My favorite games of 2021

I enjoy putting this list together every year because I love reflecting on the new games that made an impact on me. But I’ve found it increasingly hard to think about a game purely in terms of the year it was released, because I’m spending more time playing remakes, retro games, or just getting to things later than I used to. (I only just started playing the Yakuza series this year!)

So I’m going to mix it up a little. I’ll still do the usual top ten, which solely covers games from 2021. But I’m also going to write about the experiences that I enjoyed this year, regardless of when they came out.

My top ten for 2021

1. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (PlayStation 5)
2. New Pokémon Snap (Nintendo Switch)
3. Lost Judgment (PlayStation 5)
4. Microsoft Flight Simulator (Xbox Series X)
5. Townscaper (Nintendo Switch)
6. Forza Horizon 5 (Xbox Series X)
7. Unpacking (Nintendo Switch)
8. Persona 5 Strikers (PlayStation 5)
9. Halo Infinite (Xbox Series X)
10. Pikmin Bloom (iOS)

A good Photo Mode is essential

Between Flight Simulator, Mass Effect, Ghost of Tsushima and Guardians of the Galaxy, sometimes it feels like I’ve spent more time messing around in Photo Mode than actually playing the games. There’s something oddly compelling to me about taking the time to compose a good scene; partially to see how a familiar scene can be altered with tweaks to color and focus, but partially because it’s a great way to really examine and explore a game’s world in a way you can’t really do while actually, y’know, playing.

Mass Effect’s journey is the reward

Replaying the Mass Effect trilogy is a strong reminder that, almost a decade later, there’s nothing like it. There’s never been a series that allows you to carry a single character, and the consequences of their decisions, across three games. It’s a monumental undertaking that certainly contributed to a famously disappointing ending. To me, the drama over the ending obscures that Mass Effect has always been about the journey, something made even more obvious when playing the games back-to-back-to-back. Your crew are the heart of the game, and watching them grow and evolve as a mirror to your character’s choices is a true joy, an experience that remains unmatched.

The changing face of Kamurocho

I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to get into the Yakuza series, but now I’m all-in. Arguably the most enjoyable part to me is watching the evolution of Kamurocho, the main setting of the series. GTA-style open worlds have been around for over 20 years now, but there’s nothing like Kamurocho. What it lacks in size, it makes up for in density, overwhelming you with sights, lights and people crowding the streets. It can’t compare to actually traveling to Japan, of course, but with travel a pipe dream in this part of the world, it’s small way to help scratch that itch.

Microsoft Flight Simulator and the monkey’s paw

I’ve always wanted to play Flight Simulator, but I don’t have a gaming PC. When Microsoft said they’d bring it to the Xbox, I was overjoyed… and skeptical. Surely they’d take shortcuts in bringing this hugely demanding game to Xbox; surely corners would be cut, and we’d get a simplified, dumbed-down version. But I was wrong: Microsoft Flight Simulator on Xbox is as faithful to the PC version as you can get. Literally everything’s there: it’s complex, it’s beautiful, it’s everything I ever wanted. My wish was granted… but then the cursed monkey’s paw struck: it’s faithful, sure, but faithful to a fault. The interface is a sluggish mess, with important features hidden in nested menus and drop-downs. It’s the only console game I need to regularly “reboot”. And when you start it up, it even (briefly) displays a Windows mouse cursor!

Pokémon Snap is the purest form of Pokémon

The funny thing about the original Pokémon games is how little personality the titular creatures actually have. The games were certainly a hit before the anime, but the show helped bring the Pokémon to life in a way the Game Boy games never could. Pokémon Snap is different. Where the main series treats Pokémon as tools for you to use, brought out only for battle, here you get to observe them in their natural state, in their natural habitats, engaging with the environment and interacting with others in a way you never see in the main series. There’s real joy in bringing different Pokémon together to see how they react, one that highlights the personality of the creatures — personality that’s often missing from the main series.

Pikmin Bloom’s confident minimalism

When I heard that Pokémon Go maker Niantic had another Nintendo game in the works, I was a bit wary. I carry a second iPhone solely to play Pokémon Go — I don’t have room in my life for another game like it. But Niantic knows that. Pikmin Bloom is an incredibly undemanding game, less something that you actively play and more a companion, adding a little bit of extra value and fun to your walks. You check on your Pikmin before you set out from home and then again at the end of the day, and that’s it. It’s the perfect companion to Pokémon Go.

The joy of a surprise hit

The nature of our era of information overload is that I have a pretty good idea of what a game will probably be like before I play it. Every so often, though, I’ll find myself engrossed in a game I didn’t see coming, like Dead Rising, Arkham Asylum and now Guardians of the Galaxy. To be clear, that’s not why Guardians of the Galaxy was my favorite this year — it’s because of the moving story, compelling characters and wonderful voice acting — but it’s always extra memorable when a game you’d either ignored or dismissed turns out to be extremely good.

Townscaper’s tactile pleasures

Townscaper isn’t really a game, it’s a toy. And like a toy, just messing around with it is fun. There isn’t a lot you can do — your actions are basically limited to a single button to “build” and another to “remove”. But it works because those two actions are accompanied by a lovely little pop of sound and a neat little animation: a splash of water, a building magically springing into existence, a flock of birds fluttering away. It makes the simplest of actions so engaging that you can’t help but love Townscaper.

Still doing the virtual tourist thing

Just like last year, I’m still trying to soothe the urge to travel by exploring virtual recreations of Japan in Persona 5 Strikers, Microsoft Flight Simulator and the Yakuza series. But it’s the latter that I’ve been looking forward to the most, because Lost Judgment is set in the neighborhood of Yokohama where I spent virtually every holiday as a child. Walking around a digital version of Yamashita Park was oddly emotional, and arguably the single thing I enjoyed most in gaming this year.

All of the games I played this year

(Games completed are in bold)

Fantasian, Taiko Pop Tap, Clap Hanz Golf, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game, Persona 5 Strikers, Disco Elysium, Bowser’s Fury, Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 (Legendary Edition for all three), Split/Second, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Game Design Studio, Twelve Minutes, Ghost of Tsushima: Iki Island, Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, Persona 5 Royal, Psychonauts 2, Wario Ware: Get it Together, Yakuza Kiwami, Townscaper, New Pokémon Snap, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Yakuza 0, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Judgment, Lost Judgment, Unpacking, Pikmin Bloom, Forza Horizon 5, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond, GTA 3, GTA Vice City, GTA San Andreas (Definitive Edition for all three), Knights of the Old Republic, Halo Infinite.