Unlike its screen-based sibling industries, gaming has seen relatively little technological upheaval in recent years. That's not to say that everything's great—because it is really not—just that games are as popular as ever, if not more so. Perhaps fittingly, game development feels like it's in a better place than just a few years ago; sure, there are annualized franchises galore, but there's also a vibrant landscape of indie and small-studio projects to go along with the budget-straining blockbusters that dominate the industry's hype machine. And plenty of titles from both categories (as well as the vast inbetweenness) look to be on tap for the coming year.

Between consoles, PCs, mobile, and VR/AR, 2019 will deliver more games than anyone can reasonably be expected to keep track of, but we looked out over the horizon and found the 15 that intrigue us the most. (Note: to be considered, games need to have some visual document of their existence, which is why titles like Respawn's Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order didn't make it on.) Given the uneasy truce between expectation and reality, it's more than a little possible that none of these make it on to our year-end list come December, but that's what anticipation is all about: going off a trailer and a dream (and a creative team, and a premise, and a dozen other things, but let's not let details get in the way of a good aphorism). So dream on.

Kingdom Hearts III (January 29)

Kingdom Hearts II came out in 2005. Since then, the Square-Enix-meets-Disney mashup franchise has filled the years with weird prequels, surprisingly essential games only available on the Nintendo 3DS, and HD re-releases. Now, finally, finally, the third numbered entry in the Kingdom Hearts series is coming out at the end of January. The disks are printed, they're shipping, everything is finally coming together. We'll get to finish the long saga of impossibly optimistic boy Sora as he goes on existentially poignant journeys with his best friends, Donald and Goofy, under the tutelage of Mickey Mouse and the magician Yen Sid from Fantasia. It's, uh, it's a weird series. I'm very excited. —Julie Muncy

Far Cry New Dawn (February 15)

Ubisoft's open-world shooter franchise has gotten bigger and open-worldlier over the years, but for me it's at its best when it leaves the "numbered" titles and gets weird: expansion titles like the ’80s fever dream Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, or the bafflingly brutal Far Cry Primal. And soon, New Dawn will bring players back to the militia-populated Montana of Far Cry 5—albeit 17 years later, after a nuclear event has rolled humanity's odometer back a few clicks. Expect cobbled-together weapons, identical-twin Big Bads, and (of course) a canine companion or two. —Peter Rubin

Metro Exodus (February 15)

Up until now, the Metro series has been confined to the subways. Set in the Russian underground, the series, based on novels by Dmitry Glukhovsky, the titles are some of the best post-apocalyptic gaming out there, suffused with an eerie, elegiac mood and a brilliant attention to detail. For Exodus, Metro is finally coming into the light, following the protagonist, a young man named Artyom, as he seeks a better life on the frozen surface. But it surely won't abandon the tense first-person action, creative exploration, and supernatural touch of its predecessors. —JM

Anthem (February 22)

There may be no studio more linked to the idea of role-playing franchises than Bioware. Over the past 20 years, Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age all found die-hard (and sometimes divided) followings. Now, though, the EA-owned company is trying to pull those followings into a new, online realm. On its surface, Anthem emulates Destiny's shared-shooter format, mixing third-person open-world multiplayer action with RPG-level character customization evolution. As exosuited mercenaries called Freelancers, players will be free to explore individually or band together to take on larger foes. Bioware has been claiming more player choice and narrative heft than Bungie's predecessor, but until the demo becomes available later this month, it's hard to know whether Anthem has a destiny of its own. —PR

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (March 22)

Over five games, from Demon's Souls to Dark Souls 3, From Software has proven itself deeply adept at making a certain kind of punishing action game. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a well-deserved opportunity to branch out. Set in 16th-century Japan, it's a leaner, sharper, more traditional action game, a whirlwind tale of samurai, monsters, and, naturally, some good-ol' vengeance. Can From Software design more traditional action as impeccable as the deliberately clumsy, disempowered combat of the Souls games? I don't honestly know. But I have enough faith to give this a shot. —JM

Rage 2 (May 14)

The first Rage was an odd game, a bleak open-world first-person shooter developed by id Software during a time when id was waning as a company, without the influence or the vibrancy that had defined it in its glory days. Rage 2, on the other hand, is loud, bombastic, full of color and violent energy. And it's being made in id's second glory days, heralded by their exciting and frankly brilliant Doom remake. Every time I get a glimpse of this Mad-Max-inspired action epic, I get excited. Sometimes, you just need a game that's big and dumb and wild. This looks to be precisely that. —JM

Shenmue 3 (August 27)

Another title on this list that we've been waiting ages for, Shenmue 3 promises to finally complete the murder-revenge trilogy that began on the Sega Dreamcast in 1999. When the series, which stars teenage martial artist Ryo Hazuki seeking revenge for the death of his father, got its start, it was a major milestone in the history of modern gaming, with an innovative open world and an impressive attention to detail. After breaking crowdfunding records in 2015, Shenmue 3 is finally gearing up for a potential release this year. Will it live up to the high, high expectations placed on it? We're eager to find out. —JM

Control (TBD)

Full disclosure: I don't know if I understand much of what I've seen of Control so far. What I know is that it's a big, ambitious supernaturally tinged action game created by Remedy Entertainment, developers of the cult hit Alan Wake and the slightly less popular Quantum Break. I also know that it takes place in a strange, sprawling government building, the eponymous Federal Bureau of Control, that is impossible. It's a building with bizarre, infinite architecture, bending in upon itself, shifting and changing as the player explores it. From the preview materials available, I haven't really gathered why your player character, Jesse, is in this building, or why she has cool psychic powers. But impossible spaces are some of the coolest things games can offer, so sign me up. —JM

Dreams (TBD)

It's tough to describe what Dreams is about, really. While there's a playable game at its core—one immediately recognizable to fans of developer Media Molecule's previous work on Little Big Planet or Tearaway—its essence is of a toolbox, a maker's feast of world-building abilities. We've seen this approach before, but where titles like Minecraft and Super Mario Maker narrowed their scope to a single aesthetic, Dreams is utterly without constraint: the ecosystem of user-created experiences it enables ranges from lo-fi arcade shooters to sumptuous, eerie forest explorations. You can make anything in Dreams, the studio promises—even Little Big Planet itself. —PR

Ghost of Tsushima (TBD)

Samurai! Ghosts of Tsushima is a highly stylized samurai action adventure made by Sucker Punch Productions, and their pedigree, as developers of the Infamous games and the Sly Cooper platformer series before them, that goes a long way toward making this game exciting. Sucker Punch makes games that feel good to play, and I'm intrigued to see what they're going to do with a setting like this. There's a lot of ways a Western team can go wrong making a game about feudal Japan, but I'm hoping they're going to get it right. —JM

In the Valley of Gods (TBD)

Firewatch, the first game from developers Campo Santo, was a masterpiece of the mundane: Just a sad man, the wilderness, and a voice on the radio. Campo Santo's second game, In the Valley of Gods, is going a bit bigger, but seems to be holding onto that humanistic tone. Following two lady filmmakers as they explore an isolated valley in Egypt, the first-person game will see the player exploring, taking pictures, and bonding with your partner. Campo Santo has managed to keep a pretty tight lid on the game since it was announced over a year ago, but it's looking like this year we'll get to dig in and, undoubtedly, feel quite a few feelings over this archaeological adventure. —JM

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order (TBD)

The original Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, released in 2006, married the co-op action-RPG fun of Diablo with a heavy dose of "what if Human Torch teamed up with Ghost Rider, though?!"-style comic-book crossover wish fulfillment. The threequel looks to update the gang's-all-here melee format for the Marvel Cinematic Universe—and exclusively for Nintendo Switch owners. Guardians of the Galaxy, the Avengers, and various X-Men figure prominently in the trailer, and it's only fair: After one of 2018 most-lauded games (and our very favorite) starred Spider-Man, MCU fans rightfully have some Groot expectations. —PR

Sable (TBD)

Sable is one of the prettiest games I've ever seen. Looking like a Moebius comic come to life, it's a colorful, vibrant, entrancing exploration game made by a small team working in London. Frolic through sand dunes and mysterious ruins, watch the menacing but magnificent looming sun, just take it all in. Some games are built to just let the player linger in a beautiful, interesting place, and if it all works out, Sable could be one of the best of them. —JM

Sayonara Wild Hearts (TBD)

At some point when no one was paying attention, film studio Annapurna Pictures (Her, If Beale Street Could Talk) became one of the best indie game publishers out there. Donut Country, Florence, Gorogoa, and What Became of Edith Finch all got a boost from the Megan Ellison-founded company—and all were notable for mechanics and aesthetics that zagged hard against the game industry's zig-friendly status quo. Sayonara Wild Hearts, from Sweden's Simogo Games (Device 6) looks to continue that tradition by being … well, by a cel-shaded arcade-y adventure where each level is based on an original pop song and each character is based on a tarot deck. I don't know about you, but I'm in. —PR

Sea of Solitude (TBD)

"When humans get too lonely, they turn into monsters," said Jo-Mei Games CEO Cornelia Geppert at E3 last year. "This is at the core of everything you will see, hear, and hopefully feel while playing SOS." No hoping necessary; the trailer her tiny Berlin studio created is one of the most compelling game teasers since Gears of War flipped "Mad World" into a melancholy masterpiece. In the game, which boasts an aesthetic that's equal parts Inside and a Gorillaz video, you play as Kay, a young woman navigating an empty city trying to make sense of her own depression—and, with Ruby Amanfu's haunting cover of Johnny Cash's "I Tremble For You" as a backdrop, of the transformation that gives flesh to Geppert's words. —PR

Honorable Might-Get-Delayed-to-2020 Mentions

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

The term "spiritual successor" gets thrown around a lot, but it may never be quite so applicable as with this, a sidescrolling Metroidvania-type game overseen by Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi. It funded on Kickstarter so long ago that Wii U and PlayStation Vita were console options; while that original March 2017 delivery date came and went, the game's development continues apace, with Igarashi recently posting photos of developers in "crunch" mode. We're not holding our breath for 2018—just for more jumpy, slashy goodness. —PR

Psychonauts 2

At this past year's Game Awards, we finally, finally saw a real glimpse of the long-awaited sequel to Double Fine's hilarious psychic therapy platformer. This year (hopefully), we'll get to rejoin young Raz as he discovers his psychic abilities, dives into minds, and sets right what once went screwy. Games often aren't that good at being funny, but the original Psychonauts was one of the funniest games ever made. If we see Psychonauts 2 this year, we're hoping it'll continue the tradition. —JM