Game of the Year 2020

This was the Pandemic Year. I usually spend a lot of time playing games anyway, but I feel like my playtime definitely went up this year. Some of my favorites from 2020 were great Podcast Games—the kinds of games where you can partially zone out while still remaining engaged, catching up on podcasts while grinding out matches/objectives/levels. Still, I fit in some more engrossing story-based titles as well. Here are my top five games of 2020.

5. Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Released March 20. Played on Nintendo Switch.

This thing really did come along at the perfect time, right as the world began to shut down in mid-March. It wasn’t just that it served as a good time-filler, though—this is an excellent entry in the Animal Crossing series on its own merits. The early focus on crafting put me off a little bit, but once I cleared that hump it was smooth sailing. I loved planting my orchard, collecting fossils, and building my personal compound at the island’s highest point. The writing is charming, with brief bits of dialogue from neighbors fleshing out their characters a little at a time. The huge variety of furniture and items lets you get pretty crazy with customization; my favorite room was probably my basement home theater, complete with movie projector and popcorn machine. And the ability to create your own designs on the ground made it possible to create my beloved tennis court, with a lifeguard chair standing in for the umpire’s seat.

The game’s museum, where the fossils, fish, and bugs you collect are gorgeously displayed, is incredible. But it’s the only real place where it feels like the Switch gets to stretch its graphical muscles. I also wish that objects had a bit more interactivity—I’d love to ride that bike around the island, or control that RC car, or kick a soccer ball around with physics. Multiplayer and networking are kind of a hassle, and once you get to a friend’s island there isn’t much to do together beyond “check out my stuff.” Despite these knocks against New Horizons, it was still a totally satisfying Animal Crossing game for me. I didn’t stick with it past a few months or so—and frankly I’m a little afraid to return to my island, which is no doubt filled with weeds and angry villagers by now—but Animal Crossing: New Horizons still earns its place as my number 5 game of 2020.

4. Tony Hawk‘s Pro Skater 1+2

Released September 4. Played on PlayStation 4 Pro.

The thing I hear a lot about well-done remakes lately is that, rather than recreating how the original game looked and felt, they recreate how you remember it looking and feeling. In other words, in the early Tony Hawk games you remember the tight controls and addictive gameplay, but forget the dated graphics; a good remake of these games would preserve the former while enhancing the latter. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 does that, but it doesn’t stop there. In an inspired move, it actually implements gameplay changes from later games in the series. For example, it lets you use Tony Hawk 3’s revert, a move that lets you string vert combos together. Even though these maps weren’t designed with the revert in mind, it clicks perfectly. This remake doesn’t just feel like a modern redo of the first two games in the series—it feels like it incorporates the best of the entire Tony Hawk series into the beloved early games.

Tony Hawk‘s Pro Skater 1+2 has lots of great changes around the edges, too. The developers brought back all the original skaters, along with a bunch of young, modern stars. Similarly, the soundtrack mixes a bunch of the old tracks with a helping of newer ones. A smart achievement-type system gives the player added incentive to use skaters, tricks, and levels with specific goals in mind. And the online multiplayer, while kinda barebones, works well and is fun for what it is.

Though the soundtrack is great, after a few dozen hours this became a go-to podcast game for me while I grinded through the hundreds of challenges in the game. There wasn’t any particular amazing reward at the end of the challenges—it was just that the pure gameplay was so darn enjoyable. For a solid month or more, my evenings of relaxation were defined by a cold drink, back episodes of Oh No Ross & Carrie, and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2, which earns a spot at number 4 on my favorite games of 2020.

3. Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Released November 10. Played on Xbox Series X.

Though I’m a big fan of the Yakuza series, I didn’t have a whole lot of anticipation for this one. I guess I didn’t know what to think—after seven Yakuza games starring Kazuma Kiryu, Like a Dragon stars a new protagonist. And there’s an equally big change in gameplay, with this entry ditching the real-time brawler action of the previous titles for turn-based JRPG battles. Job systems, summons, status ailments: they’re all here. After getting an Xbox Series X, I picked up Like a Dragon on a semi-whim, in part just to see how it looked on the new console (the game is a timed next-gen exclusive and won’t be coming to PS5 until 2021). I’m so glad I did. The new protagonist and the new gameplay style are much different from what came before, but they’re both great. And most importantly, Like a Dragon preserves the terrific blend of gangster melodrama, wacky humor, and genuine heart that has become a series trademark.

The new lead is Ichiban Kasuga; where Kiryu was stoic, taciturn, and morally upright, Kasuga is energetic, outspoken, and loyal. He’s a great fit for the story, and he plays well off the other characters in your party (naturally there’s a party now, because it’s a JRPG). The battle system is a pretty by-the-book JRPG setup, though the abilities and summons are rife with humor that keeps them fun. I had heard there was a difficulty spike in the game, so I did a bunch of grinding—I think I got myself overleveled by the halfway point. As a result, the battles became fairly rote in the game’s back half, but seeing the story through to its conclusion kept me going. In Yakuza the side activities are a series highlight, and Like a Dragon is no exception—special mention goes to the more-competent-than-it-needed-to-be kart racing game, as well as the delightful business management simulator. Never before has a shareholder meeting minigame been so much fun. (And perhaps never before has a shareholder meeting minigame existed.)

Despite dramatic changes to the formula, Like a Dragon feels like a true Yakuza title. It pays respectful tribute to the old games in a way that helps propel the franchise forward. I’m excited to see where it goes next—which is no mean feat when you’re closing in on a tenth entry in a series. By giving a fresh spin to the best parts of Yakuza, Yakuza: Like a Dragon lands at the number 3 slot in my top games of 2020.

2. The Last of Us Part II

Released June 19. Played on PlayStation 4 Pro.

The Last of Us Part II has to be the most purely impressive game of the year. The money’s all on the screen here. The stunning post-apocalyptic graphics seem impossible on a PS4. The subtle, immersive animations draw you in both during gameplay and in cutscenes. At times the game is simply stop-and-look-around beautiful. (One unforgettable section features my favorite video game museum of 2020, just ahead of Animal Crossing.) I wore headphones throughout, and the sound design is equally as impressive as the graphics—not just in the trademark echoing clicks of the game’s terrifying zombies, but also in the ambient noise, the gunplay, and just about everywhere else.

The Last of Us Part II is a technical powerhouse, but that’s not all it is. Without spoiling anything here, the storytelling is bold and confident, and it forces the player to reckon with the consequences of violence and revenge in a way that I haven’t really seen in video games before. Everything feeds into the storytelling—even standard video game collectible items build character motivation. The Last of Us Part II has some open-ish sections where you can decide what to do next, but it is not by any stretch an open-world game. It’s a focused, authored experience that takes you on a specific journey. Yet it never feels like you’re running through a predefined corridor of the city—it’s a testament to the environmental design that it feels like a real, open place. For combining visuals, sound, storytelling, and design in such an impactful way, The Last of Us Part II is my number 2 game of 2020.

1. Hades

Released September 17. Played on Nintendo Switch.

I had little interest in Hades until I actually put my hands on it. The game sort of came out of nowhere for me, which is weird to say about a title that was available in early access for well over a year by the time it officially released. I don’t play many roguelikes—I had enjoyed a few hours with Enter the Gungeon but that was about it. And though I’d heard good things about the developer, Supergiant Games, I hadn’t ever gotten into their titles. Even after hearing my favorite video game podcasters start to rave about Hades around the time of its release, I never mustered enough interest to go check it out myself. Luckily, my wife did. I played a couple of runs in my own save file on her game, was captivated, then essentially hurled money at my Switch to get my own copy.

Hades excels in basically every way it could have. The game runs great on the Switch, and the isometric graphics are clean and clear, even when enemies and special effects are filling the screen. The music is fantastic—special mention goes to the track that plays when you kick off a new run, but really every song is excellent. The sharp writing turns a cast of familiar Greek gods and mythical figures into fleshed-out characters you care about, and it’s paired with understated voice acting that further solidifies those characterizations. The design of the game, with its diverse weapons and interconnected powers that you earn semi-randomly through the game, is super smart and well-constructed. The storyline meshes perfectly, and I mean perfectly, with the roguelike style of game; each run has consequence and meaning for the story and characters. And oh yeah—you can pet the dog.

For me this was the best “one more run” game of the year—a game I found really hard to put down. Though I loved the audio, it also became a go-to podcast game after a few dozen hours. I have to imagine that a lot of the balance and quality in the finished product is a result of the extended early-access period; for that reason I’m actually pretty glad I came to Hades when I did, once the ultra-polished finished product was ready. Hades gets everything right, and it was my favorite game of 2020.