CD Projekt Reds The Witcher series is only becoming more popular thanks to the Netflix live-action adaptation. Fans have also been waiting years for the release of the developers next time Cyberpunk 2077.

For fans who want to display pieces of the game world in real life will now have the opportunity to acquire more merchandise.

Sideshow Collectibles develops high-quality statues of licensed characters along with original works. Their figures come with a high level of detail that bring digital characters to life. Theyve previously worked with Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Star Wars, and more.

Sideshow has also worked in collaboration with CD Projekt Red to bring the developers versions of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to life. Sideshow has created statues of Ciri, Yennefer, Geralt, and Eredin to life. Recently, Sideshow has created Ronin versions of Geralt along with Ciri.

At the start of the new year, Sideshow updated its website to announced they were working on more merchandise with CD Projekt Red. The posts on both Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3s pages state: Sideshow is excited to announce that Cyberpunk 2077 license and collectibles will be coming in the future! Stay tuned RSVP for more updates!

From the news posts, Sideshow doesnt plan on stopping the production of The Witcher merchandise yet, especially with the increased interest from the Netflix show. It is news that the company will begin developing new Cyberpunk 2077 statues.

Unfortunately, there was little additional information released regarding the new products. The companies are sure to release more details in 2020, especially since Cyberpunk 2077 will be released on April 15, 2020.

Cyberpunk 2077 is the newest game from CD Projekt Red. The official Steam store summary states: Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world, action-adventure story set in Night City, a megalopolis obsessed with power, glamour and body modification. You play as V, a mercenary outlaw going after a one-of-a-kind implant that is the key to immortality. You can customize your characters cyberware, skillset and playstyle, and explore a vast city where the choices you make shape the story and the world around you.

If fans want to know about the newest merchandise as soon as its announced, they can follow Sideshow and CD Projekt Red on social media or sign up for their mailing lists.

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Sideshow Announces More Exclusive The Witcher And CyberPunk 2077 Merchandise Coming Soon - Happy Gamer

2019 was a great year for video games, but 2020 is shaping up to be a year of truly monumental proportions. Not only is the next-generation of consoles nearly upon us, but this year also marks the release of several of this generations most anticipated titles, including The Last of Us Part 2, Cyberpunk 2077, and Final Fantasy VII Remake. There are so many games coming out this year that its hard to narrow them all down to one definitive list, but these are 20 of the biggest games you can look forward to playing in 2020.

Although Halo is without a doubt the defining franchise for the Xbox, the more recent entries in the series havent been held in the highest regard by fans. While Halo 4 and 5 were still decent games in their own right, they didnt come close to reaching the same highs as the beloved original trilogy. Even though we havent seen too much of Halo Infinite at this point, what we have seen looks incredibly promising, and considering the game is confirmed to be a launch title for Microsofts next-generation Xbox Series X, were tremendously excited to see what Infinite will look and play like. Itll likely be the tentpole release for the Xbox Series Xs launch window, and because itll be available on Xbox Game Pass the day it launches, it will be accessible to a wider audience than ever. Halo Infinite is definitely a game to watch out for this year.

Cyberpunk 2077 was first announced all the way back in early 2013, but something happened between then and now that has people even more excited for this game than they were before: The Witcher 3. CD Projekt Red was already a proven developer when Cyberpunk was originally announced thanks to the first two Witcher games, but The Witcher 3 propelled the studio to new heights. The world of The Witcher 3 was chock full of interesting characters, lengthy quests, and meaningful choices, causing it to win countless awards when it launched in 2015. Now, the studios next project is an RPG set in a sprawling futuristic city that looks to be just as densely packed with things to do, if not more so, than its predecessor, and people are justifiably excited. If the numerous trailers and gameplay demonstrations are even partly representative of the final experience, Cyberpunk 2077 will be an RPG for the ages.

Were long overdue for a new Animal Crossing game. In a world filled to the brim with sprawling RPGs, ultraviolent shooters, and tense horror experiences, its nice to have a game where the objective is just to chill out with some animal friends. Animal Crossing is a series that has bounced back and forth between Nintendos home console and handheld offerings, and the Nintendo Switch is the perfect fit for a game like this considering it can do both. Tons of classic Nintendo franchises like Zelda, Mario, and Fire Emblem have had new life breathed into them on the Switch, and hopefully, Animal Crossing wont be any different. Plus, the enhanced online capabilities of the Switch will allow players to play online with their friends much easier than they could on the 3DS.

Doom 2016 is one of the best shooters released this generation, so fans are undoubtedly excited for the follow-up. Doom Eternal looks to maintain the frenetic gameplay that the first game executed so flawlessly while expanding upon it in interesting ways. We didnt think Doom needed a grappling hook, but Eternal features one attached to a shotgun, and now were more excited than before. The sequel also looks to improve in the multiplayer department as well, ditching the traditional deathmatch modes in favor of something more unique. Players will be able to invade other players campaigns as demons, and Battlemode pits three players against one another in an asymmetrical competition where one player is the Doom Slayer and the other two are demons with the ability to summon AI reinforcements. Doom Eternal seems like an ambitious sequel, and youll be able to get your hands on it this year barring another delay.

Watch Dogs: Legions central mechanic is so ambitious that the game has been delayed into the next fiscal year. Rather than having each NPC roaming the streets of London simply serve as set dressing, each and every one of the people you encounter in Watch Dogs: Legion is a playable character. Anyone can be recruited right off the street into the ranks of your resistance, complete with their own unique backstories and traits. Whether these characters end up feeling truly distinct remains to be seen, but one thing is clear with Legion: the team really wants to set this franchise apart from the competition. If the gimmick pays off, then Watch Dogs wont just be a somewhat generic open-world game with a press button to hack schtick, but instead a different beast entirely. Still, keep in mind that weve been promised big things from Watch Dogs in the past. Keep an eye on Watch Dogs: Legion, but be wary of the huge promises.

The original Last of Us launched just months before the PlayStation 4, pushing the PlayStation 3 to its absolute limit to deliver one of that systems defining experiences. The Last of Us Part 2 is in a similar situation, launching only a few months before the PlayStation 5 will hit store shelves. Naughty Dog has proven time and time again that they can squeeze every ounce of power possible out of Sonys hardware, and given what they accomplished in 2016 with Uncharted 4, were incredibly excited to see what they can do with a follow up to The Last of Us. The small amount of gameplay shown off so far looks amazing, not to mention the handful of story trailers and cutscenes weve seen as well. Some were initially hesitant when news of a sequel to The Last of Us first arose considering the first games intentionally ambiguous ending, but The Last of Us Part 2 looks like it will provide even greater insight into Ellie and Joel than the first game ever did.

Although its a remake of the 1997 classic, Final Fantasy VII Remake is practically an entirely new mainline Final Fantasy entry. Sure, it features the same characters, locations, and general plot as the original, but theres so much new content being added that the game is being split into multiple parts because of it. Going off of the leaked demo, which features the opening sequence of the game, Final Fantasy VII remake will include tons of brand new dialogue, combat sequences, and quests that werent in the original PlayStation version. Also, the game ditches the ATB combat of the original in favor of a realtime action combat system ala Kingdom Hearts. Its a complete reimagining of the game for a modern audience, and itll likely have enough changes to keep even the biggest fans of the original surprised.

Last year, Resident Evil 2 provided players with a horrifying trip down memory lane. Capcom not only remade the original survival horror classic, but also modernized and updated it in ways that made it much easier to play without sacrificing any of the scares. This year, Resident Evil fans will get the other side of the Raccoon City story with Resident Evil 3, a complete remake with gorgeous graphics and lighting, improved controls, and a new multiplayer mode called Resident Evil Resistance. It looks just as good as Resident Evil 2, and if you thought avoiding Mr. X in the halls of the RPD was terrifying, just wait until you see Nemesis.

The past decade has given us the best superhero games weve ever seen. The influence of the Batman Arkham games can be seen in just about every third-person brawler released since, and Insomniacs Spider-Man is arguably the wall-crawlers best ever video game outing. Whats surprising, however, is that it took us this long to get a dedicated game centered around the Avengers, especially considering the overwhelming popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Timing aside, its finally happening, though whether or not itll join the superhero game hall of fame remains to be seen. Theres a beta happening prior to launch, so youll at least be able to get your hands on the game for a bit before the full release.

Wasteland 2 was an entertaining return to the age of classic isometric RPGs like Fallout and, well, the first Wasteland, but Wasteland 3 looks to be bigger and better than its predecessor in every way. Ditching the arid desert setting of Wasteland 2, Wasteland 3 is a romp through the frozen wastes of post-apocalyptic Colorado. You can even play it with a friend in online co-op, although you wont have to be together all the time. You and your friend will command your own individual squads and be able to split up whenever you choose. You can even play and complete missions while your friend is offline, although youll have to live with the consequences of whatever decisions you made when your friend returns. Its an interesting take on multiplayer in an RPG, and you hopefully wont have to do too much convincing to get someone to play with you considering the game is on Xbox Game Pass.

The PlayStation 4 is going to go out with a bang. Ghost of Tsushima will arrive only a few months after The Last of Us Part 2, but it seems to be just as strong of an exclusive. Sucker Punch has been working on this game for quite a while, and its striking visuals make it stand out every time its shown at an event. The sword combat is a spectacle with brutal counters and executions, and the gorgeous open world is just begging to be explored. Its definitely one of the most visually impressive games on the PlayStation 4, and it looks like it has the gameplay to match.

Were getting a new Half-Life. That alone should make Half-Life: Alyx one of the landmark titles for 2020, but in true Valve fashion, theres a lot going on with Alyx. Its exclusively playable in VR, which is upsetting for a lot of people. However, Half-Life is a series known for pushing technological boundaries, and Half-Life: Alyx looks like it takes full advantage of the immersion and added level of interactivity that VR provides. As VR becomes more and more commonplace, games like these will continue to pop up. Half-Life: Alyx is the first in a long line of huge VR games, and physically moving things around as you scrounge for ammo or tossing things at an enemy to stun them during combat sounds like a ton of fun. If you have a VR headset, youre probably already going to play this game. If you havent picked one up yet, however, you should strongly consider doing so.

An expanded version of Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal adds a whole bunch of content to the already lengthy 2017 RPG. The original Persona 5 is already excellent, but Royal aims to correct some of the mistakes the team made the first time around as well as add new scenes to the main game that further flesh out the cast. With tons of new story content, a new party member, new confidants, and an entire extra semester tacked onto the original games ending, Persona 5 Royal is going to take well over one hundred hours to complete. That wont be too big of an issue given the strength of the characters, gameplay, and soundtrack, though.

While not a traditional mainline Gears game, Gears Tactics isnt your average spinoff. This strategy game is packing a 40-hour campaign, deep character customization, and a strong focus on story. Its a prequel, so you dont have to have played the other Gears games to know whats going on in Tactics, but considering every Gears game (including Tactics) is on Xbox Game Pass, you might as well give some of them a shot. Gears Tactics is shaping up to be an excellent strategy game, and fans of the series shouldnt turn their backs on it just because its a different genre.

Despite sharing its name and aesthetic with Minecraft, Minecraft Dungeons plays nothing like it. Dungeons is more akin to Diablo than anything, an isometric dungeon crawler centered around loot. It likely wont break any boundaries, but being able to explore randomly generated dungeons with friends isnt something we should take for granted. Diablo 4 is still a ways off, so why not delve into some blockier dungeons while you wait?

2015s Ori and the Blind Forest is one of the best games on the Xbox One, so its no surprise that the follow-up is one of the more highly anticipated games of 2020. Ori and the Will of the Wisps is just as gorgeous as its predecessor, and it looks like it will feature an impactful story and beautiful music just like the first game. On the gameplay side, Ori and the Will of the Wisps adds several new abilities for Ori, allowing for tighter and more challenging platforming than ever. Also, the sequel thankfully features autosaves, something which the first game sorely lacked.

The first Dying Light continues to be supported even today, five years post-launch, even getting crossovers with huge franchises like Left 4 Dead. The sequel, however, aims to accomplish much more than the original ever did. Itll still feature the same first-person parkour, but this time, theres a greater emphasis on narrative. Your decisions will not only affect your reputation between factions, but also the city itself. Youll be able to see the city visually change over the course of your playthrough, all thanks to the choices you make during missions. Consequences are at the core of Dying Light 2, and considering the first games story was lacking overall, its a welcome change.

Media Molecules Dreams has technically been out for the majority of 2019, albeit in Early Access, but 2020 marks the full retail release of the game. Dreams Creator Early Access only provided players with the games powerful suite of creation tools, but the full release of Dreams will contain a full story mode similar to LittleBigPlanet. However, because the game will have been out in Early Access for a year by the time Dreams officially launches, new players will have access to a back catalog of player-made creations on day one. Not only does this alleviate the issue of having no community-created levels to play at launch, but it also provides new players with a bevy of assets to use in their own creations. Unlike LittleBigPlanet, you dont have to create levels in Dreams. You can create anything as complex as full games or as simple as an individual asset, and anyone can use that creation in their own creations if you allow it. Doing an Early Access soft launch greatly benefitted Dreams, and if you jump in at launch, therell be no shortage of content.

Despite Rainbow Six: Sieges massive popularity, some still miss having a Rainbow Six game that isnt solely based around PvP. Rainbow Six Quarantine isnt a narrative-driven tactical shooter like the classic games, but its not a PvP experience like Siege, either. Its a middle ground, a three-player cooperative game centered around a viral outbreak. Not much is known about Quarantine, but it does feature some of the operators from Siege and is set sometime in the future. Itll likely play similarly to Sieges limited-time Outbreak event, which tasked players with making their way through Left 4 Dead like levels, killing infected and completing objectives along the way. The Outbreak event did have some cutscenes and story beats, so its possible that Outbreak will have a decent story. If anything, itll provide some additional insight into the operators that Siege players have been playing for years.

The Yakuza series only recently blew up in the west, mostly due to the release of Yakuza 0 in early 2017, but just as the western audience was becoming engrossed in the story of Kazuma Kiryu, it ended with the release of Yakuza 6 just a year later. Now, with the release of Yakuza 7, which is simply titled Yakuza: Like a Dragon here in the west, the series is getting a fresh start. Its sort of a soft reboot of the Yakuza franchise. Theres a new protagonist, a new setting, and an entirely different combat system. Yakuza: Like a Dragon forgoes realtime brawling in favor of a classic turn-based combat system. Its a pretty drastic change, but it signifies that this is a new direction for Yakuza, and its one that people can jump onto without worrying too much about previous entries in the series. The game comes out in just a few days in Japan, but its slated for a western release sometime in 2020, so be on the lookout for it.

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20 Games to Look Forward to in 2020 - Attack of the Fanboy

This past year I have been ensnared by some old and new titles.

I played a good bit of Two Point Hospital, a single-player hospital building game where you build rooms, solve problems and meet goals to increase your hospitals value and ratings. The game had two expansions release during 2019 to include three haunted and three ski-lodge like hospitals along with a slew of new diseases and ways to cure them. The game was originally released in 2018 but I played, and beat it twice, during 2019. They also added a cooperative mode where players complete missions with friends to solve a larger research project. I am looking forward to what 2020 brings, even if it is replaying the game all over again.

On the topic of casual games, Cities:Skylines was another of my favorites for passing time. It is everything Sim Cities should have been. And unlike Sim City, Cities:Skylines allows you to control just about every aspect of your city, from roads, public transportation and now colleges, to parks and entertainment districts. Released in 2014, the game has seen several expansions during the years, with campuses released in the past year. I am ready to soar into new heights with this one in 2020 as well.

Now onto the online multiplayer games.

Sea of Thieves was my 2019 obsession; although not a new game it was originally released in 2018 this game was one that had its ups and downs for me during the past year. While there have been additions to the game that have enhanced the overall experience, the players in the game have continued to be a detriment. Game developer Rare has had to balance community needs with worthwhile gameplay and it has not always gone well. I put the game down finally in November after changes made gameplay more difficult. Maybe 2020 will be a better year, but that remains to be seen.

Red Dead Redemption 2 launched for PC this past year and has been everything an open world game should be. It originally was released exclusively for Playstation and came to PC in November. Though with the launch of its Moonshiners expansion, the game hit a series of issues. They seem to be fixed as the year closes out but, at the same time, Rockstar may not have been ready for the number of PC players who wanted to play the game. Not to mention there were people hacking the game from launch, and crashes and failed launches still plague many players. But this is one I will continue to play and explore in 2020; there is so much to do and, I am hoping, more to come.

And how can I forget the game that has never taken itself seriously? From the creators of Goat Simulator, Deep Rock Galactic has made leaps and bounds in 2019 from beta and barely anything to a game that has so many facets it is hard to keep up. Developer Ghost Ship and publisher Coffee Stain have a winner in the four-player sci-fi co-op that takes dwarves to Hoxxis IV to mine minerals and eggs and fight giant bugs. It is a game enjoyed solo and with a group, and do not worry I will be kicking barrels and killing bugs well into the new year with this one. For Karl!

Finally, this past year saw the long awaited Borderlands 3 land. The game hit hard in September followed by a Halloween event that ran for more than a month and new endgame content was everything and nothing Borderlands players wanted. For me, it lived up to the hype. I was not thrilled with the villains but the storytelling was top notch and the first expansion, which released mid-December, was well worth it. I am looking forward to expansions to come in 2020, especially if they are all going to be as awesome as the December release.

The past year brought us a slew of other new video games like Gears of War 5, Death Stranding, Luigis Mansion 3 and many more. But 2020 brings us a new year of games, some highly anticipated.

Here is the list of games I am looking forward to coming out in the next year:

Cyberpunk 2077 (CD Projekt Red)Announced at E3 what seems like a decade ago, the futuristic adaptation of the 1988 tabletop game Cyberpunk 2020 is FINALLY coming. CD Projekt Red has taken their sweet time getting this one right. The latest trailer even added Keanu Reeves. It is expected to hit consoles and PC in April.

For me, this is a grown up version of the Shadowrun games, which I started playing a few years ago. Shadowrun, a top-down turn-based shooters, takes place in a futuristic socirty, and Cyberpunk jumps back in there minus the fantasy races. The graphics and open world concept are intriguing, I am just hoping it is truly open world. The game reminds me of futuristic Japan as portrayed in Ghost in the Shell, which just adds to the hype and anticipation.

There are a lot of eyes on this one so lets hope it lives up to the hype and is worth the agonizing wait.

Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)It has been a long time since this game from Square Enix landed on the original PlayStation. Now it is coming back and looks brand new, with updated graphics and new story. It was announced several years ago at E3 and has a release date of March 3 exclusively on PS4. Since I have been disappointed with the past few Final Fantasy games, it will be nice to get back to one that I enjoyed playing. The gameplay looks to be similar to the original games but the updated graphics make it much more enjoyable. The story seems to still be the same sappy anime but from previews, maybe it grew up? That remains to be seen since it is a Japanese role-playing game.

Here is hoping the updated game is better than the original blocky one. I will pick up a Playstation controller for this!

Senuas Saga: Hellblade 2 (Ninja Theory)Talk about hype. The initial trailer for this game, dropped during the video game awards in November, showed a dark world and a stronger female lead. The first game, named Senuas Sacrifice, tackled the topics of depression, loss and psychosis in a way I have never seen before. The game won awards for its depiction of mental health. If Hellblade 2 is anything like that, get ready for a wild and dark ride. The games are rich with Nordic traditions and influence as Senua is a pict warrior, an ancient race of Scottish Celts that lived during the 10th century.

Because of her psychosis there is so much mixed together, be ready to experience it all with her the confusion and disorientation is not for the faint of heart.

There is no definitive plot or release date for the sequel, but could be late 2020, fingers crossed.

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance (Wizards of the Coast and Tuque)Once upon a time, I played Dungeons & Dragons, both the tabletop and the online game that was released way back in 2006. Throwback here for sure. Anyway, the latest announcement from franchise owner Wizard of the Coast has a new four-player co-op coming out in the new year. Needless to say, as long as they dont follow in Turbines footsteps, this game has to be better than the online version. No real story or plot yet, and the trailer leaves much to be desired but as a D&D girl, I am willing to give it a shot.

Halo: Infinite (343 Studios)The next installment from 343 Studio is set to release during the holidays in 2020 hopefully. The previews have not given much away but Master Chief is back and hopefully back to what the Halo games should be. This is a series I used to watch my husband play, mostly because when it comes to console games, I am the absolute worst. I have fallen out of love with the past few games but, given the direction they are taking, I am interested to see how this one will go. I might even learn to use a controller to play it.

Skull & Bones (Ubisoft)After the failures and toxicity of Sea of Thieves, I am going to give this one a chance and see how it goes. The gameplay looks like a lot of what Sea of Thieves is lacking. While touting open world, it seems to be similar to Red Dead Redemption in a way that there are also story missions and non-player enemies to go against. Sea of Thieves relies more on player vs. player interaction. The storytelling in the game looks rich and given the multiple delays the game already has experienced, it better be good when it finally releases.

Of course, there are plenty more games coming to computer and console than just the ones I have listed, but these are the ones I have plans to play.

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Adventures of a Gamer Girl: Game play next year and last - Lynchburg News and Advance

2019 was a somewhat serviceable year in gaming. A few solid titles may have released and the Nvidia/AMD war raged on but overall, it was a forgettable year in gaming. 2020 is shaping up to be a monster of a year. Several big titles are coming out for the current generation that were pushed back for various reasons and will be a great send-off for this generation. Yes, the PS5 and Xbox will release next Winter (The Xbox Series X has been confirmed but another system may release as well) with their own exclusives but here are a few games you should be keeping your eye on in 2020. Dont freak out, they are in no particular order and feel free to shout at us on Twitter if your favourite is missing.

Despite the first Watch Dogs game getting a lukewarm reception, the sequel lit a beacon of hope for the series. Taking to the streets of London for this third outing, Watch Dogs Legion lets you play as anyone. Yes, any NPC in the entire game. Not sure how Ubisoft will pull it off but you can be sure it will be an entertaining open world.

Coming off the back of the excellent Man of Medan that hit earlier this year, there is a lot of hope for Little Hope. The template is a simple one to follow. A likeable cast I want to protect and murder equally. Cue some obnoxious jump scares and Little Hope should be a blast to play.

Instead of focusing on teen drama like in the excellent Life is Strange, developer Dontnod has opted for a different kind of mystery. Still retaining the episodic structure, Twin Mirror follows investigative journalist, Sam. He solves his cases using his Mind Palace, like Sherlock Holmes and has an inner voice like a Lovecraft character. Sign me up.

Dontnod has another episodic title and this one follows the teen drama angle, explored in Life is Strange. You play as twins, Alyson and Tyler (with Tyler being a transexual), who has just transitioned to male, as you try to piece together their past. An interesting and divisive topic to be sure but it will be certainly interesting to see how Dontnod tackles it.

The most popular thing since sliced bread has a huge AAA videogame version coming out, to nobodies surprise. Crystal Dynamics have a strong track record, so Im certainly not worried about the quality of the game. Visually, it looks tremendous and the combat looks to be a blast. The cynic in me is expecting something to go wrong here but if Im wrong, this will be one hell of a game.

Deadly Premonition was an absolute treat. Its visuals were horrendous and the gameplay was awful. The voice acting was laughable and the writing was shoddy. Yet there was something about it. It exuded charm and its cast were so endearing. A game like this should be thrown in a bargain bin, never to be touched again but it is a powerful argument for So bad, its good. The sequel, a Nintendo Switch exclusive, has a lot to do to appease its rabid fan-base.

Oh there he goes again, banging on about Yakuza, I hear you say. Just give me this, please! After Yakuza 6: The Song of Life closed the chapter of Kazuma Kiryu, Yakuza 7 brings in some new blood. Much like Kiryu, new protagonist Ichiban Kasuga takes the fall for a murder he didnt commit. Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon make the biggest change in the entire series, by going from a brawler to a turn-based RPG. Its a huge shift but a welcome one and may bring in a new generation of fans.

Whats there to say? Capcom absolutely nailed the remake of Resident Evil 2 and there isnt any indication theyll drop the ball here. Admit it, youre already excited.

Much like the upcoming remake of Resident Evil 3, theres already a huge swarm of people foaming at the mouth for this. Its going to a be a jumping in point for new fans as well. Those new fans who were put off by Final Fantasy XV might find this to be a bit easier to digest.

I was very late to the party with the outstanding first title, Ori and the Blind Forest and I remember looking at the trailer for this sequel and thinking this is the best looking game Ive ever seen. Im expecting a heart-breaking story, with jaw-dropping visuals, fun combat and platforming and a stunning musical score. What else does a game need?

From its incredible trailer shown earlier this year, I was hooked. A short scene that takes (you guessed it) 12 minutes to unfold, is meant to be played many times in order to find out what truly happened. This tense-looking mystery is sure to be a talking point when it releases.

Sucker Punch did a fantastic job with their superhero trilogy Infamous and the platformer Sly Cooper but this time they are being serious. Opting for a more grounded and dark tale, Ghost of Tsushima has you play as a mysterious samurai, Ghost. Its an open-world samurai game, come on people!

I loved Dead Island, faults and all. I understand most didnt but its hard to deny 2015s Dying Light wasnt bloody brilliant. The sequel is turning everything to 11 and is prioritising player choice and consequence above all and its looking to nail it. Seeing a game world change around you is a delight and I cant wait to play this one.

When the first game ended, I was completely satisfied. Its a rare feeling to be happy that a story has ended. The rumours of a sequel didnt interest me much but the more that was revealed, the more my interest grew. Now, there is no doubt The Last of Us: Part II will be a knockout but can Naughty Dog recapture the lightning in the bottle? Its a tough follow-up but I have a lot of faith.

Another game I was late to the party to. Despite being released unfinished, the first game earned a major cult following, prompting fans to finish the game themselves. Sure the combat is, well terrible but the characters and the world itself are incredible and seeing a sequel with all this effort put into it, makes my heart pound.

Yeah, Im far from the only one looking forward to this. CD Projekt Red have proved themselves as top tier developers, so theres a lot of hype resting on this game. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was a masterfully created, story-based RPG. Cyberpunk 2077 needs to pull off something major to top that masterpiece.

Hellblade: Senuas Sacrifice was a shining example of mid-tier developers knocking it out of the park. Despite its simple gameplay systems, it rallied itself behind an outstanding protagonist and a riveting story, not to mention its perfect use of binaural audio. The sequel is an unexpected tease but a welcome one and a looks to push the upcoming Xbox: Series X to its limit.

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EF Games' Carl Jones reveals his most anticipated games of 2020 - Entertainment Focus

Last year proved something of an odd duck for gaming after such a strong showing in 2018, gone were widely acclaimed single-player titles like Red Dead Redemption 2, Marvels Spider-Man and God of War replaced with less high profile but still interesting ones like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Control, Death Stranding and the Resident Evil 2 remake.

2020 is different. Not only are some big high profile titles back on the board, but it also marks a generational switchover point as both Microsoft and PlayStation refresh their consoles at the end of the year. With the new consoles all set to be backwards compatible for current generation games those involved arent slowing down.

Some major titles like The Elder Scrolls VI, Dragon Age 4, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, Metroid Prime 4 and Beyond Good & Evil 2 arent hitting until 2021 or beyond and so heres a list of the games were keen to see this year:

The Last of Us Part IINaughty Dog boasts the best track record for quality gaming product on the planet and has never failed to deliver, I dont expect them to stop now with this sequel to the incredibly acclaimed first title. Set five years later, Ellie and Joel return in a new story which hits May 20th though many will either wait or replay once a PS5 working version is released.

Ghost of TsushimaSucker Punch Productions Infamous: Second Son was the first real notable PS4 exclusive and boasted an excellent open-world design, lush visuals and fun powers tied to a bland story and repetitive gameplay. They return with this third-person stealth/combat game set in an open-world medieval Japan and resembling something out of the classic samurai films of the country. Hopefully a real winner, and at the very least it looks so damn gorgeous.

Cyberpunk 2077After nearly a decade of teasing, The Witcher creators CD Projekt Red deliver their take on a cyberpunk dystopian future with this first-person tale of a massive neo-metropolis run by militarized corporations and criminal gangs all vying for power. Its a rich open world with so much attention to detail and, considering CD Projekt Reds past track record, no doubt a whole lot of playability.

Half Life AlyxIts not the Half-Life 3 we all want, but the VR-only Half-Life: Alyx is something to be celebrated because at least Valve is showing interest in the franchise again. Here, the story follows Alyx Vance and her father Eli as they form a resistance to take on the invasion of the alien force known as the Combine. The usual first-person exploration, combat, and puzzle elements come into play and expect this title to finally push some VR headset sales.

Batman: Arkham Legacy / Untitled Rocksteady GameFor several years now, both Batman: Arkham City developers Rocksteady Games and Batman: Arkham Origins developers WB Games Montreal have separately been working on their own secret projects. Events last year teased some sort of announcement about what at least one of them has been working on will happen soon. Whether it be Batman: Arkham Legacy or an Arkham-style Superman game, who knows but we should hopefully see at least one of these companies coming forward with something later this year.

System Shock RemakeA remake of the iconic 1994 game that served as the spiritual precursor to the BioShock and Deus Ex franchises. Like the original, this is set on a space station in the year 2072 and you play a hacker trying to stop the malevolent artificial intelligence SHODAN. Originally planned for 2018, the game has hit some setbacks and will release no earlier than late 2020, most likely being pushed into 2021.

Final Fantasy VII RemakeThe original is arguably considered to be the most famous role playing game of all time and now were finally getting Square Enixs full remake of it with all new graphics and a new realtime combat system along with the originals classic turn-based system. The only downside is its being released episodically, but one upside is a the possibility of a PC release according to reports from people who have scoured the code of a recently leaked demo.

Halo InfiniteThe biggest launch title for Microsofts Series X console, though very likely coming to PC as well, Master Chief returns in a story that begins when he awakens from sleep to find his forces have already lost the war. Developer 343 Industries promises an emphasis on open exploration this time out, and the hope is it will steer away from the elements that made Guardians such an unmemorable entry.

Microsoft Flight SimulatorA flight sim game with a difference, this eleventh entry in the famed franchise and the first since 2006 is a major upgrade in realism and simulates the entire planet thanks to its use of Bings satellite imagery and Azure cloud services. As a result, the in-game assets will incorporate all of our planets nearly 200 million square miles of land and water, over two million cities and over 40,000 individual airports. It will also sport seasonal weather and other elements to add to the realism, but will depend heavily on a good internet connection.

Oddworld: SoulstormUnlike Oddworld: New n Tasty which was mostly a direct remake, this is a full re-imagining of 1998s franchise-best entry Oddworld: Abes Exoddus with some key changes to the story and gameplay of this second of a planned quintology of titles. Abe the Mudokon is back and ready to lead his people to freedom so long as you can keep him alive.

Doom EternalBethesda and id Softwares sequel to 2016s shooter franchise reboot wants to be even faster and more fluid than its predecessor as the Doom Slayer returns to Earth to save the human race from the monstrous hordes. It also includes what has been dubbed Invasion Mode from games like Watch Dogs allowing players to enter someone elses game as playable demons. For the twitch shooter crowd, this should be a hit.

Resident Evil 3Capcoms full remake of Resident Evil 2 scored much acclaim last year, the title winning several game of the year awards and selling over five million copies outselling the original. Now Capcom is giving the same treatment to the third game from 1999 as Jill Valentine attempts to escape from the infected Raccoon City. Like last years remake, this modernizes the controls and viewpoint and will include the 1-vs-4 multiplayer game Resident Evil Resistance.

Senuas Saga: Hellblade 2A big launch title for the new Xbox, Ninja Theory delivers this follow-up to the acclaimed dark action-adventure Hellblade: Senuas Sacrifice in which you play a Pict warrior who believes she is cursed due to the mental health issues she suffers. The new tale is set three years after Senua traveled through Helheim to rescue Dillion. The first trailer released for the title not long ago looks absolutely stunning.

Marvels AvengersCrystal Dynamics did such great work with the Tomb Raider franchise, but oddly excitement for this is notably muted following some not so great early trailers. The game begins with the unveiling of the new Avengers HQ in San Francisco which results in the death of civilians and the Avengers officially disband. Five years later, all superheroes are now outlawed until a recent world event puts humanity at risk. Im a bit Avengers-ed out at this point, but the graphics look great even as I have some serious questions about the gameplay.

Watch Dogs: LegionThis third installment in Ubisofts open-world hacking-themed title shifts the action to a post-Brexit London, one under intense and constant surveillance. You must build up the resistance, and this time you can recruit and play as any NPC in the game world turn that little old lady or that street tramp into a rocket-launching dynamo. Its a new spin on the gameplay that could really open up this title, and mostly it promises to be all sorts of anarchic fun.

Dying Light 2The first-person parkour survival game returns and this time its a much more interesting a varied open world fifteen years later. Theres not only seven different zones with whole different looks, but a map around four times as big as the first one and one with much more height to it. Leap across rooftops with help of hooks and paragliders to try and stay out of danger and make alliances which will change how the NPCs of this world react to you. Theres also some four-player co-op.

SaturnaliaA fascinating looking survival horror tale from Italian company Santa Ragione and done with graphics made to resemble pencil sketch artwork. You follow several characters who are stuck in an abandoned village as they try to both survive and get out. Wonderfully moody piece in its trailers.

The Red LanternWhat could be this years Firewatch, Timberline Studio delivers this survival tale following a woman who enters the Iditarod in Alaska and must use what few resources she has to survive the hazardous obstacles including bear attacks, frostbite and other natural threats. A strong narrative and intriguing setting makes this indie stand out from some bigger budget competitors on the way.

Skull and BonesTake the ship-to-ship combat sequences from Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag and build an entire game out of them and you get Skull & Bones, a lavish-looking sea-faring tale of galleons and cannons, rum and seamen. Its also a game that includes both campaign and multiplayer battles and isnt some always online MMORPG style deal which is nice.

Gods and MonstersUbisoft attempts to blend a look akin to Nintendos Breath of the Wild and Greek mythology elements in this exploration RPG that hails from the same team behind the acclaimed Assassins Creed Odyssey, so you know itll pay attention to the details. Here youll have to help save the gods from the giant serpent Typhon who wants to overthrow Zeus for the supremacy of the universe.

ALSO COMING IN 2020

12 Minutes Annapurnas new overhead perspective title has you reliving the same twelve minutes over and over as you try and find ways to stop being beaten to death by a dangerous cop in your home.

Carrion You play the tentacled monster in this Metroidvania-style game as you race through the facility/prison where youre kept, chomping on scientists as you go.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope Man of Medan gets a follow-up in this small town set supernatural chiller as a creature lurks in the darkness waiting to pounce.

Empire of Sin A turn-based combat-strategy game lifted by the fact its set in Prohibition-era Chicago and has you vying for control of the cities speakeasies and brothels.

Gears Tactics A turn-based single-player strategy game set in the Gears of War world from The Coalition and Splash Damage. Set during the early parts of the Locust Wars, the top-down game features first-person action sequences.

Ghostrunner Take the cyberpunk tower block setting of the film Dredd, expand it in size and fill it with enemies you have to kill with a Dishonored-style mixture of stealth, parkour and lethal melee.

Godfall The only PS5 exclusive announced thus far looks oddly dull. A multiplayer heavy third-person looting game from Counterplay Games.

Kerbal Space Program 2 The franchise returns with a follow-up with better graphics, enhanced modding ability, and expansions of the first games playability.

Nioh 2 A prequel to the 2017 title continues Team Ninjas hack-and-slash title with fully customizable characters to play with.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps The charming side scroller gets a follow-up in this just as colorful game about a spirit creature exploring their world, with the new entry improving the games upgrade and auto-save systems.

Persona 5 Royal A re-release of Persona 5 with a bunch of new features, a new character and a new area along with some tweaks.

Psychonauts 2 A follow-up to the beloved platformer sees you controlling Raz, a new graduate with powerful psychic powers.

Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated The celebrated 2003 game gets a full remake which will add a whole new multiplayer mode along with a bunch of excised content from the original game.

Tom Clancys Rainbow Six Quarantine A three-player co-op first-person shooter in which you take on a technological parasitic threat.

A Total War Saga: Troy The strategy combat franchise shifts the action to the Bronze Age and the Fall of Troy, can you win the battle and appease the gods?

Way to the Woods Teen developer Anthony Tans indie adventure game has a very Journey style feel to it as we follow two deer who are lost in the world and are trying to find their way home.

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The Notable Video Games Of 2020 - Dark Horizons

Although earlier examples do exist, nothing sums up the mood and aesthetic of cyberpunk quite like the opening of William Gibsons 1984 novel Neuromancer: "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." Its a genre of science fiction often marked by its contrasts; low life and high tech, to quote author Bruce Sterling, and a vision of the near future with its feet heavily planted in both the obsessions and pessimism of the 1980s.

Its instantly recognisable, and yet defies neat categorisation, with elements of noir, satire, fetishism and paranoia all typically mixed together. In its stock form, its the near future as seen from the gutterindividualists struggling to live as they choose in the perpetual darkness and driving rain of oppressive future cities where megacorporations rule everything and everyone. Its the antithesis of utopian sci-fi such as the Star Trek series, typically rooted in a sense of nihilism and criminality. Corruption is rife, violence is omnipresent, and law belongs to the highest bidder.

However, like most genres, theres far more to the setting than that. For starters, its a dark view of the future thats also shaped by its creators passions; a strong Asian vibe to the worlds, for instance, from the iconic geisha billboard that introduces us to Blade Runners near-future Los Angeles, to the existence of archetypes like Shadowruns 'street samurai'. The result tends to be worlds that are very cool to visit, but would be hellish to actually live in.

Deeper down though, cyberpunk is a genre thats less interested in the fancy toys and bright lights as the questions that they raise about humanityidentity, sexuality, ethics, memory, freedom, and more. Blade Runner, for example, is nominally a movie about a cop chasing down robots, but in practice is a deeper philosophical work that explores the nature of humanity by contrasting cold protagonist Deckard with the emotional Replicants he hunts.

This type of exploration is part of most major cyberpunk works of the last few decades, regardless of their origins. Be it the title of Ghost In The Shell referring to a spark of soul even when all organic elements have been replaced with machinery, to The Matrix, widely discussed for both its overt themes, such as the nature of reality, and for the many metaphors that can have read into it, most notably its potential to be seen as a transgender coming out story, andrather less positivelythe rise of philosophies such as 'redpilling' within certain online communities.

But lets turn our attention to games. Cyberpunk has been a part of them since the beginning, even if never as popular a setting as you might expect. Neuromancer saw a game conversion as far back as 1988, and many of its elements are still present in cyberspace futures todayhacking as a whole virtual world where the hacker must literally fight against ICE (Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics), upgrades in the form of skill chips, and so on. While not a great game, it was certainly a forward-thinking one, offering adventure/RPG cyberpunk action over a decade before Deus Ex; one where you could go from selling your organs for pocket money, to wandering down the street and finding a religion based on Pong.

As a game though, it made few waves, and this is honestly true for most attempts until the new millennium. Where theyre remembered, its primarily for their oddities. The original Blade Runner game particularly stands out here: an 8-bit outing not technically based on the moviethat would have been expensivebut rather 'inspired by the Vangelis soundtrack'. Needless to say, that inspiration somehow led to you being a cop in a big coat chasing down 'replidroids' in a futuristic city. That was 1985. Westwoods official game wouldnt arrive until 1997.

Not being huge commercial successes didnt mean that these games werent interesting. One of the more ambitious ones was Westwoods Circuits Edgethats Westwood as in the future creator of Command & Conquer. This was a text adventure with very simple graphical elements, based on the novel When Gravity Falls, with Islamic elements instead of the usual Asian ones. While almost entirely forgotten today, its an interesting piece of gaming history both for its technical side, with elements such as NPC scheduling, and for featuring some of the earliest gay/trans characters on PC.

Ideas in general were the genres strength, even if the games they were in drew more overall from Blade Runners aesthetics than cyberpunk philosophy. Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima, for example, created Snatcher, a totally original story about a detective with a mysterious past hunting humanoid robots in the futuristic Neo Kobe City. Even more blatant was Sierras Rise Of The Dragon, a Chinese-themed adventure set in Los Angeles that named its hero Blade Hunter. Nothing, however, was ever quite as shameless as Access Softwares Mean Streets, which didnt just lift Blade Runners style, but shamelessly pinched one of its advertising posters.

When games broke free of that, the results could be fascinating. DreamWeb was one of the earliest to make waves, though not so much for the fact that your character was a potentially insane serial killer being guided by his dreams, as for the inclusion of a sex scene showing a few scandalous pixels of penis. It was an interesting game though, at least for the first few missions, before everyone involved unfortunately seemed to get somewhat bored with the concept.

Other prominent games of the '90s included Origins Cybermage: Darklight Awakening, arguably the most '90s name ever, the original System Shock, interactive movies with names like Angel Devoid and BurnCycle, and of course, the opening disc of Final Fantasy VII, which eschewed traditional fantasy for dark alleyways and the evil Shinra corporation. While it wasnt on PC, CD32 game Liberation: Captive II also deserves a mention. It was an RPG about freeing prisoners in a huge, fully explorable city. Almost impossible in scope then, its still impressive to consider today.

Three of the more interesting failed experiments came from creators John Antinori and Laura Kampo: Bloodnet, Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller, and (minus Kampo) Ripper. Theyre not great games, but they represent some of the most earnest attempts to Make Cyberpunk Work. Bloodnet mixed the traditional elements with vampires, in an open-world adventure/RPG in which you regularly had to feed to maintain your sanity, and any NPC was a potential target. Hell was about a future government working with demons to damn their enemies (though it was really a virtual reality scam). Finally, Ripper brought Jack the Ripper into the future, with some hilariously campy FMV, and a huge cast of actors such as Christopher Walken and a pre-fame Paul Giamatti.

Alas, it wouldnt really be until Westwood returned to the genre with its official Blade Runner game, and Ion Storm released Deus Ex, that the genre would truly get its dues on PC.

Even then, its been a bumpy ride. Until CD Projekt, wed never seen an official Cyberpunk game, despite the P&P having been written back in the very Web 1.0 era of 1988. And while there had been pretty good console RPGs based on its main competitor, Shadowrun (cyberpunk, but with elves and trolls and magic), it wouldnt be until over a decade later that Microsoft finally released a PC one. Unfortunately, this one wasnt an RPG, but a mediocre team-based FPS that fans mostly loathed. It wouldnt be for several more years that Shadowrun Returns would save the series reputation with a trilogy of excellent games. The second one, Dragonfall, is especially good.

Despite the struggles, cyberpunk has always been a part of PC gamingelements borrowed, inspiration drawn, cool things cherry-picked, whether something simple, like the anime stylings of Bungies Oni, the cool approach of hacking in Introversions Uplink, or the sprawling dystopia of Syndicate and Syndicate Wars, in which youre the evil corporation instead of the oppressed antihero.

Along with Blade Runner, one particular work has repeatedly cropped up in gaming cultureNeal Stephensons Snow Crash. While part of the genre, it largely satirised cyberpunk tropes, as best summed up by the main character being a hacker pizza delivery boy called Hiro Protagonist. Its central concept, a virtual world called the Metaverse, became an inspiration for what the internet could bepopularising, for instance, the word avatar as a name for a character, and the dream of a user-created space in which code and imagination could craft any landscape. This, alas, never happened, with the best attempt, Second Life, quickly descending from utopian dreams of virtual universities and truly world-wide rock concerts into a virtual universe of porn shops.

Still, the dream defined both an idealised future for the internet and gaming in general, that weve seen explored in everything from MMORPGs to VR. Microsofts Xbox Live was heavily inspired by the novel, for example, with its creators given copies to read as homework.

Theres definitely something endearing about that: while cyberpunk as a genre may have often been marginalised in gaming next to newer, shinier visions of the future, it was helping define the future long before the likes of Deus Ex brought its nihilistic visions mainstream.

Now, in an era of indie creators facing off against huge publishers and platform holders, it has new meaningthe establishment that wants more than just your money, rebels creating art, and the internet as the last battlefield where David can fight Goliath. It may not be dark alleyways and rainy cities, but gaming doesnt really get much more cyberpunk than that. Unless, of course, David finally upgrades to a katana.

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The history of cyberpunk on PC - PC Gamer

It has been another mega year for gaming fans in 2019, with a host of blockbuster titles arriving on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

EAs Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Death Stranding by Hideo Kojima spearheaded the list of great titles that launched over the past 12 months, while the recent arrival of Google Stadia saw the search giant enter the gaming world with its cloud-based subscription service.

But next year is shaping up to be even better.

Microsoft and Sony are expected to release their new systems Xbox Project Scarlett and the PS5 respectively at the end of 2020, and they will be accompanied by a line-up of next-generation titles. Next year will also mark the return of a long-awaited franchise, though not quite in the way fans are expecting.

Here are the new games that are set to see in the new decade in style:

Doomreceived praise among fans and critics when the series was rebooted in 2016, so it comes as little surprise that a follow-up is on the horizon.

The new title,Doom: Eternal, can be summed up as fast-paced, smooth, action-packed gameplay, accompanied by intense, raw, heavy-metal, saysGame RantsNicholas Wilder. The first-person shooter will see players taking on thedemonic forces of Hell, spanning multiple worlds including Earth and Mars.

After playing a brief demo, Wilder says its evident that developer id Software has done a fantastic job creating a game that delivers a step forward for the franchise as a whole.

Release date: 20 March

Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Google Stadia (Nintendo Switch at a later date)

Next generation: possibly

Lego has always had a firm grasp of the toy market, but its also one of the big players in the gaming world as well. This has largely been thanks to Travellers Tales Lego Star Wars, which arguably put the Danish toymaker on the gaming map back in 2005.

With the launch of three new movies over the past five years, along with two spin-offs, it was only a matter of time before Travellers Tales bundled all of them into an all-inclusive Lego adventure.

Details about the new Lego game are scarce, butGamesRadarsays gamers will be able to roam the galaxy at their own pace and locations will adapt depending on what Star Wars era the player is in.

For instance, those visiting planets that were in the film A New Hope can replay them with the characters of a later film, though the worlds will take on a different look to simulate their state in the Star Wars timeline.

Not only does this look like a whole new breed of Lego game, it may well be one of the best Star Wars games of all time, says GamesRadars Sam Loveridge.

Release date: March

Platforms: Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC

Next generation: no

Its been seven years since the original teaser trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 was released. But the wait is almost over, as the sci-fi role-playing game (RPG) finally arrives in 2020.

Developed by CD Projekt Red, the Polish games studio behind the acclaimed The Witcher franchise, Cyberpunk 2077 takes the form of a open-world RPG set in the fictional Night City described by Polygonas a coastal metropolis lodged smack dab between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

It looks set to become a real game-changer, too. Players can customise their characters using a modular creator system, where body parts, voice and other physical features can be swapped and changed, the tech site adds.

Keanu Reeves has also been confirmed as a character in the game, though its not yet known what his role will be.

Release date: 16 April

Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Google Stadia

Next generation: possibly

The long-awaited sequel to Naughty Dogs survival epicThe Last of Uswill finally arrive on the PS4 in 2020.

Announced at the PlayStation Experience (PSX) back in December 2016,The Last of Us: Part IIpromises to continue the story of Ellie, one of the main characters from the first game, who finds herself in a nightmarish version of Seattle thats swarming with zombie-like creatures known as the infected.

Just about everything fans remember from the original has been adjusted in the sequel, saysGamespot.Ellie, for instance, is much more mobile and agile than Joel, the main playable character from the first game, and shell have a host of new enemies to test her improved combat skills.

Release date: 29 May

Platforms: PS4

Next generation: possibly

Microsofts Flight Simulator franchise has allowed PC gamers to live out their aviation fantasies for over two decades, but the series has never wound up on consoles. That changes next year, though, when an all-new version of the simulator launches on Xbox One and Microsofts next-generation console.

The simulator looks set to showcase the graphical capabilities of the new games console, using two petabytes worth of geographical data to map out an accurate and detailed reflection of the real world, says Windows Central.To put that into perspective, a typical consumer laptop has 500GB of storage - about 0.0005 of a petabyte.

To manage all that data, Microsoft will employ its Azure cloud systems, the tech site says. This can offload most of the games data, such as airport and surface textures, on to the cloud so that the users console doesnt have to process and store two million gigabytes worth of information.

Its due to launch alongside the next Xbox in late 2020.

Release date: late 2020

Platforms: Xbox Project Scarlett, Xbox One, PC

Next generation: yes

The Master Chief returns once again in 2020 as Halo: Infinite looks set to become a launch title for Microsofts next-generation Xbox.

Little is known about Halo: Infinite, other than it will be the sixth instalment in the sci-fi franchises main-line series and mark the arrival of the so-called Project Scarlett. But Bonnie Ross, head of Halo: Infinite developer 343 Industries, told IGNthat the game would be a spiritual reboot of the franchise.

She describes the series as one of hope, and wonder, and heroism, and humanity, and community, and bringing a community together so its possible the Master Chiefs next adventure could explore these themes.

Well find out when Halo: Infinite arrives at the end of 2020.

Release date: Christmas 2020

Platforms: Xbox Project Scarlett, Xbox One, PC

Next generation: yes

Fans have been waiting well over a decade for a newHalf-Lifegame. In November, developer Valve announced that the series would finally be returning but not in the way that fans were expecting.

Rather than release a direct sequel to 2004sHalf-Life 2, which many consider to be the best video game of all time, the development studio has instead turned its focus to releasing a standalone virtual-reality title calledHalf-Life: Alyx.

The game is set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2and is playable only in VR. David Speyrer, a programmer at Valve, toldThe VergethatHalf Life: Alyxis not a side story, but rather the next part of theHalf-Lifestory, in a game around the same length asHalf-Life 2.

Given that the next generation of games consoles is expected to skirt VR, expect this to be a PC exclusive.

Release date: March 2020

Platforms: PC

Next generation: no

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Best games to play in 2020: Half-Life Alyx, Cyberpunk 2077 and more - The Week UK

Yes, sure ... Baby Yoda is great and all. But hear me out pocket Keanu. Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red and toy manufacturer McFarlane Toys signed a three-year licensing deal to create Cyberpunk 2077 action figures, and the first wave includes two Keanu Reeves figures.

McFarlane Toys is releasing two Johnny Silverhand action figures thats Keanu Reeves character in seven-inch and 12-inch figures. As part of the line, McFarlane Toys is also making a seven-inch male V action figure. Each of the seven-inch figures has 22 points of articulation and will cost $24.99.

12-inch Keanu Reeves will cost $39.99 and isnt really an action figure more of a statue. This version of the character has Silverhand playing a black guitar. You get a guitar, bottle, and Rock-On hand with the seven-inch figure, all of which can be moved to pose Keanu yourself.

Cyberpunk 2077 is expected out on April 16 on PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One. Later in the year, itll come to Google Stadia. The last we heard of Cyberpunk 2077 was about its soundtrack, which will feature artists like Run The Jewels, Grimes, and A$AP Rocky. Of course, Keanu Reeves character Johnny Silverhand is the star musician in the Cyberpunk universe, backed by Swedish punk band Refused.

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McFarlane Toys is creating Cyberpunk 2077 toys - Polygon

Merry Christmas, its Akiras 30th anniversary! And the influential anime film, released in US cinemas December 25, 1989 has everything you need for jolly holiday viewing vicious gangs, telekinetic powers, the eradication of civilized society, psychic children with horrifyingly aged faces, a dystopian view on how technology will consume us all, a viscerally disgusting villain that consumes and absorbs everything in its path, and one of the scariest film scores ever composed. Uh maybe its not so much a wonderful life?

Akira is a chest-grabbing masterpiece, an explosive film that helped usher manga and anime into the Western cultural forefront and has influenced projects as wide-varying as South Park, Stranger Things, and Kanye Wests Stronger. It also gave an expansive, entertaining overview of the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk. First defined and explored by notable sci-fi authors like Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison, and William Gibson, cyberpunk works tend to feature a near-future dystopian society that is paradoxically gutted and devolved thanks to the expansion and evolution of technology. Human bodies and cybernetic approximations co-mingle, bleary-eyed protagonists fight their way through noir-tinged conflict, and the cold, steel flesh of industry, from robots to skyscrapers, juts into every facet of life all tinged with the iconoclastic, rebellious spirit of punk. Sounds pretty damn cinematic, no?

So, in honor of Akiras 30th anniversary, and a world which feels more and more cyberpunk every minute, here are some of the best cyberpunk movies for you to watch, enjoy, and further convince you to delete all your social media accounts and live off the grid.

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Best Cyberpunk Movies, from The Matrix to Ghost in the Shell - Collider.com

Inspired by the visuals of 80s anime like Akira or Ghost in the Shell, peppered with a healthy dose of Blade Runner, Evolutis is a 2D story-driven action game coming in 2020. Made by Portuguese developers Poke Life Studio, the alpha footage and preview visuals are absolutely gorgeous. Evolutis was initially announced as crowd-funded, but now it looks like the publisher PM Studios is going to put it out. I mean, seriously:

Evolutis revolves around the paths of three protagonists intersecting over a single narrative, interspersed with 2D action combat. Its not clear what the control scheme is, or how precisely the combat plays out, but the real promise here is the gorgeous animation and the detailed characters. I like em because they just look sassy.

Hopefully the game's writing and design do justice to those looks. If youre hankering for more of those gorgeous animations, you can check out an old alpha trailer or go follow the game on Twitter and/or Facebook.

Read more here:

Beautiful visuals abound in cyberpunk action game Evolutis - PC Gamer

Evolutis, an upcoming cyberpunk style game is ready to take the genre to new depths as it blows onto the screen in 2020.

Looking like an anime sheet torn straight out of Akira, this action-adventure tale takes place in a stunning cyberpunk city full of mystery, miracles of science, and the same violence that made the gritty animated realism of 80s eastern hits so successful. The aesthetic that brings the neo-noir surroundings to life in Evolutis isnt all that this game has to offer either. Players taking on this 2D tale will weave the streets of Neo Hong-Kong as one of three characters, Damon Watts, Erick Warren, and Chelsea Williams.

Damon is out on the hunt for any signs of his seemingly deceased wife, while Erick is a drug addict seeking vengeance against those he believes to be involved in the murder of his cousin. Finally, Chelsea Williams is a famous but lonely wrestler doing everything she can to keep her non-biological father alive. PM Studios has dropped a stunning trailer featuring the art and action that players can expect to see in Evolutis and the team behind this has leaked a few of the games key features, below

Cutting edge 2D visual story telling inspired by 80s anime and set in Neo Hong Kong, where the city never sleeps. Play as three characters, each with his and her own unique abilities. Discover the mystery of Neo Hong Kong through three deeply intertwined story lines across a dramatic narrative. Engage in futuristic combat with a great variety of skill and methods like hand to hand combat, finishing moves, vehicle chases, gadgets, stealth, hacking, gun fire, and even a hoverboard! Deal with corruption and crime from local gangs and forces, or just relax at the arcade. Just try to stay alive!

While we dont have a final release date or pricing for the adventure, we do know that Evolutis will crack all major platforms when it uploads. Keep your screen on Gamespace for more information when it arrives or check out the official PM website for more info.

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Evolutis is A Stunning Anime Cyberpunk Game Coming in 2020 - GameSpace.com

The games released in 2019 have been groundbreaking with the likes of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Death Stranding, Resident Evil 2, and many more. 2020 can become a better year with many more upcoming games anticipated by countless gamers. With the year coming around, we are really looking forward to what the upcoming games will offer in terms of gameplay, story, and characters.

While there are many games that have been confirmed for a 2020 release date, here are our picks for five games to be excited about in 2020.

Something that we thought would not happen in a long time eventually did when Square Enix gave an unforgettable presentation at their E3 conferencewith a teaser trailer for Final Fantasy VII Remake. The game is looking crisp, and offering an intense experience for fans who grew up with the 1997 original title. It will release in episodic format, meaning we won't have the complete experience for quite some time, but if all goes well, Square Enix will definitely win the hearts of gamers old and new with this title.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons was originally planned for a 2019 release, but a delayed game is better than a rushed one. This new entry in the beloved Nintendo series will be coming to Switch, offering up a nice and relaxing gaming experience with old and new features. Fans of Animal Crossing have been eagerly waiting, and they will finally get their new title soon.

Many people have mentioned that Cyberpunk 2077 is their most anticipated game in 2020, and its not hard to see why. For one, CD Projekt Red's most recent AAA release, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, still blows us away. Cyberpunk 2077's setting, gameplay, and concept are all something entirely different to get into. The trailers have given a lot of hype, and deservingly so. Plus, Keanu Reeves as Johnny Silverhand is definitely a role we are looking forward to.

PlayStation hasmany incredible, exclusivetitles that gamers enjoy, and The Last of Us Part II will take them back to the incredible characters and a bleak but beautifully built world of the first game. Similar to Animal Crossing, this game has beendelayed to ensure that the game will have more development time. We can definitely expect some great performances from Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson in this anticipated sequel.

Dont worry Xbox fans, we've got an exclusive for you, too. Microsoft will be having their beloved Halo series have a new title coming at the last quarter of 2020. Halo Infinite will feature the iconic Master Chief in the third chapter of Reclaimer Saga, and give him a more central role. Halo Infinite will also become one of the launch titles for the Xbox Series X, further increasing anticipation both for the title and for the console itself.

See more here:

Top 5 Games to Be Excited About in 2020 - Gamepur

As if anticipation for Cyberpunk 2077 couldnt run any higher, a slew of headline-worthy contributors have been confirmed to bolster the games soundtrack. Slated to release for all major consoles in April of next year, the sci-fi video games soundtrack will include the likes of A$AP Rocky, Grimes and Run The Jewels, to name only a few music industry heavyweights.

Acclaimed video game studio CD PROJEKT RED shared information regarding the soundtrack for Cyberpunk 2077, along with a few behind-the-scenes videos featuring the aforementioned artists who are contributing to the upcoming title, in addition to Refused (portrayed as SAMURAI in the game), Gazelle Twin, Ilan Rubin, Richard Devine, Nina Kraviz, Deadly Hunta, Rat Boy, and Tina Guo.

Check out the videos below to hear how the artist felt to be involved with Cyberpunk 2077.

Additionally, along with contributing to the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack, each artist will be getting their own in-game character/band. 31-year-old musician Grimes will be portrayed as Lizzy Wizzy, while Samurais lead singer, Johnny Silverhand, will be voiced by Keanu Reeves in the game.

Cyberpunk 2077 releases on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on April 16, 2020.

In more gaming news, Pokmon Sword and Shield introduces new Gigantamax Sandaconda, Centiskorch and more.

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A$AP Rocky, Grimes & Run the Jewels to Soundtrack Cyberpunk 2077 - HYPEBEAST

Daisu Games are a young Brazillian development company which was established in 2015. They specialise in digitising board games for mobile phones. Their latest endeavour is Infamy, a cyber-punk themed mafia game that'll be moving into closed beta in January.

The game is set on a Martian mining colony where three factions are continually tussling for control over it. Players will take on the role of a freelancer who's set on making a profit for themselves, using the conflict to their advantage. They'll establish a network of contacts who will help them carry out their dirty work or with plotting schemes to increase their reputation.

The game is won when a player reaches 15 Infamy points or by hitting the highest reputation level with one of the three factions. It focuses a lot on an auction type system called 'Pay to Play'. Players will sacrifice bidding power to take part in these auctions but will lose currency if they waste too much time doing so. But you can't sit idly by, otherwise, your opponents will quickly gather all the tools they need to succeed in the criminal underworld.

Daisu Games are committed to making their digital version of Infamy as faithful to the board game as possible. This is an ethos that extends to their other projects. They've already released a PC version of Between Two Castles, which they are hoping to bring to mobile next year. Additionally, they're also working on a mobile version of Unearth, which will be hitting beta during Q2 of 2020.

Infamy is set to hit beta at some stage in January and will release for iOS and Android sometime after. We'll be sure to give you more details nearer the time. In the meantime, you can sign up to Daisu Games' newsletter to be the first to hear about upcoming betas for all their games.

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Infamy is a digital version of the cyberpunk mafia board game that's heading into closed beta in January - Pocket Gamer

Game Pass is Microsofts trump card. The subscription service has basically been the lynchpin in the Xbox brand. Recently they announced new features like streaming games instead of downloading them, as well as added a bunch of high profile games.

A recent leak is pointing towards a 2020 that is even stronger for Game Pass than 2019 has been. More high profile games could be coming to Game Pass in 2020, including arguably the most highly anticipated game of the decade: Cyberpunk 2077.

Yesterday, Xbox South Africa had a bit of an operational hiccup. They posted an advert for Xbox Game Pass showing of some games that Microsoft intended to add to the service. It has since been taken down but the list of games had some pretty surprising entires.

Things like Halo Infinite, Minecraft Dungeons and Wasteland 3 were to be expected. However, there were a few games that came as more of a shock, including Cyberpunk 2077. If the advert is correct, that could mean that Cyberpunk 2077 will be coming to Game Pass either on its release or very near to it.

Since the advert has now been taken down it isnt completely clear if it was correct. It may have been removed because it revealed information before it was ready to be announced. On the other hand, it may have been entirely incorrect information which would mean that well all be waiting for nothing.

Whether or not Cyberpunk 2077 is coming to Game Pass, 2020 is sure to make the service even better. Even if the game was added to the advert by accident, the rest of the games on the list are a pretty big deal. Doom Eternal is a big game coming out next year, and that is also on the list.

It may be reasonable to think of Cyberpunk 2077s inclusion as an accident. But the chances of all of the other games being an accidental inclusion are much lower. Even if the other games being added was dubious information, there is no doubt that Xbox will be trying their hardest to make Game Pass even better next year.

As the year ends and the new one begins, Game Pass has never been so attractive. There are sure to be deals for the service left and right. If youve never considered subscribing now seems like the perfect time to do it.

This article was edited by Samburaj Das.

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Could Cyberpunk 2077 Really Come to Xbox Game Pass in 2020? - CCN.com

The most anticipated game of 2020 is getting a soundtrack to match the hype, with Cyberpunk 2077 set to feature some of the biggest artists in the world.

Creators CD PROJEKT RED have revealed A$AP Rocky, Grimes and Run The Jewels are headling a varied list of artist who will feature in the game. They'll be joined by SAMURAI, Gazelle Twin, Ilan Rubin, Richard Devine, Nina Kraviz, Rat Boy, Deadly Hunta, and Tina Guo.

The music itself seems to be a huge mix of soundscapes, with hip-hop, alternative, pop, electronica, industrial, and punk being the main genres of music helping shape the sound of the futuristic universe depicted in the game.

Check out some of the artist's reactions to being involved in the game below.

Each artist that's part of the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack will also have the incredible opportunity of starring in the game. So far we know Grimes will portray somebody known as Lizzy Wizzy while Keanu Reeves will voice the character of Johnny Silverhand, the lead singer of SAMURAI.

According to the great Killer Mike, "We want to provide you with the soundtrack to fucking things up." And we couldn't agree more.

Cyberpunk 2077is set for release April 16, 2020, on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

RELATED: 'Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare' UnveilsTthe 'Swoopy Boi' 31 Killstreak Unlock.

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'Cyberpunk 2077' Soundtrack To Include A$AP Rocky, Grimes, & Run The Jewels - Boss Hunting

From drones that fire webs to ones able to land vertically on walls, there is no shortage of crazy concept drones out there. Both of these pale into harmless insignificance, however, compared to the latest drone created by Turkish electronics firm Asisguard. What makes the Songar drone so headline-generating? The fact that, unlike regular four-bladed quadcopters, it uses eight blades to enable it to fly. Oh, and the fact that it comes with a mounted machine gun and 200 rounds of ammunition for riddling targets with bullets from the sky. That bit as well.

Anyone who has ever flown a drone will know that piloting one accurately can be a bit of a challenge. Thats one of the things that makes great drone racers or photographers so talented. Its no surprise, then, that machine-gunning targets from a flying unmanned (but not unarmed) aerial vehicle is a little bit tough. To make up for that, and compensate for recoil, Songar uses cameras and a laser rangefinder to help calculate metrics such as distance, angle, wind speed, and more. It also uses a pair of robot arms to move the machine gun as it fires to lessen the impact of the recoil.

According to a New Scientist article, Songar has sufficient accuracy to be able to hit a 15-centimeter area from 200 meters away. If youre someone who prefers to measure things in a combination of fruit sizes and sports fields, its the equivalent of shooting a mango from close to two football fields away. That distance could soon double due to software improvements. The drone also has night sensors to allow it to see in darkness. It can additionally be deployed in a group of three, which can be made to converge on a target for simultaneous firing. To select a target, all a Songar pilot would need to do is to select them with crosshairs using a screen on a remote control.

Asisguard is planning to deliver its drones for military use before the end of the year. While not the first deadly drone (or even gun-equipped drone) weve covered, this certainly looks like a fearsome new entry into a growing market place. For better or worse.

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Turkeys new machine gun drones are proof that we live in a cyberpunk dystopia - Digital Trends

Back in 1997, classic game developer Westwood Studios released Blade Runner, a video game adaptation of the classic Harrison Ford-helmed cyberpunk film. Upon release, the game was a critical and commercial success, and it quickly found its way to being a classic in the genre that nailed the atmosphere and vibe of its source material. But as time went on, legal disputes and rapidly growing changes in technology kept the game firmly in the past, making it difficult to play on new platforms. But now, the digital distribution platform GOG has brought the game back to the market.

Over 22 years since its release, Westwood Studios' Blade Runner is now available on modern PCs via GOG. Just revealed during the digital distribution platform's winter sale, the cyberpunk adventure game is now playable, DRM-free, on GOG for the low price of $10. Thanks to the winter sale, that price drops to $9 for a limited time.

Set before and during the events of the 1982 movie, you play as Ray McCoy, a blade runner who is searching for rogue replicants hiding out in alternate-2019 Los Angeles (yes, the game and the film were set in 2019, now making them period-pieces). Telling an original story, you explore many of the same locales while rubbing shoulders with returning characters as you uncover a vast conspiracy involving replicants and the corporations. With over 10 different endings, many of your choices and interactions with other characters will lead to different paths for McCoy to follow.

What's notable about this adaptation is that it brought back several actors and other creatives from the film. In particular, Sean Young, Joe Turkel, and William Sanderson all returned to reprise their roles as Rachel, Edwin Tyrell, and J.F. Sebastian, respectively. Since its release, it's become something of a lost game due to being stuck in legal limbo and outdated software.

The only way to have played Blade Runner today was by having the original game discs or running it through heavily modified emulated game files. Fans of classic adventure games online banded together to build a modified engine known as ScummVM, allowing newer PCs to run Blade Runner and other games in that style from the past. In a press release, a GOG representative stated that this port wouldn't have been possible without the ScummVM community.

For more on what's available on GOG's winter sale, including a discount on Cyberpunk 2077, be sure to check out our roundup of games.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Originally posted here:

Lost Blade Runner Adventure Game Is Now Available On GOG - GameSpot

Nearly four decades ago, William Gibson published a short story called Burning Chrome in Omni magazine, and with it, he birthed cyberpunk. (It also coined the term cyberspace in its third sentence.) The story prefigured Neuromancer, Gibsons first novel and most enduring achievement. Burning Chrome taught its readers how to think about the colorless nonspace between our screens. In this weeks issue of The New Yorker, Joshua Rothman the ideas editor of the magazines website spends a lot of time with the author for a profile, and he elegantly lays out the roots of his fiction in a long, textured piece.

Perhaps counterintuitively, Rothman finds that, for Gibson, writing plausible futures begins with a deep engagement with the present. His trilogies he tends to write novels in threes are all responding to the world he finds himself living in.

With each set of three books, Ive commenced with a sort of deep reading of the fuckedness quotient of the day, he explained. I then have to adjust my fiction in relation to how fucked and how far out the present actually is. He squinted through his glasses at the ceiling. It isnt an intellectual process, and its not prescientits about what I can bring myself to believe.

Some other fascinating details: Gibson loves techwear, the functional, futuristic, quasi-military clothing you see everywhere from Tokyo to San Francisco. He and his wife, Deborah, have a large cat named Biggles. He has some real expertise in watches.

Whats most striking about Rothmans profile, though, is the way it delineates Gibsons ongoing attachment to (and relationship with) the zeitgeist. I found it particularly instructive when Rothman detailed a realization Gibson had about the internet about how cyberspace has begun to change the physical world. Heres Rothman:

In the past, going online had felt like visiting somewhere else. Now being online was the default: it was our Here, while those awkward no service zones of disconnectivity had become our There. Checking his Vancouver bank balance from an A.T.M. in Los Angeles struck him suddenly as spooky. It didnt matter where you were in the landscape; you were in the same place in the datascape.

Everything, in other words, has become a search term a portal through which you can access, immediately and nearly everywhere, the sum total of human knowledge on any subject. The meditation ends with Gibson telling Rothman hed learned about the planes hitting the World Trade Center from a forum he frequented.

Theres no question that we live in a version of Gibsons richly imagined cyberscapes: our present has been incontrovertibly influenced by the stories hes been telling us for the last forty-odd years. But at the same time, theres also no question that things feel like theyre accelerating to a conclusion thats still hard to make out.

Near the end of the piece, Rothman, Gibson, and one of his friends, the author Jack Womack, go out for dinner at a bistro in Manhattan and think about the state of play across the globe.

What I find most unsettling, Gibson said, is that the few times that Ive tried to imagine what the mood is going to be, I cant. Even if we have total, magical good luck, and Brexit and Trump and the rest turn out as well as they possibly can, the climate will still be happening. And as its intensity and steadiness are demonstrated, and further demonstratedI try to imagine the mood, and my mind freezes up. Its a really grim feeling. He paused. Ive been trying to come to terms with it, personally. And Ive started to think that maybe I wont be able to.

Womack nodded. My daughters sixteen and a half, he said. Sixty years from now, shell be in her mid-seventies. I have absolutely no idea what the physical world will be like then. What the changes will be.

Its totally new, Gibson said. A genuinely new thing.

And it does seem that way. It does all seem new; living in the here and now feels like nothing Ive ever felt outside of science fiction. But thats temporary. In the future, well know how we should have felt about this particular present.

Go read the piece over at The New Yorkers website, or, if youre feeling analog, pick up a physical copy of this weeks issue at your nearest newsstand.

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Go read this New Yorker profile of William Gibson, the father of cyberpunk - The Verge

UPDATE

Aaaaaaaaand its been deleted.

F.

I dont remember every game in the video, but some of the others were Elden Ring, Doom Eternal, Dying Light 2, and The Division 2.

UPDATE II: THE UPDATENING

According to my sources on Facebook, this was the same video used in a Black Friday ad, but with the Game Pass logo edited in. Maximum job.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Um. What? Xbox South Africas Twitter account has uploaded an Xbox Game Pass promo video that includes games that havent even been confirmed for the subscription service, and either this trailer was a mistake or the publish time was a mistake, but some intern is probably in trouble.

Ill update the article when the tweet is inevitably scrubbed. For now, though, we can dream.

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This new Xbox Game Pass ad features Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Cyberpunk 2077, and Ghost Recon: Breakpoint... lol? - NAG