|
Alright, alright I've procrastinated long enough. I know everyone's been desperately waiting for me to weigh in, so here we go. First up we've got the games that almost made the list but couldn't quite get there: Honorable Mentions Disco Elysium – I liked Disco Elysium a lot, but to be honest I didn’t love it. It had tons of really cool ideas and an incredibly interesting world. Its characters were good and the mystery was intriguing most of the way through. But I felt like it didn’t quite deliver on its promises as it neared the end. The climax was pretty disappointing as was finally solving the mystery. The coolest stuff involved the weird nature of the world it takes place in, but ultimately it seemed not to be explored as much as I would have liked. I’ll certainly play a sequel if one ever exists though. It Takes Two – One of the best co-op games I’ve ever played. Excellent puzzles and a sweet story and worked great playing with my brother from far away. Inscryption – Super weird and clever. I don’t have much else to say about it but it’s very worth a look. Psychonauts 2 – I feel bad this one couldn’t quite make my list. It truly managed to do the impossible and recaptured the brilliance of the original decades later. I never thought they’d actually be able to pull it off, but they did. Hitman 3 – A stellar conclusion(?) to the new Hitman trilogy. I’m really glad I finally got into this series as it provides an experience like nothing else. Hitman 3 had some of my favorite levels of the trilogy in it. I hope they continue to do more! Shin Megami Tensei V – Something had to get bumped off the list and it came down to feeling like the one that I put at number ten was just a little more special. SMTV was a great entry that had all the usual stuff I love about the series coupled with a new emphasis on exploration and platforming that was surprising but very welcome. Still doesn’t knock town SMTIV: Apocalypse as my favorite in the series but it’s up there. And now, the main event - Top 10 Games of 2021 10. Gnosia – I originally was gonna put this one in Honorable Mentions and give the number ten spot to SMTV, but in searching my heart I felt like Gnosia deserved a nod for being one of the most unique ideas for a game I’ve ever played. I was a big online Mafia player years ago so seeing that get translated into a game was really clever. The actual games are a bit light on character development as they have to have endless variations but they still managed to tell an extremely compelling story with cool characters and lots of endings to find and puzzles to solve. 9. Metroid Dread Metroid’s relatively low placement on this list is no indictment of its quality – Dread is probably my favorite 2D Metroid to date. It delivered everything I could’ve wanted out of a new Metroid game with fantastic combat and bosses and the usual wonderful Metroid exploration. 8. Chicory: A Colorful Tale – Another game from the makers of a previous entry on one of my Top 10 Lists, Wandersong, this one holds up to its predecessor’s pedigree. They managed to come up with an incredibly satisfying core gameplay element of painting the world around you and then filled in tricky puzzles and a powerfully moving story. I loved every moment of it. 7. The Forgotten City – Last game I played this year and I’m really glad I squeezed it in. “Time loop mystery” is all you need to tell me to get me to play a game at this point. I liked the more character focused story this one had and how it included a very clever way to make you not have to re-solve puzzles you’ve already cleared on a previous loop – just tell a good good boy to go take care of them for you! The twists and turns were excellent and I loved the final ending as it had me grinning the whole time. 6. Phoenotopia: Awakening – I played the flash predecessor of this game years and years ago. I never finished it and then totally forgot about it. I saw this one recommended earlier this year and picked it up, playing a good quarter of the way through before finally figuring out why it felt oddly familiar. It’s an excellent combo of Zelda and Metroidvania with some really hard bosses and lots of dungeons and world to explore. I really hope it did well enough to merit the promised sequel. 5. The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles – My top five was an incredible struggle to nail down. Every single one of these feels like it deserves a number one spot. The fact that an Ace Attorney game, (really TWO games) and one of the best in the series at that is only at number five just shows how special the other four are to me. GAA is something we’ve been waiting for for such a long time now that to finally get it was joyous. I’d played the first game already in the fan translation but the official version was a million times better, and the second game managed to deliver on all the promises and cliffhangers the first left us with. I have loved Ace Attorney for more than a decade now and finally can say that I’ve played all of them. 4. Crosscode – I first played this game in 2018 when it came out, and got a bit bored partway into the first overworld area. I kept meaning to come back to it but 3 years went by before I actually did. With the release of the New Home DLC this year, I finally decided to give it another chance and push on to the first dungeon. And holy poo poo am I glad I did. This game has one of the best combat systems of any 2D action game I’ve ever played and puts it to great use with its brutally hard boss fights. It has incredibly intricate and difficult puzzles in its MASSIVE dungeons. And to top it all off it has a deeply moving story that has stuck with me all year. And it tells its story with the best use of a silent protagonist I’ve seen in any game – the fact that the main character can’t talk is not only a part of the story, it ends up being a massive obstacle along the way and the way she and her friends have to deal with their inability to communicate is at times heartbreaking. More people need to play this game. And so we come to the two who battled it out in my mind for months about who should claim the number 2 and 3 slots. Both games are ones that I’ve been waiting for, for over 10 years. Both are sequels to games I loved as a child and teenager that managed to surpass the originals in every way. The choice between them was really hard and the order I put them in switched many times. But in the end, I had to make up my mind and went with: 3. NEO: The World Ends With You – Wow this is a game that it seemed like was being teased for far too long. When it was finally announced I was overjoyed while also a little skeptical. A whole new cast is not what I’d been expecting after the end of the remake. Would my favorite old characters still return? Would the new combat system and story be as satisfying as the original? Fortunately the answer to these questions was a resounding yes. The new cast quickly captured my heart, and the story ended up tying into the first game very well. The new combat, while perhaps not as clever and unique as the DS original, ended up still having tons of depth and complexity and made the game very fun to get 100% in. We probably won’t ever get another game in this series, but I can live with that now. 2. New Pokémon Snap – And so of course in the end it was Pokemon that won out. The game I had longed for, for nearly 20 years finally materialized and it was so much better than I could have imagined. Turning Pokemon Snap into more than just a relatively simple safari journey but rather a complex puzzle game was a brilliant move. There are countless interactions to be found in the game and I ended up getting a whole group of friends together in a Discord server to work together and figure them all out. It took us weeks but we did manage it in the end and I got every single picture variation and every single request in the game. I still haven’t had time to really dig into the DLC as I got incredibly busy in the latter half of the year and other games kept taking precedence. But I know it’ll still be there for me once I finally return to it. Seeing Pokemon behaving like actual animals in an actual environment for the first time in the series was amazing and I really hope they can do more things like this, whether in future Snap installments or in making large changes to the main series. 1. Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker – But the top spot was really never in contention. For what other game could possibly complete with the culmination of a story told over 8 years? Rarely have I felt so strongly attached to a game’s story and characters as I do with Final Fantasy XIV. I may have only been playing for about 2 years now, but I am completely in love with this game and will undoubtedly stick with it as long as it goes. Endwalker met and exceeded all expectations I could possibly have had about how this story would end. The new areas were gorgeous, the dungeons and bosses were all extremely fun, and the story was filled with surprises and powerful moments. I was incredibly lucky that I was able to arrange my schedule to devote this game the time it needed and it paid off immensely. This will probably be the last year for a while I put FFXIV on my list as even while I will continue playing it next year, I think it probably needs a break. But for this year there’s no question, it’s the best game I played in 2021.
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 01:03
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 23, 2024 11:23 |
|
|
Top of the page BITCHES hell yes
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 01:08
|
|
|
proud of you buddy, and of your game choices too
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 01:47
|
|
|
i was waiting!
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 01:51
|
|
|
VideoGames posted:
I really must emphasize how accurate and articulate this read of all the poo poo going on in 2LOU is, it matches my feeling in many ways and I'm glad you got so much out of the experience. The game really is a marvel.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 02:22
|
|
|
Nice list @Regy Rusty. I need to give Crosscode a go some time. I haven't played enough games that I care to rate this year to qualify for an official list, so here's my short-list. 6. Kathy Rain - I played a lot of adventure games growing up, but haven't played many modern ones, mostly because, Wadjet Eye aside, most of them don't look very good. I decided to give Kathy Rain a go after reading good things here, and was pleasantly surprised. The story I didn't much care for, but it was written well and execution was excellent. Would definitely recommend if you're a fan of old school point-and-clicks. 5. Stardew Valley - I've spent over 200 hours with this game, but only a small fraction of that time was this year. My partner and I started a new farm to checkout the new Ginger Island content. It is still an excellent game and one of my all-time favorites. However, we were a little disappointed when we got to Ginger Island and realized just how much grinding the late game requires. After this realization, we never went back to it. 4. Psychonauts 2 - I was a huge Psychonauts fan, including running my own fansite back in the day, and I was naturally excited and apprehensive about Psychonauts 2. I was impressed with the game that Double Fine delivered. Its level of polish vastly exceeds the original, and it is remarkable that they were able to make the sequel come close to measuring up to the cult classic. However, I much prefer the light-hearted, zanny romp of the original to the more serious, less imaginative sequel. In the original, the highs were higher, but the lows were certainly lower. Also, I hated all of the water around the motherlobe. 3. Phoenotopia Awakening - I just finished this game a couple of days ago. It is a charming action platformer crammed full of puzzles and secrets. I think the thing I enjoy most about this game is its aesthetic and attention to detail. It is beautiful to look at and the environments include subtle clues that hint at secrets to uncover. It is also a hard game with no hand-holding, and it is best to keep paper on hand to jot down notes. The game isn't perfect. Some of the movement is a little odd, the characters are boring, and the story lets itself down in the end and isn't particularly well executed. But, it's still a great game that more people should play and I'm looking forward to seeing what the devs do next. 2. A Short Hike - I hadn't played many games this year till I decided to try A Short Hike over the summer. I absolutely fell in love with it, and it pulled me back into gaming for the rest of the year. The game is more or less perfect, but the thing I love most about it is how good the movement feels. The feeling of soaring around the island is exhilarating. 1. Hollow Knight - I played Hollow Knight for my first time when I was looking for a game to play after finishing A Short Hike. Going into it, I already loved what I knew of the aesthetic, music, and design of the game, but I wasn't sure if I could handle the difficulty. It took me a few hours to get into, but once I did was I was completely hooked. I finished my first play through (Dream No More) in around 40 hours. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to beat The Radiance, but I kept working at daily until she finally fell. What a feeling! I immediately started a new game. Halfway through my second playthrough, I realized that it wouldn't be so hard to get the 10 hour speed run achievement, so I restarted again and nailed it. What a rush! Under 5 hours actually seems doable. Started a new game, and indeed it was! Next, I did the 100% in under 20, and started working on the pantheons. I have only completed 3 so far. It seems that more people do the pantheons than the speed runs, but I personally don't find the pantheons to be as enjoyable. I love moving about immersed in the world of Hollownest. I do not typically care about achievements or absurd challenges, but Hollow Knight has completely captured my imagination.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 02:56
|
|
|
Gonna get my list in now and add better descriptions tomorrow. 10. New Pokemon Snap: Extremely relaxing time going on a tour through some beautiful environments, taking taking pictures of all your favorite pokemon. My only real complaint is that it can sometimes be tricky to get enough good photos to unlock the next tour. 9. Gloomhaven: Loved the board game and this is an extremely good adaptation. 8. KeyWe: Very cute coop game about kiwis working an Australian post office in a similar vein to Overcooked, though thankfully not nearly as challenging. 7. Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus: This took all the best parts of XCOM and cut out the worst garbage and added a decent story with some great characters. 6. The Riftbreaker: RTS/action RPG/factory game that's pretty good but feels like it could've used a bit more polish and a lot more gameplay variety. 5. Later Alligator: Adorable, love the art style and animation, cute story, most of the mini games are fun. 4. Satisfactory: I like factory games and I think this is the best one right now. I love building incomprehensible machine mazes that just barely function, up until the moment they stop functioning and I have to reexamine the whole production system, realizing I've made something beyond my ability to comprehend. 3. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim: Can't talk about the story because it's pretty much 100% plot twists but trust me its really good if you like sci-fi bullshit. If it weren't for The Riftbreaker I would say the real time strategy portion of this was the best RTS to come out in years. It's nice and simple and it's all about destroying massive hordes of enemies. 2. Psychonauts 2: Great platformer, every stage has extraordinary visuals, almost all the characters are a lot of fun. 1. Final Fantasy 14: Heavensward: I think this is my favorite story from a video game, ever, or at least so far as I still haven't gotten all the way to Endwalker yet. I loved the characters, I got invested in the story, it even got the high school literary analysis parts of my brain working again. I'm most of the way through the next expansion and I'm still thinking about this one. Didn't quite make it but still liked: Ikenfell (Harry Potter RPG but LGBT positive) Hardspace: Shipbreaker (chill time cutting up spaceships with the slight tension of knowing any gently caress up will completely kill you and drive you even further into debt) Dragonball FighterZ (a fighting game good enough to make me give a poo poo about fighting games) Monster Train (Slay the Spire style deckbuilding roguelike that is also a tower defense game, kind of) What the Golf? (vaguely golf themed minigame collection) Blasphemous (2d christian dark souls) Guacamelee 2 (hard platformer/easy beatem'up) Gnosia (single player Werewolf/Mafia visual novel) Dishonorable mentions: Doom Eternal Persona 4 Halo: The Master Chief Collection Dota 2 Loop Hero e: forgot to check my Switch games when I made this, switched out Guacamelee 2 for New Pokemon Snap sirtommygunn fucked around with this message at 22:37 on Dec 31, 2021 |
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 03:13
|
|
|
moosferatu posted:Nice list @Regy Rusty. I need to give Crosscode a go some time. That is enough for an official list btw! You only need 5 and you've got 6. This thread understands not everyone can wrangle up 10 great games a year, so you've got plenty.  Also hell yes at Phoenotopia getting some more love!
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 03:13
|
|
|
Man, I guess I really am going to have to pick up The Forgotten City, huh?
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 03:19
|
|
|
Shoutouts to Chadzok having an identical experience with Dusk and Quake as me this yearShakeZula posted:Man, I guess I really am going to have to pick up The Forgotten City, huh? Game Pass giveth
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 03:52
|
|
|
One thing that confuses me about TLOU2 is the insane hate against Abby. No I'm not referring to her being "she-hulk" (she looks how real athletes look like), but people saying that she is a sociopath and is somehow much worse than Ellie.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 04:01
|
|
|
Let us not dwell on dumb takes here. Instead, we can talk about things that matter in life, like all the sounds you hear when you use a workbench in TLOU2
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 04:45
|
|
|
Barudak posted:Game Pass giveth Alas, I am a Playstation-only gamer and thus cannot avail myself of Game Pass Game's on sale for $20 on PSN right now though, and that seems reasonable given how much praise it's gotten around here
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 07:00
|
|
|
ShakeZula posted:Alas, I am a Playstation-only gamer and thus cannot avail myself of Game Pass Im not suggesting you do this, per se, but its available via cloud streaming on gamepass as well, so even if your PC is lacking and you own no Xbox, its still an option and you'd be out like $1 to see if it works for you.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 08:14
|
|
|
my GOTYs are 5. Doom the ancient gods 2 - A nice send off for doom eternal. I hope they make quake next! 4. Control Ultimate Edition - a big improvement on an already great game with some nice DLC. 3. Resi8 - a great sequel to 7, with good puzzles and gorgeous graphics. Nice and short too! 2. Halo Infinite - the first open-world game since H:ZD that I’ve really enjoyed and the first Halo game I’ve ever really had fun with. A miracle of gameplay. Big BOTW vibes! 1. Forgotten City - one of the best story-driven games I’ve played in years. Amazing work from a small team. Honourable mentions Psychonauts 2 - fun but still need to finish! Metro Exodus Complete Edition - fun enough, a bit of a slog at the end Yakuza LAD - great story and characters Skyrim Anniversary Edition - I’ll play this game forever. Dusk on Switch - I love these old shooters on switch Dishonourable mentions The Medium - awful. Can’t begin to describe how bad this is. Avoid at all costs.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 10:18
|
|
|
poo poo. Walkabout Minigolf is so good it probably belongs on my list. ughhhhhhh AND RE4 VR
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 11:18
|
|
|
2021 had been a funny year for gaming, since most of my free time has disappeared due to raising kids. The Switch has been a godsend since I can pop it on and off in a giffy when I have a few spare minutes, and as a result most of my time has been on that or a few games I can play on my underpowered laptop. 10) Gnosia Time loop single player Ultimate Werewolf in space is an absurd premise, but it bizarrely all comes together thanks to a fantastic cast, gorgeous art and some light visual novel DNA. Cons: The endgame gets a bit grindy and random, and you will somehow fall in love with the unlikeable INTJ stemlord rear end in a top hat. 9) The Forgotten City This list is late solely because I had to play this one through. A short and charming narrative that draws you in and gives you a semester course on the early Roman empire. Cons: This was probably going to be in the top 5, but the final portion shits itself with a power and fury unseen since Halflife's Xen. 8) Aria of Sorrow All the kick-rear end GBA Castlevanias were released in one convenient package. The handy rewind feature lets you compensate for the poorly balanced bits in the first couple of games which are otherwise great. The real gem here though is Aria of Sorrow, which is one of the best Castlevanias ever made. Astounding that it ever fit on a GBA cart. Cons: A bit clunky in modern hands. 7) Monster Train Another entry into the roguelike deckbuilder genre. This one mixes it up a bit by introducing an autobattler layer into the mix, and it works wonders. Upgrades and choices are much punchier than Slay the Spire, and the graphics and music are top notch. Cons: A lot of the strategy boils down into trying to create one killer floor out of the three available. 6) New Pokemon Snap It’s back from our collective childhood! Become a wildlife photographer in the Pokemon world. Massively more content than the original and filled with the world’s favourite beastery. The game is like wearing a warm duvet made out of your happiest memories. Cons: 100% the game pretty much requires checking a guide because some of the rare poses have really Byzantine requirement. 5) Bowser’s Fury An often ignored add-on the Switch re-release of Super Mario 3D World, but don’t sleep on it if you have the game lying around. They only went and made an open world Super Mario. This is frankly one of the best 3D Marios made yet, with the crunchyness of a couple of Mario 64 levels smoothed together with the fluidity of Mario Odyssey movement. Cons: A few of those Stars are proper tricky 4) Spelunky The perfect game makes it to the perfect console, and unsurprisingly it’s a perfect match. Spelunky’s fast paced roguelike platforming is unmatched, and being able to pick it up and put it down at any time means you can lounge back and enjoy the ride. Cons: Doing a full run takes a bit too much of a time investment especially when it gets lost in an instant to what experts are calling “complete loving bullshit, gently caress you”. 3) Monster Hunter: Rise With Monster Hunter World, Capcom made the controversial decision to take their long running franchise and get rid of the incredibly bad bits that repulse normal humans and make a game primarily about hunting monsters. Thanks to the miracle that is the RE-engine, we now have the sequel somehow running on the Switch, returning the franchise to handhelds. The core gameplay of combat that’s just slow enough to be strategic but quick enough to reward last minute dodges feels as satisfying as ever, and then you get to turn your prey into fashion or weapons. Excellent solo and multiplayer play, Monster Hunter: Rise is brilliant. Cons: Infamously Monster Hunter multiplayer has a shared pool of three faints between players, so losing out on a hunt because some kid gets slaughtered three times in a row is powerfully galling. 2) Metroid Dread An astounding entry in the Metroid series. Metroid Dread builds on what has come before, and dumps the earlier attempts to turn the series into a “modern” narrative focused game. The result is a game that flows great with only a minimal amount of exposition. The result is pure Metroid, and everyone loves it. Cons: The 3D modelled creatures and environments just don’t have the charm of the sprite based entries, and leaves the world feeling a little Teflony and artificial. 1) Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye One of the greatest games of all time gets a DLC, and the only game I made time to actually play on my desktop. Functioning as a stand along location in the deeply interconnected solar system of the base game, Echoes of the Eyes feels like a victory lap by the developers outdoing the base game in intricacies and layers, and introducing multiple “wow” moments as you explore the remains of lost civilisation. This game takes a positive delight in hiding things in plain sight, so you can feel like an absolute dummy at the same time you feel like a genius. Cons: The timer from the base game really felt more of an irritation than a cool feature this time, and there are a few much derided places where the gameplay is frankly a tad dodgy. 10) Gnosia 9) The Forgotten City 8) Aria of Sorrow 7) Monster Train 6) New Pokemon Snap 5) Bowser’s Fury 4) Spelunky 3) Monster Hunter: Rise 2) Metroid Dread 1) Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye Bug Squash fucked around with this message at 14:51 on Dec 29, 2021 |
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 13:54
|
|
|
Bug Squash posted:
Order of Ecclesia is real good, but it's for the DS! I'm assuming you meant Aria of Sorrow. Although I haven't bought the GBA collection yet, I'm pretty sure it would make my top 5 in just about any year just on the strength of Aria.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 14:11
|
|
|
Skjorte posted:Order of Ecclesia is real good, but it's for the DS! I'm assuming you meant Aria of Sorrow. Although I haven't bought the GBA collection yet, I'm pretty sure it would make my top 5 in just about any year just on the strength of Aria. Its real good, you should get it! The only real issue with it is it doesn't have an "fix the Luck Stat" option for Aria of Sorrow but thats a QoL thing at this juncture.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 14:13
|
|
|
Skjorte posted:Order of Ecclesia is real good, but it's for the DS! I'm assuming you meant Aria of Sorrow. Although I haven't bought the GBA collection yet, I'm pretty sure it would make my top 5 in just about any year just on the strength of Aria. Completely correct. I've also been informed by Rarity that only one game in a collection counts, so I'll edit my post to clarity my vote is for Aria.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 14:49
|
|
|
2021 was a hectic year, not only because of the pandemic which after a short hiatus came back in force, but also because I changed jobs and had my first child. This meant that I mostly had to play in short bursts, making this the perfect year for playing on my Switch. The ranking is therefore for the Switch versions of the games. HM: Dusk I grew up playing games like Quake, Doom, Hexen, Rise of the Triads, and Wolfenstein 3D and the early shooter genre is very nostalgic to me. I bought Dusk based on hype and the hope of recapturing that feeling. It’s good, don’t get me wrong, but not much more than that. Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s the game. Who knows. 10. Streets of Rogue A fun take on the roguelite genre with the game taking place in a randomly generated city. Thanks to some twenty different characters and smart game design you can solve each level in a plethora of ways. 9. Spelunky This is hard. I made it to some kind of boss but have no idea how to survive it. And don’t get me started on the strange ufo level. But for some weeks in the summer I was obsessed with digging my way down to find out what the next almost unbeatable obstacle would be. 8. Cuphead I had heard about how hard this was and I’m not really a run-and-gun games fan but the aesthetics drew me in. It was hard, it was at times frustrating, but it was so worth it, if only for the feeling of mastery once the credits rolled. Can’t wait for the DLC. 7. Pikmin 3 Similarly to Mario Golf, Pikmin 3 was a game that I exclusively played in coop mode. We had a great time dividing up the various pikmins and laying out a game plan for who should dig that wall, transport those tiles, and find a way to get to that fruit. Pikmin 3 presents a beautifully designed and rendered world where you will pick berries on a serene autumn day, followed by the industrial genocide of the local wildlife. 6. Mario Golf: Super Rush This game was probably rushed out a bit before it was supposed to. There weren’t that many maps included and those that it did have were lacking in originality. The campaign also didn’t do it for me, especially considering its emphasis in speed golf. However, Mario Golf was a great coop game for me and my partner and the maps added since release have all been innovative and fun. Donk city was the best map in Mario Odyssey and it is likewise the best map in Mario Golf. 5. AI: The Somnium Files The original Ace Attorney trilogy was the first visual novel I played. I enjoyed the characters and setting but was disappointed once I realized it was a linear narrative that you couldn’t actually affect as a player. Enter AI: The Somnium Files, a cyberpunk-esque story with mind bending twists and great VA, told though several branching yet interlocking paths. The only minus is that although the writing generally is superb, regardless if it is about serious existential questions or just stupid puns, there are moments where the jokes try to be self-deprecating but just fall flat into juvenile sexism. But there are thankfully not that many such moments. Instead you have a gripping, suspenseful story about love, family, regret, and diving into people’s subconsciousness to solve crimes. 4. Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition I’ve completed BG2 previously but always given up on the original for different reasons. Thanks to the port of BG:EE I finally played through the entire game and found that it stills holds up real well. I actually appreciate that you start out very weak - watch out for the wolves! - and up as a semi-god. The added expansion by Beamdog is great, too. 3. Battle Brothers At first I was rather skeptical of buying BB. The graphics didn’t appeal to me and the gameplay seemed convoluted and arcane. A well-timed sale and a desire for a real challenge convinced me to try it out. A couple of months later it was my second most played game of the year. The graphics are still a bit underwhelming but they do the job and are surprisingly informative once you know what to look for. The gameplay is complex, rather than arcane, with many factors to take into consideration in each battle. Thankfully SA has a great BB thread with loads of good advice and information. Taking your ragged bands of mercenaries, farmhands, and poachers and turning them into a well-oiled - and well-armed - band of brothers that mows down noble knights and undead liches alike is a power trip few games can match. 2. Subnautica I don’t think much needs to be said about Subnautica. Most people probably knows what it is and why it’s a great game. For me it was the first time that a game perfectly captures the amazing feeling, and at times dread, of being underwater. 1. Monster Hunter: Rise My first foray into the Monster Hunter franchise was through Monster Hunter Generations. It was clunky and I only played it for some 40-ish hours but it did have something. My second MH game was World. Beautiful and with some awesome monsters (but boring set pieces), I was finally sold. The hype for Rise began. I played the demo, over and over. I even pre-ordered, which I never do otherwise. When it was released it was everything I wanted. I quickly went through the single player campaign and then I moved on to the multiplayer hub. For once Nintendo’s online services work flawlessly, making it a breeze to join up with others (in my case often insanely skilled Japanese players) to kick some monsters rear end. The gameplay is also changed, and in my opinion refined, from World. The addition of the wire bugs make it so that you can zip around the battlefield and quickly reposition even with heaviest of weapons. And I haven’t even touched on all the fun weapons, costumes, monster types, dog riding, puns, arena fights, and so on and so on. No wonder this was my most played game this year.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 15:22
|
|
|
2 posts in as many minutes actively shunting Dusk off their top 10 list 
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 15:25
|
|
|
JollyBoyJohn posted:2 posts in as many minutes actively shunting Dusk off their top 10 list You could say the sun has set for Dusk 
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 15:57
|
|
|
The fabled Dammerungdammerung
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 16:36
|
|
|
I think I have to change my list and promote Wrath of the Righteous tbh will consider further tomorrow
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 17:24
|
|
|
JollyBoyJohn posted:2 posts in as many minutes actively shunting Dusk off their top 10 list hosed up because dusk is the best fps released in the last like two decades
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 18:30
|
|
|
FFXIV Porn posted:hosed up because dusk is the best fps released in the last like two decades Shadow Warrior exists, though.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 18:40
|
|
|
Dusk came out the same year as Hunt Down the Freeman, a game I don't think any of you remembered or knew about until I typed this post, so its competition was not particularly fierce in the single-player non-RPG FPS category that year.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 18:45
|
|
|
games I didn't play or complete that I want to: Omori, Inscryption, NEO: The World Ends With You, Cruelty Squad, Psycholonials, Trails of Cold Steel III, Psychonauts 2, Hades, Blue Reflection Second Light, Tetris Effect (more of a "I should play this more" since idk if you can "complete" tetris), Overboard a list of games i played for the first time (sorry, Quake) in 2021 Games I didn't really care for: Gnosia:Ehh. I would have loved a pure VN with this cast ala Raging Loop, I think - once my levels got to a certain point, the Werewolf segments got rote with the exception of trying to get the last frustrating "survive with character x" things done. Doom Eternal: A really fascinating failure - too much design. This tried to be a "Game designer's game" in terms of how many systems interacted with each other in this intricate loop, and they succeeded. The result was a game that was excessively fussy and required far too much micromanagement in a game which should feel more like flow, and less like an RTS. Tokyo Mirage Sessions: FE# Encore This should probably be in the top list which includes games that I bounced off of due to other things that grabbed me more, but this is like the fourth time I have tried this game. Once again I got like three hours in and hated it. I will be magatshui-ing anyone who says this is the "best Persona game" post-haste. The entire library of the PS5 the ps5 has no games Yakuza: Like a Dragon I like Yakuza a lot. I like turn-based JRPGs a lot. Somehow this didn't work for me. HM: Fuga: Melodies of Steel This game has a lot of significant problems - it starts out with a strong grim atmosphere that is abandoned for a bare-bones narrative, probably because the central conceit of potentially sacrificing main characters to beat bosses would have made a more strongly character-focused story extremely difficult to write. The turn-based combat was a bit simplistic, and as hyped as the "yeet the kids at the nazi dogs" cannon was, I never got close to using it. The core gameplay loop of riding a tank along the countryside and walking around talking with characters during intermissions, though, was addictive, and the game really is gorgeous (as long as you can tolerate kemono art/furries/nazi dogs). High on the "I wish this game had a bigger budget" list, though from what I gather it was more or less a passion project for CyberConnect2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons "I played it for 200 hours and got bored" is a silly complaint but it's true. That said, I enjoyed so much of this to not give it an HM, and I do want to try the new DLC. 13 Sentinels: Just a bit dry. I badly wanted to like this one, it ticked off so many boxes and should have been something I adored- maybe it's the localization or the gorgeous washed-out visuals but something about this just kept me at an arm's length. The Best: 10. The Caligula Effect 2 The good idol-music based JRPG on the Nintendo switch. Favorite cast of characters in a 2021 game, bar none, which is actually saying a lot since I played 13 Sentinels, Deltarune, Persona 5 Strikers, and The Great Ace Attorney among others. It's clearly not as high budget as something like a prestige release from SE or Atlus, and it frays at the seams with stuff like the really bad sidequest design, but it has a lot of heart, some of the best music of any game I played this year, and one of the best localizations I've seen in a while. 9. Metroid Dread This isn't quite in the top tier of Metroidvania titles I've played - unlike other Metroid games, I couldn't tell you a single thing about the setting of this one. The world simply doesn't cohere in the same way it does in something like Super Metroid, where I could tell you where each biome is in relation to the other. But aside from the relatively generic environments, this is a gorgeous, gorgeous game that plays wonderfully, has some of the best boss fights I've played in years, and looks astonishing for a Switch game. I always like the first party Switch games for really knowing how to push that little thing to its limit, and this is the best one since Luigi's Mansion 3. 8. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury Would it be controversial to call this the best non-64-like Mario game? I know SMB3 and SMW are legends, and Yoshi's Island is my actual favorite, though not really a Mario game- but this is just perfect. Almost too perfect, actually - the levels are crafted so well that I do sometimes wish they had a bit more ambition, though it never gets to the Mario-by-the-numbers depths of like, NSMB:U or something. If you want ambition, though, check out Bowser's Fury, which is hopefully a great preview of the kind of stuff waiting for us in the next mainline Mario entry. 7. Persona 5 Royal Persona 5 and Royal are heavily, heavily flawed games which have total messes of stories, mediocre localization, and pretty bare-bones JRPG combat. It's style over substance to the max. It's also my happy place game. Apart from Yakuza, I can't think of a game which just makes me happier playing it than P5:R, and the extra content in Royal is truly excellent- significantly moreso than the base game. 6: Shin Megami Tensei V Put it this way - I'm really looking forward to the inevitable side-quel now that the game's combat and exploration systems are fully worked out. 5. Super Metroid: Few things as nice as finding out that a game is exactly as good as the boomers say it is. 4. Persona 5 Strikers: I expected a side game. I didn't expect a sequel that was far better localized, and had just as much character-based enjoyment as the first game. It started out a bit poorly but right when I was getting bored, the story ditched the P5-like formula and went on a road trip that defied expectations. Not to mention Sophia- one of those Pearl Fey-like characters which should be a disaster on paper (ok, it's an AI robot girl who gets inserted into the story who everyone in the game unconditionally loves) but worked wonderfully well in-game. 3. Deltarune: Chapter 2 You know why. Deltarune 1 was a fairly Toby-Fox-By-The-Numbers proof-of-concept that I liked more for its potential than the game itself- Chapter 2 was big, flashy, and promising, and showed that Fox isn't just going back to the old Undertale well that Deltarune 1 sometimes felt like. 2. The Great Ace Attorney Few games were more anticipated by me than this one, and it delivered. The second half is the superior by a decent margin, but I haven't enjoyed Ace Attorney so much since the original trilogy, and it ends with one of the all time "eff you" triumphant courtroom moments in the entire series. Just about every case in the second game will be on my list of best AA cases. 1. Hollow Knight where is silksong Feels Villeneuve fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Dec 29, 2021 |
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 19:08
|
|
|
Well drat, two days left in the year and I gotta update my list with a new number 1! BAH GAWD THAT'S ETHAN WINTERS' MUSIC!!!! GOTY Last Minute Upset Victory Goes To: RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE I was pretty determined that nothing was going to top the Radiohead exhibition this year, and drat, RE8 proved me extremely wrong. I held off on picking this up until last week on sale, and since then I've beaten the game four times and I'm gonna run through it at least a few times more. RE7 was probably my favorite of the whole series, a game that I pop my PSVR headset on for a nice relaxing gross house romp occasionally to this day, and RE8 builds on that with a solid helping of RE4's gameplay structure, including upgradeable weapons, a hilarious merchant, a creepy backwoods village that's been hosed up by the bio-weapon of the day, and extremely fun NG+ cycles. It's a fairly short but extremely polished game that's kept me hooked on it for days, which really nothing else managed this year. The Resident Evil games have always been improved by giving you infinite ammo after your first run, and RE8 is no exception. Blasting through the game without a care in the world for a sub-three-hour speedrun is extremely cathartic, and there's enough unlockables and challenges to go after that it doesn't get old. Definitely looking forward to unlocking that rocket pistol soon.  I also have to have mad respect for a game that retcons its entire series in a not particularly stupid way 25 years after it all started, and I'm really kind of hyped for wherever this dumb fun rollercoaster goes next. Sorry, God of War, you've been bumped off the top ten. Still a good game, but no points for you. Updated short list for Rarity: 10 - Returnal 9 - Days Gone 8 - Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum Session! 7 - Far Cry: New Dawn 6 - Lost Judgment 5 - Hades 4 - Yakuza: Like A Dragon 3 - Deltarune Chapter 2 2 - Radiohead: Kid A Mnesia Exhibition 1 - Resident Evil: Village Dewgy fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Dec 29, 2021 |
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 20:31
|
|
|
5. jupiter hell. the turn based roguelike of my dreams. 4. monster hunter rise. finally a monster hunter game i can play without falling asleep. 3. everhood. what a bop. 2. shin megami tensei 5. the story is bad but the best playingest jrpg ever. i played 50 hours of it in like a week when i was off sick. 1. cruelty squad. i refunded this game the first time i played it but bought it again the next day. an incredible game, an onion with infinite layers.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 20:32
|
|
|
Alright, after much debate, I've finally got my list together. Worst game I played this year: Mass Effect Andromeda I'd waited a few years to play this given all the bad press and bugs. With the release of the remastered collection, I figured it was time to give it a go. Hoo boy was that a mistake. Every single good thing about the previous games has been either shamelessly copied in a watered-down fashion, or replaced entirely with something that is insulting to the player and their time. The characters are either copies of previous characters, completely insufferable, or both. The open world nature of the game turns what was the generally interesting quest list of prior games into an absolute time-wasting mess of icons and landmarks scattered across largely desolate, uninteresting planets with maybe, generously, one exception. The plot is easily the most offensive part, directly copying interesting beats from the previous games and jamming them all together with little regard for pacing, intrigue, or the emotional attachment of the player. Combat is the only part that conceivably be called an upgrade, but every single power and gun lacks any impact whatsoever. Your character is more mobile which means you get to flit around the battlefield tickling the enemies until they get bored and die, which is about the most relatable experience in the game. All in all, if you enjoyed the Mass Effect Remasters and are thinking to yourself, "How bad can this be?", consider putting on some white noise and watching paint dry for 10 hours. It will be a far more interesting and far less time intensive endeavour. 10. Loop Hero Many people have probably heard of Loop Hero, either in this thread or elsewhere so I'll skip the description. It drags a little bit, particularly when you're trying to figure out a good strategy for the final chapter, but it's oddly compulsive and every death or failed run had me eager to start another. Each of the classes presented a unique set of challenges and strategies that were interesting to think through and the pixelated art style and soundtrack were a nice fit for the relatively chill nature of the game. Overall, it's probably one of the most innovative games I've played this year. 9. Yakuza Kiwami 2 I've been playing one Yakuza game a year for the last couple, so this year was Yakuza Kiwami 2. While a step down from Kiwami and certainly from the masterpiece that is Yakuza 0, this game was still a fun ride from start to finish. Some highlights for me personally were the return of the cabaret minigame, the fact that I finally managed to learn (and now really love) mahjong, and the sweet moments of Kiryu and Kaoru's relationship amid the otherwise insane but entertaining story. A lot of people have said this is a refinement of the gameplay on the Dragon engine, but for me it felt a little slippery and a lot less fluid than Kiwami or 0. The loss of the other battle styles also made combat feel more same-y, but the spectacle fights throughout the game were still a lot of fun. At the end of the day, it's still one of the best games I played of the year despite the minor faults I had with it. 8. Gnosia It's been mentioned a couple times previously in the thread, but this odd little game is a single player werewolf game where the goal is to find the Gnosia (the werewolf) or, if you are the werewolf, to attack the other humans. It's got various roles and tweaks to the formula as these games always do, but the meat and potatoes is the loop-based nature of the game. As you go through, you'll learn more about the eclectic cast of characters as you try to piece together what exactly is going on and why you're stuck in a loop. The game had a lot of twists and turns that I absolutely did not see coming, but that were pretty distinctive and interesting. The game is at its best when it pulls back the curtain just a little bit on some of the weirder parts of its universe. This one is the first of several on my list that I played through with my wife this year, which made it even more fun as we would try to work out both what was happening within individual rounds and at large. 7. Metroid Dread As one of the biggest surprise games of the year, Metroid Dread had a lot of hype to live up to as the first truly new metroid game since Metroid: Other M nearly burned the series to the ground. This game more than lived up to the hype, becoming easily my second favorite in the series. Personally, I'd been itching for a proper metroid game with actual shooting and ranged combat in a land of Metroidvanias primarily dominated by melee weapons. While the E.M.M.I. encounters could have been better designed, I found they were usually a nice change of pace and provided some added tension in a few key sections. The real highlight of this game is the fact that it is not pulling any punches and is more than happy to kick your rear end if you're not prepared (and often even if you are). Bosses in this game are difficult, but fun challenges, particularly the final boss which leads to one of the greatest and unintentionally funny scenes in a Metroid game. If not for the all-star set of games I played the rest of the year, this game easily could have been in my top 3. 6. Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139... This was one of my most anticipated games of the year, having loved Automata and read TheDarkId's LP's of the original and the Drakengard games. The main thing that stood out about this game is how almost every visual and audio element serves to enhance and support the game's somber and mysterious tone. The design of the towns to be both sprawling and intentionally empty, the color pallette of the environments, the soundtrack, the sounds of the enemies - all of it combines to make every story beat more poignant and leave you with a sense of mystery and sadness. While characters like (Grimoire) Weiss and Kaine are constantly bantering and irreverent, it makes the times they aren't even more impactful. On top of all of this, new parts of the story, including the new ending, help to flesh out certain parts from the original without feeling tacked on or padded. Some of the grinding and repetitive bits (that drat factory  ) are still there, but the repetitive nature is largely optional for weapon upgrades and the like. Overall a great experience and one I'm looking forward to going back to one day.5. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim There are many narrative, twisty games on my list this year, but this one makes all of them look like Disney movies with how completely insane its plot is. This game managed to cram in just about every sci-fi mechanic and twist there is and yet somehow didn't come out a scrambled mess. Any time we would manage to correctly guess one thing that was going on, two more things would pop up that would throw us for a loop. The RTS gameplay was very much a 'take it or leave it' kind of thing, but it wasn't offensively bad or an extremely long part of the game either. Many of the characters were delightful (BJ obviously being the best, with Hijiyama a close second), and the fact that you could uncover the story in any number of ways due to the choose-your-own-protagonist style makes the game seem like it would hold up under a replay in a few years - a rare treat for a game like this. Overall, as many others have said, this is a must-play if you like sci-fi anything and aren't put off by the anime aesthetic. 4. Fire Emblem: Three Houses To contrast the 170 hours I've put into this over the last year, I'm going to keep this one short. Game is excellent, Ashe is perfect, Ferdinand sucks, can't wait to play for another 80+ hours to see the third route. 3. AI: The Somnium Files AI: The Somnium Fils is the latest game from writer Kotaro Uchikoshi, famous for 999, Virtue's Last Reward, and Zero Time Delimma. After reading/watching through those, I was pretty much ready to not give Uchikoshi any more chances. The stories inevitably became complete disasters, asking the player not only to suspend their disbelief but to suspend reason altogether with the absurdity of some of the twists. However, AI: The Somnium Files shows what Uchikoshi is capable of when he reigns it in a little. The basic gameplay features a pseudo-escape room series of tasks, where you navigate people's dreams to uncover answers to a series of murders. Through these investigations, you get access to the branching narrative that his previous games are famous for. These branches in turn flesh out different characters and show alternative ways that the narrative could go, but avoid some of the issues that his previous games run into which I won't get into because of potential spoilers. Overall, the story is much more thoughtfully constructed and features twists that are actually foreshadowed(!!) and got my wife and I constructing various theories and revising as we played on. The characters in this game are significantly more compelling and well written and while some of the jokes get repetitive (haha, he likes pornography), the writing is not only good for Uchikoshi but generally among the best I've seen in this style of game. Overall, the game was a welcome surprise and I'm very excited for the sequel coming out soon. 2. The Sexy Brutale In a year dominated by time loop games, this title from 2018 really stood out as one of the most tightly crafted games I played this year. The Sexy Brutale features you waking up in a casino/mansion amid an eternal party where you are very much an unwanted guest. You are tasked with unraveling the mystery of the deaths of various guests without being seen by the guests or staff. To do this, you relive the day of the party, learning people's patterns, listening in on conversations, and gaining access to new parts of the building. The game combines a dynamic graphical style, an excellent soundtrack, and an intriguing series of mysteries/puzzles to create an absolutely delightful experience. The overall story could have been better, but it served its purpose in presenting some larger mysteries that kept me wondering. For me, this was the rare example of a game that not only didn't outstay its welcome but left me wanting more when it was finished. I really can't recommend this one enough. 1. NEO The World Ends With You My number one really couldn't have been anything else. The original The World Ends With You is my favorite game of all time. Each time I've replayed it, I've liked it even more than I did when I first played it. So when Square Enix started teasing a sequel to the game nearly 10 years ago with the mobile release, I was extremely excited. And then...nothing. Just more teases and more ports, until they finally announced a sequel at the end of last year. I'm so happy and honestly shocked to be able to say that they managed to deliver on that decade of hype and then some. The sequel has managed to recapture and enhance all of the elements that made the first game so excellent. The real-time combat system, which had you controlling two characters at the same time on the DS's touch screen and top screen in a frantic, has been brilliantly translated to a console controller. Now each character is controlled by a single button. Each character's ability can trigger a bonus opportunity to build up a super meter by hitting the enemy within a specific window with another character. This leads to a great rhythm in combat where you're encouraged to rotate through your characters, figuring out who should be attacking when and what you need to do to prepare for the next rotation of attacks. Coupled with a massive number of potential attack types, character synergies, and spectacular boss fights, this is one of the most impressive combat systems I've seen in several years. On top of the stellar combat system, the game's story does a fantastic job of incorporating both a new cast of characters and many of the old fan favorites from the previous game in a way that gives players time to both grow attached to the new cast as well as indulge their nostalgia for the old. There were many scenes in the game where I legitimately teared up from the emotional payoff of seeing some scenes finally come to fruition. For fans of the original game, the new characters are welcome additions with surprisingly deep character arcs, particularly for a couple who seemed relatively shallow initially. By the end of the game, I'd grown as attached to the new cast as I was to the original. The overall story arc also expands the world from the first game, providing new details and twists on the formula and setup of the first game that I loved trying to unravel. I'd be remiss if I didn't at least mention that the absolute banger soundtrack of the original game is also back in full form, with several stellar remixes as well as a range of new tracks that easily rival some of the standouts from the previous game. Coming into this game, my hopes were so high for the potential of what they could do, but I was really worried the game was going to be a disappointment. It's truly stunning to me that in many ways this game surpasses the original. The game apparently didn't sell well, so it's likely we won't get another entry for at least another ten years, but I am now much more confident that if we do it'll absolutely be worth the wait. Short list for Rarity: 10. Loop Hero 9. Yakuza Kiwami 2 8. Gnosia 7. Metroid Dread 6. Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139... 5. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim 4. Fire Emblem: Three Houses 3. AI: The Somnium Files 2. The Sexy Brutale 1. NEO: The World Ends With You
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 20:40
|
|
|
This is the first year in many that I feel like my finished game list is longer than the list of games I tried and didn't get through. It took a lot of uncharacteristic focus to stick to stuff and see them through to the credits at least, though I seldom 100% video games. I tried to branch out and sample from different genres as much as possible, but that said you play what you like. Games I "finished" this year: Spider Man Miles Morales Risk of Rain 2 Control Immortals Fenyx Rising Hitman 3 Curse of the Dead Gods Song of the Deep Bloodborne Stellaris Zombie Army 4 Captain Tsubasa Ghost of Tsushima Disco Elysium Mass Effect Returnal Griftlands Streets of Rage 4 Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart Wreckfest Borderlands 3 Dirt 5 A Plague Tale: Innocense Battle Chef Brigade Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Lost Judgement Guilty Gear Strive Doom Eternal The Forgotten City Marvel’s Avengers Animal Crossing Horizons 13 Sentinels Psychonauts 2 Kena: Bridge of Spirits Until Dawn Guardians of the Galaxy Top 10 were 10 - Animal Crossing Horizons - I needed something to be OCD about this year and the expansion material for AC:H came along at a point that let me just settle into a gentle groove and make things look nice in a place where I couldn't get that feeling out of real life. Very peaceful, very chill, orderly. It was the only game I played this year that I could really enjoy with the rest of my family as well, though not at the same time because what the hell is up with the multiplayer in this thing? 9 - Griftlands - I played a ton of Slay the Spire last year. The one thing that was missing from that game for me was a fully realized world in which it was taking place. Griftlands had the storytelling that I wanted out of a deckbuilder. There are so many different systems playing off of each other and the world seems to react so naturally to the tiny choices you make. I loved the novel sci-fi environment and the trio of protagonists, the reputation system, the manner in which your deck gains experience and develops through use, not just on the purchases you make. 8 - Kena: Bridge of Spirits - I did not expect this game to be as difficult as it was, but even for a first game the devs really went hard in on the combat and given that their strength seemed to lie mainly in animation, it surprised me. There might have been a bit too many smaller creature encounters, but the larger boss fights were brilliant. Excellent musical score as well, though the balance was a bit off and it overpowered everything. 7 - Streets of Rage 4 - Very tight brawler. Incredible soundtrack. That they came back and added more characters and a rogue lite sort of arcade mode was a plus in my book, but not necessary for such a great little arcade game. I really appreciated the nods to the previous games in the series, but enjoyed the new characters the most. 6 - Psychonauts 2 - I was a bit surprised by this one, because it's been so long since the first one, and I think it could have pushed even higher on my list this year had it a little more time in development. There were clearly some areas, some characters that they were planning on developing more, but the story they told, and the personal stories within it were really great. Wonderful visualization of some pretty dark subject matter. 5 - Ghost of Tsushima - Gorgeous. I don't normally play with photo mode stuff, but I couldn't help myself with GoT. I found myself with a week to myself in the spring and just plowed through 60 hours of the game in that short week. Couldn't stop. A chock-full open world that somehow avoided all of the point-on-a-map feeling of obligation and made me want to explore naturally with its landmarks. Incredible sword combat as well, especially when it came to the standoffs to begin encounters. 4 - The Forgotten City - Short, sweet, I probably rank this so highly this year because it told such an interesting story so compactly. Also, with all the time loop stuff that we've been playing the last couple of years I really appreciated how you can set it to sort of drive some of its own repetition, eliminating some of the busy work and keeping you focused on just the pure exploration. 3 - Bloodborne - I'm not a From fan. I bounced hard off this game multiple times over the years. But somewhere deep in my brain the gears finally found purchase and I found whatever rhythm I needed to enjoy being punished by this genre, and to work through it, and finally enjoy that point where you start punishing the game instead. 2 - Returnal: This was the game that made me recognize that 3d audio was a thing and just how much it could add to the visual experience. It also included some incredible haptic work which really showed off what the DualSense could do, and all that is just icing on the cake that is bringing a Housemarque game into the full over-the-shoulder perspective. A tight, difficult shooter with incredible mobility and menace. 1 - Hitman 3: Not only did the game include a gorgeous new set of well tailored sandbox scenarios, but brought all the missions from hitman 1 and 2 (which I didn't play all of previously) forward into the new engine and were that not enough already, brought all that forward into VR later in the year. There was so much to play in this game and so many different ways to play it. IO is doing some really good work experimenting with storytelling in a sandbox and it's definitely the game that I thought about the most this year when I wasn't actively playing it. Fix fucked around with this message at 21:42 on Dec 29, 2021 |
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 20:42
|
|
|
Fix posted:Top 10 were Hi friend, these are some cool games. Unfortunately one of the rules of the thread is that you must write a little bit about each game to explain why you like it for your votes to be counted so I won't be able to score your points unless you do
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 20:45
|
|
|
Bad News Panda posted:
I mean, just listen to the first 30 seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLT68bx1_EM
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 20:45
|
|
|
Rarity posted:Hi friend, these are some cool games. Unfortunately one of the rules of the thread is that you must write a little bit about each game to explain why you like it for your votes to be counted so I won't be able to score your points unless you do Fix is just competing in exhibition
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 20:51
|
|
|
Rarity posted:Hi friend, these are some cool games. Unfortunately one of the rules of the thread is that you must write a little bit about each game to explain why you like it for your votes to be counted so I won't be able to score your points unless you do Ah hell, sorry about that. I'll go back and edit that.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 20:54
|
|
|
The Sexy Brutale owns
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 20:56
|
|
|
5. The Forgotten City - Time-looping in a little Roman town to unravel mysteries and stop the residents from committing sins was fun. A neat little experience. 4. Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage - I like vocaloid music, so I checked out this mobile gacha rhythm game mostly out of curiosity. It's my first rhythm game experience and it has completely taken me by surprise. Everything in this game is great: the songs, the covers, the variety, the MVs, the characters, the story, the gameplay. Even the gacha and stamina mechanics are completely unobtrusive - you can pretty much ignore them entirely and feel no impact on the game. If you're a fan of vocaloid music, jpop or anything of that nature, this is pretty much the perfect break game. It doesn't get any better than this. 3. Arknights - Good gameplay, stylish character designs, great story that touches on many topics I would never have expected to see in a mobile gacha. The writing can be a bit overly verbose at times, and several characters communicate exclusively through extended philosophy monologues, but this is still a fairly engaging and thought-provoking narrative. Also animal girls or whatever. Game owns. 2. Gnosia - Enough has been said already. Procedural single-player werewolf/mafia in space is an incredibly bold concept, that works out unexpectedly well in practice. There is nothing else like this game out there. 1. Buried Stars - A grounded, well-realized and emotionally impactful critique of celebrity fan culture, show business and Twitter. Also a solid murder mystery VN featuring 6 characters that feel more real, relatable and fleshed-out than every character in Danganronpa and Zero Escape combined. If you like murder mystery VNs, please give this game a chance, as it's virtually unknown outside of Korea at the moment, which is an incredible shame. Game is way too good to be consigned to obscurity. AFancyQuestionMark fucked around with this message at 21:59 on Dec 29, 2021 |
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 21:53
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 23, 2024 11:23 |
|
|
It's ya boy, Rarity's favorite Something Awful poster Zaggitz, with another piping hot list of pretty okay video games I guess. I played many Many games this year and a whole lot of them were old so while this list will be mostly new games I have a few really great standouts I missed from previous years. I feel like I can already tell Forgotten City will be one of these for me in next years list. First off, the Honorable Mentions: Death's Door was a fun little hard Zelda Clone with an extremely sick secret filled postgame. In a less loaded year I think this woulda made the list for sure. Astalon was an extremely fun metroidvania with some clever secrets and a cool main character switching mechanic. Ys 9 Monstrum Nox was more Ys! Not as good as Ys 8, but a fun hub world and some cool story moments have me really excited for whatever they end up doing for 10 (or a 5 remake PLEASE FALCOM) Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart is definitely the prettiest game of the year with the exact same gameplay the series has had since the PS2!! No More Heroes 3 was exactly the B game masterpiece return to form I hoped it would be. Now for the Real poo poo: 10. Crosscode AKA The Game That Would Have Scored Higher if the God drat DLC was out on PS5 This little indie gem is one of the most fun and mindbending ARPGs I've ever played with some fantastic dungeon/world design, charming characters and a great story about the value of artificial life. The DLC meant to wrap up the story came out this year on everything BUT PS5 which I finally got myself to play and beat the game on. I'm told and fully believe that the DLC is amazing and pretty much a perfect ending. I just hope I can play it on PS5 in my lifetime. 9. Resident Evil: VIIIage AKA The Game Where Everytime I Thought "Surely this is too stupid to work." it Did. I ended up playing RE 7 and 8 back to back for the first time this summer and drat if the saga of Ethan Winters didn't deliver on both scares, satisfying gameplay and so so many laughs. These games know exactly when to be serious, scary or silly and know exactly what to take and not take seriously. Truly a return to form for a series that I loved as a kid until it started going downhill with 5. The Dollhouse segment of Village in particular might legit be the scariest sequence I've ever played in a video game. 8. Phoenotopia: Awakening AKA The Game Where my Girflriend Kept Going "Is this still the same game???" Part Metroidvania, part Zelda 2, part Fez kind of??? This game came out of nowhere and defies expectations pretty much from the word go. I kind of don't want to say much more since I imagine not a lot of people have played this one. This is a game where you end up in such an astronomically different place than where you started and it's so much more than what it seems from a surface glance. 7. New Pokemon Snap AKA The Game I've Been Waiting For Since I Was Nine Years Old Every single new generation of Pokemon starting with Gold and Silver has been shadowed by me screaming "WOW WHAT IF THERE WAS ANOTHER POKEMON SNAP WITH ALL THESE NEW POKEMON, NINTENDO??" I loved the original but this game blows that game out of the water with tons of levels full of puzzles, hidden paths, day/night versions all of which contains so many unique pokemon. Everytime I had to redo a level I couldn't wait to see what I would find this time. 6. Chicory AKA Who Needs Anti-Depressants When You Have This Game? A beautiful exploration of Imposter Syndrome, the weight of Legacy and the crushing anxiety that revolves around one's self-worth. The gameplay is fun and silly, the characters are great and if all the music slapped as much as the boss music this would probably easily be a top 5 contender. 5. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim AKA The Game that had me Lookin Like That Charlie Day From It's Always Sunny Meme Aegis Rim was an incredible mystery Visual Novel caked in loving pastiche of various genres I grew up loving. The way the game is structured lead my girlfriend and I to stop and swap ideas about what we thought was happening after every small character chapter and ended up being some of my favorite co-op gaming of the year. The combat is super fun and Crunchy when you get really good at it, also. 4. Metroid: Dread AKA The Guys Who Killed Castlevania Went Ahead and Saved Metroid It's Metroid! They finally made a new mainline one after 19 years! It's Good! They reversed Other M's character assassination of Samus! There's sequence breaks and cool boss fights and Kraid is in it and when Samus sees it she's like "god this fucker again ok lets get it over with" If you don't like this game we can't be friends. 3. Great Ace Attorney AKA The Best Piece of Sherlock Holmes Media Since the Originals Reread my bit about 13 Sentinels, remove the combat, throw in some amazing Ace Attorney music and character designs and you have without a doubt the best and most fun VN of 2021. 2. Lost Judgement AKA The Best Playing Yakuza Since 0 The original Judgement was a great little one off story with a fair amount of gameplay/story problems keeping it from achieving it's full potential. LJ refines and improves on all of it and gives us the most fun combat system since 0, a fantastic sidestory mode full of references to the original game's side character and one of the most unnerving and intense stories RGG studios has turned out. I truly hope this game won't be the last for this protagonist because it feels like he finally has a personal and emotional arc to reckon with and I want to see that continue with a sequel 1. Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker AKA Game of the Year circa 2015-2021 So much has already been said about this game and I'm sure much more will be added to before this thread ends. For my money this game has become the gold standard for quality long form story telling. The way Endwalker pays off threads that have been around since ARR and has every single one of those payoffs feel earned should be downright impossible. That it does this while telling an incredibly affecting tale about loss, sorrow, despair, and finding the hope to live on despite it all is nothing short of astounding. This has easily become my favorite rpg of all time and I can't wait to spend many many more years in this world.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 23:16
|
|
