As the cold month of January continues to linger onward, what more fitting way to celebrate the mundane than recall the games I enjoyed throughout the previous year. As always this is my list and my list alone. Also, I personally find it a bit crude to compare a shooter to an RPG, so I picked my five favorite games of this year and listed them in order by release date. If you disagree, I applaud you to make your own list.
Before we get to the awards, I must admit the way I play and review games in the past hasn’t always lent itself any favors when it comes to long games. Unlike the traditional games media, I don’t solely play and rant about games atop my soapbox. Often this causes me to rush through games as fast as possible and frequently hinders my enjoyment of certain genres. Mainly roguelites. This year was certainly one where the doom and gloom was starting to weigh on me. I frequently found myself on the couch playing Hades just to disconnect from online discourse. During that time, I began to appreciate everything Hades was trying to accomplish: the focus on the journey, the need to take risks, and the celebration of making it a tiny bit further. I certainly could see the game working with those themes initially, but I definitely didn’t appreciate them while I was rushing to get my thoughts down. Hades has made me take a step back and analyze how I consume games and I am certainly thankful for that.
Now that the rules and honorable mentions are out of the way, it’s time to get on with the show:
Resident Evil Village
My game of the year list always seems to emphasize my love for horror games. One usually makes it onto my list. This year I have to give the nod to Resident Evil Village. The comparison to a theme park has been done to death, but it seems like the best way to describe Resident Evil Village. Some areas, like Heisenberg’s factory, don’t do enough to really set me on edge. However, other areas like the House Beneviento, have been the most terrifying horror experiences that still haunt me today. I truly hope Capcom shies away from the notion that Resident Evil 7 was too scary and leans into moments like House Beneviento. Resident Evil Village is certainly a strong entry, but it showcases how well Capcom is at crafting heart-pounding terrifying moments. I genuinely hope they continue to hone that skill in the upcoming Resident Evil 9.
Necromunda: Hired Gun
Some might be confused why a shooter like Necromunda: Hired Gun is on my list over a game like Halo Infinite. Sure Halo Infinite is infinitely more polished than Necromunda: Hired Gun, but if you stick me in the same open field or glossy tunnel over and over, my interest will start to wane. Fortunately, Necromunda: Hired Gun goes to great effort to make sure you’re not going to the same locations on the famed planet Necromunda. From a colossal train to thundering factories to toxic chemical plants, Necromunda Hired Gun has elaborate and varied locations to cause destruction. Combine all of that with a double-jump, wall-run, and grapple hook and you just feel like a whirlwind of carnage. Plus you can summon a dog to help you in battle and give him the pets he deserves.
Psychonauts 2
Speaking of level design, no other game is oozing with an imaginative and creative set of locations than Psychonauts 2. The levels of Psychonauts 2 tell so much about the characters without saying any words since every level takes place in someone’s mind. Rather than say a character is anxious about his peer’s opinions, the game will show this by showing their mind as a game show with his peer’s as the judges. That same level asks you to use your plethora of mental abilities like telekinesis and time stop to cook up recipes for those judges. All in all, I can’t remember a time when Psychonauts 2 didn’t have me smiling from ear to ear, whether it was from its creative levels or unique gameplay. To add the cherry on top, any soundtrack that gets Jack Black to sing on it is an amazing soundtrack in my book.
Inscryption
I awoke locked in a dark and dreary cabin. The atmosphere was thick with the feeling of uneasy and dread settling in like a heavy fog. Sitting across the table was a pair of piercing eyes. Fearing the worst, I carefully obeyed the instruction of the eyes staring back at me from behind the table. He merely wanted to play a game. He laid before a parchment detailing paths into the deep forest. To be able to survive the adventure, I would need to master a deadly card game that required me to sacrifice cards to summon strong yet ghastly creatures. As I carefully continued to play my captor’s twisted game, it became clear that I was only scratching the surface of the horror that lay beneath this eerie card game known as Inscryption.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Part of me feels a little sheepish for enjoying Guardians of the Galaxy. I will admit the game has a lot of gameplay issues. Eidos-Montreal probably could have and should have implemented a Final Fantasy 7 Remake-styled combat system, where you could switch between the Guardians and build up to various special attacks. However, I can’t hide the grin painted across my face any time I put down the controller after playing a few chapters of Guardians of the Galaxy. The characters are fresh enough so their interactions feel new yet still familiar. From Drax constantly suspicious of Gamora to Rocket repeatedly trying to usurp Peter’s authority, I love just hanging around the Guardians as the drama of their dysfunctional family unfolds before me. To top it all off, the soundtrack for this game has the 80’s rock fan in me headbanging all night long. See Square Enix, I am not that hard to please.
I know some have expressed disappointment in the current crop of games from 2021. Yes, most of the major releases were pushed into 2022. However, I think there were plenty of positive notes throughout the year. It is fruitless to think about what the year could have been. We can only look forward to the rising sun that is 2022. So here is to the new year. May the games be good, but may your life be better.