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colonelsanders21

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A Somewhat Ordered List of Very Good Games I Played in 2021

I've sat down to try and write this list a few times and ran into two issues. Mainly, I don't have a real solid ranking for some of these, and I also just can't write a real meaningful blurb for all of these at once without saving a draft of it. So let's just do it this way: here's a roughly ordered list of games I really enjoyed playing in 2021, some of which will have commentary, some won't, some might later. Who knows! The real games were the friends we made along the way.

List items

  • This game has a real first impressions problem. For those who have never been Marvel fans, it's a non-seller in the first place. For those who are, the fact that this isn't the same cast as the movies is a turn-off, coming across as the generic store brand versions of the Guardians. The initial reveal, even, was a real rough way to spend half a press conference, and it was following up the immensely mediocre and disappointing Marvel's Avengers from the same publisher.

    But then something magical happens: 20 hours of character development and incredibly solid narrative pacing. In a way that the movies just can't due to time constraints, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy manages to get you not only invested in each of the characters and their personal struggles, but also simultaneously tells a story with near perfect pacing that never dwells any longer on things than it aught to. It is refreshing to see a game which could not seem any more cookie cutter turns out to have some real thoughtful discussion on grief and moving forward from a devastating loss.

    While it also has some mild narrative branching, what's impressive is the amount of variable dialogue that comes of the small choices you make throughout the game. If you go check out a dead end for loot after your squad tells you not to, you'll be called a dumbass for the rest of the level for doing so. If you go out of your way to buy a collectible on a given mission for a character and present it to them, the dialogue you have with them will be echoed 6 hours later during a different story beat in a way that feels natural and earned. It's a small thing, but the sheer amount of dialogue here is impressive, to the point where I was walking everywhere to hear more of it.

    The gameplay itself is also pretty fun, though overshadowed a bit by the next game in the list. Despite this, this game somehow managed to surpass any expectations I had going into it, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

  • I finished this and had enough thoughts to write a full review, which I seemingly can't link here but can be found on my profile. In short: this game is amazing, and I cannot wait to play future parts of it.

  • I first played Undertale last year, so it's only right I played Deltarune this year. It's astonishing how much more polished the gameplay feels here, the added mechanics with managing a team's attacks and grazing bullets to gain more MP is really solid and makes you more involved in combat. The rest of it is solidly in line with everything that made Undertale great, with the soundtrack still fantastic and the writing just as sharp and witty as ever. The "Weird Route" in chapter 2 also made me more uncomfortable than any game has in a long time, and it makes me super curious how the hell the rest of this game might shake out after it.

    Also, this is free! And it's basically the same length as Undertale was! That's awesome! Cannot wait for future chapters to come out, regardless of how long that may take.

  • They did it. 343 Industries finally made a good Halo.

    In fairness, I didn't play 5, so I can't speak too much on it. But I was not a fan of Halo 4, with its inspiration drawn from Call of Duty in ways that somewhat compromised Halo's identity. It wasn't awful, but it was a far cry from Reach. The change in art style is also something that felt off to me from the start. It's hard to describe, but the way the armour broke into so many small pieces with weirdly emphasized textures made everyone look like they were wearing suits of foam.

    Regardless, all of that has been solved here. 343 took a look at the classic Halo formula and updated it in ways that keep up with other shooters while retaining the same classic spirit of these games. The multiplayer has me and my friends playing it just like the days on 360, largely in part because they made it free for everyone this time around. Sure, progression is kinda lackluster, but who cares too much if the game itself is fun?

    I also want to take the opportunity to shout out Xbox Game Pass for allowing me to play 10ish hours of the campaign and get my open world Halo fill for $1. Not knocking it, it's a solid campaign, but I've come to learn that 10 hours is around my sweet spot with map icon puke open world games. It turns out that Game Pass is really good for letting you get that without forking over full price, so as long as they keep letting me play their AAA blockbuster games for $1 every year I'm gonna keep singing its praises. Maybe I'll re-up when co-op gets added (or they give me a $1 for 3 months offer again).

  • I think this game does a lot of very smart things that make this the autobattler I could actually wrap my head around and get into. The animals and their abilities are simple and easy to understand, and at no point do you feel overwhelmed having to strategize thanks to the asymmetric nature of it. Going up against a random squad each time means you have to consider different unit compositions, and the fact that it's one dimensional and turn based means that placement is not only important but also easy to visualize and plan for.

    Super Auto Pets has stripped the genre down to its bare essentials, and as a result it's an extremely chill game that whittles away all of your spare time. When it comes out on iOS, it may destroy me.

  • I almost forgot I played this this year, even though it got me to buy a 3DS to play Super Mario 3D Land. Recency bias is a hell of a drug.

    This is one of the most slept on 3D Mario games, less so now that it's on a console that's not the Wii U. But man is it ever Mario at its peak. This game is jam-packed with cool concepts, each world not even really adhering to a singular theme but rather a collection of whatever the hell the designers wanted to do. It's also really fun in co-op, even with Nintendo's janky netcode (Beat Block Skyway is impossible online without an ethernet connection on both sides -- seriously, it's a bad time). The hours me and my friend spent grinding away at the final level in this were both frustrating and fun, and I felt like I achieved something on the other end of it.

    Bowser's Fury is also a fantastic glimpse into what might be next for 3D Mario, and if so I'm definitely down for more. The open nature of it is something that other 3D Mario games have skirted up to before, but never embraced in this way. I'm unsure if I'd rather an open world Mario or another level-based affair, but I think they've hit on a sweet spot in mixing both here.

  • I think a lot of what makes this iteration of WarioWare work for me is in the mode most people tossed aside: the Wario Cup. This is Nintendo's take on weekly challenges, where a set of microgames and a set of characters are placed before you, and you are challenged to get the highest score imaginable. It's not necessarily even for the competition aspect, because it's the area where the game really goes hog wild.

    The first damn week was a challenge to complete a set order of stages with 9-Volt, who moves back and forth automatically and only grants you the ability to shoot upwards, at an insanely fast speed. It's almost comical how hard the very first challenge was and how long it took me to grind a gold medal. Future weeks featured things like trying to beat a set of microgames in as short a total time as possible, or to beat them while controlling two of the same character on one stick.

    It's not some major mode that makes this game a must buy, but it does represent what I think this game does well, and that's its cast of playable characters. While it means multiplayer modes need a more thorough introduction for beginners than before, once you truly get comfortable with each character's moveset and the game is able to ask you to swap through any of them on the fly, that's when the way this game structures itself really starts to click in place. It loses some of the simplicity that this franchise is known for, sure, but in exchange you get something that makes you improvise on the fly in a way the previous entries may not have demanded of you. And that can be quite a blast.

  • Out of the time loop games I played this year, this one ended up being the most enjoyable. I think it really shines when you compare it to the travesty that was 12 Minutes.

    A time loop game is, at its heart, about playing around with actions and consequences. If I go warn this person before this event happens, or if I prevent that event from happening in the first place, what does that mean for the rest of the loop? What new knowledge does that gather for me, and what can I try next time? This has to be at the core of it, and it has to be satisfying to experiment with the way the loop progresses.

    12 Minutes is not satisfying to play (leaving aside it's godawful narrative issues). It's clunky, and a lot of that is due to the way it queues actions (or doesn't). Each loop, to see the next part of whatever thread you are untangling, you have to click on and complete the same actions over and over, hearing the same dialogue, only to find out the way in which you presented an item to another character was wrong and you cannot salvage the 10 minutes you just wasted. You have to do it all again to see the thing you wanted to see.

    The Forgotten City sidesteps this entirely: you speak to a dude named Galerius at the start of a loop, you tell him a bunch of shit you need done, and he runs and does it. It's great. It gives you time to check out other areas in the meantime, to unravel other threads, and it sets you up to pick up where you left off without having to worry about doing the same benign tasks over and over. It respects your time, and the character even has a pretty great questline stemming from this.

    If you're in the market for a time loop game, and you're too spooked by the Outer Wilds DLC like I was, then The Forgotten City is a great game that doesn't overstay its welcome. It's what you want out of a time loop game.

  • I want to give a second shoutout to Xbox Game Pass for giving me my yearly 10 hours in Forza Horizon for $1. Driving cars is fun, especially in a fun open world environment! Would I pick this up at full price? No, because I know I won't finish it. So it's great that I can get my fill every year when Microsoft decides to give me that $1 for 3 months of Game Pass deal again, just as all their big AAA exclusives are coming out. See you next year, Forza!

  • Deathloop is really fun for the majority of the time you spend playing it, though the ending really is lacking in a few respects. I really enjoyed the shooting, the abilities, and even the somewhat-too-easy stealth. I really enjoyed being invaded by/invading people as Julianna when this game had it's peak active playerbase. And while it compromises how time loop-y this game actually is, giving me an unlimited window to complete a slice of a day is kind of nice. I just wish it had an ending that tied up all those pesky loose ends in a satisfying way.

  • I think it's fitting this doesn't quite make my top 10, but it should be here regardless. Having loved Automata last year, I was very much interested in seeing an updated version of its prequel. It's good, but man can you see the mistakes they learned from it for Automata. There's a lot of great game in here that's partially consumed by elements that just straight up waste your time. Still, I'd say it's worth a look if you're a fan of Automata -- just be aware that it's not exactly all killer no filler.
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