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fernanthonies

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The 10 best games I played in the year 2020 (out of the 12-13 games I actually played)

I almost never play 10 games per year that came out that year. I've got a healthy backlog of games that I'm usually attempting to work my way through, and so it's usually a mix of those along with a few of the new things that really catch my attention. And Civ VI. (Follow up...now that I actually put the list together, it seems I only have 2 non-2020 games, so I did better than I thought!)

There are some games that came out this year that I really wanted to get too, but just didn't, so those will probably feature in my best games I played in 2021 list.

I do want to give mention to two things that didn't make this list:

  • Spiritfarer - This game is beautiful and charming. I really loved it at first, but sadly it got a little too grindy in the middle, and I fell off from playing more.
  • Jackbox Party Packs: In this crazy year, there have been quite a few virtual get togethers with coworkers, friends, and family. In many of those, I was able to stream jackbox games to play with people remotely. Save for a few of the games, it worked just as well remotely as it did playing in person. This ended up being a blessing in a crazy year.

List items

  • Oddly enough, I almost gave up on this game pretty early on. I was having a hell of a time with the boss of the third world and was close to just giving up and moving on. Luckily, someone explained to me how God Mode worked in this game and suggested I turn it on, and thank God they did! I now have done some 40-50 runs, cleared 7 runs, and bought a copy of the game on Switch now that there are cross saves.

    What really sets this game apart from other roguelikes was the way the story of the game integrated with the mechanics so well, as well as all the wonderful characters. I don't foresee being 'done' with this game for a while yet.

  • I play a lot of Civ every year, and 2020 is no different. The New Frontier pass that was made available this year ended up being way more than expected, with interesting new game modes in addition to the new civs and leaders.

  • I'm a sucker for strategy games, especially Paradox grand strategy. I loved CK2, but it was definitely a bit obtuse and had some UI cruft. I think CK3 made some great strides in fixing that. It's still very dense and definitely not for everyone, but the UI is much easier to grasp, with helpful tooltips for almost everything, and the tutorial mode this time around was quite good.

  • I loved Ori and the Blind Forest, and Will of the Wisps was just as good. A beautiful game with solid gameplay.

  • It's no Doom 2016, sadly. But that fast paced, visceral shooter combat that is Doom is still there and is just as enjoyable as the earlier entry. I didn't love some of the platforming that was added into this one, and it felt a little less focused than 2016. Overall though I had a pretty good time with Doom Eternal. Also, it looked really good on my new 4k tv on an rtx 3070.

  • I've always loved golf since I played with my grandfather as a kid, but I've really gotten back into playing in the past few years, so especially good timing for this game. Sadly since the golden age of Tiger Woods games, there haven't been too many solid "realistic" golf games. I played a lot of and really enjoyed Everybody's Golf, but I wanted something closer to the real thing.

    This game is definitely not perfect. While the courses look really nice, the character models and animations look like something you'd find in a PS3 game. But being able to play in PGA tour events on real TPC courses against actual currently touring golfers has been a blast this year.

  • I finally got to this one this year, and it's definitely one of the best roguelikes I've played. It's definitely no Hades, but the weapon variety kept it interesting run after run.

  • This is probably one that I would have never played had it not been on Gamepass, but I'm glad I did. As I mentioned above, I love anything with good turn based combat like this (XCOM, Divinity...I'm a sucker for them all). The story and setting of a Fallout-like, with said that style of gameplay was a must play for me. It's not a perfect game...by the end my group was so overpowered that the final confrontations were a total cakewalk, but I really enjoyed the 40-something hours I put into it.

  • This is an interesting one. It's definitely not the amazing game that XCOM: EU/EW and XCOM 2 WotC are...this actually feels more like a DLC pack or something.

    But you know what? I freaking love XCOM. The turn based strategic combat of those games is my bread and butter, and I'll play (and probably love) anything they do. And at only $20, this was a no brainer. They tried some different things in this game, which I appreciate, but I didn't love the move into more scripted characters instead of building my own squad.

  • A couple months ago, before this released, I would have expected THPS1+2 to be a shoo-in for top 5, easily. Turns out my love for THPS is strongly based on nostalgia...and said nostalgia is really mostly based on THPS3, so while I enjoyed this remake enough for it to make my list...I didn't get into it like I thought I was going to. I'm hoping to get back to it though, and if they do a THPS3 dlc like everyone hopes, then this just might be higher on my 2021 list.
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