2020 Quarterlies! Vote for Qt3's Best Game of 2020: "Ok, let's get down to it, boppers!"

Games
84
  1. Crusader Kings 3
  2. Factorio
  3. Hades
  4. Creeper World 4
  5. Jackbox Games Party Pack 7
85

You reminded me that this was on another site’s top games list and I wanted to give it a try. So I just did! A lot of lovely polish in this thing. I couldn’t beat the last stage of the last level, so I’m glad they let you just skip it. Wish it had been a bit more subversive in its storyline, but at least it didn’t put every demon girl spilling out of skimpy clothing.

86
  1. Deep Rock Galactic
  2. Death Stranding (PC 2020)
  3. Assassins Creed: Valhalla
  4. Gears Tactics
  5. Horizon Zero Dawn (PC 2020)

What a crazy year of almost no free time due to the pandemic. I easily bought over 100 games that were released in 2020, most barely touched or not even installed yet.

87

Hrm, I didn’t play a whole lot of 2020 releases this year.

  1. Cyberpunk 2077 - fantastic game, even if CD Projekt marketing lied to us. A lot.
  2. Ghost of Tsushima - the best Assassin’s Creed game. It may have beaten CP2077 on my list if it wasn’t a PS4 exclusive. If you enjoy Assassin’s Creed games and you own a PS4, you must play this.
  3. Hades - Fun. But it’s just a distracting snack compared to the four-course meals above it on this list.
  4. Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla - Not as good as Odyssey or Origins, but a decent game.
  5. Watch Dogs: Legion - Yeah… Not a great game, but of final three 2020 games I played, it was the best, beating out The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk and XCOM: Chimera Squad.
88

I tried Creeper World 4 having enjoyed the last one but ended returning it because it feels the same to me (besides the 3d visuals).

89

It is very samey, but there are a few new features. But sometimes it’s nice to revisit a game and even better if it’s been jazzed up a bit.

90

  1. Crusader Kings 3 - I don’t love Paradox games the way many do, I usually just sort of like some of them. I’m really putting this number one because I have put the most hours into it. I think it’s the most approachable Paradoxy Paradox game Paradox has ever done. It’s also a passable marriage simulator.

  2. MS Flight Simulator - I upgraded my PC for this, no regrets. The scope of this is mind boggling.

  3. Immortals Fenyx Rising - Just a joy. Glad Tom mentioned it a while back, or I wouldn’t have known about it.

  4. Assassins Creed: Valhalla - Maybe not as good as Odyssey, still a very satisfying game in many ways.

  5. Shadow Empire - The kind of TBS game I can get lost in. I enjoy looking through the reports and menus every turn. Reminds me of old school PC strategy games from the '80s or early '90s, at least in some ways.

(Phoenix Point: Year One Edition would be in here if it weren’t kind of cheating)

91
  1. Microsoft Flight Simulator
    Just an amazing experience. Despite the performance challenges, playing it in VR is just incredible.
  2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
    Would have never expected this to be on my list, but played with my girlfriend and put so many hours into it. Kinda burned out at this point as there’s not much left to do, but I don’t even want to look into my hour count. Perfect pandemic game.
  3. Cyberpunk 2077
    Playing on Xbox Series X so performance has been fine, and I haven’t run into many bugs. It’s chock-full of issues, but also just an amazing world with an engaging story. Looking forward to finishing it.
  4. Half-Life: Alyx
    Wow. Beautiful VR title, and entertaining too. Valve should consider doing more of this “game development” stuff. They might be good at it.
  5. Immortals Fenyx Rising
    Thanks, @tomchick, for highlighting this, I’d picked it up and forgotten about it. Given the name change, light marketing, and lack of buzz, I hadn’t expected much. But I’m enjoying this more than I did the game that ostensibly inspired it. Loving the narration.

I am sad there is no combat flight sim to throw into the mix. DCS: Syria is too close to an ongoing human tragedy for me to consider, and it’s just a map. Battle of Bodenplatte, the pinnacle so far of the IL-2 series, was late 2019.

AC: Valhalla would have been on the list, but I’m having more fun with Fenix.

92

I don’t think I’ve played a 2020 release in 2020, only old games. I’ve BOUGHT one (and ONLY ONE) 2020 release (Ghostrunner) but it has not been played yet.

93
  1. Crusader Kings 3 - I’ve tolerated Paradox games for years despite despising their DLC approach and the often less than stellar UI and the way they blob their games into almost unrecognizable masses. CK3 though came out with a really nice tooltip system. The UI seems less designed for spreadsheet enthusiasts and for, you know gamers, and it still offers that unique gameplay that so many of us love, plus it’s actually accessible without being dumbed down. They did a great job here.
94
  • Flight Simulator
  • Flight Simulator 2020
  • Microsoft Flight Simulator
  • Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
  • MS Flight Simulator
  • MS Flight Simulator 2020

For the love of…

The winner for 2020 (and every prior year) synonym count is…

MicroS Flight Sim. '20!

95

The 2019 thread was probably after it had been delayed for 3 years, hah. I’ve been following it for a while.

I don’t plan to start a thread since I don’t have much to say about it. I had it below Hades at first, but both games have minor issues for me.

96

  1. Hades - and not even close. Has this game solved rogue-likes? Whoever wants to top this has to come up with something really cool. The game that keeps on giving. Great moment-to-moment gameplay. Such variation each run. Excellent persistent layer - upgrading the house is so fun, both crunchy and cosmetic upgrades. I think @tomchick nailed it by calling attention to the pacing in his not-review. Perfect soundtrack - I look forward to the music cue every time I enter the Lernie fight. Excellent voice acting. Fantastic art direction. End-screens that make me laugh out loud. My only gripe is the performance issues on the Switch that I blame for ending some runs that are close to my skill ceiling.

  2. Imperial Struggle - I was expecting it to be more similar to Twilight Struggle, but I am so glad it isn’t. Interesting interacting systems, and since we’ve not played it a lot yet it doesn’t feel as constrained as Twilight Struggle (not yet, at least). I need to get this on the table again soon.

  3. Factorio - this feels like cheating, though, as it is has been some time since I played it. I appreciate the process of setting up processes, automating and scaling up. A great multiplayer experience. All in all it is a bit too clinical when it comes to narrative, which is why I don’t play it single player.

  4. Spirit Island: Jagged Earth - more of what makes Spirit Island so fun. More stuff, interesting sprits. Not much more to add.

  5. Cyberpunk 2077 - Well. It probably deserves a dishonorable mention, but despite all the glaring flaws I’ve enjoyed my time with it. I’ve parked it until it’s had some patches. My experience is quite similar to Fallout: New Vegas, although Cyberpunk hasn’t eaten my save yet. And it is not in the same league as F:NV. Here’s hoping for the Enhanced Edition. The game has excellent atmosphere, for sure. In some ways it reminds me of reading Ready Player Once or Scalzi; it feels more like a checklist of references than something that contributes interesting new takes on its genre. I wish it had been better, but what the hell. Even as deeply flawed as it is it deserves a point. OK, two points.

Honorable mentions:

Amazing Cultivation Simulator - which I have not really played enough to be sure if it deserves a place here, but it is truly a quite distinct experience. I would probably never have played it if I didn’t get it as a gift, but I am glad a friend put it on my radar.

18Chesapeake. It might be the new definitive go-to-game to show people the basic elements of 18XX-games. However, like a friend stated so well: “But why show people those elements, when the game has none of the interesting elements that makes us like the other 18XX-games you have?”

Stellaris: Federations - adds a lot to my favorite Sci-Fi Soap Opera Generator. I am probably Playing It Wrong™ since I mainly just boot it up every now and then to generate a space empire and explore the galaxy while looking for anomalies I haven’t seen yet.

Among Us: Finally people can experience an element of what makes Battlestar Galactica: The Qt3 Forum Game so good. But as I’ve played it on PC, I can’t get myself to put it on my main list. Also, I spent my cognitive dissonance budget putting Factorio on my list.

Dishonorable mentions:
Goodhood. Really, Abbey Games? I can’t believe I let you captain the riverboat in that dream I had.

97

Looks like I have to buy Hades :)

Well, as usual for me, I mostly play older games (300+ hrs in Rimworld, Outer Wilds, and Slay the Spire this year) but I did fit in some new ones.

  1. Phoenix Point - Year One Edition (Steam) I waited for this to finish baking and come out on Steam, looks like a good choice
  2. XCOM: Chimera Squad - just what I needed at that point in the year.
  3. Cyberpunk 2077 - I played some hours, but put it down for now. Waiting for it to finish.
  4. Hardspace: Shipbreaker - like the meta more than the game, but it was played some!
98

  1. Spelunky 2 - Ultimately, I can’t get enough of this one and that’s why it’s now number 1 on my list. I can jump into this at a moment’s notice, and often get a lot of fun out of it every run, even over 200 hours later. The fact my son and I can play this while he’s at college together is a huge bonus, as well. I have a feeling it’s a game I’ll play on and off for years to come.

  2. The Last of Us 2 - I’m normally more of a “gameplay over story” guy, but every now and then a story and a cast of characters takes me on a ride I can’t wait to see more of, and I play those games obsessively until I see the credits wrap. TLoU2 is one such game - but I also dug the gameplay considerably, at the same time. Everything about this is an excellent evolution of the mechanics from the first game - the crafting, stealth, player progression mechanics, even the in-game “don’t sweat it” options that could reduce difficulty in many different ways, not to mention the accessibility options for disabled gamers, really put it miles ahead of most games released last year. An incredible classic I’m destined to fall in love with all over again a year or so from now when I replay it. I’m already looking forward to that!

  3. Final Fantasy VII Remake - The fact this is even a game I played and not something I hated from a distance is kind of a miracle, but the demo really sold me on the action, the visuals being top notch didn’t hurt any, and this game features what I would say is the best musical track of any game in 2020. The story was so fun, with nods to the original but in many ways it’s own unique take to make things really compelling (unless I’m just totally forgetting the original tale, which is possible - I was a kid barely out of college when I first played this). I am beyond excited for the next part of this.

  4. Ori and the Will of the Wisps - I guess what you can take away from my list is I’m a huge fan of iteration improving games for their sequels, and Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a sterling example of that. Once again, an improvement on an already excellent game serves to keep me glued to the screen until the credits rolled - and unlike the first game, this one has a few options to help ease players not super hardcore about their platformers while at the same time tightening up the controls and mechanics to make those options completely unnecessary. I loved this one so much.

  5. Monster Train - The most unique game on my list of 2020, and one that I would have probably skipped except for the Qt3 thread (I’d love to have a way to find out how many games I played and ended up just loving all thanks to a thread here - it’s got to be at least a dozen per year) given the dumb sounding title and the dumb looking screenshots (of course, I am wrong about that on both counts, but I can imagine it would have been my first reaction if I’d just seen it on the Steam store page before reading about it here). From the games flow to how it can be as fun and casual as you want, to the game’s mechanics and method for rewards and progression, I find this to be an even more charming and exciting game than Hades (which, to be fair, would have been on this list but I have almost all my many, many hours with that game tied up from 2019, and barely touched it once it dropped this year out of early access).

The Early Access games of 2020 are my honorable mention - man, 2021 could be an amazing year for gaming, as I played a lot of excellent RPGs from Baldur’s Gate III and Solasta to Gordian Quest and Griftlands in early access this year. And the Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous Alpha! Man, that’s all just off the top of my head. There are some amazing Early Access games I both played and put on my wishlist (has anyone checked out Wildermyth or Stoneshard?!) so I am eager to see how many of these make their 2021 estimated dates.

99
  1. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
  2. Wasteland 3

The only two 2020 releases I played, I think. Animal Crossing in at #1 not because the pandemic gave it legs with me, or filled in a lot of home time (I was actually much busier with work, not less), but because it was a game that left a lasting impression, and I still play (although less so these days). And I was only invited to play because my significant other wanted company on her island.

Wasteland 3 in there sort of by default. Lots of fun, but I’m not sure it’s goty material; it’s losing it’s replay value as I go through my second run.

I’m sure there are a load of games I’ll play in the coming years released in 2020 that I’ll feel would warrant a place on this list, but backlogs make new releases less and less likely to be played right away.

100
  1. Hades

There is not much more that I can say about this game that others on the thread have not said better. Hades would place on a top 10 games I have ever played list, which is not true of any of the others I played this year.

  1. Yakuza: Like a Dragon

I finally understand what all the fuss is about with the Yakuza games. Aside from the main game (which I enjoyed immensely), the silly substories and minigames were worth the price of admission. I enjoyed having a rather traditional JRPG translated to the modern era. I thought the story was well written and compelling (and occasionally extremely goofy). If you play the Dragon Quest games, it is worth playing for the many Dragon Quest references alone.

  1. XCOM: Chimera Squad

A lot of people were down on this game, but I thought it was just the right size for what I needed this year. The breach mechanic was excellent, and the game lent itself to playing in bite-sized chunks, which is important when a pandemic hits and work gets busy and childcare gets complicated. I enjoy the larger scope XCOM games as well, but this was a nice diversion, and I hope it is not completely abandoned by Firaxis going forward.

  1. Cyberpunk 2077

Yeah, it has some bugs. I didn’t see most of them on my PC, but I know plenty of people are having problems. I thought Cyberpunk had some heart though. The main story was kind of a mess, but the larger side quests were great, and I found myself caring about the friends I made along the way. Judy Alvarez 4ever.

  1. Radio General

This is a much smaller game than the above, but something that is genuinely worth checking out if you have an interest in the Second World War or war games generally. The premise is that you are back at headquarters, issuing orders to your companies via radio. You have to take their communications and plot out where the enemy is (and where your soldiers are), and maneuver them to their objectives. I would say it was a unique experience, except that there is another game developed at a similar time by a different team, Radio Commander, that covers similar ground but set in Vietnam. I can’t speak to that one, but Radio Commander was well constructed and evocative. Just $9.99 in the Steam sale right now, which is a bargain.

Honorable Mention: Per Aspera, Monster Train, Star Wars Squadrons, Old World (Early Access)

101
  1. Wastelands 3
  2. Hades
  3. Apex Legends Seasons 5-7 - Apex helped me keep in touch with my friends get keep my sanity when I thought I was going crazy cooped up at home all day.
  4. Destiny 2 : Beyond Light - I took the latest expansion as a reason to try Destiny 2 for the first time with some friends and we’ve been having a blast, warts and all included.
  5. Monster Train

In a typical year my game time would have been dominated by single-player strategy games & RPGs, but I found myself attracted to games with a more social elements in 2020 for obvious reasons.

102

Can you please bold the titles but not the numbers? Thanks

103

I don’t think I really played any 2020 games this year.