Games That Were Important To Us in 2020
2020 was a year! And, unsurprisingly, a lot of us here at CAPY turned to video games as a way to help get through the year.
We asked a few members of the team to share some of the games that were most important to them during the year. Not all of these games were released in 2020, but all of them made a ridiculously difficult year a little bit more bearable.
Astroneer
“ASTRONEER was my game of 2020. It’s not new, it’s not using the fanciest tech, and there isn’t anything terribly cathartic about it. BUT what it does have going for it in 2020 is that it gave me a space to hang out with some friends online. We terraformed a dozen planets across multiple save games and just hung out on Skype as we played. We shared screens, bases, building and gathering duties. There was no stress aside from running out of oxygen. It was simply a space for us to exist blissfully together as we got caught up on what’s going on and kept our minds and hands busy with games. With plenty of turmoil out there this experience really helped with the loneliness and isolation of a pandemic and multiple lockdowns.”
— Christian Meyer, QA lead/game designer
*Editor note: “There was no stress aside from running out of oxygen” is a real statement about 2020.
Ark: Survival Evolved
“When I booted up Ark in 2020, I didn’t really expect to get sucked in. Boy, was I wrong. Spending my evenings with friends building overly-elaborate bases, hoarding an over-abundance of supplies, and taming an overly-populous (but appropriately behatted) menagerie of dinosaurs ended up becoming one of my best + most relaxing proxies for social time during lockdown this year.”
— Joel Burgess, studio director
“It’s a weird game.”
— Kaitlin Tremblay, lead narrative designer
Deep Rock Galactic
“I enjoyed playing Deep Rock Galactic in 2020. The pacing between moments of mission preparation, exploration, resource gathering, and enemy attack waves is perfect. Every class has unique and impactful abilities, encouraging teamwork and communication. Combine that with 20–40 minute missions and you’ve got an amazing cooperative experience that can fit in almost anyone’s schedule. For rock and stone!”
— Jon Maur, programmer
Noita
“Noita! God I love Noita. Noita is incredible. Noita’s sound design and music give it such an delicious and thick atmosphere. I loved exploring its dank as heck underworld, I got so into the setting. But really… Noita’s mechanics are what makes it so unbelievable incredible, and so fun to play. It’s fun to just stare at. All of the pixels and particles on the screen interacting with each other like a mad scientist’s chemistry set, it’s a wonder to behold. The way all of the mechanics interconnect makes exploring the possibilities so incredible. I’ve played the game for a good chunk of time, and still feel like I’ve barely seen the tip of the iceberg of what’s possible within the mechanics. Playing this game and staring at every little particle interaction feels like watching a mesmerizing fireworks show. The soundtrack is on Spotify and I also highly recommend it. Noita straight up blew my mind.”
— Kris Piotrowski, creative director
Phasmophobia
“Phasmophobia, created by Kinetic Games, has become a weekly game night staple for a handful of us throughout 2020! You can team up with friends, use ghost hunting items, and gather paranormal evidence to figure out which spirit is haunting the building you’re exploring. No two ghost hunting experiences are the same in Phasmophobia! We do recommend looking up tutorials on how to use all the equipment in the truck (or you can go in with no knowledge at all for some extra spooky times). The more you level up, the more difficult the maps, objectives and rules get! The best part about this 4 player co-op, is the thrill of making it back to your truck with everyone on your team still alive and getting to keep your equipment after every round. If you’ve tried out Phasmophobia, let us know your favourite scary moment about the game!
P.S: Don’t forget to take pictures of your dead friends for that insurance money!”
— Farah Coculuzzi, producer
“Dying in a closet has never been more fun.”
— Kelly Smith, art director
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
“I was having a really bad day at the start of the pandemic. For whatever reason. And so as a way of coping, I spent a bit of time building a fence around the house of a villager I didn’t like who lived on my Animal Crossing: New Horizons island. I remember a friend texting me, asking what I was doing, and so I said: “Bad day. Building a fence around Teddy’s house to lock him in.” And then within 30 minutes, my friends all showed up at my island, ready to help me build that fence. I think about that a lot, and how much New Horizons was a way for us to still be there for each other, even though the pandemic was keeping us physically apart. We threw surprise birthday parties, we watered each other’s flowers, and would visit each other’s islands to sell off turnips while having brunch together over a video call. It helped remind me that no matter what, I wouldn’t be alone through the pandemic.”
— Kaitlin Tremblay, lead narrative designer
“I’ve always had a deep love for Nintendo games. I love them because they feel like they’re made with your wellbeing in mind, as a core underlining philosophy. Animal Crossing seemed to come out at the exact time everyone needed it, at the very start of the pandemic. It felt almost like a miracle. It was exactly what we all needed when we were suddenly locked in our bedrooms and apartments. I played that game every day, for months. My island and its inhabitants were a temporary bandaid to get through the difficulty of isolation. My real-life friends visited my island and sent me gifts. I visited my nephew’s islands and hung out with them. The game’s humour, warmth and mindfulness-focused design, mixed with the connection it provided to my friends and family were just so exactly what I needed. Thinking about what Animal Crossing gave me in 2020 makes me want to cry. I love you, Animal Crossing.”
— Kris Piotrowski, creative director
Chess
“I use to play a lot of Chess. As a kid my parent’s put me into chess camp. In high school, I was a super cool member of the chess team. We even went as far as Ottawa for tournaments. Eventually I stopped my climb to be the next Bobby Fischer in favour of the next hottest console. With the recent popularity of The Queen’s Gambit, chess is back in the mainstream and I feel seen. I’ve been playing with my partner at home and virtually online. Strategy, intrigue, competition, royalty. What more could you ask for?!”
— Vic Nguyen, artist
Call of Duty: Warzone
“Warzone was my first intro to Battle Royale, and the first time I return to FPS multiplayer in maybe a decade. For similar reasons as Animal Crossing, I ended up playing a heck of a lot of Warzone just to hang out with my buds. The one thing I didn’t expect from Warzone was how unexpectedly relaxing it was. Most of our matches had us running around the outskirts of the maps, with about 10% of the finale of each match actually consisting of shooty-bang-bang FPS combat. So for me, Warzone was about 90% running around some nice looking hills tops with Greg Rice and friends. Now I’m super into Battle Royale because of it.”
— Kris Piotrowski, creative director
“Teaming up with my Capy squad and dropping into COD: Warzone was some good fun in 2020. I can’t say we ever won a game but it was nice to stay connected with each other and escape the world from time to time.”
— Sam Webster, Grindstone OST composer
Observation
“With a mesmerizing title intro that’s on par with the best of today’s prestige TV, Observation immediately transported me into it’s tense, claustrophobic world. Much of the team at No Code’s previous work on Alien Isolation and it’s U.I principles carries over into this game, with its clunky and utilitarian nature helping sell the fantasy for playing as the A.I aboard a near-future space station. The unfolding narrative plays with the nature of emerging sentience, and instills dread when it becomes unclear if your actions have the best intentions in mind for Emma, the human protagonist, especially when an outside influence begins to manifest. The visual presentation and sound design is stunning, and really grounds the player inside the station, and beyond. If you enjoy hard science-fiction and thrillers like Moon or 2001, then I can’t recommend this enough.”
— Ben Thomas, artist
Ghosts of Tsushima
“All of my top games this year served a similar purpose during the pandemic. AC and Warzone were ways to connect with my friends, who I missed so much throughout the year. Ghosts, however, was a game I played and nearly 100%’d on my own. Ghosts’ open world Tsushima was so jaw-droppingly beautiful, so lush, so full of incredible vistas… I genuinely fell in love with it. I was stuck at home with my parents this year, and Ghosts was the first game that my Mom actually sat down with me to watch me play. It was kind of special for that reason. My Mom was suddenly in awe of video games because of Ghost of Tsushima. She was into the story, the setting… when I found really beautiful locations in Ghosts’ world, I’d call her over and slowly walk around to show her. She’d sit on the couch and watch me go for a walk through flowing field of grass, or a dense bamboo forest. Of course, I loved all the actual gameplay a well, the combat, the stealth and the incredible narrative design. But the game world itself, the light through the trees, the leaves in the wind, the feeling of riding on horseback through the snow… The island of Tsushima was a place I loved to escape to.”
— Kris Piotrowski, creative director
Far Cry 5
“I’m crouched (always crouched) and creeping around the perimeter fencing of the outpost. My stealth rhythm almost metronomic: creep past obstructed view, pull binoculars, mark target, quick-switch back to silenced rifle, creep, repeat. I approach every outpost the same way, patiently identifying every AI-controlled enemy that requires hot death, and then methodically killing my way, geographically, from the outside in until the last hapless enemy falls and I collect my measly 400 bux (life is very, very cheap in Hope County, Montana).
I’ve articulated this precise murder recipe over mic to my friend (also named Dan) who is approaching the outpost from another unseen direction. We are playing Far Cry 5’s campaign together in online co-op, a 2-year-old game we both bought on sale. This is what passes for ‘hanging out’ in 2020: the sound of beer cans hissing open over mic, asking how our respective kids are doing with online schooling and not listening to the answer cuz a truckload of dickheads roll up on us and we both go weapons hot.
This is our first outpost raid together and so far our murder-chemistry is clicking: we’re seeing each others’ marked targets, our presence is undetected, only one more alarm to bypass. I have the patience of Job, my finger resting beside, not on, the right trigger button like I’ve had military training to avoid accidental discharge. This outpost will be ours, it’s only a matter of time now. I don’t know where Dan is, but I assume he’s doing the same stalking-cat routine as me, both of us waiting for the other to confirm our readiness to pounce. Then I hear Dan say, ‘ooh an oil barrel!’ followed by a fireball erupting in the middle of the outpost and then the familiar call-and-response of failure: enemy gunfire and shouting, the alarm shrieking and the whir of helicopter blades delivering reinforcements. Dan and I are both gunned down as we try to juke our way through a storm of bullets. The outpost remains intact, Ubisoft’s gameplay programmers the victors. “What happened to stealth?” I ask Dan through tears of laughter. Over many nights in Hope County with Dan, I realize that no matter how much planning we do, or agreement on a strict, tactical approach, he will never not shoot an oil barrel or gas tank. He will even shoot the tanks in our own reclaimed bases, turning our allied forces suddenly, violently against us — forcing us to gun down the good guys just to avoid a death reload.
However, despite how much Dan’s pavlovian response to combustibles conflicts with my stealthy, almost OCD approach, I’m grateful for the interaction. I would definitely trade time spent killing our way around Hope County for just a regular ol’ hang with friends over a nice meal, but 2020 taught me you gotta take what you can get and be happy with what you got. I also learned that one way to battle the existential threat of sickness and death is with good ol’, sale-priced, consequence-free digital murder with friends!.”
— Dan Vader, game director
Honourable Shout-Out: Hades
And, of course, Hades. We all made it out of hell, together.
Thanks to everyone who made the games that got us through! Here’s to another, hopefully better, year.
