Half Life 2 is my favorite game of all time, and I have a wireless Vive Pro, but I could not find the time this year to set it up and dive into Alyx. This is telling of not only the tribulations of the year, but a general trajectory in gaming for me.

I did make enough time to get into some must-plays this year.

In no particular order…

WOW Classic

This year I got to make some of my favorite gaming memories ever with a guild formed with members of the esports and gaming industry and their friends and family. The initial grind last year was a big time sink, but luckily I had become geared enough to only really need to hit the raids 1-2 nights a week once my daughter was born.

While work and life forced me to retire just as we were starting AQ40, the fun, competition, and skill within the guild was a highlight of the year for me.

Carrion

A “reverse-horror” game where you play as the monster. Relatively linear, not too difficult, and not too long.

Fall Guys

A huge launch on Twitch and a few great weekends in the beta and right after launch were about as much as I got out of Fall Guys, but a slow but steady trickle of content makes this worth revisiting from time to time.

Outer Wilds

Outer Wilds did not come out this year, but a Steam sale put it on my radar and it’s no surprise it won so many awards last year. The best part is the game makes no effort to explain what you’re supposed to be doing. Take a page from them and don’t read any tutorials or explanations until you get truly stuck.

The Last of Us Part II

I don’t spend much time with long single player games anymore, but I borrowed a PS4 Pro from work and barreled through the original remaster just in time for the sequel. Being able to play both so close together made the second one much better in my opinion. Of course there’s controversy around the storytelling, but I was surprised there wasn’t more backlash around the gameplay, which didn’t really get any better.

Scribble It

It’s just Pictionary or skribbl.io, but it’s free and great to play with friends on the same screen or on discord.

Genshin Impact

A bit of a guilty pleasure, and not a game I’d typically even try, but a 100 million dollar development budget had my interest piqued. It’s a guilty pleasure but it’s great to pop on for 10-20 minutes a day and scratch that Destiny itch. I exclusively play on a iPhone/iPad and it’s impressive what they’ve packed into a mobile product.

Among Us

Another game that did not come out this year but showcases the power of Twitch to surface indie gems and create worldwide phenomenons. When my family visited from Arkansas, my niece was playing this constantly with randoms on mobile. It’s a completely different game in private lobbies with voice and friends.

FFVII Remake

I remember sitting in front of a tube TV in the late 90s after getting a Playstation that came with this game from a classified ad in the paper. It was one of the games that solidified my intent to work in the games industry.

The Suicide of Rachel Foster

Ever since Gone Home, walking simulators have been a go-to for me for many years now. While it’s not anywhere near as good as What Remains of Edith Finch or Firewatch, it’s short and shallow on the gameplay and time commitment while deep and thoughtful on the story.

Diabotical

I was Diabotical backer 2,395 back in 2016 and while it was way later than promised, it finally launched this year. Quake III is my second favorite game of all time, and I genuinely believe this builds on it in almost every way. That being said, it’s an incredibly difficult game, and has the highest individual skill gap in terms of mechanical skill + thinking, which just like Quake, puts it at a disadvantage in building a large player base. I hope it can find a way to success, I’ll be watching regardless of where it goes.

Devolverland Expo

Devolver has been doing their own thing with E3 for several years now, and while they continued their Devolver Direct socially distanced style, they also put together a playable expo. It’s free on Steam and while they aren’t the only ones who did something similar, it’s fun and surprisingly well done, especially for any fan of their catalogue.

Esports Engine: The Game

Esports Engine @EsportsEng

On the day of our 1 Year Anniversary, the Esports Engine office has been met with a mystery...

September 11th 2020

10 Retweets69 Likes

Unity powers half the games on the app store and went public this year. I spent a lot of time in the engine this year working on a 1 year anniversary project for our company as a gift to all the people who started Esports Engine.

You can play it at synide.net/eegame. It’s full of inside jokes and references, so it’s probably not going to make much sense but I had a blast learning how to put it together. It might take a while to load and you might have to try Safari or Edge, as Chrome seems to be changing their mind about Unity embeds.