Games of the Year

RPGFan Games of the Year 2020: Best Ongoing Game

by and on February 11, 2021
RPGFan Best Ongoing Game 2020 Banner featuring the artwork from the Futures Rewritten patch of Final Fantasy XIV, with the two central female characters front and center.

Winner: Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers

Much has been said of Final Fantasy XIV and its unique success story. But Shadowbringers, especially in 2020, has taken the already-amazing game and expanded its appeal to every type of MMO and Final Fantasy fan. Story-centric players have enjoyed the full arc of one of the Final Fantasy series’ strongest villains ever. Casual players have gotten a steady stream of interesting new dungeons, trials, and raids for every skill level. Hardcore players have enjoyed Savage versions of new content to test their mettle in mechanically unique battles. Players of exceptionally refined tastes have even enjoyed the YoRHa raid experience from guest creators Yosuke Saito and Yoko Taro. It speaks to the wealth of content that, even with everything already listed, there are dozens of people yelling at the screen because I’ve left off their favorite addition of the year. But perhaps most meaningfully, Final Fantasy XIV’s free trial now goes all the way through Level 60, including the fan-favorite (or at least, this fan’s favorite) Heavensward expansion, 100% free to all players. How’s that for an introductory experience?

by Wes Iliff

Runner-Up: Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact is an entertaining open-world action RPG built around a game that is continuously evolving and growing. Teyvat is a massive world to lose oneself in and explore, and only two of its seven countries have yet to be uncovered thus far. The differences between Mondstadt and Liyue are distinct and impressively conveyed and show quite a bit of promise for the as-of-yet unrevealed regions of the game world. Characters available for pulling are also changed at regular intervals, meaning you can grab some neat new party members to experiment with while on the field. Add to that constant story and quest updates, and there always seems to be something to do or discover when logging into Genshin Impact.

by Audra Bowling

Readers’ Choice: Best Ongoing Game

Winner: Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers

Runner-Up: Genshin Impact

Game Awards for Best…

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Wes Iliff

Wes Iliff

Wes learned to read playing Dragon Warrior on the NES and they haven't stopped playing RPGs since. Through a superhero-esque origin story, they started writing like crazy and eventually ended up writing features at a site they'd been reading since high school, which was... some time ago. They love sharing the joy in whatever flawed masterpiece has caught their attention this week, usually to the captive audience of their spouse, children, and small menagerie of pets.

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