2021 Game of the Year blog

It’s that time of year again where we talk about games that we’ve played in an entirely long time frame and put a number to favorite games that have come out within it. Though people usually have these kinds of posts in mid to late December so mine is a bit late.

regardless this is still a list, albeit a small one this year. I did actually play plenty of games but for the sake of not thinking too hard, I’m condensing it to a top 5. A lot of games I’ve played this year are that are 3-5 years old at this point (can you blame me, it’s what I stream) I will have more to say about them later on I’m sure.

So without further ado:

5) Loop Hero

There’s still a thrill in being captivated by a small game with a simple concept. A Rouge-like with a board game-like structure, where you put tiles down to effect the best possible outcome in your run. It reminds me of that old Labyrinth board game I used to play as a child. The risk/reward of building too much in one direction and having the right loadout of tiles, mixed with the right passives to use, made me constantly think about what’s working/ what isn’t with every loss...

and I lost a lot…

Each stage is difficult to master, but once you figure out the strategy that works for you it felt impossible to put down. I can’t recommend this game enough, it feels like games are still capable of fresh and fun ideas, when everything around you is just some kind of openworld-shooty-Battle Royale-RPG.

4) Actraiser Renaissance

I have a long history with this game. The original Actraiser on the Super Nintendo, is quite possibly my favourite videogame of all time. That says a lot for a guy that plays all of the Tetris. This remake came out of left field during 2021’s E3, and it was released not that long after, and I knew in my heart I had to get it.

I wasn’t disappointed. Visually it looks like a phone game, but despite that, it’s a solid version of the original with some minor tweets to the gameplay and boss fights, while also fleshing it out in different ways.

The biggest notable difference is that there’s more of a story this time around. Each settlement, has more to say and a certain special character get a big focus to help each civ grow. Additionally, there is now a Tower Defense minigame in between action stages, that keeps you on your toes.

This is all designed to keep you busy, and a game that I could normally knock out in an afternoon, will now probably take a whole day or two.

The original will always have a place in my heart, as long as the SNES still works, but this is a fantastic reimagining.

3) Metroid Dread

Metroid is one of those franchises that many people have nostalgia for, and a bitterness toward Nintendo for not pumping out as many Metroid games as they want them to. Afterall, it’s been around 19 years or something since the last 2D Metroid game.

You see a lot of old design philosophy in what you’d hope would be a modern version, which is both fantastic and to it’s detriment. I’m a stickler for tight controls. Hell I still can’t get over how amazing Dead Cells feels when I play, ON JOYCONS. But Dreads biggest problem is that it asks for your hands to do gymnastics the further into the game you get. That and it’s difficulty, OH BOY.

Still, Dread does the thing that you want a Metroid game to do, and I’m happy they put a nice little bow on the Metroid Saga. Where does Samus Aran go from here? I certainly hope we don’t wait another 19 years to find out.

2) Resident Evil Village

If you know me, you’re probably sitting there going “What the hell Bon, RE8 isn’t your #1 choice?” and you’re right, it’s weird. I played this game back to back for a week straight. One, because I wasn’t going to play it unless I had a PS5, and 2 it was the only PS5 game I had. What RE7 did for a “going back to horror roots” this game definately tried it’s hand at reimagining what RE4 could be. I can almost guarantee you that all the assets in this one are going to be reused for whatever the RE4 remake is going to me.

The sense of adventure with moments of horror sprinkled throughout, the quirky characters each with their own flaws and motivations, it shouldn’t be overlooked, and clearly Steam agrees.

2022 should be the year where the extra DLC comes out, I hope it fleshes out story, possibly adds in the scrapped Ada Wong stuff. It would definitely be the top spot if it wasn’t for a little bit of community fun.

1) Gartic Phone

For a proper context, I used a lot of my time in 2021 to draw again. When I bought an iPad at the beginning of the year, I wanted to rekindle my love for the things I spent my whole youth doing. As we got together on twitch for doodle streams every Sunday, it had been a while till I finally heard about Gartic Phone.

For those that don’t know, it’s a fun little game of telephone that uses written prompts to draw pictures that get passed on to someone else, and it either becomes fantastic or goes horribly wrong. (Even when it goes wrong I still think it’s fantastic.)

I just get really excited about art. It’s a fun game to play on it’s own, but it’s also amazing to watch talented(and maybe not so talented) artists come together to have the weirdest most hilarious experience I could have ever asked for, in a year where it seems like the world is getting worse.

Gartic was the spirit lifting experience I desperately needed, and I want it to stick around for years to come.

so hopefully more community nights where we just draw crap is on the horizon.

Those Honorable Mentions

Things like Fallout 76, Overwatch, Apex Legends and Monster Hunter World took up a lot of my time as well. How could they not? They are a part of my streaming identity and I couldn’t not acknowledge them in any way this year. Fallout 76 does get a lot of flack for it’s rough launch, but it’s story content has been pretty fun, and the Fallout Worlds addition has been kinda cool. I don’t know if it was worth getting rid of the BR mode, but who knows if they bring it back in some capacity. All I know is that we have ‘The Pitt’ to look forward to.

Overwatch, had a rough year with so many different dramatic things adding nails to the coffin. Long time game director Jeff Kaplan left, for unknown, yet probably Activision management reasons, fact that there was a content drought and more delays to OW2, and the bombshell story of the company culture within Blizzard even before the Activision acquisition is enough to make you, as the kids say, feel cringe. But OW is always going to be a favorite game to play on stream. My heart goes out to the employees of ABK and I hope things get better for them, I hope they unionize.

And honestly they can take all the time they need for OW2. Despite the dramatics of people on social media, and youtube, I will wait.

And Lastly…

I have to talk about Undertale a little bit. I slept on this game for a long time. I regret that, because it was a fantastic game from beginning to end. Fandom usually turns me away from a thing for a long period of time, and the release of Undertale made it feel impenetrable. Even after playing through it, I don’t understand a lot of the things that I felt were in-jokes with people, but I came away from it feeling like I had my own experience. Toby Fox really made something special and I hope the Deltarune series continues to stick the landing. I don’t know when I’ll get around to playing those games myself, but I’m sure that went I do, I will be pleasantly surprised.

There I did it, another year in the bag! Thank you for taking the time to read it. I suppose this is where I should be saying something such as, LIKE FAVOURITE AND SUBSCRIBE. follow me at twitch.tv/bonbolapti or even the tweety @bonbolapti and here’s to many games, new or more of the same, in the new year!