by bigevil1987
What a weird non-year 2021 was. I'm not the first one to say it but I feel like I'm still stuck in 2020, it feels simultaneously that all time has passed and no time has passed. After another crazy, blurry year of working in healthcare, I'm late but ready to start building out a GOTY list. Here are some games that stood out for me in 2021. I may not be able to do this whole list in one sitting so I will edit as necessary. These won't be in any strict order but generally, the further down the page we go, the higher the ranking. Now, for a few quick awards...
Best Surprise:
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy
Most Disappointing:
Best 2021 Game Soundtracks:
Death's Door, Valheim (both the in game one and the one I made on Spotify), Sable, Kena, Nier Replicant, Inscryption and Loop Hero
Honourable Mentions:
Outriders and The Ascent
I was going to add these games to my list to make it a round 20, but I just couldn't do it. So, I figured a mention would do. Neither are particularly great games, especially Outriders which is, really, really not great. But, they were notable for me in 2021 because I played both in co-op with a friend. We experienced all the highs and lows (mostly lows) together and it made a memorable experience, painfully memorable. Both were games with good ideas, but fell short of their potential.
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Normally Forza Horizon games are higher on my GOTY list, but this time around I debated including FH5 at all. It's a very well made entry in the series, and like previous FH games I will likely return to it when expansions get released. However, FH5 is probably the quickest I've ever dropped off one of these games, likely because I was still playing FH4 in early 2021 as there was no new Forza game the year before. This made me feel at odds with everyone else, because this seemed to be the FH that everyone else on the planet decided to jump in on. Maybe it's because Game Pass keeps getting bigger, maybe it's an effect of the pandemic and people wanting to travel, maybe it was the epic trailers Xbox put out. Whatever it was, I've never seen this level of hype for an FH game, which was great to see, but just had me constantly thinking "you guys should play the other ones." So, while I enjoyed my time with FH5, I couldn't help but feel like I'd just played it. Aside from the Horizon Adventure objectives there isn't much new here that hasn't appeared in previous entries. Also, I'm not always a fan of all the music in Forza games, but man, this one has the weakest soundtrack I've heard in a while. I wish they would bring back the custom music integration.
At first I thought Say No! More was just a fun, silly little game I could amuse myself with for a short time. But it actually ended up being more impactful than I expected. Yes it's goofy, but also contains a solid message about not being afraid to say no, and choosing to be a better, kinder person to those around you. A game that stuck out for me, especially when being burned out from work during a global pandemic.
I sat down with my wife and played through Unpacking in a couple of hours but it's an experience that will stick with me for a bit. The pixel art is gorgeous, and it tells a story with very few words. Environment storytelling at its finest.
Jackbox Party Pack 8 didn't really do it for us in 2021, but a standout game with similar mechanics is What The Dub?! If you've seen comedians play Film Dub on Whose Line, you'll immediately get the premise here. It's silly and I had a great time.
I expected New Pokemon Snap to be a cute trip down Nostalgia Road, but I ended up enjoying it beyond just that. My wife and I both bought it and played it on our separate Switches and had a great time comparing Snaps and giving each other tips. It's a grindy experience, but I found it so relaxing and anything that gave me happy vibes in an ongoing pandemic is going to get a shout out. Hmm, I need to get back to those extra courses they added...
Boy, I didn't turn my PS5 on much in 2021... Rift Apart, though, was a fantastic excuse to do so. It was a bit less impactful for me since the 2016 remake was still fairly fresh in my mind. But the characters are incredibly charming, the visuals are gorgeous and it was pure fun from beginning to end. I loved the new characters and hope we get to see more with them in the future.
The first time I played Sable I was staying up all night to get my body ready for some upcoming night shifts. I wasn't sure what to do that night and decided to try it out on Game Pass, I ended up playing it for 6 hours straight before going to bed and finished it a few days later with a couple more extended sittings. I love games and play them all the time, but it's rare that any hold my attention for multiple hours at a time. Moebius' Breath of the Wi--I mean, Sable drew me right into it's world. The art is gorgeous, the music is pleasantly atmospheric, but the writing was what truly pulled me in. There isn't a ton of dialogue, but what's there is thoughtful and charming and made me want to push past the (numerous) bugs and glitches to see it all.
I'm happy to be a Halo fan again. While I enjoyed Halo 4 and 5 more than most I think, they obviously didn't have the same impact the earlier entries did. The early hours of the campaign had me thinking Infinite would've ended up higher on my GOTY list, but after many repetitive open world objectives, some mediocre indoor missions, and what felt like should've been some major plot points happening off screen before Infinite's story even started, it dropped a few notches. Still, a hell of a game and I'm continuing to have fun with the multiplayer once or twice a week despite not being much a competitive shooter player these days. There's just something magical about chaotic Halo competitive matches that makes getting my ass kicked fun. Now if they could only fix that Big Team Battle mode.
Is it "fun" to play Loop Hero? I'm not sure. Even after 35-ish hours I'm not sure I ever had "fun" with it. It's one of those games I admired for it's ideas and aesthetic more than the actual gameplay. Sometimes LH can feel more like a series of tasks than a video game, but I occasionally found completing those tasks very relaxing. And as someone that essentially walks in a loop all day at work delivering things to people, I identified with the hero quite a bit. It was occasionally a "podcast game" for me but I often played it as my main focus as well, it's tough to play something with a soundtrack that good and listen to something else at the same time. I'll be honest, after about 30 hours my progress stalled, luckily I remedied that by opening an easily accessible ini file and changing some variables. My last 4-5 hours with the game was spent collecting TONS of resources and jogging right through the last few bosses and truly, I didn't regret it. I loved the concept, the story, and the music in Loop Hero, but I think I admired the mechanics more than I enjoyed them. Still, do yourself a favour and look Loop Hero up, I can't say I've played anything quite like it.
I don't really do the whole survival crafting game thing. Aside from No Man's Sky, I haven't really latched onto anything else in that arena. On top of that, I don't play a lot of games in early access, usually preferring to wait until a game is finished before experiencing it. Valheim though, grabbed the attention of myself and a few friends. And even though we all fell off of it after about 5-6 weeks, by that time I had put over 100 hours into it. It was also my first experience with renting a server and building an ongoing world with friends, having never been into games like Minecraft. We had a lot of fun, and some arguments as well. All made for a great experience that I hope to recreate when the game hits 1.0 or some more significant updates drop. (I still maintain that while not aesthetically pleasing, trenches are the best way to defend a settlement.) Back when I was a super cool teen, I used to make soundtracks for video games I enjoyed. I would choose songs I liked (mostly nu metal at the time, like I said, super cool) that reminded me of the game in some way or I thought fit the vibe well. Valheim is the first game in quite some time that awoke that urge in me and I ended up making a 9+ hour Spotify playlist of vaguely Viking-esque music I could listen to while playing. (It's mostly Danheim and Apocalyptica tracks, but I like it.) Valheim also definitely wins the award for most satisfying game mechanic of the year, cutting down those trees feels damn good.