Games Beaten in 2021

1. Cyberpunk 2077 [2020]
2. Manifold Garden [2020]
3. Superliminal [2019]
4. Lightmatter [2020]
5. Ghostrunner [2020]
6. The Legendary Axe [1989]
7. The Legendary Axe II [1990]
8. Bomberman [1991]
9. Bomberman ’93 [1993]
10. Mega Bomberman [1994]
11. Bonk’s Adventure [1990]
12. Bonk’s Revenge [1991]
13. Air Zonk [1992]
14. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate [2018]
15. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars [1996]
16. Paper Mario [2001]
17. Ori and the Will of the Wisps [2020]
18. Kentucky Route Zero [2020]
19. Paradise Killer [2020] (End of January)
20. Cyber Shadow [2021]
21. Skul: The Hero Slayer [2021]
22. Disjunction [2021] (End of February)
23. Loop Hero [2021]
24. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door [2004] (End of March) 1000 Games Rated
25. Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories [2002]
26. Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists of the Roses [2003]
27. Star Wars: Episode I - Jedi Power Battles [2000]
28. Disney’s The Jungle Book [1994]
29. The Lion King [1994]
30. Disney’s Aladdin [1993]
31. Croc: Legend of the Gobbos [1997]
32. Dynasty Warriors [1997]
33. Bushido Blade [1997]
34. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver [1999]
35. Jumping Flash! [1995]
36. Tomb Raider [1996]
37. Ridge Racer [1993]
38. Vib-Ribbon [2014]
39. Gex [1995]
40. King’s Field II [1996]
41. Grand Theft Auto [1998]
42. Final Fantasy VII [1997] (End of April)
43. Resident Evil: Village [2021]
44. Darkest Dungeon [2016]
45. GetsuFumaDen [2021]
46. Touhou Luna Nights [2018]
47. Record of Lodoss War-Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth [2021]
48. Primal Light [2020]
49. Huntdown [2020]
50. Savage Halloween [2020]
51. Ape Out [2019]
52. Donut County [2018]
53. Super Monkey Ball [2001]
54. A Short Hike [2019]
55. The Evil Within [2014]
56. Kid Dracula [2019]
57. Outriders [2021] (End of May)
58. Griftlands [2021]
59. Star Fox Adventures [2002]
60. Star Fox: Assault [2005]
61. Star Wars [1983]
62. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back [1985]
63. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III – Rebel Strike [2003]
64. Timesplitters: Future Perfect [2005]
65. Unreal Championship [2002]
66. Deathrow [2002]
67. Medal of Honor: Rising Sun [2003]
68. SNKRX [2021]
69. Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings [1999]
70. Homeworld 2 [2003] (End of June)
71. RimWorld [2018]
72. Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak [2016]
73. BlackChain [2021]
74. Age of Empires [1997]
75. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War [2004]
76. Dark Reign: The Future of War [1997]
77. Total War: Warhammer [2016]
78. Stronghold [2001]
79. The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth [2004]
80. Myth: The Fallen Lords [1997] (End of July)
81. Death’s Door [2021]
82. Eldest Souls [2021]
83. Marble It Up! [2018]
84. In Other Waters [2020]
85. Call of the Sea [2020]
86. Myth II: Soulblighter [1998]
87. Ground Control [2000]
88. Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines [1998]
89. World in Conflict [2007]
90. Star Wars: Empire at War [2006]
91. Grey Goo [2015] (End of August)
92. Zelda II: Link’s Adventure [1988]
93. Pilotwings [1991]
94. Psychonauts 2 [2021]
95. Cruelty Squad [2021]
96. Deathloop [2021]
97. Twelve Minutes [2021]
98. Metroid II: Return of Samus [1991]
99. Ninja Five-O [2003]
100. Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty [1992] (End of September)
101. Dune 2000 [1998]
102. Desert Child [2018]
103. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars [2007]
104. Dead Space 3 [2013]
105. Metroid Dread [2021]
106. Strider [1989]
107. Kabuki: Quantum Fighter [1991]
108. Power Blade [1991]
109. Shatterhand [1991]
110. Kick Master [1992]
111. Batman: The Video Game [1990]
112. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [1989]
113. Little Samson [1992]
114. S.C.A.T.: Special Cybernetic Attack Team [1991]
115. Metal Storm [1991]
116. Metal Warriors [1995]
117. Ranger X [1993]
118. Okinawa Rush [2021]
119. They Always Run [2021]
120. Inscryption [2021]
121. Silent Hill 2 [2001] (End of October)
122. The Evil Within 2 [2017]
123. Earthworm Jim [1994]
124. Cool Spot [1993]
125. Dynamite Headdy [1994]
126. Ristar [1995]
127. Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse [1990]
128. QuackShot Starring Donald Duck [1991]
129. Pulseman [1995]
130. Vectorman [1995]
131. Vectorman 2 [1996]
132. Rocket Knight Adventures [1993]
133. Toejam & Earl [1991]
134. PaRappa the Rapper [1997]
135. Nightmare Creatures [1997]
136. Spider-Man 2 – Enter: Electro [2001]
137. Spider-Man [2002]
138. Spider-Man 2 [2004]
139. MechAssault [2002]
140. Luigi’s Mansion [2001]
141. Wave Race: Blue Storm [2001]
142. Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force [2000] (End of November)
143. Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix [2002]
144. The Pathless [2020]
145. Flower [2009]
146. Florence [2018]
147. Panzer Paladin [2020]
148. Steel Assault [2021]
149. Chrono Trigger [1995]
150. Ecco: The Tides of Time [1994]
151. Ecco Jr. [1995]
152. Praey for the Gods [2021]
153. Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon [2021]
154. The Forgotten City [2021]
155. Maquette [2021]
156. Night Trap [1992]
157. BattleTanx [1998]
158. Beetle Adventure Racing! [1999]
159. Terminator: Resistance [2019]
160. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project [1992]
161. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist [1992]
162. Halo: Infinite [2021]
163. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 [2008] * 1000 Games Beaten
164. Alpha Protocol [2010]
165. Bio-Hazard Battle [1992]
166. Thunder Force II [1989]
167. Thunder Force III [1990]
168. Thunder Force IV [1993]
169. Gaiares [1990]
170. M.U.S.H.A. [1991]
171. Armored Warriors [1994]
172. Little Nightmares [2017]
173. Amnesia: Rebirth [2020] (End of December)

Where to even begin... 2021 was by far my most "productive" year in the war I wage with my backlog. I suppose I owe that to work from home and being done (hopefully) with Dota 2 for good.

173 is an interesting number, and I didn't initially set out to beat so many games, until October when I mused that this strange number was in reach. I started recording the new games I beat in a word doc and a spreadsheet on New Year's Eve 2010 upon playing Amnesia: The Dark Descent. I also began at that time, setting "unrealistic" goals for myself to beat lots of games. It began with 53, or one a week rounded up for the half week. I beat 52 in 2011. 48 in 2012. Then I shattered that goal with 86 in 2013. I followed that year up with some down years as I began playing Dota 2. 24 Games beat in 2014, 41 in 2015, and 44 in 2016. I was trying to get back to that 53 mark, but I set the new unrealistic goal of 100 for 2017, and I would go on to meet that goal, beating 100 games in 2017. That became the new goal going forward. I would go on to hit 72 in 2018, 95 in 2019 and in 2020 I set a new record with 102. That brings us to 2021 and I began this year like the past few, trying to beat 100 games.

So what does make 173 so interesting? When I hit 100 games entering October I got to thinking, "We're way ahead of schedule." My first thought was 150, then maybe 183 for an average of a game every other day. Then I noticed why 173 would be so interesting. It turns out I had beaten 172 games the 20 years before I ever started my record of the games I beat, so to beat one more than that would be a chef's kiss personal achievement. But now with the goal in mind I had to beat 73 games in 3 months. I was surprisingly confident about my ability to get it done and I guess the old cliché you can do anything you put your mind to can be true. And because I'm poetic like that, the game I decided to beat to celebrate the occasion was non other than Amnesia: Rebirth, sequel to Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

I also hit another couple of milestones this year. I celebrated my 1000th rated game with Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and my 1000th beaten game with Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3. What's the difference? I guess it's rather arbitrary, but I rate all games I've ever played on my spreadsheet and that spreadsheet also features multiplayer games (Dota 2) or other unbeatable games (Pac-Man) and games I've sunk a lot of time into but haven't yet beaten (such as bad games like Spider-Man and X-Men in Arcade's Revenge). I do count some multiplayer focused games if they have some kind of singleplayer, tutorial or story mode that can be completed (Like say the first Titanfall or Dota 2 if I had gotten to it before they stripped out the tutorial)

I chose Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for obvious reasons, the 1000 in the title. I chose Red Alert because the first two games in the series are very near and dear to my heart, so this felt like the right time to finally play the third.

Anyway, I suppose preamble is fun and all, but what were the highlights of these 173 games?

I think I most enjoyed my time playing through RTS games again. It had been a long time since I played around in the genre in any meaningful way. I grew up playing a ton of Age of Empires II and I finally finished it. Finally getting my hands on the first game was also fun, and satisfied a lifelong curiosity about it. I also really enjoyed Stronghold and The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth. Though I'm pretty certain they aren't canon, the Dune games also got me quite interested in that universe. Bungie's Myth series also stood out to me as quite the good time. Hearing Marty's pre-Halo music was a treat. World in Conflict was also a long time curiosity for me and still remains quite visually pleasing despite being 15 years old. Dark Reign is little known, but I found it to be quite a frenetic and fun classic RTS. I was struck by how much I enjoyed Star Wars: Empire at War, but not for the RTS element, but more its macro element. Command & Conquer 3 and Red Alert 3 were both fun to get into too, though I would say I liked Red Alert a fair bit more than Tiberium Wars. Though it did make me prevent Tim Curry from going to space...

I played a little bit of Commandos 2: Men of Courage growing up, but never got far. I figured it was time to try again, but start from the beginning with Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines and it's definitely a cool tactics game. I'm looking forward to sitting down with other games in the genre like its sequel as well as Shadow Tactics and Desperados.

I corrected some glitches in my matrix by beating some games I never really pursued or was never able to beat as a kid this year. Lion King, Jungle Book, Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories and Duelists of the Roses, Vectorman 2, Earthworm Jim, Medal of Honor: Rising Sun, Paper Mario, Luigi's Mansion. Some of these were good, and some were not so good.

The NES was before my time, so it was good to play a bunch more games from that system, though I've already played most of the important ones. That said, I did still play Zelda II and it is actually quite a bit better than I expected. Kick Master, Batman and Strider were also pretty good.

I enjoyed my time playing a ton of Sega Genesis and TurboGrafx-16. I had a Nomad growing up, but not too many games for it. It's been great to see what made the console so competitive up against the SNES. Ristar, Pulseman and Rocket Knight Adventures were the highlights of the bunch I played. The TG-16 was also the subject of my curiosity for a long time and to finally have had a glimpse into was fun as well. The Legendary Axe in particular was a fun "classicvania" style game, and the Bonk games were pretty fun too.

I finally played Final Fantasy VII (the original not remake), and Chrono Trigger. I've typically shied away from JRPGs, but I'm glad to finally be able to count myself among the ranks of those who have played those great games. Super Mario RPG and the Paper Mario games were great too.

I didn't have a PS1 growing up, so I'm happy to have now played a bunch more of those games. I was particularly struck by just how much I enjoyed the proto-souls game, King's Field. Tomb Raider, Soul Reaver and Nightmare Creatures also tickled my fancy. Despite having no real nostalgia for it, I find PS1 visuals oddly pleasing, so indie devs moving in that direction pleases me.

I'm glad to have also sated a lifelong curiosity about Battletanx that has been with me since I was in Sunday School. It wasn't good though. I am also happy to have sated a more recent curiosity about Beetle Adventure Racing! which actually was quite good. I tend to enjoy the more offbeat and arcadey racers, and Wave Race: Blue Storm was another fun game I played through this year. Another longtime curiosity sated was Star Fox Adventures, and to a lesser extent Assault. Neither particularly good, but interesting games from the GameCube era. Rogue Squadron III was another game I'd always been curious about, imagining it to be the best parts of Super Star Wars as well as Rogue Squadron, sadly it was just a middling version of the latter and what I thought would be like the former was just kind of bad.

It doesn't really fit anywhere, but I also feel like I should draw attention to Ninja Five-O, it being a really solid ninja platformer. And another game that doesn't really fit anywhere, Night Trap was good old fashioned FMV fun.

I started with Soma last year, but I'm glad I've been able to finally get back to playing horror games after Amnesia: The Dark Descent ruined me that fateful New Year's Eve. Rebirth is certainly spooky as well, but I think the Frictional schtick, while still effective, could use some innovation. Finally being able to get through Silent Hill 2 is a relief, and I now have an idea of what the fuss was about. The Evil Within games were good too, leaving me curious to how Ghostwire: Tokyo will end up.

Special shout out to some the of the recent but not last year indie and indie adjacent games I enjoyed the most. Primal Light was another cool linear action platformer. The puzzlers Manifold Garden, Superliminal and Lightmatter all brought their own flavors to the table. Paradise Killer was an intriguing mystery game. Kentucky Route Zero is good, if a bit more somber side. A Short Hike is an incredibly charming platformer. Terminator: Resistance doesn't feel like it should be good, but it is. Ghostrunner is as white knuckle as a game can be. Darkest Dungeon and RimWorld were both quite maddening yet addicting in much the same way. Ori and the Will of the Wisps is the top notch metroidvania it's reputed to be. The Pathless is a free flowing journey well worth taking. And Marble it Up! is a fun 3D marble platformer that brought back memories of playing Marble Blast Ultra in the early Xbox Live Arcade days.

I suppose I should mention Cyberpunk 2077, because I am rather positive on it. There's a sea of negativity around it, but I suppose the reasons I'm not swimming in that sea are twofold. I didn't pay much attention to it leading up to release other than seeing headlines, so I didn't let the hype get to me. Secondly, somehow my aging rig was able to handle it just fine. I maybe had to load once or twice throughout the entire game. It's still not a perfect game, but my experience with it appears to been so drastically different from the vast majority of people, I thought it would be worth mentioning I think it's a pretty good game.

And lastly the game I just cannot stop thinking about is Alpha Protocol. It's bad in many of the ways you'd expect if you've ever read up on it, but it's oh so good in the ways that matter most to me and I can't help but want some sort of successor. I love spy stuff, and playing this game was a mistake, because I fear I will now have an itch that won't ever be scratched again.

I probably neglected to mention something, because there's a lot of games I could talk about. I'll save the stuff actually from 2021 for another time. A link to a list of all the games I've ever beaten is below.

Link to HowLongToBeat Profile