So eh… yeah, I skipped every possible article this year. COVID terror, lockdown, lot of work, (non-COVID) hospital stay and ultimately moving house made me eat lot of time this year. After all, it’s not so bad to review all of it at once, right?
Ys IX Monstrum Nox (PS4)
As it was my second favorite game of 2019, you’d suspect there’s a very high mark here. From storytelling to quest system, Ys IX is a truly enjoyable Action-RPG that also puts an admirable effort in its (very large) character cast. From Adol to the smallest NPC, everyone you meet in Ys IX has an incredible personality and all this together forms a colorful and memorable new Ys Universe.
Persona 5 Royal (PS4)
This needs no introduction. The very best JRPG of the PS4 generation comes back with added content, but late added content. Sadly enough, I need to wait until you’ve finished the Persona 5 part order to add Su… eh, Kasumi as permanent member. This is a hundred hours of doing it all over, but the other surprise guest in the Royal part might make it worth the trouble.
Sakura Wars (PS4)
Sega more or less ruined the comeback of Sakura Taisen here. It’s more difficult to make a great action game than a decent Strategy-RPG. Sakura Wars PS4 could easily have been a decent SRPG, but in the end became a terrible action game. Combat is horrendous and boring. The dating part was cool though, as well as music, graphics and Tokyo’s historic look. A partially fun game that can be interesting at a reduced price.
Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4)
A ray of light in the heart of the COVID scare. SquareEnix did a near perfect job in reviving the most iconic Playstation JRPG. They kept everything that made the legend of FFVII over the years, and didn’t try to tone it down, westernize it or worse, make it look even a tiny bit like FFXV. There’s guenuine RPG gameplay, ridiculous mini-games, fuzzy sidequests, eccentric characters… In other words, Final Fantasy creators have not forgotten what a JRPG is. That alone, is the greatest thing in 2020 gaming.
Death end re;Quest 2 (PS4)
After clearing this game, I do believe it is the beginning of the end and Death of Compile Heart. Death end re;Quest 2 has been utterly tame in its horror aspect, that is to say its main aspect. Illustrations have been toned down and don’t look especially frightening anymore. Gameplay is a sub-version of the previous system, character development is pitifully wrong and story doesn’t even feel like it happens in the same universe as Death end re;Quest 1. I don’t think we can expect anything anymore from a company that wastes half of its time porting old games instead of putting real effort in the new ones.
Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris (PS4)
What went wrong there, seriously? It was the chosen one in the long saga of SAO games and just miserably failed to offer a entertaining experience. SAOAL has a really big and fascinating Xenoblade-like world, but full of tedious mandatory quests, boring combat full of duplicate characters when they absolutely HAD to translate the uniqueness of SAO Underworld. I hear there’s still tons of DLC planned but, seriously, who will even care now? Fairy Tail was so massively superior that they could as well rethink their way of doing stuff and get to something else.
13 Sentinels Aegis Rim (PS4)
I’m very glad the consensus went so positive about it. 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim is the best and most clever storytelling I’ve seen in quite some time. True, it’s not very difficult and the battle graphics are unimpressive, but the gameplay had something deeply fun into it. The aesthetitics of 80’s Tokyo are as as charming as the characters. A great exclusive I recommend to anyone who’s into Japanese gaming.
Persona 5 Strikers (PS4)
A year with double ration of Persona 5 can’t be that bad. Atlus knew that people wanted more Persona 5 and they gave it : the true and marvelous Persona 5 sequel which brillantly extends the pleasure. OK, you won’t have the stellar turn-based system, but instead you have a stellar Action-RPG system. So there zero reason to complain about the “Warriorization” of P5S. It’s an absolutely fantastic continuation of Persona 5, true the Persona spirit.
Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War (PS5)
I had been very curious about Black Ops Cold War from the very first teaser. It turned out that Activision delivered exactly what was promised : a fascinating historic experience and a deep dive into the Cold War era. It definitely has one of the greatest (best or second-best I’d say) COD campaign. It’s very innovative including puzzles, infiltration, choices and… sidequests! The multiplayer is enjoyable as well, even though far still from the Battlefield level of awesomeness.