My Patient Games of 2020

Jumping on the bandwagon before it becomes irrelevant, I'd like to talk about the games I played in 2020. This may have been the best year of gaming for me, in no small part to finally building a gaming PC for Christmas in 2019. I kept track of everything I played , so I will present them chronologically. I'll try to keep it short since there are so many. I did make posts here for a few of them, so I'll be sure to link those as well. Also I played many of the games with my girlfriend, so I will denote those with "GF" next to the title. So without further ado:

Dark Souls Remastered (January – February) – r/patientgamers post (for all the FromSoft games)
2020 marks the year I finally took the plunge into the FromSoft games, and I absolutely love them. I actually made a post for all of them that goes into more detail on my experiences with them. Most importantly here, DSR was my favorite of the bunch, the interconnected world was wonderful and I now live for the challenge. I beat every boss in each of the Soulsborne games without any assistance from my friends, and I'd love to do it again!

What Remains of Edith Finch (February)
This was the first of many walking sims I played this year. The setting is super interesting and the story is very sad. I actually replayed it a couple of weeks ago with my girlfriend, and I had forgotten just how sad it was. Definitely one of my favorite walking sims.

The Beginner's Guide (February)
This game was alright. I liked Stanley Parable, and I knew this one was short so it was worth giving it a shot.

Baba Is You (February – March)
What an innovative game. I haven't beaten it yet, because it just gets so difficult by the end, but I enjoyed scratching my brain to think outside the box. I come back to it every now and then. Good to just hop in.

Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (February – March)
This was quite a brutal transition from DSR, but by the end I loved it, even with all of its quirks. Had some of the hardest bosses in the SoulsBorne games in my opinion. Fuck all of the Brume Tower bosses in particular.

Journey (March)
And here was the start of quarantine. I was fortunate enough that I continued working as usual , but my girlfriend was out for several months starting in March. Since she had so much time, we decided to play through games together, starting with this one. It was a nice little… journey.

Bloodborne (April)
Now I already know I'm going to get some heat , but Bloodborne is my least favorite of the FromSoft games that I played. It is an excellent game, aesthetic is great, and I even got the platinum, but I just preferred the gameplay of Souls more . I know I said I beat all Soulsborne bosses solo, but I did do the Chalice Dungeons with my friends because it was just so much more fun that way. Bloodborne 2 WHEN??

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (April)
An okay walking sim, probably my least favorite of the bunch I played with my girlfriend. Very easy to accidentally skip entire sections of the game.

Nier Automata (May)
At first I wasn't a huge fan of the gameplay, but by the second ending I was totally onboard. Music was very good, and I liked the.. uhh.. graphics. Unfortunately, I didn't realize you could blast their clothes off until I was farming out the last trophies for the platinum…

Gone Home (May)
Easily my favorite walking sim of the bunch. The somber realism of the setting and the slow buildup of the narrative was very emotional for me. It will surely stay in my mind for years to come.

Dark Souls III (May – June)
The controls on this one were so sharp. By this point, I felt like a master of Souls games, so I didn't die nearly as much as I did previously… until the DLC. Gael, Midir, and Friede absolutely kicked my ass and made me scream, but eventually I prevailed. Also special shout out to Nameless King for almost breaking my spirit.

Little Misfortune (June)
I played KillMonday's other game Fran Bow a few years ago, and I have to say they did even better with this one. The main character is cute and I love tonal dissonance. Some jokes fall a little flat, but overall it's pretty funny/sad. My girlfriend and I still quote some of the dialogue. Eager for their next game.

A Short Hike (July)
I cannot believe how relaxing this short little game is. You can easily lose track of time just exploring around, you almost forget what the goal is, which I guess is the point of the game. In a word: poignant.

Man of Medan (July)
I played this one with my sister since we played Until Dawn together years ago. The ending of this game is what I've been looking for in horror for ages, so it was definitely well received on my end. We're probably going to play Little Hope in the next few weeks !

Later Alligator (July)
I am a huge fan of quirky characters and silly dialogues , and this game was no different. We made sure to exhaust every line of dialogue available to us, and this wacky not-so-little family definitely has a lot to say.

Sekiro (July – August)
My second favorite FromSoft game after DSR. Foremost, the aesthetic was spectacular. Gameplay is drastically different from Souls, so I got my ass handed to me up until the Guardian Ape, in which something clicked and I started to get the hang of it. By the end I felt like a god, despite Demon of Hatred and Sword Saint absolutely kicking my ass for hours. I felt so empty not having any more SoulsBorne games to play, though I guess I have the new remake to look forward to some day. And Elden Ring…

Aragami (September)
Very interesting right after Sekiro. Played this one with my friend, we competed to see who could get the most kills. It's been a while since I've been able to play an online co-op campaign, so that was loads of fun. Excited to play the sequel in a few months.

Ape Out (October)
I got gamepass from discord nitro so I made sure to play through some of the games I didn't already have. Man this one was wild. The music got me super pumped, had to make sure not to play it before bed lol.

DARQ (October)
A nice spooky little puzzle game for Halloween month. My girlfriend definitely got scared at some of the creepier parts, so I couldn't help but laugh. I had her take the controls for the second DLC and she damn near jumped off the couch at one part!

Gato Roboto (October)
Another game I played on GamePass. I've always loved metroidvanias, so this was a total nostalgia blast for me. Short, sweet, and it has a cute little kitty.

Gorogoa (October)
I've been eying this one for a while, but I played it so fast that I don't remember it all that much. I do remember feeling like a genius on some of the puzzles though.

INSIDE (October)
I was a huge fan of LIMBO back in the day, and this has all that and more. As we went deeper and deeper we started to understand more and more, yet less and less of what the point of the game was. The ending was a real thinker and I'm still thinking about it.

Helltaker (November)
Very short little puzzle game. Surprised I didn't get to it sooner as it was free and I am rather fond of demon girls ;p

Florence (November)
Another super short one, but emotional nonetheless. It was at this point that I realized I want to play all of the Annapurna published games.

Outer Wilds (November) – r/patientgamers post
And here we have my GOTY. I love everything about this game. The sense of adventure, the knowledge you gain along the way, the ultimate message of the game. My biggest "play if you haven't yet" of the year.

ABZU (November)
We called this one Water Journey. My girlfriend was on controls for most of this one. Nice, relaxing, and beautiful settings.

Yakuza 0 (November – Ongoing)
I haven't beat this yet, in fact, I probably have another 50 hours to go, but I'm already all in: characterization is incredible and the story is captivating. The combat isn't all that interesting, but sometime it feels good to just pummel some hooligans.

Return of the Obra Dinn (December)
My runner up GOTY. I was going to make a post but like 3 other people had posted about it that week , so this will have to do. It's so innovative and a real head scratcher. My girlfriend and I piecing everything together was a great bonding experience.

And that's it!

Hope all of that wasn't too long winded. If you want more information about any game in particular, feel free to ask and I will try to respond! Hoping everyone here has a patient and productive 2021.