It's been quite the year, with new consoles and major triple-a games to help carry people through a tumultuous time. And while it's always nice to have big new games to enjoy, there's something special about taking a moment to appreciate older games, especially those that get a fresh coat of paint from time to time thanks to new content updates.
Mostly synonymous with live service games, the evolving game genre has earned something of a bad reputation due to how it's monetized, which typically involves microtransactions, loot boxes, or a battle pass. That isn't necessarily always true, though, and some of this year's best evolving games kept updates rolling out without asking for a dime.
10 Animal Crossing: New Horizons
It's difficult to think of a game that had more of a mainstream cultural impact this year than Animal Crossing: New Horizons did. Launching right as quarantine restrictions were put in place, the game offered players an upbeat alternative to a stressful year. All of that came with new friends to make in the form of villagers, with an island that can be customized to the heart's content.
Throughout 2020, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been expanded with a host of new content and events for players to enjoy. While they haven't all been received well right off the bat, Nintendo has made a point of course-correcting anything that upsets players. The consistent updates have kept players coming back throughout the year, and it's unlikely that the fanbase will give the game up any time soon.
9 Apex Legends
While it may not be as big as it was at launch, Apex Legends has managed to keep an impressive player base in a competitive space. The battle royale genre is crowded, but Respawn Entertainment's take on the genre has managed to keep unique characters duking it out in gorgeous arenas for quite some time now, all with moment-to-moment gameplay that's just as satisfying as Respawn's Titanfall series.
The extra benefit is Apex Legends' new content, which has introduced new Legends, maps, and more throughout 2020. While other battle royale games adopt similar systems of content rollouts, few are able to breathe life into every new piece of content like Apex Legends can, and with any luck, Respawn will be able to do so far into the future.
8 Call of Duty: Warzone
The Call of Duty franchise has been a staple of the games industry for nearly two decades now, with the annualized franchise being a titan in the FPS genre. While the franchise is frequently criticized for its strict adherence to a pre-existing formula, Call of Duty: Warzone shirked many players' expectations throughout the year. Plus, its seasonal content structure kept things fresh with new weapons and operators for players to unlock.
On top of that, Warzone was host to some standout events. The game's Halloween limited-time event let players roam the map as zombies, and it even played a role in revealing Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. With Warzone now being integrated with the new entry in the franchise, it's clear that the game is an important part of Activision's future, though it's not clear how far the publisher will decide to carry it.
7 Fortnite
There's seemingly no ceiling to how far Fortnite can go, and that's more clear in 2020 than it has ever been before. Fortnite has steadily become an approximation of Ready Player One's Oasis, where licensed properties go to mingle together. The game was by no means a small deal in 2019, but in 2020, it grew bigger than just about anyone could imagine, introducing massive new events and a heap of licensed character skins, including the likes of Marvel and Star Wars.
Even Kratos and Master Chief have now joined the game, breaking the platform exclusivity the two characters are known for. It's truly impressive to see how much steam Fortnite has left in it even years after launch, with no signs of slowing down in the near future. It's not clear how much longer it can maintain it's popularity, but it seems like it's here to stay for the time being.
6 Genshin Impact
While it may be a gacha game, Genshin Impact has been one of the defining surprise hits of 2020. The game was marketed as a free-to-play Breath of the Wild game with a unique art style, but in many ways, the game has proven itself to be much more than that.
With a dedicated fanbase rapidly emerging and new characters, events, and weapons being introduced to the game, miHoYo's project seems to have found a recipe for success. Not only that, but the game is available on a few key platforms, with more to come in the future. With one of those platforms being mobile, Genshin Impact could become even bigger if it plays its cards right and keeps updates rolling out.
5 Hades
As a contender for the coveted Game of the Year award at The Game Awards this year, it's fair to say that Hades has been a massive success for Supergiant Games. Originally launching in early access alongside the Epic Games Store, fans have been able to watch Hades grow and change from a small project into the goliath that it is now. New characters, weapons, and frequent updates defined Hades' development cycle, and if that doesn't define an evolving game, nothing does.
What makes the game especially unique is the intimate look players got at it while it was being made. The YouTube channel NoClip published a series of documentaries about its creation, from the early months of the game's development to the coronavirus pandemic's effect on the studio's development cycle. It isn't often that gamers get such an in-depth look at how a game is made, but the opportunity certainly wasn't wasted on Hades.
4 No Man's Sky
Gamers looking for a heartwarming redemption arc need look no further than No Man's Sky, the spacefaring adventure game developed by Hello Games. While the game's launch was met with a wave of negative feedback due to missing features, the development team has successfully supported the game for a few years now, though especially so in 2020.
With the game now on the Xbox Series X and PS5, as well as introducing a plethora of other improvements, No Man's Sky has come a long way. The biggest change, however, has been the Origins update, which has dramatically expanded No Man's Sky's universe – and it is an entire universe – in new ways. With more diverse planets comes more to explore and discover, which should keep players coming back for any other future improvements Hello Games has planned.
3 Phasmophobia
While it's still in early access, Phasmophobia has been one of the most notable horror games of 2020. Allowing a group of players to go on their own ghost hunting adventures like something out of a TV show, Phasmophobia has managed to capture a large audience of wannabe paranormal investigators.
Better yet, the game has big content updates planned for the future. Fans have already gotten a taste of what that could mean with the Prison level, though there are plenty of opportunities for the developer to introduce even more to the game, like new ghosts and items.
2 Pokemon Go
The coronavirus pandemic rocked the world in 2020, but Pokemon GO has more than risen to the occasion. As an inherently social game, Pokemon GO made changes to its core formula to ensure that it could be enjoyed remotely, and it did so effectively. The game has come a long way in the time since release, but 2020 was a special year in terms of quality of life improvements.
Luckily, more is coming to the game. Pokemon GO is introducing new Pokemon, and limited time events continue to give players reasons to return to it. It's hard to say when the world will be ready and able to socialize again, but it's pretty likely that will mark yet another golden period for Pokemon GO.
1 World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
World of Warcraft is one of the longest-running evolving games out there, offering players a rich fantasy world to explore and fight danger in. This year saw the release of the Shadowlands expansion, which has been much better received than the Battle. for Azeroth. With Shadowlands, World of Warcraft has undergone some major overhauls, changing how leveling works and introducing a host of new mechanics.
With Shadowlands' launch out of the way, fans can now look forward to more content rollouts in the coming months, expanding on the story that's now in place. It's enough to make one wonder what could possibly be next for World of Warcraft, which has a legacy now more than a decade long. It's possible that Blizzard could choose to wrap things up, but with how successful Shadowland's launch was, that seems unlikely.
Video games have shaken the notion that they'll always be as they were at launch. With the internet now able to radically change games through sizeable updates, even classic games can get new iterations and releases. Odds are, many of the games here will continue to grow and change throughout 2021, and what they look like at the end of next year might be markedly different from what they are now.