AN: 2020 has been a terrible year for many people, and I want to avoid trivializing or being flippant about it at all costs. If anything written below contradicts this goal, please let me know and I’ll edit / remove it.

I don’t remember what expectations I had for the gaming industry in 2020. This time last year, I had started a playthrough of Control, which I found equal parts brilliant and frustrating. There was only one game on the horizon that interested me, and it didn’t even end up making my Top 10. I bought a shoddy remaster of a Blizzard game and played several hours of Split Or Steal in January, thinking this would be a paper-thin year due to the incoming new consoles. Fortunately, that prediction turned out to be incredibly wrong.

This is one of the strongest years of games I can remember, and nailing down the order of my 10 favorite games (or even my top 5, aside from #1) is the toughest I can remember. My available options excluded some real bangers like Final Fantasy VII Remake, which I would love to play one day. I finally made the Game Pass Ultimate plunge in November, and this led to a couple of late inclusions in my final list. I was limited to how much I could play with my toddler beginning to walk and get extremely strong opinions on what she wanted to do with the controller and PC tower. Speaking of the latter, my PC died right before holiday break in December, i.e. when I intended to replay a bit of everything to finalize my list. I’m glad that Staff decided to delay their Game of the Year content, because I needed the extra time to decide and write.

With apologies to Teardown, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Sludge Life, Gears Tactics, Carrion, Call of the Sea, Star Renegades, Wasteland 3, and Star Wars: Squadrons (all of whom I ran out of time for), here are my top 10 games of 2020:

10. Crusader Kings III

Despite being a big fan of the Civilization series, I have always bounced off of the games made by Paradox Interactive. That streak appears to have finally ended with the excellent (and streamlined) Crusader Kings III, which I tried out after signing up for Game Pass. The game is very up front about what your endgame should be: it’s about telling the story of your ruler, not about conquering the world or sending a rocket to Alpha Centauri. The freedom to play only as long as I’m interested in a monarch enhanced my enjoyment, and before long I was fabricating false claims in my neighbors’ territory, schmoozing my former enemies, and allowing my new enemies to plot my daughter-in-law’s demise because she had already borne two grandsons. A friend of mine summarized gameplay as “if it doesn’t sound godawful taken out of context, you’re playing it wrong”, and I couldn’t agree more.

I played Crusader Kings III on PC via Game Pass Ultimate.

9. Kentucky Route Zero: PC Edition

Of any game I played this year, nothing confounded my rankings quite like Kentucky Route Zero. The first acts of it came out nearly a decade ago, only the conclusion was released in 2020, and it’s barely what I would classify a “game”. It has a very slow build, only really picking up in Act 3, and its finale is brief. The game stays opaque from start to finish, ever tantalizing you with narrative bits and tying up occasional loose threads. But... what a narrative! It felt like a modern Great American Novel all the way through, selling both the mundane in its Kentucky hills and the surreal in its Route 0 and Echo River with equal vigor. Poking around always felt valuable, and there were easter eggs that popped up if you were curious enough. The local arts TV station in an interlude between Acts mentioned a phone number, so I paused the game to call it. Sure enough, it took me to a recording for that studio. It achieved the same effect that the game itself did - pulling the strange and surreal into the real world, if only for a glimpse. For the strength of the story alone, KRZ definitely belongs in my top 10.

I played Kentucky Route Zero on PC via Steam.

8. Deep Rock Galactic

In an alternate timeline in which I’m actually available for multiplayer gaming before the entire East coast goes to bed, this could have been a top 3 game of 2020 for me. However, the time I was able to spend in 3- or 4-person multiplayer is among my favorite gaming memories of the year. The exploration and teamwork used in locating your objective is interrupted by frantic survival against crawling hordes, with enough variation between each class to make everything interesting and effective. There was also enough funny bullshit (particularly in the hub area) to make each moment entertaining. The solo game was also quite good, with a friendly robot to help you shoot bugs and access upper reaches of the cave. I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface, and I look forward to playing more of this in the years to come.

I played Deep Rock Galactic on Xbox One (launch), and it’s available on Game Pass Ultimate.

7. Hardspace: Shipbreaker [Early Access]

A lot of games establish a setting where your blue collar character is saddled with inescapable debt; not all of them slap you in the face with it quite like Hardspace: Shipbreaker. Once you get past the intro screens (which do a great deal of world-building), you are given the objective of eliminating $1 billion in debt. To do that, you disassemble and sort starship parts in a drydock above Earth orbit. The game started out feeling like a puzzle, but as I gained familiarity with each type of ship, it became a challenge to see how much high-priced items I could salvage in only one or two 15-minute intervals. While doing so, I accidentally froze myself, caused explosive decompression, and occasionally leveled everything in my field of view. There’s a grim humor in watching a super-valuable component get destroyed because you forgot to turn off a very obvious valve somewhere. I’m still not all that close to eliminating the debt, but after a certain point, it actually started to feel obtainable. Thanks to that, I’m sure I’ll be playing a lot of this game again in 2021.

I played Hardspace: Shipbreaker on PC via Steam.

6. Monster Train

Though I didn’t write a list for this site in 2018, Slay The Spire was my Game of the Year back then. I’ve tried to get into other deckbuilders, but Monster Train is the only game since that has fully drawn me in. I would describe it as a marriage between Spire and Magic: The Gathering, to the point where I refer to the faction combinations by their “colors”. But all of that does little justice to Monster Train, which stands on its own as an extremely fun video game.

Two factors really enhance the replayability of this game to make it one that I continue to enjoy several months after its release (and while I should be going through my backlog). First, each game lasts around 20-30 minutes, allowing you to quickly hop in and out if you so choose. Second, the combinations of different factions let you discover interesting combinations and card interplay. I greatly enjoyed my “blue/black” playthrough in which I set up tanks that consumed little creatures on the front line, then loaded the back with monsters that debuffed and caused damage over time. I’ve only cleared the game a few times by this point, and there’s still a lot I want to accomplish. Lastly, it bears mention that the music is phenomenal. It’s a shame that, as good as it is, it gets overshadowed by virtually all of my top 5.

I played Monster Train primarily on PC via Steam, and it’s available on Game Pass Ultimate as well.

5. Bugsnax

Through the late summer, it seemed everyone was talkin’ ‘bout Bugsnax. When it did come out, some were let down because it wasn’t the kind of game they thought it would be. But I am very glad for the game it did turn out to be, because it was one of my favorite experiences of the year. The writing and character work was excellent, rivaling that of the #1 game on this list. Each character was funny, flawed, heartbreaking in their setbacks, and glorious in their triumphs. It was the perfect mix of goofball and weighty that I wanted in a game this year, and I’ve been recommending it to everyone who will pretend to listen.

If it sounds like the gameplay itself takes a backseat to the narrative and environmental elements, you’re not wrong. It was mostly fine, occasionally frustrating, but functional the vast majority of the time. There was some challenge to getting certain Snax to hit specific conditions, but overall it was fairly easy. I really liked wandering around new areas, just seeing each Bugsnax in its natural state. And the twist during the endgame (which I won’t mention even in shaded text) was not especially surprising but fit the theme of the game very well. My favorite moment was right after hitting the point of no return, when you’re just having a good time with all the Grumpuses in Snaxburg. By the time the infamous Bugsnax theme song played during the end credits, I had been wearing a big doofy smile on my face for a while.

I played Bugsnax on PC via the Epic Games Store.

4. Spiritfarer

The official description for Spiritfarer is “a cozy management game about dying”. It both succinctly summarizes the game itself and sells itself way short. The music, visuals, and characters are all so beautifully done that you can often lose yourself in walking around with no objective in mind. Each character had an entertaining and poignant arc, all culminating with their eventual departure from your ship. I enjoyed the game the most when my ship was bursting with activity and life, but the times after certain characters had left forever were also memorable for their absence. The actual management portions of the game were probably on the shallow side of what fans of the genre might want, but I enjoyed them more than I expected to. There was no shortage of minigames to go along with resource gathering, either.

My favorite part of the game, however, was the storylines for each character. One of my favorites, and certainly the one that hit hardest for me, was an elderly spirit in the form of a hedgehog named Alice. When you meet her, she is vibrant and eager to garden and make homey meals. As the storyline progresses, something is off about her behavior. It becomes clear that she is suffering from dementia, and she needs a lot of help getting around before too long. She begins to call out for a lost family member, whom she soon mistakes you for. My grandmother died just days shy of her 100th birthday this year, also of dementia. Sending Alice off was an acute reminder of that loss, for a family member I still haven’t been able to bury. When I reached the ending of the game, I was left wanting more, as it rolls credits fairly abruptly. However, it made me rethink that official description I noted above and appreciate the ending more. I wish that additional lore and backstory was included in the game itself, as the companion art book appears to clarify a number of items I’m interested in.

Lastly, I want to briefly mention that my wife experienced game-breaking glitches in both the Xbox One and Switch versions of the game, which prevented her from completing key quests. I was fortunate in that I had no significant bugs, but they are out there and may harm your experience.

I played Spiritfarer on Xbox One (launch), and it’s also available on Game Pass Ultimate.

3. Fuser

I’m not really a fan of the majority of the music in Fuser. However, I could listen to hours of mashups made using its engine, which may be the most technically impressive game I’ve ever seen. The work that goes on under the hood is incomprehensibly good. As you combine different components of songs with distinct pitch, tempo, and mode, it all somehow works. As someone who has tooled around in GarageBand, the fact that the game can do all the hard work on the fly with every song in its library is nothing short of incredible. I’m in awe every single time I throw random items into the mix, only to see it work out to an end result I can get into. Most of the time, anyway; I have made some true nightmares already.

The UI is surprisingly easy to understand once you’ve gained familiarity with the game. To do this, you need to go through the campaign with the help of the five most unlikeable NPCs of the year, and also a small child. I found I had the most fun by doing 2-3 campaign levels at a time, then popping back into Freestyle to just vibe with my concoctions. I checked out the Social mode and voted on user-submitted mixes, which nets you a ton of experience points. This allowed me to not only unlock more songs in the library, but it also let me check out what the community is making. I was on the verge of submitting some of my own when my computer died (while running the game), and I’ve been seriously contemplating streaming the game. Though its role in my PC’s untimely demise left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, I can’t wait to return to it once I’m back up and running.

I played Fuser on PC via Steam.

2. Ori and the Will of the Wisps

It’s not that I thought this game’s predecessor, Ori and the Blind Forest, was a bad game. I thought it was a perfectly fine Metroidvania with interesting art and a sad story, and I had no desire to play through it a second time. So I came to Ori and the Will of the Wisps with extremely low expectations. I don’t think I was as surprised by any other game in 2020 as I was with this one. The first several hours of gameplay felt like a “fixed” version of the first game, with snappy controls and very fluid movement. As soon as I began unlocking more abilities and using them in bizarre locales, everything gelled in a way that left me constantly wanting more to explore. The impression it gave me is that the development team spent a lot of time playing Dead Cells and figured out what would work in their own franchise.

Performance-wise, I expected to have far more rough edges, since I played the game on a 2014-era Xbox One. I’m happy to say that the only obstacle I encountered was the delay in bringing up the menu, which could last up to 5 seconds at times. However, the gameplay was never interrupted by hitching or bugs in my time with the game. Some of the load times were very long, and I’m not sure I was supposed to linger on the fast travel animation as long as I did. The graphics were utterly gorgeous in 1080p, served well by the two-dimensional environment and strategically hidden elements. Even the most dismal holes you venture into feel alive, thanks to the intricate detail programmed into every area. I’d put the visuals and art as my favorite of the year, if not for the #1 entry on this list. I can’t wait to see what it looks like on a Series X when one of those becomes available in three years.

I don’t have overmuch to say about the story. I enjoyed it but consider it secondary to the gameplay, which is precisely the opposite of how I felt about the first game. That being said, the sidequests and standard interactions with NPCs (mostly cute creatures called Moki) were very enjoyable. The most memorable quest for me was building a home for one Moki, then being tasked with finding his family so they could join him. Since this is an Ori game, they were permanently petrified by the time I found them. I broke the news to the Moki, who said he needed to go join his family, and that was the end of the quest. Despite already having the reward and completion percentage, I decided to head back to his old dwelling. Sure enough, a third petrified Moki was now present. It’s not the most original resolution to this kind of side tale, but originality is overrated when it’s this well executed. Nothing told me to go back there; the rest of the game just made me want to.

I played Ori and the Will of the Wisps on Xbox One (launch) via Game Pass Ultimate; I purchased it afterwards as well.

1. Hades

For a lot of the games listed above, I’ve noted that the gameplay took a backseat to the narrative and character work. This is not at all the case in Hades, which is the finest marriage of gameplay and story I’ve played in a very long time (maybe ever). SuperGiant has simply created a masterpiece, one that has already become one of my favorite games ever. Not only that, they charted the ideal course through an Early Access phase, treated their workforce well, and stood toe-to-toe in every major media outlet with developers far larger than themselves. I’m not sure the game is perfect, but it is damn close.

So many things stood out about this game to me, that I am guaranteed to forget many of them in this entry. Combat felt so snappy, and every single weapon was not only viable but capable of dominating. As others have observed, you would progress with a certain kind of build wondering how you could ever play any other way, only to completely change your mind during the next run. While I certainly hoped for certain boons to appear each run (hello, Athena’s dash boon!), I was also open-minded to new builds every time. Even by my 40th run of the game I was still discovering combinations that I’d never considered before. I got my second clear with my least favorite weapon at the time. And the thrill of beating a tough room or boss (especially that smug piece of shit, Theseus) never wore off.

For the narrative and character work, I can’t believe they made Greek mythological figures interesting to me again. The last time I felt anything other than tedium towards the Olympians was around God of War 2. But Hades brought refreshing takes on each character while staying true to literature, starting with Zagreus (who I’m told was noted in a lesser-known play). There is equal parts humor and heart in his interactions with everyone around him, and figuring out his complicated relationship with each Cthonic God is fodder for much thought when I’m away from the game. The dialogue is seemingly endless, and the voice acting is terrific, especially when you consider how small the cast is. The music is the best of the year, and I get many of the songs stuck in my head constantly. The subtle difference when you clear a room and get a pulsing beat, only to have the score swell again in the next chamber, is another example of the game’s meticulous attention to detail. Every aspect of the game has been lovingly crafted, no matter how small it may sound. If I were doing awards in different categories, Hades would likely top every single one.

I did get the opportunity to play a couple hours on the Switch Lite after the aforementioned loss of my PC. It definitely loses some of the appeal, thanks to the small screen size making the art details really hard to pick out. However, I only experienced a single moment of slowdown, and that was brief and very slight (I would estimate still better than 20 fps). So while I would most recommend the game on computers, the Switch release is fully viable. Overall, this was my most pleasant gaming experience of both 2020 and what is now known as the last generation of games. I can’t wait to see what SuperGiant does next.

I played Hades primarily on PC via Steam, and a little bit on Switch Lite as noted above.

Honorable Mentions: It just got squeezed out of my list, but Temtem is a very fine Pokemon-style game that my toddler greatly enjoyed watching… For those of you with children, you may enjoy the charming puzzle game Phogs!, which has local co-op… I almost hesitate to mention it at all since it’s in very early access, but World of Horror is a wonderful point-and-click adventure game with Junji Ito visuals… The Frontier Pass for Sid Meier’s Civilization VI has been fantastic content fed slowly throughout the year, with enough perks to keep my interest in the game during its final content cycle... I got pretty sick of this type of game after a couple months of Lockdown, but Jackbox Party Pack 7 renewed my interest (particularly the game Blather ‘Round)… Finally, while it’s barely a game at all, I’m not sure anything grabbed my attention like Blaseball during parts of the year. It was a real treat to watch my Baltimore Crabs win the requisite 3 championships and then attempt to attack and dethrone God. Claws Up!

Dishonorable Mentions: The game itself is fine, but the writing in Doom Eternal was the worst I experienced all year. Most of it is in the style of a D&D campaign composed by the edgelord who is constantly occupying your local hobby store. The rest is digs at “PC culture” that would have been moldy and toothless even 25 years ago. I would have vastly preferred no lore at all… Warcraft 3: Reforged is the worst remaster I have ever played, and I’m not even one of the dedicated fans who now are unable to play the version they do love. It made the bottom of my list this year, and I could not imagine any other spot for it… Lastly, a big ol’ scowl is directed towards my local power grid, which fried my PC before publishing this list. I wanted to replay my top 15 to solidify my final decision, but this is fine I guess.