Your "Game You Played For The First Time In 2021 That Didn't Come Out In 2021" Of The Year?

In retrospect I should have just said "Old Game Of The Year," but I spent too much time writing out that title to delete it now, dammit.

Mine's easily Dishonored 2, which rocketed into my Top 5 All Time list after collecting dust on my shelf for four years and turned me into an immersive sim snob overnight. Some of the best level design I have ever seen in any game and I'm kicking myself for not getting to it sooner. Such a shame that it seems like Arkane is losing interest in making this kind of imm-sim and no one else with AAA budgets seems to care about the genre. Ah well.

Anyway, what's your GYPFTFTI2021TDCOI2021OTY/Old Game Of The Year?

Tough category. I didn't get to play Hades, Breath of the Wild or Disco Elysium until this year due to being a Playstation-only owner until this past winter. I also played Disco Elysium, most of the Yakuza series, 13 Sentinels and Nier: Automata during a binge of Japanese-language games this past spring and summer.

I suppose Hades is the easy answer, and 13 Sentinels is the complicated, true answer. Thanks Jan.

Resident Evil VII is probably now one of my all time favourites. I actually hadn’t played any of the RE games prior to playing Village and after I enjoyed that so much I decided to play the rest. VII was completely beyond my expectations. I also played the remake of Resident Evil which was also great. Finally, Prey 2017, kinda to my shame to didn’t play that at the time.

@superharman: I had started Prey a few years ago and went back to it after Dishonored 2. It’s criminal how underrated and overlooked it was at launch. Apart from a few quibbles with some of the mechanics and pacing, I think it’s easily one of the best games of the last generation.

The answer for me might actually be Doom. I may have touched it prior but this year was when I really, really got into it. Playing the original games, reading Masters of Doom and watching a whole lot of Carmack keynotes. It's really defined some of my gaming this year and it's nice to be reminded of genuine keystone moments in the industry that I kind of missed.

Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, 2007) - 8 (74 stars, 2/3 green stars (the third luigi quest didn't appear yet))

Deus Ex: GOTY Edition (PC, 2001) - 7.5 or 8 w/ mods (normal, got nearly all upgrade canisters, 22.5h)

HM:

SimCity 3000 Unlimited (PC, 2000) - 7.5 (sandbox/non-scenario mode, started in 1900 and ended in 2051)

Valdis Story: Abyssal City (PC, 2013) - 7.5 (Wyatt, Normal, STR-focused build with little to no points in the magic skill tree, S-classed about 10/15 bosses, about 8,5h minus boss retries (several hundred) - 17,4 in total though this includes testing out the other chars)

R-Type Delta (PS1, 1998) - 7.5 (Normal, R-9 ship; might be an 8 with the R-13 on Easy)

Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando/Ratchet & Clank 2: Locked and Loaded (PS2, 2003) - 7.5 (normal, two armor upgrades)

Mahou Daisakusen/Sorcer Striker (ARC, 1993) - 7.5 (Normal, 1p, Necromancer ship)

Environmental Station Alpha (PC, 2015) - 7.5 (95% completion, normal)

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising (PC, 2010) - 7.5 (normal, good/pure ending (not full purity however), Tarkus became the traitor)

Fight'n Rage (PC, 2017) - 7.5 (normal; twice as gal, once as f. norris w/ ricardo as cpu ally; b, d and f endings)

Gargoyle's Quest II/Makaimura Gaiden: The Demon Darkness (GB, 1993) - 7.5

Dead Space (PC, 2008) - 7.5 (Normal, plasma/pulse/force)

Quake (PC, 1996) - 7.5 (Normal)

MDK (PC, 1997) - 7.5 (normal)

Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (PC, 1996/2015?)(Unity ver.) - 7.5 (Khajiit battle mage type character, reached level 10, high reflexes)

Crypt of the Necrodancer (PC, 2015) - 7.5 (individual zones (beat necrodancer; made it to 2-1 in all zones mode), Cadence)

The Lost Vikings 2 (SNES, 1997) - 7 (1p, might be a 7.5 in 2-player and with the speed hack)

@banefirelord: Totally, I did have the advantage of playing on Series X so I had the FPS boost and barely any load times, something which might have impacted it if I played it when I got a PS4 copy in 2017 but those are more likely things I've just become used to.

Just going back to your initial post quickly, Dishonored 2 is one I also waited to play, mostly because I wasn't a big fan of the first one, when I finally did a year after the release, I loved it. I've still yet to play Death of the Outsider so I should carve out some time early this year to have a go at that.

Halo 3 ODST, the game that predates Infinite and is a good as its reputation

Yakuza: Like A Dragon, another great entry in the series. Ichiban is a great new protagonist.

Psychonats, I see how it was big during its time, but it hasn't aged that well. Thanks to Game Pass, I'll be playing its well praised sequel.

Grand Theft Auto III: Definitive Edition thanks to PS Now. My first GTA game was Vice City. I've yet the play the first couple of overhead games before III. With that said, I have the same opinion as Psychonats. I see why the game was huge during its time, but the gameplay doesn't hold up. Rock Star could have put in some work and modernized the gameplay better, but instead kept it the same. Its very sluggish. The missions become very tedious and frustrating overtime, especially when having to use cars which have the strength of paper and can easily get damaged. And this is not counting all the bugs that I've encounter in the game. I started playing it after the big patch came out, so I'm sure it was a lot worse.

A Short Hike tops my list. That game's just a great, chill, comfy little thing. Looks fantastic. Fun to play, especially when you max out the jump ability and you can basically just fly anywhere.

Downwell and Miles Morales are close runner-ups.

I'd give it to Ghost of Tsushima. It's an above-average base-clearing open-world affair but the flavor of the historical samurai fiction hooked me harder than I ever expected and even on a base PS4 it is a gorgeous game to look at. I just wish I could've played it on a PS5.

Runner-up would be Tokyo Mirage Session FE# Encore. I finally caved and bought a Switch OLED. This was the first game I finished on the system and I liked it a whole lot. It's funny that in the same year SMT5 was making a comeback to a more grim-dark tone TMSFE is bright and upbeat, maybe even moreso than the Persona games. I simply can't believe how they managed to meld the style of Persona and Fire Emblem together into such a cohesive package. And as a Chamorro dude I get a kick out of any media that references Guam by name.

Second Runner-up is Monster Train. The actual art design is sort of a nothing-sandwich but I probably played this more obsessively than anything else in the year. It made me finally get the appeal of these types of card games to the point that I even dabbled in stuff like Slay the Spire and Griftlands. Also pretty cool games, but for whatever reason they didn't hook me mechanically the way Monster Train does.

13 Sentinels Aegis Rim is absolutely fantastic. As is Resident Evil 0.

Snowrunner, but most of the games i played in 2021 did not come out in 2021.

Like a lot of others I think other than Inscryption and the Diablo 2 remaster the games I played didn't come out this year. I expect this will continue to be the trend. Playing this year for the first time God of War, Max Payne 3, Halo 3 and Reach, and Slay the Spire are my standouts.

My GYPFTFTI2021TDCOI2021OTY would be Demon Crawl, which came out in 2019. It's a Minesweeper roguelite and I honestly don't remember getting as addicted by a video game before. The music is surprisingly good and you can have hilariously broken runs, though it is also quite difficult.

It's a toss-up between Paradise Killer (which proved to me, once and for all, that I really enjoy visual novels [I spent years insisting Ace Attorney didn't count because reasons]), Disco Elysium (which proved to me that I really enjoy stories where the protagonist is literally just walking shit) and Deep Rock Galactic (which proved to me that I ROCK AND STONE, EVERYONE).

Probably Mirror's Edge Catalyst. I get why reviews were mixed. A lot of AAA design features where shoehorned in because EA gotta EA, but once you unlock most of the skill tree the game really comes together. Took some time, but ultimately a worthy follow up to the original.

Runner up is Gravel. Again, I get why reviews were mixed. The whole production comes off like a mid-tier/low budget affair. But the driving model is fun, and that's what is most important. Basically Sega Rally with a sprinkling of sim sensibilities.

Far: Lone Shore, aka the Girl's Last Tour game. Nice cinematic platformer in which one pilot a sailed vehicle through one of those more chill wastelands.

Highway Blossoms, aka the Laid-back Camp visual novel, before the real thing.

I played a few, but Breath of The Wild probably takes the cake. I played it for the first time in 2018, but only really dug into it during this summer. It wasn't perfect, but I definitely appreciate it a lot more now and am actually interested in the sequel.

I played through the Yakuza series from 0 through to 6 as well as Judgment, which comprised most of the older games I played this year.

Overall it was a great experience since the story of Kiryu is so fun and operatic and getting to see it play out in its entirety was a really comforting constant throughout the year. Yakuza 3 was the only one that I didn’t love, mainly because the mechanics are really clunky and the game is sorely in need of the Kiwami treatment to bring it up to the level of the others.

I also really enjoyed playing the first Psychonauts ahead of the sequel coming out. It suffers a bit from older game design and the controls being way rougher than modern platformers, but the writing and imagination remain sharp. The Milkman Conspiracy level is still a really great level.

Fallout: New Vegas.

The Talos Principle - I completed it without any help, and it ended up being a 9/10 game. The puzzles toward the end were really challenging (I still have to complete the DLC). 1 point docked because 1 of the puzzles had to be solved a very specific way that I doubt most people would think of without serious time commitment. Plus, the story isn’t the best imo. All in all, it’s a little dryer than portal or QUBE, but the puzzle mechanics are top notch. QUBE 2 was pretty decent as well, but a little too easy/forgettable.

2021 was the year of repeats, I played AoE2 and MCC a lot this year.

Currently playing Sekiro for the first time

hmm- played the most? OG Baldur's Gate. a little rough around the edges but still great fun!

enjoyed the most? probably Children of Morta

Honestly, it was probably Pig Eat Ball for me, which as far as I can tell, almost no one has played based on me trying to find guides/walkthroughs/help while trying to 100% the game. Only a couple dozen Steam reviews too.

It is rare that I am genuinely surprised by a game, but this one has a lot of fresh mechanics with a simple premise (eat and barf stuff, mostly tennis balls, but also other stuff) coupled with really clever and devious level designs. And every world adds new, different mechanics that all build on top of one another. It's a bit of an arcade action puzzle game.

It is also unabashedly fucking weird - your dad who is a cake is trying to marry you off against your wishes, so you wear a glasses + mustache disguise and try to win the Royal Space Games to not get married off. Also there is an evil baboon professor trying to crash the ship?

This game feels like someone was trying to re-imagine Pac-Man into a modern game but accidentally took a bunch of drugs.

Maybe I'll do a longer blog post with my thoughts on this game, I truly loved it.

Persona 5 Royal - The greatest game I have ever played that I will never play again. Thanks to working from home due to the pandemic, I had time to actually play through this whole thing. That would never have happened otherwise. I'll never have time to do it again either.

Runners-Up: Hellbalde: Senua's Sacrifice, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, Yakuza 6

It would be a toss up between Breath of the Wild, and FF7 Remake. I had a lot of late nights taking care of a baby, and those games helped the hours melt away quickly.

I messed with more old games than this this year, but here's my ranking of old(er) games I actually liked enough to see all the way through:

1. Prey: Mooncrash

2. Demon's Souls (Remake)

3. Spider Man: Miles Morales

4. Suzerain

5. Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak

6. Black Mesa

7. The Longest Journey

8. Cyberpunk 2077

9. Batman Arkham Origins

Total Extreme Wrestling 2020. Got into it over the summer, basically ate up the 2nd half of my year.

FEAR

Skyrim on the PS5, looks brand new

I started Yakuza: Like a Dragon early December-ish and just wrapped up getting all the achievements a few days ago. What a fantastic game. Love Ichiban and the whole cast, what a bunch of goofballs and all around fun characters. I really, really dig the switch to turn-based JRPG action. As much as I love the other Yakuza games, I was never super advanced at the brawler combat and just cheesed most the difficult fights.

Can't wait to see where they go with future games. Until then, I'm going to replay them from 0!

I played Mario 64 for the first time outside of a Toys R Us kiosk near release. I was pretty surprised at how great it holds up. The amount of secrets they pack in to that game is wild and I'm sure young me would have gone absolutely bananas if we could have afforded to buy it back then.

I had only ever seen the first few levels, so it was cool to see just how much more there is. And that even though I hadn't played it before, because I've played all other 3d Mario games, the controls were super easy to get a hang of. So, you know, turns out this game is as good as the hype.

Note: I played the 3d Mario All Stars version after testing it out compared to the NSO Version which had noticeable input lag.