52 games in one year is no easy feat, let me tell you. Doing so with only 2020 games is even tougher. Please note that ranking this many games becomes completely arbitrary at a certain point so I recommend you read the blurb next to the game rather than focus too much on what number I placed it at. At the very end of the list are the games that I played but did not finish. I also provided a write up for those if you are interested in reading why I didn't finish them.
Played on Switch
This game fucked me up something fierce for a minute after I first completed it. It is an incredibly bleak game that demanded I grapple with the worldview it presents and articulate a rebuttal, or otherwise accept its view of the world as the truth. And it was tough, because a part of me does feel it. This game sees you playing as a contract killer. Your job is literally to hurt people, and hurt many people you do as you play through the stylized shooting sections to make your escape after killing your target. In between contracts you are free to do what you will in the open world. Killing people clearly pays well because you never have to worry about money in the open world. Buy as many drinks as you want, go to the movies, get a pack of cigarettes, visit a museum, you can always afford it. But however you choose to spend your time, it is never thrilling or fun. It is melancholy as fuck, but the game forces you to engage with this in between the shoot out sessions. And the shootout sessions themselves get incredibly repetitive as well, to the point where you ask yourself "what the fuck is the point of any of this?"
Played on PC
One of the best, most well realized worlds I have ever seen in a game. Wintermoor Tactics Club is able to perfectly set the scene with a cast of characters and art style that completely bring the school of Wintermoor Academy to life in a way most other games never get close to achieving. A large cast of characters and some fantastic dialogue are tied together with a unique art style and killer soundtrack. The story is by far the main hook in this game, and while the main story of a snowball tournament between all the school clubs will always be the same, there are a lot of choices available that help add that extra personalized touch to the game. The main gameplay is played as a standard tactics game, through the lens of a D&D stand in. The gameplay is usually fairly simple but it is still a fun way to break up the story segments. The protagonists each bring about a unique gameplay type with lots of customization, and I throughly enjoyed picking out a unique load out for any given mission. I am a slow reader, and I ended up doing all the side quests, which made me clock in a final time of a little over 14 hours before I saw the credits. I loved every second of my time with this game.
Played on Xbox One X
Love the story, soundtrack, and characters. This game does a wonderful job at world building and is not shy about being completely queer. The protagonists are wonderfully developed and the story kept me engaged the whole way through. The tap-timing based combat can be frustrating at times but every once in a while I would fumble terribly and be forced to use items which I never do in these types of games so that is huge plus.
Played on iOS (iPad Air)
A narrative driven game that puts a spin on dialogue choices. This love story set during the cold war is completely brought to life through some amazing voice acting that helps bring the minimalist art style to life. Dialogue choices are selected based on emotions so you are never quite sure exactly what you are going to say, but I got a shaky grasp on it by the end of it. By the end of the experience I'm sure some people will be frustrated with the choice system but I loved what they did with it.
Played on Switch
I love love love me some grindhouse, and Huntdown is able to beautifully capture that aesthetic in every way. I played through the whole thing in coop and it was an incredible experience. We played through it on hard and while the game was definetly tough, it was also fair. Deaths (and we died a lot of times) were always the result of player error and encouraged us to always keep trying. Even the toughest encounters never felt hopeless. I also very much appreciated the generous checkpoint system which removed any frustrations from the game, even as we would inch ever closer to a half hour spent on a single stage. And speaking of stages, each stage ends with a completely unique boss fight and they are all incredible.
Played on PC
An incredibly engrossing visual novel about a record that lets you travel through time. The game completely sucked me immediately and I was constantly eager to learn more of the mystery that was set up. Plenty of choices to make along the way with some great tunes to boot. Plus the visuals are top notch, with each image a wonderful work of art.
Played on Switch
A wonderful experience that perfectly captures those "golden moments" feelings in life where everything is just going right. You are surrounded by people you care about and everyone is just happy. The world can be a really cynical place but it is these moments that make the rest of the bullshit worth it. And this game is able to encapsulate that wonderfully. As I was playing this I kept bringing myself back to Robert Frost. Yes it is true that "Nothing Gold Can Stay", but that doesn't mean you won't find more gold in the future.
Played on Switch
What if Shadow of the Colossus but with guns and it is a bullet hell game? Normally not my cup of tea but I liked the art style, I heard there were accessibility options to lower the difficulty, and 18 bosses didn't seem like too much of a commitment. It starts out tough, and outside of one boss fight, feels fair which has caused me to keep the difficulty unchanged. There is a world to explore and for the most part you can go in whatever order you want. There are also several upgrades to pick up which make the game easier.
Played on PC
I knew that this was a visual novel going in but it was a lot less interactive than I was expecting. Outside of making the occasional cup of coffee, there is no player agency. That said, I enjoyed this experience for what it was, and absolutely loved all the stories. It does an absolutely fantastic job of creating a real cozy atmosphere with the visuals and lofi soundtrack. It gives the feeling of a warm drink on a cold rainy night.
Played on Switch
Well this game is certainly something. A stylish as hell side scrolling adventure game that sees you exercising demons. It is full of stupid pop culture references but isn't obnoxious about it which I appreciated. The combat is a unique real time "find the matching symbols" system that works way better than it has any right to. The story really ties it all together. It is stupid and over the top goofy but makes no apologies as it takes you through the world. Anyway, everything about this game felt like it was speaking to me personally and I was gutted when it was over after only about 2 hours. I am eagerly awaiting the next game (games?) in this franchise and will be sad forever if it ends up being a one and done.
Played on Xbox One X
Played through the whole thing in coop. The story and characters are all obnoxious as hell in the most charming way. Absolutely love the art style and over the top cartoon nature of the whole thing. The game is much much tougher than the visuals would suggest. It is way tougher than the bright cartoon graphics would suggest with my brother and I dying many a time before finally reaching the end. We really enjoyed all of the variety present in the game, you are never doing the same thing for very long but as someone with eclectic taste I loved the constant genre changes.
Played on Switch
By far the most addicting game of 2020 if nothing else. A rouge like with permanent upgrades (in addition to temporary ones) where every death keeps the story moving forward makes for an incredibly addicting loop whereby I was constantly telling myself "just one more run," a dangerous thing when working from home (this game may or may not have caused me to sleep in and miss a meeting at work because I stayed up late playing). Progress is constant and even now, 80 hours in, long after I have seen the credits roll, I am still completing side quests and the story just keeps going. And it remains interesting an engaging. Huge kudos for the design of the characters and the voice actors that bring them to life, this is going to be the version of the Greek pantheon against whom all others shall be judged for some time. My one complaint is that each run takes anywhere from 30-50 minutes which feels just a bit too long, especially when I mainly just want to continue progressing the story.
Played on iOS (iPad Air)
I absolutely love everything about this game. The art style and music do an incredible job of creating a creepy, eery atmosphere that is wonderfully complemented by the hilarious dialogue. A wonderful amalgamation of Edgar Alan Poe, Tim Burton, and Stephen King's It. Hits a wide range of emotions before it is over.
Played on Switch
Have played through twice already, both times on hard in coop with my brother. Absolutely love it. Art style is beautiful, soundtrack is fire, and the gameplay is surprisingly varied and deep with none of the enemies feeling busted or "cheap".
Played on iOS (iPad Air)
Really fun, short puzzle game that does an incredible job at guiding players through a variety of different puzzle types with no instructions or dialogue. The puzzles provide a nice challenge that make you feel smart when you solve them but are never rip your hair out difficult. The story elements are pretty damn light until the very end when it finally clicks and leaves you feeling sad.
Played on Switch
Played this on the Switch, and the performance is more than a little rough, with some terrible draw distances, occasional frame rate drops, and the soundtrack disappearing. That said, it is still a really really fun game to play through. You don't see open world's as well realized as this without any combat, so kudos for sticking to that. Looking at footage of this game running on the other consoles/PC is like looking at a completely different game, and yet I still really enjoyed my experience on Switch playing it exclusively in handheld mode, knocking out a few deliveries here and there. The art direction is great and the protagonist Rania does a great job of keeping the player engaged with her dialogue as she is out and about making deliveries.
Played on Switch
It looked like bomber man, had coop, and good reviews on Steam, so we figured why not? It is an incredibly well done game that doesn't overstay its welcome. Gameplay is super simple, either destroy all the blocks or destroy all the enemies in a level before time runs out. Creative enemies and level layouts make for a fun time, and we ended up burning through all 50 levels in one sitting. There are boss fights which are neat although RNG in where boxes spawn make some of them harder than they need to be. Overall the game perfectly delivers on what it promises.
Played on Xbox One X
A lot more action heavy than the Resident Evil 2 remake but that was totally OK by me. None of the locations are as memorable as the ones in the last game but I appreciated the bigger emphasis on combat and the plentiful nature of ammo. That said, zombies still take way too many headshots to kill. I'm here unloading 10 shots to the head at point blank range before they go down. I had never played the original and throughly enjoyed my time with this one. Plus those graphics look damn pretty.
Played on iOS (iPad Air)
Super stylish game with a hilarious story. The graphics are the real standout with the best eye candy I have seen in a game so far this year. The story of a cosmonaut explaining what happened to the nuclear bomb he was sent to the center of the earth with provides an incredibly entertaining story with some damn great banter. The gameplay itself is the only thing holding this back. This game is clearly focused on being a vehicle for storytelling/visuals but rather than create a traditional "walking simulator" they made it a simple platformer with the occasional stealth section but it feels so incredibly unpolished compared to everything else it is disappointing. That said, it isn't offensively bad, and the game moves at a solid pace so it is over before it overstays its welcome.
Played on iOS (iPad Air)
An incredibly video-gamey video game. Feels reminiscent of old PS2 games but it is definitely taking cues from modern games. I'm not a huge Samurai Jack fan, hell I've only seen a few episodes, but the game still grabbed me. It is a straight forward linear action game that plays pretty much as you would expect it to. There is a weapon degradation system but honestly the weapons all last a really long time, unlike something like Breath of the Wild where they shatter every three hits. Even better is that when weapons break they give experience, encouraging you to use and break your weapons since you are rewarded. Plus your default sword never breaks and you can also fight hand to hand at all times. I really hope Nintendo is taking notes for the next Zelda game because this game handles the weapon system soooo much better. Anyway, I knocked a point off because it sorta runs out of steam by the end. The most interesting boss fights and settings are all in the first half, and by the time you reach the last two or three worlds it just sort of feels like they ran out of ideas. Luckily the game only takes about 7 hours so it just narrowly avoids overstaying its welcome. I played through it on hard and it provided a nice challenge with me having to keep an eye on my health and use items regularly. I can see myself possibly going back to it in the future to tackle the unlocked hardest difficulty. It also made me want to check out the show, so the game clearly did some stuff right.
Played on iOS (iPad Air)
A hack and slash game where you play as a kid wielding a giant sword. The controls are clunky in an intentional way and but it is charming once you get a handle on it. Chopping stuff up remains satisfying the whole way through and there cosmetic upgrades to unlock, along with side quests and challenges to complete. There are a few puzzles scattered about but they don't start getting tricky until the end, and they are never frustrating. Love the aesthetic, love the gameplay, and love the cast of characters. It is a simple game, but it executes on what it tries to do perfectly.
Played on PC
Absolutely gorgeous art style with some light and fun point and click puzzle goodness. Nothing particularly deep, profound, or surprising with the story but it is beautiful none the less.
Played on PC
It was a free puzzle game, so figured I might as well check it out. Story is goofy anime nonsense about a guy going into hell to form a demon harem. The art style is charming and the puzzles are fun little challenges. Only takes about an hour or so to beat and is completely free so it is well worth checking out.
Played on iOS (iPad Air)
If I am being completely honest, throughout most of my time playing this game I was sort of whatever about the whole thing. The Nick Jr. art style and babby tier puzzles made me feel like I was playing a game designed for literal children. But then you get to the end and it was like the game just started speaking directly to me. I'm not sure I have ever seen a game pull off an ending this great that retroactively made the whole game better, although your mileage may vary in terms of how much you care. A surprisingly hopeful and heart warming game.
Played on PC
Super short rougelite where you have a gun that holds exactly one bullet and have to constantly pick that bullet back up to reload. It is a simple concept executed beautifully as you make your way down the intestines of a whale. Levels are randomly generated but there are never very many enemies on screen, although it is still easy to get overwhelmed if you lose track of your bullet. Absolutely loved my time with it although it only took me about 90 minutes to get 100% and see the credits role.
Played on iOS (iPad Air)
This is the game that made me realize that it isn't that I dislike rougelikes as a genre, it is that I just don't like difficult rougelikes. Roundguard is a fairly easy, casual rougelike with Peggle style gameplay. I have gone through multiple runs already and will likely go through more because it is hella fun.
Played on Switch
Fun and short little game with a nice art style. Story is bleak but I appreciated the options for how to handle any given situation as well as the multiple endings.
Played on Xbox One X
An awesome throwback to the types of random PS2 games you would see on store shelves, much like Samurai Jack. Gameplay is balanced between platforming and combat with a few other gameplay variations thrown in to shake things up. The location variety is great and getting a new weapon after each boss helps keep the combat from feeling stale. The boss battles in particular feel really well done. While there is an excellent narrator who speaks between missions, the characters themselves do not have voice acting which is more than a bit disappointing. Overall it is not the tightest game experience ever but I still really enjoyed the time I spent with it.
Played on iOS (iPad Air)
An interactive novel that is creative with how it does interactivity and is translated beautifully to touch controls. The story of how a trans woman spends her December in 1993 is juxtaposed with an astronaut trying to stop the end of the world. The former is an incredibly engrossing rollercoaster of emotions that mostly just left me feeling angry. The later is ultimately undercooked and just serves to add unnecessary confusion and distraction from the main plot. All in all a well made story. If you like these types of games, or are looking for a game with a good queer story, this one is worth checking out.
Played on Switch
Hadn't played any of the previous ones of these, but still decided to pick it up anyway. Played through the story with my brother and found it really really fun. It starts off too easy but by the time you reach the last two towers the game starts to feel a lot more challenging. You get one upgrade every time you win a match in a the tower, and the towers are anywhere from 10-50 matches long, with bosses scattered throughout them. Feels like a much less intense Smash Bros which is great. Also Lucha Kirby is officially one of my favorite video game characters ever.
Played on PC
Mr. Boop (the comic strip) has quickly become one of my favorite things ever. It is a hilarious comic strip series that you should all check out. This point and click adventure game will do absolutely nothing for you if you are not already invested in the series, but for fans of Mr. Boop, it is a nice way to spend 10 minutes.
Played on iOS (iPhone SE)
Incredibly short point and click adventure with fairly simple puzzles that never had me banging my head against the wall. The touch controls worked perfectly and I appreciated the inclusion of voice acting.
Played on Switch
It is more Pirate Warriors. Some of the changes they made are great. I love characters all being properly scaled and in proportion, making it so you can play as a giant like White Beard or a tiny guy like Zoro. The addition of transformations is excellent but it is a huge bummer that they did not go farther with it. Yes, it is great that Luffy can now jump into Bounce Man or Snake Man form but what about the other characters that would have benefited? Why can I not play as Monster Chopper or the Franky Robot or Carrot's Werehog form? The other big addition, making characters that can actually fly, fly, is neat in theory but in practice the camera struggles too much to keep up. Played through the whole story in solo and the original Wano story arc is dumb as shit and actively insulting. Felt like a huge waste of time. That said I also tried out the story on the hardest difficulty with my brother and it became a brand new game. Suddenly the swarm of mindless enemies are actually doing significant damage with each bullet they shoot and you have to manage your health and dodge around. A lot of fun and definitely something I will keep in mind for other warriors games. Other than the story mode, there is a mission mode but it isn't nearly as robust as it was in the previous game. All told this game is significantly lighter on content than the previous Pirate Warriors game and other "Warriors" games but that didn't bother me too much since I wasn't looking for a forever game with this.
Played on PC
Super short hack and slash game that is clearly more of a proof of concept than anything else, but damn if it isn't a ton of fun to play through. I ran through the whole thing in about an hour but it was fun the entire time.
Played on Switch
Played through with my brother in coop. Fun and frustrating, although significantly easier and less stressful than Overcooked. The first few houses feel a little too simple but they get entertainingly more complex requiring more coordination as you progress.
Played on iOS (iPad)
A really beautiful story about the human tendency to overthink things. The puzzles were serviceable and inoffensive, although not particularly exciting or engaging. That said, the game is pretty short and the story kept me throughly engaged and made me want to keep pushing through. Plus, the art style is adorable.
Played on Switch
An NES style side scroller with coop and a neat style were enough to get me to check it out. The first third of this game is disappointingly simple, with you being able to just run to the exit and just tank hits from bosses as you hit them to death. It gets better after that, and eventually the game becomes a legitimate platformer full of pits of death. It becomes a lot more fun at that point, and some of the bosses become more creative. That said the combat remains disappointingly simple and basic with just a simple slash as your sole attack. Some variety in the gameplay would have done wonders. Also for as creative and beautiful as the art style and enemy design is, the story is basically non existent which is disappointing.
Played on Xbox One X
I wanted to like this more than I did. The idea of playing as a horror movie monster as you wreck shit is appealing as hell and for the most part it delivers on that. Grabbing and eating people is incredibly fun and they do some neat things with the additional powers you unlock as you progress. Unfortunately the game is also a metroidvania, with you unlocking new areas with new abilities. Plenty of backtracking abound which wouldn't be a bad thing if there was a map. But since there isn't, it can be frustrating occasionally figuring out the right way to go. The game does a decent job of nudging you in the right direction but by the end I literally had to look up a guide to figure out how to beat the game. I had already completed the last big encounters and puzzles but I could not for the life of me figure out the correct corridor to trigger the ending. That is fucked. There are also a few sections where a certain thing wouldn't trigger and I would have to reload a save to make it trigger, which is also unfortunate. It sucks because it holds back a really solid game with some unique and fun mechanics.
Played on PC
Really interesting, short game where you play as the grim reaping going through paperwork and decide who lives and who dies. My initial run took about 3 hours and it is clear this is a game intended to be replayed multiple times. The repetitive soundtrack is more than a little disappointing but I appreciated the voice acting.
Played on PC
Bow and arrows remain one of the most fun video game weapons of all time. I loved the setting and the gameplay, but damn is this game short as hell. It takes less than an hour to complete, but it is fun the whole way through. Also neat is that not only does the game have an environmentalist message, but the developers are donating 80% of the revenue from this game to conservation charities. This is the first game from Studio Mutiny, and they are definitely someone to keep an eye out for in the future.
Played on Switch
After almost 40 hours playing this game, completing every puzzle (including the optional ones) I can confidently say I do not very much like picross style puzzles. By about the half way point I was honestly sick of the puzzles and only slogged my way through them because of the story. Each case grants access to more story but only if you get an "S rank" which means I had to play through without using the "solve this puzzle for me" assists that I totally would have used if they weren't gating that content. This in turn caused me to resent the game more because I hate the puzzles. I probably should have just gotten over it and looked up the bonus story stuff on youtube but I just sort of got stuck in a sunk cost fallacy since I have already pumped more than 20 hours into this game.
As you can see, it took me a minute to beat this game, and there were a lot of breaks in between. I got this game at launch (in March) and did not finish it until November. The story is what kept me going. The characters are all wonderful as is the design of the characters. There is a 5/5 visual novel here, it is just unfortunately hidden behind hours of picross puzzles.
Played on Switch
An in your face leftest game. The story is excellently told and the gameplay is perfect, with it being a side scrolling beatem up that is also partially Pikmin, with you liberating new businesses and gaining new comrades as you continue down the street. You can identify the play character because they have a flag, and if you lose all your health a new character gets the flag and you play as them. When playing coop items that are picked up such as molotov's and bricks are shared between both players which is a really nice touch. The details in this game are really really well done, but unfortunately the game itself is a lot more rough. Vehicle segments see the frame rate drop to a crawl and many of the upgrades and items are hidden behind doing well in levels, which is a bummer. We never did particularly well thus we did not get to engage in any variety that comes from the unlocked stuff. Really looking forward to seeing what comes next from this team though, because this game gets pretty dang close to greatness.
Played on Switch
I wanted to like this game so badly. I still do. The concept sounds incredible. A coop bullet hell game where players have one "bullet" (a star) that always flies from one to the other and hits anything in its path. Players have to navigate the screen cooperatively to take out all the enemies. Even typing it out that sounds incredible. On top of that the story is a Sailor Moon inspired magical girl adventure that fully embraces its queer themes. As much as it pains me, the game just doesn't live up to its promise. :(
To start off with, the whole thing feels cheap. The sound design, enemy design, overall gameplay visuals, everything about it is outside of the design of the protagonists bland. The main story is stupid nonsense that just keeps constantly interrupting gameplay and going on and on, plus there is no voice acting which means they expect people to just read out a metric shit ton of text that says absolutely nothing. In a game designed around couch coop. Like what the fuck were they thinking? The enemies are completely uninspired, as are the backgrounds you fight on.
All of that would be forgivable if the game lived up to the gameplay promise of a coop bullet hell game of pong. But it fails at that too. The game moves really really slowly. Bullets come slowly and you are never particularly overwhelmed with them. The star that moves between the players also moves really slowly, even when you get it to full speed. The only challenging part comes from hitting enemies that go into a corner that necessitates someone getting hit to reach them, or enemies spawning right on top of you. It bums me out that this game isn't better because the concept and character designs is so neat, and it is so unashamedly queer. But literally everything else about this game is a dud. I really hope someone takes this concept and does it justice, because there is the spark of something really great here.
Played on Switch
Hörberg Productions releases some really solid games. I really enjoyed my time with Gunman Clive and Mechstermination Force so of course I picked this up without any hesitation. It was incredibly disappointing. The visuals are hella stylish but the gameplay is bland as can be. Comparisons to Streets of Rage 4 are obviously going to end badly for this game but it also compares poorly to the original River City Ransom (which I also played this year). A unique visual style just isn't enough. The gameplay feels stiff, combat too basic, and worst of all the enemies deal way too much damage, although playing through in coop helped make sure we could beat it on our second try. It is also short as hell, coming in at only 4 levels. It was only $5 but maybe my expectations were too high based on the developers previous work.
Played on PC
A puzzle platform where you you need to reach the exit door in a series of rooms. The gimmick is that you jump incredibly high, but after each jump you break one of your legs (so you only get two jumps per level). It starts out fun enough, and I enjoyed the puzzle aspects of trying to figure out how to complete the stages, but what I did not like was that levels started to require more and more precise jumps that were more frustrating than fun. It is super short and "free" (name your own price) on itch.io so y'all can try it out if you would like.
Played on iOS (iPad Air)
The game was pretty much entirely made by one dude which is undeniably hella impressive and what made me interested to try it. Upon playing it, it immediately reminded me of What Remains of Edith Finch. You go through the world and play little light mini games to progress the story. The story comes one sentence at a time and fills up a book you carry. The story is part poetry, part philosophy, and all very positive and optimistic. I didn't personally find any of it particularly profound or insightful, but it was fine I guess. There were more than a few things that unfortunately kept me from liking it. The biggest is the camera and art style, which is all hand drawn black and white stuff, that gave me a headache during certain sections. The second is the soundtrack, which I found to be bland, repetitive and at times annoying. It is clearly meant to be soothing but felt trite. Third, is that there is a lot of optional stuff scattered off to the side that you have to look for (additional optional pages to complete the book). On the one hand, this game clearly wants to be a relaxing, almost meditative experience. On the other hand they have scattered all these secrets throughout the world and the black and white line heavy art style makes for quite the obnoxious pixel hunt that gave me a wicked headache so I ended up giving up on exploring and just did the main quest. I think less would have been more with this game, and so while this game is an undeniably impressive accomplishment, I find the finished product to be less than the sum of its parts.
Played on iOS (iPad Air)
This one was very much a curiosity playthrough more than anything. I have been playing through a lot of Apple Arcade stuff and liking a lot of it. However, I have noticed that the games I enjoy typically get lower reviews than the stuff I look at and say "that looks like shovelware." So I tried this game out, and it is pretty much what I expected: a mediocre quasi-runner platformer with lots of collectables. It actually plays better with touch controls than it does with a normal controller. Anyway, I got 100% (beating everything including new game +) and can confidently say that it was not very good. But there are tons of reviews praising it, while bashing something like Neversong for being too complicated or not having enough instructions. So while I did not particularly enjoy my time with this game very much, it did make me appreciate just how varied the audience for mobile games is. Apple has got an incredibly difficult job of catering to a very diverse audience of people with Apple Arcade.
Played on iOS
Feels like a cross between Shadow of the Colossus and Breath of the Wild, with an awesome soundtrack to boot. There is fun to be had with the boss fights and the puzzles, much less in navigating the open world. The lack of a map makes traversal way more frustrating than it needs to be. You are able to use a radar vision to ping the interactive points on a map, the problem is everything glows yellow so I have no way of knowing if it is a puzzle that will let me progress or just a collectable that I have zero interest in collecting. The story itself was trite, feeling whole derivative and lacking any kind of originality or voice of its own. And speaking of voices, I actually laughed during the credits when I saw that the only two voice actors were Laura Bailey and Troy Baker. Come on, do better.
Played on Switch
Yet another game to add to the "close to greatness" pile. The concept seemed neat, the trailer seemed solid, and the reviews were good and Steam. Looked like an awesome game to play through in coop. Unfortunately I did not check the Switch reviews, and so was surprised and bummed to find that it did not support the pro controller. Instead each player had to use half a joy con on its side, and the L+R buttons were the ones used to jump and grab. No option whatsoever to remap the controls. The game is physically painful to play after a bit which sucks because the physics and momentum are fun. That said the bosses are straight up busted in coop. The first and last boss in particular are near impossible with two players. Or maybe they are impossible. We literally spent over two hours banging our head against the final boss and her one hit kill homing projectiles, where whenever one player was hit meant game over for both. We ended up switching to single player and beat it easily. Tried it once on handheld mode and the controls are better making it once again easy to stomp the final boss. The characters and levels are great. The swinging and climbing is fun as hell. The story, while not as funny as it wants to be, is amusing enough. It was so, so, so fucking close to greatness and they fucked it up by not adding controller options or properly balancing it for coop. :/
Played on Switch
I had a lot of fun with this one, but it took me months to beat it. I bought the game at launch and ended up hitting a hard wall somewhat early on where a level requires you to hit a high score in a certain time limit. The score required was way too high and a patch was promised. By the time it came out I stopped giving a shit and lost all momentum. I picked it up again months later but the energy and excitement was gone and I was just playing through it to reach the end. Also the anime shit gets turned up to 11 which didn't do the game any favors either. And the lack of voice acting really sucks because the game has to pause mid mission constantly for you to read the next story beat that is supposed to be transmitted straight to the protagonists headset. There is the foundation of something great here, but then I have heard this is similar to another game called "Luftrausers" from 2014 (which I never played) which makes the shortcomings much less forgivable. Anyway, my personal experience was much more sour than it would have been if I had played it post patch but what can you do.
Played on Switch
I bought this game when it came out and was quickly over it. The trailer looked fantastic and I was excited for the online mode which seemed to promise a return to the awesomeness that was 2010's Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit. However even when the game just came out and the online was DOA. Like, I was literally unable to join a single game despite multiple attempts. My brother and I nonetheless played through all four grand prix events and holy shit is the AI terrible. Perhaps the worst rubber banding I have ever seen in a video game ever. Anyway, we won all four cups and pretty much feel done with the game. Felt like a complete waste of money. :(
Played on iOS (iPad Air)
I was having a ton of fun with this, traveling around, shooting enemies, doing side quests and upgrading my ship. That is, until I got to a point where I literally could no longer do a side quest because of the way the level generated, there was no path to the location I was supposed to reach. The levels are procedurally generated and so I was simply shit out of luck because I got a bad world build. Completely sucked the wind out of my sails, and I was already nearly two hours in and had no interest in restarting. I ended up just mainlining the story which was fine I guess but the whole thing was a huge wet blanket on what started off as such an awesome experience. :(
Played on Switch - DID NOT FINISH -
Currently playing through, will likely finish before the end of the year. I love the visuals and the banter between the gods is great. The gameplay itself is serviceable but plain which is unfortunate given how great the setting and style are.
Played on Switch - DID NOT FINISH -
Currently playing on Switch in coop with my brother. No way I finish this in 2020 but that is ok, I'm in no rush and I'm enjoying it. Frame rate drops to a slide show during certain segments which is unfortunate but the game is still really fun to play. Easily one of my favorite Warriors games from a gameplay perspective, and by far the best story mode in one of these.
Played on PC - DID NOT FINISH -
I must have tried playing this a half dozen times but every single time it left me feeling sick. I think it is just that I get motion sickness from first person games if I am too close to the screen (this is the same reason I can never get into VR). Anyway, the game has a really slow start and there are a ton of other games out there to play so I eventually came to terms with just dropping it.
Played on iOS (iPad Air) - DID NOT FINISH -
I played for a decent amount of time (a few hours) but the map just kept getting bigger and bigger and I did not find the story stuff as cute as the developer clearly did. The puzzles were getting more and more challenging with each island taking me longer that the last as I progressed. I've never been the biggest puzzle game fan and this game is clearly huge so I ended up dropping it. Don't see myself ever coming back to it.
Played on iOS (iPad Air) - DID NOT FINISH -
Played for a bit but didn't really care for it. The story is anime as fuck and while the premise of a coffee shop for both the living and the dead sounded cool the game did nothing with that in the first chapter. There is also barely any interactivity so without any story beats keeping me hooked I didn't really see a reason to keep going.
Played on Xbox One X - DID NOT FINISH -
Just absolutely could not get into this. The story itself was interesting enough but the moment to moment interactive segments were just absolutely painful. This game needed either more interactivity or less. Walking around, deciding what kind of soap I want or if I want soda or water when it makes no impact on anything whatsoever is dumb. The walking feels stiff and I am just doing that to get to the next plot point. So what the hell is the point? If the story is the main star here, either give me more interactivity that connects to it, like Edith Finch or The Collage Atlas, or give me less interactivity, like Coffee Talk or If Found. As it stands the walking around and clicking on stuff, the majority of which says nothing interesting, clever, meaningful, or otherwise entertaining, is not fun. Quantic Dream games have their share of issues but at least you are doing entertaining stuff and it feels like there are stakes, even when it is similar to what is in Tell Me Why. I made past the grocery store and into the police station but I have absolutely zero interest to keep going. There are way too many good games out there this year and I have 0 interest in wasting any more hours with this.
