The eighth generation of console gaming is coming to an end, and though Nintendo are going to continue playing fast and loose with what that even means, Sony and Microsoft are well and truly ready to enter the next console generation. Looking back, there’s a lot that has happened in the industry these past few years that we’ll never forget, both for good reasons and for bad, from annoying industry trends that caught on like wildfire to a burst of creativity in many leading to some truly excellent games. In this feature, we’re going to be talking about some of these things- the positives and negatives that have defined this generation.
REINVENTIONS
One of the best and most notable trends we saw this generation was how developers were so willing to take risks with even the biggest and most well-established of their franchises, and bring them back with a completely fresh new direction that we would not have thought possible until not too long ago. The best part is that most of these worked out very well, to say the least. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, God of War (2018), Resident Evil 7, Assassin’s Creed Origins, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain are just a few examples of major franchises choosing to do things differently, and succeeding spectacularly.