What a year right? I’m sure other people have covered the horrors of the year in other lists but not here! This is a no bummer zone. Good vibes only! We’re manifesting positivity through video games up in this listicle. Here have a cute animal picture:
Wow! That was great right? Can’t you just feel the pressure, fear, and uncertainty about the future of our planet just wash away? I sure do! Anyway, video games! They’re pretty great! Even when they’re not. Here are ten-ish really good ones that I liked and you should probably play.
Source: https://thousandskies.tumblr.com/
10. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
It’s not the deepest game. In fact, it’s kind of frustrating at times due to some design choices. But, boy does it just exude charm. Sure, Nook and his nephew cronies exemplify the inescapable horrors of capitalism, corrupting every facet of island life with its toxic nature, but man are they cute! I mean, that’s probably the word I’d use to describe this game best, it’s just cute. It’s a game about making friends and making a pretty island. Simple. Wonderful. Cute.
This game took over basically 2 months of everyone’s lives. Filling the museum, seeing friends’ islands, taking advantage of the turnip system. It was kind of wonderful to have this massive cultural experience with a game, like being in school obsessing over something. Really shows the power games have.
Best Track: 5PM
Source: http://www.catsparella.com/2011/10/top-10-pet-halloween-costumes-of-2011.html
9. Phasmophobia
Another game that was kind of a phenomenon even if it’s a little simple and obtuse design wise. It basically took over all of October and it absolutely deserved to. Playing this for the first time kind of felt like playing something that you always wanted even though you didn’t know it. Growing up, some friends and I were obsessed with the supernatural. We’d do “Ghost Hunts” in our parents’ homes when they were out of town and look around in the woods at night for spooky stuff. Playing this game with friends really brought that feeling back. Just a group of people coming together and cracking jokes to mask the fear. It’s kind of magical.
Best Track: Brian saying fuck off after we told him he dropped his hair spray.
8. Deep Rock Galactic
BUGS! I cannot count the number of times I yelled “BUGS!” while playing this game, but there are just so many BUGS. Like thousands. Millions. Billions of them? SO. MANY. BUGS. And just four of us dwarves drunk off of our asses trying to get that good nut.
Seriously, this is probably the best co-op game in years. It strikes just the right balance between being an actual game and a vehicle for friends to goof around in. So even if you’re not in the mood to play, it hits. It seems simple, but it’s surprisingly deep with a lot of options on how you want your dwarf to look and play.
Sure, the game is basically about you stripmining a planet without the consent of the native lifeforms. Sure your corporate overlords look at you as expendable tools for labor. But how else are we supposed to get that ebonut?
Best Track: RUN!
Source: https://funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/142778/Oh/
7. Halo The Master Chief Collection PC
Boy, doesn’t it feel great coming back to childhood favorites and finding out they’re just as good if not better than you remember them? Halo was everything to me as a teenager, so many hours lost to these games, probably more than any other game I’ve ever played. Just having them all in one convenient place, where I can play a quick round of Big Team Battle with my friends whenever is special. Being able to just experience all the campaigns again, with possibly the greatest collection of video game music ever composed.
God, it’s just so good. The only reason this isn’t higher is I didn’t get the chance to play it more. Honestly, it’s #1 in my heart though.
Best Track: Jesus is this even possible? I’ve always been partial to Behold a Pale Horse though.
Source: http://confessionsofcraftywitches.blogspot.com/2013/10/rune-protection-of-animals.html
6. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
I was a really big fan of Assassin’s Creed Origins. It really felt like a breath of fresh air compared to what the series had become at the time. Then Odyssey came out and it tried to suffocate you with an overabundance of content. Valhalla’s more pared down and focused approach drew me back in. There’s still a lot to do in this game, don’t get me wrong, but it feels more reasonable and understanding of your time. Sidequests take 3 to 4 minutes to complete. There aren’t a billion pieces of gear to collect, and most importantly it’s actually fun to play this time around. The combat feels a lot heavier and less mashy, and crushing Saxton heads with my big ol’ hammer is never not satisfying.
I was initially pretty worried about the Viking setting, seeing as Norse culture and myth has been tackled a lot in video games, but I found it refreshing that they tried to take a more “realistic” look at them. They’re settlers in look of a new home as opposed to savage berserkers that just kill everything in sight. Even if you still do the occasional berserking and raid, the quiet moments in your settlement and nature make up for it.
Best Track: Out of the North
5. DOOM Eternal
This is the most metal game ever made. This is probably the best playing FPS ever made. This is the most physically exhausting game I’ve ever played. I legitimately thought there was no way they could possibly top DOOM 2016 but then they attached a grappling hook to the super shotgun, and now Doomguy swings through the air blasting demons like a R-rated Christian Spider-Man.
Is the story perfect? No. Is it less focused than its predecessor? Yes. Do I care? Read the Spider-Man comment above. No game this year matches the hectic white knuckle combat of DOOM. It’s the world’s most metal juggling act. A puzzle of gore and shotgun shells. Every combat encounter flips between you being a hyper competent killing machine and a vulnerable child. You need to use literally every tool in your arsenal as you systematically take out each demon, utilizing their specific strengths and weaknesses against them to take out in the most optimal and cool way possible. Those moments where you come out of a particularly hard encounter in one try, legitimately make you feel like the biggest badass the world has ever seen. Pure dopamine.
Best Track: The Only Thing They Fear is You, BFG 10,000, Super Gore Nest, Gladiator
4. Ghost of Tsushima
As we technology progresses we strive further and further for photorealism, oftentimes at the cost of good art direction or even a general art style. Ghost of Tsushima says “Why not both?”
In what is one of the most sublimely beautiful games about mass murder ever made Sucker Punch made something truly special. One of the most striking and well crafted open worlds ever made, with one of the most innovative ways to navigate it. Gone are the days of golden breadcrumb trails, the wind and animals of Tsushima are your guide.
There’s a lot to be said about this game really. The combat is fantastic. The score is phenomenal. Again, things I’m sure have been said in other places. But to me, what truly stands out is how well crafted Tsushima is. It’s so varied and textured it truly feels alive. Nothing compares to reaching the top of a hill and seeing a rolling field of poppies below. Or getting lost in the bamboo forest in the middle of the map. Sometimes I just sat there and watched the grass wave in the wind. Like seriously this game might have the best grass in any game. At a point it stopped being a samurai game for me and became a photography sim instead. It’s wonderful.
Oh and this game probably has the greatest late title drop of all time.
Best Track: Sacrifice of Tradition
3. Final Fantasy 7 Remake
I’ve always been more of a FF6 and Chrono Trigger person when it comes to “Best JRPG” and because of that I’ve always been a little cold on FF7. Granted, I’ve never actually played it, but growing up the fanbase around it was always so loud I kind of avoided it. Well, here we are in 2020, and Square has spent millions of dollars lovingly remaking what I’ve been told is basically the first act of the original game. Like, I’ve been told this game is ostensibly the first few hours stretched out into 30 hours, and I literally cannot imagine it being any shorter now. There’s so much depth to everything and it all feels incredibly important to the story. And it feels incredibly relevant to modern times, especially modern America, which is crazy to think about for a remake of a 23 year old game.
It also helps that it plays wonderfully. Like the ultimate realization of what Normura’s been working on with Kingdom Hearts. Every party member feels distinct and you really learn to maximize their strengths in each situation. Except you’re always going to pick Tifa really, because come on.
Best Track: Jenova Final Phase
Source: https://boingboing.net/2020/10/20/cute-cerberus-costume-for-dogs.html
2. Hades
I’m not a fan of rouge-likes, so when I heard that Supergiant was making one I was initially disappointed. All of their games have had such a strong narrative throughline, so the idea of them making a repeatable, procedurally generated game was not interesting to me at all. Then it came out of early access, and everyone started losing their minds over it, and well I had to try it. And yeah, it’s really really good.
It’s not reinventing the wheel or anything, but perfecting it. It controls incredibly well, the story is actually super engaging, and the characters are both super endearing and unbearably hot. It’s weird, this is my second favorite game this year, but I don’t really have much to say that others already have. It’s one of those games that just does everything perfectly. Just play the game and lose a few hours to it like everyone else.
Best Track: Out of Tartarus
1.5 Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Game of the year is a Dragon Quest game two years in a row baby!
How and why they turned Yakuza into a turn based RPG is beyond me. There was no reason for them to lovingly recreate fantasy troupes through the lens of modern Japan. But they did. There is literally no reason they needed to add a fake Pokedex based around the weird dudes you end up fighting. BUT THEY DID AND THEY DID IT FOR US.
It’s crazy enough that Yakuza is the overall best game this year, but for it to also be one of the best RPGs in years is WILD. Seriously next to DQ 11 this might be the best JRPG I’ve played in a long time. It helps that the story is incredibly good.It has so many twists and turns that it literally made me yell “Holy shit” at one point.
A big part of this is how likeable the main cast is. Who would think an ex-cop, a homeless man, and a hostess would make so much sense together. Then there’s Ichiban, who is probably the best new protagonist in years. He’s so damn earnest and likable you just want to see him succeed, and it makes sense why everyone would be willing to follow him.
Oh also you can summon a Crawfish named Nancy to fight for you. Oh! And at one point you fight a giant roomba.
Just play this game.
Best Track: Yokohama Battle Theme
Source: https://thehardtimes.net/harddrive/players-argue-there-is-no-rule-in-the-dungeon-masters-guide-that-says-a-dog-cant-play-dd/
1. D&D
Look I know it’s technically not a video game, but I played a lot of this game over screens this year. So it counts.
It’s been a rough year for a lot of reasons. A real rollercoaster you could say. Or maybe an unending parade of nightmares. I’m not a famous twitterer so I don’t get to name these things (Follow me @ackbartheswell.) I’m sure most of you have spent a lot of time in isolation. So did I. It’s rough, overwhelming really, and it’s scary not knowing what’s happening next in the world. That said, even during the height of all the insanity I still had my weekly D&D games. Darius Thunderfang had people to kill. The Infidels had monsters to hunt. The Dragoons had a multiverse to save.
Important stuff.
It’s weird, it’s basically a group of adults playing pretend with arbitrary rules in place. But it feels like so much more. It’s a communal story. A place for friends to goof off and laugh. A reason to see the people that you love, if only for a few hours. A bright light in an otherwise dark year.
Honestly, this is a really roundabout way to say: Game of the Year is the friends we made along the way.
Hokey but it really is.
Best Track: Rainbow Connection
