The 12 Best New to Me Games of 2020

I played a lot of games this year. These were my favorites.

A few others I enjoyed playing:

• Bugsnax
• Dicey Dungeons
• Tacoma
• Talos Principle

And a few that came out in 2020 I haven’t gotten to play yet, but am excited to try:

• Umurangi Generation
• The Pathless
• Embracelet
• Paradise Killer
• Signs of the Sojourner
• Monster Train
• Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
• Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus
• Streets of Rage 4
• Ghosts of Tsushima
• Doom: Eternal

12. Dishonored 2

Dishonored 2 does a lot of things right. Arkane are masters of level design, and Dishonored 2 is perhaps the studio’s best work. The player powers are creative and varied. And the flexibility for approaching every mission is genuinely freeing and exciting.

Where Dishonored 2 stumbles is the story. It’s forgettable, and somehow feels slow and rushed at the same time. Characters lack much depth, even if you read every piece of paper you come across (I did, and there is plenty). The result is everything you do lacks much of a punch from anything more than a mechanical level. Which, to be sure, is better than most games out there — but not enough to make Dishonored 2 come even close to Arkane’s Prey.

11. Dark Souls 1

2019 was my year of From Software, and I decided to cap it off in 2020 with a trip back to the original (or at least the original Dark Souls — Demon’s Souls, you’re up next once I get a PS5).

While it’s easy to see why this game created a phenomenon, it was difficult going back to it after From’s later games (DSIII, Bloodborne, and Sekiro). While all the DNA that makes Dark Souls great is there, the pacing of the game is, well, uneven at best: The game starts well, stumbles in the middle, and almost falls apart by the end, when you’re teleporting from place-to-place in what feels like an endless fetch quest.

Beyond the pacing there were at least 3–4 areas in this that were badly underdeveloped and just not fun (special shout-out to Lost Izalith, one of the worst levels I’ve ever played in any game, period). Maybe it’s blasphemous to say, but FromSoft did it better later with more resources and less of a rushed development cycle.

10. Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Animal Crossing: New Horizons was a sensation. I played it daily for a couple months, an escape from the worst time of the pandemic and a fun way to connect with friends who wouldn’t normally be playing games.

But in the end, though the game is immaculately designed and has that trademark Nintendo polish, it does slowly devolve into repetition—and unfortunately I’m just not someone who is self-driven to be creative in these type of games, so making my island perfect wasn’t enough to keep me going.

That said, for a few months this game totally captured me, and for that it deserves to be here.

9. Super Mega Baseball 3

This was my biggest surprise of 2020. I don’t like or care about baseball. Yet after watching a few clips of this game, plus some nostalgia about Backyard Baseball, I decided to try out the demo.

And honestly, it’s still hard for me to defend why I like it so much. Maybe it’s because it’s easy to get into, but there’s a ton of depth between batting and pitching. And creating a team and tinkering the lineup through a season is nothing short of addicting. It ended up being my go-to game when I wanted a solid 20–30 minutes on my Switch.

It almost made me want to get into real baseball. Almost.

8. Dirt Rally 2.0

Another surprise of 2020, Dirt Rally 2.0 was a free PS Plus game that enraptured me for a few months (and continues to thrill with the occasional race).

Dirt Rally 2.0 is a demanding racing game. Hold down the accelerator like in most racing games and you’ll be done before you even hit the first checkpoint.

Instead, Dirt Rally requires you to listen carefully to your co-driver and really *feel* every turn, every dip, every jump, every blazingly fast straight. And when you finally nail a race, it’s a hard feeling to match.

7. Doom

Doom is the ultimate shooter. And that’s because—despite the flash, boom, and gore of its marketing—it gets what makes FPSs good: carefully crafted level design, distinct and fun weapons, and enemies that force you to actually think and adapt (rather than just run and gun).

It does take a bit to get going, but once you get dropped into Hell and the incredible industrial metal soundtrack starts blasting, there’s no going back.

6. In Other Waters

In Other Waters seems to have flown under-the-radar, and it’s not hard to see why. Its visuals (see above) look like the pause screen for most games; not exactly the sexiest draw for gamers spoilt for choice.

But it’s too bad, as people are missing out on one of the more unique and interesting indie games of the past few years. The story year is relatively straightforward, but it gives the world room to breath and maintains just enough of an air of mystery to keep you going.

It’s amazing how much immersion the developer squeezed out of well-written descriptions, great sound design, and such a minimalist UI. It gives you just enough for your imagination to work with, so that the game almost fades away and you can see the ecosystem of alien life the developers so carefully crafted.

5. A Short Hike

A Short Hike is, in many ways, a love letter to Nintendo’s design philosophy. The climbing, gliding, and Korok seed puzzles are straight out of Breath of the Wild. The droll yet peppy dialogue feel like classic Paper Mario. The graphics style is a beautiful homage to the 3DS. There are even rocks you can bang multiple times in a row and coins pop out a la Animal Crossing.

Yet A Short Hike never feels derivative. Instead, it wears its inspirations proudly, and does right by them. It distills the essence of Nintendo’s design into a joyful, moving experience that had me smiling from start to finish.

Unfortunately, A Short Hike is painfully —I suppose, accurately — short. After beating it in a couple hours, I desperately wanted more. But I couldn’t help but appreciate its commitment to trimming away every piece of fat (especially in comparison to bloated designs AAA developers so often release). Overall, it’s a wonderful experience that I won’t forget any time soon.

4. If Found…

If Found is not the type of game that normally attracts my attention. A short visual novel where the only “gameplay” is erasing scenes and text stands out among the big boom killing simulators and SPORTS that populate the rest of my list.

But I’m glad I gave it a shot, because If Found turned out to be a moving, beautiful game. Everything makes thematic sense: the unique, surreal, hand-drawn visuals; the erasing that geniusly turns into writing once the core plot is resolved, the commitment to its Irish setting that is (mercifully) explained in factual footnotes, and sci-fi side story that connects to the grounded coming-of-age tale.

It’s a “queer story” that manages to straddle the line of being specific and universal, and one that kept left me pondering it’s deeper themes for days after my fevered one session playthrough. If Found is something everyone should play.

3. Hades

It’s a shame that Hades can only be #3 on my list. It’s pretty much a perfect game, and the best roguelite I’ve ever played.

This game has *layers*. The slow drip of mechanics, story, and upgrades continually surprised me: You think the game is done, and then you realize it’s just getting started. This happened to me multiple times.

What surprised me the most was how well done the story and characters are. It feels like there’s an almost endless array of interesting characters to get to know, and every interaction is well-written and well-acted.

And that’s not to mention the excellent art direction, the frenetic and challenging combat, and balance of each weapon. Supergiant accomplished something special with Hades.

2. Death Stranding

Full disclosure: Death Stranding was #8 on my list last year. I hadn’t beaten it yet, but I thought it was worth including since I was enjoying it and (I thought) decently far into it.

Turns out I was only just getting started. I took a break from the game and came back during the pandemic, only to find myself totally enraptured by this odd duck of a game.

Death Stranding is really uneven. It’s slow to a fault, the writing and acting quality is all over the map, and Kojima’s trademark bizarreness can sometimes go over the edge from charming to just annoying.

But by the end of this 40+ hour adventure, I couldn’t help but admit that Kojima—once again—proved he’s worth suffering through his excesses. At the heart of this game is a very human story, once that resonated even more when I was trapped inside, unable to see friends or family. And Kojima maintains his mastery of unorthodox game mechanics: He is very good at making the mundane interesting and fun, and the asynchronous multiplayer is stroke of on-theme genius.

In the end, it’s a game that is rightfully polarizing. But despite its bizarreness—and maybe partly because of it—Death Stranding managed to wriggle into my brain and become one of my favorite games.

1. The Last of Us: Part II

Last of Us Part II is the standard that all narrative video games should be held to. There are few games — if any — that I’ve felt have matched the power of a great book or a great film. The Last of Us Part II gets there.

Everything in the game has a meticulous level of detail and quality. From the writing and acting, to the astounding animation, to the grip of your seat gameplay, to a narrative structure that challenges you — it all comes together into a masterful package that is a rollercoaster ride from start to finish.

I decided early on to play this game on hard difficulty early on because I wanted to feel the tension at maximum. I wanted every bullet to count, to feel the relief of scavenging just what I need, to have to make smart decisions in the heat of an encounter… in other words, I wanted to be immersed. And that’s what Last of Us Part II does so damn well: Because everything is so well done, it all feels real, and you can connect to the story and characters on a level that only video games can provide.