WARNING: The following article may contain links or embedded videos with strong language. Reader’s discretion is advised.

This year has been, as I will so often use as the metaphorical subterfuge against our no swearing rule, a play about pieces of feces. From a world-shattering pandemic, economic instability that can only increase its fear induction depending on where you live or social status, mass protesting in the middle of said pandemic, long and arduous elections, a highlight on racial issues, the seemingly shocking revelation that sexual harassment and general harassment continues en masse in game publishing and developing firms, and so on. Not to mention, we’ve just had a console launch that has either gone fine or so catastrophically terrible for Microsoft and Sony that some executives will be slightly sad they didn’t make $3-billion by Christmas.

However, putting that aside for a moment and doing as I did this time last year, I want to talk about what was good in 2020. It might shock you, but playing everything under the sun can be a little exhausting; nevermind writing 600+ articles on games in 2-years. I’m even writing this section early, and though I am only several months removed from writing it, Two Point Hospital was only back in March. That feels like a lifetime ago. By May, June, and July, I was looking down the calendar with the prospects of a mid-level banker in 2007. Six months on from the spiritual successor to Theme Hospital and losing my smile, I’d found the reason for my love of games again.

Ok, wrestling jokes aside; I, and others like the brilliant Writing on Games, found a rekindled love with the wholly rejuvenated THPS 1 + 2 release. As much as I will almost denigrate otherwise dull games for their horrid microtransaction heavy business practices, I loved this year. I can’t help but smile every time I boot up THPS 1 + 2 and see that opening video. At least before I inevitably skip it, so I can swear every time I fall. I have a warm feeling walking up Nakamichi St. or around Theater Square in Kamurocho, or throwing men off of the Bishamon bridge. That feeling continues while walking down east Shofukucho, and walking down the waterfront of the Sotenbori footpath in Yakuza 2 Kiwami.

Ok, sidebar from what I said before. I’m about a month removed from these paragraphs, and now a month out from when you’ll eventually see this. As glee-filled and happy as I am for the year to be over, I want to mention something that was released in the last few days for me. Geoff Keighley’s yearly advertisement showcase, or as it’s often called “the Game Awards,” released their nominations. I’ve seen people that work in brothels have higher standards than that sloppy mess pandering to tripe. There are only three decent games on there, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons sits third of them behind a JRPG and a Roguelike. I abhor both genres.

Back to my point. The entire year has been a complete mess, but escaping into some fantastic games has probably salvaged what little I have remaining of my mental health. So with minimal faffing about, let’s get to those games I liked the most this year (in no particular order); Possibly with an honorable mention or two of the excellent but not game of the year material There may be a mention of one example of the liquid tripe of the year.

If I could honestly mention all of the games I played this year I would. However, that list is as long as my arm, and what I reviewed/intended to before the year is out is still quite long. It doesn’t even include playing games from previous years for the first time, such as Chrono Trigger, Race Driver: Grid for the DS, FIFA 19, and those that I’ve returned to such as Pokémon, Metal Gear Solid, and everything else. So let’s talk about what was released this year and do so at great length.

Honorable mention – Democracy 4 (Early Access)

Let’s start off with an honorable-mention, shall we? Something to feed us into one of the top three. I am a bit of a political junkie. I love the long and slow process of elections, I adore the literal politicking, and I cherish a good bit of a proper lengthy debate. Democracy 3 many years ago was just that, a game where you’d sit quietly on your own and debate yourself until you go blind figuring out exactly what to do once you run the country. Do you ban guns, or go a full America and hand them out like turkey sandwiches at the end of December? It isn’t a question of what you’ll do, but the ramifications of what you’ve done.

So when Democracy 4 released into early access this year, you can bet that I was on that like Kiefer Sutherland on a hotel Christmas tree. Playing a larger, more accessible, and modern game with updated references to present goings-on? Yes and yes! I just don’t know how to explain this better than: I look at what Twitter and other social media try to push in my face, your James Corden being dull, pop-star drama, and whatever a Tik Tok is, and I tell all of that to go in the bin. If it isn’t about wrestling’s backstage politics, F1 politicking, or actual politics, I don’t care. I’m a strange little being for it, but I love it.

So present me that power fantasy, playing with the backdrop of the UK wanting to remove human rights while diving headfirst onto concrete. You could also add in the US in its entire mess, and other countries hiding behind the sofa in fear of what the two idiots will do next. For the review that I’d written I’d played nearly 20-hours, and I know I’ll return time and time again. The facade that I am controlling and changing the lives of millions, raises questions not only on what I believe but why as well. All that said, it isn’t really a deep game. It even features quotes sarcastically from American’s 45th President in the same way a late-night show host quotes him.

Top 3 – Wasteland 3

However, that love of politics bleeds further into games because it is how you interact in RPGs; it is how to keep characters, or whole parties, from killing each other. When Wasteland 3 spoke of God-president Reagan, I was on the floor because that’s how his followers are viewed world-wide. Religious zealots not for moral belief but for the idea of celebrity, with no concept of the world around them. The Gippers are one of the highlights of the game, and ultimately my year. It is one of the few RPGs this year that kept me interested, which is more than I can say for Chrono Trigger.

Much like last year’s top pick, it was the game that just did something for me that nothing else was really doing well enough. Wasteland 3 had not only taken what I often miss-out-on with RPGs without dumbing them down, but it fixed them instead. I’ve said it before, and you can call me lazy if you like, but RPGs in the classic sense require a lot of reading. If I want to do that, I’ll go and read a book. So an RPG with voiced characters, people with personality in their lilt and a world that’s rich and inviting to my tastes? I’m going to love it.

It isn’t, to reference my top three games of last year again, as well written and interesting as Disco Elysium was. In fact, I’d say it is nowhere near that detailed on exploring who you are. It is, in effect, an action-RPG with emphasis on the action. Although some might not like it, that’s what I want, a sensation that I am actually doing something. Not just leading up to the big red buttons of good or bad endings. Remember fun? It is that thing we had before every video game character needed feelings that made them the definition of bland.

I’ll be honest, my character had no personality aside from what I projected onto her (and the other plod). I don’t need to hear that she’s feeling sad about a friend and party member’s death. If that’s what I am feeling, that’s what I am projecting onto her and her actions. That’s what I was allowed to do with Wasteland 3 and other RPGs I like. It is somewhat refreshing to jump into a world that not only allows for this, but effectively pushes you toward the freedom of who you want to be.

Your mission isn’t to save a loved one you’ve only just met and have no attachment to. It is to have an adventure. Yes, if you take what the game literally tells you, you are tasked with rounding up bratty kids and bringing them back to a patriarch. Nevertheless, you can go about that however you may please, stabbing everyone while naked or snipping the testicles off of everything that moved. It is personality, it is joy, it is fun, and there is nothing more I want from a game that I’ll return to regularly.

Honorable mention – Necrobarista

I want to turn to another love of mine: Coffee. I am fueled by the stuff! If a coffee brand wanted me to promote their stuff and I got a lifetime’s supply for free, you are A-right I’d be selling out for that. I’ll take milk and sugar sponsorships too if you are offering! Though (as I’ve already hinted at) dyslexia makes lengthy reading a nuisance. The coffee probably isn’t helping much, aside from the ability to function as a human.

Necrobarista, while not a Game of The Year contender, needs to be spoken about. You work in a café in Australia that serves everyone, including the dead. I say you, but it is one of those visual novel things that I often detest with great passion. You spend more time reading the “cutscenes” than any other portion of gameplay. This is once again setting up for what will amount to, “usually I detest this type of thing, but…”

Despite a stylish art direction and exuding misanthropic characters, there are still some points that I’d often call out for how jarring they end up feeling. Nevertheless, I found myself enjoying the characters. Specifically, I enjoyed connecting with the 12-year-old that really likes coffee, playing with knives, and relishes a good bit of wrestling. I wonder why I connect with her? Not that I am going to relate with Lord Buckethead in the corner, but the point still stands.

Instead of the Doki Doki Literature Club-style of a visual novel with a text box at the bottom and breasts everywhere, Necrobarista understands that gaming is a visual medium. It is beautifully cel-shaded, understands proper direction, and is full of expressive characters. For all my gripes against the genre, that’s all I want/need to quell myself from boredom. Could have done with a touch of work on pacing and writing, but I can’t help but want to recommend this one months beyond the release.

Honorable mention – Yakuza Kiwami 2

Let’s not move forward but let’s move sideways across the track to a Japanese “action/adventure” and visual novel mixed with a touch of life sim (at least when I play), Yakuza. I can’t and won’t lie, I’ve played a metric ton of Yakuza this year between bits of 0, Kiwami 2 (releasing on the Xbox One in 2020, so shut up), 3, 4, and 5, yet I keep returning. I think the reason I keep going back is the current state of anyone having an adventure, which I am not bemoaning, I’d rather we were all safe. However, in lockdown, it is not like I am going to be surrounded by others that will speak Japanese just for my desire to immerse myself in another culture.

I’ve honestly found myself running the streets of Japan as Kazuma-san, diving into shops and cafés. Every time someone would say something, I’d respond in kind in Japanese. Worlds like Grand Theft Auto or Saints Row that are set in America, are always so jagged. They are full of rough caricatures and snarling hatred reflected back at you. Even Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, set in Prague, had a beautiful display echoing the vitriolic hostility that these people are taught just so they can survive. All of it is driving home a single feeling that isn’t entirely true to life.

While the Yakuza series isn’t stone-faced nor overly satirical, the entire series is Saints Row 2. It is a balancing act of all-out stupid levels of Yakuza lining the streets for one cutscene, driving home the seriousness of what is happening; the next minute you are fighting a bunch of men dressed as babies. I am deathly serious. One cutscene can be about saving lives and the value thereof, and the next you are in an underground Thunderdome with comedic weapons fighting to the death for a madman with an eye patch. I’ve had gang wars with the great Keiji Mutoh, and if you’re a fan of Japanese wrestling I’ve just sold you the Yakuza series.

No, it is not entirely realistic of Japan, as it is a caricature of the world it is depicting. However, it is a much more inviting one where you want to say “どうもありがとうございました” (“Thank you.”) to pawnshop owners. I would say what I respond to men with in the streets, but I’ve already spoken about not swearing. You could belittle the more stupid elements without playing if you want. You are missing out on a world so rich and full of character, something with such a sense of identity. Yet, at the very center of the series sits a modest man with a brick of a face and a heart of gold, not just protecting his adoptive daughter, but everyone he knows.

I could (technically) say half the series deserves this, but I couldn’t do that. Partially for THAT scene in the 4th game, the one which sees a grown man who spent 25-years in prison effectively straddle Haruka-chan and debate about having sex with a 13-14-year-old. That was not a comfortable few hours afterward, I’ll tell you that for free. However, Kiwami 2 is just a better game all-round. It fills out the world with a lack of loading times, beautiful neon-drenched streets, and generally adding the enhancements of several years from its first release.

Honorable mention – Final Fantasy VII: Remake

I’d be impaled on a rusty spike by Alexx if I didn’t give this one a mention, though he is beginning to regret editing everything I ever write right about now. Final Fantasy VII: Remake (Part 1), The Great-Midgar Terrorism as I recently put it. It is messy, loud, very JRPG, and yet, I found myself often thinking about it. Not in the same way that I think of when it comes to Queer as Lucis, but I didn’t hate my time as a terrorist as much as I thought I might. Viva la bang!

Top 3 – F1 2020

It is no secret that I love a bit of driving. I often do it with three gay men in Lucis, at least they are in my head. Last year I said something about not liking F1 as a sport, over three-hundred hours of playing the games, 17 races in this season’s calendar, and quite a bit of anticipation for F1 2020 later, I now have to eat a hat. I won’t say I love F1, I just understand it more now. I’ve come to accept that it is a political game on the drivers market. The on-track fights are most interesting in the mid-field, and the only time the lead became interesting was when World Champion Lewis Hamilton or his teammate Valteri Bottas stormed ahead.

Of course, talking about actual F1 (as seen on TV) for a minute, it was a hell of a season. Things like COVID punting the start to the weekend of the game’s release, Hülkenburg playing “super-sub” twice, Grosjean’s horrific crash, and Sakira not only seeing one driver replacement following Grosjean’s crash but three made it all interesting. I, for once, watched every lap of every race this season. This was all as a result of the games making me interested at the very least. Why?

Well, I could rattle off the same drooling nonsense I did last year about playing and clearing my head, taking a few minutes here and there. However, that’s not the reason. The reason I’d grown this interest in watching metaphorical paint dry is F1 2020‘s new career mode, or rather its second career mode. This mode not only sees you run your championship-winning empire but lets you drive in it yourself. Taking not only the car to the line but your entire team’s hard work, your management is involved in leading the winning team.

Yes, if I were managing a team to victory, the first thing I’d do is fire myself. The second (of course) would be to go around every bank around the world with some very nice lipstick. It is hard work pulling together the winning strategy when you are the new team, but we mostly did it. I say mostly, there was this one race in Zandvoort where I was disqualified for not using two dry race tire compounds, even though I went from the red-marked softs to yellow-marked mediums. I had a few words for the stewards that day, none of them publishable.

Nonetheless, this plucky little black and purple upstart has ridden those highs and lows of the season F1 was meant to have this year. Though much like the dreams of those fabulous teammates of mine and that calendar, it is all but a dream. Much like any idea of me driving one of those beasts too. In recent weeks I’ve actually gone back to F1 2010 to have a quick run around Turkey. That was a shock to the system, as I was stuck to the ground like glue even with traction control off, something I’m still unable to do with the PS4 controller in 2020.

Somehow under slowly breaking myself in through last year’s game and this year’s improvements, I’m able to mostly tame the mechanical monsters that are F1 cars. That said, it is something I believe everyone could now do. This year saw Codemasters implement a massive push towards improving accessibility, which annoyed the “hardcore” fan-base. A group of people complained, who much like Dark Souls‘ fan-base, can kiss my—well I can’t say that either. These features are opening up the game to allow anyone to play however they like in single-player. You toffy-nosed tarts can take a long walk off a short pier.

Honorable mention – DiRT 5

Speaking of Codemasters and racing games, which is like saying the same thing twice, Dirt 5 (stylized as DiRT 5) was an excellent game this year. As you might have noticed with a few things I’ve reviewed this year, I love a driving game. Even in my downtime, I’ve gone back to Race Driver: Grid for the DS. I savor a good arcade racing game, and always have since Burnout 3 kindled my love of the genre of racing games. While Dirt 5 is focused less on the rally racing of the series’ linage, it is a very fun, colorful, and energetic shot in the arm for off-road racers.

Too often, as was the case with WRC 9, the focus is very serious and akin to how some take F1 seriously. Dirt 5 takes none of that, with straight-up color and explosions at every finish line. Yes, I will yell about the godawful podcast nonsense that should be in the bin right now. However, looking past that for a minute, the entire game is about anything and everything else. Yes, it is informing the greater story, but I don’t like the hosts in the first place and I want to lay them in front of several cars doing donuts on the track. 

Honorable mention – Watch Dogs: Legion

The final honorable mention is what I was most excited about this year, and no that was never going to be Cyberpunk 2077. I have standards! No less buggy, Watch Dogs: Legion is what I have wanted for so long. Something in that GTA-style open-world but not in America. I said it somewhere; however, being able to hear the zebra crossings and traffic lights give that accessibility beeping for the deaf, that did something to me. To stumble out of Dedsec HQ half-cut and see that the Westminister Palace is right there, that is extraordinary.

Flippantly saying “I’m going to Camden market,” and being able to drive there from my knowledge of where everything fits together, there are no words to describe how that feels. I said it about Forza Horizon 4 as well, being able to drive Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, it is a sense of familiarity not I don’t often get in games. Yes, at my ripe old age, I could tell you how to walk from the lower east side to Madison Square Guardian just from my knowledge of New York and the number of times I’ve done it in games. That’s not something you can often say about London, Paris, Berlin, Milan, Constantinople, or many other European cities.

Let down by a story you could poke holes through with a lazy stare and heavy crashing issues, it is nothing more than a deeply disturbing world that we’re marching towards. I love the city and the people, though there is an overall lack in variety. Though that statement is ironic in itself, as that’s what the game is promoted on. There are some different voices throughout, but the UK is rich with accents, not just natively either. London is a cultural hub of different worlds clashing in peaceful silence. That is missing, and when you know it is meant to be there, it is all the more creepy knowing that it is missing.

Dishonorable mention – WWE 2K Battlegrounds

I want to take a quick moment to yell about the worst game of the year, once again not Cyberpunk 2077. This one is actually a finished game. You can not get any worse than taking what is loved, filled with great depth, and is considered the most comprehensive game of its genre, and replacing it with a mobile game. WWE 2K Battlegrounds is a sticky, crusty, and smelly bit of crap made by what is easily the only competitor in the fight, for now. Wrestling games have been around since the 80s, and somehow this was worse.

Ok, that’s being harsh, but it is nonetheless true comparing it to games released later in the 90s and all the way through the 2000s. I’ve said this of several Spider-Man games: if you can’t be better than the game that released in 2004, then what is the bloody point? For many, Yuke’s WWE Smackdown! Vs Raw series, the sequel to Here Comes The Pain, is the pinnacle of many wrestling games. With a creation-suite that would rival modern Sims games, you’d be forgiven for thinking that’s where it stopped. No, 2K16 and 2K17 may not allow for alien nightmares like HCTP, but it found further depth somehow.

In the four-years since the release of 2K17 and 2K has sprung a leak akin to CD Projekt Red’s recent goodwill. 2K Battlegrounds riped an entire hole in the side of the metaphorical ship. It is lacking any actual wrestling from the previous few years featured with their “sports-simulation” style. It also is lacking noticeable wrestlers, looks and plays like a crap mobile game, and is lacking WWE’s own music. I’ve never wanted a game to die, but now I do. I can not find the words to describe this awful mess without wanting to swear. This was meant to be a happy celebration of great games as well. 

Top 3 – Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2

Any guesses what is left? Of course, it was going to be Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2. It is a remake/remaster/re-perfection of not only the first game that spawned one of my loves, but also the second game in the series and the second-best game of all-time according to Metacritic. It is a series that has outsold the likes of the Souls series, Half-Life, Rayman, Batman, Total War, Castlevania, Spyro, Mass Effect, SimCity, and even Gears of War. It is four wheels strapped to a bit of wood, but it has captured so many imaginations through the years. It has gained attention both in gaming and the skate community; so much so that they have crossed over and melted together in several respects.

There is no better example of what a game needed to be this year, aside from maybe Animal Crossing: New Horizons. You can play it with the intention of getting the perfect highest score ever, speed run it, or just leisurely enjoy skating a few iconic spots in gaming. It is a distraction at the perfect time and nostalgia is all I needed to let the day’s worries melt away. It is simple, fun, touches me right in the nostalgia with fresh feelings, and I should have just wrapped this up after mentioning it is a remake of the second-best game of all-time.

The year has been dreadful for many of us, full of concern not only for ourselves but those around us. Some (as they always have) will blame games for something not related and try to restrict them in some stupid way. This year’s games have salvaged a lot from mental health issues, remember that. Enjoy the games you like, I know some of us need it just to deal with the neighbors.

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