Unusual Game Releases of 2020: Hades, Among Us, Fall Guys, Genshin Impact

The New Year holidays are the perfect time to catch up on what you missed last year, including in the gaming world.

The outgoing year, the Year of the Rat, was marked in the gaming world largely by the coronavirus pandemic and by unusual new releases. Amid the crisis, major studios released few AAA projects, and other publishers were able to win audience attention with simple game design solutions.

Recognition from the gaming industry confirms the huge contribution these projects made in 2020, which means they deserve the same attention as larger and more expensive games from competitors.

For example, the popular gaming publication Polygon included Among Us, Fall Guys and Genshin Impact in its list of the best games of 2020 at 10th, 17th and 21st place respectively. The publication named Hades the best game of the year.

Hades was also named the best game of the year by The Washington Post, IGN and OpenCritic. The developers of the SteamDB database named Hades the highest-rated game of the year and the second highest-rated in history after Portal 2. At The Game Awards 2020, the game received eight nominations but won only two.

• Game of the Year
• Best Game Director
• Best Performance
• Best Action
• Best Independent Game
• Best Art Direction
• Best Score and Music
• Best Narrative

At the same TGA 2020, Among Us received high praise, with nominations and wins in the categories "Best Multiplayer" and "Best Mobile Game." Fall Guys was also not overlooked: it received nominations for "Best Family Game," "Best Multiplayer," and "Best Independent Game," and won in the category "Best Community Support."

The Washington Post called Fall Guys and Among Us "worth mentioning" in its list of the best games of 2020. Meanwhile, Genshin Impact, one of the year's major mobile titles, received two nominations at TGA 2020: "Best RPG" and "Best Mobile Game."

Among Us, Fall Guys and Genshin Impact took first, second and fourth place respectively in Google gaming search queries this year, according to GamesIndustry.biz, and Fall Guys also took fifth place among the most discussed games on Twitter for the year.

Hades

The main character, Zagreus, goes through a classic coming-of-age story, but in the setting of Greek mythology, and does everything he can to escape his father Hades' home in order to find his mother Persephone. The king of the dead is displeased and therefore constantly interferes with the player and gloats when they fail.

The endless runs through the underworld, constant deaths and resurrections are justified by Zagreus's divine origin. For the same reason, he regularly interacts with the inhabitants of the realm of the dead: they encourage him after death, share survival tricks and simply tell interesting stories.

The Olympian gods, who decide to help Zagreus escape, regularly send him gifts that improve passive skills and basic abilities. For example, Hermes increases speed, Zeus grants lightning and increases its damage, and Artemis blesses him with critical damage and thanks him for using the bow.

All resources except gold and gifts are kept and help in future attempts, so even the most unsuccessful run has a positive effect on progress. It is precisely the engaging cyclical nature and original story of Hades that keep players hooked for dozens of hours.

Fall Guys

This arcade battle royale "for five-year-olds" gained huge popularity thanks to its primal simplicity. Fall Guys gameplay is based on four buttons: run, jump, grab and dive. The goal is always obvious and understood on an intuitive level: run first, get past obstacles, avoid falling into the slime, score a goal, steal a tail.

It is precisely the competitive element that makes this simple children's game cruel. Every player fights for the crown of the best and is ready to go to any lengths for their own goal. Fall Guys allows you to pass each challenge calmly, while also getting in the way of other players by knocking them into the slime or holding them back in the race.

Nostalgia for the crazy shows of the early 2000s like Wipe Out, the absence of serious progression (only cosmetic outfits with no bonuses), endless fun and at the same time a serious test for the nervous system: all of this makes Fall Guys a unique and memorable project that continues to develop and, at the time of publication, delights players with its third season already.

Among Us and Project Winter

On a spaceship, among the astronauts, there are traitors who kill the innocent, and the other players must identify them in order to win. Does it remind you of anything? Of course, it is a copy of the famous "Mafia"!

Released back in the summer of 2018, Among Us won players' hearts only two years later, and thanks to this it landed in most game rankings of 2020. Everyone played it everywhere: strangers online, schoolchildren and students on smartphones during class, streamers during live broadcasts, families in the same room.

Unlike the classic "Mafia," in Among Us the innocent crew does not need to identify all the traitors through discussion and voting in order to win; instead, they can complete all the tasks in the location. But the game often ends sooner. Another difference is that there are only two roles: innocent or traitor.

Given the success of Among Us, the quick appearance of a follower seems natural: Project Winter. The basics of this game are also built on "Mafia" with innocents and traitors, but the gameplay here is much more varied, so it is hard to call the game a "clone."

Each mission in Project Winter begins near a house in a snowy location, where a group of players remains, who must escape in one of many ways. Of course, among them are traitors who will try to stop the others from getting away.

Players must gather resources and craft various items from them for their own safety, to survive the cold and hunger, and for a successful escape. Project Winter presents many dangers on the path to survival, but the main threat is other players, any of whom may turn out to be a traitor.

Project Winter offers various character classes with their own unique abilities, in-game voice chat, cosmetic rewards for achievements, and long game missions lasting 30-40 minutes. All of this makes Project Winter more complex but more interesting than the much-talked-about Among Us with its primitive mechanics.

Genshin Impact

Fans of the action RPG genre received this year a mobile product of unique quality, with a huge open world filled with detail, a well-developed story and character personalities, and simple gameplay.

Genshin Impact is often compared to and even accused of copying the legendary The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The projects are indeed similar, though not entirely, but miHoYo released the game on PC, PS4, iOS and Android, while Nintendo released it only on its Switch, which is less popular in our countries than other platforms.

A distinctive feature of Genshin Impact is the interaction of elements. For example, a fire character is effective against nature enemies, because the latter burn. And if a water character first soaks an enemy, then a cryo character can easily freeze them. In total, the game has seven elements, and their combinations produce different effects that help both in combat and while traveling.

But the main feature of the game is its vast, well-crafted world, where it is simply pleasant to wander. There is no one to compete with here and nowhere to rush. Genshin Impact offers the chance to become part of an engaging fairy tale with hundreds of different activities: from chests, puzzles and dungeons to cooking, fishing and achievements.

The described projects can captivate players for hundreds of hours. Hades will be appreciated by experienced players who are not demanding of realistic graphics and a cinematic story. Fall Guys and Among Us will appeal to fans of the competitive genre, but they truly come alive only in the company of friends. And Genshin Impact will offer a real fairy tale, even though its main storyline is still unfinished.