Game Infinite's Most Anticipated Games of 2020
I have spent much of the last weeks reviewing the year of 2019 with our Massive Gi Best of 2019 event where we celebrated games, cosplay, streamers, and fan art. I also finished one of my more larger articles, my top games of the 2010's decade. So much reflection has shown me that the past decade has been one hell of a ride for gaming. I talked about reasons why this past year and decade were some of the best for gaming ever. Now while it was great to reflect back on such a great period in gaming, I could not be more excited for 2020. This is a console launch year which does not happen frequently. With the Xbox Series X, Playstation 5, and a much rumored Nintendo Switch Pro or Second Generation version, this year is set to be an incredible one from a hardware standpoint. We also are seeing the rise of Game Streaming with things like xCloud and Stadia potentially getting out of their buggy beta stages and into mainstream. We also live in an era where the phone in our pocket or tablet can now be as powerful as a gaming console. More places to play means even more options for incredible gaming experiences. However this isn't just going to be a year focused on incredible new hardware, many games in development are hoping to capitlize on the impending launch of what is rumored to be highly cross-gen and backwards compatible consoles. With the Xbox Series X and PS5 rumored to be able to play all of these games listed Day One more gamers might be able to play them then ever before. Listed below are 20 of Game Infinite's Most Anticipated Games of 2020. If a game you are looking forward to isn't on this list make sure to leave a comment on social media with your favorite!
20. Destroy All Humans
I never got a chance to play the original Destroy All Humans when I was younger, because I didn't own anything that it was on and never got around to it when I was older. When it was added to backwards compatibility on xbox I almost thought about trying it out. However, when the Remake was announced I was so happy because I remember thinking how goofy and fun it looked to play as an alien going around abducting and shooting evil humans in a 50's era alien sci-fi setting. I so stoked this missed-classic from my childhood is returning with modern visuals.
19. Predator Hunting Grounds
Predator was a sci-fi series I always enjoyed growing up. Watching Arnold take on the evil space assassin is an eternal classic. Despite the character and concept being so amazing no one has managed to really do the character justice on screen (not for lack of trying). These awesome badass alien hunters deserve something good so speaking for Predator fans everywhere, I hope this game is good, because most of the movies are just average.
18. Maneater
I first heard about Maneater during the 2019 Game Awards as one of it's many many game trailers, and I have to say that while the show gave us looks at SO MUCH, Maneater was one of my surprise favorites. My friend Daniel and I couldn't stop laughing at how appealing and ridiculous this game was. It is an open world shark game; not a shark hunting game, a shark game. that's right you play as sharks and hunt down people in a reverse-Jaws style game. I don't expect it to win any awards but it is just gaming gold that I can't wait to play.
17. Boundary
I did not hate Call of Duty Ghosts as much as most of the fan base did. I enjoyed many aspects of the game from having a dog companion to fighting aliens in multiplayer. One of the things I loved most about Call of Duty Ghosts was the opening mission in ORBIT. The opening mission of Ghosts was super cool even to the biggest hater. Now, we get combat in space in other games but most often it feels super sci-fi like Halo. This put us in white astronaut suits floating around white space station-like areas with guns. It felt both sci-fi and realistic at the same time. Boundary is a multiplayer shooter game super reminiscent of that setting. Low earth orbit combat with astronaut suits and zero-g combat. Ever since coming across this title I have been super excited to play it.
16. Superliminal
Imagine a game where your perception of something and how you hold an item can affect its size and shape in the game world. Not only is this a clever and intriguing gameplay mechanic, it just looks super super cool. I remember seeing the very early demo of this game, so it is really cool to see the final project come to life. This is a game hard to describe and one that must be seen, so definitely check out the trailer.
15. Microsoft's Flight Simulator
I have never played a "Simulator" game and up until now I never thought I was missing out on anything. From a far they always looked so slow and boring to be honest. Who wants to sit on a virtual tractor and farm? It wasn't until I saw the demo and trailer for the new Microsoft's Flight Simulator that I changed my mind. It is freaking gorgeous. What makes this game special is that the world beneath you is powered by REAL satellite maps and cloud computing. It is going to give us beautiful photo-realistic visuals underneath powered by the actual planet. It is something where the technology behind it really makes it cool. Will this be a fast-paced game I stream on Twitch? No. However, a beautiful zen experience that promises to mimic real life flying? That's an experience I may never have known I would miss out on otherwise.
14. One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows
2019 was the year I dove into Anime. Thanks to so many peers, local friends, and GiFriends, I felt like there was this whole bubble of nerd culture I was missing out on by not being a part of. So, I decided to sit down and start watching through a list of anime. I love it. The art style, combat, the characters and everything are so beautiful and fun. So far one of my favorites includes One Punch Man. I may or may not have a statue of Saitama and Genos on my desk, with a copy of manga in my laptop bag. At first I was skeptical of One Punch Man as the premise and concept seemed so goofy. How could a show like this work? How can a truly invincible character work? However, they use just enough story telling skill and parody to make a character like Saitama work as a likable character. Now when rumors were spreading that a One Punch Man game was pending announcement, I was instantly excited. I love the One Punch universe and characters, but then the inevitable thought came to mind. How on Earth do you make a One Punch video game? Saitama is invincible and defeats everyone instantly. If you simply make the game without him and use characters from the anime it might be less of an experience. If you power him down for the game you lose what he IS. Then word came out that it was a fighting game, and Saitama is essentially a environmental hazard. It is kind of like how many characters fight each other in the show until Saitama shows up. It is a super clever way to leave him in the game fully powered without obvious draw backs. I don't expect this game to win any awards either, but I am fully excited to play this game.
13. disintegration
Disintegration is on this list for one reason: It is being made by ex-Halo creators. When people who helped make one of my favorite franchises of all time make something new I definitely give it a chance. Could this be the next Destiny? We know very little about it, and the gameplay we have seen so far, while interesting, is minimal. The concept of a post-apocalyptic sci-fi universe with mankind living as cyborg machines is interesting to say the least, but I want to see more of this game to get my hype up further. Thankfully a closed beta is approaching that I am awaiting entry into so I can hopefully get a bigger look at the game.
12. Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Ori is such a beautiful and gorgeous art style that I can't wait to finally get into this world. I never got a chance to play the first one, and I have been debating on playing it or skipping straight to the sequel since it is coming so soon. I just want to enjoy these beautiful dark visuals.
11. Ghosts of Tsushima
Samurai. Beautiful visuals. Betrayal. Action. What more do you need to be excited? Ghost of Tshushima looks and feels like a potential easy shoe-in GOTY nom for 2020 and I can't wait for it. We don't know too much about it yet but I suspect the hype will be fulfilled. Just watching these trailers makes me want to experience those golden forests for myself.
10. Godfall
We know almost nothing about Godfall yet. All we know is it supposed to be the next big new IP. Godfall is described as a "Looter-Slasher" think Destiny but with melee weapons. Will it be the next Destiny or will it be the next Anthem? We have had high promises before for the looter-genre so I am holding my breath and keeping my expectations in check until we see more. One interesting thing was technically this was the first game to officially be unveiled as coming to PS5 (even sporting the PS5 logo weeks before it's official unveiling at CES 2020).
9. Darksiders Genesis
I love the Darksiders franchise. It is a franchise I love even though in my humble opinion each installment has gotten progressively worse. I loved the first Darksiders, especially post-remaster for current gen. I played it 100% at least twice and often cite it as one of my favorite action-adventure games of this generation. One of the things I love most about the Darksiders franchise is (at least in one) few games do a better job of simultaneously making you feel like an unstoppable badass a the same time as giving you a challenge. (Think if "The Force Unleashed" was harder like "Dark Souls")
Unfortunately 2 and 3 I feel slowly slipped in quality and story telling. Three was very disappointing in that it seemed to be reduced to chasing a few bosses around a map. So as much as I love the lore, characters, setting and everything about Darksiders, I am keeping my expectations low for Genesis. This isn't even a full sequel but a spinoff in an entire different genre. It is in a mobile-diablo style twin stick shooter that is very different than the first games. The fact that this is a spin-off and had a split launch (PC/Stadia first, Console later) are both red flags that tell me this game shouldn't be good and may have tight developer budgets/team sizes. If the full set games seem low-budget, how do they have time for a GOOD spinoff? It makes the list out of pure hope, not expectation. We do get to finally meet the 4th horsemen (for real) with Strife taking center stage. I hope that the spinoff is good and proves to THQ to pour more manpower, money, and resources into this license for DS4.
8. The Last of Us Part 2
Ok, confession time. I never finished The Last of Us way back on the PS3 and despite being told over and over again how amazing the totality of the game is I never made the time to replay and finish it. I have the PS4 version downloaded and installed ready to go and I've been debating if I should try to play it before 2 comes out as it is very story driven. The hype, the promises, the peer pressure, the "Greatest of all time" comments, all make me put this on the list. I do want to experience this story from start to finish. I still have time right?
7. Resident Evil 3 Remake
Resident Evil 2 Remake was nominated GOTY 2020 by multiple major outlets and gamer youtubers I follow. I never grew up playing the series and I never got around to playing it until very recently; and while it is a genre, I am not normally interested in I can see where it has greatness and am enjoying it so far. My excitement for it's quality made me put its remake sequel on this list as I maybe just maybe be starting to turning into a Resident Evil fan?
6. Final Fantasy VII Remake
Ahh, confession time again, (I'm sensing a pattern here). 2020 is turning out to be the year of remakes and sequels to games I never cared about. That's ok though I am always excited to find new franchises to enjoy. Honesty time. I have only ever played a little bit of Final Fantasy XV and XII (games I'm told aren't the best in the franchise). I have repeatedly been told FFVII is one of the best games ever made, and I have been waiting for this remake to see if that is true. Perhaps 7 will turn me into a Final Fantasy fan after all?
5. Marvel's Avengers
Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix have delivered three of my favorite games from the last decade with the Tomb Raider reboot franchise. Now they are focused on their next installment with the much anticipated Marvel Avengers. This is the first "real" attempt at a Avengers game, and it is arriving at an ideal, (not the best) but ideal time with the popularity of the MCU. If Square Enix had been able to deliver the game in 2019 it would have been better to coincide with the mega-popularity that was Avengers Endgame. However, considering this game has already received a delay in 2020 that seemed impossible. At initial reveal there was some discussion on the internet (and by discussion I mean internet outrage) complaining that the MCU actors were not reprising the roles for the game; however, I already wrote an article detailing how that would never have been plausible. We have seen enough of the game so far to expect it to be very good. We can only hope that it can be as good as Marvel Spider-man! Will this issue in an era of lots of good super hero games? Time will tell.
4. Watchdogs Legion
What's this? A watchdogs game on my list of Most Anticipated? Anyone knows anything about my gaming presences knows my history with Watchdogs. I was so hyped and excited for the original. I had the collectors edition preordered for TWO YEARS seeing not one but two huge delays. I was so excited for the game, and when I finally got it... I hated it. It was so bland and boring and unlikeable. Leave it to Ubisoft to manage to make a game about hackers and vigilantism and manage to make that boring. not only that it had it's own list of controversies surrounding graphical downgrades. This was during an era where Ubisoft was starting to build a reputation for major graphical downgrade promises with Watchdogs, Division, and Assassin's Creed Unity being all widely panned and visually ugly, far cries from their promises. Despite being a long term Assassin's Creed fan I still haven't quite forgiven Ubisoft for in my opinion one of my biggest gaming disappointments of the last decade. I entirely skipped Watchdogs 2, and hearing its meh-average reviews I am glad I did. When rumors of Watchdogs 3 came out ahead of E3 2019 I was largely apathetic with no desire to play it.
So how did Watchdogs make it off my black list and all the way to number 4 on my most anticipated list? Well, a few things. Long term Ubisoft has slowly regained my trust by taking a lot, and I mean A LOT of gamer feedback over the last several years. They started by giving the massive Assassin's Creed games more time in the oven. Syndicate, Origins, and Odyssey are by far my favorites in the franchise, the extra development time really really shows in the later two. I also enjoyed Far Cry 5 a lot. Ubisoft has been far from perfect however, with a general perception among gamers that their games are starting to look alike and be to similar. Division 2 and Ghost Recon were also failures. Ubisoft has more recently lengthened the development time of more of their game series much like they have done with Assassin's Creed. Ubisoft has been open about a willingness to delay games based on feedback. While I was very critical of game delays in my last article, this general attitude is showing a shift in over all strategy of development lengthening (something I called for in my last article, even if they are doing it too late). Another recent thing Ubisoft is doing is created a new department to oversee game development to help diversify their games so they don't all feel the same.
Now this willingness to take feedback and change, and the fact that I liked several of their more recent games, are only a part of why I am excited for Watchdogs Legion. Ubisoft showed us something I have never seen before in a game and it is something so cool sounding that if they manage to pull it off will be impressive. There are no NPC's or main characters in Watchdogs Legion. Everyone is a potentially recruitable playable character, or at least people on the street who would normally be "NPC"s (I imagine there will be villain type characters we can't recruit.) It is such an interesting concept. There is perma-death, and you operate more as a underground resistance than a person. Players will be able to a list of assets that if they die they die. What is more interesting is the fact that newer technology, possibly machine learning and more advanced procedural generation, will be used to make sure no two characters will look or sound to similar. It is just so facsinating it overrides all hesitations I had. Now something so ambitious could turn out to be incredibly boring or broken. It could still be a failure and awful. However, I hope they pull it off because something about this game looks and sounds incredible.
3. Overwatch 2
Do I even really need to explain why Overwatch 2 is on my list? I am a huge Overwatch fan. I have put more hours in Overwatch than I think I have any other game. I love the characters, the lore, and everything. It almost, almost was my Game of the Decade beat out so slightly by Mass Effect 2. I am also excited because I think I have played enough of it for a while; I am ready for something new. Overwatch 2 is the only game on this list that hasn't been in some way announced or implied as coming out in 2020, but I highly suspect it will come out. I doubt Blizzard would announce this more than a year before release, and they will want to capitalize on the new console launch with Holiday 2020 promising to bring in some real money to the gaming industry.
More than just being a massive Overwatch fan, Overwatch 2 promises to redefine our expectations of what a "sequel" means. Overwatch is an example of what good looks like in the Live Service genre. In a genre where failure seems common, the few successful stories like Overwatch and Fortnite have their own problems. How do you make sequels to massively successful live services that entire business model revolves around people slowly hoarding loot and skins over long periods of time. These games are directly measured in player bases and twitch views. A sequel usually implies a completely restarted game, different player bases, and starting over on loot. With super successful live services games it could be disastrous to split player bases. It also could discourage people from wanting to buy skins/loot because they don't feel like they can keep it forever. Fortnite and Overwatch both took new approaches to the sequels. Unlike a new "Season", slapping a 2 on the game can excite even more people into coming back and can boost player bases. Fortnite saw some record numbers with their "Chapter 2" stunt. Overwatch probably will as well as long as it is priced properly. Blizzard is promising cross compatible multiplayer, all your skins will migrate over, and the thing every Overwatch player has been clamoring for for years, a Story Mode. Overwatch 2 has been called a "glorified expansion" and that might end up being the case, but if the content is large enough as they say, and the effort there, I don't care if they call it Overwatch 2 or even feel like it should be paid. I am excited for Story Mode in Overwatch.
2. Cyberpunk 2077 (GOTY 2020 Prediction Winner)
Coming in at number two on my most anticipated list for 2020 happens to also be my prediction for GOTY 2020. While there is still one more game I am more excited for, this one is very high and something we all expect greatness from. It does come with a sad note as the news of its massive 5 month delay came before I finished writing this article. I really hope that it isn't a sign of trouble at the studio only their Borg-like pursuit of perfection. CD Project Red has said that the game is playable and this is only for more polishing (hard to believe for a 5 month delay and there is said to already by Crunch at the studio, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt.) I am hopeful that my GOTY 2020 prediction won't be as massively off as my last years most anticipated title, Anthem. Wow, did I get last year wrong. The game that myself and many gamers expected to be among the best of the year turned out to actually be one of the worst, a once great studio falling to its modern day skeleton crew version and rushing a game out in 16 months as we learned later from Kotaku.
Let's hope my prediction doesn't get history to repeat itself as the hype and expectation for this game is beyond sky high. CDPR has given us greatness before, as I finally got around to playing the Witcher 3 (A GOTY/Game of the Decade for many) this year and loving it so far.
Cyberpunk 2077 promises to give us a futuristic blade-runner-esque cyber world filled with beautiful environments and story. CDPR has been open about its promises of branching stories and player choice being everywhere, and how the world is super life filled and real. If they pull off everything they have shown us so far it could be the next Game of the Decade let alone GOTY 2020. I will try to keep my expectations in check. "YOU ARE BREATHTAKING!!!"
1. Halo Infinite
What could possibly be more anticipated than Cyberpunk 2077? Well, for me it has to be Halo Infinite. I grew up as a massive Halo fan, it was one of the first game series I ever played. It was the reason I bought a Xbox 360 over a Playstation3, and Halo 3 was the first game I bought for it. I have played each game countless time. I stood in line for hours at GameStop waiting for Reach, Halo 4, and 5 to come out. One of my favorite con moments was getting to meet the voice actor for Master Chief himself, Steve Downes. It is easy to say Halo is one of my favorite series of all time so that is a big part makes this so high on my list. It has also been the longest game between Halo games EVER. There has never been more than a three year gap in-between Halo games and it has been 5 years since Halo 5! After Halo 5 was largely disliked by fans (mostly for side-showing the main character we all love... Shocking!) 343 really went back to the drawing board to take their time on the next game. They also are calling it some kind of spiritual reboot? We know little of the story. It has a different art style. It may not be a real Halo 6, but it is a new Halo game running on a new better engine and it has longer time to develop than any previous game. My hopes for this game are beyond anything else, but it has to be good. Like I said for Cyberpunk that I hope that the games I hope the most for wont be like last year with massive disappointments. All we Halo fans want is a new good Halo game, and hopefully Infinite will be that.
