2020

2020 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Most Disappointing Game

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/12/2020
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This award (de-ward?) is never fun to give out. There’s always a large handful of titles that end up here and don’t make the cut which is sad. There are a lot of games released each year that are overhyped or are just plain bad. From technical screw ups to too many cuts, to just plain nothing promised, disappointing games plague every single year.

Warcraft III: Reforged

Man, oh, man where do I start? One of the most anticipated remasters of all time got completely bunked because corporate heads couldn’t agree on something. From the terrible new cut scenes, to awful retexturing, no ultrawide screen support, poor framerate, and somehow the original being better than the remaster? A lot went wrong with Warcraft III and it just shows how Blizzard has gone downhill over the years in both terms of quality and workplace issues.

Runner-Ups

Predator: Hunting Grounds

Marvel’s Avengers

XIII (2020)

Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories

2020 Game of the Year Awards — Genre Awards — Best RPG

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/12/2020
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RPGs are always evolving, but there’s one thing that never changes. Stats, and evolving character, story, and combat whether it’s real-time or turn-based. Role-playing games have always been known as the meat and potatoes of storytelling and deep gameplay. While Eastern and Western RPGs seem vastly different these things are always the same between them.

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk is the definition of RPG. A dystopian cyberpunk settings, lots of stats and upgrades in forms of cyberware implants, tons of characters, a great story, a huge world to explore, and lots of armor, weapons, food, and other items. This is a memorable and deep RPG, probably one of the most memorable in a decade.

Runner-Ups

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Genshin Impact

Wasteland 3

2020 Game of the Year Awards — Genre Awards — Best Platformer

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/12/2020
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This was a surprising year for platformers. Usually they tend to be indie games with maybe one large budget title or long running series returning. I’m so happy that this genre is making a big return outside of Mario. It’s one of the first genres ever invented for games and it’s sad that it’s just not as popular. There were so many great platformers this year that weren’t just okay, but absolutely fantastic. Giving us rich stories, amazing controls, fun gameplay, extraordinary level design, and beautiful visuals.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is the perfect sequel. It adds enough stuff to the original to not bog it down or over complicate it in any way. It feels like a true sequel rather than an expansion or a few steps back. With another heartfelt story, a atypical use of light vs dark, and amazing controls. Wisps is a fantastic platformer that must be experience by everyone and just beat out its competition which is saying a lot.

Runner-Ups

Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time

Sackboy: A Big Adventure

Ghostrunner

Spelunky 2

2020 Game of the Year Awards — Genre Awards — Best Single-Player Game

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/12/2020
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A new category this year is single-player. Single-player games have always been the main stay of video games and for the last decade or so publishers have been pushing back thinking multiplayer games are all that sells. 2020 saw more good single-player games, especially large budget ones, than any other year this decade. Publishers are finally starting to see that single-player games sell. It doesn’t have to be Mario, Zelda, or The Elder Scrolls to make millions either. This category also includes no multiplayer component at all. Strictly good ‘ol offline fun.

Ghost of Tsushima

Ghost of Tsushima is just a blast to play and I couldn’t put the game down. Its world is a delight to explore and the gameplay loop is addictive and a lot fun. It’s also mostly devoid of bugs which was an uncommon thing this year for major game releases. It has great characters, wonderful voice acting, and just looks downright beautiful,

Runner-Ups

The Last of Us Part II

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Cyberpunk 2077

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

2020 Game of the Year Awards — Genre Awards — Best Multiplayer Game

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/12/2020
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Multiplayer games have to be fun to be popular and exciting. It’s a must and there was a dry spell of really good multiplayer games this year. Most people are playing great games that have been ongoing for years such as Fortnite, CS: GO, and DOTA 2. There was a least a good variety of multiplayer games this year ranging from all different genres.

Deep Rock Galactic

This is actually quite a surprise. No Call of Duty winning this year? Black Ops shot itself in the foot by releasing a year too soon, but Deep Rock Galactic is a little indie game that took the industry by storm in a surprising way. The four player co-op shooter has you playing as Dwarves with unique abilities that allow for a great symbiosis between all the characters. It’s addictive, fresh, and not a Left 4 Dead clone.

Runner-Ups

Doom Eternal

Star Wars: Squadrons

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

2020 Game of the Year Awards — Genre Awards — Best Action-Adventure Game

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/12/2020
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Action games are favorites of gamers due to the incredible stories they can weave, memorable open worlds, fast paced combat, and many other unique ideas that have been around for decades. This year saw a lot of great action games and sadly not all could make it on the list.

The Last of Us Part II

The Last of Us Part II isn’t just a great game story wise (controversy or not) but a fantastic action game. It has stealth, gruesome combat, and an overall amazing cinematic experience that’s we don’t get very often. The action is intense, suspenseful, and polished just like it’s predecessor. When it comes to action Naughty Dog are masters at their craft and few do it as well as they do.

Runner-Ups

Ghost of Tsushima

Hades

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

2020 Game of the Year Awards — Genre Awards — Best Driving Game

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/12/2020
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Simulators of any kind are cream of the crop on PC. With the more advanced graphical and processing power you can play simulators that are years in advance over consoles, especially the PC ones. With dedicated hardware like wheels, pedals, shifters, and entire cockpit cages, racing is something that is taken very seriously on PC. 2020 was a light year in good racing games, but what we got was nothing short of bad.

F1 2020

Usually F1 always gets pushed out by bigger racing games that did something just a little bit better or bolder. F1 2020 pushes itself past the competition this year with a fantastic career mode, amazing visuals, and more options than you can shake a stick at. I can’t remember the last time a Formula One simulator was this good and addictive. F1 games have always been decent, but you either love it or hate it. F1 2020 is the start of a new decade for the series and hopefully it has nowhere to go but up.

Runner-Ups

WRC 9: FIA World Rally Championship

Dirt 5

Inertial Drift

art of rally

2020 Game of the Year Awards — Genre Awards — Best Strategy Game

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/12/2020
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Strategy games are the bread and butter of PC games. It’s what used to set them apart from consoles years ago. The keyboard and mouse and faster CPUs allowed for faster calculations, more on screen enemies, and multitasking. Strategy games have wavered over the years and have become more niche, but 2020 was a huge comeback for the series. Large AAA budget strategy games en masse are something that doesn’t happen very often. You might get a StarCraft here, a Command & Conquer there, but never something like this in today’s age.

Crusader Kings III

Crusader Kings III just went ahead and went all out and out of left field. Fantastic stories that are weaved seemingly forever, deep addictive strategy, and the ability to control a kingdom like no other game can. Crusader Kings III is the start of something fresh and bold and takes the strategy genre into new heights, especially in the story and character area. Customizing characters in a strategy game? Unheard of. You can mine resources all day, but adding meat to an already chunky bone is something that hasn’t been done in this genre in over a decade.

Runner-Ups

Gears Tactics

Wasteland 3

Total War Saga: Troy

Desperados III

2020 Game of the Year Awards — Console Awards — Best Reissue

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/12/2020
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Reissues have grown over the years and matured from single resolution upscaling to full on love projects that take years to perfect. Our most beloved games have been updated with modern gameplay mechanics and visuals and have become even more immortalized more than ever. This also creates a great risk as you can ruin and smear a great game with a reissue that isn’t well done.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

No other remake has received a spotlight larger than FF7 and that’s for a reason. Being teased over a decade ago as a tech demo for the PlayStation 3, FF7 Remake has been on everyone’s watch list for seemingly ever. While we didn’t get the full game right away, the first part wonderfully recreates memorable scenes, updates combat, and gives us gorgeous visuals. Fans will appreciate the attention to detail more than newcomers, but a remake like this just can’t be ignored. It’s pure perfection and delight.

Runner-Ups

Resident Evil 3

Mafia: Definitive Edition

Demon’s Souls

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2

2020 Game of the Year Awards — Console Awards — Multi-Platform

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/12/2020
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Multi-platform games are great as they can be shared by anyone whether you’re a fanboy of a particular system or not. The downside is that it can lead to lots of bugs and glitches, but overall these games are played more than exclusives and can reach a much larger audience. These tend to be the largest hits of the entire year or even hidden indie gems.

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk may not be perfect, but it’s rich storytelling, larger than life world, and fantastic atmosphere are something that can be lost in. Very few games can achieve this level of God-like RPG status. Exploring a setting that most games haven’t really touched outside of smaller indie games. Seeing that a large AAA budget game set in a cyberpunk universe is just something beautiful to behold and its unforgettable.

Runner-Ups

Doom Eternal

Star Wars: Squadrons

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Resident Evil 3