Current Events > ITT: I give brief reviews of every game 2020 I played

(+) Yeah! (+)

Florence - A beautifully rendered slice of life visual novel, with intuitive gameplay segments that elevate the narrative rather than operate as something purely vestigial. A short, but unforgettable experience. 10/10

Last of Us Part 2 - A brutal, deeply emotional journey; Unmatched in terms of the attention to detail and the animation. I can agree with the detractors that the pacing is a bit odd in certain places, but the writing is uniformly excellent and I thought it was a significant step up from the first game, both in terms of structure and in the gameplay variety. 9/10

Hypnospace Outlaw - Utterly brilliant, one of a kind puzzle/exploration sort of hybrid, with razor sharp satire, a truly unique premise, and an art style that perfectly captures that zeitgeist of the 90s. 9/10

Hades - A spectacular addition to the roguelite genre; tight controls, an addictive gameplay loop, and lots of room to explore different sorts of combat synergies. 9/10

If Found... - A wonderfully ethereal visual novel about the transgender experience that flitters between fantasy and reality to stunning, and often very poignant effect. A real joy to play through using the Switch's touchscreen. 8.5/10

Animal Crossing: New Horizons - The best in the series as far as I'm concerned. A ton of options for personal expression and customization, and rarely has a crafting element felt so at home in an existing franchise. I spent more time with this game than any other in 2020. The perfect game for relaxation. 8.5/10

Ori and the Will of the Wisps (still playing through) - I'm probably only like 4 hours in, but I've been enjoying it a lot so far. First of all, and most obviously, it's gorgeous. The world is huge too, like it seems like it's one of the biggest Metroidvanias I've ever played. The controls are tight, the combat is fast and you're given a lot of movement options as well. 8.5/10 (for now)

Carto - A clever, unique, and utterly charming little puzzle game centered around map building and navigation. Really feels like playing through a children's book. 8/10

Jackbox Party Pack 7 - One of the very best of the Jackbox party packs, each game feels fleshed out and polished, and each experience is completely unique in relation to one another. 8/10

Streets of Rage 4 - A solid, if a bit safe, addition to the franchise, complete with gorgeous hand drawn animation and a fittingly energetic soundtrack. Not much else to say about this one. 7.5/10

PHOGS! (still playing through) - A goofy little puzzle platformer with suprisingly solid level design and overall athesestic. I've really been enjoying the co-op in this one. A nice little hidden gem. 7/10 (for now)

a new life. - A cozy little lesbian visual novel. While short and a bit slight, it always feels inspired and authentic, and the watercolor art style is absolutely lovely. 7/10

Super Meat Boy Forever (still playing through) - A fairly solid, if ultimately disappointing sequel. While the level design and controls still represent the peak of the genre, the game too often falls into this rut of trial and error, since you're never able to see all the obstacles at once and as an autorunner, there's no time to study the layouts either. 7/10 (for now)

Carrion - A promising concept, but a bit lackluster in the execution. The level design just never really evolves much over the course of the game, and while ripping people apart and whipping them across the room never really gets old, it just doesn't seem like the developers had many ideas beyond just that. 6.5/10

Moving Out - A neat little co-op game about organizing space. I had a lot of fun with this for a majority of the game, but towards the later levels, (most notably, the space levels) the imprecise controls really start to hinder the experience. 6.5/10

Superliminal - Imaginative and portal-esque sort of puzzler, but quite bland in its presentation, and nearly all of the puzzles can be solved using the same two or three methods, which gives it a repetitive feel. 5.5/10

Fall Guys - A simple little platformer with clumsy controls and goofy sense of humor. It's dumb fun as long as you're able to accept chance as one of its primary mechanics. 5/10

Little Misfortune- A pretty disappointing follow up to Fran Bow. While the art style, animation, and voice acting are exceptional, the writing is pretty poor, and often mistakes juevenile humor for genuine satire. It's a rather hollow experience all around. 4.5/10

Bloodroots (dropped this one a few hours in) - What starts as a promising riff on a Hotline Miami style top down brawler, the loose controls just can't sustain the level of difficulty the game throws at you almost immediately. With better controls and a better checkpoint system, this could have been a decent game. 3/10 (based on what I played)

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I'm generally not into visual novels or puzzle games, but: Florence, If Found..., and Carto sound interesting.

but from the list of games in the OP, I've only played The Last of Us Part II.

I want to try out Hades, but I don't have a PC or a Switch.

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Damn, Florence is Annapurna. Yea they're known for those strong singular experiences that overcome shallow gameplay but I'll keep it on the radar.

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g0ldie posted...

I'm generally not into visual novels or puzzle games, but: Florence, If Found..., and Carto sound interesting.

but from the list of games in the OP, I've only played The Last of Us Part II.

I want to try out Hades, but I don't have a PC or a Switch.

Florence and If Found... are both really short, (Florence is about an hour, and If Found... is about 2-3) so they wouldnt be bad entry points for the genre if youre curious.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Thanks! I mostly play indies, so Id love to convert more people on them.

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I enjoyed playing jackbox party with you and @RedJackson . If you play again let me know.

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If those are the only games you played this year, I want your life

Edit: this sounded snarky, it wasnt meant to be, sorry.

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trappedunderice posted...

I enjoyed playing jackbox party with you and @RedJackson . If you play again let me know.

I play most Sundays with a group here and put up a topic. You're welcome to join in whenever.

The_Creep_2020 posted...

If those are the only games you played this year, I want your life

Edit: this sounded snarky, it wasnt meant to be, sorry.

I played other things too, but nothing else released this year. I'm much more of a movie person these days for the most part either way though. Most newer games are too big for my taste.

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Ill do ONE bump for this.

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