2021 has been a bit of a wild year, hasn’t it? While 2020 was the genesis of lockdowns, mask mandates, supply chain crises, and overall exposure to the absurdness of the world when pushed to their limits, 2021 presented a different challenge of ‘Now what?’ That unknown middle chapter where Covid is a malaise on the state of everything that we just have to accept whether we like it or not for the foreseeable future. I know, I know, we should just be talking about the games here because it’s our way to escape, but when something else knocks all that balance out the window, it’s hard not to be affected in some way, so I just wanted to get it out here at the top.

I went into this thinking that it wasn’t a very good year for games this year, based on the things that happened to me, how I’ve been feeling this year in general and how many games I actually played, but looking back I’m filled with optimism. There WERE some pretty good experiences this year despite everything, and for myself and for games this tells me ‘hey, we’ll get through this and be fine, just like everything else that’s happened so far’. So let’s get on with it shall we?

Honourable Mentions

Mini Motorways

I didn’t feel good adding this to a top list considering I’ve only put 1-2 hours into it, BUT like mini metro, this is a great ‘snack game’ for just watching things work in motion. If you can’t watch cars in real life to chill and ponder, why not do it here? The extra inclusions roads offer like interchanges and traffic lights are nice additions to the formula they set up in Metro. Pick it up for a few dollars, play a little bit, and stop by whenever you feel like it.

Apex Legends

Only a mention on the technicality it didn’t release this year, but picking Apex back up has been a nice nightly excursion to keep any semblance of a social life during lockdown times. The game is exactly as good and as solid as it felt when it first came out, but the addition of casual modes really takes the edge off while you shoot the shit over discord. While our aspirations of ever going pro are at an amazing negative percentage, the rush of a squad wipe is still just as exciting as the first time we ever did it.

13 Sentinels : Aegis Rim

Unfortunately this doesn’t make the list due to not being released in 2021 but goddamn is this a GAME and would've probably been in my top 3. Jan’s staunch praise for this game only made me more interested to see it for myself and I was not disappointed in the slightest. This game is full sci-fi anime, but the way it weaves the story between all the characters, dropping hints along the way eventually blossoming into the full explanation was something I don’t think could be emulated in any other medium than a video game and so I applaud Vanillaware for being able to pull it off. And I enjoyed the RTS part of it too! A great power fantasy of Japanese mecha combat that I don’t think other games have matched. If you’re interested in sci-fi, mecha, or time travel at all, give this game an honest shot.

Ring Fit Adventure

Remember that time when RFA was sold out everywhere at the beginning of the pandemic? I did, so I ended up buying it once the world slowly forgot about it and their ringcons slowly started accumulating dust. And it’s become so much of my routine I completely forgot this was a 2021 purchase.

RFA is a great implementation of the craft after so many lukewarm ‘fitness’ games. The RPG nature of it really does motivate you to keep going to see the end of it, and the way different exercises are weaved into the stages and as your primary combat tool makes for a legitimate cardio workout. In addition to other workout routines (and diet of course) it is a great complement. Stay healthy everyone, even games are looking out for you.

And so we reach my…11 games of the year aka the only 11 games I can recall being released and played in 2021, so instead of being top these kind of go from ‘bad’ to 'good' to 'pretty good' to ‘best’. So with the trimming done, let’s count them down!

11. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury

This might be a hot take, I don’t think this game controls very good. Coming off of Crash 4 where every action felt exact and precise, I could not get used to the floatiness of Mario’s control at all. Every death felt like a ‘I did not do that’ or ‘why did I go that way’ situation, and that compiled with the unresponsiveness trying to do certain moves on command with the joycons, I left 3D Land with an overall feeling of ‘well glad we finished it at least’. This tapered my enjoyment of Bowser’s Fury as well. As a concept, I’m all for it for what it could set up in future Mario titles, but by god I wish the controls were tightened up a bit. Might just be me not used to 'how it's always been' since the N64, or maybe the fickleness of the joycons, but there shouldn’t be a need to purchase a specific controller to be able to play the game well.

10. Shin Megami Tensei V

Should I even compare this with Persona? I feel like you have to, right? There’s a lot of similar elements and I know there are distinct differences but..

Look, I’m a Persona guy. I’ve seen my share of ‘Persona took all the glory, SMT is where it gets REAL’, or ‘SMT is where the mature stories happen and things are actually difficult, not this waifu simulator crap’, etc etc. arguments on the internet. So when SMT V finally came out I thought ‘Ok, I can finally see what all the hubbub is about and if SMT can go toe to toe’ since it had been quite awhile since the last. Could we have a world where both SMT and Persona can stand at the top as Atlus’ two marquee series?

Sorry, this game ain’t it (35 hours in). I think even without the Persona comparison, this is just an OKAY JRPG. The custom animations they made for each demon, conversations you have with each, the customizability you’re allowed, the grand debate of ‘Is God ‘good’ and are demons ‘evil’?; that’s all fine. But there’s not much else I can applaud SMT V for.

The pacing is horrendous, there’s too much time spent grinding due to necessity, the combat’s not particularly deep or challenging and can be tedious, and I barely feel any motivation for characters or story to keep pushing on. In a world where RPGs have been better about rewarding you for what time you can provide to it, SMT V just feels outdated and a slog to get through.

Previous SMT titles may have built their initial fanbase, but to me V does no favours of growing it at all, and that’s kind of a shame. I wanted to like this game and recommend it to others, but there were too many grievances to put it any higher than above a game that I already disliked the controls in. Oof.

Also holy shit the CAMERA FOV, they patched this later to be able to zoom out but that initial FOV is MADDENING.

9. Uma Musume Pretty Derby

Whew, okay, let’s go to some more positive feedback, shall we? And what better way than to get to some gacha anthropomorphic anime horse girls.

‘Wait…really?’ Yup.

Seriously speaking though, this is very much a me thing but I give props to any designers that are able to anthropomorphize pretty much anything into compelling cute anime girls. First it was naval ships with Kantai Collection, and now it’s Horses with Uma Musume. But it isn’t just that, the polish this game has as a mobile game really wowed me. The visuals, UI, music (both idol and non-idol), the horse races themselves, all of it. Usually a 1-2 year delayed game languishes by the time it comes out but you can tell the stark difference between the first time they revealed the game and what it looks like now. They did the work and were rewarded as it’s one of the top mobile games in Japan.

A little bit of explanation is needed here (as it’s a JP only game). It’s essentially a training rogue-like where you spend a 3 year career with a chosen ‘HorseGirl’, managing stats, running races, and attempting to be crowned ‘URA Champion’ by the end. There’s a whole inheritance system for you to slowly grind your way to having better horses. The gacha mechanics come in with new horses as well as support cards you use to give advantages/stat boosts during your run.

As with all Gacha games, you eventually hit a wall without some serious investment, but I can say I’ve enjoyed my time with it; collecting what I could without spending a single cent. The price points are pretty egregious, RNG is rampant, and Cygames isn’t exactly friendly with their handouts, but it was enough to garner the 9 spot here.

8. Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars

I was intrigued by the motif of the game when they first showed this in a Nintendo Direct, but with Yoko Taro helming the writing and a decent demo showing, I was in. What is presented as a simple turn based JRPG with a unique visual motif, gets elevated by a few gameplay tweaks due to the medium and the tongue-in-cheek scripts we come to expect from Yoko Taro. Voice of Cards didn’t overstay its welcome either, clocking in at around 10-12 hours. I felt satisfied with a complete story by the end of it.

PS. Read all the character card backs, even the NPCs, it’s peak Yoko Taro territory.

7. The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

Great Ace Attorney came as a pleasant surprise. Long thought to never make the trip overseas, Herlock Sholmes stowed away on a ship to greet us after 6 long years. And what a comfort these games are. Still filled with the charming wit and personality of games past, GAAC is another great addition to what seemed to be an end to the Attorney series all those years ago.The formula/point and click aspect of the games might be dated, but the ‘page turning’ ability these games have for me cannot be understated. I do hope that this release ignites some sort of spark for a return in the future, because good writing never falls out of favour as the years go by.

6. NEO: The World Ends with You

I was cautiously optimistic when they first announced this. We got to experience The World Ends With You at such a different time and place in life, would the sequel be able to keep that magic that made the first one so adored? And how would that combat translate to a non-touch screen, non-portable 3d environment? Amid the age of remasters and remakes, could we actually get a proper sequel that stays faithful yet not be stuck in the past?

Safe to say my fears were ephemeral, because they really nailed everything you remember from the DS title, putting whatever twists they did to keep it modern. The original was so engrossed in the functionality of the DS, but they managed to keep everything here. You're still mix and matching fashion, eating delicious food, the combat is still just as hectic but measured (albeit a little grindy), the music still bangs (with some old favourites!), and the characters and settings ooze that Shibuya style we loved a decade ago. If you had any reverence for the original TWEWY, do yourself a favor and give this a whirl.

5. Bravely Default II

Not having touched Bravely Second, I saw the announcement of this as coming back to some good old times with Bravely Default. If the sequel had any semblance to the original I’d be all for it, and BDII didn’t disappoint. A fine JRPG with unique skills and classes, likeable characters, and my god, the soundtrack. One of the few OSTs I still listen to occasionally, Revo hit it out of the park again, and it’s one of the reasons this is so high on the list. Do yourself a favour and just listen to this boss music playlist of this game, you won’t be disappointed.

4. Persona 5 Strikers

Remember when we all saw the announcement for this thinking it was Persona 5 for switch, and instead we got a musou game out of it? The Atlus twitter had probably seen better days. But after the dust settled I picked this up on a whim and don’t regret one bit of the purchase.

I had seen previous ‘musou’ forays as being shallow beat-em-ups without doing their principle series justice (Hyrule and Fire Emblem Warriors) but Omega Force really one-upped it with P5S. More importantly was getting back to that world of Persona 5 and having a road trip with everyone again across Japan, the game paced itself well between the social linking conversational aspects and the slightly mashy but measured fighting across the game’s version of ‘dungeons’. This really felt like a Persona game first with Musou elements smoothing out the edges rather than the other way around, and for that it deserves to be part of the P5 canon and high up on this list.

3. Valheim

At work there was a slack channel created specifically for Valheim just to discuss the crazy shit that would happen to people as they spent hours upon hours exploring this world and what buffoonery you could get up to. That channel has seen no activity since April.

But looking back, while it was a fairly straight forward path to ‘beat’ the game, goddamn were some of the highs VERY high during that journey. Jumping in with a couple friends, the way situations would just organically happen in a largely undocumented world made for some of the best moments I’ve had all year. The ‘janky’ look and mechanics really brought me back to when you would log on to whatever free online game as a child and just do…whatever and not have a care about losing progress or doing things to the perfect degree.

The devs are probably seeing more realistic numbers now than the ludicrous explosion at launch and that’s probably for the best. They’ll continue adding and improving it, but for me I think I enjoyed Valheim more as a co-op game with an ending rather than the 'games as a service' metropolis we see ourselves in with everything else on the market. It wasn’t a long time, but a good time.

2. Metroid Dread

To borrow from a person from a certain website about video games, this is a game-ass game. No narrative nonsense, no deeper meaning, just get down there, get some powerups, and eff shit up. Metroid Dread does it so well.

I wouldn’t consider myself a huge Metroid buff; the last Metroid I played was Fusion when it originally came out, and I didn’t touch any of the Prime games. I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of ‘bashing my head against a boss a bunch of times’ either, yet Dread kept compelling me at each turn to keep going and power through. And so I did, despite some frustrating shine puzzles and a few harrowing fights (the chozo warrior fights were some of the hardest for me), I ended up 100%-ing the game. It was a lot more ‘linear’ than I was expecting, and some EMMI parts definitely toss themselves to pure luck, but I don’t think I felt more accomplished in any other game this year after all was said and done. I’m curious if we’ll get another Metroid in this 2D style, but I’ll be excited if it does.

1. FFXIV Endwalker

2021 really was the year for FFXIV, and the expansion didn’t even come out until the end of the year. I’m sure you’ve heard the free trial blurb plenty of times, or been goaded by others to ‘keep going, HERE is where it gets good’ or heard adventures of bunny and cat girls just sitting in a port town dancing. There isn’t much more I can add to be honest, those that like the game, REALLY like it, and I’m no exception. It is just a good MMO, with good story telling and lore, good characters, and a love letter to Final Fantasy itself.

I had started playing due to watching NoClip’s documentary about it, enamoured by the pure heart and dedication these devs had for the game. You could say it was really good advertisement, but to be able to go through this journey, not just with the players and characters in game for 4 years now, but also with the devs that are with us every step of the way, it is no stranger why so many people love this game the way they do.

I’m only halfway through Endwalker, but I’m loving every part of it. Talking lore theories with friends, joking about mechanics, progging through dungeons and trials, taking in the new sights and sounds, there is no better band of scions I’d rather be doing this with. And it’s the least I can do for them, they’ve been with me the whole time after all.

It’s a little poetic that this expansion is bringing an end to the storyline it started years ago, along with turning the page on 2021. Leaving us to tackle the uncertainty of 2022 and whatever Eorzea and the World has in store for us in the future.