They say that hindsight is twenty-twenty… A year full of plenty of bad around the world introduced me to new challenges and personal milestones. The MonsterVine crew grew to the largest it has ever been! We even ran our first panel at PAX East, which I moderated; A proud moment in time even Kingdom Hearts was the subject matter. The team has also revived our streaming content and cobbled together TWO digital showcases. GenerOZity raised heaps of donations for the horrific Australian bushfires, and then again during PAX Online for cancer research. At Ballmer Peak Distillery we pivoted and pivoted again, changing up our business model making hand sanitizer, bottling cocktails to go, and working tireless months straight to let the business survive. During all of this Ballmer Peak won second place in a USA Today 10Best poll for “Best New Craft Distillery.” I won first-place in a community wide chili cook-off hosted by Old 121 Brewhouse. I moved into a home in Denver with my partner, embraced the smart home lifestyle, and adopted a Foxhound mix. It has been a year full of some of my highest highs among some of the most stressful, and uncertain months of most of our lives. With 2020 finally being in hindsight, I am happy to reflect on the games that stood out to me as I look forward to a strong and successful 2021.
10. Ori And The Will Of The Wisps
A sequel to such a beautiful looking to, Will of the Wisps tweaked gameplay slightly but kept its challenge. It was the first game of the year to really pull me into its world. The incredible art and emotional music kept me pushing through the challenging exploration and combat. I was impressed all over again when I was able to play it on my OLED TV running at 120hz.
Best Moment: When the music swells up as the story hits a pivotal moment.
9. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Eight years between games is a very Nintendo thing to do, especially with their non-mascot featured series like Animal Crossing. New Horizon came at the perfect time for a lot of people, right as the world was going into lockdowns, forcing people to spend more time in their homes. Even though this time meant I was actually working more (than I possibly ever have) my free time was consumed with building out my island town and escaping to a relaxing sense of normality.
Best Moment: When my family learned that my mom had been playing so much she would visit our towns just to drop off as many bells as she could bring. Literally millions.
8. Half-Life Alyx
2020 bought a new Half-Life game, and while it isn’t the Half-Life I was anticipating, it seriously got me to consider buying my own VR setup after playing through its entirety at a friend’s house. In a room-scale environment, this is the most fun I have had with a VR game and the only one that had me wanting to play for hours at a time. Extremely detailed, environmental fun with physics, and an immersive experience, the likes of which I had not previously been exposed to.
Best Moment: Making my way through the distillery and playing with all of the booze bottles.
7. Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise
Deadly Premonition has always been the perfect mix of camp and jank for me. I did not expect that we’d ever get a sequel, especially how some of director Swery’s games have been lost to licensing nightmares (I am looking at you D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die). Deadly Premonition 2 fixes a lot of issues that the first game had as far as gameplay and controls go, but it somehow manages to catch lightning in a bottle again with a fresh, new jank. The light hearted yet serious story-telling mixed with Twin Peaks inspired characters and settings kept me laughing and pushing through to discover what I’d see or hear next.
Best Moment: Skateboarding.
6. Bugsnax
Kind of bug and kind of snack. Pretty self explanatory, and two things that I’ve been known to enjoy. Bugsnax is a charming, light-hearted experience which I was glad to have for one of the first games I played on new consoles. The mysterious setting, combined with the bright charming art styles of the characters and Bugsnax put me in a bit of a happy trance throughout most of the game. The conflict between characters was relatable, and I welcomed it juxtaposed against the colorful world of snack-bug creatures in a game without a fail state. BugSnax had me wanting to catch ‘em all, and catch ‘em again to force feed the entire village until I was able to create horrific snack monsters out of all of them.
Best Moment: Bunger Bunger Bunger Bunger Bunger Bunger Bunger.
5. Demon’s Souls
Sometimes it takes a remake for me to undo the damage of bouncing off of a game, for not fully grasping it at the time. Demon’s Souls when it first came out for PS3 was convoluted and complicated in a way that I just didn’t enjoy, and didn’t have time to discover the reasons I would enjoy it. With this PS5 remake being released, after my love for Bloodborne had been discovered, it really gave me an excuse to give it another try with some more modern luxury in the form of quick load times. I think that’s really what has helped me discover a love for Demon’s Souls on PS5. I can read the note left by another player somewhere else in the world: “Roll here for treasure” and actually try, fail, try again, fail, try once more, and still fail without feeling defeated. When the penalties of death aren’t also bogged down with an extended loading screen, I am motivated to try, die, and try again. It’s how I learn the boundaries of my own experience
Best Moment: Killing any boss on the first attempt.
4. The Last of Us Part II
In a year full of stress, anxiety and pandemic it’s either perfect timing or the absolute worst timing for a game like The Last of Us Part II. For me, it was another perfect timing release. The theme and direction of the story were obvious from the beginning, but the execution of the cinematic scenes, the amazing performance by the voice actors, and the forced switch in perspective made it all about the journey. The expression ‘fight fire with fire’ comes to mind when playing The Last of Us Part II. A stressful, emotionally intense experience set after the events of a global pandemic while I was living a pandemic in my real life. I found it kind of humorous and weirdly comforting. The dark and gritty story was peppered with moments of levity, and full of characters acting impulsively instead of choosing the calculated and responsible choices that I’d like to think that I would make if put in their shoes. I was captivated by the performances and motivated to see every moment. The team over at Naughty Dog continues to be the industry leader in conveying emotion through character animation, and I cannot wait to see what story they share with us next.
Best Moment: Exploring an overgrown Seattle on horseback with Ellie and Dina.
3. Yakuza: Like A Dragon
Games with good slice-of-life elements really resonate with me, and while I am sure the rest of the Yakuza games have been doing this for a while, but Like a Dragon is the first one that has been able to pull me in from the start and keep me going for hours and hours. The level of authentic detail to the world building has almost been enough to keep me from remembering that 2020 was the first year in over 12 years that I hadn’t spent time out of my home country. The vending machines with real world products, the streets, sounds, and architecture of Japan let me revisit the country, even within the world of travel restrictions. Combine that with the goofy yet charming writing and characters of Like a Dragon and you’ve got a recipe for what some might call an “Austin Game.” The change of combat style from previous Yakuza games had me pushing into more combat scenarios to grind for more experience, in a way that fits both my play style and the metanarrative of the game in such beautiful harmony. I guess with how much I enjoyed my time with Like a Dragon I am gonna have to start listening to the rest of the MonsterVine team and revisit some of those other Yakuza games and its spin-offs.
Best Moment: Poundmates.
2. Hades
Supergiant Games continues to win me over with their storytelling and gameplay, and Hades might be my favorite title they have developed… until their next game comes out. I purchased Hades when it first hit early access but didn’t spend anytime with it until it came out this year. Even then it wasn’t until the switch version and PC version had cross-save patched into it. Once that happened I spent nearly every moment of my free time rolling through the gates of the underworld. One of the biggest drives to me pushing my way through the run-based combat was how the story was impacted by your deaths. The underworld is all about death, so it is the perfect setting for a game where you have to die and start over from the beginning after each death. The consistent drip of new unlocks, and the sheer number of different lines recorded and delivered meant that even though I was replaying the same areas over and over, it still felt like I was seeing new things, hearing new lines of dialogue, and most importantly, learning and becoming better at the game. I don’t know what the future holds for Hades or for Supergiant Games, but I do know that they have cemented a spot in my heart as a beloved developer.
Best Moment: Declaring ‘this is the best weapon’ for every weapon available.
1. Spelunky 2
It’s rare that such a mysterious and challenging game can deliver a sequel that is somehow, simultaneously more mysterious and more challenging, but Spelunky 2 delivers on just that. When I first played Spelunky I bounced off it after a few hours, thinking I understood that it was a punishing run based platformer. It wasn’t until I stumbled upon a stream of someone who actually understood the game that things really clicked for me. That’s why when Spelunky 2 released I made sure to avoid watching any streams or videos, in an attempt to uncover and discover the mysteries for myself. I spent hours and hours pushing my way through the different biomes, slowly getting better as I learned more from each death. Even after all my time with the game, my deadliest world is still the starting world. I still die or fail in unexpected ways that have me yelling and laughing at the same time. I may have completed the bulk of the game, but there are still a ton of secrets I need to see for myself. Spelunky 2 will be one of my most played games of 2020 and 2021.
Best Moment: Rolling credits for the first time after over 600 failed attempts.
