What an unmitigated nightmare of a year 2020 has been. Between the natural disasters that went large this year, over to COVID-19 and the horrors of a pandemic, very few people will look back at this year with fond memories.
Typically at the end of the year we look back at the highlights, but given that 2020 has been so unrelentingly miserable, we’ve decided to look forward instead. Each of the DDNet team is going to list the five things (related to games) that they’re looking forward to in 2021. Whether that be new games, announcements, events or experiences. Be sure to let us know what you’re looking forward to on the rebound, too! We’d love to knock this year out with a wave of positivity.
Today’s list comes to us from DDNet contributor, Brad!
The PlayStation 5 actually becoming available
I’ve thus far been unable to order myself a PlayStation 5 due to the overwhelming demand in Australia. I retired my PlayStation 4 Pro recently due to my living room sounding like the inside of a wind tunnel every time I turned it on. At this point, there isn’t a great deal that I particularly want that’s exclusive on the new console, but I am looking forward to playing my current backlog on the PlayStation 5.
Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires
Dynasty Warriors 9 is quite possibly my favourite Dynasty Warriors title so far, I loved the open-world aspects and travelling across China gave the game a more authentic feel. Unfortunately, a lot of people were not of a similar mind when it came to the ambition and scope of the game. Dynasty Warriors Empires looks to fix this by paring down the open world aspect and returning to the traditional gameplay of previous Dynasty Warriors titles. Still, I’m excited to see what tricks Koei will pull out of their hat for this one.
NieR Replicant
I’ve never been able to play the original NieR. And if you’ve been reading this site for a while now, you’d know that is likely a cardinal sin. NieR is one of those series that I’ve been wanting to get to but other stuff has gotten in my way. Thankfully, being scared to leave the house due to it being 2020 has allowed me to eliminate a large chunk of my backlog, and 2021 isn’t going to give me an excuse to avoid the NieR franchise.
What will Nintendo do next?
Aside from Animal Crossing and Hyrule Warriors, you could argue that Nintendo’s 2020 was much quieter than in 2019. I am hoping that they have a few big things in store for 2020 to show people why the Switch is still relevant in the world of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. Perhaps Nintendo will bring out a more powerful iteration of the Switch? It’s also The Legend of Zelda’s 35th anniversary, so maybe we will see some extra love for that series.
Arcades
