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2020 has been A Year, a rotten year nobody likes and we're going to gather around and throw rocks at it, yes we are indeed. I haven't even posted that much in Games because gently caress I'm so exhausted by all the bullshit and I'm a store slave so I've been working throughout this whole ordeal, but my wife, my catte and some choice games have kept me sane through all of it. So thanks videogames, you were less awful than all the terrible crap that happened this year. Also gently caress Trump and gently caress Boris and gently caress the rise of fascism. 10: Project Zomboid (19 hours) A slow burn and not usually my type of game, but the slow pace and feeling of isolation was very much my vibe for the start of this year. According to STEAM I played this in May, while the coronavirus shenanigans were in full fever pitch. Project Zomboid is an open world sandbox RPG where you're a survivor facing the zombie apocalypse. So far, so standard, but the game has a lot of depth and your character has a The Sims style wants/needs/emotions simulator which means they can get anxious, tired, angry, ill and so on. Without any sort of structure it was initially hard for me to find motivation until I took a battered van, filled it up with gear, drove out into the countryside and liberated a house that appealed to me. From there, I built reinforcements, went on supply runs into a nearby town that went deeper and deeper as time passed, recovered cars and brought them back home to repair and replace damaged parts until I had a fleet of vehicles in tip-top condition for every purpose. Other than some musical stings, the game is generally very quiet with just sounds of nature, movement and zombies roaming around. It really lends itself to a kind of zen style of play where you're just kind of losing yourself in the atmosphere, which makes the threat of zombie violence all the more intense when you do have to face it. Ultimately, you get out of this game what you put into it, but as a mood piece it was extremely fitting. 9: Terraria (36.9 hours) My summertime game. If Project Zomboid was zen, this is transcendent. I've had it in my library since release but never played more than about 2 hours of it, mainly because I couldn't understand its appeal against Minecraft and the fact that they characters were literally ripped sprites from a Final Fantasy game to begin with always bothered me, even when they changed them later on down the road. Following a major update I decided to load it up and give it a shot and I finally get it now because this game will eat your time without mercy or emotion. Building your village from nothing and plundering items with wild and wacky abilities is captivating and there's a momentum to it all that just keeps pushing you to explore further, acquire more gear and perfect what you build. The sheer amount of capital C Content in this game is overwhelming and I can see how people have spent hundreds of hours in it. 8: Jets N' Guns 2  The sequel to the best 'Shmup ever. It's the best because I can play it and not be bad at it. JNG2's focus is on complete and utter audiovisual excess: When the ball gets rolling and your ship gets upgraded, there's never a quiet moment as you barf technicolour death everywhere while numbers, explosions and the screams of infantry give you the BrainPleasure. Delightfully wacky and unashamedly intense, JNG2 is a short but thrilling exercise in utter insanity. Everything loving explodes, more explosions means more points, more points means more money, more money means bigger guns which you can upgrade and modify to make bigger explosions and make more money. Also the music is by Machinae Supremacy who are awesome. 7: Titanfall 2 (13 hours)  I already played the everloving poo poo out of Titanfall 2 back on [spit]Origin[/spit] and then it came out for STEAM and oh look I get to have it on a platform I don't hate!! It's great and having it on STEAM meant there was a big upswell in players, at least for a little while. The best MP shooter you've never played with incredible movement mechanics and weaponary. The real reason it falls onto this list is that this was the year I actually completed the campaign, which is something I've probably gotten halfway through about 5 times until now but never finished. It's short, but it's one hell of a ride and the quality of it all makes it all the more disgusting that it's kind of a cult classic. 6: Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (Maybe like 60 hours for Iceborne, 504 hours in total since release)  I will always love Monster Hunter World and the allure of hunting monsters is a perpetual one, but I really was hoping this would be higher on my list. I think the biggest problem was how quickly my friends petered off playing it for other games and when you've been hunting monsters with a gang for a while, it's lonely by yourself. This didn't stop me from pouring hour after hour into it though because there's an official transmog system so you can always look cool! A zone where you PERPETUALLY KILL MONSTERS FOREVER! New, exciting bastards to turn into cool clothes for you and your cat! Some of those bastards are loving infuriating! More Switch Axes! More of them! MORE loving SWITCH AXES FOR MY COLLECTION! A HOUSE? YOU CAN DECORATE YOUR HOUSE! WHAT A PRETTY HOUSE TO STORE SWITCH AXES IN HURUGHHHHHG No matter what I'm playing there's always a thought in the back of my head that tells me I should boot up Monster Hunter World again, but I never quite get there. I'll just keep promising the game I'll get back to it. I promise. I promise. I promise. 5: Yakuza Kiwami 2 (27 hours)  I completed Yakuza Kiwami 1 earlier this year after neglecting it for almost an entire year, and while the game was fun for the most part I didn't know just how dry it was coming from Yakuza 0 as someone new to the series. When it became clear to me that no, the game doesn't actually get all that weird, I kind of started to cruise through it as quickly as I could. I picked up Kiwami 2 after being convinced that was when the Yakuza ball really gets rolling and man the level of polish is night and day between the two games. Gorgeous graphics, a much slicker fighting system, more things to do. That's to be expected from a sequel. But it's that loving Yakuza special sauce of being able to effortlessly switch from melodrama to comedy to out-and-out farce that finally starts showing its face in Kiwami 2. You can be embroiled in a high-stakes crime drama one moment and then be fighting a horde of adult diaper wearing Yakuza the next. Running a cabaret club is on the list of Things You Can Do right next to a special pissing game that requires you to drink and eat until your bladder is full in order to play it. It's something that only this game series seems capable of pulling off without it seeming cloying of lolrandom - it's just how the world of Yakuza works and it's a loving joy. I haven't completed it because I got sidetracked with a bunch of other games, which seems to be the way I treat Yakuza games, but coming off the end of Kiwami 1 I needed a break to avoid burnout. 4: Warframe (403 hours in total, probably 70 this year)  Mindless violence for the sake of numbers. Warframe is a treadmill disguised as a powertrip but man what a fun treadmill it is. Wade through hordes of soliders in a weird and wonderful world that's part claymation, part Sunday morning cartoon and part Escher fever dream. Audiovisually this game is three things: Lights, colour and screaming. Everything screams, everything dies violently, you get paid and your guns get stronger. Same reason I loved Jets N' Guns, but this is a third person looter shooter with some wonderfully slick controls and some absolutely gorgeous visual and world design. It's been years since I played Warframe - the last time was when they first introduced their open world area on Earth - and the amount of Stuff™ they added since then is outstanding. Warframe is a sort of gaming black hole that'll suck you in, wring you dry and then leave you wondering what the gently caress you were doing with your time. Got a cool hoverboard outta it, though. TIED FOR 3: SYNTHETIK (72 hours) (This is my official choice for 3, just barely)  Thanks to maybe-problematic-but-I-hope-not youtuber SsethTezeentach's brilliant review this game was bought to my attention and holy poo poo was I blown away to find out it was released in 2018 with nary a loving whisper. I guess this year is the year of "Numbers based powertrips" for me because this game is another one of those, but differentiates itself by being a high-stakes one-and-done isometric shooter which is a complete blast in co-op, which is where 9/10ths of my playtime was spent. A huge arsenal of weapons and items with active effects and procs, a ton of classes to try out and level up, difficulty that's ridiculously adjustable so you can make the game as forgiving or punishing as you like (With appropiate rewards!) and that all-essential "One more run, go on" feeling that is the hallmark of a truly capitvating game. It's a simple premise for a game but one with a balance of variance and player control that means you're never truly put into a lovely, unfun situation - just one that might be difficult to wriggle out of. TIED FOR 3: DOOM Eternal DOOM 2016 polished to a shine and refined until pure. There's a lot of mixed feelings about it and I can see why some people think it's too much compared to 2016, but try to tear me away from the screen when I'm fighting at a knife's edge to survive an onslaught of ravenous demons. The game is beautiful, runs like a dream, combat flows like water and despite being Very Bad at it I never got frustrated. I like Marauders so gently caress you. The purple gunk that slows you down also puts this on #1 of the Worst Games Of The Year gently caress whoever thought that was a good idea. It's only on that list while I'm stuck in that goo though. Transient list. 2: Trailmakers (71 hours) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2rMUeQxKME I adore adore adore adore vehicle-making games because making cool-rear end guncarboats out of construction toys was almost my entire non-videogame childhood, so I've played practically every offering on the market. I say with no hesitation or hyperbole that Trailmakers is the best one of these games I have ever played. The issue with these games is that sometimes they can get bogged down in the technical side of things, or their interfaces are confusing and take time to learn, or the surrounding game is janky or void of anything interesting to do. Trailmakers has none of these issues to the point that I'm certain even kids could play this with a minimum of coaching. The graphical style is simple and cute, which means that the things you build don't wind up looking dumb or messy: It's essentially a lego game without the branding and it is wonderful. If you remember Nuts N' Bolt's style of gameplay you'll get what makes this one so captivating, though there's a little less in the way of specific objectives to complete you'll be unlocking new pieces to make your vehicle capable of more and more things. There's a beautiful transform system where you can equip several different blueprints on a quickbar and swap between any of them mid-drive, the vehicle reconstructing itself as you travel along. Multiplayer runs without any lag or weirdness even as you're blowing your friends vehicles apart, and you can even save their blueprints if you like them enough and play with them offline. There's workshop support where you can download a cubic shitton of vehicles from people way more talented than you and then crash them into a wall over and over again out of spite. There's a sandbox map that's full of stunt ramps, grinders, arenas and racetracks to zoom around in. Not happy with the way you've built part of your vehicle? You can literally click and drag a box over the parts you want to move, rip them off and glue them somewhere else. I can't stop singing the praises for this game because if you're a fan of this genre I just don't know of a game that does what it does any better, and it's still being updated. 1: Persona 4 Golden (2020 PC release, 103 hours)  My jaw dropped when I saw the STEAM announcement that this game was on sale. I've always wanted to play Persona 4 but I was convinced that having it ever come out on PC was a pipe dream and suddenly there it loving is. Having watched a lot of the Giantbomb Endurance Run in the past I knew what to expect out of the first half of the game, but being able to play it for myself felt entirely different based on who I hung out with and what I did. The cast of characters in this game are so loving lovable that even the ones I wasn't all that fond of (Sorry Yosuke, Teddie) were still a joy to watch and interact with. I spent over 100 hours playing this loving game and still felt that it was over too soon and immediately wanted to play Persona 5 afterwards so my Google history was just "Persona 5 PC announcement" "Will Persona 5 come to PC" "Persona 5 PC Release Date" over and over for weeks once I was done. Are the dungeons repetitive? Sure. Is some of the content A Little Too drat Risque? Yep. Should I be focusing on making real, genuine friendships instead of anime videogame ones? gently caress you, trick question, those were real genuine friendships and they're all my friends and Yukiko loves me and wants to be my wife when we grow up yes I know I have a wife, gently caress you she'd agree. I don't know how to min-max Fusion and I don't care because I raised my Unicorn to be nearly L100. I get nothing out of it but the satisfaction of knowing I took a Persona I thought was cool and through hell or high water forced it to be the biggest badass it could be. Playing this game through the summer was the perfect time for it because it just recalls those hazy days of your childhood where everything is a Big loving Deal and it's just, I dunno, genuine? There's nothing quite like it and gently caress, Persona 5 better come to the PC too because I had such a good time. Apologies To: Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night: I bought you on sale and every day I intended to play you. You're still not installed and you're angry at me. I know, I get it. I'm so sorry. One of these days. gently caress Pyre: Ditto with the added insult you're actually installed and have never been played. Darkwood: Ditto and I meant to play you during Halloween and I loving didn't and now it feels out of season for you. I'm sorry. BATTLETECH: Dit- Oh my god I'm the worst videogame parent ever and you all deserve better. Hades: I did actually install and play this and I love it, but it's Early Access and if there's one thing I know about EA is that playing too much of it before it's actually released is a great way to burn out before the game is even done yet, so it's on the backburner until then. Also I keep thinking "Hades nuts ain't gonna suck themselves" and that's rude but I can't help it. Honourable Mentions: Hollow Knight: Adorable and fun platformer I sunk 11 hours into but couldn't get round to finishing and probably won't. Find out why in a moment. Apex Legends: I've actually played this every day this year pretty much and still adore every moment, especially since it's on STEAM now, but I wanted this list to have games that are new to me. I know I love Apex but it had its time in the spotlight last year Katana Zero: If I had played this game during my Hotline Miami phase I think I would've gone mad with pleasure. A simply brilliant game with incredible style. Half Life: Alyx: Best VR game all year and probably one of the best high profile VR releases to date, but H3VR and Blade and Sorcery are still the ones I go back to instead. Kinda a one-and-done scenario. Fission Superstar X/Death Skid Marks: MTV Cartoon visuals in snappy, fast-paced vehicle combat roguelikes. Short lived, but ooze style and a hell of a lot of fun. Warhammer 40k: Mechanicus: So loving cool and so much fun, but ultimately I finished it more out of a sense of needing closure than actual drive to see the end of it. Goes insanely cheap on sale and definitely worth your time if you like turned-based games or 40k in general. POST VOID: Can hardly be called a full game but this *is* an MTV cartoon and the simplest distillation of frantic FPS combat for less than the cost of a coffee. If you have 2 minutes to burn you should buy it because that 2 minutes will quickly become an hour. Your eyes will hate you, your brain will love you. COGMIND: A superb turn-based robot roguelike that I really need to spend more time on. Noita: "Aw, poo poo" the game. Horizon: Zero Dawn: Fun game but feels a little dated. Aloy is great and I love the environmental design but it's bullshit I can't ride the cooler robots. From The Depths: The opposite of Trailmakers, this is the most grognardy and least intuitive vehicle builder to date but holy poo poo the level of detail you're given to tinker with your creations. It'll take you a long time to figure out what the gently caress anything is but the naval warfare you get out of it is glorious. NGU Idle: Goon-made idle game and the winner of The Only Idle Game I've Ever Put Any Time Into. It's pretty good. Carrion: Very stylish and neat Metroidvania which is better as a style piece than it is a game, but ends when it needs to. Cyberpunk 2077: Way too early in terms of time played and way too late in the year to qualify as a GOTY, but seems super duper cool so far. Slay The Spire: Ate my February and I loved every second of it Dishonourable Mentions: Blasphemous: I feel bad about this because it was made with a lot of care and most of the gameplay issues can be waved off with "Git gud", but man this game broke me. I adore the beautiful, beautiful pixel art and animation and the wonderfully vague story but the platforming and boss fights felt like just so much bullshit to me that I had to use a trainer to beat the game and still felt affronted that anyone thought I should have been able to deal with any of these bosses. Death by a thousand cuts to my fun, sadly, and then I installed Hollow Knight which was basically everything I wanted from Blasphemous, but cuter. I felt so burned out that I just didn't complete Hollow Knight and that feels like a huge shame. Dishonoured: I put this down as a funny joke but then it occurs to me I never got past like the second level and never returned to it and now I feel bad gently caress you Dishonoured. gently caress you 2020 get outta here games are pretty good though and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. My love to Rarity 
Songbearer fucked around with this message at 23:09 on Dec 11, 2020 |
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Dec 11, 2020 22:46
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THE SPIRIT OF GOTY LIVES ON IN YOU but yes thank you Videogames for continuing the legacy
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Dec 11, 2020 23:10
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B33rChiller posted:It would be easier to comprehend, and adhere to the rules if the first mention of the 5 game minimum requirement wasn't buried underneath 2,664 words, or 14,824 characters worth of wall of text 
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Dec 14, 2020 00:26
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garfield hentai posted:5. Divinity: Original Sin 2 Yes, but did you get the number of that donkey cart?
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Dec 20, 2020 02:21
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CredulousAtBest posted:there was a bunch of bullshit at release about it being bad (they The fact this game-ruiner does not ruin the game is a testament to how good Doomy Ternal is
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Dec 20, 2020 04:59
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