2020
It's been a long time since I've been active on this site. I still enjoy reading and watching content, but it's been nearly a decade since I've contributed something. So why not, after such an unprecedented year, make the somewhat precedented contribution to the void on what I thought were my ten favorite games of 2020 (in no particular order)?
Honorable Mentions
- Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Xbox One) - The first Ori is beautiful as hell, and this game keeps up the trend. The only downer was the framerate playing on Xbox One S.
- Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition - I played the original game on a Wii emulator back in 2014 and loved it to bits. This port freshens up the game, and is still an amazing ~50 hour journey.
- Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5) - The Spider-Man PlayStation games are the closest I think it's possible for games to get to being actual Marvel blockbuster movies. The feeling of "being" Miles Morales is just as good as it was back in 2018.
- Demon's Souls - I played through the original game on PlayStation 3 for the first time prior to this game's release, so I already knew what to expect, but this remake handily met those expectations. I wish there had been more done as far as quality-of-life improvements, but this classic absolutely holds up and this is the best way to experience the game.
- Resident Evil 3 (PC) - Last year's remake of Resident Evil 2 was one of my favorite games of the year, so I was thrilled to get my hands on this one. I was a bit let down by how short the experience was, but I think that says more about the quality of the game than a lack thereof.
- The Room VR: A Dark Matter - I actually didn't end up playing too many 2020 VR games, but this one is a continuation of my favorite mobile series. It's essentially a puzzle box, so bringing in the VR aspect made the experience more engaging. A bit on the shorter side, but well worth it for any fans of escape rooms or puzzle boxes.
- XCOM: Chimera Squad - My first foray into XCOM, I was surprised to find how much I was enjoying this one. I played this and Gears Tactics essentially back-to-back, and this game was the definite favorite in my mind. Loved managing my squad and blasting my way through each mission.
- Astro's Playroom - I played through this game entirely in one sitting. It was the first thing I'd played on my brand new PlayStation 5, and it has me excited for what's to come from Sony in this generation. What a delightful little game!
- Ghost of Tsushima - I wasn't as big on this one as it seems like most others are (some definite open world fatigue), but I thought it was a competently executed "one of those."
- Amnesia: Rebirth - I've played literally everything that Frictional Games has put out. This year also saw me playing through SOMA, which turned out to be one of my favorite game stories ever, so I was ecstatic to see what Frictional did next. While this didn't reach the heights of SOMA, it is still an excellent horror game, and fit neatly into my "Spooktober."
- Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories (PC) - I'm not putting this on here because it's any good. In fact, this is a terrible game. It plays like a clunky PlayStation 2 game. That said, the game is hilarious, and was frequently catching me off guard with its ridiculous antics. Worth experiencing, though not for the asking price of $50.
Worst Games
- Fairy Tail (Switch) - This game was absolutely terrible, perhaps the worst JRPG I have ever played. The gameplay is barebones and braindead easy for 95% of the game, but has outrageous difficulty spikes near the end. The story is so boring that I started skipping every cutscene. The framerate constantly dips into the teens. Avoid like the plague.
- Bloodroots (Switch) - I really wanted to like this game, but playing it turned out to be a chore. The framerate often chugs along on the Switch, the level design makes playing the game into an exercise in memorization, the game is frustratingly hard for all of the wrong reasons (I often died for reasons that didn't feel like they were faults of my own). Great concept, but drags far too much.
- Godfall (PS5) - This game wasn't offensively bad to me like the above two games, it was just the most boring and mediocre game that I finished this year. On the normal difficulty, it was also ridiculously easy.