Games I Finished in 2020, Part 1
My focus for this year is to play some of the long RPGs in the ol' backlog.
List items
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I played 98% of this game throughout 2019, but finished the final boss at the beginning of this year. Great SMT game, my only gripe is that navigating the overworld map is often confusing. Went for a Chaos ending for once, I figured since there's a sequel (Apocalypse) that canonically uses that ending, it would be cool to see.
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Fun little game. Wish there was a little more meat to it, seems more focused on playing elegantly and quickly than I would like.
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A good entry in this series. I liked the tweak of having one big map that you take different routes through, depending on the mission.
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This game really pulls off the storybook aesthetic. I love the visual style (reminds me of Dokuro, if anyone played that) and music. Wish some of the puzzles were a little harder. The game does get tricky by the end, just wish more of it had been that level of difficulty.
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Really fun game, killer soundtrack.
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Better than the first game, fun bit of arcade shootin'.
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Definitely not as good as the first two games, plus the boss fights are obnoxious.
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I was really impressed with this game. It has the game mechanics of something like Don't Starve but with an actual narrative (also not a lot of games where you play as a mother, which was refreshing). The art style is very evocative as well.
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Random game to play through, but I was morbidly curious about it. Never played any of the 3D Castlevania games on PS2 before. The combat is actually surprisingly fun and responsive, but the overall level design and game structure is a bit of a letdown. I have since started playing the followup game (Curse of Darkness), and it already seems better in most aspects.
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Some fun and challenging puzzle design, I just wish the story stuff wrapped around it was more compelling.
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A real 180 from the half-finished 3D Trine 3, this is definitely the best of the series. I liked that they added more abilities for the Thief and Knight that could help more with puzzle solving, it used to always feel like the Wizard was the lynchpin.
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A great non-Contra Contra game. Glad to see other studios fill the void that Konami left.
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Very beautiful game.
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Had a great time with this one. Drawing works well with the motion controls, and it strikes a good balance of objectives you have to do, and more creative endeavors. My one complaint is that the game adds a bunch of cool mechanics at the end that I wish they had explored earlier.
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Really enjoyed this, even as a fair-weather Star Wars fan.
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Weird game. I did like the monster collecting / summoning aspect though.
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This was a really moving game that got me to reflect on my own mental health struggles in a meaningful way, and it really showed how fragile we all are.
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Pretty stylish Musou-type game that is rough around the edges, but it has heart, and I enjoyed it overall.
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Fun exploration-type game; the humor hit more often than not for me as well. The actual game mechanics reminded me a bit of Metroid Prime, weirdly enough.
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Don't jydge me, I enjoyed this.
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Weird little game that didn't seem to have much meat to it. I'm still not sure if I "finished" it or not???
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Another long RPG to check off the list! I really enjoyed this game, it builds on the foundation & story of the first game in a significant way. I've already started Cold Steel 3 now, hopefully I'll finish that too in the next few months.
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Barring renting the original version of Yakuza 1 with its bad dub, this is the first game in this series I ever tried to get into many years ago. I bounced off it pretty hard, with the slow start in the orphanage; coming back to this after playing a few games in the series was a much more successful endeavor this time. I'm already onto Yakuza 4 and loving it!
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Just a really fun game overall! Movement feels great.
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Played through the PS4 remake of this as a curiosity, it's a pretty okay platformer of the PS2 area with a ludicrous amount of video game references (which I was not expecting).
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Pretty decent Sonic game; I didn't hate it!
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I was really impressed with this new entry in the Darksiders franchise, It's pretty great, probably my second favorite behind the original game.
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I played the "New" revamped version of this on Switch and thought it was cute and charming and a pretty fun platformer.
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Pretty solid C64-esque throwback game.
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Not a terrible beat-em-up, definitely better than the original game (especially the checkpointing!!!). Knack 2 baby!!! (am i doing it right?)
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Matt Rorie's favorite game is in fact, quite excellent. I really enjoyed the narrative aspects and character vignettes, they make the family's struggles feel very real.
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This was honestly better than I expected, I enjoyed it quite a bit!
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This is the one numbered RE game I avoided because of all the bad reviews...they were justified. This is some bombastic action movie nonsense, packed with QTEs and poor level design. Really did not care for this (and of course the worst RE game is the longest), even after playing all the campaigns.
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This was okay...didn't really get all the hype. The actual gameplay was a little too loose for my taste, and I don't think I really understood the story.
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Really enjoyed this, having the 4 different characters worked pretty well, and their stories merge together in an interesting way. Also, Akiyama might be low-key the best character in the series, he's pretty great.
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I thought this was probably the best iteration of BurgerTime since the original. There are some classic stages, as well as puzzle-like stages, and full co-op for most everything.
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Definitely on the low end of enjoyment in terms of visual novels for me; the conceit is interesting, but the game way, way overdoes it on the pervo horny humor. I overall liked the art style, though. But there's an absurd amount of typos, which is a real no-no for a visual novel.
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Very repetitive gameplay, muddled storytelling, boring level design. Did not care for this game, luckily it was pretty short.
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I was really impressed with this game, it is a fun action adventure where you play as a mage sorta figuring herself out. You programmatically create your spells using runes on a grid that have various attributes, and it's a very cool system. There are a lot of optional puzzles with various ways to solve them, and it's always fun when you break the game in an unintended way.
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To the makers of this game: "Good Job!" There are a surprising amount of new mechanics introduced as you play, and it keeps the game feeling fresh the whole way through.
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Cool roguelike shmup, I wish the grind was a little less brutal though.
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Neat puzzle game, felt a little like BoxBoy! but not as clever.
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Surprisingly challenging, a lot of amazing combat to be had here. The multiplayer mode is also a nice surprise after the abysmally boring MP from Doom 2016, I'm more into it than I thought I would be.
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Fun little romp, not as good as RE2 Remake though.
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Really cool adventure/puzzle/exploration game. Love the look, runs fantastically on Switch, my only complaint is I wish there was more of it.
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Adventure mode in this was pretty fun, really liked the boss encounters (yes, a weird thing to say for a tennis game).
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This might be the best title for a video game ever. Also a pretty good little mystery game! They do some really cool visual effects in this game - it looks like photographs that have had a painterly texture applied to them.
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Nice looking remake, wish they had modernized the combat a bit though. Still a fun bit of nostalgia for me - there are just more full-featured remakes lately that put this one to shame in some ways.
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A brief experience, that I did not play with friends as demanded by the title. It was okay!
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Trippy Zelda-like game that I enjoyed quite a bit.
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Goofy fun times.
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Surprisingly enjoyed this game, even solo. Fun story mode, fun horde mode, and the final level is delightfully cheesy and fun.
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There's a kernel of a good game idea in here, but the platforming is stiff and the physics can be overly janky.
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Pretty fun little action adventure game. Some really nice and expressive animations.
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It's no All-Stars Transformed, I can tell you that much.
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Can't get enough picross games, clearly.
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An okay roguelite, the difficulty/progression curve is very uneven though, leading to a not a satisfying experience.
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A very strange collect-a-thon platformer...rolling around as a box and platforming is pretty fun though, especially when you have a ludicrous amount of double jumps ("unboxings").
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More Picross, yes please! Definitely one of my fav games this year, the writing & characters are top notch! It's a perfect combo of visual novel/detective game/nonograms.
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A brief, silly little game.
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Really cool game! The premise of being the AI character and solving puzzles through its perspective is really neat. The visual design is fantastic, and the storytelling is cohesive while still lending itself to an unnerving atmosphere.
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Enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Shooting is solid, and game is pretty fun. I wish less of the boss encounters relied on having a ton of minions to make them difficult though, this game loves to just overwhelm you with large numbers of enemies.
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Dug out my 360 to play this poopy game. The art style and combat are decent, but the writing is horrendous and very of the era (max 'tude and dick jokes). It also gets pretty hard at points, even on Normal, and the checkpointing is extremely unforgiving. It's not a long game, but by the end I was pretty frustrated with it.
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VERY anime in all aspects (you even get "next time on..." previews between chapters), but surprisingly earnest and passionate in its storytelling. I maybe wish there had been a higher battle to visual novel ratio, but I still really enjoyed the game overall. The characters are fun and endearing and enjoyable to spend time with.
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Way better than the original game, this fixes most of my issues across the board. Better level design & bosses, the narrative actually makes sense, and I like the mix of semi-open and linear areas coupled with a mix of shooting and stealth (that actually functions properly).
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Honestly enjoyed this, even as a very budget arcade racer. I like the mechanics regarding taking down suspects, felt a bit like NFS: Most Wanted. I finished every single career mission, so that's saying something.
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A truly bizarre side-scrolling platformer with a rad soundtrack.
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I wish this had an actual story mode like P4 Dancing, but the base gameplay is very fun and the songs are great.
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I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this visual novel (by Kemco, of all devs). It's basically the party game Werewolf crossed with a Groundhog Day-esque time looping mechanic. The writing is strong and lays out a mystery that really gets ya hooked.
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Thankfully this was a thousand times better than the Secret of Mana remake; feels like Square Enix took the complaints on that one to heart.
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Very cool XCOM x stealth game. Sorta crappy that the DLC they are selling is not part of the base game, it's sort of a bit deal narrative-wise, expanding on the cliffhanger of the original ending. Luckily the physical copy I bought included the DLC, I would have been miffed if I had to pay extra for it.
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Beat 'em up with some interesting mechanics and a cool horror aesthetic.
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Really neat puzzle platformer!
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Stealth masterpiece and my current GOTY.
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Got the urge to replay this game, still holds up surprisingly well. Love the story, VO, combat, and the game does not overstay its welcome.
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A dumb fun time that I enjoyed enough to 100% complete.
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It's like Stephen's Sausage Roll but with pipes instead of meat and not brain-bustingly difficult.
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Top-tier SMT game here. Liked the story, characters, VO, music - and the SRPG gameplay marries very well to the SMT mechanics. Only complaint might be some of the levels are pretty darn hard the first time through if you don't know the trick/enemy weaknesses.
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This kinda reminded me of Limbo a little bit, but with more twitchy platforming than puzzle-solving (although there is a little bit of that).
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What a paw-fectly fun game!
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This is a surprisingly good mix of tower defense and active gameplay.
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Charming little game with nice art and writing. I wish there was a little more to the "combat" sections though.
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This game rules, I have literally zero criticisms besides "I wish it was longer because I was having so much fun". The locomotion of your creature just feels so good, you get a ton of cool upgrades that are applicable to both combat and puzzles, and the level design is both clever and clear to the player.
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Really enjoyed this, very "cozy" game for me. Nice pixel art, fun 2D platformer, good music, and an interesting weapon system.
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Was nice to play through Rondo and SotN (I know, I know) for the first time. SotN still totally plays well in 2020 and looks great to boot. Really funny to have played through so many games inspired by it and then go back to the origin point. And Rondo is definitely the best of the OG style Castevanias I have played.
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A fun, funny, pleasant game that was really what I needed this year. Much better than the last couple Paper Mario games.
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A pretty mediocre platformer, nothing much to write home about.
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Cool game wearing its Sonic inspiration on its sleeve.
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Finally completed all of this series, hurray! This might be tied w/zero as my favorite, it is a very ambitious entry that has a lot of elaborate and funny side content.
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Man, I ended up liking this game a lot more than I expected. It's a little rough around the edges, but it's a meaty game with fun combat and multiple huge maps to explore. The main character is very earnest in her quest, and it comes across as genuine rather than hokey, and the game does a decent job of building up a believable world.
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I finally decided to try one of these Atelier games, and I ended up really enjoying this one. It's pretty laid back, the crafting is complicated enough to be engaging, and the battle system is fast-paced & fun. I liked the characters and the story was interesting enough as well.
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I thought this game was much better than the middling reviews gave it credit for - it has a cool art style, explores the mythos of a whole culture that I was previously unfamiliar with, and has a nice sense of exploration. My only actual complaint is that the combat feels a little too loose, but in spite of that, I thought all the boss fights were still very cleverly designed.
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This is probably my favorite of the stuff Idea Factory has put out, it's an interesting combo of motifs and genres, being this weird horror JRPG/visual novel. Overall, I think I liked the scenario of the first game better, but the dungeon / battle design in this game was better.
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A surprisingly good little point and click adventure on mobile with very satisfying puzzle design.
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This is an interesting tweak on the Superhot formula that I enjoyed. The way the very end of the game is handled is fantastic, it does something that I did not think the developer's would have the gall to do...I was laughing so hard when I realized they went through with it (sorry for being vague, spoilers!!!)
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Very challenging but very fun. Love everything about it, from the look, gameplay, to music. There is a surprising amount of content that switches up the structure of the game in some really fun ways.
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This is one of those games I knew would be up my alley and have been meaning to play for quite a while. It is weird, charming, and heartwarming all at once.
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I know nothing about Touhou games, but this is a really fantastic Metroidvania with a lot of unique, cool mechanics.
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