BumpMap 2020 - A Retrospect
So yeah, this past year was a bit of a doozy to say the least, but hey! We got to spend lots of time with each other and play lots of great games both alone and together. And that’s kind of what this post comes down to. We want to highlight the games we played and also celebrate what we achieved together!
The multiplayers
One of the staples of Bumpmap is that we’re always down to play new games, especially if they are geared towards multiplayer. It allows us to find games that are easy to access that a lot of us can play together. That focus has proved to be a huge win considering a lot of us have been self isolating for close to a year at this point. Here comes the multiplayer games that BumpMap played the most in 2020!
The head honchos
Fall Guys
This might be the best received Battle Royale style ghame BumpMap has ever played. It is at least the one with the most longevity. I think from my side it was a great escape during the early beginnings of Covid when there was so much uncertainty surrounding it. Combine that with dumb physics and low stakes, this was one hell of a party game! Unfortunately for Fall Guys, the time on the throne was quickly taken over by another multiplayer game. Which leads us to…
Among Us
I will admit that I personally wasn’t that into the idea of Among Us at first. It’s a pretty crappy PC port but the charm and love put into this game cannot be overstated. Seeing them receive the awards at TGA2020 was extremely heartwarming. Few games have managed to bring the communtiy together like Among Us has and we can’t wait to see what the future looks like!
Vote TimeBomb, he’s sus
Tabletop Simulator
I guess you could say this is an oldie but a goodie. Once again a game that has brought the people together but in a different way. With a year like the one we’ve had we simply not had the ability to visit eachother and play physical boardgames. Tabletop Simulator remedies this issue, and honestly does it very well. We managed a couple monopoly nights, Uno, Exploding Kittens and there is always more to discover!
Golf With Your Friends
This might be the staple of BumpMap at this point? It’s like a ritual. If you are on Bumpmap and yo uare active in the voice chats, chances are very very high that you own Golf With Your Friends. It finally released out of early access last year and it’s one of those games where you can just play three rounds of batshit crazy minigolf and not care wether you win or lose. I myself am a sore loser and even though i don’t show it, my internal frustrations are huge when I think about barely ever being able to get more points than Cupcake and Max.
Jackbox Party Pack
If there is one game I would crown as the most accessible game out there for people to just sit down and have a good time, it has to be Jackbox. It’s free, it doesn’t require a gaming computer and most importantly, it’s incredibly fun!
Terraria
A Journey’s End. And rightfully so. There are few developers that can say they’ve supported their game for 10 years without charging a cent for the additional content. Re-Logic is one of those developers. The amount of content added to terraria over the years is staggering and is a testament to how far goodwill and a great concept can carry a game forward. The game has felt complete for many many years now and maybe it’s finally time to end the journey once and for all.
Minecraft
This summer we had a really good run with Minecraft after many years. We managed to get together with another server (Arcation, you’re awesome) to create a joint dedicasted server for our members to play on. This is a concept I wish we could have taken further down the line, but just because ti didn’t fully bloom out this time doesn’t mean we can’t make it in the future!
The singleplayers
We got so many games mentioned to us in the “Top 2020” channel. This makes it extremely hard to mention each and every one while still making this somewhat entertaining to read. What I will do is write about the most mentioned games and games that stand out and then post a list of all the games that was mentioned at the end of this segment!
The head honchos
Ghost of Tsushima
I would like to describe this game as the lovechild between the old Assassin’s Creed games and The Witcher 3. Taking the strengths from both parts, making something very unique and extremely polished.
The game has a satisfying gameplay loop paired with really fun combat that feels rewarding and challenging depending on the difficulty you choose. Suckerpunch (the studio behind the game) has also been very supportive of the game and released a Destiny styled multiplayer expansion to the game for free with no microtransactions.
One of my personal favorites this year for sure!
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition
A beautiful rendition of the original Xenoblade game filled with small quality of life improvements, higher detailed furry buddies and additional story. This is now the version of Xenoblade Chronicles you want to play.
The game features beautiful landscapes and great English voice acting that brings the characters to life in a very unique and charming fashion. The combat system is relatively easy to get the hang of but I do believe people coming straight from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 may see it as a downgrade as they didn’t implement any of the new combat features that the series has developed in this Definitive Edition.
I would heavily recommend this game just to see the amazing environments and listen to the soundtrack.
Persona 5 Royal
One can argue that this is simply a re-release of an already existing game, for a full $60 as well. And that would be absolutely correct. But the quality of life this “complete edition” brings as well as the added story and changed pacing of the game really helps deliver perhaps the most refined JRPG ever made.
One of the main selling points of Persona 5 has to be the art style and the music accompanying it. Since the game is based in reality, I couldn’t help but jam it out to these songs in real life and feel like it would be really awesome if the real world could be filled with the aesthetics of Persona 5 Royal.
Final Fantasy VII: Remake
A server favorite, Final Fantasy VII Remake serves as a fantastic reimagining of the original Final Fantasy VII, released over 23 years ago. The story is mostly intact with a lot of interactions added that just wasn’t possible back then. This is the definitive edition of FF VII, at least the first 1/4 of the game.
Thanks to Smash Bros Ultimate. Bumpmap has also been overtaken by the sound of the One Winged Angel. Not totally unlike the next game on the list!
DMC V
This has to be the game that has gotten the most video memes posted in the server, at the very least I am hard pressed to remember anything having anywhere close to the same meme capital as DMC V.
An extremely solid Hack n Slash game with our favorite white haired Dante in a school shooter coat and his chair loving brother Virgil. Ask Fish, Ren and Wizerobe, they can attest to the quality of this game. Maybe even recommend a chair or two!
Animal Crossing
Corona game number one? It is no mystery why this game became as popular as it did. A solid casual game released at the exact right time. Paying back the house loan during a pandemic has never been so cute and portable!
With the inclusion of being able to visit friends and play with them this game really helped connect a lot of people and still does. The power of turnips became very apparent when the Turnip Black Market also started growing. The free market at work!
Dicey Dungeons
Terry Cavanagh’s latest and greatest! Dicey Dungeons is a deck building roguelike with a really satisfying gameplay loop. For a couple of weeks this was the game to stream and backseat game on BumpMap.
A good way to describe this game is “Slay the Spire Lite” It’s not as intricate, it’s not as grand, it jsut does few things really well. And I guess that is Terry’s motto for a lot of his games like VVVVVV and Super Hexagon. Do one thing really well and make it super addicting. It hit a homerun here on Bumpmap for sure!
Prison Architect
In prison architect you take control of running and building a prison.
This can be done in many ways. From Merg’s well-designed monolith covering the state of Texas to Dutch’s simpler way of keeping empty cells, killing your inmates (and staff) in riots.
The goal is to lower the reoffending rates by your prisoners.
this can be done in many ways from Natt’s plentiful offerings of reformation programs to Dutch’s hellscape of a prison where the criminals prefer death to returning to it.
Prison architect has plenty of flaws, but it lets you have fun building a great prison. (Unless your Dutch).
Runner-ups
Here are a few games that was popular on the server during 2020 but didn’t manage to get the entire server going quite like the games above!
Gunfire Reborn
A surprise hit for me in many ways. This is a game that I know Ren, me and Natt have been playing quite a bit. One of the most polished if not the most polished roguelike I have ever played. The variety of builds is massive, the gun handling feels great and there is always room to find secrets and set your own progression goals.
Factorio
One of the most intricate and fun survival games out there. Factorio is one of those games where if you think it would work in real life, chances are it will most definitely work in Factorio, in fact, Factorio’s logic system can actually emulate real circuits, how cool is that?
Factory Manager Natt, Max, Grandpa and me were the biggest players of the game in 2020 and it was extremely fun, hopefully we can return and launch that rocket! 🚀
Phasmophobia
You haven’t played a video game until you’ve played Phasmophobia with Ren. When you are finished for the night I can guarantee you that you will hear him screaming while running down the hallway of his house, dodging those ghosts like a badass Ghostbuster.
This game is janky and great. Extremely solid base with the usual quirks of being an Early Access title. Phasmophobia really manages to capture the feeling of being a vulnerable ghost hunter in the middle of an asylum 2am in the morning.
The rest of the bunch (at least some of them)
Blasphemous
Demon’s Souls
Rimworld
Bloodborne
TemTem
Stardew Valley
Minecraft
Batman Arkham Knight
World of Warcraft
Touhou Luna Nights
Metroid prime
Death Stranding
Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Zelda: Ocarina of time
Pokemon Omega Ruby
Pokemon Diamond
Smash Bros Ultiamte
Resident Evil 2 remake
Persona 4 Golden
The Witcher 3
Divinity: Original
Sin Dead Cells
Assassin’s Creed: Origins
Hell let loose
Nekopara Vol 4.
Bloons TD 6
Genshin Impact TF2
TF2
Borderlands 3
Phasmophobia
Valorant
Exit the Gungeon
Minit
Paper Mario the origami king
Fire emblem three houses
Digimon Story hacker’s Memory
The Forest
Ace Attorney
KOTOR
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
Guardian Tales
Astro’s Playroom
Super Mario 3D All-Stars
Trials of Mana
Trails in the Sky The 3rd
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Tales of Symphonia
Yakuza 0
Metroid Prime
Chrono Trigger
Sackboy: A Big Adventure
Nioh
The Last of Us 1
The Last of Us 2
Redout
DOOM
Code Vein
Sea of Thieves
Community Recommendations
DOOM – it’s so difficult it comes around to being fun again – Jake
Dicey Dungeons – Since it is a fun and challenging game with nice features and a nice artstyle – Timebomb
Ghost of Tsushima – The story was great, the gameplay was even better but the art style was top notch – Fin
Hades – I’m really into Greek mythology, so I appreciated the incorporation of it into the game’s story– a story which I loved. I also love the fact that there was always small, new, immersive touches, like new dialogue or events, which meant that every dungeon run had something new until the end. And of course, the combat system is fairly rewarding too. It isn’t just a basic hack-and-slash– it allows skill expression and that made it fairly fun. – Siph
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night – Takes exploration, combat and platforming and mixes just right right amount of each perfectly along with having excellent music and some of the most polished visuals in gaming, especially for it’s time – Wizerobe
Monster Hunter World : Iceborne – It’s basically Attack on Titan, but with cool looking monsters – Fudi
Jackbox Party Pack X – JACKBOX. – Cupcake
Titanfall 2 – The story is very nice and makes ya cry by the end. Also the gameplay is smooth and fun, never dull – Docsicle
Kingdom Come Deliverance – It literally turned into one of my favorite games in no time. It has all the realism that I need in a video game, the story is amazing so far and it is kinda buggy on a ps4 but everything else compensates for it. – Dadzai
Gunfire Reborn – Probably the best Roguelike ever made. Still in Early Access but feels full featured and has an incredibly responsive developer team behind it. This game is so extremely polished. It feels like a joy to play and to execute combos, killing tons of enemies has never felt better! – UnTubular
Blasphemous – This was my introduction to the metroidvania genre and its just sooo good. in the game you play as a knight-like creature whilst slaying monsters and bosses. the game is rather challenging and has fun game mechanics. the thing that makes blasphemous soo much fun though is the world. its rather creepy to unsettling at times with heavy religious connotations. if you feel like getting into a bit of a challenge whilst enjoying the absolutely stunning art blasphemous offers this is the game for you. – Dutch
Outer Wilds – It gave me an existential crisis and the devs created the game/story in such a way that you can only play it once. It’s my favorite game and it made me cry lol. It’s best to experience it blind if any of you are gonna play it, the more you know the more it takes away from the experience. – Pluto
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey – Hard choice, considering I’ve played a few great games this year that are definitely worth the spotlight. Nevertheless, I’ll keep my choice for three reasons: I’m biased towards the franchise and Greek mythology, as well as having spent upwards of a hundred hours tackling every single quest and activity (Most of it is optional, of course. You’re not required to do everything to get any enjoyment and/or understanding out of it.). If you appreciate either one of those, fret no longer. I highly recommend you give this one a try, although getting yourself acquainted with the story, and its lore, is a must, otherwise it’ll all just sound gibberish – if you care about it in the first place, whatsoever. Whilst Origins, its predecessor, was a considerable feat in a declining franchise, Odyssey added onto it further, changing many aspects and mechanics. Lest I mention the fearfulness to take the tale a step further – albeit unsuccessfully, with some rather questionable decisions. In spite of that, it still scratches that itch for the fantastic, as it explores the side of the mythic a whole lot deeper by allowing you to witness it in character with much more transparency, but still keeping you grounded on the reality of the series that we’ve come to know. – Ren
Thank you all so much for 2020
Despite the pandemic I feel that BumpMap has really come together as something great and beautiful in a bad and ugly time. This is all thanks to you people making this server what it is. I can’t mention you all by name because then there would be another huge list of names so just know that you are important.
We plan to do more with this website so sit back and relax and hoepfully we’ll have some great longer content for you to consume here outside of the server!
Take care!