Ten Games I'd Like To Play This Year (2020 Edition)

We're now almost halfway through 2020. In the past five months I've beaten ten video games (and put an undisclosed amount of time into an eleventh). That's precisely halfway to my personal goal of twenty games beaten this year. This fact has got me asking the question: which ten games would I most like to clear from my backlog in the seven remaining months of the year? Inspired by these thoughts, I've shuffled through my Pile of Shame and picked ten titles that I think would be perfect candidates to devote my game time to between now and the end of the year. Here they all are, each with some brief thoughts explaining why they're high priority for me this year.

1. Bloodborne

My current experience with FromSoftware's output is limited to Demon's Souls (which I enjoyed quite a bit) and Dark Souls (which I enjoyed quite a bit more). While the second and third Dark Souls games are both present in my backlog, the Gothic Victorian aesthetics of Bloodborne are more alluring for me right now. As somebody who approached both Demon's Souls and Dark Souls with very defensive character builds, I suspect it will be a challenge adapting to Bloodborne's apparent focus on more aggressive, high-risk, high-reward gameplay, but it's a challenge I am willing to rise to.

2. Control

Received at the end of last year as a Christmas present from my family, Control appeals to me for a number of reasons. First off, it's developed by Remedy, the company responsible for one of my favourite action games ever in the form of Alan Wake. Second, I've seen multiple accounts comparing it to Second Sight, a sci-fi stealth-action game released on the PS2, Xbox and GameCube by Free Radical (better known as the TimeSplitters guys), which just so happens to be another of my favourite games ever. Those two factors combined have moved Control right to the top of my must-be-experienced list.

3. Final Fantasy XV

I used to call myself a Final Fantasy fan, but I've allowed my interest in the series to lapse in recent years. I was still a big enough fan to pick up Final Fantasy XV on its release in November 2016, but apparently not enough of a fan to actually play the damn thing at any point between then and now. The recent release of Final Fantasy VII Remake has brought the franchise back to the forefront of my attention, and with it a fierce desire to play this fifteenth instalment and plug the most notable gap in my Final Fantasy knowledge. I also have all the DLC episodes and Royal Edition content to experience, so I anticipate this keeping me busy for a good chunk of time.

4. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

I bought Hellblade at release primarily to support what developers Ninja Theory were attempting to accomplish with it. Partly their commitment to providing AAA-quality production values and story in smaller games at lower price points, which I think is a great way of bridging the ever-widening gulf between the AAA and indie spaces. Also their dedication to tackling the topic of mental illness in a well-researched, carefully-considered way. Hellblade is the kind of game I could completely lose myself in over a weekend. I just need an ideal weekend to present itself and give me the opportunity.

5. The Last Guardian

Similar to Final Fantasy XV, The Last Guardian has been on my Pile of Shame since its 2016 release. And considering it's a spiritual successor to ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, two of my favourite games of all time, the fact I've sidelined it up until now seems almost criminal. I hope to put this negligence right at some point by spending some time with Trico between now and the end of 2020.

6. The Last of Us

One of two Naughty Dog titles on this list, I've been spurred on to absorb more of their recent output since replaying the first three Uncharted games for my contribution to this year's Giant Bomb Community Endurance Run. I've owned The Last of Us in some form or another for about five years now, first as a pack-in with the slim PS3 I bought in 2015, and more recently the Remastered version on PS4 thanks to it being offered as a free game with PS Plus some months back. And yet, I've not taken the plunge and actually experienced it for myself. With the sequel just around the corner, there's surely no better time to check out the title heralded by so many as the best game of the last console generation.

7. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

Soul Reaver is something of an outlier on this list, being significantly older than the other nine games I've chosen to feature. It's been on my radar ever since it made the front cover of the Official PlayStation Magazine here in the UK all the way back in 1999, and twenty years later, I still haven't played it to completion. I got around halfway through the game some years ago, but my playthrough was hindered by a scratched disc and despite subsequently picking it up digitally on the PlayStation Store, I've never returned to it. Putting it simply, this is my "now or never" game - if I don't make a point of playing it now, I'm not sure I ever will.

8. The Outer Worlds

I have a lot of respect for Obsidian. I'm one of those people who considers Fallout: New Vegas to be superior to Fallout 3, primarily on account of its story and the way it tells it, and I liked Alpha Protocol in spite of its many flaws. So on hearing that the folks behind it were working on a spiritual successor with more of a sci-fi vibe, The Outer Worlds went pretty much straight to the top of my wishlist. After a failed attempt to get back into Fallout 4 earlier this year (a game that I'm now perfectly content to write off as one that I'll never play to completion), I'm keen to experience a first-person RPG done right before the year is out. From where I'm sitting, The Outer Worlds seems like the perfect candidate.

9. Transistor

Supergiant's Bastion is one of my favourite action RPGs thanks to its tight gameplay, fantastic story delivery, and unforgettable score by composer Darren Korb. So naturally I was hyped for Transistor, a pseudo-sequel with a cyber-punk aesthetic and a more tactical approach to combat, as soon as pre-release info began to surface. Unfortunately I didn't own a PS4 at the time, so I had to pass up the opportunity to play the game at launch. I've since acquired a console and the game to play it on, but for reasons unknown I haven't bitten the bullet just yet. This is my commitment to doing so at some point in the next seven months.

10. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

As I outlined above in The Last of Us's entry, replaying the first three Uncharted games last month has left me eager to experience more of Naughty Dog's subsequent output. With Nathan Drake's adventure only three-quarters done at this point, it would be remiss of me not to see it through to its conclusion before the year closes out. Considering Uncharted 3 seems to put a nice bow on things, I'm curious (and not a little apprehensive) to find out how this coda builds on the original trilogy and continues Nate's story.

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There we have it - ten games I'd like to get to before we move into 2021. I realise that posting publicly about this sort of thing makes me accountable for where I go from here. To that end, I'll be looking to check in every now and then between now and the end of December to report on my progress. I hope everyone out there is doing well and staying safe. Take care folks, and I'll see you around.

Daniel

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Currently playing - Animal Crossing: New Horizons (NSw)