2021 Quarterlies! Vote for Qt3’s Best Game of 2021: “All these worlds are yours. Except Europa. Attempt no landing there.”

@Sonoftgb @VogonPoet - You need to have the rank numbers before the bolded titles.

@sharaleo - You have to bold just the title, not the number.

@JonRowe - You need to bold the titles.

Does Valheim even qualify here?

  1. Solasta: Crown of the Magister
  2. Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
  3. MLB The Show 21
  4. Surviving the Aftermath
  5. Farming Simulator 22

I think it is still in Early Access, so no.

  1. Disco Elysium - The Final Cut
    I like CRPGs.

  2. Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
    See #1.

  3. Mass Effect Legendary Edition
    Started on Game Pass and immediately sucked in. Ancient-feeling game, movement is awful, but I love it. Still on ME1, but maybe 80% done already. First time I’ve played ME1 since the 360.

  4. Elder Scrolls Online
    I’ve been playing this off and on for years. Fantastic game. I don’t play it like a MMO.

  5. Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition
    Game is fun and all but that isn’t why it’s on this list. The lighting is truly next-generation, showing what you can do when you require ray-tracing.

It’s so weird that we can pick the biggest games from 2019 and 2020 but not one of the biggest games of 2021 for our 2021 lists.

  1. Pathfinder: Wrath of the RIghteous

  2. Inscryption

  3. Unplugged: Air Guitar

  4. Solasta

  5. Wordle

Solasta was 2020, FYI. Same with Cyberpunk 2077 which otherwise would probably be on my list (but not at the top).

Early access in October 2020. Full release May of 2021, so qualifies.

This forum really has a lot of CRPG fans.

Aha! Probably deserves to be on my list but to my eternal shame I haven’t gotten around to playing it yet.

Is it fair to say CP2077 was “early access” too? No? OK. :(

Lol. Didn’t full release in 2021 either though.

Was noticing that as well, most of what’s getting on top 5’s so far are games I’ve never even considered playing.

Cyberpunk’s Current Gen ports are going to be released at some point, so it will be eligible again at that point.

  1. Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker - Wonderfully wrapped and paid off a 10 year story arc. Shame about the queues.
  2. Forza Horizon 5 - Huh, no one else voted for this yet? I wonder if the magic of the Horizon formula is gone.
  3. Castlevania Advance Collection - I don’t feel great about this vote but I also can’t leave off a budget release of three solid metroidvanias.
  4. Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania - A remake of the good Monkey Ball games including the minigames? Yes please.
  5. Boyfriend Dungeon - I didn’t play too many 2021 releases and some of them just didn’t do it for me (looking at you Returnal). So let’s throw in a dunj-crawler VN (with a sublime soundtrack) that I expect won’t get any other votes at number 5.

I don’t think it really hit 1.0 yet. Later this year perhaps. ;)

  1. Mini Motorways
    This provided me much joy for a few weeks when it came out. I eventually burned out on it but what a special little game. I prefer the setup to predecessor Mini Metro, the additional variety kept me coming back

  2. Solasta: Crown of the Magister
    I love this genre but have bounced off the likes of Pathfinder and Divinity 2 for their over complicated and difficult combat. I think those games are designed for people that are not me, which is fair enough. Solasta on the other hand is much more for me, a filthy casual. The combat is actually fun and doesn’t require me to min-max nor thoroughly understand a ruleset. I am basically up to the final bit of this game and have been putting it off for a couple of months, I should bite the bullet and finish it.

  3. Dorfromantik
    Similar to Mini Motorways in terms of what it did for me, but I burned out on it much quicker, probably due to the game length once you get reasonably good at it. They are still tweaking so I really ought to give it another try and see what changes have been made.

  4. the Ascent
    Had a blast with this but a personal funk that I got into from October-December has prevented me from finishing it. I hope to have another crack at it.

  5. Trials of Fire
    Intensely enjoyed this for a period until I beat the main quest, then didn’t feel a huge desire to go back and see the rest of the game. Lovely little system though.

Odds and Ends

Train Simulator 2022 probably should be #2 on the list but it’s the same game as 2021 … Dipped in and out of Hardspace: Shipbreaker but really waiting for them to finish it, like what I’ve seen … Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector probably would get on this list with another few hours of play, it seems very cool indeed … finally learned how to play OMSI 2 on my 4th or 5th shot at it and had a blast. the graphics and performance are terrible but as a sim it is super detailed and an impressive feat … Peaky Blinders: Mastermind was surprisingly entertaining for a bundle filler, although one level almost destroyed me … excited to try Lake and Sable at some point, I don’t see much on the 2022 radar yet that appeals so hopefully will get to those soon

I actually played more than one title that’s eligible!

  1. Old World
  2. Slipways
  1. Pathfinder. Wrath of the Righteous . Til I hit a puzzle I didn’t feel like futzing with. But I’ll get back

  2. Old World til it stopped loading and I stopped fiddling enough to get it to load

  3. Gloomhaven Didn’t get into it much til latest giant patch, but now that I am, it’s kinda great.

  4. Out of the Park Baseball 22, so much time tinkering. My RNG wasn’t the best this year for players in card packs, but for a few months I’d hit this thing at least once or twice a day.

  5. Mini Motorways Very chill and relaxing…until it isn’t.

Hex of Steel would have been number 3, but it came out in 2020 I just noticed.
Solasta is honorable mention, mostly for the community built campaigns and good support for a mid-tier developed game.

My picks:

  1. Final Fantasy XIV Online: Endwalker
  2. Nioh 2
  3. Wildermyth
  4. Monster Hunter Stories 2
  5. Slipways

My 6 to 10 goes like this:

  • Nier Replicant
  • Guilty Gear Strive
  • Tales of Arise
  • Drox Operative 2
  • Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Games that I’ve played but didn’t make it to the top 10:

  • Griftlands
  • Scarlet Nexus
  • Persona 5 Strikers

Games I played too little of to measure how good they are:

  • Hitman 3
  • Old World
  • Disco Elysium: The Final Cut
  • Melty Blood: Type Lumina
  • Ys IX: Monstrum Nox
  • Sunless Skies DC

Games released in 2021 that I bought but didn’t play yet:

  • Impostor Factory
  • Chicory
  • Subnautica: Below Zero
  • Streets of Rage 4 DLC
  • Trails of Cold Steel IV
  • Gloomhaven
  • Webbed
  • The Magister
  • Erannorth Chronicles
  • Sable
  • Inscryption
  • Death’s Door
  • The Riftbreaker
  • Webbed
  • The Magister
  • Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
  • It Takes Two
  • Hardspace: Shipbreakers (though this is EA, so it might get a second chance in 2022 :D)
  1. Solasta: Crown of the Magister
    So much 5e goodness, made me feel like I was at a gaming table. And great community mods

  2. Pro Strategy Football 2022
    Good deep simulation of football coaching. What is really hooking me is being able to play historical seasons.

  3. Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
    So much going on, but so fun.

Most played in 2021 (regardless of release date)
iRacing (racing)
Asseto Corsa Competizione (more racing)
Wreckfest (racing with wrecking)
BSG: Deadlock (stinking cylons)
Steel Division 2 (stinking nazis)