This year has been, well, another year for games. A lot of newer games didn’t always hit me in a big way this year, but that sure didn’t stop me from trying. Here’s a few things to know about the list: in past years for me, the “And 1” spot was traditionally for a game that either might not have otherwise made the list due to a technicality (port, expansion, remaster, early access etc.). Really in this case though it's just an extra spot to make a mockery of my own dumb rules and write about something I played a lot of that didn’t come out this year. Also my list proper has plenty of other technical exceptions too so let's not think about any of this too hard. I also like to include novelty awards at the beginning for all the other games I played this year but didn’t rank in case you were thinking “well, but did you play ________?” (you probably weren't but that's okay). Anyway folks, enjoy the list and until next time.

[Editor’s note 1/14/23: Added Chicory: A Colorful Tale at #9 and OPUS: Echo of Starsong at #8, shuffling the list around by dropping The Forgotten City and Halo: Infinite and moving Life is Strange: True Colors to #7]

Novelty Awards

2021s Old Games of the year: 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, Paradise Killer, If Found…, Helltaker, Astro's Playroom, Observation, Gears Tactics, Hustle Cat, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd, Final Fantasy VIII Remastered, Bugsnax, Demon's Souls (2020), The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, Super Mario 3D World

Most cursed time loop in the year of time loop games: 12 Minutes

The “More cyberpunk than Cyberpunk” Award: The Ascent

Best game I should have played more of: Griftlands

Best actually helpful companion character: Bowser Jr. in Bowser’s Fury

Game I'm most surprised I put 20 hours into: Pokémon Unite

Best banter: Necrobarista: Final Pour

Best shadow drop (again): Deltarune: Chapter 2

Best banger of an opening theme song: World Flipper

Most as advertised: Unpacking

Best preview of 2023s Best Soundtrack winner: Unbeatable [white label]

Best ziplines: The Forgotten City

Best grappling hook: Halo: Infinite

2022s 2021 games I will probably play but haven't yet: Psychonauts 2, NEO: The World Ends with You, Sable, Get in The Car, Loser!, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, and the rest of Scarlet Nexus

And 1. Let’s talk about Trails, shall we?

Alright everyone, buckle up, this is actually the first ever And 2 (and a half?), because that’s what I played of the Trails games in 2021. I started with Trails in the Sky last year and things were good, but this year it really caught fire when I finished the second half of Second Chapter, then played Trails in the Sky the 3rd and then Trails of Cold Steel I. Like, if we’re being real here and not considering release date it’s probably a toss-up between 13 Sentinels, Trails, and my actual #1 for my favorite thing I played this year. And if we’re talking about why I didn’t play as many new games this year, here’s reason #2 (more on reason #1 later).

Okay, but what is Trails? They are turn-based JRPGs spanning multiple sub-series that all take place in the same industrial fantasy universe that I would describe as very Full Metal Alchemist-y. Trails games go absolutely at their own pace and have so much dialogue it’s like playing a visual novel with an occasional RPG on top. And that can be fantastic! The world and characters that are being built here are, on paper, pretty tropey and nothing that you likely haven’t seen before. However, the story elements are all so meticulously done and well executed at such a scale as to be really exceptional. In some ways, it’s almost like you’re replaying an old favorite game even on the first playthrough. But I mean that as a compliment, because though I frequently feel like even though I can guess where most of the beats are going, I’m excited to get there rather than indifferent.

It’s amazing too to think that I could make an argument for any of these games I’ve played so far to be the best of the series. The (relative) tightness of the first Trails in the Sky’s story with one of the most devastating cliffhanger endings; compared with the way that Second Chapter delivers on the promise of said ending and then some. Even The 3rd, which is a shift in focus and mostly consists of side stories, is an outstanding fanservice package with some of the best storytelling of the series. And then there’s Cold Steel I, which structurally and thematically is like Fire Emblem: Three Houses before there even was Fire Emblem: Three Houses, but like what if we spent twice as much time and only covered the equivalent of about half of Three Houses (all of this is still complimentary, by the way). Time will tell if all the gratuitous worldbuilding will pay off in the rest of Cold Steel, but even separated from how the rest of it plays out I might say that Cold Steel I is my favorite of these so far, and why I’m so psyched to continue. Forget all (or at least some) of the new 2022 releases coming that will get delayed to 2023, my most anticipated games of next year are already out.

Biggest detail I miss going from Sky to Cold Steel: The fun quips that you get when you try to open item chests again

10. Final Fantasy VII Remake: Episode INTERmission

You know what the 10 spot is good for too? More exceptions. I mean, Yuffie’s Very Own Episode is enough of a game on its own (especially if you spend three hours playing Fort Condor like I did), but it also is just as it says: an intermission that, to me, functions as a glorified hype builder for the next game. I played the original FFVII in between playing Remake and this, so I knew Yuffie’s deal enough to look forward to her debut and, well, they certainly made her a lot. But whatever, she’s great. It helps too that Yuffie is about as fun to play as Tifa is in the Remake, and even though some aspects of her playstyle like the synergy mechanic might be limited to this game, she should hopefully be even better as part of the main party. Though I hope that they keep some of that story tension where at first, she’s a total rascal just trying to steal their stuff.

The plot of Intermission is about as fun and inconsequential as they come, and it was often more exciting just briefly seeing some of the old characters again. However, the ending bits showing the main story both continuing to deviate (Zack’s still alive??) while still following some of the original (Cloud and crew are heading to Kalm) are very fun especially now that I actually know the story of VII. Or at least, I thought I knew the story. I haven’t looked into any of the rest of the Compilation so I didn’t know who the hell Nero was, but that didn’t stop it from being entertaining anime BS. All of this aside, seeing a little more of Midgar and these characters was excuse enough and well, it does have me hype for the next game. In like, five more years when it’s out?

Best “Cowboy Bebop chase scene” energy: "The Runaround"

9. Chicory: A Colorful Tale

I can’t draw at all and I played this on PlayStation anyway so I didn’t really doodle all that much in the world of Chicory. But still, it made me feel like I could draw, even if it was badly. The rest of the time it made me feel like I was playing a pretty fun Zelda-like. However, Chicory definitely ends up being more than the sum of its parts, a game with the good(?) kind of vibes that I am here for, where it’s about as wholesome as it is kind of depressing and you get some real ups and downs along the way. The music kicks ass too. Not much else to say really other than check it out if you haven’t already!

Best outfit combo: Pretty much any of them?

8. OPUS: Echo of Starsong

Here’s a game I had forgotten, then remembered, and then I think forgot about again until it got a Switch port, at which point I’m glad to have finally played it. In some reviews I saw there was a, frankly, reckless comparison stating that Echo of Starsong was basically a Makoto Shinkai film made into a game. My issue isn’t that it’s wrong, but that if you just throw that out there then goddammit you’re gonna get me to play it. A lot of the components are here: great soundtrack, great style, a love story across time and/or space, etc. And with its sci-fi stylings, it’s only about a few steps away from Voices of a Distant Star and that’s rad.

However, OPUS also has the benefit of being a longer and slower-paced experience and uses that to build out a lot of fantastic lore and culture. Like, really fantastic; I don’t think I can overstate this. Although the game itself is pretty lightly interactive to the point of almost being a visual novel, the game’s couple of spaces are really good looking and I was glad to (space)walk through them. Besides that, it has probably the best galaxy map screen since Mass Effect. Having finished Echo of Starsong, I knew going in that there are other older OPUS games that are in this same universe and now I’m very interested in checking those out too, because of how well built the world of this game is.

The “You got Game Passed™!" Award: Me buying this on Switch about two weeks before it got announced for Game Pass

7. Life is Strange: True Colors

If you like Life is Strange and its ilk, you already know what you're in for here. These games are mostly about a vibe and mood and music to me, and on all counts you can't say that this entry isn't exactly what Life is Strange is, even if it’s getting increasingly familiar. But still, the ”slice of life drama with some kind of supernatural element” sub-genre has become one of my favorites of the last couple years. Even if I wasn't that excited about the initial pitch (i.e. THE PSYCHIC POWER OF EMPATHY), if there was a chance to reach the highs of previous Life is Strange games I was going to take it.

There are actually meaningful improvements in True Colors to make it stand out in the series. The environments and animation look great and by extension add a lot of character to everything, especially Alex, who rules six ways to Sunday and carries the majority of the game. Look, I’ll also admit, despite being a fan of Before the Storm, I forgot that Steph was from that game. Buttttttt she’s great too and Steph and Alex together is just about a nonstop charm train. As a main source of conflict the “investigate the mining company” plotline was beyond silly, but there were enough character moments going on around that to compensate for it. The LARP, the Spring Festival, the flashback sequences in chapter five, and the Steph DLC are pretty different, but equally compelling highlights. Though True Colors’ overall contribution to Life is Strange may not recapture the specific magic of the first one to me, it’s nice to see that more Life is Strange still hits in 2021.

Most awkward silence: Watching the Nextlander playthrough have to go through the licensed music scenes in streamer mode

6. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

I have a long, but spotty, history with this series where I played the heck out of the PS2 games but then never owned a PS3, so there was a huge gap until the 2016 remake, which was wonderful. So now, it’s both weird and cool to still be playing stuff like this (and Halo, for that matter) almost 20 years later; and that they’re both great!

It’s almost easy to forget after looking at it for however many hours, but the game looks absurdly good in motion. What I frequently enjoy in Insomniac games (whether it’s Ratchet, Sunset Overdrive, or Spider-man) is zipping around and constantly cycling through weapons and all of that is fantastically on display here and runs super smooth. The charge boots, grappling, dashing, and side-flipping all feel familiar but have their own distinct flow in Rift Apart. I may not always be thinking about how unique or innovative Rift Apart was, but I am frequently thinking about how much fun it was and how it was a cozy bit of gaming nostalgia.

Favorite hallmark of when I played the PS2 games: Is it even a Ratchet & Clank game without an arena sequence?

5. Persona 5 Strikers

Look, if there was any license that was going to get me to try a musou game, congrats you found it. Not that I really have anything against a grind or musou in particular, but I almost always need to have a story to go with it that I can look forward to. And luckily, that’s just what they have here. While the canonicity (I hope that’s a word) in Strikers is unfortunately kind of weird since it continues from original Persona 5 and not Royal, it was still great to get **most of** the gang back together, and for a fun summer road trip no less.

They certainly get a lot of, ahem, mileage out of the road trip framing for sure. Walking around the different cities and buying every kind of regional food I could is the kind of virtual tourism I can get behind, even if it was mostly to break up combat and restock. I appreciated too that the structure was pretty relaxed in that you could enter and exit dungeons at any time to recover, because following the Persona template of hammering on weaknesses was, while very satisfying, also pretty expensive SP-wise. Besides that though, the shift in combat was otherwise so seamless as to be remarkable and was enough to keep the game fresh especially so soon after Royal for me.

While the main group largely coasts on what their characters were at the end of Persona 5, the newcomers add some wanted personality. Sophia is easily the best of them, and while it’s kind of wild that Persona now has had multiple party members who are an AI, it works well both in today’s context and in the overall plot. Zenkichi is fine I guess for a cop, but at least his daughter Akane rules. And Ichinose is about the most predictable, but still amusing turn for a character there is, and your eventual confrontation with her speaks to a lot of the appeal of both the Phantom Thieves and of Strikers as a whole. They might just entirely be about friendship and fighting for others, but they just keep coming like this unstoppable force and win over just about everyone in the game with their charm and perseverance, and gosh darn it, they got me again this time too.

Best new bop or, alternately, Best “Hit it, Boys!” energy: “Axe to Grind”

4. Inscryption

This one’s a fun one. It’s been a while since I played a game almost for spite, but Inscryption and the fanfare around it really brought it. I like card games just fine (even if I suck at them) and would’ve totally gotten around to this one eventually, probably once there was a Switch port. But the overwhelming praise and also the constant tiptoeing around spoilers for this game got me to get it and pretty much plow through it in a week just to see what all the fuss was about. And at the end of it all, the game is neat, it’s exceptionally neat. I think that I still appreciate everyone else’s enthusiasm about the game more than my own enjoyment of it, which is just fine!

The mood and atmosphere don’t quite get any better than they do in the first act, but also I think that it lasted exactly as long as I wanted to before I was ready to move on. The additional twists and turns were nice too, although the freedom to create your own deck from scratch in Act II was almost paralyzing for me and I never really experimented once I found a solid strategy (i.e. Ouroboros). All of this leading up to a finale that has a ton of wild moments, but the game loading up a fucking Duel Disk genuinely had me in stitches and really took the cake in terms of shock and delight. And by those measures, Inscryption is certainly one of the best.

Most OP Deathcard: a 7/7 that costs one blood to play and can be sacrificed infinitely just called “Damnnnnn”

3. Deathloop

I’m so glad this game ended up being good. It had been announced and shown and then shown again so many times that I didn’t need any convincing, but still I was worried about the final experience. As a regular fan of Arkane’s previous output, Deathloop comes together in a way that in retrospect seems obvious but could’ve easily gone wrong at multiple points in its execution. Taking the powers and level design from Dishonored but encouraging players not to be afraid to try things by having and requiring players to reset and try again just works here. The way I felt when I replayed Dishonored 2 and just went full chaos is how I felt pretty much all the time playing Deathloop experimenting with multiple builds and approaches (even if sometimes Shift and a silenced weapon are the answer to everything), and that is an incredible feeling. This was one of the few games that I just straight up consumed this year and anything that can hold my singular attention like that is increasingly rare these days.

Most killed visionary: Charlie, for the obvious Shift upgrades

2. Genshin Impact (2021)

I guess I’m one of those people now. You know, those sickos that have an ongoing game on their list every year. And to have it this high too?! But by time played, which is not a perfect metric by any means, here is reason #1 why I didn’t play as many different games this year. Plus, there's been more than enough content in this year to justify ranking the game again in 2021. It sucks and is weird that a decent amount of it was limited to event periods that new players wouldn’t be able to see, but Inazuma alone is huge and killed it with the world design and exploration, which is what I enjoyed so much last year about the game at launch.

Additionally, getting a PS5 this year and being able to run at a smooth framerate was one of the most game-changing experiences I've ever had. It became so much better to play and it became a further excuse to dive way deeper into the meta and team comps and synergies, which I was already pretty into at this time last year. New characters, weapons, artifacts, and buffs always kept that drive going, for better or worse, but for what it’s worth I do feel pretty proud of the roster I’ve built throughout the year. Although, this is also the time to mention that if the monetization of this game is something that you don’t want to mess with at all I totally understand.

Now then, thinking back to what I said last year, recklessly comparing it to Breath of the Wild. I….I don’t think it’s that ridiculous a comparison; I really might like Genshin just as much. Though the similarities in structure are clearly there, I think that they both accomplish different, incredible things. If you’re telling me that there will be a new region and story events like this every year going forward, then it’s going to be hard to think of any year out of the next few where I’m not considering Genshin for my end of the year list. And that sicko thought still boggles my mind.

Biggest “Yoooooooooo!” moment: If you know, you know [Inazuma spoilers]

1. NieR Replicant ver. 1.22474487139….

There’s now a NieR game, a Persona 5 game, and a Life is Strange game in my Game of the Year list, what is this, 2017 again?? After the magical experience of NieR: Automata, I looked into the original, read through a few wiki summaries, and was just about prepared to play through the game itself when this remake was announced. So sure, I maybe knew about “the big thing” going into it, but I was surprised to see that in practice, it was actually a pretty small thing that gets introduced really late in the game. Before all the Project Gestalt business, there’s a lot of story about you and just the best party of weirdos getting into adventures (very sad adventures, but adventures nonetheless) that’s the real heart of the game here, which is something that you can’t always get out of wiki summaries.

Also, wow did Automata just do a lot of the same things structurally and thematically that the original did. Not that that’s inherently good or bad, and in fact because I played Automata first I’m naturally more biased towards it. But even if I were to say that the original is 85% of the way there to how I feel about Automata, that’s still plenty powerful. The world in Replicant is pretty small and narrow by today’s standards, but there’s such a feel to the space that makes me just want to spend time there (the music definitely helps). To that end, I went through the foolhardy task of upgrading every weapon to max, which is probably five times worse in the original compared to Automata and without a secret ending or any significant reward. [Not to go too off topic here but Shouts to A More Civilized Age for accompanying me through the grind, because sometimes with that soundtrack you can have too much of a great thing]. That kind of supreme time wasting spending is still a special quality, no matter the game. Something as weird and wonderful as NieR gaining the popularity to get this remake is a true gift, and even this late to it I’m just happy to be here again, in this incomparable headspace that NieR creates.

Most sentimental endeavor: Growing a whole field of Lunar Tears, because I use my time wisely

Thanks for reading.