Camestros Felapton

2022 Hugo Award Finalist

Thirteen Notable Video Games of 2020 (maybe?)

The other week I linked to a few “best of…” lists for 2020. On Twitter, Hampus also suggested another round-up source here https://www.cbr.com/best-video-games-2020/ I’ve since collated those lists along with the video games already listed on the Hugo Sheet of Doom. I’ll confess that I have taken a scattershot approach to deciding whether games are SFF or not. It isn’t always easy! Does a historical game count as alternate-history if you can reshape events (eg Crusader Kings III)? Is Call of Duty SFF because there is a zombie option? I don’t know! In the end I didn’t include Call of Duty but did include “Yakuza: Like a Dragon” because the second sounded more wacky. I didn’t delve into eligibility much in terms of when the game was released unless I already knew it wasn’t eligible (e.g. Among Us) and there are games here with eligibility questions (Hades) and also there are remakes which may be technically eligible but which don’t have new stories.

Finally, I ordered the games by how many lists they were on. Here all the games that were on at least three lists.

TitleLB Hugo SheetPolygon top 50Esquire top 11Vulture 10 BestTime 10 BestCBR 10 BestCount
Animal Crossing: New HorizonsYYYYYY6
HadesYYYYY5
Final Fantasy VII RemakeYYYY4
SpiritfarerYYYY4
The Last of Us Part 2YYYY4
BlaseballYYY3
DOOM EternalYYY3
Fall GuysYYY3
Ghost of TsushimaYYY3
Ori and the Will of the WispsYYY3
Spider-Man: Miles MoralesYYY3
Star Wars: SquadronsYYY3
Yakuza: Like a DragonYYY3

I’ve played only three of those but each one is in the top four. I haven’t finished playing Spiritfarer but I’ve played enough to write a review and I really like it.

Here are those same games again but with links to reviews.

camestrosfelapton

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11 responses to “Thirteen Notable Video Games of 2020 (maybe?)”

  2. How about World of Warcraft: Shadowlands? It came out Oct. 27th. 80% PC Gamer. 8/10 IGN.com

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  3. I just found an Articel of a German weekly Newspaper(Spiegel) which listed the following games(I marked the not Generegame most are genere):
    Hades
    Doom Eternal
    Microsoft Flight Simulator (not G)
    Ghost of Tsushima
    The Longing (for me that looks like G)
    Demon’s Soul (Remake for P5 so not eligable I think)
    Dreams (looks like not G)
    Half-Life Alyx
    The Last of Us Part 2
    Animal Crossing New Horizon
    Cyberpunk 2077 (probably the only ones who still have this on a list)

    Perhaps interesting.

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  5. Of the ones I’ve played I’d definitely nominate/vote for Hades and Last of Us 2. I’d probably leave Animal Crossing off and I’d definitely leave Fall Guys off. I wouldn’t complain if Ghost of Tsushima was on the shortlist but I wouldn’t nominate it myself, and I’d put it at the bottom of my ballot. I’d add Age of Calamity – it’s not the most exceptional game but the story is well executed and has been a nice way to cap the year off for Zelda fans.

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      • Eligibility misgivings aside, I’d agree. It’s doing something quite novel with how its gameplay and story unfold through the game, and that for me is what the video game Hugo should be seeking to award. Last of Us 2 is exceptional but much more “traditional” in its approach to story.

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