If you have not already listened to the podcast of this category, this is the final results, so this will spoil the course of the discussion on that podcast! Be warned!
It’s time to talk about the Best Game of 2021. In truth, maybe we didn’t play it. Between the three of us, we only have so much time, can only touch so much. But we played a hell of a lot, and these are the best among them.
The Winner
Hitman 3
Honestly, I don’t know what to say. Hitman 3 inspired a new podcast for us. It inspired a hell of an obsession with exploring its levels. And it’s done this every time an entry in this World of Assassination trilogy has released, but… what can I say! Hitman is so damn good!
With 3, they’ve brought the story to a close in style. They’ve built some of their boldest and most inventive levels yet. You solve murder mysteries, you stalk a Berlin nightclub, you leap off an impossibly tall skyscraper, you sneak through a train in a blizzard. This was the game they made without the support of a big publisher, but you’d never know it- 47 has never been stronger. This shit is the best game of the year.
The Runners-Up
Metroid Dread
I am looking at the Metroid Dread amiibos on my desk and I am still in a little bit of disbelief. This game came out? It’s real? The sequel to Fusion? Huh. Huh. And while I think the story is a bit weak, it IS a Metroid game- they’ve never had a killer narrative. The gameplay? It’s the best 2D gameplay the series has ever managed.
Seriously, it’s going to be hard to replay old favs like Fusion and Super in the wake of Flash Shift, the game’s dash-dodge move. That thing feels so damn good, 2D Metroid boss fights without it are just wrong now. Plus the art design is so gorgeous, and the levels have such great flow, and… gah. Yeah we almost cut this from the list and that woulda been a big mistake.
Monster Hunter Rise
The funny thing about Monster Hunter is, the things that make it great have been there for a long time. MonHun has been MonHun, and it’s been good. The problem has always been how much stupid freakin’ bullshit you have to deal with to get to the heart of what makes those games fun. No! I don’t want to go on an expedition to mine so I can build a pair of ugly boots that make me slightly more acid resistant! No! I don’t want to wait on long loading screens between numbered sub-districts of the map! I want to HUNT MONSTERS!
Rise succeeds by knocking down a bunch of these roadblocks. And yeah, there are still some left. I wonder if the series is capable of actually getting rid of them all. But simply by letting you get to the thing that makes the series what it is, it becomes one of the best games of the year.
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I don’t want to write anymore. I’ve written everything I can. Thank you to all the devs, all the games, all the readers and listeners. The patrons, the followers, the cohosts, the guests. Thank you for Scanline Media’s 2021. Thank you.
That’s it! Thank you everyone for joining us for a look at 2021, and all the marvels in it. And bad stuff too. And everything. Thank god that’s all behind us.
A big thank you to daanboii (@daanboii on Twitter) for our Game of the Year art!