Kayla's GOTY 2020
This list is in descending order, starting with my #10 GOTY and going down to my #1 pick. In case you forgot how numbers work.
List items
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#10 - As tired as I was of Battle Royale games at the end of 2019, Call of Duty, of all things, brought me back into it for a good 250 hours. There's no denying that the game has it's share of horrid problems, has a highly problematic publisher, and definitely isn't for everyone. I don't play it anymore, but for the time I did play it, I had a great time. If my list held any water, I wouldn't put it here, because, and I cannot emphasize this enough, fuck Activision/Blizzard.
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#9 - It's a baseball game the way I wanted. It plays solidly, has great online multiplayer, and wasn't even full price. Unfortunately, there are no real rosters, no actual MLB sponsorship, and the art style is a little silly, but it plays great. We've had a franchise going for a few months, and every time we drop in to play, I have a blast. And much like real baseball, I never feel confident that I know what I'm doing, so when really good plays happen, I feel like a wizard.
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#8 - It's Animal Crossing. 2020 has been a really uniquely shitty year, and some of the worst of it was starting right when Animal Crossing came out. It was the perfect compliment to the shitty chaos of the relentlessly pessimistic world we found ourselves in. My blood pressure might be in the thousands range, but at least I can unwind and pick weeds, fish, and decorate for a couple of hours.
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#7 - It's two of my favorite games from my childhood, together, in one good package. I really enjoyed my time with this game, and will probably go back to it from time to time. The only real downside is that it's on the EGS, and that platform is miserable.
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#6 - Specifically Tetris Effect Connected. It's the best Tetris game in the past 10 years (or perhaps ever) and this was the first time I played it. It's got a soundtrack full of bangers, great set design, great Effects, great Tetris, and great Connected. I like Tetris, but I'm not as good as I thought. It's a humbling experience, but a really good one.
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#5 - This game is dang near the perfect sequel to Spelunky. It's full of secrets, it's right at the edge of fairness, and is one of the most difficult games I've ever played. I didn't 100% it like I planned, though, so it doesn't make it higher on my list simply because it took too long for me to get good at it. Still, booting up Spelunky 2 for the first time and hearing that initial musical swell... Definitely a top moment in gaming for me. It's a masterpiece, and Derek Yu should be proud of what he's managed to do.
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#4 - Me and some friends have played Deep Rock Galactic for dozens of hours in the past 4 or 5 months. It's a highly polished game, with a lot to offer. With plenty of stuff to unlock, plenty of mission types (with more always being added), great community support and response by the devs, and solid netcode, it's just about the best co-op experience available on PC right now. It's great, and just keeps getting better! If you haven't played it, I sincerely suggest you give it a shot.
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#3 - It's not the Doom sequel some of us wanted. It doesn't hide the fact that it's a dumb video game... in fact, it embraces it. Extremely rude enemies, copious amounts of platforming, and just about the dumbest story in all of videogames are among the top complaints, but it all just adds to the experience for me. I love the difficulty, the dumb enemies, the platforming... all of it. If it weren't for the wonderful friends I have and the great times I've had with them in my next two games, this would have topped my list without a doubt... but...
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#2 - Back in 2013, I got into Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Me, my brother, and 3 of our friends grinded our way all the way to the highest rank over the next two years. After over a thousand hours of CS:GO, we stopped playing it for whatever reason. 5 years later, Valorant is released, and it's very similar in some ways, and extremely different in others. My skills have waned in the last 5 years, and that has led to large amounts of frustration... but it's not the game, it's me. And despite that frustration, I find myself wanted to play it again and improve. If anything, it's highlighting aspects about myself with which I am unhappy, and is literally helping me figure out how to not only be a better Valorant player, but a better person in general.
That being said, it's not a perfect game, but they're trying. Regular patches, map updates, new heroes, and balance changes keep things going. I imagine I'll be playing Valorant for at least a couple of years.. and maybe someday it'll replace my still on-going Rocket League addiction.
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#1 Yeah. This is the easiest choice I've ever made on a GOTY list. I normally steer clear of horror games, but the co-op nature of this is why I stuck with it. Searching for clues, knowing that at any moment the veil of safety can be ripped away... the ghost appearing behind you and whispering in your ear... the front door slamming behind you as the ghost begins it's hunt on the people still inside... it's all gold. I've neither laughed nor screamed more at any game in my adult life.
While it's a simple game at it's core, the complex set of behaviors the ghosts can exhibit leave you never feeling 100% sure of your safety. The game dares you to be confident, and every once in a while, it gets one over on you, humbling you and scaring the shit out of you at the same time. It's the most effective horror game I've played, and it was all made by one person on basically no budget. I love this game.
The first time you are hunted by the ghost, and your flashlights start to flicker, and you're all running and screaming, desperately trying to find any kind of hiding place... and one of you dies screaming at the top of your lungs -- that moment is the most perfect moment a horror game has ever had. Everybody leaves as soon as the front door unlocks, and everybody has the same feeling of "I'm not going back in there..." That moment is perfect. No horror game, aside from Alien: Isolation, has ever come close to producing a moment as absolutely terrifying as the first time Phasmo gets you.
I love this game.
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