On my scale, where a "10" isn't some nonsense claim at an objective "perfect" score but more of a subjectively excellent game that left a strong positive impression--
Doom Eternal -- excellent build on everything established by Doom 2016, one of the best FPS games this generation to me
Animal Crossing: New Horizons -- really relaxing game that I sunk 250+ hours into and acted as a much-needed social link between me and some friends during the craziness of 2020
EDIT: Streets of Rage 4 -- another Sega retro-revival that just felt excellent from top to bottom, in the same vein that Sonic Mania and Monster Boy both hit extremely hard for me in recent years. I've replayed it and accumulated at least 40 hours of playing this game across multiple platforms.
The Last of Us Part II -- this is the most lukewarm that I ever went into a Naughty Dog game owing to me holding pretty strongly to the idea that The Last of Us 1 was all the story I needed from Joel and Ellie, leaving me persistent that my preference for another LoU game was gonna be exploring new characters. Naughty Dog surpassed my expectations by a huge margin and I guess I'm just trucking on again with my strong faith in the studio to make excellent games, a streak they have not broken for me since the original Crash Bandicoot on PS1
Spider-Man: Miles Morales -- an emotionally resonant storyline as a long-time Spider-Man fan and a gameplay pace that felt a lot more engaging to me than the original game (minor complaint about the original) made this smaller package hit really, really strong, especially in a year like 2020 where I needed a kind of familiar and positive narrative backdrop to pin good feelings onto again. This game punches well above its "expansion-sized" weight for me and is one of my Games of the Year for just being a familiar force of positivity that's handled so extremely well in its narrative and its gameplay flow
Doom Eternal -- excellent build on everything established by Doom 2016, one of the best FPS games this generation to me
Animal Crossing: New Horizons -- really relaxing game that I sunk 250+ hours into and acted as a much-needed social link between me and some friends during the craziness of 2020
EDIT: Streets of Rage 4 -- another Sega retro-revival that just felt excellent from top to bottom, in the same vein that Sonic Mania and Monster Boy both hit extremely hard for me in recent years. I've replayed it and accumulated at least 40 hours of playing this game across multiple platforms.
The Last of Us Part II -- this is the most lukewarm that I ever went into a Naughty Dog game owing to me holding pretty strongly to the idea that The Last of Us 1 was all the story I needed from Joel and Ellie, leaving me persistent that my preference for another LoU game was gonna be exploring new characters. Naughty Dog surpassed my expectations by a huge margin and I guess I'm just trucking on again with my strong faith in the studio to make excellent games, a streak they have not broken for me since the original Crash Bandicoot on PS1
Spider-Man: Miles Morales -- an emotionally resonant storyline as a long-time Spider-Man fan and a gameplay pace that felt a lot more engaging to me than the original game (minor complaint about the original) made this smaller package hit really, really strong, especially in a year like 2020 where I needed a kind of familiar and positive narrative backdrop to pin good feelings onto again. This game punches well above its "expansion-sized" weight for me and is one of my Games of the Year for just being a familiar force of positivity that's handled so extremely well in its narrative and its gameplay flow
