Persona 5 Royal is the best new(ish) game of 2020
| 2020 | Persona 5 Royal (PS4) | 95 |
| 2019 | Resident Evil 2 (XB1/PS4/PC) | 93 |
| 2018 | Red Dead Redemption 2 (XB1/PS4) |
97 |
| 2017 | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) |
97 |
| 2016 | Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PS4) |
93 |
It's safe to say that 2020 was a transition year for gaming—and for the world at large. Multiple projects saw their release dates shift into 2021 thanks to longer development times necessitated by the pandemic (and the switch to working at home), while the two major new game consoles launched with a dearth of new games to play on their fancy new hardware.
Despite those limitations, however, there were some great new games to play in 2020. In fact, a total of 16 different products scored 90 or higher in the past year, up considerably from 2019's total of just nine such high-scorers.
Leading all 2020 releases was the PS4-exclusive enhanced RPG remake Persona 5 Royal, Metacritic's highest-scoring game for any platform since 2018. Another PS4-exclusive followed at #2: The Last of Us Part II, Naughty Dog's sequel to their acclaimed 2013 post-apocalyptic adventure game (and a record-setting winner at The Game Awards 2020).
Placing third overall in 2020 was a new "Definitive Edition" of the three-year-old RPG Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age for PS4 (an XB1 version also scored highly), followed at #4 by the Switch version of Supergiant's roguelike RPG Hades. Rounding out our 2020 top five at #5 was Half-Life: Alyx, a VR take on Valve's beloved shooter franchise.
Games released in 2020 scoring 90 or higher, by platform
 PC |
 PLAYSTATION |
 SWITCH |
 XBOX |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Half-Life: Alyx 93 |
Persona 5 Royal 95 |
Hades 93 |
Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Def. Ed. 91 |
|
 |
 |
 |
| Hades 93 |
The Last of Us Part II 93 |
Ori and the Will of the Wisps 93 |
F1 2020 91 |
 |
|
 |
|
| Microsoft Flight Simulator 91 |
Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Def. Ed. 93 |
Animal Crossing: New Horizons 90 |
Ori and the Will of the Wisps 90 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| Crusader Kings III 91 |
Demon's Souls PS5 92 |
Yakuza 0 90 |
|
 |
|||
| Spelunky 2 91 |
Next, let's take a more complete look at 2020's best-reviewed games by platform ...
Though Sony's console changed its status to "previous-gen" at the end of 2020, the past year actually saw one more game scoring 90 or higher than in 2019—three, compared to two. And the top two of those three great games (Persona 5 Royal, The Last of Us Part II) were exclusive to the PS4, as was the console's fourth-ranked 2020 game, Dreams.
Best PlayStation 4 games of 2020
PS4 Game of the Year
PS4 Exclusive of the Year
Persona 5 Royal
Originally released as Persona 5 in 2017, the PlayStation-exclusive JRPG (part of the Shin Megami Tensei series) was reissued in this expanded, PS4-exclusive "Royal" version which introduced some additional content and added a pair of new characters to the story. No game received better reviews in 2020.
Sony's newest console was on the market for less than seven weeks in 2020, but it did receive a few well-reviewed exclusives including a Demon's Souls remake and Astro's Playroom. So far, however, there are just 20 PS5 releases receiving positive reviews from critics, though that total should grow considerably during the upcoming year.
Best PlayStation 5 games of 2020
PS5 Game of the Year
PS5 Exclusive of the Year
Demon's Souls
A PS5-exclusive remake of the fantasy action/RPG first released for the PlayStation 3 in 2009, the 2020 version of Demon's Souls adds new gameplay features and modes in addition to a complete overhaul of the visual presentation from the studio behind the successful 2018 remake of Shadow of the Colossus. Critics praised the new polish and modern feel, while also noting that the now-quick loading times will make restarting after your inevitable death(s) slightly less painful.
| Game | Publisher | Buy It | Metascore | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Demon's Souls | PlayStation Studios | Amazon | |
| 2 | Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition | Capcom | Amazon | |
| 3 | Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate | Warner Bros. Interactive | Amazon | |
| 4 | Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales | PlayStation Studios | Amazon | |
| 5 | Assassin's Creed Valhalla | Ubisoft | Amazon | |
| 6 | Overcooked! All You Can Eat | Team17 | Amazon | |
| 7 | Astro's Playroom | Sony | ||
| 8 | WRC 9 FIA World Rally Championship | Nacon | ||
| 9 | Planet Coaster: Console Edition | Frontier Dev/Sold Out | Amazon | |
| 10 | DIRT 5 | Deep Silver | Amazon | |
In its final year, Microsoft's console had four games scoring 90 or higher—one more than on rival PS4 (and one more than XB1 had in the previous year). But there were few Xbox One console exclusives to get excited about.
Best Xbox One games of 2020
XB1 Game of the Year
Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Def. Ed.
After first coming to the Switch in 2019, this enhanced version of the 2017 JRPG game in the nearly 35-year-old Dragon Quest franchise made its way to Xbox (and PlayStation) in 2020 to rave reviews.
XB1 Exclusive of the Year
Call of the Sea
Yes, it's also available on Xbox Series X/S and PC, but Call of the Sea was the best game exclusive to Microsoft consoles in 2020. It's a first-person, puzzle-solving adventure centering on a missing persons investigation on a South Pacific island in the 1930s.
Microsoft's just-launched console may have impressed reviewers with its hardware, but interesting software is still mostly on the horizon. The console's most-anticipated exclusive was pushed back into late 2021, and there were only 20 positively reviewed Series X games released in 2020. (That exactly matches the total of good PS5 games so far, for those of you keeping score of such things.)
Best Xbox Series X/S games of 2020
Xbox Series X/S Game of the Year
Tetris Effect: Connected
The best-reviewed game released for Microsoft's new console so far is this enhanced version of the well-reviewed 2018 take on the classic tile-matching game. Connected adds new multiplayer gameplay to Tetris Effect, resulting in perhaps the best (and certainly most complete) version of Tetris to date.
| Game | Publisher | Buy It | Metascore | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tetris Effect: Connected | Enhance Games | ||
| 2 | Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition | Capcom | Amazon | |
| 3 | Planet Coaster: Console Edition | Frontier Dev/Sold Out | Amazon | |
| 4 | Assassin's Creed Valhalla | Ubisoft | Amazon | |
| 5 | Yakuza: Like a Dragon | Sega | Amazon | |
| 6 | Gears Tactics | Xbox Game Studios | Amazon | |
| 7 | DIRT 5 | Codemasters/Deep Silver | Amazon | |
| 8 | Immortals: Fenyx Rising | Ubisoft | Amazon | |
| 9 | NBA 2K21 | 2K Games | Amazon | |
| 10 | Observer: System Redux | Aspyr | ||
If you include products receiving fewer than 7 reviews (which aren't listed in the table below), there were 194 Switch games released in 2020 that were positively reviewed by critics—far and away the most of any console (for the second straight year). And three of those games scored 90 or higher, up from two such Switch games in 2019.
Best Switch games of 2020
Nintendo Switch Game of the Year
Hades
Also released (to similarly great reviews) on PC, Supergiant's follow-up to Pyre uses the world of Greek mythology as the setting for a roguelike action-RPG. The well-executed result won two Game Awards (including 2020's best indie) and picked up numerous best-of-the-year honors from game review publications.
Nintendo Switch Exclusive of the Year
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Possibly the defining game of the quarantine era, this escapist March release was Nintendo's first Animal Crossing installment for the Switch. Its friendly, feel-good vibes made the village simulation game an instant hit and the all-time best-selling title in the series.
PC games
Many people found themselves spending extra time at their home computers this year, and there were plenty of ways to keep entertained while doing so. We count 195 positively reviewed PC games released in 2020, up from 185 in 2019 and 171 during 2018.
Best PC games of 2020
PC Game of the Year
PC Exclusive of the Year
Half-Life: Alyx
The first new release in 13 years in Valve's FPS series is a VR-only release that takes place between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2 rather than continuing from the cliffhanger ending of 2007's Episode Two.
What do you think?
What were your favorite games of 2020? Let us know in the discussion section below. And be sure to check out our list of 2020's worst-reviewed games.
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