Apart from Dragon Quest 11 which did just release, I'd have to say the game I'm most looking forward to is Smash Bros Ultimate. It seems Sakurai is learning from the mess that was Smash Bros WiiU and actually making a good Smash game. This has the potential to be better than Melee.
Actually I don't like the Empires games that much because there's no historical structure to them. But I know enough people who really like them. DW8 has the ambition mode which is similar though I've not tried it yet as I'm still going through the factions stories. I've done Wei and Wu and...
Dynasty Warriors 9 - Totally hyped for it. It's morelike an open world version of Samurai Warriors 4-2 though way way better than the garbage that is Samurai Warriors 4-2. By that I mean DW9 is focused on a single hero, not the whole faction. You can replay the game as everyone of 50+...