Games That Will Blow You Away In 2020

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They say that good things come to those who wait. In that case, these games are going to be pretty darn spectacular. Multi-year development cycles are pretty common in the video game industry — games are hard to make, after all, and creating a truly great game takes a lot of time — but fans have been looking forward to the following titles for quite a while.

But the shape of 2020 is coming into focus, and it's looking gorgeous. With the next generation around the corner, many of these upcoming games represent the swan songs of their various platforms. But now that developers have figured out the current gen down to the last molecule, expect these games to squeeze every last ounce of power out of them, and possibly redefine how we even thought of them.

Here are the best games coming out in 2020.

Before Ghosts of Tsushima, before Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and a mere week before For Honor, Nioh brought feudal Japanese action to consoles around the world. In 2020, Team Ninja hopes to recapture its past glory with Nioh 2, which will return players to Japan for another dose of punishing, Dark Souls-style combat.

That's good news for fans of the first game, and if you liked Nioh, expect more of the same. Team Ninja doesn't expect the sequel to diverge much from the original blueprint. That's fine with us. There are a few small alterations coming, of course. Nioh 2 will ship with a fully-fledged character creator, meaning that, this time, the main character's looks and personality are in your hands. Deaths will be "more satisfying," whatever that means. Oh, it's also going to be hard. Creative director Tom Lee says, "This time around, the gloves are off," so, y'know. Watch out.

Doom didn't really need rescuing — almost three decades after launch, its co-creator is still producing content for the original game — but 2016's reboot was a welcome addition anyway. id Software's modern take on its flagship franchise preserved all of the speedy brutality that made Doom an international sensation and added a few new wrinkles along the way. In Doom, you only get needed rewards like health and ammo if you're ultra aggressive. Either you take the fight to the demons, or you don't play at all.

Want more? You're getting more. Doom Eternal doesn't radically upend its predecessor's formula, although new gimmicks like zero-gravity environments and a grappling hook that propels you towards enemies for fast and brutal close-up kills should create even more opportunities to unleash carnage and chaos on Hell's unsuspecting forces. Besides, Doom Eternal is giving us new multiplayer modes, including Battlemode, which pits two player-controlled demons against a lone space marine.

Or, to put it another way: it's id doing what id does best. The company has been making Doom for a quarter of a century. Judging by everything we've seen, it has another hit on its blood-soaked hands.

At long last, Final Fantasy 7 Remake is coming. Well, part of it is: at E3 2019, Final Fantasy 7 director Yoshinori Kitase confirmed that the first episode of Final Fantasy 7 Remake fills two Blu-ray discs' worth of content, and yet only takes Final Fantasy 7 Remake through Midgar, the original game's opening area.

Kitase doesn't know how many more games it will take to finish the whole story, nor how long they'll take to make. We'll play the first part anyway. Final Fantasy 7 Remake's battle system, which looks like a mash-up of Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy 15, and Final Fantasy 7's turn-based battles, works surprisingly well, and seeing Square Enix's most beloved characters rendered in such loving detail never gets old.

So, yeah, it's disappointing that we won't be able to re-acquaint ourselves with Cid and Yuffie quite yet, and that Final Fantasy 7's big plot twist — you know the one — is still years away. Still, Midgar is arguably Final Fantasy 7's best setting, and it's going to be great to get to know it a whole lot better. We just hope the rest of the story isn't too far off. We've been waiting long enough.

Minecraft won't ever get a sequel. Quite frankly, it doesn't need one. Spin-offs, though? Keep 'em coming. In 2015, Mojang and Telltale Games teamed up to give the blocky sandbox title a plot — kind of, anyway — with Minecraft: Story Mode, an episodic narrative adventure, while in 2020 Minecraft is going old-school. Minecraft: Dungeons might look like another voxel-based building game, but it's really a retro-style dungeon crawler, complete with young men and fair maidens to rescue, waves of monsters to defeat, and plenty of loot to collect.

Mojang promises that Minecraft: Dungeons will be full of new content. Even if you're an experienced Minecraft player, Dungeons will introduce you to environments, mobs, and items that you've never seen before. Everything still has that good, voxel-y Minecraft flavor, though. As Mojang explains, Minecraft: Dungeons' combat system is the same one that Minecraft players have been enjoying for close to a decade. If you, like many others, prefer to play Minecraft with friends, you can do that here, too. Minecraft: Dungeons supports parties of up to four players, and will reward groups with bigger and better items that scale accordingly.

Even if retro-style dungeon crawlers aren't your thing, keep your fingers crossed that Minecraft: Dungeons delivers. Mojang says that the action-RPG is just the first of many Minecraft-themed titles in development, and we can't wait to see what shows up next.

Two AAA games have revealed the industry's fascination with feudal Japan. One, Game of the Year winner Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, is a third-person action adventure game by FromSoftware, the people who brought you Dark Souls. The other, Ghost Of Tsushima is a third-person action adventure game by Sucker Punch, the people who brought you Sly Cooper and Infamous. Both combine stealth with more straightforward action. Both put a big premium on swordplay. Both feature grappling hooks.

Confused yet? There are a couple of ways to keep the two games apart. While Sekiro is a relatively linear experience, Ghost of Tsushima is an open-world game. Sekiro is set in a stylized, surreal world with few links to reality. Ghost of Tsushima goes out of its way to be as realistic as possible, to the point where Sucker Punch hired a "historical sword-fighting expert" to make sure the combat was kosher, and took a trip to Japan just to record native bird songs. When playing Ghost of Tsushima, you can even switch the dialogue to Japanese-only (with English subtitles) to squeeze out a little more historical accuracy.

The biggest difference between the two games, though? While Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice released in March 2019, Ghost of Tsushima won't launch until June 26, 2020. That's probably for the best. Both games look great, and we'd hate to see Ghost of Tsushima get lost in all of Sekiro's Souls-fueled hype. Best to keep them far apart.

Microsoft Flight Simulator was never sexy, but don't dismiss it as a niche title. It was published continuously from 1982 to 2006 and sold millions of copies along the way. Microsoft Flight Simulator's community is still thriving, too. You can understand why Microsoft decided to bring it back.

This isn't your daddy's Flight Simulator, though. While the old one was strictly a PC game, the new edition will also arrive on the Xbox One. More importantly, it looks amazing. The new edition of Flight Simulator sports 4K graphics that are so detailed that Microsoft reps worried that people wouldn't believe that its trailer was made from in-game footage. Microsoft also claims that it's leveraging two petrabytes worth of data, as well as its Azure AI system, to make Flight Simulator's world as realistic as possible. From what we've seen, we believe it.

Microsoft Flight Simulator won't be for everyone — it's complex and doggedly realistic, and its charms lie mostly in cruising around and taking in the scenery — but if you're one of Flight Simulator's legions of fans, its time to celebrate. The king is back.

Though originally scheduled for a May release, Crystal Dynamics has delayed the Marvel's Avengers launch to Sept. 4, 2020. It has Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, Thor, and the Hulk as playable characters (sorry, Hawkeye) and stars some of the best-known voice actors in the game industry. It features an original plotline, which sees the Avengers fall from grace after a mission goes bad, and it'll be updated regularly after release. All new heroes will be free.

Here's what we don't know: what it actually is. E3 2019 demos confirmed that the game would be a third-person action title. Comments from staffers indicate that Avengers will be a live-services title like Destiny or The Division, albeit one with a bigger focus on story. Does that mean that we'll be able to grind either solo or with friends to earn new gear, alternate costumes, and stat upgrades? It sure sounds like it.

Yeah, Avengers doesn't look amazing, but Crystal Dynamics' Tomb Raider reboot was great. We're reserving judgement until we know more. The dearly departed Diablo-like MMO Marvel Heroes was pretty cool, after all. A higher-budget, story-driven take on that general concept? Yeah, we'll assemble for that.

Ubisoft's Watch Dogs franchise has always been wildly ambitious, but it has also struggled to live up to its lofty goals. As a result, you can understand why some people are skeptical of Watch Dogs: Legion's big hook. Ubisoft claims that the game will let you recruit and play as any person in Legion's dystopian take on post-Brexit London, with the storyline adjusting accordingly.

Maybe that's too good to be true, but so far it looks like Watch Dogs: Legion will live up to the hype. Hands-on reports say that identifying and recruiting agents is just as fun as it sounds. Once you have a character on your roster, you'll need to use them carefully, too. Every character has a different skillset — some are good at hacking, for example, while others defeat foes through brute force — which opens up a variety of different ways to handle missions, but if they die they're gone for good.

Ubisoft knows how to make open-world games, and Watch Dogs 2 was a big step forward, so stay cautiously optimistic. If Legion works, it could be one of 2020's most impressive game. Besides, you can be a murder grandma. Who doesn't want that?

Designers Brenda and John Romero are as close as it gets to video game royalty. As a tester, writer, and game designer, Brenda helped make Wizardry one of the most important role-playing game franchises of all time. John co-created Doom. When the husband-wife duo announce that they're making a new game, you better pay attention.

Empire of Sin is set in Chicago during Prohibition and charges you with taking over the city's criminal underworld by 1933, when the 21st Amendment makes booze legal again. In order to do so, you'll take the role of a mob boss — most of whom are inspired by real people — and recruit from a pool of 60 underlings to establish underground casinos, brothels, distilleries, and speakeasies. Combat against rival gangs unfolds as turn-based, XCOM-inspired tactical battles, and your underlings' personalities affect how shootouts unfold.

Brenda Romero has wanted to make this game for 20 years, and publisher Paradox Interactive specializes in strategy-heavy historical simulations. Empire of Sin could be the best strategy game of 2020. All the pieces are there. The Romeros just need to put it all together. History suggests they very much will.

It took almost 15 years, but thanks to the one-two punch of Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami, Sega's long-running series has finally broken through in the West. Now that Yakuza is a global sensation, what's next? Why, changing it completely, of course.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon isn't an action-heavy brawler. It's a turn-based RPG. Yep, that's right: instead of punching, kicking, or throwing your opponents directly, you'll select your moves from a menu. The action doesn't stop during combat: pedestrians will go about their business as you fight, and characters involved in combat will move around, making positioning a key strategic element. Still, the move to an RPG-like battle system is a major change.

Like a Dragon is also the first entry in the main Yakuza series that doesn't star Kazuma Kiryu, whose story ended in Yakuza 6. Instead of Kazuma, you'll control a new character, Ichiban Kasuga. At least Yakuza's other signature features — the dense, explorable neighborhoods, the glut of silly minigames, and so on — are back for the latest installment. Yakuza is often compared to Grand Theft Auto, but it's really an RPG at heart. Now, it finally plays like one, too.

Did somebody say "story missions?" 

Yes, that's right: we're finally going to get to know what Overwatch is all about. While Blizzard's ultra-popular hero shooter has detailed lore and a roster full of memorable characters, the game's plot has been confined to spinoff media like comics and cinematics, a couple of limited-time events, and occasional lines of dialogue. In Overwatch 2, that changes. In addition to the six-on-six multiplayer battles that Overwatch is known for, the upcoming sequel will introduce four-player co-op missions that tell an actual story. It's about time.

That's not all, of course. In addition to the PvE content, Overwatch's core competitive mode will get a major revamp with new maps, new heroes, and new modes. In "Push," for example, two teams will try to escort a payload to their respective goals by hassling a friendly robot. Overwatch 2's PvP upgrades will come to the first Overwatch as well, but elements like the story missions and souped-up graphics will be exclusive for the sequel. If you really want to explore the Overwatch universe, you'll need to double-dip.

Like most big game publishers, Ubisoft has a reliable stable of established franchises that it tends to cycle through. Gods & Monsters, on the other hand, is brand new — to a point, anyway. The "storybook adventure" game clearly take a lot of cues, at least visually, from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, with some of Nintendo's Kid Icarus thrown in for good measure.

The biggest influence on Gods & Monsters, however, might actually be Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, which also played with ancient Greek mythology. In fact, at E3 2019, Ubisoft confirmed that Gods & Monsters was created by the people behind Odyssey and was inspired by what they learned while making that game. Accordingly, it's an open-world adventure in which you play as a forgotten Greek hero who's on a mission to help the gods reclaim their powers. You'll do so with the help of your bow, your sword, and your telekinetic powers.

So far, Ubisoft hasn't revealed much beyond a cinematic trailer, so it's possible that Gods & Monsters will change before release. It doesn't need to. Zelda with monsters from Greek mythology? We've already signed up.

Bethesda revealed its next big single-player role-playing game, Starfield, at E3 2018. The company didn't share a whole lot of information — the brief announcement trailer isn't much more than a planet, a distant space station, and a logo — journalists and fans have managed to uncover a few pieces of information. In short: Starfield sounds really, really good.

Starfield will have sci-fi trappings. It's Bethesda Softworks' first new intellectual property in a quarter century. While Starfield's setting might be new, the game reportedly stays true to the "publisher's role-playing foundation," offering players an open world to explore and the freedom to make choices as they see fit. In other words, if you've played the later Elder Scrolls and Fallout games, you're going to get more of the same.

Similarly, while Bethesda hasn't said when Starfield is coming out, it's possible to make an educated guess based on the existing facts. Bethesda tends to work on only a few games at a time and it's still perfecting the problematic Fallout 76. Bethesda's Todd Howard also hinted that Starfield may not launch until the next console generation, which would put it at 2020 at the earliest. That might feel like a long time, but it's been 25 years since Bethesda created a new franchise. You can wait just a little bit longer.

A catsuit-clad, lollipop-sucking witch who loses her clothing when she attacks seems like a weird mascot for family-friendly Nintendo, but then there's nothing normal about Bayonetta. The glammed up, hair-flinging action hero might've been designed as creator Hideki Kamiya's "ideal woman," but don't let the Bayonetta series' fanservice-heavy presentation turn you off. It's more style than sleaze, and besides, there's a vastly compelling action game lurking underneath all that camp.

If you've never played Bayonetta 1 or 2 or you only know her from her role in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, here's a little bit of what you can expect in Bayonetta 3: High heels that double as guns. Arms-dealing bartenders. Weapons named after classic folk ballads. Shape-shifting powers. Hordes of demons. Levels inspired by Dante's Inferno, of all things — the work of classic literature, not the polarizing video game adaptation.

It's basically Devil May Cry with the absurdity (and sex appeal) cranked up to 11, and it's glorious. Not that we'd expect anything less from PlatinumGames. Fast-paced madness is Platinum's bread and butter, as evidenced in games like Mad World, Vanquish, and NieR: Automata. We're not sure when the Switch-exclusive Bayonetta 3 will see the light of day, but we can understand why Nintendo would want to be in the Bayonetta business. We do, too.

When Nintendo revealed Joker was coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, fans assumed that his flagship game, Persona 5, was headed to Nintendo's red-hot console as well. Their hopes seemed all but confirmed just a few weeks later, when a mysterious Switch game called Persona 5 S snuck onto Atlus' release schedule. "S" as in "Switch." Get it?

Well, surprise! Persona 5 S isn't a Persona 5 port at all. It's a spinoff called Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers. While the core Persona games mix dungeon-crawling with social simulation, Persona 5 Scramble is an action game that puts Joker and the rest of Persona 5's heroes against never-ending hordes of enemies, which they can decimate with their of flashy powers. If the trailer looks kind of familiar, there's probably a good reason for that, too: Persona 5 Scramble is developed by Omega Force, the company that makes Dynasty Warriors and spinoffs like Hyrule Warriors and Dragon Quest Heroes, and it doesn't look like the studio is venturing too far from its roots.

The Persona series has a long history of popular and quirky spinoffs and there's no reason to think that Persona 5 Scramble won't be one of them. Atlus hasn't confirmed a Western release for Persona 5 Scramble just yet, but given the franchise's rising profile on these shores, we're guessing it's only a matter of time. And hey, at least Scramble is a real surprise. We never saw it coming.