No summer holiday away this year? Forced to staycation in your living room? Well, these gaming titles could be the answer to your boredom. However, like with many sectors, the gaming industry has been hit by the COVID-19 crisis, so releases have been patchy. For avid gamers, these delays in releases only add to the anticipation, as we wait for the much talked about releases. 

Here we aim to heighten this sense of excitement and impatience, as we explore the game titles that will soon be on our consoles and saving our 2020.

Death Stranding

No need to wait for Death Stranding, as it was released on July 14th - and this is the PC release after an earlier option to play on the PlayStation. Here you get to “enjoy” the post-apocalyptic America again and try to create the networks that will help you survive. This is a Kojima game, in partnership with Sony, so this description does nothing to represent the depth of the concept delivered. Enough to say that the game makes some serious geo-political comments while offering detailed gameplay.

A Total War Saga: Troy

If you want something a little less heady and a little more point and shoot, then A Total War Saga could be for you instead. You will need to wait until the middle of August for your strategizing and weaponry fix in this second release in the franchise. You enter the classic war between the Greeks and the Trojans - which comes with secret agents, mythic beasts and more. A little more than a game of brutal killing - you will still have to think yourself through this game.

Mafia: Definitive Edition

We love a good definitive edition - it is game developer code for we have fixed everything that bugged you and now present the ultimate experience. If you are feeling suspicious that this is just a tweak here and there - don’t - this is a complete remastering of the original game and so should excite your interest and your eyeballs - the graphics are sublime. It is time to spend your summer in creating your crime spree in this open-world game.

Serious Sam 4

We are really tempting you now - as this has the fateful TBC against the release date. There is a general belief that it will be released some time in August. Will it be worth the wait? Well, if you love fast-paced action with a ridiculous number of enemies on the screen at anyone time - then you should give this a go. The team from Croteam promise more targets to shoot at on one screen than ever before - so we also suggest you invest in some antacid! 

Crusader Kings 3

If you love a bit of history and like to strategize and battle your way through a complex narrative, then this is your game. Unfortunately, you will need to wait until September 4th - but it could be a great way to spend the Fall. This strategy RPG is more character focused than before, building on the best practice of role-play narrative. Previous games have been heavily focused on maps and navigating yourself through a serious number of menus. This time the developers promise you will spend more time seeing the world through the crusader’s eyes.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2

What? Seriously? I know we hear the disbelief that there is anything to anticipate about games that have been out for what feels like centuries. However, Vicarious Visions have taken this skateboard shredder and remade these classics. If you are quick, you can get early access to the warehouse levels well before the game is released. Well worth a look to build up that anticipation for what should be an awesome gaming experience.

Star Wars: Squadrons

Any game within the Star Wars franchise is worth a look - but you are going to have to wait until October to get your hands on this game. This takes on the Rogue One spin-off route, as you are thrown into a Rogue Squadron. This is dogfighting in spaceships and while there are campaigns, we predict the 5 v 5 multiplayer matches will be the making of this title. We can see the eSports contests springing up already.

Book of Travels

This game is a little left-field but worth a mention. This is a Tiny MMO game, where you travel the world but with a hint of danger. There is little known about this game from Might and Delight - who brought us Shelter - so although there are a lot of questions surrounding this title, the prospects of something unique has piqued our interest.

Cyberpunk 2077

Feel happy to wait until October and in love with open-world shooter games - then you should look out for Cyberpunk 2077. It is hard to do anything original in this space - so sending it into a quirky future world with questionable hair-dos could be just what we need. This comes from CD Projekt Red and so we anticipate great things