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Incline Your Favorite Games from 2020? Any Genre

Ash

Arcane
Joined
Oct 16, 2015
Messages
6,230
My gaming year. Surprisingly few 90s games this time around. Very few gems left to discover there sadly, but I intend to dive into some niche titles I passed on for 2021.
Bold = released in 2020.

High recommendation:

XCOM: Enemy Within
Spelunky 2
Spelunky 1
Salt and Sanctuary
Doom Eternal
Darkwood
Fallout: New Vegas (modded)
Unreal (Modded)

Recommended if you're particularly interested. I rate them each around 7/10 +-0.5:

The Surge
The Surge 2
DMC4
God of War 3
Hotline Miami
Rage 2
Fallout 3 (Modded)
Dead Cells
Destroy All Humans 2
Ghost of Tshushima
Guns, gore & Cannoli 2
Toejam & Earl: Back in the Groove

Do not recommend/was disappointed:

Bloodstained
Blasphemous
Shadowman
Ori & the Blind Forest (I actually do recommend this one, it's just not for me. I recognize it as a good game nonetheless).
Star Wars: Dark Forces 2
Silent Hill 3
Metro: Exodus
FF7 (PC Version modded -- use PSX emulator and Hardtype mod instead)

Special Complete Trash Rating:

FF7 Remake

Of Spelunky 2 or Doom Eternal for GOTY 2020, it's hard to recommend either as some amazing achievement or honorary accomplishment for 2020. Both are surprisingly good, improvements over the prior game, but could have been better. Ghost of Tshushima was a very interesting title technically speaking and the combat had solid foundation, but the game was let down by the usual modern game design conventions.
No award given. Yet another terrible year it seems. The decline is here to stay, even if it's not as bad as the late 2000s era in particular was, mostly because indies are pumping out some good shit.

I'll look into potentially good 2020 games I may have missed based on other posters ITT.
 
Last edited:

pakoito

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jun 7, 2012
Messages
3,086
GOTY all year every year:
Tabletop Simulator - This has saved my 2020
What games are you playing on this?
Plenty, it depends on our mood. Some are automated and make for a better experience than the physical game. Some highlights from our group:

Gloomhaven
Clank
Wingspan
Kingdom Death Monster
Mechs vs Minions
7 Wonders Duel
Virus
Blood Rage
Hanamikoji
Millennium Blades
Mage Knight
Middara
Res Arcana
Legendary Marvel
Keyforge
Santorini
Root until the digital version came out


I have this "Top 500 on BGG" collection on my bookmarks too https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2086043930
 

Citizen

Guest
Hades all the way, baby. Silky smooth action combat and enjoyable character progression, engaging world and just overall amazing levels of polish. A fucking indie roguelike has more content than your average bioware AAA RPG garbage

Deep Rock Galactic is my second favorite. It's basically l4d2 + minecraft, but you play as WH40K Squats. Complete terrain destructibility, emergent gameplay and millions of ways to interact with environment (grapplehook, ziplines, drills, explosives, or a good ol' pickaxe if you're out of ammo), cool gunplay and lots of customization options = THE BEST CO-OP GAME EVAR
 

DemonKing

Arcane
Joined
Dec 5, 2003
Messages
5,958
Desperados 3 for me - the music, atmosphere and voice acting mixed with very good gameplay.

Also enjoyed Mortal Shell, Demon Souls remake, DOOM Eternal, Ghost of Tsushima. Even COD:Cold War campaign was fun because you have the option to screw over the Yanks at the end despite gameplay being pretty bland.

My 12 year old reckons Hades is GOTY but I haven't tried it yet.
 

Tweed

Professional Kobold
Patron
Joined
Sep 27, 2018
Messages
2,838
Location
harsh circumstances
Pathfinder: Wrath
Factorio, technically.
Noita.
Der Geisteturm.
Nox Archaist, probably, I'm still near the beginning.

These are also the only games I've played that are from 2020 so that makes it a really easy list to define. :positive:
 

Ovplain

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 23, 2009
Messages
1,890
Location
Down by the riverside
RPG Wokedex
The only game released in 2020 that I finished seems to be 'Delores: A Thimbleweed Park Mini-Adventure'! So I guess that's it. I am playing 'Horizon Zero Dawn' now though, might beat that in 2020.
 
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Messages
5,103
Shit year. Was going to be sparse regardless, but covid completely did it in, with many games getting delayed. Mostly the year of the unfinished releases. Bannerlord, Stoneshard, Baldur's Gate 3 and even Cyberpunk all releasing in Beta or very buggy state. Crusader Kings 3 released more polished, but let's face it, it will need 20 DLCs before it catches up to CK2 in terms of gameplay complexity. A year to catch up on previous years.
 

Rieser

Scholar
Joined
Oct 10, 2018
Messages
285
Hades. Not quite as good as The Binding of Isaac, but enjoyable and decent writing to boot. Troubleshooter was surprisingly not shit. Cyberpunk was alright. Still haven't played Dungeon of Nahahuiehajkl which seems interesting enough.

I've mostly been playing older games this year though, the best ones being Sunless Sea, Age of Decadence, NEO Scavenger and Battle Brothers. All pretty great.
 

pakoito

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jun 7, 2012
Messages
3,086
GOTY all year every year:
Tabletop Simulator - This has saved my 2020

Actually great tier:

Outer Wilds - All-round awesome game. It has story, simulation, soundtrack, graphics. It's game-y, it's playful, it's sandboxy
Supraland - Unpretentious 3D puzzle-platformer
Baba is You - Harder than my MSc
Subnautica - The main quest deflates towards the end, as with most games. Eat/drink is a chore after the first hour. Enjoyable all around
A Hat in Time (or the latest DLC or whatever) - Pwetty platforming, oozes charm and the best jump mechanics outside 3D marios

Fun but forgettable:
Paradise Killer - Secretly a platformer collectathon. Great aesthetics and soundtrack
Beginner's Guide - Short, twist not too predictable
Edith Finch - Just a worse The Hex. Blue balls ending
Heaven's Vault - The translating mechanic was so much fun. The game is a glorified point & click adventure, and not one of the best

Fun itch scratchers:
Hades - Loses on enemy, builds and boss variety to Isaac. Better controls and pace
Root Digital - Boardgame adaptation, better than most TRPGs and TBS. Vagabond 5 turn victory ez
Bonfire - Unique. I've been playing the alpha for a decade, and it finally got a Steam upgrade and release
Minion Masters - I miss dota. Games are short and you can coop with a friend against bots pretending to be ladder players
Riders of the North Sea - A decent worker placement game. Lacks variety
OverDungeon - Over-the-top real time card roguelike. Less thinky and more hectic than Slay the Spire

Didn't like as much as I expected based on your overhyped opinions:
Bloodstained - Nothing new
Yakuza 0 - It's an interactive movie, which I don't mind, just don't lie to me
Mobius Front 88 - <3 Zachtronics, this wasn't it chief
Way of the Samurai 4 - Jaaaaaank
Danganronpa - Too weeb, controls too stiff
Druidstone - Eh
KUF: The Crusaders - A whole campaign worth of tutorial, obtuse mission objectives
Darkest Dungeon - Suffering and RNG for its own sake

Currently playing and not sure about yet:
Outward
Lost Technology
Troubleshooter
I'm sneaking Blasphemous before EOY

Actually great tier:
Blasphemous - Okay metroidvania with the best Spaniard imagery in any game so I vote with my heart here
 

pakoito

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jun 7, 2012
Messages
3,086
Tabletop Simulator - This has saved my 2020
Backstory?
GOTY all year every year:
Tabletop Simulator - This has saved my 2020
What games are you playing on this?
Plenty, it depends on our mood. Some are automated and make for a better experience than the physical game. Some highlights from our group:

Gloomhaven
Clank
Wingspan
Kingdom Death Monster
Mechs vs Minions
7 Wonders Duel
Virus
Blood Rage
Hanamikoji
Millennium Blades
Mage Knight
Middara
Res Arcana
Legendary Marvel
Keyforge
Santorini
Root until the digital version came out


I have this "Top 500 on BGG" collection on my bookmarks too https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2086043930

Basically the go-to during the pandemic for friends who don't have the time, skill, or inclination to play a full videogame, or lack a powerful Windows machine.

And lowkey some of these games have more fine-tuned mechanics than your average (C/T/S/J)RPG.
 

V_K

Arcane
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
7,714
Location
at a Nowhere near you
I've mostly (re)played classic (Myst, Riven, Monkey Island, QfG4) and modern classic (Resonance, Dream Machine) Adventures this year. And for the most part having a blast. As for actual 2020 releases:

Great tier:
Nothing. The games I enjoyed most this year were all older ones - Myst, Resonance, QfG4.

Good tier:
Röki - a very charming Adventure based on Swedish folklore. It starts slow, with the first chapter being a bit boring and linear, but the other two are quite great, with large open areas and some creative puzzles. Difficulty is easy to medium-hard - slightly below Monkey Island series. Just a classic-style Adventure done right.
Horizon's Gate - the third installment in Voidspire seriies, a mixture of open-world naval strategy and tactical RPG. Not everything about this mixture works, and having a huge world with three competing states without any narrative about it seems a bit of a waste, but the series hallmarks - deep character system, tactical combat, interesting dungeons - all seem to still be there.

Ok tier:
Fates of Ort - original concept - single character action-adventure with autopause, bullet hell-style enemies and some RPG elements - an nice art style. Also highly non-linear, with an open world, lots of C&Cs and alternative paths. But level design is just too monotonous for my taste. I might get back to it at some point.

Diappointments of the year:
Dungeon of Naheulbeuk - this has the core of a solid dungeon crawler, with solid character system and exploration could be fun if it wasn't so damn hand-holdy. Just too many plot-gated areas in the game that could have easily not be - but of course casuals would get lost so better not let them. There are puzzles, but all you get from solving them is some loot - hardly worth the trouble - but of course if they were made meaningful for story progression, casuals would complain that the game is teh hard. Etc, etc.
Noita - I really wanted to like this game. There's a lot to like about it - physical simulations, experimenting with spells and potions, crazy and cryptic world. But it's just So. Damn. Random. Way, way, way too random to be any fun. You'd think you could use the physical simulation system to find creative paths through the levels - but no, there's no need because the levels are procedurally generated and uninspiring, and the only thing the game's physics is good for is accidentally killing you because of some innocuous action.

Shit tier:
Operencia - linear, easy, handholdy and uninspired. A cargo cult dungeon crawler if there ever was one. Its only saving grace is the art style.
 

Xelocix

Learned
Joined
Dec 25, 2020
Messages
458
Location
Your moms panty drawer
Every game I intended to play in 2020 was delayed, broken as fuck, had a disappointing story according to reviews, or all of the above. As a result I played nothing that came out this year (unless you count the VTM Shadows of New York VN, which was just as lame as Coteries of New York).

Might give G-String, Hades, and RE3 Remake a try in a few months though.
 

ferratilis

Magister
Joined
Oct 23, 2019
Messages
2,224
If we only consider 2020 releases, then:

-Great: Desperados 3, Hades, Doom 64
-Good: Doom Eternal, Carrion, Wasteland 3, Destroy All Humans remake
-Mediocre: RE3 Remake, Mafia Remake
-Bad: Cyberbunk, Horizon Zero Dawn, Death Stranding
-Criminal: Commandos 2 HD Remaster (I hope they burn in hell for what they've done to that game)

And there's still a bunch of games I haven't played that could be good. Epic exclusives like THPS1+2, Mortal Shell etc. Or games like CK3, Ori, Control or Project Wingman that I am generally not interested in but could try. All in all, it was a good year.
 

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