2020 has been an exceptionally hard year. It has also been a blessing. In the midst of my state locking down, our family welcomed a second child into the world. If she had showed up even a few days later, I would not have been allowed into the hospital with my wife. Eight months later, she is happy and healthy, as is the rest of my immediate family. We all still have jobs. There was one COVID-19 scare, but we tested negative. There are two kids at home full-time and it's made work a nightmare, but we know a lot of other people face greater hardship.
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And in the midst of that, video games. Sometimes. I avoided them while I was on paternity leave, to give my mind a break. But they became a welcomed distraction when I returned.There is a routine in the house. At 5:00, we prep and eat dinner. At 6:00, the baby goes to bed for the night. At 6:30, we sit down as a family to watch some television. At 7:30, the oldest goes to bed. At 8:00, my wife and I—every night, without fail—watch something together. Maybe it's a movie, maybe it's a TV show. Either way, despite having been around one another all day with the kids, we find time to reconnect before the day is over. Then, usually around 10:00, she herself heads off to bed, and I waltz to my office and my games. Quite often, playing games every night can feel like a slog. You can have too much candy, you know? But this year, especially this year, I stuck to the routine. Even when exceptionally tired, I gave myself an hour of games. It wasn't gaming time—it was my time. Alone. Those moments were important, and I chose to spend them, willingly and happily, with games.This year, these were my favorites.
10. Umurangi Generation
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At multiple points, I gasped while playing Umurangi Generation. Sometimes prompted by my own discoveries, and once because the game grabbed me by the collar and fully demanded my attention. The final mission of Umurgani Generation, tucked away at the end of the game's optional but necessary downloadable content Macro, is unlikely anything I've played.In a game that's otherwise quiet and passive, Umurangi Generation bided its time until the anger was too much, and finally made to make clear what it had to say. It left me breathless.
9. Lithium CityThe irony of writing this with the holidays around the corner is not lost on me, because every room in Lithium City is unwrapping a present under the tree. Remember the age when every present was a mystery box with infinite possibilities? That's how it feels to play Lithium City, a ruthlessly efficient game that had me hooting and hollering every time something new happened, because it was always cool and satisfying. The final encounter had me pounding the table like I'd beaten the final boss in a Souls game. It only took me an hour and change to start and finish Lithium City, but video games do not need 40 hours to be memorable.
8. Alba: A Wildlife AdventureI don't think parents should view their children as a vehicle to experience youth a second time, which has always made me wary of pushing games on my kids. Part of the gratification of having children is experiencing life through a new lens—their lens. And so while I do not hide games from my kid, a feat impossible because of my job, I also don't go out of my way to bring them up. By happenstance, I ended up looking at Alba: A Wildlife Adventure with my oldest daughter, who is a little over four, and she was captivated. Not just because of the charming aesthetic, but thanks to the game respecting and recognizing who she was and what she was capable of. I still felt a tinge of guilt playing it with her, realizing inevitably I would turn the experience into a take and this was part of the reason I'd dodged games with her to begin with, but it was still unforgettable. My heart was skipping beats the whole time.
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7. Signs of the SojournerWhen one video game has a good idea, it's understandable and reasonable other games follow in their footsteps. But this trend towards familiarity can also breed complacency, and that's what struck me in Signs of the Sojourner. It's a game about talking to people, in which you have no control over what your character is going to say. Instead, communication has been abstracted into a card game, and your ability to connect with another person depends on whether you can dance your way through a conversation and match the right symbols. You often don't have the right symbols, or get the wrong shuffle of cards and a conversation with a friend goes completely awry. This happens all the time in Signs of the Sojourner, the same way it unexpectedly occurs in real-life. Talking to people isn't simple. What you think in your head might not match what comes out of your mouth, and the tone and tenor of how it comes out of your mouth might betray your intent. That happens, and Signs of the Sojourner is about living in and with the complexities of language that video games have simplified.
6. The Pathless
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5. Astro's Playroom
4. Half-Life Alyx
3. Blasphemous
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2. Gears Tactics
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That was fine. I wanted to play another round because it felt good, and it made me happy.
1. Hades
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Then, at one point, I beat the game. It was a struggle and I barely came out alive, but I'd beaten it. And then I beat it again. And again. And again. I eventually strung off nearly 10 wins in a row, without missing a beat. I'd gone from sweating a run in Hades to purposely making runs harder, because I wanted the extra challenge. Unlike other games, I had not leveled up or found a sweet weapon, I'd simply invested the time and effort into learning what the game expected of me. Games like these are meant to be bent to your will—that's the point. When it starts getting easy, that's not the game's fault. You earned that feeling.In 2020, I earned the respect of Hades, and nothing was more enjoyable than that.
Before I go, shoutouts to the video games cut from my game of the year list but still deserve a mention because they were also a big part of why I made it through 2020 okay:
Follow Patrick on Twitter. His email is patrick.klepek@vice.com, and available privately on Signal (224-707-1561).
Before I go, shoutouts to the video games cut from my game of the year list but still deserve a mention because they were also a big part of why I made it through 2020 okay:
- Carrion
- Disco Elysium
- Outer Wilds
- Ori and the Will of the Wisps
- Disc Room
- Bugsnax
- Kentucky Route Zero
- Final Fantasy VII Remake
Follow Patrick on Twitter. His email is patrick.klepek@vice.com, and available privately on Signal (224-707-1561).