2020 games list

2019 list: https://pastebin.com/RBwwUkuG
* = game I had not completed before this year

*1. Shovel Knight: King of Cards - Platforming was excellent as always. Not a huge fan of Joustus (and strategy games in general, because I'm bad at them), so I didn't get 100% completion.
*2. RiME - the puzzles weren't too abstract for my dumb brain. It tells a decent story with no dialogue.
*3. The Outer Worlds - pretty good space Fallout. Might replay eventually for a different ending.
4. Mass Effect - went in on the Shepard meme by naming my boy Shepard Shepard. Found out EA has all the DLC for ME1 available for free, so got to play that for the first time. Mostly renegade choices.
5. Mass Effect 2 - probably my favorite of the series. Most of the new characters introduced are good and there are a lot of them, plus you can run outside of combat. Game needs more Kasumi.
6. Mass Effect 3 -
The good: the story is pretty good, wrapping up the trilogy (got best ending). Citadel DLC had a number of moments where I laughed. Other DLCs were good. I really enjoy the role-playing elements of the Mass Effect trilogy.
The bad: the biggest failing of this game, in my opinion, was how almost every mission had at least one "kill arbitrary number of identical enemies that keep spawning in to advance" section. I'll be the first to admit that I have never been good at FPS/3PS, so I've been playing the ME games on Casual difficulty - even bumping it up to Normal tends to get me owned pretty quickly - but while Casual difficulty is good for game completion, it makes these sections incredibly tedious since it's really hard to die even while not using cover. It's just a matter of finding all the identical Cerberus soldiers/Reaper armies and clicking on them until they're dead, and the reward you get is being able to continue playing the game until the next shootout arena.
*7. Bastion - had played this about 5 years ago but only got about halfway through because I tried too hard on all the proving grounds. This time I went through and finished the story, and enjoyed it. Might do NG+ someday.
8. Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition - prep for Ori 2. played on Hard Mode for the first time, and that's probably enough times.
*9. Final Fantasy 7 Remake - not having finished the original, I don't have the same level of vitriol about the ending (even though I still think it's dumb) that most people seem to have. Hated all the parts where they forced you to walk slowly for no reason, liked the combat. Probably gonna replay/NG+ at some point.
*10. Trials of Mana (remake) - haven't ever completed the original despite multiple attempts. This was very easy. Will replay with different characters (used Kevin/Hawkeye/Charlotte).
*11. Shantae and the Seven Sirens - I liked this more than Half-Genie Hero, which I already liked a lot. Will probably go back and 100% it later?
*12. Portal 2 - Have started this game several times, only just now got around to finishing it. It's good!
*13. Katamari Damacy REROLL - My, Earth really is full of things.
*14: Paper Mario: The Origami King - yo pape 6 was real good
*15. Final Fantasy X (HD Remaster) - game was pretty fun for a JRPG. blew through the end because the side content all sucked, and used some of the boosters instead of grinding to finish the game. i'm big cheater but i don't care
16. Paper Mario - playing Origami King and watching Supreme's stream made me wanna replay this (again). I always get nervous and overprepare for final Bowser even though it's easy (in a casual setting, especially with 35HP/50FP/30BP and good badges)
17. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door - BP Only playthrough. First time doing an unconventional playthrough of the game and it was a lot of fun. Jumpman + P-Up/D-Down + Power Plus (x2) + All or Nothing + Charge + Power Rush = big Jump damage.
*18. Horizon: Zero Dawn (PC) - Glad this got ported to PC, I would have had zero idea how to aim a bow using a controller. Had lots of crashing issues (common thing) until I turned down graphics settings, even though recommendations for my PC were High settings. Enjoyed it overall, looking forward to the sequel when it eventually gets ported to PC in like 5 years.
*19. THPS 1+2 - so here i am etc etc
20. Nier: Automata - Still a very good game. Played the DLC arenas this time too.
*21. Quest 64 - Had this as a kid, the furthest I ever got was being walled at Nepty because I didn't know about Avalanche/Magic Barrier. No Magic Barrier misses on Mammon = ez game.
22. ActRaiser - A beloved rental from childhood. Fun (even though the sim parts can get a little tedious, but nothing some emulator fast-forward can't fix) and short with a soundtrack full of bangers.
23. Fallout: New Vegas - Annualish playthrough at this point. Legion route plus all the DLCs. A++ will play again probably.
24. Metroid Fusion - I hate the story (specifically how often it interrupts gameplay) but it's a fun game to play.
*25. Metroid: Zero Mission - not sure if I've actually completed this before, but definitely not 100% (which this playthrough was) so I'm counting it. Fun, controls can be jank at times (emulation might contribute to this) - lots of my attempted shinespark storage turned into angling down and running into a wall. Still pretty good.
*26. Frog Fractions - learning is fun!
*27. Mass Effect: Andromeda - It was fine? Obviously had the benefit of playing it years after release so most of the bugs could get worked out. Story was ok, half the squadmates were bland, combat and exploration were fun, unskippable cutscenes traveling between everywhere were probably half of my 100 hour playtime (where I did most of the things I could find). Original trilogy is better but I'd say this was worth the $10 I paid for it.
*28. Timespinner - this had been sitting in my Steam library for a couple years and now I wish I had played it sooner. Lots of fun, also there was a story I guess.
*29. Assassin's Creed Valhalla - Big AAA open world RPGs with too much content are my jam. Enjoyed this one, though I think not as much as Odyssey. That's the breadth of my experience with the series so I can't say too much else.
*30. Control - I really enjoyed this, so much so that I kept coming back to it after repeatedly dying due to being bad. Loved the setting, loved the gameplay, loved the story. A+ all around.
31. Super Mario World - Casual 96
32. Guacamelee (Super Turbo Championship Edition) - hard mode completion for the first time, finishing the last achievement I hadn't gotten. Still fun.
33. Guacamelee 2 - also fun.

Other games I spent a bunch of time with this year that don't quite fit the list:
Zelda: Breath of the Wild - I play this a lot
Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age: Definitive Edition - both times I've played this I've gotten to the "postgame"/"Act 3"/whatever and gotten bored and stopped playing so I don't count that as "completed"
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Assassin's Creed Odyssey - played through the dumb DLC where you have a kid and most of the cool DLC in Elysium/Hades/Atlantis
NBA 2k20 - Basketball is my favorite sport. I like the way they dribble up and down the court.
Skyrim
Binding of Isaac Rebirth
Randomizers - ALttP, SM, SMZ3, some ZOoTR

33 games, 20 new
2020 GOTY: FFVII Remake
First play this year GOTY: Control (possible recency bias - HZD and Portal 2 deserve honorable mentions)
All games played this year GOTY: Fallout NV