It’s that time of year again, where we roll out the red carpet and celebrate the best that 2020 has offered us. In a year that has otherwise been so terrible, the fact that we’ve had a steady stream of such excellent games to play has been nothing but a relief.
It really has been a great year for games, from the big blockbusters right down to the most humble of projects. We’ve had surprises that have come out of nowhere, and long-anticipated games that have managed to meet and exceed our expectations when we’ve finally got our hands on them.
This year, for the DDNet awards, we have 16 different categories to recognise, and as we always do, we kick things off by celebrating the finest that the Australia and New Zealand game industries have provided. Australia and New Zealand has a modest-sized development industry by global standards, but it punches well above its weight, every year offering a wide range of entertaining, thought-provoking, charming and powerful games to enjoy. This year has been no different.
It was many years in the making, but Quantum Suicide delivered what its strong premise has always promised, and then some. It combines the Game Theory horror theme of Danganronpa (i.e. a group of hot things are trapped in an isolated environment – in this case a space ship – and forced to play death games to slowly whittle their numbers down) with dating game elements (i.e. you can totally date the hot things), and packages this up with some gorgeous aesthetics and well-written storyline. Quantum Suicide is smart, meticulously well thought out, and one of the better visual novels that has been released in recent times. The fact it comes from an Australian is so much the better.
Of course, we very much welcome your own picks for each category, so be sure to let us know your thoughts, and we’ll see you tomorrow for the next category!
