I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but there are an awful lot of video games coming out in the first half of 2020. Like, a lot. More big games in one short space of time than I think I’ve ever seen in my life.
To be fair, I’m 25 and my experience isn’t worth much, but there are a genuinely stupid amount of AAA titles all tripping over one another to get out the door in early 2020. It’s almost as if a new generation of consoles is arriving in the second half of the year.
Let’s just take a quick look at the games we know are coming in the first half of the year. In February, we have Ori and the Will of the Wisps for Xbox One and PC, which is bound to be just as charming and captivating an experience as its predecessor was. If you haven’t actually played Blind Forest, I strongly urge you to pick up Game Pass and rectify that.
A matter of weeks after that, Ubisoft will be releasing its Breath of the Wild-inspired action RPG Gods & Monsters. It looks like a Zelda game, and it’s being built by the team who gave us the excellent Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Who wouldn’t want a piece of that action?
You thought March might offer you a quick respite, maybe a chance to save some money for that big holiday you promised the kids while you work through February’s purchases? YOU FOOL. March sees a triple threat of AAA releases, a barrage in the form of Final Fantasy VII Remake, Watch Dogs Legion, and Animal Crossing: New Horizon.
These aren’t tiny games that you can pick up and bash out in a few hours either, these are MAJOR releases that will eat up every scrap of spare time you have. How will you balance exploring Midgar as Cloud with overthrowing a corrupt London government in Legion and picking cute new furniture for your new island home in New Horizon? Have you even thought about that? I doubt it. You sicken me.
You will need to start planning your time now, because whichever game you pick as your main title in March will have to be finished by the end of the month. Why? Because April sees the release of one of, if not the, most anticipated game of the generation in the form of Cyberpunk 2077.
We all know Cyberpunk 2077 is going to be a game of embarrassingly large proportions. Coming from the studio that gave us The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, that’s not exactly a shock, but with multiple origin stories, a wide array of customisation and romance options, and more minigames than you can shake a Gwent deck at, Cyberpunk alone could see us through to the end of the year.
Unfortunately time is not a luxury we can afford, because just one month after that slice of fried gold releases, Square Enix is coming out with Marvel’s Avengers. Despite a fairly lukewarm reaction to the latest Marvel game so far, I can’t imagine that it isn’t going to be worth a look for any Marvel fans out there.
I’m sure you’ll agree then, that the first few months of 2020 are already groaning under the weight of such major releases. How, in the name of all that is holy, do we fit all these games in? I want to give each and every one of these releases my undivided time and attention, but I also don’t want to fall behind on any of the others and risk being spoiled on certain gameplay and plot elements.
There’s also the small matter of how we’re supposed to afford all these releases. If a modern AAA release typically costs between £50 to £60 depending on where you buy them, you’re looking at £350 gone on video games before the halfway point of 2020, at least. Try explaining that to your parents/partner/dog.
Seriously, have you ever tried justifying your outgoings to your dog? It’s a nightmare.
Spending upwards of £300 quid on games in a year where we already know a new generation of console hardware is also set arrive is a genuinely terrifying prospect, and I haven’t even mentioned all the games that we either know (or can assume) will be arriving at some point in 2020, including The Last of Us Part II, Dying Light 2, Oddworld Soulstorm, Bayonetta 3, and Halo bloody Infinite.
Thinking about the sheer deluge of titles coming in 2020 is equal parts stressful and exhilarating. I honestly have no idea how I’m going to manage them all, both socially and economically. All I know is that I’ve never seen a release schedule I could look at and know that I want to play every single game on the damn list.
You know that episode of The Simpsons where Homer gets sent to hell and is force-fed donuts by a demon, and he’s supposed to hate it but eventually just goes with it as he becomes increasingly obese and uncaring of the consequences? That’s pretty much where I’m at with regards to 2020 in video games. Just… let me at them, consequences be damned.
With that said, if someone has an actual way I can fit these games around work, friends, being a good husband, and getting enough sleep each night, please let me know – I will pay you good money. Well, I’ll pay you money. Well, we’ll work something out. Money will probably be a bit tight in 2020.
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Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.