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 New IP, Sequel, Remaster/Remake, Surprise and Puzzle 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

Sucker Punch’s penchant for crafting compelling game worlds and free-flowing gameplay shined with 2009's Infamous, but 2020's Ghost of Tsushima took that foundation to the next level. Telling a tale of a samurai named Jin out to save Tsushima island, you find yourself torn between the honor of the past and the knowledge that abiding to it will doom everyone you care about. Going against the code, however, makes you a “ghost” and leads to having to make tough choices. The run and flow are very much a blend of the best of Assassin’s Creed and Infamous, with intricate combat. The in-depth combat allows you to block, parry and even get into cinematic showdowns with foes. You can also use things like smoke bombs to escape or stealth for clean, quick kills. Ghost of Tsushima is a gorgeous-looking game with a variety of art filters to help make the samurai film experience more authentic, while audio options do the same with various dub and subtitle options. It’s one of 2020's strongest releases and the best technical showcase from Sucker Punch to date.

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The Last of Us: Part II

The Last of Us is one of, if not the greatest game, of the seventh generation of consoles. Its presentation, performances, gameplay and story enraptured players back in 2013. Putting together a sequel would be no easy task, but seven years later, Naughty Dog managed to craft a highly-ambitious sequel that builds and expands on what made the original so successful. The Last of Us Part II delvers an emotionally-raw story with rousing themes and award-winning performances from Ashely Johnson (Ellie) and Laura Bailey (Abby). Naughty Dog has crafted a larger world with deadly possibilities and provided new game mechanics to make use of them. Ellie and Abby are more deadly than Joel ever was, able to go prone and utilize truly brutal weapons. It’s all wrapped together in a gorgeous presentation that stands as one of the technically best-looking games ever created, and it’s simply astounding what Naughty Dog managed to get out of the PS4. While fans will debate whether the first or the sequel is better, Naughty Dog has managed to create a sequel that is on par with, if not better than, one of the best games of the previous generation. The Last of Us Part II is no doubt the best sequel of 2020.

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Demon's Souls

FromSoftware created, or at least popularized, the Souls formula for the world, and since Demon’s Souls’ launch in 2009 we’ve seen numerous developers trying to replicate it, some to relative success, while most fall flat. It only made sense that we’d see a remake of where it all came from, although there was concern that because Bluepoint was assigned to the project instead of FromSoftware, it wouldn’t be the same. Fortunately, those concerns were put to rest when the game came out as it was met with overwhelming praise. The new developers didn’t stray too far from the original material and reminded us why the Souls franchise is just so impactful. This is arguably the hardest Souls game there is, giving players fewer checkpoints and shortcuts, with some of the most punishing scenarios thanks to its World Tendency mechanic. Bluepoint has done an astonishing job remaking Demon’s Souls, making us excited to see even more from the developer down the line.

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Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

No one could have predicted that Hyrule Warriors would get a sequel so soon, let alone one that acts as a canonical prequel to Breath of the Wild. Age of Calamity came as an utter surprise the morning it was announced, leaving fans both in awe and confused about this new Zelda title. Not only was it a literal surprise reveal, but the fact that Nintendo has begun diving so deep into the lore of the last big Zelda title makes it all the more intriguing and curious on the future moving forward. Although it doesn’t have all the content of what the original Hyrule Warriors ultimately offered, Age of Calamity brought with it a tight-knit story and great amount of extras that were fun without feeling overwhelming. While there were many great surprises this year, none caught us quite off guard as Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, which made it our favorite surprise this year.

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Tetris Effect: Connected

There’s a case to be made that 2020, at the very least, has been a great year for puzzle game enthusiasts. Games of varied pitches, mechanics, visual styles and end deliveries alike; for all the diverse ideas on show and occasionally head-banging solutions to plunder from out such long stretches of self-imposed frustration, it’s in no way a shun when something like Tetris Effect: Connected still shines as one of the best Puzzle genre releases in recent times. The original Tetris Effect in 2018 was a bafflingly-brilliant interpretation of Tetris through one of the best audio-visual synergies for some time. And what Connected does is expand that immersive, feel-good vibe into multiplayer. Whether you were playing competitively or co-operatively with fellow players, Connected’s application of the Effect formula made both victory and teamwork feel that much sweeter -- thanks in no small part to the methodology and the strategy that has made all past falling-block conundrums a satisfying task to conquer. Alongside hearing all the contextual audio snippets and transitions of old and new music, Tetris Effect: Connected was an unexpected yet nonetheless absorbing addition to an already-engaging Tetris game.

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