At least according to a tally of Steam platform users, the top best games released in 2020 are "Hades," "Factorio," and "Phasmophobia," according to Steam 250, Steam's user review aggregation and rating site, this year. On the last day, December 31, 2020, a snapshot of the games people were hooked on was released, and a look at the 150 most rated games of 2020 provides some interesting insight into the games people played this year and liked enough to leave a review. Compare this to the "Game of the Year in 2020". A few suggestions.

If you haven't been paying attention, "Phasmophobia" is probably a surprise to you: with social deduction and interaction making big waves in video games through "Among Us," this cooperative horror game is getting a lot of attention The game is now in Early Access. That said, kudos to Phasmophobia for getting 99% favorable reviews in Early Access.

If you're paying attention this year, there's only one big surprise in the top 10:

Henry Stickmin made the top 10 games of the year, a remastered version of a pick-your-path web game popular in the Flash era. The reasons for this are 1) nostalgia is a hell of a drug, and 2) the slapstick gags are still funny after all these years. Reason #2 is... The user reviews make it obvious.

In any case, you'll find no small number of surprises as you make your way through the Top 25 games. For a full list of all 150 games, see the official Steam 250 website. The top visual novels of the year are ranked here, as are retro shooters and complete versions of popular Early Access games like "Black Mesa" and "Besiege."

The quirky digital toy "Townscaper" ranked 11th. Combined with "Henry Stickmin," the comedy-adventure "There Is No Game" ranked #14: "Wrong Dimension" at #14 made a strong case for more comedy games to be made. Surprises followed in the second half: #23 was the abstract factory game "shapez.io," which I didn't realize was so well received.

Again, take a look at the full list and draw your own conclusions or tell me I'm wrong in the comments section of Steam 250's "Top 150 Best Games Released in 2020". Note that the Steam 250 list is updated over time, so the numbers and games you see when you visit Steam 250 may differ from mine.