Your Game(s) of the Year 2020

[Karifean]

So 2020 is drawing to a close. What were your favorite games this year? Feel free to mention both games that came out this year as well as games from earlier that you only played for the first time this year.

[Fynn]

Once again, I don’t think I’ve played a single game released this year lol

[Psychotic]

Animal Crossing New Horizons, Fall Guys and FFVIIR are my top three. ACNH was a happy little piece of escapism and creativity, Fall Guys was chaotic original fun, and FFVIIR just punched me right in the nostalgic feels, and added some nice new ideas such as the battle system.

An honourable mention goes to Phasmophobia, which was a really interesting idea that was executed reasonably well, and very impressive to consider it was a one man effort. Cyberpunk 2077 has been promising but I haven’t played enough to make a call.

Among Us probably doesn't really count even though it only went mainstream this year, otherwise it might break the top 3. Persona 4 Golden was also released for the PC for the first time so it was my first time playing it, but again it probably doesn't really count.

[WarZidane]

Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Nioh 2, Trials of Mana, FF7 Remake, RE3 Remake, The Last of Us 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 were definitely my top new games this year (not in that order). Admittedly Cyberpunk 2077 is a "so far", but when "so far" means 50 hours and counting i consider that enough to judge :p

Throwing expansions into the mix, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is up there as well.

And a shout-out to Trails of Cold Steel 4 which had its English release this year and would be my number 1 this year if I hadn't already played the Japanese version 2 years ago. ;)

[Slothy]

Doom Eternal, RE3 remake, and Hades. Not the only 2020 games I've played but the only ones that are worth naming.

[Lord Golbez]

The problem with me giving game of the year as usual is that I'm behind on games and haven't played too many from this year. So it would probably be between Last of Us 2 and FF7 Remake. Both have their upsides and downsides but I think I'd choose FF7R for what was just more of a complete joy to play even if certain plot directions soured it near the end.

For games from previous years I really dug into the Yakuza series this year. I think of 3, 4, and 5 my favorite might be 4. Not sure. Although I think I finished kiwami 2 at the start of this year which was my actual favorite. Death Stranding was also quite excellent.

[Loony BoB]

I always go by "games I played this year" rather than "games released this year". I've been much more into indie/old games this year for the most part.

Game of the Year: FFVII Remake - I played it while in the depths of depression and despite that enjoyed my time playing it. When I played games during my previous depression I did not enjoy them nearly as much. I'm impressed for that alone.

Other games I played:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (best at letting me feel useful to my friends game)
Among Us (best multiplayer game)
Banjo Kazooie (best game to age ratio)
Banjo Kazooie (2nd best game to age ratio)
Borderlands 3 (best game at buying full price playing once and then forgetting forever)
Crowntakers (best single player fantasy game in which there are turn based battles and it's kind of an RPG I guess)
For the King (best multiplayer fantasy game in which there are turn based battles and it's kind of an RPG I guess)
Cube Escape/Rusty Lake/White Room (best puzzle game series)
Elder Scrolls Online (best MMO I actually played in 2020)
To the Moon (best indie feels and music until I played Finding Paradise, a later game in the same series)
A Bird Story (best game with no real dialogue whatsoever)
Finding Paradise (best indie feels and music)
Halo: The Master Chief Collection (best co-op campaign in a shooter even though I'd already played 3/ODST/Reach beforehand anyway)
Hellblade (best game for installing and constantly saying "yeah I'll play that one next" and never actually playing it, so it shouldn't really be on this list but I feel it's worth the mention)
ISLANDERS (best points-based city building game where nothing else matters but the points)
Ni no Kuni Remastered (best Ghibli game)
Ori and the Will of the Wisps (best sequel, probably)
RimWorld (best game in which I can build a bear army)
Tabletop Simulator (best game that is really just an avenue to play other games but is still genuinely a great game if it is a game)
Tukoni (best free demo that I bothered to play)
Among Trees (most relaxing game)
ARK: Survival Evolved (best oh is there no tutorial what am I doing oh I'm dead okay game)
Totally Reliable Delivery Service (best play it once and find it hilarious and then not play it again for years game)
No Man's Sky (best game I have already played but it's now a totally different and better game game)
Crusader Kings III (best what do you mean its now 5am game)
Conker's Bad Fur Day (best wtf did I just witness game)

I probably played some others but this is what I could throw together based on Steam, Xbox and Epic game launchers and my memory.

EDIT: Three more games played as of 29th December...
Cities Skylines (best and least buggy city builder of all time game, perhaps)
A New Beginning: Final Cut (best use of comics for cutscenes game)
Streets of Rogue (best roguelike game)

[krissy]

hades is goty for me
ff7re is the next one
that's all I played this year

some fall guys but I can't put that in a list lol

[Wolf Kanno]

Yeah, I'll need to go by games I played this year since VIIR is the only game released this year I actually played, and I don't feel right giving it that honor. I will have to look at my backlog to see what I played.

[Karifean]

Well this probably comes as no surprise to anyone who's heard me raving about it, but my GOTY is 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim without a doubt. It's the kind of game brimming with passion that only comes around so rarely, and a love letter to so much Japanese *and* American media it's incredible. All the more depressing that it hasn't even been mentioned in here yet, although unfortunately not surprising either, as it went under the radar to an absurd degree, having barely had any marketing or advertisement whatsoever, so unless you are already a long time Vanillaware fan and know that this has been their main project for the last five years you probably didn't even know it existed. I've been anticipating it for a while now and it's pretty much surpassed my expectations in every way anyways. Anyone who loves intricate sci-fi mystery stories done well owes it to themselves to play it. Pls don't sleep on this one. There's nothing else quite like it.

[Jinx]

Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It's really not even a competition for me. The sheer impact this game has had culturally canNOT be understated, and when people look back on the media of 2020 fifty years from now, this game will come up. It's done wonders for my mental state, and the mental state of so many people I know. It's cute, wholesome, and lets me really dig in to my creative side.

Persona 5 Royal. I always knew I was gonna love this game. I'd like to revisit it in the spring, because this year has been a doozy, and the third semester was something else.

Persona 4 Golden. Like Psy mentioned, it maybe doesn't count because it's technically a re-release, but it was the first chance I got to play this game. So good. Probably my favorite in the Persona series, honestly. Like the other two, playing it during a pandemic was super cathartic. Both with this and P5R, making the bad guys pay during a year where everything is uncertain and we're all so powerless just felt really good.

Games I played this year that made the tops, but weren't released this year:
Danganronpa 1&2 (also still working through v3, but I don't like it as much, which is why it's taking me longer to get through). Really just...fucked up and superb. Kinda shocked it took me so long to get into this series, but I'm a lifelong fan, now. Unpopular opinion: DR1 is the best one. Fight me.

FFXIV (Shadowbringers, ongoing). Bruh, just my community and friend group in this game can't be understated. Also, I'm pretty damn good at this game, and it's nice to be good at something. xD

Fire Emblem: Awakening, Fates, Three Houses. Just giving myself progressively harder challenges and getting better at tactical thinking and stuff. Good series, always a joy to play.

Nier: Automata, again. *waves hands* yup

[Lord Golbez]

Yeah v3 isn't as good as the other 2. Also I *probably* agree with you that the first is the best, but the first two are pretty close.

[Depression Moon]

I managed to play more games this year, but I still wish I got to play more:

Streets of Rage 4
Street Fighter V Champion Edition
Dreams
Doom Eternal
Persona 5 Royal
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Resident Evil 3
And currently Cyberpunk 2077

[Del Murder]

Of games released this year, FFVIIR. Of games I played this year, Red Dead Redemption 2.

The Last of Us 2 was also good but I had some issues with the character motivation.

[Shlup]

I think the only games I played this year were Animal Crossing and Red Dead Redemption 2. And Roblox but that's just because my children have all the power in this household.

[Lord Golbez]

The Last of Us 2 was also good but I had some issues with the character motivation.

Not sure what you mean. Revenge is a pretty powerful motivator. I have some issues with Last of Us 2, but can't think of any character motivation issues.

[Slothy]

I had a problem with a fair bit of the characterization in TLOU2 honestly. One of the biggest ones being that a particular characters motivation for revenge goes so far into horrific psychopath territory that it strains believability for me entirely. If I weren't already asking myself what the fuck was wrong with her up until then the fight at the end still would have sealed it for me. The lengths they go to throughout the game make very little sense honestly. Revenge may be a powerful motivator, but anger like that is something almost no one can maintain for weeks or even months on end, and most people aren't going to be so motivated by it that they can just straight up butcher as many people as they did to try and get it. Particularly considering said character never gave any indications of being this massively fucked up and completely lacking a conscience before. I've got a fair few other problems with the story and characters, in addition to how completely at odds the message of the game is with most of the story and the gameplay, but that was by far the most egregious.

Joel being so fucked up he massacres a hospital full of people who didn't deserve it in the first game made sense. This didn't. And honestly knowing about the employee abuse and how many were outright traumatized to make the game happen just makes it all the worse to me. Even if the game didn't have the problems I see it as having I couldn't name it one of my games of the year.

[Lord Golbez]

The fight at the end was fucked up to the point that I kept walking away not wanting to continue it, but to say it doesn't make sense is pushing it. People can become consumed by a desire for revenge. It's not unbelievable just because it's inpleasant. Not with the kind of shit that happens in that game. Also, there's a potential other reason she's that fucked up although it's purely speculative.

[Depression Moon]

Out of the right new games I played I definitely will say Persona 5 Royal was my favorite. I was so hyped for it and even bought two copies one of which was the collector's edition. I just loved all the improvements they made to the original. After that I would give it to Final Fantasy VII Remake.

I'm really disappointed that I missed out on Animal Crossing New Horizons. It must've been magical when that game came out. It seemed like every nerd on my fed had the game and then it crossed cultural boundaries too!

2020 was actually a crazy year for video games. Look at all the dope trout:

Dreams
Street Fighter V Champion Edition
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Hades
Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Animal Crossing New Horizons
Doom Eternal
Nioh 2
Ghosts of Tsushima
Streets of Rage 4
Persona 5 Royal
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Cyberpunk 2077

[Mr Gashtacular]

I'm pretty sure I only played three 2020 games this year, which were FF7R, TLOU2 and Watch Dogs: Legion. All had some flaws, and none of them I would excitedly say "THIS IS THE BEST GAME OF 2020" like I might have a few years ago. If I had to choose, I guess TLOU2 had the most polish, and was the "best" game of 2020. I agree with some of the flaws listed here, and it won't be making any of my personal Top 10 lists, but I enjoyed my time with it and found it overall very engaging.

The actual best game I played this year, that wasn't released this year, was probably Death Stranding.

[Slothy]

The fight at the end was smurfed up to the point that I kept walking away not wanting to continue it, but to say it doesn't make sense is pushing it. People can become consumed by a desire for revenge. It's not unbelievable just because it's inpleasant. Not with the kind of trout that happens in that game. Also, there's a potential other reason she's that smurfed up although it's purely speculative.

Yeah no I have to disagree. Anyone who finds the person they've been trying to get revenge on literally strung up for who knows how long and looking downright emaciated and who asks them for help for no other reason than to save the person they were with, and still tries to fight them to the death instead of realizing they've suffered enough and it's not worth it, is definitely in full blown psychopath territory. That's to say nothing of all the other people, including people who weren't even involved, that she gladly spent the entire game butchering along the way. And no we're not talking just killing in self defence. She absolutely brutalizes some of them to a degree and with the sort of malice we've never even seen a hint of from her before then in either game. And frankly it only makes it worse as the game reveals she knew the whole time what Joel had done to bring this down on him in the first place. Hell, I couldn't even feel that bad about Joel dying because what he did at the end of the first game made it far more justified than literally anything Ellie does. Honestly I'd go so far as to say TLOU2 does a great job of making Ellie someone it's impossible to empathize with or relate to in any way. Top tier character assassination. I mean christ when the person the game clearly wanted you to want dead for the first half of the game is the more relatable, understandable, and moral character and your other lead is everything but you've gotten something pretty wrong there.

[Wolf Kanno]

As per my usual rules with these things, I'm only counting games I played the majority of during this year. So no games I finished 80% of and then came back and topped off like Tactics Ogre, Birth by Sleep Final Mix, or Death Stranding. I also had to beat the game or get most of it done this year.

Alright, let's try to do this:


77457

Final Fantasy Legend III - The weakest SaGa game so far in my long ass marathon. FFL3 is not bad as much as it's marred by bland gameplay, weak difficulty, and a poor translation that hinders the game's best element. I'm glad I played it, but not exactly excited to try it again.


77464

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks - This entry wins props for having the best Zelda so far in the franchise for me. She's a cool companion, is funny as hell, and I love how Nintendo poked fun at the way they've used her character in past incarnations with this one. The final battle is also quite cool and cinematic. On the other hand, the dungeons are a bit too easy, traveling by train is a bit stale, and with their second outing on the DS I feel it is safe to say that mapping all the controls to the stylus is a bad idea that made the rest of the game more of a chore because of it. While it is not the worst entry for me, it's certainly close to the bottom of my Zelda rankings.


77458

Final Fantasy VII Remake - As I stated before in another thread, the VIIR is not a game designed for me. Not a fan of Action-RPGs, VII is not an entry I get super excited for, and I hate mission hub scenarios where a bajillion samey sidequests unlock. With that said, I feel the game is fairly solid. The battle mechanics offer more than usual for the genre and I liked that they differentiated the play styles of the party to make switching out characters more fun. Some of the new characterizations and characters were a welcome treat as well. The game is mostly hindered by it's poor pacing, lack of really exploring more of Midgar that the Reader's Digest version in the OG didn't do better for pacing reasons, and of course the damn plot ghosts that are largely ridiculous. I am also just not a huge fan of the soundtrack which quickly turned into background elevator music for me as I played the game.


77459

Unlimited SaGa - US here edges out the VII remake by giving me a unique experience. While I can't necessarily say it was a great experience everyone should try, I still commend the game for being absolutely unique. It's major issues for me are simply the obtuse nature of all of it's mechanics which is what largely sends people away from the game followed by it's poor pacing with too many side missions and the game's board game mechanics slowing their pace to a crawl. The game is pretty fun once you get over the difficulty curve, but as SaGa and RPGs in general goes, that curve is pretty steep.


77463

Final Fantasy Type 0 - Type 0 is a game that deserved more. Like a lot of SE's original titles for the PSP, the game could have succeeded more had it been built for a console experience instead of a mobile one. The narrative is fairly good, and the game actually brings the more mature writing I've longed for from the franchise for awhile, but the gameplay is stale and again the game turns into a hub world/mission dispensary for most of its gameplay. I also don't care for the fact you need to play the game twice to see everything. The game is enough of a time sink to not need to go through it twice just to get a Golden ending that's inferior to the original one.


77460

Romancing SaGa Re; Universe - This game has caught me by surprise. And if I am going to be honest, this is the game I've put the most time into this whole year. Being a gatcha mobile title, it's obviously not done yet, but I have to commend it for going out of it;s way to downplay the worst parts of the medium. Character styles system makes it more viable to play all characters from trash pulls to SS rank super rares since low ranks tend to get the better stats boosts while the rares grant better skills that can be transferred. I still hate how the game overloads you with stuff to do that distracts from the main narrative, but I'm probably only annoyed here because the main narrative is actually pretty good for these types of games. Maybe it's because SaGa is a lesser known franchise, but I love how the game plays with the character interactions from all the cast members from different entries. The original characters are also not so bad (unlike WoFF) and the game actually has a great story so far that plays off being a direct sequel to RS3. It likely ranks so high because it managed to be a direct sequel and a silly crossover title at the same time, yet has managed to make it work. The gameplay is also solid and brings together the best elements of the series for a pretty fun experience as well.


77461

Final Fantasy Legend II -My ''unicorn'' so to speak in terms of a game I played fondly one semester in high school. Only to get stuck and dejected, making me quit the game and return it to my friend. This entry has nagged me for years, and I finally conquered it. Suffice to say, I had a blast playing this game this year and I feel it holds up better than people would think. The translation is still wonky and the plot is a bit sillier than the two entries it's sandwiched between, but the gameplay is more solid than either entry.


77462

Romancing SaGa 3 - It's rare to have a game hyped up, only to play it and find the hype is well deserved. The emulation community loves this particular entry in the franchise, and while it may not beat out RS2 for me, it is a solid title that refines a lot of the mechanics from the previous two entries. The cast is huge and fun to play with. The mechanics are a bit deeper, spells have been better balanced, and missions have more variety. The music is also pretty stellar, and honestly the best in the series so far for me.


77465

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons - It was weird back in the day to learn that Capcom was being allowed to develop a Zelda game. Not that I don't have faith in them, but it was a beloved franchise. I'm mainly happy the game builds off of the design from Link's Awakening which managed to shake up the series mechanics in some fun ways and there is a strong focus on fun NPCs and puzzles. It was fun also seeing the elements that are clearly Capcom like the main villain design and his final boss fight. As well as getting a chance to see some classic bosses from the first Zelda return since the game started off as a Zelda 1 remake before being turned into a new entry. I do still need to check out Oracle of Ages...

[WarZidane]

Interesting, after that post I'll have to check out Romancing Saga Re Universe. I don't have anything against gacha games at their core as long as they do it in a way that doesn't bug me too much.

On that note, another game I forgot to mention in my post is Genshin Impact. Also a gacha game, but as long as you don't try to min-max and just enjoy the game for what it is, the gacha part doesn't interfere with the experience at all, since even guaranteed story characters can do the highest-level content (not to mention of course the game throws a fairly steady stream of gacha currency at you). Beyond the Gacha aspect, it's actually one of my favorite open worlds in games, and the combat's really fun (unlike most open world games, I would say)

[krissy]

genshin is fun, chill world, pretty, but frig the story and paimon suck for me

[Aulayna]

Games I've played this year and loved and still think about regularly:
- FFXIV
- FFVII Remake
- NieR: Automata
- Ring Fit Adventure
- Persona 4 Golden

Games I've played this year and had fun with but currently feel indifferent toward:
- Breath of the Wild
- Genshin Impact
- WoW: Shadowlands
- KH: Melody of Memory
- Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition
- Call of Duty: Cold War
- Overwatch
- League of Legends

Games I played this year and was underwhelmed by/hated:
- Borderlands 3
- Valorant
- Legends of Runeterra

[Wolf Kanno]

Interesting, after that post I'll have to check out Romancing Saga Re Universe. I don't have anything against gacha games at their core as long as they do it in a way that doesn't bug me too much.


The game plays like a more user-friendly version of Record Keeper with an actual story mode and less of the gatcha bullshit. You don't need to draw for equipment, instead they are rare drops from missions or rewards for missions. You also don't need to craft skills, with abilities being directly linked to a character's particular style. The closest you get to it is that there is a method to use some rare items to reduce the skill cost for using abilities, but like equipment, most of these can be gained from just doing missions. The game also has special training missions you can send characters on to raise their stats without actually using them and the game is extremely generous in handing out special tickets to instantly return them from these missions. Like the highest missions ticket cost I have is 6 tickets for a 12 hour missions, and I have close to 2000 instant tickets to use... Likewise, the game is extremely generous with giving you the token items used as the game's form of energy currency to do missions. Again, I have enough to keep playing for days on end without stopping if I chose to. The designers actually built the game so you could potentially beat the game with your first draw of characters regardless of their style rank. The only thing you really need to prioritize getting is someone with a healing spell, which I believe the game has a special event for first time users to acquire one who is an SS ranks top tier one.

I will say you get the most mileage out of it if you are familiar with the SaGa franchise, especially RS3, since it is heavily referential. Likewise, for people who disliked the main series for being light on character will be surprised to find this game does a good job of giving some real characterization to these characters.

[Spuuky]

I have played a fair amount of gacha games and I still play one so I feel qualified to say that gacha makes every game it is in MUCH worse, even the "good" implementations. It IS possible to make a game good enough to still be worth it despite the self-sabotage, but it is also definitely self-sabotage. Please never pretend otherwise.

[Fynn]

I think it’s less an issue of it being objectively worse and more some people being much more predisposed to being repelled by gacha games. For me personally, there are a ton of gacha games that I really wanna get into but I just physically cannot. Now I don’t know if it’s my ADHD or something but generally speaking I am 100% immune to gacha games

[Fox]

Game of the Year, FFVII Remake, for sure. It's not perfect, it does some stuff that I would probably prefer, on balance, that it did not. But the highs were as good as video games get, and it's something that I appreciate more as I put more time into it. Please please PLEASE don't wait us too long for the next part, and don't screw it up. I'll feel retroactively bitter about part 1 if it takes them 15 years for the whole thing or they otherwise ruin it somehow.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon and Persona 4 should probably be here somewhere but to be honest I haven't played deep enough into either of them ^^;

I'm playing Hades at the moment and... it's good but... not convinced it's quite that good yet.

Real shame I can't put Resident Evil 3 on here. It was just not as good as its predecessor in all the ways that matter.


I have played a fair amount of gacha games and I still play one so I feel qualified to say that gacha makes every game it is in MUCH worse, even the "good" implementations. It IS possible to make a game good enough to still be worth it despite the self-sabotage, but it is also definitely self-sabotage. Please never pretend otherwise.

See Genshin Impact. I really like what I've played of that so far but DAMN if it couldn't do with half a dozen fewer currencies

[Lord Golbez]

Game of the Year, FFVII Remake, for sure. It's not perfect, it does some stuff that I would probably prefer, on balance, that it did not. But the highs were as good as video games get, and it's something that I appreciate more as I put more time into it.

I have to agree with this. I was and am extremely against some of the choices made, which I feel were bad enough for the game on its own and fear will be even worse for the next parts. At its worst it felt like some KH style BS to me, but at its best it was breathing new life into fondly remembered scenes and beloved characters from my favorite game of all time. It's hard to beat that, even after adjusting for the negatives.