Steven Messner: Final Fantasy XIV is the
most consistently excellent MMO I’ve
ever played. I started back in 2013, with
the relaunch, and have consistently played for
seven years. What keeps me coming back isn’t just
the memorable boss fights and beautiful locations,
though. It’s that Final Fantasy XIV tells an
emotionally gripping story that just keeps raising
the stakes. Case in point: its latest expansion,
Shadowbringers, takes players on
an interdimensional journey to a
parallel universe while somehow
also keeping a tight focus on the
characters that I’ve come to love
over these past seven years.
What makes this the best
ongoing game in 2020 is down to
how scientific Square Enix is with
updates. While other MMOs have
big ups and downs, FFXIV’s expansions and
updates are always on an upward trajectory,
adding more new dungeons, satisfying endgame
activities like raids, and a hearty helping of
episodic story quests. Even though the pandemic
delayed it, the 5.3 patch was worth the wait. It
offered a surprisingly emotional climax to the
main Shadowbringers story as the narrative
shifted to begin laying the foundations for nextyear’s expansion. I love this game, and I love how
Square Enix has created such a wholesome and
positive relationship with its fans.
James Davenport: Final Fantasy XIV represents
one of the strangest eras of my life. I don’t care for
mainline Final Fantasy games, I don’t usually play
MMOs, and yet I played the pre-condensed A
Realm Reborn all the way through to the end of
Shadowbringers in two months. It was compulsive
play at first, something to do in a
depressive bout, but it gripped me.
Final Fantasy XIV’s story is as
heart wrenching, subversive, and
surreal as videogame storytelling
gets, and the best expansion by a
mile is part of the free package
now. Heavensward is a bleak
real-world analogy where two
warring nations interrogate their
shared history to find out where their hatred for
one another first took root. Characters are driven
by dogma without foundation, epic journeys end
in empty denouements, and characters are
plagued by sheer exhaustion and sorrow more
often than convoluted twists and betrayals. And
once it’s done, there are two excellent expansions
that follow. I play Final Fantasy XIV strictly for
the story and the game supports it.IF FOUND
Dreamfeel’s adventure is a
powerful coming-of-age story
about being young, queer. and
trying to get your shit together.
If Found follows Kasio, a trans
woman returning home to a
small Irish town in 1993, and
her experiences with the rural
community. Wiping away
images instead of clicking
through dialogue is a smart
twist, and erasing Kasio’s
words means letting go of the
past to make room for a new
beginning.Rachel Watts
BLASEBALL
Blaseball is a lot of things – a
website where you can bet fake
coins on simulated games,
where fans can vote on rule
changes, and where umpires
blinded by solar eclipses can
incinerate players on a whim.
Occasionally The Shelled One
appears, a sort of angry peanut
god who can imprison players
inside a shell until freed by a
weather condition known as
Lots of Birds. Blaseball is weird
and probably indescribable.
That’s why it’s great.Chris Livingston
FINAL FANTASY XIVGAME OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2020
FINAL FANTASY
XIV TELLS AN
EMOTIONALLY
GRIPPING STORYPERSONAL
PICKPERSONAL
PICKBEST
ONGOING