Discussion Let's share ours GOTY! 2020 edition

Panda Pedinte

Best Sig Maker on the board!
Sep 20, 2018
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For the PC Gaming GOTY Voting Thread go here:
Community - MetaCouncil's PC Games of the Year Awards 2020
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It's the end of another year, and as 2021 approaches I think we should share which games we enjoyed playing this year.

General guidelines/NSFAQ:
  • As said above this is not the PC GOTY thread so feel free to list any game from any platform
  • Top 10? Top 5? Feel free to list as many games as you want!
  • Can I create a category to nominate a game? Yes you can!
  • Will you count the games as votes? No
  • Can I list games from previous years? Yes, feel free to post about them
I'll post my list soon as I'm still working on it.
 
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Kurt Russell

SUPREME OVERLORD OF EVIL
Sep 6, 2018
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Let's see if I can get a list that makes sense :D

1) Doom Eternal - Loved almost every second of it (the slime parts kinda sucked) and it felt like the perfect sequel to the 2016 game.
2) Death Stranding - Bought it with the idea that I'd see if I liked it and refund if not. Ended up loving most of the game. It's weird in a good way.
3) Immortals: Fenyx Rising - The name sucks, but everything else is top notch. Played almost 40 hours, and had fun the whole time. Pretty good story too, which genuinely surprised me.
4) Serious Sam 4 - The unpolished sibling of the Doom games. 100% committed to fun, and dedicated to making Sam Stone's character feel human, something that Gearbox/Tryptich should have though of when they made DNF.
5) Star Wars: Squadrons - A dream come true for anyone who loved the old X-Wing/TIE Fighter games. The story is relatively short, but the MP/VS AI modes can keep it going for quite a while.
6) Command and Conquer Remastered Collection - An amazing remaster effort from a team that clearly loved the originals. Pretty much everything is as it should be, and I can't wait for Red Alert 2/Tiberian Sun remasters.
7) Destroy All Humans! remake - An excellent remake of a solid B tier game that knows its strengths and weaknesses. More of this, please!
8) Watch Dogs: Legion - The story itself is super cliché, but the idea of being able to play as pretty much anyone is really cool, and it can create great stories on its own.
9) Assassin's Creed Valhalla - The natural evolution of the Origins/Odyssey pivot to RPG mechanics. It can get a bit overwhelming, but I actually really enjoyed the story and the combat feels better. It's an acquired taste though, not everyone will like it.
10) Monster Train - An incredibly addictive card-based roguelike that kept me coming back for more well past the 100 hours mark.
 

Anteater

Hentai Specialist
Sep 20, 2018
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I think I barely played anything that's released in 2020 so this should be easy, list of 2020 releases I had the most fun with:

1. Doom Eternal - Amazing game with non stop action that keeps escalating until the very end. Bosses are bad but the rest were 90% fun. It's like the devil may cry 3 sequel to Doom 2016 :p
2. Genshin Impact - Had a lot of fun exploring and it's surprisingly addictive with some legit decent dialogues and charming characters. Despite the predatory gacha shit.
3. Hades - Addictive "just one more run" roguelitelikelite? game, I usually don't like that kind of game but this one clicked with me, not to mention the narrative fits incredibly well with the gameplay.
4. One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 - Haven't liked a musou game since the ps2 days but this one was great, it's fast paced and the mode switch with Luffy was a lot of fun, great game if you like the series.
5. Ori And The Will Of The Wisps - It's okay, but this is the 5th game that's released in 2020 that I've played :p

Bonus: I'm having a lot of fun with the Vergil DLC for DMC5
 

LEANIJA

MetaMember
May 5, 2019
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Austria
I'm going with games that released on Steam in 2020 (otherwise the list would miss some two games I loved and I can hardly backdate them now ;) )

so far...

1. Cyberpunk 2077
2. Horizon Zero Dawn
3. Control
4. Resident Evil 3 Remake
5. Mafia Remake
6. Teardown
7. Half-Life Alyx
8. Cloudpunk
9. Crusader Kings III
10. Ori and the Will of Wisps

there's a bunch of games I bought, didnt play yet or just played for a short while, but that seemed interesting, like Hades, Raji, Outer Worlds, Pumpkin Jack, Alba, Call of the Sea, El Hijo

god I buy too many games that I dont play :grimacing-face:
 

Mor

Me llamo Willy y no hice la mili, pero vendo Chili
Sep 7, 2018
7,038
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Ok, this should be easy and fun.

2020 Top 3 (sorted)


1 - Half-Life: Alyx
Nothing comes close to how I felt playing this, the immersion, the fact that is a complete generational jump in terms of VR and FFS, it's what I consider the next installment of the Half-Life franchise, not only is part of it but it is also the one I consider the best game of this saga.

2 - RDR2
Oh cowboy, I would lie if I don't say that I'm super biased in terms of the 19th century of the US, it just fascinates me, I'm pretty open by saying that first game is superior IMO but this prequel is just absolutely emotional and absolutely amazing, not just visually is the best possible representation of the late 1800's (post-war) but at the same time it feels, alive,last chapter is a roller coaster of feelings.

I don't think Rockstar will be able to peak this game for me.

3 - Control
Best game Remedy has ever done and pretty much like RDR for rockstar, this is remedy's peak, nothing will come close to it, visually is just BRUTAL (just like the old house if you know what I mean hehe) it's essentially SCP: the videogame, the bureau is a fascinating organization and pretty much what I expected it to be, if this game came to steam in 2019 it would have probably been my GOTY.

2020 Top 10 (1-3 sorted, rest unsorted)


You know my opinion about top 3 so let's jump to 4-10, shall we?

4 - Death Stranding
Best Kojima game since god knows when, completely fascinated me, loved it, it was charming, calmed, quiet, a completely unknown experience that caught my attention and became one of my favorite games of the year, who would have thought, right?

5 - HZD: PC version
Already played this game when it came out but stopped playing it because I made a terrible mistake (playing an Ubi game prior this one) but now, almost 4 years later I can safely say that I enjoyed each second of this game, to the point I almost completed it at 100% (in fact I'm still doing it at a slow pace) and the PC advantages such as KB+M and the high frame-rates surely helped, this is why I want more Sony games to come, some are truly PC worthy.

6 - Doom: Eternal
Difficult, gory and brutal, quite different to the 2016's Doom but still trapped me in this bloody dance that is destroying demons in their own place, won't win as best story ever but it sure wins when it comes to fun, BRUTAL!!!

7 - Animal Crossing: NH
Who would have though that Doom and Animal Crossing would release the same fricking day but it's 2020 and here we are, more than 80 hours is this farming/stonks game, truly a lovely experience I have enjoyed a lot, while not an end per say, I consider my island done for the time being.

8 - C2077
What can I say, despite all the technical challenges and the troubled release I can safely say this is an AMAZING, completely deep and fascinating, what can I say, it's just a very good game and a huge juggernaut when it comes to the visual aspect.

9 - DAH: Remake
A guilty pleasure, as a kid I loved the first one and as an adult I still find it hilarious, Black forest team did an STUNNING job with this remake, 1:1 with the original and adding some lovely new content like costumes, not going to lie, this game is on the list because I enjoyed it a bit too much haha.

10 - Florence
As a game it is what it is, as an experience it touched my heart for personal reasons, very lovely game.

2014-2020 Top 10 (Bonus, unsorted)


Ok, will talk about the ones I have talked about, the ones I talked about prior this point are the same.

- Nier Automata
Lovely character arcs, deep thoughts about the existence and what makes us humans at a psique level, gameplay core is not as cool as it might be but the final segment of the last canonical ending is fuckign HYPE

- Sethian
Little game about language and how we can learn to communicate with something completely unknown, it is mostly an experience than a game but I swear I used papers and papers trying to learn that semasiographic language by myself, it is not for everyone, that's for sure, but I can't remember any other experience that made me enjoy such time.

- Yakuza 0
THE BEST FUCKING YAKUZA GAME EVER, emotional story, amazing character, 80's Japan, this is Yakuza's peak and where everything started, it is difficult not to recommend this gem to every single person.

- Titanfall 2
Campaign is SO GOOD that I bought it outside Steam, short but intense, amazing universe, can't stop thinking about this game and in general a game that I recommend to everyone.

- Digimon Cyber Sleuth.
Digimon meets Persona and Pokemon, it's probably the best Digimon game out there and it's absolutely amazing, if you are a fan of the show or the saga in general you will enjoy this one as if you were a kid again, everyone is here and uses the original evolution lines concept, plus it made me make the best Official Thread I have ever done.

- Destiny 2
best shooter I have played this gen and probably the one that made me get bored of COD or traditional shooters without any dynamic element, visually stunning, story and universe fascinating, it is an absolute gem that it's getting hard to love due to recent decisions from dev but still think it's a worth game that deserves love.



That's it, thanks a lot for reading, some of this games have Steam reviews in my profile in case you want more detailed analisys, seriously hope you liked my tops :cat-heart-blob::cat-heart-blob::cat-heart-blob:
 
OP
Panda Pedinte

Panda Pedinte

Best Sig Maker on the board!
Sep 20, 2018
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Here is my list:



1. Yakuza: Like a Dragon

When I first saw that the game could be turn based instead of the typical brawler gameplay I wasn't sure if it could work, plus a new protagonist and a different city made me doubt a bit if it could be a worth entry to the series. I'm glad to be wrong in this case so I can say with no doubt that Yakuza: Like a Dragon is my favorite entry so far.

It's a totally different protagonist with a particular way to see the world and while he shares some similarities with Kazuma Kiryu, Ichiban still manages to be original. RGG Studio did an incredible job in this game so it wins as my favorite game from this whole year.



2. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout

The first time I saw Fall Guys was in the E3 week iirc. It looked chaotic, a little dumb and was a multiplayer game so a genre that I'm not particularly fond of. After reading so much positive word of mouth I decided to bought because it was cheap and it managed to be one of my favorites games this year. It's constantly played in my house and still give us several moments of laughs and rage.



3. Risk of Rain 2

It left Early Access this year and just beat my expectations. I played the demo of the first game for many hours, when RoR1 released I bought it without even thinking twice. The shift to 3D was a risk move by the devs after all if it ain't broke, don't fix it right? Well, the risk move was a smart one as Hoopoo were able to translate the gameplay to the 3D environment and even the old stages from the original game gained new life.

While the lore was just a bonus to the original game, here it is further developed and not just an after thought.



4. Paradise Killer

Before starting I need to say that I never played Danganronpa, Ace Attorney or those other games so I did not have any expectation regarding the genre. One of the most unique games I've played the mix of vaporwave aesthetic with 2D characters, a killer soundtrack and an island inhabited by almost immortal beings surrounded by dark mysteries were a combination that I did not know I needed. It also has the best soundtrack of this year.



5. Inmost

There are some game that are able to win over just a trailer and that was the case for Inmost. While I was expecting a platform with some terror bits based solely in it's trailer, and the game went far beyond it. By the end of it when I was piecing everything together I teared up and it's not an exaggeration.



6. Crusader Kings III

The much expected sequel to CKII, it improved and iterated an already established formula but were still able to bring the feeling of fresh air without losing the familiarity. I hope it gets years and years of support like CKII got because I can see myself playing it for many years.



7. Umurangi Generation

A game that did not get the attention it deserves. You play as a photographer and courier in a world that went or is going to shit and there is not like audio logs or documents lying around explaining what is happening. All the context is given to you by just seeing the levels environments.



8. Haven

It kinda of just released but made it to my list. You play as a couple who are stranded in a planet without any other human close by. As you explore the floating islands you discover more and more about the planet, but that's not what caught my attention it was the relationship between the protagonists, they are lovers and the dialogues just feel natural.



9. Persona 4 Golden

I don't think there is much to say about Persona 4. It's a well know game that I already played the PS2 version years ago anyway it still a cool game with a cool soundtrack.



10. In Other Waters

Set in an alien world who is almost all covered by a large ocean. You help a xenobiologist exploring the planet and gathering info to discover what happened to the previous scientist who was there. It's a nice minimalist sic-fi mystery game.

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And that's it, I may post about other games that I've played and enjoyed this year but they didn't get in my top 10 list.
 

MJunioR

MetaMember
Mar 13, 2019
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My top 3:

1. Yakuza: Like a Dragon - I'm utterly impressed with RGG Studio. Not only they completely revamped Yakuza's combat and made the new turn-based format work, but also introduce a new main character that I enjoyed just as much as Kiryu. All my complaints about this game are very minor, and all of them were to be expected since this is the first big JRPG in the series.

2. Hades - I dislike roguelikes. I dislike most top-down / isometric games that aren't sims / strategy games. Yet, I couldn't help but love Hades from the first couple of hours with it. The story, along with the visuals, songs and the whole world Supergiant built left me speechless. Incredible game - and I can't help but mention the soundtrack again - it's perfect.

3. Cyberpunk 2077 - I still have to finish Cyberpunk 2077 as I try complete as many things as I can before getting bored, but I can say I love this game. I love being able to shutdown an entire drug operation without shooting a single bullet, I truly enjoyed the quest lines with Panam, Judy and River and found some quests like "Happy Together" and "The Hunt" to be very well made. Sure, it has its problems, but I can't help but just enjoy Night City and even after 70 hours I don't see myself quitting any time soon.
 

Kvik

Crossbell City Councillor
Dec 6, 2018
4,150
10,275
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Downunder.
Low effort post incoming:

If we're talking official release, then my GOTY would be Yakuza 7. No question. When the game was revealed I was excited to play a Yakuza game as a turn-based RPG. I'm delighted that the game meet my expectations, and then some! Unashamedly taking its cues from Dragon Quest, it took the tried-and-tested formula from DQ, gave it a Yakuza flair, and it paid off in spades. 100 hours in, I still haven't finished yet with the game, but personally, this game took my personal ranking of Yakuza games to the very top. Never once I grew bored when playing -- everything from the main story, side story and minigames are such great fun. I expect to do a long-form review before the year is over.

Now for the unofficial release: Trails from Zero is basically one of the finest Kiseki game I've played. I'm happy I have the chance to play it, with a great localisation, and a proper PC port which rivals the production of a professional software house / porting studio. The story feels more intimate and while the world's lore didn't get explored as much as the previous entries, it is still enjoyable and memorable. It goes without saying that I'm really excited to play the second half of the duology, hopefully, next year! I wrote a long-form review here:

 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
Dec 23, 2018
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I've completed a lot of games this year. I've even completed a lot of 2020-released games, which I've been keeping track of. I've yet to finish Yakuza: Like a Dragon (good, but probably not good enough to make this list) and I have Cyberpunk 2077 up next. All games I'm listing released on said platform in this year. That doesn't mean to say I've necessarily played them for the first time, but if I love a game so much that I'm willing to buy it on multiple platforms and play it over and over again, it probably deserves to be on my GOTY list every year it releases. :ROFLMAO:

But for now, here's where I'm at:

10) Catherine Full Body (Nintendo Switch)
A remake/remaster/enhanced version of the original, Catherine Full Body is interesting one. It has trash politics, but improved gameplay over the original. I liked my time with it but a few moments left a sour taste in my mouth. I can't in all honesty recommend this version over the original, which is on PC. The new content doesn't add much to the original, and the seams where the new content blends with the old is sometimes more visible than it should be. I feel the original is, all in all, a better crafted game.

9) Tell Me Why (PC)
I really enjoyed Tell Me Why. I like Dontnod's stories and worlds, and they usually manage to masterfully blend narrative and fun gameplay. Tell Me Why is no different. My main issue with the game is that I wanted more - I felt the world was too small, the characters too few. It made the twist more predictable and the moment-to-moment events feel rushed. It's like an abridged version of an excellent story. Sadly, because of that, rather than being excellent, Tell Me Why is merely good.

8) Black Mesa (PC)
It's a expertly-crafted remake of the original Half-Life. I loved it. Not much else to say, really.

7) Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix (Nintendo Switch)
I haven't enjoyed a Miku game as much as this since Project Diva F 2nd. I generally like the short bursts of gameplay this series offers, but being tethered to the console on the TV made the more recent Miku games on PS4 not fun. I think, given the nature of the system, Nintendo Switch is the perfect system for this series. In terms of content or quality, this game is no better or worse than Project DIVA Future Tone on PS4, so this is as much a review of the console as the game itself. In terms of its low effort nature, challenge, and aesthetic, Project DIVA Mega Mix has become my go-to mindless game.

6) Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4)
Final Fantasy VII is one of those highly venerated games where a remake would be heavily scrutinised for how true it was to the original. So I was very surprised to find Square Enix just decided to interpret the word remake to actually, well, take another stab at the game and change things up. Less a retelling of Final Fantasy VII, and more a continuation of the original on PS1, Final Fantasy VII Remake surprised me more than any other game this year. Given the expectations people had coming from the original game, I think Square Enix made the right choice to go in the direction they have, and I'm excited to see what they do next.

5) Death Stranding (PC)
Some people call it boring, I call it both relaxing and engaging. Death Stranding is Kojima's best game since MGS3. It has a theme, which everything slavishly adheres to in Kojima's classic (sometimes overbearing) style. It really changes up what your expectations of a game is, and this feels like a new and compelling genre that has room to grow if someone wants to put the work in. It still has some of the trademark Kojima story weirdness, and that's not to everyone's taste, and combines that with a devotion to audio-visual excellence that never disappoints. I loved it for its boldness and freshness - some others may hate it for those very reasons. But it's one of those games that shows the medium is growing in stature and audience and deserves recognition for that alone.

4) Paradise Killer (PC)
A game about the trifles of elites in paradise. I can't say much about this game without spoiling it, but Paradise Killer gave me almost everything I wanted out of a story game: a mystery to solve, interesting characters, lots of backstory, and a sense of agency and control that I feel is missing from most visual novels. The dialogue was snappy and well-written, with not a word wasted on overwrought descriptions or internal monologues. It also stays true to its open world description. You can go anywhere, anytime, and solve the mysteries at your own pace. And, in true open world fashion, you can also come to your own conclusions too. There are many open world games that always suffer for the constraints of its story, and many stories that feel constrained by the open world - Paradise Killer reconciles both in an incredible way. That makes it pretty special.

3) Half-Life: Alyx (PC)
Detailed, refreshing, scary. Half-Life: Alyx has the right stuff for a competent Half-Life game - good writing, an immersive world and impressive gameplay innovations. Half-Life: Alyx is well-paced and takes the Half-Life story forward in a way I've been waiting a long, long time for.

2) Persona 5 Royal (PS4)
Persona 5 was a bloated game that was very good, but kind of felt like it ran out of steam towards the end. Persona 5 Royal is more bloated, but that bloat ironically injects new momentum into the latter part of the game, making it an overall better product. Unlike Catherine Full Body, Persona 5 Royal's additional content feels like it has been better woven into the original narrative, and thematically works well with the original game's aims. I also like that there's a proper villain at the end of the game - modern Persona games always fall into a self-indulgent indifferent God enacting the Jungian will of the people, but Persona 5 leaned on this harder and devoted far more hours at the end of the game to this than both Persona 3 and 4 did combined, with the actual villain of the story being dealt with long before the curtain falls. As a contrast, Persona 5 Royal's final villain is, well, interesting, and the fact that they're inserted into the main game from the off gives the finale emotional and narrative weight. Persona 5 was always good at the beginning, and now Royal balances its latter half. It really is the perfect version of the game.

1) Persona 4 Golden (PC)
If you hadn't gathered by my avatar and the fact that my top two 2020 games are from this series, I'm a big Persona fanboy. Persona 4 is my favourite in the series (and all-time favourite game), and Golden's gameplay enhancements make it the best version of one of the greatest JRPGs ever made. Some of the new content with Marie feels shoehorned in, but you can actually ignore all of that and erase her from history if you want, giving you a flavour of the game that more closely resembles the original Persona 4. Additionally, the game is now playable in a decent resolution on your TV, monitor, or any other device that a PC comes in. I've played this game on a big TV, a Surface Pro 6 and streamed it to a LINX Vision tablet since it released on PC, and that's part of the joy of having my all-time favourite game on my all-time favourite platform. Persona 4 can be played everywhere, forever, and I can't aptly describe how happy that makes me. For that alone Persona 4 is, for the third time, my Game of the Year.
 
OP
Panda Pedinte

Panda Pedinte

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Sep 20, 2018
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Cacher

Romantic Storm
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I haven't played enough games for me to form a long, numbered list. So I instead give the notable games their own award :p.



“Late to the Party” Award: Supraland

One of the “nearly-perfect” games I have ever played. A fantastic 3D metroidvania that utilizes every useful space on the map. When you think you have gone out of map boundaries and broken the game, the developers at Supra Games are always one step ahead. The ingenuity shown in this game is absolutely amazing.



“Stress-free” Award: Hardspace Shipbreaker

Dismantling a spaceship bit-by-bit when listening to folk music is the most soothing experience I have ever had in this hard year.



Personal “THE ONE AND ONLY” Award: Sakura Kakumei

Somehow, Sakura Wars games always manage to make me cry, probably due to the series’ long-running theme of embracing love, justice and bravery. The world is a dark place, but these young ladies who keep on fighting against the evil light a fire in the hearts inside us. Sakura Kakumei, a spinoff of the beloved franchise, preserves such traditions. Meanwhile, it may also has already presented some of the best characters and stories that the franchise ever has, when the game only has two chapters so far. By the way, the music is still fantastic. Kouhei Tanaka never disappoints.

Main Theme "SAKURA HIKARU Revolution"
Villain Squad 'B.L.A.C.K' Song "Wonderful Future"
 

Ibuki

MetaMember
Dec 9, 2018
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This year has been very strange, but I think I can come up with a quick list.



1. Cyberpunk 2077: Despite the issues and bad performance, I really ended up loving this game. The quests and character writing were so enjoyable and engaging. My ending was sweet and I absolutely LOVE Panam! I think this game will be a real gem to come back to after they fix it up a bit.



2. Half-Life: Alyx: This was not only a great VR game, it was just a fantastic game in general. The details of the environments really made me feel like I was exploring a different world. The story was no slouch either, Valve totally pulled it off making another great HL game after all these years.



3. The Last of Us: Part II: I know a lot of people think this game is overrated, but it hit me like a ton of bricks. I ended loving the dual character storyline, and I thought the gameplay was a huge improvement over the first. The gameplay actually reminded me of playing MGSV in some ways.



4. Final Fantasy VII Remake: Having only played the Midgar section of the original FF7, I wasn't sure if I would be as into this game as others were, but I ended up really enjoying it. The new interpretations of Tifa and Aerith were especially good for me, and seeing everything fully realized was just a huge treat. Looking forward to playing the next section in 5 years.



5. Umurangi Generation: This one came out of nowhere for me, I saw it in passing but never gave it a second look until trying it randomly one night. I was absolutely blown away by this game. The chill nature of taking photography in these weird and mysterious levels, the story unfolding in the background, all of it was amazing. I think if you are a fan of photography and Evangelion, this is a game you need to try.
 

Swenhir

Spaceships!
Apr 18, 2019
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What a thread! Thanks Panda :)

Released Games :

1) Cyberpunk 2077

Hands down, even if I haven't finished it, it has grabbed me like no other game has and it's just not letting go despite it depressing the hell out of me sometimes. The city is one of the most mind-boggling backdrops to a game I've ever seen and even if it isn't fully realized in that systemic way I so love, there is enough hand-crafted content, enough surprises that it feels alive all the same. The variety in builds and play-styles is also really appealing, even if it's not as stark as I would have preferred. This game already delivers on a crapton of ideas and dreams, and while it doesn't reach the mark every time, it still stands as something truly special and unique, even for all its flaws. The sometimes adolescent tone is more than offset by the moments of humanity and soul it portrays, in the end in my opinion delivering on the promise of a Cyberpunk experience and world.

2) Ori and the Will of the Wisps
What a game. What an incredible game. The beauty of it is something Moon Studios can't be congratulated enough on. Even though it doesn't really reach the sort of atmosphere, of sense of place a game like Hollow Knight might, it more than makes up for it in the awe it makes you feel at the vistas and wonders of that strange little universe. The only criticism I'd have is that the world wasn't build out enough for my taste, and that those escape sequences, especially the last one, got really tedious on KB&M which doesn't allow for fine trajectory control.

3) Outer Wilds
Damn it hurts to nominate an ex-EGS game. But art is art, and this game does things I wish more attempted to do. Its atmosphere is something truly incredible, and its physics something so cruelly few other games even attempt to do. But mentioning this would only be scratching the surface of the tremendous narrative and puzzles the game offers. This is struly a The Witness-like game in that you don't have any stats, any xp, you only progress through understanding the game's world, its history, and its various technological stage's rules. And if that wasn't enough, the music elevates the experience to something very special. I still listen to that OST. That is not to say it's a game without flaws, it has a large amount of tedium surrounding some time-based puzzles and I really wasn't fond of a few places where failing meant just restarting. Still, it's an experience that stayed with me and I wish they, in turn, had stayed out of exclusivity deals.

4) Deep Rock Galactic
Damn I wish I'd had the time and energy to play that one more. There is no game that nails that Starship Trooper experience more than DRG that I can think of, and its mechanical and atmospheric polish would render diamonds dull by comparison. I cannot recommend it enough, from the wholesome community to the way it feels to work together, to explore those caverns and go through those swarms of bugs in the eerie, dynamic and wonderful lighting of the game. It's one of the best co-op experience I've ever seen and I highly recommend it.

5) Monster Train
If cards were a drug, this is what a rail of it would look like. The mechanical depth, the presentation, the lore, the soundtrack, the game's sheer power and ability to drag you in for just another run is second to none. It's a miracle that such combinations of clans would work and be balanced at all, let alone have such leveling and powering up dynamics. This game is a marvel of design and execution, and is an example of what AA games can be like. I'm just glad I managed to stop playing it.

6) Falconeer
Tomas Sala, you mad man. A game that started out as a technical and artistic wonder, intended to be made without using any preset textures, relying instead on shaders, vertex colors and procedural shading. This, through Tomas's relentless labor, ended up as something incredibly relaxing, atmospheric and with a world much deeper than it had any right to be. I haven't had the opportunity to finish it yet but as someone who adores pretty much flight anything, this is a truly impressive game. Still, it has a lot of flaws, no doubt from being the brainchild of such a small team, not to say a single person's, and these go from iffy M&KB camera controls to a smudgy UI and a lack of polish in directing the player and helping them make sense of the game. It's still a game that stands starkly out from its contemporaries and if you liked Freelancer or Crimson Skies, you may want to give it a good look.

7) Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruins
Admittedly, I haven't spent much time with that one, on account of all the releases stumbling and crashing into each other, but what I've seen has been tremendous. This game has no right being as good as it is, as detailed and eliciting that Japanese atmosphere so well with how small a team they've had. That mix of genre is truly inspired, and I just can't wait to play more of it.

8) Death Stranding
It's a game I really didn't like at first. I still have huge gripes with it, from the BTs to the way it just cannot shut up with people delivering exposition in the most long-winded, possible way like a writer padding line counts out. But when the noise stops, when the calm and quiet holds, it's just a wonderful hiking experience, and that's something we have seen too little of. It's zen, it's wonderful, it is achingly beautiful in places and there is so much juice, so much polish to everything that it really deserves a play-through. I'm also not nearly done with it, Cyberpunk having gotten in the way, but if the story even remotely delivers on its promise, I am in for a good time. So far, the journey alone has been worth a place in my top games of the year.

Early Access Category :

1) Star Citizen

Yeah. Sorry. There isn't much more I can say there, I am unashamedly enamored with that super-car project of a game. From the scale and the fidelity of the world to the intricacies and detail of the flight simulation, I find myself just spending hours flying around and experiencing that unique sort of gameplay, transitioning seamlessly from your ship to space through EVA, to landing and fighting on the ground. It's frustrating at times, definitively buggy, but there's also nothing else like it. Nobody is even trying, and this game does more than make an attempt. It defies common wisdom and, so far, has brilliantly delivered on its promises, one year at a time. I just wish the gaming community was a little more aware of the challenges and realities of game development.

2) Hardspace : Shipbreakers
I was a fan of BBI before they even released it. Homeworld is probably one of my all-time favorite games and BBI is made of some of that team's leads, in particular Rob Cunningham and Aaron Kambeitz, and their work on Desert of Kharak had been really fantastic. Hardspace actually has its roots in their old prototype, Hardware : Shipbreakers that was supposed to be a facebook game and that had had the Homeworld fanbase shuddering in terror. This seems to be what this idea had grown into and it's one of the most intriguing, interesting and unlikely idea I've ever seen. It's relaxing, fantastic and humorous, delivering on the promise of a blue-collar spaceman in ways I don't think has really been done before, only hinted at by works such as Starcraft's old, grungy, country-music-narrated cutscenes.

VR and Most Disappointing Game :
I don't have a VR headset and I really don't like being too negative about games. I would just nominate Genshin Impact for being dissapointing on behalf of their VM restrictions, a decision I find boneheaded for people like me who only have such means to play games.

Game I wish I'd played : Call of the Sea. Damn it looks interesting!
 
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fantomena

MetaMember
Dec 17, 2018
9,668
25,924
113
Managed to make one, had to make some rules for myself to make it easier. No early access games and no games I played last year, but also bought and played on Steam/PC this year (like I played Control: UE on Steam this year, but played an arrr copy of the game last year).

Lots of other games that I own, but have yet to touch for various of reasons that could have been on my goty list. Like I own Final Fantasy VII Remake and Crash 4 on PS4 Pro, but Im trying to wait for the PC version to play them. Own Tony Hawk on EGS, but hoping for a Steam version and so on.

1) Half-Life: Alyx


A masterpiece of a game, loved it so much Im heavily considering a second playthrough sometime in the future which I rarely do these days. Valve really did a great job on this one.

2) What The Golf


A super fun golf game for people who don't like golf full of twists on the gameplay mechanics. Great game to kill time with with a lot of content.

3) The Last of Us: Part 2


The first game was a masterpiece and so is the sequel. Ellies journey for revenge is beautiful, intense, exiting, sad and tragic. The gameplay is also far more addicting that I expected it to be.

4) Hades


One of my favorite roguelikes of all time. Gorgeus, thrilling, addicting and intense. Supergiant Games did a phenomenal job on this one.

5) Death Stranding


Didn't have much expectations for this game, I was even skeptical. Boy was I wrong. Loved the game. Amazing journey with gorgeus environments and addicting gameplay.

6) Ori and the Will of the Wisps


Moon did it again. Gorgeus, sad and amazing journey.

7) Factorio


Despite being in an early access it was basically a "perfect" game when it officially releases this year and made me discover how much I enjoy building and management games.

8) Crusader Kings 3


One of the best strategy games I have ever played with a very addicting gameplay.

9) Doom Eternal


Really great game, iD did a great job on this one. Still planning another playthrough to get more collectible and still have the DLC to play.

10) Animal Crossing: New Horizons



A well-made polished game perfect for rainy days and killing time.

Honorable mentions of games I played and finished this year, but didn't manage to reach top 10:
















 

Prodigy

Sleeper must awaken
Dec 9, 2018
927
1,999
93
I missed out on a few games, and some I already played on console so decided to leave them off. These are my favourites. I bet you I have forgotten some as well.



1. Despite the bugs, this has been the best experience for me this year. It has incorporated nearly everything I want in a game. Its got the good story, unique side missions. Gigs that allow you to approach in stealth, cyber or combat. weapon/character customizations. An amazing city that still after 70hours and more makes my jaw drop. Definitely not a perfect game.



2. Such an incredible experience, Valve is still top of their class when they make something. The last mission was something I'll remember forever, such an absolute jem of a game and hard to put into words unless experienced. Also it now has Valves great commentary mode (y)



3. This game totally surprised me, I do not usually like roguelike games, but I think the characters and ridiculous amount of dialogue helped keep everything fresh. There is so much content packed into this, and it never stopped being fun.



4. This game is weirdly the antithesis of hades, in that it is not fun. Yet it was utterly compelling and the gameplay was superb. You really felt like you were going on a journey into the heart of darkness.



5. Doom Eternal- I am one of those weirdos who love the "resource" management of this one. I loved that they doubled down on the hardness of the game. Graphics were great and it ran well. Most of all it was absolute fun. Still have to dive into the dlc.

Other games I loved this year:
Ori and the will of wisps
Final Fantasy 7 Remake
Assassins Creed Valhalla
Fenyx Rising
Ghost of Tshushima
 

fearthedawn

Junior Member
Apr 19, 2019
291
595
93
my GOTY: Nioh 2



I just love this stupid game, it has so many possible builds and moves that you can almost make it play however you like. Tough as nails challenges that you can learn to own anyway? Steamrolling supposedly hard encounters as an immortal killing machine? Carefully pick your spots with a slow weapon doing insane dmg? Fly around the enemy faster than its turn speed attacking all the way? "attack, block, dodge -> i'm good" or do you like to dance with combos, ki-pulse and stance switching while keeping a plethora of buffs and debuffs going until your poor wrists and fingers scream in pain? This game has all of it and anything in between and you can make it all work. After investing some time it truly feels like a well fitting glove where everything moves the way i expect it to, at the speed i want it to, at the highest amount of complexity i can comfortably handle in a fight and at a difficulty i like.

It's severly lacking as a souls-like but it is an amazing "Looter Slasher" (thx Gearbox for inventing the genre 🤦‍♂️). Just finished with my ~250h long ps4 playthrough and somehow i'm already waiting for pc release to do it all again in just a couple of weeks.
 

Parsnip

Riskbreaker
Sep 11, 2018
3,053
6,729
113
Finland
I took a good look at the game I finished this year to refresh my memory a bit, and most games I really enjoyed this year were mostly games from years past. Here's some of them.




Tacoma
Ultimately a really relaxing walking sim with a nice story. It does a great job at pulling you in to it and at least sparked my curiosity to find out what happened as you rummage through the Tacoma station and the recordings within.




Spyro The Dragon Remakes
Lovingly re-created trilogy. Kind of not much else to say here, I just really like them. Some of the minigames haven't aged as well as I would have hoped and I had completely forgotten how much I didn't enjoy the flying levels, but hey, nothing is perfect.




Voxelgram
It's dope. :grinning-face-with-smiling-eyes:




Vagrant Story
Stands the test of time. Writing, cinematography, score, everything was just so much ahead of everything and everyone else and still blows me away.




Ufouria: The Saga
Probably the first "metroidvania" I played before that terrible term was coined. Replayed this year to see how it holds up. Verdict, very well. I've always loved the Sunsoft sound on the NES and this and Batman are probably my favorites of it.
 

Jeff6851

Junior Member
Dec 31, 2018
6
18
3
Gonna go with games I first played this year. First, some honorable mentions:

We Were Here (PC) - Very fun. short puzzle game. A few of the puzzles didn't feel as intuitive as they should (HATE the one with the backstage). Though the two later games expand on a lot of the ideas in this, the original We Were Here is definitely worth going through, especially since it's free.
Mario Maker 2 (Switch) - Really I'm only putting on this list because I finished the story mode this year. The single player levels mostly felt uninspired and were more just trying to show you different tools you could use in making your own stages but no one bought this for the Nintendo-created content. I really wish they would overhaul how finding stages in this works since I feel like I'm missing the best of what this game has to offer.
Untitled Goose Game (Xbox One) - A lot of games over the last few years have found ways to annoy me so much that I just give up on playing them. A section that just completely destroys the pacing of the game or absurd difficulty spike and I'm on to the next thing. Untitled Goose Game has those moments of pure frustration but its charm just kept me trying again. I'm glad I tried this out for free since it's so short.
Paper Mario The Origami King (Switch) - Paper Mario has been a polarizing title for over a decade now. Like many, I first experienced this franchise through TTYD on GameCube. It understood how to make a long journey feel fresh the entire time by introducing new, fun characters and memorable locations with unique scenarios in each one. While Origami King doesn't live up to TTYD, it does come a lot closer than the other entries that have come since. Like Pokemon that I'll talk about later, there are a lot of problems I have with this game, especially the abysmal ring combat system, but I still enjoyed it. The environments in this game aren't always the most fleshed out but there's always something to find. One highlight of video games in 2020 had to be these cafe shops you could find hidden away that would have a short cutscene if you bought coffee there, including one laugh out loud moment. There was this stupid, pace destroying game show you have to play pretty late but other than that the story was engaging and you wanted to help these characters. Olivia was a great companion the entire way and Bobby manages to be one of the best partners in the series despite not getting a unique design.
Among Us (PC/Mobile) - When I first heard of this game in early summer it looked interesting enough to add to my wishlist but not many people had it so I figured I'd wait to see if some friends got it. A few months later and it's blown up and everyone is playing it. I had a lot of fun at first, even playing with my students during downtime. I think the worst part about this game are the randoms, you either have 2-3 people leaving a 10 person game because they aren't the imposter, people cheating through Discord, or just plain incompetent people. I think there's a lot of fun to be had when you play this game with friends and everyone has a mic and you have to be a little more convincing. I made some friends on here too which is always something special, though I'm sad to say that after 150+ hours I have no desire to come back to it. The initial hype has worn off for me and even the new map didn't make me want to endure people who take it way too seriously.

Games I'm playing through currently and could have made the list but I'm not far enough:

Final Fantasy VII (PC)
Doom Eternal (PC)
Demon's Souls (PS5)
Hollow Knight (PC)
Borderlands 3 (PC)
God of War (PS4)
Super Mario 3D All Stars (Switch)

Top 9:

9. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (PS4)
- Back when the PS3 released there were always jokes that it had no games. Though early in the life of this console there would be a game that became one of the core franchises for Sony. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was the first game I bought with my PS3 in 2012 and one I had only heard good things about, and even better praise for its 2009 sequel. I had a much different experience and thought Drake felt very clunky to control. This coupled with the annoying shootouts gave me a bad experience that I forced myself to get to the end of. Uncharted 2 on the other hand was a great experience. Those were both the original PS3 releases. I may change my mind on UC1 if I played the remaster and may like UC2 even more. Going off of Uncharted 3 remastered, I'd say my opinion wouldn't change much though. This was a good game that still felt bogged down by clunky controls and bad shootouts but when this game hits the high points it's really a treat. I think I've learned that these games are not going to be ones I want a challenge from, since I really only care for the story and puzzle platforming. Still beat it on hard.

8. Astro's Playroom (PS5) - After snagging a PS5 by lucking out on a PS Direct queue one late afternoon I wondered if I had made a mistake by making an impulse $500 purchase on a system I didn't really even want but allowed myself to get caught up in the hype. Enter Astro's Playroom. A too short platformer that has to land among the greatest tech demos of all time, and is definitely up there for greatest pack-in game. I remember playing Wii Sports for the first time on Christmas 2006 and experiencing the Wii Remote for the first time. While that game was memorable because it was fun despite how shallow it was, Astro's Playroom feels memorable because of all of its charm and just how good it feels to control Astro. The entire game in a celebration of the entire history of Playstation and it never lets your forget that, having little robots act out games to fill out the environment. I think Astro has earned the chance to have a full game that isn't stuck behind PSVR.

7. Pokemon Sword (Switch) - Ok, hear me out. I don't really consider this that good of a game, but I still have it at #8 of the year and ahead of two games I thought were good. The reason for that is that Pokemon Sword brought me so much joy in the doldrums of this summer. I'm a teacher, I have summers off, pandemic or not. Usually by the time August rolls around you're ready to head back to school but this year, summer effectively started in March so the novelty of "summer break" wore off when it should have just been beginning. Animal Crossing was two months old at this point and while I was still playing daily, it wasn't the time sink it had been at first. Pokemon Sword got me excited about Pokemon again, it was the second time I had completed the Pokedex in franchise history, thanks to not having everyone available at first, and some of the characters were enjoyable (strong emphasis on some). While I have a lot of criticisms of this game, it was exciting to finally have a Pokemon RPG on a console (no disrespect to Pokemon Colosseum) and I've put a lot of thought into what I'd like to see going forward. However, what really puts this game into the list rather than honorable mentions is the DLC. Isle of Armour and Crown Tundra both seemed like they were just cash-in expansions because they wouldn't have a full game ready for this year. Boy, was I wrong about that. These two areas both have so much to offer, whether it be new Pokemon, a (nearly) fully controllable camera, or fun mini games like finding 150 Diglett to tracking down legendary Pokemon to one of the closest things we've gotten to a co-op mode. I had so much fun in these areas just exploring and solving puzzles that I hope these design ideas are integrated into future games and that all the appeal of the game doesn't just come from battling.

6. Fall Guys (PC) - While I don't have a lot to say about Fall Guys, it's something that doesn't need a lot said. It takes the idea of battle royale but instead of being really bad, it's actually a lot of fun. Think Mario Party mini games but if you lose you're out and you don't have the whole board game mechanic. There are some games in this that just make me want to die and unfortunately your starting position in the race to the finish modes really can impact your final placement. I think what keeps this game from being higher for me is that some of the games, especially final rounds, can feel more luck based than skill based. I've only won once and that's because during the final round where there was one tail and six people, I was far from the crowd and the guy with the tail came near me, thinking they were free from everyone, and I grabbed the tail as time expired. While that was a great moment, I've got to wonder how many final rounds I've lost because of a bad bounce or bad placement.

5. The Outer Worlds (PC) - The Outer Worlds wasn't what I expected and I think that's why I like it so much. Too many games nowadays don't respect the player's time. How many RPGs are there that you can "easily sink 100+ hours" into? Now how many of those are worth that? How many should really be 15-20 hours long? The Outer Worlds doesn't have a huge map to explore like a lot of other open world RPGs and instead has a lot of bite sized worlds that you can travel between. While each world felt unique there were some that were forgettable. I didn't find as much joy in exploring these worlds as I did interacting with characters. I think Obsidian did a really good job with the companions here. They all have their own personality and I wish I could have spent more time with them. One in particular, Parvati, is possibly the greatest companion characters ever. She's incredibly sweet, a bit naive, but someone I always had in my party. I think with Microsoft's resources we would really have something special with a sequel to this game.

4. Super Mario Odyssey (Switch) - Super Mario Odyssey, like many of Nintendo's big hitters was one that I always wanted to play but the reluctance of Nintendo to ever have a major price drop on their games kept me away. Luckily, my roommate's boyfriend had a copy and left it here so I tried it out. This way pretty early in the year and the first actual story I finished since 2018. Every time I got to a new world I wanted to rush through and grab all the moons so I could get to the next world and see what it had to offer. While I didn't enjoy this game as much as others, it's still one of the few 3D Mario games I've finished and I feel that if I mastered the mechanics I would have put a lot more into this. Other than that, the amount of polish and ambition in this title got me back on my Switch after barely touching it last year. After Galaxy, people were asking where Mario could go next. Rather than trying to make the setting appear more epic, Mario instead travels around the world and the big, new thing is that his hat is possessed by a ghost and can possess other things around you. Take control of Goombas, Bullet Bills, trees, and even a T Rex and nothing feels like it's just there, it can all be used to solve a puzzle. I think what hurts this game most is the motion controls. While they can be turned off, it limits the moves you can use but it just doesn't feel right using them.

3. West of Loathing (PC) - West of Loathing is actually just one long joke with stick figure cowboys fighting against demonic cows. Somehow this rudimentary game still manages to be better than most games that have come out in the last decade. The turn based combat is simple enough that you don't feel confused by all the mechanics yet can still be challenging enough that you can't just mindlessly blow through it. The game just has joke after joke and it never feels grating. Every time I think I'm going to progress in the story I wind up discovering a new location that I can check out and so I spend 30 minutes going to all these new places and so many RPGs get me to explore because I feel like I have to, yet I couldn't help myself here. The DLC changes it up a lot too, instead of roaming all over the map and finding new places to fight you stay in one location and have to solve different puzzles, or you can just go in guns blazing. It really is a special game that I hope more people can appreciate.

2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch) - This is the one I was waiting for this year. It came out the week our school got shut down and it seemed like I was going to have a whole month to just stay home and play. Unfortunately, we know it was much more than a month. Animal Crossing gave us structure when we had so little and brought joy to many going through incredibly difficult times. The series has tried to give you more control over your town before, like having you play as the mayor and allowing you to add bridges and such but never has it gone to the lengths of completely changing the layout of your town, whether that be deciding where every building will go to the environment itself. Creating your town from scratch really did let you slowly see your island become a home. While some may argue that the drip feeding of things to do for the first week only encourages time traveling, and that's fair, I was able to resist the temptation and get a lot of satisfaction when I finally did everything there was to do and have KK Slider visit. While I haven't played much in the last few months, it's still something I return to and will just play daily for a few weeks. I do hope nearly monthly updates start adding new content rather than just bringing back content from last games, but for now, New Horizons definitely shows us that Animal Crossing can continue to evolve.

1. Phasmophobia (PC) - While it's early access, Phasmophobia still manages to be something that many finished games can't be. I don't normally get into horror games but there's something oddly fun about going into a haunted house with your friends and trying to get evidence while at the same time trying to piss the ghost off to scare your friends. While the current gameplay loop can start to feel stale after a 50 hours, it's still something I love to hop on with three people and have a drink. The initial feeling of unease you have in each mission becomes weaker as you experience the game more and get to know how ghosts behave, but eventually you unlock higher difficulties where the ghost can be more aggressive and the stakes are higher, as death means losing equipment and not receiving money to buy it back. Eventually, though, you'll play enough that you're getting so much money from surviving one mission at the highest difficulty that money isn't an issue. Still, at this point you probably aren't that scared of the ghost anyway, but you aren't playing for the scares at this point, you're playing because you want to find the ghost, you want to laugh as your friend gets caught by the ghost, you want to insult the ghost as much as possible. I'm excited to see where this game goes, but at the same time, I hope a lot of the things that make it feel like an early access, such as character models and movements, aren't lost.
 

Ascheroth

Chilling in the Megastructure
Nov 12, 2018
5,134
11,996
113
I've barely played anything that came out this year, so my "list" is going to be very very short in that regard. In no particular order:


Ori and the Will of the Wisps
I loved the first game, and the second game is basically the same but better. Stunningly beautiful and fun to play, Moon Studios did it again.



Genshin Impact
Fantastic exploration, pretty artstyle and hauntingly beautiful music. Somehow this is the first service game I've managed to stick with. Probably because it basically mostly feels like a single player game anyway, lol. I have been playing this every day since it came out and while there have been some stretches of annoyance, overall it's been and still is a blast.
It's only been getting better with every big update and I'm excited to see where this game will be in a couple months/years, because right now I can see myself continuing to play this for a long time.

Be aware that this game is ultimately a gacha game. This means: most characters and weapons are behind paid RNG. The game gives you free characters and weapons and enough currency that you are guarenteed to get something/someone every now and then, but you are not going to get every character or even the character you want unless you're lucky or spend big.
So the best mindset is to just enjoy what the game gives you and save up for someone you really want.
And secondly, this is not a game that wants you to play it 24/7. Quite the opposite actually. There's enough quality one-time content to last you 100+ hours, but outside of that you only can play a little every day and have to plan your progress over a longer time. This ultimately works out great for me, since I can play all the other games I have too, but it definitely was a bit of an unexpected downer initially, while I was still in the "I want to play more" initial hype phase.

Honorable Mentions:


Persona 4 Golden
I actually haven't played much on Steam, but absolutely loved it on PS2 and what I played on PC immediately brought back this feeling.
It's a very stylish game with a great story and addicting "monster-catching" gameplay.


Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.8 Matsuribayashi
Honorable Mention because I haven't played it yet (currently on Chapter 6), but Higurashi is a great series.





And since this isn't really much, here's the list of best games I've played this year that didn't come out this year:








(FF 14 only the base game so far, not gotten to the expansions yet)
 
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Wok

Wok
Oct 30, 2018
4,923
13,188
113
France
I enjoy reading this thread. As a complimentary thread, I would mention the GOTY polling, which has just started:


Votes are secret there, so it does not serve the same puprose.
 

Avern

MetaMember
May 14, 2020
370
1,239
93
I'm a bit late to the party, but I managed to wrap up 3 games that all made it onto this list.

1. Slay the Spire

I feel a bit silly putting a 2019 release at the top of this list, but though I played Spire last year, it dominated my time throughout 2020. I spent hundreds of hours chasing Ascension 20 wins, and even after getting them with each character, I kept playing. The game's design is endlessly compelling thanks to how elegantly its mechanics interlock. At the higher difficulty levels, picking strong or synergistic cards isn't enough. You also have to consider relic and potion interactions, what enemies you're mostly likely to face next, what the act's boss is, what your route looks like, how far ahead or below the curve you are, and even consider the final boss fight. It keeps the game from ever becoming dull, because it doesn't matter if you're picking from cards you've seen 1000's of times before. The game keeps you focused on the details, and it makes each run feel unique.



2. Umurangi Generation

Umurangi Generation is rough around the edges, but its sci-fi world-building is strong well executed that I couldn't get it out of my head all year. It approaches cyberpunk themes without clinging to old genre trappings, creating its own unique, shitty future that captures a sense of mundanity usually missing from the genre. The giant mechs and space aliens aren't sources of excitement, because Umurangi spends its time showing you the bored UN Peacekeeping soldier who wants to see action (and will regret that wish). It places you among the memorials to the fallen and the oppressive military checkpoints of its world. It's bleak, but as a photography game, you get to find scenes of beauty among the misery, and it's magical when you finally get a shot you really like. It also has the best soundtrack of the year.



3. Factorio

Ha ha, factory goes BRRRRRRR



4. Monster Train

Monster Train lags behind Slay the Spire in terms of raw depth, but it does a fantastic job of letting you feel powerful. The mechanics for improving your cards, along the wild event bonuses, makes for a game where partway through every run you get to embrace complete degeneracy. Playing the same crazy card every single turn? Sure. Playing every creature in your deck for free? No problem. Create 5 (FIVE!!!) copies of a card you've already fully upgraded? Why not?! What if Snecko Eye but stronger? Ha ha, I'm made of cards! What it lacks in depth it makes up for with sheer fun, and the post-launch support has been incredible too.



5. Manifold Garden

Manifold Garden's depiction of infinity is awe-inspiring. Even once you get a handle on navigating its spaces, it still feels dizzying. It's just beautiful.



6. Signs of the Sojourner

This game got so little attention that I think I should give a synopsis. You're a trader on the road, and to gather goods, you need to have conversations with people along your journey. You converse by playing cards, which represent approaches to communication, like an empathetic approach, or a logical one. Whenever you finish a conversation, you must replace a card in your deck with one of the other character's cards. Also, the further you get from home, the more alien the culture is, and their cards use different symbols. In order to keep up as you venture further from your backwater town, you have to change yourself in a way that can alienate you from your friends by the time you return. It's an elegant example of expressing narrative through gameplay, and it leads to some emotionally rough situations. It's impossible to keep your conversations with everyone running smoothly, and the failures sting every time, whether it's from bombing out because you've accumulated too many fatigue cards, or just from finding a character you like and utterly failing to connect with them. It's a fun loop, but surprisingly stressful. A wide variety of characters and towns with their own storylines gives it good replay value too.



7. Paradise Killer

Paradise Killer is all contradictions. It's a collectathon where most collectibles are useless. It's a fantasy that throws you into the deep end and expects you to learn the ins-and-outs of its crazy world on your own. It's a bright and colorful world full of mass enslavement, eldritch monstrosities, and gruesome murders. But it works, because the mystery at the core of the game is compelling enough to drive you to grapple with all of the game's idiosyncracies. The story is so full of details and twists that the game is free to leave itself wide open, allowing you to unravel the mystery in whatever order you come across things. It does a great job of making you feel like you're solving a crime without being led by the nose.



8. Hades

I have a lot of misgivings about Hades. I don't like how some of the heat settings make the game LESS interesting. I'm not a fan of how some of the game's coolest mechanics are locked behind a massive grind (my 10th victory was the first run where I got to actually play around with a decent amount of fated authority). I think the game spends too much time in easy areas before ramping up to fights that feel a bit too obnoxious. But despite all of my problems with the game, I can't get over just how well it integrates narrative into a roguelike structure. The way Supergiant manages to dole out character and plot developments between runs isn't just a great motivator to keep playing, but it's also just good storytelling.



9. Half-Life: Alyx

VR can be pretty swell. Shame it'll be a decade before any other developers catch up to Alyx.



10. Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin

Sakuna walks a tightrope between two entirely different gameplay loops, and it's impressive how well it manages to balance itself. The combat is fun and strategic, while the rice farming is fascinatingly deep, and the game manages to never spend too much time on one or the other. On top of that, the story is a good time as well, with some quality voice acting. It's mindblowing that such a tiny team was able to create something this ambitious so successfully.