2020 has been a tremendous year for gaming, even with wordwide pandemics causing nearly every game development team to switch to a full work-from-home model, at least temporarily. Both in the sphere of indie games as well as in high-budget AAA games, 2020 has produced some absolutely stellar titles.
AAA games typically come with big budgets provided by major publishing houses. Like a blockbuster movie, these games tend to be ones that resonate throughout the whole of pop culture, partly because their marketing budgets are usually much, much larger than those of other, smaller titles.
Thankfully, even in 2020, new games have continued to come out from both indie developers and large AAA video game studios, giving players tons of hours of entertainment and a much-needed distraction from the troubles daily life. Here are this year’s best and biggest AAA games.
2020's Best AAA Games - Doom Eternal
Serving as the sequel to 2016’s wildly successful DOOM reboot, DOOM Eternal takes the conventions and mechanics set up in DOOM (2016) and pushes them to 11 - or, hell, even higher. With brutal new kill animations, new gameplay mechanics, dangerous enemies, and vistas that could put classic heavy metal album covers to shame, DOOM Eternal has shaped up to be one of 2020’s most bombastic gaming experiences.
Given how well-received the blunt simplicity of DOOM (2016) was, adding new gameplay features and expanding the lore might have come as a bit of a risk, but it’s clear that Id’s vision for the bloody and visceral world of DOOM is as confident as it has ever been. The right choices were made and players were given an excellent outlet to let out their early pandemic rage.
2020's Best AAA Games - Demon’s Souls (2020)
While a remake of a PlayStation 3 game, 2020’s Demon’s Souls remaster is a powerhouse experience and is highly regarded as a system seller for the newly-released PlayStation 5. Despite being the first in the storied lineage of absurdly difficult games that would follow, the original Demon’s Souls was a fantastic and sure-handed work as any other, and this remake exemplifies those aspects while improving on the original in subtle ways. The biggest change is obvious - the visuals. Bluepoint, who handled the remaster, did an excellent job at showing what the next generation of consoles could do visually.
Up until this remake, Demon’s Souls was the black sheep of the Dark Souls-era FromSoftware games. Despite being a great game in its own right, the PlayStation 3 didn’t sell particularly well in the West until late in its lifespan, causing many fans of the series to overlook it for later entries. The remake serves the purpose of getting more players to play an excellent video game while also providing the PlayStation 5 with a killer app.
2020's Best AAA Games - Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing: New Horizons couldn’t have been released at a better time. As the COVID-19 pandemic began its deadly rampage, Animal Crossing: New Horizons offered players the opportunity to vicariously escape to a different world - one that would provide gamers with a gleefully fun and surprisingly deep virus-free experience. As with previous games in the series, New Horizons centers around growing a small town via partaking in a plethora of activities. The game also features significantly more customization options than its predecessors, including the ability to terraform and rearrange houses.
While there is a clear end goal in getting the player’s Animal Crossing islands to be as populated and pleasant to look at as possible, there is just a certain catharsis to accomplishing the chore-like goals the game presents. Paying off one’s house, fishing, digging up fossils - they all present a relaxing and rewarding gameplay loop that players are still enjoying as the sun sets on this uncharacteristically tough year.
2020's Best AAA Games - Final Fantasy 7 Remake
As technology has gotten better, the scope of what can be accomplished in video games has grown exponentially over the last few decades. Even just from a visual perspective, comparing the original Final Fantasy 7 to its 2020 remake shows an astounding growth in what could be done 25 years ago versus today. It’s clear that what’s seen in Final Fantasy 7 Remake was their initial vision, but the technology in the mid-’90s just couldn’t provide developers and creatives with the ability to do what can be done today.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake isn’t just a new coat of paint - as its title suggests, it is a full-fledged remake in every sense of the word. It features a revamped combat system, updated audio, new boss fights and quests, and a smorgasbord of other updates. Despite technically only covering the first third or so of the original game, the many additions and changes to its narrative make Final Fantasy 7 Remake a fully developed experience that easily stands on its own.
2020's Best AAA Games - The Last of Us Part 2
Serving as the follow-up to one of the most well-received video games of the last generation is no easy task. The original The Last of Us broke new ground in several ways, creating a dramatic cinematic gameplay experience like no other at the time. Given its high regard, any follow-up would be met with immense scrutiny, regardless of its content - and such as it was for The Last of Us Part 2.
But, despite the monumental pressure, Naughty Dog managed to do it yet again. The Last of Us Part 2, while released to no shortage of controversy, was critically acclaimed and ended up being one of the best-selling games on the PlayStation 4. For better or for worse, The Last of Us Part 2 took big risks in regard to its narrative and expanded the solid gameplay of its predecessor into a game that was as deep as it was fun to play. The original The Last of Us was the PlayStation 3’s swan song, and now, seven years later, it couldn’t be more apropos for its sequel to serve the same purpose for the PlayStation 4.
2020's Best AAA Games - Half-Life: Alyx
Given the relatively high barrier of entry, VR-exclusive games are, for the most part, limited in scope. While there are plenty of cool experiences to partake in such as Beat Saber and Vader Immortal, there have been very few games that take the power of VR and use its full suite of advantages in the context of a big, complex AAA game - until Half-Life: Alyx. Telling the story of Alyx Vance, a major character in the series, the game serves as a prequel to Half-Life 2.
As the first Half-Life game since 2007, Alyx came as a bit of a surprise. Given the lack of any conclusion to the story of Half-Life 2 and virtually complete radio silence from Valve in regard to Half-Life 3, it had been assumed for well over a decade that Valve was simply done with the series. Yet, practically out of nowhere, another absolute masterclass of game development has come from the veteran studio, one that is now generally considered to be one of the defining games for the VR format to date.
In a tough year like this one, it’s important to take part in the things that give people joy and preserve a sense of normalcy. Despite the immense hardships all people around the world have had to deal with this year, gamers have still gotten to experience some of the best of what the medium has to offer.
