2020 might compete in the Most Pivotal Year in History Award, but it had its fair share of surprises. I had the time to attack start to finish several games. I reused the commute time to play. Below is the list that I compiled using the new GOG Galaxy app, that tracks games even from other stores.

The list of movies I’m going to skip this time, since it would not fit into a single post.

Games

1. Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey (9★★★★★★★★★): I loved this game, setting and its protagonist Cassandra
2. Dishonored (9★★★★★★★★★): unique story, gameplay and visuals (1)
3. Hellblade Senua s Sacrifice superb visuals and premise
4. Half-Life 2 (8★★★★★★★★): amazing game, even today (1)
5. Prey (8★★★★★★★★): these guys from Arkane Studios also know how to write and make all characters relevant
6. >Observer_ (8★★★★★★★★): super weird setting that caught my attention
7. Rise of the Tomb Raider (7★★★★★★★): messy story, despite the good gameplay loop
8. Dishonored: Death of the Outsider (7★★★★★★★): while it have the same not the same
9. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (7★★★★★★★): hahaha some over the top jokes
10. Virginia (7★★★★★★★): lovely story
11. A Way Out (7★★★★★★★): I’ve played with my girlfriend, together.
12. Frostpunk (7★★★★★★★): I tend not to like rougelike or crazy-difficult, but this one surprised me
13. Shadow Warrior 2 (7★★★★★★★): hahaha some over the top jokes (again)
14. The Council (ep 1) (7★★★★★★★): amazing premise and the first episode is nice. I heard that the other episodes are not great
15. Tacoma (7★★★★★★★): passive, calm and nice story
16. Ape Out (7★★★★★★★) die and repeat
17. Assassin’s Creed: Origins (6★★★★★★): beautiful but boring and another AC messing story
18. Framed (Collection) (6★★★★★★): interesting premise
19. Metro 2033 (Redux): the amount of DeusExMachina moments is off the charts. the same for best friend companions that dies in the very next scene. (1)
20. The Red Strings Club (6★★★★★★): weird
21. Bioshock Infinite (5★★★★★): I really did not like the story and not the gameplay (1)
22. Realpolitiks (5★★★★★) interesting take on politics and economics simulation
23. Far Cry 5 (5★★★★★) beautiful but boring and another FC forgetting story

Finished in 2018-2020 (before pandemic)

1. Doom (9★★★★★★★★★) (sort of: a bug near the end broke the saved game)
2. Thomas Was Alone (8★★★★★★★★): once I decided to restart and go to the end, I enjoyed so much the humor
3. Gorogoa (7★★★★★★★):
4. Hollow Knight (7★★★★★★★): difficult as hell
5. Quarantine Circular (7★★★★★★★): the same creator of Thomas was Alone. The same humor
6. The Sexy Brutale (7★★★★★★★): great premise
7. The Line (7★★★★★★★): classic whada fuck moment on gaming history
8. The Turing Test (7★★★★★★★)
9. Rime (6★★★★★★): samey
10. Middle-earth: Shadow of War (6★★★★★★): (sort of a bug near the end broke the saved game)
11. The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit (5★★★★★): lack in every aspect from its sister game Life is Strange

Not finished yet (for one reason or another)

1. Gunpoint (8★★★★★★★★)
2. Ori and the Blind Forest (8★★★★★★★★)
3. Rome: Total War (8★★★★★★★★)
4. Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun (8★★★★★★★★)
5. The Quiet Sleep (8★★★★★★★★)
6. Baba Is You (7★★★★★★★)
7. Bad North (7★★★★★★★)
8. GRID 2 (7★★★★★★★)
9. Offworld Trading Company (7★★★★★★★) (campaign)
10. Subnautica (7★★★★★★★)
11. Superhot Mind Control Delete (7★★★★★★★)
12. Everspace (6★★★★★★)
13. Sunless Sea (6★★★★★★)
14. FAR: Lone Sails (5★★★★★)
15. The Pillars of the Earth
16. Hand of Fate 2
17. Kentucky Route Zero
18. Detection
19. Else Heart Break

Continuous playing

1. Scythe (9★★★★★★★★★): the award-winning board game
2. Ticket to Ride (9★★★★★★★★★): played online with family and friends
3. Democracy 3 (8★★★★★★★★): always in Vogue
4. Imperialism II: The Age of Exploration (8★★★★★★★★)
5. Hidden Folks (7★★★★★★★): success with small kids and non-gamers alike
6. Offworld Trading Company (7★★★★★★★)
7. Stellaris (7★★★★★★★)
8. Surviving Mars (7★★★★★★★)

In preparation of the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077!!!

In the same vain of critically acclaimed Limbo and Inside (review pending :P), from Playdead Games, Little Nightmares, from Tarsier Studios offers a great action puzzle adventure, full of mysteries.

The game, unlike the mentioned ones, are played in a 2.5 world. It’s mostly 2D, but there are some things that require the Z axis. To be quite frank, it is partially one of the problems with the game. More of that later.

The story is a bit clearer than the Playdead games, but it still is a clueless journey. All these games offer a minimalist approach for storytelling. One can argue that it is a valid and logical choice in a situation where you are alone and running away from danger. However, the lack of exposure let the players in the darkness most of the time. You might eventually discover whada heck is going on, but chances are you will play-throughout the game without know much.

In a scale, Inside is mostly undecipherable, Limbo is an understandable (due to the simple boy runs premise) and Little Nightmares might have the most clear story.

The giant grotesque figures are super creepy, but after some deaths, they do not offer the terror that one might except. They fall mostly in the range of stranger than from pure evil that want you dead.

The controls caused me several problems. I was expecting to use the game pad, but the analog joystick was too imprecise, especially during running. I was often falling into the void because I was running towards the camera instead sideways. I had to change to mouse+keyboard scheme, which was weird for such a game. Ironically, the 2.5 feature of the game was not that important. It mostly could be replaced to a tracked walk towards the Z axis, making the game essentially a 2D.

The visuals are amazing. It totally delivers the premise of uncanny familiarity and strangeness. The awkward feeling that you know something is not right is present here. Your character is relatable. Its fragile nature makes the whole adventure more epic.

Because it has a chapter-like story. One could try to replay its best parts to manage to get achievements or contemplate better the scenarios.

Note: I like the game so much that I was compelled to try it’s 3 expansions. Nice.

This small game is a 2D action-horror game.

It all happens in a middle of an alien-like invasion. They transform every human into a zombie like creature. The whole country (maybe the whole world?) is trying to survive. The train system is basically the only transportation system available.

You control a train conductor. You have to guide your train to station after station, performing some missions to save humanity.

It has simple controls, effective story, nice mechanics. You might even run a second time (because it is a quite short adventure) in order to do every possible achievement.

This small shot from the Mexican developer Tequila Works. A platformer, focused mainly on puzzle solving a bit of combat. It happens in the city of Seattle, during a zombie apocalypse. Zombies, platforming and puzzles.

The visuals are great. Very detailed environments and characters. The animations between stages are very well produced. It’s probably the highest point of the game. Since the very first moments I was impressed by it.

The story is bad. Lots of cliché situations and setups. Among the several problems, are:

1. Inefficient mystery: During the whole game, the protagonist have memory flashbacks. They give glimpses of what happen. But never enough to neither clarify what’s going on, nor to increase the tension. It feels that it’s a bunch of disconnected facts about the past.

2. Awful character development: despite your main character, the entire cast of characters is either boring or annoying. Or both. The character from the sewers excels in both categories.

The tension of the gameplay is valid. It’s real. The zombies offer enough challenge. It’s not like the running kind from Left for Dead nor the super slow and easy to avoid from Alone in the Dark

I feel that if Tequila Works invested in a second game, it would be much more refined in the storytelling department. It falls short on its potential.

Yesterday I finally finished Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. Great game! Underappreciated and undersold.

It tells the story of Monkey, a brute man that is really flexible and versatile. Gameplay and game story wise, this character makes much more sense those characters on Assassin’s Creed, parkouring around. He is a humble and simple man, that was captured as a slave. He finds Trip, a beautiful and resourceful girl that faces the same destiny. However, their destiny changes when the transport airplane suffers a problem and crashes. Trip and Money survive. Trip wants to return to her father and see the opportunity to do something really bold: uses a device to enslave Monkey using a special collar. Or he helps her to return to her home, or he dies. If he tries to remove the collar, he dies. If he gets too far from her, he dies.

He wants to live. So he decides to help. So the game starts.

The gameplay is basically a combat and 3D exploration and parkour. In a sense, is a mix of old Mario 64/Lara Croft, with Assassin’s Creed combat. It sometimes requires some puzzle solving, but generally they are very easy. The combat is rudimentary and only require some tactics and button smashing. Bosses are difficult, however. Time to time, the mechanics change to something special, like controlling a gun turret, but 99% of the game is very straightforward. In fact, it is probably my biggest complaint about Enslaved: Odyssey to the West: after while, you will not get anything new to do. It’s just repetition of the same things. This is the reason I played about half of the game, stopped and only returned several months later, with the mission in my head to finish it once and for all. It was surprisingly good, nevertheless.

Oh, there is another thing: every time you die, you are moved back to the last checkpoint to try again. Great. HOWEVER, you are forced to see the cinematic that are often played before the action. Every time. If it is a challenge part, like a boss, I bet you are going nuts for the time wasted. Developers, never (I repeat, never) do this. It is super annoying.

The visuals are a big plus here. Even for an older game (originally released in 2010), the game is still gorgeous. It has personality, flavor. The scenarios are all very pretty as well the characters. Money and Trip show emotions in a level that more modern games still struggle to accomplish. The animations are great and fluid very plastic.

The story is also a great point for the game. It is original, personal and compelling. You will love the couple. The protagonist is likable! What a great feature, so rare! The companion is a bit arrogant, but she is also very likable. Only the third guy, named Pigsy, falls into the typical NPC of boring, arrogant and annoying. Yet he is cool. 3 characters total and the story is still super cool. Great achievement. The ending is a bit of “the architect moment in the Matrix”, trowing a lot of information to give it all a closure, but it is really great and memorable. The main “villain” is also played by Andy Serkis, which plays the main character Monkey, is a big surprise (don’t worry, it is not exactly a spoiler).

Overall it was a great experience. I believe it is a new classic. The same kind as Blade Runner, that was critic acclaimed, but a commercial failure.