The Thirty-Five Best Games I Played in 2021
A list of the best videogames I'd never or only barely played before 2021.
No, I haven't finished all of these, but some of them were so fascinating that I decided they deserved a mention anyway.
*Each Note contains a Mini-Review
No, I haven't finished all of these, but some of them were so fascinating that I decided they deserved a mention anyway.
*Each Note contains a Mini-Review
35 Games
For me, 2021 saw the rise of shmups, beat 'em ups, rhythm games, Treasure and visual novels, alongside some more personally revelatory experiences, but nothing changed me the way Street Fighter III: Third Strike: Fight for the Future did. Now, yes, it caters to several of my long-held sensibilities — 2D skill-based pixelated arcade action isn't anything outta my wheelhouse — but unless it's against pieces of level design or my own previous performances, I just don't consider myself a competitive sort of guy (enough to believe that kind of thing didn't slot into my personal taste). I'd rationalize my disinterest in most multiplayer-focused things with the claim that for me to love a game, it needs to have an ending. That way, I'd say, it had greater potential for both mastery (as a finite game can be learned inside and out) and narrative (a finale recontextualizes everything that precedes it by providing the last word on what it's all about). Of course, I'd played my fair share of Smash across the last decade and a half, but I'd never taken the initiative to seriously improve, much less purchase a totally alien controller to that end. Turns out, a clean, complete, Mariana Trench-deep one v. one videogame checks all of my boxes in its own roundabout way. The "stories" happen around the game and through its incredible cast of avatars, each of whom is so distinct in strategy and requires so much effort to truly unlock that they say more than a little about those who choose to play them. It's a stage upon which the most incredible boss fights in videogame history are built. Against all odds, Third Strike became my most-played game of 2021, and still the road stretches far beyond me.
1
Panzer Dragoon Zwei was the first game I played in 2021, and for almost the entire year, I didn't expect anything to top it. If you could bear with me for a sec, in 2020, Prince of Persia (1989) showed me a piece of entertainment which was as much a game as a cinematically staged and challengingly choreographed piece of Indiana Jonesian action. Every bit of drama emerged directly from its consistent rules (which means little to no context-sensitive puzzle-solving). I considered Star Fox 64 its closest peer at the time, but Panzer Dragoon Zwei is a cinematic action game through and through. In almost every moment, the rules of the world and the game are intertwined. It builds more pathos and intrigue and atmosphere and exhilaration and foreshadowing than its predecessor (the camera swivel behind our character which syncs with the flow of the music at the beginning of almost every Episode is, by itself, a stronger directorial trick than anything from the first game), and breathes like little else. It's as perfectly paced as Streets of Rage 2, and as densely mysterious as Rondo of Blood. Yeah, that's high praise and a few too many buzzwords, but I'll do you one better: Panzer Dragoon Zwei is the greatest Sega game I've played yet.
2
Symphony of the Night might've helped me sort out a few things about what I appreciate and why, but it wouldn't have gotten anywhere without Rondo of Blood. I played the two games in parallel, and my findings hammered home a few of my own suspicions. I vividly remember taking down a single werewolf in Rondo, a full boss fight presented and staged as a major undertaking, and then turning around and moving down a whole room filled with 'em in Symphony of the Night (each complete with the same death animation I'd had to earn in its sister game). Tracking down Rondo's various bosses by investigating alternate routes across multiple playthroughs while overcoming a carefully crafted skill curve was more rewarding than almost anything I'd unraveled in all of my meandering as Alucard. The discoveries and battles were fewer, but more substantial, and they weren't hindered by a linear progression but aided by it. I've cleared it more times than any other Castlevania, but rarely the same way twice.
Long story short, I determined that Super Metroid's interconnected setting wasn't what'd caused me to place it front and center on my personal Mt. Rushmore, and Rondo set me on the path to realizing what design principles I care for most, but let's put a pin in that for now.
Long story short, I determined that Super Metroid's interconnected setting wasn't what'd caused me to place it front and center on my personal Mt. Rushmore, and Rondo set me on the path to realizing what design principles I care for most, but let's put a pin in that for now.
3
I already said my piece on Alien Soldier in my review, so here's a quote from its creator, Hideyuki Suganami, which will go down in history as one of my favorite things anyone has ever said:
"Alien Soldier. In the two years I worked on creating you, I never once tired of you. I’ve thrown my life away on the Megadrive, and gambled it all on Alien Soldier. The only one who can love you because of, not in spite of, your various flaws is me. What, is it unbecoming of a developer to say all this? Well, I want to say what I want to say. Should I not put such things in my game? Can you trust the self-praise of the developer? …Alien Soldier is mine. I don’t care if you believe me! Am I being… strange? Alien Soldier is my beloved, and I’m madly in love with her. Waking, sleeping, I only think of her… 'Hey, who do you think you are?!' Call me Nami-sama."
(full interview: http://shmuplations.com/aliensoldier/)
"Alien Soldier. In the two years I worked on creating you, I never once tired of you. I’ve thrown my life away on the Megadrive, and gambled it all on Alien Soldier. The only one who can love you because of, not in spite of, your various flaws is me. What, is it unbecoming of a developer to say all this? Well, I want to say what I want to say. Should I not put such things in my game? Can you trust the self-praise of the developer? …Alien Soldier is mine. I don’t care if you believe me! Am I being… strange? Alien Soldier is my beloved, and I’m madly in love with her. Waking, sleeping, I only think of her… 'Hey, who do you think you are?!' Call me Nami-sama."
(full interview: http://shmuplations.com/aliensoldier/)
4
Dragon Quest IV (yes, the original version from 1990) proves that Yuji Horii and co. understood just about the entire storytelling potential of this genre right out the gate. So many bits of trickery and subtext and gameplay/story synergy are just...here (and yeah, series like Wizardry and Ultima had been exploring the possibilities of computer RPGs pretty well up until this point, but are they as good? Maybe! Probably not! Maybe I'll tell you next year!), and, contrary to what one might immediately expect from the connotations behind the phrase "NES RPG," it's perfectly enjoyable by whatever my standards are. So enjoyable, in fact, that I went back and played the NES version of the third game directly afterward (which I'm leaving offa this list on a technicality, I've loved the SFC version of Dragon Quest III since 2019). Dragon Quest IV managed to shock me over and over again for a bevy of reasons, it just never stops hammering out incredible moments that I'm surprised I hadn't had spoiled ages ago.
5
As a wise man once said, it's "engrossing, enthralling, engaging, insane." It ain't perfect, but the sheer untethered ambition of Panzer Dragoon Saga, especially as a Saturn game from 1998, is like nothing else. It's got one of the weirdest and raddest battle systems there is, extrapolating on Final Fantasy's ATB combat and infusing it with the thrill of a rail shooter. It easily earns its place among the ranks of Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid, and FFVII as one of the greatest hero's journeys of its generation.
(said wise man: https://youtu.be/0gAvl-kFTgY?t=860)
(said wise man: https://youtu.be/0gAvl-kFTgY?t=860)
6
If the premise of the 2D brawler is to create a compelling single-player/cooperative fighting game (and I'm not entirely sure that it is), The Ninja Warriors Again just kinda wins. It's as well-oiled a machine of a game as any of its selectable cybernetic characters, with cleaner, tougher, more deliberate, and better developed combat than almost any of its peers I've played (and the same goes for the remake). I might not be compelled to beat the whole thing in one sitting or listen to its soundtrack on repeat, but each of its thoughtfully crafted movesets and heavy action setpieces feels hugely triumphant to conquer, and that makes it at least as strong a game as either Streets of Rage on this list.
7
I wasn't much for b'mups before 2021, so I was surprised when Streets of Rage 2 resonated the way it did. Beyond its presentation, fantastic score, and rad action, its perfect pacing from one scenario to the next is what most captured my imagination. It's an invisible, yet transcendent quality, and a mark of impeccable direction; I simply cannot pick it up without seeing it through to the end.
8
Shockingly, finally, worthy of the name.
9
I don't know what manner of dark sorcery Treasure's developers wield, but I sure am thankful they used it to make Sin and Punishment instead of raining it down upon an unsuspecting public. A ridiculously frantic, perfectly pressurized brand of pure arcade chaos, and one of the best on the N64 (but please god don't give Nintendo $50 to play it on their online service).
10
The game that does for lawyering what DOOM did for the shotgun(??). The whole trilogy's great, it had me absorbed like few visual novels had ever managed before it (helped along by some hilarious writing, Seinfeldian character dynamics, boppin' tunes and some clever direction), but it's the third game that earned it this slot (this also may or may not have to do with my getting to share the experience with some great friends).
11
Fool me twice, shame on me.
12
We've been so inundated with rhythm games whose controls are only vaguely informed by the audio they're associated with that I began to dream of one where button inputs really are tied to musical cues. Turns out the purest, perfectest rhythm game of them all was sitting right under my nose.
13
An all-around improvement on every aspect of Streets of Rage 2's gameplay mechanics and then some, with lovingly crafted hand-drawn characters and stages, and a bevy of unlockables. Let's not mince words, I'm an absolute fool for placing it beneath its predecessor, but consider the next six entries pretty close together.
14
Best shmup I've ever touched, and for all the time I've spent on it, I'm barely through the second level. "Be attitude for gains" indeed.
15
Tacking this onto Super Mario 3D World kind of undersells the thing (almost as much as its placement on this list), it's a brilliant little Mario game in its own right and I will play it again. Here's hoping it means more experimental stuff from Nintendo in the future.
16
I didn't expect to get even a month in with my infant-level Japanese, but God must've been having a good day, because a few hours later I found myself under the Tree of Legend with Yuina. I wouldn't say I played the game properly, intuiting what I could and very roughly translating what I couldn't, but on my own bizarre terms, I ended up having an extremely memorable time with Tokimeki Memorial.
17
On the one hand, God Hand is total junk food, with ridiculous characters and a western setting as flimsy as the movie sets that inspired it, and yet, the combat system slams so shockingly hard that I don't care how stupid it gets. Expect this one to return on next year's list, this ain't over yet.
18
Were I a wiser man, I'd call it the best game released in 2021. Fast 2D action Metroidvania-esque Luigi's Mansion with cryptids and the backflip from Donkey Kong '94. Don't skip.
19
That's my secret, Cap. I never die with regrets.
20
The weirdest, most minibossiest Classicvania. Not quite as polished or replayable as the other Castlevania on this list, but every bit as fascinating.
21
Sin and Punishment on SNES. Why didn't anyone tell me.
22
Whatever this game has and will become, I'll always remember this impressive lil' Newgrounds version as the one thing that ever got me hooked on DDR-style gameplay.
23
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night has haunted my Super Metroid-loving heart like a hovering ghost since 2016, and finally playing it taught me a lot about my personal goals and tastes. It's absolutely overstuffed with trash, but there's a real passion here, and I've got a soft spot for it.
24
Would be much higher if it hadn't been superseded by one of the five best games ever made, but it's still Street Fighter, dammit. And it's got Blanka's Theme in it.
25
As a skeptic of both the turn-based strategy and dating sim genres, I did not expect this thing to be as good as it is, but you'd better believe I'm gonna finish it. Trust me, in every sense of the phrase, Sakura Wars is more anime THAN anime.
26
I was recently in a position wherein I passed a free-play Libble Rabble arcade cabinet several times per week, and it took some serious restraint not to try and crack the high score every single time I did so (I even managed to rope in a friend every so often for some multiplayer action). Mere days before it was replaced with Joust, I managed to nab the top spot.
27
In a decade, I'll tell you that Gunstar Heroes is the best game Treasure ever managed to produce, but until then, it's gonna have to make peace with fifth place. But dear god, on paper this is at least three hundred percent it.
28
Chrono Trigger's long lost nephew played too much Planetfall (1983), but I forgive it. This thing's mere existence cements SquareSoft's reputation as, truly, the second weirdest videogame developer that ever was, and it warrants at least a single bewildered playthrough from any like-minded Trigger goon or action-horror visual novel enjoyer who happens to discover this message.
29
Colorful, high-flying, genre-bending madness. The soul of all great rail shooter/rhythm-adjacent things calls out from within(??)
30
One of the most charming and fascinating rhythm games I've ever come across. I just wish I could've played it on its original hardware (with my uncle's CD collection close at hand) in 1999.
31
Decided to get into this series via the Panzer Dragoon Remake after a spectacular Star Fox 64 run, and it just wasn't doing it for me. I played through the Saturn original directly afterward and discovered much stronger art direction and game feel (despite the lower framerate), but the constant switching from first to third-person kept me from fully connecting with this one. Still, the world and concept were strong enough to convince me to give the rest of the Saturn trilogy a chance, and I owe it my appreciation for that.
32
Square's last SNES RPG's got a ticking clock, three interweaving plots, sick battle animations, and a fictional language you can manipulate to concoct your own spells. Definitely gonna be playing more of this one.
33
WAAAAAAAA(pretty neat concept, nice way to spend an evening with a buddy or two)AAHHHHHH
34
If the phrase "3D Dreamcast Horror Camera Carnival Minesweeper" means anything to you, then boy do I have...something...I think. There's nothing I can say to prepare you for what this is, and I can hardly begin to speculate at where it might go. Enter at your own risk.
35
6 Comments
@gyozayellatcloud Much appreciated! I made a lotta new favorites for sure.
Just out of curiosity, where would DQ3 end up on this list if it were included? It's probably my favorite of the series I've played so far!
@gyozayellatcloud DQIII has to be one of the ten best games I've ever played, and yeah, my favorite Dragon Quest as well. I'd struggle to keep it out of the top three.
Nice to see Libble Rabble getting such a random mention. I feel more people are finally getting to try out this weirdy since it launched on Switch :D
Still don't have a clue what the hell an "Illbleed" is, but a great list nonetheless. Naturally, since I was here for most of these, little comes as a surprise - but even then, your notes enact a satisfying dialogue about each entry.
Now parry this Deadly Double Combination.
Now parry this Deadly Double Combination.
iyellatcloud
2 years ago