Video games are teenagers’ favorite thing.The games now are so realistic and more complex especially with the new gaming systems. With the Game of the Year awards being right around the corner, now is the perfect time to talk about all the games that came out in 2020 as well as some of our favorites that have been around for a little while but still hold our attention. Note: This list will have heavy spoilers for some games.

1. Ghost Of  Tsushima

In this game you play as a samurai named Jin Sakia who was thought to be dead in the Battle of Komoda Beach. In the fi

ght you fight the Mongols and end up losing, but you get nursed back to health by a thief. The rest of the game has you go to save your uncle, who is a samurai leader so he was captured, then you must reclaim your (Jin’s) Home, in witch Jin embraces the fact that he is the ghost, so he stops fighting in honor, essentially breaking the samurai code of honor. He attacks from the shadows instead of facing his enemies head on, so he was imprisoned by his uncle. After his escape his trusty horse companion was shot dead. Now Jin must travel alone to find his friends and kill Khotan Khan (the war general for the Mongols) once and for all. But when he does Jin’s uncle receives word from the mainland that Jin must be killed for dishonoring the samurai code of honor, so you have one last fight against Lord Shimura (Jin’s Uncle), after you beat Lord Shimura, he asks you to kill him honorably one last time, so you are given the choice to walk away or kill Lord Shimura. This game I feel was an absolute masterpiece. I didn’t see any imperfections in the game so I would give it a 10 out of 10. –Jakob Teixeira

2. Final Fantasy 7 Remake 

In this game you play as the mercenary-for-pay called Cloud, just like in the original game. As Cloud you get to know the people who hired you. And you get to realize all the odd things going on, and try to put a stop to it. This game might have the same overall story, but the developers got to put much more detail in the story of the game. And the gameplay combined makes it an amazing game. In the original RPG game you had a turn based combat system. However in the remake of the game, the combat changes to a more action RPG game where you have much more control over the dodging and blocking system. This game improves on an already amazing game. The combat and story makes it amazing. Final Fantasy 7 Remake only has two downsides. One of them is that the game is mostly linear until the 16th chapter (there are 18 chapters in the game). And also, this is only one part, the other 2 parts are still in development. However even though it is only one of probably 3 parts, it still clocks in at about 16 to 20 hours of just the story. So I’d give it a 8.8 out of 10. –Jakob Teixeira

3. NBA 2K21

NBA 2k21 is the newest game to the NBA 2k franchise and it is so fun to play. It has everything. If you wanted to play with a friend you just go to the online tab and invite them or if you want to manage a team you go to GM mode. My favorite is probably career mode. It is so interesting to follow the story they provide you where you pick your team you want to go to and you go on and win games throughout the season and eventually you get to the finals and can win a championship.But at the same time there are some takeaways like sometimes the server will crash and you might have to start a game over and that’s a bit annoying, Other than that it is an all-around great game. –Zachary Parlee

4. Modern Warfare: Warzone

The game Warzone is a battle royale type game with 150 players. You can play solos, duos, trios, or quads. So that means you can play with your friends. Warzone is a strategic game you have to plan and play with your brain. It’s a shooting game so also you have to have good aim. The game is based in Russia with actual places in real life just with different names. A lot of kids like the game because of how you have to communicate when playing with your friends. Most people think 150 players is too much but the map is so big that it doesn’t even seem like a lot. The map closes though because there is a deadly fog that gets on the map. Players have to get in the safe zone and look out for other players too so they don’t die. Then when you get the win you get a big rush of excitement because you won a battle royale game with 150 people in it. Now that the game is getting older people are getting mad because there are hackers in the game. Activision, the company that made it, has tried to make a system to get rid of these hackers.  –Tyler David

5. Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time

It isn’t a very well known game but I have been playing it since I was a kid. In the game you play as different characters to complete all kinds of tasks some are very simple such as simply activating switches to unlock things but others are more difficult like having to shoot moving targets and get a certain number of points in a certain amount of time. Once you get through all the tasks in a certain level you have to defeat the final boss to move on to the next level. I think this is a good game because it is different from all the other games I’ve played. It isn’t just your typical shooting or fighting game where you can predict the pattern after playing it enough times. This game actually makes you think and pay attention to everything that is going on around you. The only thing that I do not like about the game is the way that it ends on a cliffhanger about the main character. After playing the game for multiple years of my life that made me kind of sad.  I personally don’t think there are any games that are comparable to Sly Cooper but my sister has said that it is somewhat similar to a game called Ratchet and Clank that I personally have never played.  –Caitlin Welsh

6. Last of Us 2 

In this game you play as the now 19-year-old Ellie attempting to take revenge and kill a girl who killed Ellie’s father figure called Joel.  However we come to realize that her revenge isn’t just built off the fact that he was her father figure but also because she felt very guilty that she didn’t talk to Joel much at all before he died thanks to events that happened in the first game. We also learn to understand the killer as we play as her (Abby) in the last half of the game. We find out late in the game that Abby killed Joel because Joel killed Abby’s father who was a surgeon in the first game who had to make a cure for the zombie outbreak, however in order to make a cure he had to kill Ellie, as she was the only one who is immune to the outbreak. This game wanted the players to be angry at Abby for killing Joel so you play in Ellie’s perspective for the first half of the game, The second half we Learn that what Ellie is doing isn’t any better than what Abby did to Joel. And the game wants us to “like” or at least understand Abby.By the end of the game, Ellie and Abby meet up and you have this one final fight where both characters are very weak from their long journey. But then it looks like Ellie will win the fight and finally kill Abby as she has her under the water, but then she remembers her last  conversation with Joel and stops feeling guilty about not talking to Joel, she finally accepts everything that happens, so she lets Abby go. I think this game was close to a masterpiece, however they could have moved the events so we as the player could better understand both of them without being blinded by hate. For that I give “Last of Us 2” a 9 out of 10.  –Jakob Teixeira

7. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

This was one of the most expansive and exploitative games to come out in 2017. A game packed with tons of content that would take around 1000 hours to get to 100% it. The story follows Link after walking up from a 1oo year slumber and in his quest to stop calamity Ganon and save what is left of the kingdom of Hyrule. This game is an absolute masterpiece. It gives new life to an already beloved franchise. You will never find yourself bored or find a lack of content, even post-game has a bunch of activities. Yet it can also be one of its downfalls because you get sidetracked and go on to another mission and completely forget the original mission you were supposed to do. Overall Breath of the wild is a breath of fresh air, big 1st partly titles that change the original formula rarely come out from Nintendo. So seeing them try something new is exciting. With Breath of the Wild selling over 20 million copies, it’s no wonder why Nintendo will and to make a sequel. It is set to release next year, hopefully. –Abel Salazar

8. Horizon Zero Dawn

Released around the time Breath of the Wild came out, it is said to be comparable to Breath of the Wild. Both games are filled to the brim with content. Some even argued it was better the Breath of the Wild. –Abel Salazar

9. Scribble Rider

Scribble Rider is a game on my phone. One day I was sitting with my brother watching TV, then I looked over and saw him playing the game. I started watching for a few because it looked interesting so i asked how to play and downloaded it on my phone. Now let me explain the game, so basically there’s a skeleton or any other character you pick riding a bike. At first you start with no wheels because the point of the game is to design your own wheels and go through missions the game puts you through. there’s multiple missions like going up steep hills, flying, rocky roads, and even being in water. You have to create wheels to get you through each one of those. When I’m going up steep hills, I like to use triangles to get me up or medium size circles. If I’m in water I draw a straight line so that it’s like paddles, and when I’m flying I like to use circles or draw a S, although sometimes I don’t feel like it works. There are levels you have to pass. I’m on level 34. There’s also a shop you can go on to change your bike color, or character, and change your wheels. You can have rubber tires or wood. There’s more on the shop but those are the two I have. –Aaliyah Fountain

10. Fortnite

Fortnite has been a very popular game since it was released in 2017. It is an online battle royale game. There are many different game modes and options to choose from in this game. You can wear different costumes, have different axes, dances and many more options for you to customize. Fortnite is a game where you land at buildings and collect loot (weapons and health) and you have to build and fight your enemies until you and your team are the last ones standing. Fortnite is my favorite game because I really enjoy being able to play games with my friends and you can use cross platform play with people on other console devices. I also really enjoy this game because it is really fun to be able to control a character and run around killing enemies and having to strategize to win the game. Although I really enjoy the game there are a few things that are very annoying, like the game got taken off of Apple so now I can’t use mobile gameplay. Some players are hackers so the game is often unfair and they take good weapons out of the game for no reason. Fortnite is often compared to Apex, Battleground, Call of Duty and other battle royale games. In all though, although Fortnite has its ups and down, I still love this game more than any. –Zakiah Mitchell