You haven’t experienced a story of this magnitude and quality not just in a video game, but in the sci-fi genre as a whole. 13 Sentinels, and Vanillaware as a whole, are video game cultural treasures, no buts about it.
If you want a surprise entry in the action genre, look no further than the fast and frenetic Ghostrunner. Granted, its difficulty curve will frustrate you not unlike a Souls-like game, but once you get to the rhythm and groove of it, you'll ace it and aim for a better run.
And that's all that matters in Foregone: the core loop gameplay. It's just fun. Sure, it needs a bit more meat with its narrative, a slightly higher difficulty curve, and a bit more weapon variation, but the overall package is slick and entertaining.
Pumpkin Jack is a good first effort from a one-man game-designing army. It’s fun for its short length, it offers a bit of variety with its puzzles and challenges, and the platforming & design is solid.
I look forward to seeing more great things from Glass Heart Games, because Vigil: The Longest Night is a lovely first effort from the studio.
Crash Bandicoot 4 is a true return to form. It's essentially the modern version of a 90s 3D platforming genre that still retains its challenge & freshness.
As entertaining timesinks go, Genshin Impact has it made. The game has a ton of potential to grow to become stellar and eye-opening; perhaps even better than its aesthetic sources of inspiration and contemporaries. As of now though, it's settling just fine with a bronze medal as online RPG comfort food.
The Mafia remake makes the original 2002 title obsolete by improving and upgrading everything, which is the whole point. Archaic gameplay, tropes, and controls are refurbished to make the new game and its cast all the better while preserving the core of Tommy’s rise and subsequent fall in the game’s thrilling narrative.
Hades is jam-packed with action, has a cool take on Greek mythology, and features a ton of replayability. I urge you not to sleep on this escapade; it's a helluva good time.
The DLC's expansion on Borderlands' lore and storytelling is arguably noteworthy and shouldn't be dismissed. I'd say it's a chief reason to fork over money for this new addition.
For the rest of you looking for a challenging 2020 game right off the bat and don’t mind investing 20 to 30 hours getting good, dig into BPM: Bullets Per Minute. You won’t regret it.
While Peril on Gorgon isn’t as revelatory & as grand as Obsidian’s Fallout: New Vegas DLC offerings it's still pretty darn good. With just about 6 hours or so worth of quests and stories to unravel and be entertained by, alongside welcome additions to stats and arsenals, this should hopefully inspire the devs to go for broke.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a 30-to-60 hour RPG with a lot of meat & teeth in its gameplay & story for just US$40.
There are shades and traces of a simple yet heartfelt action game buried underneath Marvel's Avengers' corporate-driven money-grubbing muck that clearly needed a few more months of QA and technical fixing. Until its updates and content elevates the base experience and assuming the Day One/Week One patch fixes a LOT of these game's grievances, you'll have to settle for Earth's Mediocre Heroes.
For better or worst, Microsoft Flight Simulator is as deep and as accurate as they come. Asobo Studios has created a lovely-tailored simulation meant for anyone with aspirations to fly planes. But as an actual game that should be accessible since it has a generally appealing premise? I’m still on the fence about it.
No Straight Roads is a culmination of great ideas and good intentions that mostly succeeds. I’ll be up-front: it ain’t perfect and it’s got a little bit of that 3rd party jank. However, its earnest charm & plot, brilliantly unique aesthetics, and innovative music-slash-combat hybrid are too hard to put down and ignore.
If you want a smooth cruise with hand-holding for the first half of the game, this isn’t the place. But for everyone else who long for a late 80s and 90s challenge that’s made somewhat fair and tailored for this generation, Battletoads (2020) is a surprising effort if you think this era’s crop of games aren’t hardcore enough.
Fae Tactics is clearly meant for old-school gamers and even sorta-new turn-based gaming fans who want to experience a 90s style of gaming with a 2020 touch. It’s not a huge reinvention, but it’s an enjoyable diversion.
As it stands, Panzer Paladin is a good tribute that comes with rockin’ music and a lovely dose of 2D action. It needs a bit more work to rise above the many 2D clones, but it still warrants a playthrough or two if you’re curious about this year’s “neo-retro” offerings on PC and the Switch.
This indie title can’t decide if it wants to be a tough-yet-relaxing puzzle game or a momentum-based platformer, and it suffers from such an identity crisis. “A” for effort.