Four months into 2020: What's your favourite new release this year?

XCOM is the only new thing I've played I think. I love tactics and dislike permadeath so this is right up my alley. Haven't played much of it, but seems cool.

I have Gears installed (yay gamepass!) so I'll try that out at some point.

I played like 1 hour of animal crossing but was too invested in other big games in my backlog to give it much attention.

In Other Waters is the only game to come out this year that I've finished. Really cool game, not likely to be my favorite at the end of the year but it worth checking out if you're into mostly text driven games.

Hard to choose between Half Life, Animal Crossing, and FF7 Remake. All of them are stellar games that I'll be thinking about for years to come.

P5:Royal definitely. I guess it's debatable how much of a new game you want to call it, but I enjoyed it more than even I expected, so it will be hard pressed for even new releases to beat it out.

The year is still young though.

Half-Life Alyx, without a doubt. It's the only game on the list that I can say with confidence is unlike anything else I've ever played.

Nioh 2 by a country mile. Doom: Eternal was supremely disappointing.

I've heard good things about the FFVII remake, but it's also one of those things I feel like it would be better to wait until the entire series is out before getting it. Which means I'll probably never play it, since the way Square does business, the next part won't be out until 2055.

Nioh 2 is really good, even if it isn't that much more than Another Nioh. It's a really fun second Nioh though.

I'm totally counting Persona 5 Royal though and that's my actual favorite thing so far.

Streets of Rage 4

MLB The Show, as with every year, is what I'm playing most. But the only major new thing year over year is how cards are distributed in Diamond Dynasty, so it's hard to call it a favorite.

Final Fantasy VII Remake was a ton of fun until I got forced to replay the final boss rush four or five times due to just not figuring out the right set up for the final boss. The animé vibes were a little overwhelming but overall I found all the rough edges, from the textures to the voice work to the script, super fucking charming. It was maybe the worst perfect game I've played in years, if not all my life!

DOOM Eternal has not been launched since the Tuesday after it came out. I really want to give it a shot as I haven't even unlocked the shotgun grappling hook yet but nothing about what I played gives me the confidence I'll enjoy it any more than I already have. The lore is just useless this time around and the game is clearly not designed with a controller in mind despite the previous game being so perfectly playable with one. Just a bafflingly narrow-minded product, even more so than Sekiro last year.

Of the rest, as a PS4-only owner, Kentucky Route Zero is the only other thing really on my radar of the stuff that's already come out.

I think it's Ori. That game was stunning.

Doom: Eternal and Streets of Rage 4 lead everything in fun factor. And FF7 was nearly a perfect JRPG in my eyes.

It's been a hell of a year. In video games.

Gears Tactics...doubt it'll stand up year-round, but it's been pretty fun blasting my way through the campaign so far. I'm surprised not many people seem very into it.

Gotta be DOOM for me. I've only played that and Warzone because I've been using this year to catch up on games I have missed. Got Resident Evil 2 and Control lined up next!

I think Receiver 2 is the only 2020 game i've played so far.

One step from eden kicks ass, thanks Jan!

Only game I've played is Nioh 2. Its solid, but a little bit busy. A lot of systems that feel really unnecessary. Mostly it's just served as a reminder to finally play sekiro which I absolutely loved.

I hate to be a downer, but none of the new games have made a huge impression on me this year. I got Nioh 2 on release, which was the start of this whole Covid-19 lockdown thing, and so I've had all the time in the world to play it, but I am not feeling it so I haven't played it much. It just feels like the same game as the first with a couple of new additions, and although I liked the first a lot, I'm just not into that right now. In the time of its release, I've played through Doom Eternal and RE3 Remake, both of which I think are okay, but I came away disappointed in. Will of the Wisps was quite good, and though I wouldn't say I was disappointed in it, I didn't think it reached the heights of the first game. I don't have much interest in the other games aside from Half-Life: Alyx, which I cannot play. So, with all the said, I'd probably still say Doom Eternal. It's still a great looking and a great sounding game that is, for the most part, a great shooter. I just wasn't that into the story/lore and wasn't a fan of the Marauder. Doom Eternal or Will of the Wisps I suppose.

Damn, I've basically not played anything so far this year. A little Age of Empires 1 and 2 back in January and February, but no 2020 releases at all.

Edit: well, I did play Doom 64, but that was also February or maybe early March?

Between Nioh 2 and P5 Royal for me so far. Probably Nioh by a nose but they're both really great, although I've yet to finish either.

I made the mistake of playing through OG P5 earlier this year so that's made playing it again so soon a bit of a slog but there are so many changes and additions that I'm still enjoying it a lot. Nioh 2 I only started a couple of days ago but it's dominated my time since.

Out of 2020 releases I only played Ori and really had a great time. Otherwise it’s been a random assortment of games from Game Pass and even when they’re not great I can’t really get too mad cause whatever it’s Gane Pass I’ll just move on to something else.

In terms of new releases, I've played a ton of Nioh 2, it's more Nioh, and totally solid. I wish they would have pared down some of the systems and tried to streamline it a little more, but I was able to wrap my head around it and it got its hooks into me.

The other new game I (surprisingly) played a lot of was Zombie Army 4. Picked it up on sale a while after Abby did that quick look, and gotta say, it's a lot of dumb fun. Campaign is surprisingly solid (even solo! also, the final boss/level is fantastic), horde mode is fun & very replayable, and they have weekly events with interesting rule tweaks that I have been checking back in on. Online (at least on PS4) is still quite populated, too.

Yeah, Murder by Numbers is great, definitely in my top 3 games so far this year! I'm almost done with the last case I think (game is longer than I thought, my Switch tells me I have 20 hours played). The writing & characterization is like, staggeringly good, probably the best I've seen in a game in a while (would not have thought I would be saying that about a Picross game, but hey, here we are). And the cast is quite diverse, too, which is great. Not a lot of games with a recently divorced black woman as the main character and a whole case devoted to figuring out if a giant parade float that crashed into a drag club is a hate crime or not. And they somehow balance heady topics like that with a semi-breezy tone and totally nail it, somehow.

Not a whole lot of those titles i have interest in but out of they few i have played/finished XCOM: Chimera Squad is probably the best one.

I feel pretty confident about saying that it would've likely been Half-Life: Alyx, if I would've had the equipment for it.

But since that didn't happen, I think it might be FF7 Remake. I really enjoyed Eternal and Ori as well, but FF7 just hit me differently.

The only new release I've played is Ori but, it didn't hook me enough to want to finish it. I played Shovel Knight for the first time though, and that was fun.

I'd love to say Kentucky Route Zero.. But Doom Eternal has me pretty hooked, though I cannot say it's all good. It is Doom though!

With Kentucky Route Zero I played the last two installments, and that gave it some consistency, and relying on my memory for the first, years ago. I thought the last segment rather short, though perhaps that should not be a judgement. I simply really like the atmosphere of that game, what it does, and I respect where it goes.

Voted FF7r but Streets of Rage 4 is a strong contender.

Gears Tactics at first place, Ori and the Will of the Wisp at second, Microsoft's first party outing is strong this year.

Also, it's nice to finally reach the end of road in Kentuky Route Zero. Policing City 31 in XCOM Chimera is surprising fun.

Too bad DOOM Eternal is somehow a letdown to me personally.

I voted for Doom Eternal, but Kentucky Route Zero is definitely the best thing I played all year. I forgot that it came out this year. It feels so long since I played it even thought I didn't finish it until late March.

I'm still waiting for Cyberpunk 2077

I've been really enjoying Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore. It works well on the switch, docked or handheld. The extra content is great as well as some of the other quality of life changes. I appreciate that this game does not shove Shin Megami and Fire Emblem in your face and the nods and similarities are more subtle.

I always found this game interesting on the Shin Megami Tensei scale. Where Shin Megami Tensei is darker and more serious than Persona, you have Tokyo Mirage Sessions on the other end being more light hearted with some serious undertones. I feel Tokyo Mirage Sessions compliments the mainline Shin Megami Tensei games by being much more different with the setting.

2020 for me might be one of the best years in gaming ever...Half Life Alyx, FF7Remake, Lone Echo 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Vampire Bloodlines 2, SoR4, Ori WotW, MoH Above and Beyond...I only played the first two as of yet and they did not dissapoint!

I've only played Doom Eternal out of that list, so that. I thought it was an exceptionally well-crafted experience almost all the way through - the final boss kinda sucks and the marauders ruin the like 4 or 5 fights they show up in, but otherwise I can't recommend it enough. It does not appear to be popular on Giantbomb, though, and the game's more frantic moments seem more frustrating than fun with controller aiming. Mouse and keyboard is superb, though.

Special mention must go to Subnautica Below Zero. I played the original over Christmas last year and it very quickly became one of my favorite games of all time. It wasn't a fluke, either, as I've played through it twice since then and loved it every time. Its sequel, Below Zero, appears to be even better even in its current early access form. They have taken the things I loved about the original, made them better, and mitigated or eliminated the original's flaws. Performance and pop in are way better, for one. I do lament the lack of a Cyclops and I think they need to make some key changes to the Sea Truck, but otherwise I loved what I played just as much as I loved the original.

Nioh 2 for sure.... if only it wasn't omitted from this list. P5 Royal close 2nd, but its basically P5.

Ori was really fantastic. Most of my gaming time has gone towards Modern Warfare / Warzone though.

So far, there's been a number of good games for me:

Beautiful Desolation, Pax Nova, Void Destroyer 2, Corruption 2029, Overpass, SnowRunner, MotoGP 20.

My favourite though ... Beautiful Desolation, SnowRunner or MotoGP 20.

A number of games went into Early Access this year, that I enjoy playing: Imagine Earth, Industries of Titan, Old World.

I haven't played anything released this year. I recently picked up a copy of FF7Remake but I don't want to start it until I finish up my current play through of Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition. And I've enjoyed Vesperia so much I'm tempted to jump to Berseria once I'm done. Honestly if there were no other new games released this year there would still be a veritable treasure trove of great stuff to go back to and play, and for a reasonable price to boot.

I just realized I haven't played anything yet this year. But I did finally get around to Sekiro and it's outstanding.

Great year for games so far, Doom Eternal, FFVIIR and P5R all hooked me pretty hard. Oddly enough, I think I gotta say P5R even though I Platinum'd original P5. I guess 3 years was long enough for me to completely become enraptured again.

What a year for combat in video games, though. Doom, FFVII and P5R are all absolutely flawless at their mechanics. Nioh 2 as well, took everything Nioh did (which was already fantastic) and did it better, while adding so much more.

Man I've been having a blast with all the games I'm playing. I've been playing a ton of Monster Hunter World Iceborne, and Borderlands 3, only because they just came out for Steam recently. However, pertaining to the ones released this year...

Doom Eternal

Man what can I say about this game that hasn't been said about it, other than I pre-ordered the Doot edition (deluxe edition ) when it was announced. With the months leading up the game's release the hype was immeasurable for me, but it was so worth it as the game was truely Eternal (for me)! Combat changes were great forcing me to strategy while diversifying for each fight. Stages were designed to look, and play well! I even had a smile whenever I saw that marauder spawn in, ready for a tense and rewarding fight.

Xcom: Chimera Squad

As someone who loves the rebooted Xcom series, I was pleasantly surprised by this game's release. Just announced and to be released in the same month, with a 50% discount as well! Playing it I love the game play changes, from the breaching mechanic, to the turn order system affecting most strategies, this was a buy I'm glad I bought day 1. Icing on the cake is the tidbits of extra lore about the aliens and world.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare-Warzone

I've disliked Call of Duty, until the recent Modern Warefare game pushed for a quality and refined experience that I could respect. I loved the new tactical features that came with the game, but with its low time to kill and Killstreak clutter maps I couldn't get into the beta. Then came Warzone with its huge map, armor system, simplified loot, and many nice quality of life features. Playing it with some friends and I'm loving it!

I'd held off the FF7 Remake. Tried the demo briefly but was (great pun incoming) clouded by my nostalgia for the original game and for some reason wanted the original combat.

Ended up picking it up after hearing such positive buzz and wow. It has blown me away, both with nostalgia and what they've added to it.

Soundtrack of the year

But I've also not picked up a lot of other 2020 releases.

The PS4 release of Stranded Deep. I tend not to last long in survival games interest wise, but it was just bein a perfect fit to relese the week I was home from work due to being close to burn out. It was like a constant relaxing vacation to be in that game. Even when my first run got ruined by a poor choice of save. Have had such a good time with it.