The Games That Got Me Through 2020 (Patreon)

I’d like to do more reflecting on the past year, but because of the year it has been, I’m still incredibly drained, like a laptop that won’t seem to start recharging despite plugging it in and checking all the connections. Just sitting here with “Needs Charging” on loop.

But what I can do a bit more easily is shout out some media that helped me get through quarantine and the election cycle. This isn’t really a GOTY list, so I’m going to label each game rather than a ranked list.
 

The Game That Iterated on Slay The Spire Marvelously – Monster Train

Deckbuilders have gotten much more popular in the video game world, and Monster Train is just one of many games that saw the success of Slay the Spire and tried to get in on that action.

The things I liked about Monster Train include the cartoony art, the slight tactical element of the ranks and rows of units controlling order of operations, and the flavor of the various demon factions.


The Game I Played Most Like I Was 14 Again – Final Fantasy VII Remake

FFVII Remake had me hunkered down on my couch with a video game controller and playing video games for hours at a time like no other game has in a long time. I trained myself to play video games in smaller chunks to fit into a schedule of day job + writing, but with FFVII Remake I gave myself the liberty to let it fill up the time, to be a more total escape from the hellscape of the year. I loved the original FFVII, coming to it at a pivotal age (14, see above), and it was such a delight to revisit that world and feel that it had matured and become more complete just as I’d matured since ’97. It’s absolutely still got problems, but the music, gameplay, and characterization combined for a package that greatly exceeded my expectations from the announcement that the game would be remade.
 

The Game That Made 2020 Seem Not Too Bad, TBH – Frostpunk

I’d played Frostpunk before, but I returned to it with my new computer and found it incredibly adept at swallowing up my time in big gulps. Playing Frostpunk was engrossing enough that I left my phone on the desk, didn’t tab away to check twitter. Just hours of staring down the icy doom that threatened my little digital workers.
 

The Tiny Delight – Mini Metro

I fell off of most city builders a long time ago. Something like Frostpunk held my attention with the story modes, but I was surprised to find myself happily zipping along with Mini Metro, where you design the subway/train system for a city and try to keep things moving in order to avoid the fail state of overcrowding. It’s a small, neat game that does exactly what it wants and doesn’t get overly-complicated.
 

The Apotheosis of Action And Serial Storytelling – Hades

I picked up Hades the day it hit early access on the Epic Games Store. I’d loved all of Supergiant Games’ previous offerings (Bastion, Transistor, and Pyre) and really enjoyed it even then. I picked it up a bit later during Early Access, and then put a ton more time into the game once it hit 1.0. I’d already found the slow-drip storytelling married to the roguelike (technically Roguelite, yes. Don’t @ me. :P) structure, where no matter what happens during your run, you will be able to make forward progress with mechanics and/or through getting new story beats in the House of Hades or in your next escape attempt. Darren Korb’s music was an absolute delight (as always), and it’s been so great seeing the Supergiant team get so much (earned, imo) praise for this game from games press and an emergent fandom.

 

The Game That Meg and I Played Together – Overcooked 2

Meg and I have played Overcooked games together off and on for a couple of years now, but when Meg found herself at home more with the pandemic, we got way back into playing Overcooked 2. And when our Playstation 4 died, we re-bought the game on Switch so we could keep playing. The game is even more chaotic and imprecise on Switch thanks to some Joy-Con drift and what feels like general difference between the DualTouch and JoyCon controllers. Maybe the most important element is that it’s collaborative. It’s great to set ourselves a challenge we can face together and not be worried if we fail.

 

The Game Meg Loved and I Loved Watching – Bloodborne

I watched a fun Bloodborne lets play on Waypoint, and early in quarantine, Meg picked the game up after having been recommended the game as a gothic horror setting. It proved to be a wonderful escape for her, and I got the fun of experiencing the game through her perspective and progression of learning and mastering a Soulsborne/Soulslike.

 

The Game I Want to Play More With Friends – Destiny 2

I didn’t play much Destiny 2 this year…until Beyond Light came out this fall. Because of my schedule, I end up playing Destiny 2 a lot on my own, grinding the new season’s power levels or trying out each season’s special activity on my own and then failing to line up with friends.

Destiny 2 is an okay game to play solo, and a delight to play with friends. This year, playing friends has meant more than ever, and I want to take advantage of Destiny 2 being in a pretty good place to enjoy the game more with friends.
 

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I’d love to hear from y’all about the video games you’ve enjoyed this year – new or old, single-player or multi, etc. Did you cuddle up with Animal Crossing, Build your way through the year with Fortnite, or betray your friends lovingly with Among Us?