Fuck me I forgot about this site, I think that’s for the best honestly.
Anyway, 2020 fucking sucked. There’s no denying it, there’s been a ton of bad stuff happening, and it’s good to focus on all that. But that’s not something I myself like to talk about. So let’s talk about games instead.
So where do we begin? I’ve not written in a long time so there’s bound to be mistakes or wrong sentences so ignore those thanks.
Honestly I mostly played early access games, games that had their official launch but have been out for years and old games overall. Nothing wrong with that of course, I just didn’t play a lot of “new” games this year.
Anyway, there’s a ton to talk about so I’m just going to split them into sections.
Section 1 – Year overview
Section 2 – Events
Section 3 – Game specifics
Section 4 – Personal Game of the year.
Section 1 – Year Overview
January – March
January didn’t really have any titles I played, most big titles released late 2019. Nor did I play any new games in February. I did set my foot in the Half-Life franchise this time around, and there is of course Half-Life: Alyx*. Black Mesa* Also released early March, but I only got around to playing it later in June. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX released, with the original being the only Pokemon game I liked. I still didn’t buy it. Doom Eternal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons* were both pretty massive games.
April – June
Surprisingly, no games around this time actually interested me.
However, one thing should be noted that is Terraria 1.4. It’s an update that the game should’ve had many years ago, and while the journey is now over. I feel like Terraria is now the best it could have been. Excited to see what’s next for Terraria.
And of course as mentioned earlier, I played Black Mesa a ton late June.
Oh and Min Min in Smash.
July – September
Fall Guys is pretty fun, season 2 was a personal letdown but it’s still fun to visit often.
While writing this current part (I’ve been writing this on and off), I’m watching Plasma play Hades. Looks incredibly unique and congrats to the dev team for the huge success.
Factorio and Phasmophobia are both fantastic.
Of course, September was all about Mario. And it delivered something I’ve been asking for 2 years. Super Mario 3D All-Stars*
(Plasma failed his Hades run, too bad!)
October – December
SO STEVE WAS SOMETHING HUH?
Yeah the Steve reveal in Smash was something that surprised me and also didn’t surprise me.
They nailed his character and he’s really fun to play.
We of course got the launch of the Playstation 5 and the Xbox Series X
Age Of Calamity’s demo is pretty fun, probably not buying the full game.
Other than that, not a whole lot else.
I must have forgotten some games that I played, but this will do.
So overall, pretty solid.
The next section will be about events. And well there’s not a whole lot…
I always look forward to major announcements and E3 is something I enjoy every year.
This year, was different of course. And the only big event I watched was the Game Awards.
So let’s talk about that. I wanted to mention Nintendo Directs too, but there wasn’t a major one this year.
Section 2 – Events
So the Game Awards really kicked off with Sephiroth murdering Galeem.
Yeahhhh…. Not a fan of Final Fantasy at all, but he is pretty fun to play as and FF finally gets more songs.
But imagine having only one wing lol loser.
Fall Guys Season 3 makes me want to come back to it.
Love the orchestras throughout the show, really impressive.
Ark 2 came out of fucking nowhere. What’s up with Vin Diesel? Why is there an animated show coming too? WHY IS VIN DIESEL IN ARK?
And what’s up with the million zombie games? Why do they all have to be so disgusting?
Back 4 Blood is just Left 4 Dead but Valve isn’t involved. (wonder how that’ll turn out)
Anyway, congrats to The Last of Us Part 2.
Also, I’ve seen some people talk about how rushed and crunched game shouldn’t win best game narrative, and I couldn’t agree more. Crunch is something hard to avoid, and I don’t think devs should be forced to work more than they should. If they offer themselves for extra hours, that’s completely fine.
If we take crunched games away that leaves us with Hades, Half-Life: Alyx and (presumably) Ghost of Tsushima.
Hades devs were forced to take vacations. And take the time they needed.
Half-Life: Alyx is typical Valve. No release date until a month before and people could take all the time they needed.
Yet The Last of Us 2 won. And I don’t think it deserved the spot.
Section 3 – Game Specifics
So we got some games I want to talk about, let’s list them:
Half-Life: Alyx
Black Mesa
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Super Mario 3D All-Stars
These are short reviews, and I’ll explain why I chose these 4 specific games later.
So let’s start from the top.
Half-Life: Alyx
When Valve announced Half-Life: Alyx, I knew I had to set my foot into the Half-Life franchise.
I’ve always known about Half-Life, mostly because of GMod. Seeing the typical zombies and alien things never really interested me.
But Valve announced that all prior Half-Life games would be free for a limited time, so why not?
Of course I started with Half-Life, the good old 1998 GoldSrc engine Half-Life.
This game holds up so well. A few minor hick ups here and there, especially near the end. But it has become one of my favourite games of all time.
Of course, I can’t miss out on the expansion packs. Opposing Force and Blue Shift were both great.
So the next thing to do was of course Half-Life 2. The game that has way more personality, worldbuilding and better story. But I don’t like the restrictions, I liked Half-Life because of the freedom it gave. You’re just a person that is just trying to escape and do a couple tasks here and there. You can shoot all the scientists and guards if you want, doesn’t change anything.
Half-Life isn’t centered about Gordon Freeman, Half-Life 2 is.
And that’s completely fine, I still really enjoyed Half-Life 2 and the episodes.
So now 13 years later, we finally get another Half-Life game. And I have not played it, because I don’t own VR.
Half-Life: Alyx takes place 5 years before Half-Life 2.
It’s really not your typical Half-Life game, but no game in the franchise is the same.
VR has been in the market for many years, but has never truly shined. No game that isn’t a gimmick, collection, prototype, etc has ever been released for the VR market on such a scale and level of detail.
So leave it to Valve, a company that is known for breaking presumptions (in a good way). They step forward and decide to be the first, to push VR to the best it can be.
I can’t really review this game, I don’t own a VR headset or even have the computer to do so.
But I know, when I do eventually get my hands on one. This will be the first game I play.
And hey, most people have seen the ending. Is this Valve’s great return?
Speaking of Half-Life
Black Mesa
I’ve already talked about Half-Life and how much I love it.
But come on let’s be honest, Half-Life has slightly dated. Not in a gameplay perspective but in visuals.
Don’t get me wrong, it looks great for its time.
Valve announced years ago that they were bringing Half-Life to the Source engine.
Everybody was excited, Half-Life 2 looks great! How would Half-Life look like that?
Like absolute fucking garbage, Half-Life: Source is an excuse of a remaster.
Yes, it has ragdolls, better water, improved skyboxes and all that stuff.
But the bugs it brings, and the AI fuckups. Ugh
So a team of developers (well 2 teams, they combined. Doesn’t matter) came together and started making Black Mesa: Source, or how it’s now known: Black Mesa.
Black Mesa is total remake of Half-Life, they remade the whole game from the ground up.
This game has been in the making for 15 whole years. And it was only missing Xen for a pretty long time. They completely revamped Xen, it’s totally different now and way better.
Black Mesa also greatly improves NPC interaction, there’s some unique scenes if you bring a specific NPC with you.
Weapons feel just as great and powerful like the original.
Black Mesa is Half-Life at its best.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
The start of the pandemic was a fucking wildfire.
So good thing Animal Crossing was there to calm shit down.
I’ve been a big fan of Animal Crossing for a long time, playing Wild World and City Folk years ago.
New Horizons is an incredible social game that was also slightly carried by the pandemic.
Don’t get me wrong, I love this game. It’s so full of details, personality, ambience and it’s such a good vibe. I just can’t keep playing it, I can’t get myself to design my island or do the task to do turnips for the whole week. I could keep this up early on, but it’s such a tedious task now.
This is completely on me, and I have nobody to blame other than myself.
Still, the villagers are blank slates. Even now, 9 months later I have yet to get 10 villagers.
They are boring, and the only thing that sets them apart is their catchphrases.
Other than that, this game saved me from boredome in the early pandemic stages.
Walking around goofing off is just so much fun, and there’s still a ton to do.
I just can’t get back into it.
Super Mario 3D All-Stars
I have been hoping for this game for so long, and I’m really happy it’s here.
Yes, the fact that it stops selling after march 31st is fucking stupid, I don’t know what they’re thinking. The only real explanation is that they separate into individual games.
People really like to hate on this collection, calling it lazy and such.
But, I couldn’t care. And I’m not saying that to defend Nintendo or something.
I love Super Mario 64, and seeing it on a higher resolution and better textures is great.
I have never played Sunshine, so this was the perfect way to play it for the first time.
And it’s been so long since I’ve played Galaxy.
This collection brought together 3 great games, and that is what it is. A collection.
I guess there’s not much to say? It’s 3 old games in 1 packet.
Yes I know, I can play these through an emulator. I don’t fucking care.
I wanted these games on the Switch so I can play it on the go and TV.
So yeah, just wanted to talk about those 4 games.
So why these 4 games? Well they’re my games of the year.
But let me be honest, there is one game that stands out for me here.
Before I do that, quick round of small things I want to say about some games!
Phasmophobia is an amazing game that relies on incoming dread and teamwork, it’s the best true horror game I played this year. It stays incredibly creepy. It doesn’t sell on cheap jumpscares or stupid mechanics.
Factorio is the best factory game out there, it has such an unique artstyle.
Roles can be easily divided in multiplayer, and there’s always something to do.
Minecraft 1.16 brings some actual taste to the Nether. Finally it’s no longer a wasteland with repeating mobs and bad looking fortresses… Oh right, they didn’t update the fortress.
Already talked about Terraria 1.4.
GTA Online: The Cayo Perico Heist is an interesting take on a new heist that I’m not sure what to think about, might need to play it longer.
Oh right, the massive boost of popularity for Super Mario 64 because of the whole iceberg thing, personal copies, apparitions, leaked models. Yeah uh that stuff.
It’s gotten old, but I do recommend the Super Mario 64 Beta Archive Youtube channel
They put some real high quality stuff out there, seems like there’s a whole story behind it.
Update: There’s been some controversy with this channel that I’m not getting into. It’s still interesting and the people involved (Not the creator) are really talented, check them out instead:
https://twitter.com/realjefftastic/status/1349058166483537922?s=20
Now that I’m recommending channels and series, might aswell post Half-Life VR: Self-Aware AI series out here. Really funny and I seriously enjoyed it.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLglTodSj6fQGbLTtPF_YXVJ6TKSaC3O02
Alright… Now let me show you my game of the year.
Yeah kinda obvious.
Not a Nintendo game this year around huh?
Anyway, I love Black Mesa. And as much as I want to talk about this game, this post will get too long.
And such, I’ll make an in-depth review very soon. Talking about changes made, new stuff. And of course Xen, which is 3 complete chapters that are basically new.
Oh but Swiiiiiift, Black Mesa was released in 2015. 1.0 was only released in 2020, it’s not a game of this year.
Well Black Mesa is only now fully complete.
As such, I consider it a 2020 game.
If you don’t accept that answer, then it’ll be Half-Life: Alyx.
Let’s hope 2021 won’t be as garbage.
If I forgot anything I’ll add it later. Hope my writing wasn’t unreadable, been a while.
Thanks for reading, I guess.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_in_video_games
https://thegameawards.com/
Swift Reviews 