RPGWatch Feature - Game of the Year Awards 2019 - Most Promising RPG

What is the most promising RPG of 2020? Like every year, you had your say. Check out the details to find out what games our visitors and editors think are most promising.

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Let's hope they all come out in 2020 for real, so I can vote something else than 'none' for GotY 2020

I fit more in the editor's category, it seems. I just don't buy the GTApunk 2077 hype.

Well I don't fit anywhere as I can't care less about WL3 yet it's on both lists.

Totally excited for Bloodlines 2 as the original remains a top 10 of all time game for me. Which means I am likely setting myself up for massive letdown .

I also pre-ordered Cyberpunk 2077 … I have a lot of faith in CDPR, so hopefully this will be good, yet for some reason I also expect a huge disappointment.

I don't know - i expect cyberpunk to be very good - i don't have faith in paradox doing a good job with bloodline so only time will tell. I hope that each fraction in bloodline isn't a sep. dlc…

Lots of great games to be excited for this year!!! It's going to be glorious, even if a few turn out to be tardy the year is looking swell.

Well, at least the editors have better taste

Not terribly surprised by the first two but do find Wasteland 3 coming in a third a little surprising. Haven't seen a whole lot of love for WL2 here and figured lots of people found it pretty mediocre as I did. But I guess lot of people who voted don't post here often. Also, as they're adding multiplayer that probably means the singleplayer will suffer (Am I turning into Joxer?)

Am I the only here who is excited for Sacred Fire? I'm not sure exactly how combat will feel to play but that game seems truly unique and just looks beautiful. Is it the lack of fantasy elements putting people off? I know some of you don't like playing RPGs if you can't shoot fireballs from your hands.

My third choice Copper Dreams also didn't place but it seems a lot of people are put off by the visuals.

I'm somewhat interested in Cyberpunk 2077, if only because I like cyberpunk as a genre and I enjoyed the Witcher games though I"m really disappointed it will be first person only. Vtm Bloodlines 2: I guess I'll keep an eye out for reviews when it releases but just not really hyped for it.

It's looking like a potentially excellent year for cRPGs! Hopefully we're not all disappointed come December.

While CP2077 isn't a game I'd classify as "my type" it's hard not to be excited by it simply because of the cool setting and the merits of the developer. So I can understand the hype and I'm pretty sure I'll buy it as well.

I didn't pick Bloodlines 2, mainly because I've not heard nor seen enough about it to have an informed opinion, but if it's anywhere close to its predecessor it will be a Day 1 purchase as well.

WL3 was my first pick. I found the original release of WL2 was only decent, but the DC edition brought it up to great in my book. I'm sceptical about the Co-op parts since it doesn't interest me in the slightest, but I'm certainly willing to give inXile the benefit of a doubt and have high hopes for the game. No need to buy it at all since I'm a backer.

Kind of looking forward to WL3 too as I backed it and with the M$ take over maybe this will be like the directors cut right out of the gate. As for the rest well I will see when they arrive.

I put Kotc II as my top I still replay the first one when I want some gold box/ad&d fix and I know the proposed graphics put a lot of people off but I have some trust in the developer at least when it comes to crpgs

Very surprised to see Vampire and System Shock that high. While these were back names back then, I see huge potential for disappointment here. Brian Mitsoda is working on Vampire. Last thing he did was End State, which was just a horribly broken game where no two game machanics worked with each other. While System Shock is done by different people than Underworld Ascendant, it's the same company, and I would be very sceptical here, after the massive disaster Underworld was.

While Realms Beyond looks attractive that one also has potential for disappointment. I think they already had the assets from before the KS. Looks like it hardly goes forward and as far as I understand only a skeleton crew is actually working there to somewhow push the game forward. I backed it as well, but I am not sure whether this wil actually result in a finished product.

System Shock 3 is being done by Otherside who made Underworld Ascendant. System Shock Remake is being done by Night Dive Studio who seem reliable so far.

Originally Posted by Kordanor
Very surprised to see Vampire and System Shock that high. While these were back names back then, I see huge potential for disappointment here. Brian Mitsoda is working on Vampire. Last thing he did was End State, which was just a horribly broken game where no two game machanics worked with each other.

I think you mean "Dead State". But I disagree with your assessment that it was a horribly broken game. It had flaws and certain things were a little clunky but I found it both a decent challenge and a lot of fun. However, I only got it after it was called "Dead State: Reanimated", which was essentially their director's cut. Perhaps you played it when it was first released? Either that or I'm just more forgiving of flaws because I was having fun.

Originally Posted by Kordanor
While Realms Beyond looks attractive that one also has potential for disappointment. I think they already had the assets from before the KS. Looks like it hardly goes forward and as far as I understand only a skeleton crew is actually working there to somewhow push the game forward. I backed it as well, but I am not sure whether this wil actually result in a finished product.

Well, they got some additional funding awhile back from a Bavarian games grant which allowed them to take extra time working on it before going to early Access. Currently the programmer is finishing up their combat beta demo for high level backers (mainly UI stuff from what I gather). The writers and designers are meanwhile making quests for the actual game. Art assets are pretty much done. The backer demo has been delayed but is supposed to come out this month and then Steam Early Access will follow soon after. They have said releasing v1.0 in 2020 is still a realistic goal.

Honestly, if Wasteland three and Knights of the Chalice two are the only ones on my list that get released this year, I'll be a happy gamer! Those two games alone promise enough content to keep me fully engaged for months!

Originally Posted by mprod
I put Kotc II as my top I still replay the first one when I want some gold box/ad&d fix and I know the proposed graphics put a lot of people off but I have some trust in the developer at least when it comes to crpgs

Yeah me too.

I enjoyed Wasteland 2 (I only played the Directors Cut) and I'm looking forward to part 3 as well. Having said that, I didn't like Bards Tale 4 or Numanera particularly so Inexile's recent releases have dampened the enthusiasm a little… but I still think it looks pretty good.

I'm interested in but not hyped about Cyberpunk at the minute.

I'm actually looking forward to Wasteland 3 more than I am Cyberpunk. I just envision there being more places of interest to explore and discover in a wasteland than I think a city w/ a narrative can offer. They both promise to be great games, so it's mainly a preference for and the potential of the different settings.

On the other hand, I have pretty much no interest in Vampire II; the prequel was released so long ago that I have to imagine its #2 position is driven mostly by nostalgia and wishful thinking.

Originally Posted by daveyd
I think you mean "Dead State". But I disagree with your assessment that it was a horribly broken game. It had flaws and certain things were a little clunky but I found it both a decent challenge and a lot of fun. However, I only got it after it was called "Dead State: Reanimated", which was essentially their director's cut. Perhaps you played it when it was first released? Either that or I'm just more forgiving of flaws because I was having fun.

Yeah, my bad, it was Dead State. End State is actually a cool looking game which is still in development (hopefully).

I played Dead State in the very last version.
It was still extremely broken. Performance was horrible (especially in multi level maps), there were some bugs (e.g. it always crashed if you went out with Ryan in your group), AI was terrible (again with multi level maps and when being blocked off), and overall mechanics didn't compliment each other.

My review is in German, but can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdNJKjRWw1M

I really don't understand why he went with tokens for KOTC2. It is just such a big step back from KOTC1. It cuts down a whole lot of work but brings very little benefit for the actual player. The thought the character models in KOTC1 did the job well.