Patrick Jagoda's 2021 Games of the Year
Patrick Jagoda, Guest Contributor
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on video games. In 2020, I played several independent games about afterlives, including Hades (Supergiant Games), Afterparty (Night School Studio, ported to the Nintendo Switch in 2020), Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus Games), and I am Dead (Annapurna Interactive). All of these simulated hells and limbos were preferable, or at least at a greater distance, to the unfolding pandemic lockdowns of that moment.
In 2021, one notable pattern that resonated with the present was the resurgence of the time loop game, including such high profile releases as Deathloop, The Forgotten City, Returnal, and 12 Minutes — alongside films such as Boss Level (2021), The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021), Maanaadu (2021), and Palm Springs (2020). While this genre dates back several decades, the shrinking of life worlds into nonfiction bottle episodes over the last two years has arguably intensified the significance of the form. Beyond the time loop narratives, the cyclical form of roguelikes, rogue-lites, and looping games also remained popular with games such as The Binding of Isaac: Repentance, Darkest Dungeon II, Inscryption, an Loop Hero.
Overall, this was an exciting year for video games, ranging from mainstream to art games. While there are numerous AAA games that received plenty of attention this year, including Far Cry 6, Halo Infinite, Hitman 3, and Monster Hunter Rise, my list focuses on games that either stood out through their formal innovation or excelled at a well-known form. This countdown of my top 10 games of 2021 includes the platform on which I played it, as well as rough time estimates for people interested in trying out a game with which they might be unfamiliar.
Honorable Mention: The Longing (PC/Mac): Though this game did not originally come out in 2021 (except the Nintendo Switch port), it takes 400 real-time days to finish. So, if you started playing on launch day of March 5, 2020, you would not have finished until April 8, 2021. In this game, you are the last remaining servant of a king who once ruled an underground kingdom. For 400 days, you have to remain in the underground realm until the king awakens. For that period, there is not much to do, except to explore the mysterious tunnels around you, read Moby Dick, and listen to the atmospheric synth music. Also, your movements through the tunnels are extremely slow. Thankfully, The Longing is an idle game, so you can leave it inactive for days, weeks, even months at a time.
10. Loop Hero (PC/Mac): In this strategy deckbuilding game, you find yourself at the end of the world. You do not control the hero directly but instead condition their environment, craft their weapons, and prepare them for their looping road ahead. In a sense, this is an idle game, though one that requires fairly regular tending. I found the gameplay produced a satisfying flow state, though there were limits to the grinding that the game requires, which lacks the strategic variety of roguelikes and rogue-lites from recent years. If played to completion, this game will run well over 35 hours.
9. Metroid Dread (Nintendo Switch): For me, no Metroid game is likely ever to exceed the stripped-down, medium-specific, and highly atmospheric storytelling and elegant gameplay of 1994’s Super Metroid for the SNES. Even so, this sequel offers one of the best and most minimalist Samus Aran science fiction adventures in years. One exciting new mechanic had to do with pursuit mode: a game of fatal tag in which you have to escape from E.M.M.I. machines without being able to fight or defeat them. This game is worth the 8-10 hour play time. Even so, in a year in which I played too much of the Metroidvania-style rogue-lite platformer Dead Cells, the gameplay here did not quite measure up.
8. Eastward (Nintendo Switch): This clever roleplaying game was clearly inspired by the SNES Earthbound (Mother 2 in Japan). While it is not the most original RPG of the year, the game offers narrative and gameplay delights. Sam and John travel through a weird, humorous, and poignant post-apocalyptic world, making unexpected friends along the way. The full narrative of Eastward runs 20-25 hours.
7. Unpacking (Nintendo Switch): This was also a strong year for slow games, calm games, and ordinary simulations. Unpacking might stand in as a synecdoche for that constellation of games. The gameplay involves nothing more than unpacking boxes, as your character moves into new rooms and homes. The game tells the story of your life, focusing on the moment that you move once every few years. With a minimum of text or context, you learn who you are and how your life has changed through the space and objects with which you interact. Given my own OCD need to put things in their right places, I am not sure the game calmed me. Even so, its novel mode of spatial storytelling stood out. This is the shortest game on this list, running only about 3-4 hours.
6. 12 Minutes (PC/Mac): 12 Minutes was arguably the most streamlined of the time loop games that were published this year. In this thriller, you come home and find yourself in a loop that, exactly 10 minutes after your arrival, leads to the death of you and your partner. For all of the frustration that came with the endgame execution, the elegance of the build and the feeling of a genuine time loop in a bottle-like episode format was a real indie accomplishment. You can get through this one in 4 hours.
5. Death's Door (Nintendo Switch): This is the best retro Zelda game to come out this year! If it was not for the raw innovation and polish of the games above it on this list, this could very well have been my #1 game in a weaker year. In this game, you play as a Crow who reaps souls for a bureaucratic soul collection agency. While the game plays like a roleplaying action-adventure with puzzles and secrets galore, it looks like an isometric version of a world created by Miyazaki. I'd estimate about 15 hours to beat this one, and a bit more if you want to discover all of the secrets in the substantial after-game that involves 7 hidden tablets. I played this one to 100% completion.
4. It Takes Two (PlayStation 4): The most fun I had with a video game this year! This two-person cooperative (thank you, Kristen Schilt, for the fulfilling teamwork) feels like you are living inside a Pixar film. After being turned into a couple of dolls, you and your partner strive to return to your everyday lives. You travel through a bee-filled tree, a pillow fort, a space station, a snow globe, a magic castle, and much more. At the center of this game is a divorce narrative, filled with heteronormative complaint galore, which was not always successful. Even so, everything else about the puzzles, gameplay, and aesthetics blew me away. This is a wonder of a co-op action game that runs about 12 hours.
3. Mutazione (Nintendo Switch): The original version of this game came out in late 2020, and won the top prize at Indiecade. I did not play it until it was ported to the Switch in 2021. I bet many folks missed Mutazione, so I want to foreground it here. A girl named Kai arrives on a strange island to take care of her ailing grandfather. She quickly becomes integrated into small-town life, making new friends and growing magical gardens. The narrative and sense of a motley crew community are incredibly successful in this deeply touching game. This is a shorter, largely linear narrative game that runs 8-12 hours.
2. Inscryption (PC/Mac): Arguably the most original game I played this year. Inscryption is a deckbuilding roguelike with escape-room puzzles and a compelling metagame horror narrative. You discover an old disc with a game called Inscryption. You find yourself in a cabin where you attempt to escape by defeating a demon at a card game. But things run much deeper. The aesthetics and atmosphere are pitch perfect. This one might run you around 15-20 hours. Daniel Mullins previously made Pony Island and The Hex, both impressively original games. But this one is my favorite to date.
1. Disco Elysium: The Final Cut (PlayStation 4): Disco Elysium is a total masterpiece of a multilinear novelistic game that goes all-in on deep worldbuilding and storytelling. This is a hardboiled mystery set in the fictional city of Revachol in which you are trying to solve a murder, which turns out to be the tip of a huge political iceberg. This version of the game includes some stellar voice acting. Depending on your play style, this will run around 30-40 hours for a single version of the narrative. Though given the wide range of choices and play styles, it is fairly replayable. Like my favorite novels, even tens of hours into the game, I did not want to leave the world of Revachol or for the story to end.
For more GOTY goodness, read the horrors on Don Everhart’s list; the pandemic panaceas on Roger Whitson’s list; and Nate Schmidt’s “naughty & nice” list.
