Most Anticipated AAA Games 2021

The Biggest Games of 2021 to Watch

A few weeks back we published a list of our most anticipated games for 2021. However, looking back on it, something seems to stand out and that is, coincidentally, all the games on the list are independent titles. I think this obviously speaks to the quality that independent games have risen to over the years, but on the bright side, it also leaves the door open for another list and everyone loves list. This time around we will feature another batch of most anticipated games of 2021, but only premium, AAA titles that have huge teams and budgets behind them and here they are.

Resident Evil 8 or Resident Evil: Village

Back in January of 2017, Capcom did something that seemed impossible. They fixed Resident Evil. This is not a hyperbole, as the Resident Evil franchise was heading down a road that could have doomed the series. Despite confusing commercial success, Resident Evil 6 is the worst reviewed mainline game in the series. Too many bad experiences and people will stop trusting a brand and that felt like what was happening with Resident Evil after the fourth entry. We have seen this happen multiple times this decade with companies like Bioware and CD Projekt.

Resident Evil 4 is widely considered to be among the top of list for the greatest games of all time and arguably the best Resident Evil game in the series, though Resident Evil 2 still holds the top spot in my heart, especially after the remake. However, after seeing the success of RE4, Capcom figured that what people wanted was more action.

Unfortunately, Capcom continued to push too far into the action direction along with following trends of the industry at the time with RE5 being co-op based, and RE6 only being recognizable due to the title of the game. Resident Evil 5 was an enjoyable co-op experience, but it lacked any resemblance of the series that put it on the map in the first place.

What Capcom did after the release of RE6 put the Resident Evil train back on the proper tracks that it should be on, survival horror. Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, was breath of fresh air to the series going back to the roots of what made the series special in the first place. Speaking firsthand, it rekindled my love for the series. Resident Evil 7 felt like a modern reboot of the series. It included staples that made Resident Evil special in the first place. Average protagonist, close quarters and an ominous setting. The seventh mainline entry also had a lot more going for it including having some great visuals, new characters to get acquainted with and one of the best VR experiences initially on PSVR.

Critics and fans agreed with RE7 selling almost 8 million copies since it release as it was revealed by Capcom that RE7 has become the best selling Resident Evil game of all time when not looking at entries that have been ported to multiple systems across multiple generations. That shows just how much the series is adored by fans who just want good survival horror on a blockbuster level.

That was over four years ago and although we have seen two great remakes of RE2 and RE3 in the subsequent years. We haven’t seen an original entry and what direction the series will take post Biohazard. If the trailers are anything to get excited about then Resident Evil 8 looks to be blending some of the best elements of the series.

When speaking with IGN, Peter Fabiano, one of the producers of RE8, echoed these sentiments “We feel it’s an accumulation of all the best elements of the Resident Evil games from the past 25 years, with everything fans love about action infused survival horror plus new surprises. Of course, there are plenty of puzzles to solve and mysteries to unfold. Players will once again take control of Ethan Winters, experiencing more of the story set in motion in RE7 Biohazard”

Although a lot can be said of how Resident Evil established itself as the godfather of the survival horror genre by using a third person perspective, the change to first person was a fresh change that the series was looking for among other things. Village not only will be continuing to use the first person perspective but it is also a continuation of Ethan Winters story, the protagonist from RE7 Biohazard. I enjoyed a fresh perspective on the universe that allowed new players to get invested in the series.

What we have seen so far evokes Resident Evil 4 with a more supernatural, occult feeling set in the European countryside. As mentioned earlier, we all know how well RE4 went down in the history books. Village looks to be taking the best elements and fusing it into the RE Engine that was used for Biohazard, the visually gorgeous remakes from RE2 and RE3 among multiple other Capcom titles.

One aspect that also has my anticipation level high for Village is that it has currently only been announced for PC and the new, more powerful consoles, the PS5 and the Xbox Series X. We have seen how games have to compromise on their vision when they try to design it across multiple generations. “new technologies are allowing us to immerse players in the game in ways we couldn’t achieve before, in what we hope will be the most pulse pounding Resident Evil to date” Fabiano continued. These sentiments are exciting as we are slowly seeing next gen experiences come to fruition.

Looking at the precedent of the recent releases of the series, it would seem that we will likely be playing this game within the first half of the year but would look like Spring would be a realistic release window. Resident Evil 7 came out in January of 2017 back when premium titles typically waited for the Fall. Publishers quickly learned that this early window is when people are hungry for games and usually stuck indoors during the cold winter months. The Resident Evil 2 remake also released in January of 2019 and finally Resident Evil 3 remake came out a little later during the first few days of April in 2020. All of these releases saw great success within their internal projections and it would be very surprising if Resident Evil 8 came out after May.

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart

One of the first games that will likely take full advantage of all of the next generation features of the PS5 is everyones favourite Lombax, Ratchet. Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart looks like the result of creativity without limits at Insomniac. It’s one of the easiest bets to say that the new entry from Ratchet and Clank is going to be good, but the big question is just how good will it be?

When taking a look at Insomniacs history with the series, we have seen them release eleven titles with an average rating of around 82, which is largely lowered by a few missteps in the series near the turn of the last decade. All indications, including a return to form on the last Ratchet entry, point to this being the best game the series has seen so far and that means a lot for a franchise that began almost 20 years ago.

When first revealed at Sony’s PS5 games showcase in June of 2020, seeing Ratchet and Clank use the power of the custom designed SSD to instantly shift between dimensions, it was easy to draw comparisons to TitanFall 2 and the amazing time traveling sequence that stood out as the best moment of that excellent game. In Rift Apart, instead of a sequence built around an interesting mechanic, the whole game will be built around it and instead of just swapping between two scenarios, the possibilities look much greater.

The main reason for Rift Apart potentially being the greatest game in the series is thanks to all of the new power and features of the PS5. When speaking to Games Radar about how the new tech will propel the game forward, Game Director Mike Daly said “The adaptive triggers not only give us another channel for weapons to feel unique, in some cases they enable extra functionality. It gives us a way to add nuance to weapon functions that just weren’t possible before. It’s much more intuitive to have this secondary function directly on the trigger than have players learn different buttons”

This is coming from a series that is known for its innovative and out of this world arsenal. The other thing Ratchet and Clank has been known for since 2002 is the high quality of its visuals. It was likely one of the first games that people started comparing it to playing a Pixar movie. That was almost twenty years ago and it seems like games might have finally reached the same playing field as animation. The PlayStation 5 and a new Ratchet title from Insomniac seem made for each other with things like 4K, HDR, and Ray Tracing.

If Astro’s Playroom, one of the highlights of last year for me, was just scratching the surface of what developers are doing with the new technology of the PS5, namely the DualSense, then I can’t wait to see what Insomniac will do, especially coming off two critical and commercial hits.

Deathloop

On the most anticipated games list of 2021 that we created in early December, there were two things that stood out from that list. First, they were all independent games, which speaks of the quality and scope that independent games are capable of but secondly, two of the three games on the list featured a time loop mechanic. 12 Minutes has you replaying the same 12 minute loop over and over again while you try to piece together what is happening and Returnal places you in the shoes of a female astronaut stranded on a hostile alien planet stuck in a time loop after each death.

The final game on this list should come as no surprise that it also features a time loop mechanic and this would be the PS5 exclusive, Deathloop. Obviously, the main mechanism of the game would likely be enough to get it a place on this list, as time loops are the next BR but this game is being developed by Arkane Studios. Since being acquired by Zenimax back in 2010, Arkane has been consistently delivering quality games that are dripping with style and by the looks of what we have seen so far, Deathloop will be no different.

In Deathloop, you are an assassin who is trapped in a 24 hour time loop and your mission is to assassinate 8 targets while using some Dishonored style powers and some BioShock style weaponry. What stands out from previous Arkane games is the inclusion of multiplayer, whereas the studios previous games Dishonoured and Prey were both crafted, single player experiences, DeathLoop adds in the optional element of another player controlling the rival assassin who is trying to stop you. The good news is that if you don't want your game to be invaded, you can play the game fully in single player.

Initially scheduled for release in late 2020, Deathloop was pushed back and now currently has a release date of May 21. Thats good news that the studio had more time to complete their vision hopefully but it’s also just over four months away.

With Microsoft recently acquiring ZeniMax Media, there was questions about what would remain mulitplatform and what would remain exclusive. If Microsoft really wanted to break the exclusivity contract that PlayStation has with Deathloop, then it likely could have been done, but Microsoft has to be commended for continuing to make gamer friendly decisions for the time being. It could also have been because Deathloop has been developed with the DualSense in mind, something that Xbox doesn’t have an answer for just yet, though it is getting a simulteaneous release on PC.

When speaking with the PlayStation Blog, Anne Lewis, Senior Content Manager from Bethesda explained how the DualSense will be utilized. “When you first start out, you might be working with a lower tier weapon, something that is a little more prone to jamming. When it’s jammed, your trigger will be blocked halfway giving you instantaneous feedback” The post also mentions how ever weapon will be different. “Every weapon will feel unique. From the way it fires or swings to the way it reloads, you’ll feel the difference through the DualSense”

Deathloop’s use of the DualSense goes beyond just making the weapons feel unique “every type of movement your character makes will provide a different sensation, whether you’re running, sliding, climbing, sneaking or teleporting” All of these ways in which Deathloop is taking advantage of the next gen technology combined with the quality of an Arkane title line up to be a great experience.

Honorable Mentions

It wouldn’t be a true list without squeezing in a few extra games. There is still a chance that 2021 will be one of the greatest years of gaming and there is likely so many experiences that will be released this year that haven’t even been announced yet. As for what has been announced, Hitman 3 comes to mind. The episodic nature of the first game connected with me, but for whatever reason didn’t play the Hitman 2 and I am excited for the timing and the refinement that the final game in the trilogy looks to be offering. The fact that this game is being released in January and that you can play all levels from the first two games if you own them using Hitman 3 are nice bonuses.

After taking three years off, which is something that the Battlefield franchise has never done since it first started in 2002, the hope is that the series can once again rise to the challenge and get back in the fray for best shooter. Battlefield V was released at the end of 2018 and underwhelmed both newcomers and the hardcore fan base. This means that by the time Battlefield 6 gets released at the end of 2021, it will have been three years and hopefully enough time is what the series needs to bring it back to prominence and once again take on Call of Duty as the premier shooter. Obviously, returning to the Bad Company series would seem like the best choice, only time will tell what EA and Dice can do with the series after 3 years hiatus and new console technology.

Last week we talked about what it would take for Back 4 Blood, the spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead to succeed in 2021. The hope is that with the studio that created the co-op, survival shooter genre developing the game and enough fresh ideas like the deck building, Back 4 Blood should be just fine. Back 4 Blood features classic mode if you don’t want to partake in the deck building aspect, but it seems like this innovation will be just what Turtle Rock needed to create another smash hit that will have longevity thanks to the new dynamics that will emerge during each session.