Top Games of 2020 but make it about solidarity and kittens
January 21, 2021 2:26 PM Subscribe
We don't actually need another post to tell us that Hades is very good, right? But Scott Benson, animator and developer on Night in the Woods, spins his list of the best games of 2020 into a surprisingly tender essay on Kentucky Route Zero, capitalism, loss, solidarity, surviving the apocalypse or the post-apocalypse, and Sid the very sick kitten.
(Content note: Benson's old cat dies, and it's sad.)
(Content note: Benson's old cat dies, and it's sad.)
The twitter thread about Fern and Sid starts here and was a ray of light in a bleak year; Sid endured, and is magnificent.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 3:00 PM on January 21, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 3:00 PM on January 21, 2021 [4 favorites]
I don't think it would surprise anyone who played Night in the Woods that Scott Benson's quite a skilled writer, but that's a very nice essay.
The ongoing kitten thread has been a pleasant thing to check on from time to time this year.
posted by figurant at 3:41 PM on January 21, 2021
The ongoing kitten thread has been a pleasant thing to check on from time to time this year.
posted by figurant at 3:41 PM on January 21, 2021
Oh my goodness, Battle of Angels looks, um... I have no words.
posted by ropeladder at 4:00 PM on January 21, 2021
posted by ropeladder at 4:00 PM on January 21, 2021
Now this is how year-end lists should be done. I am not interested in game lists that view games as a product that can be rated on a linear scale and presumed to appeal to every person equally at all times.
I need to know what recent experiences, hangups, tragedies and triumphs the player was bringing to the table when they played the games they did that year. A game that I bounce off of in 2018 might be just the thing to fit the bill in 2020, regardless of when it came out.
I bought Kentucky Route Zero in a bundle maybe 5 years ago and vowed to wait until the final episode came out until I played it. I gave it a shot when the last episode was released and, while I could tell it was *good*, I kind of bounced off of it.
We also have an elderly cat who had a health scare last year that was bad enough we were on the verge of calling it for him. Happily, he rallied and is with us still. When he goes, I think I'll take another crack at KR0, because I will be meeting it from a different emotional place that this article convinces me will be perhaps where I need to be to engage with it fully.
Carrion, and every game about a non-human taking gory revenge against a plethora of human targets was right up my alley after this year, and I think I'll pick up Maneater next.
posted by subocoyne at 4:24 PM on January 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
I need to know what recent experiences, hangups, tragedies and triumphs the player was bringing to the table when they played the games they did that year. A game that I bounce off of in 2018 might be just the thing to fit the bill in 2020, regardless of when it came out.
I bought Kentucky Route Zero in a bundle maybe 5 years ago and vowed to wait until the final episode came out until I played it. I gave it a shot when the last episode was released and, while I could tell it was *good*, I kind of bounced off of it.
We also have an elderly cat who had a health scare last year that was bad enough we were on the verge of calling it for him. Happily, he rallied and is with us still. When he goes, I think I'll take another crack at KR0, because I will be meeting it from a different emotional place that this article convinces me will be perhaps where I need to be to engage with it fully.
Carrion, and every game about a non-human taking gory revenge against a plethora of human targets was right up my alley after this year, and I think I'll pick up Maneater next.
posted by subocoyne at 4:24 PM on January 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
Thanks for the post, Jeanne. Brought some needed catharsis to this cat- and game-lover.
posted by kwaller at 5:10 PM on January 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by kwaller at 5:10 PM on January 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
Oh, thank you for posting this. I am not a gamer so it was good to hear about the games, about which I knew nothing, but also to have it interspersed with life, politics and cats.
posted by paduasoy at 2:31 AM on January 22, 2021
posted by paduasoy at 2:31 AM on January 22, 2021
I literally cannot express the way in which Kentucky Route Zero touched me on a deep level. I've done enough waxing poetic on the blue to fill multiple lifetimes, so I'll cut it short, but Jake Elliott like.. Gets Me.
posted by FirstMateKate at 8:19 AM on January 22, 2021
posted by FirstMateKate at 8:19 AM on January 22, 2021
« Older "It’s not good enough just to clap for them" | You're wondering now Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Also some great game writeups.
posted by aspo at 2:44 PM on January 21, 2021