2020 is an incredible year for games but, evidently, its also an incredible year for game delays – namely those of Dying Light 2, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Marvel Avengers and, my favourite, Cyberpunk 2077. This means an even longer delay to the already seven year wait since the first trailer way back in 2013.
Cyberpunk appears to be a close, personal, first person shooter/open world RPG, heavily narrative focused with each mission having multiple ways to finish. It’s easily the most ambitious project CD Projekt Red has ever undertaken and may be one of the most ambitious games of all time. Watch the hours of gameplay footage and every couple of minutes a unique mechanic or playstyle pops up that is worth talking about. Cyberpunk is a game journalist’s wet dream. Frankly, the fever pitch the current hype has reached is more than justified. I’ve watched and rewatched that trailer for perhaps the 50th time and it’s still as exciting and great as the first time. As the trailer says “> coming: when it’s ready” Unfortunately “when it’s ready” is a terrible thing to read for impatient old me.
We’ve been spoiled with promotional material including multiple E3 coverages, trailers and hours of gameplay footage. We just need the actual game now. So if you’re as impatient as we are, we’ve got you covered with these 7 games; games that will tide you over till Cyberpunk 2077 actually turns up. To give a nice overview, this list consists of some new, some old, some triple-A and some fantastic indie titles. As an added bonus, almost all of these games are cheap to pick up now and won’t dip into your Cyberpunk savings.
7. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a masterclass in modern storytelling, character development and world building. Not only is this a fantastic game in its own right but it’s a great sign of how fantastic CD Projekt Red are as a team. Furthermore, Cyberpunk has had a longer development cycle and Adam Kiciński (joint CEO of CD Projekt Red) stated that the budget and upcoming sales of Cyberpunk 2077 are much larger than that of The Witcher 3.
Whilst different in tone and gameplay, I believe that the mature and overall brilliant storytelling will shine through in both games regardless. The stories within The Witcher 3 when contained to themselves would work just as well in any setting. They are intelligent, thoughtful and well designed. The Witcher 1 and 2 are great too but admittedly a little harder to get into, so The Witcher 3 isn’t a bad place to start. You can pick up The Witcher 3 and its excellent DLC in practically every sale that pops up.
