2020 TechRaptor Awards - Best Multiplayer Award

Gaming was thrust in to the spotlight moreso than ever this year, with many people finding themselves shut away from any social contact. Many turned to games, which caused some unexpected explosions in popularity from places nobody would expect. Multiplayer was more important than ever before, and may have been the primary way many people stayed connected to others. Luckily, 2020 had plenty of great options to play some new games with friends.

Here's all the nominees for our Best Multiplayer Award (and check this link for all of our awards):

• Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Our Review)
• Call of Duty: Warzone
• Deep Rock Galactic
• Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (Our Review)
• Ghost of Tsushima

So here's the winner of TechRaptor's Best Multiplayer Award 2020 for exceptional multiplayer gameplay and design.

Readers' Choice - Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout

Developer: Mediatonic | Release Date: August 4th, 2020

Fall Guys took the gaming world by storm in a time where the world seemed to be nothing but doom and gloom (and that's definitely changed right?). Its charm  commitment to fun over all else, and low pressure competition mixed together to form the perfect dose of delight. No question here why our readers picked it for best multiplayer.

Third Place - Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Developer: Nintendo | Release Date: March 20th, 2020

By Austin Suther

Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the game that we needed in March 2020. Little did we know that 2020 had quite a few shocks in for us, but the release of Nintendo’s latest entry in the Animal Crossing franchise helped alleviate the effects. 

The multiplayer in New Horizons is not perfect by any means; in fact, it’s quite a pain to go from island to island (not to mention Nintendo’s notorious online servers). I realized, though, that New Horizons deserves this spot because it brought people together in a time of strife. While you couldn’t see your friends in real life, the face-to-face interactions with your Animal Crossing characters and activities such as catching bugs and showing off your killer town made it worthy of praise. 

Second Place - Ghost of Tsushima

Developer: Sucker Punch Productions | Release Date: July 17th, 2020

By Nirav Gandhi

Ghost of Tsushima delivered such a spectacular single-player campaign this year that when Sucker Punch announced Legends, a free multiplayer expansion, we assumed it would be a small and forgettable add-on. After spending over 20 hours on Legends, I am bewildered to be saying that I should have had to pay for this. Legends is a full-blown multiplayer RPG in mythological Japan. 

After choosing from one of four classes, players fight to defeat the Great Witch Iyo in engaging co-op Story Missions. The Survival Mode is a horde-based 4 player experience that has you taking on waves of enemies with different powers, strategically coordinating with friends to hold objective points and spending spirit points wisely to unlock ultimate abilities that could save you in the nick of time. All this is serviced by customizable and upgradeable weapons and armor, new skins, upgradeable items, character progression, new abilities and a well-paced skill tree. For all the great multiplayer experiences in 2020, none holds a candle to my time playing Ghost of Tsushima: Legends with three friends on voice comms, taking down Crow Warlocks and summoning the Spirit Bear.

Winner - Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout

Developer: Mediatonic | Release Date: August 4th, 2020

By Robert Grosso

In a year where a pandemic caused us to be apart, it is no wonder that multiplayer games like Fall Guys were able to bring us together. 

A hotly anticipated title that was part Japanese Game Show, part American Ninja Warrior, Fall Guys was the right mixture of fun and frantic gameplay to become a late summer sensation for the gaming world. The bright colors and goofy presentation, along with the survivor-like novelty of outlasting 59 other opponents through a slew of level types, provided the right amount of variety to each game played. It was also a challenge that tested both skill and luck in a rare instance of it not being frustrating either, making it a game with easy controls that are hard to master. 

The crowning achievement of Fall Guys, however, is the fun it brought to the table. It is one of the only games this year to be a wholly positive force of joy for its players, and for the greater gaming community following its subsequent release—from the constant achievements made by Twitch and YouTube streamers, to the excitement of accomplishing your first win in private. It was a game where you can laugh with your friends as you move onto another round, anticipate the tense excitement of just sneaking out a win, and revel in the achievement all at once, and one that allowed this awkward time of social distancing to be less isolating. 

Who knew a game about colorful beans would be so good for us.