The Best of 2020 List of Lists Thread

I always appreciate that there’s a compilation thread for various sites’ Best-Of lists, so I’m starting one for 2020. Feel free to put your own thoughts in here, or keep your powder dry for the Quarterlies.

Some decent/notable lists I’ve run across so far:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/reviews/best-video-games-2020/

This might be the first year in a very long time that I agree with the common wisdom on the year’s best game…

Damn it, I could almost say I hadn’t played any of the games on either list! Curse you, Kentucky Route Zero!

I was thinking the other day how I usually read these year-end lists and end up with a ton of games I need to play that spill into the next year, especially indie games. But this time I’ve already played them all (aside from Doom Eternal, which I just started). So that makes it easy.

Yeah, the only game from either of those lists that I’ve played is Ori and the Will of the Wisp, which I played about half-way through. I was waiting for some audio bugs to be fixed so I put it aside, and I’ve yet to pick it up again, but it’s definitely wonderful so far. But I haven’t played any of the others.

I do have access to a few through Game Pass or my game libraries though. Like I own Hades, maybe it’s time to try that out.

Hot list!

I own Hades and stopped playing when I noticed how poorly the Switch runs it when there’s a busy screen. Maybe I’ll try again later.

I can’t play any of those PS4 games, not that I have any interest in Last of Us, but Spiderman looks fun.

I tried Ori 2 on a Gamepass trial. I loved the first game with a capital L, but I dropped the second game because it’s much more combat oriented than the first and that put me off.

I don’t even think I’ve heard heard of 20 or so of Slant’s list, while Time’s list seemed to be a popularity contest instead of a quality contest. I don’t have a preference for either list, but maybe I’m a bit surprised there’s no DOOM Eternal listed, even if I do consider a few aspects of it to be a step down (soundtrack, Maurauders, the final 2 maps and boss fights) compared to 2016’s. But it was still a great game.

I’m sorry, anyone that doesn’t have TLoU2 at the top of their list is wrong. There’s just nothing like it. Hades is just slightly more stylish than previous rogue-likes and for actual gameplay isn’t substantially different than Bastion. Also, Among Us is 100% the most talked-about/played/streamed game in the wider world and any list that doesn’t even include it (and to a lesser extent, Fall Guys) is just out of touch.

Factorio 1.0 was released this year and isn’t showing up on any of those lists. (Maybe @tomchick will review it now.) Also the final release of Black Mesa

And strange not to see Nioh 2, Ghosts of Tsushima, Fenix, CK3, and WD: Legion on any of those lists.

And SNOWRUNNER. Where the hell is Snowrunner?!?!

This was a good year. It’s going to be tough to pick a top 5.

dfsc

The Mashable list is looking pretty familiar. It does work in some Bugsnax.

I’m surprised by the showing that Ori and the Will of the Wisps is getting… I got the impression it was fine, but underwhelming. I guess I should give it a go?

It’ll certainly be pretty high on my own list (though I haven’t played most of the games on these to directly compare).

Oh this will be handy and interesting! Actually managed to play a few 2020 games this year. Already seeing a bunch of games appearing in multiple lists that I hadn’t really heard of or paid much attention to.

Credit to the LA Times for going a little outside the box for its list.

What did you think of the previous one? It’s basically that with a little more combo oriented combat. Doubt it cracks my top ten.

Polygon has dropped their top 50 list.

I had to Google what the heck a gacha game is.

Gacha games are video games that implement the gacha (capsule-toy vending machine) mechanic. This is somewhat similar to loot boxes, inducing players to spend in- game currency to receive a random virtual item.

HOW THE POLYGON TOP 50 LIST WORKS

Over the past month, the Polygon staff voted, debated, and resigned itself to the series of compromises that is our top 50 games of 2020. Any video games that were released in 2020, updated in 2020, or achieved renewed cultural relevance in 2020 are eligible for this list.

I guess that helps explain why the list makes no sense. I wonder why all the games are out of order though.

I think this is the first list I’ve seen so far with Hardspace: Shipbreaker on it. I think that’s still in Early Access, so it’s not out yet, but hey, it was pretty high on their list, so that’s a good sign. I’m looking forward to that one.

Is this your way of saying you don’t agree with their ranking, kerzain? Lucky that you get to make your own list for the much-vaunted Quarterlies!

Seemed like a pretty good list to me. I didn’t expect a free puzzle game (Helltaker) to be in the top 50, but that’s because I hadn’t heard of it. So now I’ll be giving it a try! And it reminded me just when I was trying to figure out what my youngest wants for Christmas that Mario Kart Home Circuit was out!

(Also, it doesn’t feel obliged to put the biggest-budget games at the top of the list.)

It’s an interesting list. They include No Man’s Sky, but not Factorio. Is Valhalla really a better game than TLoU2?