Here are some of the hottest new video games of 2020 that you missed.
All gamers know that games are categorized according to the size and amount of money invested in their development. AAA projects are the biggest, most expensive and most advertised. It is in this segment that the most famous brands live, which attract the attention of millions of people.
Fans of the interactive entertainment industry and ordinary users, when choosing a new game for themselves, first of all look into the mentioned category. They hope to get a cool and large-scale project for their money in order to get lost in it for tens of hours.
Only the AAA prefix is not a guarantee of the high quality of the work. When creating such games, developers are very reluctant to experiment, which is why their creations turn out to be stereotyped and monotonous.
Meanwhile, in the B category and in the indie sector, real diamonds of the industry are born, unnoticed by the mass audience. There were a lot of such releases in 2020, which is why HB has collected a dozen great new games that you have already missed. And very much in vain.
ten
Visage
Horror in the spirit of the classic Silent Hill from the SadSquare studio. The game immerses you in the thickest atmosphere of horror and makes it so that ” goose bumps” become permanent inhabitants on the skin of users.
The main merit of Visage is that she tries to scare in different ways. The game’s plot includes several stories, and each of them causes fear in a different way. One uses screamers on a regular basis, but they don’t appear where you’d expect.
A similar technique was actively used in the movie ” The Curse of the Nun”. Another story pushes psychedelics, strange images that cause rejection, and tries in every possible way to confuse the player. And the third one crushes with a feeling of unknown, which is the best way to cause fear.
With this variety of approaches, Visage can intimidate even hardened skeptics hardened by the Silent Hill series.
nine
The pathless
An action-adventure movie based on the need to constantly move and run fast. Created by the studio Giant Squid and Annapurna Interactive, the plot follows a cursed world and the Huntress trying to save it.
Together with her faithful eagle, the girl travels across locations and fights against enemies, including bosses. The main features of The Pathless are its mechanics and dynamics. The player must always maintain a high pace of movement of the main character.
And in fights with glavgads, you need to choose a position and look for an approach to them, which also makes you rush around the arena. Correctly selected and combined gameplay elements in The Pathless keep the game interesting right up to the ending.
8
Spelunky 2
Spelunky 2 fully inherits the first part in terms of gameplay concept. Before users all the same dimensional platformer with a bunch of various elements of the test and ” bagel”.
Players will have to go to the moon and complete levels with procedural generation. Each of them is rebuilt after the death of the user, due to which the uniqueness of the passage is achieved.
In addition, death returns the main character to the beginning of the location and takes away all the accumulated items from her, as in the classic ” bagels”. The sequel to the series, in comparison with the first part, is able to boast of more ambitious and neatly planned levels.
The variability of obstacles has also increased, and their combinations have become more sophisticated. For fans of the genre and complexity, Spelunky 2 will turn into great fun for a few weeks.
7
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
We also found a project for fans of Japanese art in our selection – 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim from Vanillaware studio and Atlus publishing house. The game combines side-scrolling world exploration with real-time combat.
Both of these gameplay components are of a high quality and include smaller, but important mechanics. And the plot of the project demonstrates an alternative Japan of the 80s of the last century, in which people are at war with hostile kaiju monsters.
To defeat monsters, earthlings invented and began to use powerful mechs. Their management was entrusted to thirteen high school students – the main characters of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. The storytelling in the game turned out to be exciting and varied.
User decisions determine where the plot will move, which forces you to think and weigh each choice.
6
Gears Tactics
From all sorts of experimental games with unusual combinations of genres, we are moving on to a completely understandable tactical strategy with turn-based battles.
Gears Tactics is an offshoot of the acclaimed series, set 12 years before the original Gears of War. Users are shown how Gabe Diaz, Kate’s father from the fifth part, fought against the Locust hordes on the planet Sera.
In addition to a fascinating and well-choreographed narrative, the game is capable of offering spectacular battles where you need to constantly think ahead, a system for recruiting your own squad, pumping and collecting equipment.
But most of all in Gears Tactics, fights with huge bosses are remembered, in which you need to look for weak points. These grueling battles will turn any user into a hardened tactician.
5
Creaks
Once upon a time there was a main character. One day he discovered that under his room was a whole world with a winged people and deadly monsters.
The protagonist went to investigate it and became part of an exciting adventure. To most users, such a plot will seem crazy, but you should not judge by it.
Creaks has amazing storytelling with tons of metaphors and awesome puzzle gameplay inspired by Amanita Design. The developers tried to make each riddle moderately complex and complex.
Plus, during the passage, the puzzles are not repeated, which is why the player will move with trepidation and interest to each new challenge.
4
Spiritfarer
Sometimes very soulful and good-natured games appear in the world with simple and at the same time important messages. These include the Spiritfarer from Thunder Lotus Games.
The project tells about a girl named Stella, who became a guide of souls to the afterlife. She must ferry the dead people on the ship, take care of them and fulfill the wishes of her passengers.
The story in Spiritfarer shows all the bitterness of death, but at the same time it teaches to let go of loved ones and demonstrates the importance of humility. In terms of gameplay, the project is also not lagging behind: users will improve their personal ship, take care of the extraction of resources, make forays to the islands, participate in mini-games, and so on.
The mechanics in the Thunder Lotus creation are simple, but they perfectly interact with each other.
3
Streets of Rage 4
Not old school yet? Then keep reading, because it means – you have not heard anything about Streets of Rage. This is the famous beat ’em up series, which has its roots in the early 90s of the twentieth century.
For a long time it was in oblivion, until Dotemu studio released a gorgeous sequel. In the fourth part, the developers very carefully embodied the main advantages of the franchise in a slightly updated shell.
They expanded the number of characters and their techniques, worked on level design, took care of the proper variety of opponents and wrote a new soundtrack.
Thanks to this, battles with enemies in Streets of Rage 4 inject adrenaline and pure pleasure straight into the player’s blood.
2
Ghostrunner
Ghostrunner is one of those games that you go through to the finals with bated breath and then start again. This effect is achieved thanks to the gorgeous combination of parkour, slasher combat system, where enemies and the main character are killed from one hit, and excellent level design.
Each battle in the project is a small puzzle in which you need to correctly build a route, read the actions of your opponents and be one step ahead. There are many types of opponents, as well as obstacles in the locations, in Ghostrunner, so you won’t be able to use one method.
You have to adapt and experiment, thanks to which the adrenaline passage does not bore at all. After the first race, I want to immediately start the second in order to break the previous records.
one
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
This is probably the most famous game of the entire list, but it needs to be talked about again. Ori and the Will of the Wisps is an example of an almost perfect and very daring game.
The project’s plot perfectly reveals the themes of friendship, self-sacrifice, love and willingness to do anything for the sake of loved ones. The story of the second part of the series marks right in the heart and leaves a small mark in it forever.
And the gameplay in Ori and the Will of the Wisps is refined to the smallest detail. All platforming mechanics are perfectly combined, obstacles during the passage gradually become more complex and thoughtful, due to which players will not be able to relax, and metroidvania elements still perfectly motivate them to explore an insanely beautiful and vibrant world.
Plus, in the sequel, the combat system has been improved, and it has become more interesting to fight.
