I ended up playing a bunch of older games this year that didn't release in 2020 but I'm still including because this was the year I played them. I also spent some time revisiting and finishing some games I had originally started on previous years and if I hadn't already put them on a prior list, they'd likely be on this one (Dark Souls 3, Sekiro, Hades) as they were all amazing games that I'm glad I returned to.
Despite agreeing with the consensus that The Last of Us didn't need a sequel, Part 2 was nonetheless an amazing, though grueling, experience. I was invested in the characters throughout and it did an admirable job of creating empathy for those you were initially completely against. The gameplay was also much-improved, blurring the line between stealth and combat with capable, believable enemies and more open, explorable locations.
Warzone piggybacked on 2019's Modern Warfare which was the best Call of Duty in years. Warzone brought smart changes and streamlining to the Battle Royale genre while keeping the brilliant gunplay and technical aspects of Modern Warfare. It's new integration with this year's Black Ops Cold War (and disassociation with Modern Warfare as support for that is dropped), however, has felt like a big misstep in what has otherwise been one of the best Battle Royale's to date.
The original Demon's Souls ushered in an entirely new sub-genre of rpg and I loved how the difficulty and lack of handholding forced you to learn a level's ins-and-outs and play strategically and carefully if you wanted to progress. I think From Software has improved greatly with their newer titles (Dark Souls series, Bloodborne, etc) but the newly remastered Demon's Souls puts a fresh and incredibly detailed coat of paint on this classic, which still holds up remarkably well after 11 years.
I wasn't sure how much I'd like this when I picked it up as it sounded a bit like a delivery simulator where you're stuck in the mud (or snow) most of the time. And it is...but I also found it to be a really relaxing, rewarding and just generally enjoyable adventure through the wilderness where it's just you and your truck (and your winch) trying to plan out the safest but quickest route to accomplish whatever task you need to do (deliver cargo, repair a bridge, rescue a drowned trailer, etc.)
I bounced off the original Evil Within quite quickly and therefore disregarded the sequel for quite a while (it came out in 2017 originally). After hearing some positive things about it I decided to try it and despite clunky mechanics and rough edges I found it to be a really nice mix of stealth and action that didn't rely on jump scares to be really tense and creepy. The story, while a bit ham-fisted at points, was also more compelling and touching than I expected.
I really love the whole aesthetic of Yoshi's crafted world where every single thing in the game looks like an arts-and-craft project of popsicle sticks, milk cartons and various recognizable bits of junk taped together. The main reason that it was one of my favourite games of the year, however, was because of how attached my toddler became to it. She loves dinosaurs and dragons so Yoshi was an immediate draw, and the relatively forgiving gameplay (in the included 'assist mode') allowed her to slowly figure out the mechanics bit-by-bit (including aiming and throwing eggs at background objects) to the point of finishing levels without any help, which was amazing to watch.
Days Gone takes a while to really wind itself up, both story and gameplay-wise. With your bike and abilities severally hampered until you get some upgrades into them and uneven voice performances throughout that just make the whole thing feel a little half-baked, I wasn't sure I was going to stick with it. Once things get rolling, however, the gameplay starts to click, taking down hordes with hundreds of zombies in a panicked rush to survive is amazing and having an upgradeable bike is probably my favourite mode of transport of any open-world game I've played. The story has some good moments as well but sometimes the tone just doesn't hit right and misses the emotional impact it's reaching for.
Hunt: Showdown is probably the most atmospheric and stressful multiplayer games I've played. The supernatural 1800's bayou is an intense and creepy setting where you do your best to avoid npc monsters while other teams of players do the same, all working their way slowly towards a boss encounter in an unknown location. The tension is constant as engaging with monsters is often noisy and can bring other players to your location where they'll likely ambush you. It provides pronounced highs and lows which keeps things interesting and makes each match feel pretty unique.
The recent Assassin's Creed games have leaned more and more into the open-world RPG space and I've generally enjoyed the new games more as a result. Valhalla did a lot of small things that I felt improved the experience over AC: Odyssey, making exploration more pronounced and giving a better sense of progression through a village that you build up. It doesn't hurt that it's also a gorgeous world to run around in. Unfortunately like pretty much every Assassin's Creed game, after 30-40 hours I find the repetitive elements begin to wear on me and I fall off long before reaching the end of the story.
Project CARS 3 is a bit of a weird release due to the previous games in the series being hardcore simulation racers with an emphasis on realistic physics, race regulations and competitive racing, and 3 really paring down the simulation aspects and making the whole game more approachable to casual players. I actually found this mix between arcade and simulation to be the sweet spot for me, with fun car handling that requires some driving skill while still letting you throw cars around the track with more abandon. Unfortunately the game also had (has) a lot of bugs and rough edges, and by abandoning their core fanbase (and seemingly failing to capture much of a new one), Project CARS 3 did pretty poorly in sales and resulted in very little post-launch support with bugs and uneven performance persisting months beyond what you'd expect for a modern game.
