General News - RPG of the Year 2020 @ Gamespot

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Gamespot have listed their highest rated RPGs of 2020:

Here is GameSpot's roundup of 2020's best RPGs across different platforms.

Throughout its history, the role-playing game genre has offered some of the more complex pieces of storytelling and gameplay within the medium of games. In 2020, the RPG genre hit some notable strides with some great releases. Along with the revival of the legendary JRPG Final Fantasy VII with its remake, we also saw other games lean further into the craft of letting players chart their own stories and character dynamics in games like Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Crusader Kings III.

In the following roundup, you can find a selection of RPGs that GameSpot has rated an 8 and above throughout 2020. This year proved to be a remarkable year for the RPG genre, and the games we've pulled together below take the familiar tenets of the genre and reincorporate them in some exciting ways.


  • 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - 9/10
  • Assassin's Creed Valhalla - 8/10
  • Crusader Kings III - 8/10
  • Demon's Souls - 9/10
  • Destiny 2: Beyond Light - 8/10
  • Final Fantasy VII Remake - 10/10
  • Hades - 9/10
  • Moon - 8/10
  • Mortal Shell - 8/10
  • Nioh 2 - 8/10
  • Paper Mario: The Origami King - 8/10
  • Persona 5 Royal - 10/10
  • Risk of Rain 2 - 8/10
  • Star Renegades - 8/10
  • XCOM: Chimera Squad - 8/10
  • Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition - 9/10
  • Yakuza: Like a Dragon - 9/10
[...]
More information.
 
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I've never liked Gamespot. They've always been overly generous with their scoring imo, and they're the epitome of mainstream.
 
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Gamespot, as far as I know, is the FIRST stream that other streams grew around to make the main stream. Seriously, I think it pre-dates Google and goes back to the days when that Internet entity (who's initials I've forgotten) would post lists of new websites every week. I know I put off getting a username/login for years before finally getting one so I could access the guide they wrote for Sacrifice and that game came out in 2000.

Oh, Wikipedia to the rescue! Yeah, GameSpot's 25th anniversary is next month.

To be honest, though, I haven't gone there as much lately. If I still had a remotely up to date console it would be more interesting, I think. It's definitely a good place for watching the console wars.
 
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Gamespot was good at one time, many years ago, with good reviews and such, but like just about all modern mainstream news and especially the games media, it became mediocre, corrupted and basically useless.
 
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I didn't play a single one of those games and 11 of the names I didn't even recognize. So not my list.
 
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"This year proved to be a remarkable year for the RPG genre" :lol::lol:
 
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Seems way below average from where I stand. In fact, if you don't include Cyberpunk 2077 (which won't be included in a lot of 2020 awards because of the late release), then it could be the worst year in a long time. I guess there's Wasteland 3…?

Amusingly, Wasteland 3 (7.5) and Cyberpunk 2077 (7) are rated too low to appear in this list. Most of the games that are on the list aren't even RPGs. Complete waste of time, but I guess that's to be expected from Gamespot.
 
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I can't speak for consoles of course, but AC Valhalla being better than CP77? Oh well... :rolleyes:
 
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Standard expected reaction:

tenor.gif
 
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I like a bunch of these games (or in some cases am pretty sure I will when I get around to them, like Yakuza), but this list is very much generated on the idea that almost anything can be called an RPG. I don't see much on there that I would classify as such. Pretty much just a couple of JRPGs.
 
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I like a bunch of these games (or in some cases am pretty sure I will when I get around to them, like Yakuza), but this list is very much generated on the idea that almost anything can be called an RPG. I don't see much on there that I would classify as such. Pretty much just a couple of JRPGs.
Well that is the case this year as it was a pretty weak year for just RPGs. Sure a few big hits but most are games with just RPG elements that mainstream sites call RPGs.

If you love low budget RPGs though there are plenty.
 
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Seems way below average from where I stand. In fact, if you don't include Cyberpunk 2077 (which won't be included in a lot of 2020 awards because of the late release), then it could be the worst year in a long time. I guess there's Wasteland 3…?

Yeah, for PC titles at least, it was pretty mediocre. Horizon Zero Dawn was really good, but that was a re-release. I haven't played W3 yet and don't plan to anytime soon because I know inXile will still be tweaking it for awhile. AC: Valhalla doesn't appeal to me much.

2021 should be better with games like BG III and (hopefully) Elex 2.
 
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I haven't played W3 yet and don't plan to anytime soon
I thought I was alone on this site with that decision.
 
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2021 should be better with games like BG III and (hopefully) Elex 2.
Pathfinder: WotR looks still on pace for 2021, and there's also Bloodlines 2 (though I know expectations are down for that). Also some lower-budgets like Solasta, Black Geyser, Waylanders, and the Geneforge 1 remake. Urban Strife also looks interesting. Colony Ship is technically supposed to come out in 2021 still, too, but I bet that ends up being 2022. 2021 could be the best year in a while.
 
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Yeah 2021 looks better for PC RPGs if the games don't get delayed again.:nod:
 
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I can't really recall what I played this year exactly, in between quarantines. Wasteland 3 would be one of the few current release RPGs I've completed. I was tempted to purchase the listed "Hades" title however; it's a fast, roguelike a-rpg with heaps of praise.

Looking forward to Pathfinder the most this next year.
 
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