Natalie Raine's Games of The Year 2021 | Winter Spectacular 2021

So, it’s time to put 2021 behind us. It’s been a very long year, filled with fresh optimism, really good video games, and the realization that I’ll continue to not be venturing further than my grocery store once again for the foreseeable future. Try not to think about that! Think about my favourite games to come out this year, instead! Some of these are next-gen re-releases of games that came out last year, but I only played them this year, so they still count, because I’m writing the list, I make the damn rules!

Resident Evil: Village

There aren’t usually many horror games on my list because I’m generally not tuned in to that genre. Whether or not Resident Evil: Village is a ‘horror’ game or simply an action game with a foreboding gothic art design is neither here nor there, but it is certainly a finely-tuned experience that can be both thrilling or tense, depending on what the situation calls for. 

A lot of things have changed since the beginning of 2021, but one thing remains…

Head empty, lady tall.

Honestly, this game made my list almost solely off of the back of the House Beneviento section (and perhaps one tall vampire woman); every second I spent inside that house filled me with a creeping dread and it culminated in one of the scariest moments I’ve ever experienced in a video game. That’s not hyperbole, by the way- genuinely, nothing in recent memory can even compare with the things I saw during that particular chapter.

Outside of that section, it certainly helps that the rest of the game manages to have something for everyone. There are vague notes of Resident Evil 6 in how the game wants to please as many people as possible and cater to a wider audience but everything is handled (arguably) in a much better way this time. When the game wants to be tense, there are dark and tight hallways filled with uncomfortably horrifying enemies and more creaking floorboards than an 18th-century cottage. But Village is also not afraid to swing for the fences with giant monsters and elaborate set pieces when it wants to go full-blown action. It manages the balance deftly, and I hope future games can follow suit.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game: Complete Edition

I, honestly, never thought I would see this game ever again. The fact that it was actually re-released and I got to write about it here doesn’t feel real. When I first played Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World back in 2010, I thought was better than it had any right to be. The music was stellar, the beat ‘em up combat was satisfying, and it was playable with up to four people right around the time couch co-op was about to slow down in favour of online-only experiences. Easily, Scott Pilgrim: vs The World: The Game was one of the best games to come out that year (oh god, that was 11 years ago…).

I was going to say this is the best looking game of 2011 but then I remembered that Bastion and Limbo came out that year… Oh, and Duke Nukem: Forever.

Guess what has not changed in those eleven years of legal strife and rights-holders issues? Scott Pilgrim and all of its DLC is still one of the best games released during the year! I was a little worried it would not hold up as well, but I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to be proven wrong. Not only does this game hold up, it feels better than I remember. What made it stand out in the first place has only gotten better with time, and everything I loved when I first played in high school(...oh god, that was so long ago) was waiting for me to fall in love with it all over again. Even if you don’t care about Scott Pilgrim, I can’t imagine anyone wouldn’t enjoy this  game which is a clear love letter written for anyone who ever grouped up with some friends and a handful of SNES or Genesis controllers.

Yakuza: Like A Dragon

Yakuza: Like A Dragon might not be my Game of The Year, but barring what the eventual winner of that title is, this is the game that stuck with me the most in 2021. I don’t even like the Yakuza series; despite multiple honest-to-God attempts, I just could not get any satisfaction from the combat system. But an RPG? Oh, I can play an RPG. No longer feeling like I had to fight the game’s combat just as much as I fought low-ranking Yakuza members, Like a Dragon is the first game where I enjoyed playing it enough to stick around long enough to experience everything that Yakuza fans love so much about the series. And do I ever understand it now!

I love this stupid, sexy, kind dumbass so much.

Part of that credit has to go to Ichiban Kasuga, LAD’s new protagonist. I’m so glad SEGA went the extra mile to make him so different to Kiryu, the original Yakuza protagonist and unique in the game scheme of video game characters; while Kiryu was very stern and serious, Ichiban is a himbo at best, and an absolute mess of a man at his worst. His messy humanity paired with his honest to goodness earnest belief in people being inherently good endeared him to me in ways other protagonists in games on this very list could not. As fun as it was to help him and his equally messy group of friends quest to fight back against the traditional good guys trying to “bleach out the grey-zones”, it was just as much fun to go sing karaoke or out for drinks with them. If this is what Yakuza is all about, Like A Dragon is one of the best ways to experience it.

Operation Tango

With co-op games getting so big that they’re winning Game of the Year awards, I would be remiss to not tip my hat to Operation Tango from Clever Plays. I had an absolute blast playing through this with my friend Erin as a spur of the moment ‘oh, this looks fun!’ while browsing steam. While one player sneaks through office buildings and past sentry robots, the other player guides them through the security cameras while hacking doors and feeding them information. Sometimes this means stopping a speeding train, and other times it’s the classic ‘don’t touch the red lasers’ you’ve seen in a dozen spy movies before.

“I’m hacking into PSN so we can be added to PlayStation Plus’ monthly game line up.”

The creative and varied scenarios you solve through stealth and logic were always a treat, and many of the puzzles were the kind that result in you feeling like a genius rather than frantically opening up a search engine to find the answer. Sure, I was a little smitten at first sight when I saw I could play as a Black woman with a gorgeous afro - representation matters, always - but even without that positive, this was still a very fun experience that my co-op partner and I are very excited to play through again.

Guilty Gear -Strive-

I gave Guilty Gear -Strive- a try based entirely on the fact that every person I know who played it told me it was an absolute banger. This is important because I don’t do anything off of the recommendations of other people, but Strive looked neat and a shiny new fighting game has an appeal to me that other games just don’t have, so I decided to take the plunge and see how I would like it. And for once, I’m glad I took those recommendations because I didn’t feel guilty at all about playing Guilty Gear.

Even if you don’t play fighting games you should play Strive. Why?

1. Giovanna.
2. The title theme is called “Smell of The Game”.

Beyond the roster of really cool characters, beautifully crafted animations, and netcode that Smash players can only dream of, Strive’s greatest accomplishment is that it feels so damn good. Everything, offline or online, feels so responsive and smooth. Knocking your opponent against the wall and then through that wall is always so satisfying. Every character from the tall Black samurai to the nightmare creature with the dolphin hordes plays so differently that each match feels different, even if you’ve played the same opponent ten times in a row. Strive is a master class in how a fighting game should be done.

Pokémon Unite

It’s so easy to not like a MOBA. In fact, I encourage everyone to never fall in love with one! My life has been actively made worse because of League of Legends, and so I tell everyone to stay as far away as possible, regardless of how cool you think Arcane was. Even the ones I play casually, like Smite, I’d never recommend, because MOBAs exist to bring out the worst in humanity.

Editor’s note: *nods as if I know the first thing about Pokémon or MOBAs*

That’s why it feels so wrong to recommend you play Pokemon Unite, but that is because Unite is more interested in being fun than checking off the list of required MOBA archetypes. Rather than hundreds upon hundreds of playable characters whose abilities you’ll all have to learn if you want even a chance at winning reliably, Unite’s smaller roster of recognisable faces like Snorlax and Wigglytuff drew me in much faster than the interchangeable designs that bloat the rosters of similar games. Yes, it doubles as a money-grubbing miser as soon as you look a little deeper, but I still enjoyed the game for being the fresh take the MOBA genre desperately needs.

Back 4 Blood

I knew what I was expecting when I loaded up Back 4 Blood: Left 4 Dead 2, but newer. I also know a lot of people were understandably disappointed with the four-player shooter being just that, but the game also makes no claims of being anything more. If you liked Left 4 Dead, but wanted more characters, customisation options, and more unique set-piece events, Back 4 Blood over-delivers on all those wants. And with friends? I can’t recommend it enough.

“PILLS THERE!”

Despite launching with a difficulty curve that could not have been tested by a normal human being, I could not stop playing for the life of me. Back 4 Blood certainly didn’t change the world or revolutionise gaming, but it was very fun and I enjoyed what I played. As fun as it is to find something small and unique that the industry has never seen before, there is something about a surface-level shooter that is honest about what they are, executes it well, and doesn't overstay their welcome. I’m not sure if the love affair will last through whatever post-game content Turtle Rock Studios are planning, but I can’t say I’m not excited to find out.

Halo Infinite

If we’re splitting hairs, I’m only putting half of Halo: Infinite on this list. I’ve not cared about Halo’s campaign since Halo 3 and I’m happy to report that did not change with this latest release. I’m sure that Halo fans enjoyed it, maybe, but that’s never been my cup of tea and there is no way I was playing Halo Wars 2 to figure out what the hell is going on. I did play the multiplayer, though. I played a lot of the multiplayer because it’s quite frankly the best Halo has ever been.

Halo’s guns pack a punch like no oth—

*pistol goes boop!*

I have a track record of trying each Halo game’s multiplayer for a while before getting bored and falling off hard. Infinite is the first time that I’ve not only kept my interest in the multiplayer for more than a month but I’ve enjoyed it every time I’ve played a game. After so many years with a formula that was becoming staler and staler with each entry; 343 Studios threw everything out and started again. Despite only being available for a short time, I’ve already played more Infinite than I think I ever did with any of the other games. Regardless of what they do with the story, I’m very glad that the multiplayer once again has a strong foot to stand on and that Halo as we once knew it is back.

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

A few paragraphs do Endwalker a grave injustice. To properly convey just how much Endwalker is an absolute masterpiece, I have to start with stories you’ve heard time and time again. A decade ago about how Final Fantasy XIV was a mess. To even give the game even a snowball’s chance, they had to destroy the world they created in the hopes that they could start again. If they had chosen to shutter the servers entirely, as we’ve seen time and time again for so many other failed MMOs, no one would have blamed them. We would have been bummed and gone back to WoW or maybe even FFXI. It would have sucked and been a black mark on a series which in 2010 was already in a strange place but it would have made sense if anything would have been the smart business move.

I’ve played this game and followed its story for six of its ten years now, across different guilds, servers and circles of friends. Not once did I think about how it would end, because why would I? There is an expectation among MMO players that the story is secondary to the gameplay. It is told through quest givers with long paragraphs of text, which you will skip over in favour of going killing 40 goats in a particular forest. You do this for 100 hours until you and several dozen people work together to fight a boss who was not properly introduced but the game insists they are the enemy and could destroy the whole [insert threat level relevant area here]. To be different is to invite failure because the story is not what people care about when they play an MMO. But FFXIV had already failed. So why not go for it? Why not try to do something more?

To have followed this story to the end, from start to finish, and been blown away, again and again, feels surreal. For the past few years, I’ve grown up with these characters. Some of them I’ve cheered for, others I’ve mourned. Years of deftly crafted lore had to culminate with this expansion. And it’s not the fact that it succeeded that astounds me. It’s that I was made to care about people who came so very close to being forgotten relics in a game that seemed to be destined to die.

Part of me is sad to have told them all goodbye at the end of Endwalker, but as I feel at the end of every expansion, there is always a bit of hope within my heart. Hope that the next adventure is even better than the last, and hope that I’ll get to see these people who I now consider friends sooner rather than later. 

Of course, the best game to come out this year was Endwalker. Nothing else has ever come close to the love I have for this game, and everyone I’ve met along the way.