Best Game You Played in 2020

[Johnny Unusual]

Let's see, trying to finish Slay the Spire took a LOT of time for me. But I'll probably just go with RingFit Adventure. Its part of my routine and it's both a fun game and a good work-out and is quite well designed. I've played other games but I feel like I've ended putting most of them on temporary hiatus after a bit. This includes Castlevania II, The Wonderful 101 and Tomb Raider (2013).

 

[Bongo]

Wait a minute, did I even play Obra Dinn in 2020? I have no idea what year anything happens in any more.

 

[Destil]

FFIVFE, again? Maybe The Outer Wilds if I buckle down and try to finish it...

 

[Beta Metroid]

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is an extremely relaxing DKC-like with a fun, creative way to alter its locations, a great approach for its endgame (though this is one aspect of the game that is not relaxing), and superb integration between its overworld and stages. Just the bee's knees.

The other big winner for me is Doom 2016. I had always thought of Doom and FPSes as being very much not my thing (the game was a birthday present for my wife...not something I was planning on playing much of), but it has won me over in a big way (and I'm still replaying the campaign after first beating it months ago, attempting to conquer higher difficulties). It has way more Metroid Prime in its DNA than I was expecting, which is unqualified praise from me. And the combat is immensely satisfying. I regularly search for news on Doom Eternal receiving a Switch port.

I'm really anticipating playing Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Blind Forest was a contender for my favorite game I played in 2019) and Pumpkin Jack, but I'm likely going to hold off until Christmas, so we'll see if I get far enough in either of them in 2020's eleventh hour for them to qualify.

 

[Octopus Prime]

I'm not generally that big of a fan of Baldurs Gate-esque RPGs, but Divinity: Original Sin 2 is a clear exception; it's about as close as I've seen any game come to recreating DnDs "Whatever man, just... just roll some dice and see if it works" mind-set. So much of the game is built around just being goofy and seeing what works in an epic fantasy adventure that you can derail in all kinds of ways. It helps that the main game itself is pretty easy to understand compared to other examples in teh genre.

 

[zonetrope]

Subnautica! At the rate I'm going, I might even finish it in 2020.

 

[Cyrael]

I played Trails of Cold Steel this year, and subsequently have played Trails in the Sky 1-3, Trails from Zero and am replaying Trails of Cold Steel 1 while I wait for the Trails from Azure (Geofront Patch).

I haven't had this much fun going hard into a series since Yakuza.

 

[Thraeg]

Monster Hunter World, Dark Souls 3, and Ninja Gaiden Black for me.

 

[karzac]

Definitely Outer Wilds and Sekiro for me. Interestingly, both games that had finales that took me an absurd number of tries to complete, and yet both felt extremely satisfying.

 

[TE-Ryan]

I have to give it some (a lot) more thought, but The Talos Principle and Stories Untold are viable candidates.

 

[Dracula]

Man, did Streets of Rage 4 come out this year? It feels like an eternity ago. That might be mine, or at least one of mine.

 

[lincolnic]

Coming back here to put Quickie World 2 on my list. Yeah, it's a kaizo SMW romhack, but I think I enjoyed my time with it more than any other game I've played this year.

 

[Patrick]

I think it’s Super Mario 3D Land for me. I’m almost done with the remixed levels that unlock after beating the game, which I apparently never played when the game first came out, and they’re a blast. Each level in the last world requires an additional 10 star coins to unlock, so I’m going back through every level and scouring them for whatever I missed. There are tons of fun little challenges hidden away.

 

[Rascally Badger]

I played Super Mario Odyssey this year. That might be the answer for every year going forward.

 

[Violentvixen]

The Messenger. Loved it. Recommended to everyone. Also the shop music is now my default music in my head whenever I'm shopping in a video game.

 

[lincolnic]

I've basically spent the last week playing Hades, and now Hades is the other best game I've played in 2020.

 

[Sarge]

The Messenger. Loved it. Recommended to everyone. Also the shop music is now my default music in my head whenever I'm shopping in a video game.

Just you mentioning the shop music has it back in my head. Excellent, excellent game, indeed.

 

[Kzinssie]

Joke answer: Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon (which genuinely was way better that I ever expected, but calling it my favorite of 2020 would be taking the piss)

If it counts as a video game, I'd probably say Umineko no Naku Koro ni. I'd heard about it here and there for years, but a podcast I follow talking about it at length combined with all the time in the world due to quarantine lead me to finally take the plunge, and it might be one of my favorite stories period now? It does so many things so well, it's very rare to see a story tackle so many genres and themes and stick the landing on every single one.

That said, it's also a visual novel with no player input, so if it's disqualified, I'd probably have to say the Halo trilogy as a whole. After being a weird FPS boomer about it for years, I finally checked it out and it's just a shockingly good time from start to finish. The whole trilogy is good, but if I had to single out a favorite, it would probably be 3. Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 also gets an honorable mention. I went in expecting a brutally hard game, and it kind of is, but it's also much more of a fair challenge than its reputation would suggest, and it just does so many weird, interesting things that I can't help but love it.

 

[MCBanjoMike]

Coming back here to put Quickie World 2 on my list. Yeah, it's a kaizo SMW romhack, but I think I enjoyed my time with it more than any other game I've played this year.

That's 100% my game of 2020 too. It's a beautifully-designed game that is fun and surprisingly accessible, and I've played it over a dozen times (so far). I'd be really surprised if anything manages to knock it from the top slot before the year is out.

 

[Regulus]

Fae Tactics was probably my favorite game this year. Like Endless Fluff's previous game, Valdis Story, it has very strong mechanics that clearly had a lot of thought put into them. The learning curve is not the best, but slowly wrapping my head around all of the interlocking systems was great. I'm looking forward to future updates (especially if they're as substantial as the updates that Valdis Story eventually got).

I also played the hell out of Hades this year. It's excellent, and there's not much I can say about it that hasn't already been said. A+, will probably play more.

Ring Fit Adventure gets bonus points for motivating me to work out significantly more often and being pretty charming at the same time.

I'm still playing Cyberpunk 2077 and I think it's significantly better than the general twitter discourse and clusterfuck surrounding the release would lead you to believe. I expect it will only get better as it receives updates (like CDPR's other games, really).

 

[Voncaster]

Persona 5 Royal is my game of 2020. The production values of this game are insane. I think I saw that Production IG did some the animated sequences. I was constantly impressed by the visual style of the game. I also love Caroline and Justine...they maybe my favorite NPCs in any video game. Who knew prison wardens could be so much fun.

Death Stranding gets an honorable mention from me. I had a really fun time hooking up zip lines and making deliveries. I think this game probably has the most to discuss of any game I've played this year.

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana for me. Had an absolute blast playing it, it had incredible music, and I 100%ed it, something I rarely do these days.

I played through Ys VIII this year as well. I did not 100% it, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. I put Ys IX on my Christmas list due to the excellent Ys VIII.

 

[Denn]

I'd say the best game I played this year was Half-Life: Alyx. Alyx puts nearly all other VR games to shame (Beat Saber is it's own special place, and I've been way into a bunch of custom songs. Give me anime or give me death). Alongside Alyx, I also replayed pretty much the entire Half-Life series, so that was fun.

If I go by hours played, then games like Hades, Elite Dangerous, Cyberpunk 2077, Cities Skylines, and Rocket League deserve a mention, Hades probably being the tightest of the bunch. Entirely stopped played Spelunky 2 once I started Hades.

Games I played but I don't think quite make the cut would be Metal Wolf Chaos XD, Boneworks, and Dark Souls (My first Souls game - Enjoyable, but rough in many places in my opinion. I'll get to DS2 and the rest at some point).

 

[gorha]

The best game I played this year was Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R, but I had played it before, just not in a long time and not really online. Improved netcode has really given it a new lease on life, and coming back to it after getting a taste of GG Strive from its beta is... well, it's something. I did enjoy the Strive beta, but it's remarkable how much better Guilty Gear (and 2D fighters in general, really) feels to play with good airdashes.

Best game I played for the first time was SaGa Scarlet Grace Ambitions, which feels like a 2020 release even though it technically came out last year; I didn't start it right away because I was still playing the Romancing SaGa 3 remaster that came out mere weeks earlier, and didn't really get into it until quarantine began. Anyway, it rules. Best battle system I've ever experienced in a turn-based RPG, and I have always found Kawazu's stories, which are more about the world than the characters and presented in fragments, to be fascinating, and this game traded traditional towns and dungeons for even more of that.