IMHO: 2020’s Best Games & Content
I was able to fit a lot of content consumption into my little Philadelphia rowhome because of stay-at-home orders this year. Let’s get into the cream of the crop, whether it dropped this year or just finally found a moment in the sun - here is the best video games and music/film/reading content of 2020. Note: this article contains some affiliate links to Amazon products - I may receive a commission if you buy something after clicking through one of those links.
Games
Best New Release: Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Not much to be said other than holy shit was 2020 a year for the “life sim” genre to thrive if there ever was one. I had been waiting for a proper console Animal Crossing since the Gamecube (I skipped the Wii generations, and who the hell was Amiibo Festival supposed to be for?), and Animal Crossing: New Horizons delivered. It’s patch-centric delivery of new content may have felt a little weird in another year, and at points this spring felt like a drought when I was most deeply invested in upgrading my island. But as the year wound on, I' have enjoyed the slow drip of holidays that have summoned me back to Mirrodin for more adventures. For proof of how much damn time I’ve put into this game throughout the year, check out my custom designs page!
Best GaaS Season: Fortnite: Chapter 2 Season 4
First reaction to an All-Marvel Battle Pass? Cringe. Second reaction? Oh wait, these skins are going to be way more usable than Climbing Girl or Spray Paint Guy - you know, the typical “premium” battle pass content that may or may not be impressive to have show up on your random favorite rotation. The map improvements were awesome (fighting Dr. Doom and hopping around on dead Sentinels were instant highlights) and the all-ages appeal of Marvel made it quite possibly the only IP that could pull off something of this scope in an existent video game environment without half of the playerbase opting out. They actually pulled off a pretty tasteful tribute to the late great Chadwick Boaseman too, pictured above.
Best New Wargaming Model I painted: Commander Shadowsun
Character models in Warhammer 40,000 are pretty much always guaranteed to be challenigng for hobbyists because of their high level of detail and dramatic posing which creates tough angles to paint on (especially for scrubs like me who don’t paint before assembly). I was really proud of how I was able to take this new model of prolific Tau Empire heroine Commander Shadowsun and make her a centerpiece of my overall army by contrasting the red and green highlights on her two specialty Combat Drones. The “stoplight” swatch can be achieved by a wide range of paints, but Nazdreg Yellow is my go-to contrast paint whenever I’m starting a new Tau model. I love how it sinks into gaps in the models with a deep brown, which feels plenty earthy for our crunchy granola Greater Do-Gooders.
Best Magic: the Gathering Set: Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths
Ikoria was sweet because it 1) tastefully pulled off the Godzilla cards, which could have been Walking Dead on arrival in another timeline 2) Mutate was a sick mechanic and managed to be relatively playable for most players 3) the draft format skews heavy towards cycling… which is supported in 3 colors, so everybody moves fast and plays powerfully.
Music
Album of the Year: “City on Lock” by City Girls
While many critics and fans were quick to hand over the hip-hop crown for the year to Meghan Thee Stallion following the shock-value of WAP and the anticipation for her debut(??) album, Good News ended up digesting a little more like Fine News. And this was all too little to late for me, as my Spotify had been commandeered by Yung Miami and JT two month prior. City on Lock was not another immediately-tired COVID-19 lockdown reference (thank god), but a summary of the state of Miami… no, national rap music in the face of these two emcees. One of my favorite things about this album is how the City Girls approach their backing tracks with the intensity of an arms race. The raw bark of the ad libs on “My Type” will make you recoil, and “come out ho” from “Come Outside” is easily my quotable line of the year. Ironic for the year of quarantine I guess - City Girls was like the last raspy breath of nightlife I had in 2020.
Throwback Album of the Year: “Fishscale” by Ghostface Killah
This is basically an album about working from home. I work on a laptop and get tempted by messing around on Reddit, and Ghostface works on a crack stove and gets tempted by messing around with the product. Both of us have complicated relationships with the friends and lovers that we share our rental home/de facto office from, and while I don’t have addicts knocking at the door offering me Playstations for crack rocks, I might have done some dirty crimes myself this year if it would have helped me get an Xbox Series X.
Film & TV
Movie of the Year: Uncut Gems
Best New Series: The Circle
Did I ever tell you guys I’m a reality TV buff? I was prepared for The Circle to be corny af with hamfisted social media references, but the format worked suprisingly well as a twist on the Survivor format: contestants are isolated in fancy apartments, but communicate using the titular faux-social network in a variety of challenges and deliberations about who to send home. Naturally, some of the contestants are “catfishing” by using someone else’s mannerisms
