Best games to play in 2020: Half-Life Alyx, Cyberpunk 2077 and more – The Week UK

It has been another mega year for gaming fans in 2019, with a host of blockbuster titles arriving on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

EAs Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Death Stranding by Hideo Kojima spearheaded the list of great titles that launched over the past 12 months, while the recent arrival of Google Stadia saw the search giant enter the gaming world with its cloud-based subscription service.

But next year is shaping up to be even better.

Microsoft and Sony are expected to release their new systems Xbox Project Scarlett and the PS5 respectively at the end of 2020, and they will be accompanied by a line-up of next-generation titles. Next year will also mark the return of a long-awaited franchise, though not quite in the way fans are expecting.

Here are the new games that are set to see in the new decade in style:

Doomreceived praise among fans and critics when the series was rebooted in 2016, so it comes as little surprise that a follow-up is on the horizon.

The new title,Doom: Eternal, can be summed up as fast-paced, smooth, action-packed gameplay, accompanied by intense, raw, heavy-metal, saysGame RantsNicholas Wilder. The first-person shooter will see players taking on thedemonic forces of Hell, spanning multiple worlds including Earth and Mars.

After playing a brief demo, Wilder says its evident that developer id Software has done a fantastic job creating a game that delivers a step forward for the franchise as a whole.

Release date: 20 March

Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Google Stadia (Nintendo Switch at a later date)

Next generation: possibly

Lego has always had a firm grasp of the toy market, but its also one of the big players in the gaming world as well. This has largely been thanks to Travellers Tales Lego Star Wars, which arguably put the Danish toymaker on the gaming map back in 2005.

With the launch of three new movies over the past five years, along with two spin-offs, it was only a matter of time before Travellers Tales bundled all of them into an all-inclusive Lego adventure.

Details about the new Lego game are scarce, butGamesRadarsays gamers will be able to roam the galaxy at their own pace and locations will adapt depending on what Star Wars era the player is in.

For instance, those visiting planets that were in the film A New Hope can replay them with the characters of a later film, though the worlds will take on a different look to simulate their state in the Star Wars timeline.

Not only does this look like a whole new breed of Lego game, it may well be one of the best Star Wars games of all time, says GamesRadars Sam Loveridge.

Release date: March

Platforms: Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC

Next generation: no

Its been seven years since the original teaser trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 was released. But the wait is almost over, as the sci-fi role-playing game (RPG) finally arrives in 2020.

Developed by CD Projekt Red, the Polish games studio behind the acclaimed The Witcher franchise, Cyberpunk 2077 takes the form of a open-world RPG set in the fictional Night City described by Polygonas a coastal metropolis lodged smack dab between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

It looks set to become a real game-changer, too. Players can customise their characters using a modular creator system, where body parts, voice and other physical features can be swapped and changed, the tech site adds.

Keanu Reeves has also been confirmed as a character in the game, though its not yet known what his role will be.

Release date: 16 April

Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Google Stadia

Next generation: possibly

The long-awaited sequel to Naughty Dogs survival epicThe Last of Uswill finally arrive on the PS4 in 2020.

Announced at the PlayStation Experience (PSX) back in December 2016,The Last of Us: Part IIpromises to continue the story of Ellie, one of the main characters from the first game, who finds herself in a nightmarish version of Seattle thats swarming with zombie-like creatures known as the infected.

Just about everything fans remember from the original has been adjusted in the sequel, saysGamespot.Ellie, for instance, is much more mobile and agile than Joel, the main playable character from the first game, and shell have a host of new enemies to test her improved combat skills.

Release date: 29 May

Platforms: PS4

Next generation: possibly

Microsofts Flight Simulator franchise has allowed PC gamers to live out their aviation fantasies for over two decades, but the series has never wound up on consoles. That changes next year, though, when an all-new version of the simulator launches on Xbox One and Microsofts next-generation console.

The simulator looks set to showcase the graphical capabilities of the new games console, using two petabytes worth of geographical data to map out an accurate and detailed reflection of the real world, says Windows Central.To put that into perspective, a typical consumer laptop has 500GB of storage - about 0.0005 of a petabyte.

To manage all that data, Microsoft will employ its Azure cloud systems, the tech site says. This can offload most of the games data, such as airport and surface textures, on to the cloud so that the users console doesnt have to process and store two million gigabytes worth of information.

Its due to launch alongside the next Xbox in late 2020.

Release date: late 2020

Platforms: Xbox Project Scarlett, Xbox One, PC

Next generation: yes

The Master Chief returns once again in 2020 as Halo: Infinite looks set to become a launch title for Microsofts next-generation Xbox.

Little is known about Halo: Infinite, other than it will be the sixth instalment in the sci-fi franchises main-line series and mark the arrival of the so-called Project Scarlett. But Bonnie Ross, head of Halo: Infinite developer 343 Industries, told IGNthat the game would be a spiritual reboot of the franchise.

She describes the series as one of hope, and wonder, and heroism, and humanity, and community, and bringing a community together so its possible the Master Chiefs next adventure could explore these themes.

Well find out when Halo: Infinite arrives at the end of 2020.

Release date: Christmas 2020

Platforms: Xbox Project Scarlett, Xbox One, PC

Next generation: yes

Fans have been waiting well over a decade for a newHalf-Lifegame. In November, developer Valve announced that the series would finally be returning but not in the way that fans were expecting.

Rather than release a direct sequel to 2004sHalf-Life 2, which many consider to be the best video game of all time, the development studio has instead turned its focus to releasing a standalone virtual-reality title calledHalf-Life: Alyx.

The game is set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2and is playable only in VR. David Speyrer, a programmer at Valve, toldThe VergethatHalf Life: Alyxis not a side story, but rather the next part of theHalf-Lifestory, in a game around the same length asHalf-Life 2.

Given that the next generation of games consoles is expected to skirt VR, expect this to be a PC exclusive.

Release date: March 2020

Platforms: PC

Next generation: no