A Plague Tale: Innocence

optimark_prime wrote:

As lovely as Hair’s admiration is, alas… I meant Forza Horizon 5.

(Sorry)

You’re dead to me now.

Hades - 2020 on Switch and PC, this year on PS4 and XBOX.

digi wrote:

Iv just got to chapter 3 in Yakuza: like a dragon.
It's turning in to the goat.

Also just started Hades and it's almost as good.

Yet to start doom eternal.

Not sure any of these are this year but there all new to me.

Yaklad is amazing Davie. I must finish it at some point. It can be GOTY as PS5 only got it this year.

i see threads like this and think to myself 'have i even played 3 new games this year?'.

so i looked at my xbox profile achievements for some clues, and in the last 9 days i've played: FH5, FM22, it takes two, backbone, exo one and mortal shell.

I'd give my head a wobble but my brain might just slip out!

Really poor year, indies have lost their way and too early for next gen.

I forgot about YakLad.
That's first followed by MonHun Rise and then Forza Horizon 5

regmcfly wrote:

Yaklad was last year tbf

b0r1s wrote:

Yaklad is amazing Davie. I must finish it at some point. It can be GOTY as PS5 only got it this year.

Halo Infinite is comfortably my number 1 videogame of 2021.

Monster Hunter Rise
One of the best games ever (MH4U) gets even better with some of the greatest combat in the business, and a whole wealth of monsters who are poppin' with personality. Wirebug took an idea that was ok in World and turned it into a whole new delicious layer of skill and opportunity. Every weapon a treat that could carry a whole game, plus you get a dog now, I called mine JoJo.

Psychonauts 2
Most video games can't carry a single theme as strongly as Psychonauts does in its first level, and then it ditches it and throws you into a bunch of new levels where quirks, neuroses, and memories. Packed with personality, aesthetically joyous, and actually funny to boot. Sure the combat drags, but 99% of the time this game had me hook, line, and sinker for its plot beats. P3 now please!

Mundaun
The greatest horror game in, what, a decade? Brilliantly observed, wonderfully written, constantly unsettling and strange. Everything I want out of a horror game, an unsettling slow burn of haymen and decapitated goats. Made be shout at my monitor once, made me cackle with delight many more times. I'd take 10 games a year like this if I had my way.

Resident Evil Village
Everyone's favourite series returns after a promising reboot, and this time they've just dipped it fully in cheese. A B-Movie with Blockbuster production values, shlock and shine smashing together to make something... not quite as good as either, but still really, really fun. Really held up to repeat play throughs in a way Seven failed to do, reminding me of the best bits of 2 Remake and 4, but with a capriciousness that meant it ditched ideas before it could go deep enough on them to really seal the deal.

Backbone
Hardboiled detective story featuring a Racoon named Lotor (funny joke) twists, turns and convulses until it tears itself apart. Actively resits doing exactly what its fanbase wanted it to do, thus pissing off a lot of them, and making the lead writer incredibly miserable, but I am glad she stuck to her guns and made a definitive Tempy Game. No Choice! No Options! Only Misery and Wyrdness!

Honorable Mentions
I liked Bravely Default 2's return to JRPG excess with more challenges than you could shake a stick at, but it made me swear and write a tweet that could have lost me my job! Woah! 
Alba was just really neat and nice and a big mug of tea and a hug on a cold day. But in Spain, I guess?
Nioh 2, PC. A formidable upgrade on Nioh, but one I have not found enough time for, curses.
Halo Infinite Beta. The daddy is back and he brought morons driving off in 'hogs with him. 
Chivalry 2 was my most enjoyed multiplayer game this year until Halo came back. I killed a man with a cabbage once so it is impossible for me to dislike this.
Death's Door was a game I enjoyed enough to get all the secret shit in, but I did not 100% the achievements. Whoops. Something like... 99%.
Hunt Showdown. Cowboy Game. Sad yeehawws all round. The only good Battle Royale. A dictionary of aural gun sounds. Identify a man reloading a gun 10 meters away and shoot through a barn wall to kill him. Touch god.

Shit I Do Not Wish to Ever Fuck With Again
Biomutant. Turgid piss that tells you what to think and can't even do that well.
The Medium. Insipid, insulting, immature storytelling draped over a paper thin game. Oh also they made their twin-screen rendering tech, the only good bit of the game, proprietary. Hack job.

The Real Game of the Year
Getting a job which means I just don't have as much time as I'd like for games any more. That's the good shit. I rate it 9/10, subtracting 1 because I do not have enough time for video games any more.

I can't even remember what I played two weeks ago.

Wookienopants wrote:

I forgot about YakLad.
That's first followed by MonHun Rise and then Forza Horizon 5

I think you mean ForHor5?

Horizon 5 would be like 7-8 on my list. Beatstar might be 10.


Thinking about Unpacking this morning and how it has my moment of the year.
So throughout the game one of the "puzzle" elements is when something is in the wrong box and needs to be moved to another room. You can't "complete" a flat if something is in the wrong room, and sometimes the 'story' of an item being in the wrong box kind of makes sense.
So throughout the game (spoilers now)
Given flora did that last week when we were down at her Mum's house, it was nice and affecting.

So far, Returnal is firmly rooted in no 1 for me, followed by Metroid and Bowser. Then Halo and FH5 I suppose. But still need to finish a few other games.

Death’s Door would probably go into crappest/least good list.

Or include average games like A Monster’s Expedition.