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My favorite gaming thread returns! Like past years, I keep a more comprehensive list of games on Glitchwave. I also took out games I replayed since I feel it's unfair to put Persona 4 Golden, Persona 5 Royal, or Disco Elysium after making my list last year. Also, Cyberpunk 2077 is a potential #1 but there's no chance I'll be able to play more than the first five hours by the end of this year so, look forward to 2077 as next year's #1. 30. The House in Fata Morgana (3.5/5) The best written of the traditional VNs I tried this year, albeit lasting far too long for it's plot. 29. Quarantine Circular (3.5/5) 28. Valkyria Chronicles 4 (3.5/5) 27. Control (3.5/5) 26. 428: Shibuya Scramble (3.5/5): This is essentially a 40-hour high school student film that stumbled across a great way to approach decision pathing as a game. 25. Wandersong (3.5/5) 24. Devil May Cry 5 (3.5/5) 23. Code Vein (3.5/5) 22. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (3.5/5) 21. The Gardens Between (3.5/5) 20. Doom Eternal (3.5/5): The powers that be are hindering the DOOM 2016 formula and adding exposition. 19. Frog Fractions GotDE - Hop's Iconic Cap (3.5/5): A nice bounceback from Frog Fractions 2, rediscovering the original's magical bizarre journey of gameplay types. The shock is gone but the humor is still there. 18. Xenoblade Chronicles (3.5/5) 17. Assassin's Creed Odyssey (3.5/5): My favorite description of any game I’ve heard in the past few years has to be Odyssey’s “irresponsible” amount of content. I acknowledge that Ubisoft has made attempts to solve the open world collectathon burnout across their series but the gameplay loop remains here and I can’t commit to it anymore. 16. Horizon Zero Dawn (3.5/5) 15. Tyranny (3.5/5): The hook is great, “be the bad guy!”, but the plot quickly routes into chaos vs order decisions that doesn’t let me emphasize the real treat of the game. Plus, you’re still dealing with the RTCwP combat system that doesn’t grab like it used to. The same game plonked into the Disco Elysium engine would rocket this up my rankings. 14. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (3.5/5): Not the game of the year but the obvious pick as the game of 2020. There's nothing like letting your coworkers know your island's turnip prices hit 500+ and flooding your home in riches. 13. Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling (4/5) 12. Heaven Will Be Mine (4/5): A little bit of context here: working at home in 2020 meant adjusting my approach to gaming. Instead of sitting at a PC, my wife also worked from home and I needed to find a way to play while sitting with her, on a couch, with the TV on Netflix and her playing the Switch next to me. Steam Link to the iPhone was the best solution but requires games that aren’t hindered by lag or the occasional stutter. Story-based games and Visual Novels fit the bill and I tried a bunch this year, with Heaven Will Be Mine as the best example. A great step up from the promising We Know The Devil, you get a nice interplay of broken characters trying to fit their needs through EVA units through a short playtime. 11. Resident Evil 2 (2020) (4/5) 10. Final Fantasy VII Remake (4/5): One of my longtime hot takes is that the original FF7 is wildly overrated but I’ll concede that the remake is worth a shot. The battle system evolves the old turn-based combat in a great way but oof with the overextended story. It’s a strange combination of holding the original plot as untouchable treasure deserving three times as much time and detail as before yet ending the game with a statement to break away from those expectations. Given the track record, I’m not exactly thrilled to find out what happens in Chapter 2 of this remake. 9. Shantae and the Seven Sirens (4/5): The best Shantae game so far is the one that finally embraces all the Metroidvania concepts instead of cherry-picking a few. An easy choice for anyone’s first Metroidvania given the beginner’s difficulty, short playtime, and intuitive goals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1pQxv9yyz0 8. Pathologic 2 (4/5): Someone in another thread said that there’s a group of story gamers who felt annoyed that they received a survival game in Pathologic 2. Unfortunately, I’m definitely in the story gamer group .The game takes place over twelve days and the first three days (four, technically?) are some of the greatest in video gaming storytelling. You explore an alien town you think you remember, crashing down around you, filled with landmarks that beg to be understood and broken acquaintances who beg and lash out in equal amounts. Once the survival mechanics really kick off and the plague takes your time, all those incredible elements only exist to taunt you as you waste away, failing to stay alive under the unforgiving mechanics. I get what the game is trying to do but I’m just not the player the game wants. The atmosphere, time constraints, and characters are enough, I don’t need to be additionally punched in the gut to understand. If you've ever seen the movie Funny Games, there's a similar expectation that you, the involved participant, need to be taught a lesson that other games/movies have incorrectly taught (either a video game's approach to difficulty or film's approach to violence). I think I would love Pathologic 2 if it was the story-driven game I hoped it would be, yet I'm reluctant to turn down the difficulty knowing how other player's with similar tastes as mine acknowledge the importance of those components to the game's fundamental experience. I never reached the end of the game but it’s still the one I’ve thought about the most after retiring it. 7. Skater XL (4/5): The flipside to Pathologic 2: This is a game that fills exactly what I want and love so well, I can look past the flaws that I’d imagine everyone else will not enjoy. There’s no story, no score, and no stats but it’s the best approximation of what it’s like to actually skateboard and manages to do so in a satisfying way. It’s not about the biggest grind or 720 double laser flips so much as trying a difficult-to-execute trick over and over to flip with the right style and a clean landing. The lack of “game” with the game is the tough part. You get an occasionally-glitchy simulator and a few optional tutorials then, off you go, have fun in this map a fraction of the size of the EA Skate and THPS worlds. Skater XL is in a desperate need for a surrounding challenge and high-quality maps past the mod scene but if you have any nostalgia for what makes skateboarding a magical experience in real life, try this out immediately. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmnVLWRePPI 6. Paradise Killer (4/5): It’s not as good as Danganronpa as much as it wants to, you will be utterly annoyed at the collectables, and the promising worldbuilding could’ve been exponentially better. Having said that, it’s a drat good attempt to translate that experience into an open world context. It's rare for me to be hooked by a game but I beat this in two eight-hour marathon sessions, diving headfirst into the strange machinations of the setting and characters. It feels like a passion project where the second attempt at the same genre is going to solve the obvious issues so I’ll be first in line for Paradise Killer 2. Also happens to have the best soundtrack of any game I played this year and yes, that includes Doom Eternal and Mario Galaxy. (PS: The morning after I post, Kotaku's Morning Music series highlights Paradise Killer. I hope more people give the game a chance given how much of it is listening to bright 80's-ish soundtrack while walking around). Hard question: What kind of monster would start the trial without finishing off the remaining side quests? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO0s2oudSog 5. A Short Hike (4/5): Not my #1 choice but my #1 easiest recommendation to a random person. It says a lot that the land and characters in A Short Hike are more memorable that the high-budget open worlds of so many other AAA titles. 4. Paper Mario: The Origami King (4/5): We all love the original Paper Mario and TTYD but every Paper Mario game seems to receive an extra level of criticism because of that legacy. Origami King receives heat for it's unusual battle system but I would argue that this is funnier and more involving than any of the older Paper Mario games, the real measure of success for Mario RPGs, somehow. 3. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (4/5): I really have to stop trusting review sites. When this came out, the general sentiment was so negative that I didn’t purchase this during launch even though I loved Human Revolution. A few years later, I pick this up on sale since DX:HR was begging for anyone to buy at 85% off and it’s actually pretty great! The moment I stepped out of my apartment in Prague, I ignored the waypoints and started breaking into every apartment I could, hopping between every windowsill, and leveling up to get that next power-up that lets me pass a poison cloud or jump super high. I could explore like this forever, looking for every nook and cranny of a fairly large city and find all the secret stories and pathways. The momentary trips outside Prague are not as great but short enough and still maintain that Deus Ex-y experience working your way into a secret base. I also didn’t feel the ending was abrupt at all and felt like a good place to wrap up the story and leave a minor sequel hook...that will never come because people like me didn't buy it at launch, ughhhhhh. 2. Hades (4/5): As some who doesn’t like roguelikes in most cases, Hades is right behind FTL as the best roguelike ever made and one of the very few examples that I enjoy playing past the initial novelty. Funny enough, I didn’t enjoy Bastion or Transistor and was prepared to have the same letdown here. Hades blew me away with the right difficulty curve, satisfying progression system, and an impressive story in a roguelike situation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GRKJ87S5cI 1. Super Mario Galaxy (4.5/5): I could see someone not having Galaxy as their favorite game but who could possible hate Galaxy? It’s Mario excising the variability of larger open worlds into bite-size levels of joy polished to a mirror shine. A tiny amount of levels are duds, the majority have a cute whimsy perfection that makes you imagine this as Nintendo’s last desperate chance to prove just how good 3D platforming can be when the genre was effectively dead. I imagine a team of Nintendo mustacho'd scientists behind a two-way mirror watching me play a level, then building the next stage based on observing me and somehow keeping me in constant bliss. Sunshine to Galaxy must be the largest leap in quality between video game sequels, I'm struggling to think of anything that comes close. Zelda 2 to LttP, maybe? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N9SpqZ7GsI DMCrimson fucked around with this message at 03:59 on Dec 13, 2020 |
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Dec 9, 2020 22:36
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 06:41 |
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