So, I thought to myself that this would be a fun list to do considering it’s only the start of the year. I mean, there are a ton of exciting releases scheduled to come out in 2021, right? Only for me to quickly realise in horror that we are in fact midway through the fourth month of the year. As in over 28% of 2021 is already completed. Wut!? Any who, here are five games I’m looking forward to in 2021! (Choo choo!)
Deathloop
I don’t own a PS5. And with the way things are looking, I don’t think I’ll be owning one anytime soon. However, that crying shame of a first world problem doesn’t deter me from being endlessly curious about Arkane Studio’s upcoming exclusive Deathloop.
If it ends up being anything like what it’s marketed itself as, Deathloop will exist as the first next gen example of the kind of AAA first person shooter I’ve been dying for. One that’s spilling with both colour and personality. I mean I shouldn’t be able to say, “I played a brown looking FPS featuring an angry army man” and potentially be referring to like three dozen different games.
Instead, Deathloop presents a world that I cannot wait to explore. It is heavily inspired by a groovy 1960s/James Bond aesthetic, with an intriguing premise. Party island.. Eight assassination targets… One night that repeats itself over and over again.
The kind of game play loop harkens back to is some of my favourite kind of game. Where a layered and intricate time frame will repeat itself endlessly. So, just like Majora’s Mask, Deathloop too looks to be a challenge that asks you to study and learn the events of an evening from back to front, inside and out. Meaning only those who master the intricacies of the timeline will succeed.
However, games like this live and die by the immersion and realism of their worlds, so I hope the environment is as fun as the trailers show. So, please PS5 gods. Give me a little luck come later this year when Deathloop releases worldwide.
Resident Evil VILLAGE
I consider 2017’s Resident Evil VII to be a bit of a return to form for the series. This is because it once again focused on the spook factor. So, while I still love the campy, co-op experiences in the more action-oriented Resident Evil 5 and 6, it’s the survival horror aspect of the series that I’ll endlessly shill. After all, it’s what made me fall in love with the series way back when. This is what VII recaptured so well, and it seems this new first-person direction is being built upon it, with Resident Evil VIII, aka Village. I’ve deliberately avoided the demo (this totally has nothing to do with the fact I don’t own a PS5 guys) so I can go into this experience as fresh as possible for maximum spooks.
I’m also intrigued to see where the story is headed, my curiosity peaking ever since the game’s villain Lady Dimitrescu was unveiled. Is she a vampire? Why is she so tall? Why is the entirety of Twitter causing a shamelessly horny uproar for this fictional character? I hope all these questions (well, maybe not all of them) are answered when Resident Evil VIII releases in May 2021.
Guilty Gear Strive
While I’ve come to terms with the fact that I will forever suck at fighting games and am doomed to eternally lose in online matches, I still want everything to do with them. What can I say, the pain hurts so good! And considering the upcoming Guilty Gear Strive is one of, if not (dare I say) the nicest looking games I’ve ever seen, it’s a no brainer that I’m salivating at the thought of finally getting my grubby little hands on it.
See the Guilty Gear series has an energy that other. One that more traditional fighting game franchises just cannot match. It’s pure, unfiltered chaos! I mean, what’s that? You don’t want to play as the big beefy man? Okay then, how about an enormous robot? Or the little girl who can summon dolphins? Or the boy in a coma, strapped to a hospital bed? How does he fight you ask? Oh, I don’t know, maybe the bed is sentient and fights for him!?!
What’s special about Guilty Gear, is that for all of the absurd nonsense peppered throughout the many games, the core of the series has still always been about the game play. A pure fighting game experience that’s always endlessly polished to the umpteenth degree.
Its heavy metal soundtrack also looks to be just as badass as ever. And now also featuring that sweet, sweet rollback net code for near flawless online connection, I officially cannot contain my hype for this one. For anyone interested, I think there’s never been a better time to get into the series than right now! It releases on June 2021. (Thankfully on PS4 too)
No More Heroes 3
Ah, No More Heroes. A game about a man child with a light-sabre, who mercilessly beats up the likes of old ladies and stage magicians. And yet it somehow remains one of the more accessible outings from legendary Japanese developer Goichi Suda.
See this is kind of series where the game play perhaps isn’t the sharpest and most polished. But for what it lacks in sheen and sparkle, it more than makes up for with a bombastic personality. And it’s one I’ve missed dearly, as the first two released way back on the Nintendo Wii in 2007 and 2010 respectively (I’ll shamelessly defend that console until the end of time).
And while the 2019 spin off game Travis Strikes Again was a fun return to the iconic characters, humour and world of NMH, I was admittedly left feeling a little hungry for more. I’m expecting that this bigger, fully fledged outing will be one of my favourite experiences of 2021. It’s a series I come to for it’s banging soundtracks, excellent voice acting and absurd storytelling, so I can’t wait to see what this third iteration has in store for me.
Am I just setting myself up for disappointment? Only time will tell.
Rune Factory 5
I don’t have all the confidence in the world that this game will actually come out by the end of 2021. But I can dream! And trust me when I say the Rune Factory series is one worth dreaming about.
See while my beloved Harvest Moon series began to fade in both popularity and quality during the late 2000s, a small, alternative video game series emerged. A series who bore the task of solely and thanklessly carrying the ‘small-town farming/social sim’ genre on its back from then on. Before the uber popular Stardew Valley exploded on the scene, this series finally breathed life back into the genre, and bringing with it a slew of first-time farmers.
However the Rune Factory series tends to be a little more hardcore than what is offered in Stardew Valley and the Harvest Moon series. For example, it offers a lot more in terms of foraging, crafting, exploration and combat.
So, while you might start the first ten hours or so of your experience farming, you’ll soon find there are plenty of other, more efficient ways of making money. Entering the rabbit hole of farming ingredients and materials to craft weapons. To then upgrade them to stronger weapons to take down bigger monsters. Which means acquiring better loot to craft better items. And the cycle just keeps repeating itself again and again until THE END OF TIME.
It’s definitely the series’ strength, as it means no two people play this game the same way. So, I can’t wait to see how its potpourri of gameplay options have been expanded upon in this new iteration.
So that’s my list of games I’m looking forward to in 2021!
Did I miss any games you’re looking forward to? Are you still reeling from the fact I used the word potpourri? Let me know in the comment section below!
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