A forgetful year for many reasons 2020 offered a lot to dislike in the real world and sadly as a PC gamer it didn't offer many outstanding experiences to distract me during 'these trying times' - though it did offer enough pleasant one's for me to make a top ten list.
Beautiful to look at, relaxing to play and emotionally loaded this game had heart and soul to it and grabbed me and my took my undivided attention in a way many games didn't in 2020. It may be a bit repetitive, it may be too long, the dialogue may not be as sharp as it wants to be. But its a very poignant and unique game with captivating concept.
Improves on the original in every way. Combat is now engaging, visually its even more stunning with some truly outstanding artwork and as far as metroidvanias go the potential tedium of backtracking is alleviated significantly by a move set that makes traversing a joy.
The whole year I was expecting to be a bland Ubisoft icon guided, checkbox ticking fare. What you get is arguably the freshest game Ubi have released in years with exploration that doesn't have UI working as you tourguide and objective that aren't found simply by pinging the map. You have to use your eyes, you need to use your brain, you need to take in the world and not be distracted by icons, messages and UI/Map clutter. It's a refreshing change of pace - coupled with a fantastic and rewarding upgrade system, responsive platforming and fun combat this game is a blast. The writing is pretty bad but at LEAST it has a personality.
The return of a great - THPS see's the Hawk return in spectacular fashion with a fiendishly generous and well crafted package. Both games are preserved, and preserved well, adding various QOL changes you'll find in later games whilst ignoring the filler. If THPS 5 was the equivalent of skateboarding in a landfill this games is the equivalent of skateboarding in heaven's half pipe.
In a world where boarding a plane is out of reach there is something strangely engrossing about a Flight Simulator - especially one that renders earth in 1:1 scale. Miss the quite frankly therapeutic experience of staring out the window down to earth whilst your headphones play music to help whisk you away from the anxieties of every day life? Flight Sim makes a pretty fantastic alternative
Coupled with THPS 2020 proved to be a good year for revelling in nostalgia. Streets of Rage 4 takes the tired old beat em up formula and refines it. It doesn't reinvent it - it doesn't add RPG elements - it doesn't add loot... not it just takes the tried and tested formula and presents it incredibly well. And for many that's all you need in a world where Beat Em Ups are often made on the cheap and have needless mechanics bolted onto it this is surprisingly refreshing.
Whilst I don't think I love this game as much as many do I still recognise it as the finest Rouge game of 2020. Great writing, fantastic presentation, responsive and meaty combat Hades offers a nice blend of traditional story telling/progression with Rouge Lite trappings. Worth seeing through to the end, even if the grind to get there did feel a bit heavy at times - thankfully the God mode will enable you to make progress if you ever feel bogged down - very considerate game design. Delightful game
Phoenix Wright meets Picross wasn't anything I thought I needed until 2020 - this light, camp and fun take on the visual novel genre may offer fairly rudimentary Picross at the start it's presentation and sheer enthusiasm will eventually carry you to a very satisfying game of picross. Wonderful presentation goes a long way and Picross is a timeless game that'll probably go on to repackaged time and time again and will likely end up on many more of these lists.
Free to play Waifu Collect-A-Thon offers a surprising amount of game and depth for free. Looks beautiful, well presented and a nice game to explore the world and tick off objectives.
A welcome escape at the start of lockdown however the tedium and the fact there felt like there was less to do in New Leaf dampened my enthusiasm as I entered the late game. Regardless of the fact those first couple of weeks were magical, apart from the Egg Bunny - Fuck the Egg Bunny
