2020 Game of the year Voting thread

[Legend]

What was your game of the year?

To keep it interesting, feel free to vote for games you played in 2020 even if they didn't release this year. Also talk about why you liked it.

No limits on how many games you can vote for. I guess this is a sort of nomination round.

[kitler53]

yeah, I play such old games I know my nominations are going to be laughted at.  anyways:.

astro bot rescue mission
the best of VR obviously. a really fresh experience because of VR but charming on its own merits as well.


the last of us remastered
despite being a port of a last gen game it was the most "next gen" game I played all year.  dear God the attention to detail is so high. great gameplay and great story.

uncharted lost legacy
I ignored this for a long time as a one off. despite it's shorter length the perfect pacing made this my favorite in the franchise.  chloe was always the best character in the franchise anyways so I kind of appreciated the lack of nathon.

divinity original sin 2
I played this entirely coop over the course of a year.  the gameplay gave an amazing amount of freedom to do different builds and thankfully there was no penalty for respecing so I was able to play around a lot.

[kitler53]

okay, i litterally just finished a way out.  most of the game was good.    ..but that ending.  oh boy that ending.   throw that up for a contender as well. 

[the-pi-guy]

Best game played: God of War 2018.  
After playing GoW 1-3, I wasn't expecting this to be so good.  They were fun games, but this was absurd. Like two tiers better than the previous games.

Best game released: The Last of Us 2
I think in the most important ways to me, this was a step down from 1. But in every other regard it was a major step up.  

Honorable mentions:
Kingdom Hearts 3
By the end of it, it was great. But I still feel it's a step down from the first two major titles.


Astro's Playroom
A bit of a step down from Rescue Mission. But one of the most enjoyable games I've played this past year. The aesthetic, the attention to detail.  This game feels like one of the better games Nintendo has made.

[BananaKing]

I havent played much this year. I only finished 4 games, and played multiplayer games.

However, I will say its need for speed heat. Me and my friend played it a lot. We almost finished it and its biased because we were chilling and playing it.  But I enjoyed it quite a lot

[Dr. Pezus]

Doom (not eternal). I think I started it in 2019 and finished late 2020. Yup, I really suck at playing games.

Astrobot Rescue Mission. Same here because I left VR unplugged for a while. I needed to play this in smaller chunks due to getting mild headaches in VR and also to enjoy it more. Great game though.

Super Mario Odyssey. Got a switch lite in 2020 and this is great so far. Still far from finishing but I will some day.

Spyro 1 Remake - never played the original (only spyro 3) but this was a fun game. Great remake except for performance which could be smoother.

Honorable mentions: Superhot VR, Hollow Knight, Fall Guys

[Xevross]

I played 26 games that released in 2020 so far, these are my top 10 of those. I keep track of games I play and rate them on a 100 point scale, usually finely placing them by thinking "yeah, high 80s" and then comparing to games around there on how I feel overall. Games with a 85 or higher score are games I consider to be worthy of at least being mentioned in GOTY discussions (round to 9/10), 90+ are games that are truly special, 96+ are masterpieces, my favourite games ever.

1. Hades 98 - speaking as someone who has never clicked with a rogue-like before, this is one of the best games I've ever played. Its extremely well polished, is gorgeous to look at, has amazing art direction, soundtrack, voice acting and quality of writing. And that's just the tip of the iceberg here. Amazingly well designed, fast paced isometric gameplay, with meaningful choices keep you on your toes and keep you thinking about your build and how to succeed with every run, even when you've mastered the game and have 30 wins in a row. This is a rogue-lite that weaves various gameplay and story based permanent progression systems to keep you hooked and playing more and more. And the story is great and well told, with each character also having their own interesting side stories for you to help them with and solve. All of the stories add to the lore of the game and develop characters meaningfully. I could gush about this game forever, it innovates in so many ways while being extremely fun at its core and is polished to an incredibly high standard. If I had to point out a flaw, I think it has some minor problems with pacing of story and delivery of dialogue; with each character only having one conversation for each run (30-45mins of play time), priorities can be a bit weird and you can get stuck without advancing a story you are invested in for hours. This is a very minor thing, but it did annoy me slightly. Last I have to point out that this is from an indie studio that used 0 crunch. Incredible.

2. TLOU2 96 - I have some mixed feelings about this game but ultimately I decided its a masterpiece worthy of an extremely high score. The narrative is bold and told in a fairly unique way for a AAA game. There's problems with the pacing of the story which makes some big moments fall flat, but its made up for by simply unbelievable animations (and level of polish on the whole) and voice acting which make the whole story feel so real engaging. The gameplay is the best of any third person shooter, the fluidity of movement and controls feels amazing, the numerous options you have at all times, the incredible encounter and environment design all lead to this game being an absolute joy to play. I enjoyed playing this game so much that I immediately played through it again after I finished, which is extremely rare for me. The action set pieces were mind blowing first time through as well. The problems with the structure of the story make this fall short of the original, but this game is still incredible. I don't think Naughty Dog will ever be topped when it comes to polish and attention to detail in the AAA space.

3. Ghost of Tsushima 92 - what a joy this game is. They absolutely nail the combat, it feels fluid yet snappy and immensely satisfying. The combat also constantly evolves and ratchets up as you play the game with lots of new skills and gadgets being unlocked, making it always feel exciting. You do get insanely powerful and that makes the game rather easy, even on very hard. I suppose lethal difficulty might have fixed this, but I haven't tried it yet. The story isn't amazing but its still engaging enough with some fun twists and turns along the way. The world is just brilliant to explore, guiding wind is such a brilliant idea. I thought the way they did side quests, a few long chains that each have their own good stories, was genius. It does get repetitive though, especially with stuff like the fox shrines. And the game can feel a bit janky in classic open-world fashion at times. The game is gorgeous, obviously, and has some amazing music too. That title drop moment still gives me chills whenever I think of it. Legends was a brilliant add-on for free that doubled my play time with the game. Just awesome all round.

4. FF7 Remake 91 - I'm a newcomer to FF7 and this game doesn't feel like it was made for me, pretty much all my complaints stem from this. Everything to do with Sephiroth felt weird, out of place and wasn't explained at all. While the ending sequence was epic I felt totally disconnected with it. The game had impressed me so much as a character driven story, and it pretty much lost the plot in that regard towards the end, it was somewhat of a let-down. That's pretty much all the bad I have to say though, apart from that a couple of the middle sections dragged a bit. The combat system in this game is truly incredible, I enjoyed every minute playing the game thanks to this. The real time action felt awesome with the weapons you get to use, but then getting to pause and use skills with different characters added the strategy element that always kept you thinking. As I said before, I absolutely loved the character driven story here, the characters are all amazing and the dialogue is on point. The game is written and paced very well throughout the majority of its run time. Chapter 9 in particular will be something I think about for years, in particular the Hell House fight was just outrageously awesome, and the Honeybee Inn was... also outrageously awesome. I liked the slow chapters and the side quests, they helped fill out the world and grounded the game in a good way. Of course, I have to mention the game is (mostly) a visual stunner and has an all-timer soundtrack. Just amazing all round, if only the ending held up it could have been one of my favourite games ever.

5. Demon's Souls 90 - like FF7 I never played the original of this. This is an awesome game. A lot of it does feel out-dated, stuff like the Man-Eater fight was particularly bad, but it mostly still felt extremely satisfying to play. This is the most visually impressive game I've played, it really is a perfect PS5 launch showcase. The game was surprisingly easy, I beat it in about 19 hours and did most boss fights first time, I think it helped that I expected it to be hard and looked up good builds and tips and tricks beforehand here. Of course, by an average gaming standard it was still very hard, I died more than any other game on this list, it still felt very satisfying to progress. It did lose that immense satisfaction from beating a really tough boss that other souls games have, but at the same time beating bosses first time and making consistent progress felt awesome too.

6. Astro's Playroom 90 - this is one of those games which is just pure happiness captured in a piece of entertainment. This game is so jolly, and so amazingly crafted. Its a brilliant platforming game, at its core. Of course, its a perfect showcase for the DualSense, with some really interesting game mechanics coming from that. But none of them are just gimmicks, they're awesome platforming mechanics that feel tight and awesome to use. The game is a wonderful celebration of PlayStation history, has some awesome and memorable music (Gee Peeee Youuuuuuuuuu) and is just brilliant. The speedrun/time attack modes are awesome add-ons too, that feel better than they had a right to be. This game is kind of faultless, but its so short and somewhat small in scope that it doesn't stand out as a truly incredible game (being technically flawless doesn't make up for lack of ambition, in general).

7. Spider-Man Miles Morales 89 - this is an awesome follow up to the 2018 game. Miles is an amazing character and I loved spending time with him and his friends & family. Swinging around NYC is amazing as before, but now with 60fps it feels even smoother. The city is the same on the whole but the redesign for Christmas time and the changing of a few key locations is enough for it to feel fresh and for you to want to explore it all over again. Miles' venom powers are fantastic and add so much to the combat in this game, I'm not sure I ever want to play as boring ol' Peter again after experiencing this. The venom power system is well though out and tied into skills and combos so that it gels with the already brilliant combat system from the first game. It feels and looks amazing to use venom powers to beat up bad guys. As I said, Miles is an amazing character and its a nice story that he's involved in. Its paced really well and while it may be fairly short I don't think that's a bad thing, it felt about right to me. I had so much fun with this game, thanks to it being smaller in scope and length and re-using the map (plus some other minor problems) I don't quite score it a 90, but this is still an excellent video game.

8. Ori and the Will of the Wisps 89 - a big step up from the first game in every regard. The art-style is stunning and the 3D art and animations consistently wowed me. This game is seriously like a painting in every frame, its beautiful to look at. The combat is much improved thanks to new abilities, although the game is still lacking in this regard and combat didn't feel particularly great against some enemies. The bosses were amazing in their scope and design, its just some of their attacks are hard to read and their hitboxes feel very poor and rather harsh. It never took me more than a few attempts to beat a boss but I still felt annoyed and like I was being unfairly treated by the game at times. I think there's a better balance to find there. The platforming is very diverse throughout the game, usually quite challenging in a good way, but sometimes it can get finnicky and frustrating. There's much more of a story in this game and more characters to interact with, which is great. You can tell they really tried to emulate Hollow Knight with this one, and while it still falls short this is a brilliant game that Moon studios have crafted.

9. Animal Crossing NH 87 - a really lovely game and exactly what we needed in 2020. The music, the animations and the wonderful characters make an atmosphere of peace and calm that felt so great to experience. Building up your own island felt rewarding, being able to design so much of the outdoors was definitely a great step forward. It was quite expensive and took time to get there, but it was worth it. Progressing through the game until the credits was fun and definitely felt like you had lots to work towards constantly. I dropped off the game after that, but that's more on me rather than the game, I'm not really one to enjoy coming back on and doing the same tasks every day. The game definitely has lots of issues, many archaic systems that Nintendo has failed to improve. It often feels really slow and laborious to play, the online is particularly outdated, it could really do with a lot of QoL improvements. And really, there's not exactly much new here than AC hasn't done before. Still, its an excellent package overall.

10. F1 2020 87 - a big step up for this franchise after the rather disappointing F1 2019. Thanks to the strong foundation of the series, 2019 was still a great game, it just didn't do anything new and suffered from more bugs than normal at launch. With this one they cleared up a lot of the bugs and had a much smoother launch, and the My Team mode is the best new addition the series has seen in a long time. If they polished the game a bit more, improved the AI and worked on interviews and similar stuff in the career modes, this game series could finally be something truly special in 2021. For now though, its an excellent base to work on with this game.


I try to play all games that review well unless I really think they're not for me. This means I mostly play highly regarded games, and that's why I tend to have a lot of high scores. I do on average score games about 2.5 points lower than their opencritic/meta averages though.

Here's my best LTTP games of 2020 and my rating:

1. Hollow Knight 94
2. Halo CE Anniversary 89
3. Rise of the Tomb Raider 88
4. Crosscode 85
5. Halo 3 84
6. Halo 2 Anniversary 83

I played 17 games in 2020 that came out in earlier years, these are the 6 that I rated 80 or above (all really great games).

I shall gradually edit this post with my thoughts on most of the games here

[Dr. Pezus]

Best 2020 games and my rating out of 100:

1. Hades 98 - one of the best games ever made, simply put. Extremely well polished, gorgeous to look at, amazing art direction, soundtrack, voice acting, quality of writing. And that's just the tip of the iceberg here. Amazingly well designed, fast paced isometric gameplay, with meaningful choices keep you on your toes and keep you thinking about your build and how to succeed with every run, even when you've mastered the game and have 30 wins in a row. A rogue-lite that weaves various gameplay and story based permanent progression systems to keep you playing more and more. And the story is great and well told, with each character also having their own interesting side stories for you to help them with and solve. All of the stories add to the lore of the game and develop characters meaningfully. I could gush about this game forever, it innovates in so many ways while being extremely fun at its core, polished to an incredibly high standard, and its from an indie studio that has 0 crunch. Incredible, I can barely fault it. If you're wondering why I "docked" it 2 points (if that's even how my scoring system works...), aside from a few very very minor things, it has some problems with pacing of story and delivery of dialogue, with each character only having one conversation for each run (30-45mins of play time), priorities can be a bit weird and you can get stuck without advancing a story you are invested in for hours.

2. TLOU2 96 - my thoughts were all over the place with this one but ultimately I decided its a masterpiece worthy of an extremely high score. The narrative is bold and told in a fairly unique way for a AAA game. There's problems with the pacing of the story and some big moments fall flat, but its made up for by simply unbelievable animations and voice acting which make the whole story feel so real and deeply engage you. The gameplay is the best of any third person shooter, the fluidity of movement and animation, the options you have at all times, the incredible encounter and environment design lead to this game being an absolute joy to play. The action set pieces were mind blowing first time through as well. The problems with the story make this fall short of the original (which is my #3 game of all time with a 99 score), but this game is still incredible.

3. Ghost of Tsushima 92
4. FF7 Remake 91
5. Demon's Souls 90
6. Astro's Playroom 90
7. Spider-Man MM 89
8. Animal Crossing NH 87
9. F1 2020 87
10. Spiritfarer 84

I played 24 games that released in 2020 so far, those are my top 10. Games with a 90 or higher score are games I consider to be worthy of GOTY mentions.

Here's my best LTTP games of 2020 and my rating:

1. Hollow Knight 94
2. Halo CE Anniversary 89
3. Rise of the Tomb Raider 88
4. Crosscode 85
5. Halo 3 84
6. Halo 2 Anniversary 83

I played 17 games in 2020 that came out in earlier years, these are the 6 that I rated 80 or above.

I shall gradually edit this post with my thoughts on most of the games here

I'll be getting Rise of the tomb raider soon with plus, glad it's great!

[Xevross]

I'll be getting Rise of the tomb raider soon with plus, glad it's great!

Yeah I thought it was really great, loved it all the way through. This month's PS+ is shadow if that's what you're referring to, which apparently isn't as good.

[Dr. Pezus]

Yeah I thought it was really great, loved it all the way through. This month's PS+ is shadow if that's what you're referring to, which apparently isn't as good.

Oh lol confused it. Rise was on plus a year ago I think. I missed it.

[Legend]

SOMA-incredibly good phycological horror. It had some dumb parts, but it was one of the deepest games I've ever played  
Actually made me think about consciousness and what it means to be alive long after I finished it. I expected it to stick with me longer though. Right now I have an easier time remembering that I loved it vs actually loving it.

What Remains of Edith Finch-great follow up to one of my favorite PS3 games, even though it was really different. I loved how it combined gameplay with narrative and involved the player in telling the story. Very similar to SOMA though in the sense that I remember loving it but I'm not sure I currently love it as much.

Outer Wilds-incredible space game. Like the other two it was far from perfect, but it was incredibly unique and clever. I'd highly recommend it to anyone.

Last of Us 2-only goty game I played that released in 2020. I haven't finished Ghost yet and I wouldn't put Spiderman MM as high. I loved so much of the game and disliked so much of the game, which I think made me like the whole thing more.

Honorable Mention
Watch Dogs Legion-I haven't finished it yet and I don't think it would have a spot on this list if I did, but the procedural nature of the game is incredibly powerful. I really look forward to other franchises having their own attempt at the concept.

[Xevross]

I added all my descriptions and edited in Ori because none of you can stop me and this never went further anyway.

[Legend]

Thank you for the bump haha

[Legend]

Added a poll. Select your top 5 in whatever way you feel makes sense.