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Gamers should start saving up their hard-earned cash now in anticipation of a wealth of exciting new game releases slated for 2020. It promises to be one of the biggest years of all time in terms of the sheer volume of heavyweight titles that are set to drop. These are the most eagerly anticipated new games of 2020:
Cyberpunk 2077
The crowd at E3 2019 went berserk when Hollywood legend Keanu Reeves appeared on stage to promote this open-world RPG from the creators of The Witcher series. The leading man from John Wick, The Matrix, and Speed were in great form as he whipped the crowd into a frenzy, ensuring that it is now the hottest game of 2020.
Not that it needed much of a boost. CD Projekt RED first unveiled plans for it in 2012 and excitement has been steadily mounting among the gaming community ever since, reaching a fever pitch this year. It will finally hit shelves on April 16, 2020, and it will be available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
It adapts the 1988 tabletop game Cyberpunk 2020, and it is set 57 years later in Night City, a dystopian hinterland. You control a fully customizable hero called V, while Reeves plays a legendary Rockerboy called Johnny Silverhand, who lives inside your head as a digital ghost.
The game allows you to explore the six regions of the sprawling Night City and engage in furious bouts of first-person shooting as you complete various missions. The trailers look utterly spellbinding and the potential for Cyberpunk 2077 is immense.
Halo Infinite
Microsoft has announced that Halo Infinite will be the main launch title for its next-gen console, codenamed Project Scarlett. It is due to launch in “Holiday 2020”, according to the Xbox team, and that could well be the biggest event of the year for the gaming industry.
The Halo series has always been the jewel in the Xbox crown and it helped the Xbox emerge as a credible rival to the PlayStation during several generations of console wars. The PS5 will be launched either next year or in 2021, and Halo will lead the charge in Microsoft’s bid for supremacy in the next generation battle.
Halo Infinite will continue the story of the Master Chief as he battles the enemy on a Halo ring. The developers have caved in to demand and reinstated split-screen multiplayer, paving the way for Halo Infinite to become a leading esport.
The Halo series was previously a popular choice among fans of competitive gaming, but CS:GO and Overwatch have emerged as the dominant first-person shooters in the esports sector over the past few years. Microsoft has promised to bring the joys of PC gaming into the living room via the new Xbox, so it could become a credible player in the esports world, and Halo Infinite could emerge as a serious challenger to CS:GO’s dominance.
Marvel’s Avengers
Marvel’s Spider-Man was a smash hit when it launched on PS4 in 2018 and that has inspired the studio to press ahead with plans to adapt Avengers for the gaming arena. There is no Sony exclusive for this game, as it will also launch on PC, Xbox One, and even Google Stadia in May 2020.
Every single one of Earth’s mightiest heroes is a playable character, from the Incredible Hulk to Black Widow. Each brings his or her own combat styles and they must unite to save the world from doom. The game follows an entirely new storyline that sits outside the Marvel film universe.
“It’s a story about self-acceptance in the face of adversity,” said creative director Shaun Escayg. “It’s about embracing our individual powers. Because together, we are mighty.”
The Avengers franchise has pretty much offered Marvel a license to print money in recent years, and this game is sure to be a commercial sensation.
Elden Ring
Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin has teamed up with game director Hidetaka Miyazaki to create this intriguing third-person RPG. Martin was in charge of writing the overarching lore of the invented world, and Miyazaki then set about creating a plot, which has been described as “a dungeon master’s handbook in a tabletop RPG”.
GoT fans will probably be furious that the author was not busy working on the sixth and seventh installments of the A Song of Ice and Fire Sequence, but their loss is the gaming world’s gain. The cinematic trailer for Elden Ring is sinister and dramatic in equal parts, and perhaps even a little Tolkienesque.
The Last of Us Part II
The Last of Us is arguably the best PS4 game ever released and fans are beyond excited about the upcoming sequel. The original game saw a smuggler called Joel escorting teenager Ellie through a cannibal-infested, post-apocalyptic North America, and Ellie is now a playable character in Part II.
Naughty Dog has delivered a string of commercially lauded games in recent years and big things are expected of this release. There is no official date just yet, but rumors suggest it could hit shelves as early as February 2020. Fans can expect more gorgeous scenery, nail-biting tension, and ferocious combat when they finally get their hands on it.
Final Fantasy VII (Remake)
Final Fantasy VII is widely considered to be one of the greatest games ever made, and a great deal of pressure has been piled onto the team handling the remake. The original was released for the PlayStation in 1997 and it was named Reader’s Choice Game of the Century in an IGN poll conducted two years later. It regularly places near the top of lists detailing the greatest games of all time, so remaking it was a no-brainer for Square Enix.
However, it faces a significant challenge in trying to stay true to what made the original great and reboot it for the modern era. It follows the original storyline, as Cloud Strife wages war against the shadowy Shinra Corporation.
A recent demo showcased a smooth new battle system, allowing you to jump seamlessly between Cloud and his ally Barret Wallace, and even hints at Cloud wearing a dress on an incognito mission.
The first part of the remake will drop on March 3, 2020, covering the game’s opening events in the city of Midgar over two Blu-ray discs.
What games are you looking forward to in 2020? Let us know in the comments!
