Mid-Year Check-Up: Your Game of the Year So far?

Persona 5 Royal is my pick. It was my first ever Persona game and I LOVED it. My first playthrough was over 100 hours and I pretty much loved every second of it (except for the fifth palace). Somehow, this game never dragged on for me and I want to revisit it for the Platinum!

Xenoblade Chronicles would be mine, if it made the list. Such a damn good game.

Monster Train for me. As someone who has put 300+ hours into Slay the Spire, having a new game with similar structure but very different strategy and gameplay has been great to go through. Have already spent 50 hours in it since it came out and worked my way up the covenant levels.

I have a feeling it may not stick with me long-term, which may get it replaced on the top of the list, but for now I'm still deep in the throes of jamming out runs on a regular basis.

I'm still riding the WoW Classic train HARD. It's been eye-opening to re-experience how much of a dominating gaming experience it is after not really having played WoW for about 10 years. It's almost been a year since it came out and I still put in full days just playing WoW all day. No game I've played since back when I jumped off the WoW train and re-discovered consoles has come even close to be able to keep me invested this strongly.

Other than that, the only games that has managed to wrangle my attention away from WoW for any significant amount of time has been Monster Train and Satisfactory.

FF7 Remake by a large margin.

Doom Eternal has been the only significant release this year for me. That game had my heart beating out of my chest - such a stellar First-Person-Shooter.

I ended up passing on most of the games in the list for one reason or another. I wish I would have passed on The Last of Us Part 2 as well, but that was what it was - ended up selling it.

I caught MaximilianDOOD's stream of Final Fantasy VII Remake and enjoyed that, mostly due to Max - the game itself didn't come across well to me.

I'm really looking forward to playing Nioh 2, but I'm holding off for the PC release so who knows when that'll be.

Dreams is phenomenal, but I was playing that more regularly last year. I can't help but associate it with 2019.

I'll admit: I actively avoid games like Animal Crossing, but the lockdown really had me tempted to give New Horizons a spin - opted to knock out a good chunk of my backlog instead, but I WAS TEMPTED.

It's been a slow year and I'm not really expecting anything of weight in the second half either. Maybe Cyberpunk will WOW me, maybe Deathloop will end up being clever (I do love Dishonored), but I've yet to see anything that intrigues me or leads me to believe that'll happen. Here's to hoping...

@jamesbomb: Doom Eternal was my pick as well, such a good game, but Nioh 2 will be well worth your wait, so long as you enjoyed the first game anyway. Both games I am eagerly awaiting dlc for

I've only played two of the games you list: Monster Train and Nioh 2 (and Persona 5, sort of... I played the original but not this upgraded new edition). I liked them all, and am still looking forward to the Nioh 2 expansions set to release in the coming months. Also, it's not a brand new game, but I've been enjoying the ten-dollar expansion to Remnant: From the Ashes that adds a roguelike survival mode.

But eh, so far not a great year for games, not for me at least. Like everyone else, I'm intrigued to see how Ghost of Tsushima and Cyberpunk turn out, but I'm more cautiously optimistic than actually excited for those, they're definitely not day 1 purchases for me or anything like that, unless I end up really really liking what I see on release.

I am *kinda* excited for Crusader Kings 3, I guess? That's slated for early September. But I also have this feeling that CK2 has been around so long, and expanded and polished to such a degree, that the sequel may end up feeling limited and inelastic for a while. So again probably no day 1 purchase from me.

I guess it just takes more than it used to to get me excited for a game these days...

Animal Crossing, but even then I have no really strong feelings about it. Xenoblade is in second place but thats a re-release so whatever.

Overall pretty weak year for games imo. 7R was one of the worst games I’ve ever forced myself to suffer through and those who’s opinions I trust most are pretty down on TLoU2 so its a pass on that. None of the others up there that I have played I have strong feelings about either.

Ghost of Tsushima looks interesting, but I’m going to wait for reviews first on that one.

Granblue Fantasy Versus

I'm serious, where the FUCK is Clubhouse Games??

I only picked up Sayonara Wild Hearts in January. So...I'm bending the rules and going with that. :D

It's none of these, it's Hardspace Shipbreakers

FF7 Remake. This game made me come around on the characters and story. I also just had fun playing it. I'm a little over half way through Last of Us Part 2, but I would still put FF7R ahead of it. I don't think TLOU2 is going to end up higher than RE3. I'm at the point in TLOU2 where I want to be done and finish the story, but I know there's roughly another 10 hours to go. At least with RE3, I had fun the whole time and felt compelled to continue out of pure interest not out of just wanting it to end.

When I looked through the list, my first thought was "this can't POSSIBLY be all that was released, right? I've been playing some many games lately, how could Animal Crossing be the only game on this list?!" But lo and behold, unlike the last few years, my 2020 gaming has been dominated by backlog catch-up. There's 2, maybe 3 games on that list that I'd like to hit before end of the year, but they can't pull me away from the allure of rediscovering Bloodborne and freshly discovering Dark Souls 3.

That said, I've only played 2 other games from this year, a pittance compared to my gaming over the last few years. One of those games is Deep Rock Galactic which others here have mentioned. I found it kinda samey from the some hours I've played, and the solo experience is not particularly interesting to me, but the game really shines when you get even one other person in on the action. You can tell the game was designed for co-op when you start comparing the class abilities.

My current 2020 front runner is Signs of the Sojourner, which also comes with a hearty recommendation from an Austin Walker! The abstraction of dialogue through cards, the way speech differs from culture to culture, is simple but effective, and though I'm only halfway through my first run (there are multiple outcomes at the end of the game), it's given me my only unique 2020 gaming experience so far, that being getting angry at a timid rail worker for not understanding me when perhaps we just couldn't understand each other. If you picked up itch.io's massive Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality, you already have it, so check it out! It's worth 4 to 5 hours of your time!

Weirdly enough? Probably animal crossing. It was just the relaxing game I needed while locked down and I could share it with my fiance. In terms of time played and effort devoted to it's my number 1 so far. Still playing it daily for a bit here and there. We'll see though, I'm looking forward to Ghost of Tsushima and that is quickly coming up. Nioh 2 was my other game of choice so far this year. The first half of the year has been pretty slow for me.

I feel weird because I'm normally one to at least somewhat keep up with releases, but the only new 2020 game I've actually put decent time into is Minecraft Dungeons. So that, I guess?

Animal Crossing by virtue of always loving the series and thinking this newest one is the best of the best so far, even if I'm cooling off on it right now. After 200+ hours in the first month or so, gotta take breaks at some point!

Runner up would be Ori and the Will of the Wisps. What a fantastic, magical game that is. One of those games that completely engrossed me and had me appreciating every single aspect of the game, and emotionally had me all over the place in the best ways. Really hope people don't sleep on Ori #2, it's wonderful.

The only game on the poll that I've played is Gears Tactics, which is a great game. I've also got XCOM: Chimera Squad downloaded and standing by. But my game of the year so far has to be:

SnowRunner.

This game has absolutely got its claws into me deep and won't let go. I've never really been a trucking kind of guy, but it's got me good to the point I'm watching shows like Outback Truckers on my lunch break.

Saber Interactive has several phases of DLC coming out which is great, and eventually they'll add mod support on consoles which is awesome! Nothing extends the life of a game like good mods.

The only game released this year that I've played is Final Fantasy 7 Remake. So I voted for Persona 5 Royal since I loved vanilla P5 warts and all, so it's probably better than most of the story driven stuff on this list. I have a copy of P5Royal that I've yet to break into but I think I might need a break after all the JRPGs I've played this year.

Jeez...just realized I haven't played anything that came out this year except, like, two Warzone matches. So I guess congratulations to "The Last Third of Assassin's Creed Odyssey" for being my favorite thing I've played this year.

The Messenger? Played it for the time last month and had a blast. None of the new releases really call out to me. Animal Crossing was fun but not what I'd consider goty for me.

I'm not sure what else Nintendo has planned for this year but I really could use that botw2 or Mario something remastered right about now.

Also crossing fingers for Cyberpunk

My mid year check up makes me realize this year has been real slow as far as games coming out I actually care about. With that being said, my favorite game of this year so far is probably Stranded Deep. Tropical island survival game was just what I needed after life hitting me in the nuts and I almost burned out. All other games I have played have either been old games I didn't finish or didn't try.

After finishing TLOU2 I still think Ori 2 was the most fun I had this year. Last of Us was excellent in many ways but from a pure stress-free pick up and have fun sort of way Ori and the Will of the Wisps hands down was a blast to just sit down and play.

FF7 Remake does some very interesting work based entirely off of fan expectations. Fan expectations are essentially a character, it's amazing. Also the combat, soundtrack are incredible. Recommend, I regret putting it off for so long, and can't wait to see what they do with the next one.

Just started TLOU2, which has been pretty incredible as well.

of those that I've played this year (that also came out this year), Cloudpunk made the biggest impression.

I absolutely adore FF7R and got the Platinum in 140 hours or so. My only regret is not getting a 4K/HDR TV before playing it.

The Last of Us 2 was good with a great ending, but I doubt it will stick with me as long as the first game, in many ways it felt like tlou1.2

Streets of Rage 4 is great and I've beaten it over and over, both solo and with friends. I haven't had this fun with a beat em up since SoR2.

I guess the ps4 version of Wonderful 101 is my pick for disappontment of the year though. I knew of all its issues beforehand but got damn what a mess it is

FFVII Remake really wowed me. So that's mine for now.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Resident Evil 3, and Animal Crossing are in my top 3 for new releases this year.

Real toss up for me between FFVII Remake and The Last of Us Part 2

TLOU2 is fantastic (I had some issues with it but don't understand the internet hate for it)

FFVII Remake I had nostalgia for the original but the demo didn't wow me. Ended up picking up the game and was blown away by it, but 99% of that may have just been the music!

C+C Remastered also bringing back some good feelings.

@captain_insano: It seems like 90%+ of the hate is political, which is frustrating to sort through to get to the real criticisms. I have criticisms of the game, but it's still fantastic.

As far as FF7R, I only moderately liked FF7 (and I love most FF games), but it fully turned me around on the characters. It's my front-runner for the GotY so far. TLOU2 is tied for third.

1. Call of Duty: Warzone - I didn't think I'd play this much, but I've put days into this game. Plus, being crossplay, free, and this whole quarantine thing, has led this game to rekindle a lot of old friendships with buddies of mine which has made it that much more fun.

2. Nioh 2 - Love this game, and playing it 3 player co-op has been great fun. Plus the Odachi is amazing.

3. Ori and the Will of the Wisps - Just an absolutely beautiful game and great mechanics.

4. Final Fantasy 7 Remake - Loved the nostalgia of the old, but I really enjoyed the new and what they did with this.

5. TLOU2 - I loved the story beats and the world, but I did find myself at times bored with the amount of looting at times.

6. Monster Train - Loved Slay the Spire and I love this. It's hard as hell though.

Still working on Doom Eternal, haven't gotten to Persona 5 Royale, Gears Tactics and Desperados but hoping to soon though.

Final Fantasy VII Remake is my GOTY and I don’t really see anything unseating it. It took things that made the original good, and expanded the story in great ways to make you care about characters that were barely characters in the original game, and did additional things to better the story that was already there and the relationships between major characters. And the combat, oh the combat! I thought it was great already on Normal, and I only truly came to appreciate how nuanced and deep it could get until I played through on Hard. Game clock says I spent over 95 hours on it, but it honestly didn’t feel like I even spent half that time. I’ve done everything I could in that game, including getting the Platinum trophy, and I still want to go back and play it more.

Other than FF7R, I’ve only really played AC: NH and P5R from the list. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore for the Switch is a game I enjoyed a ton and only finished now on the Switch as I never finished the original on Wii U; it is a port, but it’ll probably end up on my list anyways. I bought it, haven’t played it, but would it be cheating to put the Steam version of Persona 4 Golden on my list? XD

Atomicrops has been the game of 2020 for me

@liquiddragon: if i'm only counting things that came out this year, my money game is between kentucky route zero and umurangi generations

if i'm including everything i played this year, outer wilds.

So, yeah. Doom Eternal. Final Fantasy VII R, Persona 5 R... All good games.

Let me tell you motherfuckers about Bullet Girls Phantasia and how it's the GOTY so far...

I just realized the only new in 2020 game I've even gotten this year is Half-Life Alyx so that wins by default I guess. It was definitely a great game though and probably would have held up against competition had I actually played anything else made this year.

Industries of Titan

C&C Remastered is pretty well made. Hardspace Shipbreaker is ok. I was disappointed but most other games I played, especially Doom Eternal. I had more fun playing Doom 2 on my Switch again.

I haven't bought Half Life Alyx yet, that might be a contender for me, but I don't want to set up my Rift again right now. Would've played it already if VR was optional...

i think it's going to be difficult for something to supplant TLoU2 from the top of my list.

that game isn't going to appeal to everyone, but it hit me like a freight train.

@mellotronrules: It is very very good. It has some flaws but it is good. And a huge standout in a year of (so far) pretty weak releases.