Is 2021 a dud for gaming?

I didn't like Doom Eternal all that much. Too much platforming and it feels like you have to constantly conserve ammunition.

multiple people on this forum that initially hated Eternal ended up loving it and calling it one of the best FPS of all time...
 
Did you play Days Gone yet? It isn't perfect, but isn't as bad as the reviews made it seem. Mostly open world, but actually fairly story oriented and guided, zombie apocalypse game. It did nothing great and has a number of small faults. An average game, but I'd certainly recommend it if you don't have anything else you really want to play. I went in thinking I would hate it but it did pick up as the game went on.

Resident Evil Village was good. More action oriented than RE2/3 remakes and RE7 if you're into that. RE7 was more scary, but RE8 is more action based. The performance issue seemed to have been fixed when I played it.

Chernobylite is okay as well. I would check it out and see if you're into that type of game.

Neir Replicant I will not recommend. I would suggest Automata if you haven't played it, but it is a flawed game to.

I think those are the only newly released in 2021 games I've played so far.
 
multiple people on this forum that initially hated Eternal ended up loving it and calling it one of the best FPS of all time...

I finished it, still don't like it, on the other hand, I wish dying light was more like doom eternal, I got bored in dying light by the weapons that break after killing 2 zombies with it and no firearms to be found in the game. Beeing able to do the parkour stuff with some over the top doom action in a non doom game could be a blast, as it stands, we have 2 mediocre games.
 
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Did you play Days Gone yet? It isn't perfect, but isn't as bad as the reviews made it seem. Mostly open world, but actually fairly story oriented and guided, zombie apocalypse game. It did nothing great and has a number of small faults. An average game, but I'd certainly recommend it if you don't have anything else you really want to play. I went in thinking I would hate it but it did pick up as the game went on.

Resident Evil Village was good. More action oriented than RE2/3 remakes and RE7 if you're into that. RE7 was more scary, but RE8 is more action based. The performance issue seemed to have been fixed when I played it.

Chernobylite is okay as well. I would check it out and see if you're into that type of game.

Neir Replicant I will not recommend. I would suggest Automata if you haven't played it, but it is a flawed game to.

I think those are the only newly released in 2021 games I've played so far.

Days Gone is pretty damn awesome. The issue is the initial reviews were basing it off PS4 release. It was never given a chance.
After porting to PC, and with a few updates it's a great game. Yes.. still has a few glitches and bugs... but it is a fun and huge game. (game starts off slow... but picks up once you get out to the various camps and get deeper into the storyline)
 
Did you play Days Gone yet? It isn't perfect, but isn't as bad as the reviews made it seem. Mostly open world, but actually fairly story oriented and guided, zombie apocalypse game. It did nothing great and has a number of small faults. An average game, but I'd certainly recommend it if you don't have anything else you really want to play. I went in thinking I would hate it but it did pick up as the game went on.
I've heard mixed things about it. I'll probably wait for a deep discount before picking it up. The way I See it I'll either hate it and it will be waste of money or I'll love it.
I don't know how much I'm willing to gamble, it's only $25 now on cdkeys. Hm, tempting.
Resident Evil Village was good. More action oriented than RE2/3 remakes and RE7 if you're into that. RE7 was more scary, but RE8 is more action based. The performance issue seemed to have been fixed when I played it.
I'll probably get back into RE3 before trying RE8, I'm just burned out on RE2 now, I Don't think I'll ever finish that game.
Chernobylite is okay as well. I would check it out and see if you're into that type of game.
Seems interesting, will keep it in mind, although I don't like games strained for resources and ammo.
Neir Replicant I will not recommend. I would suggest Automata if you haven't played it, but it is a flawed game to.
I don't think that's for me, been eyeing Automata a while ago, but passed on it.
I think those are the only newly released in 2021 games I've played so far.
Thanks for the suggestions.
 
I've heard mixed things about it. I'll probably wait for a deep discount before picking it up. The way I See it I'll either hate it and it will be waste of money or I'll love it.
I don't know how much I'm willing to gamble, it's only $25 now on cdkeys. Hm, tempting.

$25 is about right for it. I had low expectations, so I suppose I was happy with what I received.

I'll probably get back into RE3 before trying RE8, I'm just burned out on RE2 now, I Don't think I'll ever finish that game.

Did you play RE7 yet? RE8 is essentially a direct sequel to that. I wouldn't say it is 100% necessary to play 7, but would help with some story aspects.

Seems interesting, will keep it in mind, although I don't like games strained for resources and ammo.

It almost made me quit early on. Stopped being an issue but early game was too scavenge like for me. It is a smaller studio game and has all the shortcomings you'd expect from that as well.

I'm going with RE8 and Days Gone so far for the best SP games this year for me. Now that I think of it, suppose there hasn't been much this year so far. I'll have to wait and see how Atomic Heart and Far Cry 6 is.
 
I think 2021 is a dud for just about anything *and everything.
ftfy
your friendly doomer <3

on a serious note, I'm glad Phychonauts 2 came out right about now, not sure if I'd like it, but seems it's bringing lots of joy to lots of people, so hope it goes far...
 
Hitman 3, Hades... But wasn't that technically released last year?

Looking forward to Deathloop (an Arkane Studios joint), AoE IV, and Psychonauts 2. Apart from that, looks like the same Ubisoft and EA FPS tripe which has basically become Madden 20xx. I'll probably get FC6 on discount, play half-heartedly for a few hours.

Edit: The more I see Deathloop gameplay, the more excited I get. It looks like Dishonored with a cool die-die-again mechanic and a Total Recall/70s blacksploitation ascetic. I'm also catching some winks to the No One Lives Forever series.
 
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The best releases are stacked near the end of the year. Final Fantasy XIV and Forza Horizon 4 have been great lately. So far the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters have been pretty good. Diablo 2 Resurrected comes out soon. Forza Horizon 5 and the next FFXIV expansion both come out in November and should be most excellent.
 
multiple people on this forum that initially hated Eternal ended up loving it and calling it one of the best FPS of all time...
I got bored with it's mundane mechanics, overuse of platforming and the poor ammunition economy. It wasn't a fun game for me. I didn't finish it, but there isn't enough to keep me interested enough to do so. I'm probably only a couple hours or so into it. I don't see that changing anytime soon if ever.
 
Doom Eternal was a breath of fresh air for me. On Nightmare, the game actually requires a kind of skill that has been kinda of missing in modern shooters. This is an overused comparison but in a sense it shares something with games like Dark Souls. The room where you get the super shotgun is a good example or the way they kept putting you in increasingly more difficult situations every time a Marauder showed up.

It does have some problems though. One, the story is generic peudo-fantasy crap with average to terrible writing and the whole try hard "Slayer" trope was always stupid to me, even back in Doom 2016. Level design in the old school sense was also non-existent, even more so than Doom 2016, and i think the jumping gimmick didn't add much in terms of making moving around the levels more interesting. I also didn't like how everthing looked so pastel and colorful. Doom 2016 had a darker tone. And on the same note, i also didn't care about stuff like the dolls collectibles, the Doom slayer "room" etc. Too meta for me. Original Doom had this somber and mysterious atmosphere i didn't appreciate how much forth wall breaking Doom Eternal is and it actually enters cringe territory every time it quotes the Doom comic.

Ultimately, those are relative issues i've found with the game. Gameplay is in the end what matters most and i though Doom Eternal did well there. I was particularly impressed by the AI. In the chaos of the arenas sometimes it is easy not to notice how much clever stuff they program into the enemies.
 
Psychonauts 2
Axiom Verge 2
Hades
The Ascent
Mario Golf

I'm sure I've played more decent ones this year, but I'm at work right now.

The year isn't over.

I know that you're probably thinking more along the lines of big-budget AAA games. I don't pay as close attention to that scene as I used to (unless it's something from id Software for example)

Still, as mentioned above, Metroid Dread is still coming, and I'm sure there will be a few other good ones too.

We have the possibility for:
Scorn
Maybe Atomic Heart if we're lucky?
 
The Ascent would be OK if it wasn't broken every which way possible. But I usually don't play indie games, so that's an exception for me, and definitely not the one that is gonna change my mind about indie games.
 
The Ascent would be OK if it wasn't broken every which way possible. But I usually don't play indie games, so that's an exception for me, and definitely not the one that is gonna change my mind about indie games.

Yeah, based on some of your other posts, I didn’t figure any indie would really change your view of the year so far. :D

Still, there have been some good ones this year. I guess it depends pretty heavily on your taste in games.

How’s your backlog?

If you’re into shmuppery at all, R-Type Final 2 came out this year.
 
I'd like to add that 2021 saw the release of one of the most creative and delightful games of all time: It Takes Two

I feel like a lot of people didn't give it the time of day because it's a co-op game, or perhaps they're not comfortable playing a "relationship" game with their buddies. But let me tell you this game is fantastic with buddies. You absolutely do not need to play it with a romantic partner. By far my GOTY 2021. It's going to take a lot to dethrone it.
 
I would say the year has been slow but I had a couple of backlog games to get through to keep it going for awhile. Only one left now on the list of released stuff is Cyberpunk and not sure if I want to jump in or not at $60. Just looked right now and it appears to be on a Steam sale for like $40 for the next couple of days . . . hmmm.

Been keeping an eye on these coming by end of this year- hopefully released on time:

Far Cry 6 (Really looking forward to this- this game seres always make me laugh with the crazy crap you can do- fish, cause traffic pileups with explosives, run things over with moving vehicles, etc).
Back 4 Blood (I wonder what happens if you set off a car alarrm in this one).
Battlefield 2042 (This one might be out for me if it does not have a campaign).
Dying Light 2 (Man the first one creeped me out).

And these two off in a distant future:

Atomic Heart
Avowed


And if I had any say in it:

Fallout 5
 
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So now I can confidently say that without a doubt 2021 was the worst year for gaming for me, since I started playing videogames over 30 years ago. I only finished 5 games this year, four of which were not even released this year.

Here is my review of the year.
 
I dont feel its a total dud but theres been a shift in the status quo. I now have absolutely zero expectations for pc gaming, I was finally able to find a switch OLED and I'm pleased with it, I would probably be far more disappointed if I was trying to build a PC but I guess I lucked out before the pandemic started and blew a shitload of money on a 2080TI and that looks like its going to be pressed into service far longer than my normal upgrade cycle. I have noticed that I've started reading more books, I know it sounds ridiculous but before in the past when I would have just launched a game and blown hours of the day playing, I'm now buying and reading actual physical books so its not all totally bad I guess.

EDIT: if anybody wants an awesome science fiction series to read - The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey
 
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I gave up on games in 2019. I have a MacBook now, life is good. I don’t miss it one bit. Games just are not what they used to be. Guess I’m old

Long live, R6, ghost recon, BF2, BC2, early Siege, im sure a couple CODs we worth mentioning in there… CS, BF1942, Q3arena ohh boy… StarCraft!!

I really only MP

Anyone remember LAN parties? There was always the one guy dealing with crashing from his highly unstable overclocked rig, 3 hours of everyone installing the right game version and endless junk food
 
Since we only have a week left, I think we can mostly agree that 2021 was the "year of the backlog." There were a few good games that rolled out this year, but they were few and far between.
Hopefully 2022 is the year we get all of the great games that were supposed to come out in 2021.
 
It sucks.

I've scrolled the Steam list every night for three weeks now. Not a single thing sticks out. I've tried about a dozen games this past two weeks, nothing. Hell, I reinstalled World of Warcraft last night, started a new character, and made it to level 8 before I gave in because I know what I'm going to be facing in a week once I hit level cap.

I did play the shit out of Path of Exile, but the league is over for me.

I have a couple hours after kiddo goes to bed to dub around with something. I almost think I'm done with gaming for the time being. I spend those couple hours perusing PC game lists and reviews, and there isn't a single one that I'm willing to buy. I can't even find a genre I'm interested in.

I need to grab another hobby or something.
 
It sucks.

I've scrolled the Steam list every night for three weeks now. Not a single thing sticks out. I've tried about a dozen games this past two weeks, nothing. Hell, I reinstalled World of Warcraft last night, started a new character, and made it to level 8 before I gave in because I know what I'm going to be facing in a week once I hit level cap.

I did play the shit out of Path of Exile, but the league is over for me.

I have a couple hours after kiddo goes to bed to dub around with something. I almost think I'm done with gaming for the time being. I spend those couple hours perusing PC game lists and reviews, and there isn't a single one that I'm willing to buy. I can't even find a genre I'm interested in.

I need to grab another hobby or something.
If you're a fan of ARPG's try Wolcen, it was pretty good in my opinion...
 
I didn't think this was a bad year for gaming. In fact, I think it's certainly better than 2020. Aside from Destiny 2's expansion and Cyberpunk 2077, I don't think I really bought much of anything, nor found anything new I liked. I've enjoyed some games that kind of came out of nowhere for me like Chorus and Aliens Fireteam Elite. Halo Infinite turned out to be surprisingly good.
 
Halo Infinite, Outriders (gamepass), Alien fire team, back 4 blood, and the sleeper hit of the year Guardians of The Galaxy. GoTG was good enough to be one of my favorite games of all time.
 
Here's a few more I didn't see mentioned when I skimmed the thread:

Sable
Returnal
Praey For The Gods came out of Early access
The Forgotten City
Subnautica: Below Zero
Monster Hunter: Rise
The Pathless
Hitman 3
Little Nightmares 2
Psychonauts 2
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart
Metroid: Dread
Shin Migami Tensei 5
Bowser's Fury add-on to the Switch remaster of Super Mario 3D world
Cyber Shadow
Knockout City
Guilty Gear: Strive
Neo: The World Ends With You
Phoenotopia
Lost Judgement
WRC 10
It Takes Two
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
Inscryption
Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One
Kena: Bridge of Spirits
FF7 Remake Intergrade
 
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Resounding YES from me. I spent most of this year in Hades on switch(old game) and Factorio(last year). Hell of alot of bleh for 2021. I think covid screwed the release schedule, now 1Q 2022 is packed to shit, i'll be sitting on games for a while. Then hopefully witcher3 and cyberpunk updates are out.
 
For my tastes? Yeah, this is the worst I can remember. Still, it gave me plenty of time to play some old games I've never played and replay some classics. And I'm now almost at 100% completion on EDF 5 multiplayer, which is awesome and sad.

In contrast, I have 18 games scheduled to come out next year that I am extremely excited for. If they all actually come out as scheduled there's no way I'll be able to stay on top of it all.
 
I saw this thread, had this same discission with friendsa couple of weeks ago. There were no new releases in 2021 that really caught my attention. I ended up spending my gaming time with games a few years ago. Right now, I find myself playing Witcher 3, Mechwarrior 5 and Skyrim since there is nothing new of interest to me.
 
Feels like 2022 is starting off pretty well, though. The long awaited PC ports of God of War and Uncharted are inbound. Horizon Forbidden West, Dying Light 2, and Elden Ring are right around the corner. Forspoken and Babylon's Fall have lots of potential and are due in March. A new Grand Tourismo is finally coming out, too. Those are just the high profile titles and that's already better than the first 6 months of 2021.
 
I am not prepared to say it is better until we have games in hand. The potential for a better year is here for sure but the realization of that better year has yet to be delivered.
 
This year has sucked Part of this is due to Epic Games Store stealing several exclusives from me that I would have otherwise played this year; but when the majority pf releases are just Remastered crap you already find boring (or just more shit console sequels,) this is the year of MOSTLY CRAP
 
Returnal was great. PS5 exclusive though.

It takes two very good.

Deathloop not bad.

Also online gambling is popping but not your traditional gaming i guess.
 
Deathloop and Halo Infinite kind of saved the year with both being good fun. Other than that the only games released in 2021 that I payed for were Mass Effect Legendary edition (great games, but not really 2021 releases) and F1 2021. I got Far Cry 6 with my Ryzen CPU and played through it, but I would say it was mediocre and struggled to find any other games that would interest me.
 
People mentioning outriders as the higlight of the year really makes me loose faith in humanity. It was one of the worst games I played not just in 2021, but ever.
 
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