Question hey there fellow gamers! just a question.

[lasagnaman]

[Mod edit: OP, please message a moderator if you need this thread reopened.]

what're some of the best games you've played this year so far

 

[Frag Maniac]

Doom Eternal is by far the best 2020 game I've played thus far this year. I've also had one play through of Resident Evil 3 on Standard difficulty. It has it's moments but is too short and very lacking in gameplay content.

I also plan to play Marvel's Avengers, as well as Cyberpunk 2077, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and Watch Dogs Legion, when they release, but somehow I'm skeptical they will impress me more than Doom Eternal.

 

[lasagnaman]

Doom Eternal is by far the best 2020 game I've played thus far this year. I've also had one play through of Resident Evil 3 on Standard difficulty. It has it's moments but is too short and very lacking in gameplay content.

I also plan to play Marvel's Avengers, as well as Cyberpunk 2077, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and Watch Dogs Legion, when they release, but somehow I'm skeptical they will impress me more than Doom Eternal.

thank you for the response! im making a google doc of what people have enjoyed the most this year!

 

[PCG Jody]

Hades is number one for me, the only roguelike I've completely and utterly fallen for.

It's also been a good year for turn-based tactics, I liked XCOM: Chimera Squad and Fort Triumph a lot. Fort Triumph is underrated, if you want a goofy fantasy XCOM where you knock over pillars to crush goblins it's worth looking at.

Wasteland 3 and Necrobarista would round out a top five.

 

[Frindis]

Wasteland 3, Spiritfarer, Flight Simulator 2020, Call of Duty: Warzone & Blade Runner (GOG).

 

[badman]

I didn't like Doom Eternal, refunded it. I really hated the invisible walls, corridor-like levels (one way only) and the 'secrets' in most cases aren't really so secret. Doom 2016 did a better job all together.

What I did like this year: VTOL VR/DCS, which is really great in VR. Others: Red Dead Redemtion 2 and RetroWave (very cool game, but only when you have about 30 minutes of gametime/day).

 

[Frag Maniac]

I didn't like Doom Eternal, refunded it. I really hated the invisible walls, corridor-like levels (one way only) and the 'secrets' in most cases aren't really so secret. Doom 2016 did a better job all together.

This makes no sense since Eternal's battle areas are MUCH larger and less restricted than 2016 by far. Plus you can do far more to evade and/or shoot enemies while engaging in use of jump pads, monkey bars, and portals. There's really no reason to refund, it just takes time to learn the many nuances of the game.

As far as Red Dead Redemption 2, while it does have some good roaming gameplay, is full of missions that are about as linear and restrictive as it gets.

 

[badman]

This makes no sense since Eternal's battle areas are MUCH larger and less restricted than 2016 by far. Plus you can do far more to evade and/or shoot enemies while engaging in use of jump pads, monkey bars, and portals. There's really no reason to refund, it just takes time to learn the many nuances of the game.

As far as Red Dead Redemption 2, while it does have some good roaming gameplay, is full of missions that are about as linear and restrictive as it gets.

I must say, I only played Doom Eternal for about 20 minutes. I really hated the fact that I kept bumping in to invisible walls. I'm the guy that wants to find all the secrets, and in doing so, I explore every piece of level. On one occasion I fell through a ridge or was unable to advance because the leveldesigners didn't want you to advance. That's all ok, if it's hidden enough, but that wasn't the case in Eternal (eg unable to jump on to a ridiculous small rock, because it was 'the end' of the level). Freedom or basic exploration is the, IMO, most important piece of a great FPS-shooter. You can have mazes, big open worlds, hard to find secrets, a decent levelstructure or in general: multiple ways to advance to the next stage. But that's something that I usually lack in modern FPS-games. RDR2 is a totally different game. Yeah, the story might be lineair, but the game doesn't restrict you to explore. Doom Eternal does. Even good old Doom 1,2 or Heretic, Duke Nukem 3D, Unreal, Quake...had a more interesting way of guiding you through the scenery. Yeah, sometimes it was very corridor-like, but the level-edges were 'hidden'. It didn't frustrate me. They were 'part' of the design. In DOOM 2016, they did a better job of hiding it. It wasn't the best Doom, but it was good. The over-use of arenabattles (enter random room, door shuts behind you, arena gets teleported with monsters) was kinda a let down. Maybe it should've played Eternal for more than 20 minutes, maybe it became better later on...I will pick it up someday in a sale.

 

[McStabStab]

Big fan of Warzone and Fall Guys this year. Squadrons is pretty good so far but haven't finished it.

 

[Frag Maniac]

I must say, I only played Doom Eternal for about 20 minutes. I really hated the fact that I kept bumping in to invisible walls. I'm the guy that wants to find all the secrets, and in doing so, I explore every piece of level. On one occasion I fell through a ridge or was unable to advance because the leveldesigners didn't want you to advance. That's all ok, if it's hidden enough, but that wasn't the case in Eternal (eg unable to jump on to a ridiculous small rock, because it was 'the end' of the level). Freedom or basic exploration is the, IMO, most important piece of a great FPS-shooter. You can have mazes, big open worlds, hard to find secrets, a decent levelstructure or in general: multiple ways to advance to the next stage. But that's something that I usually lack in modern FPS-games. RDR2 is a totally different game. Yeah, the story might be lineair, but the game doesn't restrict you to explore. Doom Eternal does. Even good old Doom 1,2 or Heretic, Duke Nukem 3D, Unreal, Quake...had a more interesting way of guiding you through the scenery. Yeah, sometimes it was very corridor-like, but the level-edges were 'hidden'. It didn't frustrate me. They were 'part' of the design. In DOOM 2016, they did a better job of hiding it. It wasn't the best Doom, but it was good. The over-use of arenabattles (enter random room, door shuts behind you, arena gets teleported with monsters) was kinda a let down. Maybe it should've played Eternal for more than 20 minutes, maybe it became better later on...I will pick it up someday in a sale.

Well I figured you must have played less than 2 hours, as that's Steam's refund policy, but 20 min (or even 2 hrs) is nowhere NEAR enough time spent to get to know the game, or by extension, make informed public statements about it based on experience. I've been on the official forum for the game since it launched, and these kind of knee jerk reactions are common. Even a lot of us that started out with misconceptions that the game is too hard grew to love it once we discovered how it's best played. Games like Doom Eternal, The Evil Within, Spec Ops The Line, and Ghost Recon Wildlands, all started out making me think they were too hard, they take time to master. These are now some of my favorite games though, because once you get to know them well enough to stay on top of the enemies (and platforming regarding Eternal), they are the most rewarding types of games to play.

As far as secret areas and collectibles go, I've played a ton of shooters, from the ones like Painkiller that really hid them well and made it hard as hell to get to a lot of them even once you DID find them, to ones where they're right out in the open and easy to find/obtain, and for the type of game Doom is, they do it plenty well in Eternal, above average easily. If you spent time getting stuck exploring it's likely because you either didn't know how to or didn't bother using the map. And the map won't make it obvious how to get to a lot of them, you still have to explore the areas it shows items in. There is plenty exploring in Eternal, and plenty ways to improve your navigational and combat movement skills via use of various terrain items to shortcut, and also the excellent meathook, and the many things you can do with it. One of the most obvious ways Eternal pays more attention to exploring than 2016 is the fact that you can when near level end, fast travel back to certain areas within the level to find things you missed. There are places in 2016 where you not only can't do that, you can actually miss key weapon pickups because of it, like the Rocket Launcher, a very useful one to have.

I liked 2016, especially the way you could do challenges, upgrade weapons, and find things via exploring, but Eternal does all of that better. Many collectibles in 2016 send you through corridors and vents, it gets old. In Eternal, a lot of them take some platforming skill to get to, and a lot of them are not easy to see or find. Some are very hard to get without taking damage. Eternal is also much smoother and more fluid when it comes to movement and combat. There is infinitely more ways to navigate and battle as well. The frustrations many have with not being able to get through difficult platforming sections in Eternal are always a simple matter of properly timing jumps and dashes.

That said, this is a shooter first, not an adventure game. The primary focus is the shooting, not exploring, but again, it DOES offer more than an adequate amount of it for the type of game it is. In a game as action filled as this, I think it's more appropriate they prioritized the advance platforming in between battle areas over exploration. It also offers a different type of exploration, via figuring out ways to shortcut past or more effectively battle the enemies. So essentially the platforming abilities and features they included lend better to the shooter genre than advanced exploring, but I DO think what exploration it has is easily better than that in 2016, just due to the areas you explore being MUCH larger and many items being harder to get to. Of all the Dooms I've played, this one keeps you thinking more than any of them.

I happen to be 62, and definitely don't have the reflexes or dexterity, or even think on your feet speed of most younger players, yet the game offers enough tools in combat gear, terrain features, and environmental apparatuses to let a player of any age or skill level master the game. After seeing many say they feared they would not be able to beat it on Nightmare on the official forum, I realized by the start of my 3rd play through, this time on Nightmare, it was a LOT more doable than they thought. It inspired me to make a video guide to prove it can be done without elite skills where many get intimidated seeing such players switch through multiple weapons very fast, perform insta headshot snipes, and pull off difficult and fast aerial combat. A lot of it is just knowing how to play the game, and games like that take time to learn and reward you with tons of replay value and satisfaction.

How to Beat Doom Eternal on Nightmare, Without Really Trying

Doom Eternal Nightmare

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[badman]

Thank you for your reply. But let's not start off on the wrong foot: it has nothing to do with the game being too difficult. I like a challenge (I'm the guy that wasn't happy untill I found all secrets in Blood, and I did, that game had some really hard ones), I only talked about the levelstructure. Your reply might have triggerd me in rebuying the game. Maybe I played it on the wrong moment, I got frustratred and refunded it...I don't know. Maybe not. I really hate those exploring-restrictive moments. I remember a store or something and some monsters on the second floor, so I was thinking: cool, might be a secret up there. It looked like you could get there: there was some sort of balcony and stuff. But I kept falling 'through' the solid structures on the second floor. Some things happened before and after that moment (stupid 'secret', that was too easy and a small rock that functioned as an invisible wall...it was the level border). Then I got to experience some arenafights, which are cool to some extent but in general the new Doom games overuse arenasequences. But I must agree: the new Shadow Warrior games are far worse. Sometimes I think: maybe it's because I'm too nostalgic about those old games. But then I play the new/old Wolfendoom and I really, really, like what they did with the levelbuilding. So, something is up. Is it because of the 'new' generation, pleasing everybody (PC and console-players)? Probably. I'm not in my 60's, I'm in my 40's. But still: I have experienced everything on the FPS-side, starting from Wolfenstein 3D. Things have changed, some things are better, some things are not. I hope I'm not and 'old' grumpy gamer I still like a lot of games today. Let's give Eternal another chance, ok...

 

[Zloth]

Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children is easily the best game I've played so far this year. The XCom'ish battle style works great with its detailed initiative mechanics and the selection of passive skills you can build your characters with is completely stunning! It'd be nice to have a properly translated version but the story is good enough as is.

 

[Frag Maniac]

Thank you for your reply. But let's not start off on the wrong foot: it has nothing to do with the game being too difficult. I like a challenge (I'm the guy that wasn't happy untill I found all secrets in Blood, and I did, that game had some really hard ones), I only talked about the levelstructure. Your reply might have triggerd me in rebuying the game. Maybe I played it on the wrong moment, I got frustratred and refunded it...I don't know. Maybe not. I really hate those exploring-restrictive moments. I remember a store or something and some monsters on the second floor, so I was thinking: cool, might be a secret up there. It looked like you could get there: there was some sort of balcony and stuff. But I kept falling 'through' the solid structures on the second floor. Some things happened before and after that moment (stupid 'secret', that was too easy and a small rock that functioned as an invisible wall...it was the level border). Then I got to experience some arenafights, which are cool to some extent but in general the new Doom games overuse arenasequences. But I must agree: the new Shadow Warrior games are far worse. Sometimes I think: maybe it's because I'm too nostalgic about those old games. But then I play the new/old Wolfendoom and I really, really, like what they did with the levelbuilding. So, something is up. Is it because of the 'new' generation, pleasing everybody (PC and console-players)? Probably. I'm not in my 60's, I'm in my 40's. But still: I have experienced everything on the FPS-side, starting from Wolfenstein 3D. Things have changed, some things are better, some things are not. I hope I'm not and 'old' grumpy gamer I still like a lot of games today. Let's give Eternal another chance, ok...

I never said it was too hard for you. My point was it takes time to learn how to play it well, even for the best players it does. I was also telling you it can be very rewarding once you learn how all the gameplay mechanics work and see how effectively you can reek havoc on the enemy. These are things ALL players of Eternal need time to discover, not just noobs.

 

[Frindis]

Let's keep it to the topic

 

[Dakkon]

Spiritfarer left the biggest impact of all the games I've played this year and probably is GOTY for me.
It's a management sim with interesting story I really don't wish to spoil. I highly suggest it.

 

[Brian Boru]

best games you've played this year so far

I assume you mean games released this year? I've played a good few from previous years this year.

Wouldn't change my choice anyway. Command and Conquer Remastered is my one and likely only purchase of a game released this year, and also my favorite game played this year. It's the old school RTS where strategy really was a significant part of the game, and single players and AI skirmish are fun.

The re-recorded sound tracks by the original composer are phenomenal, there are a few UI QoL improvements, and also a bunch of extra missions and music tracks which weren't in the original games. I'll be replaying this for many years.

 

[Mazer]

This question led to me reading over a list of this year's releases, and it turns out I didn't buy any new releases this year. I played an hour of Genshin Impact because it was free and pretty, apart from that it's been older games bought on sale.

Genshin Impact seems fine.

 

[lasagnaman]

Thank you everyone for the response! This is for a documentation on enjoyed games this year. Just a little idea, that's all.

 

[Oberlin]

1: GTA III - San Andreas — A similar concept, playing for hours with friends and cheat code fun.

2: Age of Empires II & III — One of the best RTS out there and LAN parties.

3: Call of Duty Warzone — Amazing story and multiplayer (not so much, also love warzone 6 content ).

 

[Johnway]

Christ. I've been playing so many games that its a sort of blur at this point. i guess at this point it has to be the witcher 3. I finally got round to playing it and it was damn good. In fact so good i would use it as my measuring stick to compare other open world games. Well done CD Project red! may cyber punk 2077 also be super fantastic.

honorable mentions also go to: Dead rising 3, Ape Out, Chimera squad and doom 2. Well, doom2 wads they never disappoint me when the quality is so high.

 

[Brian Boru]

OP, please message a moderator if you need this thread reopened.