With 2020 being the crazy roller coaster it has been, the world of gaming has not slowed down. The year was packed with many great and some not so great games. But for now let’s take a look at my personal TOP 5. This solely reflects my opinion based on the games I have played this year.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake
Final Fantasy 7 Remake brought us back to a classic RPG, but on a whole new level. This Remake has set the bar for what one should be. Not only did we grow closer to character’s we have come to love over the years, but we got to take a closer look into their back stories and family as well. Now with this being a Remake we got a whole new take on the combat system along with a few changes to the order of events in the storyline.
The Last of Us Part 2
The last of Us Part 2 sits close to me as I am a fan of the first and was ready to dive into this sequel. With this game I also did something I never did before: I streamed the entire game to our wonderful community. This game just played great out of the gate and had a captivating story with all new areas. Now with that it did get a bit rocky from time to time, but as I played on it made more and more sense and I started to enjoy the things I hated at first.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
World Of Warcraft : Shadowlands hits on my top even though it is technically a DLC, but every expansion is massive in scope. The story was very interesting and more present then it normally has been in World of Warcraft in the past, as far as cut scenes, spoken dialogue and what was going on around you. This also reminded me of the joy of playing with friends, the last few expansion I just kinda blew threw to get the story and do some pvp for gear and that was it, but now with the level rework from 120 to 60 I found myself logging in everyday to group up, quest, dungeon run, and wreak havoc against the horde.
Minecraft Dungeons
Minecraft Dungeons came out of left field for me and had me instantly hooked. Now I am not one of those crazy Minecraft nuts, but I enjoy playing the game with my son and loading up a seed with a few friends and seeing what we can build or accomplish. This game takes the visual style of Minecraft and smashes it with gameplay mechanics of Diablo. This combination worked so well from combat to exploring it just flowed so well. Along with 2 DLCs there is a ton of content to play and enjoy.
Cyberpunk 2077
It is the game that’s on the tips of everyone’s tongues for good and for bad, but if you step aside from all the controversies with the state of the game you could be having yourself a great time. Now does this feel like a breaking edge game? No. It does not, but it was a fun and great time. I only ran into one major bug and had just a few crashes, but I enjoyed all the time I spent in and out of Night City. Starting as a Nomad I am working my way from the outside in and enjoying the life of having to build myself up from nothing. Once you open up into the skill trees combat becomes a real treat and the story takes you on an interesting ride.
With my Top 5 being wrapped up I would like to throw out some honorable mentions as these games were just as good as the top, but didn’t fully grab me.
Ghost of Tsushima is a beautiful and solid experience in the world of samurais and revenge stories.
Borderlands 3, now complete with the full first season of DLC, is one complete package with a ton of crazy fun alone or with a group
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a step in the right direction for the franchise. The game is full of action, looks amazing, and is packed with a ton of stories making it easy to play in chunks if that is your style.
Lastly we have Watch Dogs Legion which is a decent change from what we are used to with the Watch Dog series. We are taken away from having a set cast and giving control of everyone and it works very well.
With the good always comes the bad and this year gave us some bad ones.
Warcraft 3 Reforged is hardly a remastered version of the game at all. It looks and plays just the same with no upgraded or enhanced features that we are used to getting in remastered games.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered is another horrible example of a “remaster”. The game was released on mobile phones as well as consoles and you can tell they catered to the mobile versions. Everything about this was the same as the original and in this age it was an undesirable experience of a classic game.
Last on my list I have DarkSiders Genesis. They took a step away from the normal gameplay we are used to and gave us this kind of top down, weird, locked camera view of the game. For me just the locked camera angle alone was enough to ruin my experience with the game and not make me want to push on or go back for more. Free up the camera, let us have that 360 degree view, and you might be able to save this game.
Well this wraps up 2020 for us and now a few days into 2021 here are some of the upcoming games I am looking forward to. Horizon Forbidden West, Gotham Knights, and Back 4 Blood. I hope each of these can deliver and maybe make 2021’s Top 5 list, but who knows the way things have been. Hopefully we get some more good games for them to contend with.
