The tire fire burning forever in 2020 was not exactly a riot. Still, when reflecting on what were the most difficult moments I remember, it is interesting how video games contributed to my continuing. Like pure colorful distraction, or even daily activities completed with my son. There were weeks when I walked around my house, my switch clutched in my hand like a child with a teddy bear. I didn’t play it, I just needed it to be there. Thank you for having video games. These were my first 10 in the worst official year of the 21st century.
Spider-Man: Miles Morales
When I first read comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis Miles Morales book, I immediately felt a deep sense of connection with the character. About what I felt was a strange combination of guilt and confusion. I’m a fat middle-aged Englishman. My resemblances to a biracial teenager from New York City are somewhat limited. But we Does we have one thing in common: we both wanted to be Spider-Man.
I spent much of my childhood convinced that I could wish for that to happen. I climbed the doors to my house, started endless varieties of Spiderman-based games on the school playground, and regularly climbed out of the second-floor window of my room and swung out to test my spider skills. (It’s a wonder that I’m alive to type this in.) Unlike me, Miles had come true, and unlike almost every superhero of all time (with the glorious exception of Ms. Marvel), is completely happy about it!
So, although I was a little disappointed that the actual execution of the Insomniac sequence from moment to moment varied so little from the start, I was very happy to be able to watch Morales excited about his circumstances. Then, I was even more enchanted when the story became so moving, so engaging and, more importantly, like a fat middle-aged white guy who the game always serves, so it’s not my experience. It was an honor to play.
Outbuddies DX
I realize that putting an obscure Metroidvania like this on a GOTY list is the equivalent of putting a 13th century Swedish novel on a list of the best books, but I mean it. And I know it may seem unpleasant that I have not included Hades, Ori, or so many others, but honestly I didn’t have time to play them. (Look, I reviewed about 120 games this year, give me a break!) But I loved Outbuddies DX on the PC, and then I loved everything again on the switch. I loved it above all for being 2D Metroid game that Nintendo did not leave for the 435th consecutive year. It is very deserving of a place in my top 10. It is important to note that this huge game made by a single person is not only an extremely successful one Metroid clone, but it is one that innovates in the formula so successfully that Nintendo would do well to look at some of its original ideas to incorporate them back. If they let someone else do it. What they apparently won’t do, bastards.
Immortals: Fenyx Rising
I can take or leave assassins Creed games. I was attracted to a couple and had fun, but they don’t hold me back. But halfway Immortals as I am, I am completely absorbed. I cannot fully justify why. I’m sure it’s not as good as one assassins Creed game, the PS5 version I’m playing is sticky enough to crash three times – something so incredibly weird in console games – and honestly, I don’t think it’s very funny. But I love the world. I love the way Fenyx moves about it. And I love the fact that it’s a giant safe place for my six-year-old son to grab the controls and explore (totally avoiding fights). it is Zelda without being pious – a criticism that I see directed at Nintendo series infrequently. In addition, the flight is simply beautiful.
Sojourner Signs
2020 was a stellar year for deck building games, but what really stood out for me was Sojourner Signs. In a feature that is quickly becoming less of a novelty since its launch in May, it was a twist in the card battle format that used its randomly distributed hand not for violence, but to decide how conversations would flow. Not just because of that – it is inherently what the game is about. Leaving home for the first time, your character can explore the surrounding cities in this desert community and, along the way, gather new cards that represent the conversation styles of those locations. But in doing so, you must discard your original deck. The result is that when you return home at any time, you will find it increasingly difficult to communicate with your old friends. And damn, if this is not an in-depth observation done in an excellent way. It’s complicated later, but it should be. This can happen in many ways and, perhaps most importantly, you can also talk to dogs.
Astro’s Playroom
With Astro’s Playroom, Sony made PS5 owners feel at home on their new console. Literally, in it. Such a simple and smart idea: have one of your best teams build an impressive third-person platform game on the console, then leave it free, waiting on the system when you first connect it. Yes, of course, it is essentially an advertisement for a controller that you have already purchased. And some may to even argue that it is propaganda. But it is simply sublime. I’m torn between being very happy to be a bite-sized piece that seems complete in its brevity, and wishing it could have been a complete replacement before Insomniac finally finished with the next one. Ratchet & Clank. Either way, man, it shows what that crazy controller can do, and I really hope it will inspire others.
Carrion
Carrion malevolence portrayed in a way that few other games have ever had. It was a game that mastered one aspect of the movement to match Nintendo’s precision with the hops, but with excruciating and overwhelming horror. As you move a visceral concrete monstrosity through an underground research center, butchering anyone you come across because of its size-sized meat backpacks, it never seems less than incredible. And God bless you for not having a series of boring boss fights interrupting this glorious flow – a mistake that almost all other games of this type always make. Absolutely revolting in the best ways.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
If you went back a year and told me in 2019 that I would put a Cross between animals game in my top 10, I would have blocked you on Twitter. I never had time for the series, with its banal nothingness and its task mechanics as a game. Bleargh. But, oh, thank God for Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
2020 was a dark year for almost everyone and, at times, unbearable in the midst of my fog of suffering and anxiety disorder. Benevolent borrower Tom Nook appeared at the right time and offered genuine light and hope in the midst of existential horror. I am deeply grateful for my time on the island, and not just for how provided so much help while teaching my son at home. It was a safe place in the chaos we all live in. And just knowing that it’s always there is very comforting.
Lair Of The Clockwork God
I’ve been a fan of Ben & Dan games since 2008 Ben Ready, Dan That!. The anarchic, childish and still brilliantly executed point-and-click adventures were some of the few that won the right to parody the classics of the early 90s genre. Therefore, the news that the late third game in the series was to combine point and click with platforms they looked like a blow. It was like the late 90s again, everyone trying to evolve a perfect genre into something much less good. Not yet this time! Lair it was done with precisely that concern as its central gag. The ridiculous story – of accidentally causing the apocalypse when trying to cure cancer – was pursued with the two styles of play in constant conflict. Both in terms of script and mechanics. It worked, and it’s so funny.
Pokémon Go
Yes, at the age of four you would have a hard time justifying it as a 2020 game. But it is a game that I first discovered in 2020, and I think it is perhaps the most important game of my year. Together with my five and six-year-old son, we’ve been playing almost every day since August – whether going out for a three-hour hike together on a Saturday morning, or just going to the nearest Poké Stop to make sure to keep our strings. He’s now better at excellent spinning shots than I am, which is infuriating.
It is no exaggeration to say that it has been a lifeline on this shit face for a year. I have been like a puppy at the window waiting for the boy to come back from school, so we can go out and study an hour before tea time. I can even play alone, so when everything is getting very scary, I put on some headphones and go out into the night to get some sweets for your evolutionary needs. In addition, I went from knowing nothing but the name of Pikachu to an absurd depth of Pokémon knowledge, and now I drink my coffee in a Snorlax-shaped mug.
There is no game: wrong dimension
I love games that are full of ideas. And I love games that are funny. Both are incredibly rare in this more direct and direct industry. So, having the two combined, in such a fantastic way, is a gift that has become my game moment of the year. Of course, it was a one-day deal, not something that occupied my nights and weekends like others on this list. But it’s just an intense blow, a blast of brilliance and hilarity that kept a smile on my face for so long after it was over. To describe it is to spoil it, but let’s just say it’s a game that really, really doesn’t want you to play and does everything to try to stop you. He crosses genres with abandon and, casually, throws away totally ingenious ideas that could be whole games of his own. I love your confidence, your ever-changing nature and an ending that I could never have foreseen.