Shacknews Top 10 Games of the Year 2020

Published , by Shack Staff

Another amazing year in video games is coming to a close, which means it is time for Shacknews to count down our Top 10 Games of the Year 2020. Each staff member submitted their personal top ten games list and we are including the collective list from our Chatty community as another ballot in our vote. These votes were made outside of all of our other awards this year. 2020 was a challenging year for most humans and video games gave us some much-needed refuge from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. A lot of video games were nominated across all of the votes, but we have narrowed it down to the Shacknews Top 10 Games of the Year 2020. Please take a look at our video, or read along underneath the video embed.

Want to read the list? Hit next page to see our text version of the Shacknews Top 10 Games of 2020.

#10 Game of the Year 2020 - Streets of Rage 4

What an incredible year it was for games. There were strong contenders all about and it was no easy task to narrow it down to ten. But among so many graphically innovative titles and genre-defining games, Streets of Rage 4 stayed on folks' radar. And how could it not? This game is a once-in-a-generation brawler love letter masterpiece. It's got it all: Amazing hand-drawn sprites, an incredibly distinct art style, fantastic fighting mechanics on par with actual fighting games, secrets out the wazoo, and challenge systems that make it a blast to to pursue high scores and harder difficulties. It's also got a banger original soundtrack from top to bottom that incorporates classic franchise tunes into new electronica beats.

Streets of Rage 4 is both a modern masterpiece and relic of a bygone time. It's hard to imagine anyone will put this much tender loving care into another brawler for a long time, but if anyone does, we hope they treat their craft with as much passion, talent, and respect as DotEmu, Guard Crush Games, and Lizardcube poured into SoR4. We would also happily accept more Streets of Rage 4 in the form of Max Thunder, Estel, Shiva, and Roo DLC, please and thank you.

#9 Game of the Year 2020 - Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales

It would have been easy to trot out Miles Morales and make him into a different shade of Peter Parker. However, Insomniac Games not only had a distinctly Miles Morales story to tell in Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, the developer made his story come alive in different ways. The detailed Harlem landscape, Miles' close circle of confidants (including Rio and Ganke), and the injection of a new Venom power set helped ensure that this was no mere Marvel's Spider-Man 1.5. This is Miles' world and players are welcome to meet the new Spider-Man on the block. He's our Spider-Man.

#8 Game of the Year 2020 - Cyberpunk 2077

For all of its flaws, Cyberpunk 2077 is still quite a video game. It's a vast explorable future playground of gangs, crooked cops, corporate interests, and every kind of mercenary just looking to scrape by in the urban jungle. Whether you work for the gangs, gun with the corpos, do the dirty work of the police, or sample other forbidden pursuits of Night City, you do have an undeniable freedom to pursue your leisurely path through it all, and a decent enough system of RPG mechanics, action shooter and melee combat, and dialogue guide you down the path you want to partake in. Much like previous CD Projekt RED games, going right from A to B is doing this game a disservice. There's so much to explore around every corner and alleyway of this city. Sometimes it's an opportunity in wait. Sometimes it's a bullet with your name on it.

Certainly, Cyberpunk 2077 didn't come out in the best state for all platforms and there are definite problematic points of content in the game's narrative itself, but it's hard to argue against the fact that CDPR put out a game worthy of conversations throughout several years. Interestingly enough, it will likely continue to be the center of certain conversations in gaming well into 2021, for better or for worse.

#7 Game of the Year 2020 - Wasteland 3

Here's a simple fact. Short of an open-world sandbox, there is no game with a solid narrative or arrangement of mechanics that will allow you to be as flexible in how you approach it as Wasteland 3. This RPG is incredible in its freedom. Do you want to be the kind of duo that goes heavy on the lead and guns-a-blazin'? You can. Do you want to be a scientific computer genius, a lockpicking thief, master of explosives (both disarming and rearming), or a machine king of scrap, circuitry and all things robotic? You can. Do you want to talk your way out of any trouble that could possibly force you into a fight you don't want?... You get the idea.

Now couple that character freedom with an absolutely bonkers world of choice and consequence. Wasteland 3's narrative is a wild one and the choices you make at every step of the way ripple throughout its world in meaningful ways. Heck, there's routes to ending this game in just a few hours or making it last for many dozen depending on how you play it, and along the way, there will be plenty of radioactive creatures, gangs, and settlement leaders to test your Rangers' mettle. InXile had a lot of work to do to make a truly delicious follow-up in the Wasteland franchise, and arguably, Wasteland 3 is everything that ought to be.

#6 Game of the Year 2020 - The Last of Us Part 2

Naughty Dog had kept its fans in suspense for the next installment of The Last of Us for nearly a full console cycle. The Last of Us: Part 2 did not disappoint. Further fleshing out the hellscape of the post-apocalyptic world, players did more than experience more of Ellie's tragic existence. The narrative was so nuanced and multi-dimensional, and Ellie's adversaries proved to be more than anyone expected. That's before even going into the improvements to the gameplay elements, including the improved gunplay and refined stealth. The Last of Us: Part 2 is a gaming experience like few others and stands as one of Naughty Dog's great triumphs.

#5 Game of the Year 2020 - Ghost of Tsushima

We have seen little shortage of open-world adventures that continue to bend the mind when it comes to what an engaging environment in these games ought to be. Ghost of Tsushima is a transcendent example of such a game, without question. The Japanese island of Tsushima is as much of a character as figure you might speak with in the game, unraveling itself as an ever-gorgeous tapestry of natural beauty, jagged danger, and the wartorn ugliness of mankind.

And on that last note, this living island is chock-full of interesting characters each pursuing their own purposes as Jin Sakai seeks aid to turn back Mongol army invaders and save his homeland. The revenge of Masako Adachi, Yuna's mission to protect her surviving family at all cost, the master archer Ishikawa's effort to keep his teaching from falling into dangerous hands, and so much more are arguably just as compelling as Jin's journey, ensuring that travels across Tsushima are hardly ever dull. Sucker Punch Productions clearly had reverence to an astounding degree for the stories of Samurai and Feudal Japan and it shows in every fiber of grass in Tsushima's vast landscape.

#4 Game of the Year 2020 - Final Fantasy 7 Remake

Square Enix knew from the beginning that if they were ever to recreate Final Fantasy 7, it would be one of the publisher's greatest challenges ever. It's one the most beloved stories in video game history, but also one with an astonishing amount of detail that modernizing it would mean extending it significantly. Final Fantasy 7 Remake is here, though, and even though it's only just getting started in telling the original game's full story, the action-RPG combat system, the characters, the gorgeous settings, the soundtrack, and so much more made this into everything a Final Fantasy 7 fan could have wanted. And as we've learned from more than one member of the Shacknews staff this year, even those who weren't interested in the original classic have found a new appreciation for that game by playing Final Fantasy 7 Remake and seeing it through to the surprising ending.

#3 Game of the Year 2020 - Hades

The word "roguelike" in itself can be intimidating to a certain group of players. However, Hades didn't shy away from it and is designed in such a way that the game's players wouldn't shy away from it either. Hades completely rethinks the genre and injects an engaging narrative, a deep and satisfying combat system, the right amount of random moments, and enough long-term engagement to make this into more than just one of Supergiant Games' best efforts to date. Hades is one of the best roguelikes ever, full stop.

#2 Game of the Year 2020 - Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Animal Crossing: New Horizons can looks pretty simple with a cursory glance. The game doesn't really ask much of players, but in that simplicity of gameplay lies the genius of the franchise. Sure, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was one of the best-selling games of 2020, but its impact goes far beyond the Nintendo balance sheet or income statement.

The game launched in late March of 2020, as the pandemic shutdowns began to take hold. For many players, Animal Crossing: New Horizons provided a much needed escape from what was a very difficult year for most people. The game allowed people to get together online, share ideas for island designs, and even brag about cool stuff that they had bought from the Nook Store.

The game also provided players with a routine and sense of normalcy when a lot of the outside world was anything but that. From planting trees, to harvesting fruit, to fishing, to playing the Turnips in the Stalk Market, Animal Crossing: New Horizons gave us a way to escape from the world even for little bits of time here and there. It may not be for everyone, but the game deserves very high praise for helping many people get through a very tough year.

There were a ton of great games that didn't make the cut for our Top 10 Games of the Year 2020 list, but we wanted to give them a proper shout out. Here's a list of our honorable mentions in no particular order:

And now for the main event...

#1 Game of the Year 2020 - Half-Life: Alyx

A lot of Half-Life fans had given up hope that we would ever see a new game ever again. Like many Valve franchises, the intellectual property had been left sitting on the shelf so long that it really seemed like we would never get to revisit City 17 again. Last year, Valve confirmed a new Half-Life game. Sure, it wasn't the much-anticipated Half-Life 3, but instead the developers brought us into the shoes of NPC Alyx Vance in a brand new adventure.

Half-Life: Alyx requires a VR headset to be enjoyed, but that does not make it any less of a game. One could even argue that the experience achieved by the game was impossible on a flatscreen experience. Playing as Alyx in the Half-Life universe is amazing, and the developers put in an insane amount of effort to make the world as immersive as possible.

Every aspect of this game is impressive. Graphics, audio design, gameplay, and narrative design are all perfectly balanced in a way that only few developers are capable of doing.

It's not just the best VR game released in 2020, it's the best VR game ever to be released. The innovations and best practices in Half-Life: Alyx will push all game design forward for the next decade, and it sits at the top of this amazing list of games released in this banner year for the video game medium. It is not just the best VR game of 2020, it's our Shacknews Game of the Year 2020. Praise Gaben.

Check out our Shacknews Game of the Year 2020 - Half-Life: Alyx article for more!

That's the Shacknews Top 10 Games of the Year 2020. Which games did you feel we left off or should have ranked higher? Let us know in the Shacknews Chatty comments section below. Be sure to check out all of The Shacknews Awards 2020. Congratulations to all of the games that made our list this year!