2020 Games-Ranch GOTY

[Twiztid Elf]

Vote like this:

10 points - favorite game of the year - your personal GOTY
9 points - 2nd favorite game of the year
8 points - 3rd favorite game of the year
...so on and so forth...down to
1 point - 10th favorite game of the year

If you don't have ten, just stop where you stop.
If you have Honorable Mentions past 10, fine, list them.
If you want to say stuff about them and why they got your vote, awesome! I like reading that stuff.

Voting closes at 11.59pm on Tuesday 12th January.

[unfnknblvbl]

Oh boy, this is going to get controversial, I can just see it.

10 points: Cyberpunk 2077 - With the obvious caveat that it actually works just fine for me. It plays well and looks gorgeous. If you're an idiot like me and tackle the higher-level side missions before you're appropriately levelled up, it's a brutally rewarding experience. Yes it's full of crazy bugs, and yes it was released too early, and no, it shouldn't have been released on XBox One or Playstation 4 at all. Whatever. None of it is completely game breaking stuff in my experience.

9 Points: Halo MCC on PC. It's Halo MCC. On PC. As it should be. Technically, this just snuck in at the end of 2019... but it was just one chapter of the story at the time

8 points: Ori and the Will of the Wisps - I've barely played it, but I love what I've seen so far

7 points: Resident Evil 3. I loved the remade RE2, and as far as I've played, this just improves on it.


(Dis)honourable Mention: Doom Eternal. It's the first Doom I can't fucking stand. There's messing with a formula, and there's... this


...I've barely played any 2020 releases, as you can see.

[klee123]

Didn't really play much new games this year thanks to retro gaming taking up most of my time, but from what I played this year new games wise....

10 Points: Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition (Switch) - Only played the Wii Version for a short while 10 years ago, but finally played this to completion. Whilst the combat system is not quite as advanced or deep as the sequel, the game's story, characters and how the world is designed are still peerless from an open world rpg perspective to me. Absolutely loved the improvements they made to the in game music and soundtrack, as well as the quality of life changes they've made to the quest system which made it a much more streamlined experience.

9 Points: Ni Oh 2 (PS4) - Loved the combat system and now that I can actually create a character instead of playing a generic protag also makes it a huge plus. It's basically a different flavour of Souls which I find very welcoming.

8 Points: Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4) - Was quite a surprised in how it differentiates itself from the original. That said, pacing is all over the places, but definitely had a damn good time with it. Part II could not come soon enough! Loved seeing all the NPCs in full detail in comparison to the original PS1 game which were basically just blocking blobs, but were not important enough to have a portrait to get an idea on what they look like.

7 Points: Resident Evil 3 Remake (PC) - Was really looking forward to this as I loved the original during the PS1 days. It turned out to be a pretty big disappointment follow up from Resident Evil 2 remake, as the game was basically step down from what make its predecessor special with it's level design and pacing. The end result is just a game which clearly looks like it didn't have enough production budget with the ridiculously short length and just bad linear design which feels like a current AAA cinematic game. That said, still enjoyed the game overall, but it could have been so much better.

[Ambrose Burnside]

10 - Cyberpunk 2077 (PC)

IGN were right to review the console version separately, and to give that version a 4 compared to the PC version's 9.

I honestly haven't experienced the bugs a lot of people talk about. I have a mate who's playing it on PS4 who has the game reset on him 4-5 times in a single session. I've sent him recordings I've taken of me playing it (just holding up my phone to my monitor) and even with that dodgy quality recording he says he hates me because everything about the PC version is better from graphics quality, frame rate, pedestrian and vehicle density on the streets etc etc etc. At one point I told him I thought there were too many pedestrians and I sent him a video of me trying to push my way through the crowds and he couldn't believe what he was seeing. And my PC is 5 years old. It really is a completely different game. I've had one instance where I've had to reload an earlier save (game wouldn't recognise that I'd picked something up, and therefore wouldn't trigger the next part of the mission. Reloading a save file fixed this), I've seen 2 or 3 T-poses, and sometimes the game wouldn't let me pick up loot. This is from about 23 or so hours playtime. It isn't even the buggiest 2020 release I've played, and I feel like I can't mark it down for something I haven't personally experienced.

So, for me, great graphics, a massive and dense world (Night City really is a great environment) excellent voice acting, the story is intriguing, gameplay is great, with a lot of different ways to approach each mission. It's fucking huge. It still feels very unfinished though, and I can't wait to see the improvements that are made over the next 6 months. I'm a sucker of over-ambition and Eurojank, and this has that in spades. Having said that, most of my 2020 list I got for Christmas, so haven't had a chance to play a lot of them enough, so I'm not sure if any of them will displace Cyberpunk.

9 - Doom Eternal (PC)

I prefer 2016 for two reasons. The Marauder just breaks everything that makes the Doom reboots fun. I hate that bastard so much. And the increased focus on story. It's Doom ffs. But outside of those two factors, the game looks great, runs better, and is .... Doom. But in terms of recent-ish FPS games I've played, I prefer Titanfall 2, Far Cry 5, Rage 2 and of course Doom 2016.

8 - AFL Evolution 2 (Xbox One)

These games. These fucking games. I can't help myself. Evo 2 adds some great new modes like Game Day mode (felt bad for the developers when covid killed off their biggest new feature for months on end), and a host of seemingly small changes that actually open up the gameplay quite a bit. For example, from kick-ins after a behind, you can always find a free team mate in a pocket for the short option. Sounds ridiculously minor, but compared to the strict 1-on-1 AI of all previous AFL games, it's a godsend. The move to the Unreal engine instead of persisting with their own bespoke engine was also a smart move. No one else will vote for this and that's fine. Had I played more 2020 releases it wouldn't be this high for me either

These are games I picked up this year but I feel I haven't played enough to rank. Quick thoughts. I'm really enjoying Black Mesa, it's a great remake of the original Half-Life and anyone who enjoys Half-Life should play it. Half Life: Alyx This is what I always thought VR would be. Anyone with a VR headset needs this game. I just struggle to find the time to allow myself to get immersed in VR at the moment. Crash 4 is hard af. But looks and plays great. But the difficulty does put me off. Hades looks amazing too. I've put it aside for now though. I'm not overly familiar with the genre so I feel like I need to give it the time it deserves and at the moment I'm bouncing between a bunch of games. I've played Star Wars Squadrons both normally and in VR, and it's great. A love letter to the old X-Wing game I loved as a kid. Good on EA for having the balls to release it, can't wait to play some more. When I got a Steam gift card for Christmas, Squadrons was the first game I added to my shopping cart. Watch Gods Legion is the buggiest 2020 release I've played. I've had crashes to desktop, and a hard crash where I couldn't even bring up the task manager. Blerg. But when I have been able to play I've loved it. I've only been to London once but I've had a blast seeing the sights I saw while I was there, and I love the theme of the game and the mechanics of play as anyone. Makes it feel like you're part of a real uprising, so the mechanics really do fit the story. I can see myself playing a LOT of Valhalla at the expense of everything else, so I've only played it in short sessions so far. Like Odyssey, it looks and runs great on the One S. I've barely touched Doom 64 (played through the first level haha), which was a freebie bonus for pre-ordering Doom Eternal.

[Candy Arse]

10 points - Hades
9 points - Streets of Rage 4
8 points - FFVII Remake
7 points - Last Of Us 2
6 points - Total War Troy
5 points - Samurai Shodown Neo Geo Collection
4 points - Ghost of Tsushima
0 points - Cyberpunk 2077

[Rorschach]

Another year and again not enough time to play everything I wanted.

Picked up the following games off the top of my head (not including games I played on subs for the moment - that was mainly Flight Sim and Valhalla - both of which had issues):

Cyberpunk 2077
Desperados 3
Streets of Rage 4
Persona 5 Royal
Hades
Crusader Kings 3
Animal Crossing
Xenoblade Chronicles
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2
DOOM Eternal
Master Chief Collection (Steam)
FFVII Remake
Ghost of Tsushima
Persona 4 Golden
Horizon Zero Dwan Complete Edition
Command & Conquer Remastered Collection
Super Mario All Stars
Snow Runner
Master Chief Collection (Steam)

Place holders (or games I actually played):

10 Points - Cyberpunk 2077
9 Points - Snow Runner
8 Points - Animal Crossing
7 Points - Ghost of Tsushima
6 Points - Hades
5 Points - Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition
4 Points - Command & Conquer Remastered Collection
3 Points - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2

[flipswitch]

Placeholder list until I can sort it out -

Hades
FFVII Remake
Streets of Rage 4
Samurai Shodown Neo Geo Collection
Ghost of Tsushima
Total War Troy

No TLOU Part 2?

I know we both finished it and felt the game went too long, they really could’ve ended the game much earlier on

Spoiler!

Abby gets revenge on Ellie at the theatre

would’ve have made a better game, so I can understand not putting it in your list.

[Twiztid Elf]

10 points - Ghost of Tsushima
9 points - Final Fantasy 7 Remake
8 points - Cyberpunk 2077
7 points - Mr Driller DrillLand
6 points - Astro's Playroom
5 points - Super Mario 3D All-Stars

[Candy Arse]

Placeholder list until I can sort it out -

Hades
FFVII Remake
Streets of Rage 4
Samurai Shodown Neo Geo Collection
Ghost of Tsushima
Total War Troy

No TLOU Part 2?

I know we both finished it and felt the game went too long, they really could’ve ended the game much earlier on

Spoiler!

Abby gets revenge on Ellie at the theatre

would’ve have made a better game, so I can understand not putting it in your list.

I somehow forgot it! Fixed.

[Peppermint Lounge]

Will give this some thought. 2020 games I've played:

Halo MCC
Destiny 2 Beyond Light
Death Stranding (PC Gamer's outright 2020 GOTY, btw)
Cyberpunk 2077
Observer System Redux

Bit of a poor showing from someone with a Gamepass sub. I have Haven installed ready to go but it's been all CP77 this past month.

[emptyvessel]

Insert obligatory caveat about playing bugger all games this year...

10 points: Animal Crossing New Horizons (Switch). Never played an Animal Crossing game before and wasn’t interested until I found myself stuck at home due to COVID. 200-odd hours played later the will to play has disappeared, but my god it was the perfect game to keep me entertained through a boring year.

9 points: Hades (Switch) . Again, didn’t bother buying it because I was lukewarm on the genre and although I have most the Supergiant games, I didn’t get grabbed by any of them. Finally got convinced and loved it, especially the setting and the feeling of inevitable progress that is missing from most roguelikes and pisses me off no end.

8 points: Cyberpunk 2077 (PC). My PC is very under specced for this, and I haven’t had as much playtime with this as others, but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve played of it a lot.

7 points: Tony Hawks Pro Skater 1 + 2 (PS4). Pure nostalgia trip for a short but intensive period. Aeons ago I acquired a Dreamcast and a truckload of games and spent Uni holidays mostly playing THPS2, and this brought back those times magnificently.

6 points: Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Switch). Beautiful platforming action and a marked improvement on the original game. Unfortunately suffered for playtime in terms of the other games on this list.

5 points: Super Mario 3D All Stars (Switch). Two absolute classics and one very good game in one package, and all of them are 3D Mario games. Surely I’d adore this one, right? Unfortunately the gloss on these games has rubbed off a bit for me, and while still objectively good games, the fact that there’s no quality of life or graphical improvements beyond the bare minimum really put me off playing through them again properly.

[Twiztid Elf]

Bump.
Just returned from the wilderness where I didn't have mobile coverage, internet, or even TV, and it was fucking glorious to be a long, long way away from all the stupid.
Anyhow, just a few days left for GOTY.

Come on folks! Get your votes in!

[Peppermint Lounge]

Work in progress. Will post soon.

[guttermouth]

10 - Cyberpunk 2077
09 - Doom
08 - Ghost of Tsushima
07 - Destiny 2 Beyond Light
06 - Neon Abyss
05 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2
04 - Assassin's Creed Valhalla
03 - Ori Will of the Wisps
02 - Fall Guys
01- Hot Shot Racing

Games that i played the shit out of, but where released before 2020

Resident Evil 2 Remake - Playing through this now so damn good. Playing 2nd character play through now
A Plague Tale: Innocence - Holy shit this game was amazing, could of been top 3 if released this year. Gamepass is so fucken great other wise i would never of played this game.
No Mans Sky - So much content in this game now, guess its a complete now
My Friend Pedro - Another Gamepass game.
Dead Cells - Again cause of Gamepass
Fallout 76 - Another game that has been updated.

Honorable Mentions ....

Lonely Mountain Downhill
Streets Of Rage 4
Battletoads, so much fun playing with 2 mates.
Demons Tilt Pinball
Carrion

[Peppermint Lounge]

10 - Cyberpunk 2077
Not an endorsement of CDPR releasing an unfinished game.  It's been an at times unpolished but overall very stable game for me on PC.  Creatively I love it.  Amazing and immersive action RPG.  It's the best first person persepctive game I've played.  I love it when first person games include your actual body and CP77 goes to great lengths to do that.  Quests are varied and I enjoy how they appear and reappear via phone calls, text messages or when passing through an area.  CDPR are known for 'mature' themes and while Witcher 3 is among my best ever the MA15+ T&A comes off as more 80s teen sex movie than mature.  CP77 mature themes work better for me most times thanks to them being heavily satirical and comically outrageous.  Romances so far are far less cringe than Witcher 3.  Sounds good but is it fun to play?  I'm playing a handgun combat build with some stealth capability and am having a ball after 90-odd hours with plenty left to go.

9 - Death Stranding
It's not a walking simulator.  More a traversal simulator with a tonne of excellent TPS action gameplay and large scale boss fights.  It's a game that isn't afraid of long silences.  The cinema equivalent is probably Cloud Atlas - an indie film with an enormous budget, Hollywood cast, tells a thematically dense story in a haphazard way and is polarising.  I wasn't as invested in the story as I was in the journey.  Traversing terrain, weather and cargo with an amazing accompanying Icelandic soundtrack chiming in at just the right moments kept me engaged for my hundred or so hours.  I'll log back in soon to check out the Cyberpunk crossover update.

8 - Destiny 2 Beyond Light
Single player here.  It's way more substantial than Shadowkeep which it needed to be.  New dark abilities look and feel good.  I've dropped out of D2 since CP77 launched so I'm not able to gauge if the content taken out of the game through sunsetting destinations and items affects my overall experience.  On its own Beyond Light is very good.

7 - Observer System Redux
Glad I waited for this version to finally try it out.  It's my first real shot at a Bloober walking sim horror game.  Rutger's script is bigger than I thought.  He talks a lot and performs well.  Add high production sound, visuals & art and it's an above average experience.

6 - MS Flight Simulator 2020
A chill game.  A testament to the scale and capability of modern games.  The fully realised aircraft cockpits and accurate world maps look amazing.  A PC exclusive powerhouse that exceeds the capabilities of the best hardware available at the time of release.

5 - Halo MCC
Halo Infinite can't buy a good headline and Halo MCC was rough on launch but its 2020 releases are awesome.

[Hercy]

Looks like Cyberpunk has this in the bag, but I'll throw some votes its way anyway because it's the best open-world RPG I've played since probably Fallout 3.

10 - Cyberpunk 2077: Yes, it has a lot of janky bugs but for me they weren't anywhere near game-breaking or even annoying. If anything they were light comic relief: NPCs pouring drinks from an invisible bottle, cigarettes staying in place in mid-air after an NPC walks away, cars ascending into the heavens, etc. I only had one hard crash to the dash, playing on a Series X. And no bugs that interfered with me completing a quest. My total play time was 80 hours according to the save game, although you can add a bit to that for the deaths & reloads. I will revisit it once the Series X enhanced patch is released, and go from my current level 41 up to the level cap of 50, as I'm nowhere near finishing the side gigs. It wouldn't surprise me if there's some DLC quests available by then as well.

I thought that the perks system was well done. I always felt like there were more perks available than what I could afford, so trade-offs and prioritisation were necessary. There's rewards for switching up your play style as well (in the form of getting perk points for levelling up each individual skill) so it encourages you to explore all the game's mechanics.

The loot mechanics was probably the most annoying part of the game. After every 2 or 3 firefights I had to spend a minute or two in my inventory trashing all the loot I didn't want. But that's kind of par for the course in modern games that have a crafting system and therefore require you to pick up endless amounts of materials to supply the crafting.


9 - Call Of Duty: Warzone - I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone put this on their list. I haven't played a COD since Black Ops, and with Warzone being free it was a perfect opportunity to get back to COD. The map was great and had a lot of variety and they were often adding bits like additional building interiors and underground elements.


8 - Minecraft Dungeons - I wouldn't have played it if it weren't free on GamePass, but it's a pretty good, pretty fun Gauntlet-like game. Good for co-op, otherwise probably a bit boring.



Then there were lots of games that I played because they hit GamePass in 2020, even though they were released in previous years. I spent a bit of time with and enjoyed The Long Dark, Mudrunner, Resident Evil 7, Overcooked 2, and Deliver Us The Moon.

[t0mby]

10 points - Cyberpunk 2077.

I'm liking it, but can't bring myself to finish it as I don't want it to end. I've already said my thoughts about this many times, has its flaws but I like it, a lot. Enough to create this GOTY post just to mention Cyberpunk so it wins.

/Drops mic

[Twiztid Elf]

Congratulations to Cyberpunk 2077!
Winner of the coveted Games-Ranch Game of the Year Award for 2020.
It wasn't even close. It won by miles. Mix it up!

[Twiztid Elf]

Top seven with vote totals

Cyberpunk 2077 - 86. 9 voters.

Ghost of Tsushima - 29. 4 voters.
Final Fantasy VII Remake - 25. 3 voters.
Hades - 25. 3 voters.
Animal Crossing - 18. 2 voters.
Doom Eternal - 18. 2 voters. *Assuming guttermouths 9 is for Doom Eternal
Ori and the Will of the Wisps - 17. 3 voters.

[Twiztid Elf]

Full results. Thanks to everyone who voted and wrote up commentary.

Cyberpunk 2077 - 86 (10+10+10+8+8+10+10+10+10)

Ghost of Tsushima - 29 (4+7+10+8)
Final Fantasy VII Remake - 25 (8+8+9)
Hades - 25 (10+6+9)
Animal Crossing - 18 (8+10)
Doom Eternal - 18 (9+9) *Assuming guttermouths 9 is for Doom Eternal
Ori and the Will of the Wisps - 17 (8+6+3)
Destiny 2 Beyond Light - 15 (7+8)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 - 15 (3+7+5)
Halo MCC - 14 (9+5)
Resident Evil 3 Remake - 14 (7+7)
Super Mario 3D All-Stars - 10 (5+5)

Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition (10)

Call Of Duty: Warzone (9)
Death Stranding (9)
Nioh2 (9)
Snow Runner (9)
Streets of Rage 4 (9)

AFL Evolution 2 (8)
Minecraft Dungeons (8)
Last Of Us 2 (7)
Mr Driller DrillLand (7)
Observer System Redux (7)
Astro's Playroom (6)
MS Flight Simulator 2020 (6)
Neon Abyss (6)
Total War Troy (6)
Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition (5)
Samurai Showdown Neo Geo Collection (5)
Assassin's Creed Valhalla (4)
Command & Conquer Remastered Collection (4)
Fall Guys (2)
Hot Shot Racing (1)

[Gamma]

Ah crap, I had too much shit going on and missed it. MS Flight Simulator, Beyond Light and Mario 3D All-Stars would have been on my list for sure.

As usual you guys have given me a few titles to look into.

[Ambrose Burnside]

I think my biggest surprise is Valhalla being so low. I didn't vote for it myself as I haven't played enough of it yet.

PC flexing it's muscle as all the Xbox players migrate across.

[t0mby]

I wish I'd played Snow Runner but I can't find a copy anywhere in NZ.

Good work on counting up the votes Elf.

[Peppermint Lounge]

Not that it would've affected the result but I'd have given Warzone some points. I had it pegged as a 2019 game alongside Modern Warfare.

Cheers TE for running another GOTY vote.

[unfnknblvbl]

Agreed, thanks!

Also, look at that substantial turnout for remake/remastered/retro games. It's not as big as I initially thought, but it's still interesting that six of the nominated games really hail from a different time..