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:

The Disappointments of 2019

While there were many excellent games that game out over the past year, not every one of them lives up. We've got through my list of Highlights for the year, and just as always we too must go through the disappointments of the year in kind.

Every year, I usually find at least one or two games that end up on both lists for different reasons. In compiling this year's collection, I noticed that this happened with far, far more games than usual, for a variety of different reasons.

As usual, just because a game appears on this list doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. All it means is that there are significant aspects of it that I feel detract from the overall whole. Further, this list is presented in a completely random order.

Without further ado, the disappointments of 2019 are:

The Highlights of 2019

At last, it is once again that time. That time where we look back fondly or otherwise, at the games that have been released this year. Every outlet in games media will soon be consumed by hours upon hours of Game of the Year deliberations, top 10 lists, and other assorted recaps.

I am no different, of course. That said, when I look back at the list of games I've played this year, I noticed that it was quite unique compared to most other years. While there wasn't much in terms of big budget games, the number of niche, mid-tier titles that cater to specific interests really added up to be a profound year. I almost always had something new and neat to play.

Just like in previous years, these are just games I have many positive things to say about, in randomized order. Even if a game misses this list, it doesn't mean I didn't like it. Odds are I have nothing much to say on it or just didn't get around to it. With that said, the first of my 2019 highlights is:

#113: The Disappointments of 2017

Even in a year where so many good games came out, there will always be a fair share of games that didn’t “click”. Maybe they had a new idea that needed to be refined. Maybe there was a lack of polish or it didn’t stand out from its peers. For whatever reason, the games on this list left me wanting.

As a friendly reminder, this does not mean that the games here are bad. You might even like them. What this does mean is that I personally had some issues with it that hampered my enjoyment enough to notice. Without further ado, my disappointments of 2017 are:

#112: The Highlights of 2017

Another year has gone by, and another year’s worth of games have been released. Though the world seems to burning down around us in the year 2017, there is no denying that this has been one of the best years in gaming for a long time. So many high quality games of varying budgets and prices have been released that even the most obsessive gamers (like me) had a hard time keeping up. It seemed like every week there was something new and exciting to play.

As always, I present these games in an order decided by a random number generator. All of them are games I have personally enjoyed and could easily recommend. Just because a game is not on this list does not mean it’s bad. Rather, I either didn’t have much to add or didn’t play it. Without further ado, my highlights of 2017 are:

#110: The Disappointments of 2016

As I said in my highlight reel of 2016, this has been one of the best years in gaming in quite a long time. That said, no year is free from games that didn’t live up, and this is no exception.

The same rules as last year apply. Just because a game made this list, doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily bad. All it means is that when I played it, it had significant problems that really hampered my enjoyment of the overall experience.

So without further ado, my disappointments of 2016 are…

#109: The Highlights of 2016

If you talked to a bunch of random strangers on the street today, they’d probably tell you that 2016 hasn’t been a great year. There are all sorts of reasons why that might be, but gaming isn’t one of them.

No matter how crappy everything else was, 2016 has been a fantastic year in gaming. So many great and wonderful games game came out this year that we gamers were drowning in really good experiences throughout.

As usual, this is a list of games that I present in no particular order (it’s decided by a random number generator). And just because a game doesn’t appear on this list does not mean that it is a bad game. All it means is that either I didn’t play it, or it didn’t leave a strong impression on me.

With that said, my highlights of 2016 are: