Your living room real estate is valuable. With two bulky new next-gen consoles to cram under your TV, you may be asking yourself whether the time has come to take your old PS3 or 360 off life support.

Our advice? Don’t pull the plug just yet. Developers have more than half a decade cultivating a creative expertise with previous generation consoles. They know the hardware inside and out. Consequently, many of the games slated for release on legacy platforms over the coming year will be especially ambitious and impressive. Here are ten good reasons you’ll want to keep your PS3 and 360 plugged plugged in well into 2014.

Dark Souls 2 - PS3/Xbox 360 (March 11, 2014)

Dark Souls was a gauntlet thrown down at the feet of gamers, an unapologetic provocation daring us to stretch our gaming muscles, swallow our pride, and commit dozens of hours to an unforgiving quest for perfection. The eerie action-adventure journey through Lordran captured millions of gamers under its spell. For all its strengths, Dark Souls chugged a bit technically and was sometimes uneven in pacing. We’re hoping the sequel introduces even greater thrills and chills while ironing out it’s predecessor's few weaknesses.

The macabre environmental design of the first game looks much more polished this time around. Previews depict a universe full of weird, wonderful, and terrifying creatures to defeat and vast haunted vistas to explore. Perhaps From Software’s greatest challenge will be recapturing a threshold of difficulty that punishes mistakes but remains enticing enough to draw players back in until they triumph.

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Murdered: Soul Suspect - PS3/Xbox 360 (TBA 2014)

Who killed you? Soul Suspect casts you as a hard boiled detective tasked with solving… his own murder. You prowl the city of Salem from beyond the grave, piecing together clues to your untimely demise. The idea of a phantasmagoric cop has already been explored more than once in popular media, most recently by the excellent Ghost Trick, but the developers of Murdered are trying to put their focus on a grittier mode of storytelling. I’m intrigued by the voyeuristic potential. Watching people acting out the day to day motions of their lives oblivious to your presence creates a perfect template for funny, awkward, and terrifying interactions. Adventure games succeed on pacing, empathy, and characterization, so I’m hoping Murdered does a good job helping you care about your detective and the people he loves.

Earth Defense Force 2025 - PS3/Xbox 360 (February 18, 2014)

Earth Defense Force games handle reflex based arcade gaming better than almost any modern series. Giant insects, colossal robots, gargantuan UFOs, and titanic kaiju descend on the great cities of the planet earth, and it’s your job to pick up guns and kill them. Destructible buildings collapse as you hunt down and exterminate thousands of extra-terrestrial baddies with a diverse arsenal of weapons. The mecha and vehicles of the previous EDF titles are supplemented by new class-based options. With the exception of the outsourced abomination Insect Armageddon, previous installments in the series are ridiculous fun, and 2025 looks like a winner in the making.

Fable Anniversary Edition - Xbox 360 (February 4, 2014)

The original Xbox was certainly successful, but it had only a fraction of the market penetration the 360 enjoys. Because of this, many gamers never had a chance to experience Lionhead’s first journey into Albion. Fable Anniversary offers players a passport to the first chapter of the Fable story, supplementing the classic action-RPG with a complete HD overhaul. Built on a brand new graphical framework and boasting a modernized UI, Anniversary looks beautiful, but will gamers be willing to embrace its decade-old gameplay?

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South Park: The Stick of Truth - PS3/Xbox 360 (March 4, 2014)

Funny video games are rare, precious commodities. The oft-delayed South Park RPG looks like a mix of smart satire and lowbrow gags wrapped around a Dragon-Quest era JRPG. As the New Kid, you’ll wander through the familiar landmarks of South Park, caught in a fantasy war between factions of LARPing series favorites. Think Costume Quest, but with poop jokes.

The conversation-driven framework of an RPG adventure plays to South Park’s strengths. The show’s humor is sometimes uneven, running the gamut from brilliant parody to cheap laughs, but more often than not the writing is comedic gold. That’s good news for gamers looking for a big budget game that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13 - PS3/Xbox 360 (February 11, 2014)

Final Fantasy’s sterling reputation suffered severely over the last several years thanks to spin-off oversaturation, deadline problems, and questionable design decisions. The troubled franchise gets a shot at redemption with a new action-RPG treatment. Developed in response to its overly-linear and fragmentary predecessors, Lightning Returns is a bold deviation that will hopefully shake up and refresh the ailing sense of creativity inside Square Enix. Taking direct control of a single hero, the player explores a beautiful and relatively open world on the edge of apocalypse. Combat is snappy, responsive, and action oriented, and the character and creature designs are gorgeous. Lightning Returns shows some promise, but will it satiate battered fans desperate for a game worthy of the Final Fantasy legacy?

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Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 - PS3/Xbox 360 (TBA 2014)

You play as Dracula. That’s reason enough to be interested in Lords of Shadow 2. Vampire Numero Uno is now a tool of destruction thrust into your hands. Not since the introduction of Alucard has a Castlevania protagonist invoked so much intrigue. Some pacing issues aside, Lords of Shadow was a competent enough 3D brawler, and we have reason to expect better things from Konami this time around. Lords of Shadow 2 will replace its predecessor’s repetitive and lengthy campaign with a branching pathway design. Hopefully they’ll also address some of the more repetitive aspects of the first game and provide an action-adventure worthy of the Castlevania name.

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BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma - PS3 (March 14, 2014)

BlazBlue games are built on some of the most impressive sprite art in modern gaming, and then back up that beauty with layers on layers of mechanical depth. Chrono Phantasma is the third title to make a stateside appearance, and early indications are that it may be the best of the bunch. The great variable in Chrono Phantasma’s potential US success is the netcode, the quality of which will largely determine its stateside success or failure. American fighting game fans demand a speedy and consistent multiplayer experience through their internet connection. If BlazBlue pulls off smooth online matches, it will likely become a cult favorite.

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Tales of Xillia 2 - PS3 (TBA 2014)

The original Xillia’s deep character development system, intriguing story, and exciting action-based tactical combat give us reason to eagerly anticipate a solid showing from the sequel. Xillia 2 introduces new characters and builds on the combination of political subterfuge and colorful optimism established in the previous installment. It’s unclear how much Xillia 2’s story and RPG gameplay rely on familiarity with the first Xillia, but given the moderate exposure of the Tales series safeside, it’s probably safe to assume Namco will do a good job introducing new players to the universe.

Persona 5 - PS3 (TBA)

We haven’t seen a shred of footage of Persona 5, but there’s still a lot of reason to be excited. Shin Megami Tensei games are among the most consistent high quality RPGs of the modern era. Persona 4 Golden is a benchmark role-playing game, but Vita exclusivity kept it out of the hands of many players. Persona 5’s presence on the PS3 guarantees a much wider install base will have access to the student-by-day, demon-hunter by night world of Persona. Very little specific information has been publicly revealed about this game, so keep your eyes open for details in the coming months.

Jared Petty is an Associate Editor at IGN. He's watched pretty much every episode of Dallas. Follow him on Twitter @pettycommajared and on IGN