Oh boy 2020, oof. I haven’t even played that many videogames released this year! I barely could come up with ten of them, so I had to get creative near the bottom of my rankings. Even in the current circumstances I’ve had a quite comfortable 2020 so I’m counting my blessings. Even having the luxury to spend some time coming up with a GOTY list is making me grateful of my luck. 2020 gets a 1/5 stars. Without further delay and whining…
10 - No More Heroes + No More Heroes 2 (Switch)
This year has been pretty thin on new releases that I’ve played to include a simple port duo here, but here we are at number 10 with two games that share the same spot. I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see these titles re-released on something that I could easily play and I really still enjoy No More Heroes. If you didn’t have a chance to play these yet, they are quite something. With No More Heroes 3 coming theoretically this year, that’s a good way to get yourself up to speed!
9 - Resident Evil 3 Remake
I had an amazing time with the Resident Evil 2 Remake last year, but heard mixed things about this one. It’s a solid game for sure, with stressful sequences, tight gameplay and updated graphics, but it’s ultimately very short and feels like it sticks too much to the RE2R mold. Remaking these classic horror games with a shiny new coat of graphics and systems has diminishing returns and I hope this one was the last of the (small) downward trend. Still had a good time!
8 - World Of Warcraft: Shadowlands
Shadowlands has interesting systems that fit into the World Of Warcraft restrictions, with new covenants to choose from and level in, with new powers and abilities and enough grinding to last you a lifetime. It didn’t grab me too much because of all the busywork you have to do before you get to what I could call the good stuff, but they did good with the new leveling progression and other quality of life features. It’s a good expansion.
7 - Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
I’d love to give this game a higher ranking, but I have only played 30 hours or so of it so far. It’s really good, but if for some reason I dropped it right now and never played it again I wouldn’t put it past all the other games in that list. Improving on some systems from Odyssey (keeping others a bit too same-y), Valhalla tries to go into different enough directions with the combat and exploration that everything in the game is way more interesting than previous entries could manage. Vikings good.
6 - Factorio
This probably was in early access for decades but it did come out this year and I only played it this year. What a blast this game is, gathering, transforming, automating, optimizing, building more and more complex systems until you have an immense factory working like clockwork that you’ll only need to expand on, this game really hooked me and I bet it can hook you too, if you enjoy managing supply lines.
5 - Paper Mario: The Origami King
I was a bit fearful when details were revealed about the battle system - this is not a classic Paper Mario and there are gimmicks - but the fun of exploring the world, the nice characters they introduced, the puzzles and the battles were all mostly delightful, with great music and writing made me enjoy this game from start to finish.
4 - Animal Crossing New Horizons
I played ACNH obsessively for a few months after it came out, bought the biggest house, dug the fossils and caught the fishes. I never did get a Raymond in my village, but I’ll remember fondly all the virtual pals I’ve made in this one. Some quality of life improvements could be added here and there to make this more friendly to players, but it’s ultimately a great Animal Crossing game and I had a great time with it.
3 - Final Fantasy 7 Remake
I had really high expectations for FF7R and they were all met. This is a really good semi-retelling of the first part of a classic JRPG with completely different mechanics, new systems and characters and a lot of care put into recreating famous locales and people. The battle system really works - with the switch from turn-based to more active - and the new story threads they weave are just making me want the next part even more. They did it, the absolute madmen.
2 - Hades
I had no expectations with Hades since I had largely ignored it during its early access days. When I picked up the game, I found it a bit difficult, but I pressed on until the game clicked. And oh boy did it click! Hades is great, it plays flawlessly, there’s so much content to go through with that good roguelike juice that makes you want to stay awake two hours past your bedtime to just do another run. Great characters, great music, this game is a gem, I recommend it to everyone!
1 - 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is a strangely told visual novel story with strategic battles woven in. The story of 13 teens piloting giant mechs deals with so many science fiction subjects, juggling time travel with androids and terraforming other planets in intriguing story threads that I just wanted to see through. I devoured that game, trying to figure out what really was going on, while enjoying the light gameplay elements of the strategic battles. In the end, I was left satisfied with the way the story concluded and thought a whole bunch about this one. 13 Sentinels is also great, albeit a bit more niche than Hades, but it’s my game of the year!