Warcraft III Reforged
Warcraft III helped push the strategy franchise in a new direction, and at the time it was far more ambitious than its two predecessors. Just like with StarCraft, Blizzard is returning to the classic with Warcraft III Reforged, a remastered and enhanced edition.
While Reforged features the same story, the graphics have been completely overhauled and certain locations have been given a makeover to more closely resemble World of Warcraft.
In addition, a new Story Mode difficulty will be added to the campaign and the game, in general, will have a host of balance fixes and tweaks.
Warcraft III has, for good reason, gone down as one of the finest RTS games of all time, and hopefully Reforged only improved on that formula.
Final Fantasy VII Remake
The Final Fantasy 7 Remake is one of the most ambitious remakes ever attempted in video game history, and everything we’ve seen so far is honestly looking fantastic.
The remake completely rebuilds the classic RPG from the ground-up, realizing the city of Midgar like never before. Although it doesn’t have anything in the name, this game is actually just the first part of the remake, following the events that take place in Midgar.
The scope has been significantly expanded, however, fleshing out events and even adding on new elements and characters.
Combat, on the other hand, has been completely overhauled for a more action focus, think somewhere in-between Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts. You’ll be able to switch between each party member on the fly, each of which plays entirely differently.
For anyone longing for a more traditional turn-based combat system, the Final Fantasy VII Remake still has something for you with the Classic Mode combat that resembles the original game’s gameplay more closely.
For all intents and purposes, the Final Fantasy VII Remake is the next step forward for the franchise, just like the original game was way back when.
Persona 5 Royal
Persona 5 Royal continues the trend set up by Persona 3 FES and Persona 4 Golden, bringing a hugely enhanced and expanded remake. Keep in mind this isn’t a complete overhaul of Persona 5 as the same game is at the core, but there’s so much added onto the fringes.
Royal adds on an entirely new party member named Kasumi, who’s worked into the story. On top of that there are new confidants to bond with, and a new third school term with brand new events not seen in the original.
There are plenty of new story elements and changes, new bosses, an explorable gallery called My Palace, and more.
Of course, outside of the major changes there are plenty of small tweaks and improvements made to gameplay. Graphics have been slightly improved to more closely match Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight, a new ultimate persona can be unlocked for each character, the calendar now displays rain and snow, and much more.
Persona 5 Royal promises to be an ambitious new experience, with plenty of reasons for longtime fans to jump back in.
Trials of Mana
Final Fantasy 7 may be the big remake for Square Enix this year, but there’s another title that JRPG fans should take note of, Trials of Mana. The third installment in the Mana series, Trials of Mana actually never made its way to the West until 2019, with the Collection of Mana.
Although maybe not as ambitious as the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Trials of Mana similarly re-imagined the original title from the ground-up. Now it’s a full-on 3D action-RPG, realizing the world with bright colorful graphics.
The story of the game remains the same, and just like in the original Trials of Mana you’ll be choosing from a number of playable characters, which will in turn change how the main story plays out.
On top of an overhauled combat system and graphics, the remake also adds voice acting and a remade soundtrack.
Right from the get-go Trials of Mana has looked far more ambitious than the mediocre Secret of Mana remake, and it could be one of the standout JRPGs of the year.
Resident Evil 3
Just one year ago Capcom released the fantastic Resident Evil 2 remake, one of the most ambitious remakes we’ve ever seen. Just over one year later Resident Evil 3 is getting the same treatment, with a brand new multiplayer experience alongside it.
Just like two before it, Resident Evil 3 completely rebuilds the original game with an over-the-shoulder viewpoint. This, of course, completely changes how the game plays out and how you approach combat encounters.
While we don’t yet know how much Resident Evil 3 will change, we do know the big bad Nemesis will be getting a makeover, much like Mr. X in Resident Evil 2.
The horrific bioweapon has new ways to hunt players down, and considering how terrifying Mr. X was, we can barely imagine what Nemesis might be like.
If Resident Evil 3 can live up to the quality of the previous remake, it could be one of the very best games of 2020.
Destroy All Humans!
It’s been years since we’ve heard a peep from the Destroy All Humans series, but it’s coming back with a bang this year with a gorgeous remake of the very first game.
The graphics of the game have been updated with a fantastic cartoony artstyle, and the humor of Destroy All Humans seems to be perfectly intact.
Gameplay-wise, Destroy All Humans remains pretty much the same, albeit with some minor technical enhancements. There have been new additions, however, with a mission cut in the original game added back in, called the Lost Mission of Area 42.
SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated
Who’d have thought we’d be talking about a Spongebob Squarepants game in 2020. Battle for Bikini Bottom has remained a fan-favorite game because of the platforming collect-a-thon gameplay.
Like with Destroy All Humans, THQ Nordic has given Battle for Bikini Bottom a gorgeous cartoon sheen with Rehydrated, making the game more closely resemble a 3D Spongebob movie.
Past that there are a few enhancements including a new two-player horde mode, and restored cut content like a Robo-Squidward battle.
We don’t see a ton of collect-a-thon style games these days, with only Yooka-Laylee and A Hat in Time coming to mind recently. Because of that, Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated could be a refreshing experience.
Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition
Xenoblade Chronicles has already been re-released once before with a 3DS version, but the Definitive Edition promises to be so much more.
Just based on the reveal trailer alone we can tell that this is going to be an ambitious remake of the original Wii title. The game’s graphics have been wildly enhanced, more closely resembling the anime aesthetic of Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
The original game was a wildly influential JRPG, but being on the original Wii, it certainly hasn’t aged incredibly well graphically.
Although we don’t know too many specifics yet, Nintendo couldn’t have picked a better game to rebuild for the Switch.
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