Factorio - If it’s just now eligible then it’s getting my vote, it has to be my game of the decade. That or modded Minecraft.
Cyberpunk 2077 - Unlike most I liked the story but understood the issues people had, it just didn’t rub me quite so raw. I did like the basic gameplay loop as well but it needs a lot of work and balance to fully take advantage of the actual city. At heart though I am an explorer and that’s where this game shines.
Last of Us II - What a total surprise for me. I was never a super fan of the original, I just thought it was good. The story however pulled me through the game - I actually wanted to know what happened next, in a video game. This was a new way to tell a story and I think a very powerful one at that, forcing people to actually live through the story after specifically making sure you very much would not want to. Which was uncomfortable, I get, but the best stories always are. It reminds me in a way of what Bioshock tried to do with it’s lack of agency, but turned to the story teller’s advantage in a new way.
Demon’s Souls - Never finished the original but I did the PS5 remake and was absolutely absorbed the whole time. Graphically speaking it was probably the most impressive game of the year, beating out even Cyberpunk 2077 for me just based on the set pieces. Standing at the beginning of the first level it was like looking at concept art except it was actually 3D and you go could go there. Mind blowing and exciting to think what is coming for the next gen consoles. Youtube footage does not even come close to delivering the actual experience, unless at 4k and HDR, and even then it’s still not the same.
Horizon Zero Dawn - I replayed this on PC and loved it all over again. I already made this my #1 choice when it first came out and it’s still one of my favorite open world games. This time I played through the DLC as well and very much appreciated the extra content.
Ghosts of Tsushima - beautiful, good gameplay loop, decent story but overall nothing I got excited about and I still haven’t finished it.
Days Gone - I just finished this last night and it’s also caught me by surprise. It would definitely be on the list if it was eligible. I love the gameplay loop and the hordes and even the story kept me interested. All the characters are assholes and it tries several times to pull off emotionally effecting scenes that fall flat on it’s face. It starts off poorly by focusing on Boozeman and pining for your lost wife, but recovers just fine by the end. The upgrade systems keep you wanting to play right up to the end, at least if you don’t spend much time doing non quest related things, which is impressive given how long the game is. It’s long! Very long.
Microsoft Flight Simulator
This came out in mid-August and I haven’t played anything else since. And I’m not even flight-simmy by nature - just that having a huge 3D atlas of the world and a vehicle to propel through it at speed is a bit of a dream for someone who generally spends passenger flights with their nose pressed up against the glass.
Snowrunner
Really built upon the good work done by its predecessors - I was happy carrying logs through bogs, but the imposition of a proper structure on the game made it so much better. Need to go back and finish it off.
Prosperous Universe
Because I haven’t played anything since MSFS 2020 came out, the rest of this list is probably more threadbare than I’d like. I didn’t even get to Desperados 3, for example. But I played this free web game about managing your production chains for a solid ten months, so I need to give it its due.
Death Stranding
A real love-hate affair, but really impressed that they pulled this off. I ignored all the building and resource gathering and mainlined the (terrible) story. Everybody should play it.
Mount and Blade: Bannerlord
I spent thousands of hours playing and modding the first two, so it was a bit of a let down that this didn’t hold my attention for very long. Maybe one day I’ll fire it up again and have fun.
Eek, just reading back and seeing Factorio - dunno if I can justify giving it a vote, despite it being one of the best games of all time imo, as I played it years ago.
Yeah…I had doubts I’d get to the end if I did the sidequests/building aspect, which I found uninspiring, and I was really in it for the walking sim stuff, so it worked out well.
I was pretty impressed that they managed to wrap up the story in a way that it all made some sense, and since I finished the game I’ve become fonder of it. But the walking sim aspect carried it for me, and building ziplines etc would have bypassed that.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon - I love love love LOVE this game. I’m only about 20 hours in (meaning, the tutorials are starting to ease up) but I’ve laughed, I’ve cried, and I’ve used a giant electric massager to bludgeon men drenched in personal lubricant. It’s hilarious, heartwarming, and endlessly compelling.
The Last of Us Part II - It’s really a coinflip between this and Hades, but I’ll give TLoU2 the edge for taking place in Seattle. The first game ended on such an absolutely, pitch-perfect note that I was pretty hesitant to return to that world, but they more than justified themselves here. Such an incredible emotional rollercoaster, and genuinely haunting.
Hades - I tend to bounce of roguelikes (or roguelites, or run-based games, or whatever you want to call them) because they trigger a sense of guilt in me for having spent a chunk of my limited gaming time without making “progress”. They make me feel lazy, almost. I consider Hades an achievement because it never once set that off. I could have happily continued sinking hour after hour into it, but had to eventually snap the line and put it down because I had other games to play.
Cyberpunk 2077 - Even though I feel I lucked out in terms of performance and meaningful bugs, I can’t deny that this game is, if not broken, profoundly dented, dinged, and wounded. But oh man did I have a lot of fun with this game. It sucked me in hard, and I sunk almost 50 hours in and hit the level cap before even really starting down the road with the main quest.
Flight Simulator 2020 - I don’t feel like I have much to add about this that hasn’t already been said. I’m a sucker for virtual tourism in games, and this is worth it just for the gorgeous scenery.
EDIT: Sorry, Desperados III. I hope to get more time with you soon, but after diving into Like a Dragon this week, I cannot in good conscience not give that my top spot.
I… didn’t even know there was a secret ending. I see you have to just keep playing and wait for it to start after beating the game, but I stopped right after that because the only thing left to do was kill hordes.
Yeah I just played through this as well on PS5. It really could have shortened a bit IMO, cut 1/4th of the missions. You could almost have ended the game before the last 3rd where they switch up factions and the big bad and had that as DLC or something. On one hand there’s a lot there for your dollar but also bunch kind of feels like filler.
Death Stranding (PC 2020) - I love this game. It made me a Kojima fan. It’s at once subtle and in-your-face, creative in so many different ways, heartfelt and silly. It’s unique and original and awesome in all the ways that matter to me, and I’m glad I had the chance to play it.
Immortals Fenyx Rising - This is the most fun I had with gaming in the whole of 2020. There aren’t many games that have me playing with a smile every time I play, but Immortals has so much heart that I couldn’t help but love it.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon - A Yakuza game without Kiryu? And turn-based combat? I had to see if this would work. And actually, it not only does work, but I see myself enjoying the turn-based combat more than the brawler combat of other Yakuza games. I still miss Kiryu, of course, but Ichiban is great in his own way, and I do enjoy the cast of characters that composes your party. Not the best Yakuza game for me - that would be Yakuza 0 - but it’s probably the runner-up.
Ghost of Tsushima - I started playing this game on the very last day of 2020. And I was immediately hooked. The combat is great, it looks amazing, and I love the “wandering samurai TV series” feel I get from the game, which is probably its strongest point for me, seeing how it’s so much more effective and approachable than the usual “really long movie” angle most story-rich open-world games choose.
Spiritfarer - There are many lovely things about this game. It can be often touching, there are interesting characters, gameplay is at once easy-going and intriguing. It wasn’t able to maintain the highs all the way to the ending (which is, admittedly, pretty interesting), which is why it’s just number 5 in my list. But it’s well worth playing and the kind of kind game we need more of.
The rest of my top 10, doubling as honorable mentions, I guess:
XCOM: Chimera Squad - Bite-sized XCOM. It works better for me than full-fledged XCOM, and I really enjoyed the gameplay changes. I hope there are more XCOM spin-offs in this style.
Crusader Kings 3 - Better than Crusader Kings 2 for me. For now, at least.
Hades - Probably the best Supergiant game made so far. I love the characters, the art, the gameplay. But I’m not as fond of the roguelike loop, and I’d have enjoyed its take on Greek mythology a lot more in an year that didn’t have Immortals Fenyx Rising.
Cyberpunk 2077 - I didn’t expect to love this game as much as I loved Witcher 3, and for now, I don’t. But I enjoy the gameplay a lot more than I thought I would… when the bugs (or the uncertainty about something being a bug or not) and balance issues don’t ruin the illusion for me. I’ll wait until a few more patches are out before I keep playing, but the gameplay and the initial impact you have when you see and experience Night City before the illusion breaks merit a place in my top 10 list out of sheer ambition alone.
Monster Train - a prettier, streamlined Slay the Spire with pretty cool twists of its own. I’ll certainly play it more, if I don’t get enraptured by Mythgard.
Haven’t played enough to have an opinion, but could well be in my top 10 list:
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla - bought it on release, but couldn’t play much due to work and Fenyx arriving a couple weeks later, but I’ll play it for sure.
Paradise Killer - everything I heard about this one makes me think I’ll really enjoy it. Bought it, haven’t played it yet; I’m waiting for a moment when I can dedicate it the attention it deserves.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps - I loved the first Ori. But in the sequel I had audio and stuttering problems that didn’t get fixed until more recent patches, so I barely played it yet. I do think, though, that had I played it more, it would feature in my top 10.
Final Fantasy VII Remake - Best harem game released in 2020. And boy, could Cloud be more clueless if he tried? Wow. Love the game otherwise, but played too little for now. Would probably feature in my top 10 otherwise.
Below is the current list of people who have voted so far. If you aren’t on the list, then something is wrong with your formatting and it’s not getting picked up. If you voted for 4 games and you only see “1,2,3” for positions, then your fourth game didn’t get picked up. Let me know if you need assistance. I’ll post again down thread towards the end to confirm/recheck/pick up later voters.
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. Best AC game in recent memory. No hesitation for me that it is the best 2020 game I’ve played. I put down AC Unity to try it out and haven’t looked back yet.
Minecraft Dungeons. My wife and I have bought spent countless hours playing it. The expansions and daily trials have kept the game fresh.
Stop the Train! Going for the lone vote on a boardgame no-one else will have heard about. But I mostly bought older boardgames, like 7 Wonders Duel, or expanded my Arkham Horror Card Game collection. Both to play more boardgames with my wife this year. Not many brand new releases. This one is good fun though.
Forgotten Waters A pirate themed board game. The voice narration in the app is top notch. Great fun with 4 players.
Horizon Zero Dawn. PC version. Finally got to try the game and, while I haven’t finished it yet, I’ve been enjoying it a lot.
I’ve played some other 2020 games, like Monster Train, but not that many. And none of them have made the same impression as the above.
2020 was a weird year for a lot of reasons, but one of them is the way I played a ton of games, but it seems like only a handful were first released this year.
Yakuza: Like A Dragon - I always love the Yakuza games. For open world games about criminals, they’re so humane, and just like people so much. And in a year like this, it made me especially happy. It’s also a neat re-invention of the formula, and your party members and their banter are just so good.
TROUBLESHOOTER: Abandoned Children - A super enthusiastic, maximalist rpg take on XCOM. Does all of it work? No. Did I spend 100 hours playing anyway? Yes. Am I close to finishing it? I don’t think so? Did I discover new systems 70 hours in? Yes. Did I enjoy every minute of it? Also yes.
Wasteland 3 - It’s just a solid rpg, and I really appreciated that they reduced the stakes to something more human.
Wildfire - It’s a clever take on an immersive sim as a 2d platformer. I can’t say I was ever invested in what passes for a narrative, but I was cackling with mad glee whenever things spiraled madly out of control in a cascading series of disasters.
Resident Evil 3 - A massive letdown as a followup to one of the best games ever, but taken on its own terms, it’s a solid action game.
Dota Underlords
This is the game I played the most this year (it came out of early access in February). It was my first auto chess game and I thought the whole thing felt like a living board game. A fantastic mix of real time and turn based that felt completely fresh and required ways of strategising that I hadn’t seen before. I also haven’t felt this tense about some matches since Dota 2 - jumping up from my chair whenever I managed to come out on top.
A Monster’s Expedition
A puzzle game inspired by Stephen’s Sausage Rolls but with a way more relaxing aesthetic. The sausages are now logs that you push around an open world of little islands. I’m playing this on the Apple Arcade which makes it possible to seamlessly play on my iPhone and Mac with the same cloud save which makes it very easy to jump in at any moment and solve a couple of islands.
Microsoft Flight Simulator
To be frank - I haven’t put a lot of hours into this. But I still want to give this game a nod for pushing technology forward. The feeling of being able to visit the whole world is amazing. This is one of the few games this year that felt truly next gen to me. Finally a game that makes good on the promise of utilising cloud technology.
Project Cars 3
A racing game heavily inspired by Drive Club. This game got a lot of criticism for not being a full on sim style game as its predecessors of the same name were, but I think it stands on its own. The main criticism I have of it is that the environments are utterly boring compared to Drive Club which puts you in all these great scenarios. However the handling and controls are equally satisfying and the game structure very similar. The game doesn’t just care about you winning the race but also about a bunch of side objectives that you need to complete in a race to progress. This gives a great incentive to play a race multiple times. The career mode is very long ranging all sorts of car classes and they have added the rival mode from Forza which I really like for competing against people your skill level.
Cyberpunk 2077
Now here’s a game that does not feel next gen al all - yes the graphics are great on my high end PC but the game design sits firmly in the classic open world style. What it does better than any other open world game is it’s long ongoing (side) quests lines very similar to the Witcher. Its main missions are long and elaborate and the story is dense and involved. I haven’t the finished the game but at about 50 hours in I think it would probably make the cut even after I complete it.
Games I played this year that would have been on the list if they had released this year.
Disco Elysium
Outer Wilds
Subnautica
Hunt: Showdown
Games released this year that I haven’t played yet and in my mind have a good chance of making the list if I had played them in time.
