In 2020, millions of locked-down people worldwide rediscovered their love for video games, a perfect getaway from our current, sobering reality. Our consoles were therapeutic joy machines and gave us a control and vicarious autonomy that we suddenly lacked in life.
We could go any place we wanted to—whether it was a deserted island where we farmed pumpkins and pulled weeds, or an abandoned skate park where we grinded on rusted rails. Whether it was feudal Japan with its samurai code, or modern Japan with its Yakuza loyalty oaths; whether it was the Greek Underworld or a literal Hell on Earth; this was the year of escapism.
It was also the year that both the Playstation 4 and the Xbox One reached the end of their life cycles, ushering in the releases of the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X|S. Traditionally, this is the time period when developers push the current generation consoles to their fullest potential, and in many cases, they did. In a year filled with acclaimed titles, there were a few definite standouts. Here are the best video games of 2020.
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In 2020, millions of locked-down people worldwide rediscovered their love for video games, a perfect getaway from our current, sobering reality. Our consoles were therapeutic joy machines and gave us a control and vicarious autonomy that we suddenly lacked in life.
We could go any place we wanted to—whether it was a deserted island where we farmed pumpkins and pulled weeds, or an abandoned skate park where we grinded on rusted rails. Whether it was feudal Japan with its samurai code, or modern Japan with its Yakuza loyalty oaths; whether it was the Greek Underworld or a literal Hell on Earth; this was the year of escapism.
It was also the year that both the Playstation 4 and the Xbox One reached the end of their life cycles, ushering in the releases of the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X|S. Traditionally, this is the time period when developers push the current generation consoles to their fullest potential, and in many cases, they did. In a year filled with acclaimed titles, there were a few definite standouts. Here are the best video games of 2020.
10.'Yakuza: Like a Dragon'
Publisher: Sega
Platform(s): PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Windows
This took guts. After seven successful, critically acclaimed games in its main series, the Yakuza franchise went in a different direction for its eighth installment. The developers cast a new lead—swapping Kazuma Kiryu for Ichiban Kasuga—and implemented a new fighting system, trading in melee combat for turn-based RPG. And yet it works somehow, retaining the weird, offbeat spirit of the prior games.
After serving 18 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, the once virile, cocksure Ichiban emerges from prison as a middle-aged has-been. He's brought to his lowest, fishing for coins under vending machines and fighting with strangers over recyclable cans, on his way to confronting the man who betrayed him. Ichiban teams up with several other misfits—a cop on the verge of retirement and a homeless man with a murderous flock of pigeons, to name a few—to restore his honor and take his revenge. Melodramatic, ridiculous, and undeniably fun, Yakuza: Like A Dragon is a must-play RPG that deserves more attention than it's getting.
9.'Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2'
Publisher: Activision
Platforms(s): PS4, Xbox One, Windows
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 is a bottom-to-top remake of two skateboarding classics. It manages something that all remakes should aspire to; it not only recreates the courses and hairpin controls of the originals, but it also captures the sense of wonderment we had in the late '90s, when Tony Hawk's otherworldly 900 skills made him a youth icon.
This game is beautiful. Every level, from The School to The Mall to The Hangar (always grind on the helicopter propellers!) , has been lit and re-imagined for maximum ambiance. The game incorporates game mechanics from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4; you can now Revert and Manual to extend your combos indefinitely. And of course, there's the rock and hip-hop saturated soundtrack, which contains nearly every single song from the first two games while adding some new ones. Rage Against The Machine? Meet Machine Gun Kelly. This game took something old and classic and remixed it into something new yet familiar. It's a must-play.
8.'Doom Eternal'
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Platform(s): PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, Stadia, Windows
Hell has invaded Earth. Kill everything that moves, with extreme prejudice. Use your shotgun to stop individual demons. Use your grenades to clear a room. Use your chainsaw to mete out close-range damage. Use your glory kills to end fights quickly. Collect ammo and armor. Rinse, lather, repeat. It's a familiar feedback loop that's oh-so-addictive.
Doom Eternal is an incredible game, not because it breaks ground or ushers in a new era of gameplay. It's because the game takes first person shooter fundamentals—the basic strafing, aiming, and firing mechanics that we take for granted—and polishes them to their maximum potential. There are more realistic shooting games and more granular shooting games with deeper gameplay. But it might not be possible to make a casually accessible first person shooter—a pick-up-and-play chaos simulator—that's this finely tuned and fundamentally sound.
7.'Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time'
Publisher: Activision
Platform(s): PS4, XBox One
This game is difficult—even more so when you're losing your temper. But Crash Bandicoot 4 is always fair in how it challenges the player. There are no random spikes in difficulty—no obstacle that would qualify as "cheap," that would make you blame the design rather than blame yourself. And that makes all the difference. It inspires you to practice and try again, because the goal seems attainable, no matter how outlandish it looks on its face. In its default setting, the game has a death counter that logs the myriad ways you can fail. Eventually, you're going to win because you've done everything else.
Multiple masks give you unique powers, which change the gameplay in unique, inspired ways. A purple mask turns you into a flying, double-jumping tornado of energy. A blue mask phases you between dimensions. A yellow mask slows time, allowing you to jump on an enemy's projectiles and use them as a series of platforms. If you're a glutton for punishment, you can replay the levels in mirror mode, or occasionally with another character, which makes everything hit different.
The amount of gameplay stuffed into this title is massive. And the only thing standing between you and that platinum trophy status is your own patience and resilience.
6.'Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales'
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Platform(s): PS4, PS5
How much faith did Sony place in Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales? So much faith, that the company based its PlayStation 5 marketing campaign around it. Sony trusted this game to show off every positive attribute that their next-gen console had to offer: the 4K resolution, the reflective ray-tracing effects, the fast-loading SSD, and the controller's haptic feedback.
The trust was not misplaced. This game delivers an incredible play experience—one that's leaner but more intense than the previous one provided by Marvel's Spider-Man (2018). Miles Morales is more than a palette swap; he's got his own Venom powers, Invisibility, and an entire suite of different web gadgets. In the first game, Peter Parker could lean hard on a single gadget to manage a fight. But Miles Morales has no such luxury; he must use everything at his disposal to survive. Combine this with an affecting story that addresses neighborhood solidarity, the value of Black lives, and Big Tech's exploitation of the working class, and you have one of the best games of the year—and so much more than a tech demo.
5.'Animal Crossing: New Horizons'
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch
2020 was the year that America hit rock bottom and began to dig. Political division, systemic racism, police brutality, civil unrest, natural disasters, coarsening political dialogue, rising fascism, a pandemic that's wiped out a quarter of a million Americans, and freaking MURDER HORNETS; it's enough to make you move to a desert island and start anew. Animal Crossing: New Horizons offers a vicarious opportunity to do just that.
Unfolding in real-time, Animal Crossing: New Horizons gives you the freedom to build your island utopia exactly the way you want it. I am the residential leader of Booyah Island, and I take pride in my abilities as a woodworker; I've built tables, chairs, and bookshelves, and I'm gathering wood to make more. I'm collecting dinosaur fossils; I have a complete Triceratops skeleton in my island's museum. I planted a money tree three days ago; I can't wait to log-in tonight and harvest coins from its branches. And because it's the holidays, I'm planting seasonal holly in my garden. I hung a flower wreath on my door last week.
We all have to go back to the real world eventually—the Switch's battery only lasts so long. But what a respite. There's pleasure and assurance in mundanity.
4.'The Last of Us Part II'
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Platform(s): PS4
In hindsight, the most critically acclaimed, fan-divisive video game of the year couldn't help but be polarizing. 2013's The Last of Us was a landmark accomplishment—a worthy tale about the love that a parent can have for a child, and what horrible deeds a person will commit in the name of love. The fans would spend the proceeding seven years creating art, interrogating every aspect of the narrative, and wondering what would happen to these characters that we'd come to love. It was unreasonable to believe that developer Naughty Dog could please everyone. And so, they decided (correctly) to simply tell the story they wanted to tell.
The result is a tale of two women: Ellie and new protagonist Abby, who [SPOILER ALERT] is the daughter of the surgeon that Joel killed in the first game. Ellie is small and stealthy; Abby is strong and combat-trained. Both women are motivated by their loathing for each other. If the first game was about love, then this game is about hate, and the ways it consumes love and subverts it. The visual aspects of this game are extraordinary, with some of the most accurate renderings of fire, water, smoke, gore, moss, and shattered glass, but the narrative is what Naughty Dog took a real chance on.
The Last of Us Part II is a dark game, about cruel people doing unforgivable things. It is masterful in telling its story, to the point that I felt miserable and dirty for having witnessed it. To say I "enjoyed" it isn't quite right; I would say that I "experienced" it. But whatever 'it' is, it's definitely memorable; I still find myself discussing its plot points and ethical questions months later. I remain conflicted, and perhaps that's the point.
3.'Ori and the Will of the Wisps'
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios / iam8bit (Switch)
Platform(s): XBox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, Windows
"Metroidvania" is shorthand for a genre that has a ton of variety. But when people say that, they're referring to a game--usually a side scroller—that adheres to the gameplay mechanics of Super Metroid (1994) and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997). It's a game with a focus on exploration over linear play. It's a game where you acquire weapons, gadgets, or abilities to backtrack and access previously inaccessible areas.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps is one such game, and it tests the player's ability to chain his or her skills together. You need to double jump into a mid-air dash into a targeted launch jump to barely grab the nearest ledge. Many times, you'll find yourself making leaps that look impossible, even with the skills you have. It reminds you of your vulnerability. Even though you're a supernatural guardian spirit, you're a small one, and you're traversing a magical forest that's filled with dangers.
The visuals are in a class of their own; this is a game that is drunk on its own beauty. Everything looks wet. Everything shimmers. And by the time you meet a giant, ancient toad, whose body is covered with moss and toadstools, and whose skin glistens when it catches the moonlight, you'll know you're playing something special.
2.'Ghost of Tsushima'
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Platform(s): PS4
War is hell, and it forces ethical compromise. It's easy to have principles in times of peace. But what if you're actively losing a war, and strict adherence to morality and honor will result in your inevitable demise? What if it will result in the rape, enslavement, and deaths of countless innocents? What if it will result in the destruction of an entire way of life?
Ghost of Tsushima is a samurai game that interrogates its genre. At every moment, it reminds you, in graphic, horrific detail, what's at stake for your pretensions. You see burnt bodies stacked up outside burning villages. You see civilians impaled on pikes. Slavers roam the countryside.
Ghost of Tsushima is an open-world game, yet it manages to feel quite linear. The fog of war that covers the map prevents you from exploring too far, too soon; go beyond what is immediate, and you're liable to encounter a band of invaders that is too strong and too well-armed for you to handle. The side quests are spread out over the course of the entire playthrough, rather than being one-off bottle encounters. Your comrades' narratives continue over the course of weeks, rather than hours. By the end of the game, you'll be emotionally attached—more than you anticipated—to the colleagues turned friends that aided you on your mission.
The swordplay is phenomenal; every duel feels weighted with consequence, and the strategy goes beyond hack-and-pray; you approach every enemy differently and parry your way to victory. The stealth is equally deep. Knife enemies from the shadows, use smoke bombs to get the drop on foes. Use firecrackers to draw a group of opponents and then blow them all up with a tar bomb. Use hallucinogenic darts to turn foe against foe.
Honor in defeat? Or disgrace in victory? The choice is yours.
1.'Hades'
Publisher: Supergiant Games
Platform(s): Switch, Windows, Mac
The story of Hades is a modern take on Greek mythology. You play as Zagreus, son of Hades and Prince of the Underworld. But your name might as well be Sisyphus (who you actually meet during the game!). Like Sisyphus, who was punished by the Olympian gods to roll a boulder up a hill for all eternity, Zagreus is stuck in a loop of his own; he's trying to escape the Underworld and join his aunts and uncles on Mount Olympus. Every time he fails and dies in the attempt, he regenerates back at Hades' house, where his father and other Underworld inhabitants pepper him with taunts and smartass remarks.
But on every attempt, Zagreus upgrades his skills. He can modify his weapons by combining Boons—a type of character buff from Greek gods Athena, Poseidon, Zeus, Ares, Dionysius, and more—to make himself more powerful. Death becomes a means to an end; it gives you another chance to make yourself stronger and take a passive-aggressive dig at your father.
And even after you manage to scrape your way out of the Underworld, that's a jumping-off point for even more gameplay content—more conversations and social bonding with the Gods (who you can gift with Nectar and Ambrosia), more side quests, and higher difficulties to "turn up the heat" and obtain even more powerful weapons.
It's all done with a wink and a smile. The Gods speak in modern parlance, and they are true to their mythological counterparts; they may have godly powers, but with their pettiness and assortment of personal issues, they are painfully human.
Hades is the stealth pick for Game of the Year. It is deceptively "solid" at first—a great game with tight controls, but one that doesn't visually stand out against the higher-budgeted titles. The more you play it, the more compelling and addictive it becomes. "Surely," you tell yourself, "something that looks so simple on its face cannot be this deep and impactful." Hundreds of hours later, you're still finding conversations you never had, and combat builds you have yet to experience. Thanks to the procedurally generated levels and the different permutations of weapons, Boons, and permanent upgrades, Hades feels endless. The game never repeats itself, and that's the irony. Because from a narrative standpoint? That's exactly what you're doing the entire time.