Best Non-2021 Games I Played In 2021
LIST IN PROGRESS
Still working away at that backlog! He writes just after not checking his Humble Bundle sub for a while and adding 30+ games to his Steam library today
List items
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I really enjoyed the original SUPERHOT, but in 2021 I bought an Oculus Quest 2 and hoo boy, SUPERHOT VR is a wholly different beast. One of my favourite VR games for sure. Now, I just need to get around to playing Half-Life: Alyx
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I went into Psychonauts will tempered expectations, thinking it wouldn't live up to almost 2 decades of hype. It's an old platformer, the controls are rough but honestly, if you haven't played this game yet, you're missing out. I'm sad it took me so long to finally play it, but I'm happy I didn't have to wait 17 years for a sequel like all the other fans.
It's on Game Pass, both PC and console. So do yourself a favour, do what I did, turn some cheats on and just enjoy the story, characters and puzzles. The platforming and combat controls are clunky, so don't even worry about them, that's not what you're here.
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In early 2021 I made the decision that I finally want to cheat my way through the RE games. I have a decent knowledge of the games, having played a couple of them and just absorbing gaming knowledge from friends and streams over many years. But I haven't actually played most of them myself, despite digging the vibes, I didn't really enjoy controlling them.
I decided to treat them kind of like adventure games with some combat, and it's been a fun ride. I asked my wife if she wanted to tag along, knowing she grew up playing lots of adventure games (And the RE games are basically Nancy Drew games with guns and zombies.), she said yes and we've been having a fun time slowly working our way through the series. We decided that if a remake was available for a mainline game, we'd play that, and maybe watch some cutscenes on YouTube of the original for comparison.
Happy to report that the RE2 remake is indeed as good as everyone says.
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I started Kingdom Battle the day it came out but didn't finish it until 2021. As is typical with me I got distracted by other games. I also struggled with this game's repetitiveness. The main campaign is far too long and despite enjoying it, I was planning to put it lower on this list were it not for the DK-themed expansion.
I thoroughly enjoyed the DLC, more than most of the main campaign. It offers some new characters, new mechanics, and genuinely enjoyable cutscenes. The DK DLC makes me have high hopes for the sequel, they clearly learned a lot from making the campaign.
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I played the RE remake back on the Gamecube but it was really fun coming back to it and playing alongside my wife, who helped solve puzzles and remember which way to go when I couldn't. The PC version looks (mostly) great.
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A surprisingly addictive little roguelike. Going Under didn't get a lot of attention and it's a shame. It's a good concept and fun, silly game.
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2021 was the year of me getting into Cheat Engine and also the year of me finally giving up on pretending that I'm going to go back and actually beat Cuphead. I adore Cuphead's style, but don't have the time or patience to get good anymore. And it was a great decision. Finally got to see the rest of the game's visuals on a nice, big screen.
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Alongside the RE games I decided to finally check out Dead Space. Finished DS2 last year and while I enjoyed it I think overall I enjoyed the first a bit more. Both are too long and repetitive, but the Aliens instead of Alien leanings of 2 were not quite my taste. I did really enjoy them leaning into the creepy cult stuff in 2 though.
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Another reason to break out the Quest in 2021, after finishing the first Psychonauts I hopped right into Rhombus. It's fairly light on the mechanics, more of a VR experience. A fun journey through some Psychonauts shenanigans. It covers the brief time between 1 & 2 but you're not missing a ton if you can't play it.
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Not going to be my favourite of the RE series but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Friends that I had growing up always talked about this one as if it were terrible but I mostly enjoyed my time with it.
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Having never actually played the original game I decided to mess around with it in an emulator and, I can't say I had a GREAT time, but it was definitely worth running around that world myself rather than just watching videos of it.
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Cute.
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A fine enough action game on its own, but a disappointing follow up to the RE2 REmake.
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