Mom, I Can’t Pause #14: It’s The End of the Year As We Know It
Hello, folks! 2021 is just about over, and as we all know: gamers love lists, awards, and rankings in general. So of course, it’s time for me to give some end of the year awards to some games. 2021 was expected to be a down year for games, as many were delayed into 2022 and beyond. To no one’s surprise though, we got some bangers this year of varying qualities. These are the awards I’ve got for my favorite games of the year. Please, enjoy!
The “Capcom Keeps Doing This” Award: Resident Evil Village
Just ten years ago, Capcom was in a rough situation. They were putting out mediocre-to-good games, and kind of floundering with their best and most notable IPs. Resident Evil was trending towards parody with the eventual Resident Evil 6. Street Fighter was getting prepared to release Street Fighter x Tekken, a game with decent gameplay but mired in controversy. Mega Man was pretty dead. I can go on to name many other franchises, but the point remains: things were not going great. Even as the last generation got rolling, things were still pretty mixed. A rough Street Fighter V launch had people wondering if Capcom’s best days were behind them. Then, something interesting happened.
In 2017, Capcom began a sort of hot streak of releasing quality titles. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard kicked off this streak, with Monster Hunter World not too long after. As the years passed, more quality games were released, such as Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes, Devil May Cry 5, and an evolving revamp of Street Fighter V. It was as if Capcom looked at their output, then shuddered and went to work to revamp their image. Thankfully, we’re at another high point in Capcom’s output with Resident Evil Village, another high point in the series.
The game is nothing short of a success. It’s got everything we’re looking for in a modern Resident Evil game: plenty of scares, memorable characters, and a sufficiently creepy environment. Building off the framework they established in RE7, Capcom allowed themselves to expand the scope of their first-person horror gameplay into something more action-oriented, à la Resident Evil 4 of the past. The entirety of Village feels like a modern homage to RE4, to which I say: hell yeah, why not reference one of the greatest games ever? While it may not be the best game of the year, it lives on in my heart as another win in a series I truly love.
Also, Lady Dimitrescu, please step on me. Now that I’ve said that, let’s move on.
The “Indie Game We Won’t Stop Talking About” Award: Inscryption
Every year, there’s one indie game that everyone cannot stop talking about, and every year everyone is right to constantly mention it. It was Hades last year, Return of the Obra Dinn the year before that, and so on. You can probably remember the first one you vividly remember hearing everyone talk about, and deciding to play it just based on that. This year, this honor goes to the wonderfully bizarre Inscryption.
At the time of writing, I haven’t finished the game. Therein lies the problem when it comes to talking about this game: how can I say “you should play this game” without telling you about the game itself? Is it a card game rougelike? Sure, kind of. It’s also an adventure game too, in a way. Does that tell you anything about the game? No, it really doesn’t. The card game/roguelike/adventure game element is just the beginning of a bizarre journey that can only take place within a video game. Thankfully, there is a demo available of the game on Steam, so if you’d like to see if it’s up your alley, I highly recommend giving it a try. I have a feeling I’ll be talking more about this one soon…
Until then, moving on!
The “I Don’t Have An Award But They Deserve Praise” Award: Xbox Games Publishing
Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite were both released within a month of one another. I feel like that should be screamed from the rooftops when it comes to triple-A game releases of 2021. Two extremely quality, game-of-the-year level games were released on Xbox platforms to relative critical acclaim, and I feel that Xbox Games Publishing should get a legit pat on the back for that.
Playground Games and 343 Studios should be commended for their work, but Xbox as a whole took a legitimate gamble by releasing both titles so close to each other. By now, I’m sure you’re familiar with the Halo Infinite delay from last year. I can’t speak for everyone, but I was definitely worried about the state of the game after the disastrous E3 demo and the prior Halo games released by 343 Studios. To delay Halo Infinite for an entire year after the release of the Xbox Series X is bold, and damn near unheard of, but the results seem to have paid off. The game is a rousing success with a stellar campaign and an engrossing multiplayer mode.
If Halo Infinite was the sole holiday release for Xbox Games Publishing, it would be a rousing success. Surprisingly, Xbox revealed another holiday title in Forza Horizon 5, a new and fresher-looking entry in the Forza series. The game looked to evolve the already engrossing Forza Horizon gameplay, and I think I can speak for most when I say they definitely succeeded on that front. The gamble of releasing two large titles is paying off for Xbox, and realizing that this is only the beginning of this strategy is an exciting prospect. There are so many upcoming games from the Xbox family, and so many releases are probably going to be staggered in such a manner. The gamers really are going to win when it comes to gamer choice, and that excites me!
The “Get Fucked” Award: Activision-Blizzard
You knew this was coming. I’m not going to rehash how I feel about these bums, just read this to gather the full picture.
The “Best Xbox S|X/PS5 Port” Award: Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order
I picked up Jedi Fallen Order on its release day, and I had a lot of fun with it back in 2019. I found it to be a pretty good 3D Metroidvania style game, and adding Star Wars to the mix was just the cherry on top for me. So why did I bounce off of it after getting about halfway through it? The game was too glitchy for my liking and that annoyed the shit out of me, so I decided to wait for a patch. Turns out I was waiting for a surprise next-gen port to be released.
Is the game the same as its original release? Somewhat. They’ve added the options of a performance mode, a graphical mode boasting 4K resolution, and significantly faster load times. The performance is extremely notable, and allowed me to enjoy one of the best Star Wars stories that doesn’t involve a Skywalker. I highly recommend going back and playing this one if you never had the chance, especially if you have the newer consoles. Here’s a tip: if you have Game Pass Ultimate, you already have the game on Xbox through EA Play. Give it a whirl.
The “PlayStation Deserves a Shoutout” Award: Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart/Returnal
Let me be frank: I haven’t beaten Returnal. The game is very difficult and I haven’t had much time to give it the run it deserves. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t show the game some love. Returnal continued the trend of loop games in 2021, but it’s gameplay was more unique than most of the others. A graphically impressive, painfully difficult, mysterious game that I hope to return to (get it?) sometime soon.
This award really goes to Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. A game from a franchise that I really didn’t give much of a shit about prior to its release, as I was a Jak and Daxter guy. That being said, I have to give it up to Insomniac for just how stellar their latest entry in the Ratchet series is. Stellar doesn’t quite cover just how good this game is, though. If you have a PlayStation 5, you absolutely need to own Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. Insomniac showed the world an impressive glimpse of what the PlayStation 5 can do, and just how engrossing a platformer can be in 2021. No small feat for what may be the best PlayStation first-party studio!
The “Actual Game of the Year” Award: Metroid Dread
It is an extraordinary gamble to revive a long dormant series. Expectations are always going to be high, and the goal of creating an acceptable entry is pretty daunting. So when Metroid Dread was surprise announced at the Nintendo E3 Direct, I was shocked. The game looked sufficiently creepy and like the natural evolution of 2D Metroid games all at once. I had my concerns, though: could they really do a new Metroid game? Could MercurySteam really deliver something that fans have been clamoring for since the initial tease in 2005?
Thankfully, the answer was a resounding yes.
Metroid Dread is the Game of the Year for 2021. Nintendo and MercurySteam put out a product that showed other “Metroidvania” games how it’s done. Containing elements of all prior 2D Metroid games before it, Dread builds on gameplay mechanics introduced in the past and expands them in new and interesting ways. The EMMI encounters create a terrifying environment to live and explore in. The game’s difficulty allows you to feel a true sense of progression, and allows you to revel in a hard fought victory. Apparently, this is the final chapter of the current Samus story arc, but God help me, this better not be the final 2D Metroid game. This left me mouth wateringly ready for the next one, and I’m betting a lot of you feel the same way, too.
