Favorite Game Designs of 2021

Guardians of The Galaxy

This game caught my eye the day it was announced and in this year’s packed holiday release schedule I knew this would be my first purchase, sadly the only one. Guardians is a Third Person Action Adventure, Story-Driven Decision Based game. A lot of words, but each is crucial to describing the core experience. The closest game in comparison would be Uncharted in terms of world building, writing and action, but it also borrows from the old Telltale games of the past to use dialogue options as a core mechanic. I also want to throw in Final Fantasy as another possible inspiration behind the combat system.

While the story itself isn't wide branching, it’s the smaller moments between characters that vary with player choice which create the quintessential Guardians experience. The failure of Avengers, a similar game in the eyes of marketing but a Destiny-like Co-Op grind-fest in terms of design, missed the mark in execution. Describing this game, it comes off as an ambitious title that would’ve been a nightmare to balance and maintain as a live experience which turned out to be true. Guardians on the other hand, sounds just right in complexity to pull off while satisfying the audience with their “not friends, family” feel good story.

The combat systems went stale by the end of the game, but every dialog option, and every cut scene felt like a James Gunn moment come to life. I enjoyed it thoroughly and marveled at the attention to world detail by the art and environment team. I often spent time in photo mode and chasing collectibles while waiting for the next big combat scenario.

I played Guardians of The Galaxy on PS5.

Deathloop

DISCLAIMER. I did not finish this game. My opinion is only from the opening few hours.

Instant flashback to Prey Mooncrash DLC, Arkane Studios took a tried and tested formula, gave it a 70s flare and released this time loop “immersive sim”. I use inverted commas because the immersive-ness here is boiled down to the point it felt the lead designer was sitting with me and walking me through the game, nudging me at every turn. I love immersive sims yet I have completed none, partially due to their difficulty and partially due to their complexity. Deathloop incorrectly attempts to solve this by making it a walk in the park, where not even the time of day cycle poses any threat to your journey. It’s dialing down the core appeal of an immersive sim from a 10 to a 1. I felt threatened neither by the enemy nor the resource management and definitely not Julianna.

That said, the 70s aesthetic felt refreshing, proving the versatility of the Arkane talent to build biomes like its not a big deal. The decor indoors may feel a little illogical at times, nonetheless each element looking like its a part of the world. Haptics and adaptive triggers on the PS5 were wonderful to experience.

I lost interest in the game pretty early on, it did not engage me the way Prey or Dishonored have before it. I hope to come back someday and give it another try.

Demon’s Souls

I am terribly bad at soulsborne games. I couldn't get past the first boss of Dark Souls, the third boss of Bloodborne, and the second of Dark Souls 2. The world keeps bringing me back to these games. Countless hours watching lore breakdowns and my favorite YouTubers playing through the games have kept me engaged with the community and the genre, but as a gamer, it's daunting.

Demon’s Souls is the first in the franchise and arguably the most dated in complexity. Bluepoint studios masterfully recreated this gem with the bells and whistles of the new generation of hardware and software possibilities to breathe new life into this dormant dragon. Demon’s Souls is hard. That's the charm of the game and the single barrier that keeps me from fully exploring the world I know I will love. I don’t hold it against the designers to choose difficulty as the core hurdle to overcome and experience the worlds they have created. The narrative structure and the experience of the player, both in conjunction present a world in which the protagonist must die repeatedly but eventually overcome the roadblocks. It is Ludonarrative Resonance in its best example. Deathloop, the previous entry, in my opinion is creating ludonarrative dissonance. It’s world is portrayed to be a puzzle in which every death will reward you with the knowledge to proceed with your task but fails to challenge you and instead holds your hand through every death.

I will overcome the difficulty of Demon’s Souls one boss battle at a time, hopefully reaching the end before the next PlayStation releases.

Phasmophobia

The streaming hit from this Halloween was a refreshing Co-Op experience. Losing electricity a couple of times during our sessions did not help with the spook factor and is definitely on my list for best Co-Op games to play this year.

Phasmophobia is a horror Co-Op game where you and your team must investigate haunted locations to determine the nature of the paranormal presence. The game is logical and makes for a unique experience every play with smart paranormal AI and plenty of variability. I don’t have much to say, except for the fact that the foundation laid down here is great to scale up with expansions and updates to keep players coming back.

Indie Games

Hundred Days:

This game had been on my wishlist since it’s announcement and I was very curious to see how a wine factory simulator would play. This game is charming in a Stardew Valley kind of way, you can spend hours/days/weeks/months building your perfect farm-factory-bottling plant with enough variability to keep you glued season after season.

Baba is You(iPad):

I wanted to play this game back in 2019 on the switch, but it got lost in my wishlist. This year the game was released on iPad and I purchased it the day I saw it in the store. I love the concept of Baba is You, it's a puzzle game that is a puzzle to describe in itself. It makes you think so out of the box, it should be a must play for everyone. It builds creative problem solving skills and could make you see every logical problem in a new light.

I played a lot of games this year, but these few stood out to me in terms of design and unique intent behind their design decisions. I’m sure I missed out a few game design gems this year, like you all, my backlog increased month over month compared to the list of games completed. Instead of playing more, I think my new year’s resolution will be to finally make a steam release and hope to land on someone else’s list of interesting game designs of 2022.