Best/Worst/Disappointing games of 2020?

[CriticalGaming]

I might not have picked up on the smaller call backs, but I understood what it was doing. The second time Cloud meets Aerith and you catch a quick glimps of her future death through Cloud's brain, it was a subtle way of showing that the game is aware of itself. And Aerith gives hints to being in the know at certain points too. All this is fine, as a matter of fact, it's great. The plot correcting ghosts though I'm not okay with, since it just smacks of the game rubbing your nose in it instead of letting the changes speak for themselves. Then at the end it gets even worse where our heroes fight the symbolic embodiment of fan nostalgia, which says nothing about the characters or the journey they've been on thus far. And this comes right after the game was already dragging its feet to cross the finish line.

It ultimately doesn't feel like it was done in service of the story or characters, but in service of fan speculation. I think I might've mentioned this back on the old forum, so I don't know if this is me repeating myself ad nauseam.

I mean you are sort of correct. Either way I'm not going to convince you that it was good, as your opinion is your opinion. But as a fan of the universe, I'm very excited to see what they do with it. After all what better is a story than a story you can discuss for ages after it is done with?

 

[Dalisclock]

I mean...if you haven't played the original i assume you haven't played Crisis Core or seen Advent Children, so what the FF7 Remake is actually doing is lost to you. Which is fine, you miss out on a lot of context so I can see how the ending might be grating to you.

However there are things there that fans of the original pick up on and know the truth of what's happening at the end.

Spoiler

Biggs, Wedge, and Jesse aren't alive[\spoiler]

I gonna be a bit pedantic here but does it matter if one has played the original but none of the other FF7 spin off games(which apparently take quite a few liberties with the storyline from FF7 anyway), amd considers Advent Children to be fan-fiction in movie form?

 

[CriticalGaming]

I gonna be a bit pedantic here but does it matter if one has played the original but none of the other FF7 spin off games(which apparently take quite a few liberties with the storyline from FF7 anyway), amd considers Advent Children to be fan-fiction in movie form?

It matters to piece together all the context of what the Remake is doing, yes.

 

[sXeth]

I gonna be a bit pedantic here but does it matter if one has played the original but none of the other FF7 spin off games(which apparently take quite a few liberties with the storyline from FF7 anyway), amd considers Advent Children to be fan-fiction in movie form?

The spin offs mostly try and offset the fact that the original twist was that Sephiroth is just the lame duck poster-boy image for Jenova drones 1-83 being the actual villain, with little to no agency of his own (and Jenova itself just being a retread of Lavos from Crono Trigger). And an origin story for Zack. I guess the first part is osmething of a requisite given Remake expects you take Sepiroth seriously as some multiverse/timeline level threat.'


Can't say that any of the rest of it with Genesis and Angel and whatnot seemed even vaguely referenced in FF7:R

 

[Dalisclock]

Off the top of my head:.....

Best:
Sekiro-FROM is finally breaking out of the Souls groove a little and while I don't agree with everything they've done(nor does Sekiro fix some of the weird logic Souls sometimes employs), it's still a damn fun ride. Even the Final Boss being an infuriatingly difficult battle doesn't change this. I also love how the game's Fantastic Japan is so colorful and interesting.

Dark Souls 3- I love the original Dark Souls very much, but Dark Souls 3 feels a lot smoother to play and despite some of the weirdness in the lore, I really do enjoy playing through it, even when it sucks ass to go through certain areas or fight certain bosses). I also appreciate there are so many more opportunities for JOLLY COOPERATION and as a Sunbro for life, I enjoy being so gloriously incandescent....(okay, I might have lost the metaphor a bit here). Granted, I'm not done yet so maybe the Murder Nun in the DLC will beat the spirit out of me soon enough.

Red Dead Redemption 2-As I've mentioned quite a few times, BIG OPEN WORLD GAMES are sometime I can only deal with sparingly because of how long and filled with stuff they tend to be. So it's a joy to every so often find one where the world itself is wonderful to just lose myself in and explore. I also really liked how the Van Der Linde Gang felt like a sort of big, messed up family and the camp felt both like a home and a place where other people live and not just a hub area where everyone waits for you to activate them. Arthur Morgan is probably one of the best open world characters I can remember playing and that includes John Marston from the previous game. Pretty sure I spent more time on this then any other game this year and I don't feel like any of it was wasted(except maybe the hour or so on gaurma, but eh....)

There is no Game: Wrong Dimension-So this a cheesy humor game based on playing with game tropes all over the place to gain the privilege of "Playing the game" but I really enjoyed it's 4ish hour runtime and had a good laugh to along the way. It feels like if you're gonna do a 4th wall breaking game, take pointers from this. It helped a lot that the game is clearly having fun with itself and what it's doing, which a lot of 4th way breaking games tend to miss out on.

Disappointing:

Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare- So I don't fault this game for being a cheesy spin-off of the original. I fault it on that the game has like a couple of actual story and side missions, but the open world is basically the same map as the main game but with zombies and some town liberations tossed in. The problem is that the zombie combat is trivialized once you realized zombies can't climb anything, so jumping up on a roof mean you can pick them off at your leisure. Also, there's a couple of mandatory collection side quests where you need to go grab flowers from opposite ends of the map and feels like padding.

Carrion- On the bright side, it's a game where you play a creepy alien blob monster running amok in a massive underground lab killing the squishy humans. On the down side, the lab starts feeling pretty samey fast and despite being a short game, it feels like it could have been shorter and not lost much. Getting new powers made the game a bit more interesting but still, not nearly as fun as I hoped it would be.

Inmost-I know nobody cared about this game but I had some interest in it for a while due to the art style and the cryptic nature of the trailer. And it was...merely okay. This one is kind of weak since I didn't have high hopes for this but the fact it kinda fell back on the "THIS IS MEANINGFUL and SYMBOLIC" vibe except it felt like it bungled actually explaining what the point was and what I was supposed to take away from it is what knocked it down to "Disappointing" for me.

Ace Combat 7: I'm reaching a little here as well. I really did enjoy it and much of the game is a lot of fun to play. There's a few missions that suck ass due to how they're set up but that's not really what hurt it the most. It's the fact the plot feels like 5 different plots hitched to each other and none of them really get the proper exploration to make the impact they should. Those great looking cutscenes often just....I mean, they look crisp and beautiful but like 90% could have been cut and I don't think I'd miss them much. So this is one of the games where gameplay is great, story is a giant "eh".

I didn't really have any worst games because none of the games I played this year offended me enough to be "Worst". Or if they did I totally don't remember them enough to care.

 

[Dalisclock]

It matters to piece together all the context of what the Remake is doing, yes.

I mean, I get the remake is taking the original story and essentially rebooting it(and creating a new timeline(or is it?)), thus why certain parts of the game are different. The Evangelion movies and the new CoD games are doing much the same thing. Am I really gonna miss that much if I haven't played the 27 spinoff games or don't get whatever retcons they put in place over the years? Because if so, this feels like it's edging into Kingdom Hearts territory.

 

[CriticalGaming]

I mean, I get the remake is taking the original story and essentially rebooting it(and creating a new timeline(or is it?)), thus why certain parts of the game are different. The Evangelion movies and the new CoD games are doing much the same thing. Am I really gonna miss that much if I haven't played the 27 spinoff games or don't get whatever retcons they put in place over the years? Because if so, this feels like it's edging into Kingdom Hearts territory.

I don't think you would miss much, but much like Casual Shinji you might be confused by some of the more "wild" story beats and that could possibly turn you off if you aren't able to piece together all the puzzle pieces that indicate where things actually going.

AngryJoe posted a review of the game and he actually loved it so much it made him excited to go play the original (which he never did before) and wants to see where this story goes. He enjoyed it with no prior knowledge of the universe at all and it only left him wanting more, so that's a good thing right?

 

[Worgen]

Carrion- On the bright side, it's a game where you play a creepy alien blob monster running amok in a massive underground lab killing the squishy humans. On the down side, the lab starts feeling pretty samey fast and despite being a short game, it feels like it could have been shorter and not lost much. Getting new powers made the game a bit more interesting but still, not nearly as fun as I hoped it would be.

Yeah, I would have to agree with this one. I enjoyed it but damn did that game need a map, plus it was short and kinda felt like half a game. Like, the game systems are pretty solid but it feels like its kinda half baked.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

I agree with Jim that Hades was the clear best game of the year, but I disagree its one of the greatest of all time. Despite the rogue-like elements runs got very samey very very quickly, and it ends up just being a button masher game in the top tier. Just spam dodge, basic attack and the occasional magic, when I remembered I had it.
And the shield was the most OP weapon ever.

I enjoyed Bastion and Transistor but the 1st thought I had about Hades was that I don't want to play a Supergiant game much longer than those 2 games because the combat in neither is something I want to spend hours and hours playing. Hades is probably a bit tighter, smoother, and all that but yeah, I'm pretty sure I ain't going to like it so much that I'd enjoy playing a rogue-like of it.

 

[Dreiko]

13 Sentinels, Trails of Cold Steel 4, Persona 5 R, FFVII remake, Ghost of Tsushima, Granblue Fantasy Versus and Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen were my fav games of this year. Due to the emotional significance of cold steel bringing with it the trails in the sky trilogy and the trails of azure zero duology, it edges out the other games, but at the same time I really wouldn't put any of them above any other in recommending them to people who enjoy good storytelling and fun gameplay with epic visuals.


I didn't play anything I was disappointed by this year, and while I heard horror stories about Cyberpunk I just kinda put it on the backburner since I wanted to finish cold steel 4 (took me 170+ hours XD) so I can just wait until the patches come out that fix the bugs it has. It legit has not crashed on me once in the 20some hours I've put into it so far though. This is the sort of thing where you wanna avoid having peer opinion overthrow and replace your own opinion. You hear a chorus of condemnation about stuff but if you haven't had issues that's just as valid of a contribution to the discussion.

And similarly in the other direction, I legit don't get what's appealing about fall guys, outside of it being free I guess. It looks uncool and dull. I don't think I'm an old fogie about this either since I am fine with other new games that the kids like nowadays. Maybe it's the sort of game that's not meant to be tackled seriously, the sort of game that's more like a distraction than the main event of your activities on that instance. And I generally hate those sorta of games even if they're massively popular.

 

[Dalisclock]

And similarly in the other direction, I legit don't get what's appealing about fall guys, outside of it being free I guess. It looks uncool and dull. I don't think I'm an old fogie about this either since I am fine with other new games that the kids like nowadays. Maybe it's the sort of game that's not meant to be tackled seriously, the sort of game that's more like a distraction than the main event of your activities on that instance. And I generally hate those sorta of games even if they're massively popular.

As someone who has never played Fall Guys and who likely won't play Fall guys unless I'm in a group that's all playing it and I got nothing else going on.....I can see the appeal. It's a broadly accessible, silly looking game that works as a nice diversion from more serious fare.

I also think part of it was that it became the big streaming game for that particular week or so because everyone's stuck at home and god knows we needed some silly diversion from this cascading train wreck of 2020, so yeah....confluence of circumstances and irrelevance combined with the internet took notice.

 

[Dreiko]

As someone who has never played Fall Guys and who likely won't play Fall guys unless I'm in a group that's all playing it and I got nothing else going on.....I can see the appeal. It's a broadly accessible, silly looking game that works as a nice diversion from more serious fare.

I also think part of it was that it became the big streaming game for that particular week or so because everyone's stuck at home and god knows we needed some silly diversion from this cascading train wreck of 2020, so yeah....confluence of circumstances and irrelevance combined with the internet took notice.

Do these people not have other games? Do these people need streams to experience games? And isn't there a million other such diversion games which one could play?

Like, It's not as if I've been on a safari during this time, I've been stuck inside too, that never drove me to wanna play any such game, because I already have a mountain of other games to play and they are not any less fun due to the lockdowns.

The only explanation is that this game is being made popular by an entirely separate body of people, most of whom don't play other games and have no backlog and are just now discovering gaming, which I guess is possible since you have a ton of young people out there and they may be getting introduced into gaming by their gamer parents through this game or something along those lines, but outside of that and I guess people just playing the game because streamers are there's no explanation here.

 

[Dalisclock]

Do these people not have other games? Do these people need streams to experience games? And isn't there a million other such diversion games which one could play?

I don't pretend to follow Twitch Streamers but I understand it's a big thing for a lot of gamers now to expose them to new games(Feel free to give me my old man card) but it does seem like streamers basically find and latch onto whatever game and it causes a feedback effect with others trying to follow that.

I can only guess it's like in non-gaming circles where fashion trends hit and everyone jumps on the bandwagon to be part of the action, or people get obsessed with talking about the new big celebrity X for reasons.

Yeah, there are a million games out there to play but what causes a game to become popular(other then having a billion dollars in advertising dumped behind it by a AAA publisher and/or hype from a series/publishers establishes fanbase) seems to be determined by cultural currents and the like.

My $.02 really, I don't have any data or studies to back this up.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

Do these people not have other games? Do these people need streams to experience games? And isn't there a million other such diversion games which one could play?

Like, It's not as if I've been on a safari during this time, I've been stuck inside too, that never drove me to wanna play any such game, because I already have a mountain of other games to play and they are not any less fun due to the lockdowns.

The only explanation is that this game is being made popular by an entirely separate body of people, most of whom don't play other games and have no backlog and are just now discovering gaming, which I guess is possible since you have a ton of young people out there and they may be getting introduced into gaming by their gamer parents through this game or something along those lines, but outside of that and I guess people just playing the game because streamers are there's no explanation here.

I haven't played Fall Guys but it seems like the equivalent to a decently fun "party" board game that you're sometimes in the mood to play + it's more "battle royale" as well. Sometimes you just wanna play some Codenames, Telestrations, Spyfall, or whatever instead of something like Twilight Imperium. It's also why Among Us is so popular, it's basically the video game equivalent of Werewolf. I don't care about either Fall Guys or Among Us because I play these type of games in person with other people.

 

[happyninja42]

Do these people not have other games? Do these people need streams to experience games? And isn't there a million other such diversion games which one could play?

It's not just about experiencing games, it's about being part of a community that is experiencing the game together. It's basically the digital equivalent of a spectator sport. Just like the millions of people who go and sit in a big stadium to watch people play a game THEY aren't playing, but they enjoy watching others play, commenting to their seatmates about certain plays, cheering for their favorites, booing their rivals. Getting to chat with the other people watching in the chatroom, developing online friendships with the other viewers, and the mods (who often become just as vital a component of the stream community as the YT personality). It's about talking directly to the player when they take a moment now and then to interact with the chat.

I mean seriously, how many sports nuts would cream themselves, to be able to, during a game, actively chat to their favorite player. Like, I dunno, they had a headset, and could occasionally drop a "oh man Famous Sports Guy! That was a good pass! Too bad Other Famous Sports Guy was there to block the shot! " Famous Sports Guy "Yeah, you're right Obsessed Fan Dude! That was a bummer! But hey I'll get him next time!" Well that's exactly the kind of thing that can happen in streaming.

It's ALSO a way for people who don't want to play a certain game, but can enjoy the mood of it, to experience it. Like I have zero interest in playing Fall Guys, but I do find it funny to watch a bunch of squeaky tube people bouncing off each other, and hearing the player I'm watching react to the utter insanity of it all. Also a game like Among Us, is equally not something I care to play personally, as I don't do voice chat in games, and don't have that many people I'd enjoy playing with. But damn if it isn't fun to watch some charismatic people try and bullshit their way out of being caught killing someone in the game. Especially when they are hamming it up, or pull off an amazing bullshit line that just makes you shake your head on "How did he get away with that?!" Like this.

 

[stroopwafel]

Best: The Last of Us part 2, Nioh 2, FF7 Remake, Demon's Souls Remake, AC Valhalla, 13 Sentinels, P5 Royal, Dragon Quest 11 S, Below, Morbid: The Seven Acolytes.
AC Valhalla is truly a graphical showcase on PS5. I think it wowed me more than DeS. AC is really hit and miss for me but I really enjoyed Origins as well and apperently Valhalla is by the same team. I lost interest in Oddysey pretty quickly.

Nioh 2 is probably the best action-RPG I've ever played. Nioh 1 was already sheer perfection in the combat department and Nioh 2 dialed it up to 11 with more weapons, more enemies, more varied locales etc. Team Ninja really elevated their craft to an artform with this game.

DeS Remake was a phenomenal make-over of a beloved cult classic that gave rise to an entire (sub)genre but it stays a little too close to the source where it shouldn't(particularly A.I. routines and enemy behavior that remain fully intact) and don't leave designs alone where it should(particularly some enemy types like Fat Official, Idol, NPCs like the Maiden and some boss rooms like Flamelurker). It plays buttery smooth and is otherwise a faithful remake but I can't say I was blown away by it because the succeeding games after DeS simply improved on the formula so much. I would say I still prefer the original for the simple fact that the graphics and production values match the structure and gameplay of the game much better.

FF7 Remake. I really loved this game. It brought back much of the magic and fondness I have for the original but with modern production values. A lot of the time I felt like super attractive cosplayers parading around on a set but the characterization and chemistry between the cast was just so endearing that it pulled me right back in. I'm probably the only one but I really liked the 'twist' as some sort of meta-commentary on remakes and the passing of time in general.

13 Sentinels. I never imagined I would like a visual novel type game this much but the story and the way it's presented and puzzled back together is mad genius. Really impressive.

The Last of Us part 2. You either love or hate it but I really loved it. For once a game with Hollywood potential dared to do something different than the dime a dozen Hollywood crap and it really paid off. I never expected such a flagship game to have these kind of bold creative choices. Just an impeccable marriage of character driven drama, original storytelling, environmental detail, fun(if somewhat standard) gameplay and crazy good production values.

P5 Royal and DQ 11 S are two of the best games of the previous gen with some extras so what else is there to say.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere and presentation of Below and Morbid, probably my fave indie titles of the previous year.

Worst: Definitely Cyberpunk. I loved the game's opening and presentation but the entire magic just fizzled out soon after. Story is sub-par compared to Witcher 3 and the game just plainly sucks as an open world title. The best I can say is that it's a somewhat OK Borderlands style looter shooter. But no one really plays Cyberpunk for that. The game is just so behind of the times in pretty much every aspect. Then there is ofcourse the completely unplayable launch state of the game on previous consoles. I've never seen a company burn so quickly through all of it's tremendous goodwill.

Disappointment: RE3 Remake. I really enjoyed the title but it just pales in comparison to RE2 Remake. I love the design of Nemesis and premise of him chasing you around but they just did very little with it. I can somewhat understand why his encounters are scripted, as they didn't want Nemesis to be a reskinned Mr X, but going for cinematic 'oomph' takes away from the dread of being chased around. Apparently Nemesis does have sophisticated AI routines that they didn't really do anything with. The game is also super short and not really a faithful remake compared to RE2 which overlapped for atleast 80-90%. Still it's an enjoyable romp and the story and presentation is way better than the original but it just didn't bring back the magic that RE2 R did. It's also super short and by the time Nemesis turns into his second form(that looks like a Bloodborne reject) the game's quality drops to that of RE Revelation. Would have been much better as 'Nemesis DLC' for RE2 R. Though perhaps that is somehow fitting as I always considered the original RE3 to be RE2's third disc.

Anyways 2020 had some great games. The current games I'm looking forward to the most are RE Village, FF16 and *gasp* Elden Ring. I hope atleast one of them makes it to 2021.

 

[stroopwafel]

Forgot to add Ghost of Tsushima.

I'd probably put this at 'disappointment'. It looked very pretty and I loved the exuberant flow of flower petals and leafs of the wind mechanic but I was bored by it pretty quicky. I didn't find any of the story and characters interesting and the game also didn't inspire any 'wanderlust' because of just non-stop bamboo forest and samey settlements. You had four stances and four enemy types with each type having to be fought with the corresponding stance and that was kinda it. Both gamers and developers seem to really love this game and while it's not a bad game in the slightest I fail to see the distinguishable qualities of this title.

 

[sXeth]

Do these people not have other games? Do these people need streams to experience games? And isn't there a million other such diversion games which one could play?

Like, It's not as if I've been on a safari during this time, I've been stuck inside too, that never drove me to wanna play any such game, because I already have a mountain of other games to play and they are not any less fun due to the lockdowns.

The only explanation is that this game is being made popular by an entirely separate body of people, most of whom don't play other games and have no backlog and are just now discovering gaming, which I guess is possible since you have a ton of young people out there and they may be getting introduced into gaming by their gamer parents through this game or something along those lines, but outside of that and I guess people just playing the game because streamers are there's no explanation here.

1) Take Mario Part, a consistently popular multiplayer nintendo franchise.
2) Now pull the Nintendo head out of ass to allow online play. (okay not as much nowadays).
3) Release on all platforms, instead of on
4) And they hurled it out for free on Playstation Plus when it came out as well, effectively meaning every PLaystation owner (the broadest base) who has any intererest in multiplayer games of any sort (thereby having the plus sub for MP) got it for free.
Opitonal ) Incorporate Battle Royale element to match current trends.

So they had a fairly proven concept, and dropped it as a (promoted by its nature as such) freebie to largest install base possible. Unsurprising that it would get attention, and is enough of a competent game for what it is to use that momentum well.


Its by and large the same blueprint Rocket League used. If that hadn't been hurled at every playstation player in existence, it would've probably languished significantly like its Super Acrobatic Robo Cars or whatever their previous one was called as a bit of overlooked cult oddity.

 

[Dreiko]

1) Take Mario Part, a consistently popular multiplayer nintendo franchise.
2) Now pull the Nintendo head out of ass to allow online play. (okay not as much nowadays).
3) Release on all platforms, instead of on
4) And they hurled it out for free on Playstation Plus when it came out as well, effectively meaning every PLaystation owner (the broadest base) who has any intererest in multiplayer games of any sort (thereby having the plus sub for MP) got it for free.
Opitonal ) Incorporate Battle Royale element to match current trends.

So they had a fairly proven concept, and dropped it as a (promoted by its nature as such) freebie to largest install base possible. Unsurprising that it would get attention, and is enough of a competent game for what it is to use that momentum well.


Its by and large the same blueprint Rocket League used. If that hadn't been hurled at every playstation player in existence, it would've probably languished significantly like its Super Acrobatic Robo Cars or whatever their previous one was called as a bit of overlooked cult oddity.

Yeah I never cared for mario party so I guess this is why I don't see the point to this either.

 

[CriticalGaming]

The Best, Worst, and Blandest of 2020 - Zero Punctuation

This week on Zero Punctuation, Yahtzee Croshaw recounts the five best, worst, and blandest games of 2020, including The Last of Us Part II.

www.escapistmagazine.com

I really like Yahtzee's list this year.