There are a great many things I’m excited for which are due to release in 2018, and I figured it’d be dandy to go through them in a neat little blog post. And also to never say ‘dandy’ again.
I won’t go through everything, because else we’d be here all day, but I will point out a few highlights in each category I can think of. I’d normally discuss gaming over on my gaming blog, but I don’t think there’s enough really to stretch into a full blog post over there. That’s not to say that there’s nothing to be excited for, but that what I am excited for is a lot of little things that I don’t have much to say about.
Games
World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth
Well, duh. World of Warcraft is easily my most played game throughout my entire life, and it’s fair to say that nowadays I’m more excited for an expansion than I am for Christmas. And I’m no humbug.
Every two years we get a whole new expansion for World of Warcraft and, if the last expansion is anything to go by, the game is only improving with age. Whilst there’s no guarentee that Battle will match Legion‘s record, what has been announced has got me excited already. I’m intrigued by the island expeditions, apprehensive about warfronts, but most of all, dying to dive into the game’s new zones and experience a fresh round of Azerothian fantasy. And while the expansion probably won’t be releasing until autumn this year or later, there’s a patch on the horizon which will drastically improve the levelling experience and potentially include early access to some of the expansion’s allied races as a pre-purchase reward.
And WoW’s the one franchise I’ll always pre-purchase.
Dragon Quest: Builders (Nintendo Switch)
Initially dismissed as yet another Minecraft clone, I didn’t pay much attention to the game when it launched on Playstation platforms. Dragon Quest as a series is something I’m vaguely familiar with, having played the opening 5 or so hours of two of the franchise’s JRPGs on my DS but never delving much deeper than that. I enjoyed the games, but it’s not a genre that’s ever really hooked me into a full playthrough. After seeing some gameplay of Builders from a Youtuber I follow, however, I changed my tune and lamented its limitation to console.
That is, until it was announced for the Switch. Today I downloaded the free demo, which contains an hour’s worth of story content and unlimited access to the game’s first island thereafter. (I’m not sure how much gameplay you can get out of that without progression, but I’m sure I’ll go back and revisit it.) To my surprise I found myself having a brilliant time. The game is full of charm, iterating on the survival-sandbox genre enough to keep me interested (like Portal Knights), whilst feeling surprisingly polished in performance and control schemes (unlike Portal Knights). The questing system keeps me interested as opposed to losing focus like I would in Minecraft, and I found the story and characters to be enjoyable, which is probably the biggest surprise to come out of a survival-sandbox game.
It comes out on February 9th and I’m buying it the moment it’s available.
Ooblets
I know precious little about this game and I think I’ll keep it that way. Just know that it’s the treasured lovechild of Pokemon and Stardew Valley, all wrapped up in an adorable art-style that I can’t wait to live in for as long as the game will provide for me.
The continued existence of the Nintendo Switch
I’ll confess that the Switch’s strong launch with Zelda and Mario has left me with little to be personally excited for in 2018, besides the notable indies. I’m holding out for some announcements, and while I’m sure that any kind of Animal Crossing or Pokemon announcement would be for a game that’s not released until at least 2019, I’m keeping an eye out for whatever the hell they do with Virtual Console. Animal Crossing Gamecube on my Switch would be a best case scenario. The worst, I fear, will be a delay on any Virtual Console activity (bar the subscription based game a month) until they’re sure the Wii U and 3DS are dead and buried.
As someone who never bought a Wii U or a New 3DS… give me my Virtual Console, damnit. I’ll give you all of my money.
Also… Untitled Yoshi Title? GIMMIE ❤
Movies
Avengers: Infinity War
I’ll preface this by saying that the only reason Black Panther isn’t up here is because I’m not familiar with that story at all. I’ll see it, and hopefully I’ll enjoy it, but I have no idea what to expect. Knowing Marvel, I’m sure it’ll be good. (Also, I’m not a big movie guy, so expect a lot of comic book movies on this list and not much else.)
I’ve seen every MCU movie bar Iron Man 1 (I should really get on that) and Ant-Man. Oh, and the Incredible Hulk, if you count that. Infinity War is basically what all of it has been leading to, and I’m sure it’s going to be one epic, Thanos-sized treat. Marvel have yet to disappoint me.
Other than that, I’ve not much to say. I haven’t been looking that much into the development or planning of this movie, and I feel like I should be more excited than I am. It’s kind of been overshadowed by the next movie in this list, though.
Spider-Man: Into the Spidey-Verse
I’m not sure I’ve ever been this excited for a movie, and I couldn’t really tell you why. I’m not a big movie guy. I prefer series. But something about the animation style and the atmosphere shown in the trailer grabbed me, and as a Spider-Man fan that’s criminally uneducated on the Miles Morales side of the story (or the Spidey-Verse storyline), I couldn’t be happier that they’re finally exploring it in a movie. Plus, the decision to make this animated as opposed to live-action opens up a whole wreath of opportunities for spectacle, setting and scope.
I’m gonna go rewatch the trailer again.
Solo: A Star Wars Story
It’s Star Wars. Is there anything else to say?
Fine, fine. While Han Solo isn’t my favourite character in the Star Wars Universe, he’s still a good one, and despite the movie’s existence epitomising Disney’s mining the franchise for money, I’m not going to turn my nose up at potential for a good Star Wars story.
Series
Black Mirror Season 4
Oops, I’ve already watched it. I should have written this on January 1st. But seeing as it released on 2018, I feel like it’d be unfair not to include it. Season 4 contained some of my favourite episodes in the series – namely U.S.S Callister and Hang the DJ. Crocodile was fun too, despite the technology not being at the forefront of the episode so much as a mere plot device. I also quite enjoyed Metalhead due to the sheer absurdity of it… which I hope is what they were going for, else all the criticism is well justified.
But anyway, onto the stuff that is actually yet to be released.
Doctor Who Season 11
Despite enjoying Peter Capaldi as an actor, I never really got on with his Doctor as much as I got on with David Tenant and Matt Smith’s iterations. Plus, I’ve always found Steven Moffat’s plots to be very hit-or-miss and often riddled with plot holes. I won’t celebrate his departure as show-runner (as I’ve clearly enjoyed the show since season Russel T. Davies), but I’m very excited for Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor, as well as seeing what Chris Chibnall has in store for the series as new show-runner.
Not as excited for the new companions, but I’ll reserve my judgement for now.
Jessica Jones Season 2
Jessica Jones was my favourite of the Defenders series’, although given how underwhelming I found the actual first season of the Defenders to be, I didn’t particularly enjoy her last appearance. I’m also apprehensive about the trailer for season 2, which isn’t that exciting. Hopefully, the consequences of season 1’s finale won’t leave the second season feeling shallow, as I’ve been waiting for this for over 2 years.
Game of Thrones Season 8
Damnit. The rumours were true. HBO recently announced that Game of Thrones won’t be returning until 2019. And while that’s good news in the long run, it’s anguish knowing the wait extends until then.
Why did I put it on this list? Because I’m just that excited.
Perpetually Perturbed 