Another year in the books, another list of the games I beat over the past 365 days. Some people listen to music, others watch TV, a few brave souls in this day and age go to the movies. I play way too many games for my health and age. And in order for me to feel any sense of accomplishment, I have to post a list of the ones I beat to the **checks notes** 8 viewers a month to this site (with most of them here for the Nirvana Boxed Set post for some reason). So without further ado…
January 2021
Destroy All Humans (PS4) 1-7-21
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (PS4) 1-31-21
February 2021
Tearaway: Unfolded (PS4) 2-6-21
Loco Roco Remastered (PS4) 2-11-21
Little Nightmares (PS4) 2-18-21
March 2021
Maneater (PS4) 3-7-21
Injustice 2 (PS4) 3-22-21
April 2021
South Park: The Fractured But Whole – 2nd Full Playthrough – Platinum trophy (PS4) 4-3-21
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Switch) 4-11-21
Pistol Whip – Story Mode 1 (PSVR) 4-12-21
Concrete Genie (PS4) 4-21-21
May 2021
Streets of Rage 4 (PS4) 5-18-21
June 2021
Nex Machina – Rookie (PS4) 6-3-21
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (PS4) 6-17-21
Super Mario World (SNES via Super NT) 6-20-21
Wattam (PS4) 6-27-21
July 2021
Mario Golf: Super Rush (Switch) 7-10-21
August 2021
The Outer Worlds (PS4) 8-18-21
September 2021
Judgement (PS4) 9-18-21
Blood and Truth (PSVR) 9-27-21
Astro’s Playroom (PS5) 9-29-21
October 2021
Ratchet and Clank: A Rift Apart (PS5) 10-26-21
Operation Tango – Platnium (PS5) 10-29-21
December 2021
Wario Ware (GBA) 12-23-21
2021 brought with it large scale distribution of the COVID vaccine (part 1) which resulted initially in a demand on the level of the current generation game systems. Once vaccinated and able to take advantage of the outside world with a much, much, much lesser risk of it resulting in being thrown in a hospital or dying definitely affected how many games I went through this year versus 2020.
After just about a year from the original release, I was able to get a PS5. If I didn’t know long it would take for me to get another chance to get one, I would have waited. Outside of Ratchet and Clank, I haven’t seen a game that has impressed me as much. I am playing through Deathloop currently and it is a great game, but not seeing anything that couldn’t have been done on PS4. I am looking forward to being impressed more in 2022 with the next Horizon and God of War games.
The Superlatives
Game of the Year 2021 – NONE – There is no game that came out in 2021 that I played that truly stood out to me. I am playing some good 2021 games now with Deathloop, Hades, Far Cry 6 and some others, but it is 2022 now and I will be beating those games this year. It’s a transition year as the new PS5 and Xbox systems are barely out there and development seems split between exclusive titles that take advantage of the new systems and crossover games between two generations until everyone can get their grubby mitts on a new system. I did borrow and beat Ratchet and Clank: A Rift Apart which not only looks like a CGI movie but plays great too. If I were to give a game of the year award away, it would be for this one. But I just don’t have much more to write about it.
Multiplayer Game of the Year 2021 – Operation Tango – I beat this start to finish with my friend Will and it was a great experience. Reminded me of the Portal games where you have to communicate with the other player over headset to finish any of the missions within the larger assignments. Plus with each character having their own missions, playing through it twice was a necessity. A great PS Plus freebie game.
Honorable Mentions – Maneater was the best open world (open sea) game I played this year. Judgement was a great experience which is expected after the fun I had with the Yakuza games I’ve played. I don’t think I could play them every day though so I try to limit it to one a year. Mario Golf: Super Rush is just great arcade golf and it got some great courses added to it after release. Hopefully some more too.