2021 is gone, so it's that time of the year- the time every developer and publisher awaits whilst holding their breath. The CMOT70 GOTY awards for 2021. This the games finished thread, so only finished games count, so my favorite game of the year by far- Flight Simulator on Xbox, isn't eligible, otherwise it would be on top. This year I finished 78 games, down slightly on previous years, but I put a lot of time into Flight Sim and MLB The Show which never can be called finished.

AAA Industry and platform played on:

1. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (XSX)- not as good as Dark Souls or Bloodborne, but still outstanding.
2. Yakuza: Like a Dragon (XSX Game Pass)- best turn based JRPG ever made.
3. Forza Horizon 5 (XSX Game Pass)- Still playing this daily to collect cars.
4. Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Switch)
5. Assassin's Creed Odyssey and all DLC (XSX)- Replayed to 100%
6. Control Ultimate Edition (XSX)- Remedy at their finest.
7. Halo Infinite (XSX Game Pass)
8. AI: The Somnium Files (XSX Game Pass)
9. Octopath Traveler (XSX Game Pass)- Retro style JRPG done to perfection.
10. Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne (Switch)

Indie and small studio games. Played far more Indies this year due to Game Pass. Usually I don't buy them because, even when they're good, the price vs value/length doesn't match a AAA game on deep sale for the same price. But Game Pass lowers the entry barrier. Only the top three games in this list are titles I would likely have bought... and even then in a few years time on deep sale- and I still will.

1. Mortel Shell Enhanced Edition (XSX Game Pass)- Indie Dark Souls.
2. The Ascent (XSX Game Pass)- Probably best isometric ARPG I played this year, or in a long time.
3. The Forgotten City (XSX Game Pass)- Best story game I played this year.
4. The Good Life (XSX Game Pass)- SWERY, no need to say anything more.
5. The Artful Escape (XSX Game Pass)
6. Art of Rally (XSX Game Pass)
7. Solasta: Crown of the Magister (PC Game Pass)- great tactical Dungeons and Dragons game.
8. The Falconeer (XSX Game Pass)
9. Sable (XSX Game Pass)
10. Omno (XSX Game Pass)

Worst game I finished: Undertale (XSX Game Pass)

Best music and sound: The Artful Escape

Best graphics: The Artful Escape (for its style alone)

Best story: The Forgotten City

Biggest Surprise game: MLB The Show (XSX Game Pass)- I never knew that Baseball is not only a fun and very tactical sport- kinda turn based in a way (each pitch is a turn), it makes a great video game as well.

2021's favorite gaming based moment: There was this thread where Sony fanboys were raging about MLB The Show being announced for Xbox- a game made by Sony. I (being in a trollish mood) simply said I'll just wait until it comes to Game Pass. You can imagine the reaction and vitriol and death threats, but the general consensus was that hell will freeze before a Sony made game would come to Game Pass. The only thing A Sony fanboy hates more than Xbox is Game Pass. The very next day it was announced for Game Pass- day one. Do you think a single one of those fanboys came back and admitted they were wrong? I love the world, if there's a God then he has a funny sense of humor.

hear hear, and good riddance with those fanboys!

<< personal GOTY game -- Civilization - VI

1. Mega Man Zero 4 (GBA, 2005) - 7 (Normal, didn't fully level up the elf and missed two EX skills)
2. Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest (PC, 1995) - 6.5 (Knight campaign)
3. Legacy of the Wizard (NES, 1987) - 6
4. Toki (PC, 2019)(1989 Remake) - 6.5 (Easy)
5. Brain Lord (SNES, 1994) - 7
6. R-Type Delta (PS1, 1998) - 7.5 (Normal, R-9 ship; might be an 8 with the R-13 on Easy)
7. Bastion (PC, 2011) - 7 (Normal (no hard mode), reached level 6, beat each arena once (one with a god power on it) and got about 2/3 of the achievements+finished 10/11 weapon challenges)
8. Mahou Daisakusen/Sorcer Striker (ARC, 1993) - 7.5 (Normal, 1p, Necromancer ship)
9. Lyle in Cube Sector (PC, 2006) - 6.5 (got most upgrades I think)
10. Chibi-Robo! (GC, 2005) - 6.5 (around 50-60% completion)

11. Battle of Olympus (NES, 1988) - 5.5
12. Gargoyle's Quest II/Makaimura Gaiden: The Demon Darkness (GB, 1993) - 7.5
13. Air Combat/Ace Combat (PS1, 1995) - 7 (Normal)
14. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, 2007) - 8 (74 stars, 2/3 green stars (the third luigi quest didn't appear yet))
15. SimCity 3000 Unlimited (PC, 2000) - 7.5 (sandbox/non-scenario mode, started in 1900 and ended in 2051)
16. Spyro: Year of the Dragon (Spyro 3)(PS1, 2000) - 7 (got about 110 eggs and 12k gems)
17. Deus Ex: GOTY Edition (PC, 2001) - 7.5 (normal, got nearly all upgrade canisters, 22.5h) - 8 w/ mods?
18. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising (PC, 2010) - 7.5 (normal, good/pure ending (not full purity however), Tarkus became the traitor)
19. Below the Root (C64, 1984) - 5.5 (played as Neric)
20. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (NDS, 2006) - 7 (normal, didn't do the battle arena nor most side quests, beat the first boss rush course)

21. Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando/Ratchet & Clank 2: Locked and Loaded (PS2, 2003) - 7.5 (normal, two armor upgrades)
22. Beyond Good & Evil (GC, 2003) - 7
23. The Adventures of Rad Gravity (NES, 1990) - 5.5
24. The Lost Vikings 2 (SNES, 1997) - 7 (might be a 7.5 in 2-player and with the speed hack)
25. Generations Lost (MD, 1994) - 6 (normal)
26. The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destrution (GC, 2005) - 7 (Normal, 7.5 on Easy w/ NG+?)
27. Metroid Prime 2 (GC, 2004) - 7 (Normal, 80% completion)
28. Urban Chaos (DC, 2000) - 5.5
29. An Untitled Story (PC, 2006) - 7 (Normal/Regular, 660 health)
30. Dead Space (PC, 2008) - 7.5 (Normal, plasma/pulse/force)

31. Ore ga Omae o Mamoru (I Will Protect You)(NDS, 2009) - 6 (didn't beat the post-game area)
32. Mega Man Legends 2 (PS1, 2000) - 7 (Normal, didn't fully upgrade anything)
33. Todd's Adventures in Slime World (Lynx, 1990) - 5.5 (played through the first two modes and about halfway into the third, revisit on MD?)
34. Policenauts (PS1, 1996) - 6.5
35. Quake (PC, 1996) - 7.5 (Normal)
36. Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain (PS1, 1996) - 6.5 (Count rank, 51/100 secrets, didn't do lost city)
37. Shantae: Risky’s Revenge: Director's Cut (Multi, 2014) - 6.5 (29/34 secret items, 6h, normal/non-magic mode)
38. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (PC, 2004) - 7 (Toreador clan/class)
39. Mega Man ZX (NDS, 2006) - 7 (Normal)
40. Okami (PS2, 2006) - 7 (didn't get all beads, moves nor beat all bounty hunt monsters, beat the optional bosses)

41. Knytt Stories Plus (PC, 2020)(originally 2007) - 6 (Normal)
42. Valdis Story: Abyssal City (PC, 2013) - 7.5 (Wyatt, Normal, STR-focused build with little to no points in the magic skill tree, S-classed about 10/15 bosses, about 8,5h minus boss retries (several hundred) - 17,4 in total though this includes testing out the other chars)
43. Knight 'n Grail (C64, 2009) - 6.5
44. Environmental Station Alpha (PC, 2015) - 7.5 (95% completion, normal)
45. Fight'n Rage (PC, 2017) - 7.5 (normal; twice as gal, once as f. norris w/ ricardo as cpu ally; b, d and f endings)
46. MDK (PC, 1997) - 7.5 (normal)
47. Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction (PS2, 200?) - 7 (Mattias, SK ending, most items)
48. Shaman King 2 (GBA, 2005) - 7 (Normal, 75-ish spirits)
49. Rex (Spectrum, 1988) - 7 (mission 1, couldn't start mission 2 in the online emulator)
50. Mad Stalker (MD, 1994/2020) - 6.5 (normal)

51. Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (NDS, 2008) - 7 (93% completion, bad ending)
52. Axiom Verge (PC, 2015) - 7 (normal, 77-ish % completion)
53. Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (PC, 1996/2015?)(Unity ver.) - 7.5 (Khajiit battle mage type character, reached level 10, high reflexes)
54. Crypt of the Necrodancer (PC, 2015) - 7.5 (individual zones (beat necrodancer; made it to 2-1 in all zones mode), Cadence)

2021 year in review.

It was a down year both in terms of quantity and quality mostly due to computer issues. There were some bright spots though. Pyre and Yoku's Island Express are phenomenal games in any year. The rest ranged from terrible (AD 2044 and Messiah) to pretty good but not great (Hard West and Tower of Time). A couple didn't quite live up to the hype (Druidstone and Kingdom Hearts). And a couple were better than expected (Spec Ops The Line and Toonstruck). Hopefully 2022 will bring even more and better games.

Forgot about this :P


So in 2021 i have completed :

Witcher 1
Witcher 2
Witcher 3
Risen 3
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing - Final Cut
Ember
Hellblade - Senua's Sacrifice
Silverfall - Gold Edition
Baldur's Gate - Enhanced Edition
Baldurs Gate Siege of Dragonspear
Darkest Dungeon + DLCs
Mars:War Logs
Titan Quest:Ragnarok
Titan Quest:Atlantis

Alone in the Dark - 6 Jan
Bioshock - 8 Jan
The Lost Vikings - 10 Jan
Broken Sword - Director's Cut - 11 Jan
Unreal 2: The Awakening - 20 Jan
Goblins 3 (Goblins Quest 3) - 31 Jan
Heroes of Might & Magic 3 Complete - 7 Feb
Hedon - 01 May
Cyberpunk 2077 - 25 August
Hedon: Bloodrite - 12 Sep
Eye of the Beholder - 5 Oct
Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon - 17 Oct
Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor - 27 Oct
Microsoft Pandora Box - 13 Nov
Marathon - 20 Nov
Marathon 2: Durandal - 23 Nov
Marathon: Infinity - 27 Nov
Blade of Agony - 15 Dec
Halo: Reach (Legendary) - 20 Dec
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition (Legendary) - 23 Dec

Alone in the Dark still a good game. Bioshock boring as hell. The Lost Vikings was amazingly good. Broken Sword: Director's Cut is broken, looking forward to check on original game and compare the differences. Unreal 2 is a disgrace, the are rocks on some maps which can be walked through, the hardest enemies are humans and you are super slow, only the strafe shifts could help to avoid the damage and barely so, played on Hard, never again. Goblins 3, floppy version has some many bugs on latest levels, CD version fixed some of them but not all, I prefer Gobliins 2 ten times over that game, what a disappointment and so many unusable items in inventory. HoMM 3 I finally managed to complete the last prequel campaign The Shadow of Death, for some reason only the first levels are hard and then I play the main antagonist, only to kill him later but he is weak and every hero has revamped skills for unknown reason, I dread to think that HoMM 4 is next in line. Hedon, great game, the closest thing to Heretic in my opinion, some levels are long, latest levels are really great. Cyberpunk 2077 was like playing a very big Deus Ex game with the ability to hack cameras on sight, many bugs were not fixed, in 1 mission I had to reload so my escort could magically get into van and not walking after me driving it, the Arasaka ending is a masterpiece, it's like there were different people involved for later parts of the game, ending cutscenes are in 3rd person view and they look great, the decision to change everything in 1st person view was a big mistake, after all if you copy Deus Ex why not leave the 3rd person view cutscenes, stupid. Hedon: Bloodrite is a very good old school FPS game, it's better than a first episode in every way, I realized that I could not stop playing it until the very end, finding secrets is fun too. Eye of the Beholder 1 was a nice little game, but it's only a shadow to what would come later in a form of Lands of Lore 1. Eye of the Beholder 2 is better than the first in design but a bit worse in everything else, there were no +5 weapons, and one character always steal a +5 sword, and there are many bugs in both games which were never fixed, it's like games development was rushed by SSI. Eye of the Beholder 3 is stupid, I'm glad I finally ended the pain of playing it, and there are so many ways to get stuck forever it's unbelievable, last boss was a joke. Microsoft's Pandora Box, I was enjoying the first chapters of that game and always wanted to finally complete the game which I did, I even solved each and every puzzle without any hints, the paint puzzles and "through the looking hole" puzzles are the worst, I can't even understand how I managed to complete some of them, it was impossible, no joy in that, the game is nice at the beginning but it's an absolute nightmare solving that kind of puzzles later on, never again. Marathon was a weird game, I didn't like the insect enemies, especially the blowing up ones, especially the invisible blowing up ones, so many levels are super dark, the physics is very strange, but reading some terminals later in a game was actually fun to do, there is a puzzle with raising pillars, it's stupid but not that hard, yet you might need to waste your ammo on a button for a timed door to revisit a small cabin and adjust 2 pillars from the start of the level, overall bad level design but nice plot. Marathon 2 they removed the insects which is nice and a big enemy guy which was stupid, they even managed to add the water sequence and it's very bad to swim and especially to jump over to surface because you might stuck and get back to water if you are to close to surface, amazing physics, and it's possible to die instantly if you consume all your oxygen, with no oxygen you can't even dive in water for a second you will die, great design, but I must admit that plot was interesting and reading Durandals's info terminals was really interesting to do, the ending is also nice. Both games have something like a puzzle in the last level where you might do something wrong without knowing it. Marathon: Infinity was bad, Durandal''s terminals were boring to read it's like it was written by different people and according to some sources the game was developed by the different team, something like Blue Orbit or something, which was internal part of Bungie (I can't find the sources now), anyway the story for Marathon 2 was written by Jason Jones who also was the lead designer for first 2 games, not the case with Infinity. I really enjoyed playing Marathon 2 and Infinity was like Marathon on drugs, one mission you are playing against humans and under the command of Tycho only to play the level after this time against the aliens with Tycho calling you bad names for betrayal, one level with depleting oxygen was not fun and the next level with depleting oxygen after that was even less fun, overall I don't like the writing, level design and everything else with Infinity. Blade of Agony GZDoom mod, nice mod but to be honest the very first episode was the best one and it has super mutants, other episodes are bigger and less interesting to play. Halo: Reach and Halo: Combat Evolved on Legendary difficulty, good games but not that hard, I'm struggling with Halo 2 a bit at the moment, this game I would call hard.