Best/Worst/Disappointing games of 2020?

[Johnny Novgorod]

Yahtzee's 2020 Awards

BEST
5. Ghost of Tsushima
4. Half-Life Alyx
3. Yakuza Like a Dragon
2. Hades / BPM
1. Spiritfarer

BLANDEST
5. Amnesia Rebirth
4. Immortals Fenyx Rising
3. Serious Sam 4
2. Dark Pictures: Little Hope
1. Marvel's Avengers

WORST
5. Deadly Premonition 2
4. Minecraft Dungeons
3. Battletoads
2. Remothered: Broken Porcelain
1. The Last of Us 2

 

[SckizoBoy]

I feel eminently unqualified to provide judgements about games released in 2020, given that I only played one!

But it was a good one, IMO (Ghost of Tsushima).

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

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.

....

Yahtzee's 2020 Awards

BEST
5. Ghost of Tsushima
4. Half-Life Alyx
3. Yakuza Like a Dragon
2. Hades / BPM
1. Spiritfarer

BLANDEST
5. Amnesia Rebirth
4. Immortals Fenyx Rising
3. Serious Sam 4
2. Dark Pictures: Little Hope
1. Marvel's Avengers

WORST
5. Deadly Premonition 2
4. Minecraft Dungeons
3. Battletoads
2. Remothered: Broken Porcelain
1. The Last of Us 2

But can you truly like a list that doesn’t have FF7R on it?

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

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.
.

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.

So you’d put Nioh 2 above Bloodborne? I downloaded the original as a PS+ freebie but haven’t gotten to it yet. Curious though, but will probably finish Sekiro first.

I also didn’t include TLoU2 due to OP stipulations, but I’d have to concur. To me the only downside it has next to the original is that its story is a downer, and the pacing often sucks.

But having said that, just playing the thing feels like such an improvement over the original. I played up to Boston on a Grounded playthrough as a refresher before Part II released, and it just felt worse than I remember. The aiming was stiff, the AI reared it’s mostly ugly head, and the typical gameplay tropes like musical ladders and watch this cool cinematic for pulling someone up a ledge felt overindulgent. The melee was about the only thing that still felt good; but even that was improved in the sequel.

Naughty Dog really stepped up with...

-Smoother aiming
-Max Payne 3 level prone abilities
-Superb animation blending in melee
-Set piece intensity including the soundtrack feeling more appropriate now for those moments a
-Quality of life improvements like faster crafting
-Little attention to detail touches, plus gameplay things like simulating a fear of heights through the controls
-A host of accessibility options that helped convince me that customizable difficulty can work well when given proper care.

Also, the rope was probably the coolest technical feat of the year, even though it was underutilized. But that’s more down to the fact it was so difficult to accomplish the first place. And kudos to any game where you can just smash the glass to get around a locked door. It should’ve never taken this long.

How Naughty Dog Created the Immersive World of The Last of Us Part II

The team shared some insights into the production of the award-winning title: from the interactive ropes system and realistic blood behavior to next-level immersion and the beauty of destruction.

80.lv

 

[stroopwafel]

So you’d put Nioh 2 above Bloodborne? I downloaded the original as a PS+ freebie but haven’t gotten to it yet. Curious though, but will probably finish Sekiro first.

I also didn’t include TLoU2 due to OP stipulations, but I’d have to concur. To me the only downside it has next to the original is that its story is a downer, and the pacing often sucks.

But having said that, just playing the thing feels like such an improvement over the original. I played up to Boston on a Grounded playthrough as a refresher before Part II released, and it just felt worse than I remember. The aiming was stiff, the AI reared it’s mostly ugly head, and the typical gameplay tropes like musical ladders and watch this cool cinematic for pulling someone up a ledge felt overindulgent. The melee was about the only thing that still felt good; but even that was improved in the sequel.

Naughty Dog really stepped up with...

-Smoother aiming
-Max Payne 3 level prone abilities
-Superb animation blending in melee
-Set piece intensity including the soundtrack feeling more appropriate now for those moments a
-Quality of life improvements like faster crafting
-Little attention to detail touches, plus gameplay things like simulating a fear of heights through the controls
-A host of accessibility options that helped convince me that customizable difficulty can work well when given proper care.

Also, the rope was probably the coolest technical feat of the year, even though it was underutilized. But that’s more down to the fact it was so difficult to accomplish the first place. And kudos to any game where you can just smash the glass to get around a locked door. It should’ve never taken this long.

How Naughty Dog Created the Immersive World of The Last of Us Part II

The team shared some insights into the production of the award-winning title: from the interactive ropes system and realistic blood behavior to next-level immersion and the beauty of destruction.

80.lv

No, no, no Bloodborne and RE4 are my most favorite games of all time. I definitely wouldn't put Nioh above Bloodborne so maybe I should have worded it differently. xD
I simply love the combat in Nioh so much that I consider it's sequel the best action-RPG but as an overall package with everything included(atmosphere, level design, artwork etc) ofcourse nothing really comes close to Bloodborne. But Nioh is definitely in a similar league for me. My dream would be some kind of collaboration between Team Ninja and From. Nioh's director is also a really big fan of Bloodborne. And Bloodborne's producer also likes Nioh.


TLOU2's story really impressed me in a way the original never did. Gameplay was kind of..standard but smoothed out and really perfected. It was a harrowing journey with all of the pieces of the game's design falling into the right place. I've never seen all of a game's elements united under such a coherent vision. It really elevated the entire craft of making videogames. I really liked it's sophisticated themes of how people react to pain and trauma in ways they often don't consciously realize. With the game's events being this downward spiral that would ultimately culminate in this awareness. TLOU2 is the first game that actually probes the human condition.

 

[BrawlMan]

....



But can you truly like a list that doesn’t have FF7R on it?

Yes. Streets of Rage 4 is not on the best list, but I don't have a problem with his choices.

 

[CriticalGaming]

....



But can you truly like a list that doesn’t have FF7R on it?

Sure. Though I am a little sad that Nioh 2 (which he didn't like either game) is also not on it.

So long as TLOU2 got the worst game of the year, means I still have respect for him.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Gotta say, after having reached a certain point in Hades, I don't feel too eager to really keep playing it. The fact that I'm constantly going through the same run - which only gets longer the further I get - certainly doesn't help much, but I've read others talk about the combat, and yeah, I can't say it's too captivating on it's own. Combat scenarios aren't really varied either. The game really hooked me in with its style and character, but the actual engine that is the gameplay feels pretty weak. So I'm afraid Hades is yet another 'meh' game for me this year.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Gotta say, after having reached a certain point in Hades, I don't feel too eager to really keep playing it. The fact that I'm constantly going through the same run - which only gets longer the further I get - certainly doesn't help much, but I've read others talk about the combat, and yeah, I can't say it's too captivating on it's own. Combat scenarios aren't really varied either. The game really hooked me in with its style and character, but the actual engine that is the gameplay feels pretty weak. So I'm afraid Hades is yet another 'meh' game for me this year.

I get the impression that it simply being an Indy game gives it a pass in that regard. Like, expectations are by default lower for them, so anything beyond mere competency is considered award-worthy.

 

[Gordon_4]

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.

Shit! I knew I forgot to watch something yesterday.

 

[BrawlMan]

Here's Max Best 2020 Games!

Spoiler: Max's Top 5 games of 2020.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Here's Max Best 2020 Games!

​

Color me surprised max made ff7r his goty. He is more of a ff7 nerd than i am. I love it

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

Best

Among Us - Ok everyone seems to know this is good. I didn't realise how good. I figured it would be the based game and maps with any cosmetics being separate purchases. Actually it seems like there's a lot of Cosmetic stuff in the game anyone the only real thing not in the game without paying for extra i any default pets. It's really good on PC.

The Messenger - People kept saying this was good and I kept looking and just going "I don't get it, it looks like nothing special" then I played it and OK this is something kinda special and to say why would kind of ruin a lot of the fun of the game. All I will say is it's very much a self aware game in the genre it's in.

Pilgrims - How do you fix the point and Click genre to not be so much about trying to figure out what the creator was thinking in it's puzzle design? Make it so all the items become cards in a deck and just dragging them up to the screen will try to use them in the scene however the characters can. It's a simple idea but it makes the game so good really. With multiple solutions for some puzzles some with pretty funny results it's well worth playing if a little pricey for the 2.5 hours it will take to 100% it and the ~80 minutes to beat it first time.

Worst

Fate Tectonics - So simple idea, you have to build a world tile by tile keeping the gods happy. It should have been really enjoyable only with random tiles and gods that get easily pissed off and having to actually connect like with like times to finish structure but tiles being entirely random it becomes a pain quick specially when the god in the game start getting pissed and destroying parts of the world you've just made.

System Crash - OK this is on the worst list but I like it but I can't help but say it's bad. It's a Cyberpunk deck building card game supposed to be based on the game netrunner but while it's fairly fun it also replicates (luckily without real money) most of the problems with real like CCG games. Rare expensive cards, kinda OP decks that can only be countered in very specific ways which mean unless your deck is build specially for said challenge enjoy losing, especially if you've not unlocked the often rare cards you need to create the counter strategy decks oh and the game kind of throws you in the deep end quite quickly so you'll have about 5 battles introduction then start facing specialist decks that have access to very rare expensive cards and require very specific counters so you'll only get past them by pure luck of your opponent drawing a bad starting hand and you getting lucky.

West Sweety - a half Translated Chinese or Japanese adult game based round an isolated Western Saloon bar. It's an interesting setting that could lead to all kinds of characters with lots of different personalities to characters but what you get are characters with no real personality but in different clothes. The games you play to progress are a basic Rock Paper Scissor game and literally a game about getting the higher number on Dice. The only progression is the games have more rounds each stage with each girl to get through. It feels like a One Night Stand in video game form and not a one night stand that actually lead to getting to know the person.

Make America Great Again the Trump Presidency - I made a bet in 2016 that if Trump won I'd play and review this game. I finally made good on that bet and the game is bad. It's Clunky, it's kinda boring it's weirdly overly fiddly, it doesn't even feel like an absurdist parody it feels and based on thanking the Donald subreddit I think it was meant to be actually sincere. The game itself is a resource stock trading game with occasional side scrolling shooter segments mostly but you're also limited in buying resources so even with huge reserves of cash you can only buy a set amount of resources to trade with no way to expand this. The Stock trading is overly iddly and bland and the side scrolling shooting segments aren't enjoyable really either often wanting more precise movement than the game is capable of providing or more precise shooting. It fails as a game but also fails as a meme game trying to capitalise on the Trump meme explosion online.

Cuberpunk 2088 - Should be an ok idea. Make a silly game kinda trying to cash in on Cyberpunk 2077 and sell it for a low price but Cuberpunk 2088 doesn't feel through through and you can actually end up in a position (quite easily) of having to restart the game because you can end up in a state where you literally can't win or complete the game. And that's just one of a number of bugs the game has, oh and there's no real actual story either to it.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

2nd part cause the forum was being weird and not accepting it as 1 big post


Most disappointing

One Finger Death Punch 2 - I liked the first game, the second game just feels like it lost something somewhere I don't know what though.

1,000 Days to Escape - A game about helping people escape Earth before it becomes uninhabitable were you have to search the galaxy, research new technology, figure out how to deal with alien races some peaceful some not so peaceful. So much potential for being a game with depth but it's not it's a fairly shallow game whose only replay factor is trying to get people off earth as fast as possible without them dying. It feels like a minigame that's been expanded but couldn't quite figure out how to be a full actual game.

Most Surprising

LewdApocalypse - It's a porn parody game based on totally not the Resident Evil franchise ok my Capcom Lawyers, but it's actually decent. The adult stuff is a bit rough round the edges but the gameplay feels like something Popcap would have made in their earlier days. It's like a light gun game almost but side on but also with you shooting from the same perspective you would in a light gun game. It's hard to explain as it's not a genre or style of gameplay that's even common enough to have actually a genre name. It's weird because some-one clearly put in effort here and while there's some memes they feel actually appropriate memes related to Resident Evil. There's effort been put in here and thought rather than it just being another match 3 adult game.

Kind Words - I didn't think this would be much it's like a weird sort of Agony Aunt crossed with anonymous message system rather than a game but in a year where all my plans were thrown out the window and things would still have not been great in some ways without the Pandemic. It was nice to use and not have to end up exposed to the angry online yelling just for trying to actually not turn into a monster one way or another.

Feel the Snow - A crafting survival game that was in Early access. Man if ever there were a collection of words that should serve as a warning for a game it's them but somehow Feel the Snow manages to feel both bleak and hopeful while also feeling like there's an actual fairly polished and well though out game to play that's not just the normal indie survival game jank meant for Twitch streamers to turn into a fad then drop and move onto the next one. This one feels like something that works alone but could work with friend too and not suffer in either mode.

(Note I did play other games this year but a number I started playing before 2020)

 

[BrawlMan]

It's Dunk Time!

​

 

[Samtemdo8]

Doom Eternal for Best

Resident Evil 3 Remake and Warcraft 3 Reforged for disappointing

 

[Gordon_4]

Doom Eternal for Best

Resident Evil 3 Remake and Warcraft 3 Reforged for disappointing

Based on what I heard, probably Warcraft. I mean, RE3 Remake at least worked properly.

 

[Samtemdo8]

Based on what I heard, probably Warcraft. I mean, RE3 Remake at least worked properly.

No. Same for me.
Both didn't deliver on promises.

Not remastered and actual cutscenes in the game like shown in Blizzcon 2018.

And Nemesis does not stalk you through out the game like Mr. X and the game is too linear.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

I vaguely remember buying the complete bundle of Dead Rising 4 for a tenner and still feeling disappointed. The whole thing was just ...is just...i don't know, but I don't like it. It wants to do jokes so badly, I can see it's trying, but it's desperate and bad and I'm worried the writers behind it might be too close to going postal.

Everything else was fine probably.