15 Best Video Game Moments Of 2020 (So Far)

3. "Happy Birthday, Kiddo" - The Last Of Us Part II

This moment. This moment right here, is the perfect distillation of The Last of Us 1's eventual connection between Joel and Ellie.

It's honestly easy to forget that they spend most of the game in their own shells; only really having the surrogate "father-daughter" chemistry we love them for in the closing hours. Such is the beauty of the writing that it builds to a genuinely earned honesty between the pair. Because of that, The Last of Us 2 can place a cherry on top.

When halfway through the game we've given a flashback to when Joel and Ellie were at the height of their love for each other, it's by far the warmest scene in the whole game.

Following Joel and Ellie exploring an old museum for Ellie's birthday, the pair end up in a space shuttle's cockpit. Here, Joel reveals his main birthday gift, a cassette of launch recordings to which a youthful Ellie uses her imagination to realise in full.

The whole thing is set up to illustrate the lives these two could have lead, if not for the Fireflies and Joel's actions beforehand. A super powerful, heartwarming set of scenes that remind you just how stellar Troy Baker, Ashley Johnson and everyone at Naughty Dog really are.