I enjoyed 2021 (...in gaming anyway...) a lot actually! But I think that's owed to my good fortune in having been able to acquire both a Series X and a PlayStation 5 (the platforms where, let's face it, most of the real excitement's been this year) and also maybe the fact that I happen to like a lot of offbeat sorts of games. Still, in the comparison of 2020 to 2021, I definitely enjoyed the former's selection of new games more overall, so maybe I'll stop short of actually calling this am "amazing" year and just say that it was good, as in above average by my standards.
"Amazing" recent years in gaming to me were like 2013, 2017, and 2020 and this year came up just short of those metrics for me. Not by much though. Last year and this year are easy direct comparisons. I can name 15 games released last year that I think are all pretty incredible. I can name...7 or 8 from this year of which I'd say the same, and another couple more that come close to that threshold for me...
2020 faves
1) The Last of Us Part II
2) Spiritfarer
3) Hades
4) Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
5) ScourgeBringer
6) Streets of Rage 4
7) There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension
8) Mission: It's Complicated
9) The Pathless
10) They Bleed Pixels
11) Demon's Souls
12) Ghost of Tsushima
13) Astro's Playroom
14) Ori and the Will of the Wisps
15) Animal Crossing: New Horizons
2021 faves
1) It Takes Two
2) Returnal
3) Solar Ash
4) The Artful Escape
5) Psychonauts 2
6) Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
7) Deathloop
8) Metroid Dread
9) Kena: Bridge of Spirits
10) The Medium
...but also if I had to combine these two into one list of favorite games covering both years, nothing from 2021 would make the top three and at least two would fall below Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the thing. So good year...great launches for PS5 and Series X really in my book (mostly thanks to the second half of the year)...but, at the same time, nothing that even came close to rivaling TLOU2 for my taste.
If we're counting 2021 DLC for previously released games here, then let me also mention though the new Spiritfarer content has been just wonderful! Also The Medium is starting to grow on me more actually (I just replayed it and liked it better than I remembered), so I may rank it in better in years to come.
Last edited by Jaicee - on 21 December 2021
