So 2020 has been…. strange to say the least. We started off the year with memes and talks of World War III, and now we’re dealing with nationwide shutdowns due to COVID-19, the latest coronavirus. Plus, there have been hardly any major game releases until just recently, with Granblue Fantasy: Versus. There’s a lot of games to look forward to in 2020 (as long as they don’t get delayed due to COVID-19, of course), so I thought I’d take the time to talk about my most anticipated games slated for a 2020 release. For this list I’ll be going in release date order, with games slated for 2020 with no specific date at the end.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons – March 20th, 2020
Animal Crossing: New Horizons looks absolutely phenomenal. With seven years since Animal Crossing: New Leaf’s release, I am incredibly excited for this next entry. Nintendo held an Animal Crossing Direct on February 20th, 2020, detailing all kinds of things about New Horizons. Brand new features such as terraforming, all kinds of brand new facilities, and the ability to host up to 8 players on one island were shown off, and man did this make my hype for this game go through the roof. Reviews of New Horizons dropped today, and it’s standing at a 91, only the 5th Nintendo Switch first party game to receive a Metacritic rating above a 90. We’re a mere 4 days out from Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and I can’t wait to spend hundreds of hours at my island during this time of quarantine right now.
DOOM Eternal – March 20th, 2020
Raze Hell! DOOM Eternal is looking bloody, bold, and absolutely fantastic. I do not think I’ll be picking this one up day one since I’ll be occupied with Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but this will absolutely be a cop on Steam down the line. Every trailer has been fantastic, and I can’t wait to see and use all of the new mechanics in this sequel. DOOM (2016) was fantastic and I really enjoyed it, so it will be interesting to see just how much more fun Eternal is. I’m a big fan of DOOM’s straight to the point but very interesting story, so I’m very intrigued by the trailers mentioning the “story of the Slayer”. The visuals look absolutely stunning, and I’m super interested to see how well DOOM Eternal performs. Also the marketing for this game has just been phenomenal, bravo to the marketing team, I hope you all get to meet Isabelle.
Persona 5 Royal – March 31st, 2020
Persona 5 Royal looks incredibly promising, with a whole new Phantom Thief, Kasumi Yoshizawa, a whole new third semester, and what seems to be a ton of brand new content (let’s hope that is the case anyway). Although I will not be picking up Persona 5 Royal on launch day, I’m still incredibly excited for it. However, I feel that I’m much more excited for Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers, which has no release date for the West. Regardless, P5R looks great and I’m really excited to jump back into the world of Persona 5.
Resident Evil 3 – April 3rd, 2020
Man oh man, does Resident Evil 3 look absolutely stunning. Resident Evil 3 is a remake of the 1999 original, and it’s looking scarier than ever. The cast has all received brand new designs, with Jill and Carlos looking super clean. And then there’s Nemesis who looks incredibly menacing. Nemesis can now jump in front of you to cut you off, and so much more. Jill can now dodge roll to avoid being attacked by zombies, as well as shoot objects in the environment to damage them. In my honest opinion, I expect this to top Resident Evil 2’s remake from last year. It looks huge, looks even more beautiful, and looks scarier than ever. I cannot wait to pick this up day one, and I’m incredibly excited to escape Raccoon City.
Final Fantasy VII Remake – April 10th, 2020
Final Fantasy VII Remake’s delay sucked, but in all honesty I’m glad it happened. I don’t have to rush through the game to be ready for Animal Crossing, so I’ll be able to appreciate every little detail of this soon to be masterpiece. I have not been this hyped for a game since Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it’s been a while. Final Fantasy VII Remake just looks phenomenal, it looks to be an incredible experience with an unreal story. I am a sucker for story games, and I am so excited to see what brand new lore has been added into Final Fantasy VII Remake from the original. This game might visually be the best looking game ever made. Square Enix released a demo a couple of weeks back, which stretched across the first mission in the game – Mako Reactor 1. In this demo, you saw this famous opening (a still of which pictured above), which eventually led to Cloud Strife jumping off a train and the camera panning around. As soon as it did, boom you’re in game. The game looks incredibly close to the CG cutscene, like it’s not even funny. I sat there for a good five minutes thinking to myself “The game LOOKS like this??”. The combat is amazing, which is something I know fans of the original were worried about. Going from Turn Based to Action RPG sounds like a potentially scary thought, but in my honest opinion this makes the game even better. Having this combat that’s kind of similar to Kingdom Hearts does absolute wonders for the game, it gives the player so much freedom to do what they want in battle. The environments in Final Fantasy VII Remake look amazing as well, I spent quite a lot of time just looking around fascinated. In that short hour I spent beating the demo, I had so much fun, a type of fun I haven’t experienced in a long, long time. With its insane graphics & character models, and its amazing combat system, this game is going to be something special.
Cyberpunk 2077 – September 17th, 2020
Cyberpunk 2077 seems to be a game out of this world, quite literally. Humans modify themselves on the daily with mechanical and robotic parts, giving many super human abilities. Plus, Cyberpunk 2077 has Keanu Reeves starring as Johnny Silverhand, your character’s invisible friend. This game also did suffer a delay of 5 months, all thanks to the original base Xbox One according to CD PROJEKT RED developers. CD PROJEKT RED seems to have hopefully done it again, and we’ve only got a mere 4.5 months to go. This game has been in the works for so many years now, and I’m so excited to finally get my hands on it this September.
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition – 2020
If you follow me on Twitter, you probably know that I like Xenoblade Chronicles a little bit… okay a lot. When this game was announced, I lost my voice from excitement as I really couldn’t believe my eyes. This was all I ever could have asked for, and Nintendo delivered. I am so so excited to see the next trailer and find out if the rumored May release window is true or not. The characters and environments look absolutely insane, and MonolithSoft is adding cut content, truly a dream come true. It’s almost time to see HD Melia and have her take over the internet, and I’m absolutely ready for it. The legend of the Monado and its tale are nearing us, and I’m ecstatic that this game will FINALLY get its chance to shine with an ever growing Xenoblade fanbase thanks to the success of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on the Nintendo Switch. This and Final Fantasy VII Remake are easily the two games I’m most excited for in 2020, and I can’t wait to see what else this year has in store for us.
Conclusion
And there you have it, my most anticipated titles for 2020 (so far). Of course, I’m excited for games such as The Last of Us Part II, but nowhere near the level that I am for the games listed above.
What games are you most excited for this year? Let me know in the comments, and keep it here at Final Weapon for more on all of these titles this year!
