Topic: Your favorite games of 2021

SMT V and MHRise were all I needed and they both were amazing games.
Played the heck out of Rise and put it down, waiting for the dlc this summer.
As for SMT V I'm still playing through it. I honestly should've been a done a while ago but fusion demons is so addicting I just can't help myself.

Haven't played much new releases this past year - standout games for me were mostly older things I played on Game Pass - Forza Horizon 4, A Plague Tale: Innocence and Dishonored.

In terms of Switch, the highlights were Xenoblade and ESP RA.DE Psy and also played a fair few Picross games across Switch & 3DS

Honourable mention to a mobile game called Pixel Puzzle Collection - essentially Konami Picross (with an absolutely awesome soundtrack) - which was recommended to me by a user over on Pure Xbox.

@dmcc0, ah man, I absolutely loved Pixel Puzzle Collection, and I got to the point that I was doing a puzzle or two each day during my work lunch break.

Finally after almost a year I nearly had every puzzle completed then I accidentally left my phone in my pocket & it got ruined in the wash, lol. I redownloaded it on my new phone but apparently wasn't able to transfer my save, so I just never restarted it.

Including new AND old games?

1) Super Mario Galaxy HD (Switch) - Finally got around to final game in the All-Stars Collection, the game that reinvigorated my passion for the medium years ago when I first played it on the Wii, and it's still an all-around amazing time. Having 200%ed this version of the game (100% completion with both characters), I do wish it had better endgame content like SMG2, Odyssey, and 3D World, but the game itself is so fantastic it's hard to complain. LOVE the atmosphere. It contains Nintendo's all-time greatest original OST. It still controls well, even without pointer controls. No game is perfect, but I feel no hesitation labeling this a masterpiece.

2) Shin Megami Tensei V (Switch) - A flawed experience, to be sure, but one I loved from beginning to end all the same. Really dig the new approach to environmental exploration. The overworld demon models were as expressive and detailed as I could have ever hoped for. The soundtrack was a banger. It's not my favorite SMT, but at the end of the day, it doesn't have to perfect to still be amazing. There's NOTHING out there quite like mainline SMT for me.

3) Persona 5 Royal (PS4) - It took a little bit of time to get going for me, since my memories of the 2017 original are still fresh, but it was worth it for the new characters, music, social links, and the absolutely brilliant third semester content. P5R is the best version of the best Persona game.

4) Monster Hunter Rise (Switch) - A much more 'arcadey' MH game than I was expecting, but still fantastic. Never knew I wanted to fight monsters as medieval Japanese Spider-Man, but there you go.

5) The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (Switch) - These are technically older games that released on the 3DS 5+ years ago in Japan, but they're newly released in the West, and I'm so happy they were, because they're some of the best games in the series to date. Really dig the new setting, cast, and unique atmosphere of this spinoff duology.

6) Gnosia (Switch) - The fanfare for this fabulous Japanese indie was ridiculously low, and what little attention it got mostly saw it being compared to Among Us because of the social deduction gameplay. In reality, it's a mind-bending social deduction visual novel RPG with a vivid artstyle and great world-building. Feels like a spiritual successor to the Zero Escape series, and I really dig that.

7) Warioware Gold (3DS) - My first real experience with the series (before playing the disappointing Get It Together on Switch later in the year), and just a brilliant package altogether. Love the huge amount of stuff in this release: the minigames, the silly songs, the museum-y bits where the game discusses old products Nintendo released before getting into video games. This feels like a massive love letter to Nintendo's legacy in general, and I really dig it. Also, since I'm a newcomer to this series, pretty much all these microgames were new to me, and there's SO MANY of them.

8) Ys: The Oath in Felghana (PSP) - I've liked every Ys game I've played to date, and this PSP remake of Wanderers from Ys is no exception. While I prefer the modern approach of Ys VIII and IX overall, the isometric action combat in this title is snappy and fun. The game is wonderfully paced in general (one can comfortably complete it over the course of a few evenings, which is something I miss a bit about older RPGs), and it lacks the irritating dungeons from the first two games in the series. Another solid release from one of the oldest developers in the industry.

9) Shadow of the Colossus (PS4) - The original PS2 release was one of my favorites when I was a teenager, and Bluepoint Games has done a great job of updating this classic to look gorgeous on (in 2018) modern gen hardware. It has been argued that this remake changes the harsh aesthetic of the original too much with its natural lightning and lush foliage, but I think it's a great fit to make the game look as good as it possibly could on the PS4. The controls are a little wonky and the trophy list isn't great, but there's no escaping that the colossus fights are as thrilling as they were back in the day, especially with the titular monsters look better than ever with high-definition fur that makes them feel new again.

10) Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin (Switch) - A much more adult sequel to the cult original game. Even moreso than the original, it does a good job of feeling like a turn-based version of a Monster Hunter game, but with charming characters and a colorful anime aesthetic.

Hmm, I'm almost sold on Rise from that bit about medieval Japanese Spiderman, @Ralizah .... I liked Stories 2 a lot, too
Too many great games I played last year, really! The Medium was superb. House of Ashes was amazing

@BruceCM Movement with the wirebug is fantastic and makes battles feel way more dynamic. The Palamutes also make traversing the environments a lot snappier as well. It'll be hard going back to the slower movement of older entries in the series.

I've not played either, I'm afraid. The Medium was almost immediately on my radar when it was first revealed, but you're one of the few people I've heard offer a kind word about it. I definitely still want to try it if I ever get the opportunity, though.

There really are far more great games than I'll ever have the time to play, unfortunately.

Yeah, your description certainly sounded like it'd be fun, @Ralizah .... Dunno what people didn't like about The Medium or if it had issues on consoles? To save spoilers, I'd suggest looking into it yourself if you want to see if you'd like it, though

@BruceCM I've looked into it. I think the issue is people really wanted a more classic survival horror experience out if it, and that's not what they got at all. Western devs really can't seem to comprehend what made series like Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Dino Crisis, etc. great. It's all either full action-horror or being chased around the entire game by enemies you can't defend yourself against.

But I'm a big believer in taking things at face value. The Medium still seems pretty decent for the style of horror game it is. Too bad my current PC would choke on it. Even the XSX struggles to run the dual-world segments well.

Ah, well, it is psychological horror, @Ralizah .... I wasn't expecting it to be like Resident Evil games, though Dunno about The Witness

@BruceCM I meant The Medium. I always get those titles confused, for some reason. The Witness was a puzzle game

Ah, it does sound vaguely familiar, @Ralizah .... Anyway, I did play The Medium on medium-low graphics settings to get it running well Still looked great on my 21" screen, though! That's 1 advantage of PC games, they usually have plenty of graphics options

@BruceCM Out of interest, what GPU do you have?

Ryzen 5, would have to check further details but if you plan to upgrade your PC sometime soon, it'd probably end up better, @Ralizah .... Depends if you really want the sort of performance you'd get on a Series X or better, I suppose

@BruceCM Ah, I meant your graphics card, not your CPU (which is the same type as mine, btw). I think my GTX 970 is below minimum specs for the game.

I don't care too much about performance as long as it feels OK to play, although I would like to upgrade someday.

My favourite games of 2021 are Cruis'n Blast and Hot Wheels Unleashed.

I have realized i like racing games alot now.

It's pretty much a tie between the first two, but..
1-Metroid Dread
2-Fire Emblem Three Houses
3. Age of Calamity
4. Zelda SS
5. Bravely Default 2
6. Pokemon sword
7. Mario Golf Super Rush

Honorable Mentions..

• blaster master zero 3
• avgn 1 + 2
• Castlevania Advance Collection
• Ori 2
• pokemon shining pearl
• immortals fenyx rising

One more category I forgot to add..

Your worst best game i.e. a game you really liked but either ticked you off for being too difficult or had some issues.

• cyber shadow

Man this game got under my skin with the difficultly. I loved it but also wanted to punch it in the face

Well, here's the official minimum specs from their Steam page, @Ralizah ..... Graphics: @1080p NVIDIA GEFORCE® GTX 1650 Super or GTX 1060 / Radeon™ R9 390X! Mine's only Radeon 590, so it runs on that

For me it was the year of rediscovering shmups so my stand outs were Mushihimesama, Crimzon Clover:World Explosion, Espgaluda 2, Esp.Ra.De, Ghost Blade HD, Dodonpachi DFK, most of the Psikyo games. All I see is danmakku.....

@RR529 When I do Picross I go all-in - I actually finished it in a couple of months and would've been much quicker if I'd noticed earlier that the boss puzzles had a cooldown timer. I must've beaten about 80-90% of the regular puzzles before I realised and was left with just bosses at the end.