Ranking the video games you completed for the first time in 2020

[Hammerklavier]

Thank goodness the year 2020 is almost behind us.  This year sucked for many reasons, but at least we still had our video games.  

Because I'm a dork, I tend to keep track of the video games I play.  Because I'm an even bigger dork, I sometimes like to review these titles later on and rank them to remind myself which games I liked and didn't like, and for what reasons.  What follows is a ranked list of the video games that I "completed" for the first time in the year 2020.  

My definition of "complete" means that I played enough of the game, and experienced enough of its content, to be able to offer a reasonably informed perspective on the game.  There are actually several other games I played at some point in 2020, but didn't finish for one reason or another.  Some, like "Dragon Quest XI," are 95% done, but remain incomplete as of now.  Others, like "Cities: Skylines" and "Thumper" are only partially explored, but I still plan to finish them later.  Others, like "Alien Isolation" and "Half Life 2" I made a little progress with, but am probably giving up on.  

A few notes about my 2020 video game playing year:

* I played more games than usual, probably partly because of the coronavirus and subsequent quarantine, and also due to some of the games being smaller in scope or length.
* I may have played more difficult games this year than any other I can think of and tangled with some of the most difficult bosses I've ever encountered.  I'm not one to seek out extreme difficulty in video games, so not sure why this happened.
* My fiancee games with me, so there are an abundance of co-op games, but even several of the one-player games typically have us passing the controller back and forth.

 

1. Rocket League

I'm not much for soccer or demolition derbys, so I had no business enjoying this game as much as I did.  All I know is, the first time I made an "epic save," turbo dribbled the ball down the arena and bashed the ball into the goal with a flashy sideways flip of the car, I was hooked.  The matchmaking seems to do a decent job of finding reasonable competition, whether I was playing 2v2 with my fiancee or 1v1 duels on my own.  I'm a long ways away from being "good" at the game, but it's definitely been the most thrilling and addictive game I played this year.

2. Undertale

As a 37-year-old who likes to tinker around with developing video games, but has no real achievement to his name yet, it depresses me a bit that this gem was developed in Game Maker almost entirely by some kid in his early 20's, but the joy of experiencing this minimalist indie masterpiece is worth the hit to my self-esteem.  You play as a little girl who has found her way into an underground world of exiled monsters.  Comparisons to "Earthbound" are apt, both in terms of the eccentric sense of humor on display as well as its tendency to unexpectedly warm your heart or unsettle the hell out of you.  As monsters engage you in turn-based battles, you can choose whether to attack them the traditional way, or try to resolve the issue peacefully.  Ultimately, you can play the game three different ways: (1) pacifistically, where you spare every monster along the way, (2) genocidally, where you slaughter every last monster, and (3) somewhere between these two extremes, a sort of default path that is how most people first experience the game.  I beat the game three times, pursuing a different path with each run, and it's remarkable how the game's mood shifts dramatically based on which path you commit to.  The game's simple presentation belies a multilayered mechanical and thematic complexity that kept me coming back for repeated playthroughs.  One of my favorite innovations comes when an enemy attacks.  In most turn-based RPGs, your character simply loses HP, but "Undertale" turns into a "bullet hell" game, allowing you some control over how much damage you take.  I've never had so much fun being attacked by the enemy.  The eclectic and memorable soundtrack deserves special praise as well.  

3. Cuphead

Since I first saw footage of this game, I knew I would have to play it.  Even it's harshest critics will readily admit that the game's aesthetics are amazing; it really does look like the sort of game that Fleisher Studios would have designed had video games been a thing back in the 1930's.  Some will argue that the game's strong presentation masks mediocre gameplay, but that was not my experience.  My fiancee and I found the mechanics intuitive and easy to learn, the controls crisp and responsive, and the difficulty finely-tuned and ultimately fair to the player.  I generally don't have the patience to throw myself at the same punishing boss thirty times in a row, but "Cuphead" induces a very strong "just one more try" impulse, probably in part because the boss fights are compressed into such a short span of time.  Overall, "Cuphead" provides pure, delirious run-and-gun fun wrapped up in a stylistic package unlike anything I've ever seen in a video game.

4. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Having loved the "Dark Souls" trilogy as well as "Bloodborne," I had some idea of what to expect here, but "Sekiro" ended up being the first of From Software's modern action RPGs to leave me with the feeling that the rewards weren't always worth overcoming the punishing difficulty.  Unlike the "Soulsborne" games, "Sekiro" won't allow you to "farm" your way toward improving a particular stat you've neglected or purchasing a weapon that might offer an advantage against that boss you've been struggling with.  If you're going to overcome a "Sekiro" boss, you'll play within the game's relatively restrictive progression route just like every other player.  As of yet, I haven't actually succeeded in finishing the game.  I made it as far as the "Sword Saint" final boss (as well as the optional "Demon of Hatred" boss), but I've grown exasperated with the feeling that I'm spending most of my time staring at loading screens and sprinting to the boss location only to die in a matter of seconds (minutes if I'm lucky).  Unlike with "Soulsborne" -- where I often avoided cheesy strategies against bosses because I didn't want to cheat myself out of the satisfaction of beating them "legit" -- with "Sekiro," I quickly found myself embracing every cheap advantage I could find.  I never came to feel much of a comfort level with the game's unusual (but admittedly clever) posture-heavy battle mechanics, but my main gripe with the boss battles is how little room for error you're left with.  Many bosses can crush you in a few swift blows, which is all the more infuriating after you've been methodically dodging and carefully striking over the past several minutes just to see those heart-pounding efforts end so abruptly.  All my complaints aside, many of the rich risk/reward systems, expansive lore, absorbing moods and thoughtful area designs I've come to expect from these games are here in full force, and overcoming such fierce opponents as Genichiro Ashina, Guardian Ape, Headless Ape, and the two duels with Owl were among the most exciting, fulfilling and memorable experiences I had with any game in 2020.  While I didn't enjoy it as much as the "Soulsborne" games and sort of gave up on finishing the final boss, I must still award it a fairly high place in my ranking.

5. Red Dead Redemption 2

As the type of gamer that tends to grow restless playing the same game for too long, I'm not the one best positioned to fully appreciate the massive depth of this game's world and its many settlements, quests and colorful side characters, but I did find myself drawn into the main campaign due to the fantastic writing and voice acting.  Controlling the outlaw Arthur Morgan for most of the quest as he finds himself caught between loyalty to his "family" of sorts, the Van der Linde gang, and his increasing reservations about the immoral behavior he's engaging in, I enjoyed leading Arthur on his path toward redemption.  I also took great interest in how the other members of his gang evolved as the Pinkertons gradually closed in and desperation began to spread and create rifts and power struggles within the group.  The epilogue with John Marston attempting life as a normal working man in order to win his woman back was a great addition.  Oddly, I found the gunfighting scenes somewhat of a chore, and I had no use for grooming horses, buying weapons and items, etc.  I actually found the game at its most enjoyable when it served more like a "walking simulator" (or a "horse riding simulator" in this case), marching from quest to quest, choosing dialogue options, and watching cut scenes so I could immerse myself in its brilliant cinematic storytelling.  

6. Nier: Automata

A game intended to be played through multiple times for the story to fully reveal itself, my fiancee and I only actually completed the game once, so my view of the game feels a bit incomplete (we do intend to play through it again, hopefully fairly soon).  In our one playthrough, I did find much to admire with the gameplay, setting, story and music.  The final boss of the initial campaign felt like a bit of a disappointment, almost more a parody of anime villains then an actual character, but like a lot of great robot-based science fiction, "Nier: Automata" manages to raise compelling questions about what it means to be alive.  I suspect there is more thematic subtext waiting to be discovered on subsequent playthroughs.

7. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Being a fan of "Link to the Past," I've always meant to play through "Link's Awakening," but despite starting the Game Boy version a few times, I never quite stuck with it long enough.  The new Switch remake presented a nice opportunity to revisit the game, and this time, I got all the way through it.  It is indeed very similar to "Link to the Past," including pretty much all of the same weapons and accessories used to solve puzzles, but in many respects, "Link's Awakening" does forge an identity of its own, especially with regard to unusual tropical island setting and enigmatic plot, which reveals an intriguing twist some 2/3 of the way into the game.  While there were a fair share of "where do I go now" moments, "Link's Awakening" generally provides better direction than earlier "Zelda" entries.  I greatly enjoyed the colorful, if rather cutesy, graphics as well as the modern, orchestrated renditions of the original 8-bit tunes.

8. P.T.

Not the actual game, but a fan-made recreation that is said to be exacting enough that Konami contacted the developer and offered him a job.  As such, the game lives up to the hype in creating a truly nightmarish ambience and constant sense of dread, even if I found myself wishing that there was more to interact with.  Once I realized there didn't seem to be a way for me to "lose" or "die," the anticipation of any sort of threat dissipated.  The abrupt ending served as a reminder that this was less of a fully-formed game and more of an experimental concept, but the idea of walking through the same house repeatedly in a loop and seeing unnerving changes with each new repetition was brilliantly conceived and executed, making me wish the "Silent Hills" game that "P.T." was designed to promote had seen the light of day, or that "P.T." itself would have been expanded upon  into a more complete and ambitious product.

9. Inside

Having played and admired Playdead's previous effort, "Limbo", as a unique and artfully designed indie  classic, I was initially a bit disappointed at how very similar "Inside" looked and felt.  Once again, I was leading a small boy through a harsh world of muted colors and minimalist sound design.  Both games remind me quite a bit of the 1990's cult classic "Out of this World / Another World" with the meticulous environmental puzzles, general lack of music, and the constant threat of instant-death lurking around every corner.  While the game's climax is memorably strange and helps "Inside" to forge an identity of its own separate from "Limbo", the final moment left me feeling a bit empty and as confused as ever regarding the game's setting and narrative, which the developers gleefully left opaque and elusive.  I think I found myself more drawn into the world of "Limbo", but "Inside" probably featured the more eclectic and consistently engaging collection of puzzles.

10. Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures 1 & 2

I imagine any fan of "The Nerd" will recognize and appreciate the game's many references to the long running web series.  Others who come to it will probably be very confused.  Either way, the gameplay is pure fun, paying homage not only to the AVGN gaming review web series and to old school platformers so often highlighted on that series, but surprisingly taking its cue from newer platformers like "Super Meat Boy" and "Celeste" with its brutal difficulty combined with extremely generous checkpoints.  The platforming is constantly inventive, the synth music is catchy as hell, and the controls are crisp and reliable.  It won't attract nearly as much attention as other recent retro-style platformers like "Shovel Knight" and "Axiom Verge," but I don't think its too far off in terms of moment-to-moment platforming fun.  The two games, as well as the "Terrible Tower" add-on that comes with the "Deluxe" version, are all pretty consistent in quality, so I don't see any use in separating them on my list.

11. Flower/Journey

Two very beautiful "walking simulators" made by the same developer, so I'll lump them together here.  In "Flower" you control the wind, guiding flowers along through gray, lifeless environments to restore vibrant color and vegetation.  In "Journey," you control a caped figure who traverses deserts and caves on the way to a mountain summit, leading to a transcendent denouement that at least partially explains what the whole wordless quest was really about.  The music in both games is a definite strength, and there's something refreshing in how abstract and dreamlike both adventures were.

12. Fortnite: Battle Royale

Man, did my fiancee and I play a lot of this during the first half of 2020.  She was way more hooked than I was, but I can't say we didn't create some great memories and experience some exhilarating #1 finishes.  Over time, I became increasingly frustrated by the game's lack of transparency in matchmaking, as well as which competitors were bots and which ones were actual humans.  If I get a bunch of kills in a match, I'd like to know how many of them were controlled by a sentient being, especially given how hopeless the bots are.  I also found over time that the gap between the best players and more casual players like me is quite massive, with the biggest reason being that the top players master the keyboard and mouse controls and the ability to create elaborate forts rapidly through hotkeys.  I simply can't and won't ever reach that level.  I'm useless trying to play an FPS with a keyboard and mouse, and I'm not prepared to put in the time needed to become great at building giant forts at a moments notice regardless of control scheme.  After hitting that wall (no pun intended), I sort of grew tired of the game.  This is one case where I actually wish Epic would allow the option for players to only play with others using a controller versus those using keyboard and mouse; the latter seems like such an insurmountable advantage for those who are proficient at it that it tends to ruin the experience.  I'd prefer that my opponents are operating under similar circumstances/limitations as I am.  (Whiny rant over.)

13. Resident Evil 2 (remake)

I never did play the original, so I have nothing to compare this remake to, but it stands as a solid old-school survival horror game.  I'm absolutely awful at navigating 3D video game environments, and I get turned around easily, so much of my experience of playing when I had the controller was being told where to go constantly by my fiancee.  I guess that beats opening up the map every other room.  I didn't find the game especially "scary," but the short window of time where "Mr. X" appears in the police station and begins stalking you from room to room did make for a nice spike in intensity ("Alien Isolation" seems to be built entirely around this concept).  We ended up beating the game twice, once for each of the protagonists, enjoying the resulting forks in the campaign route and story along the way.

14. The Outer Worlds

Basically an intergalactic take on "Fallout" replete with the same sort of premise involving a resilient survivor leading various factions in an effort against the powers-that-be to bring civilization back from the brink of collapse.  As one who tends to get overwhelmed with massive open-world RPGs, I appreciated how relatively compact "The Outer Worlds" was; there was little in the way of padding or filler, and rarely did the main quests feel like a waste of my time.  I enjoyed visiting the different planets and seeing their divergent look and feel, as well as recruiting new members to my spaceship and developing their individual story archs through sidequesting.  As with most open-world RPGs, I find myself bogged down by the inventory management and the sheer amount of collectables, the overwhelming majority of which I never really put to use.  The gunplay seemed adequate, if unremarkable, but take that with a grain of salt, as I'm not a big FPS guy either.

15. Octodad: Dadliest Catch

Designed around purposefully awkward controls that leave your protagonist flopping around comically like an idiot while trying to perform mundane everyday tasks like loading a dishwasher, eat food with a fork, or even just walk from room to room, "Octodad" is one of the few games I've played in which the real joy comes from watching someone else struggle through it than to try and traverse it yourself.  The game's absurdist humor shines not only in those moments where you're accidentally slamming objects around and causing a ruckus, but also in the hilarious cut scenes and environmental dialogue.  My fiancee and I initially tried playing co-op, in which each player controls a different side of the titular character's body; it was every bit as clumsy, amusing and frustrating as it sounds.  We came to prefer just trading the controller back and forth and chuckling at the other's attempts to make Octodad behave as inconspicuously as possible.

16. Fall Guys

Cutesy bean creatures compete in elimination-based "Wipeout" style events.  I actually got Playstation Plus for the first time just to be able to try this game with my fiancee.  I should have done my research first; we're not able to join the same game with me on PC and her on the PS4, but I'm not sure it would have mattered much since there doesn't seem to be a team element to most of these events.  "Fall Guys" is enjoyable, colorful, challenging fun, if a bit shallow and intermittently frustrating.  With so many competitors running around, you'll have to get used to getting frequently bumped into and knocked off of platforms by other players.  I haven't been much good at the game so far (I haven't even qualified for the final crown game yet, though my fiancee has made it a few times), but it is an amusing, frivolous diversion that projects happy vibes.

17. Spelunky & Spelunky 2

For some reason, I played an awful lot of reputedly tough games this year, but the "Spelunky" games may have been the most infuriatingly difficult.  My fiancee and I managed to reach the final boss in both games, but couldn't quite defeat them.  We tried numerous times to make a "hell run" in the first Spelunky and came up laughably short.  It often feels like the game's mechanics are designed to work against you at every opportunity.  There were so many deaths that involved a seemingly unlikely set of circumstances, or just terrible luck, that made it feel as though the game were taunting the player.  Though my fiancee couldn't get enough of these games, I found that I could only enjoy them in very small doses before frustration set in.  I do admire the meticulousness of its risk/reward systems and procedurally-generated stage designs, but it's a good thing our copies of these games are virtual or I'd be tempted to toss them across the room.  (Okay, not really, I haven't done anything like that since I was a kid).

18. Trine 2

A pleasant blend of platforming action and puzzles, but mostly the latter, as you guide a knight, a thief and a wizard on their quest to rescue the wizard's wife.  There's some good co-op fun to be had here.  My fiancee favored using the thief, who excels at long-range attacks and swinging around.  I mostly used the wizard and had a blast using psychokinenis magic to lift enemies up, slam them into walls, and drop them into spikes and pits of lava.  The knight is most useful for melee attacking, a role either of us could pivot to when needed.  The puzzles generally seem like they're intended to be solved a certain way, but with creativity and the wizard's ability to manipulate objects, you often have multiple solutions for each problem (pretty sure many of the solutions we used were not the "proper" ones).  The game's setting, storyline, characters and music are about as bland and generically medieval fantasy as can be, but some cheerfully innocuous charm and humor shines through.

19. Divinity: Original Sin 2

There's a lot to appreciate here.  The world and story -- which is surprisingly dark and full of torture and suffering -- is rich with detail and memorable moments.  The couch co-op functionality is mostly a positive, and there's considerable options when it comes to customizing your characters.  The music is lovely.  But I do have my complaints.  The game as a whole is very slow, from the loading screens, to the length of battles (some of our battles took over an hour, which is all the worse if you lose and have to repeat it again), to the constant need to stop and purchase the newest gear and analyze the data to determine the most optimal weaponry and equipment for each hero.  While the co-op works nicely in battle, one major point of frustration outside of battle is that one player could be buying and selling goods at the merchant (sometimes a lengthy process given how much inventory there is to manage) while the other player goes exploring and accidentally triggers a battle.   At this point, winning the battle becomes absolutely crucial, lest your failure leads in having to re-do all of the transactions with the merchant.  Our rule quickly became that whoever wasn't talking to the merchant needed to just put down the controller.  One final complaint is that the battles were too often bogged down by status inflictions.  Often before our party has had a chance to do anything, our heroes are inflicted with some combination of bleeding, burning, charmed, chilled, crippled, cursed, diseased, decaying, etc.  And why does it feel as though the most obnoxious and debilitating statuses are among the most common?  A competitive battle can swing sharply and frivolously against you based on an enemy using a wildly overpowered attack.  For all of its many shortcomings, I don't regret having played "Divinity 2," as my fiancee and I made some fine memories out of it and it was a change of pace from our usual fare.  But I won't be looking for anything similar anytime soon.

20. Tools Up

A slick co-op game that seems to be closely aping the style and gameplay of the "Overcooked" franchise.  It is fun to coordinate with your partner in completing various house projects, like knocking down and constructing walls, replacing carpets, installing tiled floors, and other such tasks that tend to be a lot less pleasurable in the real world.  "Tools Up" does seem to be missing a bit of the extra polish that "Overcooked" has; for instance, the game's ending feels extremely abrupt and unexpected.  Sure, that was the last stage according to the map, but no final challenge, no final cut scene, just skipping straight to the credit scroll and then back to the title screen?  The difficulty curve is a bit wonky as well, with the most difficult stage coming about 2/3 of the way in and some fairly easy stages towards the end.  I can recommend it if you're looking for some teamwork and quick coordination in your video games, but don't be surprised if you forget all about this game in a few months.

21. Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4

I'm just not a big fan of the Lego video games.  The cut scenes can be amusing, but the basic gameplay, which prioritizes running around bashing everything in sight to procure lego blocks while solving rudimentary puzzles, just doesn't sustain my interest for very long.  I've played a few Lego games with my fiancee over the past few years, and I don't find this particular entry much better or worse than the others, but she had a lot of fun with it for what it's worth.

22. Luigi's Mansion 3

Most people rave about this game, so we'll just call it one of my blind spots.  Going around vaccuming objects in each room quickly grows tiresome and starts to feel like actual work.  I find the camera frustrating, especially when I'm trying to fight ghosts.  Something about the family-friendly "spooky" atmosphere and especially the utterly harmless "horror" music sort of drives me nuts (to be fair, this sort of music almost always annoys me, so it seems to be my own issue).  The game seems unwilling to try and deliver even a modest scare.  I realize small children make up part of the game's target audience, but even small children often like being a little bit frightened once in a while.  On the bright side, my fiancee loved it and couldn't get enough of it, so it ended up being a good Christmas present for her.

Phew.  Now it's your turn.  How would you rank the games you completed during the 2020 year?

[Patrik]

1. GTA 4
2. Mafia 2 (with all DLC's)
3. Mafia 1 (revisited it)
4. Sleeping Dogs
5. Inside

 

i just realized that i didn't play that much this year :(

 

 

[The Blackangel]

1) RDR2
2) Goblin Sword

 

The rest of my games I've either beaten a billion times over the years, or not beaten at all. Those are the only new ones I have to list.

Edited January 8, 2021 by The Blackangel

[Hammerklavier]

Hey Patrik and Blackangel,

You included rankings, but what did you actually think of these games?

[The Blackangel]

RDR2--- I loved the game. Initially I wasn't interested because I had never been into westerns. I think Custer's Revenge may have played a part in that. But I watched my girl play and the game looked better and better. So I got to playing. I found a sense of family I had never had while growing up. I hated Micah, but still cared about him for the most part. He was a worthless piece of shit that got the majority of his entertainment from antagonizing Arthur. For those who don't know, Arthur is the character you play as. I didn't like how the game turned out, but the writers did a hell of a job.

Goblin Sword--- This was a decent game. It's a side scroller, and graphically like something you would see on Sega Genesis. It's really simple. The only problem is that you have the same objective in every level. Two treasure chests and three specific gems. There are two bosses in every stage. In the chests you can find swords, relics, armors, and some other decoration for the house you start out from. The swords have different abilities and strengths. The relics give you different abilities. The armors do nothing. They're cosmetic. Which is bullshit to me. The game is so simple, it's almost hard to enjoy. I played it through all the stages, and collected every item. But then it just stops. It doesn't have an ending, it just stops. Not worth the money now that I have played it.

[Hammerklavier]

2 hours ago, The Blackangel said:

RDR2--- I found a sense of family I had never had while growing up. I hated Micah, but still cared about him for the most part. He was a worthless piece of shit that got the majority of his entertainment from antagonizing Arthur. For those who don't know, Arthur is the character you play as. I didn't like how the game turned out, but the writers did a hell of a job.

Agreed on all accounts.  Despite being a gang of outlaws, they are clearly Arthur's surrogate family and Arthur clearly feels an emotional attachment and a vested interest in most members of the gang.  It seems as though Micah was drawn up as the archetypal psychopath; other people are merely tools for him to manipulate and coldly dispose of on his way toward power.  I enjoyed seeing each gang member's true character reveal itself as adversity grew. 

Edited January 11, 2021 by Hammerklavier

[The Blackangel]

A lot of people think that Micah is a "double agent" if you will, for the Pinkertons, and that he is feeding information back to them. I don't know if I believe that, but I wouldn't put it past him, considering what a piece of shit he is.

Also this is probably just my perception, but I think MaryBeth is in love with Arthur.
I can't argue with that. He's hot. So to MaryBeth: Girl step aside. This bitch wants him all to herself!

[m76]

1. The Last of Us Part II - Time Wasted: 27 hours.
Sorry for my French but this game just got me by the balls. It was a profound experience one that I rarely have with games. It was an inspiring yet devastating story. I think this game is so perfectly polished in terms of gameplay that it has no peer. The seamless animations, the attention to detail, it was all perfect. By far this was the best game I've played in 2020.

2. Cyberpunk 2077 - Time Wasted: 80 hours and counting.
Initially I found the game just passable, but I'm thoroughly enjoying my second play through of it right now. I didn't much like the main story, but the gameplay is very similar to the original Deus Ex. And I think Deus Ex (2000) is the best game ever created.  I already spent 80+ hours with the game and each time I start it I end up playing it much longer than originally intended. Most people can't see past the bugs, but I see the details behind it, and really appreciate them.  And the game just looks stunning if you have the right hardware to run it as it was meant to. Even after 80 hours sometimes I just have to stop and admire the scenery.

3. Ghost Recon Breakpoint - Time wasted: 85 hours
This game was a mess that I quickly abandoned last year, as they took it into the worst direction possible. Trying to turn it into another Division.
I gave it another shot after they released a major patch for it, they turned it around well enough. It's still not as good as its predecessor but good enough to give me countless hours of fun gameplay. All the mechanics borrowed from the division  are now optional, and can be turned off which makes the game into the immersive sim most players were expecting in the first place.

4. Assassin's Creed - Valhalla - Time Wasted: 64 hours
I absolutely loved Odyssey despite its shortcomings, so I started this game with great anticipation. In some aspects it's an improvement over Odyssey but two steps back in many others. It was still fun and would recommend it, but if you skipped Odyssey I'd advise to try that first, it has the better story and better characters, just choose Kassandra, not Alexios, the game works much better that way. But I Digress, in this one the choice between the male / female protagonist is not as important, especially because you can switch back and forth at any point during the game (which I personally find a stupid idea).

5. Control Ultimate Edition - Time wasted: 17 hours.
I was interested in this game from the get go, but I don't deal with the epic games store period so I only got it now. The gameplay is fun and unique firearms mixed with telekinetic powers and a weird horror twilight zone atmosphere, but I found the protagonist and story uncompelling. It's not a bad game, and unfortunately that's the biggest praise I can give it.

6. Mafia - Definitive Edition - Time Wasted 11 hours
I absolutely loved the original Mafia it's one of my top 10 maybe even top 5 games of all times.  And Hangar 17 just went and took a giant dump on the story of it. They have desecrated and disrespected it by rewriting every spoken line, altering every mission just enough to loose its soul, and come out as something inferior. The game's story was perfect as it was. As the age old cliche goes don't tryi to fix it if it ain't broke. Well they tried anyway. What makes this even more insulting is that they got the hard part right, they modernized the graphics and gameplay well enough, and then they messed up the story which was served to them on a silver platter. What a shame.

7. XCOM - Chimera Squad - Time Wasted 17 hours
This is a simplified version of XCOM2 that simply has no reason to exist. It does not add anything to the experience, the gameplay is more restricted, less open ended and ultimately lacklustre. But the worst part is the amount of political propaganda they crammed into such a small game. You are constantly barraged with social justice and feminist propaganda through the entire game, like the writers forgot that they are not writing tweets onto their twitter stream but lines for characters into a scifi videogame. Most of it is tasteless and out of context. And the characters themselves are written as annoying and childlike, who revel in violence, and possibly outright psychopaths.

8. Command & Conquer Remastered Collection - Time wasted: 18 hours
This is simply a cashgrab, the value added to the games is laughable, yet gamers seem to eat it up. I'm ashamed that they (we) can be bought so easily with a wiff of nostalgia. This is a shameful low effort cash grab that I doubt cost more than a few hundred thousand for EA to put out. And it already made them tens of millions.  Of course the original games are not bad, and if you never played them this might be something you want to try, just be mindful that there is nothing really remastered. These are 25 year old games released virtually unchanged. They even have the same bugs in them from 1995.

9. Star Wars Squadrons - Time wasted: more than it deserved

This is the Battlefield of space sims, totally worthless as a stand alone single player game. From the poor design choices, the simplistic narrative, the weak and annoying characters to the issues with the controls, it was not worth the time I've spent on it, let alone to pay money for it. Easily the worst game I had the misfortune of playing in 2020.

[Hammerklavier]

On 1/11/2021 at 2:05 PM, The Blackangel said:

Also this is probably just my perception, but I think MaryBeth is in love with Arthur.
I can't argue with that. He's hot. So to MaryBeth: Girl step aside. This bitch wants him all to herself!

During the couple months when I was playing Red Dead 2, I would sometimes do my best Arthur Morgan impersonations around the house, addressing her as "Ms. Grimshaw" and the like.  Pretty sure I was driving her nuts.  🙂

[Hammerklavier]

Hey m76, thanks for the list!  I haven't actually played any of those as of yet, but Last of Us II and Control are a couple in my collection that I'm planning on playing soon.  Given how much praise Control has received, I'm actually a bit surprised at your lukewarm review.  Hopefully I like it more than that.

Also interesting to see your praise of Cyberpunk 2077.  Did you play it on PC or on a console?  It sounds like the most damning criticisms come down to how badly it plays on previous generation consoles.

"Deus Ex" is another one I plan to try for real one of these days.  The folks like you who nominate it for greatest game ever make me very curious about it.  I've turned it on a couple times in the past and played around a bit with the first stage, but it wasn't grabbing me.  Maybe time for me to try again this year.

Edited January 15, 2021 by Hammerklavier

[m76]

13 hours ago, Hammerklavier said:

Hey m76, thanks for the list!  I haven't actually played any of those as of yet, but Last of Us II and Control are a couple in my collection that I'm planning on playing soon.  Given how much praise Control has received, I'm actually a bit surprised at your lukewarm review.  Hopefully I like it more than that.

Control is like Alan Wake, but with a much less engaging and compelling story. I didn't sympathize with the protagonist because I barely knew anything about her. I also felt that the core idea is a  ripoff from Beyond Two Souls. Of course if you never played alan wake or beyond I'm sure this is all meaningless to you.

13 hours ago, Hammerklavier said:

Also interesting to see your praise of Cyberpunk 2077.  Did you play it on PC or on a console?  It sounds like the most damning criticisms come down to how badly it plays on previous generation consoles.

PC of course, hence referring to the right hardware. I'd not buy it on a last gen console, not even after patches. It will be a sub par experience. If you don't have a decent PC wait for the PS5 version at least.

13 hours ago, Hammerklavier said:

"Deus Ex" is another one I plan to try for real one of these days.  The folks like you who nominate it for greatest game ever make me very curious about it.  I've turned it on a couple times in the past and played around a bit with the first stage, but it wasn't grabbing me.  Maybe time for me to try again this year.

I love deusex, but I feel at this point it is just too old and clunky to be engaging to newer audiences. Even it's much criticized sequel Invisible war seems much less clunky now.

It is really a game that deserves a proper remaster, I don't think I could re-play it myself now it's gameplay mechanics are just too dated, which after 21 years is no surprise.

[Heatman]

On 1/11/2021 at 6:45 PM, The Blackangel said:

RDR2--- I loved the game. Initially I wasn't interested because I had never been into westerns. I think Custer's Revenge may have played a part in that. But I watched my girl play and the game looked better and better. So I got to playing. I found a sense of family I had never had while growing up. I hated Micah, but still cared about him for the most part. He was a worthless piece of shit that got the majority of his entertainment from antagonizing Arthur. For those who don't know, Arthur is the character you play as. I didn't like how the game turned out, but the writers did a hell of a job.

Goblin Sword--- This was a decent game. It's a side scroller, and graphically like something you would see on Sega Genesis. It's really simple. The only problem is that you have the same objective in every level. Two treasure chests and three specific gems. There are two bosses in every stage. In the chests you can find swords, relics, armors, and some other decoration for the house you start out from. The swords have different abilities and strengths. The relics give you different abilities. The armors do nothing. They're cosmetic. Which is bullshit to me. The game is so simple, it's almost hard to enjoy. I played it through all the stages, and collected every item. But then it just stops. It doesn't have an ending, it just stops. Not worth the money now that I have played it.

Seriously, I believe most people are in love with RDR2. I'm sure that's part of the reasons why the Open world game is a trend for most gamers.