I originally wrote my 2020 GOTY list with only nine titles. A big reason for 2020's smaller list is that I was happy to play quite a bit of FFXIV (usually splitting my time between one or two other games). I started enjoying Immortals: Fenyx Rising mostly in January -- it seemed like a solid candidate to round out a top ten, so I delayed this list for a few weeks.
Some of my (other) favorites from previous years include Dragon Quest Builders 2 and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
Supergiant has a track record of making fun and polished games, and Hades builds off of their best work. They've taken the replayability and systemic gameplay of rouge-likes and applied their own strengths: from the art and music, to the dialogue and player feedback, to the pacing and great difficulty options. Hades is a lot of fun during its runs -- and in the progress in-between.
Square brought their A-game when they finally got around to remaking Final Fantasy 7. Remakes are tough, but they managed to land both the gameplay and story (for the most part).
FF7R's combat has variety and great "feel", with RPG elements that impact the action gameplay (and that directly reference the original FF7). It also does a great job of capturing the atmosphere, themes and world of FF7, while avoiding the trap of being too self-serious (even if it gets a bit ridiculous at times).
In some ways, the Mana games appeal to me directly. I like action RPGs and I like the series' vibrant, colorful art style and instrumentation. Trials feels like a pretty faithful Mana remake and I got more than I expected out of it (as a SFC remake). The characters and classes also add a little extra depth to Trials' combat.
I often enjoyed just running around in Immortals' open world. Its movement feels pretty good and its combat is straightforward but fun. (Though like other AAA open worlds, the other activities don't always hold up to their repetition.) Immortals' humor and storytelling are quirky but also (mostly) worked for me.
Spiritfarer has a really nice balance of exploration, management gameplay and some storytelling. (In some ways the combination reminds me of Subnautica.) It's both relaxing and engaging, even if it isn't perfectly polished.
Ghost of Tsushima has a lot of what you'd expect from a AAA open world game (probably too much, in terms of collectibles and aggresively helpful signposting). For me, the pacing and storytelling picked up toward the middle and helped it finish stronger than I expected.
Island life has its charms. Animal Crossing was often relaxing and enjoyable, even if its pace can be painfully slow at times.
The first Bloodstained was super solid as a retro platformer. Bloodstained 2 is a classic iterative sequel -- more characters, more levels and more features. The gameplay still works pretty well, but Bloodstained 2 does start to feel a little too big and too same-y.
Also, Hachi is great.
Chimera Squad is fun as a sort of mini-XCOM 2. Its breach gameplay and focus on characters and setting help it feel different enough. It still seems to use the XCOM 2 engine, though, which at this point feels dated (and still buggy).
Streets of Rage 4 is pretty short, but it does a great job of nailing the classic beat 'em up forumla. Its cool art style, great music, polish and online co-op make it pretty easy to pick up and play.
