It’s a good year to look forward to seeing things, given how difficult it has been to enjoy the present.
Thankfully, just as the Google Play Store has kept us supported throughout 2020 with a steady supply of amazing new games, 2021 looks like another great year.
This list of our 24 most anticipated games barely erases the surface of what’s to come, so if there are any games you can’t wait to play in 2021, be sure to tell us about them in the comments.
If you think about it, Crash Bandicoot provided the blueprint for 3D mobile auto racers like Temple Run, Minions Rush, and Subway Surfers. So it makes perfect sense that Crash Bandicoot himself would return one day to reclaim his territory. Posted by the occasional King mega-corporation, Crash Bandicoot: On the Run ‘looks like a truly solid entry-level, with tons of content and hundreds of hours of gameplay. It comes this spring.
After years at the top of the multiplayer first-person shooter tree, Call of Duty has lost ground in recent years to fight royals like Fortnite and PUBG Mobile. Call of Duty Warzone is its comeback volley, giving Call of Duty fans a free battle royale experience within the popular military shooters franchise. While the mobile version is not officially confirmed, job postings, circumstantial evidence and gossip on Reddit make one extremely likely.
The touchgrind series has been synonymous with smartphone gaming since the first Touchgrind mobile skating simulation arrived ten years ago. The games trade on the smart trick of letting you use your fingers as your feet, doing all kinds of gnarly tricks and death-defying stunts, Tony Hawk style. Touchgrind Scooter will be the next in the series, and it’s slated for the first half of 2021.
Announced by surprise a month ago, Tomb Raider Reloaded is an intriguing new entry in the long-running franchise that seems to aim for a more laid-back experience than recent PC and console games. The trailer and artwork reveal giant bobble-headed characters, dinosaurs, giant bugs, and monsters. We think it will be a bit like The Guardian of Light and The Temple of Osiris. Coming in 2021.
At a glance, Farlight 84 appears to have hitched its aesthetic wagon to Cyberpunk 2077’s neon-drenched star. Neon only goes under the skin, however, and Farlight 84 in terms of gameplay is actually a battle royale unfolding. in an alternate reality where cyborg zombies unfortunately exist. Elements from other genres will be present – in particular, MOBA. It looks like a very solid prospect, and we can’t wait to try it in 2021.
Total War Battles: Warhammer, not to be confused with Total War: Warhammer, is the third game in the Total War Battles series. Although it looks quite similar to Total War: Warhammer, with a campaign map for making the big decisions and battle maps for unit management etc. It’s in closed beta, so a full version is likely next year.
Moonlighter, in case you didn’t know, is an awesome Stardew Valley-esque action-RPG from 11-bit studios and developer Digital Sun. It lets you run a shop by day and venture out at night, collecting loot and items to bolster your business and increase your adventure potential. It’s awesome to watch, utterly addicting, and utterly awesome. It’s also available on all platforms except Android, having hit iOS this year. It will be with us in 2021.
Yet another Warhammer mobile game, Warhammer Odyssey is an MMORPG announced since August 2019, and still not released yet. It fits into the Old World timeline, and sees you join mercenary companies to sort out these evil thugs once and for all. Interestingly, it won’t offer an autoplay option, which hints at a more intense experience than you’ll find in most mobile MMORPGs. It’s coming soon “.
Following the huge success of XCOM Enemy Within on Android, XCOM 2 Collection is slated for release early next year. Originally released in 2016, the game takes place after the dreaded alien invasion and turns you into a brave rebel who fights against your alien lords.
BBC Studios wisely chose the developer of their latest Doctor Who game. Kaigan Games made a name for itself with the Simulacra ‘phone found’ series, which simulated the experience of finding a phone and being involved in a high stakes situation. This time around, the high-stakes situation you’ll find yourself in will include beloved characters, actors, and locations from the Doctor Who universe. This happens in the spring of 2021.
For connoisseurs, Pocket City of 2018 is the premier city-building game on mobile, offering the perfect balance of depth, accessibility, and smartphone-friendly graphics. The sequel probably won’t stray too far from this winning formula, and you can expect a similar experience but with nicer visuals and other improvements. There is no release date yet and the game is still in its early stages, but 2021 looks likely.
Originally – though never officially – due for release at the end of this month in Japan, NieR Reincarnation has been pushed into 2021 amid copious apologies from its developers. The game, which is still unknown in many ways, is a superb mobile version of Yoko Taro’s popular NieR RPG franchise. It will be released soon in Japan, and the West at some point thereafter.
Manga fans rejoice. Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds, which was unveiled at G-Star in 2019, is coming soon. In fact, this gorgeous cel-shaded, Ghibli-inspired MMORPG was set to arrive in Japan in late 2020, but there is no sign of it as far as we can tell. The game sees you playing as a beta tester for a virtual world and features city building, ranching and more. You can expect to play it at some point in 2021.
To be perfectly clear, we don’t know anything about Crashlands 2. Butterscotch Shenanigans doesn’t appear to have announced it in any official capacity, and there aren’t any details available on its gameplay or anything else. But earlier this year, a test version appeared on the Google Play Store, plunging fans into collapse. We know it happens, but we don’t know when or anything else about it. Let’s just say it happens in 2021.
Another Stardew Valley-inspired game, My Time at Portia is a beautiful and acclaimed life simulation where you take on a farm in a town called Portia. You will spend your time farming, restoring your workshop, chatting with your neighbors – oh, and venturing into dungeons and other places, killing monsters and collecting loot. Full Disclosure: We’re not sure My Time at Portia is coming to the Google Play Store. It was announced at TapTap in China, where Google Play is not a thing. Crossed fingers!
Slay the Spire, the highly acclaimed deckbuilder that sees you climb an arrow by winning card battles, arrived on PC and consoles last year. Then it came to iOS this year, but we’re still waiting for the Android version to arrive. Frustratingly, details are thin on the pitch, with developer MegaCrit just saying, “The Android version is still in development, but we’re not quite ready to talk about a release just yet.” 2021? Sure.
Following the announcement of a Tomb Raider mobile reboot, Square Enix has lifted the lid on Just Cause: Mobile. This is a far cry from Square Enix’s critically acclaimed GO games, in which the company’s Montreal Studio reimagined action franchises as cute puzzle games. Just Cause: Mobile is a straight-up action game, featuring explosions and helicopters, as well as multiplayer modes, alliances, open world environments, and other drastic stuff. It happens in 2021.
On the heels of the Android launch of Company of Heroes, the classic WWII real-time strategy game, developer Feral Interactive has announced that the Opposing Fronts expansion will launch early next year. Initially released as a stand-alone expansion, Opposing Fronts – located in Caen and along the Rhine – will be available in IAP at $ 3.99.
Dadish, from the developer of Super Fowlst CatCup Games, was one of our favorite platform games of 2020. Like a lovable, bloodless Super Meat Boy, he sees you go through a series of small, self-contained stages, trying to keep the head to be able to save one. of your sassed radish children. Dadish 2 promises more of the same, with scenes set in space, in a tree, and in many other environments. It happens on January 18th.
Contra Returns, a mobile reboot of the legendary Contra arcade series (known as Gryzor in PAL regions, trivia fans), was released in 2018 – but only in Southeast Asia. It’s doing good business there, however, and earlier this year rumors circulated that a global release was likely. Since these rumors first surfaced in June, we haven’t heard a thing. But it’s certainly possible that the game will be on a Google Play Store near you in 2021.
A joint venture between developer Next Games and Netflix, Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales is a story-based puzzle-RPG in which you must explore various locations in the series, recruit characters, solve mysteries, create a team, and unite your teams. forces with your friends. to defeat Mind Flayer. All while matching gems. It is available now as a phased launch in a very limited number of territories, with a global launch slated for 2021.
Originally slated for release in 2020, LEGO Star Wars Battles is a slightly curious outing for the resurgent Star Wars franchise. It lets you engage in real-time multiplayer PvP battles in arenas based on movie locations, competing in tower defense towers. It has 40 different units from various Star Wars movies, crafting, upgrading, and clashes between Chewbacca and Boba Fett, or an Ewok and a Tusken Raider. Expect this in early 2021.
Lord of the Rings: Rise to War is a joint project between Warner Bros. and NetEase. This takes place in the Third Age of Middle-earth, which is the age depicted in the Lord of the Rings movies, after Sauron has been somehow defeated but not really, until such time as he has been properly defeated. by Frodo and Samwise. It’s an epic strategy game, and it seems to be in its early stages of testing, with a few closed betas taking place earlier this year. 2021 is a separate possibility.
The Witcher: Monster Slayer is like Pokemon GO, but with more spooky monsters. It’s a location-based AR title that lets you use your smartphone to transform the real world into a fantastical landscape populated by specters and scavengers, as well as NPCs with quests to complete. There has already been a gradual launch, but only in New Zealand and only on iOS. The rest of us will be playing there in 2021.