Plok (220082) on 12/26/2020 2:11 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

Tropico 3 the game I started the year with, and although I didn't "git gud" at it, it's more fun and a lot more rewarding than the SimCity series. It's not just the quirky tone, it's the amount of things you can do while still keeping profitable.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is a class act in game re-releases. QoL additions ahoy, wonderfully remade visuals, and the charm of the source material isn't lost in any way. Plus, its Art of War mode needs to be proclaimed ground zero for all future RTS tutorials to be based upon, as it finally tells people how to think on a higher level in this genre, the absence of which has been a problem for bringing newer players in previous years. One of the most beautiful games (not just by visual style but in design too) made more accessible than ever, it's a mortal sin to miss.

Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection had every chance to be botched considering it was produced by EA and developed by the terribly unsuccessful Petroglyph, but not only did it shine in total transparency during development (as the community received monthly updates on the C&C subreddit from the dev team while "official" channels were silent), it also removed a lot of hurdles that would put off players used to more modern RTSes, brought much-needed changes while maintaining the original gameplay, had many unlockable goodies and respectfully redone graphics, even the release of the source code that had been considered lost for many years... I could go on and on about how well this was executed, but you get the idea. Buy it, that's an order.

Rise of Nations is my most recent RTS "discovery" that I can only describe as a lovechild of Age of Empires and the Civilization titles. The feelling of advancing a civilization throughout history but in real time is amazing, and unlike Empire Earth, it's combined in a very measured and enjoyable way.

Sid Meier's Civilization V is something I'm ending the year on as a bit of a catch-up, having loved previous titles in the series. Visually stunning, mechanically a less OCD-ish Civ4, though I have a feeling something is missing...

Honourable mention for its multiplayer: Star Wars: Squadrons.

Pseudo_Intellectual (66423) on 12/26/2020 9:24 PM · Permalink · Report

This was the year my home life got so busy gaming became virtually impossible there, so most of my gaming has taken place on mobile devices during work coffee breaks. I've enjoyed a series of cheap-to-free games repriced as public services during the pandemic, but probably the best was Monument Valley 2. Sadly it didn't last long. The most-played game is probably the brainless Sir Match-A-Lot, which has enough empty fireworks to keep me progressing while sleepwalking.

Patrick Bregger (303228) on 12/26/2020 9:52 PM · Permalink · Report

Since I focused on replaying BioWare games for a big portion of the year, I'm going to exclude those. No need to praise Baldur's Gate II again.

1) The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV (November): There is no question, this one wins. It is the newest (English) installment of the best JRPG series of all times. It has even more pacing problems than usual, but in the end it is a fantastic journey.

2) AI: The Somnium Files (December/January): I set this to "beaten" on January 01 and did not mention it in last year's thread so I'll count it. A Japanese adventure with a lot of dialogue. I liked it because it is a time travel murder mystery which ticks all my boxes.

3) Celeste (February): A very good platformer which gets the balance perfectly right: the challenges are hard, but it never frustrates. The story is a bit meh, but whatever.

4) Murder by Numbers (March/April): A picross puzzle game with humorous story in between. Very enjoyable.

5) Steins;Gate 0 (February/March): A visual novel. Works much better than its predecessors because it does not need to spend 20 hours for introducing 20 characters during the first chapter and the protagonist is not as insufferable as previously.

Unhonorable Mentions

Yu-No: A girl who chants love at the bound of this world (March): This visual novel starts well enough, but the protagonist is a complete asshole and the story becomes very, very stupid towards the end. I wrote a big rant in the Game Journal thread if you want to know more.

Thi4f: Worst of this year, worst of every year.

chirinea (47507) on 12/29/2020 5:21 AM · Permalink · Report

Weird year, of course. I thought I would be playing more due to the pandemic, but that was not the case (working from home means a whole lot more work).

Kinda hard to decide which one was the best, as I played many games I enjoyed (in the order I finished them): the Half-Life series (1, 2 and their respective expansions), Shenmue II, Blasphemous, Tomb Raider (2013), Dark Souls III, Batman: Arkham Knight, The Stanley Parable, Beneath a Steel Sky, The Witcher 3, and Toonstruck. Right now I'm playing Bio Menace and I'm planning to beat it before the year ends.

I guess the ones I enjoyed the most were Dark Souls III and The Witcher 3.

GTramp (81961) on 1/1/2021 3:27 AM · Permalink · Report

Happy New Year, fellow gamer nerds! In 2020, I think I played a normal amount of video games, not more or less than usual. I just overall felt a bit depressed about all what was happening in the world and with me personally (although, in retrospect, nothing bad happened to me).

• So, best games I finished this year would be: DOOM (2016, PC), >observer_ (2017, PC - a clever walking simulator), Bio Menace (1993, PC - fun classic), Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion (1991, PC - classic!!), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017, WiiU - absolutely awesome), Alundra (1997, PS1 - weird but fun), Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu (1991, TG16 - somewhat different from the NES version and even more amazing game), and Front Mission (1995, SNES - never played the series before; as one reviewer put it: "It is a beautiful, masterfully-crafted package that can turn people who are not fans of either turn based strategy or mechs into diehard followers overnight.").
• Best re-played game: Final DOOM: TNT - Evilution (1996, PC - Ultra Violence difficulty. No saving. Pistol only starts.)
• Oldest game beat this year: Castlevania (1986, NES)
• One of the hardest games to beat this year, I think, was DOOM Eternal (2020, PC), because I, a DOOM fan, of course chose a higher difficulty setting. And I regretted that, because this game is just so frustrating.
• Best co-op game finished this year -- I guess, Cat Quest II (2019, PC) for its simplicity or maybe Pit People (2017, PC) for some fun turn-based action. These are not amazing games, but we didn't play anything amazing in co-op this year.
• Dishonorable mention: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 - Portable (2010, PSP - it was tedious, boring, way too long and not fun at all).