Top 10 Upcoming RPGs on My Wishlist in 2020

These are the top 10 upcoming RPGs on my wishlist in 2020. If you’ve been following the site, you know that for the most part, I cover RPGs here, playing them through thoroughly, researching everything about them, and then producing handy guides for you, the player, so you can beat that boss, find that item, min-max that best build, and truly master these games. So this isn’t just a list of the games I’m most looking forward to, it’s also an early look at what’s going to most likely be covered on this site over the next year!

Alright, introduction’s out of the way. Let’s just jump right into the top 10 upcoming RPGs in 2020,

10. Yakuza 7

Yakuza isn’t a series that I have much (any) experience with, but now that it’s a turn-based RPG I’m delightfully intrigued, and it looks like it’s going to be a fun, funny gaming experience with a solid story that doesn’t take itself too seriously. I really don’t have too much to say about it, since I don’t know too much about it, but it’s definitely on my radar and something I’m certainly going to play if I have time. It’s not a “must play” for me like the games further on the list, so don’t expect with 100% certainty I’m going to be posting game guides, but I very well might. I’m geared up to be pleasantly surprised.

9. Wasteland 3 – Upcoming RPGs 2020

I really enjoyed Wasteland 2. I think it had a lot of problems, and I hope they’ve worked some of those out for Wasteland 3, but I can’t imagine this iteration is going to be a step backward. From everything I’ve seen, it looks like it’s going to solidify this franchise as the premiere post-apocalyptic cRPG franchise. I don’t imagine it’ll be my favorite game of the year, but I expect to enjoy it a great deal and for it to be something I can really sink my teeth into. One thing that remains to be seen is if there will be such a gargantuan glut of useless party members, one of my gripes with the original, and if its systems become a little less impenetrable and less research-dependent for casual audiences to be able to pick up and play without feeling like they’re playing on ultra hard mode.

8. Darkest Dungeon 2

Darkest Dungeon 2 is expected to be released at the very end of 2020, though it’ll most likely dip into the first quarter of 2021. I loved Darkest Dungeon. It was fresh, it had an original art style, its gameplay was as compelling as it was unique, the voice acting was incredible, and it really succeeded in creating a feeling of dread and anxiety which… doesn’t sound fun, but it was. Red Hook has beefed up the team for Darkest Dungeon 2 which may come with some growing pains that affect the finished product, but without much media to go on at this point, I’m expecting something that really improves on the Darkest Dungeon formula, takes us to a new environment, and is just bigger and overall more polished with all the resources now at the studio’s disposal. I actually played the hell out of Darkest Dungeon, I just don’t have very many guides for it here because my PTSD is too severe to revisit it.

7. Bravely Default 2

Bravely Default. as a series, is sort of the spiritual successor to the medieval NES Final Fantasies and the early SNES Final Fantasies, especially 5. The most compelling thing about it is the job system, but the art style and turn-based combat are nice as well. The story for Bravely Default games to date has been a bit simplistic, and Bravely Default 2, based on the demo I played, appears to be no different, but what makes the series work has returned. Not only is the job system fun from an analytical point of view — optimizing and customizing all your different characters — it always feels super satisfying to discover all the different job costumes and looks for each of the different characters. Bravely Default 2 is definitely on my watchlist, even if Elvis’s hardcore lowlands Scottish accent doesn’t fit his physical appearance whatsoever. Also, I just have to note this. It’s pretty wild that they already made a Bravely Default 2 called Bravely Second and then named Bravely Default 3 as Bravely Default 2. How, uh… bold. It’s really difficult to Google anything about Bravely Default 2 (3) because everything that comes up is for Bravely Second, which everyone called Bravely Default 2.

6. Fae Tactics – Upcoming RPGs 2020

Fae Tactics is the brainchild of Endless Fluff Games, the tiny husband and wife operation that created Valdis Story: Abyssal City, easily the best of the fifteen billion metroidvania roguelikes that the indie scene has concocted over the last several years. It’s frankly shocking what they were able to produce in terms of quality with just the core couple of developers and a handful of outside contractors. Valdis Story’s animation quality is some of the best I’ve ever seen, the game design was near flawless, and the art style itself is extraordinarily appealing. Fae Tactics looks like it’s going to take all that competency and turn it into a strategy RPG that might, after all these years, finally produce something that, at the very least, approached the ballpark of Final Fantasy Tactics, the undisputed king of strategy RPGs for over two decades. Valdis Story’s actual story was competent, but unremarkable, and I expect Fae Tactics to be much the same, but gameplay-wise and art-wise, I have high expectations for this one.

5. Persona 5 Royal

This comes out in like 4 days, so it’s kind of pointless to put it on this list, but there’s still time. It’s still technically upcoming. Persona 5 was easily my favorite jRPG of the last several years, even put up against such notable contenders as Dragon Quest XI, Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Bloodstained. Persona 5 oozes style, its story is really, really good (although I have some gripes with a certain twist), and the Persona formula of dating sim/life simulation structure combined with jRPG dungeon crawling is even more satisfying than it was in Persona 4. And I haven’t even mentioned the music, which is mindblowing. The Royal edition offers enough new content to provide an excuse to happily revisit this instant classic from 2016. Definitely looking forward to it.

4. Trials of Mana Remake

Trials of Mana, or Seiken Densetsu 3, was one of my absolute favorite games growing up, not only because it’s legitimately the best Mana game in the entire series, but also because of how smart and cool I felt getting my hands on a fan translated rom in the late 90s and being able to play something that was so amazing, yet so obscure. I’m excited that everyone’s going to get to experience this game now so they can share my enthusiasm for it. The class changing, the party combinations, the point of view storytelling structure — it all adds enormous replay value. This may be a 30-40 hour game, but it’s a game I imagine I’ll play through several times, just like the original Trials of Mana.

3. Baldur’s Gate 3 – Upcoming RPGs 2020

I love me some Baldur’s Gate. Baldur’s Gate 2 is one of my favorite games of all time, and I’m a big fan of cRPGs in general. Pillars of Eternity 2 was one of my favorite games last year. Of course, it came out 2 years ago, but I played it last year. Divinity 2 was another of my favorite games from last year, and it’s made me a big fan of Larian, the studio that’s now producing Baldur’s Gate 3. The gameplay reveal they had earlier this year has done nothing but amp up my excitement levels, and I know this one’s gonna be great. Definitely one of the most anticipated upcoming RPGs in 2020.

2. Cyberpunk 2077 – Upcoming RPGs 2020

Like everyone else, Cyberpunk is extremely high on my most-anticipated list. I love that cyberpunk aesthetic and I think it’s still a very fresh setting for some amazing sci-fi storytelling. I enjoyed the hell out of Deus Ex Human Revolution and Mankind Divided, though that series had some very obvious and glaring problems that made the gameplay feel somewhat boring and it made each game somewhat hard to finish. Cyberpunk 2077 looks like it’s going to be everything Deus Ex wanted to be and more. CD Projekt Red, obviously, has an incredible track record and has a deep well of goodwill afforded to it, pushing the hype for this game to atmospheric levels, and it looks like it’s going to deliver.

1. Final Fantasy 7 Remake

I realize this comes out in a little over a week, but it’s been my most anticipated game for over a year, so it still has a little over a week to sit in this spot on the upcoming RPGs list. April is going to be my Coronavirus shut-in month of Final Fantasy 7. I played the demo and I was very impressed. I’m excited about all the content they’re adding to the game, from side quests to weapon customization to new materia options, and I can’t wait to play it. The voice acting is amazing, the game looks like a movie, and it feels like it’s really going to live up to my childhood nostalgia over Final Fantasy 7, the game that, more than anything else, defined my love of games. I hope it’s incredible, and it seems like it’s going to be.

So you can expect all those RPGs to be covered here over the upcoming year as I devour them, pull them apart, and turn them into useful little guides for you guys.

Anyway, that about covers it for the top 10 upcoming RPGs in 2020. Be sure to check out the Games Section for more articles like this. We have lots of game guides on this site so remember our name if you get stuck. We also have movie and TV reviews, so feel free to check some of those out.