2020 Community Game of the Year - Polls closed, results now LIVE!

1. CONTROL
Hands down the best single player action game I’ve played in quite a while. A perfect blend of action, story and worldbuilding that feels like it’s following the maxim of “show, don’t tell” with a surprisingly self-aware streak of humor running through it. The star of the game isn’t Jesse Faden, whose story I found kinda boring and predictable, but The Oldest House itself, with the Federal Bureau of Control as the supporting actor.

2. Death Stranding
It’s a Kojima-ass Kojima game, that’s for sure. Which normally means it’s Not For Jon, but something about this weirder-than-snakes-knees game hooked me. It tickled the backcountry hiker in me – solo backpacking and pathfinding over rough ground by is my personal heaven. But even the stupid, meandering story pulled me in (again, a Kojima first). Maybe it was the eerie parallels with pandemic times, with everyone huddling in their homes, hiding from the thing outside that will kill them, and relying on “essential workers” to keep the world running. One interesting note about the game was the way the upgrade tree and the narrative/gameworld were effectively the same thing – Sam’s increasing aptitude in delivering packages is literally putting the world back together, and seeing that duality lent emotional weight to what would otherwise be a dry checklist of XP-driven buffs. Was honestly surprised this hit hard in pandemic times, I struggled to deal with the morbid tone of other post-apocalyptic media. This has a melancholic, yet nonetheless hopeful vibe throughout.

3. Disco Elysium
Each of these top 3 games share something – their disparate parts all blend together fantastically well: the soundtrack complements the tone perfectly, and their graphical style and in-game architecture are entirely load-bearing for that tone. It all hangs together as a consistent edifice for the player to scale (literally in the case of Death Stranding). While that’s as true for Disco Elysium as the prior two entries, Disco Elysium is staking out very different ground – while Control is an indoor game that plays with architecture, and Death Stranding is almost entirely pastoral, Disco Elysium occupies the liminal space that cities represent in our culture, outdoors yet entirely constructed. And it does so with a rich, lush bleakness that never feels overwrought, despite going all the way down to the bedrock of Revachol. It presents a dystopia that’s entirely believable, and entirely human. A society long into a slow-motion collapse, populated with people still trying to go about their lives in the face of the iceberg bearing down on them. I found myself reflecting on the modern world a lot while playing this game, drawing parallels between what was going on outside my window and inside my screen. It was a depressing, hard game to play, but cathartically so. Nothing else is quite like it, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

4. Genshin Impact
Probably my SOTY – Surprise Of The Year. It came out of nowhere, and I figured I’d have a go based on the buzz. I ended up sticking with it, and it became the game my daughter wanted to watch all the time, to the point that “no Genshin for a week” was used as a punishment for drawing on the furniture in Sharpie. The F2P nature and the stingy gacha mechanics didn’t get in the way of a fabulously enjoyable open world exploration and combat game, and it’s entirely enjoyable without spending a cent on it. Obviously it owes an enormous debt to Breath Of The Wild, but it takes that inspiration and runs far enough with it that it never feels like a cheap knock-off.

5. Hardspace: Shipbreaker
Half engineering puzzle game inside a physics sandbox, half stomping on the Lego spaceship you’ve just built. It’s a fabulous chillout game (until the reactor starts ticking towards a meltdown). Very much in Early Access currently – this should be on your must-play list for 2021 when it releases.

6. Hades
I’ve developed a cautious love affair with the roguelite over the last few years, and Hades sits near the top of the pile of big hitters in the genre. The action is juuuuust on the right side of button-mashy, and the pacing is spot on, with enough variability in weapons and builds between runs to keep each one feeling distinct. If thirstiness was the primary variable for assembling this list, this would be at #1.

7. Paper Mario
It’s cute, it’s charming, it’s mostly devoid of challenge. Perfect Switch game to play in bed last thing at night.

8. Superhot: Mind Control Delete
Another surprise that turned up in my Steam library without me even knowing it was coming (it was a freebie for owners of the original). I played it incessantly for a month after it launched. It feels like it’s fleshing-out the promise that was left unfilled by the original that felt too much like a tech demo for a neat idea.

9. Art of Rally
It looks like My First Rally Game, and out of the box, it’s a knockabout arcade racer, but turn all the assists off, crank up the damage, and you’ve got a genuine hardcore masochistic rally sim hiding under that pretty polygonal costume. Provides a nice option when I want to make some poor decisions with a car, but can’t be bothered to pull out the wheel and pedals.

10. Half Life: Alyx
The most polished VR experience, bar none. It oozes character and atmosphere, and goes a long way to fulfilling the promises of VR where so many others have tried and failed. Truly a landmark game. P.S. Headcrabs are much scarier when you actually have a head.

1. PowerBeatsVR – Another “hit the stuff that’s flying at you” VR fitness game, but this one is potentially the most strenuous VR fitness title I’ve yet found. Crank it up to Expert and it’ll kick the ass of even the most talented beat fencer.

2. Beat Saber – it’s the elephant wearing a VR helmet in the room. There’s a very good reason why Beat Saber is the one fitness game every VR owner has – it’s a downright brilliant rhythm game. As you climb the difficulty levels, it morphs into a fitness game as well, and by the time you reach the lofty heights of Expert+, you’ll be bringing a sweat-towel, a fan and a two gallon water bottle.

3. Pistol Whip – You think you’re playing a rail shooter, but no-one told you that it was sneakily a game about squats. You’ll get a good core and lower body workout dodging all those bullets. There’s a rhythm element to the scoring (score higher if your shot is on the beat) that opens up a layer of strategy beyond just “shoot all the dudes” if you’re into the scorechase. Which I am.

4. Synth Riders /Audio Trip / Dance Collider – These three are basically all the same VR rhythm game where you punch and dodge stuff that’s flying towards you and tightly choreographed to music. They’ve all perfectly capable, but none of them quite capture the exuberance of your Beat Saber. They’re not far off, mind you, and to varying degrees, the choreography feels a heckuva lot more like dancing than the elastic-wristed flailing of Beat Saber. If I was going to pick one of the three to recommend, it would be Synth Riders, but not by a large margin.

5. Ring Fit Adventure – brilliantly novel bit of fitness kit. Not a lot of game there, but enough to provide a nudge to keeping a fitness regimen going. Perfect timing arriving right before quarantine times. Downside, with my kid’s bedroom next to the living room, it was too stompy to do after bedtime, but I picked up a second dock for my downstairs office.

6. OhShape – if you ever saw that Japanese game show that was remade for American TV as Hole In The Wall, this is that. If you haven’t seen it, imagine a wall moving towards you, with a person-shaped hole cut out – you position your body in VR into the shape of that hole so you fit through it. Now imagine another hundred of those walls, all with different person-shapes. It’s a surprisingly exhausting workout.

7. BoxVR – At first it feels like a lame slow knockoff of all the other VR rhythm games where you punch stuff that’s flying towards you, but missing customizable difficulty levels that allow you scale the intensity with your fitness level. But once the penny dropped that the emphasis isn’t on lightning reactions so much as really considering your form with each punch and putting full force into each one. And that’s the key, you’re in full control of the difficulty by choosing whether to limply slap at the targets, or to leather the crap out of them with explosive hooks and uppercuts.

8. Hot Squat 2: New Glory – do squats. Then do more squats. Keep doing squats until you either die or your quads explode. It’s dumb and simple, but it’s an amazing way to finish off a VR workout with a mega-set of air squats. All the proceeds go to charity too, so toss a few bucks at it and get that booty shredded!

9. Creed: Rise To Glory – I got so involved in a boxing match in this game that I ended up losing track the limits of my VR space, and picked a fight with some drywall. It took 2 full months for my knuckle to heal. On the other (less bruised) hand, it’s a testament to the robustness of both the Vive wands and the Index controllers that both have survived multiple drywall incidents.

• Wilmot’s Warehouse – Weirdly compelling. Tickles the bit of you that feels warm and glowy when you get done tidying the living room.

• Asphalt 9: Legends – The arcardiest, grindiest of racing games, very much F2P and pay-to-win, with rubber-banding that makes the first 80% of each race entirely superfluous, but for some reason it sticks the landing.

• Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics – this series is always essential, it’s great to have a bunch of classic games in your backpack. Also, I’ve been using it to learn how to play Riichi Mahjong!

• Windlands 2 – it’s definitely going to test how cast-iron your stomach is against VR nausea, but the freedom and joy of Tarzan’ing your way across dayglo landscapes is brilliant if you can hack it.

• Pokemon Shield – I haven’t really played a Pokemon game since GBA, but this was my daughter’s first go-around at the IP, so it’ll stick in my memory for that reason alone. It’s a competent pokemon that doesn’t really mess with the successful formula.

• Spin Rhythm – a neat little rhythm game that’s unusual because it’s played with the mouse. Well worth checking out for afficionados of Beat Saber and Rock Band. Perfect to dip into for 10 minutes when you can’t be bothered to haul out the hardware for a more intense rhythm game.

• Spelunky 2 – I bounced off the brutal punishment of the first one, but this one really got me, largely because it was the first game I played with my new arcade stick, and that’s a brilliant controller for this game. It’s still ridiculously hard, but I’ve at least gotten to the point where I’m learning something from nearly every death, and am starting to appreciate the depth and variety that the game offers.

• Tametsi – it’s another take on Minesweeper/Hexcells, and a challenging one at that. Excellent game for half-listening to a teleconference.

• 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel – Chess watched Primer and said “hold my beer”. One of the best and maddest twists on chess I’ve played. Requires you to forget nearly everything you think you know about chess, and put on your best Keanu impression because you’re going to be saying “whoah” a lot.

• Horace – surprisingly good. Touching and funny narrative alongside tight platforming with a cavalcade of wild design ideas thrown at it. Features an instant restart a la Super Meat Boy that’s essential to keep frustration at bay, because you will die a lot.

• Children of Morta – another stellar roguelite for the mix. Suprisingly touching narrative for a pixel-art roguelike.

• Soundself – a weird VR meditation and/or trip-simulator that generates trippy visuals based off the mic’s input of your mantra. Ooohhhhhmmmmm your way to relaxation.