Game of the Year 2020 - Best Role Playing Game
Feature
Hooked Gamers' Best Role Playing Game of 2020
The next category in Hooked Gamers’ Game of the Year awards is for Best Role Playing Game.
The Nominations…
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
The fact that World of Warcraft is still going strongly after more than sixteen years is testament to the quality expansions, and Shadowlands continues that trend. Shadowlands introduces players to an afterlife that is both similar to the world of the living and yet more foreign than the furthest reaches of Draenor and Argus. Shadowlands let players explore five new areas as they work through the expansion storyline.
Wasteland 3
This squad-based role-playing title has players choosing up to six players in their squad, each with their own skill set. Combat sections have the players using their action points to move and attack and winning the phase grants XP used to upgrade attributes, skills, and perks. From a story viewpoint, the dialogue choices made during the game can have consequences, giving each playthrough a varied outcome. The wonderful story combined with the combat phases and levelling up makes Wasteland 3 an enjoyable experience
Fallout 76: Wastelanders
The grinding element aside, Fallout 76 has improved markedly since its initial release. And with the Wastelanders expansion, Vault Dwellers are treated with some wonderful open world questing in Appalachia. The West Virginian mountains are visually stunning as you travel across them in search of the treasure that is said to be inside Vault 79. With two new factions arriving in Appalachia, players will side with one in order to access the vault, thought to hold the entirety of the US gold reserves.
Persona 4 Golden
An enhanced version of the original PS2 game Persona 4, Persona 4 Golden has players controlling a teenage protagonist across two very different settings - his home world of Inaba, and a mysterious TV World. Days are broken up into various times of the day and our hero can increase his five attributes by completing tasks throughout the day, whilst in the TV World, he is faced with Shadows who he must defeat in order to help solve the murder mystery in which he has become embroiled.
And the Winner is…
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
After a couple of pre-patches that allowed more player aesthetic customizations and then squished the levels of players from 120 to 50, players may have been cautious with the latest expansion. But Shadowlands refreshes the king of MMOs, setting players down on within the beautiful plains of Bastion, the decaying warzone of Maldraxxus, the enchanted forests of Ardenweald, the creepy Revendreth and the hellish prison of The Maw. Leveling is a more linear affair that seems to coincide with the storyline, allowing players to fully appreciate each story arc as they move towards the new level cap of 60. After reaching the level cap, players will continue to participate in campaigns for the faction of their choice. World of Warcraft still has a lot of life left in it, and the setting of Shadowlands has opened a lot of doors beyond the realms of death.
Game of the Year 2020 Award categories
Best Strategy Game
Best Sports or Racing Game
Best Action Game
Best Multiplayer Game
Best Platformer or Puzzle Game
Best Indie Game
Best Sequel, Remake or Expansion
Game of the Year (to be announced)
(Note. Cut-off for nominations was 1st December)