The best 2020 games so far to fill your summer lockdown hours

It’s time to face one of those uncomfortable truths: 2020 is only half over.

I know. I know. It feels like 10,000 years have gone by. But it’s true. We’re six months into the year, and that means we have six months worth of games to distract us, in their own ways, from what’s going on outside.

As the summer weather sets in, you’re probably spending more time browsing through the assortment of (relatively) newly released games. Nothing beats the heat like an engrossing story that keeps you glued to your TV for multiple hours, right?

Well, great news. We’ve done the work for you. Read on for a rundown of our favorite 2020 games so far, to keep you occupied well into the summer.

It’s surreal to be talking about a new Half-Life game in 2020, but here we are. There was every reason to believe that Valve, propelled by its success with Steam, was done with the classic game series. Then Half-Life: Alyx came along to give everyone second thoughts about their refusal to embrace virtual reality. Yes, this new chapter in Valve’s adventure is a VR game, and quite a good one. It brings back the incredible Gravity Gun from Half-Life 2 but lets you play with it inside a fully immersive virtual environment.

Available for: PC (VR headset required)

Chase away your frustrations with a beefy shotgun and a demon to point it at. Doom Eternal is the fast-paced sequel to id Software’s 2016 reimagining of the classic video game series. Filled with beautiful (if broken and post-apocalyptic) environments and a wide array of imaginatively designed hellspawn, it’s an eye-catching game to look at. But the simple act of running around at high speeds and blasting those demons in the face with an ever-growing arsenal of hard-hitting weapons is the real selling point for Doom Eternal. It’s pretty much the opposite of Animal Crossing.

Available for: PC, PlayStation 4, Switch, Xbox One

I’ve been following Kentucky Route Zero, an episodic series from indie studio Cardboard Computer, for years. But I still haven’t played the game’s final episode, so I’ll let the review from Mashable’s Kellen Beck make the pitch here: 

When I play the games I love most, I don’t think about things like death, my own struggles, or days that I wish had never happened. I don’t think about debt. I don’t think about all the ways that life can spiral out of control.

Kentucky Route Zero, without telling me to, made me think about these things. It made me uncomfortable but it also brought a healthy dose of catharsis to the experience. I don’t think I was ready for it, but I’m glad I experienced it.

Available for: PC/Mac/Linux, PlayStation 4, Switch, Xbox One

Nostalgia is a powerful drug. Final Fantasy VII Remake is a majorly spiffed-up re-do of the PlayStation 2 classic, but only the first third of that earlier game. It makes some different choices with the story and plays more like Final Fantasy XV than it does the earlier games. Even still, the game plays like you want to remember it playing. Also, there’s a bananas boss fight where you fight a literal  demon house. This game is the real deal.

Available for: PlayStation 4

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is the kind of game that fans of the NES/SNES era tend to love. It’s a 2D game of jumping between platforms and solving environmental puzzles, all while fending off an assortment of foes. Its structure immediately begs comparisons to fan favorites like Super Metroid or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, by which I mean it’s a relatively open game that rewards players for taking the time to explore and discover. Wrapping the whole package together is a charming story filled with lovable characters. It’s an incredibly challenging game, too, so be ready to tweak the difficulty if it gets to be too much. But the journey you get to take is worth your time.

Available for: PC, Xbox One

Honestly, I have a hard time recommending The Last of Us Part II to anyone. It’s a brutal game, steeped in misery and cruelty. Violence is its love language, and I didn’t personally care for the direction it took with Ellie. But it’s also a tremendous artistic effort that has power and emotional resonance. It’s something that sticks with you long after you put the controller down. You need to prepare yourself going in for a journey that’s going to test your resolve to continue. But for many, it’ll be a journey worth taking. The game may not be for me, but it’s easily one of the most impactful gaming experiences released so far in 2020.

Available for: PlayStation 4

Few games of 2020 have ignited the wider public’s interest more than Nintendo’s latest return to the Animal Crossing stage. And while there are signs that some of the excitement is heightened by the game’s fad status, Animal Crossing: New Horizons quickly asserts itself as an engrossing and meditative daily habit once you start playing. It’s a simple game of living on a distant island and carving out your own little piece of paradise. There’s fishing, gardening, interior design, and a whole mess of other low-stress activities. Stuck in a city apartment and feeling trapped by ongoing lockdowns? Here’s you’re blissful escape.

Available for: Switch

Every so often an indie game comes along that’s widely accessible for all levels of skill and powered by an emotionally resonant story. There are other 2020 games that might fit this bill, but none landed with more of a splash than If Found…. The latest game from Dublin-based studio Dreamfeel and publisher Annapurna Interactive tells the story of Kasio, a 23-year-old transgender woman and recent college graduate who moves in with a group of friends after she’s shunned from her family’s home. There’s also a sci-fi twist that springs out of Kasio’s personal interest in outer space. The whole thing comes together around a simple game mechanic of scrubbing away scenes and text with a virtual eraser. This is one of those games that’s better played than described, so get on it. You probably have the hardware you need already.

Available for: iOS, PC/Mac