2019 Year in Review (Ep 04) - a podcast by Icel Media

In this episode of THE BURN, hosts Aviv Icel Manoach and Omer Timetwister Kaplan review the past year in gaming: the games we loved and spent our time on, and the games we are looking forward to for next year.

Original recording date - January 3rd, 2020.

Our Favourite Games of the Past Year

Omer, Apex Legends (Published by Respawn Entertainment, Free to Play)

Got me interested in battle royale games and the only one I’d play. Now I know I’m just bad at it, but we had a good relationship for a hot second. 

Aviv, Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Published by Intelligent Systems, MSRP $60) 

When you say a game is a system seller, this was the game for me. I knew I wanted a Switch to play Pokemon in the future, but really Fire Emblem was what really tip me off. Not only that, it's one of the only games to date that I watched a full playthrough on YouTube/Twitch, then decided to play myself.

Omer, SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamesh (Published by Image & Form, MSRP $25, Get the Game)

This was the year of the single-player, story-based card game, with Slay the Spire coming out of early access and many competitors popping up. SteamWorld Quest offers a true single-player campaign more akin to Thronebreaker, within the amazing setting of SteamWorld.

Aviv, Children of Morta (Published by Dead Mage, MSRP $22, Humble Partner)

This was the surprise of the year for me. From time to time I get to try new indie games from Evolve PR and usually they are not exceptional. This was not the case with Children of Morta. From the very beginning of the game, it is something special. A cross between rogue-light progress of Dead Cells and ARPGs character development of Diablo. Simply amazing.

Omer, Golf Story (Published by Sidebar Games, MSRP $14, Get the Game)

Favourite game in the past year that didn’t come out this year but is my game of the year for the year.

Aviv, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order ((Published by Respawn Entertainment, MSRP $60)

The second game by Respawn on this list, both single-player and multiplayer. Fallen Order restored my interest in the Star Wars setting that basically died with the movies.

Our Expectations for 2020

Omer: I’m going to buy one game, and one game only it will be Baldur’s Gate III and please let it be out in 2020.  League of Legends: Wild Rift is already in beta, if it’ll make it to the Switch I’ll play that like there’s no tomorrow. Maybe Diablo IV will surprise toward the holidays? Probably not.

Aviv: Animal Crossing: New Horizons will be another franchise I finally get to play thanks to the Switch. I'm waiting to see how Cyberpunk 2077 pans out.

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