Games were not a priority in 2020. They never are a priority but they are a thing usually to make time for. My relationship with games this year was a real roller-coaster so I've laid out what my year looked like to hopefully provide some needed context. I put these thoughts in spoiler blocks so that you can skip them if you'd like.
All this is a long way to say: I barely played 10 new games this year. So, welcome to my list of Games Worth Talking About in 2020, to Me, the Person Who Wrote This List! Come in, grab a lawn chair because furniture is still on backorder for a couple more months, and let's figure this out.
My messy list of everything I played this year can be found here.
The Old Games That Helped
Playing some old video games got me to re-engage with the hobby I use to relax (remember relaxing?). They helped. Here they are in a list!
Honorable Mentions
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky
With more time or a better year, I see myself getting through a bunch of this series but, for now I have added it to the backlog after a couple hours. The tactics-like combat is something I can engage deeply on, and the included fast forward mechanics in the re-releases help me to skip it when I am tired of the easier battles. I find myself drawn to these characters and want to see what happens to them through, um, one billion hours of other games? Oh no.
Sudoku
I bought Sudoku books and solved a lot of puzzles this year. Sudoku is good. I hope to be able to check out Good Sudoku if it ever comes to android or other platforms.
Picross 3D: Round 2
I had never played this before and it is a perfect video game to unwind with.
Pocket Card Jockey
I had played this before and it is a perfect video game to wind you up to never sleep again.
Dauntless
This got me through about a week or two of playing some video games. It happens to be a "just kinda okay" Monster Hunter substitute. What this game did allow me to do was be social on a discord and go through the motions of MonHun with some people when I wasn't being very social in other places. That's a win in my book.
Metal Gear Ac!d
PUT IT ON SWITCH YOU COWARDS!
5. Streets of Rage
I decided that before Streets of Rage 4 came out, I was gonna become a Streets of Rage person. I did this over a couple weeks and it was really fun! I played through them all over a weekend multiple times. It's still really good and the music still rules!
4. Children of Morta
Children of Morta is a diablo-like on a smaller scale and incorporates run-based progression instead of loot drops. It is a gripping story about a family in isolation saving the world. Seems relevant.
3. Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle
There are so many great titles to just sit down and play some V I D E O G A M E S in here. You could use this bundle as a jumping off point for what games to actually play from your MAME library.
2. Bravely Default
This is a slightly flawed but also very excellent JRPG. The game has an interesting story and an excellent job system to experiment with. The combat system of taking extra turns or saving up for more turns also still feels unique in 2020. The issues come up with how much backtracking and running around occurs in the later parts of the game. The version that came out in the states features the ability to turn off random battles which can make this not as painful. I am excited to see what happens with a sequel. Well, a second sequel.
1. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
I think if I would have played Shadows of Valentia, the mechanics "added" to Fire Emblem: Three Houses may not have seemed so incredible, as most of the big changes are already in this 3DS gem. Adding the ability to rewind a couple turns has made every fire emblem game before this mechanic a lesser game. The story seems totally "good enough" but, the split army management you do as part of the story is actually really fun and prevents me from super over-leveling like I did in FE:3H.
The Games of 2020 Ranked
Oops mostly indie games. Wow, they were amazing this year. Shout-outs to my pile of shame which includes mostly just Yakuza 7, Clubhouse Games and some other stuff that I don't remember.
Honorable Mentions
War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
This is a totally fine mobile game you can skip. That being said, I have enjoyed what I played of this game through the year and am even in a semi-active guild with a discord and everything. It's nice. WotV is a spin-off of one of the other Final Fantasy mobile games and is their take on FF Tactics. Sometimes it feels like FFT but, usually it does not and feels like a mobile game. I don't mind doing the upkeep everyday for the daily quests but don't think it is especially great either.
Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE
This was what I was playing leading into the first lockdown and it took me about a month or so to come in and actually finish it off. This game is mostly the same game it was before on the WiiU. The characters are just good enough to make me forget about all of my other Persona friends for a bit. As a newer Fire Emblem fan, I only got the references from FE: Awakening and those didn't feel necessary to the experience. It is easy to see the direct lineage between this game and Persona 5 and worth checking out if that is your thing.
Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town
Again, this is mostly a re-release of an older game but, way more work was done here visually so, it's also on this part of the list. This is a totally fine harvest moon game but, I think I may try Rune Factory next time as I'm looking for a bit more mechanically. This did well enough to remind me of what I like about this series and the changes in Mineral Town, where you get helpers on the farm, are cool enough that it kept me playing for a couple hours. Getting help on the farm is nice and feels pleasant when I get to shortcut a day of work in the game. I don't like how some of the progression seems locked around specific gift criteria.
Treachery in Beatdown City
This game is a classic beat-'em-up looking game that is actually a turn-based RPG. It also takes on the topics of police brutality, privatization and militarization of the police force, gentrification, racism, and other political topics in a way that felt meaningful and was funny enough to get me to chuckle several times. It didn't quite keep me on the hook for the whole game as some of the ability gating and leveling is not how I like those progressions to feel but I did like what I played for several hours and plan to return to finish it.
Ghost of Tsushima
This is a wonderful and gorgeous game to play on a brand new television with HDR. I found myself really enjoying both the stealth and the combat. I was able to hit play and listen to some podcasts while going through the open world motions and have a good time. I am being told that there is multiplayer. Huh.
5. Dicey Dungeons
I don't care if this was on PC last year, Dicey Dungeons is an awesome switch game. This game reminds me of the WizKids release of DiceMasters back in 2014. The dice pool mechanics and the equipment abilities turn your random dice rolls into a well oiled machine. The different character classes all add a unique spin on how you need to manage your dice poll and what types of rolls you want to see. Dicey Dungeons fills the gap left by Solitairica as my run-based game I would take on the go, if we could ever leave again.
4. Hades
Hades is really good. Go read what everyone else says about it.
3. Streets of Rage 4
I really wanted to like Streets of Rage 4 so I played a bunch of old Streets of Rage before playing the new one and it worked. I was able to get over some of the initial character movement speed issues I had and find a character I clicked with. The combat seems more engaging, with better combos and more meaningful decisions between character move-sets, and the game is not nearly as brutal as it's predecessors. You can play it over the internet with friends who aren't able to sit next to you. I don't know if it will take over my go-to couch co-op choice Double Dragon Neon (now on switch!) but, there seems to be enough here that I'll keep running it with different friends.
2. Super Mega Baseball 3
I did not get to attend a single baseball game in 2020. This was bad, for me, a fan of this kind of boring sport. Enter Super Mega Baseball 3. This arcade-style baseball game has a new franchise mode that made me fall in love with my diverse baseball people. I got to cheer with them when they succeeded in saving the game and also hate their guts when they struggled with a clutch play. It was an awesome way to keep the baseball spirit alive.
1. art of rally
In art of rally, you rally race through beautiful vistas and battle for the best time through multiple stages in a race. The game makes the driving feel like art with visuals to match. This is a game that you can work at getting exactly as good at it as you would like. There is also a free-driving exploration mode to find collectables and take nice photos in. There were enough tunable knobs on the difficulty that I was able to adjust the car handling and the AI to feel competitive at my skill level, which is low. It has a banging soundtrack to put you in the zone, or zone you out, or just put on and chill to. If/when art of rally comes to switch, I will buy it there too because a quick little race between commercials or something on the TV would be even better.
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