Your favorite games of 2021 - Other Gaming Forum

kkslider5552000 · 2022-01-02T23:53:15+00:00

So I try to do this thread every year. As someone who rarely gets to too many games the year they actually come out and is more focused on games from whenever, it makes more sense to do a thread about what people actually played in the year, rather than just what games just happened to come out in 2021. The only rule, as always, is that it has to be games that you played for the first time (for a significant amount of time) in 2021. So as to not be able to choose games you've played regularly for years, but also to not negate games you just happened to play a small amount of in the past. Admittedly, I do not have a lot for this year. I didn't play a ton this year and the vast majority I did were either replaying a game or were disappointing or in general not great. 1. Metroid Dread: Well at least I have a current year game at the top. While not my favorite 2D Metroid (high bar), it gets about as close as I could've reasonably hoped for. It's probably the best playing game in the series with the most engaging boss fights. But the main reason its great is that its a brand new, modern, 2D Metroid. Without feeling obligated to be the 2nd best remake of Metroid 2, Mercury Steam put out an expectedly fantastic game. Like even half the stuff I thought I might not have been into about the game as I was playing it, were not actually issues for me in the long term. 2. Deltarune Chapter 2: I was wondering if this counted, but then I remember the Overwatch beta in 2015 was considered GOTY in some circles so...oh well! The thing is, is that I was not as into Chapter 2 at first. It was still obviously great in most ways, but it was just hard to feel special like the first chapter was as this genuine surprise, itself not as special as Undertale. Y'know, lightning in a bottle. But then I heard about and experienced the alternate route in the game. Yeah, ok, this is really special actually. Even before being a completed game. 3. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity: This was my most hyped game the moment it was announced. Using Hyrule Warriors to tell the past storyline of BOTW was such an immediately brilliant creative decision, that I was mad at myself for never thinking of it. Now I've not beaten the game yet, but I have put in enough hours to say that it...almost lived up to those expectations. Like the story is better now that its a story and not scattered memories, and the English voice acting is definitely better (low bar), but its not especially grabbed me either? Like for two games now, these voice acted parts of these Zelda games are not as good as the non-voice acted parts of several different Zelda games, deal with it. I've enjoyed it as a game a ton, and its obviously better than the original Hyrule Warriors in the places where it counts. I don't think for me it will surpass the original (though the original would be worse than this for me if I ever went back to it, I assume), but like not being the best 2D Metroid, that's fine. That's plenty. 4. Oxenfree: I just beat this before the year ended, and I bought it partially to have completed another game in 2021. I didn't know much about this, so I will say, it was a real pleasant surprise. I guess I'd describe it as like a halfway point between a smaller adventure game with the Telltale multiple choices (with it being more vague on if they matter or not) and a horror game with light puzzle elements. But most of it is that the horror aspect really worked for me. Its focused on creepy things you hear on the radio and interacting with unknown entities and its just so well done. So genuinely creepy and for my tastes, about as scary as I've found a game. The sound design is also largely fantastic, and is vital to why it worked so well. But that being said, for such a short game, there's too much backtracking if you want to figure certain things out in the game and too long load screens for every area. But it was great despite all that. 5. Great Ace Attorney Adventures: So this was a two game release, but I only got around to the first one. Despite a slow start, it was pretty great. I'd still say on its own, its a lesser game in the series, but most of what makes the series great is still here. And I do know that the sequel is the really great one, this is partially set up for that game. I get it. While I didn't love it as much as the mainline 3DS games, I will say, this is the best use of 3D animation in the series (especially without any of the awkward versions of AA1 characters) and the first time I at all appreciated an AA game that primarily took place in a new setting (maybe because its a REAL new setting, not a wacky fictional one). 6. Xenoblade Chronicles 2: For the 2nd year in a row, I end on the game I played SIGNIFICANTLY more than any other this year. In a way, this only kinda counts, since I played a decent bit of it late in 2020, and if it was any worse I might not have included it at all. But since I played it so much more in 2021 (I might've played it more in 2021 than I played the original period), I think it still counts. I spent a lot of time complaining about this game, because it has a lot of frustrating parts, a lot of time wasting nonsense and a lot of unnecessary things that shouldn't have been as big a problem as they were. But the reality is, the things it is good at, it is incredible at. Between the combat, the world, the graphics, the music, there are enough parts of this game that are at or near a 10/10 that it was worth going through all of it. And at its worst, it was at least truly fascinating to experience. That time I spent 4 hours doing 1/3 of one sidequest and trying to get through one room of enemies is an experience I won't forget anytime soon! I mean, everyone loves the 2nd Paper Mario despite its awful backtracking, so a larger game with more of that type of nonsense can also be great despite itself!

41
Buizel
Thu 6th Jan 2022

Top new games of 2021:
1. Persona 5 Strikers - Absolutely my favourite Musou game and Persona spin-off. Koei Tecmo knocked it out of the park with this one, creating a worthy sequel to one of my favourite games of all time. While the story retreads a few themes and ideas from the first game, it offers more than enough to expand on Persona 5's already 100-hour long narrative. The lack of social links is disappointing, but more than made up for with the Phantom Thieves now acting like more of an ensemble cast, and with the addition of loveable new characters in Sophia and Zenkichi. Plus the gameplay is fantastic, and amazingly retains a large portion of P5's depth. And it's on Switch. Definite recommendation to any P5 fan who is at least tolerant of hack-and-slash games.
2. Psychonauts 2 - Not finished this one yet but it's an absolute gem. I quite enjoyed the first game but was skeptical as to whether Double Fine could pull this off. Amazingly, what they've created here magnificently brings the charm of the original and its contemporaries into the modern day - improving massively on the world, it's characters, and the gameplay, to create something truly special. So few games match the pure whimsy and humour of this game and I feel like it's a title I'll remember years down the line for that alone.
3. Metroid Dread - My first real foray into the Metroid series left me seriously impressed. I'm no stranger to Metroidvanias, but this title felt so expertly crafted and, most of all, Samus was an absolute delight to control. I couldn't help feel the urge to push forward constantly with this game. I've since played a couple of other games in the series, and look forward to exploring it more.
4. Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart - Ratchet and Clank games are consistently good, and I daresay this is the best one so far. Combat feels better than ever with fast kinetic arenas fighting and diverse weaponry (which even feels diverse thanks to Dualsense), whereas the scope of environments has massively been expanded, giving a more "open world" feeling to the game. Rivet is a welcome addition to the cast who I adore and I hope she makes a return in future games. Finally, the game is absolutely gorgeous - perhaps the most beautiful game I've ever seen - and I played in performance mode so benefitted from a smooth 60fps. If ever a game this year felt next-gen, this was it.
5. Bowser's Fury (+ Super Mario 3D World) - It's Mario.

I would usually add a list of older games that I played for the first time this year but, unusually, my playtime this year has mostly been filled with games that were either (i) games I've played before, or (ii) games that came out this year.

Honourable mentions:
1. The Smurfs: Mission Vileaf - Hear me out here...but this was the most pleasantly surprising game of the year for me. Gameplay-wise this is nothing special - merely a competent platformer - but something about playing this in 2021 really engrossed me. The game does a great job of capturing the world of The Smurfs and is all-the-more engaging because of it. The stages are all interesting thematically to the point that I was determined to see everything and 100% this game. Not a top title by any means, but really goes to show how solid licensed games can really bring new life to existing franchises.
2. Pokemon series - I play a lot of Pokemon, but I especially played a lot this year. New Pokemon Snap was a great experience that narrowly missed out on my top 5 new games of the year. Add to that, I finished Pokemon Red, Gold, Ruby, Brilliant Diamond, White, and Mystery Dungeon DX in 2021...and only intend to play more Pokemon next year. Let's see how Legends Arceus goes.

At least 2'8".

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Topic: Your favorite games of 2021