Feel like I didn't play too many new things this year that really stuck with me. But I guess I could say that for a lot of my gaming these days. Still 2021 was a good time for discovering some gems I didn't think I'd adore as much as I do.
Stunningly gorgeous, super fun, great characters, decent story. Ran perfectly for me when I played it and cannot recommend it highly enough. In a year where Cyberpunk shat the bed for the genre something fierce, Ascent was the game that rescued me from being miserable about it by being such a fucking cool cyberpunk game.
One of those games where I don't think anyone ever thought it would get a sequel, its no wonder Double Fine had to crowd fund it. Even more shocking is how polished and fun to play 2 is too. An incredible story, fantastic animation and wonderful characters. Quite lengthy too for a game like this.
I'm one of those people that adores Death Stranding for its gameplay but also for Kojima's absurd nonsense going as far off the rails as it ever has. Don't go in to it to take it seriously and you'll have a great time. If you can laugh at yourself falling over and dropping all your shit, you'll love this game.
Wasteland 3 is fucking incredible. Another really really solid RPG I can't believe more people aren't talking about, with great characters, great writing, some great humor and cynical commentary on humanity. Plays like Xcom too which, fucking yes.
A friend nagged me for years to play it, finally did. Has some jank ass boss fights at times but fantastic characters and story. Wish I hadn't missed so many of the dialogue moments due its oddball friendship system that seemed impossible to max out.
Ricky is funny.
Riftbreaker is very good. Exactly what I wanted but oh my god my base is a mess and I already restarted after 1 attempt and it takes forever to unlock everything but its so damn cool if you want to manage a sprawling base and fight back aliens its exactly that.
I still much prefer the first game but LN2 is another amazingly atmospheric puzzle platformer with some haunting and creepy moments but oof that ending was a real downer. I'm not use to games ending like that but it certainly stuck with me.
Played the fuck out of NFS Heat I did this year best NFS ever so damn fun. Wish the online weren't super dead.
I was randomly looking for Tower Defense games and stumbled upon what is definitely one of the most basic but more incredibly addictive entries in the genre that, apparently released in 2015 yet I cannot stop going back to it and trying to perfect each level, increase my tower power and make progress. It's difficulty spikes are harsh but all the more rewarding upon surpassing. Great for podcasts as any tower defense game should be.
RE8 is great, but also disappointed me with some of its level design. It's very stupid and quite funny like all good Resi games are. Honestly most of the reason I put it on this list is for LadyD alone she's incredible and I wish the game had been entirely based on her and her daughters and their story. They were so much cooler and more interesting than everything else in 8. I think if I'd played more new stuff this year it wouldn't make the list but ah I did enjoy most of my time with it.
