My Top Six Worst Games of 2020

in Hive Gaming3 years ago

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Normally I'd do a top ten, but I just didn't play as many games as normal this year, and I only have Six games I just ended up not liking I played. And to be honest, in most other years I wouldn't even consider putting a couple of these on a top ten, but since so few titles caught my eye in 2020 this is the list I have for you.

Given my issues with Sony censorship as of late, I didn't play any PS4 exclusives this year, so expect none of those to show up on this list, same with any NISA title for the same reason. Those two companies, who I would normally have played games from in the past, were no go's for me this year.

A final note, this is not a list talking about any objective standard, but just my own opinion with all biases intact, you can look up my proper reviews if you want a more nuanced take. With that out of the way, on to my Six worst games of the year.

6.) Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin

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This isn't even that bad of a game, in fact, most things I could say about it are really good. Your enjoyment of the game largely comes down to how you feel about the gameplay loop involving the Rice Harvest, and for me, it was tedious and borderline insufferable. Half the game I couldn't stand, and despite the rest of the game is very well done with fun game-play, great art, and a decent enough story it wasn't enough to make the farming worth dealing with for me.

If I played enough games this year, I don't think this would have qualified for even a top ten, so it only makes this list due to lack of competition.

5.) Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning

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I don't get why this game got a cult following. It's a competently made game that doesn't do anything interesting. I don't have anything more to add than that, it's just a dull experience all around.

4.) Megaman Zero/ZX Legacy Collection

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I admit my dislike of the game wasn't fair. I was big on Megaman X 1-3 on the SNES, but never played these releases when they came out. So when I went into the collections, I was kind of expecting a continuation of that style of game, but I got something that felt a lot different.

That said, I do legitimately think the sprites in that game look terrible, and the levels never felt as well made as X did. I don't know if it's that the games just aren't very good, or if it's my expectations for what they should have been, but in the end, I just hated the experience of playing them.

3.) Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics

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There are few things in gaming more easily messed up than a Strategy RPG. By their nature, it is slower moving combat than other types of games, but there is an art to making that time spent moving your units feel important, and if you screw it up the game just becomes a slow mess. Sadly Age of Resistance fell into that category.

It's not helped by feeling like I was only getting fragments of the story, the narrative just doesn't feel complete. It's supposed to be a retelling of the show, but it just makes me feel like I should be watching the show instead of playing this game, especially with the gameplay lacking as much as it does.

2.) Death End Re;Quest 2

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The first Death End was a game I liked, despite its flaws. It had a lot of heart and interesting ideas that helped it get over it's less than interesting aspects. I was expecting something similar to the second game, but in the end, it just didn't have the same punch as the first.

It has a fantastic lead character and a lot of wonderfully dark and horrifying imagery, but the combat system felt like it was just a less interesting version of the first, the story hinged on you being invested in a forced romance, and there comes a point where everyone involved in this story looks like an idiot.

It carried over all the flaws of the first game, made them worse, and offered very little to try to make up for it. Idea! Factory is one of the more unique dev teams out right now, but their quality tends to be a bit all over the place, and sadly this was one of their low points.

1.) Arc of Alchemist

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There are games on this list that a lot of people are going to disagree with me on, but I think the consensus with anyone who has played this game is that is utterly terrible. Lack of games explains a lot of previous entries on this list, even up to Death End Re; Quest I can see it not making a top ten depending on the year, so this isn't a list of games I can say I hate or are terrible. But then there was this game, which I would call the second-worst game I have ever played since I started doing reviews (Drive Girls would be number one, though that was before my days on Hive or even Steem).

It is rare to find a game that just doesn't do anything well. I cannot think of a single thing this game does worse than any other game, or even any single aspect that is just outright terrible. The problem is there is nothing about the game that is good, or even mediocre. Everything about this game is bad. Controls are sub-par, the art design is severely lacking, combat is bad, story, characters, dialogue, level design, absolutely everything. There is no silver lining with Arc of Alchemist, and this would likely have been the worst game of the year regardless of the year it was released in.

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go and i did enjoy all i could from megaman zx in short good post :3