4 Yrs✓#
GCTuba
4 Yrs✓#
Well, it’s that time of year again. 2021 is coming to a close and everyone’s getting ready to ring in the new year. I was really hoping the whole pandemic thing would be over by now but at least I still have the privilege of working from home. I also got to see my family in person after a lengthy lockdown which was very welcomed. Hopefully things will calm down for 2022.
Just like last year, I wanted to take some time to run down my top 10 video games I played this year. When I found out that I beat 98 games last year, I thought that was ludicrous. The indie game site itch.io offered a huge bundle in June 2020 for racial justice that added hundreds of games into my backlog and really upped my completions. I figured I would work my way through those games and then go back to the bigger budget games. Turns out that same website ran another huge bundle in June of this year in support of Palestinian aid that added hundreds more. As a result, I played a total of 584 games this year and beat 450 of them. That’s a lot of games! Surely I won’t come close to that number next year, right? …Right?
Now as a caveat, most of those games were small indie games that probably took under two hours to beat. Still, 450 is a large number and I fully acknowledge that I wasted a lot of time to achieve that. The way I choose which game to play next is by lowest rating as determined by the users of howlongtobeat.com. However, since most of these games aren’t even well-known enough to have a rating, they were mostly just in alphabetical order. If it’s a co-op game, I give my friends some input on what to play next to mix things up and not get them sucked into an indie game rabbit hole like I’ve been in for the last two years. The exciting part is that I’m very close to finishing all the unrated games in my backlog and moving onto the rated ones. Granted, that’s going to start with games with terrible ratings but eventually it’ll move to games that are actually good. I imagine these good games will also tend to be a little longer as well which is why I actually believe I will never be able to pass this number of games again. Without further ado, here are my top 10 games I played in 2021:
10. Gears of War: This is one of Microsoft’s largest exclusive franchises and this is the first entry in the series. This game came out all the way back in 2006 so it’s not new by any means. For a AAA game by a big studio, it really is starting to show it’s age graphically. I played this one with a friend and we had fun for the most part. Some of the weapons were genuinely interesting to use like the chainsaw gun and orbital laser. However, the writing and generic cover-based shooting mechanics did nothing to really stand out to me. I think the biggest offender are the weird alien bats that swoop in and kill you almost instantly when you step into the darkness. It was also not always clear when you were safe in the light or in danger in the darkness. This was the most infuriating thing about this game and they used it multiple times throughout the game including during the final boss fight. This kept the game from being further up on my list.
9. Life is Strange 2: Just like the previous entries I played last year, this is a walking simulator game that emphasizes story over gameplay. Unfortunately, the story and characters in this game were not nearly as good as the first one. In the first game, you have the power to manipulate time which leads to a lot of interesting scenarios and the eventual breakdown of reality itself. It also had an interesting cast of characters that actually made me care about them. Sure the writing could be cheesy at times (as is the case with most high school dramas), but it was still a very interesting story. In this game, however, it’s your little brother who has the superpower to…levitate things. Still kind of interesting I suppose, but it doesn’t hold a candle to time powers and you don’t even get to use it yourself. You also spend most of the time just running away from your childhood home which doesn’t give you time to really care about any of the secondary characters as they keep changing. The ending was disappointing as well and the stakes weren’t as high as the first. Still, I played this one with a friend as well so it was still an enjoyable time.
8. Gun Rounds: Believe it or not, this is first and foremost a mobile game although I did play it on PC. As a result, it had very simplistic 2D graphics and basically no story. However, the roguelike gameplay had me enthralled for nearly the entire short time I played it. For those that don’t know, a roguelike is a game where when you die, you start the entire game over again. However, the weapons, powerups, and enemies you encounter from run to run are semi-randomized so it isn’t the exact experience every time. I have very little experience in this genre and I thought starting from scratch after every death would get extremely frustrating after a while. However, some of the weapons and powerups you get are very interesting and when I finally got the perfect loadout to take out the final boss, it was immensely satisfying. It was a simple game deigned for mobile, but it made me realize there’s an entire genre of game that I could possibly get into. That earns it a place in this list.
7. Rogues Like Us: As the name implies, you may think that this is a roguelike like the previous game. However, this game is known as a roguelite. A roguelite is very similar to a roguelike except that you get to keep some weapons/upgrades from a previous run when you die. I have a little more experience in this genre but it is still pretty new to me. It seems to really be taking off lately and I can see why. I thought the weapons were interesting and unique enough that I was excited when I found a new one to add to my collection for the next run. The bosses were also surprisingly interesting to me which I think is why I ranked this one as high as I did. As with Gun Rounds, finally defeating the final boss was very satisfying and I can’t wait to explore this genre some more.
6. Lucid Awakening 2: This game was made in a program known as RPGMaker. If you don’t know what that is, games using it typically look something like the first six Final Fantasy games on the NES and SNES way back in the 80s and 90s. As a result, a lot of games using this program tend to look pretty similar and have similar art styles, menus, sounds, combat, inventory systems, etc. I’ve played a lot of RPGMaker games and they tend to play very similarly so none of them typically stand out. This one, however, was particularly well done. It had a unique combat system where all members of your party had two different “souls” with completely different combat styles. It also had an interesting story, a working map system, and a clear-cut path on where you were supposed to go. A lot of RPGMaker games are not very high quality but this one was particularly polished. My favorite part came in the final battle. You were teleported to another realm with all the characters you met throughout the game that you could add to your party including both of their souls. You could choose the order with which you battled everyone you had been fighting with until there was only one remaining. It was very surreal and left a lasting impression that moved it this high up on my list.
5. Grapple Force Rena: This is your typical 2D platformer game with the addition of a grappling hook to swing around everywhere. Not only was the swinging mechanic super fun but the story and characters were interesting as well. Once again, the bosses were very fun to fight which is always a nice bonus. Everything about the game was super cute as well. Not much more to say on this one, I just had a good time with it.
4. Gears of War 2: Most of my notes on the first game apply to this one as well. I actually played this game solo way back in high school but this time I played it in co-op with a friend. Everything was slightly more refined compared to the first one. Slightly better gameplay, slightly better story, slightly better writing, etc. The set pieces definitely seemed more bombastic compared to the first one. I think the biggest improvement from the first was those damn bats that killed you instantly were removed. This may seem like a minor point, but I remember having a much better time with this game as result which is why it ranks so much higher on my list. We’re playing through Gears of War 3 at the moment but have not finished it yet so it does not qualify for this list. We currently have 3, Judgement, 4, and 5 to play through so it’s possible some of those will be included on my top 10 games of 2022 list. Stay tuned!
3. Hellenica: This is a turn-based RPG similar to Final Fantasy Tactics or XCOM set in a steampunk version of ancient Greece. Try to think of Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire mixed with Greek mythology. The setting was super cool and the characters all had interesting powers you could use during battle. I’ve had a soft spot for turn-based RPGs ever since I was introduced to XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Civilization V back in college and this game didn’t disappoint. There was one mission in particular that I had a lot of trouble with that almost soured the entire experience. After numerous attempts, I was finally able to beat it and went on to have an enjoyable time for the rest of the experience. I’m also a sucker for Greek mythology so this game was appealing to me on two fronts.
2. I am not a Monster: First Contact: This is another turn-based RPG similar to the last game. This one, however, was in a setting akin to super cheesy sci-fi movies from the 60s and 70s. I had never really played a game that used this setting before so it was really interesting to me. There was also an interesting mechanic where the two weapons/items you had equipped would determine what powers each character has. Also, the power you get from each weapon would merge to form a “super” power with a longer cooldown. It was fun to experiment with different weapons not only on their own merit but to see what combined powers I could get as a result. There was actually some controversy involving this game a couple years ago that I completely missed. The game launched as a multiplayer game and added a campaign later. At that time, the campaign became the default mode and you had to pay extra to access multiplayer again. As someone who never played or cared about multiplayer, I was perfectly content with the content I got. Anyway, this game caught me off-guard by how much I enjoyed it and it had a surprisingly meaty 40+ hour campaign.
1. Amnesia: Rebirth: This is the third mainline entry in the Amnesia series following Dark Descent and A Machine for Pigs. It is a series of horror games where you can’t fight the monsters, you can only hide or run away. The first one is known for being one of the scariest games around and the second one didn’t have nearly as good a reputation. I played both of those a couple years ago and had a good enough time with them. This might be the newest game on my list having come out in 2020 and it was graphically quite impressive. In my opinion, it also had the most interesting story and setting out of the three (although the monsters weren’t as scary). Throughout the game, you would travel between the real world in deserts and caves to a really cool looking sci-fi world that totally clashed with the 1930s setting. I took turns playing this one with a friend but I don’t think he enjoyed it as much as I did. It’s not as well-regarded as the first one but it might actually be my favorite of the series. The story kept me engaged from beginning to end and I cared more about the main character than the first two games. As a sci-fi fan, the alternate world definitely helped as well.
And there you have it! I have to say, I’m not super confident about the ranking this time around. While I enjoyed all of these games, they also all had flaws that hampered that enjoyment in various ways. That probably has something to do with the fact that I’m still at the bottom of my backlog so most of the games I played are not particularly well-known or highly rated. Hopefully when I start moving up the list, the games will get noticeably better. This will likely also have the effect of the games getting longer and me having many fewer completions. I’m OK with this though, as long as I’m still having fun! I also want to point out that while I did manage to snag an RTX 3080 for my PC in November 2020, I still have not picked up a VR headset yet. Hopefully by this time next year, the next generation of headset will be available so I’ll have a better selection to pic from. Maybe there will be VR games on my top ten list? We shall see. I attached a picture of my games completed by month if you’re so inclined. And since I once again had so much fun putting this list together, I came up with a list of honorable mentions that didn’t quite make my top ten. I leave you all with this list of 21 games in alphabetical order should you want to look into them yourself. Have a happy new year!
A Forgetful Loop
Booth: A Dystopian Adventure
CO-OPEN
Dimension Drive
Eye of Ra
HELIUM RAIN
Jetscout: Mystery of the Valunians
Lonely People Potion Shop
Meeting in the Flesh
NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics
Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle
Oceanwork
Out For Delivery
Pale Cachexia
Rage In Peace
Skeletris
Super Skull Smash GO! 2 Turbo
SYSCRUSHER
The Lost Art of Innkeeping
The Witchling Marjolaine
VideoHole: Episode I
Just like last year, I wanted to take some time to run down my top 10 video games I played this year. When I found out that I beat 98 games last year, I thought that was ludicrous. The indie game site itch.io offered a huge bundle in June 2020 for racial justice that added hundreds of games into my backlog and really upped my completions. I figured I would work my way through those games and then go back to the bigger budget games. Turns out that same website ran another huge bundle in June of this year in support of Palestinian aid that added hundreds more. As a result, I played a total of 584 games this year and beat 450 of them. That’s a lot of games! Surely I won’t come close to that number next year, right? …Right?
Now as a caveat, most of those games were small indie games that probably took under two hours to beat. Still, 450 is a large number and I fully acknowledge that I wasted a lot of time to achieve that. The way I choose which game to play next is by lowest rating as determined by the users of howlongtobeat.com. However, since most of these games aren’t even well-known enough to have a rating, they were mostly just in alphabetical order. If it’s a co-op game, I give my friends some input on what to play next to mix things up and not get them sucked into an indie game rabbit hole like I’ve been in for the last two years. The exciting part is that I’m very close to finishing all the unrated games in my backlog and moving onto the rated ones. Granted, that’s going to start with games with terrible ratings but eventually it’ll move to games that are actually good. I imagine these good games will also tend to be a little longer as well which is why I actually believe I will never be able to pass this number of games again. Without further ado, here are my top 10 games I played in 2021:
10. Gears of War: This is one of Microsoft’s largest exclusive franchises and this is the first entry in the series. This game came out all the way back in 2006 so it’s not new by any means. For a AAA game by a big studio, it really is starting to show it’s age graphically. I played this one with a friend and we had fun for the most part. Some of the weapons were genuinely interesting to use like the chainsaw gun and orbital laser. However, the writing and generic cover-based shooting mechanics did nothing to really stand out to me. I think the biggest offender are the weird alien bats that swoop in and kill you almost instantly when you step into the darkness. It was also not always clear when you were safe in the light or in danger in the darkness. This was the most infuriating thing about this game and they used it multiple times throughout the game including during the final boss fight. This kept the game from being further up on my list.
9. Life is Strange 2: Just like the previous entries I played last year, this is a walking simulator game that emphasizes story over gameplay. Unfortunately, the story and characters in this game were not nearly as good as the first one. In the first game, you have the power to manipulate time which leads to a lot of interesting scenarios and the eventual breakdown of reality itself. It also had an interesting cast of characters that actually made me care about them. Sure the writing could be cheesy at times (as is the case with most high school dramas), but it was still a very interesting story. In this game, however, it’s your little brother who has the superpower to…levitate things. Still kind of interesting I suppose, but it doesn’t hold a candle to time powers and you don’t even get to use it yourself. You also spend most of the time just running away from your childhood home which doesn’t give you time to really care about any of the secondary characters as they keep changing. The ending was disappointing as well and the stakes weren’t as high as the first. Still, I played this one with a friend as well so it was still an enjoyable time.
8. Gun Rounds: Believe it or not, this is first and foremost a mobile game although I did play it on PC. As a result, it had very simplistic 2D graphics and basically no story. However, the roguelike gameplay had me enthralled for nearly the entire short time I played it. For those that don’t know, a roguelike is a game where when you die, you start the entire game over again. However, the weapons, powerups, and enemies you encounter from run to run are semi-randomized so it isn’t the exact experience every time. I have very little experience in this genre and I thought starting from scratch after every death would get extremely frustrating after a while. However, some of the weapons and powerups you get are very interesting and when I finally got the perfect loadout to take out the final boss, it was immensely satisfying. It was a simple game deigned for mobile, but it made me realize there’s an entire genre of game that I could possibly get into. That earns it a place in this list.
7. Rogues Like Us: As the name implies, you may think that this is a roguelike like the previous game. However, this game is known as a roguelite. A roguelite is very similar to a roguelike except that you get to keep some weapons/upgrades from a previous run when you die. I have a little more experience in this genre but it is still pretty new to me. It seems to really be taking off lately and I can see why. I thought the weapons were interesting and unique enough that I was excited when I found a new one to add to my collection for the next run. The bosses were also surprisingly interesting to me which I think is why I ranked this one as high as I did. As with Gun Rounds, finally defeating the final boss was very satisfying and I can’t wait to explore this genre some more.
6. Lucid Awakening 2: This game was made in a program known as RPGMaker. If you don’t know what that is, games using it typically look something like the first six Final Fantasy games on the NES and SNES way back in the 80s and 90s. As a result, a lot of games using this program tend to look pretty similar and have similar art styles, menus, sounds, combat, inventory systems, etc. I’ve played a lot of RPGMaker games and they tend to play very similarly so none of them typically stand out. This one, however, was particularly well done. It had a unique combat system where all members of your party had two different “souls” with completely different combat styles. It also had an interesting story, a working map system, and a clear-cut path on where you were supposed to go. A lot of RPGMaker games are not very high quality but this one was particularly polished. My favorite part came in the final battle. You were teleported to another realm with all the characters you met throughout the game that you could add to your party including both of their souls. You could choose the order with which you battled everyone you had been fighting with until there was only one remaining. It was very surreal and left a lasting impression that moved it this high up on my list.
5. Grapple Force Rena: This is your typical 2D platformer game with the addition of a grappling hook to swing around everywhere. Not only was the swinging mechanic super fun but the story and characters were interesting as well. Once again, the bosses were very fun to fight which is always a nice bonus. Everything about the game was super cute as well. Not much more to say on this one, I just had a good time with it.
4. Gears of War 2: Most of my notes on the first game apply to this one as well. I actually played this game solo way back in high school but this time I played it in co-op with a friend. Everything was slightly more refined compared to the first one. Slightly better gameplay, slightly better story, slightly better writing, etc. The set pieces definitely seemed more bombastic compared to the first one. I think the biggest improvement from the first was those damn bats that killed you instantly were removed. This may seem like a minor point, but I remember having a much better time with this game as result which is why it ranks so much higher on my list. We’re playing through Gears of War 3 at the moment but have not finished it yet so it does not qualify for this list. We currently have 3, Judgement, 4, and 5 to play through so it’s possible some of those will be included on my top 10 games of 2022 list. Stay tuned!
3. Hellenica: This is a turn-based RPG similar to Final Fantasy Tactics or XCOM set in a steampunk version of ancient Greece. Try to think of Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire mixed with Greek mythology. The setting was super cool and the characters all had interesting powers you could use during battle. I’ve had a soft spot for turn-based RPGs ever since I was introduced to XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Civilization V back in college and this game didn’t disappoint. There was one mission in particular that I had a lot of trouble with that almost soured the entire experience. After numerous attempts, I was finally able to beat it and went on to have an enjoyable time for the rest of the experience. I’m also a sucker for Greek mythology so this game was appealing to me on two fronts.
2. I am not a Monster: First Contact: This is another turn-based RPG similar to the last game. This one, however, was in a setting akin to super cheesy sci-fi movies from the 60s and 70s. I had never really played a game that used this setting before so it was really interesting to me. There was also an interesting mechanic where the two weapons/items you had equipped would determine what powers each character has. Also, the power you get from each weapon would merge to form a “super” power with a longer cooldown. It was fun to experiment with different weapons not only on their own merit but to see what combined powers I could get as a result. There was actually some controversy involving this game a couple years ago that I completely missed. The game launched as a multiplayer game and added a campaign later. At that time, the campaign became the default mode and you had to pay extra to access multiplayer again. As someone who never played or cared about multiplayer, I was perfectly content with the content I got. Anyway, this game caught me off-guard by how much I enjoyed it and it had a surprisingly meaty 40+ hour campaign.
1. Amnesia: Rebirth: This is the third mainline entry in the Amnesia series following Dark Descent and A Machine for Pigs. It is a series of horror games where you can’t fight the monsters, you can only hide or run away. The first one is known for being one of the scariest games around and the second one didn’t have nearly as good a reputation. I played both of those a couple years ago and had a good enough time with them. This might be the newest game on my list having come out in 2020 and it was graphically quite impressive. In my opinion, it also had the most interesting story and setting out of the three (although the monsters weren’t as scary). Throughout the game, you would travel between the real world in deserts and caves to a really cool looking sci-fi world that totally clashed with the 1930s setting. I took turns playing this one with a friend but I don’t think he enjoyed it as much as I did. It’s not as well-regarded as the first one but it might actually be my favorite of the series. The story kept me engaged from beginning to end and I cared more about the main character than the first two games. As a sci-fi fan, the alternate world definitely helped as well.
And there you have it! I have to say, I’m not super confident about the ranking this time around. While I enjoyed all of these games, they also all had flaws that hampered that enjoyment in various ways. That probably has something to do with the fact that I’m still at the bottom of my backlog so most of the games I played are not particularly well-known or highly rated. Hopefully when I start moving up the list, the games will get noticeably better. This will likely also have the effect of the games getting longer and me having many fewer completions. I’m OK with this though, as long as I’m still having fun! I also want to point out that while I did manage to snag an RTX 3080 for my PC in November 2020, I still have not picked up a VR headset yet. Hopefully by this time next year, the next generation of headset will be available so I’ll have a better selection to pic from. Maybe there will be VR games on my top ten list? We shall see. I attached a picture of my games completed by month if you’re so inclined. And since I once again had so much fun putting this list together, I came up with a list of honorable mentions that didn’t quite make my top ten. I leave you all with this list of 21 games in alphabetical order should you want to look into them yourself. Have a happy new year!
A Forgetful Loop
Booth: A Dystopian Adventure
CO-OPEN
Dimension Drive
Eye of Ra
HELIUM RAIN
Jetscout: Mystery of the Valunians
Lonely People Potion Shop
Meeting in the Flesh
NEXT JUMP: Shmup Tactics
Nina Aquila: Legal Eagle
Oceanwork
Out For Delivery
Pale Cachexia
Rage In Peace
Skeletris
Super Skull Smash GO! 2 Turbo
SYSCRUSHER
The Lost Art of Innkeeping
The Witchling Marjolaine
VideoHole: Episode I