Most pleasantly surprising announcement in the last year

[Weiss]

A thread for anything announced in the last twelve months that really did you some good.

First up is NieR Replicant getting a "version up" as they're calling it, with improved combat and the introduction of Brother Nier to Western fandom.

Second is even smaller scale than that, it's the return of Soul Nomad & the World Eaters on Switch and PC this year, which was recently announced alongside Phantom Brave. Soul Nomad's one of my favourite PS2 games and it never got a re-release since, so I'm all ready to dive back in even without any additional content.

 

[badnewsbeers]

Mass Effect trilogy. Love it. Only wish (pipedream), after improving the Mako, is they change the ending to one of the options that presents a real punishing choice at the end.....

 

[Rosebud]

 

[Niosai]

No idea why, but the announcement of that feudal Sinnoh Pokemon game made me giddy. It looks like Game Freak is finally exploring some more experimental stuff with the series, which is super welcome and IMO needed.

 

[BigTime_2018]

I wasn't expecting a new Hyrule Warriors to be announced last year. A pleasant surprise for sure.

 

[Strings]

Oh, also:

I have a huge smile every time they put up a new Kickstarter update. Getting a Suikoden spiritual successor after so long and it looking so fab is surreal.

 

[Philippo]

Final Fantasy XVI.
Not only it looks great and has a solid ass team behind it, but what was shown was completely against all the "lol Square announcing games 6 years in advance with cgi" memes and actually looks like something coming soon-ish.

 

[Het_Nkik]

Click to shrink...

This right here. Legit wasn't expecting it to leave Japan.

 

[bushmonkey]

Disco Elysium announced for consoles with voiceovers. Now I just need an actual date in March for when it's dropping...

 

[Wrexis]

Mass Effect trilogy.

Click to shrink...

This.

Horizon Zero Dawn (and others) to PC was a nice surprise.

 

[Future Gazer]

Crash 4 baby.

 

[The Praiseworthy]

 

[Rosebud]

 

[Bard]

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I'm surprised that this is leaving japan too, but I have to say that "the girl who stands behind" is a dumb title.

 

[Gay Bowser]

Click to shrink...

Yup.

I expected an FFXVI announcement. I expected Crash 4. I expected more Ratchet. I didn't expect these games to leave Japan.

Runner-up is an open-world Pokémon game from Game Freak.

 

[Bessy67]

Probably not going to be super popular here, but the Microsoft/Zenimax acquisition. I'm really excited that going forward everything from the Zenimax studios will be on game pass day one.

 

[Angie]

PSVR 2
I'm so hyped for it

 

[NotLiquid]

Either NEO TWEWY, Famicom Detective Club, or Splatoon 3 (didn't expect 2 to get a sequel so early)

 

[Mifec]

Yoshi P working on XVI.

Sony deciding to send their games to PC eventually.

MS getting Obsidian and them being able to work on an AAA rpg again, Avowed got announced last year.

Alyx coming out/its ending.

 

[RockmanBN]

After the complete disaster of THPS5, I thought Tony Hawk games were dead. The remake turned out to be one of the best THPS games so far.

 

[MaLDo]

Sony road to PC

 

[Gay Bowser]

This is a good thread. It's nice to see a positive thread. Thanks Weiss

 

[orava]

Half-Life Alyx and talk about valve's interest in new single player games and half-life universe. Well technically alyx announcement was very late 2019 but still.

 

[Kain-Nosgoth]

Blaster Master Zero 3 and Pocky and Rocky remake for me

 

[Forkball]

Clubhouse Games and New Pokemon Snap were two "IT'S HAPPENING" announcements. It's amazing these two titles were actually announced after literal decades.

 

[Raigor]

 

[Goldstick]

I know it my sound exaggerate, but for me Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 was the announcement of the generation.

 

[Gay Bowser]

Clubhouse Games and New Pokemon Snap were two "IT'S HAPPENING" announcements. It's amazing these two titles were actually announced after literal decades.

Click to shrink...

Oh yeah. I change my answer. New Pokémon Snap. I've wanted that game forever. It seemed like it had to happen on the 3DS, the hardware was perfect for it! Then it seemed like it had to happen on the Wii U, the hardware was perfect for it! And now it's finally happening.

 

[Jane]

Pyra and Mythra being in Smash :)

 

[Magic Mushroom]

Returnal for me. I was craving a dark sci-fi game with cosmic horror elements and I was happy to see Housemarque making it. A AAA roguelite from them is quite the surprise.

 

[Redcrayon]

Great thread.
Monster Hunter Rise and MH Stories 2 for me. Just knowing that there would be a huge new MonHun for spring 2021 was the best moment in the hobby last year for me.

 

[Aniki]

Oh, also:

I have a huge smile every time they put up a new Kickstarter update. Getting a Suikoden spiritual successor after so long and it looking so fab is surreal.

Click to shrink...

Yeah these two for me too. I'm a huge Suikoden fan and TWEWY is one of my all time favs. I just hope they both live up to their legacy.

 

[matrix-cat]

Just slightly more than a year ago, but I'm counting it anyway. Feels good to know that Kamiya's back on the horse after Scalebound.

 

[Dwebble]

Damned near everything the Pokemon franchise has done over the course of the last year has been a string of pleasant surprises, from the Sword and Shield DLC genuinely evolving the franchise's level design, to the out-of-nowhere announcement of New Pokemon Snap, to Game Freak going completely off the reservation and offering us Pokemon Legends Arceus, a game that seemed legitimately impossible to imagine existing right up until the point that it leaked.

 

[Yuntu]

FFXVI, if only because its everything that was rumored.

 

[BobbeMalle]

 

[Strings]

I just hope they both live up to their legacy.

Click to shrink...

 

[shoptroll]

Click to shrink...

This is what I was thinking of when I clicked the thread. Between this, the official release of the first Fire Emblem game, and moon Remix: RPG Adventure it's been a good time for belated localizations of Japanese games.

 

[Pitchfork]

Probably not going to be super popular here, but the Microsoft/Zenimax acquisition. I'm really excited that going forward everything from the Zenimax studios will be on game pass day one.

Click to shrink...

This☝️

 

[Deluxera]

Neo TWEWY probably. Both unexpected and promising.

 

[Nostremitus]

Zenimax not shutting down, tbh... When they ran that ad begging folks to buy story driven single player games I was worried they were on the verge of having to fold...

 

[CRIMSON-XIII]

Click to shrink...

Definitely XVI. Came to post the trailer.

 

[Rotobit]

Neo TWEWY, and FFXVI not only being announced but seemingly further along in development compared to most FF games when they're first announced.

Pokémon finally being ambitious.

Famicom Detective Club weirdly didn't surprise me, Nintendo brings over plenty of unexpected games these days. It being a worldwide release IS surprising though.

 

[Aniki]

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Still have to play Blasphemous but now i will wait until the DLC is out. Didn't know they were working on an expansion until i read your post.

 

[MysticGon]

Even though Rex got the shaft the Pyra and Mythra announcement showed me Sakurai really does have his finger on the pulse of the Smash player base.

 

[Hero of Legend]

Nintendo buying Next Level Games. I'm so excited to see them grow ad evolve under Nintendo. It's been so long since Nintendo bought a full-fledged developer (NERD/Mobiclip's more of a middleware company).

 

[BassForever]

For things that were announced and released in the past year, both Sephiroth in Smash Bros and Gnosia wowed me and made me incredibly happy. On a smaller scale the remaining SNES Goemon titles and Chinese World titles getting fan patches excited me since I had long given up on the Goemon games ever happening, and I didn't even know Super Ninja Boy had sequels.

For upcoming games I've very happy the FDC remakes are getting localized, and I'm happy we're finally getting the long rumored sequel to TWEWY.

 

[fanboy]

I think we pretty much expected 90% of great announcements this past year. But even then it was Mass Effect.

 

[Phoenom]

A TWEWY sequel, Sephiroth and Pyra/Mythra in Smash, New Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Legends Arceus, just a few of the great stuff that's been announced.

 

[pbayne]

Even after years of teases still The World ends with you 2, cant believe its getting a sequel and on ps4 as well of all things