The 13 Biggest Video Game Surprises of 2019 by Stella Chung

The 13 Biggest Video Game Surprises of 2019 –

2019 was a big year for video game releases and announcements. With games like Resident Evil 2, Sekiro, and Borderlands 3 all out this year, there was a lot we knew we would *probably* enjoy. However, there were also a bunch of surprises that caught us off guard, so we decided to round up the biggest stories that we weren’t expecting. Here are thirteen of the biggest video game surprises of 2019.

Apex Legends

Apex Legends surprised everyone when it dropped into the battle royale scene on February 4, 2019. With no prior announcements or teasers and only a handful of leaks, Respawn released Apex to overwhelmingly positive reactions and amassed 25 million players by the end of its first week. Apex set itself apart from the other major battle royale games by focusing heavily on teamwork, with the only game mode grouping players into teams of three. Respawn also implemented an innovative “ping” system that revolutionized non-verbal team communication by allowing players to mark locations, enemies, weapons, equipment, and directions. This allowed for accurate callouts and more accessibility options that hadn’t existed in the battle royale genre before. Also, the ability to respawn a dead teammate was a dramatic change for the genre. Considering it still routinely has approximately eight to 10 million players a week, Apex Legends can be called a big success.

This story was originally featured at http://www.ign.com/articles/2019/12/24/the-13-biggest-video-game-surprises-of-2019