Board 8 > Polygon's Top 50 games of 2020 [GotY]

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.polygon.com/2020/12/14/22166004/best-games-2020-ps4-xbox-one-switch-pc-series-x

The always controversial list is here!

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50. Bugsnax
49. No Man's Sky
48. Helltaker
47. DOOM Eternal
46. Super Mega Baseball 3
45. Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit
44. Creaks
43. Call of Duty: Warzone
42. Yakuza: Like a Dragon
41. In Other Waters
40. Wide Ocean, Big Jacket
39. League of Legends
38. Arknights
37. Desperados 3
36. Paradise Killer
35. Dirt 5
34. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2
33. Paper Mario: The Origami King
32. The Solitaire Conspiracy
31. Ghost of Tsushima
30. Ori and the Will of the Wisps
29. Murder by Numbers
28. Destiny 2: Beyond Light
27. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
26. Streets of Rage 4
25. Hardspace: Shipbreaker
24. Spiritfarer
23. Demon's Souls
22. Star Wars: Squadrons
21. Genshin Impact
20. The Jackbox Party Pack 7
19. The Last of Us Part 2
18. Assassin's Creed Valhalla
17. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
16. Astros Playroom
15. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
14. Umurangi Generation
13. Valorant
12. If Found...
11. Spelunky 2
10. Among US
9. Blaseball
8. Crusader Kings 3
7. Half-life Alyx
6. Spider-Man: Miles Morales
5. Kentucky Route Zero
4. Final Fantasy VII Remake
3. Microsoft Flight Simulator
2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
1. Hades

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13 Sentinels over Last of Us, good list.

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theres stuff about this list I like

although DOOM Eternal being at 47 doesnt even seem like a compliment... this wasnt a strong year
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No Monster Train and no Curse of the Moon 2, bad list

was Microsoft Flight Simulator really THAT awesome

Good to see Ori 2, but I'm always a bit sad it's not a contender for the top of these lists, since it's my favorite game of 2020 by a lot (Kentucky Route Zero is the worst game of 2020, incidentally).
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I have been meaning to get back to KRZ since I'm only one chapter in, but I really like what I played.

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Paratroopa1 posted...

was Microsoft Flight Simulator really THAT awesome

If youre interested in simulating flights, then yeah probably

but I dont know how you even begin to put something like that and something like Hades next to each other and decide which is better
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god, i feel like i see this topic every year

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Paratroopa1 posted...

was Microsoft Flight Simulator really THAT awesome

Yes

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NFUN posted...

god, i feel like i see this topic every year

I'd be impressed if someone has been making a top 50 games of 2020 topic for years now

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Isn't that what Nostradamus had been doing every year

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nostradamus really fucked up that time he put bugsnax at 1

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Dragonair posted...

nostradamus really fucked up that time he put bugsnax at 1

nostradumbass lmao

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ya go my Hades

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Was No Man's Sky seriously this year

I have no more sense of time

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Janus5k posted...

Was No Man's Sky seriously this year

I have no more sense of time

No, it just got major updates this year. Their list allows anything to be eligible if it got major updates this year or saw increased cultural relevance this year (Among Us), which is imo the right way to do a GOTY list in the year 2020 because no video game is EVER released only once anymore

So what you're saying is Dragon Quest XI or Xenoblade should be GotY once again

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For the first time possibly ever, I've actually played the Top 2 games.

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My own 2020 game of the year picks are delayed until giant bomb does thiers sometime early next year

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Man everyone liked spiritfarer except for me.

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I honestly don't even really get the point of having rankings in lists like this, besides perhaps the top 10. When someone makes their own personal list, you can be sure they've played every game on it. Here, you're just getting a bunch of people together where no single person has played every game to the extent that they could fairly rank them, or probably even half of everything on the list at all. Save these kinds of things for podcasts where you can rant and rave and at least enjoy the discussion. Keep the written stuff unranked if it's done by groups, that way it serves the purpose of saying, "hey here are some great games" without delving into the weeds of being some definitive order.

my point is evidenced by DOOM Eternal being so far below freaking Fall Guys okay

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I remember a LOT of people being down on Doom Eternal. I also mostly heard negative things about the DLC.

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Fall Guys is very fun

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I enjoyed Fall Guys very much when it first came out, it just wore out its welcome incredibly fast. The devs are making the right moves by adding more rotating elements into the games to give them a sense of freshness and surprise each time you play though. They just need to up the ante in that department big time and maybe it wouldn't be so stale.

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StartTheMachine posted...

I honestly don't even really get the point of having rankings in lists like this, besides perhaps the top 10. When someone makes their own personal list, you can be sure they've played every game on it. Here, you're just getting a bunch of people together where no single person has played every game to the extent that they could fairly rank them, or probably even half of everything on the list at all. Save these kinds of things for podcasts where you can rant and rave and at least enjoy the discussion. Keep the written stuff unranked if it's done by groups, that way it serves the purpose of saying, "hey here are some great games" without delving into the weeds of being some definitive order.

I mean that's kinda what they did, the numbers are there for the clicks

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ninkendo posted...

39. League of Legends

lmao

also no P5R joke list

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Aww yeah go my league of legends

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I prefer these kinds of lists when it's just an aggregate of the staff's individual picks, this way feels too tailored and less natural. Cool to be made aware of some games I'd never heard of before though, like Umurangi Generation and The Solitaire Conspiracy.

And as always, best of the year lists should be left until January.

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they got GotY right

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Solid top 5, and a great winner.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

I remember a LOT of people being down on Doom Eternal. I also mostly heard negative things about the DLC.

Honestly, Doom Eternal should have been higher, but I get this response. It has a really rough start, then gets a lot better from about the fifth level on. And given how long those first few levels are, I dont blame people at all for being down on it and perhaps dropping it long before. Also the story is a bit lame. However I should add that for some it was great from the start and they fell off in later levels, but I think that has to do with how fine you are with the Marauders.

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MawiIe posted...

Man everyone liked spiritfarer except for me.

I didn't! I wanted to, I really wanted to, but it wasn't very good.

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i didn't like spiritfarer either, but tbf i stopped playing the first time the uppity deer rejected my meal and i vowed to never cook for it again.

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After looking through that list, my first thought was, "Man, 2020 was a lousy year for gaming..."

I only own 6 games from that list and I am only interested in about 5 more. Although, I had never heard of Murder by Numbers before and that looks pretty interesting.

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Murder by numbers was a fun and charming puzzle game, and the story did take a few unexpected turns.

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Kentucky Route Zero in the top 5 of a Polygon list should surprise no one by now.

It's funny to look at where the GotY nominees from The Game Awards ended up on this list. Nothing above 19 except for Hades at #1.

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good list. I'd put cold steel 4 on there but it definitely doesn't work as a stand alone game, which is a valid argument for keeping it off these lists I think.

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azuarc posted...

It's funny to look at where the GotY nominees from The Game Awards ended up on this list. Nothing above 19 except for Hades at #1.

Uhh #2?

EDIT:
And #4!
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I was about to say, that's just poor research azuarc

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What genre is Crusader Kings anyway? I'm not really sure what other games they're similar to.

colliding posted...

good list. I'd put cold steel 4 on there but it definitely doesn't work as a stand alone game, which is a valid argument for keeping it off these lists I think.

Kentucky Route Zero is on there and you definitely shouldn't play the one that released this year as a standalone game!
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Gotta say Mac, I need to form my own opinion here, but you are legit the first person I have ever seen that played it who doesn't like KRZ. That game has been praised to high heaven.

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Oh. I'm an idiot. I only remembered TLOU, Ghost, and Doom. I knew there was at least one more and I was like, eh, I'd recognize it if I saw it.

Obviously not. Especially since there were two.

Still, the fact that TLOU2 barely cracked the top 20 is interesting.

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

Gotta say Mac, I need to form my own opinion here, but you are legit the first person I have ever seen that played it who doesn't like KRZ. That game has been praised to high heaven.

I mean, the last post I made was just stating a fact. Playing KRZ episode 5 without playing the previous 4 is a bad idea, just like playing CS4 without playing CS1-3 is a bad idea.

I liked the first couple episodes, but greatly disliked 3-5. I feel like I haven't heard many people talk about KRZ in general other than professional critics.
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IIRC, Polygons review was pretty meh on TLOU2, so top 20 is pretty good comparatively. Its probably a compromise position between those who liked it and didnt.

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KRZ TV Edition specifically was a compilation, though, so it isn't quite the same. I think it's how most people ended up experiencing it, too.

Though they probably should release a compilation of Cold Steel!

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I've been meaning to play Kentucky Route Zero but don't hear anybody talk about it really.

With how vague and allowing they were of some games they might as well have allowed Xeno/P5 to be on there, even if asterisked.

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I see the name Kentucky Route Zero and I assume it's a horse racing game. If it isn't, I don't wanna know.

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KRZ is worth it just for Act III alone.

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Bugsnax at #1 where it belongs

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Leonhart4 posted...

I see the name Kentucky Route Zero and I assume it's a horse racing game. If it isn't, I don't wanna know.

I mean there's a horse in the logo.

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