Numerous video games were released in 2018. Best-selling games included Madden NFL 19, NBA 2K19, NBA Live 19, WWE 2K19, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Marvel's Spider-Man, Red Dead Redemption 2, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Far Cry 5, God of War, Monster Hunter: World, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, and Dragon Ball FighterZ. Games highly regarded by video game critics released in 2018 included Red Dead Redemption 2, God of War, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Marvel's Spider-Man, Forza Horizon 4, Monster Hunter: World, Dead Cells, Return of the Obra Dinn, and Celeste. The year's highest-grossing games included Fortnite, Honor of Kings/Arena of Valor, Dungeon Fighter Online, League of Legends, and Pokémon Go.
Mario Kart 8 is a 2014 kart racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii U. It retains the gameplay of previous games in the Mario Kart series, with players controlling a Mario franchise character in races around tracks. Tracks are themed around locales from the Super Mario platform series and are populated with power-ups that help players gain advantages in races. Different difficulties are selectable prior to a race; harder difficulties make gameplay faster. In the new anti-gravity sequences, players drive on walls and ceilings. Mario Kart 8 contains a variety of single-player and local and online multiplayer games modes, including Grand Prix racing and arena-based battle modes.
Super Mario 3D World is a 2013 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii U. It is the sixth original 3D platform game in the Super Mario series and the sequel to Super Mario 3D Land (2011) for the Nintendo 3DS.
Shovel Knight is a platform video game developed and published by Yacht Club Games. Development was crowdfunded and the game was released for Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, and Windows in June 2014. It was ported to OS X and Linux in September 2014, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and Xbox One in April 2015, Amazon Fire TV in September 2015, and Nintendo Switch in March 2017. Shovel Knight is inspired by gameplay and graphics of platformer games developed for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Celeste is a 2018 platform game developed and published by indie studio Maddy Makes Games. The player controls Madeline, a young woman with anxiety and depression who aims to climb Celeste Mountain. During her climb, she encounters several characters, including a personification of her self-doubt known as Badeline, who attempts to stop her from climbing the mountain.
In the video game industry during 2019, both Sony and Microsoft announced their intent to reveal their next-generation consoles in 2020, while Nintendo introduced a smaller Nintendo Switch Lite, and Google announced its streaming game platform Stadia. The controversy over loot boxes as a potential gambling route continued into 2019, with some governments like Belgium and the Netherlands banning games with them under their gambling laws, while the United Kingdom acknowledging their current laws prevent enforcing these as if they were games of chance. The first video cards to support real-time ray tracing were put onto the consumer market, including the first set of games that would take advantage of the new technology. The Epic Games Store continued its growth in challenging the largest digital PC game distribution service Steam, leading to concern and debate about Epic Games' methods to seek games for its service. Dota Auto Chess, a community-created mod for Dota 2, introduced a new subgenre of strategy games called auto battlers, which saw several games in the genre released throughout the year. Blizzard Entertainment faced criticism due to their involvement in the Blitzchung controversy, which began after they had banned a Hearthstone player for making comments during a tournament regarding the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.
Splatoon 2 is a 2017 third-person shooter game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It was released on July 21, 2017, as a direct sequel to Splatoon. As with the previous installment, Splatoon 2 consists of online multiplayer alongside a single-player campaign, all featuring combat based around ink. An expansion pack for the single-player mode titled Octo Expansion was subsequently released as downloadable content (DLC) on June 13, 2018.
Super Mario Odyssey is a 2017 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. An entry in the Super Mario series, it follows Mario and his new ally Cappy—a sentient hat that allows Mario to control other characters and objects—as they journey across various kingdoms to save Princess Peach from Mario's nemesis Bowser's plans of forced marriage. In contrast to the linear gameplay of prior entries, the game returns to the primarily open-ended, 3D platform gameplay featured in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine.
Snipperclips: Cut It Out, Together! is a puzzle video game developed by SFB Games and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. The game was released worldwide as a launch title for the Nintendo Switch on March 3, 2017. An expanded version, titled Snipperclips Plus, was released on November 10, 2017. In the game, the players have a "snipping" mechanic where they can cut the other player into a different shape, which is used to solve the various puzzles.
Splatoon is a third-person shooter video game franchise created by Hisashi Nogami and Shintaro Sato, and developed and owned by Nintendo. Set in a far future on a post-apocalyptic Earth inhabited by anthropomorphic marine animals, the series centers around terrestrial cephalopods known as Inklings and Octolings – based on squids and octopuses respectively – which can transform between humanoid and cephalopod forms at will. They frequently engage in turf war battles with each other and use a variety of weapons that produce and shoot colored ink while in humanoid form, or swim through and hide in solid surfaces covered in their own colored ink while in their cephalopodic forms.
The Banner Saga 3 is a tactical role-playing video game developed by Stoic and published by Versus Evil for macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It is the final installment in a trilogy of games that began with The Banner Saga (2014) and The Banner Saga 2 (2016).
Minit is an action-adventure video game developed by Jan Willem Nijman, Kitty Calis, Jukio Kallio, and Dominik Johann. The game is published by Devolver Digital and was released on April 3, 2018, for Windows, macOS, Linux, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. On May 11, 2018, a Nintendo Switch version was announced on the first episode of Indie World, a web series from Nintendo of Japan that showcases indie games coming to the Japanese Nintendo eShop. It was released for the Nintendo Switch on August 9, 2018. It also came out for mobile devices in June 2019.
Forgotton Anne is an adventure-platform game developed by ThroughLine Games and published by Square Enix Collective. The game uses a hand-drawn anime aesthetic style and an orchestral score performed by the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra and was released on May 15, 2018 on Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. The game was released for macOS on June 21, 2018, Nintendo Switch on November 9, 2018, iOS on June 26, 2019, and Android on December 18, 2019.
Aegis Defenders is a 2D platforming and tower defense game developed by Guts Department. The game originated as a project for USC’s Intermediate Games class and had a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2014. It was later picked up by publisher Humble Bundle in 2017 with Japanese publishing support from Kakehashi Games. Aegis Defenders was released on February 8, 2018, on macOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.
Knights and Bikes is a cooperative action-adventure game inspired by The Goonies and Secret of Mana. It is created by Foam Sword, a British indie game development company made up of former Media Molecule staff.
Unravel Two is a 2018 puzzle-platform game developed by Swedish company Coldwood Interactive and published by Electronic Arts. The game is centered around two 'Yarnys', small anthropomorphic creatures made of yarn. It is the sequel to the 2016 game Unravel, and was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in June 2018 and Nintendo Switch in March 2019.
Overcooked 2 is a cooperative cooking simulation video game developed by Team17 alongside Ghost Town Games, and published by Team17. The sequel to Overcooked!, it was released for Linux, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on August 7, 2018. The game was released for Amazon Luna on October 20, 2020. Overcooked: All You Can Eat, a compilation game that includes both Overcooked and Overcooked 2, was released for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on November 12, 2020. The compilation came to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on March 23, 2021, and on Google Stadia on May 5, 2022.
Super Mario Maker 2 is a 2019 platform game and game creation system developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the sequel to Super Mario Maker and was released worldwide on June 28, 2019. The gameplay is largely retained from that of its predecessor, in which players create their own custom courses using assets from various games across the Super Mario franchise and share them online. Super Mario Maker 2 introduces new features and course assets, including a single player story mode and new level assets based on Super Mario 3D World.
Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda is a rhythm game developed by Brace Yourself Games and published by Nintendo. The game is a crossover of Crypt of the NecroDancer with The Legend of Zelda, combining the rhythm-based movement and fighting mechanics with elements reminiscent of earlier games in the Zelda franchise. The game was released for the Nintendo Switch on June 13, 2019 to generally positive reviews from critics.
