The games that resonated with me were games that connected me with other people, that encouraged persistence in the face of hell itself, and intimate
I’ll spare you the ‚2020 was such a mess‘ bit here and just say that I am so glad that these games came out this year. The ones that resonated with me the most were games that connected me with other people, that encouraged persistence in the face of hell itself, and intimate stories that would be lessened if told in any other format other than video games. I was drawn to joyful games that generously doled out doses of comfort. Here are a few great games I played in 2020. I’ve played Animal Crossing games in the past, but they never clicked with me like they did with so many other people. Animal Crossing: New Horizons changed that. When lockdowns were just beginning, opening my gates or visiting the islands of my Twitter friends gave me a feeling of connectedness and presence that no other video game provided this year. Every aspect of New Horizons is designed to exude joy, whether it’s your villager’s puns about fish, or the music that I’d turn the game on just to listen to. New Horizons turns simple actions into memorable interactions. Friends would come over soon after the game launched, and exchange some bells or fruit as they farmed resources from your own island and when that was first happening, it conveyed a kindess as real as any analog interaction. When a friend invited me over to see their aquarium before I had built mine, we took selfies and just sat together and watched fish swim. There are a lot of simple memories like this that I and so many other people experienced in New Horizons, and how fortuitous that this game came out when it did. Among the most universally-praised games of 2020 is Hades, Supergiant Games‘ latest effort and proof positive that this studio is something special. Hades takes everything people love about roguelikes (replayability, predictable controls, tough but fair challenge) and smooths out the qualms that many have with the genre (repetitiveness, frustration, little to no narrative progression or character development). Other games have approached character death or endgame states in unique ways as well, but Hades is a standout example. The game loop is intertwined with the narrative in such a way that one cannot exist without the other. Death loses its sting when you realize that dying pushes the story forward and develops not only Zagreus as a character, but all of the gods and monsters he encounters along the way. This is a game explicitly designed around failure. When you fail, what you lose in terms of your current build and level progression, you gain in story development and access to new skills and abilities.
