Top 5 Most Overlooked Games Of 2020

Despite numerous delays, cancellations, and an overall unambitious release schedule from studios waiting for the next generation consoles to get fully underway, 2020 has seen plenty of standout games releases that have garnered praise from critics and award shows in addition to their legions of fans and staggering sales figures. Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold approximately twelve copies per Switch owner as we all poured our newfound free time into a super chill fantasy world where socializing (with cute anthropomorphic animals, no less) was actually possible and we weren’t all just waiting for quarantine to end. (“It’s gonna be this month,” we all said, oblivious to how many times that exact prediction had been wrong before.)

Hades, the little indie that could, became everyone’s favorite on Twitch after Among Us and Fall Guys started to wane slightly in popularity and has been named by many publications as the top game of the year. The Last of Us Part II depressed and infuriated us when [spoiler redacted] and when it won game of the year at the Game Awards despite all the awful stories of crunch and unhealthy working conditions that led to its creation. (Also it was objectively a really good game, we guess.) Doom Eternal reminded us (in case we’d forgotten over the past four years) that ripping demons apart while blasting heavy metal in the background is really fun. Half-Life: Alyx and Final Fantasy VII Remake reminded us that we are so very, very old, but also that there were good games back in the day, too.

While all the above games were undeniably great and deserve to be praised, there were also plenty of praiseworthy games that didn’t receive near as much attention as they deserved from the gaming public in general. That’s where this list comes in – maybe you’ll be reminded of a game you heard about but never quite got around to, or maybe you’ll find a new game that was completely off your radar to help you pass the time until this accursed year finally, mercifully comes to an end. (Unless you’re reading this in the future, in which case has quarantine ended yet? Will it ever end? Please tell us it ends, magical future people – we’re hanging by a thread here.) We’re not saying these games deserved “Game of the Year” status (though in some cases we’re not not saying that) but all of them deserve more consideration, more appreciation, and overall more players giving them a try.

Without further ado, here are our picks for the most overlooked games of 2020, starting with a few honorable mentions that have somehow managed to be overlooked even on this very list:

HONORABLE MENTIONS

No Straight Roads

Did you get to the end of 2020 and realize your Spotify Wrapped was nothing but EDM and indie rock? Just us, huh? Well, No Straight Roads posits a world where those two genres battle for supremacy in a land defined by music. You control indie rock duo Mayday and Zuke, also known as Bunk Bed Junction, as they attempt to overthrow the titular NSR’s stranglehold on the music scene in Vinyl City. While not quite perfect in execution, this game has personality to spare and ambition coming out its…ambition hole, we guess. If you like third-person action games with a killer soundtrack and super unique boss fights, you owe it to yourself to give this game a try.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure

Okay, maybe we didn’t need another LittleBigPlanet game after the original trilogy wrapped up in 2014. (Really, is an original trilogy ever not enough?) But here’s the thing: although Sackboy is a bit of a departure from the earlier games, it *feels like the game Media Molecule and Sumo Digital have been building up to all along, carefully refining the experience to the point where this entry retains all the charm and visual delight of the earlier games while taking the series in a slightly different direction.

*Real talk, we haven’t played this game yet, but as soon as we get the PS5 we ordered for $2500 from a definitely legitimate website, we’ll be sure to confirm that the game does, in fact, feel as good to play as it looks. We’ve heard good things, though, so even though we’ve overlooked this game, you definitely shouldn’t. It’s kind of a “do as we say, not as we do” situation.

Carrion

Video games are often about escapism and empowerment, so what better way to escape your everyday existence and feel more powerful than by playing as a nightmarish amorphous blob creature from hell as you rip your way out of an underground laboratory full of puny, helpless humans? (We’ve all had that power fantasy, right?) Carrion is a 2D action game, but where so many in that genre go for brutal difficulty or mind-bending puzzles, Devolver Digital seems to have put all their focus into making the game brutally fun instead. While there are some obstacles to slow your progress and some lateral thinking is required to make your way through, the creature you control is an unstoppable force of tendrils, spikes, and teeth that can only be held back by your pesky human morality…and you’ll have forgotten about that by the time you splatter your third armed guard into an unrecognizable pile of goo.

Now to the top 5!

5. Super Mega Baseball 3

The Super Mega Baseball franchise has been underrated for years, probably because nobody except the scrubbiest of Xbox scrubs have ever played it because MLB has not seen fit to grace the system with an official video game this generation. (No, RBI Baseball doesn’t count.) But this year’s entry, which is also available on Switch, PC, and yes, PlayStation, is particularly worthy of being considered a hidden gem for anyone who doesn’t have the option of booting up MLB The Show – and even some that do. While the PlayStation exclusive MLB-official games are always solid if unspectacular upgrades on the previous year’s entry, developers Metalhead Software have evolved the franchise from one entry to the next while retaining what makes the cartoony, arcade-style formula successful as an alternative to the more simulation-focused The Show. SMB3 brings several long-requested features, including tweaks to the base-stealing and pitching as well as a series-first Franchise mode. The option to play cross-platform in an Online League with friends on Xbox, Switch, PC, or PlayStation was added post-launch, meaning you can share with any of your friends who ever preferred NBA Jam to NBA 2K, NFL Blitz to Madden, or NHL Hits (anybody else remember that game?) to the EA NHL games. It may not be as over-the-top as any of those games, but it doesn’t take itself too seriously and is a ton of fun, and with sports providing an important escape for many during this difficult year, who doesn’t want more of that?

4. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

What first comes to mind when you hear something is “big in Japan”? Because whatever that is, it’s probably included in 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. Anime art style? Check. Kaiju? Biiiiiig check. Teenagers in giant mech suits? Naturally – who did you think was going to fight all those kaiju, the military? Of course it’s a bunch of improbably good-looking, mostly short-skirted teens. (Though it’s probably less fan-service-y than you might be expecting, with the notable exception of a particular school nurse. Oh, and all the characters appear to be tastefully nude inside those mech suits. Don’t ask.) And definitely don’t expect to fully understand the story, which is chock-full of sci-fi nonsense like time travel, robots, androids, and talking cats. Still, if any of the above appeals to you, 13 Sentinels is likely already one of your favorite games of the year, but you can probably count on one hand how many of your friends have ever heard of it, which is why it hasn’t appeared on too many “best of 2020” lists outside of those devoted specifically to RPGs. It’s worthy of recognition even if you aren’t a body-pillow owning mega-weeb, though, and although some of the RTS sections can get a little tedious, the enjoyably bonkers story and intriguing cast of characters (you’ll never guess how many protagonists there are) will keep you coming back for more, provided you can get past your preconceptions about those kinds of games.

3. Tell Me Why

Probably best known for being “that game with the trans protagonist” (or for getting “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys stuck in your head every time you read or hear the title), Tell Me Why is admittedly not for everyone, especially for those who use “walking sim” as an insult. However, if you’re into narrative-driven, emotionally resonant games like Life is Strange (developer Dontnod’s previous “choose-your-own-adventure” series) this game is absolutely worth your time. Gone are the overt “X will remember that” choices that can be off-putting and made so many of Telltale Games’ later efforts feel like self-parody – character relationships are subtly influenced through your choices, and although there are a few Big Important Choices™ along the way, they feel organic and in keeping with the unfolding of the plot rather than coming out of nowhere or existing just for the sake of introducing a major twist to the story. The art style is beautiful, the characters feel relatable and real, the story is emotional and mature, and the experience will stick with you far longer than the game’s runtime. Tell Me Why rises above its “very special episode” reputation and deserves to be remembered as one of the finest narrative games of the generation, not to mention one of the best games of 2020.

2. Spiritfarer

With so many Very Serious Things going on in the world this year, sometimes we all just need a cute, lighthearted indie game about ferrying spirits to the afterlife! (No, seriously, that is an accurate description of this game.) You play as Stella, who takes over for Charon as ferryperson between the living world and the Everdoor, which will take them to the afterlife. Your job along the way is to make your spirit charges as comfortable as possible and help talk them through the transition, yet that task is never taxing or stressful as you do everything at your own pace. Considering Animal Crossing was such a smash hit, it’s a real shame this game didn’t get more traction – it’s every bit as chill with plenty to do, just with an artsier style and weightier themes. It’s kind of a life management sim crossed with a 2D platformer, so fans of both (admittedly niche) genres were probably all over it, but for most it likely slipped through the cracks between larger releases.

1. Ori and the Will of the Wisps

You may have gotten through this list of overlooked games, many of which you may have never heard of, and you might now be thinking, “Wait, I’ve HEARD of Ori and the Will of the Wisps. It was nominated for Game of the Year at the Video Game Awards. It was one of the biggest Xbox exclusives of the year. How could it be overlooked?” Well first of all, Steve, thanks for saying all of that out loud to confirm that our secret recording devices are functioning properly. We really appreciate your input and your tacit approval of us spying on you at all times. Second, and more importantly, this game was never really taken seriously as a game of the year contender, as the voters predictably selected The Last of Us Part II to bolster the industry’s reputation for creating serious, artistic, mature games that definitely aren’t for kids, and fans chose Ghost of Tsushima because defending feudal Japan against seemingly impossible odds as the last remaining samurai standing against the Mongol Empire is just an undeniably cool thing to do. Meanwhile, Ori was meant to be a “just happy to be nominated” also-ran that had to content itself with a Golden Joystick award for Xbox Game of the Year against a fairly weak field and lots of top 10 finishes in “Best of 2020” lists. So why hasn’t this game made more of a cultural impact? Why is it that so many got to the end of the year, saw this game mentioned as one of the year’s best, and went, “Oh yeah, I remember that game, maybe I should try it out”? Well, the fact that it was an Xbox exclusive on release (though it was ported over to the Switch later in the year) probably didn’t help; neither did the fact that it was a sequel to the similarly overlooked (and similarly excellent) Ori and the Blind Forest. There were also some performance issues that may have soured some gamers on the experience early on, though those were patched out almost immediately after launch. Maybe the Hollow Knight-esque combat and Metroidvania stylings just didn’t resonate with fans of games that exclusively go “pew-pew” and then everything ‘splodes and it’s like “whoaaaaa” or whatever. Maybe gamers just don’t appreciate things that are emotional and beautiful and challenging but rewarding. MAYBE YOU DIRTY PLEBS JUST DON’T—but we digress. The likeliest culprit for why this game didn’t get the attention it deserved is that it was released in the immediate Before Times. You know, right before we all went into this seemingly endless lockdown, and we all looked for our comfort games that would make us feel like all is right with the world, like we are still in control of things, like things are simple and easy and nice. We weren’t in the right place for a game that would make us feel things, that would make us care about these characters so much, that would make us CRY…

Ahem. We’re okay now. Just play Ori and the Will of the Wisps if you haven’t already. Maybe play it again if you have. It’s really good, that’s all we’re trying to say here.

What do you think of our list? Are there any overlooked games that you loved this year that we missed? Let us know what you think in the comments below! And follow us on Twitter @FilmIronic to never miss a thing!