LogFAQs > #965883053

Hey you want to read more explainer posts right

WHAT COUNTS AS A 2020-2021 GAME?

Glad you asked!

I'm using a pretty liberal criteria here for what a game from 2020-2021 is. Basically, the criteria is "anything that I think belongs on the list."

- Basically, if it's a new game that was released in my region for the first time in 2020-2021, it counts. I am going by north american release dates here, not their original release date!

- DLC, mods, hacks, fangames, etc. can all count as "games" if I think they're substantial enough to belong on the list. My criteria is totally arbitrary - it's all about whether or not I feel like it. I think that my choices of what to include will make perfect sense though.

- Games that either enter OR leave early access can be on the list if I want them to be. Games that were in early access before 2020 are still eligible. Games that are still in early access are also still eligible. (I fortunately don't have any weird examples of talking about an early access game in my previous list that went final the past two years, so there wasn't really any borderline stuff to judge.)

- Games from years prior to 2020 can be eligible if there's some sort of unusual circumstance that makes them new news for some reason.

- I would have probably considered very late 2019 games to be eligible, but Bug Fables was the latest 2019 game I played and I managed to sneak that one in on the previous list, so this didn't come into play. (It feels weird that Bug Fables is a 2019 game.)

The only important thing is that does have to be new news. These are all 2020-2021 games by my estimation, not just stuff that I played in 2020-2021.

For the most part, none of the games on this list actually present an eligibility problem, but there were a few that necessitated me writing this disclaimer.

Stats!

Games by genre:

I'm sorting these by the genres that are most important to me in 2022.

13 - Roguelikey things, because everything's a roguelike now
7 - Nintendo games that I'm obligated to play due to a blood oath I personally gave to Shigeru Miyamoto
6 - Puzzle games I probably won't finish
6 - Shit that's only fun because you play it with friends
5 - Action/platformers that might or might not be metroidvanias, and everyone will argue about whether or not they are one
3 - Games about time loops, because everything's a time loop now (not including roguelikes that are also time loops)
3 - Games with too much fucking reading because reading is a game now, visual novels won
3 - Artsy indie games designed to make you cry, because that's the only way to feel anything anymore
3 - Garbage I only played specifically because it was in the Ukraine itchio bundle that everyone bought
1 - Normal, respectable AAA titles that a non-hipster would buy, but I'm a hipster, so I only bought one of them

I actually did manage to pack all 50 of these games into these fake genre boxes with very little overlap which is hilarious. (Like, there really are specifically three Ukraine bundle games on the list, and none of them fit into any of the other genre categories. It's incredible.)

Games by year:

32 - 2021
18 - 2020

Uh, I think. I might have miscounted. 2021 was a really good year - I'm absolutely astounded by how many great games I played from 2021. 2020 was a bit of a slower year - maybe it was the pandemic, I don't know. The list is top heavy for 2021 but there are still a few good 2020 gems in here that I'm glad I can write about.

Oh by the way I lied, this list has 52 games.

First up! Two honorable mentions that I didn't put on the list. The first isn't on the list because I can't play it anymore. The second isn't on the list because I couldn't decide where to rank it, because it's a continuation of a game on my decade list.