2020 might have been a bad year in some ways, but it wasn’t without some excitement. The same could be said for the state of RPG games in recent months. There were a lot of extreme ups and downs, and with so many people staying home, this was one industry that didn’t have a lot of problems staying lucrative. It wasn’t just the games themselves, either, with the console wars raging to a fever pitch as the PlayStation 5 was released. Various companies and creators were trying to fill a vacuum, and maybe they were trying too hard, as the gaming public was inundated with new games, remakes, and expansions throughout the year.
Some of these games were surrounded by excitement and hype that they didn’t deserve, while others that were of a superior quality fell under the radar. This could be due to failed marketing campaigns, bad timing, or critical reviews upon release. No doubt this list will get longer once the honeymoon period is over for a few of these entries, while others have already lost their luster.
10 Didn’t Get Enough – Phase 6: Classic WoW
It might be redundant to say that Naxxramas is cursed, but it needs to be said. One of Classic’s most notorious raids, Naxx was part of the Phase 6 Classic WoW rollout that included new loot, new world bosses, and new crafted items on top of the Scourge Invasion event. Back in the day, these changes took place within the same time frame as the Burning Crusade expansion. The flashy new zones and playable races eclipsed the changes to old Azeroth, and they didn’t get the attention that they deserved in 2006.
When the Shadowlands expansion release date was pushed back, it coincided with the release of Phase 6, and Naxx fell to the same fate once again. It wasn’t just retail WoW, either, but the flood of new games and their mountain of hype that buried the latest changes to Classic WoW.
9 A Little Too Much – Shadowlands Expansion: Retail WoW
Once everyone had watched the cinematics and had a few spirited arguments about Bizzard smashing the game lore to bits, again, players raved about the stunning artwork in the new zone. That was great, but we didn’t hear very much about the actual gameplay. News reached the gaming world of thrilling storylines laced with powerful drama as players got to follow their favorite NPCs through the afterlife. Glorious, but again, how’s the gameplay?
In the midst of all this praise for the design and updated features, the quests were glorified exposition and many of them were so easy that they were impossible to fail. The release of Torghast, the roguelike dungeon, was a healthy step in the right direction to give players a challenge.
8 Didn’t Get Enough – Wasteland 3
The idea of a cult that worships Ronald Reagan doesn’t sound so crazy these days, and given that survival horror has exploded as a genre it’s no wonder Wasteland 3 didn’t get the love it deserved this year. This game has a lot going for it, starting with the change of setting and ability to stand on its own without support from the previous games in the franchise, although it is clear it’s a sequel.
The graphics, gameplay, and combat are already highly rated by the gaming community, but what makes this game a step above others is the sophisticated and varied storyline. Every choice your character makes can have negative or positive repercussions in the future. There are about 60 hours of gameplay available here, giving your character plenty of time to see all of their choices unfold.
7 A Little Too Much – Cyberpunk 2077
The hype that preceded this game’s release was nothing short of ridiculous, so it wasn’t a surprise that the reality couldn’t measure up. Ironically, this made all of the issues the game had even worse since expectations were running so high. It wasn’t the graphics, storyline, or design that was a problem but the gameplay itself. It was a shock that a game that had won various awards at E3 in 2018 would be filled with so many glaring and consistent bugs. These issues were so severe that the game was unplayable on some consoles, with the Xbox and PS4 being the most glaring examples. Only those using PCs or high-end consoles like the PS5 were able to run the game with few issues, a glaring flaw for such an anticipated game.
6 Didn’t Get Enough – Final Fantasy VII Remake
This one could be on either side of the list depending on your personal taste, but the nostalgia value of this game and it’s significance in gaming history means it deserves more love than it got. Final Fantasy VII did get a lot of recognition for the classic memories it invoked of the late 1990s, an exciting time in gaming, and the way it updated the looks of fan-favorite characters. On the other hand, it is a remake, and that means that the creative value of the game can only go so far. Most of the real hype was confined to the fan community, but there were some accolades that came from gamers that appreciate the history of consoles and the lore of the Final Fantasy franchise.
5 A Little Too Much – Baldur’s Gate 3
The original Baldur’s Gate is more than 20 years old now, but the game still gets a lot of love from the RPG gaming community. Wizards of the Sword Coast have been thrilling us with amazing D&D based games for decades already, with the Baldur’s Gate sequel and expansins and the Neverwinter Nights games. Enhanced versions of the vintage games have been developed to work on tablets and phones, and although they were meant as part of the marketing for Baldur’s Gate 3, they are great in their own right.
So when the release date of the third installment was announced, the gaming community wet themselves a little. Some folks were a bit uneasy at the prospect of Larian designing the game instead of the Wizards, and the concerns were well warranted. Players loved the enhanced graphics and new combat system but were bitterly disappointed at the lackluster storyline and totally unlikeable party members, which can work for some games but not one that uses D&D as a basis.
4 Didn’t Get Enough – Yakuza: Like A Dragon
It’s not just another JRPG that uses the mob as a basis for the storyline. Yakuza: Like A Dragon is the eighth in the series and it looks rather generic, which is why it didn’t get as much attention as it deserved. However, it deviates from the storyline in the previous games and introduces a new protagonist, Ichiban Kasuga, who has a slightly different goal than his predecessor. The story becomes a clever satire that pokes fun at the gangster genre and video games in general, with goofy side quests involving shopping cart races and other quirky activities, like karaoke. These kinds of clever details make the game better than the lukewarm reception it got.
3 A Little Too Much – Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
The Assassin’s Creed series has a dedicated fan base for a number of good reasons. It’s been consistent when it comes to immersive storytelling, unique characters, and creative design. That’s why the most recent entry in the series, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, was hotly anticipated by gamers but didn’t really live up to the hype. It wasn’t exactly a disappointment, either, but the game looked like a compilation of previous games but with Vikings, which elicited a collective shrug from the gaming community. The story was also disconnected and generic, with too much filler and not enough meaningful action attached to the main plot. A decent game but it didn’t deserve the initial excitement.
2 Didn’t Get Enough – Elder Scrolls Online
We’re all waiting for Bethesda to give us Elder Scrolls VI, and it seems that anything else that happens in the Elder Scrolls universe just won’t satisfy our Daedric cravings. That’s a shame because Elder Scrolls Online has come into its own as an MMORPG among a crowded and sometimes confusing marketplace. Zenimax Online has made a lot of improvements to the game in the past year that deserve more attention.
ESO has several advantages already. Tamriel, the world of Elder Scrolls Online, is as immersive, vast, and beautiful as it always was. It also retains a vibrant fan base and online community that rivals heavy hitters like World of Warcraft and League of Legends. Recent improvements include craft packages, a more equitable loot system, and other quality-of-life changes that improve everything else in the game.
1 A Little Too Much – Hades
You know about this game because you heard someone talking about it in another RPG game that you play. It’s part of the roguelike sub-genre of RPGs and is based on old-school dungeon crawlers that seem to be getting a lot of attention these days, which explains some of the hype. Hades was released to a positive critical reception and deserves a lot of praise for the smooth gameplay and compelling narrative but there’s nothing really new here. The ancient Greek setting is a nice twist since most high-fantasy is based on European mythology but other than that, Hades is generally overrated.
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