hill Townfall, Blood of Dawnwalker
And not even getting into indie games, because I know their planned release dates mean absolutely nothing and are regularly off by years.
www.ign.com
I'm assuming progress is kept if you end up finishing the demo and buying the rest. Sounds good I'll check it out