My Favorite Games Of The Pandemic year 2020

The pandemic year 2020 was a real sonofabitch — we’ve been over this. However, for gamers, 2020 had its share of blessings. For one, we ushered in a new console generation and that’s something that’s always exciting and special — we only have so many console launches in our lifetimes. I’ve grown up with gaming, from the Atari to the Playstation 5 and everything in between. In the past, I’ve told funny stories about how my father thought the Super Nintendo was a scam by Nintendo and refused to buy it for us, instead purchasing a Sega Genesis — different company, different name, checks out. Throughout my decades of gaming, I’ve always found the fanboy drawn battle lines, amusing if not downright obnoxious. It’s only gotten worse in recent years and I’ve been an owner of both Sony’s machines and Microsoft’s machines. Right now, it’s only the PS5 for me because the Series X doesn’t have any exclusive offerings worth plopping down an extra $500 to secure. I’m sure, in a year or two, things will be different but for now, I guess, I’m a Sony pony.

All that aside, 2020 still dished some awesome gaming experiences, including a contender for the greatest of this past generation, if not all-time. I’ll start with a few of the games I didn’t yet get a chance to check out. This is my attempt to quell any outrage for a few games not being included on the list. Maybe nobody would’ve gotten angry but my caution remains. I haven’t yet played Immortals: Fenyx Rising but I do have a ps5 copy ready to go. The same goes for Maneater (next up for me) and Demon’s Souls (next after that). I also never played the Avengers game.

On to my honorable mentions. These games were either released in prior years and I just recently got around to them or not quite good enough for the top ten. Either way, here they are.

LIFE IS STRANGE 2 began long prior to 2020 but didn’t finish its episodic run until early in the year. The story of two Mexican-American brothers on the run from the law, hit me right in the heart. I’m a big fan of DontNod as a studio and vibe with most of what they do. Speaking of DontNod, I also played their gothic horror game, VAMPYR. A little rough around the edges but featuring some cool gameplay ideas, a great setting and tidy story. Fun stuff, especially if you love Dracula as much as I do. Continuing on with games that were released before 2020, I got in some good time with my Nintendo Switch this year. It’s the perfect machine for late night gaming in bed. I played the remastered versions of two 90s rpgs near and dear to my heart: FINAL FANTASY 7 & FINAL FANTASY 8. The Final Fantasy series is probably my favorite gaming series of all-time. The music is provided by Nobuo Uematsu who is my favorite composer of all time. The earlier character designs and art were drawn by Yoshitaka Amani, who is one of my favorite artists of all time. As for how the games hold up, Final Fantasy 7 is better than I remember it. I used to find it slightly overrated but I’ve again changed my mind — wonderful game. Final Fantasy 8, however, doesn’t hold up as well. For years, I was a huge defender of 8 but it’s like an adolescent child — the parts are there but it’s a bit clumsy. Oh yeah, and I played through FINAL FANTASY 12 too — I forgot about that. Twelve features the best combat system ever in a final fantasy game but the story kind of sucks. (I’m about to start a new play through of Final Fantasy 9 pretty soon, so I’ll have more to say about how that one holds up at a later date) Last on the Switch was TALES OF VESPERIA. Fun game, cool art, not much else to say. Moving on and this past summer saw the release of a remastered version of the GHOSTBUSTERS video game. I had a blast playing this again and the fact that they got the original cast members for the voices made it all the more enjoyable.

2020 also saw me dive back into a game from 2019 when Remedy released the FOUNDATION DLC for CONTROL. The game, in 2020, was in much better shape and ran pretty smooth this time around. I love Remedy, so much so that I’m willing to stick it out amidst the bugs and crashing that sometimes plagues their titles. Foundation saw them tie ALAN WAKE and CONTROL into a larger universe and I am down for it all. Onward and another year means another Call of Duty and another Assassin’s Creed. The newest entries are not among their respective series’ best but they’re still decent. I enjoyed the side missions and extra intel in CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS COLD WAR but that title is still a nightmare. The rest of the campaign was a bit ho-hum, especially when compared to 2019’s stellar MODERN WARFARE. As for AC Valhalla, it feels rushed and a bit copy and pasted from Odyssey. There are some serious flaws in the game design but it is fun to get lost in 13th century England. Lastly, we have CYBERPUNK 2077, the game to launch a thousand refunds and lawsuits. Is it good? Yeah, when it works but it rarely works. The game was an absolute nightmare to run, even on my ps5. I’m hoping that once CDProjekt Red gets their shit together and irons everything out, I’ll be able and willing to revisit Night City and have some actual fun this time.

Okay, we’re nearly at one thousand words already so enough chit-chat and let’s get down to business.

2020. Pandemic. Games. Top ten. Now:

10. THE DIVISION 2: WARLORDS OF NY – (ps4) – I know this is technically dlc but whoa baby! This is the best dlc I think I’ve ever played for any game, ever. It’s also massive in size and scope. Returning to New York and finally getting to the business of hunting Aaron Keener made me smile wide as can be. The mission design and boss fights are some of the best of the entire series and the twist at the end of the story has me begging for more. Bravo, Massive. Bravo.

9. KENTUCKY ROUTE ZERO: TV EDITION – (switch) – I never played this as an episodic adventure, instead choosing to wait until the game was completed. This is the completed version and it’s a brilliantly written adventure game about the idiosyncrasies of life and embracing one’s fate and ultimate death. Heavy stuff but just as poignant.

8. SACKBOY: A BIG ADVENTURE – (ps5) – A launch game for the PlayStation 5 and a beauty to boot. Sometimes we just need an adorable platformer to cut through the difficulties of our daily lives and Sackboy provides this in spades. Wonderfully inventive at every turn and a great showcase for the brand new dualsense controller.

7. WATCHDOGS: LEGION – (ps5) – I love this game. It’s just a video game-ass video game. The ability to recruit to your team and play as any person you see is absolutely awesome. Rampaging around a near-future London is breathtaking. The story is less of a focus (WD2 being a high point for the series) but it’s still a serviceable story. There’s one mission in the game dealing with an advanced AI afraid to die that struck me as particularly insightful. Also, the final mission is batshit nuts and a great showcase for the new consoles’ power.

6. ASTRO’S PLAYROOM – (ps5) – Pure joy. Pure fun. The best “tech-demo” ever. All of these are true statements. A blast from start to finish and the first game I played on my brand new ps5. Also the perfect showcase for the dualsense controller.

5. TONY HAWK PRO SKATER 1+2 – (ps4) – A wonderful trip down memory lane. It’s the Tony Hawk games we grew up with and loved but newly remastered and updated for new technology. I’ll be going back to this game over and over and over again in the years to come, even though I now absolutely suck.

4. GHOST OF TSUSHIMA – (ps4) – The music. The art direction. Memorable characters. The combat. Nearly everything about this game is *chef’s kiss* although the story crescendos a little too early and lets down a bit in the third act. Minor quibbles. Suckerpunch gave us the best Assassin’s Creed game in history with this one. Marvelous.

3. FINAL FANTASY 7: REMAKE – (ps4) – This is the reason I went back and replayed the original again. A remake of one of the most influential and adored rpgs of all-time? Bad idea. Crazy idea. But they pulled it off. By diving in deep and blowing the story and characters out as much as possible, Square created something else pretty special. They also made interesting story choices which somehow still respect and incorporate the events of the original. I now like Cloud! Never said that before, lol.

2. SPIDER-MAN MILES MORALES – (ps5) – Perfect game play. Better than the original in terms of story and how they handle the characters. The game could’ve used some more boss fights but that’s a tiny little complaint in an otherwise extraordinary game. I’ve loved Spider-Man since I was a tiny little child. Superheroes weren’t that big with me growing up, I was a bit more strange and into different things like Voltron and Sandman but Spider-Man always spoke to me. He was a nerdy kid who became special but still often used his brain to thwart enemies. I loved that and still do and Miles Morales, between this new game and the recent Spiderverse film, has become my favorite version of the character.

1. THE LAST OF US PART 2 – (ps4) – I’ve already written thousands of words dissecting this beautiful and brilliant game. It is every bit the equal to the first entry and those unfamiliar are in for a shocking treat when the HBO series adaptation hits our eyeballs (hopefully) sooner rather than later. I love Joel but Ellie has stolen my heart in totality. She is one of my favorite characters in any medium, ever. And now I have two new characters to love with Abby and Lev. I truly hope we either get dlc or a new game featuring Abby and Lev. The persistent danger, excellent combat, complete understanding of story, world building, and tone helps to provide one of the best experiences we’ve ever had with a game. The Last of Us has become the gold standard of storytelling in games. Naughty Dog easily crafted 2020’s game of the year and a contender fo game of the generation, if not all-time. An outright classic.

And now, like Porky Pig says: That’s All Folks!

Next week, films. Until then, love each other.

The Very Best Of The PS4 Generation

Seven years is a good run. Not the longest generation of consoles but not the shortest either. I play a lot of games in my downtime — it’s how I relax. I’m forty-one years old and video games have been with me my entire life. We’ve grown up alongside each other. Today, I’m going to break down the best games of this past generation. This generation was the first in a long time that I didn’t also own an xbox console — I didn’t see the point. Sony dominates the first party conversation and Microsoft dropped the ball this time around. I will also not be commenting on Nintendo games, I have a Switch but Nintendo usually deserves their own post because they continue to march to their own beat.

We’ll begin with ten third party games (or in one specific case, series) that I found to be a cut above the rest. CONTROL delivered an incredibly complex sci-fi story wrapped around a third person action/superhero game. Fans of Twin Peaks and the X-Files would be well served by this one. Tons of performance issues but several patches and now new machines have helped this quite a bit. HELLBLADE: SENUA’S SACRIFICE gave us an extremely moving story about mental illness inside of a barbaric action game. Play this one with headphones on as the audio design is some of the best I’ve ever experienced. KENTUCKY ROUTE ZERO TV EDITION was an action adventure title that played as a dreamy metaphor of life and death — of struggle and acceptance. Again, fans of Twin Peaks or David Lynch in general will eat this up. LIFE IS STRANGE has become one of my favorite things ever. Another adventure title with most of its emphasis on story, this entire series pulled every one of my heart strings. The story of two estranged best friends trying to reconnect while solving a series of murders and attempting to alter time to save their town, hooked me. We then got a prequel showing how the murders began and that was pretty great too. The official second season followed two Mexican-American brothers as they fled the police following an extraordinary event ending with the police killing their father. This sort of nuanced story is why I still play games. METAL GEAR SOLID 5 delivered in spades. Kojima’s final effort for Konami before going solo was a wonder to behold. A bit lighter on the typical bonkers Metal gear story but providing us the best gameplay in the series’ history. Metal Gear Solid is my favorite game ever and Kojima is my favorite developer ever. He’s the David Lynch of games — more on him in a bit. RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 is the best game Rockstar has ever made. It started slow, almost too slow for me but by the end, we were given a story that, had it been filmed for television, would’ve swept the Emmy Awards. It still blows my mind that nobody has tried to option this yet. RESIDENT EVIL 2 was remade last year and delivered the best Resident Evil game ever, save for RE4. The new version of the Tyrant is terrifying and awesome all the same. TITANFALL 2 is perhaps the best feeling first person shooter I’ve ever played. Buttery smooth and fluid. Great action and greater fights. WHAT REMAINS OF EDITH FINCH is another adventure title that focused most on story. This time we were given a tragic family history in beautifully rendered little vignettes — like reading a great collection of short stories. WOLFENSTEIN: THE NEW ORDER – The first level of this game sucks, almost to the point that you won’t play further. Mistake. Once BJ wakes up in that hospital, this game delivers insane action, great stealth and surprisingly beautiful writing. I swear, the people who wrote this one had just binged some Cormac McCarthy.

Onto my beloved Playstation.

Five games spoke to me enough to write about while not quite cracking my top ten of this generation. CONCRETE GENIE was whimsical and fun to play. It was full of color and sweet nature while telling a story about bullying and believing in yourself. DETROIT BECOME HUMAN is the best game Quantic Dream has created. A cautionary tale set in the near future that is as much about xenophobia, bigotry and general fucked up-ness in our current society as it is about androids in the future. GHOST OF TSUSHIMA is the most recent release and a stellar one. Full of extravagant art direction, a beautiful score and rock solid third person samurai/stealth gameplay, it delivered everything. UNCHARTED 4 was awesome and supremely polished but also a bit too long. It felt like the end and like nobody working on it really wanted it to actually end. UNTIL DAWN took the teen slasher flick and decided to out Quantic Dream the studio they were attempting to ape. This one arguably should have made my list.

Now, the official first party (and/or PlayStation exclusive) top ten.

10 – DAYS GONE – I was lucky to have waited a few weeks before firing this one up. I understand it was chock full of performance issues at launch but by the time I began my play through, those were largely fixed by several patches. Think Sons of Anarchy mixed with 28 Days Later while playing Syphon Filter. A bit rough around the edges but Sam Witwer gave a phenomenal performance and those horde fights were the stuff of legend.

9 – RATCHET & CLANK – A remake/reimagining of a beloved Playstation staple, this game delivered perfect gameplay, gorgeous visuals and a pretty hilarious story. Play it, you won’t regret it.

8 – UNCHARTED: LOST LEGACY – Where was Chloe in Uncharted 4? She’s right here, lol. This was released after Uncharted 4 and many assumed it was just dlc. No, this was a full fledged game albeit shorter in length than its predecessor. This shorter length really helped keep the narrative focused and thus ended up being the superior entry.

7 – SPIDER-MAN – I have loved Spider-Man since I was a little kid. This is the game I always dreamed I would one day be able to play. The swing mechanics are perfect and the story was pretty great too. (Miles Morales is, for sure, on my 2020 GOTY list)

6 – FINAL FANTASY 7 REMAKE – This one surprised me a bit. Next to Metal Gear, Final Fantasy is my favorite franchise in gaming. Hell, as a franchise, it is my favorite. Seven was never my favorite entry, I really liked it and from a technological standpoint, the leap from six to seven was mind blowing but it somehow kept me at arm’s length. The intense focus this remake shows and its ability to grow the story around Midgar so much provided me with the most joy I’ve felt from this franchise in a long time. I am and always will be a sucker for Final Fantasy.

5 – GOD OF WAR – This game uses a single camera shot through its entire runtime. That previous sentence doesn’t even make sense but it’s also not false. I still think about this aspect of the game and shake my head, laughing. Sony Santa Monica also made me care about Kratos for the first time in the history of this particular franchise. He was so much more nuanced and haggard this time around. The move to Norse mythology helped this franchise as well. A monumental creation.

4 – HORIZON: ZERO DAWN – Fun. Plain and simple. This has to be the most underrated game of this generation. It was overshadowed by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild upon release and that’s a shame. By the way, BOTW happens to be the most overrated game of this past generation. Horizon did nearly every single thing BOTW did and didn’t sacrifice any story to do it. Wonderful game.

3 – BLOODBORNE – I wasn’t a big Souls guy. Bloodborne intrigued me because of its Gothic horror setting. It reminded me of Castlevania. I played it. I hated it. I died a hundred times before even making it to the first boss. Then that boss, The Cleric Beast, whooped my ass another ten times. I hated the game more. Then I beat The Cleric Beast. I thought I understood the game. I fought the next boss, Father Gascoigne. He whopped my ass to a degree that sent me driving, in a rage, to GameStop. I walked in, no words, and threw the game on the counter. I then said, “fuck this game and I don’t care what you give me for it.” The kid smiled and began to laugh but then talked me into keeping the game. He gave me a few tips. I went home and fought Father Gascoigne again and he whooped my ass a few more times. Then I beat him. Then I beat Vicar Amelia at the last second with only a shred of health left. I dropped my controller and howled. I’ve never experienced exhilaration like that. I then proceeded to be the one whooping ass. Fucking Bloodborne, lol.

2 – THE LAST OF US PART 2 – I’ll keep this short because I’ve already written thousands of words on this work of art. It’s easily my 2020 game of the year and it’s one of the greatest ever achievements in this medium. The story is so deep that you can continue, to this day, to mine new and intimate things from it. I love this game with all my heart. It made me weep more than once. Some of you who are unfamiliar with The Last Of Us are not prepared in any way for what will be unleashed by the upcoming HBO series. This is the best of this medium, save for one.

1 – DEATH STRANDING – I told you there’d be more on Hideo Kojima. This is another one I’ve already written about at length. I had a good feeling I would really dig this game because I have always vibed with Kojima’s work. Our brains just sync. I still wasn’t expecting to love this game the way I did. It’s methodical and satisfying in ways I’ve rarely experienced. The performances are extraordinary. Higgs is one of my favorite ever villains. The musical cues are phenomenal. This is pure, unfiltered Kojima and I loved every second. In a time where our leaders are failing and looking to be as awful and divisive as ever, Kojima gives us art whose sole purpose is to bring people together. It is literally about reconnecting the world. The multiplayer aspects are revolutionary. It’s a game that continues to give me hope in this bleak world. It just may be my favorite game ever created.

That’s a wrap on the generation. I’ll probably return to poetry for the near future but at some point in either December or January I’ll begin my best of year lists. Until next week, love each other.