Its said almost every year: This year is looking to be one of the best one for games ever! The prospects of each new year are analyzed and stock is taken on what can be expected from console manufacturers and publishers. While some deliver in spades 2018 was a killer year for the industry others often tend to be notable but not necessarily huge. Thats all about to change this year. With a string of high-profile tent pole game releases, the growth of cloud gaming, and the beginning of an all-new console generation, 2020 is set to be pretty explosive.
For starters, Final Fantasy VII Remake arrives in March. Its not the entire game, but fans are actually getting the full-scale remake theyve dreamed about for decades. Receiving even a piece of this remake is a huge deal.
Then Cyberpunk 2077, first announced back in 2012, releases on April 16. Anticipation is through the roof for CD Projekt Reds new epic action RPG. Each trailer, gameplay demo, and piece of media cements the notion that were in for an incredibly detailed world to explore. CD Projekt Red has proven itself to be a studio that has its finger on the pulse of what many core gamers desire: narrative-driven action adventure games focused on delivering high-quality stories. Whats more, the developer is still riding high on the goodwill built from The Witcher 3, which recently received renewed interest thanks to a Netflix series.
The big hitters dont stop there by any means. Doom Eternal and Resident Evil 3, scheduled for March and April respectively, are both expected to do extremely well critically and financially. Resident Evil 3 launching just over a year after Resident Evil 2 in particular comes across as ambitious and exciting (especially since Resident Evil: Resistance is included). Capcom has been on fire lately, and if Resident Evil 3s announcement trailer is anything to go by, were in for another great time.
Perhaps most shocking of all games releasing this year is Half-Life: Alyx. Many Half-Life fans had all but given up on ever getting another entry in the franchise, with Valve showing much more interest in its position as a platform (Steam) than narrative-driven games. While Alyx is admittedly VR-only, that doesnt take away from the fact that were getting a new Half-Life experience one thats long, suggests high quality with its trailer, and dishes out more story surrounding Half-Life 2 and potentially beyond.
When looking to the console manufacturers, we see a ton of movement. Microsoft has been incredibly busy as of late, heavily pushing Game Pass, laying the ground work for xCloud, and setting the stage for the next generation with Xbox Series X.
Xbox Game Studios appears to finally be picking up steam this year with first-party titles releasing almost every month. Ori and the Will of the Wisps and Bleeding Edge are two to watch for in March. Gears Tactics and Minecraft Dungeons will definitely have their share of players in April, and games like Grounded, Wasteland 3, Tell Me Why, Battletoads, Psychonauts 2, and Flight Simulator round out the list.
The biggest elephant in the room is of course the recently revealed Xbox Series X. Xbox easily stole the show at The Game Awards with its announcement. Touted as a very powerful and dedicated gaming machine, the Series X is Microsoft throwing its full weight behind console gaming. We have yet to learn details on launch date, price, and the full extent of its hardware innards, but gamers have shown theyre definitely hungry for it.
A new console launch is a big deal. Its the culmination of years of research and development, and Microsoft is smart to release a game many have been eagerly anticipating for years right alongside it: Halo Infinite. Not only is this subconsciously symbolic Halo was a launch title for the original Xbox its a calculated move, and one Microsoft hopes will push Xbox Series X units into living rooms this holiday. If 343 delivers a home run, it will be a system seller.
Microsoft is also gearing to finally launch Project xCloud into the public domain. The companys push into cloud gaming isnt hard to see. The preview program has been regarded as a success to a majority of players, and its rollout signifies a potential turning point for many gamers worldwide. Its going to be a massive year for Xbox.
Nintendo is more of a wild card at this point. We dont know much beyond releases like Pokmon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, both slated for March, and Grasshoppers No More Heroes III. But you can be sure that a company like Nintendo has some cards up its sleeve. Nintendo Directs are always on the horizon, often holding surprises that seem to pop up out of nowhere.
Will the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild actually launch this year? Will we finally see Bayonetta 3 in our hands? Can we expect to hear more about Metroid Prime 4? These are all possibilities, just like a rumored new revision of the Nintendo Switch itself. The handheld-console hybrid has continued to ride a wave of momentum since its launch almost three years ago, and I have no doubt the company will continue that trend this year.
Sonys 2020 on the other hand is fairly transparent relatively speaking, and its looking like it will be a monster. A slew of first-party games and exclusives are set to release on PlayStation 4 this year. In development for the entire generation, Dreams is finally set to release on Feb. 14. Players have created some absolutely stunning works of art, not to mention actual functional games. Its an incredibly unique and ambitious project and could possibly open up something entirely new for game creators and gamers alike.
Nioh 2, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and Iron Man VR are marquee exclusive titles to keep an eye on as well. Ghost of Tsushima, Sucker Punchs all-new open-world action adventure IP, will also be released at last later this summer. Expectations for the developer are high after the long gap since 2014s inFamous Second Son and its expansion, First Light. Demo footage and trailers have continued to tick all the right boxes, and PlayStation fans definitely love what they see.
But its The Last of Us: Part II, arguably one of the most anticipated titles in recent memory, that has PS4 owners foaming at the mouth. Naughty Dog can seemingly do no wrong at this point, and thanks to the highly lauded Uncharted series and The Last of Us, people are just dying to get their hands on the game. Its right behind Cyberpunk 2077 as the game Im most looking forward to this year. Sonys focus on highly focused narrative-driven games is continuing full steam ahead, and if Uncharted 4, God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Spider-Man are anything to go by, we might even see the best-selling first-party SIE title on PS4 to date.
All of that alone makes for a busy year for the company, but its also throwing its hat into the next-gen ring with the PlayStation 5. With over 106 million PlayStation 4 systems sold to date, its not a stretch to say that many gamers will be excited as all hell to grab the next PlayStation. We still havent seen the physical console itself, let alone details on price and launch date, but we know its coming this holiday.
Like every PlayStation before it, the PS5 launch will be massive. Expect a heavy marketing campaign and a wide range of launch titles big and small. Thanks to Gearbox Software and developer Counterplay Games, we already know of one launch game. Announced at last years Game Awards, Godfall is a new looter-slasher thats set to release alongside the new console.
Even with everything said so far, we still havent taken into account several other big third-party releases like Watch Dogs: Legion, Dying Light 2, and Marvels Avengers. There are bound to be a bunch of unannounced titles ready to go too. Will Warner Bros. Montreals new Batman game, frustratingly teased with logo after logo for the past four months, finally see the light of day? Will the long rumored Viking-inspired Assassins Creed become a launch title for next-gen consoles? Whats Bluepoint Games PS5 game going to be? Could a sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn theoretically be ready as a launch title? Well almost certainly see Forza Motorsport 8 for Xbox Series X.
With everything we know so far, its easy to see just how big this years bound to be. Indeed, people do say every year in games is huge, massive, or epic! But hey, when we actually stop to look at everything thats coming this time, it actually does look that way.
Read the rest here:
- Cities Skylines 2 goes full Cyberpunk 2077 in stunning new city building game coming to Steam - PCGamesN - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Cyberpunk 2077 Player Finds Hidden Message in the Game - GameRant - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Dystopika is a chill city-builder where you can create the cyberpunk cityscape of your dreams - Gamesradar - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Make the Night City of your dreams with this cyberpunk city sandbox builder - Rock Paper Shotgun - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Metallic Rouge is a cyberpunk mystery worth unraveling - Polygon - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Cyberpunk devs promise new patch to sort out most common remaining issues - ReadWrite - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- New Cyberpunk 2077 Patch Inbound; Will Fix Finisher Animations and More Reported Issues - Wccftech - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Hidden Cyberpunk 2077 Detail May Reveal The Location Of Cyberpunk 2 (Orion) - Screen Rant - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Ruiner devs reportedly lay off over half of studio behind cyberpunk shooter - Rock Paper Shotgun - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Cyberpunk 2077 sequel is in the "conceptual phase," but might ramp up production this year as its devs consider ... - Gamesradar - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Cyberpunk 2077 publisher giving away one of gaming's most controversial titles free - GAMINGbible - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Palworld Has Huge Weekend, Sells 5 Million and Overtakes Cyberpunk 2077 in Steams Most-Played Games List - IGN - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- CD Projekt Red Is "Considering" Multiplayer In Cyberpunk 2077 Sequel - TheGamer - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Palworld beats Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 with an all-time peak player count of more than 1.8 million - PC Gamer - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Cyberpunk 2077 collides with Assassin's Creed in slick new action game - GAMINGbible - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- CD Projekt latest: next Cyberpunk game might have multiplayer, Witcher 4 enters "production phase" - Rock Paper Shotgun - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Witcher 4 could enter production this year, multiplayer being considered for Cyberpunk 2 | VGC - Video Games Chronicle - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Cyberpunk 2077 Sequel May Feature Multiplayer, as The Witcher 4 Set to Enter Production | XboxAchievements.com - XboxAchievements - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Turbo Overkill is like a Cyberpunk Doom, and it's coming to Xbox - TrueAchievements - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Cyberpunk 2077 sequel: everything we know about the sci-fi game - Evening Standard - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Palworld becomes only the sixth Steam game to reach one million concurrent players, beating Cyberpunk 2077 in the ... - Gamesradar - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Palworld becomes only the sixth Steam game to reach one million concurrent players, beating Cyberpunk 2077 in the ... - Yahoo! Voices - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- The reality of a cyberpunk universe in the real world - Verdict - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Cyberpunk 2077 sequel could have multiplayer - Project Orion - Gamereactor - Gamereactor UK - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Palworld Passes Impressive Steam Concurrent Player Milestone, Beats Cyberpunk and Elden Ring - GameRant - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Follow-up to The Witcher 3 will be in development this year - ReadWrite - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Former Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk Devs are Developing a New Game that Could Be Better than Both - FandomWire - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Palworld Beats CS2, Dota 2, and Cyberpunk 2077 to Become the Second Most-Played Game on Steam - Beebom - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- The Witcher 4 Could Enter Production This Year - TheGamer - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Palworld becomes only the sixth Steam game to reach one million concurrent players, beating Cyberpunk 2077 in the ... - Yahoo Entertainment - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Cyberpunk 2077 collides with GTA 6 in upcoming game you'll want to keep an eye on - GAMINGbible - November 26th, 2023 [November 26th, 2023]
- Black Friday 2023: Grab Some of Our Favorite Cyberpunk and Witcher Merch - IGN - November 26th, 2023 [November 26th, 2023]
- Cyberpunk 2077 Is the Cheapest It's Ever Been - GameRant - November 26th, 2023 [November 26th, 2023]
- Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition For Xbox And PlayStation Have One Huge Difference - Screen Rant - November 26th, 2023 [November 26th, 2023]
- The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 story lead casually reveals players haven't found his favorite Easter eggs, so "I won ... - Gamesradar - November 26th, 2023 [November 26th, 2023]
- The Best Games To Play on Steam Deck OLED From 'HiFi Rush' and 'Cyberpunk 2077' to 'Street Fighter 6' and 'Dave ... - Touch Arcade - November 26th, 2023 [November 26th, 2023]
- Cyberpunk 2077 and Witcher 3 story lead "won't talk about" his favourite Easter eggs until players find them - VG247 - November 26th, 2023 [November 26th, 2023]
- How To Complete Forward To Death Quest In Cyberpunk 2077 - TheGamer - November 26th, 2023 [November 26th, 2023]
- Cyberpunk 2077: How To Get Inside The Riot Club - GameRant - November 26th, 2023 [November 26th, 2023]
- Cyberpunk 2077: How To Get the Warden - GameRant - November 26th, 2023 [November 26th, 2023]
- You can finally romance the hot French netrunner from Cyberpunk ... - VG247 - November 26th, 2023 [November 26th, 2023]
- Northland man's custom cyberpunk car to be released as Hot ... - 1News - November 26th, 2023 [November 26th, 2023]
- Here's Austin Powers Being A Huge Nuisance In Cyberpunk 2077 - Kotaku Australia - November 26th, 2023 [November 26th, 2023]
- Cyberpunk 2077 finally has 'very positive' rating on Steam, 2 years later - GAMINGbible - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- Why Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Being the Only DLC is For the Best - GameRant - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- Cyberpunk 2077: Things You Never Knew About Johnny Silverhand - GameRant - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- Bringing A Baofeng Into The Cyberpunk 2077 Universe - Hackaday - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- What is Cyberpunk Genre Definition, Origins & Examples - StudioBinder - March 31st, 2023 [March 31st, 2023]
- Cyberpunk 2077 review | TechRadar - March 31st, 2023 [March 31st, 2023]
- More Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty DLC News Coming In June - GameSpot - March 31st, 2023 [March 31st, 2023]
- Cyberpunk 2077 DLC Phantom Liberty gets release window, first trailer ... - February 20th, 2023 [February 20th, 2023]
- Utah band Spirit Machines beats out 7,800 others to have song featured in video game Cyberpunk 2077 - ABC4.com - February 7th, 2023 [February 7th, 2023]
- Nvidia's RTX And DLSS3 Cyberpunk Support Demonstrate Why These Features Are The Future Of Gaming - Forbes - February 7th, 2023 [February 7th, 2023]
- How to hack the Cyberpunk 2077 Militech Datashard - pcgamer - January 6th, 2023 [January 6th, 2023]
- The Last Of Us Updates, An Award For Cyberpunk 2077 And More Gaming News For Wednesday, January 4 - Forbes - January 6th, 2023 [January 6th, 2023]
- Why Playing Cyberpunk 2077 As A Melee Character Is The Most Fun You Can Have With It - Kotaku Australia - January 6th, 2023 [January 6th, 2023]
- Win NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU with Cyberpunk 2077 backplate! - December 28th, 2022 [December 28th, 2022]
- The best Cyberpunk 2077 mods | PC Gamer - December 28th, 2022 [December 28th, 2022]
- Best Of 2022: Cyberpunk 2077's Redemption Arc Is A Breathtaking Return To Form For CD ... - Latest Tweet by - LatestLY - December 28th, 2022 [December 28th, 2022]
- Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077, and Plenty of Other Hit Games Will Soon Be Able to Play in ... - Latest Tweet - LatestLY - December 18th, 2022 [December 18th, 2022]
- Cyberpunk 2077's First Big DLC Stars Idris Elba - Kotaku - December 12th, 2022 [December 12th, 2022]
- Cyberpunk 2077 Core Team Moving to Boston to Start Work on Sequel - Latest Tweet by GameSpot - LatestLY - November 25th, 2022 [November 25th, 2022]
- Cyberpunk 2077 Hits 90% Positive Reviews On Steam For The First Time - Forbes - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- Cyberpunk 2077 Tips To Break Hearts, Romance Everyone After All The Updates - Kotaku - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Cyberpunk 2077 is a revelation with Nvidia's new DLSS 3.0 technology - VG247 - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Cyberpunk 2077 is a Strand game with this courier mod - Gamesradar - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Cyberpunk 2077 Happy Together walkthrough guide: How to complete the side job and more - Sportskeeda - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Has the world finally forgiven Cyberpunk 2077? - Gamesradar - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Cyberpunk 2077: How To Get $200,000+ Right At The Start Of The Game | Corpo Life Path Trick - Gameranx - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- BLIND GUARDIAN Streams Cyberpunk-Inspired Video For "Life Beyond The Spheres" - Metal Injection - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Cyberpunk 2077 Johnny Silverhand Items Locations Guide - RespawnFirst - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Shares of Cyberpunk 2077 publisher surge after announcing a slew of new games - CNBC - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- 'Cyberpunk 2077' Re-Review: Two Years Later, What's Changed? - Forbes - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- Cyberpunk 2077's revival continues as it becomes one of the most popular games on Steam Deck - Eurogamer.net - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- Want to play Cyberpunk, Ghost Runner through a set-top box? Heres how 5G will help - Business Today - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- How to Read Shards in Cyberpunk 2077 - Attack of the Fanboy - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- Where to Find Nibbles the Cat in Cyberpunk 2077? - Attack of the Fanboy - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- Destiny 2: Lightfall is cyberpunk battle when it launches in February - The Verge - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Tower Of Fantasy Will Receive New Land & Character Soon - Bleeding Cool News - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Turn-Based Cyberpunk RPG 'Jack Move' Will Boot Up On Switch Next Month - Nintendo Life - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]