Well, 2021 was less weird that 2020, at least. I feel like I’m getting good at this pandemic thing. But… gosh. A lot of great games got delayed, a lot of the ones that did come out didn’t blow me away, and my quest to play 365 games in 365 days gave me a deeply unhealthy relationship with play that made me much less likely to enjoy things. And yet after all that, here we are. I always think I’ll have nothing nice to say. But I’ve got ten games that absolutely rocked this year, and I want to talk about them.
10. Total War: Three Kingdoms
I feel a little silly putting this on since it already got the number 2 spot on my 2019 list, but I gotta be honest with myself: I simply adore Total War: Three Kingdoms. Hell, it even got me to dip my toe into more Total War in 2021, and guess what, gang? I don’t LIKE THEM! TW3K is a truly singular game that stands in a genre that I cannot swallow and yet I can’t get enough of it.
In the 2020 Gimmick Awards it won Best DLC for its A World Betrayed DLC, and that’s still the best addition that the game that has been made. The other DLC they’ve made is of varying quality- Eight Princes sucks, Mandate of Heaven is alright, Fates Divided is ok. The second best addon to TW3K isn’t anything Creative Assembly made- it’s a fan-made mod called Make Them Unique.
MTU existed before 2021, that’s just the year I discovered it. And the way it embraces the characters of the Three Kingdoms and the way cultural has explored them is just joyous. I’ve already said so much about TW3K in the past, it’s just a true joy. Love this game.
9. Lifeline
Lifeline is a game I have been curious about for nearly twenty years, and in 2021 I finally took the plunge to find out what’s up. Turns out it is a uniquely strange and misguided game with more awkward charm than words can convey. I WILL finish this game on stream this year, you see if I don’t.
A voice guided survival horror game with PS2 voice recognition, this game defies explanation. Lifeline rules. I hope it doesn’t make me say any more wedding vows to its female lead, that was mad creepy.
8. Deathloop
I was all ready to call this game a disaster before it came out. Naturally, I want every game that comes out to be good, I don’t enjoy rooting for games to fail. Well, except maybe Bethesda games. But the outlook just wasn’t good! The previews I heard were quite negative, and with it being a PlayStation exclusive right after Microsoft bought the devs, I assumed there’d be a degree of the game being hung out to dry- not given the resources it needed to succeed, because it didn’t benefit the Xbox.
Boy was I wrong. Deathloop is the best game Arkane has ever made. It’s fun in action and in stealth, its world is curious and engaging, there’s tons to do and see (but not in an unbearable Ubisoft way), and the performances of the voice actors pair with an excellent script to make one of my favorite games of the year.
7. Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier
This game has no business being this good. I should finish writing that article about how much it whips ass. Let me give y’all the short version: making an FF7 cellphone battle royale action rpg shouldn’t work. It does. It really, really does. Please port it to consoles and PCs, it rules.
6. Gundam Battle Operation 2 + Code Fairy
Maybe you didn’t know this: I like Gundam? I like Gundam. And for some reason despite being a MASSIVE franchise they don’t make very many Gundam games! And even fewer of them come out stateside! Gundam Breaker 3? I had to import that! The new gacha game they made on phone, Gundam UC Engage? Well I hear it’s terrible but I can’t say for sure because it didn’t come out here! So it’s really essential that the few games that make it here are able to scratch this very real itch.
GBO2 is a great multiplayer mecha shooter, and Code Fairy is a fantastic single player standalone xpac for it. It’s just fun! I can’t really say much else, I think they’re great and you should play them. If you don’t wanna spend money try GBO2 first, if you are hesitant about the mechanics play Code Fairy first because it does a great job of teaching. Hope we get more great Gundam games!
5. Mahjong Soul
Consider this a stand-in for riichi mahjong as a game, as well. 2021 was the year of mahjong for me: Kyrie’s passion and the Akagi anime got me into it, to a point where I’ve sunk points into the Mahjong Soul gacha, bought a set of mahjong tiles and a folding mahjong table, play weekly with my roommates and more than weekly with others online including a recurring mahjong night on the Abnormal Mapping discord. Mahjong has cast a huge shadow over 2021 for me, a great game that just makes me happy and relaxed.
As a client for that game, Mahjong Soul is charming and cute, with great aesthetics and fantastic tools for making the game easier to learn. The only reason it’s not higher is the gacha element. I don’t mind gacha, y’all probably know this about me. But Mahjong Soul’s gacha is SO GREEDY. Just today I spent $30 worth of currency on the game and got NOTHING. I got 10 gifts to give my Mahjong Girl of Choice to make her slightly happier and that’s it. That SUCKS, dawg.
I do recommend this game. But. Don’t give them money.
4. Inscryption
Talk about an ambush. This game came out of nowhere. And it’s a deckbuilder roguelike, a pair of words that make me shudder and avoid eye contact. (If you like Slay the Spire, go with god. I just don’t get the appeal.) But nothing could have prepared me for the brilliant atmosphere and layered mechanics of Inscryption. And I’m not just talking card mechanics. Inscryption’s greatest success lies beyond the table. That’s all I’ll say- if you know you know, and if you don’t, play this game.
3. Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker
Another year, another Final Fantasy expansion. To be honest, this isn’t my favorite they’ve done. It does a lot well, its new classes are fun, and it’s great that it draws to a close some very long-running story threads. But on the whole I think Shadowbringers was a far stronger xpac, one that the game might struggle to surpass for years to come. Regardless, though… it’s FFXIV. And I simply love FFXIV.
All of you are sick of hearing about FFXIV whether you love it or hate it. People talk about this game waaaay too much. But shoutouts to Livingway, and all the moments and characters I wish I could have nominated these Gimmick Awards. I didn’t, so as not to spoil folks. But there is some great stuff in this xpac, and the game as a whole ranks among my favorites of all time.
2. Metroid Dread
They really did it. The crazy bastards actually did it. Long after I gave up hope that “project dread” was real, they actually released a 2D successor to Metroid Fusion. Con: the story is mad stupid, beaten in idiocy only by the hated Other M. Pro: …everything else? It’s gorgeous. It plays great. It… huh. That’s it. It’s gorgeous and it plays great. What else do you want, it’s a Metroid! I could go on and on about the tuning and the combat, the suits and the environments, but really, Metroid Dread speaks for itself. And like it cutscenes, it speaks loudest and most confidently when no one is talking.
- Hitman 3
I really don’t know how they did it. IO Interactive turned themselves from a fun and quirky studio with occasionally truly awful games into one of my most carefully watched and thoroughly appreciated devs, and made it look easy. The World of Assassination Hitman trilogy go about their business with an elegance and grace that seems simple. In truth of course it’s anything but. I don’t think it’s unfair to call Hitman 3, and the trilogy taken as a whole, masterpieces. There are no better stealth games in the world. Period.
