Another year is now over and it's truly been one to remember. It's had its share of good and bad moments but now it's time for me to celebrate what 2021 had given us within gaming and award that which deserves praise. I started doing these blogs back in 2012 and 2021 like all other years found a way to be unique. Feel like I got to play most of the games that I wanted this year and those that I've yet to play don't make me wait with this blog. As always there will be spoilers. Now lets get this show going and first out is..

The Anticipated

The games that I looked forward to this year that got released this year and which I had the chance to play:

1. Resident Evil: Village

2. NieR: Replicant

3. Tales of Arise

4. Atelier Ryza 2

5. Lost Judgment

What game lived up the anticipation the best?

Lost Judgment - While I did enjoy playing the first game it didnt wow me as it did for many other people and ended up being a pretty decent game. So went into this game with moderate expectations that got completely blown away! This game is in every way better than the original and a game that lit a desire in me for the studio to do more games like these that take place in an authentic world that isn't focused on the Yakuza. They got a fantastic talent in capturing humanity and all the struggles of modern life and I wish to see them do such justice to other topics as they did with many within this game. Outside of that the gameplay is more enjoyable now than it was before and of course with the added depth the game offers more to experienced people to master which is so important! That a game from a studio that I got high expectations on somehow managed to beat them while overcoming doubt from a previous underwhelming game is remarkable. Well done! Gonna be talking more about this game later in the blog so stay tuned!

The largest disappointment

Resident Evil: Village - It almost feels a bit unfair calling this my largest disappointment when the game itself didnt actually disappoint me as much as it just didnt live up or overcome expectations as well as the other entries previously mentioned. The game is good, great even and got some amazing moments and characters within it and I suppose that is also where the slight disappointment might be found. The best character of them all is taken out of the plot awfully quickly and while other portions after it manages to reach high peaks it still felt like a lot of missed potential with the best of the cast not being there. So for this year it isnt a disappointment getting an award here but a case of missing out on maximizing potential. Village is great, could've been better!

Places 10-8

10: Shin Megami Tensei V: Actually not entierly done with the game at the time of writting this but with so little left I feel comfortable putting it on the blog instead of it never making it. The game is good! First time I play this series and with the game being from Atlus it didnt take long to get into the swing of things. The game is beautiful with some pretty amazing scenery that make the world that much more interesting and this is the game strongest point. The gameplay of course is pretty enjoyable despite being harsh, what drags the game down is a meh story and characters that just dont really do it for me, except Nuwa.. always Nuwa!

9: Resident Evil: Village: After such an awesome game as Resident Evil 7 it was always going to be a tall order for this game to outdo it and it never really got that close either. Village is a great game but it isn't scary, it isn't making the player concerned about what will be found in the next room. It's however a very fun game if you just want to blow shit up and.. blowing shit up is always fun!

8: NieR: Replicant: Awesome story, awesome soundtrack and awesome visuals at key moments make this a very captivating game to play and one I feel like everyone should give themself the chance to play at some point. I'm thrilled I finally got to meet legendary characters such as Kainé and Weiss, to get more familiar with Emil and to see what Automata talked about. Just.. gameplay and other parts of the game could've.. been less of a bother.

The Unexpected

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart - A series dear to my childhood that managed to blow my expectations out of the water. I did think it'd be good fun to play, maybe even be among the better games of this year but I did not expect to find the childhood series achieve the same kind of joyful excitement I had so many years ago when I played other games from Ratchet & Clank. This game managed to take on and overcome nostalgia, that is no small feast! Certainly do help being on the latest generation but technical stuff will never be the main reason a game surprise me as much as this game did, it will only be an aiding force to what I'm gonna talk about later in this blog!

Places 7-5

7: Tales of Arise: I badly wish this game was divided into two full games. It tries to do too much and therefor exposes weaknesses and missed potential. This is my real issue with the game, missed potential because the game itself if I just look at the amazing characters, good story, very enjoyable combat and beautiful visuals and music, Arise is absolutely a game every JRPG fan must play!

6: Metroid Dread: Shocking some of you to the core I'm sure to find it only at 6th. This was my first Metroid game and I really did enjoy it, its gameplay is exquisite, the visuals look actually great and Samus as a character proved to be just as much the badass I hoped she would be! I think the genre isn't ever going to be a favorite for me but despite that Metroid Dread proved that quality in all the areas that matters can make a fan out of anyone, even someone that dont love the genre!

5: Life is Strange: True Colors: Game of uneven quality, the lows are pretty low but the highs reach the stars. This game reach as far up as it does for my ranks because it nails the character interactions and that's the most important part in almost any game for me. If I love the characers I will likely end up loving the game itself despite obvious issues in other areas. This game does more than the characters well, it does the world the story takes place in very well, it does some great music and visually it's the best Life is Strange has ever looked.

Best Soundtrack

Library of Ruina - Goooood lord the music in this game is out of the world amazing. It got more 10/10 tracks that any game I've played since 2017. Ruina just don't do mediocre when it comes to music and it got no weak tracks. Outside of magnificent "normal" soundtracks that you can find anywhere in the game the cooperation with Mili gives this game a handful of 20/10 tracks that I will never stop gushing about. Ruina is an absolute feast for the ears and they've been blessed a lot this year with Ruina playlists going on in the background on most of my days!

Most Impressive Aesthetic

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart - Being of the latest generation do give this game an advantage games on older generations got issues competing with but reality is that this game looks absolutely fantastic in its own right and utilize the advantage it got to the best effect an early game in a generation can. I never stopped smiling seeing new impressive sights hour after hour playing this game. It faced fierece competition for the award, so many amazing looking games out there to be enjoyed! This game is more than just beautiful, it's a promise of greater things to come!

Place 4

Persona 5: Strikers: No secret I love Persona games and looking at it from that angle it's no surprise this game made it that far but when taking into account the new genre and that fact that I had no experience of this genre it got a lot more uncertain but the series and the cast melt into its new mold without wasting time or effort and delivered instead a fantastic game that was non-stop fun to play. It was also awesome to get to spend time with a gang of characters that I fell hard for back in 2017 and will take every chance I can get to spend more time with. The fact that the game is a bit of a sequel is another win for the game as the characters now got a chance to grow from the events of Persona 5 and nothing ever beats seeing characters you love grow. Throw in some great music, awesome visuals and nail the gameplay and you get a game that got it all. No weaknesses to be found here and it speaks highly of games later in the blog that managed to beat an otherwise fantastic piece of media!

Best Game Played That Was Released In The Past

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - I AM SO HAPPY that I can give an award to this game that I never got the chance to play last year when it got out so playing it this year was a top priority and h o l y shit is the game incredible. It's likely the GOTY winner of last year if I had played it then and I know people have gushed about this game a lot and I'm joining them this year to make sure that no soul on this planet don't know how amazing this game is, how fantastic its characters are, how fascinating the world it takes place in is, how the narrative is a masterpiece, how visually charming it's, how captivating the music is, how absolutely GODDAMN PERFECT THE GAME IS so please play it, please please please! I'm going to give it a replay sooner or later, I need to get back to meeting Yuki, to meet Nenji, see Ryoko, Shu, Tomi and the rest. These kids are more than diamonds, they are all part of a genuine masterpiece

That you should play, yes

Please

Place 3

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart: Yeah, this game is THAT good! It's unrelentlessly enjoyable to play, doing exactly what a video game should do and provide incredible quality in its entertainment! This game is among the most fun games I've played in years and it doesn't need the most amazing story or characters though they're pretty great, Rivet especially is a 11/10 case. This game is made by insanely skilled, hard working and passionate people. I don't know them personally but it's clear by the result of all their effort. The game speaks for them and it's always a privilege to play a game that ooze fun in everything it does, in everything it lets me, the player do. This game is F U N!

Best Side Content

Lost Judgment - A category that almost exclusivly seems to go to games made by this studio of devs. Wasn't that fierce competition for it this year but even if there were I'm absolutely confident that this game would win it anyways. These games thrive on quality side content, its quality minigames, side stories and the stuff that doesn't make the story or its characters reach new heights. The side content in this game brings life into the world that it all takes place in on top of being so much fun! It's not rare that of the total playtime half if not more end up being spent on the side stuff and that's when you know the stuff is good, when the OPTIONAL content brings the player back time and time again!

Place 2

Lost Judgment: There was absolutely nothing saying before release that I would love this game as much as I do. This game is among the finest the developers have ever made with possibly the strongest story they've made full of engaging twists and turns and a world populated with from beginning to end fantastic characters that brings life into the drama. Without this phenomenal cast of characters the magic wouldn't hit as hard as it does but now they're there and Lost Judgment tackle serious topics with grace and doing so while still making a very enjoyable video game. The gameplay is better than in the original Judgment game in almost every way and throw in the previously mentioned side content and it's an absolute bargain of a game full of quality content to enjoy!

Character of the Year

Angela - She was already good in Lobotomy Corporation but it's in Library of Ruina that she evolves into the extraordinary character that she is now. She in no small part is what makes both of these games as incredible as they are. She is at the very center of everything, of the more than one hundred hours it took to finish Library of Ruina and not for a single second, not for a moment, not for a scene is she anything less than perfect. Angela brings sass, she brings venom, she brings intelligence and she brings emotions. She never stops growing and developing as a character and like I've said, this is my favorite part of video games and at no point did any other character in either Ruina or other games manage to outdo Angela. She is a Magnum Opus of a character

Game of the year

The game of the year is Library of Ruina! - Where to start, it's among the best games I've ever played, easily making it into my top 20 and quite easily into the top 10 best ever games I've played. Library of Ruina is the sequel to the awesome Lobotomy Corporation and I can't recall seeing a sequel use the work of what came before it as well as Ruina does. It takes the hard work and creates divine quality in all its parts, in everything it touches Ruina achives excellence rare to be seen in not only video games but in any media, in movies, music or books etc. Ruina got no weakness that can detract from the unimaginable levels of enjoyment I had playing this game. The gameplay is super engaging and at times really harsh, making me swear, making me almost despair but with some quality help I overcame its many challenges and each win was like an oasis in the desert pushing me forward to the next challenge to overcome. But it's not the awesome gameplay that achieves the GOTY win for Ruina. Its music has already been mentioned as mong the finest in gaming and the same goes for the aesthetic and visuals of this game. This game just as easily could've also won that award and some days I will think it should've won it. The game is a feast for both ears and the eyes! Yet it's not the gameplay, the visuals and the music that are all peak in their area that does win the GOTY award for Ruina. The story builds upon hte fruitful effort of Lobotomy Corporation and evolves endlessly towards even greater heights the further into the game you get. The stakes rising and rising and rising and always doing so in a way that makes sense, that the reality of the situation of the narrative can keep up with what is happening. The world building of Ruina carries a heavy burden but it seems to do so almost effortlessly, without dropping the ball once and then enters the characters. The characters of this game are worthy of an award each and every one of them. The main cast is reason enough for me to entertain the idea of a mindwipe so I can meet them fresh again! Angela, Roland, Hod, Binah, Chesed, Gebura, Tipereth, Malkuth, Hokma, Yesod and Netzach all add their own magic into the mix and together they are an unbeatable team of class and excellence. The story and the characters that take the stage are what really set Ruina apart from the rest of gaming this year. They are among gamings finest!

Wow, and so comes the end of another blog. I've now been giving out this award for 10 whole years. T E N years! 2022 looks promising for gaming and should hopefully be able to deliver some reprive for us that are around to deal with a world gone mad and mader and madest than ever before. Until then, bye-onara!