2020 was supposed to be an exciting year for video games, and to be fair, "exciting" is an understatement. This year, gamers got their hands on new consoles, new GPUs, new processors, and game releases. The most prominent gaming news of 2020, without a doubt, revolved around release date delays. Thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, several studios had trouble keeping up with their schedule. As a result, a lot of games had overdue releases.
The year is almost over, and it's time to look back and realize that while some games might feel like they have been around forever, they are not even a year old.
10 Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout – August 4, 2020
Fall Guys has been one of the biggest games on Twitter and Twitch for the second half of 2020. It feels like content creators were always running around in six-foot-tall bean suits trying to complete multiple obstacle courses.
This Mario-Party like battle royale came out only four months ago. Still, it dominated the gaming scene, resulting in players only talking about colorful beans for quite some time (at least until Among Us unexpected revival came along).
9 Valorant – June 2, 2020
Valorant is Riot Games' response to all the major FPS games that came out in the past five years. This game is so significant in today's esport scene that it is weird to think about competitive gaming without Valorant being there. What was Shroud even playing before Valorant came out anyway?
This free-to-play game is a 5v5 team-based tactical multiplayer first-person shooter. Players rotate between attackers and defenders, with a team trying to plant the spike and another team trying to stop that from happening. The game has been compared to other well-received shooters like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Blizzard's Overwatch.
8 Legends of Runeterra – April 29, 2020
After years of tweaking and perfecting the phenomenon that is League of Legends, Riot Games decided it was time to try something new and released Legends of Runeterra for PC and mobile devices.
One thing that makes this free-to-play card game different is the fact that it uses the same settings and champions as the ones featured in League of Legends. After its release, this game earned positives reviews, standing out in a market saturated with digital collectible card games.
7 Half-Life: Alyx – March 23, 2020
After years of memes and pleas from fans asking for Half-Life 3, Valve finally released this new project in 2020. While it wasn't the long-awaited sequel, this VR title was received with universal acclaim reviews.
Half-Life: Alyx takes place between Half-Life (1998) and Half-Life 2 (2004). This time you control Alyx Vance (the daughter of the half-life protagonist's former colleague), whose father was captured by the Combine. Hardcore fans of the series will be happy knowing that this game includes gravity gloves, which work similarly to the gravity gun. These gloves let you interact with the environment and fight enemies. There are many traditional franchise elements in this release, like all the exploration, puzzles, and survival horror sections.
6 Ori And The Will Of The Wisps – March 11, 2020
From the Ori and the Blind Forest creators comes a sequel packed with adventure and great music. The story picks up right after the last game, as players assume Ori's control. They'll have to jump, glide, climb and swim their way across Niwen, discovering the spirit's true destiny along the way.
Receiving very positive reviews, Ori and the Will Of The Wisps was complimented for its new mechanics, stunning visuals, fantastic music score, and thrilling sequences.
5 Nioh 2 – March 13, 2020
Ghost of Tsushima wasn't the only samurai based game released in 2020. In March, Team Ninja released the sequel for their souls-like game, Nioh. This sequel has elements that made the first game great and fun to play, while still making improvements where they were needed.
This game is perfect for anyone who likes a good challenge but has to wait for the PS5 to be available again so they can play Demon Souls. For now, Nioh 2 is available exclusively on PlayStation 4.
4 Dreams – February 14, 2020
Describing this game can be a little tricky. In a nutshell, Dreams is a game creation system where users interact with the game's world by creating new characters, items, and manipulating objects.
Dreams features two major gameplay options. The first one is DreamSurfing, where you browse "Dreams" published by other players. These Dreams can be anything ranging from games to play, art showcases, or music. On the other hand, DreamShaping is the creational portion of the game. You can design and publish your Dreams for other "Dreamers" to enjoy.
3 Warcraft III: Reforged – January 28, 2020
For many, Warcraft III is a beloved game. When Blizzard announced a remake of the 2002 classic, back in 2018, Warcraft's fan base couldn't be more excited. The devs promised upgrades like better graphics and a new UI.
However, when the game finally came out, it wasn't exactly what people expected, giving it a 0.6 score out of 10 (on Metacritic). Many complained about things like low frame rates, poor performance, no UI changes whatsoever it was basically the same UI remastered.
2 The Sims 4: Tiny Living – January 21, 2020
The Sims is a beloved franchise that's been around since the early 2000s. Its latest game, The Sims 4, was released in 2014. Since it came out, EA has added an insane amount of additional content; to be precise, ten expansion packs, nine game packs, and 17 stuff packs have been added. It all costs around $689.66, in case you were wondering.
With its latest expansion pack out this past November 13, it's hard to remember that the very hyped Tiny Living stuff pack came out only in January.
1 Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot – January 17, 2020
Based on the Dragon Ball fictional world, this new addition to the franchise is a semi open-world game with role-playing and fighting games elements. This time, you can not only engage in epic battles but you can also train, eat, and even go out on a fishing trip.
The game had mixed but mainly positive reviews. However, in the last months, many fans were let down by the lack of communication on Dragon Ball: Kakarot's DLC release dates and season pass content. The DLC 2 package was announced earlier this month, though.