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Make_Me_Mad

Well. That certainly was a year.

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Games of the Year 2020 (As decided upon in 2021)

Each year these lists hit later and with less preparation done beforehand. This time the delay wasn't due to physical illness, just the general all-consuming apathy that the last year tended to instill (and a handful of technological hurdles). The technical issues, if nothing else, are behind us now.

I'd like to give a shoutout here to a few games that won't make it into the numbered list:

First, The Pathless, which is gorgeous, a joy to play, and has a genuinely beautiful soundtrack. I wish I hadn't gotten sidetracked and could have finished more of this one in time and give it the recognition it deserved.

Scourgebringer is a similarly incredible game in all categories. It's fast, intense, and an absolute blast at all times- despite the (some would argue overused) pixelated art style, it's also got some fantastic designs and visuals going on. It reminds me of Kill Six Billion Demons in a way, and that's something I'll never complain about. It's also a game that is simply made for someone who is simply better and faster at this sort of thing than I am. I couldn't keep up with it, and while I'll go back and try regularly because I enjoy it so much, I have my doubts I'll ever legitimately see the end of the game. I'm surprisingly okay with that.

Cyberpunk 2077 has a lot of problems. Like... so many. It's not even worth going into them in detail; it's a mess. Regardless, as one of the few who actually can play the game (on PC) to completion without being assailed by a ton of bugs, I feel I should mention that I still didn't. I played a bit and then quit a while into the main story, shortly after Keanu Reeves made his appearance and the game 'opened up'. I'd have liked this game more if I had never heard the developers hype it up beforehand; as it is now, I feel like every corner I turn or dialogue option I select is just reminding me of what they'd initially promised the game would be. It's not lawsuit worthy, but it is enough of a bummer that I have no interest in seeing this game through to completion.

(Also let's be real the actual winner of Game of the Year is still Persona 4 Golden, finally free from the Vita-based prison it's been trapped in for years.)

List items

  • 10!

    I've been playing as Spider-Man in video games since the NES, so let me tell you; it's hard to get it right, but they've nailed it here. I did not play the PS4 Spider-Man game for a bizarre reason; namely that I'm still put off by most versions of Peter Parker because his comic book incarnation has an ongoing deal with the devil. Like I said, bizarre reason, but it did let me go into Miles Morales able to be impressed at what (to me) was a pretty outstanding version of how being Spider-Man should handle in a video game. It's fast, controls well in 95 percent of all cases, and is just in-general a pretty good time.

    I do think the writing and story is pretty weak, notably so in the second half of the game. It's very bad towards the end. My only other complaint, honestly, is that they should have just given Miles Morales his own full game; sticking him with this spin-off half-game feels like a real cop-out.

    (It's still good though.)

  • 9!

    I'm going to be real: I've never finished a Streets of Rage game before this. I hadn't even really seen much of them, so when I started fighting robots and such near the end of this I was scratching my head. Well, not right then; right then I was busy trying not to get slapped in the face by crazy magnetically thrown pipes and whatnot.

    It was a fun time, though. It's a beat em up with a great look, it handles well, and it just plain feels good to play. My one complaint is that Estel wasn't playable. Give me THAT dlc, already.

  • 8!

    I like a lot of games in the Warriors series. It's generally unpopular here in the west, but I'm glad that the spinoffs and licensed games like Hyrule Warriors and Persona Scramble seem to have found an audience. It helps that, generally, Koei does their best work on these games when another company is watching over their shoulder to ensure a quality product.

    Age of Calamity is an odd one. I enjoy it immensely while playing it, to the point that I think it's genuinely made the combat in a Warriors game feel fun and engaging on its own merits. That's probably the first time that's happened! All of the menu hopping and dealing with subsystems, fusing weapons and whatnot... less fun. More of a chore between actually enjoying the game.

    I think the good definitely outweighs the bad here, though, and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to see what one of these Warriors games can be at their best.

  • 7!

    Someone finally made a version of Resident Evil 3 that isn't terrible? Sign me up!

    But seriously, it's pretty good, but bear in mind this is coming from someone who never finished the original versions of either Resident Evils 1, 2 or 3. It took a serious update in gameplay style for me to be able to play through this, and while I absolutely loved it, I also understand those who were less than happy with some of the changes made. That said: This game was pretty rad. Not as good as the Resident Evil 2 remake, I'd say, but still a great time.

    Maybe a little heavy on weird vore monsters.

  • 6!

    Switching to a full-on turn based RPG system after a ridiculous amount of games that were praised nonstop for their real-time action combat is one of the ballsiest moves in game development history. That they simultaneously ditched the series' beloved and long running protagonist for an unknown newcomer with ridiculous hair is somehow even ballsier.

    That the game has received such a warm reception in spite of the drastic changes has warmed my heart, and playing it myself it's not hard to see why. They've managed to infuse the new combat, turn-based though it might be, with all the over-the-top action and flat-out ridiculous humor the series has become known for over the years, and you'd have to make an active effort to hate this new cast of characters (and even then it'd be difficult). It's another slam dunk for one of the most consistently great series in video gaming today, made all the more impressive by how much of a departure it is from the norm.

  • 5!

    I like Crash Bandicoot, which I hear is actually weird, but fuck you: those games were good. This game is also good, though it drives me to near-madness thanks to my need to get all of the unlockable costumes as soon as possible. It's a lot of fun regardless, and I'm about as pleased as I possibly could have been with a proper sequel to the series. They don't exactly deliver anything too new or innovative to the genre, but it's good I think to see a developer just aim at a reasonable goal and stick the landing so perfectly.

  • 4!

    Ghost of Tsushima is maybe my favorite 'cinematic' game. It's well designed, gorgeous, and most importantly focused: unlike a lot of open world games it feels like they've cut much of the fat out of this one. The resulting experience is still absolutely stuffed to the gills with content, but at no point did I suffer from the odd disorientation that I often feel when I'm completing side quests or chasing collectibles instead of advancing a supposedly time-sensitive story. Well, actually, chasing those foxes around was kind of silly- but they're damn cute so I'll overlook it. The game is MOSTLY very focused.

    It's also, as is a running trend on this list, just incredibly enjoyable to play. There was a point where I decided against upgrading my sword for a while because fights were ending too quickly and I wanted more of them. Stealth never felt overly difficult, and being caught resulted in spectacular battles; at all times I was enjoying the experience the game offered.

    The only gripes I have is some contrived writing to allow for drama around the middle of the game, and I wasn't the biggest fan of the stance changing system and the way it worked as a hard-counter against certain enemy types. Just let me use water stance all the time, you fucks!

  • 3!

    The best Ubisoft game ever made, but to be clear, I'm also a giant goddamn pushover for anything related to Greek mythology (Remember this, as it'll be important later on in the list). I expected to enjoy this game on some level due entirely to its nature as an open world game featuring a character creator and Greek mythological elements. What I didn't expect was to actually genuinely find the game to be highly entertaining, fun to play, and delightfully stress-free. It brought some much needed levity to my end-of-2020 experience.

    The gameplay, for the record, is a bizarre combo of Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It's a strange mix, but one that I find works exceptionally well and results in something that I enjoy more than either of those games. It's never stopped being fun to circumvent some cleverly designed puzzle by stealing and hurling a boulder from a mountaintop or using a magical statue of myself to weigh down a switch. It's also still a lot of fun to tear through a bunch of weird Hydra-tooth grown soldiers with the array of tools the game gives you; it's been a while since I played a game where the combat felt balanced between offense and defensive maneuvers, but this one manages it well.

    Immortals also does some smart things with the equipment in my opinion, turning armor and weapon choices essentially into groups of perks that suit different playstyles and allowing you to swap between them. The actual damage and defense values are shared between them, so nothing is ever outdated or rendered useless, and if you want to try something new there's no time or resource investment required.

    This game does a lot of things right. It's not exactly breaking new ground anywhere, but it's done a damned fine job of blending its inspirations into something that I think is genuinely outstanding.

  • 2!

    This is the opposite of the stress-free, relaxed gameplay that several others on this list offered me. This is nail-biting, breath-holding, ridiculously fast-paced combat against weird-ass demons that can kill me in seconds if I'm not on the ball. It's everything I liked about the first Nioh with more improvements than I can list. It's Nioh with a character creator, a devil trigger, more abilities, more weapons, more enemy variety- more of everything that already made it an outstanding game. Nioh 2 now firmly takes the place of Nioh 1 as the best game to come out of the Souls-like craze.

    The one potential issue I will bring up is that the quality of the three DLC episodes varies greatly. I feel that the second DLC episodes outclasses the other two to an embarrassing degree, though I'd say they're all worth playing if you were already a fan of the series.

  • 1!

    Supergiant Games make some absolutely unrivaled experiences. It feels like ages ago that Pyre had me playing post-apocalyptic fantasy basketball in a poisonous hellscape to overthrow a tyrannical government, backed by some of the greatest music in video gaming and with undoubtedly some of the best art. This time around, I was escaping a much more literal hellscape with the aid of (some of) the Greek pantheon, cutting through hordes of specters and monsters with your typical assortment of magical weaponry: Swords, Spears, and Assault Rifles. At the same time, as expected of Supergiant, backed by some downright breathtaking music and being constantly assaulted by art so goddamn pretty that it'd get you killed for admiring it.

    There's not much I can say, specifically; everything about this game is fantastic. Character design, voice acting, humor, music, combat- as is expected from this developer, you're not going to see anywhere that they've dropped the ball or let themselves slack off. I can't recommend it enough.

    It is, honestly, almost unfair in the years that Supergiant releases a game. Few things can compete.
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