The following "Best Of" list is part of a series among members of the Gameological community. For my piece, I chose to write about games I played for the first time in 2020, rather than focusing on games that were released in 2020. I chose to discuss twelve categories out of the available fifteen. Keep your eyes peeled for other Gameological Awards posts!
Introduction
I was a Nintendo kid growing up. Starting with the N64, I stuck with that one company until November 2018. That was when I got my first PlayStation console. Given my upbringing, I’ve of course played every Mario, Zelda, and Metroid I could get my hands on. It also meant, however, that I’d missed out on Metal Gears, Final Fantasies and Souls, both Dark and Demon’s. Over the years, people would tell me that I need to play this game or watch this show. I’d make a mental note and tell them I’d get around to it, but I was never quite sure if that would be true. There is a lot of content out there. It got to a point when I would flippantly offer a joke in response to the abundance of recommendations. “They need to take a year off…one year where they stop making new movies and games and shows so we could all just catch up.”
I’m sorry, everyone. All of this may be my fault.
Rest assured, I’ve been holding up my end of the bargain. 2020 is thus the Year of the Backlog. I’ve played forty games this year, not counting rounds of Smash Bros. and Mario Kart, and I’m excited to share the highlights, and lowlights, of my quarantine gaming adventure.
The Nominees: Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Bayonetta, BioShock, Carrion, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Dark Souls II, Dark Souls III, Deliver Us The Moon, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy X, Gone Home, Gorogoa, Halo, Halo 2, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Hyrule Warriors, Ico, Inside, Kine, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle - Donkey Kong Adventure, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Paper Mario: The Origami King, Psychonauts, Sayonara Wild Hearts, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Shovel Knight, Splatoon 2, Spyro the Dragon, Star Wars: Battlefront II (2017), Star Wars: Squadrons, Super Mario 3D All-Stars, System Shock, System Shock 2, The Last of Us, The Outer Worlds, The Ultimate Doom, and What Remains of Edith Finch.
The Honorable Mention
I feel the need to make special note of Dark Souls II because it came so close to winning so much this year. It was in the running for Unexpected Joy, Best Music, and Game of the Year…but it just got edged out every time. While it does win something down below, I just wanted to give a special shout out to a game that does so many interesting things, introduces so many great ideas, and often times gets hand-waved as “the bad one.” This game is a treasure and I absolutely loved it.
The "Unexpected Joy" Award
This award goes to the game that defied expectations and was more fun than anticipated.
In June, I had just finished a stretch of intense games. The high demands of Sekiro had tested my resolve and What Remains of Edith Finch had put me through the emotional wringer. I needed something light, something that was essentially chicken soup for the gaming soul. I don’t really know what made me pick up Spyro the Dragon, but I did. Maybe it was because I enjoy 3D platforming? Maybe it was the bright colors? Maybe it was just because I had heard so much about it as a kid. Regardless, I just needed something soothing.
I loved the game, but I was surprised by how much of it I loved. For instance, if you had told me the controls were buttery smooth, I’d have probably believed you. But I was struck by so many little aspects of the experience. Elegant UI interfaces, like having a color-changing bug as a health bar, or that perfect balance between freedom and linearity. The challenges were present but never overwhelming, the missions were plentiful but not burdensome.
Spyro the Dragon occupies an almost dreamlike space in my head, where I almost wonder if I imagined it. In a dream, you enter in medias res…the story has always been going, but where did the plot begin? I had never played this game before, but it felt so organic, so second nature, that I almost feel like it had always been there and I had always been playing it.
The "Oh Yeah, I did Play That..." Award
This award goes to the game that I just plain forgot I played.
I’ve been logging all of my playthroughs on HowLongToBeat.com this year in order to keep track of just how much time I’ve spent playing games (It’s bad! Over 750 hours!). Everything seems to check out, however, except for one. I put 30 hours into Horizon: Zero Dawn?
What makes this game so forgettable is how it's just constantly almost there. The gameplay is just missing that little something something, the story is missing that je ne sais quoi, the art is perpetually acceptable and fine. Horizon: Zero Dawn is a like a set of all-season tires. It covers the all the bases adequately, but it doesn’t excel in any particular category. Thirty hours means I must have enjoyed it enough to finish the main game and side missions, but the experience clearly didn’t leave an impression on me.
The "Best Encounter" Award
This award goes to the best thing you came across in a game, be it a boss battle or buried treasure.
Boss battles are the thing that contributed to the rise of FromSoft. They shouldn’t be, at least exclusively, since their games also have excellent level design, art, music, and lore. But, of course, the internet needs to simplify things, and that means that Soulsborne games are compressed into one all-encompassing phrase: YOU DIED.
Of course, once you get into the groove of things, you see those words far less often. You learn how to parry blows, you improve at dodging swipes, and you get good at reading tells. It’s now somewhat common for me to make it through a FromSoft boss battle on my first try. I’m alright at taking on monsters, but swordsmen are my bread and butter.
As I approached the end of Dark Souls II, however, I was treated with a fight against the Burnt Ivory King. Deep inside an ancient castle, atop a frozen mountain peak, sits a humble fog gate in an unremarkable room. Upon stepping through, I immediately fell through a hole in the floor, down a narrow tower, until I was deep in the bowels of the planet. Lava was flowing, rocks were exploding, but the Burnt Ivory King was nowhere to be found. Instead, there were his minions.
Three mirrors, punctuating the corners of the arena, spawned enemy after enemy and I was slain almost immediately. There were just too many of them. When I awoke upstairs, I was told of the King and his failed quest to conquer the Old Chaos. He, and his men, succumbed to madness. There did exist a legion of warriors tasked with undoing this tragedy, but they’re currently missing. If only they could be found and reunited. But who could be so brave as to hunt down these long-lost soldiers of old?
Hell yeah!
The following hour or two saw each of these knights located and returned to the hall where the fog gate resided. When my hunt was over and I returned to the castle, all four stood up to greet me. I jumped down into the depths below, and they followed. Just me and the boys.
This was now an even fight. Hectic, but fair. One by one, as these corrupted soldiers fell, my comrades sacrificed themselves to seal the mirrors until none remained. Once sealed, from the abyss below, a final portal opened up and the Burnt Ivory King made his debut. And he was glorious.
This fight was memorable because of all the moving pieces involved. Sure, it demanded excellence in one-on-one swordfighting, but it also tested my mettle at crowd control, magic defense, and, of course, exploration. The lore of Dark Souls was baked into every inch of that fight, the music was beautiful, and the imagery striking. Every so often I’ll pull up the above video just to re-live it.
The "Game That Made Me Think" Award
This award goes to the game that has educated or informed me in some way.
A few years ago I played the PS4 remake of Shadow of the Colossus, knowing nothing about it. I had heard that it was a good game and the remake was incredibly faithful. While I certainly enjoyed the experience, it didn’t rock me to my core. I moved on pretty quickly.
But not immediately. Nearly every time I consume a piece of media, I read up on it on Wikipedia. Production stories, development delays, creative visions, all of it. I really enjoying knowing how the sausage is made. I noticed that this game was the second in a series; there was no narrative continuity, but they take place in the same world. Maybe one day.
Fast forward to a few months ago, and I’m in the middle of another Wikipedia deep-dive. This time, I’m reading about Hidetaka Miyazaki, creator and director of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro. I was curious about his views and influences and history as a developer. Then I stumbled upon an interesting little tidbit. He was able to isolate the one game that inspired him to become a developer.
That game was Ico.
Yes, the humble little adventure game to which Shadow of the Colossus would eventually play successor...this was the reason we have Dark Souls. The two couldn’t seem father apart in my mind, but here it was, staring me in the face. Now I had to play it.
So I located an old PS2 copy on eBay, terrible cover art and all, and ordered it. It arrived, I put it at the top of my to-do list, and a few weeks later I loaded the game and played it with the sole purpose of seeing how this game could be a precursor to Dark Souls.
And, holy crap, I could see it.
The worn-down castles, the quiet ambience, the eerie soundscapes, the interconnecting paths, the giant levers controlling this gizmo and that. This was Dark Souls.
Looking at Ico through a very specific lens, in this case “how it led to Dark Souls,” was an incredibly rewarding research project. It’s an exercise in creativity and a testament to how inspiration can manifest itself in mysterious ways. Ico and Dark Souls are nothing alike if you look at the cold, hard stats on difficulty and genre, but they are also cut from the same artistic cloth. It’s things like this that make playing video games, and studying them, so much fun.
The "Just Didn’t Click with Me" Award
This award goes to the game that everyone loves. Everyone except me.
I owned an Xbox for a hot second. I bought it off a friend for about thirty bucks in high school when the 360 came out, but my cousins broke it after only a few months. I had only really played a few games on it, most of them sports titles because that’s what my friend played. I never played the “big” Xbox games.
It wasn’t until this year, with its release on PC, that I finally got around to playing Halo. I probably could have found a way to do it earlier, but my ardent desire to play first-person shooters with keyboard and mouse meant that I was stuck waiting. With the release of The Master Chief Collection late last year, I finally had access to the whole damn franchise. Where else to start with the first game, right?
Holy shit, I hate it.
I played the campaign over the course of a few days and I was shocked at how absolutely boring it is! Movement is slow as molasses…you shoot the same five enemies over and over…these characters are somehow zero-dimensional…and how does EVERY HALLWAY LOOK EXACTLY THE SAME?! Seriously, that level where you just follow Guilty Spark 343 down some copy+pasted corridors while waves of bugs come at you…screw this!
I finished the game and had to sit with it for a while. Halo became a worldwide phenomenon and I didn’t understand why. In talking to friends who are fans of the series, every story was exactly the same: they had fun playing multiplayer in high school. The campaign was never mentioned.
I’ve since played Halo 2, and it’s such a remarkable improvement over the first that I almost just look at Halo as if it was a tech demo. A bad tech demo, since the controls didn’t feel good or fun, but a tech demo nonetheless. If you’re a fan of the series, go back and give this campaign a shot. I’d love to hear what you think.
The "Best Replay" Award
This award goes to the game that I replayed and for which I’ve gained a new understanding or appreciation.
In September, a new Nintendo Direct was streamed in celebration of Mario’s 35th Anniversary. There were all kinds of announcements and updates, but partway through the direct, the screen went black. A split-second later: “It’s a-me, Mario!” Then, the steel drums from my childhood began to regale me and, I’m not ashamed to admit, I teared up a little bit.
Nostalgia is a helluva drug.
I was excited that three great games would be released in the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection, sure. But, if you know me, you know my N64 and Wii have never not been hooked up to my television. I could readily play all of these games at the drop of a hat. Instead, I was excited about their accessibility. A new generation would be able to play these games! People who had never owned older consoles could play these games! We could all share in the joy!
The day it was released, I played Super Mario Sunshine in its entirety. The next day, I did the same with Super Mario 64. I play these games every few years, so I wasn’t expecting any revelations. I’ve always firmly believed that these titles are “a really good platformer” and “the best platformer ever made,” respectively. That didn't change.
The game I was curious about was Super Mario Galaxy. I had rented the game once in high school, beat it, but never played it again. I got a cheap copy at a used game store a few months back, but haven't actually touched it. This was the perfect excuse to see how the game holds up in my mind.
For context: the reason why I hadn’t sought out the game sooner was because I wasn’t a fan of how it “worked.” 64 and Sunshine feature elaborate hub worlds that stitch together wide-open maps. Part of the joy of playing around in Bob-omb Battlefield or Ricco Harbor is the exploration. Where is the next star hidden? What do I do in the level this time?
In contrast, Galaxy harkens back to an older style of game…one that I have no strong fondness for because I didn’t grow up on that flavor of level design. The galaxies and objectives this time around are very linear. There are no wrong turns, there are no distractions…you move forward until you get that star.
While I stand by my ranking, 64 > Sunshine > Galaxy, I couldn't help but appreciate just how polished and put together Galaxy really is. The controls are tight, the levels are beautiful, and the difficulty curve is spot on. No more pachinko machines!
I’m glad this collection was released, and I hope that Nintendo, a company not well known for porting or preserving older titles, will continue this trend. Zelda Triforce All-Stars please?
The "Waiting for Game-dot" Award
This award goes to the game that I didn't play this year, nor last year, nor the year before that. Maybe next year.
I try to alternate between “time-consuming heavy” game and “light, quick, breezy” game. I usually feel very full, like I’ve had a complete meal, after sinking over fifty hours into a game, so the quick turnover of smaller indie games helps keep things fresh. This year, however, I devoted all of my “big game” attention to titles released by Square Enix and From Software. Those are the games that are often ranked as “Bests” of their year, or are recommended to me by friend.
Yes, just friend. Singular. You know who you are.
This slavish devotion to Souls and Fantasies meant I never got around to playing a game that I’m sure I’d love, Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Nintendo has a way of reinventing genres that I’d otherwise be so-so on. They did it with Splatoon and Mario Kart. But something seems too daunting about learning a game this meaty. This year, I had to just kind of steer clear. Maybe next year, once I finally conquer fantasy.
The "Hindsight is 2020" Award
This award goes to the game that, in time, I've changed opinions on, for better or worse.
Sigh. I really didn’t want to end up here, but we ended up here. We’re gonna talk about Paper Mario: The Origami King.
So, a little bit of background on me: Paper Mario is a Top 3 game for me. It’s nestled right between Metroid Prime and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as my favorite games ever. Its sequel, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, is very good, but misses a few marks here or there. And with each subsequent game in the franchise, Nintendo iterated the series to death. It’s a platformer? Now it’s a deck builder?
It feels like Nintendo doesn’t quite understand why we liked the original two games. So when they announced a new game this spring, I was both excited and nervous. Will they finally just focus on what made the first two games so great…good turn-based combat and fun characters? The signs pointed, hesitantly, towards yes.
I really wanted to like The Origami King. And for a while there, I did. “It’s not doing exactly what I wanted, but what it is doing…it’s doing well!” The writing was snappy, the world looked beautiful, and there were a handful of story moments that I was shocked to see unfold on the screen before me.
But months later, looking back on it, I can’t deny that it was a disappointment. The repetitive nature of battle, the rote exploration of big empty maps, and utter lack of memorable characters still haunt my memory of the game. I have no desire to replay it because I just don’t care about what the game is doing. The story wasn’t enticing enough for me to want to re-experience it, and the gameplay isn’t fun enough to push me through anyway.
It’s just dull. And it really, really sucks to realize that.
The "Wildcard" Award
This award goes to a game that deserves a shout out, even though it may not be the best at anything.
The folks at Limited Run Games are doing the Lord’s work. I’m a die-hard fan of physical games, and these guys give ‘em to me. I usually know what I’m buying before I purchase, but every once in a while I take a chance on something that strikes me as unique. I’m also a lover of hard science fiction, so if that can be thrown into the mix too, I’m a happy camper.
So when I finally sat down to play Deliver Us the Moon, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. It was billed as “thriller,” but I wasn’t sure what that meant, really. That’s a tonal description, not a genre of gameplay. Whatever, I popped it in and let the game do its thing.
It was too puzzley to be a Walking Sim. It was exploratory, but not quite a Metroidvania. Its story was told through ship logs and the environment, so it doesn't have a heavy narrative element. There were fail states and check points and challenges aplenty, but there were no enemies in sight. It was a man-vs-nature narrative puzzle adventure, I guess? It wasn’t really like anything I’d ever played before.
Yet, from start to finish, the game is incredibly captivating. From the attention to detail in the world to the haunting visuals to questions about the tenuous relationship between Earth and her people, Deliver Us the Moon was nothing short of beautiful.
As icing on the cake, this game perfectly captured the “feel” of outer space as I’d always imagined it. Zero-G segments of weightless floating felt magical, the steel and electronic corridors felt perfectly “space colonial,” and the feeling of leaving the safety of the compound to walk on the surface of the moon for the first time…it was unreal.
It’s such a fresh and unique experience that doesn’t feel like anything else out there. My only bit of caution, however, is that its small, indie nature means that there are some noticeable glitches now and again. It’s nothing that a few restarts and retries won’t overcome, and they are few enough and far enough between that I’d recommend this game to damn near anyone.
The "Best Music" Award
This award goes to the game with the best music. Kind of self-explanatory.
When you think of video game music, your mind usually goes to the 8-bit bleeps and bloops that defined our childhoods. The classic jingles of NES games are so iconic that my parents could probably recognize them. When games got more advanced, MIDI music tried in earnest to replicate the grand musical overtures that we all had imagined were serenading us. Sure, those violins sound fake, but we know they're violins, right? As the years progress, those digital violins were replaced with actual violins and music became exactly what we expect it to be. And, thus, is the evolution of video game music.
And that is precisely why I love how System Shock fucking ignores all of that. It’s electronic, but not in a chiptuney kind of way. More like a “pause the game because I think I just got an error message” kind of way. The harsh tones, ceaseless buzzing, and seemingly random selection of instrumentation make it exactly the type of eclectic bullshit that I love.
Listen to this song. The whole thing. Do you like how it starts with a groovy guitar tune and synth lead, then randomly transitions to a Windows 95 computer being destroyed by an underpowered blender? That’s the whole soundtrack! Someone at a company approved this!
Or how about this one? Music shouldn’t sound like this, but it does! It’s wild! It’s bizarre! I own it on vinyl, baby! Inject this directly into my veins!
The "Best Multiplayer Game" Award
This award goes to...the best multiplayer game.
I tend to avoid simulation games, not because I dislike them, but because I like them too much. I’ve spent countless hours building roller coasters and remodeling cities to learn one truth about myself: I will always continue to play the game unless it flat-out tells me “Stop! You won!” I need an ending, otherwise I’ll just go to infinity and beyond.
In mid-February, though, the hype was infectious. There was a new Life Sim game coming out and, against my better judgement, I preordered. All my friends were planning on playing and my girlfriend would also like it, assuming I ever gave up the controller. What the hell, add to cart!
Then, March happened.
Gatherings evaporated. Interactions disappeared. New York City was a ghost town. My whole world was now just the four walls of my apartment. I couldn’t see friends or family. Holidays were cancelled. It was me and my girlfriend and my cat, all the time, always. Melissa and I weren’t used to staying indoors all the time, and tiny little Zoe wasn’t prepared for her humans to be around 24/7. This was gonna be rough.
It was only a few days into quarantine when Animal Crossing: New Horizons arrived at my door. This may sound hyperbolic, but I truly believe it was this game that made those first few weeks so bearable. Tom Nook offered a reprieve from the endless string of horrible news on my phone and ambulance sirens outside my window.
Friendships were built on the mere act of trading furniture and selling turnips. New routines were founded on the daily hunts for fossils and fish. Memes were borne from the infamous Easter Egg infestations that plagued our collective islands. And, above all else, I had a goal to strive for: kicking Rodney off my goddamn island.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the right game at the right time. Luckily, I’ve found a way to stop playing; my house is as big as can be and the museum is complete. Though I am avoiding the game now for fear of getting hooked again, I will forever treasure the hundreds of hours that my friends, my girlfriend, and I all put into this game.
The Game of the Year
The big boy.
There were games I loved this year. There were games I played that I’d call perfect. There were games that were non-stop joys start to finish, and I couldn’t ask for better experiences. These games left me feeling no frustration at all, I was glad I played them, and generally made me happy as a clam.
Alas, Final Fantasy IX does not fall into those categories. No, this game frustrated me more than once. The game disappointed me. The game forced me to shut it off and try again later. The game has flaws, more than some of the other games I’d played this year.
But Final Fantasy IX stuck with me. It stuck with me more than anything else I’ve played this year. It made me laugh, made me cry, made me feel a sense of adventure. I’ve thought about it nearly every day since finishing it.
Dark Souls II was almost there. It was so close. But Dark Souls II didn’t have a lot of heavy lifting to do. I liked Dark Souls. I loved Bloodborne. Dark Souls II didn’t have to convert me. It didn’t have to sell me on its franchise. It didn’t have to make me a believer.
Final Fantasy IX did, and it did. I had only played one JRPG in my life prior to FFIX, and that was FFVII way back in, uh, June of this year. I merely “liked” FFVII, but still wasn’t sure if the franchise could speak to me in a meaningful way.
What’s so surprising about FFIX is how much I enjoyed the stuff I never thought I’d like. The story was enticing. The dialogue was humorous. The writing was chipper when it wanted to be and somber when it needed to be. Remember, this is coming from the guy who said Metroid Prime was his favorite video game because “nobody talks in it.”
And here, now, three months after finishing the game, I realize that I miss it. I miss the world. I miss the battles. But mostly, I miss the characters. I think of Vivi and Freya and Zidane and Dagger and Steiner. There is a part of me that wants to boot up the game and run around a bit. Just to explore the cities and see what people have to say and, mostly, just to spend time with this group of characters of whom I’ve grown so fond.
Final Fantasy IX wasn’t perfect. It challenged me in surprising ways and pushed me out of my comfort zone. But it showed me just how enjoyable its brand of game can be and for that, it is my game of the year.
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