Our Top 10 most anticipated games of 2020

Release: 20th March
Platform: Switch

Since the Switch’s release, Animal Crossing fans have been eagerly looking forward to the series’ Switch debut.  A major player at last year’s E3, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is set to make its way to Switch in March 2020. Set on a deserted tropical island, players will set sail aboard the Nook Inc. ship and establish their very own island paradise.

Nook Miles is the new in-game currency which can be earned by completing various tasks, and can be used to purchase premium items. Players will be able to invite animals to live on their island, and will have the option to choose where the animal constructs their home. In a first for the series, the in-game weather will also adjust to the seasons depending on the player's real-world location.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons will support both local and online co-op gameplay, with up to four players locally and eight players online.

Release: 15th May
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

With voice acting from the likes of Laura Bailey, Troy Baker, and Nolan North, Crystal Dynamics have assembled a cast that rivals the Avengers themselves to tell a brand-new story that is entirely separate from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The story begins on A-Day, where the Avengers are celebrating the unveiling of the San Francisco headquarters. The ceremony soon goes awry when a catastrophic incident results in most of the city being destroyed and the apparent death of Captain America. Blamed for the tragedy, the Avengers disband. Five years later, the rebuilt city is now under the control of A.I.M. and superheroes are outlawed. But with the world in peril once more, Kamala Khan uncovers a shocking conspiracy and embarks on a quest to reassemble Earth's Mightiest Heroes, avenge Captain America's death, and uncover the true culprit behind A-Day.

Release: 3rd April
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

Last year’s Resident Evil 2 remake was one of the most anticipated and eventual best games of the year, so there’s no surprise that fans are eagerly awaiting number three. In this HD remake of the 1998 Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, re-join Jill Valentine as she attempts to escape Raccoon City during the zombie apocalypse and evade the intelligent and terrifying bioweapon known as Nemesis.

The original game used tank controls and fixed camera angles, but similar to the Resident Evil 2 Remake, Resident Evil 3’s remake will feature third-person shooter gameplay. It will also include the online multiplayer mode, Resident Evil: Resistance, which puts a team of four players against a "mastermind" who can create traps, enemies, and other hazards.

Release: 10th April
Platform: PlayStation 4

Five years after its announcement, the highly anticipated Final Fantasy VII Remake is almost here, bringing one of the greatest video games of all time into the modern era.

The game will be a full remake, as opposed to pre-rendered environments from the original game and will feature an ‘Active Time Battle’ system that will allow exploration and battle mechanics to take place in real time, which Square Enix has shown off already in gameplay demos.

The game will be released episodically across three full-game sized episodes with the first now scheduled to be released on 10th April, after being delayed.

Release: 31st March
Platform: PlayStation 4

Persona 5 has been named as one of the greatest modern role-playing games, and for good reason. If you previously held off of jumping on the persona band wagon, now is the perfect time to do it with Persona 5 Royal, the brand-new enhanced version of Persona 5. Similar to what the series did with Persona 4 Golden, this new version brings with it plenty of extra content, including a whole new semester with its own story arc, a new palace, new social links, as well as a brand-new member of the Phantom Thieves.

Release: Spring 2020
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

Techland’s 2015 Dying Light was a favourite amongst zombie fans and its sequel intends to expand of everything that it did with the first.

Set 15 years after Dying Light, the sequel stars a new protagonist named Aiden Caldwell, who is of course equipped with expert level parkour skills. More than double the amount of parkour moves have been added since the first game, with some being exclusive to particular areas of the city.

With no shortage of zombies roaming around, the map is four times bigger than the original game, and is broken into seven distinct regions and each with its own landmarks. Throughout the story, players will meet different factions and settlements and have to make decisions that will fundamentally change the state of the game's world and how non-playable characters view Aiden. The consequences are far-reaching, with the player being able to bring prosperity to a faction while completely destroying another settlement. Making certain decisions will open up or seal-off areas in the city, encouraging players to complete multiple playthroughs.

Release: 3rd March
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

In the third instalment of the Watch Dogs (2014) series, Watch Dogs Legion’s story focuses on the efforts of the London branch of hacker group DedSec in combating an authoritarian regime that has taken control of the United Kingdom, thanks to the advanced surveillance system known as ctOS. DedSec recruits allies from across London in order to liberate the city as a resistance force. Every single person in the game will be a playable character with each of them having their own background and skillset to provide a dynamic influence on the game's narrative as the story progresses.

Release: Summer 2020
Platform: PlayStation 4

From the studio that brought us the Infamous (2009) series, Ghost of Tsushima tells the tale of a samurai in ancient Japan who is fighting for his life. Playing as a swordsman known as ‘The Ghost’, the story is based on real historical events that took place in the 13th century.

Played from a third-person perspective, the game features a large open world without any waypoints and can be explored completely independently without guidance.  Players can travel to different parts of the game's world quickly by riding a horse and an item that acts as a grappling hook allows access to seemingly out of reach areas. The game will feature side quests and NPC characters who can be interacted with.

Players can engage in direct confrontation with enemies using a katana or alternatively, using stealth allows one to evade enemies and strike them silently.

Release: 29th May
Platform: PlayStation 4

The Last of Us: Part II picks up the story of Joel and Ellie five years after the events of the first game, taking place at least partly in Seattle. The gameplay mechanics in Part II have largely expanded upon its predecessor and players can now traverse the environment further by being able to reach higher vantage points and crawl across the landscape.

Listen Mode makes a return in Part 2 allowing players to locate enemies through walls and other solid objects. A new feature of the game is a skill tree featuring Survival, Crafting, and Stealth branches that players can upgrade using supplements. In another new and interesting feature Part II also introduces guard dogs which will be able to track Joel and Ellie’s scent.