Favorite games of 2020

2024 addendum: This is a draft post that I never finished writing, and I never will. The least I can do is finish up the write-ups I'd already started writing for the top games. Most of the text is from when I was writing this in 2021, but if I have something longer to add that isn't just an edit, I'll put it under a "2024 addendum".

Honorable mentions:

Tasty Ramen Episode 1, World of Horror, Carto, Streets of Rage 4, Noita

10. It's Six Random Characters and a Single Floor Dungeon, That's the Whole Game

9. Animal Crossing

8. DOOM Eternal

7. Ori and the Will of the Wisps

6. A Monster's Expedition Through Curious Exhibitions

5. Spiritfarer

4. Resident Evil 3 Remake

No, it's not better than the Resident Evil 2 remake. RE2's interconnected level design, along with the stompy presence of Mr. X, are sorely missed here. And although I never played the original version of Resident Evil 3, I do have some sympathy for the fans who are disappointed with the remake's omissions. However, RE3 still retains much of what made RE2 great: excellent gamefeel, an engrossing gameplay loop, and great visuals for humble hardware requirements.

That isn't to say the new additions to this game aren't good as well. The new dodge move is not only effective, but also incredibly satisfying to pull off. The very brief invulnerability window is hard to nail, but once it finally clicks with you, you'll find yourself doing sweet dodge rolls all of the time. As opposed to the defensive maneuver in RE2, dodging isn't tied to any resource, meaning you can use it with impunity, for as long as you can keep up the pace. RE3's identity as an action game rather than a survival horror game is further cemented by the combat knife's infinite durability.

However, as good as everything else is, what really elevates this game for me and makes it a memorable experience are the characters. While the plot itself is as campy as it always is with Resident Evil, the performances are better than ever. For all of the series' attempts at building a universe with a memorable cast, this has been the first time I've felt invested in any of the characters, and it's almost entirely thanks to the actors' portrayal of the lead duo of Jill and Carlos.

In essence, they're still the same cheesy, one-liner-delivering protagonists that Resident Evil has always had. But between Jill repressing her anxieties behind a veil of strength and Carlos's unmatched himbo energy, it almost feels like a take on the classic Mulder/Scully dynamic. It helps that there's a sense that all of the voice actors genuinely enjoyed working together, too. Ultimately, the two make for the most likeable RE protagonists in recent memory.

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3. Bugsnax

I'm done with cutesy aesthetics. Holding hands, wide smiles and bright colors - none of it does anything for me. Show me your most saccharine fan-art of Kirby, and I'll just shrug and say "I guess". Our doomed world is an awful, disgusting place, so I absolutely understand wanting to counteract that by creating something sweet and adorable. But personally, I'm tapped out. I've seen too much of it. I've become so inundated by cute art, it's no longer possible for me to have an emotional response to it.

At least that's what I thought until I played Bugsnax.

Young Horses, the team behind the creation of this game, really took the phrase "so cute, I could eat it" to heart. The eponymous critters in this game are so cute, I'd swallow my computer whole if I could. Holistically, everything about their design is great, but what really sets it apart for me is the voice acting. Although having the bugsnax say their own names is hardly a novel idea, the absurdity of having a little raspberry strolling around singing "Raaaaaazzby" is something special.

However, the titular creatures are only part of what make this game great. It's not just the bugsnax themselves, but also the very human and weirdly heavy interpersonal drama between the characters who are stranded on the island. There's a guy who's basically Wario. There are two gay romance subplots. Gramble, the vegetarian of the group, is one of the most tragic characters of our times, enduring endless hardships from wanting to keep pets of food-shaped creatures within a hungry populace. Even the player themself can choose to violate his trust while he's asleep, without suffering any negative consequences (besides feeling like an absolute sociopath for doing so).

2024 addendum: I never finished writing about the gameplay back then, so the rest of this entry is all new.

From a gameplay perspective, Bugsnax far more compelling and rewarding than I'd expected going in to it. It has frankly an astonishing amount of systemic complexity, all of which is presented in a really clear way. The game is centered around either collecting bugsnax, or getting them to do things. Each bugsnak has clearly defined behaviors, while you have various traps and gadgets at your disposal. I'm not joking when I say that Bugsnax is an immersive sim.

The "lunchpad", a simple springboard you can set down on the ground, is a perfect example of how the game offers you numerous ways to interact with the world, and how everything has multiple purposes. You can use it to launch yourself in the air and reach higher ground. You put another trap on it and spring that into the air instead, which is one of the many options you might consider for catching an airborne bugsnak. You can splat some sauce on it to lure a bugsnak onto it, then shoot the bugsnak itself into the air to K.O. it for easy capture. If you combine enough of these multi-purpose gameplay tools with each other, you can accomplish damn near anything, even capturing some bugsnax before you have the "intended" tools for them, which is a great feeling.

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2. FUSER

Goddess on the mountaintop...

2024 addendum: That sentence above was all I originally wrote here, so the only perspective I can offer now is from four years later.

In the original version of the post, Bugsnax was the 2nd place entry. I still love that game, but Fuser has a staying power with me that I genuinely didn't foresee. I love music, I love bullshit, I love expressions of creativity. So a DJing game that lets you do creative bullshit with music has naturally graduated to being one of my all-time favorite video games.

Even though I don't stream it very often, I still regularly launch it once every couple of months, just to futz around in freestyle mode, for my own satisfaction. Even, now long after official support was ended after Epic's acquisition of Harmonix, the modding scene is thriving, with dozens of new tracks being added to the Fuser Customs community spreadsheet every couple of weeks.

As I think about it more, Fuser is actually a pretty curious case in the "games as a service" landscape. Like many other GaaS, for a while it got regular updates, and introduced new things for the player to buy. However, unlike most other GaaS, Fuser was never a primarily multiplayer game. And while it's a real hoot to stream, the sheer volume of copyrighted music in the game means it's inherently hostile for streamers who intend to earn any money from streaming it. Without multiplayer, streamers, or the name recognition of a more popular music game like Rock Band, it's not very surprising that official support for the game was discontinued. Its only real bet for building more outreach was on social media - and hey, I did my part with that Tubthumpin' video on Twitter back in the day.

But the thing that really sets Fuser apart now is that even though it's no longer updated, unlike other dead service games, Fuser is actually still very much alive, because the products you expanded the game with never required communication with a server - only the commerce did. You can no longer add music to the game by buying a song for two bucks, but you sure can do it by downloading a song pack someone made and putting the files in your game folder. The "service" in this "game as a service" is now free, kept running by a simple love of the game. It's so rare to find a corner of the internet nowadays that isn't motivated by exploitation and profit, and the fact that Fuser's small, but dedicated fanbase is still very much alive and well makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I've been playing this game regularly for years, and I intend to keep doing so.

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1. Wildfire

It's not often that I get to feel like something was made just for me.

Obviously, Wildfire wasn't purposefully made to appease a game design whim I've had ever since I played Dishonored in 2012. All I'm saying is that I'd been clamoring for someone to make a "sneak wizard" game for almost ten years, and thankfully someone more talented and motivated than me happened to have a similar idea. I sincerely hope that everyone some day gets to experience the unique privilege of having their dreams fulfilled in this way. Here's my Steam review of the game to help explain why Wildfire is one of my favorite games of the past decade.

2024 addendum: It's not a complete copy-paste of the review, I've edited it here and there.

Something that I often struggle with in games that focus heavily on interactive systems (MGS5, Shadow of Mordor, etc.) is that often none of the interesting systemic scenarios ever seem to happen to me. However, that isn't the case here. In Wildfire, the tools you're given are intended to spark the imagination, but they're also impactful enough that even their most straightforward uses can result in spectacular chain reactions. On top of that, the visual language of the game often makes it easy to read what is happening, and why. This all becomes more pronounced the more abilities you have, and going back through older levels (or NG+) with spells you didn't have the first time feels amazing.

Another thing I appreciate about Wildfire is its very broad definition of "stealth". It isn't about not leaving a trace behind, it's about not being caught - by any ridiculous, outlandish means necessary. Sure, hiding in a bush is one way to avoid being spotted by enemies. But so is setting a bridge on fire and slipping away while everyone is panicking. So is raising an ice wall to break line of sight. So is making a confused enemy fly away in a bubble.

One more thing I would like to highlight is the impressive amount of accessibility options, which puts even many high budget games to shame. In addition to basics such as rebindable buttons and a colorblind mode, the game also has advanced control options such as auto-jumping at ledges, and even a control scheme specifically designed for one-handed play.

The end result is an incredibly rewarding and often hilarious chaotic stealth game for all skill levels. Like with the recent Hitman games, even failure is fun. I can't recommend Wildfire enough, go pull some wizard pranks on someone.