In this episode, Brad gives a peek behind the GOTY curtain by going through the BIG list of titles that are in the running for 2025’s top ten!

You can also hear the show on iTunes

Please send feedback and mailbag questions to SoVideogamesPODCAST (at) gmail (dot) com, or post them in the comments section below. Thanks!

The post So Videogames Episode 464: PRE-GOTY appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

I’m stealing this from Nextlander Podcast host Alex Navarro because I simply can’t put it any better myself — this year in videogames was an astoundingly good one for products, and a miserable one for everyone who made those products.

It’s genuinely difficult to celebrate an industry that continuously chews up and spits out thousands of talented, amazing people who professionally sacrifice in ways that I’m just not down with. Studio closures came fierce, and mergers meant tons of behind-the-scenes jobs in advertising, PR, and community support became redundant overnight.

Rumors swirled around legendary studios when they slipped up even once with a sales disappointment. I also question just how quickly AI will sweep away potentially tens of thousands of jobs in programming, QA, and asset generation. The entire industry rests on a razor’s edge, and I sincerely worry we may have not yet seen the bottom completely fall out.

…And yet that terrible reality is juxtaposed with a year full of absolute bangers.

I am truly grateful for the people who make the games we get to play. It’s basically a miracle every time a good title gets released, and the stakes for every single one have never been higher. While I mourn the real-life pain of thousands of affected workers, this list is also a tribute to their incredible efforts that were behind both these games and the numerous others that were under strong consideration — and there were numerous.

2023’s “I F***** Up 2022’s List” Award: Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins

There’s always one that gets away every year, and despite a propensity to play everything with the words “Final Fantasy” on the box, middling reviews and a constant fear of the “Soulslike” genre (which, as you will read later, is getting harder and harder to justify in writing every year) kept me away until it was on heavy discount earlier this year. It was then when I realized I made a huge mistake, as the adorably abbreviated SOPFFO blew away all expectations I had with outstanding character customization and infinitely variable combat because of it.

But that wasn’t the highlight. The true winner here is a story that, from afar, looked preposterously stupid in the Youtube clips I saw at launch. Little did I know that this prequel for Final Fantasy I was actually going to be the most brilliant unintentional parody of classic JRPGs I’ve ever experienced. I was in absolute stitches as all-timer dudebro edgelord Jack Garland grunted his way through every trope the genre has. He’s the JRPG protagonist the world needs, and I sincerely hope we have not seen the last of this lovable asshole.

2023’s “I’ll get to it eventually” award: Hi-Fi Rush
Hi-Fi Rush came out of nowhere in a lot of ways. Firstly it… well it did come out of nowhere as it was announced and released on the same day back in January. That’s a bold move, and one I’ve been pining for more developers to do, so kudos to Microsoft for having that confidence. Secondly, it came from Tango Gameworks, which I feel has exclusively made games that are interesting but only almost good for their entire existence. Considering how dark The Evil Within and Ghostwire: Tokyo both were, Hi-Fi Rush’s cheerful demeanor and funky stylings were even more refreshing.

Unfortunately, despite having it installed practically all year through Game Pass, I never quite got around to it. The 30 minutes I did play convinced me this was something I should spend time with, but I have this weird quirk about playing on Game Pass. Ownership (or whatever the hell that means nowadays) somehow adds to my drive to play something, so I’m sure I will get around to it when it inevitably hits $15 sometime in 2024. Maybe I should stop paying for Game Pass.

The “I really want to give this game an award but I just can’t” Award: Cyberpunk 2077 Update 2.0/Phantom Liberty
I spent a lot of time thinking about how I wanted to acknowledge Cyberpunk 2077 on this list. While it took three years to get to an acceptable state, I cannot deny that playing through 2077 after Update 2.0 and alongside the release of the exceptional Phantom Liberty expansion was one of the very best gaming experiences I had this year. It really is the most dramatic turnaround of a catastrophic single-player launch that I can recall. It’s never gonna reach the hype of being the transcendent RPG experience CDProjekt Red promised before launch, but they have clearly put in the work to make Cyberpunk 2077 a quality game that I’m damn near tempted to call polished.

The plan was to make this my 10th best game of the year, but then it won “Best Ongoing Game” at The Game Awards, and I threw up in my mouth a little. Fixing a broken single-player game and releasing one piece of DLC over a three year span should not qualify as “ongoing”, and while I do legitimately love this game in the year 2023, CDPR should not receive praise for doing what was necessary to fix a cataclysmic boondoggle that people will talk about for generations to come. For those, like me, who were waiting to play Cyberpunk 2077 “when it’s done”, now is that time. Enjoy it, but never forget the nonsense it took to get us to this point.

The 2023 Turd of the Year: Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1

It was a tough choice this year, as there were a lot of excellent candidates. Again, Turd of the Year does not mean “worst game” or “most disappointing”. Turd of the Year is the most offensively bad game of the year. It is essentially the game that pissed me off the most. While Sonic Origins Plus certainly pissed me off and Atomic Heart was a game I genuinely hated, neither of them compare to the sheer, unadulterated anger in my heart towards Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1. The PS5 version I will give credit for essentially being on par with the HD collection released a decade ago, but the other versions are inexcusably poor for a litany of reasons I don’t have space to talk about here.

So there’s a game on this compilation called Metal Gear Solid. It’s kind of a big deal. You may have heard of it, as it easily earns the distinction of being a truly revolutionary videogame. This is the first time the original Metal Gear Solid has been available for purchase on modern consoles in over a decade, the first time it’s been easily playable on PC in over 20 years, and the first time it’s ever been on a Microsoft or Nintendo platform (Twin Snakes doesn’t count/exist). This should be a monumental celebration! Instead we got the most bare-bones emulation imaginable that’s about on par with playing it on a Playstation Classic.

This hurts even more because Konami has actually done a stellar job with remaster compilations in recent years. I reviewed both the Castlevania and Contra Anniversary Collections for this site, and they’re both fabulous! Great emulation, slick menus, nice configuration features, and exceptional bonus materials. While the bonus materials in Master Collection are good, they’re buried under multiple game launchers, and many of the bonus features aren’t even on the disc. Why do I have to download the digital graphic novels? Konami couldn’t fit those on a 50GB disc on this compilation of one of their most important franchises, and the first time they’ve done anything with said franchise in half a decade? This package contains three of the greatest games ever made, full stop. They deserve to be crafted around a proper, historical artifact that generations of players in the future can experience, and this ain’t it by a longshot.

Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1 is a pathetic effort from a pathetic company. I hate that I paid for this, and I hate even more that I’ll be buying Master Collection Vol. 2 on day one as well just to see how borked that Metal Gear Solid 4 port is going to be.

THE ONE TRUE LIST THAT IS CLEARLY BETTER THAN MY FELLOW WRITERS’ LISTS

Honorable Mention: The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
I’ve been writing GOTY lists for this site for a while, and the biggest no-brainer #1 pick I’ve ever made was choosing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as my personal Game of the Year in 2017. A dramatic reinvention of a longstanding videogame franchise with established mechanics is one of the hardest things to achieve in this business, and Breath of the Wild was certainly that. The Nintendo Switch does not become what it has become without launching alongside a legitimate GOAT contender, and Breath of the Wild didn’t just revitalize a legendary franchise, it revitalized an entire company.

And its sequel is… great. Really great, actually! Tears of the Kingdom is a tremendously well put-together sequel with an astonishing amount of content. It does not reinvent the wheel, but considering they blew up the car with Breath of the Wild and built a new one, that should be neither expected or necessary. With that out of the way, I can’t say it grabbed me in the same way outside of some truly mesmerizing memes seeing the insane things people created with its ingenious toolset. Garry’s Mod was not on my “inspirations for TOTK” Bingo card, but here we are, and I’m glad we’re here. Tears of the Kingdom is both of high quality and worthy of the franchise it represents, but let’s be real, its Breath of the Wild But Bigger-er, and in a truly exceptional year for releases, that wasn’t quite good enough to make the list proper.

10. Lies of P
We start the list with what was probably my biggest surprise of the year, as I was completely unaware of its existence until it released. Thankfully I had enough people send me the message of “Hey, the one you like is Sekiro, right? You should really play Lies of P“, and I’m really glad that they’re in my life. Lies of P is weird, haunting, occasionally disturbing, and has extremely well-tuned combat that is constantly adding new wrinkles all the way through its beautifully-realized world.

This is the best non-FROM-produced Souls game I have ever played, but I can’t really put it much higher on my list because Lies of P is basically plagiarism. Everything from the menus to the HUD to the world design to NPC interaction to the item descriptions (even down to the font) is ripped straight from various FROM works. But here’s the thing — a lot of games do that, and Lies of P is significantly more successful at it than something like Lords of the Fallen or Wo Long. It’s so damn good that I don’t really care that it’s an egregious copycat, and I don’t think Hidetaka Miyazaki does either.

Also, shoutout to The Republic of Korea for an awesome year of making big videogames. On top of this game, the country also produced Dave The Diver, the runner-up to my “I’ll get to it eventually” award. Korea has been producing games for a long time, but they usually stick to the FTP space dating all the way back to Maple Story. They haven’t made a lot of big-time, full-priced mainstream releases, but Lies of P definitely fits that bill. Here’s hoping Round 8 Studios and publisher Neowiz can keep that momentum going and Korea’s developer profile continues to ascend. We will forgive and forget about Gungrave G.O.R.E.

9. Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name

I’ve been hesitant about legendary Yakuza protagonist and World’s Greatest Step-Dad Kazuma Kiriyu being such a large part of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Like the previously mentioned Breath of the Wild, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios also succeeded in a complete reinvention of a longstanding franchise with 2020’s Yakuza: Like a Dragon, with its greatest strength being that it replaced a stellar ensemble cast with an equally stellar ensemble cast damn near seamlessly. With Ichiban Kasuga proudly taking the mantle from Kiryu with general ease, I felt like bringing back The Dragon of Dojima for One Last Hurrah wasn’t particularly necessary when they nailed such a difficult pivot already.

The Man Who Erased His Name convinced me that this is not only viable, but needed. Kazuma Kiryu deserves a better send-off than the weird place they left him after Yakuza 6, and this true ‘Gaiden’ of a release sets that up perfectly. For those who thought Kazuma being randomly shoehorned into the end of Like a Dragon was awkward, now it makes all the sense in the world. While The Man Who Erased His Name is really only for the most committed Like a Dragon fans, the more hardcore a fan you are, the harder it’s going to hit. The final chapter in this game is maybe the highlight of an entire 20 year franchise for those who have been there the entire time, and I do not say that lightly. It’s also a very tight experience, clocking in at a short-for-this-franchise ten hours (much longer for completionists), but it doesn’t have a drop of fat throughout the entire campaign.

It’s a tad overpriced, having to import a physical release was annoying (but cheaper!) and it doesn’t do anything new whatsoever. That keeps it low on the list, but this is an absolutely necessary entry into this franchise. It succeeded in its core mission of making me even more excited for Infinite Wealth than I already was, which I didn’t think was possible.

8. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
I love that FROM Software is in the middle of its “we get to do whatever the hell we want” phase after the past decade of abject success, and what they decided to do was go make another Armored Core. Not a reboot, not a remake, but Armored Core VI, as in “The Sixth Armored Core Game”. I hesitate to call it taking a chance because we’re at the point where anything with FROM on the box is probably going to do quite well, but as someone who grew up playing Armored Core, I really appreciated them straight-up just making a new Armored Core game and hoping everyone would go along with it like we all played Armored Core V in 2021.

Fires of Rubicon is a real meat & potatoes release. There’s a story and it’s actually rather interesting, but 95% of it is told through radio messages and powerpoint presentations. This isn’t some grandiose AAA extravaganza, but rather a gameplay first, mission-based, Capital-V Videogame full of boundless customization. Even slight recalculations of your AC’s weight and propulsion shows while playing, and I spent hours trying to build the perfect deathmobile for the playstyle I wanted to enjoy. It gets brutally difficult in spots, and the core Souls design the team has been sharpening for years definitely shows up in boss fights, but one also feels that same Souls-level sense of achievement when finally completing a particular hurdle. Armored Core VI was one of the purest game experiences I had this year, and I look forward to Armored Core being a thing again.

7. Star Ocean The Second Story R
2023 was a truly exceptional year for remakes. Dead Space, Super Mario RPG, and System Shock were all incredible from-the-ground-up revitalizations of beloved classics, and, hey, Resident Evil 4 got a remake too, I guess. However one stood above the rest in my eyes, and that was Star Ocean The Second Story R. As a production, Second Story R is outstanding, with great renditions of the original score, quality voice acting, and excellent menu design. There was no other game this year I loved looking at more than this one with its beautifully-realized rendition of the original title that still very much looks like Star Ocean The Second Story. It’s clear the people involved with developing this remake had reverence for the source material, and their love of it shines brightly here.

Early Playstation 1 JRPGs are not a group of games that have aged particularly well, and developer Gemdrops inc. did a tremendous job adding countless quality-of-life improvements while still maintaining the spirit of a game that can be rather punishing. Second Story R is essentially how the nostalgic part of my brain remembers Star Ocean The Second Story, and it makes the original release practically obsolete. It’s a title that was absolutely deserving of receiving such a classy, quality remake, and I’m glad it exists so a new generation can experience one of the true gems from the genre’s heyday.

6. Baldur’s Gate III

I didn’t even get close to finishing Baldurs Gate III and that’s the primary reason it’s so low on this list, as I’m pretty sure this was the best videogame released in 2023. If I was writing for another site and we were deciding an overall Game of the Year as a staff, I’d probably be advocating for Baldurs Gate III to win our site’s award, but the fact of the matter is that I’m maybe an eighth of the way through a 150 hour game, and I just got too distracted with too many others to fully commit to finishing this outstanding achievement. This game deserves ones full attention, and I have failed to commit to it properly.

I have never in my life played a game so down with however I want to play it, which is the thing people love about playing Dungeons & Dragons, right? Larian Studios has made the definitive D&D videogame, and the ability to have their virtual dungeon master make this absolutely massive game with so many variables work together is the greatest achievement of any title this year. It’s also amazing to see the incredible financial success this game is achieving. While the team did an unbelievable job porting this game to consoles, the astounding thing about Baldur’s Gate III’s popularity is they did it by making an old-school-as-old-school-gets PC RPG for their most hardcore fans first, and there’s never been an entry in this genre before as accessible to so many people while also maintaining such depth.

I am tremendously looking forward to the summer of 2024 where I may actually have time to play it.

5. Robocop: Rogue City
I was pretty sure I was going to dig Robocop: Rogue City considering how much I loved Terminator: Resistance, but I had absolutely no idea it would get this high on my list. Rogue City excels because I could not possibly imagine a videogame nailing its source material any harder. It’s the perfect Robocop game. Busting through walls, throwing guys through windows, and clearing Detroit of scum one bullet at a time while turning said scum into hamburger across a wide variety of dilapidated urban buildings — not since Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise has a property been so seamlessly transitioned to the world of videogames.

I wrote the review for the site, so any readers looking for a more detailed explanation as to what makes this game kick so much ass should go read that. Robocop: Rogue City is one of my favorite licensed games ever made, and it’s very deserving of this spot. Single-player First Person Shooters are a dying breed, and Teyon is doing their darndest to keep the genre alive one ’80s movie at a time.

4. Super Mario Wonder
New Super Mario Bros. as a franchise-within-a-franchise is perfectly adequate. They’re well designed, creative, and rather inoffensive entries into the Mario canon, but they’ve never quite had the spark seen in the upper echelon Mario games. Super Mario Wonder adds the one thing the development team needed to get it over the hump — drugs. Lots of drugs, which is what I would believe the development team had in abundance, but this game is made in Japan where drugs are a big no-no, so I’m just going to assume the people behind Wonder are high on life in all its grandeur.

The word of the day with Super Mario Wonder is variety. Nearly every level has some sort of quirk or mechanic to spice it up. There is no filler here. The level design starts at ‘exceptional’ and maintains an absurdly high bar of quality for the entirety of the experience. Any human walking the Earth today can have fun playing Super Mario Wonder, but achieving 100% completion and getting through the truly dastardly special stages is a real test for any player. 2D Mario is not nostalgic — it is eternal, and this is the best 2D Mario since Super Mario World.

3. Pizza Tower

There is something primal about Pizza Tower that really speaks to me. This game has a vibe, man. Taking heavy inspiration from the Wario Land games, Pizza Tower controls like an absolute dream while my main man Peppino Spaghetti frantically runs through well-designed levels that take full advantage of the movement capabilities the developers at Tour De Pizza have bestowed upon players. This is accompanied by the best beats I heard in any game this year, and the team channeled the spirit of the Sega Genesis in a way that this ’90s kid really appreciated. The escape theme drives fear into my heart while also making me bob my head in affirmation.

That same ’90s kid also adores the Nicktoons-inspired art beautifully represented on screen by some of the best sprite-work in recent memory. Even though it’s high quality, Pizza Tower’s ability to maintain said high quality while also successfully paying homage to dozens of sub-par, boilerplate 16-bit platformers in style and tone is commendable. It’s weird, it’s demanding, it’s occasionally unsettling, and it can be downright maddening for completionists, but I adored my time in Pizza Tower’s cheesy, gooey world. There’s nothing else like it in the astoundingly competitive world of 2D indie platformers, which helps Pizza Tower rise to the upper crust.

2. Final Fantasy XVI
I have a list of words and terms I desperately try to avoid when writing about videogames, and at the top of that list is the word ‘Epic’. The term that is far overused and it ruins the ability to use the term when actually justified. If everything is epic, than nothing is epic.

With that said, Final Fantasy XVI is maybe the most epic videogame I have ever played.

I’m a sucker for AAA ballyhoo, and this game had some of the most deliriously ludicrous production values I’ve ever seen. Beautifully rendered graphics, tremendous sound design, an exceptional orchestral score, a staggering level of detail in environments, and fantastic voice work, including a pun-fully-intended star-making performance from Ben Starr as lead Clive Rosfield. It’s a tad problematic in spots writing-wise and it drags a bit in the last third, but when it was firing on all cylinders, I didn’t have a better time playing videogames all year.

The scale of big moments here are absolutely spectacular, and spectacle has always been a hallmark of this franchise. Final Fantasy has never been the deepest JRPG or had the most complex gameplay mechanics, and so much of what I remember from playing this series for decades in particular has been crazy summon spells and hardware-pushing worlds. While I’m not sure of it’s merits as a Japanese Role Playing Game due to its “What if Devil May Cry was an MMO?” combat system, Final Fantasy XVI is absolutely a Final Fantasy game, and it was the most enjoyment I’ve got out of a mainline entry in over twenty years. That’s worth celebrating, and with Final Fantasy XIV producer Naoki Yoshida at the helm, I think the main franchise has a bright future.

1. Alan Wake II

This was an easy choice, but while I adored playing this game, it’s what Sam Lake and the team at Remedy have laid the foundation for that makes Alan Wake II stand above all else in 2023. What I’m referring to is the creation of the Remedy Interactive Universe. While they have referentially hinted at games they’ve created within their other games for decades now, they’ve now gone all-in on the concept of a shared universe. This can be occasionally problematic as Remedy only own the rights to about half their library, so some iconic names have to be changed. However, longtime fans of their work will be picking up on what they’re selling pretty easily, and the payoff is extraordinary for those players.

Alan Wake II is also the best videogame of the year partially due to the innovative usage of other forms of media. The Old Gods of Asgard are back, and they’re still pumping out hits. The goofy musical number in the middle of their horror game was already spoiled at The Game Awards, but I can’t even begin to describe the feeling of witnessing that thing having no prior knowledge. This work has the best-produced FMV in any videogame I’ve ever played, but the most impressive aspect of said FMV is how seamlessly it is integrated into the overall package.

In a year of very high highs, Remedy reached the highest, and nothing this year pushed the boundaries of what a videogame can be harder than Alan Wake II. Also, Ahti the Janitor is back, so that made this a pretty easy choice.

The post Jarrod’s Top Ten of 2023 and Other Meaningless Awards appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

Last year I was feeling a bit snarky after what I thought was a pretty underwhelming year for new releases, so I populated my top 10 list with nothing but remakes and remasters. I still stand by this choice, as it allowed me to somehow award Dragon Quest XI my Game of the Year three times in a row. Thankfully, 2021 has proven to be a much stronger year. I’m also feeling less dour than I was at the end of 2020, so I wanted to do the inverse and focus this year’s GOTY list on only truly new releases.

However, this left me with a bit of a conundrum. I was lucky enough to score a PlayStation 5 at launch, and one of my absolute favorite features of this new hardware has been replaying countless PS4 classics with new improvements. Because of this, I believe I’ve played more PS5 in the first year of ownership than maybe any system ever, and the surprising amount of free upgrades to my old collection made it possible. While I’m fairly certain the gravy train has left the station and we will be receiving far less of these upgrades going forward, it’s been awesome having a steady stream of them to keep my PS5 in use through 2021. So, due to having played a huge amount of re-releases this year (and also wanting to recognize some 2020 games that got lost in the previously-mentioned snark) I decided this category deserved its own list this year.

Before I begin, it should be noted that this list has some specific parameters.

To qualify, a game must have been originally released before 2021 and received the PS5 upgrade during 2021, so games that had simultaneous releases on PS4 & PS5 are not considered. All of these games offered existing owners of the PS4 version either a free upgrade or the option to upgrade for a fee.

Furthermore, this is a list of games that received a full-on PS5 version, rather than titles like Vampyr or Horizon: Zero Dawn that simply received patches for enhanced PS4 backwards compatibility. The price of the upgrade, bonus content, and PS5 specific enhancements were all considered alongside the overall quality of release.

The Shame Pile: Control: Ultimate Edition and Judgment

Some of the messaging around free upgrades or upgrade paths around launch was a bit murky, and nobody screwed this up more than 505 Games when bringing Control to PlayStation 5.

After originally announcing that it would receive an upgrade to PS5, it was later discovered that only owners of Control: Ultimate Edition (a version bundled with the DLC that wasn’t even out yet) would get the upgrade. This was a separate release from the original version of Control, and even players who bought the DLC were left in the cold. The true shame of this? Not only is Control: Ultimate Edition a fantastic upgrade, but it was an upgrade that was desperately needed for a game that ran poorly on last-gen hardware.

Unfortunately, an even bigger head-scratcher was a game I love dearly from a developer I love dearly — the PS5 version of Judgment, which offered zero upgrade paths for original owners of the PS4 version.

While Control at least offered significant performance boosts, ray-tracing implementation and worthwhile DLC, Sega decided to charge $40 for the luxury of playing the same product at 60FPS and 1440p. These are nice enhancements, but they are also the only enhancements, so that’s a tough price to swallow when others were offering far more. This was an astounding boner on Sega’s part that only screwed over Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s most ardent supporters. Judgment absolutely deserved an upgraded version for new consoles, but completely ignoring a standard that they themselves already adhered to with other titles was the wrong call. I blame Takuya Kimura’s agents.

Honorable Mention: Ghost of Tsushima: Directors Cut

In a down year for the triple-A sphere, Ghost of Tsushima was probably my favorite big-budget title of 2020, and I think this is in large part to not having burned out on the open-world formula as someone on this website may have.

I loved Ghost of Tsushima for its gorgeous and impeccably-designed world, satisfying combat, and exploration that screamed ‘Made by the people who made Sly Cooper‘. The director’s cut adds an exceptional piece of DLC in the form of the Iki Island expansion while also doubling the framerate and a near-4K resolution, leading to some truly stunning vistas. While the PS4 version had impressively quick loads, they’re now lightning thanks to the PS5’s SSD storage. Finally, while I tried to not let it bother me as much as it did some people, the complete lack of lip sync for the Japanese language option in the original release was distracting. Having that fixed for this version was welcome.

So why isn’t it on the list? Well, considering price, this puppy comes in at a whopping $30 — three times the price of the most expensive upgrade appearing on this list. The reason is that it’s bundled with the $20 Iki Island expansion, and while I absolutely think that’s an easy purchase for fans of the game, other titles on this list also launched alongside DLC but didn’t force the customer to buy it to get the base game upgrade. Also, GoT had received a PS4 enhanced backwards compatibility patch before the official PS5 release that featured about 90% of the graphical upgrades already, so that additional $10 didn’t feel tremendously justified. For those reasons I couldn’t let it crack the top ten, but this is absolutely a game worth playing, and this is the best way to do so.

10. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1&2

Both writers on this website and members of my own family questioned what in the heck I was doing last year by making a list of the best remasters and not including the exceptional Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 & 2. Upon further reflection, they were probably right, but I waited to play it extensively until the PS5 version was released. While there were slight upgrades to the graphics that only astute watchers of Digital Foundry videos would notice in motion, it is one of two games on this list that support high framerates for 120hz displays, and even most brand-new PS5 games don’t use that feature.

While that’s fantastic, Tony Hawk 1&2 is also one of two games on this list that actually cost money to upgrade, coming in at $10 for the privilege. That hurts its standing on the list, but that does include a “Special Edition” upgrade with some extra skins thrown in.

Furthermore, while this is a PS5-centric list, the implementation of the upgrade on Series S/X was incredibly confusing, and that version of the game didn’t allow for a disc-based upgrade which was allowed on PS5. Bizarre limitations aside, this is an outstanding rendition of a couple of games pretty damn important to many ’90s kid childhoods, and it’s still fun Pretending I’m A Superman all these years later.

9. Crash 4: It’s About Time

2021 turned out to be a hell of a year for platformers, and while I’m not going to remember Crash 4 as fondly as I will the two games that will feature on my upcoming GOTY list, this is one of the better recent entries in the genre, apart from Nintendo’s output. Developer Toys for Bob did some exceptional work porting the Spyro trilogy last generation, and it’s pretty clear they took some notes from that project.

Crash 4 takes elements from the original trilogy and makes “one of those”, only a bit more intricate and a lot more difficult. I was genuinely surprised how often Crash 4 handed me my lunch, but it has a forgiving checkpoint system that keeps it from being overly frustrating. Add to that some really neat worlds and a surprisingly entertaining script, and It’s About Time ends up somehow being one of the better entries in a franchise that peaked over twenty years ago.

With that said, it comes in pretty low on this list due to being a rather unimpressive upgrade, as the only enhancements are a bump in resolution and faster load times. The game already ran at 60FPS on enhanced consoles from the previous generation, but the 4K resolution really does a lot to show how detailed the world is. This is especially true during in-engine cutscenes that look like they could easily pass for a good kids’ movie. Non-Nintendo consoles have a serious lack of quality games for children, and even with the high difficulty, this is one of the few titles I’d recommend to parents, as well as anyone looking to play a great platformer.

8. Saints Row The Third Remastered

I already said on my list last year how much I adore Saints Row The Third. I legitimately think it’s one of the best games from its generation, and I love its outlandish world, ample variety, and genuinely endearing characters.

The remake from 2020 was actually a fairly substantial graphical overhaul, and it brought steady performance to console owners for the first time, though its 30FPS cap was a little disappointing. The PS5 version brings the game up to a buttery-smooth 4K60 presentation, and they even went back and further enhanced the graphics with improved shadows and draw distance.

Like many games on this list, this is the best way to play an already-fabulous game, but I had an exceptionally good time blowing up the city of Steelport with Pierce, Shaundi, Oleg, CheapyD, and Burt Reynolds all over again. It’s joyously stupid in all the right ways.

7. Final Fantasy VII Remake INTERGRADE

I pissed off a bunch of people last year when I had the audacity to declare the long-awaited Final Fantasy VII Remake to be a pretty good game with a lot of nice qualities. The combat is complex and engaging, and it’s a loving tribute to the first 15% of one of the biggest games of all time. I still question what the hell this project is going to end up looking like upon completion, and I have issues with Square-Enix essentially retconning one of the more important stories in the history of the medium, but I cannot deny how enjoyable FF7R is as pure spectacle. It was one of the best-looking games from the past generation, so what better way to enjoy such spectacle than with double the framerate, thousands more pixels, and better looking doors? The framerate boost in particular significantly improves the flow of combat.

To go alongside this, Square-Enix accompanied this re-re-release with a meaty DLC starring infamous waifu-ninja, Yuffie, called INTERmission (I will never understand how Square-Enix decides to use capital letters).

This was a great piece of content that provides more outlandish spectacle while also giving players some necessary context for Midgar events happening outside the main game. Luckily, it’s also optional, so players who only want to play the main game get that upgraded for free, and that freedom of choice is good enough to un-ironically get this pretty good game to seventh on this list.

6. Terminator: Resistance Enhanced

There might not be a movie franchise with a longer and more storied history of crap-ass videogames than Terminator. Awful Terminator games have been coming out for damn near 40 years, and the IP has been rather awful on the big screen for the last 20, so don’t blame me for skipping out on Terminator: Resistance upon its original release in November 2019. I think most people did, but there seemed to be a steady stream of people surprisingly willing to sing the game’s praises. When I finally bit, I was impressed — in a way, it represents the best of what these PS5 upgrades can offer, as it gave new life to a game that was just about to be forgotten

While the underpinnings of Resistance were always strong, it suffered from severe performance issues on consoles, along with a bunch of bugs. Polish developer Teyon Interactive has done a nice job patching it since then, and the power of the PlayStation 5 is able to keep the game at a (generally) stable 60FPS while bumping up the graphics & resolution and cutting back on some long load times. It still has some charming Eastern European jank on top of some dead-eyed faces to talk to, but this is a great use of the license.

This resource-driven FPS gameplay is a perfect fit for the universe, and for the first time (maybe ever?) in a Terminator game, it’s actually scary when a player encounters a goddamn Terminator.

Extra credit goes to the outstanding music, and added to the PS5 release was a free DLC pack containing a bonus mission where one actually gets to be a T-800, sneak into a compound, and murder a bunch of resistance fighters. Fans will love how pitch-perfect the UI is during these segments, as they perfectly emulate the effects from the original films. This game is an easy recommendation to longtime Terminator fans and it uses the PS5 to deliver the best console version yet.

5. DOOM Eternal

DOOM Eternal is the most disappointing kick-ass game that I can remember. I still absolutely love playing it, I love the many nods to ’90s shooters that inspired its speed and level design, and I love Mick Gordon’s genius soundtrack. The problem is that DOOM 2016 was such a transcendent achievement that it cast a shadow Eternal found too difficult to escape from.

Dropping the ball so hard in the story department put a damper on the overall release, but DOOM Eternal is still an exceptionally-designed first-person-shooter that’s a hoot to play through while mastering its many (perhaps one-too-many?) systems. This PS5 upgrade was also a great way to play through The Ancient Gods DLC, which is mostly good except for the three or four sections that are super terrible.

What gets this game so high on this list is the litany of enhancements made to the PS5 version. For the low cost of zero dollars, owners of the original release get multiple performance modes and enhanced graphics. DOOM Eternal is also the only game on this list that features both ray-tracing and 120fps support (not at the same time) and the RT60 mode is a real tech showpiece for new hardware. Add to that the snappy load times, and this is an extremely technically proficient PS5 upgrade. Playing it again and seeing it look so good helped ease the general lament I have for how uninteresting the plot is.

4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

Notice I said Skyrim: Special Edition instead of Anniversary Edition. Bethesda did such a terrible job explaining what the re-re-re-release of their seminal Role Playing Game actually is, that I will try to on their behalf.

The “Anniversary Edition” that was announced over the summer is really just a DLC pack of Creation Club content that they bolted on to the previously-released Special Edition. Owners of Skyrim Special Edition get the PS5 upgrade for free along with a couple new quests, a new survival mode, and a fishing minigame so blasé that it only warrants this singular mention. One can make their Special Edition go all Anniversary on itself for a $20 fee, which honestly seems high for a collection of items and a couple of new spells.

When they announced the Anniversary Edition, I noticed the original was on sale for $16, so I jumped on it and waited for the current-gen release. This was probably the 4^th or so attempt I had made to play Skyrim, which is a game I have frequently played the first 90-ish minutes of and wrote off due to never being enamored with Bethesda games. Yet somehow it clicked this time, and I’ve ended up playing a couple dozen hours since its release in November. I think I learned to stop worrying about the “main” quest and simply decided to do stuff, so I’ve found the experience more enthralling than any other attempt. That may be due to the near instantaneous loading times, the rock-solid 4K60 presentation, and years of patching leading to a release that actually seems… rather polished? That’s weird to say for a Bethesda game, but I’m somewhat shocked how much I’m enjoying myself. Maybe I just really like the DualSense?

3. Metro Exodus

Single-player-only FPS titles are becoming increasingly rare, but that hasn’t deterred Ukranian/Maltese developer 4A Games from keeping the dream of atmospheric, story-driven shooters alive with their Metro franchise. 2019’s Metro: Exodus was a fantastic ride, and the free next-gen upgrade is perhaps the most graphically transformative of the list. While the PS4 Pro/Xbox One X versions were fairly solid, significant cuts and downgrades were necessary to make a cutting-edge PC title operate on such old hardware. Metro is the game on this list that probably needed a PS5 upgrade the most, and 4A did a fantastic job bringing it up to modern standards.

Ray-tracing has proven difficult to do at 60FPS on the new consoles so far, but 4A was able to get it running on an already-beautiful game while maintaining a relatively stable framerate that only dips (on occasion) in larger environments. They also included some of the extra graphical bells & whistles from the PC release that couldn’t hack it on PS4, and that helps to make Metro Exodus one of the best looking games available for PS5 despite its age. It’s a fantastic showpiece for ray-tracing, but behind the visuals is a meaty, interesting, and well designed shooter with a dense world begging to be explored.

2. Death Stranding: Directors Cut

I’m starting to come around on the idea of positive long-term reception for Death Stranding. I still stand by what I said in my review — the story is outright hogwash that’s written like a teacher dictating facts to an 11-year-old, the combat is cumbersome & uninteresting, and while I actually enjoyed the exploration and delivery-centric gameplay loop, the overall pacing of the campaign is a bit of a mess. With that said, there is just something about this damn game. I am now, somehow, 25 hours into a new playthrough, and experiencing the collaborative “strand” mechanics again reminded me there’s more good than bad with Hideo Kojima’s ethereal fever dream. I concur with GC’s editor Brad who called it “the ultimate ‘Chill Game’”

It is the only game on this list besides Tony Hawk that charges $10 to get the upgrade for previous owners of the PS4 version, but Kojima Productions packed a lot in.

For starters, it runs supremely well, leading to an already-beautiful game looking even better. It benefits tremendously from a locked 60FPS performance mode that runs at 1800p (there’s also a 4k option with an unlocked framerate that maintains 60FPS outside of some cutscenes). They include many of the features from the PC release such as ultra-wide support that looks stunning on OLED displays in particular, and the Valve-themed goodies like the Companion Cube quests made it to console as well. Furthermore, the game uses the Dualsense controller and haptic feedback extensively, leading to a very immersive experience.

There are new missions, tons of goofy new weapons & items that make for a breezier second playthrough (and possibly a less-interesting, less arduous first playthrough for new players), and a racetrack in case anyone wants to use the driving mechanics from Death Stranding in a minigame. They even went and changed the terrain around the most walked paths by players from the first game to mix things up. Death Stranding: Directors Cut absolutely justifies its upgrade price, and the two years since release have been surprisingly kind to a jarringly-different title.

1. Yakuza: Like A Dragon

This game is the reason I created this list. Yakuza: Like a Dragon was, far and away, the best damn videogame I played in 2021. Unfortunately, I committed to only discussing new releases for my 2021 GOTY list, and Yakuza: Like A Dragon… kinda-sorta doesn’t count?

It actually came out in November of 2020 for previous-gen hardware and Xbox Series S/X, but because of a rumored short-term exclusivity deal with Microsoft, the PS5 version didn’t make it out until March. So, for the first third of the year, a physical copy of the latest entry in one of my favorite franchises sat on my shelf, and I stubbornly waited it out so I could experience it on brand-new hardware.

Was it worth it? Not particularly, as the enhancements only amount to faster loading times and two new performance modes (1440p60 vs. 4K30), so it’s actually one of the less impressive upgrades on this list. It probably shouldn’t be first, but I write the rules for this award and I’m giving it to the game with hobo wizards and lobster-infused summon spells.

Yakuza: Like A Dragon is a maniacal, brave, endearing title that turns a very successful franchise completely on its ear by pivoting to become a full-on turn-based JRPG while still very much being a Yakuza game. Filling the legendary shoes of Kazuma Kiryu was a seemingly impossible task, and yet Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio somehow accomplished this with the lovable doofus-maloofus that is Ichiban Kasuga. His unrelenting optimism and enthusiasm legitimately inspired me to persevere through the last few months of grad school, and the absolutely insane journey he takes alongside a strong ensemble cast is pure magic.

If you choose to play one game from 2021 that originally released in 2020 when sitting down with your consoles in 2022, make it Yakuza: Like a Dragon on PS5.

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Another year, another top ten.

Putting absolutely everything else but videogames aside for the moment, 2020 was a strange twelve months — I played many games that I really enjoyed, but I had a very hard time picking ten. Ranking them was even tougher. It sounds weird to say that there were no standouts because that wasn’t the case, but it’s more accurate to say that each one of these was my favorite at a different time in the year.

Also, of course, this is just the top ten of the games I played. If you would like a complete list of absolutely every game I played in 2020, you can check out my series of articles detailing just that. It was a fun exercise that I will definitely continue into 2021.

If you like even more info on the ten games covered below, then I would invite you to listen to the So Videogames GOTY podcast where we talked about each one of these in-depth. If you haven’t given the show a listen yet, please check it out!

And now, my top 10 of 2020.

10 – Vampire the Masquerade: Coteries of New York

This is a fantastic visual novel excelling in storytelling, choices, and visual presentation. The writing is sharp, the graphics are engaging, and this is the visual novel that I recommend to people who don’t think they like visual novels.

9 – The Eternal Castle Remastered

This one earns a spot mostly due to the incredibly strong visual presentation. The bold colors, minimalist illustrations and extremely high contrast are stunning, and it makes an decisive statement for games as purely visual art. It was also great to play, and offered an updated spin on oldschool 2D platformers from the ’90s. It’s a wonderful homage that is perfectly updated for modern times.

8 – Max Gentlemen Sexy Business!

I barely ever play PC games, but this one was good enough to get me to spend some time clicking a mouse. The writing is funny and irreverent, the gameplay is the perfect blend of busy enough/not too busy, and the artwork was fantastic. All of the characters are cute and sexy, and I appreciated the options for LGBTQ players as well. This is the perfect kind of ‘adults only’ game, if you ask me — plenty of laughs, there’s a legit game to play, and enough titillation to please those who like a little spice.

7 – Nine Witches: Family Disruption

Nine Witches has something in common with Coteries — it’s a perfect example of its genre, and a title that I would recommend to people who say they don’t like the style. In this case, Adventure games. I actually don’t like adventure games at all, but and I think this one is great. The scale of its design is small and smart — a limited number of locations and items keeps everything manageable and prevents the player from getting too stuck. The mechanics are unique and give the player interesting options, and like many of the others on this list, the writing was great. I laughed out loud multiple times and I appreciated the takedown of World War II Nazis.

6 – Nowhere Prophet

This one is a standout roguelike in a year full of standout roguelikes. The art style is amazing, the gameplay is nuanced and flexible, and the real hat trick is that it managed to incorporate lots of different story elements to enrich the gameplay. Each card in this deckbuilder was also a character, numerous story events popped up depending on who was in your deck and the choices that had been made along the way, and the endings were substantial from both story and play perspectives. Great stuff all around.

5 – Iris and the Giant

I thought Nowhere Prophet was going to be the best roguelike of the year for me until I played this one — it’s absolutely perfect in all respects with an emotional story, stylized art, a clean interface, simple rules of play and tons of great work done on the UI. Every aspect was incredibly polished. The main campaign is perfectly balanced, and there’s plenty of challenge for those who want to play in the postgame. Every I is dotted and every T is crossed.

4 – Yes, Your Grace

This one is a wonderful little experience that I’m not quite sure how to categorize, other than to say it was completely awesome. Being a king and engaging in a management/resource sim sounded dull to me until I played it — it’s a wonderfully balanced series of yes-or-no questions rationing limited resources, and every request granted has appropriately dire consequences afterwards. On top of that, there’s a lot of juice in managing relationships with neighboring kingdoms and your family members, each with their own quirks and foibles. Even better? It was an absolutely fat-free experience that ended when it needed to end and had literally no padding whatsoever. Chef’s kiss!

3 – Wasteland 3

This is exactly the kind of post-apocalyptic game that I enjoy — great writing, quirky quests with multiple solutions, dark humor, lots of interesting situations that impact other situations, and the ability to really roleplay in a place where most of the rules have been thrown out the window. The main story was fairly par for the course, but there were a lot of small twists and touches that made it incredibly satisfying to play through, not to mention that the ultimate ending was a twist I didn’t see coming. The mix of custom and pre-scripted characters was wonderful too — I wish that it was a slightly less buggy experience, but even the bugs weren’t enough to dampen my enthusiasm for it.

2 – Nioh 2

If I had to boil everything else away and choose just one kind of game that would make me happiest down deep, I’m probably an action gamer — and few were able to deliver action better than Nioh 2 this year. The story is absolute nonsense but the gameplay is so strong that it really doesn’t matter. Every weapon feels completely unique, there were tons of options to customize the attacks and abilities the main character has, there’s tons of peripheral supporting systems that further enrich every aspect of play and it now boasts a greatly improved co-op mode which provides solo players the option to have AI companions for almost the entire campaign (if desired) and the ability to play with a friend at any EXP level without the need for special codes or other nonsense. There are very few games which are purely enjoyable based only on mechanics to me, but Nioh 2 is exactly my kind of sauce simmered to perfection.

1 – Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Out of a year with so many outstanding games, it was exceptionally tough to pick one for the top spot, but I think this has to be it. As a longtime fan of the Yakuza series, I had doubts about where they could take a series that has already gone so many places. Following that, I had no idea how they could possibly replace Kiryu as the main character — to me, one of the most iconic stars in all of gaming. To my utter surprise (although I guess I really shouldn’t be surprised!) new protagonist Ichiban is fantastic, the cast of supporting characters are all strong, and I love that so much of the experience revolves around angst that’s easily relatable to people in modern times due to the difficulty of finding work, financial insecurity and the corrupt state of the world. Going further, I wasn’t sure how the series’ history of real-time combat would transfer into a new turn-based system, but I think that I might like it better than ever? From any perspective, Yakuza: Like a Dragon is an absolute success, and a game that can stand proudly beside everything else the studio has done — quite a feat, indeed.

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Getting right down to business, Nikki Waln foregoes any preamble and drops her top ten!

1 – Cyberpunk 2077

I realize this game is somewhat controversial, but by no means is it the only controversial pick on my list. When I first booted it up on PS4 I thought it was flawed and buggy. I even had a few crashes as I played over the first week or so, but I began to slowly fall in love with it. Perhaps it’s the setting, the world, the story, or the characters, but something gripped me. Getting in on PC made it even more so, as I’ve now completed it with four different endings and played characters for every life path with different builds. I keep coming back to it over and over, with over 100 hours in and no sign of stopping. Development issues aside, this is truly an amazing game with great storytelling, amazing action, and an engrossing world.

2 – Hades

Until Cyberpunk gripped me in the way it did, this was my Game of the Year — and depending on how you decide the cutoff point for 2020 releases, it still is. While I’m not normally a fan of roguelikes, Hades has a compelling cast of characters, an exciting premise, and weaves a compelling story into its narrative. I’ve never been more excited (outside of a Souls game) to die over and over again.

3 – The Last of Us Part II

This was a very personal game for me — so much so that I wrote a piece entirely about it. Aside from how I related to its story and characters, TLOU2 had amazing graphics and gameplay, but most of all it told a compelling story that tore my heart out and crushed it into pieces (for the most part) in a compelling and engaging way. I had a couple of gripes with pacing that prevents it from taking the throne from Hades and it doesn’t have the replayability of something like Cyberpunk for me, but it’s still an amazing game.

4 – Ghost of Tsushima

I’ve been wanting a samurai open-world game for years now, well before Assassin’s Creed came out. I’ve always wondered why no one made one, but now that one is here, it blew me away with amazing graphics — perhaps the best we’ll ever see on the PS4 generation — and a compelling story with gameplay that avoids much of the busywork and leveling issues I have with current AC titles. Now with the included multiplayer mode, there are reasons to return to it. While I would have liked more character customization and not to be stuck in a pre-set character, it hardly diminished my enjoyment.

5 – Persona 5 Royal (International Release)

Technically an updated version of the original (and even more technically, the Japanese edition was released in 2019) this is included on my list since it was released in 2020 internationally. The Persona franchise, despite some glaring problems, is one of my favorites and P5R nearly takes the cake. Having spent almost 200 hours on this, it was one of the few I’ve bothered to platinum on PS4. I can’t stress enough how the stylish visuals, entertaining gameplay, and engrossing story pull me in over and over.

6 – Arcade Hearts

I reviewed this game for GameCritics and loved it to death. While it didn’t have the most amazing story in the world and the character customization was a bit lacking, it still had heart, charm, and style, all of which I loved.

7 – Star Wars Squadrons

I’m a huge fan of the older X-Wing and Tie-Fighter games. I played all of Tie-Fighter back in the day, completing everything I possibly could. The Rogue Squadron titles came close, but never quite grasped the level of immersion I felt with those older titles. This year’s Squadrons, however, did. Of course, VR helps but even without it, the game filled the notable gap left by the absence of an immersive Star Wars combat sim. While I’ve fallen off playing it due to limited time, it’s one I definitely want to return to again.

8 – Yes, Your Grace

Though in some ways deceptively linear, I found Yes, Your Grace to be a charming and engrossing tale, and one which still holds a strong place in my memory. Though it’s just simple pixel art, I cared about all the characters and thought often about holding court and deciding the fate of the nation. It’s a quick playth, but one well worth experiencing.

9 – Valorant

I don’t normally get into multiplayer games as I gravitate to stories, but I found Valorant gripped me more than I expected it to. Overwatch and Apex, (both similar games that I’ve enjoyed for their characters) have done similar things, but having now spent some time with Valorant, I do find it to be one of the best out there. Its biggest problem are people who quit out mid-match, dooming your team to a slow defeat and hours of wasted time. Once this improves, it would perhaps be one of my favorite multiplayer games, and not just the best multiplayer released in 2020.

10 – Doom Eternal

This would have been higher on the list if it wasn’t for the platforming. I’m not great at platformers at the best of times, and its inclusion here just threw me, broke up the action in a tedious way, and limited my enjoyment of the game as a whole. That said, it still made my list because I really enjoyed my time with it overall. It had a more interesting story compared to the last installment, and its frenetic gameplay was a welcome change of pace from the likes of Animal Crossing (which I also loved, but it didn’t quite make this list!)

…And finally, a few games that I’ve only scratched the service of like Nioh 2, Resident Evil 3 Remake, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and Genshin Impact would likely have been honorable mentions along with Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but I didn’t get enough playtime with them — I purchased them all at the end of the year, or they’ve been sitting on my hardware for a while!

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Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat — 2020 was a lousy year, particularly if you lived in the United States, and particularly if, like me, you live in New York. I spent most of the year inside (when I wasn’t working six jobs) looking for something to distract myself from the dystopian hellscape that is the real world.

As Jarrod Johnston already noted, there were no shortage of remasters and remakes in the last 12 months, and he already nailed some of this year’s best. Where we disagree is on the quality of original works this year. For me, 2020 was one of the best years in recent memory — especially for action games.

Fair warning, I’m not going to pretend I have a wholly original list here, and I don’t say that it’s comprehensive. Most of what I played in 2020 was dependent on what I could get review codes for and what was on GamePass, which remains the single best deal in gaming.

Some major releases that I haven’t had a chance to play yet include Hades, The Last of Us Part II, Monster Train, Genshin Impact, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, A Monster’s Expedition, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Kentucky Route Zero, and several more.

But of what I did play, this was the best!

10. Nioh 2

I don’t like the Souls games. I respect them, particularly their level design, but I don’t like them. Dying repeatedly in games designed to kill you (often unfairly) over and over and over again until you figure them out doesn’t appeal to me. The Nioh games are different, though. The core conceit of Nioh is “What if the Souls games had combat system that was more like Ninja Gaiden?”

The result is a game that is just as challenging as traditional Souls, but one that offers much more depth and remains more engaging over the long haul. The level design isn’t as good and the story is nonsensical drivel that you’ll skip over as often as you can, but the actual combat is something that encourages freedom and creativity, and forces you to master its systems if you want to succeed.

Nioh 2 is a hard game — you’re going to die a lot and it can be intensely frustrating, but it feels damn good to play and rewards you for being good at it. Whenever I died I always knew why, and there was always a way to win. That’s good design, and in an era of samey action games that rely on regurgitating tired mechanics over and over again, Nioh 2 feels unique. It’s hard as hell, but I’ll take that over generic any day.

9. Gears Tactics

It’s easy to dismiss Gears Tactics as someone getting their X-Com  in your Gears of War, and that’s kinda true. It’s obvious where the inspiration’s coming from, and nobody’s going to accuse Gears Tactics of reinventing the wheel. What Gears Tactics does really well, though, is marry what makes Gears of War unique with what makes X-Com work.

There are lots of different classes and weapons, each with its own unique abilities and skills to upgrade. Building characters however you like and choosing the right team for the job is part of the joy of strategy games, but Gears Tactics works because it still feels like a Gears of War game. Enemies go down when you shoot them, and executing a downed foe gives you more AP to play with, allowing you to chain executions together to extend your turn. This inherent risk makes the game unique — to win, you’re going to have to be aggressive. Sure, it’s still a tactics game, but making it feel like Gears is no small feat.

8. Ghost of Tsushima

Real talk? Most open-world games are terrible. The Ubisoft style dominates the genre now, so you go from map icon to map icon, doing the same three things over and over forever while dealing with mediocre combat and tacked-on RPG systems. Then came Breath of the Wild, which turned the entire genre on its head and made it obvious just how boring, stagnant, and paint-by-the-numbers things had become.

Don’t get me wrong — in a lot of ways, Ghost of Tsushima still follows the genre template. There’s a map to fill in and the combat isn’t anything special, but it shines in moments where the game shows how horrible a war and its occupying force are for civilians. Other moments are strong as well, like how you come across a Mongol patrol and cut them down, or how you find a golden bird or a fox and try to keep up as they lead you to a hidden area nearby. In these ways, Ghost of Tsushima captures the sense of wonder and exploration that Breath of the Wild achieved effortlessly.

Don’t get me wrong: Ghost of Tsushima still has many Ubisoft elements and calling it Assassin’s Creed: Japan wouldn’t be wrong. But at its best, it shows that the open-world game can be better if major studios want it to be.

7. Ghostrunner

Cyberpunk 2077 got all of the hype, but Ghostrunner might be the best game in the cyberpunk genre this year. The premise is simple — everything, (including you) dies in one hit and the difficulty is steep. The difference between life and death is the breadth of an eyelash, and you’re going to die a lot. Fortunately, your Ghostrunner has all the abilities you’ll need like a wall run, a grappling hook, a quick dash, a slide, an air dodge, and a nasty katana. Combine that with the ability to deflect bullets and several special abilities and you’ve got a title with an absurdly high skill ceiling and a ton of replay value. Throw in a surprisingly well-told and acted story that nails the genre, a killer soundtrack, and some gorgeous art design, and you’ve got a great game that slipped under way too many radars.

5. Star Wars Squadrons

It’s been ages since we got a good Star Wars flight game, but Squadrons delivers. The game’s best in VR, but it’s no slouch without it, either. Sure, you could just play it for the campaign and story, I suppose, but the real reason you pick up Squadrons is for the dogfights. The game shines for two reasons — an incredibly high skill ceiling and well-designed ships and ship customization.

You can feel the former when you’re flying, but the latter comes into play in and out of combat. Squadrons lets you control every aspect of your ship, from your throttle and your loadout to the level of power you dump into your shields, engines, and weapons. It’s not an easy game to master, especially competitively. A team that coordinates will always beat one that doesn’t and a good pilot will always outfly a decent one, but once you get it and you’re drifting around other guys who realize what’s going to happen to them a second before you blow them out of the sky, there’s nothing like it.

5. Streets of Rage 4

The beat-‘em-up is an underappreciated genre that doesn’t get enough love. If you’re new to them and looking for a place to start, you could do worse than Streets of Rage 4, which is an absolute masterclass in game design. It’s a game willing to meet you at your level, whether you just want to do a quick run with a friend or test your combos on the highest difficulty. it’s also intensely replayable thanks to a ton of characters to learn and an enormous amount of depth to mine, but it’s more than worth a casual playthrough even if you’re not looking to run up the high score.

4. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 are two of the greatest games ever made, and this new version 1+2 takes those two classics, adds new skaters, tons of customization and the advanced mechanics from Pro Skater 3 to create one of the best remakes in the modern era. Rolling through these classic levels will be enough for the casual player, but the wonderful Create-a-Park mode should keep the dedicated busy for years. It may not be the most realistic skating game ever made, but there’s definitely an argument to be made that it’s easily one of the best.

3. Final Fantasy VII Remake

I could spend hours praising FFVIIR’s wonderful characters, engaging combat system, beautiful visual style, and excellent expansion of the original game, but what I really want to focus on is the story. It would have been easy to simply remake Final Fantasy VII, but that’s not what Square did. Instead, they made a sequel masquerading as a Remake that directly challenged both the fanbase and the concept what a remake can and should be. Make no mistake — Final Fantasy VII Remake was an enormous creative risk that was not guaranteed to succeed. Square did it anyway, and knocked it out the park. More studios — and more games, remakes or not — should try to be as brave.

2. Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Ori and the Blind Forest is one of the best games to release during the last console generation. Its sequel, Will of the Wisps, is better in every conceivable way.

Sporting stunning visuals and an exceptional soundtrack to match its refined gameplay, Will of the Wisps takes everything that worked and cranks it up to 11. What’s really special, though, is its understanding of narrative. It doesn’t have a lot of dialogue, but instead it tells its story in gorgeous cutscenes that shows a mastery of visual storytelling that few games possess. Will of the Wisps is emotionally affecting but that fact that it plays as well it does is nothing short of incredible. Don’t miss it.

1. Doom Eternal

People might be surprised to see this game top the list, but the reality is that Doom Eternal is one of the best action titles ever made and one of the best shooters released in the last two decades. It’s a game that asks a lot of the player – ammo is limited and you have to master its movement mechanics if you want to stand a chance, especially on the higher difficulties. But those that click with it will find a masterpiece that completely understands its genre and allows the player a level of freedom normally seen in character action titles.

Unlike so many triple-A releases, Doom Eternal isn’t ashamed of being a video game – it revels in it. However, you’d be silly to write it off the game as having nothing to say. Like it’s predecessor, Doom Eternal knows the real problem isn’t the demons. They’re just a symptom. The real problem is the people who let them out – the corporations more interested in profit than people, scientists whose quest for knowledge trump their ethics, religions that mistake dogma for faith, entities who seek power at the cost of others, and the people who’d rather maintain the status quo than do the right thing. In short, it’s a pretty stunning critique of neoliberalism, capitalism, religious fanatics, and politicians. Or maybe just a dumb action game that lets you raze hell. How much you want to read into it is up to you, but if you ask me, Doom Eternal wants you to eat the rich.

Either way, Doom Eternal understands who the enemy is and has no problem letting you go after them. It understands your rage, and gives you an outlet for it. 2020 might have been hell, but at least this machine let me kill demons.

— Will Borger

The post Will’s Top Ten Games Of 2020 appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

I had a strong year of gaming in 2020, although this was almost exclusively based on games released from other years. Trying to come up with a top 10 of releases from 2020 proved impossible — many new releases I played were poor, and I have yet to play certain high-profile releases (and in some cases, never will). Therefore, I have fudged this a bit and gone for a Top 5 released this year and a Top 5 games I simply played in 2020.

My Top 5 2020 releases

5 – Doom Eternal

Doom Eternal makes my list almost by default. It is by no means a bad game, but with the standard set by Doom (2016) it falls short due to some design choices. The minute-by-minute gameplay is still enjoyable — fast-paced shooting and visceral violence are key parts of what Doom Eternal does right. However, this is diluted by an increased focus on lore and platforming sections.

I have always seen the Doom experience as one about fast and simple gameplay, but for me, Doom Eternal moves too far away from this formula by adding too many systems. Compounded by infuriating platforming and lore that I had little interest in, Doom Eternal is bloated, and my biggest gaming disappointment of 2020 despite making this list.

4 – Final Fantasy VII Remake

The original release of Final Fantasy VII is one of the most important points in my gaming life, helping to turn a child’s hobby into a lifelong love. It was a spectacular experience that transported me to a different world. However, it has not aged well due to blocky characters and an awfully translated script, and so was an ideal candidate for a remake.

In some ways the developers do a great job. For example, Midgar looks amazing, and having a new over-the-shoulder perspective gives the city an oppressive feel.  In other ways, it finds a perfect balance between the old and the new, as demonstrated by an updated and reworked soundtrack and combat which successfully blends real-time and active-time elements.

However, the developers fail to maintain this balance in the story. In particular, I’m thinking about the changes that occur during the endgame. I have no problem with story changes, but I don’t see who these changes serve. For newcomers without the context of playing the original, the significance of these changes may lack impact while fans of the original may become disgruntled after expecting a faithful remake. It adds to the sense that the Final Fantasy series is going through a bit of an identity crisis.

With the Final Fantasy VII remake only covering the first section of the original game, there are questions about where this is going, and given Square Enix’s recent track record I do not have much confidence in them. There were times I felt that familiar love I had of the original, but at other times I felt frustration at the direction Square Enix went in.

3 – Doom 64

As a long time Doom fan, I’ve always felt like there was a Doom 64-shaped hole in my life — a feeling that only increased when I replayed the classic Dooms at the start of the year. When I heard that a port of Doom 64 was going to be included with a preorder of Doom Eternal, I pulled the trigger.

It was an interesting contrast to play Doom 64 concurrently with Doom Eternal — it highlighted the flaws in Doom Eternal and how it departs from the rest of the series. Where Doom Eternal has a bloated feel, Doom 64 has the simple gameplay I craved and I ended up enjoying my time with it more than the newer one.

It’s also very much its own game. On its original release, there was a feeling that this was yet another port of the original Doom and that may have contributed to it being overlooked. However, it has its own sense of style thanks to with brightly-colored 3D levels, skies filled with animated flames, and a sense of atmosphere bolstered by an ambient/horror soundtrack, although this is undercut by dated enemy sprites.

Dated enemy sprites aren’t the only flaw found in Doom 64, though — the simple shooting may feel antiquated to modern players, and ironically, it also has its own annoying platforming sections. Despite these flaws, I loved Doom 64, and since it was the first game I reviewed for Gamecritics, it will always be a special game for me.

2 – Superliminal

I’m always on the lookout for games that inject mindbending elements into their gameplay. Videogames seem the perfect medium for these types of experiences so I was keen to try Superliminal, especially since Corey and Carlos gave it such a glowing review on the So Videogames podcast, not to mention that it was development by a Gamecritics alumni.

It’s a hard game to describe, though to put it simply, it’s a game designed around forced perspective puzzles where items can be resized via camera manipulation. If you place an item and view it from a perspective that makes it appear larger, it’ll change to that size. This central mechanic is one that the developers mine for lots of creative puzzles, and for the majority of Superliminal these are logical and satisfying to solve.

There have been some criticisms that suggest that Superliminal doesn’t take advantage of its dreamlike setting with mundane environments, but I would argue that these heighten the times when something strange does happen. It also means that the player is constantly surprised and pays off in a big way at the end when Superliminal fully embraces a psychedelic experience. This last level has remained near the top of my game experiences of the year and deserves to be enjoyed by as many people as possible.

1 – Hypnospace Outlaw

Since I began writing for Gamecritics, I’ve been hoping to unearth a few gems by taking a chance on games I would normally overlook. Hypnospace Outlaw is that gem and makes the awful games I played through worth it.time.

Hypnospace Outlaw is basically a pitch-perfect satire of late ’90s internet. For someone who experienced this period firsthand I could see how accurate it was, not just in terms of the amateurish style and wonderful musical parodies that echo the likes of Kid Rock and Linkin Park, but also the feeling of excitement amongst its users in coming to grips with this new way of communicating,

However, what elevates Hypnospace Outlaw is how it also appears to be a comment on contemporary internet and social media. With the player taking the role of a Hypnospace enforcer, there are several instances of issues of harassment, bullying and culture wars which are very much a part of the internet we experience today. The story also starts to go down a conspiracy route, and whilst this plays on Y2K paranoia, it finds modern reflections in the unchecked power and influence of platforms such as Facebook.

Hypnospace Outlaw is a special game to me and will always be one thanks to being able to review it for Gamecritics and accidentally finding such a strong and unexpected experience. I can only hope that as I continue to review games that I will find others that live up to its high standard.

The Top 5 Non-2020 Games I played in 2020

5 – Call of Duty World War 2

In the late part of 2020, I found myself playing through the Call of Duty series. I loved Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare but checked out of the series soon afterwards — I didn’t like the idea of paying full price for a short campaign, particularly since I had no interest in multiplayer, not to mention the dodgy politics of these games which I didn’t want to be supporting. But now, where I am always appreciative of shorter games, and where older iterations of the series can be found for less than £5 for used copies, I was ready to revisit the series.

Black Ops proved to be a high point in this revisit — I can see why it has such a great reputation and it was due to make an appearance on this list until I was able to purchase a used copy of World War 2 for £6 and is now my second favourite game of the series.

A lot of this is due to the return of the World War 2 setting. I thought I had moved on from the setting, but by returning to it, it feels like the developers have been able to strip off some of the excess of other titles in the series to tell a more grounded story. It still has those big over-the-top set pieces and won’t be winning any prizes for its narrative, but it looks like there was a genuine attempt at telling a story.

4 – Red Dead Redemption 2

I have become disillusioned with open world games in the last couple of years. I think they can be aimless and repetitive experiences that often come at the expense of a strong story. But, I ‘ve always loved the Western genre and the original Red Dead Redemption remains one of my favourite games. This didn’t stop me from putting off playing its sequel — I had read that it was slow-paced and had a massive open world, and I always find reports of development crunch distasteful. However, I got it for my birthday and could no longer avoid playing.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a gorgeous-looking game — it’s incredibly lifelike and the amount of detail is impressive. Being a lover of westerns, I got completely sucked into this world, and was able to play out my fantasies of living in the Wild West (although it’s set more in the East). I got hooked on buying new outfits from the various shops and mixing and matching them at the start of each day. I would constantly take pictures in front of open plains, mountains and setting suns. I would style my beard and hair in lots of different ways and spent a lot of money on hair tonics, which help to quicken hair growth. It is safe to say that I fell in love with Red Dead Redemption 2.

It also happens to have one of the best narratives I’ve come across in videogames, with the inevitable fall of the main character, Arthur Morgan and his gang playing out like a tragedy. I liked and cared for Arthur and the members of his gang, all of whom are well-written. Its narrative is one of the reasons I was able to ignore my usual problems with open world games. I was also able to ignore the slowness of Red Dead Redemption 2, I often get angry at games that waste my time, but here it felt immersive and a deliberate choice. This is not an easy way to live, and the cumbersome gameplay reflects it.

So why isn’t it higher in my list? Sadly, Red Dead Redemption 2 outstays its welcome. Just as the game comes to a logical and satisfying conclusion, the player is confronted with a post-credits epilogue that lasts another 8 hours. It’s already a big game, and I was emotionally exhausted by the time the credits rolled. I was already emotionally exhausted at this point, and with it being such a big game, it felt like overkill and dampened the experience.

3 – Blasphemous

Blasphemous is proof that good graphics do not require photorealism. It’s a beautiful game with artwork that draws on Spanish and Catholic imagery for a strange mix between beauty and the macabre. 

Gameplay is also a strength of Blasphemous. The combat has a slow and methodical feel, offering a satisfying block/parry system. I love games that give a feeling of weight to combat, and Blasphemous does this well.

However, the reason it makes this list has a lot to do with how strange it is. This is partly due to how it looks, but also in the story it tells. There were times I was flummoxed by Blasphemous with a story that often felt impossible to decipher, and laden with dread, but it helped to draw me into its odd but bewitching world.

2 – What Remains of Edith Finch

2020 was the year I got into narrative-driven games, and What Remains of Edith Finch has been the best of these. I’ve always been a fan of strong narratives in gaming, and sometimes a focus on gameplay can get in the way of this. Complaining about too much gameplay may seem daft, but sometimes I just want to play in a relaxing way and drink in the narrative. This genre is perfect for that, and 2020 was the year to enjoy games in a relatively stress-free way.

I say relatively, because What Remains of Edith Finch is an emotional, and at times upsetting, journey. The central conceit involves exploring a large and oddly-designed house belonging to the titular character’s family. Each member of her clan — all deceased — have their own room in the house, and upon finding them, the player goes into a section that outlines the circumstances of their deaths. These can often be distressing, with one particular section involving a baby. But what really lends a bittersweet tone to the proceedings is the creativity in each of these vignettes with constant changes in gameplay style and presentation.

1 – God of War

I tend to ignore triple-A games on their first release and purchase a cheaper used copy after the hype has died down. This also means that I generally can make a more informed choice about how I spend my money based on whether a game’s reputation has increased, or how overlooked issues have become more obvious. God of War was a game I had my eye on since release, and unlike many others, God of War’s reputation has only grown.

Having finally gotten around to playing it this year, I can say that for me, it lives up to its reputation. I found a gorgeous looking title — in some ways the best-looking I’ve ever played — with a visceral and weighty combat system that never got old. Whilst the rest of the series has had these elements, the change to an over-the-shoulder perspective ensures that the player is more immersed and it heightens these elements with a real sense of scale.

However, it earns its place at the top of this list due to the relationship between Kratos and his son Atreus. I was surprised that a game with a history like this one would have a father/son relationship at its core, and I was equally surprised by how well it’s written and how much restraint and subtlety was used in presenting it. I never thought I’d see a rage-driven Kratos reach out to his son in grief, but God of War has many moments like these.

There have been criticisms surrounding the length of God of War, and I understand these complaints, particularly since I’m constantly aware of how long games are and how I don’t like games wasting my time, but in this case, I think the length works in God of War’s favor. With this extra space, nothing about the central relationship between Kratos and his son felt forced, and was allowed to flourish and develop naturally. I never got bored of spending time with these two, and because of their wonderful relationship, God of War is my game of the year.

*

The post Gareth’s Top Ten Of 2020 appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to pronounce 2020 a real Low and WTF of a year.

Nevertheless, the games continued, and for many, they became even more important than ever. Be they an escape or a source of connection, games took on an outsize role in many people’s lives, even as (ironically) everything going on in the world made videogames seem that much less consequential. However, despite circumstances laying bare just how “nonessential” they can be, the games were good!

2020 was also a year with many truly interesting titles, ranging from the expected slate of mega-hit blockbusters to out-of-nowhere success stories to long-percolating projects that finally saw the light of day.

It was a year with almost too much in it to sum up conveniently, but I’ll try all the same, and I’ll be cribbing GameCritics’ review format to pick a highlight, lowlight, and WTF moment from 2020’s release slate.

HIGH: 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim was Vanillaware at its best.

Vanillaware’s always been a strong developer with one of the most unique visual styles and aesthetic approaches imaginable, but despite all the acclaim, they’ve struggled to really top Odin Sphere, their debut release — but that’s not really a big problem.

Like the output of Supergiant (developers of Hades), Vanillaware’s titles are in some ways too different from each other to be compared too closely. And yet, the uncertainty lingered. If the most exciting thing about their games is an improved remake of Odin Sphere, was there nowhere to go from there?

As it turns out, there was a somewhere, and it was into the Visual Novel space. Though 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim has a real-time strategy-style battle system to dip into between story missions, its heart is very much in its dense, inspired sci-fi narrative segments. Unraveled in a way that’s only possible through its videogame format, 13 Sentinels spins one of the best yarns of the year, in a year full-to-bursting with sprawling, lengthy narrative titles.

It would be wrong to say my confidence in Vanillaware was “restored” by 13 Sentinels since I never really lost confidence, but I’m even surer now that they still have places to go after this.

LOW: The ignominious implosion of Cyberpunk 2077

What can be said about the saga of Cyberpunk 2077 that hasn’t already been repeated to the point of cliche?

Arguably the biggest release of the year (or longer!) since people have been slavering in anticipation of it almost since its announcement, the game debuted to highly positive reviews.

That aura lasted until shortly after the wider release, when it became clear that CD Projekt Red had manipulated the press and the conventions of pre-release game reviews to essentially ‘bury’ negative coverage surrounding the woeful technical state of the game, especially on older hardware. And let’s not forget the fact that it literally made some people ill due to the inclusion of epileptic seizure-triggering light patterns that somehow slipped past their nets.

Those little betrayals became a landslide of vilification as a game with technical problems that were bad (but honestly, not the worst I’ve seen in a “finished” commercial release) rapidly became a symbol of everything wrong with the triple-A gaming industry. Between development crunch, bugs after release and an atmosphere of grift and exploitation surrounding it, Cyberpunk 2077 felt like the poster child for it all, deserved or not.

…And that’s a shame, because there’s a pretty decent, open-world cyberpunk-style game under all those (significant) caveats. CD Projekt Red has gone and done the “Deus Ex but mixed with Grand Theft Auto” game that seemingly every kid of a certain age once thought was wicked cool. And in time, the content will likely be patched into greatness, fixed up properly and regarded as fondly as The Witcher 3 is today. Heck, it’s already sold millions of copies despite all the controversy.

Perhaps the best we can hope for is that those who got themselves far too hyped for Cyberpunk 2077 today don’t forget how it launched, and treat that as a cautionary tale about the dangers of over-hype in the future.

WTF: Sakura Wars came out in 2020?!

I was initially thinking of just heading this section with a “*gestures at everything*” and leaving it blank but I feel like that would be a bit tired, so instead I’m going to call out the fact that Sega managed to make another Sakura Wars game and release it.

The series, which is mostly Japan-exclusive (bar the 2005 localization of Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love) was a formative one for my gaming history. It inspired me to learn Japanese, and in some respects, even take up writing about games.

Frankly, it’s wild to see a new, full entry in the series realize that it’s not even my game of the year. That fact alone proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that 2020, despite everything, was a pretty good year for videogames.

The post Josh’s H/L/WTF of 2020 appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

Eugh. I shouldn’t have waited to do this.

My instinct with top ten lists is always to hold off until the year’s over just in case any worthy contenders slip in at the last minute, but this act of reviewing the last twelve months of releases is forcing me to think about the worst year of pretty much all of our lives for just a bit longer.

I guess I can comfort myself with the knowledge that 2021 hasn’t been a whole lot better so far. (Literally minutes after I typed that, Trump got permanently banned from Twitter, so I may have to retract.)

But 2020’s games were good! Some of them, anyway!

I became quite disillusioned with the triple-A industry over the past year — both the games themselves and the culture surrounding their development — but anyone with both eyes open should have found plenty to distract themselves with. And now, more than ever, we need distractions.

There were so many worthwhile contenders that, as always, I had trouble narrowing it down to ten, so here are a few honorable mentions, why I love them, and why they didn’t quite make it:

– Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch). It’s frustrating in how incomplete it feels and how slow the rollout of (largely underwhelming) updates has been, but it’s hard to argue that this wasn’t exactly the game that many of us needed at the precise moment that it arrived.

– Carrion (PC). A visceral and guilt-free delight featuring one of the most exquisitely animated creatures in the 2D space. It just desperately needed a map.

– Microsoft Flight Simulator (PC). I’ve never played a flight sim before. Is this a good one? I don’t know. I have nothing to compare it to. But it’s one of the few singular experiences I’ve had in recent memory, in addition to being an obviously towering technical accomplishment.

– Star Wars Squadrons (PSVR). For most people playing it flat, this was a solid but unremarkable dogfighter. For those of us lucky enough to experience it in VR, it was a Star Wars fan’s dream come true. The campaign was a snore, but the multiplayer was exquisite.

– Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 (PS4). While it’s not inherently new enough to justify a place on my list of 2020’s most remarkable games, boy was it a pleasure to be reminded of just how fine-tuned and elemental the Tony Hawk series was right out of the gate.

My Top Ten

10. Iris and the Giant (Switch) — Full Review by Brad Gallaway

It was a strong year for roguelikes, and while I suppose it was inevitable that they’d all be overshadowed by Hades (and not unjustifiably so), it’s a bit criminal how few people have even heard of the lovely Iris and the Giant. It adequately scratches that Slay the Spire deckbuilding itch, and while it’s not as deep, its simplicity is ultimately its greatest weapon. Part of that is in the perfectly readable visuals (which limit the number of colors and shapes to make every character design immediately distinct) and part of it is the focus on small numbers, where most attacks do only one point of damage and it’s all about enemy positioning and prioritization. There’s an almost chess-like quality to the gap between the number of things the player needs to learn versus the number of options they have at any given time. The extra campaigns are a bit too harsh for my liking, but the central story feels perfectly weighted and more than stands on its own two feet.

9. Ghostrunner (PC) — Full Review

The game of 2020 with the greatest disparity between the amount that I personally enjoyed it and the number of people I would recommend it to. That’s backed up by numbers, as well — when I first announced on Twitter that I’d begun playing Ghostrunner, numerous people warned me that I’d hate it before long. This thankfully didn’t wind up being the case, though the game’s extremely demanding brand of cyborg ninja action — which requires players to clear entire rooms without taking any damage, Katana Zero-style — will undoubtedly turn many people off (particularly if they’re playing with a controller). It took a clear toll on me, given that my hand was in physical pain by the time the credits rolled. Yet even considering that, I was still sad to see it end, which should speak to how satisfying I found it to draw those perfect lines through each chamber. A new hardcore difficulty was recently patched in, and I may just double-dip.

8. Ori and the Will of the Wisps (PC) — Full Review

At the start of the year, Moon Studios were responsible for the best Metroidvania of the last generation, and now they’re responsible for both of the best Metroidvanias of the past generation. Much of what makes the Ori games special is right there on the surface — the gorgeous visuals that so seamlessly blend 2D and 3D that it’s difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins, and a score by Gareth Coker that somehow tops his work on the original. But it’s also about the fluid movement systems, which are such a joy to engage in that even the obligatory underwater level is wonderful. Some people find the Ori games cloying, and I can’t say I necessarily blame them — this series paints broad strokes with the thickest possible brush, pitting tiny, adorable creatures against massive, hideous monstrosities. It’s straightforward and it’s not inherently about anything, but I can’t argue with the results, particularly when it comes to Will of the Wisps‘ absolute gutpunch of an ending. The developers, now two-for-two, have hinted that they’d like to move on to something else for their next project, and I can’t imagine them leaving this series on a higher note.

7. Mortal Shell (PC) — Full Review

I play virtually every major soulslike, and none have come closer to replicating From Software’s secret recipe than Mortal Shell. It comes from a small studio that purportedly consists of triple-A veterans, and they wisely elected not to spread themselves too thin, narrowing the scope of their world to a mere four levels. The result is a relatively brief campaign that nevertheless has the polish and extravagant visuals of a more prolific product. The “story” feels more like a tone piece, examining the curse of immortality in the form of a nameless parasite forced to attach himself to others whose lives had purpose. It’s a neat premise, but the real star is the weighty and satisfying combat. Removing the Estus flask from a Souls game and making parrying your primary means of recovering health would be disastrous without perfectly tuned controls and collision, and Mortal Shell thankfully falls on the fair side of the challenge line. Those overwhelming opening hours soon fade away in comparison to the immense satisfaction of discovering and mastering these systems.

6. The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (Vive) — Full Review

Here’s the game that achieved the impossible and made me fall in love with the zombie survival genre. The most obvious factor is the VR implementation, which manages to combine motion controls with melee combat in such a way that feels like witchcraft. It shouldn’t work. I swing a bat at a zombie, and while the in-game bat connects with my target, my real-life arms, which aren’t actually holding a bat, should continue moving through the air, meeting zero resistance. Yet Saints & Sinners finds some sort of miraculous middle ground, making zombies an actual joy to fight (a rarity in videogames, if you ask me) and advancing VR in ways not even Valve attempted this year. And while I won’t say that they cut zero corners, particularly on the technical side of things, this is still an uncommonly meaty and fully-featured single-player campaign in the VR market, with a satisfying loop and an unexpected immersive sim bent that leaves ample room for player expression. It was a strong year for VR, and were it not for that one other game, this would sit at the top of the pile.

5. Streets of Rage 4 (PC) — Full Review by Darren Forman

I’m in a bit of a weird position here. For the entirety of my adult life, I’ve taken pride in my ability to illuminate in writing what makes a game succeed or fail, and yet I can’t adequately explain why I adore Streets of Rage 4 so much. Admittedly, I’m something of a stranger to the beat-’em-up genre. I only tried this because it was on Game Pass, and I initially didn’t understand it. (There’s no dodge or block? Then how do I defend?!) But once I got myself on its wavelength, not only did I recognize Streets of Rage 4 as a marvelously elegant title that doesn’t overshoot in any particular area, but I wound up appreciating how little it dumbed itself down for a new generation that might have been less receptive to it. This catered to the established fanbase first and foremost, and counted on positive word-of-mouth from those people to inspire the rest of us to hop aboard. This strategy worked on me, as I’m now actively on the lookout for other beat-’em-ups to carry the torch, but I won’t be surprised if none of the competition feels quite as refined as this does.

4. Yakuza: Like a Dragon (PC) — Full Review by Daniel Weissenberger

I know this one’s been getting praised everywhere, but it still feels odd to place it so high on my list. It’s Yakuza, and I’ve never quite been able to get into the series despite years of friends trying to convince me that it’s incredible. It’s also a JRPG, and I traditionally don’t like those. Plus, I still haven’t even finished it, and I hate to give anything my highest recommendation until I’ve seen it through to the end, but that just underlines how enamored I currently am with Ryu Ga Gotoku’s characteristically wacky (yet also surprisingly sympathetic) look at impoverished street life through the eyes of the world’s most optimistic and undeterred man. Dropping the baggage of the mainline series’ seven-game story arc provides someone like me with the perfect entry point, and the turn-based overhaul to the combat is such a substantial improvement that, if anything, I’m even less interested than ever in diving back into the entries that aren’t like this. I guess it remains to be seen if Like a Dragon can maintain its hot streak all the way to the credits, but until then, I’ll be spending all of my time either playing it or fantasizing about returning to it.

3. Hades (Switch) — Full Review

The splash it made this year was so vast, and the positive consensus so universal, that it almost feels like I’m wasting my time at this point by reiterating that, yes, Hades really is as good as everyone says it is. Supergiant’s previous three releases all contained the individual ingredients to create an all-timer between them, but I don’t believe the studio has ever been firing on all cylinders the way they are here. By incorporating repeated escape attempts and subsequent deaths into its narrative structure and enhancing it all with a confounding amount of charismatically-voiced dialogue, Hades has forever expanded our perception of what roguelikes are capable of, and its simple core combat serves as the perfect foundation for the seemingly endless build combinations that keep runs fresh and exciting after dozens of hours. Even the genre’s detractors were forced to admit that, yeah, this thing is a masterpiece.

2. Umurangi Generation (PC) — Full Review

Umurangi Generation probably got the most potent emotional response from me out of any game released this year, and the fact that it did so without a single cutscene or line of dialogue is a testament to the method in which it quietly sets up its pieces and tells its story. On the surface, it’s a photography game in which we search relatively small levels for bounties, but in the grander scheme of things, it’s about finding and preserving beauty and humanity in the face of terrifying circumstances that are beyond our control — and goddamn if “terrifying circumstances beyond our control” wasn’t the running theme of 2020. Umurangi‘s outlandish future is hardly a one-to-one model of our own reality, but anyone with even a moderately vested interest in where our society is headed will relate to the disaffected youth at this campaign’s heart, who can only blast music and tag walls to distract themselves from the grim world their parents built for them.

1. Half-Life: Alyx (Vive) — Full Review

I think it goes without saying at this point that Half-Life: Alyx is VR’s uncontested killer app, cleverly sidestepping many of the issues that have plagued those that came before it (those gravity gloves are a work of genius) and giving us a glimpse at what it would look like if triple-A developers truly embraced VR as the path forward for the medium as a whole — but that almost buries the even bigger lede here. For thirteen years, we’ve been begging for Half-Life to return, and this year it finally did. No, it’s not Half-Life 3, but it perfectly recaptures everything that made its predecessors classics and advances established lore in spite of its position as a prequel. This was perhaps the worst possible year to try to sell people on an expensive piece of experimental hardware, but for the precious few longtime Half-Life fans who were able to experience it, Alyx was a godsend — a stunning return to form for a developer that’s been out of the single-player scene for ages, a worthy comeback for one of the industry’s most storied franchises, and one of the best games I’ve ever played.

Random awards

Most overrated: Ghost of Tsushima /The Last of Us Part II (tie)
Most underrated: Mortal Shell
Most overlooked: Iris and the Giant
Best-looking: Ghost of Tsushima
Most visually striking: Paper Beast
Best original soundtrack: Streets of Rage 4
Best story: In Other Waters
Best writing: Wide Ocean Big Jacket
Best character: Ichiban Kasuga (Yakuza: Like a Dragon)
Best performance: Ashley Johnson (The Last of Us Part II)
Funniest game: Paper Mario: The Origami King
Biggest surprise: Streets of Rage 4
Biggest disappointment: Doom Eternal
Comeback of the year: Half-Life: Alyx
Best multiplayer game: Star Wars Squadrons
Most enjoyable bad game: Fight Crab
Least enjoyable good game: Paradise Killer
Best free game: Genshin Impact
Game that I spent the most time with: Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Game that I spent the least time with before dismissing: MetaChampions
Game that I most wanted to play, but didn’t: Astro’s Playroom
Game I literally own that I most wanted to play, but still haven’t: Crusader Kings III
Best game that I still haven’t finished: Yakuza: Like a Dragon
All-out worst game that I played: Battletoads
Best non-2020 game that I first played in 2020: Hitman 2
Best remake/re-release: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2
Most anticipated game this coming year: Hitman 3

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The post Suskie’s Top Ten appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

This is my fourth year of doing a Top Ten list for Gamecritics. If you are interested in my recommends from previous years, then please go check out 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Honestly, my opening piece from each of these entries is feeling more and more like a prophecy of doom, with 2020 actually beating 2019 for terribleness. Well done.

Game of 2020 I stopped playing in Early Access almost a year ago:

Deep Rock Galactic — PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series 

Deep Rock Galactic remains a fantastic game. The developers have added more content, revised the existing content, and constantly iterated. A four-player co-op First Person Shooter about 4 dwarves digging their way through caverns in search of loot, it features lots of mining and shooting that culminates each level with a madcap dash away from vicious monsters. It works perfectly in cross-platform play between Win 10 and Xbox too. Don’t miss out on the v1.0 release.

The ‘Please Stop Releasing Your Games in December 2019, This Is Killing Me’ award goes to:

• Humankind: Ancestors
• Untitled Goose Game
• Pathologic 2

The Games I played a lot of that were not released in 2020:

Honestly, most of these games have seen updates from the developers in a way that has made them even better than their original release. I’ve probably put more hours into these than some of the games on my official top ten:

• Children of Morta — After coming to Game Pass and then releasing an expansion, this is a co-op must-play roguelike experience with a well-integrated story
• Metal Gear Survive — When Brad is wrong he is wrong, but with MGS he was very right. Best Metal Gear game outside of MGSV.
• Human Fall Flat — Best played with others, I don’t think I’ve laughed as hard in my life as I have playing this game. Pure joyous multiplayer anarchy. The developers have continued to support the game with new levels.
• Gears 5 — I wrote a recent review and it’s already out of date since the new campaign expansion dropped — the developers haven’t stopped updating. Exceptional game.
• PUBG — I’ve finally slowed down on playing this one, but it still has frequent, excellent updates. With new people starting on maps mainly filled with bots, this is the best time for inexperienced players to get in.
• State of Decay 2 – I loved SoD a great deal, but kept my love for it low-key because I worked on it. SoD2 sort of came and went and then came back again, thanks to long-haul support for the title and new stuff being added constantly. Probably the best zombie survival out there.

…And now for my official Top Ten of 2020!

10> Tell Me Why Win 10, Xbox One, Xbox Series

I’m scared that DontNod are going to “do a Telltale” and run out of steam with their story/adventure titles. However, they continue to put out good and varied work. Tell Me Why follows twins reuniting after ten years as the brother returns from time served for killing their mother in self-defense. Dia Lacina wrote a great article about how ‘boring’ the portrayal of the characters are, but I found the mundanity of the interactions exactly what I wanted from this slow, tender story of familial reconciliation. Like the Before series of films by Richard Linklater, it’s the intimacy and honesty of the dialogue that kept me coming back, especially in a year devoid of close human contact.

9> The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope PC, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series * GameCritics review here

Little Hope is very much about who you play it with. It’s a horror game primarily, but picking up to five people to play with elevates some of the narrative shortcomings. Does your friend decide to have your character shot? Maybe! Does your girlfriend panic and get people murdered? Yes, and it imitates horror movies perfectly. Our official review says the ending is awful but I feel like it might be one of those cases where the choices made beforehand will make a difference in terms of impact.

8> Ring Fit Adventure Switch

I lost my ability to work out in a serious way this year, and Ring Fit came along as a good intermediate. Combining workouts with a levelling system, skills, potions and more was the perfect thing for me and my partner. We’ve been working to motivate each other with this stupid flexible ring and going from strength to strength. Literally.  

7> Windbound PC, Stadia, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series * Gamecritics review here

I actually had to delay my writeup for this top ten to see if I encountered some of the complaints in our review. I am happy to say that most of what Daniel took issue with is no longer present, or has been balanced since then. Windbound ended up being a deeply calming game about sailing a makeshift craft from one island to another, finding food and crafting items. For those interested in only that aspect there’s a non-roguelike option, but I was happy to die and start again from scratch just to get the wind behind my sails.

6> Rogue Company PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series * Gamecritics review here

A third-person spin on CS:GO but with special powers, Rogue Company is slickly made — it’s quick to get into and easy to enjoy, but with plenty of depth to keep coming back to. Now that it’s gone free-to-play and has a full suite of cross-platform connectivity across every console and PC, there’s never been a better time to jump in. Support also seems to be ongoing with a new character released only a few weeks ago. This is the perfect comfort food for me, and I’m still playing as we move into the new year.

5> West of Dead PC, Mac, Switch, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series * Gamecritics review here

An isometric roguelike with a strong visual style, a great musical delivery, and a solid vocal delivery from Ron Perlman. It plays quite differently from other roguelikes, and although there are a few things that could be improved, it remains a standout in a year full of strong roguelikes.

4> Undermine PC, Mac, Switch, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X * Gamecritics review here

A top-down roguelike with a delightful ‘one more go’ quality to it. The thing that had me most engrossed was the feedback of the pickaxe throw and the fact that the game was keen to never punish the player for exploring and using consumables. Fine-tuned to within an inch of its life Undermine may not get the same dedicated fanbase as Hades, but deserves it.

3>Beyond Blue iOS, PC, Mac, Switch, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series * Gamecritics review here

One of my highest-rated games this year. A love letter to the ocean and the creatures that live in it, Beyond Blue is a game I wish more people were talking about. It’s an incredibly peaceful experience that was pretty much everything I wanted.

2> Spaceland PC, Mac, Switch, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series * Gamecritics review here

I linked Brad’s review to Spaceland because I was starting to feel a little vain linking to my own reviews, and also he gave it a higher score than I did. Spaceland is economic with its level design and characters, but that’s because every single one of them is fantastic. 28 levels of pure turn-based tactics perfection with characters that will be make playthroughs significant and divergent. I look forward to whatever the developers do next, and if people are looking for an underrated, compact turn-based game reminiscent of Incubation, then look no further.

1> Fast & Furious: Crossroads PC, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series * Gamecritics review here

As Garth Marenghi once said: “I know writers who use subtext, and they’re all cowards”.

Fast & Furious: Crossroads is as dunderheaded as the series that it is seeking to emulate, it wouldn’t know subtext if it was injected full of NOS, and I love it for that. What impressed me is that the voice directors/producers attempted to deliver meaningful performances in a game that should have been an ‘also ran’, and they went above and beyond — I actually hope to see some of the characters make it into the mainstream films to continue their stories. In the same way that I think that Beyond Blue understood what made underwater exploration tantalizing, I think Slightly Mad Studios understood what people are looking for from a game about Dominic Toretto and his family. Mechanically shaky in places, but spiritually perfect — if I thought our editor would have let me get away with a 10/10 score, I would have gone for it.

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