With 2020 coming to a close I though it would be a good time to do my year in Gaming, just like I have in previous years. I rarely post to my blog so when I do I try to make it at least somewhat worthwhile. Even though for various reasons (obvious and otherwise) 2020 has been a difficult and bizarre year I still had a decent one for both new and old games and even a few hardware purchases. Come join me as I recap some of the highlights of my 2020 in gaming.
I did not play quite as many "New" games in 2020 as I did in 2019 nor did I take as many risks in the ones that I did finish but I did enough to assemble a top 5 list here as well as a bonus game.
Note: Links for each game go to a You Tube playlist of my play through of that game.
My Top 5 Games of 2020
Ghost of Tsushima was not a game that I had planned to play in 2020 but the timing of its release shorty after I completed another game listed further here as well as some decent reviews and previews convinced me to give it a try anyway. While I did enjoy the game overall there were some rather unfortunate forced stealth missions (with one really bad one where for story reasons you can't take out any of the guards). I prefer when stealth is optional and beneficial and I always hate it when stealth is forced. As an open world game Ghost of Tsushima does have a decent variety of missions and side activities. The controls and combat systems work quite well and allow for a good amount of customization although the number of outfits you have on hand does become to much to keep track of at a point. Most of the main story missions and side story quests were interesting enough to keep me engaged but the content of the story itself very interesting and the ending is quite weak. The visuals of this game are top notch, for the most part. The landscapes always look like something from a painting in an art gallery they are that good. This is not a game I want to go back to but for what its worth I did enjoy my time playing through Ghosts of Tsushima.
4. Doom Eternal
Bigger, Longer, Louder, and Harder are words that can describe Doom Eternal in comparing in to the previous game a.k.a. Doom 2016. Doom eternal takes that last game and adds stuff life much more elaborate platforming sequences and amps up the difficulty by a lot. If you had trouble with Doom 2016 you will struggle mightily with Doom Eternal. For my part there were many battles (especially near the end) where I had to repeat battles many times. I did find that struggle rewarding though (for the most part) and by the end even though I was struggling I always felt like I could figure it out and get through it. The Story of Doom Eternal for me never really existed and I am okay with that as this is not the game to come for to get story from. Doom Eternal is one big combat puzzle that is always throwing new enemies that often get introduced as boss but then turn to more regular enemies that you some times have to fight more than one of at a time. Doom Eternal is a hard but rewarding game. If you like Doom 2016 you will most probably like this one as well.
I very much enjoyed playing through the first Last of Us back in the day but I had a very difficult time in that first area (Boston). I struggled so much so that I had to stop playing for a while and force myself to go back and finish it. I am glad I did go back and I can say that the second game The Last of Us part 2 is a much easier and more approachable game than the first one, even in the stealthy parts. I was able to make my way through most if the game without much difficulty (I was playing on Normal for the record) and only struggled with one really annoying boss that was a big bullet/damage sponge. Looking back the big thing I remember about the story is that Elie (the main protagonist) is kind of a jerk (understandably so) and she just winds up making things worse for everyone at the end of the day. There are some cool moments in the game (including flash back scenes) and an interesting use of the PS4's very underused touchpad. The Last of Us part 2 is also an impressive looking game, despite lacking in color (understandable in the post apocalypses) and portrays a world that looks quite destroyed. One of my favorite scenes involve a scripted walk/ drive through an abandoned NFL stadium in Seattle that has been turned into a survivors camp that had a lot of neat detail that I really enjoyed. I am glad a played through the Last of Us part 2 and if you have played the first one you owe it to yourself to play this one as well.
I watched the Giant Bomb Endurance Run of Persona 4 for the PS2 back in 2009 and was so inspired by it that I bought a copy of the game and played it on an emulator (I did not have a PS2) to completion (over taking Giant Bomb) while continuing to watch the said play through. Needles to say that game had a big impact on me in the year 2009. When Persona 5 came out I was uninterested in it due to that lack of the characters I had found memories of from Persona 4. When Persona 5 Royal was announced as an updated version I started to consider getting it, which lead to me actually getting it and doing a fully 140 hour play through of this game that only a couple of years ago I was steadfast in my refusal to get. Persona 5 Royal is a better game than Persona 4 from almost every possible perspective with better graphics, a more slick and usable menu system, more meaningful story content, more characters and more customization of everything. With that being said I spent the entire time comparing characters and moments to stuff from Persona 4 and I feel like I could never appreciate the game on its own terms. I also came to the thought that although better that Persona 4, Persona 5 Royal was so polished and streamlined that it felt a little hollow in comparison. There was no down time and no room for the lighter moments (such as the camping trip or the water melon party). I can't really put my thoughts about this into words that well but it felt like the main story stuff was on all the time and that the lighter stuff was missing when compared to Persona 4. With that said there is a reason this game is so high on my list and that is because it is awesome. J.R.P.G.s are not my kind of game but the Persona series is one of the few (if only) exceptions to that general dislike. As of the writing of this blog posts I am still under the influence of this big long game and thinking about the further adventures of my character. Persona 5 Royal is a game I can recommend to anyone with 140 hours to spend on a game.
1. Ori and the Will of the Wisps
It is no surprise to me that my most anticipated game of 2020 is also my favorite. Ori and the Will of the Wisps is the sequel to one of my favorite games of the generation and it bests it in every possible way. The world is bigger, the characters more numerous and more well written, the story more touching, the graphics more beautiful, the platforming more tight and the combat more meaningful. Ori and the Will of the Wisps is (in my opinion) without question the Game of the Year for 2020. The fact that this game is out on every current platform means that there is no excuse for anyone to not play it. I guarantee that if you like any kind of video game you will love Ori and the Will of the Wisps.
Bonus: CrossCode (in progress as of end of 2020)
Just like last year I have to include a game that came out in 2020 that I started playing that year but did not finish in time. Last year that game was Sekiro and this year it is CrossCode (which came out on console and Game Pass in 2020) a Action RPG that is a cross (get it?) between Secret of Mana, the Legend of Zelda, and Phantasy Star. This is a game I tried on a whim simply because it was on Game Pass and I like it. When I got the Series X I saw that CrossCode was enhanced for it so I played it again and I liked it even more, so much so that I started a fully play through it on my YouTube Channel as a Daily LongPlay series. This game has a lot of Persona style Character moments and some very challenging puzzle based dungeons and a very Super Nintendo graphical look. This is a game that makes me very thankful that I signed up for Game Pass as I would not have tried it otherwise.
Older Games I also Beat
2020 was not just about new Games for me. I also completed a decent number of older games this year for the first time. The following is an unordered lists of the highlights of older games I have beat this year.
The the last game I started in 2019 is also first game I finished in 2020 and that is Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. This is the first and only game made by From Software that I had any interest in playing and for the purposes of my channel and my Daily LongPlay series the biggest risk I have ever taken in picking a game to play through given the reputation of the Souls series. I took this chance because I could tell that Sekiro was different from those games and that it looked much more like a Ninja Gaiden / Devil May Cry style game that I could get into. Sekiro ended up being more like a cross between those styles. I banged my head against almost every main and sub boss in that game over and over again and I never "got good" at the combat but at no point did I ever regret starting my play through or want to stop playing. With how hard that game was for me that I kept playing and enjoying it says something ( good about the game or bad about me, I'm not sure). Regardless I am very much looking forward to the next Sekiro game even as I have no interest in any other From Software game.
It took me too long to get around to playing Red Dead Redemption, even after I bought a dirt cheap used copy of it but I did that this past year. I could tell while playing that this is an older style of GTA game (that it clearly predates GTA5) and is very fetch quest heavy and rather barren landscapes. With that being said I did enjoy my time playing it for the most part. The story did not stick with me much as I can only remember the revenge part of it. I did enjoy riding around the vast game area on that hores much more than I expect. I played Red Dead Redemption on the Xbox One X via backwards compatibility and much of the game's graphics hold up pretty well at a higher resolution (4K in my case) after 10 years. I am really glad I played it when I did though thanks to the next game on this list.
I once again sing the praises of Xbox Game Pass with Red Dead Redemption 2 which was added to that awesome service shortly after I completed the first game. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a much more modern game than the first one in every possible way (other than the setting, being a prequel) and while it did have a very noticeable amount of input lag and some confusing controls with too much being piled on the controller I found the story and characters far more engaging than the first game. I think it might of been better to play this game first than Red Dead Redemption 1 as I would have been able to understand and appreciate the meaning of the events in the first game if I played the second one before hand. As it was I was able to get a better grasp of it after finishing Red Dead Redemption 2. I should also say that this is one good looking game that really make me excited for what the next gen systems can do natively (once we get past the cross generation era we are in that is) and if they do make a Red Dead Redemption 3 (if that is even possible) I am in on day one.
The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess HD
I have a confession to make, until 2020 I have never beaten a 3D Legend of Zelda game. I beat the original NES game and a Link to the Past and I have spent time playing many of the 3D games in the series. I beat The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD on the WiiU this year, thus ending that disturbing truth. This might not be the first of these games that I should have beaten first but I am glad it was as it was likely the shortest and easiest of those games to beat and based on the popularity (or lack therefore of) when I go on to other games in the 3D Zelda series I have no where to go but up. While there were a few annoying section (that one wagon escort mission) and this game was clearly inspired by Okami (itself a Zelda Cone) in many ways I did enjoy playing it and I look forward to playing my next 3D Legend of Zelda if they really are all better than this game, which I think is a good game in its own right.
I played the original PS2 release of Shadow of the Colossus back in the day but I only beat a handful of the colossi before I stopped playing for what ever reason. When I bough my PS4 Pro I knew this was going to be one of the games I was going to buy and play. I had a lot of trouble with the last few Colossi (especially that last one with me getting very stuck on it). I don't really have much to say about this game other than I am glad I played this version which ran and looked way better than the PS2 original. This game has a vast and empty world that feature only you, your horse, your loved one and the Colossi you have to kill as living things to interact with. For as much as that was likely a limitation of the PS2 hardware for which this game was designed for but it does work now a days (even with way better hardware that could justify adding more stuff). Shadow of the Colossus is one those games I bought a Playstation 4 Professional model in order to play on.
New Devices I Acquired
- RGB Deblur Mod for N64
In 2019 I purchase from a good will store a Nintendo 64 for about $13 (with the RAM expansion cart but without a controller) which was for me one of those situations I always hear about from youtubers who do that kind of deal shopping regularly that I assumed would never happen to me. I bought a cheap 3rd party controller and a cheap game and the system worked. I decided the best thing to do with this $13 N64 was to upgrade it with a $150 RGB deblur mod (I am smart with money). Once I got this mod done and I got a good RGB SCART cable I set about building a small N64 game library with some notable classics such as Perfect Dark (my first game) Star Fox 64, Mario 64, Ocarina of Time and Golden Eye. I must say that the system looks much better on my 20 inch consumer grade CRT I got back in 2002 than on the big screen. I can see that the Nintendo 64 may not be the best retro system for this kind of setup as even with the RGB, the deblur and the OSSC it still does not look great. I am glad I got this done though as now I have access to some great game from the early 3D era that I can stream on my channel. I would not recommend that others do what I did though.
- Old Dell Desktop (Retro PC)
After spending way too much time watching YouTube channels like LGR and 8-bit Guy I decided I wanted a Retro Computer of my own so I bought an old Dell Desktop from a thrift store and I later went on Ebay to get a matching Dell CRT Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, Set of Desktop Speakers, as well as some RAM and a Graphics Card. I spent too much money on this project and the result is that I was sent the Wrong Ram (I did get a refund from) the speakers did not come with the AC Adapter (on me for not carefully reading the listing) and when I bought a separate plug the speakers still did not work, and a Graphics card that also did not work plus the HDD on the desktop is way too loud and finally the Monitor does not rest flat on its stand. I have after months finally started to address some of these problems but this is going to be a more long term project over the course of 2021 that may include downgrading from Windows XP to 98 for better MS-DOS support. I don't regret starting this project but I do wish I had been smarter about what stuff I got and from where.
- Razer Kishi Phone Controller
I am a Game Pass Ultimate (I may have mentioned that already) and as such I have access to X-Cloud, the gaming streaming service for phones and such and I also had to buy a new phone this past year that has USB-C so I went a nd bought a Razer Kishi Phone Controller to give game streaming a try. It is a pretty good controller for the most part and it was $80 (I did not get the one with the Xbox One button color coding as that would have been extra). This is a wired controller that goes on the sides of the phone Joy-con style and has 4 face buttons, 4 shoulder buttons, two analogue sticks, start and select buttons and a D-pad. It snaps on to the phone pretty easily and other than some flex it feels pretty secure. I am not sure how much use it will get but if I ever switch to a phone service with unlimited data (or 5G) I might end up using it a lot.
- Xbox Series X
I wanted to get an RTX 3080 this year but I was dashed. I also wanted to get the Analogue Pocket FPGA based handheld but I missed out on the pre-order. The one thing I was able to get is the Xbox Series X. I do not yet have any Next Gen exclusive games for it but I am sure they will come. I will be getting Halo Infinite (Game Pass) and perhaps Cyberpunk 2077 (when the patch is available) but for the moment I am just enjoying paying my "old" games on this new hardware with faster load times, better frame rates and higher resolutions. I like the look of the system even though I had to rearrange my entertainment setup to accommodate the better looking vertical orientation. I like the new controller as well with its better D-pad. I can't wait to try out some games with ray tracing on it ( I bought the Control Ultimate edition and eagerly await the next gen patch) and I also still have plenty of backwards compatible stuff to look at as well.
Conclusion
I did not play as many new games this year for many reasons such as Halo being delayed, not getting a better GPU for Half-Life Alex, and my time getting taken up by some long games, both old and new (looking at you Persona). I also did not take as many risks in the games that I choose as last year. I did enjoy every game I finished though. I was unable to get as much hardware this year as I wanted (I did try but I'm not paying scalpers). I was also disappointed by the lack of the Cuphead DLC, Tunic, the state of Cyberpunk 2077 (and its lack of true next gen support) and the lack of the Super Switch that I am waiting to get (maybe 2021?). Overall this was not as good of a year in gaming for me in 2020 but it wasn't bad either. I do hope for better things from gaming though in 2021.
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