This is around the time of year I gush about my favorite things from the previous 12 months in one big splurge. I’m going to split things up a little because *~content~*. First up are games and movies.
I’ve written about my first and third favorite 2020 games I played in 2020 over at Engadget — Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales respectively. The one that splits those is a flawed masterpiece. A technical marvel. A discourse poison pill. A bold experiment in storytelling. A game that’s too fucking long.
Yup, you’ve guessed it. It’s Ghost of Tsushima!
Just kidding, I haven’t played that yet.
The Last of Us Part II builds superbly on the first game, taking characters we already know and love and evolving their story in surprising ways while adding a bunch of new faces to the mix. Without giving too much away, it wraps an absorbing narrative around a powerful, emotional core.
It’s fundamentally an action game of massive scope with huge set pieces, but the most important aspects to me are the characterization and world building. The level of craft Naughty Dog plowed into this game is astounding. The talented team’s eye for detail is unparalleled, from the lush green plains of a delipidated downtown Seattle to the astonishing rope physics.
The environmental storytelling is on another level. Exploring a character’s base, as you get to do a few times throughout the game, tells you so much about them and their life. While the notes that are scattered around reveal more details about an area or how a corpse came to be there, I felt Naughty Dog relied on those a hair too much. I’m not sure whether there’s a more elegant solution (audio diaries? No thanks) and I did find they were overdone, but they reward you for fully investigating each area.
The characters are so well drawn and completely human. They feel like living, breathing people, despite existing only in motion-captured form in a fictional world full of grotesquely mutated creatures. They laugh, they cry; they fuck up, they make amends; they love, they hate. They fight and die for each other. Naughty Dog helped bring excellent performances to life across the board. Even the goons you dispatch along the way have names. The game handles issues of PTSD and identity somewhat delicately too.
I have my qualms about the length — there are absolutely some encounters that could have been cut to make things tighter — but there are many moments I’ll hang onto forever. The subway battle and skyscraper traversal will endure as some of my favorite beats in gaming. The story-centric sequences are vital to making this such a special experience. The museum section is simply wonderful, and there are so many important moments that build more layers onto these characters.
Perhaps this game’s most important legacy will be its extensive accessibility options. After The Last of Us Part II, there’s no excuse for any studio with similar resources not to fully explore making their games as inclusive as possible without impacting the core gameplay too much. However, I’m sure there are many players who would love to be able to skip all of the sections in which dogs may be harmed.
I’d be hard pressed to call The Last of Us Part II fun. The relentless, exhausting brutality can take its toll, so playing in smaller chunks and taking breaks is a wise way to approach it. There are beautifully tender moments and just enough levity for balance. I have some reservations about the story as well, particularly in terms of agency and how the motivations of certain characters are fully driven by external stimuli (I’m trying real hard to not spoil anything here).
Still, it’s a phenomenal experience. I’ve had many conversations about The Last of Us Part II over the last several years. I’ve finished the game twice and have barely touched it since August, but I still find myself thinking and talking about it regularly. In fact, I might have changed my mind about this being my second favorite game of 2020. It may have just slipped in to the top spot after all.
I’m incredibly sad that I haven’t been to a cinema, my forever happy place, since last January. Of the 2020 films I have seen, Soul is my favorite by a long shot. It’s gorgeously textured and intelligent, and a perfect companion piece to the incredible Inside Out.
Every few years, it’s a privilege to sit under Pete Docter’s learning tree. Even in my 30s, I learn more about life from his films than a university philosophy class ever could teach me. I’m so glad Pixar exists and makes the movies that it does. In a just world, they’d be a unifying force for all of us.
Boy, things really came to a head over the last week — or at least I hope they did. Knowing that you’re living through a time that will go down in the history books for several reasons will never not feel bizarre. I hope you and your loved ones are staying safe and you’re looking out for those around you.