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Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock Season 2
this game is frakking awesome. I ranted about it in the thread, but this is quite possibly my favorite WEGO game ever made. Marvelous production, spot on tone and theming, and a replay feature that is genuinely worth watching after most battles. There is t enough good things I can say, so I’ll say this. If you like BSG and turn based strategy games at all this is a must play. -
Villainous: Perfectly Wretched
Board games represent! My wife an I have played the various Villainous characters a lot over the last year or so. This one has some of the most interesting implementations. The centerpiece Cruella is tremendously interesting and unique, though Mother Gothel and Pete are just as much so. While I think Evil Comes Prepared is their best yet, Ratigan is thematic as hell and my personal favorite, the game design is wonderful. The game also works well with 2, which given this hell year is a must have. I’ve played it with 2 to 6, with everyone from core board gamers to my mother. Sure the original came out in 2018, but this is a stand alone expansion, that is fully playable on its own. Big thumbs up, now I need to prove to my wife that Mother Gothel is OP. -
Star Wars Unlock
This would take my top spot but for the lack of replayability. This is one of those escape room in a box games, and the first licensed theme one. And damn does this one hit me right. My wife and I generally love these games, though lean the Exit series slightly. But each year the designers at Space Cowboys improve and innovate their design, and increase the variability and fun and reduce and eliminate BS puzzles, looking at you Nautilus Trap. This is their best yet. Admittedly I am an easy sell for the theme, so am hardly looking at this objectively, but from a design, interest, unique mechanics, and fun perspective this is their strongest effort. Escape from Echo Base is the first scenario and really sets the table well. If you’ve got any interest in Star Wars and escape rooms, you owe it to yourself to give this one a go. -
Animal Crossing New Horizons
The first second video game isn’t even one I played! We got a Switch for Christmas. And the next day, for my birthday even, I bought this game for my wife. I wanted to share time gaming with her, and thought this might be a game she liked, as well as one my son could play (he’s 6 turning 7, and the rule is he needs to read the game text to play). She doesn’t really video game aside from the occasional Mario Kart or Jackbox game, but she did enjoy the Sims games back in the day. It was a shot in the dark. It was also way more right than I imagined. That first week I was shouldered out from any Switch time between my wife and son. But I got to sit next to her, watch her explore, and play adviser (hey maybe store up for the pocket organizer, I think that helps inventory). In fact she is playing it now as I type this, and I am advising her on how to attract new residents. -
Hades
It’s good. It’s Supergiant, who are one of my favorite devs out there, with games that always land for me. Its their style, especially sound design, that I adore. Logan Cunningham and Ashley Barrett on vocals, and a Darren Korb soundtrack? You have me sight unseen. I just hadn’t gotten around to it. But when I got the Switch? I picked this up. However time being what it is, I’ve only had a few days on it, literally starting it this Sunday to try and see if I wanted to include it for the list. And I do. Perhaps with more time than 3 days of playing I would put it higher, but as of yet I just can’t. I like a lot about the game, but I also haven’t quite clicked with it the way I did Bastion or Transistor. And I think that is largely due to the music. It’s not bad, far from actually, but there is nothing like Zia’s theme, or We All Become yet. The non linear narrative I think contributes, there is not the same set of scripted emotional beats, being far more relational than narrative. Which is valid, but also more mechanically focused. And Supergiant has always been solid mechanically, but not especially my interest. So while in a probably strictly design sense this is probably their best game, it is also so far my least favorite.
But with Supergiant that is still pretty damn good. I’ll absolutely keep pinging away at this one, I have a surface to escape to (and am getting close, my 13th run had me || this close)
And that is all the actually 2020 games I played. Which almost 100% of that is the last 3 weeks. Go figure.