As we crawl towards the end of 2018 and start to look ahead to the new games on the horizon, the internet rumour mill has been working overtime with some intriguing tidbits of gossip about possible titles for next year.

First off, we already know that Nintendo has a brand new Animal Crossing game slated to release on the Switch in 2019, but the first indications as to a possible release date have surfaced thanks to the website Lootpots. This is what their source has to say on the matter…

“Information from one of our sources suggests that Animal Crossing on Nintendo Switch is most likely set for a late Q1 or early Q2 (calendar year) release date. Which in layman’s terms means sometime around March/April 2019. The game is also rumoured to be targeting a suggested retail price of €59.99.”

Very exciting! If you’re an Animal Crossing fan. And if you own a Switch 😉 But just to limit expectations a bit (sorry)… March / April might sound very close, but you’re still looking at a wait of five or six months, which admittedly is nothing compared to the six-plus years that people have been waiting for Cyberpunk 2077, but still – maybe find something else to occupy your time as you sit this one out?

Speaking of Cyberpunk 2077, a mysterious tweet recently appeared on, uhh, Twitter, which seemed to indicate that the mysterious first person RPG could be arriving at some point in 2019. The tweet has since been erased from time and space, but here’s a screenshot courtesy of The Know…

Bilkom is the publisher that is handling Cyberpunk 2077‘s release in Turkey, so this is definitely a source to pay attention to – even if isn’t entirely sure what it should be reporting. However, given that we already know that Cyberpunk 2077 is scheduled to be released on the current generation of hardware, it’s not inconceivable to imagine that the game could land sometime in 2019.

Finally – and this is where you can don your full conspiracy theory garb – some footage has leaked onto the internet which purportedly shows an unannounced Harry Potter title. I won’t link to the footage here for fear of upsetting J.K. Rowling, but the Reddit user who posted it had this to add to the intriguing frames…

“Set in the 19th Century (1800’s) Wizarding World, this 3rd person open-world action RPG game centers around your character with unique abilities who has eared [sic] a late acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You are a newly arrived 5th year student to Hogwarts that demonstrates a latent gift for magic with a unique ability to track and identify remnants of a pottant [sic] ancient power.”

Apparently, the story revolves around strange events which manifest in the Forbidden Forest, and this prompts the protagonist to embark on an epic journey of discovery, fighting “dark wizards, goblins and other supernatural enemies” en route. So yes – colour me intrigued! This sounds legitimate, and I love the idea of a Harry Potter game set in the 19th century. Actually, I would love to see a book – or maybe even a movie – built upon this premise as well. We’ll have to see how it all pans out.

So there we go. What do you make of these latest rumours? Are you excited, or are you taking them with a pinch of Floo powder? And if there was to be a new Harry Potter RPG, what features would you most like to see included? Let me know in the comments below.