Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to my annual thing that I do (among many other reviewers) where I review the games I played this year and rank my best and worst experiences. Yo, please read the whole thing because I included the Worst of 2021 this year. Honorable Titles are at the end. Before we begin, I want to apologize for disappearing and not saying anything about it this year. I have been catching up with like a million TV shows and movies, plus I got schoolwork to do. And games to play! Now that that's out of the way, let's start!
Best Games of My Year
5. Until Dawn
My first endeavor with a fully Choose-your-own-adventure type game was a blast. Even though not every choice you could make mattered, the game puts you into the character's shoes.Clunky Resident Evil 1- style controls are a pain in the neck, and this only elevated the immersion. You, as the player, are able to feel slow because of the cold, and the rapid decision making moments keep you on your toes, especially around potential threats. The narrative is somewhat generic, but makes itself an original-feeling tale of a group of friends being stalked by a killer, only to realize that there are threats greater than humans. Of course, I won't spoil anything, but go pick up Until Dawn if you haven't already, only on PlayStation 4.
4. Far Cry 3
Far Cry 3 kinda came out of nowhere for me. When I first tried the game in 2020, I got bored fast and went on to play something else. But as I revisited it this year I got sucked in to complete every single mission. The rinse and repeat stealth and action shooter gameplay can be boring for most games, but Far Cry does it right. As I became more and more addicted to the action, I got invested in the story. This is a pretty hard thing to do for me when it comes to shooters, so props to you, Ubisoft. (Basically every other game Ubisoft makes is trash tho so I have to throw that out there) Jason and I both spiraled into madness as I cleared out every pirate-owned camp and became a true hunter, so I was rightfully proven as an idiot when I got the bad ending of **************. Sorry. Spoilers. Just know that it was bad. Anyway, pretty good game. I got this for cheap, and it's available on all platforms minus switch.
3. Devil May Cry 5
Devil May Cry. One of my new favorite franchises. I first tried out this game last year, much like Far Cry 3, but couldn't get into it because it was a rental. I did come back to it in February, and had a great time. That led to me buying every DMC game sometime in May as I became addicted to the series and its fast paced, amazing combat. Read my Devil May Cry Series Review to see why I like the games so much, blah blah blah, but whatever. I ended up buying DMC5 at full price, something I rarely do, and I just adored kicking this game's butt again on harder difficulties. I highly recommend this game and subsequently, its series, so pick these up on any platform except nintendo switch.
2. Fallout: New Vegas
This game is amazing, and it pains me to put it at 2nd place. Every story and gameplay aspect is super well done, and Fallout NV is a really good RPG that does its job at giving you the freedom to be who you want in a post-apocalyptic Mojave desert. Exploration was a huge part of my playthrough, mostly because every area was rewarding with rich settings that tell stories by themselves, and unique weapons that give you an advantage against every horrible monstrosity that tries to kill you. And also the story is really f****** good. The one thing holding this game back from being my GOTY is the limited availability of platforms to play it on, and the incredible amount of cut content that exists that would've made the game a million times better. I only wish that the development on this game wasn't so rushed. You can find Fallout: New Vegas on Xbox 360/One, Playstation 3, and PC. I was lucky enough to find a Mint Condition copy of this bad boy for PS3, as I've mentioned many times on my Instagram.
Drumroll please........
And the Game of The Year goes to............................
THE DANGANRONPA TRILOGY!!!
Yeah, I know it's technically a series but SHUT UP. I can do what I want here. As a couple of you might have guessed, I love this series with a passion now. I was recommended this by the same friend who told me Persona 5 was good, and I regret nothing buying these gems. (He also told me to play God Of War 4, which I still haven't gotten to yet, so that's probably going to end up being next year's GOTY.) I held off talking about Danganronpa for the entire year just to save it for this yearly review. Danganronpa 1-3 is a masterpiece of a murder-mystery style puzzle game where a group of high schoolers are forced to play a game where they kill each other. No Squid Game references, or I break your nose. Each story section of the 6 chapters are good banter between the characters, and as the games go on you learn more about each person, until most of them die. Then s*** gets crazy aaaaand no spoilers. Each gameplay section, however, is where the games BANG. A murder occurs halfway through the chapter and you gather clues to try to piece things together before a courtroom debate to try to vote out the killer. (NO AMONG US REFERENCES EITHER.) A lot of the time, more clues are discovered in the debate where you have to use your actual brain to figure out what happened. It's great. I wish I got amnesia so I could play this for the first time again. Every game in the series is wonderful, and I could not wish you to buy this game enough. Pick up the three Danganronpa games on PlayStation 4, PSVita, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
Now that I'm in a good mood, let's move onto the horrible experiences I had this year.
Worst Games of My Year
5. Soul Knight
Okay, this might be cheating but this game sucks! It's a free mobile game rippin' off of Enter the Gungeon. I like that game, but Soul Knight adds nothing new. In fact, it takes away from Gungeon by being pay-to-win. The devs actually want you to pay real money so that you don't suck. F*** this game. This dungeon-crawling roguelike can crawl its way up its a**. And this is the least of the most aggravating games this year.
4. Murdered: Soul Suspect
After my obsession with Danganronpa, I turned to other detective games to fill my craving. And boy, did this game turn that right off. I'm pretty sure this was a PS4 launch game, because everything about it feels dated. It's a good time capsule for the early 2010s I guess, but who wants that anyways? This sucks. Everything is all grungy, dark, and emo. The main protagonist is an off-brand Harrison Ford that you grow no connection to whatsoever as you slowly progress through the 5-hour story (somehow). The gameplay and level design is severely lacking in... everything. Some parts I kind of liked, had some interesting mechanics, but it was all wasted by forcing you to collect trinkets and baubles for some idiot side story of how some numbnuts died. There is a narrative with some psychic chick, but who cares??? I barely remember anything that happened! The gameplay consists of walking through walls, lame teleportation, and..... collecting stuff. What else? Oh yeah, STUPID UNCHALLENGING "DETECTIVE" SEGMENTS WHERE THE ANSWER MAKES NO SENSE BECAUSE THE DEVS DO NOT CARE. There was an empty market on grungy detective games after L.A. Noire came out that I'm guessing someone tried to capitalize on and make a quick buck. I have never once heard ANYONE mention this game or go, "Man, that game had an interesting story" becuase not a single soul has heard of it. Anyway, that's all for my rant on this game. Sorry about that. Next one!
3. Batman: Arkham City
Surprised, huh? I am too. I expected this game to have an interesting Metroidvania-ish type of approach much like Arkham Asylum, but NOPE. Elements of that were present in City, but not really. The big thing with me and this game is just the fact that I was let down hard. This isn't even half of what Asylum was, and still is, yet it won a ton of awards for Game of the Year? I came in with huge expectations, and it failed. I chose to play on Hard because of my experience with Asylum, and I was just completely crapped on for doing that. Every battle became a repeating cycle of boring combos, trying out new stuff until something worked. Boss fights, however, were still easier for me than regular encounters. Except for the last one with like a hundred goons. That sucked. I was stuck on that for days. When I finally pushed through that, I got absolute jack for putting myself through that. No trophy for even beating the game. What kinda bull is that, bro. The story was still ok, but much like other things, not as interesting as Asylum.
Boo Arkham City.
2. Resident Evil CODE: Veronica X
I hate this game. I hate this game so much that I complained about it in my video game design class. I have complained about games to a group of people in person only a few times before, and this game really deserved it. The level design, is doga**. There were multiple points where I was stuck between three minibosses with one clip of ammo in my pistol and no way to get around it unless I persevered. And I hate doing that. It's crazy though because I've heard stories of horrible, horrible things happen to people when playing the older-styled Resident Evil games, and none of that happened to me. My immense skill when it comes to these situations was severely tested and I will always admire myself when it comes to beating this horrible, horrible 10-hour game. The story dragged on for EVER and just when I thought it was over, POP IN DISC 2! PLAY AS CHRIS WITH NONE OF YOUR STUFF AND DO LITERALLY EVERYTHING ALL OVER AGAIN TO CONTINUE THE STORY! This is NOT like how Resident Evil 2 (original on ps1) did things, where there was a secret ending if you played Leon A and Claire B, but a REQUIREMENT FOR ACTUALLY COMPLETING THE GAME ONCE. You could just play Leon A in RE2 and call it good, but not in this game. If you actually make it as far as the end of Part 1, just stop playing. I love Resident Evil, but this is ABSOLUTE garbage. DO NOT buy this game. Please remake this so that it's actually good, Capcom.
And Finally, the worst, most boring, most tedious experience of 2021,
Devil May Cry 2.
WOW. How ironic that 2 games from the same series end up on the best and worst lists. Holy cow. If you thought I hated Code Veronica X, you have no idea how much I dislike this game. I just completely broke the seal on my memories that allowed me to forget about this game, and MAN am I going to rant hard about this. So. Coming off of Devil May Cry 1, I was experiencing a high that comes from an arcade-like experience when I started up this game. From the first level, I knew this was going to be rough. DMC was changed from a fast paced game where you're on the edge of your seat to a sluggish, 2000s emo filtered, uninspired piece of trash. Not a single level had me excited for what came next, from bulls*** bosses to crappy music, damage sponges, and boring enemy design, nothing makes me want to play this game again. I really wish I could forget about this whole thing once again, for good. If you play the DMC series, seriously just skip this one. I actually regret playing this. I'm going to stop and contain my hate for this game. Moving on to Honorable Titles!
Honorable Titles
Best Soundtrack goes to....... Persona 5 Strikers! Fun tunes and good combat!
Best World Design/ Immersion goes to.......... The Outer Worlds! It was ok, but I will play the sequel!
Coolest Cover Art goes to................... Danganronpa 1 - 2 Reload! I really like the rainbow effect!
Best Grass Graphics goes to............... NieR: Automata! I really liked this one, would be #6 on my list!
Most Excited For goes to.............. Resident Evil Village! And I was not let down!
2nd Most Cringe Fanbase goes to.............. Friday Night Funkin'! I like the game, but shut up fandom!
Biggest Disappointment goes to......................Batman Arkham City! Wait I already mentioned that!
Probably Most Hours Played goes to............. Fallout 76! I mean the game is better than at launch!
Best DLC goes to.................................. Doom Eternal! It's more Doom! What more do you want!
Best Movie goes to.............................. Spider-Man No Way Home! It's not even a game!
And Finally,
The Real Game of the Year goes to.......................................... Rayman Legends! Still best game ever made!
And that does it for 2021's Mega Epic Game Awards! I hope you enjoyed reading my extremely long rants about how horrible RECVX and... basically every game on the Worst list are! This has only taken me like under 2 hours to write and I have not checked it at all so you know it's from the heart. Love all y'all and I'll try to be more active in 2022! Happy New Year!