Bratushka's Top 10 Games of 2021

The last year wasn't the most exciting of years for gaming. Compared to some golden years like 2015 and 2016, it feels positively moribund. There are a lot of good reasons for this, of course: the COVID pandemic is quite the thing.

However, despite a certain lack in the quantity of great games, there have still been some tremendous titles that have come out this year. In this article, we're going to take a look at Bratushka's top 10 games of 2021. Rereleases and remasters won't be featured, nor will ports that came out this year, so even though I've played a ton of Monster Train on the Switch and Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, they won't get a look in. Also, be warned that there will be some spoilers in this list.

Without any further ado, let's jump into the top 10 games of 2021!

10. Unpacking

Moving house is one of those tasks that seems to exert some special kind of dilation on spacetime. It feels as though it takes forever, and is one of the most stressful experiences that we've somehow accepted as a society.

Unpacking shouldn't be an interesting game. Putting you into the shoes of a woman who's just moved house, it's your job to unpack everything from the boxes and put it in an appropriate place.

Where Unpacking comes into its own is in its visual style and its narrative style. The pitch-perfect pixel art renders everything from classic game covers to different kinds of toiletries incredibly crisply, despite severe limitations. The narrative style of Unpacking, too, is interesting: despite never seeing the protagonist (or any other humans for that matter, spare a few photographs), and the story of her life being implicit, rather than explicit, you come to a real understanding of who she is and what she's been through.

9. Next Space Rebels

Next Space Rebels snuck up on me. I'd never heard of it before Vinny Caravella of Nextlander mentioned it on the podcast, but his description piqued my interest and made it one of the first games I installed on my brand new Xbox Series S.

It's a game that is a bizarre hybrid of visual art, FMV, and rocket building. You must upload videos of your rockets to StarTube, a Youtube analog, and get views. To get these views, you need to complete various challenges that range from launching a rocket using dynamite to building a rocket out of many different kinds of trash.

The story has some interesting things to say about corporate culture and the influence that the internet can have on young people. For instance, after one challenge that tasks you with using fireworks to launch a rocket, you get a message about a kid you've been in contact with, and how he met an untimely end after blowing himself up.

It's not Kerbal Space Program, but if you're after a game that meshes a simple rocket builder with a unique story, it's a must-play.

8. Mini Motorways

Mini Metro was a game that paired simple but devilishly difficult puzzle design with a beautiful visual style that took influence from the classic London Underground map. Creating a sequel was always going to be a bit of a tall order, so how did Dinosaur Polo Club do it? They took a lesson from Kraftwerk and went fahren auf der autobahn.

Motorway maps have an allure all of their own, especially if you grew up staring at road maps in your family's car, as I did. Mini Motorways gives you the chance to build roads, bridges, tunnels and, yes, motorways around some of the most infamously congested cities in the world. If you want to take on the horror of Los Angeles traffic and replace it with a system of roads that works like clockwork, you can do that, all while creating an artwork of branching paths.

7. Fights In Tight Spaces

Deckbuilding games litter the Steam store like playing cards across the floor of a student flat. You may think that Slay the Spire and Monster Train sated your desire to collect cards like a late-90s Pokemon fan, but I'd implore you to give Fights In Tight Spaces a try.

This game by Ground Shatter puts you into the Italian shoes of a John Wick or James Bond sort, fighting a selection of different enemies in various confined spaces (if you can believe it), such as toilets and bars.

The game gives you a huge number of different moves that you can bust out and bust heads with, which can often result in the protagonist making use of environmental objects to take down foes. What really makes Fights In Tight Spaces stand out is its clean, minimalist art style. Taking clear inspiration from Superhot, the protagonist is black and white, the enemies red, and the environments various shades of white and grey, resulting in an elegant but brutal aesthetic.

6. Overboard

After the sublime 80 Days, Inkle has been on fire, and Overboard forges ahead boldly, showing no signs of stopping. The game opens off the coast of the US during a trip from the UK to New York. The delightfully named protagonist, Veronica Villensey has just tossed her husband overboard: you need to get away with murder.

The problem is, there are witnesses. If you wish, you can go on a murder spree and kill everyone on the boat, leaving you the sole survivor of a blood-soaked Mary Celeste. If you'd prefer, you can weave a web of lies, blaming someone else for the murder.

The game adds complexity upon complexity, making getting away scot-free a tremendous accomplishment.

5. Halo Infinite

I met Halo Infinite with a certain trepidation. I'd not played a new Halo game since 2007, but had noticed a general downturn in the series' popularity.

Much to my surprise, Halo Infinite is fantastic. It pulls off an open world with a surprising amount of panache, using clever design mechanics to make it feel more structured than its flabbier contemporaries.

In terms of gameplay, Infinite appears to take a certain level of inspiration from Doom Eternal. It's tougher than previous Halo games and also gives you various subsystems (a grappling hook, a rocket booster, a droppable shield and an enemy tracker), which allows you to adapt fluidly to any situation.

4. Wildermyth

I've always wanted there to be an RPG that actually feels like DND. In 2021, the mysterious genie of Wildermyth granted me my wish. It gives you a number of different, beautifully-formed campaigns to explore. Along the way, you take a staggering number of decisions that can influence your characters and the campaign at large.

The results of these decisions can be huge. Characters can die, fall in love, have children, or, indeed, become human-animal hybrids. I'll never forget my wolf-headed warrior who stuck with me until the very end, despite her friends and comrades falling along the way.

Were it a visual novel or simply featured some fairly standard RPG combat, it would still be a deeply interesting game. Thankfully, tactical combat that feels like a lighter, fantasy version of XCOM ties everything together beautifully.

3. Hitman 3

The World of Assassination trilogy has been one of the high points of gaming in the last five years. When Hitman came out back in 2016, it produced perhaps the finest game in the series up to that point. No one can forget exploring Sapienza or Hokkaido for the first time. Hitman 2 added a host of interesting new levels and mechanics, yet it was an evolution, not a revolution.

Hitman 3 is a genuine revolution for the franchise. Many of its levels seem to set the dynamic on its head, from Dartmoor's incredible Knives Out homage through to the final level, which encourages you to kill everyone that you come across, not only your ultimate target.

It's the Berlin level that is the game's zenith, however. Berlin makes you the target of a ton of different assassins spread throughout an underground rave. Your objective is to kill enough of your would-be killers, and it's a whole lot of tripwire tense fun.

While the game may not quite reach the heights of Sapienza or Hokkaido, it is, like Agent 47 himself, professional, measured and vicious.

2. The Forgotten City

Timeloop games as a genre came into their own this year, and The Forgotten City is the best of the bunch. You play a tabula rasa of a character who wakes up on the bank of a river near ancient Roman ruins. You venture inside of them and are thrown back in time to ancient times, where the city is living under the so-called Golden Rule. If anyone in the city commits a sin, everyone in the city will be turned into a living, immobile golden statue.

Your task is to solve the mystery and find out what's causing the golden rule and who is behind its enforcement.

Over the course of the game, you will explore the beautifully-rendered Roman city, as well as the labyrinthine ruins beneath it, meeting a huge range of characters. The writing is fantastic, using ancient politics to discuss themes including disability, race, sexuality, and the rapacious pursuit of profit.

Descend into the ruins: you won't soon forget them.

1. Forza Horizon 5

There hasn't been a huge number of fantastic racing games this year, at least, not until Forza Horizon 5 roared, rolled, and lumbered onto the scene in November. The game chucks you (quite literally) into a facsimile of Mexico that, while stereotypical, provides a perfect playground for you to explore.

There are tons of cars in FH5, more than 500 in fact, and the game throws them at you like treats to a much-loved pet. You will build up a ridiculous garage in no time at all.

Yet what makes FH5 quite so special is the way it manages to capture the excitement and childlike glee that classic racing movies have inspired in us over the years. I can't express this any better than Noah Caldwell-Gervais has, and I'd fully recommend that you check out his video here.

It is a game that puts a smile on your face through its sheer exuberance, gives you a ton of toys and tells you to roam and race to yours heart's content. It's perhaps the best racing game that I've ever played, and the greatest game of 2021.

What do you think of this top 10? Got any comments? Feel free to get in touch with me!