Non-2020 Gaming in 2020

I have been writing the Highlights and Disappointments features as annual projects since 2015, and for the past 2 or 3 years I have been grappling with a weakness of the format I’ve chosen: That I have only ever counted full retail releases that have occurred in the year of a given piece. Occasionally, I’ll fudge it with justifications like a new Yakuza or Ace Attorney game hooking me into the rest of the games in the franchise, but I’ve always stuck to that general rule.

And thus, I decided after writing up the pieces last year that I would do something more this time. Often, people who play the sheer volume of games that I do will go back to titles that came out in prior years, but either came out at a bad time or otherwise got lost in the shuffle at the time of release. Or maybe there was an update that added a cool new feature. Hell, maybe it just had a positive impact on us still after the discourse™ had settled down.

I wanted a space to talk about those games, and so I decided to create one. Here’s to the games that I played in 2020, but weren’t released in 2020.

Starting with:

Quantum Leap - Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time - Part 2

Dr. Cortex and Dr. N Trophy are still ripping space-time apart as they work tirelessly to achieve their plans and enact revenge. With two of the quantum masks accounted for, and two more to acquire before we can mend the rifts, our journey continues.

It's About Time.

In League with the Legends - Nox Ezreal

It's been some time since we've played some Constructed in Runeterra on stream, so I figured it would be good to dive back and play some of the newer decks that have been making the rounds since we last give it a whirl.

We seem to have picked a good time too. Since new champions have just been released into the wild, people will probably be experimenting with new decks and brews.

For now though, let's return with a new take on an old favorite: Ezreal, courtesy of Mobalytics.

Deck code: CECAOAIEAENR6JBGGQ5ACAQDBEBQCAYUFY3QCAYECEAQEAIDCYZQA

The Highlights and Disappointments of 2020

It’s that time once more, for us to reflect on the year and think about how we can do better in the year to come. Obviously, I don’t need to tell anyone reading this that 2020 hasn’t been great, but that doesn’t mean good games didn’t come out. Pickings are slightly slimmer than they would be in a normal year. And yet, what did come out was generally strong on its own merits.

As a reminder, just because a game doesn’t show up on this list doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s possible that either I missed it or that it didn’t leave a strong enough impression on me to talk about. So without further ado, and presented in a random order, my highlights of 2020 are:

Quantum Leap - Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time - Part 1

I can't think of a more appropriate subtitle for this game than "It's About Time". Discounting the recent remake via the N Sane Trilogy, and the Nitro-Fueled version of Crash Team Racing, the last Crash Bandicoot game to come out was Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2 for mobile phones in 2010. If we further remove mobile games from the equation, that would be Mind Over Mutant back in 2008.

Either way, it's been over a decade since the orange marsupial has had his time in the limelight. I and many other fans, for the longest time, assumed that the franchise had been fully abandoned by Bobby Kotick and our Activision overlords. While the N Sane Trilogy rekindled the hope of seeing the symbol of our childhood once more, it wasn't until this game was announced back in June that we were able to truly celebrate his triumphant return.

And frankly, I've waited long enough to talk about it on stream.

A Quick Run - Plague Inc: Evolved

Obviously, this year has been defined by the outbreak of a deadly disease which keeps many of us quarantined and many more terrified that we're going to kill our loved ones by going to work and contracting something that'll spread to them.

So what better way to deal with our fears than by facing them head on, playing as a contagion aiming to eliminate the human population. That's right: We're playing Plague Inc.: Evolved.

Halo 2 - Fall, to Rise - A Blind Playthrough - Finale

That's right, everyone. We've reached the legendary cliffhanger that took 3 years and an entire console generation to resolve. Even people like me, who didn't play the Halo campaigns growing up, knew about "finishing this fight".

But of course, the journey is more important than the destination. So join us as we try to stop the Covenant from making a terrible mistake.

In League with the Legends - Expeditions

When it comes to card games, I tend to latch heavily onto Constructed formats, where players can build decks out of a specific pool of cards designated by the format in question. It suits my style better, allowing me to take the time to do research on what the most popular decks are and either netdeck or use them as inspiration to create my own recipes. It brings me a certain joy to analyze the trends and see how decks new and old fair as cards are brought in or removed from legal play.

But any card game player knows that Constructed formats are only one way to engage, the other being Limited formats. Rather than come into a game with a deck build ahead of time, Limited formats require players to improvise and built decks based on what they pick from a random or semi-random selection of cards. Drafting is one of the most common variants, opening a pack, picking one card from it, and passing it to the next player in rotation so that they can make their own pick.

So instead of coming at you with another set of decks to try, this time I thought it might be fun to check out Legends of Runeterra's equivalent of a booster draft, called Expeditions. Let's build our own deck and see how well it holds up.