2021 Games in Review
Games mean a lot to me. They are a HUGE part of my life. I play games for fun, I’ve used games to teach, and I am lucky to make a living with games. Generally speaking, if you know one thing about me, it is likely associated in some way to video games. So with all that being said, I’d like to document better what I am playing, want to play, liked, and disliked over the course of a year. This will be my first and hopefully not last attempt to do that.
How this will go…
Let’s divide the content into a few categories:
What I played
What is on my wishlist
What I enjoyed the most
My biggest disappointment
I think I should be able to get everything I am thinking about into those four boxes. Disclaimer: I am not a journalist, or publication. I am literally thinking this up as I go. Feel free to comment on how I can do better, or weigh in on my thoughts. Let’s roll.
What I played in 2021
There you go. I played 58 games that I can think of and track. I’d like to divide this further into a couple of categories to get some things out of the way. There are a) Games I will play every year until the end of time and b) Games I played for about 5 minutes. Let’s take care of those right away…
Games I will play every year until the end of time
I play these games all the time. Most of them are not new (I think Flight Simulator was released in 2020), all of them are amazing. PLAY THESE GAMES. Better yet, play them and ask me to play with you. I am proud to admit I am almost at 1,800 hours played in Civilization V and 450 hours played on Civilization VI. I still don’t like VI near as much as I enjoy V and with VII being predicted to come maybe in 2022 or 2023, my odds of getting over 1000 hours played in Civ VI are slim. According to the Epic Launcher, I am at 311 hours in Satisfactory, which is quickly climbing my all-time favourite games list and might very well be in the top five if I am thinking objectively about it. Flight Simulator is going to come up again but let’s just say it might be one of the most visually stunning games ever made if you have the computer for it.
Games I played for about 5 minutes
There are a few games on here I desperately want to get into and play, the most notable of those are Octopath Traveller and Monster Hunter World. There are a few games here I dabbled in as I was looking for a new MMO to get into - Elyon, Bless and Swords of Legends Online fall into that category. I tend to install Star Trek Online every year, play it for five minutes, remember that I hate it and am filled with rage at how disappointed I am that I don’t like the Star Trek MMO, and then I uninstall it. Townscaper is the most notable game on this list that isn’t Octopath and Monster Hunter. It was on a LOT of outlets GOTY list, most interestingly, Polygon’s. It’s cute. I didn’t play it long, but I get the appeal. It’s a relaxing, artsy, city builder. Probably a lot of fun to play at the end of a busy week where you don’t want to think anymore.
What is on my wishlist
There are a few games on here that have been on the list for a while, years even. Ori and the Blind Forest, Rimworld, and Horizon: Zero Dawn most notably. I’ll buy them eventually, maybe this is the year?! A few of these are coming out in 2022 and I’m pumped to play them, like, REALLY PUMPED. Elden Ring, written by George R.R. Martin, Starfield, the first new IP from Bethesda Game Studios (of Fallout and Elder Scrolls), Lost Ark, a new MMO that kinda plays like Diablo, and Dune: Spice Wars, a real-time strategy game in the Dune universe, are probably the four games on my wishlist coming out in 2022 that I will be playing on Day One when they are released. Starfield comes out on my birthday, so you know what I’ll be doing. Fun side note: Skyrim was also released on November 11th, it’s a Bethesda thing. I suspect Kerbal 2 and Frostpunk 2 are 2023 releases. I’m not holding my breath.
Game(s) I enjoyed the most in 2021
Here’s where it starts to get tough. Above are the seven games I probably spent 70% of my game time playing. If we sorted these by time played it would end up like this:
Satisfactory (200ish hours)
New World (72 hours including BETA)
Icarus (47 hours)
Valheim (43 hours)
Kingdoms and Castles (33 hours)
Littlewood (16 hours)
Two Point Hospital (10 hours)
Icarus, Valheim, and New World are 2021 releases and ironically are pretty similar in a lot of respects - mainly heavy on crafting and collecting. Icarus and Valheim are almost exactly the same game with minor differences, If you enjoyed Valheim in early 2021 as it was taking the gaming world by storm, you’ll like Icarus. Both are awesome. New World is a new MMO and the first release from Amazon Game Studios. It has an amazing crafting system which I loved and is very heavy on PVP, which I hate. I fell off it because I didn’t want to invest time in an MMO where the end game was PVP. That’s not my style. If you love PVP and really enjoy crafting, New World is for you. I loved the UI, which is a bigger thing than most people give credit for in a game. Kingdoms and Castles is the only game in my 700ish game collection on Steam that I have 100% achievements, so that’s something I guess. As someone who couldn’t get Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley to stick, I am surprised by how much I enjoyed playing Littlewood. I liked it so much I stopped playing it on PC and bought it for Switch so it could be my traveling game (lol.) I am optimistic I will get to play it more in 2022.
My biggest disappointment in 2021
Honestly, this shouldn’t be a surprise. Cyberpunk 2077 came out in late 2020 so I am counting it here since I didn’t play it until January. I wanted to like it so bad but in a time when you’re comparing your scale and scope to games like Fallout and Skyrim you’ve better actually bring it or you’re going to get skewered, and that’s exactly what happened.
THAT BEING SAD. I have reinstalled it. I’ve read about bug fixes and improvements and I am willing to give this another go. I’ll be playing Cyberpunk 2077 again soon and I am hoping it’s good.
But there’s more disappointment
I can’t help but mention my ACTUAL biggest disappointment in 2021 is the terrible revelations about Activision/Blizzard, and specifically Blizzard themselves. It turns out they were run by some pretty shitty people for quite a long time and got away with it because their games: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo etc were HUGE hits making a ton of money.
To make a terrible situation worse, when confronted with their past, executives are AB denied and obfuscated, they released bullshit statements and defended horrible people. It was a masterclass in what not to do when confronted with corporate abuse.
I have to admit, I remain in conflict about Blizzard games. I’ve played World of Warcraft more than any game (yes, even more than Civ V) and I absolutely love Diablo and Overwatch. Blizzard was the Apple of gaming. They took ideas and concepts from the gaming world and made (arguably) the best version of those genres. All three main franchises are going to get updates at some point. Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 are coming soon and a World of Warcraft 2 is inevitable. It feels a little dirty to load up a Blizzard game and keep giving money in subscription fees to a company that treated their employees, and in particular their female employees, so terrible. I honestly don’t know what to do.
I am disappointed to have been put in this position as a fan.
In conclusion
I really enjoyed my gaming in 2021. It was an escape from the stress of staying alive, keeping my kids safe, my wife happy, and how I got through a shitty job situation at the end of the year. Gaming is as good as it’s ever been and these designers are making art in some of the hardest conditions for this type of collaborative work. The games industry deserves some credit for keeping us entertained through year two of the pandemic.
I hope you read this and enjoy it. I’d like to write more about games, maybe even do reviews. I’d also like to play more with friends and stream more on Twitch. Here are the ways you can connect with me if you made it this far and would like to weigh in on my thoughts:
Twitter: @misterwashburn
Twitch: twitch.tv/misterwashburn
Discord: https://discord.gg/3YWDqAChX4
Stay safe, #stayawesome, and good gaming.