The most anticipated games of 2020

The most anticipated games of 2020

This year is really promising, with great launches in all formats and the arrival of the new generation.
Whenever a year begins in the world of videogames, it is easy to get excited about the months to come and the expected projects that are coming, and it is normal to find situations in which fans point to a certain period as launching madness - generally when they coincide in little time. time two or three high-caliber projects. This industry moves especially based on anticipation , more than any other: developments are long and for both big releases and smaller productions, the number of reservations and the number of iterations on wish lists form the backbone of the financial health of many houses, so professionals and amateurs feed back in this cycle.

Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Cyberpunk 2077

But there are times when, on paper at least, the one-year setup appears to be particularly exciting, and 2020 is one of those years. A glance at the calendar uncovers a first six months of vertigo, with several heavyweights quite a bit stuck between them and other very promising projects in between. And then ... nothing less than the final stretch to the new generation, with PS5 and Xbox Series X planned for the end of the year and all that that entails at the level of ads and movement in general. We don't have the crystal ball to guess if everything will convince us when it comes out, if all the games will be excellent (hopefully) and if at the end of the year we can say that our expectations have been met. But promise, of course it promises.

In this report we will try to go over a wide variety of games, some colossi known to all, others much smaller but also worthy of attention and some projects that are not even expected for this year. A panoramic , shallow but extensive overview of the proper names that we hope will shine in the next 12 months.

I start strong
For a long time, January has not been that desert month in which we were given a truce with the launches and 2020 is no exception. Of the whole month, perhaps the one that awakens the most illusion is Dragon Ball: Kakarot , in which many see the expected great final adventure of the saga, after many years of fighting games; CyberConnect 2's well-known ability to get the most out of the licenses it manages - see Naruto - and the big budget production air complete what seems like a great tribute to Goku lovers.

Dragon Ball, Goku, Kakarot, Dragon Ball Z, PS4, Xbox One, PC
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
Two other returns mark the beginning of 2020, one more modest and the other more ambitious. For Switch comes Tokyo Mirage Sessions , a port that offers the opportunity to discover one of the jewels of Wii U on a console with a much wider user base. For PC users and fans of Blizzard and Warcraft, comes Warcraft III: Reforged , a complete remake of one of the most important RTS in the history of the genre and the great starting point for one of the most emblematic worlds of the video game, of which World of Warcraft is born directly.

February is looking calmer, although there are some weighty titles such as the launch of Dreams , the new Media Molecule, whose editor has already made a great impression and left some impressive demonstrations in the hands of capable and dedicated users. It also seems like a very interesting month for fighting fans: Granblue Fantasy Versus Arc System , in one of the first games that will try to expand Granblue's already impressive fan base; and Street Fighter V: Champion Edition , which needs little introduction at this point. And for the most exquisite in the genre: Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late [cl-r] , a new revision of the French Bread classic coming to PS4 and Switch.

Guilty Gear, Guilty Gear Strive, PS4, fight
Guilty Gear Strive
Speaking of conversions, a few are coming in February: Yakuza 5 for PS4 , the Bayonetta / Vanquish 10th Anniversary Pack for PS4 and XBO, the Mega Man Zero / ZX compilation for PC, Switch, PS4 and Xbox One and the management title Two Point Hospital for consoles. VR lovers with Playstation glasses would also do well to keep an eye on Iron Man VR , which promises far beyond the attractive concept of stepping into the skin of the golden avenger.

March, the roller coaster begins
In March the temperature rises several degrees. Final Fantasy VII Remake awaits us on PS4 at the beginning of change, the three to be more exact. Despite its long process of development, that it comes to us in parts and reasonable doubts about the transformation process of a classic of classics, the truth is that visually it seems a luxury and the nostalgia that it emanates is perceived as powerful. On the 11th comes Ori and the Will of the Wisps for Xbox One and PC , which seeing the base from which it comes does not cost us to bet on it as one of the platforms of the year. Two days later Nioh 2 will arrive for PS4, whose beta we found compelling enough to anticipate great things for action experts. And if you prefer unbridled action in the first person: Doom Eternal for PC, PS4, XBO and Stadia on January 20 -together with the Doom 64 remaster-, which will soon improve the base of the previous Doom, it will give us good cheers this year.

Final Fantasy VII, FF VII, FF VII Remake, Square Enix, Cloud, Sephiroth, Tifa, Aerith
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Of course, if you want the opposite: quiet, calm and placidity, the same day we will have to switch the game to which many will spend the rest of the year: A Nimal Crossing: New Horizons - not anticipate that there 's much conflict between the players of Doom and Animal Crossing, but surely there are more than one, it will be necessary to choose. The thing is not here: on the 31st of the month Persona 5 Royal comes out , an expanded version in Spanish of one of the best JRPGs of recent years, the opportunity that those who have been claiming the saga in Spanish for years show that they are really there. And beware , on an undetermined date and assuming it is not delayed, Half-Life: Alyx will arrive sometime in March, the one that promises to be the next big date for those interested in VR.

Anime a go go
We used to talk about Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot as an unmissable date for lovers of the series and anime in general, but in the first three months of the year there are also titles for a wide variety of fandoms around shonen. On February 28 comes the fighting game One-Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows for PC, PS4 and XBO, on March 13 comes the second installment of the arena fighter based on My Hero Academy: One's Justice 2 , with new heroes and villains, for the same platforms plus Switch. Fairy Tail, which strangely has not lavished much on video games outside of portable terrain, lands with an entire RPG on March 19 for the same four platforms. One Piece Pirate Warriors 4It will bring us quality musou and fanservice on March 27, again on the same four main platforms. And on May 22 we will have the new SAO based game , Alicization Lycoris , for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. For (almost) everyone.

Nioh 2, PS4, Team Ninja
Nioh 2
April-May, here comes the loop
If March started strong with Final Fantasy VII remake, April is not far behind with the remake of Resident Evil 3 , which will come out on April 3 and which is expected much after the excellence achieved in the remake of the second part -our Game of the Year - even if it's from a different team within Capcom. And on April 16 comes another of the names called to lead the "GOTYs" charts when 2020 ends: Cyberpunk 2077 . CD Projekt has spared no expensewhen it comes to giving his project an air of great overproduction -Keanu Reeves breaking E3 with the presentation of his character, theme of Grimes and his voice in the game, etc-. But beyond that, what maintains unwavering faith in the game is the work of the Polish studio with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and the expectation that they will succeed in surpassing it. In April, the remake of Secret of Mana 3, Trials of Mana (Switch, PS4, PC) is also confirmed for 24; the strategic-tactical game Gears Tactics on PC on the 28th and, somewhere undetermined in 2020, the cooperative hack'n slash Minecraft: Dungeons , which will appear on the four main platforms.

Wasteland 3, RPG, inxile
Wasteland 3
In May, flashy titles continue happening. On May 15 we will be able to see if the commitment of Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics for the license of The Avengers (PS4, XBO, PC) crystallizes in a game at the height of the great productions of superheroes in the video game like Batman or Spiderman. On May 19, lovers of the traditional role have a date with the universe from which Fallout: Wasteland was born , which comes out with a third partfor PC, XBO and PS4 where the resources and stability Microsoft has provided to Inxile with its purchase are expected to be noticed. On May 22, the apparently fun Maneater sandbox will appear, in which we will play a killer shark with a thirst for revenge. And on May 29 we have another depth load on the calendar: The Last of Us 2 , another of the calls to compete throughout this year and that will have the not-enviable task of raising the bar at all levels compared to the award-winning first delivery -game of the past generation for Meristation readers-.

Delays, the most normal
As of the calendar it already loses definition of dates. In fact, some games that had fixed dates have been moved to undetermined dates, such as the Ubisoft games, which are going to be subject to a review so that what happened with Breakpoint does not happen again. Both the promising Watch Dogs: Legion, the classic adventure Gods and Monster and the shooter Rainbox Six QuarantineThey have left the 2019-2020 fiscal period, which implies that they will arrive between April 2020 and March 2021 -although they are expected for 2020-. The French company was coming from a very sweet period in which it had achieved great sales and the support of the critics with productions like Assassin's Creed Odyssey and, with good judgment, they want to make sure not to lose that path despite the foreseeable impact on the profit accounts. of this year. Surely that decision will pay off.

The most anticipated games of 2020
Vampire: Bloodlines 2
Not the only games delayed: Vampire: Bloodlines 2 was expected on March 31 , the continuation of a true classic of the genre that features the participation of key Troika people who raised a broken, imperfect and unfinished game to the heights higher thanks to his vision, imagination and narrative talent. Now the date is undetermined, but it is expected that in the hands of Paradox, the game will not come out until it is sufficiently polished - it was not the best date either given the jam of games and the presence of several weighty RPGs in the vicinity.

From the land of the rising sun
That Sekiro won the category of "Best Game of the Year" at The Game Awards, and that his rivals were games like Resident Evil 2 or Death Stranding only confirms what we already knew: the relevance of Japan in the most luxurious sector of the video game It has recovered the international relevance of yesteryear, and that is magnificent news. There are a fair amount of undated projects that could lead to bells this year, starting with Elden Ring , the mysterious Miyazaki game signed by George RR Martin that we've been waiting impatiently for news for. We know that it will be released on PS4, Xbox One and PC, that it is an ARPG and that it is the largest game in volume of content that the Japanese studio has made. That will have to be worth us, for now.

Miyazaki, From Software, Souls
Elden Rings
There are many other major Japanese titles that we don't know the exact detail of their release date. In some cases we do know the release date in Japan, but not in the West, as in the case of Persona 5 Scramble , the curious musou based on Persona 5 that comes out on February 20 in Japan for PS4 and Switch; or Yakuza: Like a Dragon , the new stage for the Yakuza saga, which comes out on January 16 in PS4 (is confirmed for the rest of the world in 2020, but we do not know when). Also in this group we find Project Sakura Wars , the return of the Sega strategic saga and now turned into ARPG, which came out in December in Japan for PS4 - we do at least know that it will arrive in spring. We also don't know when exactly will comeYs IX for PS4 , which came out in September in his native country.

In the Japanese games category with no set date in 2020 there are several examples such as Tales of Arise , the promising return of the Tales saga with a shocking technological update for PS4, Xbox One and PC. We also have no clues about the launch of the CyGames games - the creators of Granblue -: Project Awakening , which seems like a challenge to the Monster Hunter saga, and Granblue Fantasia Re: Link , both for PS4. And of course there is a lot of interest in the projects that Atlus has the oven: the JRPG Shin Megami Tensei V for Switch , which is little known, and Project Re Fantasy, the new game of the persons in charge of Person of which even less is known. It is not ruled out that neither will come out in 2020, but we hope to at least have more solid news from them. The one that we do hope to see this year in some way is 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim , the work of Vanillaware that we actually expected to see last 2019. And, of course, there are the Platinum games : Bayonetta 3 on Switch and Babylon's Fall for PS4 and PC, whose release dates are unknown and don't necessarily have to be in 2020.

Yakuza, Ryu Ga Gotoku, PS4
Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Great expected with no fixed date
There are other titles of considerable weight that do not have a release date yet. For example, neither more nor less than Halo Infinite , which right now is the only game we have seen work on an Xbox X, although it will also come to Xbox One and PC. Along the same lines is the open adventure Ghost of Tsushima , the newest from the creators of Infamous, who points his katana at PS4 at some point in the year. More indeterminate is Age of Empires 4 on PC , the continuation of a colossal strategy that Microsoft should never have abandoned. And speaking of dean franchises, it will be nostalgic to meet again with the flight simulator Microsoft Flight Simulator, which will also appear sometime in 2020 on PC and Xbox One.

The list of titles undetermined but set in 2020 is long. There are big-name sequels like the zombie post-apocalyptic adventure Dying Lights 2 on PS4, Xbox One, PC , then there is the surprising sequel to Deadly Premonition for Switch and the highly anticipated third part of No More Heroes also for the Nintendo console, like Bravely Default 2 , the new Square Enix bet with the Silicon Studio that has brought the saga. We also found things like the long-awaited sequel to the psychedelic adventure of Psychonauts for PC, Xbox One, PS4 , or the new beginning of the Guilty Gear fighting saga in the form of Strive for PS4 , not to mention the return of the horror platformer,Little Nightmares 2 - There are not only sequels, there are also remakes like the classic System Shock of Looking Glass , a revolutionary game in its day, or that of Oddworld: Soulstorm , which will try to give a new dimension to the idea and message of Abe's Exoddus.

The most anticipated games of 2020
Last of Us 2
In the field of strategy , apart from those already seen above, we have some strong names such as Crusader Kings 3 , one of the great references in the great strategy of Paradox. Smaller and also Paradox is Empire of Sin, a strategy game based on the cossa nostra signed by one of the creators of Doom, John Romero. For card lovers, you will have to be very attentive to Legends of Runeterra , Riot's bet to assault the throne of Hearthstone and Magic with his own bet. And for those looking for something fresh and original, Iron Harvest is a classic cut RTS in an alternative and steampunk version of the First World War. But the one that surely many will be waiting with great desire isMount & Blade II: Bannerlord s, the continuation of one of the great references of the independent scene, a complex and ambitious role-playing game that will allow us to earn fame and fortune in many different ways in a universe that is always on the move. our steps.

As usual, the list of independent projects before the start of the year is very long , and it is only a very small part of what will come out during the months, so it is impossible to cover everything, but we do not give up on underlining some names. The sequels -or prequels- are the ones that have the most immediate recognition a priori: Super Meat Boy Forever and Spelunky 2 will fight to escape by jumping the long shadows of their classic predecessors. Hollow Knight Silksong has hard work to match one of the best metroidvanias in recent years. Street of Rage 4 It has the monumental task of doing justice to a name that still brings tears to many who were lucky enough to have a Mega Drive in their day.

Hollow Knight, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Other sequels that we will find this year are those of Freedom Planet 2 , one of the best games made in the shadow of the classic Sonic; N1RV Ann-A , continuation of the fantastic conversational adventure VA-11 HALL-A; Axiom Verge 2 , which will try to enhance the notable Metroidvania qualities of its predecessor; And, of course, we do not forget Shovel Knight Dig , continuation of an indie reference, which will bet on raising its graphic presentation from 8 to 16 bits; nor of Kerbal Space Program 2 , a sequel to the space race simulator that impressed many almost a decade ago with its approach, physical simulation and constant development.

If what we are looking for instead is completely new proposals, this year also brings us really promising projects . Perhaps the most visually captivating is Sable, a game that manages to evoke the art of Jean Giraud "Moebius" when it comes to recreating a world full of ruins and mysteries. Not far behind, albeit in a different style, Eastward is a game that has captivated with its detailed pixelart work applied to a post-apocalyptic survival story. In the visually appealing indie games section we also find Way of the Woods, a beautiful naturist allegory; Cloudpunk , a futuristic voxel-based adventure with a notorious setting; o CRISTALS, a "love letter" to JRPG with influences from Valkyrie Chronicles. And lovers of classic 2D have a date with Heart Forth, Alicia , a project born from Kickstarter and that has a long development process behind them that seems to

And there are other indies proper names that we will not want to forget in this first review of 2020. For example, 12 Minutes is the work of developer Luis Antonio under the Annapurna label, which surprised us at E3 with a combination of thriller and “stuck in time” . There's Haven , a promising project in which a settler couple take care of a planet. And Spiritfarer , where we will build a ship to take various spirits to the other side at the end of their days. There are games that we do not expect to arrive this year but that we will be watching, like Colony Ship, the new from the creators of the excellent Age of Decadence. RPG lovers would do well not to take their eyes off Encased, a post-apocalyptic sandbox RPG currently in Early Access, with rave reviews. And, of course, like any game under the Devolver label, you will have to be very attentive to Carrion , the "simulator of The Thing of John Carpenter", in which we will control a horrifying organism in its fight to escape from a secret laboratory . We will also closely follow the evolution of Hades , which is still in open pay beta and has just landed on Steam, and we will also have time for curiosities such as The Procession of Cavalry , the new thing from the creator of the hilarious Four Last Things.And also look at Star Renegades , a space science fiction RPG with a really powerful look.

Beyond 2020
Devil, Blizzard, PC
Devil IV
Finally, we could not finish this report without talking about some important names whose release dates are unknown. Some may land in 2020, but they may also not do so - or be sure they will not, but it should be kept in mind as part of the current news. For example, role lovers will be very attentive to any news of Larian's announced Baldur's Gate 3 , of which we have only seen a cinematic introduction, and of Dragon Age 4 , of which we only know that it is in development by another cinematic trailer and not expected until at least 2022. The Bethesda projects: Starfield and later a new Elder Scrolls are also going long., neither has an approximate release date, nor does Diablo 4 , which left very good impressions in its recent release at Blizzcon.

There is more , Riot for example has a wide range of internal and partner projects to expand the world of LOL beyond the borders of MOBA. Legends of Runeterra , which we talked about earlier, is the first step, but there are many more. We will also be keen to follow developments from the recently announced Ninja Theory Hellblade 2 for Xbox X / PC and Rare's Everwild for Xbox One / PC, two projects that are guessed to be important to Microsoft Studios' aspirations.

Hellblade, Xbox X, new generation
Hellblade 2
Of course, we do not forget the announcement of a sequel to Breath of the Wild , nor the announcement of the return of Metroid Prime to the hands of Retro, which should never have come out: we hope that both are in the mid-term plans of the Kyoto house and know more about them during this 2020; The one we do know will appear this year, but not when, is that Definitive Edition of Xenoblade Chronicles , the opportunity to play a much improved version of a true classic of the genre. And as final notes , two titles, one with a lot of media noise and another that is yet to be discovered: in the first case, we look forward to any news from Beyond Good & Evil 2, which we already know is going long; on the other hand, much attention to the translation of the JRPG Moon Remix , a game that appeared only on PSX in 1997 but whose influence is notorious and reaches Undertale. It can become quite a discovery if it appears this year as announced a few months ago-

So far this review of some of the most anticipated games for 2020 and beyond. They are not all that they are, today it is impossible given the volume of launches that exist, but we hope it will serve to start dreaming about this 2020 that is taking its first steps.