When I look back at the games that I played in 2020, a lot of them didn’t actually come out last year. Sure, a couple of them did, but most of them were either older games I finally got a chance to play or games I grew to appreciate more while stuck in lockdown. So for this year-in-review list, I’m gonna take a bit more of a personal approach. Rather than just limiting myself to new releases, I’m going to highlight the games I played that mattered to me. Some of these games have been out for quite some time, but I believe each one of them deserves to be on this list for helping me get through this wild year.
Whenever I think about accessibility and personalizing difficulty going forward, Celeste is going to be the first game that I think about. Celeste’s assist mode in particular really opened my eyes to how games can and should challenge their players, and why its important that games are playable for everyone. Coupled with the game’s emotional themes of self esteem and mental health, Celeste struck a chord for me that’s still ringing strong almost a year after I finished the game.
Dicey Dungeons is a game that takes a single mechanic and goes all in on it. I’ve never seen so many different creative ways to use dice in a game before. Though I have rolled thousands of dice playing TTRPGs, I think this is the first game I’ve ever played that made the classes feel distinct based on how the dice were rolled. From splitting to jackpots to flipping to spells, I don’t think I’m ever going to look at a D6 the same way again.
If you want to get into game design, you need to play this game. Baba Is You is one of the most charming and creative puzzle games I have ever played. The way that it uses the game’s rules as interactable objects is so clever and often hilarious that you can’t help but love it. And just when you think you’ve seen every trick the game has to offer, it throws a curveball and blows your mind all over again. Give this game a shot, you won’t be disappointed.
Playing The Witness was a strange experience for me. The moment when I first solved an environmental puzzle was the best revelation I have ever experienced in a puzzle game, and that alone makes it worth playing. But at the same time, the game can be so obtuse sometimes that it just made me want to quit. While it’s fascinating how far you can get with minimal instructions, it’s lack of guidance can be so obstructive at times that I can’t help but think about everyone this approach is locking out. If I’m being honest, I don’t think I’d recommend that people play the whole game through. But I do think everyone should play this game until they solve their first environmental puzzle. You’ll know when it happens.
Everyone has that one game they’ve been playing for years that just feels good to play. It’s comfortable and familiar and it’s something you can always turn on if you just need to unwind. For me, that game is Hearthstone. I’ve been playing Hearthstone consistently for almost seven years now and I still love it. There’s just something about its whimsical charm and clever card design that keeps bringing me back. I think I can say that in a year as tumultuous as 2020, we all needed something comfortable and familiar to keep us going. Hearthstone was just that for me.
You might be surprised to learn that this game didn’t actually come out in 2020, but hell if it didn’t blow up last year. For me, Among Us was exactly the kind of social deception game I needed. It was cheap, easy to play, and great for playing with my friends scattered across the globe. Plus, it’s just super satisfying to call out your friends for being suspicious when you’ve been secretly murdering them the whole time.
In the same vein as Among Us, Jackbox has been a great go-to choice for socially-distant game time. While Party Pack 3 is my personal favourite, you can still have some hilarious fun with any of them. If you’re just looking for a game that’ll make you laugh with your friends, you won’t got wrong with Jackbox.
This has been a tough year for board gamers. While a lot of sweet games have been released, it’s been basically impossible to play them because of the lockdown. Luckily, Tabletop Simulator has been a godsend. Not only has it been helpful for playtesting my own games, it’s been a great way to keep my love of tabletop gaming alive.
Though, if I’m being honest, I can’t wait to be able to have an in-person board game night again. I have so many unopened games just waiting for that vaccine.
If you’ve read our blog at all recently, you probably aren’t surprised to see Hades on this list. Hell, I liked the game so much that I wrote about it not just once, but twice already (to be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if I wrote about it again in 2021). But even with that in mind, Hades deserves all the praise it has been getting lately. To me, Hades marks the next definitive step in the Roguelike genre. It stripped away a lot of the archaic design that was holding the genre back and replaced it with a deep charming narrative and improved accessibility. I can’t wait to see where the genre goes next.
This is it. This is the game that mattered the most to me this year. Captain’s Gambit has been a project that I’ve poured literally years of my life into, and to finally see the game successfully launched on Kickstarter is nothing short of a dream come true. I’m so grateful to everyone that believed in me and Cloudfall and helped us release our first game. Thank you.