Dustin's Poorly Written Top 10 Games of 2020

I think when we look back at 2020 most of us will reference it as “The Lost Year”. The year where the world stopped, no travel, no events, no anything. I for one was laid off at the end of March and spent seven and a half months looking for work. Luckily I found something that I’m really enjoying, bonus that it’s paying the bills. I know though this whole thing that there are people in less fortunate situations than me. I’m lucky enough to have a family that helped support me through this, and I am so grateful for that. One of the things that kept me sane while being stuck at home and looking for work were video games. A chance to escape this crushing reality for a few hours at a time.

Honorable Mentions

• Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2
• Lonely Mountains: Downhill
• Phantasy Star Online 2
• Minecraft Dungeons
• Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout

10. Final Fantasy VII Remake

I have a love hate relationship with this game. When I first booted this up I thought I was going to get a remake of the original Final Fantasy VII, instead I got a game that retells that story but adds a bunch of elements to that story. For context I never played the original so when the game went off it’s own path I was left extremely confused. The thing I enjoyed the most about this game was the combat. It’s the perfect mix of an action game and classic turn based combat, and that’s why I kept coming back to it even when the story was moving at a snail's pace.

9. Immortals: Fenyx Rising

Immortals Fenyx Rising is a game that I don’t really have to pay too much attention to when I play it. The combat and world traversal are fun and having a map full of objectives to do fills that checklist part of my brain. It’s writing is fun even though it can be a bit too on the nose at times, but this hasn’t stopped me from getting lost in this game.

8. Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator is a technical marvel. A game where you can literally fly around the world in real time, with accurate flight data and weather streamed into the game. Flight Sim was a good time for me to relax and play a game that I didn’t have to think about, and that’s all by choice. You the player set how much control you have over these planes. I just wanted to get up in the air and I did, no need for me to flip all these switches and make calls to the flight tower, that’s what the AI copilot is for.

7. Doom Eternal

This game continues the tradition set up by the first game, it rips and tears. Doom Eternal does a great job of introducing new systems while not being completely overwhelming. The game has some ridiculous set pieces such as shooting yourself out of an orbital cannon from Earth’s orbit to Mars. If you loved Doom. (2016) you owe it to yourself to play this follow.

6. Fuser

I see Fuser as more of a music creation tool than a game. I have easily lost hours just messing around mixing music in cool unique ways. The track list is surprisingly diverse with a good mix of modern and old school tracks that can really surprise you on what you can come up with.

5. Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a game I played for about 20 minutes a day for about 6ish months, and I still check in on it from time to time. I wrote earlier this year about why this game has been special to me this year. Here’s an excerpt from that blog.

“This is why this game gives me a purpose. Helping these little villagers build a better life for themselves. Talking to everyone to learn more about them. Watching some of my villagers do yoga in the town square, fishing or catching bugs. There’s also the zen like nature of the game. Walking along the beach collecting seashells to sell, digging for fossils to donate to the museum, also catching fish and bugs throughout the day. Doing these things really helped me with the anxiety I had the first week of unemployment.

It’s weird to think a slice of life video game with animals that speak in gibberish can give me a purpose, and even help with anxiety, but in those cases it has. Every morning I load up the game, do my “chores”, and then spend time just relaxing in game. Animal Crossing: New Horizons helps keep my anxious mind off the real world, even if it’s just for a few hours at a time.”

4. Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Halo is my video game comfort food, every time I boot it up I know what I’m getting. During the summer peak of the pandemic when I was entering my most stressed points I would start up Halo: The Master Chief Collection and be brought back to being 14 15 again. Having a collection most of the series is great. Maybe I’m feeling some classic Halo 2 Multiplayer. Maybe I’ll play the Halo 3: ODST campaign again. There’s always a flavor I can pull from that feels different and fresh.

3. Destiny 2: Beyond Light

In the early fall I got back into Destiny 2 in a major way. Much like Animal Crossing, playing Destiny 2 gave me another sense of purpose, making my character stronger. After playing almost daily for a month the Beyond Light expansion came out. The inclusion of the new Subclass, Stasis is well implemented and adds to the lore in an interesting way. What if these Guardians of light could harness the power of the Darkness. The story that plays out through Beyond Light is super engaging that made me want to see it to the end, a thing I can’t say from previous expansions. Beyond Light left me excited for the next year of Destiny 2 and I want to see what Bungie does next.

2. Persona 5 Royal

Persona 5 Royal is the perfect update to an already amazing game. It’s themes still resonate years later and the additional content matches those established themes. From a gameplay standpoint it’s roughly the same game, there are some new mechanics like a grappling hook and some combat balance changes but it’s still the same game through and though, and that’s not a bad thing. The third semester is incredibly engaging and made a beloved character even more sympathetic. Even if you’ve put a hundred hours into the original, P5R’s additions are worth a hundred more.

1. Hades

Here’s the thing about Hades, it rules. It takes a lot for me to get into a rogue like and I got addicted to creating the perfect build to find the best way to complete runs. One of the smartest things this game does is use the roguelike genre to help tell its story. The idea of returning to the end of your run to be rewarded with new bits of the story is an extremely compelling mechanic with its amazing writing that made me want to keep going even after I finished my first run. And what a feeling completing that first run was, I jumped in my seat with excitement and pride when I vanquished Hades for this first time, feeling all powerful and ready to take him on again.