Videogiochi

2020 Gaming Wrap Up – The Good, The Bad, The Backlog

Another year, a difficult one I would add, has almost come to an end. Many things happened, good and bad, but I don’t want to talk about my year during a pandemic in general. I want to focus, since this is a blog about mostly videogames, on my gamer’s perspective of the year.

At the beginning of 2020, I wrote two articles: one was about the videogames I was looking forward to play, the other one was about the ones I did not think I would have played this year.
A funny thing is that Cyberpunk 2077 was on the second list, but I ended up buying it on Day One. On the other hand, from the first list I got Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The latter one ended up being dropped after 26 hours of playing going against my expectations.

I also tried to focus on buying less games than the ones I would finish this year and, while the result is not as good as I hoped, I managed to maintain this promise. However, I did not count the games I obtained through Humble Monthly on the bought ones. I guess that is cheating. Also, I highlighted the games I both bought and finished during 2020.

The videogames I bought this year are:

  1. Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!
  2. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX
  3. Red Dead Redemption 2
  4. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
  5. Overcooked 2
  6. Judgment
  7. Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
  8. For the King
  9. Persona 5 Royal
  10. Tekken 7 (with Man of Medan through an Humble Bundle)
  11. Man of Medan
  12. Hades
  13. Cyberpunk 2077
  14. Ghost of Tsushima

The ones I finished are:

  1. Persona 4 Dancing all Night
  2. Return of the Obra Dinn
  3. Cat Quest
  4. The Legend of Bum-Bo
  5. Quantum Break
  6. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
  7. Marvel’s Spider-Man
  8. Catherine Classic
  9. Fahrenheit Remastered
  10. Detective Gallo
  11. Detroit: Become Human
  12. Spirit of the North
  13. Until Dawn
  14. Fire Emblem: Three Houses
  15. Overcooked 2
  16. Tekken 7

And the ones I definitely dropped are Animal Crossing: New Horizons and The Order: 1886.

My plan for 2021 is to finish even more games and buy less and less of them. That is because I always end up not playing most of the games I buy, and I want to value each purchase.

After the longest intro ever made for an article of my blog, I want to talk about some games that made an impact on my 2020 more than others.

My Safe Purchase – Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!

I Started my 2020 already knowing that I needed to buy Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! because I loved the first two chapters of the series. I decided to buy it when it was made available in early access in January and it was my first purchase of the year.
Throughout the entire year I played it, trying to get a Gold Medal on every level. Actually, I wrote an article with my first impressions of CSD3 and, after all these months, my opinion has not changed one bit.

One thing I regret is that I did not dedicate to CSD3 as much time as I wished to, but I am halfway through the levels and I will definitely finish it soon! Also, I am planning to review it once I will complete it.

The Game That Disappointed Me The Most – Fire Emblem: Three Houses

My most unpopular opinion of all 2020: Fire Emblem: Three Houses was one of the games that disappointed me the most in years of gaming (the last big one being Tomb Raider Underworld). My expectations were really high because I loved Fire Emblem Awakening, but Three Houses was really frustrating during my playthrough because of its low difficulty and the boring story.
I did not write a review about it nor I plan to write one, but here you can find all my thoughts about why I did not like it.

That One Game I Am Keeping On Playing Through The Years – The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+

The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ is my favorite videogame of all time. Since 2014 I kept on playing this game both on Steam and Nintendo Switch, collecting in total 450+ hours. I just love its addictive gameplay and the subly hinted lore about Isaac and his family. Also, the fact that the new expansion Repentance will come out soon is the perfect reason to not stop playing it.

Thinking about all my gaming career, The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ is the only game in my life that I have played for so long. There are for sure many videogames that I replayed many times (like Catherine), but I’ve never spent so much time on a single title.

TBoI Afterbirth+ is a really special game for me, and I will definitely play it even more on 2021!

A Game That Surprised Me – Cyberpunk 2077

I did not think I would have bought Cyberpunk 2077 at launch, but I ended up doing it and I am not regretting a single cent spent.

Of course I have to admit that, even playing on PC, I found many bugs and glitches that were not game breaking, but bothered me a bit. However, Cyberpunk 2077 has offered me a solid gameplay, an interesting story and, for now, 30+ hours of fun.

I hope Cyberpunk 2077 will be the first game I’ll finish in 2021 and that all the issues will be fixed soon so more and more people can enjoy Night City.

A Game That I Recommend To Everyone – Hades

Hades got my attention mid-year when it was still on early access. After it came officially out on Steam and Nintendo Switch I saw one of my dearest friends playing it and finally decided to buy it. For me, Hades is perfection. Because I am both a roguelike and greek mythology fan. And because Supergiant Games did an excellent job.

Not only this is a game that I recommend to everyone, but I think I will play it a lot during 2021!

My Personal Top 3 Videogames of 2020

To my surprise, my personal Top 3 only includes indie games. I played many titles throughout 2020, but only three of them really took a place in my heart.

  • Third place goes to Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!. It is a game that I was expecting very much and that not only managed to meet my expectations, but surpassed them.
  • Second place goes to Return of the Obra Dinn, which captured me since the first minutes I had started playing it. Not only it is a great experience, but also really original and not like any game I have played before or after it.
  • First place goes to Hades. It gave me the same feeling I get while playing TBoI Afterbirth+, and that is something that never happened before!

Backlog Update

To end this article, two words about my backlog. I still have many and many titles to play that I still have not in years.
Most of the games I finished were purchased in digital format. The only ones I have on disc (or cartridge) that I have finished are The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, Marvel’s Spider Man, Detroit: Become Human, Until Dawn and Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

My plan for 2021 is to focus on the retail ones to finally put an order on my shelf (because I highlighted the videogames I still have to finish or even begin by putting them that way), then I will try to dig into my Steam library a bit more!

Some titles I hope to play are:

  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
  • Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
  • God of War
  • Red Dead Redemption 1 & 2

And the videogames I hope to finish are:

  • Cyberpunk 2077
  • Hades
  • Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!
  • Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker
  • Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX
  • Grand Theft Auto V

That’s it for 2020! See you on 2021 with new articles and don’t forget to follow me on Facebook!

Videogiocatrice da sempre, amante dei RPG e con una passione smodata per The Binding of Isaac. Nel tempo libero, oltre ai videogiochi, legge o ricama.