Pointless Venture's Games of the Year

Despite the continuation of the pandemic, 2021 was a great year for games. It was a perfect year to catch up on some great titles of the recent past (Red Dead Redemption 2; Shadow of the Tomb Raider; Hades) as well as enjoying a few excellent new releases (Forza Horizon 5; Resident Evil Village). Before I give my picks, I'm going to list every single title I played this year.

What I played (An asterisk signifies to completion)

Amid Evil*

Shadow of the Tomb Raider*

Resident Evil 3 Remake*

Doom Eternal Ancient Gods Part 2*

Red Dead Redemption 2*

Control*

Crysis Remastered*

Resident Evil Village*

Hades

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Iron Fury

Quake Remastered

Deathloop*

Master Chief Collection

Halo 4*

Forza Horizon 5

Halo Infinite*

That's seventeen titles, and probably a record for me, with only six titles not played to completion. Of those six games I didn't beat, I spent almost twenty hours or more on each of them with the exceptions of Quake and Iron Fury, so it's not like I just launched them for fifteen minutes and then never played them again. So yeah, my 2021 was spent playing a lot of video games, for what it's worth. Anyway, here are my top titles.

Game of the Year: Red Dead Redemption 2

A gorgeous, ninety-hour epic Western, Red Dead 2 is unlike any game I've ever played. I'm glad that I waited until I had a decent enough system to play it in its full glory. Probably the best single player game I've ever played, as far as atmosphere and story go, as it dethroned the Witcher 3 in my personal ranking. Definitely give it a shot if you're into Westerns or simulated third-person action adventures.

Best shooter: Halo Infinite

Halo's campaign isn't the strongest in the series, but it's a return to form after Halo 4 (and 5, apparently, though I still haven't played it). 343 finally nailed the sandbox combat that forms Halo's gameplay loop, and the grappling hook and open world are excellent additions. However, the end of the game suffers from repeating Forerunner sections, as though 343 were referencing Halo CE. The multiplayer is the most fun I've had in years. An arena shooter with a diverse array of guns and gametypes (although fewer than previous Halos), there's nothing like dominating in a game of tactical Slayer. The only game on this list I'll undoubtedly still be playing next year.

Best Atmosphere: Resident Evil Village

An incredibly spooky tour de force of the genre's classic milieu, Resident Evil Village has a story that descends into incomprehensibility for anyone not heavily invested in the long running series. That didn't keep me from enjoying the hell out of its mishmash of high-brow artistry and low-brow horror schlock. Also worth mentioning that this is an amazing looking game that runs excellently.

Best Game I didn't Finish: Tie between Hades and Forza Horizon 5

I got to Hades himself, but by that time I had tired of the repetitive format of the rougelite genre. Still, I boot Hades up from time to time, still somewhat committed to finishing off the king of hell. As for Forza, I plan on returning to it after running through Halo Infinite on Legendary difficulty. It's such a huge game that I'll probably take a while.

So that's it for 2021. As for 2022, Elden Ring is the only thing on my radar at the moment, so we'll see that next year brings.