Last year, the Phenixx Gaming team started a tradition. We collect our individual Staff Game of the Year picks together and put them in an article. This site was built on a foundation of diverse voices and perspectives, so it didn’t make much sense to settle on a single Game of the Year. We all want different experiences and we all love different games. With that in mind, you can peek at our list and see if any of these might be something you want to check out. With that, let’s get into the list!

Alexx – Final Fantasy VII Remake

Truthfully, I am surprising no one with my pick. I have a long and sordid love affair with Final Fantasy VII, and though the reception from fans was mixed, Remake is my Game of the Year. Final Fantasy VII Remake feels like a natural progression. I mentioned in my Crash Bandicoot 4 review that it was a more evolved form of what Crash fans loved, and I feel the same way about Final Fantasy VII Remake.

The development team took the things I loved about Final Fantasy VII‘s opening areas and expanded upon them. A lot of my favorite mechanic bits are there too, such as the Materia system. I have some complaints, of course, no game is absolutely perfect but Final Fantasy VII Remake does a lot of things right. From beautiful music that remixes and adds to the original game’s soundtrack, to daring choices in storytelling that fans will not expect, Final Fantasy VII Remake is entirely worthy of a Game of the Year pick.

Lisa – Animal Crossing: New Horizons

I don’t know of another game franchise that’s fun, nonviolent, humorous, challenging, and brings people together like Animal Crossing does. So it’s no surprise that the latest iteration, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, is my Game of the Year. There are so many things to love about New Horizons. You can dress your character in whatever outfit you want because nothing is gender locked. You can decorate your island. Heck, you can even terraform and change the island itself to your liking. You’ll need to talk to your fellow islanders every day, but each animal has a unique personality, so you’ll enjoy every conversation.

There’s also crafting, collecting, fishing, bug catching, and diving. Nintendo is adding new, free content and events all the time, so the game stays interesting. Additionally, AC:NH is truly appropriate and fun for everyone. My son (27 years old), my mom (66 years old), and my dad (70 years old) play, as do my nieces and nephews (6-33 years old). Finally, even though COVID is keeping us physically apart, Animal Crossing: New Horizons helps us stay emotionally connected by visiting each other’s islands, sending notes and gifts, and chatting in-game. What more can you ask for?

Keiran – Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2

Ever since I started this writing about video games as a lark, I’ve played hundreds of games each year. This year was no different; I played new games, old games, remasters, and all, yet only one of them stood out above the rest. Call it hype, call it what you will, but I adore the THPS series. I always have, since I was a child at least.

This year saw the remake/remaster/re-perfection of not only the first game in that series but also the second game. It just so happens that the second game is the second-highest-rated game of all time on Metacritic as well.

David – Destroy All Humans! (Remake)

My Game of the Year for 2020 is, without a shadow of a doubt, THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games’ newly-remastered version of Destroy All Humans!. I readily admit that I made this decision based in large part upon the fact that this title is a massive nostalgia trip for me. There’s also the knowledge that I’ve, once again, not played very many games that released this year. Despite how much that may sound like a cop-out, I must emphasize that I cannot express in a mere two paragraphs just how much the remastered port of this title means to me.

Besides, it’s a game in which a malevolent alien race invades Earth in order to accomplish their (titular) objective, while simultaneously harvesting as much human DNA as possible. Why? In order to sustain their own immortality, of course. I know the game takes place in 1959, but let me pose to you a question, dear readers. After the year we’ve all had, wouldn’t these events just be incredibly “on-brand” for 2020, as the youth would say? I think so.

Taylor – Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Most of what fans wanted from the next Animal Crossing game arrived just in time for a global pandemic to keep us all at home and awaiting a more promising summer. Then summer came, followed by fall, and now winter, with many of us feeling stuck in a year that seemingly never ends. One constant for me was Animal Crossing. To de-stress, distract, and simply kill a few hours in an endless 2020, I’d hop onto my island and do everything from decorate and rearrange to fantasize that things in life really could be this simple.

From the fun holiday events to the incredible AC:NH community that helps each other as we all seek out item variations, DIY recipes, and everything in between, Animal Crossing: New Horizons would have been a good game any year it released. Timing really was everything for this one, and while it might not have the technical prowess of other GOTY contenders, this game got us through a lot this year.

Mike – Doom Eternal

DOOM Eternal gets my Game of the Year nomination for several reasons. It took what made the 2016 reboot so memorable and didn’t fix what wasn’t broken. Instead, it delivered a Hell-on-Earth campaign full of thrill-ride combat in grand scope. Where 2016 flopped in multiplayer, Eternal brought an addictive, polished, 2-on-1 mode with plenty of variety. Tack on Mick Gordon returning with djenty metal as the backbeat and this makes for an easy recommendation all-around.

Zoe – Hades

Confession: I’m cheating, a little. I have a Game of the Year and an honorable mention. My Game of the Year, without question, has to go to Supergiant’s Hades. I’m absolutely enamored, with nearly 120 hours put into the game, I feel nowhere near done with it. It’s gorgeous, lively, and charming. On top of that, its sense of humor falls pretty much perfectly in line with mine. Its gameplay is challenging and satisfying without requiring too much from me mentally. It also offers oodles of story and relationship-building to satisfy the RPG nerd in me. The chillness of it makes it pretty much the perfect game to have picked up mid-2020 too.

As for my honorable mention, I have to go for Raji: An Ancient Epic here. In many ways, my enjoyment of this game walks hand-in-hand with that of Hades. It also provides a gorgeously designed, fluidly immersive game with charming characters and a captivating mythological backdrop. Where Raji really has me though, is its depiction of a spiritual tradition we rarely get to see in this kind of media. I would be absolutely thrilled to get a sequel or follow-up. Also, since I have brought these two games up together: how cool would a Hades-style game focused on the figures of Hindu mythology be? Where can I sign?

There you have it, folks! These are Phenixx Gaming’s Game of the Year picks for 2020. Have any you think we missed? Hit us up in the comments or on social media! Here’s to a better 2021 and even more amazing games.

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