With the announcement of Half-Life: Alyx not being Half-Life 3, I got thinking about something.
We’ve been blessed over the last few years with the releases of a bunch of games that perhaps we never thought we’d see. Games that were long rumoured, only announced after years of waiting, stuck in development hell and feared cancelled only to finally see the light of day. These are the holy grails of gaming in my eyes. The likes of The Last Guardian, Duke Nukem Forever, Shenmue III.
Coming soon there’s Cyberpunk 2077 (which only probably slightly falls into this category) and the FFVII Remake (which absolutely definitely does), as well as Beyond Good and Evil 2 hopefully at some point.
What are the last holy grails of gaming? Half-Life 3 and BG&E2 are obviously the ones that spring to mind straight away, but what else? What other games are only legends at this point with no certainty they will actually find their way into our hands?
It’s a good question. Now that Sakura Wars is getting its sequel very soon, one other SEGA game that comes to mind is Skies of Arcadia. Especially after playing Dragon Quest XI, I feel like a new (or a high budget remake) Skies of Arcadia game would definitely be big news. There’s Jet Set Radio as well, although I think it has a bit less of that iconic status that Skies of Arcadia has. Personally, Burning Rangers is one game I’d love to see return because there’s so much more potential there.
That said, now that BG&E 2 turned into something that has very little to do with the original game, I’m wary of asking for old classics to make a return. Sometimes games are a product of their time and it’s difficult, even for the original developers, to recapture that magic decades later. That said, Resident Evil 2 did exactly that, and the upcoming FF VII remake almost looks like it might exceed expectations.
I’ll be happy if we ever get to play these:
- Shenmue IV (or whatever number ends the story)
- Half-Life 3
- Shining Force III Scenarios 2 and 3 in English
- Panzer Dragoon Saga remake and/or successor
- Skies of Arcadia remaster and/or spiritual successor
I might have to go with the fan translation of Shining Force III, since it seems unlikely that this will ever be released officially; the sprites over top of 3D environments really were a product of their time, so it would probably need to be remade. But stranger things have happened.
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Chrono Trigger 2
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 3
Skies of Arcadia 2
Sonic Adventure 3
Beyond (cross off list) Good & Evil 2
Shenmue (cross off list) 3
Been waiting for these all my life. Just happy I got two of them!