Game of the Year 2020 - The Last of Us 2 wins - The Bear and Badger

acemuzzy

Handsomeness and bad gaming opinions?

acemuzzy

Nngggg

Tempy

You aren't allowed opinions until you stop getting 5 minutes into 1000 games

acemuzzy

Diminishing returns once you're at 6mins+

regmcfly

Minnesänger wrote:

Minnesänger wrote:

1. Spelunky 2
2. Cloudpunk
3. Hades
4. Persona 5 Royal
5. Fall Guys

Need to reshuffle this perhaps, and also figure out if / where Cyberpunk, Astros Playground and Bugsnax might go.

Cinty and I have such a weird Venn diagram of interests.

I had hades on my list, loved Fall Guys and forgot to put P5R on my list (fffuuu)
I just haven't played his 1-2 yet.

However 13 Sentinels might make a mad dash for my list based on the few hours I've had so far.

SpaceGazelle

Although it's nice to have big game for a new console release, there are so many good games these days it's hard to get too disappointed. A truly great game used to come out maybe once a year. Now it's every month.

Moot_Geeza

Yeah, I've been culling [8]s from my list of ten for a while now, Doom Eternal was the most recent very good game to drop off. It's not even been a particularly strong year overall*, but even the non stand-out years are ridiculous these days.

*Your mileage may vary ofc

yourfavouriteuncle

So I *think* it’s something like this...

1. Kentucky Route Zero.
2. The Last of Us 2.
3. Journey to the Savage Planet.
4. Ori and the will o the wisps.
5. Astros Playroom.

Minnesänger

regmcfly wrote:

Minnesänger wrote:

Minnesänger wrote:

1. Spelunky 2
2. Cloudpunk
3. Hades
4. Persona 5 Royal
5. Fall Guys

Need to reshuffle this perhaps, and also figure out if / where Cyberpunk, Astros Playground and Bugsnax might go.

Cinty and I have such a weird Venn diagram of interests.

I had hades on my list, loved Fall Guys and forgot to put P5R on my list (fffuuu)
I just haven't played his 1-2 yet.

However 13 Sentinels might make a mad dash for my list based on the few hours I've had so far.

13 sentinels is on the list to play. Love me some vanillaware.

mistercrayon

regmcfly wrote:

However 13 Sentinels might make a mad dash for my list based on the few hours I've had so far.

Has it started to bite yet for you?

I’ve got a little bit in and it’s kind of interesting but the large number of similar looking people so fast and a lot of interweaving mystery I’m finding it hard to engage with it. It’s a little bit impenetrable.

I got to I think the fourth prologue.

Spoiler:

Syph79

Here’s my list for the year:

Last of Us: Part II
Demon’s Souls
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Fall Guys
Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Death Stranding would have featured highly, but came out in 2019. Honourable mention to Paper Mario, Pikmin 3 Deluxe, and 52 Worldwide Games.

regmcfly

mistercrayon wrote:

regmcfly wrote:

However 13 Sentinels might make a mad dash for my list based on the few hours I've had so far.

Has it started to bite yet for you?

I’ve got a little bit in and it’s kind of interesting but the large number of similar looking people so fast and a lot of interweaving mystery I’m finding it hard to engage with it. It’s a little bit impenetrable.

I got to I think the fourth prologue.

Spoiler:

where it thinks it’s in ET

I've just finished that one. I'm trying to get names right as much as possible

pantyfire

To absolutely nobodies astonishment, who frequent the Quest thread, my game of the year is Pistol Whip.

I’ve not played much this year but the Quest has been a genuine (and almost literal) light in the darkness.

I’ve not played a game that has had you moving and feeling like a genuine bad ass like this does ever.
I look like a complete and utter prick but that’s besides the point.

And getting all poncey the synesthesia between music and action can, if you just take your time, be fantastic.

I’d write a potted synopsis but as it needs dedicated hardware to play I’m not going to persuade anyone to ‘give it a go’, so I can’t be arsed.

Moot_Geeza

Would love to play that.

Yossarian

Pistol Whip is aces. That probably deserves some of my points.

Moot, you can come over to mine and try it if such an activity is ever legal again.

bad_hair_day

pantyfire wrote:

I’ve not played much this year but the Quest has been a genuine (and almost literal) light in the darkness.

Surprisingly not more adopters here for this reason. Literally transports the gamer to places we could only dream of as a child for the price of a Switch.

pantyfire wrote:

I’d write a potted synopsis but as it needs dedicated hardware to play I’m not going to persuade anyone to ‘give it a go’, so I can’t be arsed.

I refer the reader to my previous comment

SpaceGazelle

Superhot is better.

Moot_Geeza

Yossarian wrote:

Pistol Whip is aces. That probably deserves some of my points. Moot, you can come over to mine and try it if such an activity is ever legal again.

Cheers, I'll bring some expensive spirits for mixing.

AndCallMeCharlie

SpaceGazelle wrote:

Superhot is better.

Yup

JMW

bad_hair_day wrote:

pantyfire wrote:

I’ve not played much this year but the Quest has been a genuine (and almost literal) light in the darkness.

Surprisingly not more adopters here for this reason. Literally transports the gamer to places we could only dream of as a child for the price of a Switch.

pantyfire wrote:

I’d write a potted synopsis but as it needs dedicated hardware to play I’m not going to persuade anyone to ‘give it a go’, so I can’t be arsed.

I refer the reader to my previous comment

The Quest is great, I’m glad I have one, it is a real ‘wow’ experience - good for about half an hour. The most common gaming I do is with a mate of mine, for about 3 hours a time. There is no way I’m wearing that headset for 3 hours, even if the battery did last that long. That’s the problem with the Quest, and VR in general for myself and I expect most people on here. And that’s not going to change for years.

SpaceGazelle

You can wear the Index all day. Low persistence panels, very high hz, large fov, good quality off ear sound, comfy af.

bad_hair_day

With a little counterbalance the Quests are much comfier, but I hear you JMW - we've all got our thresholds! Only felt like holding a 6 inch screen playing MK for half an hour before fatigue set in. Can't think of a game I'd rather play on the Switch than a Quest for 30 mins though, 'Thumper' for example.

Edit: Quoting another legend

Dark Soldier wrote:

Bought Thumper VR with some Christmas cash.

Its the experience I've wanted all my life. God damn.

SpaceGazelle

As well as physical discomfort one of the big issues is fov. Once the fov is full and it's combined with better AR solutions things should improve quickly. By the time the Quest 5 or whatever it is rolls round it won't be so much of a problem.

The main barrier has always been the cost and now FB have masively lowered the entry price the next thing to focus on will be comfort. Higher Hz and bigger fov makes a huge difference imo. I couldn't wait to rip my OG Vive off my face but those days are already gone.

MattyJ

Seeing a lot of places put up their top games of 2020 and what I'm finding interesting this year is there are way more 'indie' titles up there than AAA titles. As someone who rarely dips into that space, is this where you see gaming going? In previous years you'd have Doom, maybe Assassins Creed, probably Cyberpunk if it wasn't a hot mess.

It's essentially like film I guess, award shows aren't giving best picture to the blockbuster titles, usually smaller films.

regmcfly

I think it's analogous to cinema in that blockbusters in both mediums have become increasingly homogenous- open world action adventure games with a sprinkling of stealth, gunplay and RPG lite mechanics are the Marvel movies of the gaming world.

For many of these critics who are consuming all of these big games it likely becomes very samey, so you're seeing people look for games offering different experiences. I'm not sure I think the term 'indie' is quite where we are these days however.

That being said, I've seen Animal Crossing and Half Life Alyx both get GOTY awards from well kenned establishments, neither of which would quite ascribe to the theory.

SpaceGazelle

Fuck me you're missing out Matty. What do you play on?

Yossarian

Outside of Hades it doesn’t feel like there’s been that much of a push towards indies to me. Kentucky Route Zero is getting a few mentions, Ori 2 getting a couple, Streets of Rage 4 maybe, but for the most part, it seems to me that you could have guessed the majority of the winners this year in January. Well, apart from the Cyberpunk debacle.

SpaceGazelle

Indies have never better. A lot depends on what platform you're on.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-12-30-2020s-best-games-gave-me-the-quiet-magic-i-was-seeking

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-12-27-having-a-proper-heart-to-heart-with-2020s-best-games

And props to Nintendo for finally getting their indie act on with the Switch.

Moot_Geeza

Amusing myself by reading Reg's post in the brain hormone gremlin voice. Good stuff.

Minnesänger

SpaceGazelle wrote:

Indies have never better.

I mean, yes and no.

Indies certainly getting more props in the spotlight, but indie devs themselves are also far less likely to make money on their games than before. The indie market is absolutely flooded and it’s brutal right now. The average income for indie devs has actually gone down, not up.

The switch shop also is a pain in the arse for indies - yes ninty are doing good work in some ways, but their (lack of) game organisation also means that games that do stupid sales to move up the charts (down to 18p) get visibility while high quality devs that don’t want to devalue their work are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Changes in China - and the forthcoming changes to Steam - are terrifying indie publishers.

Conferences such as GDC are seeing their prices go up and up, excluding all but AA-sized indies. Game discovery channels on Twitter and discord are saturated with other devs and not players.

The indie scene right now is fucking horrific, even if it looks like Indies are “in”.

Howdy, Stranger!

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