While it has certainly been a challenging year in many ways, 2020 has also been an excellent year for video games. From the return of the Half-Life franchise to long-awaited titles like The Last of Us Part 2 and surprise events like Hades, we’ve seen a slew of great games over the past 12 months.
We’ve seen Animal Crossing become a complete social phenomenon, and MS Flight Sim lets us go out and see the world when we need it most. Paper Mario is back for the first time since the Wii U, and many beloved franchises have seen some really excellent new releases. Here you’ll find all of our picks for the best games of the year by platform and genre, as well as the best examples of game design and technology the year has provided.
IGN’s best game of 2020
Our pick of this year’s best overall game.
The best games by platform
Best games by genre
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Best Action Game
The best games mainly focus on combat and active / retro tests of skill. -
The best action and adventure game
Top games that offer a mixture of skill-based fighting / survival and environmental exploration. -
The best adventure / puzzle game
The best games focused on decision making, exploration, and critical thinking. -
The best shooter
The best games focus on first or third person shooting mechanics. -
Best RPG game
Top games with an emphasis on decision making, narrative choices and statistical progress. -
The best platform game
The best games focus on a combination of environment traversal, puzzle-solving, and / or combat. -
The best strategy / tactics game
The best games with an emphasis on tactical combat, team supervision, and resource management. -
The best fighting game
The best game in the fighting genre. -
The best racing game
The best racing game. -
Best Battle Royale
The best game focused strictly on battle royale mechanics. -
Best Ongoing Game
To excel in games that receive regular content updates and ongoing community support. -
Best remake / remastered
I’d rather re-imagine an old game or animate the game’s original source code.
Game development and character awards
To be eligible for IGN’s 2020 Game of the Year Awards, the game must be released on or before December 12, 2020.
When deciding which categories will be awarded prizes for this year, we wanted to ensure we were able to include a variety of games from different creators, and take into account the complex availability of games across different platforms. To that end, we now hold awards for games based on their exclusivity per console platform – Yakuza: Like a Dragon, for example, is promoted as a launch title for Xbox Series X, but is also available on PS4 and thus ineligible for Best Xbox Award. Console Exclusive. Gear tactics is being, However, since its only presence on consoles is on Xbox One / Series X | S.
We also wanted to acknowledge the continuous efforts in the games to ensure this Each Able to play, and add category for Noticeable Access progress For this year’s awards.
What are the categories that you want to add next year? Let us know in the comments.
