2020 has been a rough year, and it’s an undersell to say video games have seen a resurgence thanks to the pandemic, quarantine and utter depression that is the dreadful state of the world.
Still, it’s important for us at Gamer Malaya and Gamer Matters to continue to convene at each of the year to discuss, deliberate and most importantly- celebrate – the hard work and passion from video game developers big and small. In times like this, video games have been a great outlet of introspect, escapism, and a place to just have fun. So it’s good to remember the best games that came out this year.
(And also remember some of the most awful and disappointing ones as well.)
The Gamer Malaya and Gamer Matters Game Of The Year Awards 2020 celebrates the 32 best games of the year that we play, watch and felt its presence in 9 different awards.
This is a completely subjective process from a panel of three crew members- various biases are evidently at play- as this is, after all, our Game Of The Year awards. Don’t be surprised seeing some interesting picks that differ from the general consensus.
(The following will be updated as we announce the winners, winners highlighted in bold)
Here is the list of awards for GM GOTY 2020:
Best Main Menu/ Startup Sequence
First impressions are not everything, but always important. This is to celebrate the games that make us hype, or make it easy to set up our preferences from the very first thing it loads.
- Dreams
- Final Fantasy VII Remake
- Ghost Of Tsushima
- Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure
Best Meme Generator
The best games that dominated our conversations, social media, and shitposts throughout the year
- Among Us
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Final Fantasy VII Remake
- Half-Life Alyx
- Yakuza
Best Remake/Remaster
Either the game holds up really well or the new release spruced up in a major way that made us love the same game all over again
- Command & Conquer Remastered Collection
- Final Fantasy VII Remake
- Resident Evil 3 Remake
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2
- Trials Of Mana
The Anan Award For Best Game We Didn’t Play
The game we love best from afar and pining to play soon
- Animal Crossing New Horizons
- Flight Simulator 2020
- Hades
- Half Life Alyx
- Maneater
Best Racing Game
The only normal genre-based game award here and it is as it says
- Assetto Corsa Competizione
- Dirt 5
- Hotshot Racing
- Mafia Definitive Edition
- Project CARS 3
Best a e s t h e t i c
The best game to use a style,a combination of artstyle and sound design, that makes it stand out from the beige of normality
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Ghost Of Tsushima
- Hotshot Racing
- No Straight Roads
- Streets Of Rage 4
The David Cage Award For Best Story
The narrative that captures our hearts and minds delivered in video game form
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Final Fantasy 7 Remake
- Frog Fractions: Game of the Decade Edition
- Watch Dogs: Legion
- Yakuza: Like A Dragon
Most Surprising Game
Surprise! Didn’t expect it to be this good now did we? For the game that came out of nowhere with no hype, or just plain good beyond our expectations
- Fall Guys
- Frog Fractions: Game of the Decade Edition
- Journey To The Savage Planet
- Half-Life Alyx
- XCOM Chimera Squad
Danial’s Trashfire Award
Why? These games are either objectively the worst or the ones with so much squandered potential. Put in the trashfire where it belongs
- Fast and Furious: Crossroads
- Cooking Mama: Cookstar
- Warcraft 3: Reforged
- Marvel’s The Avengers
- Cyberpunk 2077 Console Edition
Game Of The Year, GM’s Top 10 Games Of 2020
The big one. As it says, the Gamer Malaya and Gamer Matters Game Of The Year 2020 award. The game we collectively believe to be the best released this year
- Yakuza: Like A Dragon
- Final Fantasy VII Remake
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Watch_Dogs: Legion
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2
- Fall Guys
- Dreams
- Doom Eternal
- Resident Evil 3
- Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales
The full 4-hour deliberation, as episode 074 of dia.log – The Gamer Matters Podcast now available on YouTube here:
Here is the audio-only version on Anchor. You can also listen to it via the Anchor app which allows you to skip certain segments of the podcast:
dia.log – The Gamer Matters Podcast is also available on iTunes, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, and Podchaser.