So, first impressions of Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey(ie Monkey Simulator).
It had some opening credits and scenes that could not be bypassed. By default it wants to use a controller but I could change it to use a keyboard and mouse. In the opening scene one of the little primates gets into a bit of trouble. The game shows you how to look and listen and identify things and then directs you to find shelter. Then it switches to an adult primate at a sheltered camp. One of your first tasks is to go find the little guy who's lost and bring him back to camp using the abilities you just learned. Easy enough.
Back at camp I learned to identify things...plants, rocks, etc. I learned to drink and eat which the other primates will participate in if they observe you. That becomes a thing then...eating, drinking, sleeping every day. You learn to build a place to sleep which is where you can rest and access character stats, etc. As you perform tasks you will learn things which will lead to unlocking new abilities. You learn faster if there are kids around. You can trade things to others in your clan or even switch characters. The primates will age, grow old, and die but some of the skills you've learned can be passed on to the next generation.
So you're not just managing a single character. You're actually looking after the welfare of the entire troop/clan. If you lose all of them it's game over, I think? Child rearing seems like it will be a big part of the game. So far I've unlocked a better sense of smell and hearing, some mobility options, I've identified clean water and a couple food items, how to build a spot to sleep and how to build a wall out of dead branches. I tried using a couple rocks to try and start a fire but didn't have any luck. I found a spot to fish but no idea how to actually do that yet. The game doesn't do a lot of hand holding. I have some misgivings about the game mechanics but I think I'll end up keeping this and seeing where it goes.
I like One Step from Eden but it cements for me that I'm old and slow and slow and old.
My only real success was with the first character, I just press the buttons randomly while moving around the screen.
Reva's second kit is probably my favorite. Her weapon becomes a damage reflect for 1 mana. It is hilarious to just walk into a giant attack and reflect the damage. Not to mention how high her shields can go with some of her starting cards.
I like One Step from Eden but it cements for me that I'm old and slow and slow and old.
My only real success was with the first character, I just press the buttons randomly while moving around the screen.
Reva's second kit is probably my favorite. Her weapon becomes a damage reflect for 1 mana. It is hilarious to just walk into a giant attack and reflect the damage. Not to mention how high her shields can go with some of her starting cards.
I think a lot of the other characters are very interesting, but it seems like quite a few of them are built for actually looking at your spells and determining if you should cast them or if you can cast them or whether you should shuffle and the game is just too fast for me to enjoy that.
Saffron at least lets you just keep pretending to be Rapid-Fire-Gambit while you just try dodging.
I really like Hazel and Reva and want to make them work but I couldn't get past world 2 with either of them.
According to my game library overlay (Playnite), I played the following games in 2020:
Age of Wonders III
AI War: Fleet Command
Baldur's Gate: Extended Edition Trilogy
Borderlands 3
Child of Light
Crusader Kings II
Dungeon of the Endless
Earth Defense Force 5
Endless Legend
Final Fantasy XIV - Shadowbringers
FTL
Gone Home
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak
Rebel Galaxy
Sid Meier's Beyond Earth
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword
SpellForce: Platinum Edition
Tabletop Simulator
From the list, the games I actually put any time into playing are the following:
Baldur's Gate: Extended Edition Trilogy
Borderlands 3
Dungeon of the Endless
Earth Defense Force 5
Final Fantasy XIV - Shadowbringers
FTL
Gone Home
From the list, I'd have to say that my games of the year for the sheer enjoyment I've gotten out of them would be the following:
1. Final Fantasy XIV - Shadowbringers. Almost entirely on the strength of the 5.3 patch which closed out the main Shadowbringers arc of the story in an incredibly well done and satisfying way.
2. Baldur's Gate: Extended Edition Trilogy. This is the heavily modded playthrough I'm doing with a group of friends in a "bookclub" style. Every 2 weeks we play a chapter and then have a discussion session. Everyone seems to be having a lot of fun and the mods I've assembled have worked out very well to enhance the original game and story, without being too intrusive. This is based on the early 2010's Enhanced Editions, but not bad for a game that originally came out in the late 90s.
3. Gone Home. I played this in a single sitting and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. A fun detective exploration game that is worth checking out if you like environmental storytelling.
4. Dungeon of the Endless/FTL. I preferred Dungeon of the Endless over FTL, as even when I had a failure in DotE it always felt like it was the result of the choices I had made and I could see myself improving at the game. FTL on the other hand, there were just some runs where I had no luck whatsoever and there wasn't really anything else I could have done. That isn't to say that sometimes you'd get unlucky in a DotE run, but it typically happened near the start when starting over has minimal time cost, while still maintaining an escalating difficulty as you go higher up. FTL on the other hand you could hit a death spiral late in the game after you've already invested a lot of time. Both good games and welcome takes on the roguelike genre.
5. Borderlands 3/EDF 5. These are both similar types of looter/shooter games, though EDF 5 probably had the stronger story and more likeable characters. They both have elements that I wish the respective developers would borrow from the other game. Big shout-out to @Iolo for gifting me Borderlands 3, which meant I was much more willing to pony up the money for the first season pass. The gameplay is pretty good, though the story is sadly much weaker and tosses out the few intriguing ideas that were raised in Borderlands 2 and the Pre-Sequel. I'll probably go back once mods are more fully developed and there's some sort of "all the DLC I don't have" bundle available.
Games I'm probably going to go back to include
1. Age of Wonders III - I bounced off this when I first played it, but I think there's something there I can enjoy. All the campaign missions basically being skirmish missions with now continuity between missions was disappointing, but I didn't really give it enough of a look to see if this changes at some point.
2. AI War: Fleet Command. I bounce off this game every time I try to go through the massive tutorials, but its the type of game that I think could be quite satisfying if I can overcome that hurdle.
3. Child of Light. I've beaten the game before, but my wife and I were doing a playthrough of this game and it's something we'll go back to at some point.
4. Crusaders King 2. I just need to set aside the time to really dive into this game. It has a big barrier to entry, but looks like something I'd really like to dive into.
5. Endless Legend. Played a lot of it before, but not with all the latest DLC. I'll give this another run through at some point. I wish they'd done a bit more voice acting for some of the critical main quest text. Maybe there'll be a mod out there that adds something like that.
6. Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. I liked this, but got distracted. Going to do a full playthrough. It's a short game, but the production values seem pretty high for what is available.
7. Sid Meier's Beyond Earth. This game felt like a soulless Alpha Centauri. I need to see if there have been any mods that make the game more engaging, since the graphics are very pretty, but the game systems feel like they are going against the themes of the game and the choices don't feel interesting in the little bit I've played.
8. Civilization IV. Played a lot of this in the past, I'm going to do another big modded playthrough since I think there's a lot more I'll be able to get out of this game. In 2019, I bounced off Colonization very hard though. Those themes really don't hold up as well as they once did.
9. Tabletop Simulator. Purchased because of Covid, but local friend group prefers to just use Zoom for any games we play (and the games we play are restricted to what can be played on Zoom). I probably need to find some other people who have Tabletop Simulator and would be down to play some boardgames.
Games I might not go back to include
1. SpellForce Platinum Edition. I've played some of this before, and while there's an interesting enough framework there, it feels a bit too much like a prototype of something that would be more interested if further refined. I'd hoped that Age of Wonders III did that, but it turns out Age of Wonders III is a different type of game. Probably not going to go back unless there turns out to be a major mod that fixes the issues I had with the game.
2. Rebel Galaxy. Unless I can figure out a control scheme that isn't just painful to try to make work, I'll probably put this one aside. It didn't like either my Xbox 360 gamepad or my mouse and keyboard controls and I'm not going to win any fights by flying constantly in circles or swinging wildly from one direction to another.
5. Borderlands 3/EDF 5. These are both similar types of looter/shooter games, though EDF 5 probably had the stronger story and more likeable characters.
5. Borderlands 3/EDF 5. These are both similar types of looter/shooter games, though EDF 5 probably had the stronger story and more likeable characters.
Oof.
I actually enjoyed most of the characterizations of the vault hunters you can play as.... just the rest of the NPCs really didn't live up to the standards. I did enjoy the story and characters in most of the Season 1 DLC's a lot more than the base game.
Most of my games in 2020 were clearing out the backlog but there were a few 2020 releases in there that were very memorable.
Hades is probably the top pick as everything is just so polished though some parts that apparently weren't in Early Access testing do feel a bit rougher. The writing and voice acting are of comparable quality and the art style is amazing. Whether I play it for hours at a time or just spend 40 minutes or so on a single run, it's always and enjoyable time.
Ghost of Tsushima on PS4 is the other standout. It's far from perfect with some particular gameplay gripes being using the old fashioned designated handhold-dependent climbing system in a post-BOTW world and the stance system having just completely doofy looking stances for Jin. I've seen a youtube video of martial artists commenting on the game saying they liked the opponents' combat animations more than Jin's and I'm inclined to agree. There are also a number of historical goofs, my favorite example being that katana weren't used by samurai at the time and the Japanese audio uses the period appropriate "tachi" in place of all the times the English says "katana." But it's also a game where map markers show places you can stop to compose haiku (even if they also aren't period appropriate) or follow foxes to shrines and let you often pet the foxes afterwards. Visually the game is like stepping into a modern version of Japanese artwork when you explore and a samurai film in a fight. It's extremely impressive that a Western development studio feels like they got the themes that run through a lot of classic Japanese artwork and not just the pop culture stuff like samurai dramas and manga/anime. If Hades was my short session game of the year, Ghost was the one I'd spend half a day with.
Crusader Kings 3 was also great though there are some gaps in content. It incorporates a lot of the gameplay that was added to CK2 in DLC but currently is a bit lacking in goals to pursue during peace time. A few mechanics were also really not balanced on release but things are better there now. It's still going to take some tweaking though as there is just so much going on in the game.
Honorable mentions include:
Animal Crossing on the Switch for the community aspect, much needed in the early months of the pandemic.
Cyberpunk 2077 which was held back by the many, many glitches and bugs even on PC. A lot of stuff combines to make stealth approaches messy with things like a body's hand clipping through terrain being spotted by enemies. Had it not so severely botched my primary approach the bugginess would probably have been less intrusive.
Carrion for nailing the unique concept. It's short but doesn't overstay its welcome and the movement feels amazing. The latter really helps sell the feeling of being a horror movie monster as you need to stay hidden until you can burst out in an orgy of violence. The only complaint I really have is the lack of a map as navigating the facility can get confusing. Others may be put off by the short length but should consider this one on sale.
Edit: Adding Max Gentleman Sexy Business to honorable mentions. Not a lot of depth to this but it's the kind of lighthearted, humorous, and sexy fun that we really needed this year.
uhhh...played a couple hours of Hades, and it might be my goty 2020. It's so good! I'd love to pick Cyberpunk, but aside from the main story and some(!) of the side missions, you can really feel how it's unfinished, and that bums me out. I'd have to check if I played any other games that actually came out in 2020...Animal Crossing for sure, but I haven't touched that in like 6 months
I think my top 3 games for 2020 are Hades, 13 Sentinels, and Yakuza Like a Dragon. Granted I played less overall in 2020, but those were all real good for me.
I think my top 3 games for 2020 are Hades, 13 Sentinels, and Yakuza Like a Dragon. Granted I played less overall in 2020, but those were all real good for me.
I still need to get back to 13 Sentinels. I like, barely started it and got distracted with Cyberpunk.
@Fanda sent me a gift pre-Christmas, but I prefer to thank people "live" before accepting gifts, and we were just never on Steam Friends at the same time, one thing led to another, and, uh ... the gift expired?
Anyway, I sent him an apology, and he actually sent it back to me, which makes him Double Classy.
Many, many thanks for Cyberpunk, Fanda! And A++ on the gift message.
My games of the year: Deep Rock Galactic: See, Sea of Thieves? This is how you make online play with randos work. This is true evolution from Left 4 Dead. An absolute must have for those who enjoy those kinds of games. Playing solo works. Playing with randos works. Playing with Discord works. DRG earns its Overwhelmingly Postitive rating. Hades: So utterly fun, stylish and charming. My misgivings about its repetitiveness were resolved upon the end of the late updates. Vanilla Persona 5. I wished I played it on release. It is the most thrilling social commentary on how fucked up Japan is, and the psychology of why *waves hands around* happens I have ever seen. Makoto is the best character in the franchise, and would have been a better protagonist than Everyman-kun. Royal added anime drivel that undermines both the characters and social commentary. I wouldn't buy Royal on PC unless someone made a Vanilla story mod so I never had to see or hear the new characters. I am that pissed at it. Atlus hasn't learned a damned thing in eight years. Ghost of Tsushima: My first Kurosawa cinematic experience. Snappy gameplay. Stealth or rampaging always valid options, which is something I appreciate. Satisfactory: I don't even like survival crafting, but I highly respect this middle management simulator. Monster Train: The board game Clank! has not been digitized, but this will do. This will do just fine.
Thanks so much @Karoz for Spiritfarer! This game is beautiful, and looks to be full of feels. I appreciate the opportunity to check it out - thank you!
So, first impressions of Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey(ie Monkey Simulator).
It had some opening credits and scenes that could not be bypassed. By default it wants to use a controller but I could change it to use a keyboard and mouse. In the opening scene one of the little primates gets into a bit of trouble. The game shows you how to look and listen and identify things and then directs you to find shelter. Then it switches to an adult primate at a sheltered camp. One of your first tasks is to go find the little guy who's lost and bring him back to camp using the abilities you just learned. Easy enough.
Back at camp I learned to identify things...plants, rocks, etc. I learned to drink and eat which the other primates will participate in if they observe you. That becomes a thing then...eating, drinking, sleeping every day. You learn to build a place to sleep which is where you can rest and access character stats, etc. As you perform tasks you will learn things which will lead to unlocking new abilities. You learn faster if there are kids around. You can trade things to others in your clan or even switch characters. The primates will age, grow old, and die but some of the skills you've learned can be passed on to the next generation.
So you're not just managing a single character. You're actually looking after the welfare of the entire troop/clan. If you lose all of them it's game over, I think? Child rearing seems like it will be a big part of the game. So far I've unlocked a better sense of smell and hearing, some mobility options, I've identified clean water and a couple food items, how to build a spot to sleep and how to build a wall out of dead branches. I tried using a couple rocks to try and start a fire but didn't have any luck. I found a spot to fish but no idea how to actually do that yet. The game doesn't do a lot of hand holding. I have some misgivings about the game mechanics but I think I'll end up keeping this and seeing where it goes.
This is a good summary of the first few hours of the game. The problem I have with Ancestors is that it's pretty front-loaded. You're going to start to feel the grind and the veil will be lifted shortly because you'll have seen everything, effectively. It's very shallow under the hood.
The changes to your apes in the beginning are interesting. You start learning how to build with an item, then you can pick up two items. Then you can walk. But then it really does dip after that... not much new to discover... there are really only a handful of "craftables"... and all there is to do is find different zones, proceed to the next generation... crawl back up. This is all not at all helped by a system where your progress is like 70% wiped every generation as a mechanic.
Imagine a grind, but every couple of hours it's 6 steps back.
Y'know I'd withheld judgement on this because I wasn't sure if it was actually bad or if it was just me expecting a thing to work like Dark Souls and it not working like Dark Souls, but I don't like the combat in Fallen Order when you get right down to it.
So, started the year playing Warframe, reaching the burnout phase of my Warframe CycleTM just as Covid hit. Took the time I was Furloughed in March and early April to do a complete beginning-to-end playthrough of Pathfinder Kingmaker thanks to the no-longer-a-mod Turn Based Mod, where I got the secret Romance ending.
Then when the stimulus came I was able to upgrade my rig with a new GPU, more RAM, and to finally get a 16:9 ratio moniter, and took the chance to go back and play some of the ran-poor or ran-ugly games in my library, chiefly ARK and BATTLETECH. Also picked up ESO on a Steam Sale and enjoyed it enough to get the latest expansion and play with the premium mode for a while, before picking up X4 and then CONTROL and really enjoying both.
Then CKIII came out, played it for most of September getting a couple of the hardest chevoes and even succeeding in a few self-made ones.
Then I went on an Assassin's Creed hard bender when the series went on sale got Rogue and Syndicate on Steam, remembered that I had picked up Unity for free when Ubisoft gave it away after the Notre Dame fire. Then I got Odyssey off Uplay after missing it on Steam when I realized I could actually use the dumb Uplay points I got playing the last three games to get a discount. That lasted long enough for Valhalla to pop up, which I was able to play via Uplay+. Once done with Valhalla, I went back to another ran-poor classic of Total War Warhammer 2.
December looked like it was going to end with Code VEIN, which I picked up during the winter sale, but then I saw the thread on Amazing Cultivation Simulator and now I'm still hooked on that, with only Horizon: Zero Dawn currently having any power to pull me away.
So yeah, those were my gaming highlights of 2020. There were a few other games that popped up but none of those really held me for more than a weekend (my love for Tales of Vesperia when it was on 360 will probably bring me back to playing the Special Edition though.)
Cyberpunk 2077 which was held back by the many, many glitches and bugs even on PC. A lot of stuff combines to make stealth approaches messy with things like a body's hand clipping through terrain being spotted by enemies. Had it not so severely botched my primary approach the bugginess would probably have been less intrusive.
For me, CP2077 has been redeemed by my playstyle: snipe everyone I can through the walls, mow down the rest with a tech shotgun thing, and headcanon my witty retorts to the fixers who always whine that I don't exercise discretion.
"V, the client didn't pay you to glass the whole factory, he just wanted the data from the office computer!"
"Yeah, but he didn't pay me NOT to glass the whole factory. He gets the stuff, you get paid, and I get a gigantic pile of loot. Win-win-win."
There was one where I had to rescue a guy with a limp from the top floor of a building crawling with tiger claws, and Regina was all pissy that I left a mountain of dead behind. Bitch, he wasn't even locked up, if he was in any shape to sneak out of there he wouldn't need my ass. Of course I didn't even try because I didn't give a shit but I couldn't give one if I tried this time!
So many of the bugs I've heard of, like hiding bodies counting as killing them and clipping errors allowing enemies to spot bodies they shouldn't be able to basically go away when you go Terminator on Night City.
So, first impressions of Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey(ie Monkey Simulator).
It had some opening credits and scenes that could not be bypassed. By default it wants to use a controller but I could change it to use a keyboard and mouse. In the opening scene one of the little primates gets into a bit of trouble. The game shows you how to look and listen and identify things and then directs you to find shelter. Then it switches to an adult primate at a sheltered camp. One of your first tasks is to go find the little guy who's lost and bring him back to camp using the abilities you just learned. Easy enough.
Back at camp I learned to identify things...plants, rocks, etc. I learned to drink and eat which the other primates will participate in if they observe you. That becomes a thing then...eating, drinking, sleeping every day. You learn to build a place to sleep which is where you can rest and access character stats, etc. As you perform tasks you will learn things which will lead to unlocking new abilities. You learn faster if there are kids around. You can trade things to others in your clan or even switch characters. The primates will age, grow old, and die but some of the skills you've learned can be passed on to the next generation.
So you're not just managing a single character. You're actually looking after the welfare of the entire troop/clan. If you lose all of them it's game over, I think? Child rearing seems like it will be a big part of the game. So far I've unlocked a better sense of smell and hearing, some mobility options, I've identified clean water and a couple food items, how to build a spot to sleep and how to build a wall out of dead branches. I tried using a couple rocks to try and start a fire but didn't have any luck. I found a spot to fish but no idea how to actually do that yet. The game doesn't do a lot of hand holding. I have some misgivings about the game mechanics but I think I'll end up keeping this and seeing where it goes.
This is a good summary of the first few hours of the game. The problem I have with Ancestors is that it's pretty front-loaded. You're going to start to feel the grind and the veil will be lifted shortly because you'll have seen everything, effectively. It's very shallow under the hood.
The changes to your apes in the beginning are interesting. You start learning how to build with an item, then you can pick up two items. Then you can walk. But then it really does dip after that... not much new to discover... there are really only a handful of "craftables"... and all there is to do is find different zones, proceed to the next generation... crawl back up. This is all not at all helped by a system where your progress is like 70% wiped every generation as a mechanic.
Imagine a grind, but every couple of hours it's 6 steps back.
That's too bad. I like the general premise of surviving and guiding fledgling hominids towards building a civilization but it sounds like this game falls really short of that.
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
One Step From Eden does remind me a lot of Crypt of the Necrodancer, just with a MUCH nastier learning curve. Past stage 3 or so, bosses are just obscenely fast.
For absolutely no reason whatsoever @Pixelated Pixie has accosted me with the Vergil DLC for Devil May Cry 5! Vergil is such a fun character, thank you very much oh pink empress!
I have been tardy in my response, but 4 days ago @an_alt generously gave me The Quest. It is a bit like someone remade Daggerfall with a three-person team. Thanks, an_alt!
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It had some opening credits and scenes that could not be bypassed. By default it wants to use a controller but I could change it to use a keyboard and mouse. In the opening scene one of the little primates gets into a bit of trouble. The game shows you how to look and listen and identify things and then directs you to find shelter. Then it switches to an adult primate at a sheltered camp. One of your first tasks is to go find the little guy who's lost and bring him back to camp using the abilities you just learned. Easy enough.
Back at camp I learned to identify things...plants, rocks, etc. I learned to drink and eat which the other primates will participate in if they observe you. That becomes a thing then...eating, drinking, sleeping every day. You learn to build a place to sleep which is where you can rest and access character stats, etc. As you perform tasks you will learn things which will lead to unlocking new abilities. You learn faster if there are kids around. You can trade things to others in your clan or even switch characters. The primates will age, grow old, and die but some of the skills you've learned can be passed on to the next generation.
So you're not just managing a single character. You're actually looking after the welfare of the entire troop/clan. If you lose all of them it's game over, I think? Child rearing seems like it will be a big part of the game. So far I've unlocked a better sense of smell and hearing, some mobility options, I've identified clean water and a couple food items, how to build a spot to sleep and how to build a wall out of dead branches. I tried using a couple rocks to try and start a fire but didn't have any luck. I found a spot to fish but no idea how to actually do that yet. The game doesn't do a lot of hand holding. I have some misgivings about the game mechanics but I think I'll end up keeping this and seeing where it goes.
"Sell Soul" "Sell Insurance"
I giggled.
My only real success was with the first character, I just press the buttons randomly while moving around the screen.
BATTLETECH.
Duh.
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
Reva's second kit is probably my favorite. Her weapon becomes a damage reflect for 1 mana. It is hilarious to just walk into a giant attack and reflect the damage. Not to mention how high her shields can go with some of her starting cards.
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
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PSN: AbEntropy
I think a lot of the other characters are very interesting, but it seems like quite a few of them are built for actually looking at your spells and determining if you should cast them or if you can cast them or whether you should shuffle and the game is just too fast for me to enjoy that.
Saffron at least lets you just keep pretending to be Rapid-Fire-Gambit while you just try dodging.
I really like Hazel and Reva and want to make them work but I couldn't get past world 2 with either of them.
From the list, the games I actually put any time into playing are the following:
From the list, I'd have to say that my games of the year for the sheer enjoyment I've gotten out of them would be the following:
1. Final Fantasy XIV - Shadowbringers. Almost entirely on the strength of the 5.3 patch which closed out the main Shadowbringers arc of the story in an incredibly well done and satisfying way.
2. Baldur's Gate: Extended Edition Trilogy. This is the heavily modded playthrough I'm doing with a group of friends in a "bookclub" style. Every 2 weeks we play a chapter and then have a discussion session. Everyone seems to be having a lot of fun and the mods I've assembled have worked out very well to enhance the original game and story, without being too intrusive. This is based on the early 2010's Enhanced Editions, but not bad for a game that originally came out in the late 90s.
3. Gone Home. I played this in a single sitting and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. A fun detective exploration game that is worth checking out if you like environmental storytelling.
4. Dungeon of the Endless/FTL. I preferred Dungeon of the Endless over FTL, as even when I had a failure in DotE it always felt like it was the result of the choices I had made and I could see myself improving at the game. FTL on the other hand, there were just some runs where I had no luck whatsoever and there wasn't really anything else I could have done. That isn't to say that sometimes you'd get unlucky in a DotE run, but it typically happened near the start when starting over has minimal time cost, while still maintaining an escalating difficulty as you go higher up. FTL on the other hand you could hit a death spiral late in the game after you've already invested a lot of time. Both good games and welcome takes on the roguelike genre.
5. Borderlands 3/EDF 5. These are both similar types of looter/shooter games, though EDF 5 probably had the stronger story and more likeable characters. They both have elements that I wish the respective developers would borrow from the other game. Big shout-out to @Iolo for gifting me Borderlands 3, which meant I was much more willing to pony up the money for the first season pass. The gameplay is pretty good, though the story is sadly much weaker and tosses out the few intriguing ideas that were raised in Borderlands 2 and the Pre-Sequel. I'll probably go back once mods are more fully developed and there's some sort of "all the DLC I don't have" bundle available.
Games I'm probably going to go back to include
1. Age of Wonders III - I bounced off this when I first played it, but I think there's something there I can enjoy. All the campaign missions basically being skirmish missions with now continuity between missions was disappointing, but I didn't really give it enough of a look to see if this changes at some point.
2. AI War: Fleet Command. I bounce off this game every time I try to go through the massive tutorials, but its the type of game that I think could be quite satisfying if I can overcome that hurdle.
3. Child of Light. I've beaten the game before, but my wife and I were doing a playthrough of this game and it's something we'll go back to at some point.
4. Crusaders King 2. I just need to set aside the time to really dive into this game. It has a big barrier to entry, but looks like something I'd really like to dive into.
5. Endless Legend. Played a lot of it before, but not with all the latest DLC. I'll give this another run through at some point. I wish they'd done a bit more voice acting for some of the critical main quest text. Maybe there'll be a mod out there that adds something like that.
6. Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. I liked this, but got distracted. Going to do a full playthrough. It's a short game, but the production values seem pretty high for what is available.
7. Sid Meier's Beyond Earth. This game felt like a soulless Alpha Centauri. I need to see if there have been any mods that make the game more engaging, since the graphics are very pretty, but the game systems feel like they are going against the themes of the game and the choices don't feel interesting in the little bit I've played.
8. Civilization IV. Played a lot of this in the past, I'm going to do another big modded playthrough since I think there's a lot more I'll be able to get out of this game. In 2019, I bounced off Colonization very hard though. Those themes really don't hold up as well as they once did.
9. Tabletop Simulator. Purchased because of Covid, but local friend group prefers to just use Zoom for any games we play (and the games we play are restricted to what can be played on Zoom). I probably need to find some other people who have Tabletop Simulator and would be down to play some boardgames.
Games I might not go back to include
1. SpellForce Platinum Edition. I've played some of this before, and while there's an interesting enough framework there, it feels a bit too much like a prototype of something that would be more interested if further refined. I'd hoped that Age of Wonders III did that, but it turns out Age of Wonders III is a different type of game. Probably not going to go back unless there turns out to be a major mod that fixes the issues I had with the game.
2. Rebel Galaxy. Unless I can figure out a control scheme that isn't just painful to try to make work, I'll probably put this one aside. It didn't like either my Xbox 360 gamepad or my mouse and keyboard controls and I'm not going to win any fights by flying constantly in circles or swinging wildly from one direction to another.
Oof.
That's cute.
:razz:
I actually enjoyed most of the characterizations of the vault hunters you can play as.... just the rest of the NPCs really didn't live up to the standards. I did enjoy the story and characters in most of the Season 1 DLC's a lot more than the base game.
Hades is probably the top pick as everything is just so polished though some parts that apparently weren't in Early Access testing do feel a bit rougher. The writing and voice acting are of comparable quality and the art style is amazing. Whether I play it for hours at a time or just spend 40 minutes or so on a single run, it's always and enjoyable time.
Ghost of Tsushima on PS4 is the other standout. It's far from perfect with some particular gameplay gripes being using the old fashioned designated handhold-dependent climbing system in a post-BOTW world and the stance system having just completely doofy looking stances for Jin. I've seen a youtube video of martial artists commenting on the game saying they liked the opponents' combat animations more than Jin's and I'm inclined to agree. There are also a number of historical goofs, my favorite example being that katana weren't used by samurai at the time and the Japanese audio uses the period appropriate "tachi" in place of all the times the English says "katana." But it's also a game where map markers show places you can stop to compose haiku (even if they also aren't period appropriate) or follow foxes to shrines and let you often pet the foxes afterwards. Visually the game is like stepping into a modern version of Japanese artwork when you explore and a samurai film in a fight. It's extremely impressive that a Western development studio feels like they got the themes that run through a lot of classic Japanese artwork and not just the pop culture stuff like samurai dramas and manga/anime. If Hades was my short session game of the year, Ghost was the one I'd spend half a day with.
Crusader Kings 3 was also great though there are some gaps in content. It incorporates a lot of the gameplay that was added to CK2 in DLC but currently is a bit lacking in goals to pursue during peace time. A few mechanics were also really not balanced on release but things are better there now. It's still going to take some tweaking though as there is just so much going on in the game.
Honorable mentions include:
Animal Crossing on the Switch for the community aspect, much needed in the early months of the pandemic.
Cyberpunk 2077 which was held back by the many, many glitches and bugs even on PC. A lot of stuff combines to make stealth approaches messy with things like a body's hand clipping through terrain being spotted by enemies. Had it not so severely botched my primary approach the bugginess would probably have been less intrusive.
Carrion for nailing the unique concept. It's short but doesn't overstay its welcome and the movement feels amazing. The latter really helps sell the feeling of being a horror movie monster as you need to stay hidden until you can burst out in an orgy of violence. The only complaint I really have is the lack of a map as navigating the facility can get confusing. Others may be put off by the short length but should consider this one on sale.
Edit: Adding Max Gentleman Sexy Business to honorable mentions. Not a lot of depth to this but it's the kind of lighthearted, humorous, and sexy fun that we really needed this year.
Steam Profile
3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
uhhh...played a couple hours of Hades, and it might be my goty 2020. It's so good! I'd love to pick Cyberpunk, but aside from the main story and some(!) of the side missions, you can really feel how it's unfinished, and that bums me out. I'd have to check if I played any other games that actually came out in 2020...Animal Crossing for sure, but I haven't touched that in like 6 months
And what happens when I sign in?
Iolo only went ahead and gifted me BATTLETECH.
Are we still calling people Classy Dudes? Because Iolo's a classy dude. Glad to see you guys are all just as classy as I remember.
I still need to get back to 13 Sentinels. I like, barely started it and got distracted with Cyberpunk.
@Fanda sent me a gift pre-Christmas, but I prefer to thank people "live" before accepting gifts, and we were just never on Steam Friends at the same time, one thing led to another, and, uh ... the gift expired?
Anyway, I sent him an apology, and he actually sent it back to me, which makes him Double Classy.
Many, many thanks for Cyberpunk, Fanda! And A++ on the gift message.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Thank you, an_alt!
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
I call shenanigans
Edit: that's what I get for looking at images on my phone. And not reading them all the way.
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
Battle.Net: JohnDarc#1203 Origin/UPlay: CoolJammer00
@Karoz objected to this being on my wishlist.
Thanks!
I've heard it's pretty okay.....
Once again, many thanks to you sir.
Bravely Default / 3DS Friend Code = 3394-3571-1609
Thanks, bloodatonement!
Deep Rock Galactic: See, Sea of Thieves? This is how you make online play with randos work. This is true evolution from Left 4 Dead. An absolute must have for those who enjoy those kinds of games. Playing solo works. Playing with randos works. Playing with Discord works. DRG earns its Overwhelmingly Postitive rating.
Hades: So utterly fun, stylish and charming. My misgivings about its repetitiveness were resolved upon the end of the late updates.
Vanilla Persona 5. I wished I played it on release. It is the most thrilling social commentary on how fucked up Japan is, and the psychology of why *waves hands around* happens I have ever seen. Makoto is the best character in the franchise, and would have been a better protagonist than Everyman-kun. Royal added anime drivel that undermines both the characters and social commentary. I wouldn't buy Royal on PC unless someone made a Vanilla story mod so I never had to see or hear the new characters. I am that pissed at it. Atlus hasn't learned a damned thing in eight years.
Ghost of Tsushima: My first Kurosawa cinematic experience. Snappy gameplay. Stealth or rampaging always valid options, which is something I appreciate.
Satisfactory: I don't even like survival crafting, but I highly respect this middle management simulator.
Monster Train: The board game Clank! has not been digitized, but this will do. This will do just fine.
A more accurate description for Iolo would be the Battletech fairy.
Steam Profile
3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
Thanks so much @Karoz for Spiritfarer! This game is beautiful, and looks to be full of feels. I appreciate the opportunity to check it out - thank you!
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
Zako doom was entertaining, but I could make better if I had the time and tech.
*grins at calender*
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
This is a good summary of the first few hours of the game. The problem I have with Ancestors is that it's pretty front-loaded. You're going to start to feel the grind and the veil will be lifted shortly because you'll have seen everything, effectively. It's very shallow under the hood.
The changes to your apes in the beginning are interesting. You start learning how to build with an item, then you can pick up two items. Then you can walk. But then it really does dip after that... not much new to discover... there are really only a handful of "craftables"... and all there is to do is find different zones, proceed to the next generation... crawl back up. This is all not at all helped by a system where your progress is like 70% wiped every generation as a mechanic.
Imagine a grind, but every couple of hours it's 6 steps back.
Pretty slow year for games, honestly.
Then when the stimulus came I was able to upgrade my rig with a new GPU, more RAM, and to finally get a 16:9 ratio moniter, and took the chance to go back and play some of the ran-poor or ran-ugly games in my library, chiefly ARK and BATTLETECH. Also picked up ESO on a Steam Sale and enjoyed it enough to get the latest expansion and play with the premium mode for a while, before picking up X4 and then CONTROL and really enjoying both.
Then CKIII came out, played it for most of September getting a couple of the hardest chevoes and even succeeding in a few self-made ones.
Then I went on an Assassin's Creed hard bender when the series went on sale got Rogue and Syndicate on Steam, remembered that I had picked up Unity for free when Ubisoft gave it away after the Notre Dame fire. Then I got Odyssey off Uplay after missing it on Steam when I realized I could actually use the dumb Uplay points I got playing the last three games to get a discount. That lasted long enough for Valhalla to pop up, which I was able to play via Uplay+. Once done with Valhalla, I went back to another ran-poor classic of Total War Warhammer 2.
December looked like it was going to end with Code VEIN, which I picked up during the winter sale, but then I saw the thread on Amazing Cultivation Simulator and now I'm still hooked on that, with only Horizon: Zero Dawn currently having any power to pull me away.
So yeah, those were my gaming highlights of 2020. There were a few other games that popped up but none of those really held me for more than a weekend (my love for Tales of Vesperia when it was on 360 will probably bring me back to playing the Special Edition though.)
For me, CP2077 has been redeemed by my playstyle: snipe everyone I can through the walls, mow down the rest with a tech shotgun thing, and headcanon my witty retorts to the fixers who always whine that I don't exercise discretion.
"V, the client didn't pay you to glass the whole factory, he just wanted the data from the office computer!"
"Yeah, but he didn't pay me NOT to glass the whole factory. He gets the stuff, you get paid, and I get a gigantic pile of loot. Win-win-win."
There was one where I had to rescue a guy with a limp from the top floor of a building crawling with tiger claws, and Regina was all pissy that I left a mountain of dead behind. Bitch, he wasn't even locked up, if he was in any shape to sneak out of there he wouldn't need my ass. Of course I didn't even try because I didn't give a shit but I couldn't give one if I tried this time!
So many of the bugs I've heard of, like hiding bodies counting as killing them and clipping errors allowing enemies to spot bodies they shouldn't be able to basically go away when you go Terminator on Night City.
That's too bad. I like the general premise of surviving and guiding fledgling hominids towards building a civilization but it sounds like this game falls really short of that.
Also you can buy Notre Dame DLC, but I do not see any Golden football helmets. Boo!
Steam Badger A greasemonkey script for better gifting and peering