As 2020 reaches its conclusion, many may look back on it as a year of unprecedented hardship for many people for a variety of reasons — and rightfully so, to say the very least of it. But it’s at times like this that video games show their true worth.
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This isn’t simply because gaming is a fun way to kill a few hours, but because many games today are so immersive and encapsulating that they can engross people into their world and let them forget about the world’s difficulties. Every critically acclaimed game on this list will have brought joy to countless people over the course of 2020, so it is worth giving them the acknowledgment and praise that they deserve.
10Animal Crossing: New Horizons (90)
Animal Crossing: New Horizonsis the perfect game to start this list, as it exemplifies the previous point. The game lets players live in a peaceful world with friendly neighbors and few troubles to truly worry over.
New Horizonsput players on a deserted island and gives them the chance tobuild a tropical paradise. The simplistic tasks and lack of enemies may make the game seem surface-level at face value. However, the game has a deceiving amount of depth thatoffers hundreds of hours of relaxing gameplay, all of which is wonderfully accompanied by soothing music.
9Spelunky 2 (91)
Spelunky 2, much like its predecessorSpelunky, differentiates itself from most other platforming games through its use of procedurally generated levels that offer players endless amounts of fresh gameplay.
The game’s developers Mossmouth and BlitWorks didn’t try to fix what wasn’t broken and opted to keep much of thegameplay inSpelunky 2similar to its predecessor. There were a few new additions though, most notably the turkey riding mechanic that is reminiscent of Mario and Yoshi inSuper Mario World.
8F1 2020 (91)
There was once a time where racing games would feature all over a year’s best games list. The late 90s and early 2000s, in particular, were filled withincredible racers likeBurnout 3: Takedown,Need for Speed: Most Wanted, andWipeout 2097.
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It seemed as though the genre’s day in the sun had passed. However,F1 2020has givenracing fans a reason to be hopeful of a resurgence. The game found an excellent balance between fun and realism as well as offering an incredible amount of management features to supplement the racing. With the recent release of the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, it’s worth keeping an eye on the genre making a full-throttled return to the AAA market.
7Crusader Kings III (91)
Crusader Kings IIIdifferentiates itself from most other strategy games by letting players role-play as a ruler, rather than simply control an entire empire like in theTotal Wargames.
It was these RPG elements that received most of the praise from critics, as personal relationships allowed for a whole new layer of decision making and storytelling that isn’t usually seen in the strategy genre. The game was also praised for its sound design, user-interface,and historical accuracy.
6Microsoft Flight Simulator (91)
In a year filled with travel restrictions,Microsoft Flight Simulatorlets players take to the skies and explore the world. Microsoft utilized their Bing Maps to implement an incredible 1:1 iteration of the world.
Any fears of the game being a glorified tech-demo are quickly dismissed when playingMicrosoft Flight Simulator, as the game has incredible realism to its flight controls, especially with how weather conditions affect the plane’s movement. This is best exemplified by Microsoft’s Jorg Neumann whoclaims that real pilots played the game during lockdown to prevent their skills from going rusty.
5Ori and the Will of the Wisps (93)
Exactly five years after theXbox Game of the Year award-winning Ori and the Blind Forest, Moon Studios released an equally touching and beautiful sequel.Ori and the Will of the Wispsensures that its incredible art direction isn’t the game’s only standout feature though, as within the impressive environments are some of the most well-designed levels and puzzles available in the Metroidvania genre.
The predecessor won aBAFTA for Artistic Achievement in 2016, and it would be a great shame ifOri and the Will of the Wispsdidn’t pick up the same accolade.
4Half-Life: Alyx (93)
After nearly thirteen years, Valve shocked the gaming industry when they finally announced a new entry into the iconicHalf-Lifeseries. Valve’s Robin Walker explained why the company opted against making the highly anticipatedHalf-Life 3inan interview with The Game Awards, where he said that the weight of expectations around the game made it a “terrifyingly daunting prospect.”
Half-Life: Alyxtakes place betweenHalf-LifeandHalf-Life 2,and looked to continue the series' tradition of pushing the envelope of the gaming industry’s technology. They succeeded in this with the help of VR, which offered a new dimension to series' combat and puzzle-solving.
IfHalf-life 3does come, it will be interesting to see if Valve sticks with Virtual Reality, and what that would do for the future of the headsets.
3Hades (93)
Supergiant Games' 2018 early-access game fully released in September 2020. Critics poured praise onto the game for its intricate story that was intelligently intertwined with the gameplay, as well as its layered combat and postgame content.
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Hadesimpressively appears twice in Metacritic’s top 10 list, as the PC iteration of the same game scored 92. It only seemed fair to include one though, and it’s the Switch edition that narrowly edges out its PC counterpart.
2The Last of Us Part II (93)
The highly-anticipated follow-up toone of modern gaming’s most beloved titleswas a surprising source of outrage upon release. Agitated fansforced Metacritic to change their user review system, as over 17,000 people posted predominantly negative reviews within just 12 hours of the game’s release, despite it taking around 25 hours to complete. Once the dust settled and people played the game, many people recognized whyThe Last of Us Part IIwas receiving so much praise from critics.
Thought on the game’s divisive story, which was the primary source of criticism, will come down to personal preference. But players will be hard-pressed not to appreciate the game’s incredible sound design and gameplay mechanics, which deservedly earnedThe Last of Us Part IIa high spot on this list.
1Persona 5 Royal (95)
Of all the fictional and non-fictional places available in video games for players to visit, a high school may not seem like the most enthralling. However,Persona 5 Royal, much like the other entries in the iconic JRPG series, creates a fascinating story based around social relationships and supernatural realms.
Persona 5 Royalis an enhanced version ofPersona 5that offers many new features including a third semester, a new palace, and new Phantom Thief member Kasumi Yoshizawa. One of the many reasons why the game fully deserves to sit atop of 2020’s gaming totem pole is the game’s incredible amount of depth. Developer P-Studio took all the time that was needed to tell their incredible story, resulting in a campaign that will take most players over 100 hours to complete.
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