Game of the year 2021 — FAKE RONJAN!!

2021 was the first year in a century to be entirely contained within a global pandemic, and industry-wide delays in game development made it a slower than usual year for new games. That said, old games still exist so there was no shortage of things to play this year - and play I did!

That divide between classic and new pretty much defined my year in gaming. I purchased two “new” video game systems in 2021: a modded Game Boy Advance SP to play classic portable games and an Analogue Super NT to play Super Nintendo games in the highest quality possible. I spent entirely too much money rebuilding a library of game cartridges to play on them. And I played a bunch of older titles on my most powerful gaming system, the Xbox Series X I bought in 2020.

Some key highlights from my exploration of gaming history:

I finally finished Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II. I adored the first game and still feel it is the best experience in all of Star Wars (including all movies, shows, and games), but I never finished the second game when it was released 17 years ago. I’m glad that I took care of that this year, as KOTOR 2’s deconstruction of the force, the Jedi and the Sith, and the world itself is far more interesting than the generic good vs. evil conflicts that defines most of the IP.

I replayed a couple of favorites, Child of Light and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, from start to finish. I hadn’t played either in years despite adoring them when I first played through them. Child of Light shined through with its beauty and poignant story, while Ace Attorney made me laugh and remember how much I love Japanese visual novels.

I gave second chances to two games that didn’t quite grab me in the past, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and Octopath Traveler. Both blew me away this time around. Bloodstained is now my favorite Metroidvania of all time, surpassing both Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Metroid: Zero Mission, and Octopath Traveler is now my favorite game from the legendary developers at Square Enix. Both games also featured music that consumed my brain for weeks at a time (Bloodstained | Octopath).

I played Mother 3 for the first time on my aforementioned GBA SP, picking up an English translated cartridge. Earthbound is one of my favorite Super Nintendo games, and I can’t believe I waited until now to finally give its sequel a shot. It’s fantastic. While I missed the globetrotting and scale of Earthbound, Mother 3 hits you in the feels, over and over. And I felt really seen during this section:

I played a ton of classic Super Nintendo games on my Super NT, and got particularly reacquainted with two favorites from my childhood, Mario Paint and Panel de Pon / Tetris Attack. I spent dozens of hours as a child creating music in Mario Paint’s music composer mode, and I got back into that this summer. Meanwhile, my wife and son became as enamored with Panel de Pon / Tetris Attack as I was as a teenager and they spent hours hogging the TV to play it, eventually finding a similar game to download to their respective iPads.

Finally, I kept playing my 2020 game of the year, Animal Crossing: New Horizons. In retrospect, it’s really amazing that this game managed to appeal to me, my son, and my wife for almost two full years, for entirely different reasons. I played primarily to complete the museum, collecting bugs, fish, and fossils for Blathers. My son played primarily to design clothes, create outfits, and redecorate his home over and over. And my wife played primarily to expand her home to the biggest size possible and pay off all of her loans. After getting bored with our islands from last year, we all started a new island from scratch, this time sharing it together. I don’t know if this game will ever get old, especially since our previous islands are saved as dreams and we can visit them whenever we want.

Meeting my old island self on my old island

Okay, so that’s all a fine breakdown of older games, but what did I play that actually came out this year? Before getting to my top five, let’s first address two games that missed the cut.

Microsoft Flight Simulator for Xbox Series X is a better performing, more fully-featured version of the game that made my top five last year. I played it more in 2021 than I did in 2020, and I enjoyed it more, too! I found my real life home, I flew through the Tower Bridge in London, and I even managed to land a plane for the first time in my life. This game misses the 2021 list simply by virtue of having made the list in 2020. It wouldn't be fair to include twice.

On the other hand, Metroid Dread was destined to be a game of the year contender when it was announced, and yet I barely played it once it was released. I’m not entirely sure why I played it for only a few minutes without coming back. Perhaps I’d been a fan of the series primarily for the exploration, and the darker atmosphere and more frantic chase sequences put me off of the game. At any rate, the first original 2D Metroid in 19 years failed to make a mark.

Now on to the top “five”.

5. (tie) Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain and Mario Party Superstars

As my son has gotten older, our gaming tastes have started to converge. It’s fun playing games with him, and these two were classic Nintendo experiences that work for all age groups. I wouldn’t play either game on my own, but they’re perfect for our family dynamic.

4. Forza Horizon 5
One of my favorite racing games of all time is Burnout Paradise, where you drive around an open world and smash billboards, find hidden roads, and smash up your cars on purpose. Forza Horizon 5 was my first experience with this series and it gave me similar vibes. I enjoyed exploring the world, driving to the top of a volcano, and just being part of the game’s world. This was the best Xbox exclusive game of 2021, and nothing else is really close.

3. Retro Goal

Last year, my 2nd-favorite game was a relatively obscure mobile football game called Retro Bowl. This year, developer New Star Games came back with an equally obscure mobile soccer game called Retro Goal. And while I never hit the same level of obsession in Retro Goal that I did in Retro Bowl (where I played 32 seasons), I did win the treble with Chelsea before moving on to my hometown team NYCFC.

2. Life is Strange: True Colors

I wonder if this series is condemned to always be the bridesmaid. In 2015, the original Life is Strange narrowly lost out on game of the year to Super Mario Maker. This year’s version loses by even a tighter margin. I love this game. I love the setting. I love Alex Chen - seeing what she sees, feeling what she feels, and experiencing Haven Springs as she does. While Life is Strange games are never particularly engaging on a mechanical level, they are incredibly engaging on an emotional level. It’s a worthy winner of the Games for Impact award this year, just as the original game was in 2015, and I’m excited for experiences like this to become more common in gaming in the future.

1. What the Dub?!

Giant Bomb had been one of my favorite video game websites since its inception in 2008, and in many ways it was ahead of its time back then. They built the site around the personalities of its creators, much like modern influencer culture. They focused on original video content and didn’t compete with the more traditional preview- and review-based gaming media landscape. They let us in behind the scenes with hours-long podcasts about their lives. As a result, those of us in the audience felt connected to the creators, and we experienced what they experienced. Weddings. Children. Unimaginable loss. Life.

Three key contributors who had been with the site since the early days - Alex Navarro, Brad Shoemaker, and Vinny Caravella - left in May of this year. Giant Bomb had a farewell stream for them, and naturally I watched. Among other games that these “duders” streamed was a Jackbox-style party game, What the Dub?! where players watched old movie clips with a line missing and fill in the funniest line they could think of. It was the perfect sendoff for these three, as the game brought out their natural chemistry and camaraderie one last time.

A year into pandemic life, with Zoom fatigue taking over, I sorely needed a game like this, so I downloaded it and played it with as many friend circles as I could - both in person and online. And it was pure magic. No matter who played, it was a great time. What the Dub?! reinforced the power of human connection, of humor in the darkest of times, of sheer silliness. And for that reason, it makes the list.