2020's best games kept us cool, calm, and connected

Of the five games that have had the greatest impact on me this year, four of them weren’t even on my radar when the clock ticked over from 2019 to 2020.

I knew Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was on its way, of course, but I was… indifferent, I suppose? Burned out on all things Creed, perhaps? I’d loved my time with Bayek, and had a lot of fun with Alexios, too, but I couldn’t reconcile how an Assassin’s Creed game could work with a Viking at the helm. Let’s face it; Viking’s aren’t particularly renowned for their stealthy ways, and I couldn’t work out how – or even why – the ancient brotherhood would court a warrior with a tendency to axe first, ask questions later.

Vikki’s games of 2020Animal Crossing: New HorizonsAssassin’s Creed: ValhallaFall GuysThe Last of Us Part 2Ori and the Will of the Wisps

By the time I’d arrived in Mercia, though, I was thoroughly hooked. Despite its homogenisation, I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for Ubisoft’s soothing formula of action sequences and puzzling, and while we likely all anticipated that it was going to be a striking world to explore, I utterly underestimated how gripping Eivor’s story would be. It took me forever to complete her main questline, chiefly because I was forever tempted off the path, distracted by new loot or uncovering buried secrets.

The Last of Us Part 2, of course, had very much been on my radar. The original instalment was one of my games of the decade – maybe of all time – as it so perfectly blended my love of horror and character-driven storytelling. Between us, I finished its successor this summer feeling a tad unsatisfied and as though the game had limped on several hours longer than it should’ve done.