Gaming never went out of style, but in 2020, it evolved from a fun hobby into an essential lifeline. Staying sane isn’t easy when you’re stuck in isolation for months on end. You can only watch so much Netflix before your brain starts dripping out of your ears. Games provide more active experiences that can help you forget that you’ve been staring at the same walls for weeks, letting you explore far-away virtual worlds or hang out with friends in multiplayer lobbies. In 2020, gaming became vital.
So rather than wrap up the year with our traditional list of the best PC games, we instead asked PCWorld’s staff to share the essential games that carried them through 2020. It’s a diverse list—some of us preferred light, airy games, while others preferred virtual tourism. Several of us leaned into the comfort of ongoing “live service� games that we’ve been playing for years.