Jeff Green is a former game journalist and current Partner & Business Development Lead at Minn/Max Consulting. In 2020, he launched and hosted the Branching Narratives podcast on US Gamer. He's @greenspeak on Twitter.
As a Professional Videogame Consultant, it is my job--nay, my calling--to assess a situation and provide analysis. So here is my professional opinion of 2020: It fucking sucked balls. Not that you need me or my expertise to tell you that. But what was also true about 2020 was that for introverted, antisocial dorks like me, who are far happier alone in front of a game than sitting with a forced smile at a party or dinner gathering or anything involving “having conversations,” there was a silver lining. Being stuck at home gave us the perfect opportunity to indulge in our hobbies to our hearts’ content, guilt free. For once we were told to stay inside, that it was better to isolate. We were doing our civic duty by playing Destiny for eight hours in a row!
That said, despite all the extra time on our hands, I have to say that I still didn’t play everything I meant to play. And some I skipped on purpose. The Last of Us Part II is not on here, just to name one, because I read about it and decided it was too grim for me. I believe all the people who say it’s great, and you probably should too. I wouldn’t know. I also avoided Cyberpunk 2077, for now at least, for reasons that don’t need enumerating. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla I just simply haven’t gotten to yet, despite loving the franchise. And Demon’s Souls is sitting here until I feel like streaming again. So my list here is less about the “10 best games” than “10 games I played and had the most fun with.” I make no claim at being comprehensive.
Finally, a disclosure: Because I make my living as a Professional Videogame Consultant, I see a lot of games all year and sometimes get paid to do it. There are two games on this list that I was paid to look at. They’re on this list because I loved them. (I can’t tell you which two they are because of signed NDAs.) But there are way more games that I also got paid for this year that are not on this list, and wouldn’t be even if I expanded it to my Top 50. So it is up to you whether this invalidates my list or not. I still love y’all anyway.
10. Immortals: Fenyx Rising
A late, last-minute addition to the list that is getting on here almost as a placeholder, because I have not yet finished it. But what I have played is way, way better than I was expecting from a game with a name that sounds like it was spit out of a random-game-name generator, and with a look that shamelessly borrows from Breath of the Wild. But having made it through the first couple worlds, I'm finding this to be a surprisingly strong open-world game, with satisfying combat mechanics and a series of puzzle-based dungeons that honestly I am finding to be more fun to solve than in Breath of the Wild. This is, oddly enough, not the only big 2020 game featuring characters out of Greek mythology, and maybe sometime in the future a smart writer will figure out why this kept showing up in 2020 of all years. Meanwhile, I’m glad I got my grubby paws on it as the year’s clock wound down, because it’s turning into a super entertaining way to usher this shit year out the fucking door, forever.
9. Astro’s Playroom
Is it cheating to put what is essentially a tech demo on this list? Well, whatever. Maybe it is, but the truth is that this was, quite unexpectedly, my favorite platformer of the year and a sheer delight from start to finish. Loaded for free on the PS5, it is meant to show off the capabilities of the console’s excellent controller, and in fact it does just that, but with a bright, colorful, and clever series of worlds that are a joy to explore. As you complete the levels, find the hidden objects, and assemble the puzzle pieces, you’ll also be treated to a fun history of the PlayStation itself, making this essentially one long commercial, but there is a Nintendo-like aspect of whimsy and joy at play here that makes it all okay.