The 10 Best Games I Played in 2020
2020 was fucking rough. These games made it better.
List items
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I haven't really stopped thinking about Alyx since I played through it in April. There is so much to say about how great this game is, but in short: not only has Valve proven they can still make amazing single player games (and Half Life games, on top of that), but they have also produced the most polished, immersive, and tactile VR game to date. It's a landmark game, and one that I predict will influence VR titles for years to come. The biggest bummer here is that most people won't ever get to play it.
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My previous Tony Hawk experience is very limited. I played a couple of the previous entries and liked them well enough, but didn't think much of them. This is the first one where everything clicked for me. Fantastic arcadey gameplay that feels better and better as you improve your scores and combos throughout both campaigns, and a wide variety of challenges to always give you something to strive for. A real treat of a game, and a perfect antidote to stress.
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You know when you get a really good run in a roguelike? One where all the items are coming up in your favour, everything works together, and you feel like a badass? Well, what if a game was basically nothing but those runs?
Hades does a phenomenal job of pushing the roguelike genre forwards. It's difficulty is much more forgiving than other roguelikes, distilling the best elements without the hours and hours of grinding to get there. It pushes narrative to new heights as well, with a mind-boggling amount of fully voiced dialogue that reacts to a staggering amount of unique circumstances. A true triumph of the genre, one that I think will be seen as a gold standard for years to come.
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This game came out in 2015, but seeing as it was one of the best games I played this year, it would be dishonest not to include it.
This is one of those games that takes full advantage of the medium's storytelling potential. Its narrative presentation is top notch, its interweaving of story and game mechanics is masterful, and its many meta moments are all cool as hell. Not to mention it has one of the best game soundtracks I've ever heard. Really wish I had played this sooner.
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This isn't even a game, it's a genre. But I played so many Picross games this year that if I didn't distill all of them into one element it would flood this list.
Picross is, in my eyes, the perfect puzzle game format. It's incredibly relaxing, something easy to pick up and play in short bursts. Most TV shows I watched this year were accompanied by a Picross game of some sort, be it Picross S4/S5 or Konami Pixel Puzzle Collection.
Long live Picross.
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As it turns out, Super Mario Galaxy is still a phenomenal game. I played this on Switch this year, 12 years after I first played it. What really stands out to me, all these years later, is the atmosphere. There's sense of melancholy to this game, with the grand orchestral score, the isolating setting of space and it's vastness, and the simplistic but touching backstory of Rosalina all contributing to a tone that we haven't really seen in a Nintendo game since. The game is also super fun to play, of course.
Here's hoping Galaxy 2 comes to Switch in some form. Who knows with Nintendo, though.
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This game is fucking brutal. It does not care about you in the slightest, and will fuck up your run in a matter of seconds. But Spelunky 2's brutality is also what makes it great. There are so many ways any scenario can play out that you have to stay on your toes at all times, and it makes you appreciate every little detail of the game as you keep a close eye on all of them. I may never come close to beating this game, but I sure as hell will keep playing it well into 2021.
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This is in reference to the Iconic Cap DLC, specifically.
This is the game I expected Frog Fractions 2 to be. I know a lot of folks really liked FF2, but I could never get past the ASCII art to really get into it. This game, though, is right up my alley, playing homage to the original Frog Fractions in touching ways and including some genuinely great and hilarious minigames along the way. Well worth the pick up if you have played and enjoyed Frog Fractions.
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This is only this far down on the list because I fell off of it so hard. But when I was in it, Trackmania was great. It was something I can jump in and play without thinking too hard, a game where tracks don't stick around long enough to get too frustrated with them, something that pairs well with podcasts or videos in a second monitor. Maybe it's time I get back into Trackmania.
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I'm not an aviation enthusiast. I could not tell you any of the elements of a cockpit, the sequence of events necessary to take off, or even how to properly chart a course. But this game is so gorgeous that you can't help but play a bunch of it. I had a lot of fun just flying over famous landmarks, flying alongside friends to various destinations, and trying real dumb shit (taking off at Lukla in a 747 is one of my best moments of the year). A real good time, and a good demonstration of how Gamepass allows people to play things they otherwise wouldn't care about.
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