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Miyamoto sweating as we speak.
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Dec 15, 2021 14:18
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| # ¿ May 11, 2024 10:48 |
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At long last, the Year of No Games has come to its indignant end. Without very many first-party titles or AAA productions that were compelling to me, I found myself venturing more introspectively toward middle and lower budget projects that could be completed over the course of a couple afternoons, rather than played for months at a time. I've always been a fan of these narrative-focused, solidly B-tier experiences, and 2021 delivered in that regard, even as I found the franchise mainstays lacking. The prevailing theme of my GOTY picks this year was definitely "nostalgic." I generally know what I like, but in 2021 I also found myself taking a couple risks to mostly pleasant surprises. Therefore, I've decided to make my Top 10 more about bringing attention to several perhaps overlooked games than celebrating the big tentpole releases everybody already knows about. I can't say that I absolutely loved anything that came out this year, but there was still a whole lot to appreciate. Honorable Mention - Streets of Rage 4: Mr X Nightmare (DLC) https://i.imgur.com/7pqhzyY.mp4 In all honesty, this was probably the game I spent the most time playing in 2021. Streets of Rage 4 was my 2020 GOTY by a wide margin, yet somehow the holy trinity of Lizardcube, Guard Crush and Dotemu managed to make the best beatemup of all time even better with an endless survival mode, brand new characters and alternate movesets for the current roster, and a soundtrack by Tee Lopes that manages to slap just as hard as the OST. If I had no honor then Mr X Nightmare would make it very high on my current GOTY list, but as I prefer not to repeat prior entries or submit DLC as its own game, I will not be including it here. Rest assured though, anybody who is even thinking about playing Streets of Rage 4 should absolutely buy this in tandem. It will add dozens if not hundreds of hours to your playtime. 10. Lake https://i.imgur.com/3KRzLpq.mp4 If you can imagine Life is Strange or Deadly Premonition without the supernatural elements, murder mysteries, or really even any active gameplay whatsoever, then you have Lake. I know it sounds like I'm being uncharitable here, but there's a cozy vibe to the relatively low stakes that make it a unique experience. In a refreshing change of pace, Lake is a game that is exactly what it appears to be. You deliver mail to a small lakeside town in 1986 Oregon, meet a cast of quirky supporting characters, and ultimately try to figure out your future. Despite the primitive graphics for being an obviously budget title, I think the decent performances and pleasant pastel lighting still manage to shine through. Whether intentional or otherwise, listening to the same 8 catchy tracks on the radio perfectly replicates that sensation of working a menial job with an unchanging selection of cheesy Top 40 ballads stuck in your head all day. I'm going WAAAAAAAY down south! Despite only being 5-6 hours long, the mail delivery minigame really does start to wear out its welcome by the end, which is why I couldn't place Lake any higher on my list. I think it could have used some more activities and dialogue to break up the monotony a little. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys games that celebrate the mundane. 9. Kena: Bridge of Spirits https://i.imgur.com/nrsVfh1.mp4 I had my eye on this game ever since I saw its debut at the Sony State of Play in 2020, and after completing the story, I remain impressed by Ember Lab's first effort. Not just in terms of the beautiful Pixar-like animation that is inarguably the first thing everybody notices about Kena, but in also crafting a mechanically solid and satisfying third-person action platformer that still manages to stand out among a crowded field. I'm looking forward to whatever gorgeous-looking thing emerges from this studio next, and no ladies, I'm not just talking about the hunky co-founders Josh and Michael Grier!  8. Trials of Mana Remake  Trials of Mana doesn't demand a whole lot from the player either narratively or mechanically, but it's great at providing a nostalgic 90s JRPG experience with just enough modern updates to the combat to make things interesting over its 25 hour runtime. The addition of a voice cast adds a lot of personality to each character, even the much-mawigned Chawwotte. I'd recommend starting with Angela as your MC because her English VA is simply fantastic in the role and Grand Diviner is super OP. 7. Resident Evil Village  While the series has had its share of ups and downs, I think Resident Evil is at its best when it's just breathlessly, exuberantly stupid, and Village most certainly delivered the dumb in 2021. Herein there is a nearly perfect confluence of cheap scares, larger-than-life characters, and half-forgotten plot threads that I don't think has reached quite such dizzying heights since Resident Evil 4. I'm eagerly awaiting whatever Lady Dimitrescu thirst trap DLC is inevitably coming to this marvelously idiotic game. 6. Road 96  A charming road trip adventure with well-written characters and a timely infusion of generational disillusionment with the political establishment, Road 96 was a pleasant surprise that came seemingly out of nowhere. Despite some obvious rough edges for being a budget project, there's a lot to enjoy here. The cast of interconnected travelers is lively, unpredictable, and entertaining. Every border crossing takes about 60 minutes to complete and is broken up into episodes of about 15-20 minutes each, keeping up the pace without the game ever overstaying its welcome. I finished the entire campaign only ever maxing out two character stories, so there's also some replay value in going back to see what vignettes you might have missed. Another highlight is the amazing synth-dominated soundtrack, which often compensates for the clunky animations in adding dramatic weight to a scene. The semi-procedural storytelling is rather unique, but does make for some very curious inconsistencies depending on where and when you meet certain characters in the story. I feel like Road 96 went overlooked by many this year, but if you can get past its relatively low production values, there's much to appreciate if you're a fan of choice & consequence-based narrative adventure games. 5. Guilty Gear Strive  Strive was my first foray into the Guilty Gear series and I don't think it could have been a better introduction. An insanely stylish and satisfying 2D fighter with the best netplay in the world and beautifully detailed artwork dripping from every frame. Makes all other fighting games look cheap and low-effort by comparison. I wish there were more robust single-player modes and the online lobbies could still use some work, but those are small complaints against such a complete experience. 4. Chorus https://i.imgur.com/BfLXCA5.mp4 I really enjoy experiences that harken back to the early-mid 2000s era of B-tier gaming, with linear narratives and fluid combat that also aren't a complete eyesore. Eternal Darkness, Beyond Good & Evil, and Heavenly Sword were among some of my favorites from this formative epoch before games started to become either increasingly more expensive and lavish productions threatening 100 hours of gameplay, or some horrible indie pixel art piece of crap. I'm glad to see that these intermediate projects haven't completely died out just yet, and have perhaps even witnessed a resurgence in the past few years with breakout hits like Hellblade, A Plague Tale, and now hopefully the progrock sci-fi epic Chorus. CHORVS is everything I love about B-tier 2000s gaming, complete with the melodramatic narrative and pretentiously misspelled alternate naming conventions. The combat is fun and flashy with just enough variety to keep things interesting, the inclusion of telekinetic powers into an arcade space shooter is a genius concept, the sound design is superb, and there are some really impressive visuals throughout. When you're flying through some crazy red lighting storm assaulting a huge capitol ship, skewering the bad guys with your psychic fighter jet, that's just good game feels right there. But I think what surprised me most about Chorus was the story. Fundamentally it's a super basic "unite the factions against the Evil Space Empire" deal, but I was into all the little twists and turns along the way. I loved the threeway dynamic between Nara, her sassy backtalking ship, and her cynical inner monologue ASMR. I appreciate games that, for want of a better phrase, "just go for it" and Chorus 100% goes there without respect to its many apparent limitations. 3. The Forgotten City  If you're like me then you were probably very hesitant to take a chance on The Forgotten City when you heard that it began life as a Skyrim mod. But to sleep on this game would be to deprive yourself of a time traveling classic unseen since The Journeyman Project: Legacy of Time. Adeptly written, intricately structured, and surprisingly well-acted, this dialogue-based chat 'em up is one of the most inventive narrative adventure games I've played in years. The central timeloop conceit and interlocking plot threads form an engrossing mystery that always manages to keep you hunting for that next tantalizing clue without feeling lost, overwhelmed, or bored. Whereas many other games fail to respect the player's intelligence, The Forgotten City often rewards you for being exceptionally clever or creative. I'm glad that I took a chance on it despite my misgivings, because this was one of the most refreshing gaming experiences of 2021. 2. Blue Reflection: Second Light https://i.imgur.com/DMde1op.mp4 If somebody asked you to write about that really transformative experience you had at sleepaway camp when you were 16 and construct a JRPG plot around it, you'd probably end up with something like Blue Reflection: Second Light. Some games live and die on the strength of their visuals, some by their stories, and others still by their vibes. Blue Reflection 2 succeeds at creating a wistful, slightly melancholic, but warm vibe that punches above the limitations of its small budget. I'll start with some of the things I didn't like as much -- the game begins a lot stronger than it ends, and the final sequences really start to drag as all 11 characters have to react to every little development in the plot. You could have easily lopped 15 hours off the total runtime with a leaner script, and cut down immensely on the flat exposition that doesn't really add anything to our understanding of the world. Why are we all living in this anime high school? Because we're trapped in an alternate reality made up of girls' repressed emotions and must explore them to escape, no real further scientific inquiry needed. The low production budget starts to become really obvious once you're spending a lot of time at home base with the cast and notice the same half dozen recycled animations in every single cutscene. The combat is also rather easy and at the time I played there was no way to go above Normal on your first playthrough, in case you were seeking a more challenging game. All that being said, Second Light made a really strong impression on me and I still find myself thinking about it over one month later. I tend to value memorable experiences rather than perfect mechanics, and the experience of seeing Ao's story play out was altogether poignant and unique. The characters, music, and environments all combine to invoke a deeply nostalgic feeling for the endless summers of adolescence, blending the familiar and bizarre within the liminal spaces of half-remembered memories. There's something both inviting and eery about walking through empty classrooms and abandoned swingsets, and the heavy postprocessing effects work to convey the dreamlike presentation. The core conceit of 12 youth on the threshold of adulthood, all hopeful and fearful of what that new reality might bring once the summer ends, is so strong that you don't even need to bring nonsensical JRPG jargon into it, you know? The game just has a unique vibe, and works best in those quieter moments where you're exploring the heartscapes and can let the wonderful soundtrack breathe. At first I didn't think the characters looked visually distinct enough, but through all the little dates and entr'acte cutscenes, their personalities come across well. Ao was a great protagonist and while I don't understand Japanese, I think her VA did a great job. 1. Life is Strange: True Colors  I've written an embarrassing number of words on this website about why I think Life is Strange by Dontnod Studios is the greatest game ever made. In the nearly seven years since its worldwide debut, I've kind of made my peace with it being a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon that is unlikely to ever be replicated. The second-biggest miracle of this series, however, is that it has somehow continued to live on in Deck Nine, a wholly different developer who nonetheless implicitly understood what Life is Strange was all about. While it would have been so easy to fail, their 2017 prequel Before the Storm managed to recapture much of that familiar Arcadia Bay magic while still communicating their own vision for what a Life is Strange game could be. True Colors is a beautiful addition to the Life is Strange series, and perhaps the best realized vision of the concept since the original season in 2015. The memorable characters, picturesque setting, and themes of self-forgiveness in the wake of family tragedy landed with me after the somewhat mismatched and complicated emotions of Life is Strange 2. Alex Chen is a compelling and relateable protagonist whose empathy powers create beautiful and unique dreamscapes for the player to explore. Despite initially being unsure of how her abilities would compare to time travel or telekinesis, I thoroughly enjoyed helping the brilliant supporting cast work through their traumas in these well-conceived and aesthetic representations of the mind. The empathy powers added another fun dimension to the usual point-and-click exploration, and Haven Springs is an incredibly well-realized setting with an immense level of attention to detail. The main thesis of True Colors seems to be that you should allow yourself to truly experience those long-buried emotions of sadness, anger, and fear rather than to suppress them. In mastering her powers of empathy, Alex is finally able to forgive herself for the breakup of her family, to forgive her father and Gabe for leaving her, and ultimately to forgive those who wronged her in the past. But the most important step in that process of self-discovery was Alex coming to love herself -- no longer seeing her existence as an unwelcome burden to others, but as an individual every bit as deserving of love and compassion. I think True Colors beautifully and efficiently demonstrates how being truly loved starts with seeing yourself as being WORTHY of love, so that you even have the ability to accept it. Alex's journey has challenged me to be less hard on myself and not let those intrusive regrets from the past determine my future. All this from a 10-15 hour video game. Moreso than any other game on this list, It's clear that the pandemic affected Deck Nine's ability to tell the entire story they wanted. They had to finish the final chapter and DLC episode almost entirely within quarantine, which contributes to the end feeling a bit rushed and ultimately shorter than it could be. But as a holistic experience, I still find myself thinking about True Colors all the time, still wanting more. I think the wonderful thing about video games is when they can excite and invigorate the imagination, rather than completely overloading your senses until you're exhausted. I think that True Colors has successfully positioned Life is Strange from what I initially figured would be a lightning-in-a-bottle sensation to one of my favorite gaming franchises, with all the good and bad that comes from the expectations of a serialized commercial product. I have a lot of complex feelings about that, but for now, I'm happy with the result. exquisite tea fucked around with this message at 12:48 on Dec 19, 2021 |
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Dec 19, 2021 12:44
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I've noticed that people tend to respond rather legalistically to statements like "yeah there were no games that really came out this year" as if the speaker was attempting to prove their thesis for the Scientific Non-Existence of Games rather than just saying "there was nothing that interested me personally."
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Dec 21, 2021 12:04
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punk rebel ecks posted:I agree that quality gaming isn't within the AAA space anymore (for the most part). I don't think people really care about that lol. The 2019 GOTY winner was Disco Elysium, in 2020 it was Hades, both are popular games but not "AAA" by any stretch of the imagination. Indies and stuff that 12 people outside of these forums have played place very highly every year. By comparison, Assassin's Creed Valhalla didn't even make last year's Top 100.
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Dec 24, 2021 21:54
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YoshiOfYellow posted:I knew I'd end up regretting doing my list early because now I've played & finished Life is Strange: True Colors and want to fit it on my list somehow. Just edit the OP and alert Rarity!
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Dec 27, 2021 20:43
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Biggest hipster award has to be curved by release year though, you can’t just miss with a list of games all from the 1990s.
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Dec 28, 2021 21:11
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The goatees are coming and they are coming fast.
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Dec 31, 2021 22:10
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Can't stand the delays, somebody needs to crunch these goons harder.
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Jan 1, 2022 11:45
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I'm an American, I want these results immediately. What am I not paying you for!
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Jan 1, 2022 11:51
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Jay Rust posted:Post your favourite 2021 game music! Lake - Lower Down the Bridge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68u08kw7JNE Road 96 - The Road https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr8tcS-G5G4 Streets of Rage 4 - Spotlight Summersault https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXRNq3bhmDk Blue Reflection: Second Light - Wishful Thinking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0ArjCS80gQ Life is Strange: True Colors - When You Call https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USHQLqkU9sA
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Jan 1, 2022 18:07
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lx90-xA84c
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Jan 1, 2022 20:17
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One theme you'll hear quite a lot in Blue Reflection: Second Light is "Aruella," a beautifully haunting piano and strings track reused from the first game's OST. I never played Blue Reflection 1, but I've listened to the soundtrack several times over. The cello that comes in around 45 seconds in has this wonderful melancholy tone under the suspended pulse of the piano, giving the entire piece an unresolved, yearning quality. This game is so good at capturing the liminal space between adolescence and adulthood with both sight and sound. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YziznPynOR0&t=648s In the sequel, they kind of tacitly acknowledge this being the best track by repurposing into your home base music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxgri1Gfn6M
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Jan 2, 2022 01:06
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cheetah7071 posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcaO4SpX6Mg I'll forever remember this track for the hilarious tonal mismatch in the middle of Uta's mental breakdown that I still can't tell was the wrong audio cue or intentional.
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Jan 2, 2022 14:17
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I petition to have Rosalind's list included in the final count because it contains a Life is Strange game and does not contain 12 Minutes, my mortal enemy game.
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Jan 2, 2022 22:55
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Due to lateness, I'm afraid all the results this year must be disqualified. There is no GOTY 2021, better luck next year goons.
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Jan 8, 2022 16:04
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Wow, I can't believe Rimworld missed being #69. Proof that we truly live in a Godless world.
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Jan 8, 2022 16:55
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Mass Effect 3 multiplayer ruled and for that alone it's a better game than ME1.
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Jan 8, 2022 17:53
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Wow, Blue Reflection: Second Light did a lot better than I thought! It's a really lovely game.
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Jan 8, 2022 18:11
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wuggles posted:hm gonna have to check out blue reflection Only the second one, though. The first game is totally skippable besides of course the amazing OST which carried over into 2.
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Jan 8, 2022 18:28
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Jerusalem posted:While we wait, how badly did everybody else do? 5 of my Top 10 didn't crack the Top 75 I have 4 picks that are at least going to make the Top 50, one that placed just outside that at #55, and the rest were pity picks. A couple might make the Top 10 still but they weren't my favorites. Probably my most antigoon hivemind year yet.
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Jan 8, 2022 18:37
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Better than I expected! I hope more people will get to play this very beautiful little game.
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Jan 8, 2022 20:01
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morallyobjected posted:this is correct, though LIS1 is still tied for my favourite. Deck Nine really overtook Dontnod though, in terms of consistent quality. It's been kind of a miracle that Deck Nine totally "gets" what Life is Strange is about, there are so many ways in which another developer would fail to understand the assignment.
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Jan 8, 2022 20:07
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Regy Rusty posted:Maybe they should've remembered to include one It's Bae OP.
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Jan 8, 2022 20:13
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morallyobjected posted:it's especially jank that you only get the kiss if you choose the bad ending. There's also a lot of Rachel Amber too thanks to timey wimey stuff.
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Jan 8, 2022 20:18
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gently caress Ted Faro.
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Jan 8, 2022 20:31
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I'd like to remind everyone that Horizon Zero Dawn has no colon in its official branding (but Monster Hunter: World does).
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Jan 8, 2022 20:34
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Dork Quarrels
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Jan 8, 2022 20:43
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Great job Rarity and VG hosting a GOTY thread in a year that didn't even have any video games. I don't know how you managed to pull it off, but you succeeded. Already looking forward to 2022 where I believe experts have predicted there will be some games.
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Jan 9, 2022 13:42
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Rarity posted:Apparently there will be exactly one (1) game and its name is Elden Ring Never heard of it but I know GRRM is involved. Sounds like some generic grimdark fantasy thing.
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Jan 9, 2022 14:27
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| # ¿ May 11, 2024 10:48 |
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My Top 6 in 2020 were:quote:6. Vigil: The Longest Night In revision, I would have taken CP2077 off the list and left everything else the same. SOR4 is such a banger and it's only grown on me since.
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Jan 9, 2022 16:18
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