2020 GOTY List
Think this'll be more of a 'games I played that came out this year' list than a 'top 10 games I loved' list.
Honorable Mentions:
- God of War (2018) - loved this game a lot; played it on PS5 through the PS+ Collection.
List items
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Iceborne came out on PC this year, and I apparently played hundreds of hours of it. Great expansion to a great game.
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I don't usually like open world games; if I do make it through them, it's because I tried my best to mainline the story. I finished this game and liked it a lot, but that was after 120 hours and counting of the Legends multiplayer mode. It's very good.
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This game rises above its pack-in and tech demo labels as a great 3D platformer. Charming aesthetic/characters and some truly incredible uses of the PS5 controller make for a memorable introduction to the next generation of consoles.
*Platinum Trophy
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This remaster is an incredible technical showpiece for the PS5, even if some of the art direction/changes from the original are questionable. It's still not as good as Dark Souls 1, but I think I like it more than 2/3/Bloodborne after revisiting it on PS5.
Getting the platinum in this game led me to repurchase all of the PS4 versions of Dark Souls Remastered/Scholar of the First Sin/Dark Souls 3 and go for those platinums as well after having played them all at their respective launches on PC. As of the middle of December, I've also gotten the platinum in DSR and I'm closing in on Scholar's. I'd maybe replay Bloodborne if they do a performance patch for PS5 to bump it to 60, but I got the platinum in that game back on PS4. It's still the one I like the least.
*Platinum Trophy
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Got all the achievements at the time in this game way back when it first hit early access. It's come a long way since then and is even better for it. A fantastic, though different in meaningful ways, followup to the first game. The rich modding community only strengthens the game, from QoL/UI improvements to balance passes on existing characters to entirely new ones.
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Road to the Show still has plenty of rough edges, but it's the best sports sim game I've played in a while.
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A really good sim racing game, though obviously doesn't go as far as something like iRacing. Like most annualized sports franchises, this one didn't change much from F1 2019.
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A decently-fun roguelite deckbuilder in the style of Slay the Spire.
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It's still Trackmania, though a lot of the server stuff was busted when I was playing it within the first weeks/month of release. Hopefully they've cleaned it up since then and not abandoned it.
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Mostly-good writing, but clearly a game made for children with the amount of handholding. The combat is also entirely too easy and doesn't change at all throughout the entire game aside from the boss fights. I barely ever even took damage outside of bosses, and I only died once, in the open world because I apparently picked the wrong dialogue option.
There are more bad Paper Mario games than good ones at this point; after finishing this one, it just made me start a replay of 64. I wish they'd remaster TTYD.
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Played through the first two dungeons when this came out on Steam, having not touched P4 since beating it on the PS2. Definitely missed some QoL/design from P5 (specifically around saving and fusing).
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I've played between 4-5 hours of this game, and so far I'm not much of a fan. So far, every single run has ended at a boss; I've never died in a normal encounter. I also feel like my first 2-3 deaths to each boss have been 'cheap' in that it felt impossible for me to have foreseen the attacks that hit/killed me. It also feels like it's too much of a roguelite and not enough of a roguelike for me; it's felt like I've only progressed when I've spent enough currencies to get high enough bonus %s or transformative upgrades. They don't even give you one of your main abilities until several runs in! I prefer a roguelike like Risk of Rain 1/2 or Binding of Isaac where it isn't balanced around me getting huge bonuses with enough attrition and is more about item/build knowledge and working with what the RNG gives you.
Finally, I'll say that I have not yet found a weapon/style that I actually enjoyed using; none of them felt fluid or fun to use to me. The game's simply not for me, but I'm glad Supergiant seemingly hit with another one.
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Played about an hour of this. Didn't feel great!
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Played some of the remaster of this online with my girlfriend, who loved the original as a kid. It's not very good!
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Played an hour or two of this game. Combat felt bland and the puzzles, which were the only good part of Breath of the Wild, were uninteresting here. Seemed like the story could've gone somewhere interesting, but I don't have it in me to grind gacha currencies/mechanics in a non-phone game.
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