Over the next eight days, Hardcore Gamer will be revealing its Best of 2020 Awards leading up to our Game of the Year. Today we present you with the Best Action Game, RPG, Shooter, Platformer and Strategy Game. Please note that Cyberpunk 2077 did not meet our eligibility deadline for Best of 2020 Awards, but will qualify for consideration in our 2021 awards alongside any game released after December 9.

Ghost of Tsushima

2020 was a stellar year for action games. It may not have had Capcom’s duo of revamps and remakes, but it comes with monumental releases such as The Last of Us Part II, Hades and Demon’s Souls Remake, just to name a few. One game stood on top, though, as Sucker Punch’s first new IP in over a decade is a game that took us by storm. Best known for their work on Sly Cooper and Infamous, Sucker Punch Productions has taken a stab at a more foreign adventure, and the results are nothing short of spectacular. We’ve become somewhat burned out on open world games, yet the Bellevue-based studio was able to captivate us in exploring this luscious and rich world. It helps that the combat is enjoyable, the characters are memorable and the core exploration elements are top notch. It's a unique and tremendous experience that won't be forgotten any time soon.

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Final Fantasy VII Remake

Square Enix’s task felt impossible; remake one of the most iconic games of all time. While Final Fantasy VII will always have a special place in many gamer’s hearts, what Square Enix managed to achieve with Final Fantasy VII Remake is astounding. By finding a perfect balance between nostalgia and new elements, director Tetsuya Nomura and his team crafted a remarkable RPG. Real-time action and turn-based mechanics are perfectly married to deliver a wholly unique and visually-entertaining combat system. Materia returns, allowing players to build and grow their characters in a multitude of ways. The updated story captures the magic of the original game while adding its own unique twists. No, the pacing isn’t perfect, nor do all of the new elements feel like they belong in a Final Fantasy VII game. Despite this, Final Fantasy VII Remake captures the heart and magic of the original game while looking spectacular. Final Fantasy VII Remake delivers what made the original game special and builds a unique identity for itself. It’s not just a great RPG, it’s the best RPG of 2020.

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Doom Eternal

Doom 2016 was already one of the best shooters of the generation when it launched four years ago, so how did id Software do with the sequel? Well, they took everything that made the 2016 title great (the gunplay, weapons, enemy variety and level design) and cranked it up to eleven. Gunplay feels as tight as ever, giving players precision in this fast-paced game. Layered on top of this are new mechanics like resource management and demon weakpoints, which encourage thinking about every encounter. Weapons remain as engaging as ever with plenty of heavy hitters and fan favorites ready to slay the large amount of enemies thrown at the player. The cherry on top is the new level design philosophy where battle arenas allow for increased mobility, allowing you to zip around and engage enemies as you see fit. All these aspects come together to create the ‘Doom Dance,’ a perfect rhythm of gunplay, level design and mobility as you saunter around the arena defeating demons. Doom Eternal is exhilarating to play and never lets up. There was nothing else like it in 2020, easily making it the best Shooter of the year.

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Ori and the Will of the Wisps

It's always a sign of great game design when a player can instinctively know and feel that they’re growing in confidence and becoming accustomed to the larger stakes and feats put before them. Not least when that necessary teaching and instruction is so subtle you can barely notice it. Of the many achievements Ori and the Will of the Wisps can rightly claim to hold this year, it’s that its platforming, its very structure and progression, is so cleverly orchestrated. To the point you almost have to look back and reflect that not a few hours ago you were still anxious on tackling that seemingly-insignificant bed of spikes. But it’s the way, over the span of ten-or-so hours, that Ori can instill its players with such confidence, that's the real accomplishment. To go from simple slopes early on to risky, near-fatal feats of daring experimentation at the climax. The delicately-balanced difficulty curve, level design and variety of risk around every turn is what makes Ori and the Will of the Wisps shine as a terrific platforming experience.

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Crusader Kings III

When it comes to strategy games, it’s usually a safe bet that anything that has “Paradox” listed as the developer is going to be a winner and 2020 is no different. The studio that brought us Hearts of Iron, Stellaris, Europa Universalis and many more great franchises returned to their Crusader Kings IP for the first time in eight years and the results were a resounding success. Taking place in the middle ages, Crusader Kings III sees players exploring a massive world map including locales like Europe, Asia and Africa as they attempt to accrue as much power as possible, laying sieges and scheming behind the scenes. Filled with unique characters, players can do everything from starting their own religion to courting spouses. Historical strategy games aren’t for everybody, but anybody who likes to take arms throughout the annals of history knows exactly why Crusader Kings III is a resounding success.

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