My Favorite Games of 2020
Gaming made 2020 bearable, here are my favorites.
It goes without saying that 2020 has been an extremely difficult year mentally and emotionally for most people all over the world. This is mostly due to the Coronavirus pandemic essentially bringing the world to a grinding halt, requiring all manner of individuals to hunker down and isolate themselves from other people. Events were canceled left and right, guidelines were put in place to restrict gatherings, and most recreational establishments were closed. This left little room or motivation to venture outside of your front door.
One thing that did not disappoint this year was the breadth and variety of video games available to gamers of all tastes.
This year not only did we have a slew of massive video game releases to sink our isolated selves into; we also had the highly anticipated launch of next-generation consoles. The Playstation 5 and the Xbox Series X and S launched in November 2020 to much excitement and fervor. I was fortunate enough to procure a Playstation 5 from Gamestop. With the new consoles in such extreme short supply; I can’t believe I was fortuitous enough to obtain one.
It goes without saying that I spent a significant amount of time playing video games this year. As we approach the end of 2020, I find myself wanting to reflect on my favorite games. Games that really touched me in a significant way or games that I had an amazing time sinking hours into from beginning until the end. Without further ado, let’s look at my top 5 games of 2020.
5) DIRT 5
It may be a niche genre when thinking about gaming as a whole but I absolutely love racing games. From realistic racing games that emulate actual driving physics and conditions, to ridiculously over the top arcade racers that dispense with any notion of realism for high-speeds and nonsensical physics — I love them all. One genre of racing that I haven’t been as large a fan of is rally racers. That changed this year with Dirt 5.
Dirt 5 made an instant positive impression on me. The game's gorgeous colorful visuals, exotic locales, and frantic rally racing instantly hooked me. I must admit, my expectations weren’t high, even though I had just spent $64 on the game. Sure, I had seen some reviews and was interested in the game but I wasn’t convinced that I would be a massive fan. That couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Immediately upon booting up the game you’re greeted with the loud licensed rock music that sets the tone perfectly. Within seconds you’re behind the wheel of this beastly rally machine, fighting to maintain control of the vehicle as the terrain and landscape consistently change. Your tires screech as they attempt to gain traction amidst a tight, high-speed turn. It’s absolute pandemonium; each second of nearly every race is filled with dazzling lights, scenic views, and changing weather conditions, creating anxiety-filled, tense racing. Dirt 5 is a rocking good time.
I did experience some hiccups with the game.
Most prominently constant crashes caused my saved data to become corrupted. Before I had any idea what happened, my save data in the cloud was corrupted, forcing me to restart the game entirely. I nearly lost motivation to pick up the game again but I did and enjoyed progressing through the career mode for the second time.
Now that a few updates have been deployed the game hasn’t crashed on me once. I’ve progressed further than my pre-wipe progress and I’m still enjoying the game.
I imagine that I’ll continue playing Dirt 5 well into the new year. Whether I’m playing for twenty minutes or a couple of hours, I consistently enjoy my time with Dirt 5. I’m looking forward to seeing what updates they add to the game in the coming months to extend its lifetime. Hopefully, they’ll add some new modes or race types to mix things up a bit. Either way, I plan on being there for all of it. Dirt 5 has made me a fan of arcade rally racing!
4) GHOST OF TSUSHIMA
I didn’t know what to expect when jumping into Ghost of Tsushima. I knew that it was an open-world action game set in feudal Japan. I knew the game was being developed by one of Sony Interactive Entertainment’s most talented studios, Sucker Punch Productions, so I was excited to see what the Infamous developer had in store for us with this new IP.
While not revolutionary, Ghost of Tsushima weaved a heartfelt tale of identity, loyalty, family, and freedom. Through incredible set-pieces, a beautiful open-world, and one of the best combat systems in any video-game; Ghost of Tsushima was the perfect game to send off the Playstation 4.
In its opening scene Ghost of Tsushima wastes no time drawing you into its incredibly realized characters and world. Immediately, the game introduces you to several of its best elements: its stellar animation work, art style, and of course the best feature of the game — its tense combat.
While I don’t feel that GOT was a game-changer in most aspects, the two things that cemented its place on this list are its art style and incredible combat. My biggest criticism of the game would be its mostly bland, uninteresting writing and characters. Even with the writing being completely underwhelming throughout most of the game, I still managed to enjoy the story overall.
I loved most of the concepts that the narrative was attempting to push. Jin’s struggle when breaking the honor code of the samurai by using the stealthy tactics of the ghost is one of the more interesting plot threads. In Jin’s mind he was doing what was required in order to repel the Mongol forces, but in the eyes of his mentor and uncle Lord Shimura — it was dishonoring the teachings and code of the samurai. Jin has to choose between his respect and honor of the samurai code or dishonoring that code to save his homeland of Tsushima. It’s an interesting struggle that propels the story of Ghost of Tsushima forward and breeds some of its most heartfelt moments, leading to an emotionally crushing ending.
While Jin’s conflict is an interesting one, everything outside of it feels vapid, especially the side quests. I hope that if the game receives a sequel, more thought will go into its overall writing quality and focus more on character development and world-building.
Despite my issues with the story, I absolutely loved the world of Ghost of Tsushima. In fact, I loved it so much that I worked through the various side activities and often banal open-world collection quests to earn the platinum trophy. The saving grace is that you’re constantly unlocking new cosmetic items or increasing your health which helps it at the very least feel rewarding, despite the repetition.
I loved being immersed in the game world and its combat never ceased to be tense, and engaging.
The game's art style is one of its most distinguished accomplishments, only being exceeded by the combat. I can’t even begin to count how many screenshots I took while playing this game. I used the photo mode obsessively. While not technically stunning from a resolution or detail perspective, Ghost of Tsushima astonishes with its astounding art direction.
Seriously the game is stunning to look at. The serene manner in which cherry blossoms slowly fall to the ground; the leaves on other trees glow radiant reds, golden browns, and green colors; the moonlight softly touches the many ponds and lakes around Tsushima during a silent night. The game just permeates with beautiful colors and stunning landscapes.
Nothing impresses in Ghost of Tsushima quite like its combat though. Lacking a lock-on system means that the player must manually face opponents and be attentive with blocking, dodging, and parrying. Even on easier difficulties, a skilled player can find himself on the receiving end of a game over screen if not attentive to the different enemy types and being vigilant with how they approach encounters. During my playthrough, I died quite a lot, especially since I was obsessed with parrying.
I have never played a game with such an engaging combat system. The genius of it is that the combat is easy to pick up and learn but quite difficult to master. It’s nuanced and tense, but incredibly satisfying. Some of my favorite moments playing the game were during its tense duals with opposing ronin or when we raided an encampment during the main plot. The combat is so great that it was a major part of my enjoyment of the game.
The game does fall into some banal open-world trappings typical of the genre, especially if you’re working towards 100% completion — I swear if I have to follow another dang fox — but when taken as a whole; Ghost of Tsushima is an incredible experience that I would easily recommend to anyone looking for an open-world experience that does just enough with the formula to create a thoroughly engaging experience through most of its playtime.
If the game receives a sequel I cannot wait to see how Sucker Punch builds upon the incredible world and combat that it’s created. Honestly for me, if they strip down some of the open-world busywork, create more engaging characters with nuanced backstories, I would be quite satisfied. Ghost of Tsushima is a great video game that can only get better.
3) YAKUZA LIKE A DRAGON
If we’re talking about unexpected experiences — Yakuza: Like A Dragon stole my heart and ran away with it. Before YLAD, I hadn’t given the Yakuza games much of my attention. It’s not necessarily because I didn’t find them interesting. I think it’s because there are so many of them and I was worried about the plot being lost to me. I’m happy that I didn’t allow Yakuza: Like A Dragon to escape my
notice.
Heralded as a sort of soft reboot of the series, YLAD takes the series in a mostly new direction. The Yakuza series is known for its well-written characters, exquisite voice-acting, and poignant cutscenes. Like A Dragon retains that. What the game does distinctly from its predecessors is how it’s not a continuation of the previous games: we get a new cast of characters and a new protagonist in Ichiban Kasuga. More significantly than even a new protagonist and characters — YLAD completely dispenses with its previous combat system in exchange for a turn-based one.
I have a lot of things that I absolutely adore about YLAD. First and foremost I love its heartfelt relatable protagonist Ichiban Kasuga. He is a tough but kind, considerate, thoughtful individual. Ichiban also grew up in an orphanage which is something that I can somewhat relate to as I grew up in foster care. Throughout the story (which I haven’t completed yet), we see Ichiban struggling with the kind person he is versus his chosen lifestyle. Ichiban is a Yakuza and with that role comes certain obligations and characteristics that a person must possess. Ichiban struggles with that. This constantly creates barriers for him and is the means by which his character grows. Ichiban’s struggle is one of the elements that kept me consistently engrossed in the game's plot.
Though Yakuza: Like A Dragon’s combat differs greatly from previous games in the series — the game's combat is incredibly easy to pick up, learn its various systems and play. It gives the player all of the tools possible to claim victory and makes it incredibly fun to do so.
One of my favorite things about the game’s combat is its hilarious combat animations. I found myself laughing out loud at wacky, over-the-top attack sequences more than once.
The combat is so engaging and enjoyable that it reminded me of Square Enix (previously Squaresoft) games of old and underlined how much of a shame it is that the company has all but abandoned turn-based combat in the Final Fantasy series.
Though I haven’t completed it yet I’m more than invested in Yakuza: Like A Dragon. I plan on playing the game well into 2021, completing its main story campaign and the diverse amount of side content. I imagine this will likely take over a hundred hours of game time but I’m sure I will be smiling and laughing throughout.
2) THE LAST OF US PART II
The Last of Us Part II is easily the most controversial game of the year. After an unfortunate leak of the game's significant narrative and plot twists, the game received more vitriol and contempt than any piece of entertainment that I’ve ever seen (until Cyberpunk 2077 arrived that is). I don’t think gamers have ever been so split on a game before TLOU2.
After taking my sweet time playing through the game and absorbing its concepts and story-beats, I can honestly say that I mostly disagree with all of the hate thrown at the game — not all but ninety-five percent of it.
At its core, The Last of Us Part II is a strong, narrative-driven game that will by its design create division amongst its audience. How much you enjoy the game will depend greatly on you and your interpretation of the narrative, ambitious plot twists, and overall game direction taken by its creators. Some plot and narrative decisions will undoubtedly create division, but I found them particularly bold and sensible.
My only issue with the plot is the ending which I thought could have been written to explain the characters’ actions a bit better. Otherwise, I think the other narrative and plot choices make perfect sense when taking into account the state of the world that the game takes place in.
The Last of Us Part II is an emotionally riveting game from beginning to end. I can see people deciding not to continue with the game due to its unhinged, nearly relentless violence, emotionally crippled distraught characters, and a constant sense of dread. It’s not an easy game to play through, especially for us more sensitive folks. I found myself consistently on the edge of my seat as a cutscene rolled or as I witnessed the destruction of a character's sense of self.
Even with some scenes making my skin crawl and the consistent dreariness throughout the game, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Few games have ever made me feel the way that The Last of Us Part II did. Not only do I mean to feel, as in anxiety and tension through gameplay — I mean to feel for the characters as well. I cried, laughed, smiled, and yelled, right along with the characters.
If you are even slightly invested in the game's characters and its world, your heart will constantly struggle to beat at a healthy rate throughout the game. Your breathing will get tense.
It’s emotional, to the highest degree.
Outside of the incredible narrative and character building, the game itself is absolutely stunning to behold. I have never seen video game animations (especially the facial animations) this stellar and realistic. Even with its dark palette and mostly dilapidated, settings, the game is stunning to behold.
Naughty Dog are truly masters of their craft. The entire time I was playing through the game it felt like I was taking part in a film. Controversy be damned — I thoroughly enjoyed The Last of Us Part II and can’t wait to see what the geniuses at Naughty Dog have in store for the game next.
- SPIDER-MAN MILES MORALES — MY GAME OF THE YEAR
While I had quite the emotional connection in some manner with every single game on this list, none of them struck me quite the way that Spider-Man Miles Morales did. I’m so happy that it was the first next-gen experience that I had. I loved nearly every single moment of this game. It’s incredibly relatable — especially for me — protagonist Miles Morales; the stunningly beautiful portrayal of New York City during the winter; the lovable but flawed characters that makeup it’s cast, and of course the consistently fun combat and web-slinging made Spider-Man Miles Morales an insanely addictive game from start to finish for me. It was even my first PS5 platinum trophy obtained!
I knew that Miles Morales was my Game of the Year as I worked through its main campaign and became familiar with Miles and his kind, funny, and loyal personality. The guy has much love for his family, his hometown, and the friends in his life. This fondness for the important things in his life comes to the forefront as you progress through the game and Miles is confronted with the reality that he’s going to be the only Spider-Man in New York for a while. He faces challenges that test his loyalties and commitment to each of these throughout the game's short but engrossing campaign.
Like any teenager, Miles can be a tad whiny (his voice is also annoying at times) but his personality shines through at every opportunity. Miles’s kindness and unflinching willingness to go above and beyond for both friend and stranger alike makes him so likable to me personally. A large part of why I love the game so much is how relatable Miles is to me. He’s a male of color from a rough part of town who is thrust into a situation that he has to quickly adapt to. He’s also — as I mentioned before, super considerate and thoughtful of others. His personality is a lot like mine. Always putting others before himself throughout the game — I kept seeing myself in Miles and built this personal connection with him unlike any that I’ve ever made with a video game protagonist.
Some of my favorite moments of the game are when Miles is around his friends and family members. These moments often made me radiantly smile from ear-to-ear or laugh-out-loud. There is a scene where Miles has Christmas dinner with his mother and two friends. It gave me the feels because it made me realize how much I wish that I had a caring, thoughtful mother like Ria Morales. The strong bond between Miles and his mother is one of my favorite aspects of the story.
First impressions are incredibly important to a video game. Every game on this list has a strong opening that makes quite an impression, but in my opinion Spider-Man, Miles Morales easily exceeds them all. At the beginning of the game, Miles is jubilantly walking down a busy street in Brooklyn, music blaring loudly from his headphones as he takes in the chaos of New York. Miles is in good spirits.
He stops to assist movers to lift a couch into a moving truck — because he’s Miles and always willing to lend a helping hand. He then comments on a portrait of Spider-Man being painted. He asks if the new Spider-Man interested the people painting the mural. They reply with respect for the new Spider-Man but express admiration for the original Spider-Man. Miles isn’t fazed by this though and continues his stroll down the busy street. It’s a fun, exuberant, opening that perfectly sets the mood for the rest of the game.
The real fun begins when Miles receives a call from Peter telling him to suit up. Before you know it you’re effortlessly zipping through Brooklyn.
Every single thing about this scene is absolutely mesmerizing and fantastically stylish. The way the music crescendos as Miles gracefully ascends and descends while web-slinging to the manner in which the light from the sun gleams off of glass skyscrapers as Miles zips past them. It’s quite a dramatic scene with so much flair that I often think of it as one of the most fun and profound moments of the game — remember this is the opening scene!
Visually the game is incredibly captivating to look at. Quite often I found myself casually zipping around the city with no particular destination in mind simply enjoying the scenery. I loved grounding myself on the snowy streets, greeting adoring fans, and taking in the incredibly detailed city. As a game attuned to the Playstation 5’s immense power, the game has ray-tracing enabled which powers the game's stunning reflections, lighting, and shadows.
Every piece of Miles Morales is pleasing to the eyes. Alongside the gorgeous environments — facial animations are top-tier — only bested by The Last of Us Part II’s flawless facial detail. The character models looking stunning and nearly photorealistic. From incredibly detailed hair to how characters walk — the amount of work that must have gone into this game is jaw-dropping. It’s a work of art as far as I’m concerned.
Spider-Man Miles Morales’ visuals alone have me foaming at the mouth for what next-gen gaming visuals will provide.
Outside of stunning visuals, intriguing characters, and a massive detailed city that beckons exploration — Spider-Man Miles Morales’s combat is phenomenal. While it mostly remains unchanged from the original Spider-Man released in 2017, it adds significant depth with Miles’ Venom Skills. These powers allow Miles to generate bio-electricity in combat and channel that into powerful attacks that devastate enemies. Whether it’s the destructive Venom Punch or the super-powerful Venom Smash, the carnage that ensues with these powers is awe-inspiring and incredibly satisfying. They add such depth to the combat that every encounter feels unique, dangerous, and presents an opportunity to innovate and approach differently.
I decided early on that I loved Miles Morales, easily making the decision to one-hundred percent the game. Throughout the 70+ hours that this took, the combat never became exhaustive. Never. Ditto that for the web-slinging as well. Develop Insomniac nailed this game's world, combat, and movement so well that 70 hours later these things still felt fresh and diverse.
Spider-Man Miles Morales is my Game of the Year.
Even at its dullest moments, the game didn’t dissuade me or turn me away from it. By the time the credits rolled I had grown to really care about Miles. Even though the plot wasn’t the most creative; the villain not the most unique and — I grew to care so much about the characters in this game that it didn’t bother me.
I hope that with the inevitable next game in the series we get more Miles. He was such a relatable, likable character that it would be criminal if he were benched in the next game.
I don’t think 2020 will be remembered as some legendary year for gaming but we had some amazing titles grace us back-to-back this year. Some honorable mentions that didn’t make it into my list would be the wonderful Astro’s Playroom — a surprisingly likable, fun game that came alongside the Playstation 5 to essentially showcase the features of the DualSense controller. What could have easily been a dispensable technical showcase was actually an innovative, highly creative game that I actually 100% completed. I certainly didn’t see that coming.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure also stole my heart. I’m actually a big Sackboy fan and while the game didn’t captivate me like others, it’s what I call my “feel good” game of the year. Exquisite music, a lively unique art style, and unpredictable, engaging platforming make it stand out.
I’m sure I could think of plenty of other games that I really enjoyed throughout the year but I wanted to keep this list tight and focused. I’m sure some people will be surprised by some big-budget games that released this year that I omitted, particularly Final Fantasy VII Remake. I’m a huge Final Fantasy fan but that game didn’t resonate with me. I’m still trying to figure out why and will likely go through it again, but it just didn’t meet what I had expected from a remake of one of my favorite games of all time.
While I didn’t enjoy everything that 2020 had to offer, the titles that I did invest significant amounts of time into — I really, really enjoyed. I’m incredibly excited about the future of gaming. While most of my gaming was relegated to the Playstation console, I’m thrilled for the future of gaming on all platforms. If the level of innovation that we’ve seen this year continues into 2021 (which it seems like it certainly will), the future of gaming is wonderfully bright.
I plan on expanding my gaming horizons in 2021; giving game types that I previously dismissed another shot. I’m also planning on purchasing an Xbox Series X sometime next year and experiencing some of what that platform has to offer. I love the Forza and Gears of War series, it would be interesting to return to those. Nintendo also has some highly anticipated games possibly arriving next year — the top one for me being the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Gaming is entering the next decade on a high note. We’re seeing games reach a level of immersion that is unbelievable. Graphical fidelity, voice acting, animations — gaming is aiming for new heights never before fathomed in 2021 and beyond. I’m ready to experience (and write about) the next generation of gaming. It’s a horizon that offers a brilliant, tantalizing future.
