Video game releases tend to slow down towards the end of the year, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any more games coming during the holiday season. In fact, there are plenty of them — including one of the year’s most anticipated games, Cyberpunk 2077.
The list of upcoming games runs the gamut from triple-A titles, to horror games, to smaller, quieter independent games. Certainly, there’s something for everyone.
Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise
Image: Imagineer/Nintendo
Fitness Boxing 2 is a follow-up to the 2018 game, Fitness Boxing. It’s an exercise game, à la Ring Fit Adventure and Jump Rope Challenge, but Fitness Boxing 2 wraps up that exercise gameplay into a rhythm game. Using the Nintendo Joy-Con controllers, players punch and dodge along to a beat — including music from Ariana Grande, Ed Sheeran, and Earth, Wind, & Fire.
Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise is out on Nintendo Switch Dec. 4.
Cyberpunk 2077
Image: CD Projekt Red/CD Projekt
From The Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt Red, Cyberpunk 2077 is a new action-adventure role-playing game set in a futuristic city. You may know it as the game that Keanu Reeves is in. It wasn’t originally supposed to come out so late in the year, but CD Projekt Red ended up delaying it twice this year.
Cyberpunk 2077 will be available on Google Stadia, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One on Dec. 10. Optimized PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions of the game are expected out in 2021.
Puyo Puyo Tetris 2
Image: Sega
The original Puyo Puyo Tetris blended together two different puzzle games — Puyo Puyo and Tetris, naturally. The second game, Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, does the same, with six different rulesets to try out, all of which add a different spin on the game. Some modes let you play classic Tetris matches against another player, while others blend the two into a single board, for instance.
Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 is out Dec. 8 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Orwell’s Animal Farm
Image: Nerial/The Dairymen
Based on George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Orwell’s Animal Farm is a retelling of the classic text — but with “the context of 2020,” according to developer Nerial. Players will have to make choices in the adventure game, which can play out in a number of ways. “Depending on how you play, you may encounter situations very close to those in the book, or others influenced by events Orwell never lived to see,” Nerial said on Orwell’s Animal Farm’s Steam page.
Orwell’s Animal Farm is out Dec. 10 on Windows PC and mobile devices.
Alba: A Wildlife Adventure
Image: UsTwo Games
Alba: A Wildlife Adventure, from developer UsTwo Games, looks like the perfect game. Alba, a young child, is on a mission to save her island and its critters. According to the developer, Alba: A Wildlife Adventure is a “feel-good game about running around and doing good deeds,” like helping animals and people. Honestly, that sounds great to me.
Alba: A Wildlife Adventure is coming to Mac, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One on Dec. 11.
