My Personal Top 10 Games of 2021
Hey everyone, this is a bit late, but 2021 has been a crazy year for me, I was in school for some of it, I started working at the end and had some family losses at the end of the year, so when it came to writing about games, it just didnt feel like what I wanted to do, but I know I enjoy looking back on these lists in the future so here are my favourite games of the year, and a little bit of why I enjoyed em. (Just as a note, I havent played, Shin Megami Tensei V, Lost Judgement, Pokemon Snap, Metroid Dread, Life is Strange True Colors or Ratchet and Clank, and those could have possibly made my list If I had.)
Honorable Mentions
These are games that I either didnt finish or didnt come out this year but I want to talk about.
Fantasian
This is nothing more than an honorable mention for me purely because I only played the first part. I don’t really have an apple device to play it on. I did have my brothers old work phone, an IPhone 6S that didn’t hold a charge. The phone was small, got hot and due to the heat the screen would dim automatically. For those unaware, this is a JRPG on Apple Arcade made by Mistwalker, the studio run by Hironobu Sakaguchi of early FInal Fantasy games. The notable thing about this game is that all the backgrounds are photos of models.
My time with this game was good, for the most part. The most notable thing about this game, the model backgrounds while novel, on an iphone 6S wasn't more than that, a novelty. The other games major gimmick, was the “dimengeon” system in which you can bank fights up to 30 enemies in order to fight them all at once, giving more exp than it would normally. Which was definitely a ton of fun. As I haven't played the 2nd part of the game i'm not sure how the story plays out, but i enjoyed the stuff that was there, even if it was pretty standard. I do want to get back to it at some point, i'm just not sure how or when.
Legend of Heroes: Trails To Azure
This is the 5th game in the Trails series, the first being Trails In The Sky, and this one, along with the previous game Trails from Zero, never received an english release, a translation group released a translation for them over the last couple of years (Zero last year, Azure this year). The groups translation was then licensed to be an official release next year. The trails game are text heavy and in depth JRPGs that all take place in the same universe, that occur at the same time.
This was easily one of my favourite games of the year, the story characters and gameplay are all near perfect. Running around Crossbell, as Lloyd and company, was comforting earlier this year. The game, like the first Crossbell game, really shows how an RPG can take place in a single city (plus the surrounding area). The other trails games have topped my lists before and if I put this in the list proper it would have again.
Top 10
10. Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis
Its sorta hard to believe this came out this year, but New Genesis was a really interesting if not empty open world RPG, where they really made the feel of the game much better. The ability to double jump and glide, as well as the upgrades to general attacks made this much more appealing to me than the original was. I played through the “story” content when it came out but haven't really gone back, but I more than likely will.
09. Blue Reflection Second Light
The original game was a slow burn for me, I had problems with the game when playing it, but as time went on after I finished, I looked back on it better and better. Ultimately I still like the first one better. Personally despite this game being solid, I felt the “Atelier”-ness of it being a hindrance. Due to narrative reasons, I get why they decided to focus on material gathering and crafting but felt it made the game clunky. The game also felt very same-y each chapter had a new dungeon, with 3 major zones, with a boss at the end. Despite that same-y feel I enjoyed my time with the game, each character has decent growth and by the end, I was sad to see the characters go their separate ways.
08. Nier Replicant Ver 1.22
I was a real big fan of Nier Automata, the world, the characters, the story, and music. I had wanted to try the original ever since. Just never got around to it, so I was excited for this remaster, and it didnt disappoint. This game for me hits all the same beats as Automata, I loved being in the world, even if it was horrible and depressing. Nier’s Village, and Seafront were cozy in a way that really hits home with me, even if other locations were less so. From start to end the game was a blast to play, and enjoyed going through all the endings.
07. Unpacking
This is a real simple game, it's just a puzzle game about unpacking, but the environmental storytelling and vibe of this game is great. Going from one level to another, seeing a person grow up, and move through life, in nothing but where they live is such a simple but powerful idea, that is done incredibly well.
06. Persona 5 Strikers
A lot could be said about this game, but ultimately this game was much better than it had any right to be. Persona 5 to me ended pretty perfectly, wrapped up nicely and really didn’t need to be continued. However like most of the Persona spin offs, it was nice to see those characters again, the interactions between characters and growth of the new characters are on par with the original game.
The gameplay is also just as good as the original even through it is now an action game.The Omega Force connection had me worried but those fears were eased as the game progressed to be more of a standard action RPG, than “Musou”.
Also like the original the music and style are on point and incredible.
05. Ys IX: Monstrum Nox
Ys 8 was my favourite game of the year a few years ago, and I had been excited for this game since it was announced for Japan back in 2018. This game really lived up to the excitement for me, It was a game that focused more on movement in addition to the standard Ys action combat. Options such as a grappling hook like ability, the ability to run up walls, and gliding, gave the environments, and dungeons new ideas for design and layout. It also allowed for Metroidvania like ability gates to objects in older dungeons. Like the other Ys games ive played the combat was fun and quick and I really got into it. I also don’t want to spoil anything but I remember not being super invested in the story until the end of the first chapter where there was a twist that made me want to see where it was going.
I really only have 2 issues with the game, the biggest one being throughout the game there were essentially tower defence/horde mode sections where waves of enemies would rush you and you had to protect a giant crystal, Ys 8 had a similar concept but used it much less, whereas by the end of the Ys 9 I was just tired of the defense sections. The other issue is more of a dissapointment, in which Aprillis, one of the characters and the character from the first teaser image of the game was very underused and while they did get to a good point in the story, I was disappointed I never played as her.
I think I like 8 better, but honestly 9 was really good, and I recommend it to anyone looking for an action RPG.
04. Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit In Wonder Labyrinth
This game is the newest game but Team Ladybug and for most people the noteworthy reference for this game was that Shin Megami Tensei metroidvania a few years ago. This is more or less a fuller version of that game.
A metroidvania with an Ikaruga like element switching mechanic was super cool, but also the simple design decision to make it a metroidvania with “levels” in which it is not necessary to backtrack to make progress, only to upgrade weapons and abilities. Like their last game Touhou Luna Nights, this game excelled at boss fights that were interesting and fun. Overall this game is just a great and fun action platformer.
03. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond (& Shining Pearl)
I’ve been a fan of Pokemon since the beginning, but the release of the original Diamond and Pearl in 2007 hit at the right time, I was old enough to get very into it. As well as being very much a sequel to the generation 2 games. I have a fond love for the Diamond/Pearl games but they can be tough to go back to.
These new games are faithful remakes, almost to a fault. There isn't really much to my enjoyment of these games, they are good games, in a series I really like.
02. Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & The Secret Fairy
The Atelier games have become a really nice comfort for me. The games are all cute, JRPGs that focus heavily on material gathering and item crafting. The games this one included, have a smaller focus on the main plot and instead have more personal stories with the characters growing throughout the course of the game. Its hard to explain why these games are so good, for people who have not played them, but boils down to a really satisfying loop of gathering materials to fulfill requests, gaining money and items to create better weapons, armor, accessories and items, to go out and explore more of the world.
This game is a continuation of the first Atelier Ryza, that features both characters from the first game and new characters. It features a similar but expanded version of the crafting system, and a much more interesting but familiar battle system that takes some time to get used to, but feels great once you find a rhythm.
Finally this game had a native PS5 version, which in january was a nice bonus. The game is obviously not super technically demanding but having a game run at a solid 4k60fps, also having access to the load times of the SSD, made a game in which the game is navigated frequently by a quick travel menu. All the technical aspects made this an incredibly good stealth hit of the early PS5 days. (Ironically when everyone was complaining about there not being any actual PS5 games, I was playing this and enjoying it laughing at people who said that.)
01. NEO: The World Ends With You
This game not only was my favourite game of the year, It also wins the “Award for Being A Sequel to A Game That Didnt Really Need A Sequel” and the partner to that award the “Award for Actually Sticking The Landing on an Unnecessary Sequel”.
The original game, stood out for being one of the best implementations of the DS ever, sure games like Kirbys Canvas Curse, or the Zelda games used the touch screen to great effect, The World Ends With You was one of the few games on the system that felt like it needed both screens at all times, and a version without both screens would be a lesser version. This new game was already at a disadvantage, it didnt have the 2 things the original game had, and by all accounts the things fans liked about that first game, the battle system and the characters.
With that being said, this game nails the new battle system, feeling not like the original in mechanics but definitely in vibe and style, and having a cast of characters that like the original, start pretty flat and grow into great characters over the course of the game. Also the art style and graphics in this game are incredible, they could have easily given it the “budget JRPG” look (even Persona 5 uses this, so its not a inherent problem) but instead decide to use a 3d version of the original artwork in the game.
This game very heavily relies of players knowing the original, and that would be my recommendation to anyone interested in the game, Overly simply put, this is a game that fans have been waiting for, for over a decade and usually games like that do not live up to expectations, whereas personally this game did for me.
Plus The Soundtrack is dope.
