The Best Games I Played in 2020: Runner-ups
Here's some of the other games I played in 2020 and liked.
Maiden & Spell
Brilliantly fuses 1v1 fighting with danmaku, with a vibrant and active community to boot. Haven’t dived into this one as much as I want to, but I plan on doing so.
Persona 3 FES
Picked this up after a 5 year hiatus. Jesus, the audacity of the grind in this game! Still, there’s definitely something there…
Wings of Vi
Really hard and really horny. A good honest game...
Dandelions
A short experience that stays with you long after you set it down.
FINAL FANTASY XIV Online
MMOs… heh.
Quake III Arena
Better game on paper than Quake 1, but less stylish. Still great, though.
LABYRINTH - Derelict Abyss
Pretty and terrifying, a dense little world to lose yourself in.
Mamono Hunter Youko: Dai 7 no Keishou
Equal parts fun and aggravating. Really cool graphics, though...
Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories
God this game is jank as hell… it really feels like one of those PS2 games where you wander around trying to trigger the next event flag for twenty minutes. But it’s also really unique and funny, and I love what a jerk you can be.
Vagante
This one is interesting… from the description (“roguelite platformer meets D&D!”) you’d think it’d be banal, but it ends up feeling pretty unique. Bosses in particular are weird, often requiring sort of exploit-y cheese strategies to get past.
Ys Origin
Love a good tower game! Got stuck on a boss but I plan to return… the vibes are solid.
Hinedere Beat
The Japan-as-aesthetic style of this one doesn’t win it too many points, but I really liked the parkourish platforming and the stylish framing of each room. Felt like a game from an older freeware era. Also the writing and plot are totally inscrutable, and halfway through it becomes a porn game??
Spelunky 2
The only roguelite that actually gets what was interesting about roguelikes.
Corpse Party
Love a spooky RPGMaker game...
Primal Light
Really solid stage-based platformer. Feels inspired by old games without being an unexamined “love letter” - it’s got its own thing going, too.
Super Mario Bros. 2
Nothing new to say here, really… I just replayed it and was reminded how much I like it. It’s a weird game!
The Reggae Operation
Some really fun level design. There’s one optional boss fight that definitely is in my top ten bosses beaten this year… made me want to make another boss rush game hehe.
Kikai
Really solid "single conceit spun a dozen different ways" game. The difficulty is tuned perfectly… I could learn something from it.
Grapple Force Rena
Didn’t play this one a ton, but what I did felt really fun… I love a good grapple.
Golden Rays of Sunshine
Carries a lot of emotional weight, but paints with a light touch. Deftly hints of a larger world beyond the game’s bounds.
Donkey Kong Country Returns
It’s just a fun platformer! Ook ook monkey sounds eek eek.
Hades
I don’t like everything about Hades (metaprogression is eh, writing and aesthetic not really to my taste), but I do love how the combat system is basically broken and instead of fixing it they designed around it. If you’re interested in roguelites, I think it’s worth playing this just to see what they’ve done, as it hints at a lot of possibilities moving forward, both good and bad.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Animal Crossing is really its own thing, and I dig that. Big fan of what a tool you can be in this one.
Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core Plus R
What a title. Guilty Gear was the other fighting game I played this year, and I think the only reason I didn’t like it as much as Melty was just I didn’t spend as much time with it. It’s fucking sick, though.
TOKOYO: The Tower of Perpetuity
This one is a real 11th hour pick, I literally started playing it December 31st… but hey, I was enjoying it! We’ll see where it stacks up next year...
That's all from me. Tomorrow - guest lists!