Originally Published in Print, April 2022.
Art by Meghan Flood
TN2 GAMES OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2021
Best Multiplayer: It Takes Two
Hazelight Studios’ It Takes Two is perhaps the most surprising hit found in the catalogue of 2021 video game releases. The game is a fantastic adventure through a multitude of genres brought to life by beautiful visuals, incredible level design, and gameplay that is simply fun. Playing through It Takes Two feels like taking a journey back in time to the simplicity of early 2000s platforming games like Ratchet & Clank and Jak & Daxter. It is undoubtedly a passion project built by developers who hold the same love for our childhood favourites as we do. Keeping this in mind makes It Takes Two’s most innovative and impressive feature an even greater achievement; it is built to be played in co-op. The game was made to be played with friends or family and it serves as the perfect entry-point for anybody unfamiliar with video games. The simplicity and consistent flow of the gameplay as the players are transported from genre to genre – from a platformer, to a third-person shooter, to a 2D fighter and more – introduces at a base level those same essential game concepts that we learned in the early days of Ratchet or Jak. It Takes Two is our best multiplayer game of 2021 not just because of its impressive and nostalgia-awakening design and visuals, but because of its accessibility – this is one of those rare few games in which everyone really can join the fun.
Game of The Year: Returnal
With titles such as Resogun and Alienation under its belt, developer Housemarque had already earned itself an impressive reputation, causing many players to wonder what such a talented studio could do with a bit of money behind it. That question was answered in the spring of 2021, with the release of Housemarque’s new Playstation 5 exclusive title Returnal. Returnal is a roguelite game – this means that, with every death, the player is sent back to the beginning of the game having lost almost all of the progress that they made over the course of their last ‘run’. If this sounds repetitive and frustrating, that’s because in many games, it often can be. However, Returnal rarely falls victim to this trap of repetivity. With stunning environments filled with exotic flora and fauna, a diverse variety of enemy types, and a gameplay loop that feels like it was designed to prevent you from ever putting your controller down again, everything that the game does is built upon a very solid core. What really makes Returnal our Game of the Year, however, is just how effectively the game utilises the next-generation hardware found in the Playstation 5. The combat feels smooth and natural at sixty frames per second, and the dedication Housemarque had to utilising the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers available with the console’s controller turned the game into an experience like no other. On top of this, the sound design is perhaps the best we have seen in a video game to date. As I progressed through the game, I realised just how effectively I could use audio and sound to pinpoint exactly where enemies stood, and what attacks I should anticipate from them. I grew to rely less on sight and more on hearing to navigate combat situations; this provided a sense of immersion that I have not experienced in any other game. With fun and addictive gameplay at its core, stunning visuals, and incredible use of next-generation hardware in creating one of the most immersive gaming experiences on the market, Returnal is undoubtedly our Game of the Year for 2021.
Best Single Player: Metroid Dread
We are currently living in an era where Metroidvania games are in abundance, but Metroid games are thin on the ground. A new, must-play Metroidvania comes out every week;, from Hollow Knight to Ori and the Will of the Wisps to Guacamelee to Blasphemous no matter what artstyle, tone, or difficulty you like, there is a Metroidvania made just for you. On the other hand, if you’re a Metroid fan, there hasn’t been a game since Metroid: Other M in 2010 (unless you count Metroid Prime: Federation Force, which this publication does not.) It was coming to a stage where it felt like the market was so saturated that the Metroidvania students had to be better than any attempt for Samus to return. And then Nintendo announced Metroid Dread;less than four months later, it was on our consoles, demonstrating that, after all this time, they are still the masters of the genre. It was the type of game that would hook you in for 8 hours without your noticing, always feeding you more and more breadcrumbs of where to go next without being too telegraphed. It also gave enough of a challenge that if anyone so much as breathed during certain boss fights, it would throw off your game entirely.After Metroid Dread’s blast onto the Nintendo Switch, any fears fans had about the death of the Metroid franchise have been put to rest; the new Metroid Prime 4 is fast becoming one of our most anticipated upcoming releases.
Best Remake/Re-release: Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
Those who were dedicated enough to invest in the WiiU during its run were treated to a few gems: The Wonderful 101, Mario Kart 8, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, and, yes, Super Mario 3D World. It was all the fun, energetic platforming you would expect from a 2D Mario but pushed to a 3D platformer that was absolutely brimming with ideas. I maintain that the double cherry is one of the best Mario power-ups since the ice flower in New Super Mario Bros Wii. Not only were we gifted this gorgeous remake of a classic many missed out on, but it was updated with Bowser’s Fury, which feels like it’s something between 3D World and Odyssey, but make it cat. It’s the tight platforming from 3D World with the imaginative world design from Odyssey leading to something that is as delightful to play as Mario has ever been. The fact that Nintendo not only re-released one of their best platformers, but added a whole extra 6 hour game on top of it is what really pushes it a step above the typical re-releases we are used to.
Editorial Retrospective on Gaming in 2021
Best Single Moment: Buying Tetris Effect
There’s not much to say about this, so I’ll keep it brief. Tetris rules. It is literally the best game we have ever created. Tetris Effect is the best Tetris game. I would highly, highly recommend coming home from a night out, booting up the online game shop of your choosing, and buying Tetris Effect when drunk. One of the best experiences you could hope for and, instead of waking up with the Fear, you wake up with a little present for yourself!
Most Buckwild Experience: Playing No Thing
No Thing is a game that I’m 90% sure doesn’t exist. I can’t imagine the person (or people) who created it. I think that it just sort of happened one day. It appeared on systems (because it’s on practically every system) one day fully formed – the decision to put it there was made by no one. It’s a first person game where the only options are to turn left and turn right. You move forward at a pace undictated by yourself as you are surrounded by seemingly meaningless shapes and icons and a colour scheme that changes every minute or so. There is a vaporwave soundtrack and, over that, a robotic monologue that speaks in platitudes, none of which made clear sense to me. It is as if David Lynch had a baby with the elevator music from your nightmares. Even just watching gameplay now gives me a minor headache and anxiety. The three hours of this that I played were played alone, in a dark living room, as I waited until 2am when the Women’s Skateboarding at the 2020 Olympics would start, in the year 2021. Nothing is real.
Best Replay: Breath of the Wild
Recently, my girlfriend has gone on Erasmus to Prague and, as a sort of parting gift, we did a bit of a game swap, each of us giving each other a copy of our favourite games. I lent her my old copy of Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (one of the greatest games of all time, and top of my list for games to port to Switch) and she lent me a copy of The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild. It’s a very lovely thing which I would highly recommend to anyone in a relationship with someone else who loves video games. There is something about having an experience that you know meant a lot to your partner and getting to call them and tell them what part you are at, sharing an experience across time. I played Breath of the Wild a long, long time ago, in 2017 when it first came out on the WiiU. Not a lot of people that it released on both consoles, but it did. I’ll always associate the cover art with that iconic WiiU Blue Band. My WiiU broke at some stage and so I have been unable to dive back into the world of Hyrule for the past few years, until now. Playing it now, about 5 years after it came out, I am struck by how my entire approach to the game has changed utterly. When I first played it, I was a man on a mission. I was getting every single tower, collecting the Divine Beasts ceaselessly, scoping out shrines from great heights. I was placing so many markers that, if you removed all other identifying features, I’d still be able to navigate Hyrule with ease. Yet, now, it’s different. I play for an hour or two max at the end of every day, and I spend most of my time running around, looking for memories. I never cared about the memories on my previous runs. In fact, I think I didn’t collect any, and yet, this time I am drawn to them. Running around Hyrule has become a form of meditation and escapism for me. It is an unexpectedly emotional experience. It makes me feel closer to my partner, and helps me to reflect on how I’ve changed in the last 5 years. 5 years ago, I was just preparing to start college and Breath of the Wild has shown me just how utterly unrecognisable I am from that person. Playing Breath of the Wild in 2022 has had a bigger impact on me than any game I’ve ever replay. It has helped me to bridge the gap in a long distance relationship, escape from the pressures of my final year of college, and enter a dialogue with my past self. It is that very special gaming experience which, every time I put down my Switch, makes me feel like I know myself a little bit better.
