2020 Hype Thread

[Magical_Isopod]

I basically made this list of 2020 releases that aim to destroy my personal finances, so I want to expand upon it into a hype/discussion thread. What games and expansions are you excited about? What are you playing on release day? What are you gonna wait for a sale on? Tell me! The sharehol- er, *I* demand it!

Here's my personal list, with some notes:

February:
25 - Mega Man Zero/ZX Collection
(I sold my copies of Zero Collection and ZX for a total of $53 to pre-order this one for $40 soooooo...)

March:
4 - Final Fantasy VII Remake
(FF7 is my 5th favourite game of all time, but the episodic nature of this one has me worried - but for the $55 I preordered this one for - vs. $80 normal price - I'll take the gamble)
20 - DOOM Eternal
(Really wish this one hadn't been delayed, because late 2019 was a snoozer for game releases, but I will still likely buy this one - waiting for reviews though, as I don't trust Bethesda in the slightest)

April:
3 - Resident Evil 3
(If any Resident Evil game needs an upgrade, it's this one - though it may have been better as a standalone expansion to RE2make than a full-priced game with tacked-on multiplayer)
16 - Cyberpunk 2077
(I'm both hyped for and terrified of this game. I really hope it's shorter than Witcher 3. X_x)
24 - Trials of Mana
(The original still holds up very well, I played through it earlier this year... But this remake looks like it may actually be a straight upgrade. Really excited for this one, definitely a day one buy.

"Spring" :
Ys: Memories of Celceta
(Highly-praised PS Vita game finally getting a physical PS4 release)
System Shock
(I'll believe it when I see it.)

TBA 2020(?):
No More Heroes 3
(I'm a goddamn superhero.)
Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition
(Similar to Zero/ZX collection, I sold my original to pay for this one.)
Way to the Woods
(Deer!)
Alice's Lullaby: Albino Lullaby Chapter 2
(I correspond with the dev occasionally on this one, and it seems he's close to finishing this one - or at least finished the pre-production stuff. It's a one-man dev with a day job, so I'm really patient on this one.)

[KSubzero1000]

Of those listed, DOOM Eternal will probably be the only one I'll buy on release day. First one is excellent and I haven't played any quality FPS since, so I'm in.

"Resident Evil 3" I'm still unsure about. I have mixed feelings about many aspects of the RE2 remake, and those appear to transfer over to this one. The short development cycle is also a bit of a red flag and I'm honestly not too keen on giving Capcom 70€ just to be disappointed again. I might be weak and succumb to temptation, however, it's been known to happen occasionally.

I'm glad Ys: Memories of Celceta is coming, but it might have to wait a few years for a sale considering I still have to play all the other ones. No point in throwing money out of the window.

Of those not listed, I'll have to get my hands on that sexy Bayonetta & Vanquish 10th Anniversary Bundle steelbook as soon as possible. 60fps Challenge 6, sign me up.

The Last of Us Part II will have to wait as well. I'm definitely interested in it, but I don't seem to get nearly as much out of ND games as most other people do. No rush.

I think that's about it. The only other thing I would be incredibly excited about would be a proper Nintendo Switch hardware revision, though. Day 1 without hesitation.

[Magical_Isopod]

KSub -
The Ys games are all mostly unrelated... The series is framed as a series of journal entries from Adol Cristin's adventure log, found 200(?) years after his exploits - so they're all self-contained stories, for the most part. I think some of the earlier entries have direct sequels, but all the PSP, PSV and PS4 ones are self-contained. If anything, I'd recommend Memories of Celceta FIRST, because Ys VIII (one of the best games of all time IMHO) picks up directly after that one.

As for the Switch, I'm kind of on the "too little, too late" train with that one. I bought a refurbished Switch this year for about the same price as the Lite (after they gave me a $50 refund for shipping a busted charger), and I'm just gonna rock that. I also modded my Joy-Cons, lemme see if I can remember how to post an image on here...

[KSubzero1000]

The Ys games are all mostly unrelated... The series is framed as a series of journal entries from Adol Cristin's adventure log, found 200(?) years after his exploits - so they're all self-contained stories, for the most part.

Yeah, fair point. But I wasn't really thinking in terms of story spoilers and such. I just prefer to start a new series from the beginning if I have the opportunity to do so, and I already have most Ys games sitting around waiting to be played. Got a quarter through Origins and really enjoyed it.

[Magical_Isopod]

Here we go. I changed the Joy-Con casings, obviously, but the casing I got also replaces the awful d-"buttons" with a proper d-pad. And it's not even really a hardware mod, it still uses the same board and rubber punchy boi. Which really goes to show just how ludicrous the decision to forgo the d-pad was in the first place. It's an easy fix.

But yeah, I ordered this mod kit on eBay for $26 after shipping, and not only is it a visual improvement, but the plastic is actually a *better* material and the new d-pad works great, despite being a little on the clicky side. Highly recommended.

[Stanshall]

Nice one lad, and good to see you posting again.

[Magical_Isopod]

Nice one lad, and good to see you posting again.

I'm not even sure why I stopped, I guess I just got sucked too far into Discord and routinely failed to consider the joy of forum posting. I think my disposition to instant gratification makes following a slower forum comprised mostly of Eurozone peoples (meaning when I post, I usually gotta wait a few hours til folks wake up ) a little rough at times. But I intend to do some podcast correspondence, at least.

[Suits]

Doom will be great, Cyber Punk will be interesting but so far, the only real peak for me next year is Animal Crossing in March.

I’m well excited to see what they’ve got going on in this new version.

[Alex79]

There's honestly not much I'm looking forward to given the amount of stuff I already own and need to play. I'm excited about Cyberpunk but may not even pick it up until the year after. I've got a really busy year coming up work and studying-wise so gaming time is going to be really limited. I'm expecting to get a lot more use out of my Switch than PS4 over the next 12 months. There's loads of stuff already out for that on my wish list. The only other game I'm looking forward to, but I'm not sure it's out in 2020, is Elden Ring.

[Scrustle]

Doom is one of the main games I'm looking forward to, but I can't help but feel a bit weary about it too. Bethesda have been doing a great job of throwing away every piece of goodwill it had over the past few years. Doom feels like it's in danger. As long as the campaign manages to get out unscathed it should be okay.

Cyberpunk is another big one, but it's one that for some reason I keep forgetting about. I guess because it's been announced for so many years that it has always felt like it's always still years away and is never really going to come out. Also I'm kind of unsure of what platform to get it on. I want to go PC, but I have a feeling my machine won't be able to run it. But if my PC can't keep up, then that won't bode well for the console versions either.

Excited for NMH3 as well, but I have a feeling that might get pushed back to 2021. I almost hope it will be actually. The dev cycle on that game has been extremely short, especially since they said they're going back to the open world structure again. While I'm not expecting it to be some huge epic adventure or anything, there's still quite a lot riding on that name that they have to make sure not to screw up.

Aside from that... not much comes to mind. Mostly stuff that I suspect might not reach 2020. Bayo 3, Babylon's Fall, BotW2, Granblue Relink, Hellblade 2, Solar Ash Kingdom. There's the Yakuza remasters, but two of those are technically already out, and the games are all old anyway. There should be a new Forza Motorsport next year though. It'll be interesting to see what's going on with that series after they took an extra year out after the bad reception of FM7.

[Nupraptor]

I'm a Dragonball fan so I'm also looking forward to Kakarot in January.

[Sinclair Gregstrum]

The only 2020 releases I’m planning on picking up are:

Panzer Dragoon remake (Switch) - I recently listened to an interview with a producer at Forever Entertainment, the developers responsible for this ground up rebuild of the Saturn classic. He said a lot of the right things, genuinely seemed to care about doing a great job, and overall raised my hopes that this might actually turn out ok. As a long-time Panzer fan, prior to that I’d been pretty sceptical about the whole thing. Forever Entertainment’s CV is patchy, to be charitable, and while the footage that has been shown so far looks pretty that in itself was a bit of a problem, as the lonely desolation of the Panzer Dragoon universe is one of the series’ most defining and striking qualities. We’ll have to wait and see, but not for too long, as it still has a ‘winter’ release window attached.

Cyberpunk 2077 (Xbox One X) - Obviously. It’s going to be a fascinating video game even if it doesn’t quite live up to the insane hype.

The Last Of Us: Part 2 (PS4 Pro) - I’m actually more convinced of this game’s potential greatness than I am of Cyberpunk’s. I just can’t see Naughty Dog dropping the ball here. The first game is a genuine classic even though it was probably 7/10 gameplay matched with 10/10 presentation and story. Those latter elements still look like they’re going to be exceptional, so if they can improve the mechanics even a little then this will be one fantastic game.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Ghost of Tsushima could also sway me with some stellar reviews, then there’s any next gen launch titles of course.

I’ll almost certainly pick up one of the new systems on day one, followed by the second sometime in 2021. At the moment I think it’ll be Xbox Series X first, and that means Halo Infinite is a dead cert.

[FemalePheromones]

I can't believe no one has mentioned Halo Infinite and Xbox Series X yet.

[Sinclair Gregstrum]

I can't believe no one has mentioned Halo Infinite and Xbox Series X yet.

Just me at the end of my post! And no PS5 either!

[FemalePheromones]

Oh yeah I must not have read that far

Sorry about that.

Glad I'm not the only one though.

[Sinclair Gregstrum]

Oh yeah I must not have read that far

Sorry about that.

Glad I'm not the only one though.

It was right at the very end to be fair!

[seansthomas]

I solely own a Switch so my highlights are DOOM Eternal for sure, albeit post the delay delay, and Streets of Rage 4, as I think that looks better with every viewing. Lego Star Wars is another I'm very excited about. Also keen to see what The Outer Wilds and God's and Monsters ports are like.

Xenoblade Chronicles being an all timer means I should be pumped for the HD remaster, but I'm not sure I have a 100 hour replay in me! I've also never played an Animal Crossing game so that intrigues me.

No more Heroes 3, Bayonetta 3 and Metroid Prime 4 are 3 of my top 4 most anticipated games but I doubt any will make 2020. I have a sneaking suspicion BOTW2 may make Holidays though to combat the launches of PS5 and Xbox Series. If not, something we don't know about HAS to. Maybe a new 2D Mario in the form of a true visual successor to Super Mario World?

Time will tell...

[Flabyo]

I’ve been mostly ignoring all the stuff about the FF7 remake cause I don’t want to be disappointed, but I know I’ll end up getting it anyway.

I also know I’m going to be weak and try the demo when it drops, which isn’t far off.

[Chopper]

I’m waiting hard for Slay the Spire on iOS - I see it’s made a lot of Games of the Decade lists, *Stanshall*.

I know I’m going to be disappointed by Mount & Blade: Bannerlord - I suspect it’s going to be 95% the same as the two previous entries - but I’m kinda duty-bound to buy it on release day.