{"id":18820,"date":"2021-01-19T02:48:24","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T07:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vgu.tv\/?p=18820"},"modified":"2024-11-01T05:19:46","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T09:19:46","slug":"emmett-watkins-jrs-games-of-the-year-2020-and-some-other-years-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vgu.tv\/?p=18820","title":{"rendered":"Emmett Watkins Jr’s Games of the Year 2020 (And Some Other Years Too)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Jesus Fucking Christ, 2020 is finally over. I don’t need to dwell on it, but this year has been a shit show in dozens of ways. But hey, I have a few reasons to not completely throw the whole year in the garbage, like video games for example. There were an impressive amount of excellent new releases that capped off the final year of the PS4 and Xbox One generation and a bunch of older titles I was happy to finally get around to. So, let’s take a little bit of time from complaining about quarantines and praying for the death of corrupt politicians to shine a light on some of the best games of 2020, and some other years too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, we’ll start off with my favorite games of last year that didn’t actually release last year, followed by games I most want to play in this new year that I have yet to get to. Then I’ll be counting down my top 5 honorable mentions and my top 5 games of the year overall. So, let’s get this started, shall we?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Favorite Games of Yesteryear (Sponsored by Titanfall 2)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

5) New Super Lucky’s Tale (2019)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Xbox Game Pass Ultimate has been a blessing throughout most of this year, as many of the games on this list I played because it was available on the service. One of my loves from the service is New Super Lucky’s Tale<\/em>, a very rarely talked about platformer that made its way to other platforms after launching on Switch in 2019. It looked endearing enough, so I booted it up on PC and good Lord <\/em>did this game charm the hell outta me. Now, I knew this was a follow up to regular ol’ Super Lucky’s Tale<\/em>, a game that stumbled a bit due to it’s fixed camera. But not only did they add full camera control with the left stick, but they also added new levels with new mechanics, and redid many of the levels that already existed. I never played the original to compare, but what I did get was one of the smoothest and most adorable games I’ve played this past year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I haven’t beaten it yet, which is gonna be the case for a lot of this list, but I’m surprised that I still haven’t done so. The game has such an intense amount of variety that it feels like I’ve seen damn near every idea in the game. From lumber mills made to cut watermelons to beach parties thrown by a self-absorbed cat, every time I load up a new area I’m greeted with a brand new environment and slight twists to the platforming gameplay I’ve been enjoying. At 60FPS, even on console, the game feels smooth to play and all of its secrets are just far enough out of reach to feel satisfying to find yet rarely annoying enough to skip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Its silly charters and cute plot stayed heartwarming throughout, and with the way 2020 has been going, I really craved a game with this vibe. As I said, I have a lot more of it to play, but I can’t recommend it enough. If you have Game Pass (and if you’re on PC, a controller as well unless you’re a maniac who plays platformers on a keyboard), you should definitely give this game a shot if you like classic platformers like Ratchet and Clank and Banjo-Kazooie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4) Apex Legends (2019)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Back in 2019 when Apex Legends<\/em> came out, I played it a decent amount. It was the first new entry in the Titanfall <\/em>series in 3 years, and despite it not having the same exact movement and gunplay as my beloved Titanfall 2<\/em>, I gave it a real shot. But I could never stick with it because it didn’t scratch the very specific itch that its predecessor did. So I abandoned it, only returning every few months to see if new content would suck me in finally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, I never did get sucked in, and that remained the case for all of 2019 and most of 2020. But come early November, the new, more sci-fi heavy map, Olympus, reminded me of one of my favorite PlayStation franchises. And speaking of that franchise, the new Legend, Horizon, seemed to be implementing some more vertical gameplay in line with Titanfall 2<\/em>. So I got excited about the new update, and once it dropped, everything finally clicked for me. But Apex <\/em>didn’t suddenly feel like Titanfall 2<\/em> this time, instead, long enough had passed to where I wasn’t expecting for it to be Titanfall anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This opened me up to see that this isn’t a better Titanfall<\/em>, it’s a better Overwatch<\/em>. I liked Overwatch <\/em>quite a bit back when I played it more in 2016. But I didn’t stick with it because its moment to moment gameplay just felt way too simplistic. It felt like every character could only do about 3-4 things at any given moment, but the lack of universality between classes made it a chore to learn those 3-4 abilities for each of the, now, 32 Heroes. Apex <\/em>not only has a more manageable roster (for now at least) but also every character plays similarly to one another. None have exclusive weapons that you are locked into using, they all have access to the same guns and loot. This gives their individual abilities room to substantially change the game mid-combat, and it’s been a joy switch between all the characters to see how they do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus, the simplistic gunplay of Overwatch <\/em>is replaced with something closer to Call of Duty<\/em>‘s classic gunplay, just without the near-instant time to kill. It means that guns feel consistent while also feeling rewarding, especially when nailing headshots. But unlike Call of Duty<\/em>, the game is overflowing with personality at every turn, from unique character dialogue for call outs to vibrant and expressive costumes and animations. In fact, as someone who played the latest Modern Warfare<\/em> for most of 2020, it was eye-opening to see how much character Apex Legends<\/em> had when compared to MW<\/em> while still having gunplay just as satisfying and skill-based. I wish I could have seen through my Titanfall 2<\/em> love earlier because I have been avoiding my favorite battle royale game of all time for way too long. But now that I’m halfway through the season seven battle pass with over 70 hours played, I plan to continue making up for that lost time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) Yoku’s Island Express (2018)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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This was a charming little title I finally got around to in 2020. I love me a good Metroidvania, as you know thanks to my love of Guacamelee<\/em>, but I also have a huge soft spot for pinball, as my many hours with Zen Pinball 2<\/em> back in the day can prove. So I was immediately interested to see a game combine both genres, especially when it has such a cute art style. Despite having access to it through Game Pass for years, I didn’t get around to Yoku’s Island Express<\/em> until picking it up for cheap on Switch, and I’m so glad I finally made time for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One reason I don’t play as many pinball games as I want is that they quickly become repetitive. Once you learn all the routes and intricacies of a table, all there is to do is to last as long as possible while hitting all the same point hotspots. Yoku’s Island Express<\/em> doesn’t have this issue at all, because, by way of it being a Metroidvania, it varies up its pinball locations way more often. And it doesn’t just switch up flippers and bumpers, but you eventually visit entirely different biomes with new characters and color palates. The art style of this game, alongside its whimsical tone, gives the entire game the vibe of one of those storybooks your 2nd-grade teacher would read to the class, like The Rainbow Fis<\/em>h or If You Give a Mouse a Cookie<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As a Metroidvania, it’s also very engaging thanks to how pinball is so integral to the experience. Where most games in the genre depend on the ability to jump, in this game you can’t, so you depend on the flippers around the world to launch Yoku where you need to go. It still asks you to be precise about your timing, like regular platformers, just in a very different way specific to pinball. This blending also helps to fix another core issue of pinball. Because you could so easily farm the most easily accessible areas of a regular pinball table for points, you would be rewarded for trapping yourself in a repetitive gameplay loop. But the specific challenges of Yoku’s<\/em> forces you into hard-to-reach areas of its pinball arenas and therefore makes you feel like you’re actually improving at pinball. Add the fact that all of this great name design and art was wrapped up in less than 10 hours, with plenty of secrets left to find, then you end up with one of my favorite games of 2018…that I wish I played in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Metro Exodus (2019)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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This was the main game I wanted to sink my teeth into in 2020, as it was the game I most regretted skipping out on in 2019. I suspected that I would enjoy it, and I was right on the money with that prediction. That initial snow level impressed me both with how open it was and how fun it was to explore. Well, what I came to discover was that the game is so much more than another open-world shooter. In games like these, I usually crave some kind of overarching progression system, so the much more subtle upgrades of Exodus are surprising in how compelling they are. I could walk the wasteland for hours and only come back with a few pieces of scrap, a few NPC conversations, a few mutant fights, and a new gas mask upgrade, but the trek feels worth it every time. And to lessen the impact of these massive play spaces, every open-world area gives you a vehicle to traverse that is specific to that level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there are a surprising number of linear, more traditional corridor missions sprinkled in between the larger levels. And often the urgency of these sequences would be a refreshing change of pace when compared to the slower-paced exploration and scavaging of wider levels. The only thing I’m kicking myself now over is the fact that I still haven’t gotten around to beating it. This means all of the narrative threads I’ve been invested in have screeched to a halt in my head, and I risk forgetting them before I return to the game. But 4A Games has promised to bring a next-generation update to Exodus sometime in 2021, so I’ll gladly wait even longer to finish out the game in 60FPS eventually on Xbox Series X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) The Surge 2 (2019)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Sometimes, a game just catches you completely by surprise, and The Surge 2<\/em> is the best example of that happening to me in 2020. It’s a souls-like title, and though it puts a sci-fi spin on those familiar mechanics, I wasn’t anticipating it heavily. I played the original but fell off very early due to a steep increase in difficulty after the first boss. But thanks to Xbox Game Pass, I picked up the sequel to complete a Game Pass Quest. Once I completed the quest, I figured I might as well keep playing until I inevitably hit the same brick wall of difficulty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opening hours were certainly challenging, more so than most other games I play. But that unclimbable wall never seemed to come. I kept progressing through the dystopian corridors of Jericho City at a reasonable pace, gathering plenty of resources along the way. I slowly learned the intricacies of the armor system, and how the risk and reward nature of its dismemberment ties into that armor progression. I slowly began to discover shortcuts and alternate routes around the city. And even when I lost hundreds of thousands of Tech Scrap multiple times, I found myself coming right back for more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thanks to The Surge 2<\/em>, I finally began to understand a whole genre that has eluded me for years. That feeling of overcoming overwhelming odds was never appealing to me because the dozens of deaths necessary to learn the scale of those odds always sounded annoying. But The Surge 2<\/em> made sure that I had just enough tiny victories in between the punishments that my motivation never faded. And even when I lost loads of Tech Scrap, getting more was easy enough, and I always had enough scrap to upgrade at least one item to maintain that feeling of progress. And the feel of combat itself was it’s own reward, as the sound design and finishing animations really made combat feel visceral and reactive in a way similar to the God of War series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I admit I couldn’t tell you anything about the main story. I admit all of the tidbits of lore and audio logs I collected didn’t make me fall in love with the world. And some of the enemy placements came off as cheap when visiting a location for the first time. But the core loops of combat, looting, and light RPG upgrades kept me hooked for way longer than I ever imagined. It honestly has me reevaluating my thoughts on the entre soulslike genre. Now that I’ve enjoyed a game like this, perhaps I can come around on something like Bloodborne <\/em>next?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Games That I Own and Know I’ll Love, but Didn’t Make Time for in 2020<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

5) Maneater<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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It’s a damn shame that I haven’t gotten around to Maneater yet. Everything about it sounds up my alley. Goofy premise that sounds totally original from anything else I’ve played? Check. Ubisoft open-world design that I’ve dug in countless games before? Check. A comical tone to match its hilarious premise? Check. Plus, seeing that the developer, Tripwire Games, is also located around Atlanta, I feel obligated to support fellow ATLiens. But I just played too many other games this year. But, thanks to PlayStation Plus, I’ll finally give it a shot on PS5. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the PS4 copy that I picked up from Best Buy on Black Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4) Hades<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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I’ve played a few hours of Hades<\/em>, actually. I was pressured into picking it up by the entire internet, so I did so on the Epic Store. Then I realized I wasn’t very likely to play it on a big screen, so I later picked it up on Switch. There, I finally played enough of it to see the first substantial story beat. But then I fell off, probably because some other game came out that I was more excited about. It’s a shame though since the combat in the game played just as well as Baston<\/em>, one of my favorite games, and Supergiant’s first title well before Hades<\/em>. The story seems intriguing, but it is more than a little frustrating how it’s trickled out over several runs. I love roguelikes like Risk of Rain 2<\/em>, but for as fun as the gameplay is, the pacing of the main narrative is dependent entirely on how much progress I make in the roguelike. And, as with many games in this genre, I die way too often for that pacing to feel satisfying. But hopefully, I’ll come back later and get better with some of the weapons, and now that I can transfer that Switch save to PC, maybe I’ll come back to the prettier version sometime in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) Bugsnax<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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I’ve mentioned way back in 2018<\/a> how much I loved Octodad: Dadliest Catch<\/em>. I think the slapstick, cartoonish comedy blended so well with its surprisingly sincere narrative, and it’s still one of my favorite Vita games. So I was excited about Bugsnax<\/em> when I first heard that damn song during the PS5 reveal, and even more so when I heard Young Horses was also behind the title. Instead of relying on physics to supply the humor for the game, which admittedly isn’t as novel now, they seem to rely more on the writing of the characters to bring the funny. And the variety of adorably personified edible products adds that endearing charm I loved so much from Octodad<\/em>. The only reason I haven’t played it yet is that I only got a PS5 with 5 days left in 2020. I claimed it from PlayStation Plus weeks earlier, but since it wasn’t a cross-buy title if you claimed it for free, I had to wait until I finally acquired a system. So I will be getting around to it very soon, there are just plenty of other PS5 titles I’ve prioritized first. But I will get around to it soon, I have to see what that mysterious ending is all about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Tell Me Why<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Tell Me Why<\/em> is an embarrassing addition to this list, especially considering both my love for the original Life is Strange<\/em> and the other VGU Staff’s love of this game. I could have downloaded it through Game Pass at any time since release, but thanks to some questionable discourse around the game from queer and trans creators I follow, I decided to wait on it. But as time has gone one, the praise for this game has seemed to become more universal. I will be playing it this year, if not for my own love of DONTNOD, at least to see why my cohorts love it so much<\/a>. I’ve gone out of my way to not learn too much about it, as my ignorance of Life is Strange<\/em> helped my enjoyment of it greatly. And I’m sure by this time next year, I’ll be kicking myself for not playing it sooner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) Ghost of Tsushima<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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This is the most glaring omission from my Games of the Year list, and there are a number of reasons for its absence. Sucker Punch is one of my favorite developers, and one of my favorite franchises of all time is the inFAMOUS<\/em> series. But while I love talking raccoons and electrically charged message couriers, I’ve never really cared about Samari fiction. I can’t list reasons why, but films from Akira Kurosawa have never interested me, nor have games like Onimusha. So, when my long drought of superpowered action games was met with a game about samurais, I was incredibly disappointed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I’ve spent the latter half of 2020 hearing how Ghost of Tsushima<\/em> would probably tickle my fancy. I’ve heard how it pretty much perfects the Ubisoft-style open-world formula, a formula I’ve come to love in games like Assassin’s Creed Origin<\/em>s. I’ve heard how it’s one of the most beautiful games of the generation, and likely looks even better at 60FPS on my PS5. And I’ve heard how the gear grind in the Legends mode is just deep enough without asking for too many hours out of your life, which solves my issues with grinds in games like Destiny 2<\/em>. So, I owe it to myself to play Ghosts of Tsushima<\/em>. If I can get over my bitterness due to a lack of new inFAMOUS <\/em>games, I think I’ll be in for a treat. But for now, I just need a little more time to heal my hardened heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

My Top 5 Honorable Mentions of 2020<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

10) Carrion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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This was a very pleasant surprise for me, as I’m not at all a horror fan in other mediums. But in games, I’ve been known to dabble in some franchises like Resident Evil <\/em>and F.E.A.R.<\/em> . Carrion<\/em> is yet another horror game that I never thought I’d play, but it completely shifts the power dynamic to make it more of a power fantasy. Here, you are the monster everyone runs from and shoots at rather than the one running or shooting. It makes for a game more about destructive chaos rather than cowering in fear. I absolutely loved just slivering into a room and wrecking shop as fast as possible. Then once I gained new powers, the level design forced me to see the solution in every environment and made me think a little more before destroying everything in a room. Plus, I really dig how shockingly bleak it’s ending is. In any other game, that ending would bum me out, but since I got to embody the monster the entire time, I found it pretty satisfying. Thank God for Game Pass, and if you’re also subscribed to the service, or own a Switch, you should give it a shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9) Going Under<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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This was a last-minute addition to the list, as this one I snuck in back in mid-December after a Steam sale. I had my eyes on this game thanks to its Saved by the Bell<\/em>-ass art style and comical critique of late-stage capitalism. Well, it delivered on both of those but gave me so much more. That art style never really stops being novel, and everything from character designs to weapon designs pops, even with the most mundane animations and items. And the dialogue not only remained charming but hilarious in a very Gen Z way. We don’t often get writing this sharp about workplace harassment and healthcare longing in games, and it’s super refreshing to see these topics tackled, even if briefly. But surprisingly, the game isn’t all style and quips, as the roguelike combat is very satisfying as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much like working in an unqualified position in real life, combat in this game is all about improvisation. Every “dungeon” you enter is just a series of office spaces themed around a different fake startup. There’s one for not-Tinder, one for not-Bitcoin, and one for not-Uber. But all of them have office spaces full of items based around those jobs, like Cars in the Uber levels and physical eggplant emojis in the Tinder levels. All of the items in these rooms are your weapons, with every item able to be picked up and either thrown or swung at enemies. Learning the properties of each item can help you maximize your combat effectiveness, as some items might slow you down in exchange for higher damage, and other items might have opposite properties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Then things get crazy with the addition of Apps (one-use power-ups you can collect while exploring) and Skills (perks that permanently alter your stats and abilities for a whole run). The combination of all of these systems, as well as quests given by your colleagues for improved Skills, makes the game feel more rewarding as you play. It ends up making the game feel like a more directed, melee-based Risk of Rain 2<\/em>, and you know I don’t bring up that game without it being earned. I may have only gotten to the mid-point twist of the game, but I’ve seen more than enough of it to come away impressed by it. I can’t wait to hop back in and tackle the newly modified dungeons and chase more upgrades not only for the rewards of gameplay themselves but to see the surprisingly compelling story to its end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8) Rouge Company<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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I’ve put dozens of hours into every Call of Duty<\/em> game since Modern Warfare 2<\/em> back in 2009. But despite easily having over 500 hours logged in the series, I bet I’ve spent under 10 hours in its one-life-to-live mode: Search and Destroy. As someone with a desire for constant, instantly gratifying action, I never liked how I had to wait several minutes in rounds to get back into the fight. But, even though it took over a decade for me to come around to it, Rouge Company<\/em> finally got me to appreciate this kind of multiplayer gameplay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This free to play title snuck up on me, as I wasn’t really anticipating it much. But every time I saw gameplay, it just looked fun in a very specific way. Like, it didn’t impress me with some crazy setpiece or innovative gameplay concept, it just looked like it’d be really fun just to fire its weaponry and trigger its abilities. And sure enough, it was fun to do both. Gunplay feels precise in a way that feels tailor-made for an e-Sport, and the cast of characters all have abilities that tend to counter and play off of each other in clever ways. But combat is improved so much by it’s round-based, one-life-to-live structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Each match is a best of five rounds, with each round being only 90 seconds long. In the premier mode, Demolition, one team is defending a bomb point and the other is trying to arm it to win, with a win also being triggered once the opposing team is wiped out. You only get one life per round, but each round opens up more strategies since, in between rounds, you can purchase additional weapons, perks, and ability upgrades with money earned in earlier matches, much like Counter-Strike<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This, paired with the incredibly short round timers, makes sure death is never so punishing to deter me from getting back into the fight. Because once I do, I can finally arm that bomb, get that kill, or even perform a full team wipe and get that clutch win for my whole team. Matches of this game have been some of the most fun I’ve had online on 2020, and since it’s available on all consoles with cross-play and cross-save across all of them, it’s as accessible as it is fun. And waiting to respawn in this game actually taught me to be more patient in other limited respawn games like the aforementioned Respawn shooter. Can’t recommend this game enough on any platform, even on Switch where it somehow runs at 60FPS in handheld mode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7) Persona 5 Royal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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I’m officially retiring this phrase after I use it here, but as I say too often say, I don’t care much for Japanese games. The dominance of shooters and western action games on this list might show that, but in recent years, I’ve been coming around on them. I’ve fallen in love with old classics like Resident Evil 4<\/em> and modern hits like Nier: Automata<\/em>, but there’s still one massive Japanise franchise that I’ve yet to try. It seemed like the entire internet refused to shut up about the excellence of the Persona <\/em>series since Persona 4 Golden<\/em>, and after enough time, I started to get curious. So, this year, thanks to the many glowing reviews of the original Persona 5<\/em>, the assertion that Persona 5 Roya<\/em>l was the most welcoming iteration of the series, and loads of enthusiastic encouragement from Drew Debessonet<\/a>, I finally tried out the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, take my thoughts here with a grain of salt, as I’ve played 7 hours of the game. This would be plenty enough time to have a decent view of an overall game, but in the case of a 150hr epic like this, I cant’ quite make that same claim. But 7 hours is enough to absolutely blow me away. The style of the game alone is remarkable, and you know a game is special if just the menu UI is breathtaking. But beyond that, the narrative and characters were surprisingly strong. Upon first meeting them, some folks seemed like they’d be annoying side attractions to the main narrative. But as I kept playing, I discovered that there was so much more behind the mask they initially show you. In just the short time I’ve played, I’ve had twists like this happen twice, so I can’t wait to see how the narrative soars from this strong start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The only negative thing I have to say about the game is that the gameplay isn’t quite for me. I haven’t fallen in love with a game with turn-based combat since Costume Quest, so my love for this subgenre of RPG is very low. I’d say my lack of desire to jump back into that gameplay look is due primarily to my preference for more direct action mechanics over this relatively more tactical gameplay. But despite that, I think that turn-based combat has a surprising amount of depth. At any given moment, I have dozens of options to choose from in my turn, from simply doing damage to boosting allies with buffs, or flipping the script entirely with a hold-up. And even outside of combat, the fully 3D dungeons are engaging to explore as well, and they reward curiosity just as much as they reward patent movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, I can’t sing the praises of this game enough. Maybe I’m just happy to finally see why so many people love this series, and especially this game despite the fact I have way more hours ahead of me in this game than behind. But the love for those first few hours is so intense that I would never forgive myself if I didn’t place it in my personal GOTY list for 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6) Spider-Man: Miles Morales<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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I have such a weird relationship with Spider-Man: Miles Morales. <\/em>I played the game as soon as it came out, even without access to the highly coveted PS5 version. Even without the higher framerate and ray tracing, I absolutely adored the game on PS4 and wrote an appropriately glowing review of the game. But as the weeks have gone on, I’ve realized something, the game hasn’t stuck with me much since I beat it. Sure, I’ve been playing more of the game since acquiring a PS5, and the new bells and whistles and side content I had yet to see are all just as excellent as when I first played the game, but when I’m not actively playing it, I rarely find myself thinking about it. I think I know why this is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve talked about my love of the original 2018 Spider-Man<\/em>, and a big reason I love that game is that it gave me everything I wanted and nothing more. I adored it’s fast-paced, yet varied melee combat. I adored its fluid web-swinging traversal system and obsessed over the fluidity of the animations seen when experiencing it. And the story managed to surprise me with some shockingly emotional scenes and some character reveals that have me really excited for the future of Insomniac’s Spiderverse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Miles Morales<\/em> does literally all of these things, but better. Both the combat and traversal mechanics are varied even more thanks to the addition of the Venom powers. Unlike the original game, Miles has a way of dealing damage to multiple enemies at once much more easily with this new powerset. And the aerial stunts you could do in the last game are here again, but animations are even more fluid and you now earn Venom energy for doing them. Using that Venom energy keeps you in the air longer and makes you fly faster. And the story here is not only leaner, but somehow also more impactful emotionally. It played off of my expectations set from Into the Spider-Verse to give me a unique Miles Morales story with just as much tragedy as there was delight, and it had me crying by the end of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, then why the hell does it refuse to stick in my head to the point where I almost forgot to include it here? Well, I think that’s because the game feels too<\/strong><\/em> much like the original Spider-Man<\/em>. That’s no fault to the game because it is more of an expansion than a full sequel. But the lack of any substantially raised stakes or entirely new mechanics does make the game feel samey to the point where my brain just conflates my time with it with my time with the original game. It’s a shame because that runs contrary to Miles Morales<\/em>‘ themes of individuality. But I have to be honest with myself, the game just doesn’t feel unique enough to stand on its own. And therefore, despite being better than one of my favorite games of all time, I can’t rank it as highly as it might deserve. But it is still a fantastic game worth checking out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

My Top 5 Games of 2020<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

5) Dreams<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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It breaks my heart how slept on Dreams <\/em>was this year. It feels like everyone played it’s main campaign back in February, but hopped right off after that. Well, I get it, that campaign was truly remarkable. It felt like both the most grounded game Media Molecule ever made and their most experimental. They have cute cartoon characters and fantastical sci-fi worlds, just like their previous titles. But they center the story around a realistic and relatable tale of lost creative spark, self-doubt, and fear of disappointing those close to you. I was blown away by how touching that grounded emotional core was despite the goofy musical numbers and over the top set pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this game is so much more than its roughly 3-hour campaign. Media Molecule has gained a reputation for making some of the most robust game creation tools outside of full-scale game engines like Unity and Unreal. Dreams <\/em>feels like the culmination of the skill set that they’ve been building towards since LittleBigPlanet <\/em>in 2008. You can make anything in this game, music videos, first-person shooters, short films, albums, hack and slashers, racing games, platformers and so much more. Sure, you can’t go completely buck wild, as MMOs and live-action video are off the table. But the things people have made with these tools are consistently remarkable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I’ve seen trippy music videos, Grim Fandango<\/em> inspired adventure games, Doom <\/em>inspired shooters, and some of the best memes and shitposts on the internet. And even as someone who has come back every few months, I know I haven’t seen every incredible work of art in the Dreameverse. But I still love the game very much. The possibilities are endless, and the wonderfully positive community is nowhere near the bottom of that creative well. Overall, the game gives me the same vibe that flash games used to give me growing up. Hit up Miniclip, Andkon Arcade, or Kongregate and there would be dozens, if not hundreds of games and short movies to experience. Dreams <\/em>brings back the magic of the Adobe Flash era once again, and even if I don’t visit it constantly, I’ll always keep it close by just so I can be impressed by the never ending depths of human creativity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4) Astro’s Playroom<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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I never thought I’d ever get a game like Astro’s Playroom<\/em> in my entire life. I may be the most devout fan of PlayStation All-Stars<\/em> on the internet, but even I acknowledge that it’s a heavily flawed game. But I have no choice but to appreciate it since it’s the only celebration of PlayStation’s rich legacy that I thought we’d ever get. That was until I finally picked up a PS5 late last year. I had heard much of the critical love for Astro’s Playroom<\/em>, and have even seen some of the game as well. But none of that prepared me for how much I would end up loving the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Astro <\/em>feels like a game created with the sole intention to celebrate the past of PlayStation rather than trying to get you to invest in the present or the brand. Every pixel of it feels like it was crafted to delight the early adopter that surely picked up the system at the beginning of the lifecycle. Graphically it’s both clean and gorgeous, gameplay is consistently smooth and varied thanks to many mini-games that showcase the Dualsense’s features. But none of those features make the game an instant classic in my eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The biggest problem at the core of All-Stars<\/em> was that much of it felt more like a commercial than a celebration of history. This was evident by some franchises getting no representation, like Spyro <\/em>and Crash<\/em>, and other franchises not getting the right representatives, like the New Dante from DmC <\/em>and Raiden from Metal Gear Rising Revengeance<\/em>. These choices felt directly motivated by money, where some of these aspects are there due to external publishers not wanting to risk reviving their older franchises for an unproven Smash clone and other publishers wanting to advertise their latest releases. Astro <\/em>doesn’t suffer from any of this corporate drama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every easter egg in the game is not only tastefully done but pays homage to each game in a way that feels authentic to both Astro’s <\/em>universe and the game it’s referencing. And some of the cuts are so deep that I was shocked to see so many franchises I thought were too obscure to immortalize so lovingly. Like, I was already delighted to finally see Crash <\/em>and Spyro <\/em>represented in a game like this, but to see games like Rain <\/em>and Puppeteer <\/em>get references blew me away. But the deep cuts don’t stop there, as the game has a reverence for PlayStation hardware that’s just as strong. Everything from the Playstation Pocket to the PS3 Move Sharpshooter gets a place in the digital museum known as the PlayStation Labo. And not only is every piece of PlayStation hardware represented, but each of them is also intractable. Hitting the PSP Go to see a Patapon parody light up the screen just warmed my heart so much that I nearly shed tears. And that was only one of the dozens of moments that overwhelmed me with joy. I can’t say enough great things about this excellent game, and if you are lucky enough to get a PS5, you owe it to yourself to play through the celebration of PlayStation’s rich 24-year history that fans like me have always dreamed of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) Doom Eternal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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It frustrates the hell out of me that so many people didn’t click with Doom Eternal<\/em>, but I understand why. Doom<\/em> (2016), one of my favorite shooters of all time, was sorta an accidental masterpiece, as its dryly comic tone and fast-paced combat made for a winning combo. And personally, I really loved how the game felt like a violent spiritual successor to Ratchet Deadlocked<\/em>, with its wheel of weapons and levels littered with collectibles and upgrades. But Doom Eternal<\/em> didn’t want to just give the exact same kind of experience again. No, id Software wanted to go way beyond that original reboot, and what they ended up doing is creating a brand new subgenre of shooters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having good aim is vital in any shooter, and it is in Doom Eternal <\/em>as well. But id asks you do to do so much more in its combat scenarios. Movement speed is so fast that your forced to keep a mental image of the arena in your head so that you can path your movements out subconsciously. Dozens of enemies are thrown at you at once, so you’re forced to aim for weak spots on far off enemies to buy you enough time to handle the ones right in front of your face. And all the while, your ammo, armor, and health pools are all depleting, and that forces you to break up gunplay with flame belches, chainsaws, and glory kills regularly. It’s the first-person shooter equivalent of spinning a dozen plates. Spinning those plates can be demanding for those who expected Doom <\/em>to stay the simple shooter it used to be. But for me, it gave combat the extra boost of stimulation that I never knew I needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Doom (<\/em>2016), for as great as I think it is, did suffer from a runtime that did slightly overstay it’s welcome. And those few levels at the end tended to drag on due to how easy combat became in the endgame. All of the extra upgrades and mods made the demons of hell a pushover, and they eventually became nothing more than a slight impediment to collectible hunting and map clearing. The changes to the combat in Eternal<\/em> make killing demons so much more active, to the point where I can’t afford to focus on anything else besides staying alive when I’m in the heat of battle. And add to that more engaging combat much more elaborate bouts of first-person platforming and you have, what I feel, is the natural evolution of Doom<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mean think about it, we wouldn’t have gotten Bloodborne <\/em>without God of War<\/em>, and we wouldn’t have gotten God of War<\/em> without games like Streets of Rage. In the case of Doom<\/em>, the original PC game paved the way for Half-Life <\/em>and an entire generation of slower-paced shooters. Doom <\/em>(2016) paved the way to the return of movement shooters like Shadow Warrior 2<\/em>. And now, similar to how Bloodborne <\/em>is a more strict and challenging version of God of War<\/em>, Doom Eternal<\/em> is the stricter and more challenging version of Doom <\/em>(2016). I think that is a great example of progress rather than a regression, and just because it’s more challenging doesn’t mean it’s worse. And in my opinion, it’s much better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) Immortals: Fenyx Rising<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Immortals: Fenyx Rising<\/em> is the kind of game that we really don’t get much anymore. It’s the kind of game I’d wake up at 9 am on a Saturday to binge when I was 13. It’s a world that is admittedly shallow, as all of its secrets lead to one of the same few pieces of gameplay or upgrades. But the goofy heart and satisfyingly designed puzzles and combat challenges always keep me playing and looking forward to the next piece of content. The vibrancy of the world is shown not just through its color palette, but also through its larger than life characters. Each of them has exaggerated, 90s Disney-esque personalities and while they might be too much for some, I found them all endearing in different ways. And the story, while I’ve yet to complete it, seems to have a sincere emotional core, which I’m always a sucker for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But even when I’m not interacting with the Gods and their tale, I have so much fun just exploring the map. Not only is the world beautiful, but it’s densely packed with things to do. And unlike a certain game Immortals <\/em>is often compared to, finding those activities are never obscured and are always presented to you on a platter if you want them to be. The numerous upgrade systems in the game are all designed in a way to push you into exploration. There’s no XP to earn, but there are multiple upgrade currencies scattered around that you can bring back to base. And even combat is way more varied than a game like this could have been, with slow-motion dodges, melee parries, light and heavy attacks, and special powers all being at your disposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, I just had such a swell time with Immortals<\/em>. It’s the perfect kind of gaming comfort food for me that has enough different things to do that I never get bored, and the world is visually appealing enough that I never tire of looking at it. On that latter note, the enhancements I’m now getting on PS5 have made those aspects even more profound. I’m really looking forward to spending more time with it, and in a year full of death and despair, it was incredibly refreshing to spend so much time in a world so pleasant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) The Last of Us Part II<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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As I’ve said, 2020 was one hell of a year. Thanks to many refusing to take precautions in a worldwide pandemic, it has felt like humanity made its cruelty and selfishness more transparent last year more than ever before. Thanks to a summer where racial injustice was finally forced into the faces of many for the first time, we saw just how different each of our perspectives of the same world are. And thanks to years of increasing political tension that seemed to come to a point with last years election, we eventually saw that rage from the losing side reach climax with a storming of our nations capital only 6 days into this current year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I’m trying to say is that the last 12 months have been defined by incredible human suffering, painful social isolation, and our collective unbridled rage at each other. And in the real world, there’s rarely something to look forward to at the end of that suffering. Like, we are getting a new administration that is certainly going to be a huge improvement to Donald Trump. But Biden’s calls for unity and compromise send shivers down the spine of anyone who wants systemic and overwhelmingly progressive change and leads us to believe many of the travesties of the last four years will go unexamined and unpunished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And that’s why I adored The Last of Us Part II<\/em>. Escaping to a world full of just as much human suffering, if not more, and just as much rage, if not more, wasn’t something I was excited to do. The marketing of the game claimed that the story would be about hate and rage, but by the time June 19th, 2020 came around, I had so much experience with those emotions that I didn’t wish to immerse myself in them further. But for the sake of these characters that I love so dearly, and since I didn’t want the game spoiled for me, I booted it up on release and soon my worries faded away. Because Part II<\/em> isn’t a story about rage and hate, it just uses rage and hate to talk about a much different core concept: forgiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Last of Us Part II<\/em> drags you through the mud emotionally, with character deaths, torture, and bigotry being constant occurrences throughout the story. But thankfully, mercifully, there is something at the end of that road. These characters do hit some of the lowest points of their entire lives, but they are able to climb back out. And they don’t always stay out. They do stumble at times, but they always pick themselves back up and manage to forgive both themselves for their own sins and others for the sins done against them. It was a refreshing change of pace to the traumas of real-life which seemed to not only never let up, but also seemed to never lead to any learned lessons or change of heart as a result of that suffering. Being introduced, and reintroduced, to characters that actually learn from their failings and become better people was a refreshing change of pace to the frustratingly stagnant main characters of the real-life news cycle last year. And it also was in contrast to much of the other post-apocalyptic fiction I’ve previously enjoyed, as the hopelessness of The Walking Dead<\/em> TV show and The Road<\/em> was rarely found here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But the game is still so much more than its narrative themes. Combat wasn’t a revolution, but a satisfying evolution from the original, and additions to melee combat and increased weapon fidelity helped make combat and weapon upgrades much more satisfying. Level design played into the more nibble player characters and grapple hooks, tall grass to go prone in, and, finally, jumping all make exploration and combat encounters more fun. And there are some incredible set pieces and narrative twists throughout the whole experience that I often couldn’t believe what I was witnessing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could go on forever about how much The Last of Us Part II<\/em> succeeded my expectations, and how it manages to justify its existence in the face of me and many others never wanting a sequel to the original game. But, all these months later, I’m still questioning if I like it more than the first game. I keep coming down to the fact that the sequel is so completely different. It is not a tour through every post-apocalyptic trope ever conceived, like the first game was. It’s a hyper-focused tale of 1 person, or technically 2 people, and therefore it has to tell a completely different narrative to accommodate for that. And I will always appreciate how daring that choice to be different was, especially when delivering more of the same likely would have lead to more universal praise and rewards. But being divisive has made the game more engaging, and more terrifying, to talk about, and that is one of the greatest things I feel I can say about any narrative. So for all those reasons, and a few more once Factions comes out, The Last of Us Part II<\/em> is my Game of the Year for 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And that’s all I got today. Video games really helped me through the several rough patches of 2020, but games aren’t the only thing that helped me. My friends really helped me through, with everything from cracking jokes with me on Twitter to joining in Among Us matches and movie watch parties in Discord. And, funny enough, the collective shittiness of the last year, I feel, kind of brought a lot of us together in a strange way. When all of us were sharing the exact same anxieties, if kind of made those mental, and often physical, burdens a lot lighter. So, for all of those reasons and more, I want to thank you, the person reading this. I say it all the time, but the fact that anyone out there cares about anything I do blows my mind. But the fact that you guys have kept watching the videos and streams, kept reading the articles I post, and kept listening to the podcasts I’ve been on during a pandemic has warmed my heart. And thank you double for keeping that same energy for all of my fellow members of the site, as I’m proud of pretty much everything we do here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s hoping that 2021 treats all of us a whole lot better, and here’s two more great games and a much better year for the folks who make and play them. Enjoy this picture of me in an Apex Legends<\/em> onesie when I finally got my PS5 after several weeks of hunting. Keep it real, keep it trill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jesus Fucking Christ, 2020 is finally over. I don’t need to dwell on it, but this year has been a shit show in dozens of ways. But hey, I have a few reasons to not completely throw the whole year in the garbage, like video games for example. There were an impressive amount of excellent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139948128,"featured_media":19059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"There were some really good games in a really bad year.\n\nSo, here's Emmett Watkins Jr's Games of the Year 2020 (And Some Other Years Too)","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[682621100,682626066],"tags":[682621634,682625466,682622361,682622192,682621614,682628444,682625542,682626043,682621584,682625853,682625555,682621402,682626079,682626081,682625906,682625463,682625745,682621700,682626036,682625895],"class_list":["post-18820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-of-the-year","category-goty-2020","tag-apex-legends","tag-bugsnax","tag-carrion","tag-doom-eternal","tag-dreams","tag-ej","tag-ghost-of-tsushima","tag-going-under","tag-hades","tag-immortals-fenyx-rising","tag-maneater","tag-metro-exodus","tag-new-super-luckys-tale","tag-persona-5-royal","tag-rouge-company","tag-spider-man-miles-morales","tag-tell-me-why","tag-the-last-of-us-part-ii","tag-the-surge-2","tag-yokus-island-express"],"yoast_head":"\nEmmett Watkins Jr's Games of the Year 2020 (And Some Other Years Too) - 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This week, in the final propper episode before our holiday break, Emmett Watkins Jr and Allan Muir are back with another episode. This time, we predict some of the new game announcements we hope and expect to see at The Game Awards tomorrow.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Podcasts"","block_context":{"text":"Podcasts","link":"https:\/\/vgu.tv\/?cat=682621147"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vgu.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Players-Club-Ep-43.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vgu.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Players-Club-Ep-43.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vgu.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Players-Club-Ep-43.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vgu.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Players-Club-Ep-43.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vgu.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Players-Club-Ep-43.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19184,"url":"https:\/\/vgu.tv\/?p=19184","url_meta":{"origin":18820,"position":3},"title":"VGU.TV’s Official 2020 Game of the Year Awards","author":"Emmett Watkins Jr","date":"January 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome to our 2020 Game of the Year Awards! Allan Muir, \u00a0Josh Miller,\u00a0Graydon Webb and I have all spent the last 3 weeks arguing over these categories on the Player's Club Podcast to the point where we've all come to a consensus on all of them finally. If you've been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Game of the Year"","block_context":{"text":"Game of the Year","link":"https:\/\/vgu.tv\/?cat=682621100"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vgu.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/GOTY-2020-1.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vgu.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/GOTY-2020-1.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vgu.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/GOTY-2020-1.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vgu.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/GOTY-2020-1.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vgu.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/GOTY-2020-1.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18499,"url":"https:\/\/vgu.tv\/?p=18499","url_meta":{"origin":18820,"position":4},"title":"Keepin\u2019 It \ud83d\udcaf Ep 9.5: Mass Effect 2, Breath of the Wild, Grand Theft Auto V, Dead Space, and Other Games that Missed My Top 100 List","author":"Emmett Watkins Jr","date":"December 11, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"*Eminem Voice* ReMeMbEr mE? That's right, it's about damn time I got back to finishing this show. This, of course, is Keepin' It \ud83d\udcaf, the podcast where I, Emmett Watkins Jr, try to rank my top 100 games of all time. Way back in June of 2020, I finally finished\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Keepin It 100"","block_context":{"text":"Keepin It 100","link":"https:\/\/vgu.tv\/?cat=682622433"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vgu.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Keepin-IT-100-Ep9.5-1.png?fit=1200%2C574&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vgu.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Keepin-IT-100-Ep9.5-1.png?fit=1200%2C574&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vgu.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Keepin-IT-100-Ep9.5-1.png?fit=1200%2C574&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vgu.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Keepin-IT-100-Ep9.5-1.png?fit=1200%2C574&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vgu.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Keepin-IT-100-Ep9.5-1.png?fit=1200%2C574&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16036,"url":"https:\/\/vgu.tv\/?p=16036","url_meta":{"origin":18820,"position":5},"title":"The Player’s Club Podcast Ep 18: Ranking Our Favorite Assassin’s Creed Games","author":"Emmett Watkins Jr","date":"May 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"What's Up, Playa? This week, Emmett Watkins Jr\u00a0and\u00a0Allan Muir return to talk both about the games they're playing and to rank their favorite Assassin's Creed games. 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