In 2020, I beat more Games Than I Ever Have Before (Best & Worst of 2020 list)
In 2020 my New Year’s Resolution was to beat at least 30 games, crushing my total of 25 from last year (Article Here), and I did it! I actually beat over 30 games this year, which shouldn’t have been hard, given how much more time we had to spend inside, but doesn’t mean it helped me focus. I spent most of my year sucked into Overwatch and Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms. Both are endless, but at least Idle Champions has a story and an ending, so I had an endgame, but that didn’t stop me from putting over 2500 hours into it. I’ve clocked over 300 hours into Overwatch, and somehow still suck, only getting a single plat rank after all my seasons. These two titles were my great loves for the year, but they didn’t exactly love me back.
Because these took up so much of the year, you can see from list below how much I blitzed through much shorter games to hit my goal. So if you are looking for shorter experiences, I’ve got a bunch. It may seem like cheating, but I did finish each of their story modes, so I am going to count it. The Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle helped in a big way, seven games that only took about an hour to beat each. Went through the entire thing in one day, and it was glorious.
But enough waffling, this if what I finished, rated, and what I considered the best and worst of the bunch.
Games I have beaten in 2020
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Switch) – 8/10
- Katamari Damacy Reroll – 8/10
- A Hat in Time – 7/10
- Samurai Shodown – 7/10
- Sniper Elite III – 8/10
- Donkey Kong 3 – 7/10
- Donkey Kong Jr. – 7/10
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 8/10
- Raging Justice – 6/10
- Hades – 9.5/10
- SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech – 8/10
- Sayonara Wild Hearts – 9/10
- Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms – 8/10
- A Short Hike – 8/10
- Saturday Morning RPG – 7/10
- Final Fight – 6/10
- Battle Circuit – 6/10
- The King of Dragons – 7/10
- Captain Commando – 7/10
- Knights of the Round – 6/10
- Warriors of Fate – 6/10
- Armored Warriors – 9/10
- Storm Boy – 5/10
- Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – 8/10
- Super Black Jack Battle 2 Turbo – 6/10
- Abzu – 7/10
- Lazy Galaxy: Rebel Story – 6/10
- Florence – 8/10
- Refunct – 5/10
- Duke of Defense – 7/10
- Burly Men at Sea – 5/10
Best Game I Beat This Year:
How could it not be Hades? Clever game design, fantastic character art and a contender for one of the best gaming soundtracks ever all in one game. I have always loved mythology, so I love the super geeky attention to detail to get it right. The gameplay loop is genius and the most perfect roguelike I have ever played. This is one of those titles that will go down in history as a classic, so it had to be here.
Worst Game:
Score-wise it is a three-way tie between Refunct, Storm Boy and Burly Men At Sea. Refunct is that low because it is just a first-person platformer with very little to it. It felt like a really polished first game out of or during college. I did enjoy the less than an hour of time I put into it, but it was very limited, short and super unimaginative. Burly Men At Sea & Storm Boy were just not made for me. They’re basically children’s books turned into games and I just didn’t find their storytelling or gameplay elements very charming. They were fine but not very engaging. Instead of leaving me with a whimsical feeling like Florence, which is similar in that it’s essentially a graphic novel romance into video game form, so evoked in the player, that this in comparison left me indifferent. Again, these games were not made for me, really. I’m sure a younger audience would have a better time.
So the moral of this resolution is that it’s not about how many games you beat, it’s more about the quality. I know that sounds sappy and simple, but it’s true. I beat a lot of games last year, but for now, I am going to be more selective about the ones I finish and really get some quality out of my time instead of turning it into a chore. I enjoyed the tour through gaming history this year, thanks to the brief arcade games in the compilation, and I gained a greater knowledge of the industry at the time and what it took to make a truly great arcade experience. I don’t regret storming through 31 of these, but I’m going to make sure I focus on substance for 2021.
Last Year’s Article – https://galaxyofgeek.com/2020/01/09/my-new-years-resolution-every-year-is-to-beat-more-games/
The Year Before’s Article – https://galaxyofgeek.com/2018/12/31/my-new-years-resolution-in-2018-was-to-beat-more-games/