Mister Jack Posted December 6, 2021 Report Share Posted December 6, 2021 Even though 2020 was the year dominated by Covid, 2021 was the year where Covid really screwed over game development with a ton of releases I was looking forward to getting pushed back. I honestly didn't see a whole lot to get excited about this year, but that doesn't mean there were no good games. You know the drill, one winner and one runner-up. For me it was not a hard decision. Putting aside all the titty vampire mommy memes, this was a great game. You can debate as much as you want about whether Resident Evil is going in the right direction with its gameplay and story and characters and monsters, but to me this was a bigger, better version of VII, a game I already loved. I ran through this game probably five or six times just to unlock everything I possibly could. My only regret is that there's no VR option, but if they ever add one after the PSVR 2 comes out you better believe I'm gonna dive right back in. Runner-Up I was really torn between this and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. Both are great games and, objectively speaking, Rift Apart is the more technically impressive and "next gen" title. The reason I ultimately picked Psychonauts 2, however, is that I just felt like it had more heart. Not to say that Rift Apart doesn't, Insomniac clearly worked their asses off on that game, but Psychonauts 2 is the result of a 15 year old promise that actually lived up to the hype and I can't tell you how great that feels. You can tell while playing that this wasn't just some slapdash sequel Double Fine put out because they were obligated to. They tried their very best to fulfill all the hopes and dreams of their eager fans, and even if you don't like how it turned out you could never accuse them of being lazy or half-assed. The animation is whimsical and charming. The new characters are lovable and memorable. The writing is better than before with both hilarious jokes and poignant parables about the importance of confronting your past mistakes. The level design is the best I've seen in years. The story started in the previous game is wrapped up nicely. I don't know if there will ever be a Psychonauts 3, but if this is the last time we see Raz and company then this is a great way to send them off. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted December 6, 2021 Report Share Posted December 6, 2021 I'm holding out for Halo before I decide for sure, but as of right now my candidates are: Returnal Deathloop Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart I think it's unlikely Halo will beat out those, but given the reviews it's not impossible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielpholt Posted December 10, 2021 Report Share Posted December 10, 2021 I'm pretty confident that I can throw together a list at this point. Here's my top 5; unordered. Forza Horizon 5 Boomerang X Resident Evil 8 The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes Guardians of the Galaxy Shout-out of Echoes of the Eye (Outer Wilds DLC) that was pretty great; although maybe not as mind-blowing as Outer Wilds itself. And Toem, which is a very neat little game that really helped me get through some pretty bad times during the middle of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted December 11, 2021 Report Share Posted December 11, 2021 4 hours ago, danielpholt said: And Toem, which is a very neat little game that really helped me get through some pretty bad times during the middle of the year. That was Paper Mario for me last year, enough so that I have very melancholy associations with that game even though it's nothing but light hearted fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted December 24, 2021 Report Share Posted December 24, 2021 Game of the Year: Returnal I acted like there was competition, but really there wasn't. This game was just so perfect; it was a joy to play, the story was intriguing, everything about it just came together exactly right. There's not much else to say. Housemarque knocked it out of the park. Runner-up: Deathloop I've always been a sucker for Arkane games, and this one is no different. They are the masters of the stealth immersive sim, and they put everything they've done before into this one. They even surpassed themselves in the characters and world, it's all just so full of personality. I wish it had revealed more about what was actually going on with the time loop, but there's definitely room for a sequel, so hopefully we'll find out. Honorable Mention: Halo Infinite If you'd told me earlier this year that Infinite would even have been in the running, I'd have been highly skeptical. 343 just had not shown they had the chops for Halo, 4 was a good story but bad gameplay, and 5 was the opposite. Then to top it off, they fucked the story so hard with 5 I didn't think there was any way to recover it, no matter how good the rest of the game was. Well, they proved me wrong. Sure there's some awkwardness around the story and fixing what they broke, but that was unavoidable, and they did a much better job than I ever would have thought possible. I also have some complaints about the level design and the open world, but the core of the combat loop, the beating heart that is Halo, is there, and it's perfect. It feels like Bungie. That's the hardest thing to get right, and it's also the most important, and they nailed it, and my hat is off to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetalCaveman Posted December 24, 2021 Report Share Posted December 24, 2021 Game of the Year Given that I've played through the whole story mode about 9 times by now, plus going back to get all achievements, even The Mercenaries stuff, this was an easy choice. This new generation of RE games (first person, more horror-y) skipped a few steps and went directly into RE4 territory, and it's awesome. \m/ \m/ Runner-Up Looks awesome, plays well (on racing wheel at least), the locations are gorgeous (though I'm probably a bit biased here ), cool cars and more. Oh and there's an Arknights livery for the warthog, what more do you need? (maybe an Azur Lane or Blue Archive livery as well lol) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted December 25, 2021 Report Share Posted December 25, 2021 The only correct livery for any of the trucks is Jurassic Park, thank you very much. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted December 25, 2021 Report Share Posted December 25, 2021 My game of the year is... the only 2021 release I played in 2021! Congratulations, Capcom!!! 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pojodin Posted December 27, 2021 Report Share Posted December 27, 2021 That's a tough call for me. In terms of horror, Little Nightmares II was every bit as good as the original. REVIII was an all around solid game. Chicory: A Colorful Tale had the most cathartic and well structured conversations I've seen in a game. Easily the best mental health game I've played by a mile and a top contender for GotY for me. ActRaiser Renaissance was the pure nostalgia out of left field that I never saw coming. It packed too much fluff, but as a fan of the series it still delivered. Returnal was impressive. It did a lot of things that make the rogue genre effective on the gameplay front with enough mystery surrounding the story to keep you from losing interest across multiple runs. Metroid Dread was the best Metroid game since Fusion for me. Deathloop was a blast. The dialogue and puzzle structure of progressing the story really made it feel like a lighter, funner experience from something like Dishonored. Ender Lilies doesn't feel like GotY material, but it was a gem of a Souls-like Metroidvania akin to Salt and Sanctuary. Cyber Shadow is worth a mention for its classic 2D side scrolling Ninja Gaiden-esque gameplay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielpholt Posted January 1, 2022 Report Share Posted January 1, 2022 It is done. My top 5 games from 2021. I'm still playing through Far Cry 6, which I don't see breaking the top 5 of this list. And I'm going to give The Forgotten City another chance in the coming days, so I may end up editing this list.....but if not, then here we have my top 5. Weird year. I don't 'love' any of these games. They're all good, some of them are great but I don't feel passionate about any of them like I might have done in previous years. That could well be more to do with my own state of mind than than the quality of these games however. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted January 1, 2022 Report Share Posted January 1, 2022 I really need to give House of Ashes a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pojodin Posted January 1, 2022 Report Share Posted January 1, 2022 Man of Medan kind of burned me out, but I heard the subsequent games were quite an improvement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielpholt Posted January 2, 2022 Report Share Posted January 2, 2022 22 hours ago, Pojodin said: Man of Medan kind of burned me out, but I heard the subsequent games were quite an improvement. MoM is definitely the weakest entry in the series, tbh it's probably their weakest game to date, and I include that Police thing they made after Until Dawn in that list. For what its worth I also played Little Hope this year, that's also pretty good. I adored the setting on that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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