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Storm's Top 6 Videogames from the last year

Storm_Echo

Gamer of Videos
Joined
Feb 21, 2020
Location
Ethereal Plane
This list will include ONLY games I played since 2019, and will thusly only rank those games among others from 2019 and early 2020. No all-inclusive top 20 (yet!)

6. League of Legends. This game has somehow managed to stay in my gaming wheelhouse for 6 years running now, and every time I think I'm out it pulls me back in. It is one of the easiest games to just keep coming back around to, with energetic fights of up to 10 people at once and the vast, vast roster of champion choices giving a playstyle for everybody. There is a fairly high barrier to entry, some games can be total one-sided stomps, and it's easy to get lost with the sheer number of items, champions, and interactions, but for somebody who has spent a lot of time in League already it's an excellent comfort pick.

5. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. IT'S SMASH BROS WHAT MORE DO I HAVE TO SAY! The absolutely GIGANTIC roster full of lovingly crafted characters, every stage from every smash bros, snappy "kill em to the moon" combat is the core of the franchise and it's never been more prevalent than it is in Ultimate. Every single game is a crazy mash-up and it provides some of the best, bar none, couch play with friends. This combined with one of the more robust single player modes featuring a number of unorthodox duels with AI characters provides one of the more complete gaming experiences in the last 10 years.

4. God of War. This PS4 continuation of the beloved franchise took the series in a bit of a different direction, with heavier RPG elements including armor, weapon, and skill tree-levelling as well as a slower pace overall. However, the satisfying combat is thick and crunchy, and is the kind of thing you could go back to just to slap around some mooks and still have fun. The excellent combat and enjoyable RPG elements combined with a veritable ocean of Norse lore being added to the world, as well as a surprisingly emotional story, made this one of the premier reasons to own a PS4 and one of the best games I played last year.

3. Persona 5. The most stylish and flashiest RPG I have ever personally played, every aspect of this game shouts "style!" - right down to the menu system. The combat is fluid and challenging, especially on the higher difficulties, and really feeds back into the "stylish" loop - your team can easily take down even tough enemies in one or two rounds if you play through the "baton pass" and enemy weakness mechanics, but if you slip up you can often end up struggling to pull yourself back into a losing fight. The end result is a combat system that rewards flashy plays and risking it for the proverbial biscuit. The game isn't all combat though, and that's where Persona 5 really surprised me - easily half of the game, or perhaps more, is spent living a (relatively) ordinary life as a high school student in Japan, building relationships with your party members and others and raising stats or even levelling up while experiencing a highly engaging and unusual story. I never really found myself getting bored during these segments, which really shows how good the writing and style of this game actually is. Overall the best jRPG I played last year.


2: BLOODBORNE. This game creeps higher up my all-time list every time I play through it again. Dripping with atmosphere, some of the tightest and most adrenaline-inducing combat situations of any videogame, with regular mobs able to threaten the player throughout the game. A creeping narrative sneaks up on the player for the first two thirds of the game before exploding into a visceral experience unrivaled in gaming, as you progress from being the hunter to feeling hunted. Additionally, The Old Hunters DLC for this game has permanently slammed the bar for what I expect from a DLC purchase all the way up to 11, adding so many incredible boss fights, jaw-dropping lore that fits perfectly within the previously established world, and some of the most impressive and fun weapons available in the game. The soundtrack sets the scene perfectly, driving the narrative in your subconscious as you play through. A large variety of drastically gameplay-altering weapons and a level-up system that really lets you play each weapon "your way" provides tons of replayability, and Bloodborne is overall one of the best games I've played EVER.

1. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. You may be familiar by now with my second playthrough of Breath of the Wild on Hero Mode, since I've been trying to get my youtube channel off the ground with it, but Breath of the Wild has in the last year provided some of my best gaming experiences. It's one of the only games I can get into, start playing, and then look at the clock and realize it's 7 hours later and I forgot to eat lunch. It provides some of the most entertaining game mechanics and one of the all-time best realizations of "the open world" concept in videogames ever. It feels like everywhere you choose to go is "the right way to go", you might climb a small hill and find a Korok, or a dense grove of Apple trees, or a hidden cave full of rare ores. Almost every single decision you make as a player feels rewarded, and with the DLC package giving us the teleport pad and teleporting horse armor most of my issues from the base game ended up resolved. It has far from a perfect record, with the lack of lengthy challenges and relatively easy boss fights, but overall this game has provided the most consistently solid gameplay experience and is really the only game I've played with such a player-rewarding open world.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk, any comments? :)
 

Echolight

❤️ love yourself ❤️
ZD Champion
Of course BotW is number one, it’s one of the best games out there! I love it as much as you do, it’s amazing!

Smash Bros is also a really great game like you said, tho I only have the wiiu version, which isn’t ultimate, it’s still amazing! I watched I play through on ultimate, and I love it! I definitely think it’s really good

I have not looked at the other games tho, but they do look good :)
 
This list will include ONLY games I played since 2019, and will thusly only rank those games among others from 2019 and early 2020. No all-inclusive top 20 (yet!)

6. League of Legends. This game has somehow managed to stay in my gaming wheelhouse for 6 years running now, and every time I think I'm out it pulls me back in. It is one of the easiest games to just keep coming back around to, with energetic fights of up to 10 people at once and the vast, vast roster of champion choices giving a playstyle for everybody. There is a fairly high barrier to entry, some games can be total one-sided stomps, and it's easy to get lost with the sheer number of items, champions, and interactions, but for somebody who has spent a lot of time in League already it's an excellent comfort pick.

5. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. IT'S SMASH BROS WHAT MORE DO I HAVE TO SAY! The absolutely GIGANTIC roster full of lovingly crafted characters, every stage from every smash bros, snappy "kill em to the moon" combat is the core of the franchise and it's never been more prevalent than it is in Ultimate. Every single game is a crazy mash-up and it provides some of the best, bar none, couch play with friends. This combined with one of the more robust single player modes featuring a number of unorthodox duels with AI characters provides one of the more complete gaming experiences in the last 10 years.

4. God of War. This PS4 continuation of the beloved franchise took the series in a bit of a different direction, with heavier RPG elements including armor, weapon, and skill tree-levelling as well as a slower pace overall. However, the satisfying combat is thick and crunchy, and is the kind of thing you could go back to just to slap around some mooks and still have fun. The excellent combat and enjoyable RPG elements combined with a veritable ocean of Norse lore being added to the world, as well as a surprisingly emotional story, made this one of the premier reasons to own a PS4 and one of the best games I played last year.

3. Persona 5. The most stylish and flashiest RPG I have ever personally played, every aspect of this game shouts "style!" - right down to the menu system. The combat is fluid and challenging, especially on the higher difficulties, and really feeds back into the "stylish" loop - your team can easily take down even tough enemies in one or two rounds if you play through the "baton pass" and enemy weakness mechanics, but if you slip up you can often end up struggling to pull yourself back into a losing fight. The end result is a combat system that rewards flashy plays and risking it for the proverbial biscuit. The game isn't all combat though, and that's where Persona 5 really surprised me - easily half of the game, or perhaps more, is spent living a (relatively) ordinary life as a high school student in Japan, building relationships with your party members and others and raising stats or even levelling up while experiencing a highly engaging and unusual story. I never really found myself getting bored during these segments, which really shows how good the writing and style of this game actually is. Overall the best jRPG I played last year.


2: BLOODBORNE. This game creeps higher up my all-time list every time I play through it again. Dripping with atmosphere, some of the tightest and most adrenaline-inducing combat situations of any videogame, with regular mobs able to threaten the player throughout the game. A creeping narrative sneaks up on the player for the first two thirds of the game before exploding into a visceral experience unrivaled in gaming, as you progress from being the hunter to feeling hunted. Additionally, The Old Hunters DLC for this game has permanently slammed the bar for what I expect from a DLC purchase all the way up to 11, adding so many incredible boss fights, jaw-dropping lore that fits perfectly within the previously established world, and some of the most impressive and fun weapons available in the game. The soundtrack sets the scene perfectly, driving the narrative in your subconscious as you play through. A large variety of drastically gameplay-altering weapons and a level-up system that really lets you play each weapon "your way" provides tons of replayability, and Bloodborne is overall one of the best games I've played EVER.

1. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. You may be familiar by now with my second playthrough of Breath of the Wild on Hero Mode, since I've been trying to get my youtube channel off the ground with it, but Breath of the Wild has in the last year provided some of my best gaming experiences. It's one of the only games I can get into, start playing, and then look at the clock and realize it's 7 hours later and I forgot to eat lunch. It provides some of the most entertaining game mechanics and one of the all-time best realizations of "the open world" concept in videogames ever. It feels like everywhere you choose to go is "the right way to go", you might climb a small hill and find a Korok, or a dense grove of Apple trees, or a hidden cave full of rare ores. Almost every single decision you make as a player feels rewarded, and with the DLC package giving us the teleport pad and teleporting horse armor most of my issues from the base game ended up resolved. It has far from a perfect record, with the lack of lengthy challenges and relatively easy boss fights, but overall this game has provided the most consistently solid gameplay experience and is really the only game I've played with such a player-rewarding open world.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk, any comments? :)

Bloodborne made an absolute mess of me D:
 

Storm_Echo

Gamer of Videos
Joined
Feb 21, 2020
Location
Ethereal Plane
Of course BotW is number one, it’s one of the best games out there! I love it as much as you do, it’s amazing!

Smash Bros is also a really great game like you said, tho I only have the wiiu version, which isn’t ultimate, it’s still amazing! I watched I play through on ultimate, and I love it! I definitely think it’s really good

I have not looked at the other games tho, but they do look good :)
Bloodborne made an absolute mess of me D:

Don't worry Echolight, you still have plenty of time to get caught up on all the other great ones! If you loved Smash 4, you'll love Ultimate even more - it's twice as crazy, and has 3 times as much stuff to do!

And Spirit, right? My first go on Bloodborne was one of the toughest learning curves of all time. I spent hours in the first area of Central Yharnam getting my face kicked in by regular enemies. Fast forward a few years, and I speedran the game in an hour and 45 minutes to get the Platinum!
 

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