#I think I've been thinking about it because of the new-ish Castlevania series

[neoyi]

For dashboard osmosis—either Undertale or Castlevania? (Assuming you’re unfamiliar with at least one of those hah)

I already know Undertale, so I'll skip that one.

I have a... passing familiarity with Castlevania in that I've played halfway through Symphony of the Night (which I still need to finish), have routinely been exposed to the franchise one way or another for most of my three or so decades of living, and that Alucard is an incredibly attractive man whom I've liked since I was 13. He is still my fave.

The general premise of Castlevania is that the Belmont Clan are in a seemingly never-ending war with Dracula and his cronies, starting from at least the 12th century and lasting till 1999 when the latter finally croaks (though bad guys are trying to revive him in the near future of 2032-ish or something). Insert about 30 games about this, enhanced by the multi-generational backdrop that serves to introduce new and/or reoccurring characters to combat the immortal vampire.

I am the most familiar with Castlevania, the Netflix series. And though the gore in that show is often too much for me, I think it's an incredibly well-written show, carried along by characters who are often wont to exchange witty dialogues as they are content to fight. I was immensely surprised how little action the series had, instead often devoting as much to the cast just talking, sometimes important, sometimes frivolous. And like, this often means the plot is slow to a crawl, but they're so likable and so fun to listen to (plus each season is only like ten episodes, so it doesn't drag) that I didn't give a shit.

It also has something I wish more people understood about certain villains: that they can be menacing, terrifying, amoral and/or immoral, atrocious beings, but also capable of sympathy, love, and understanding.

Dracula is amazing in Netflix Castlevania because he's all that, but he's also a loving and devoted husband and father. I was flabbergasted when he realized during season two that he was "killing his son." Literally and emotionally hurting his child and he is genuinely remorseful. Like this isn't a villain who is all "Grr, you dare not side with me, my only son. I disown you now and will kill you because I'm EVIL." No, he realizes how far off the deep end he's gone and just stops. And Alucard kills him because he had to.

And that also goes to another scene in the show that I find most action-heavy series do not do: they let the hero cry. Not like Manly Tears, like legit full Sobbing Out of Grief and That's Okay. His father fucked up and he had to die, but that's still his father whom he grew up in a very obviously loving home, and he is allowed to cry for the loss.

I really, really like Alucard, okay? And I am super excited for the sequel series.

[oneddashone]

Games of the Year 2021

Something like 90% of this was typed up in December, but I only thought to finish and post it now. Oops. Also I bought an Xbox Series S this year (hello Elden Ring!), but late enough that nothing from there really made it onto the list.

***RECENCY BIAS***

Shin Megami Tensei V

Death's Door

Loop Hero

Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon

Forza Horizon 5

Sable

I got these all in the last few weeks, and so while it's too early to properly rank them in a category, I can already tell that they have a lot to offer and, with time, will likely be some of my favorites of the year. SMTV especially *very nearly* qualifies as "Essential," but I really should play it for a bit longer before making that distinction.

***SOME SHMUPS I BOUGHT THIS YEAR***

R-Type Final 2

Raiden IV x Mikado Remix

Mushihimesama

Darius Cozmic Revelation

Cotton Reboot

Espgaluda II

DoDonPachi Resurrection

Deathsmiles 1+2

I'm pretty sure R-Type Final 2 is the only properly "new" game on this list, but all of these shmups came out on Switch this year and I enjoyed my time with all of them. Special shoutout to the M2-helmed Cave ports, which feel perfect to me and are a total blast to play on my rotated monitor (with the 8BitDo arcade stick, of course—who even needs a candy cab these days?).

***RECOMMENDED***

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury

Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection

Bravely Default II

Umurangi Generation

Game Builder Garage

Doki Doki Literature Club Plus

Monster Hunter Stories 2

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania

Big Brain Academy: Brain vs Brain

Now for the real list. Anything at this tier is absolutely worth your time, in my opinion, starting specifically with the Bowser's Fury expansion to Super Mario 3D World. It felt at the time like Mario's designers dipping their toes into a new-ish, Odyssey-inspired way to design a Mario game, and I hope there's more where that came from because it's tremendous. The new Ghosts 'n Goblins is arguably even more fiendishly difficult than the original, but it's beautiful and still feels modern in all the right places. I hope we see more revivals of dormant franchises of this caliber going into 2022 (looking at you, GetsuFumaDen). Special mention too to Umurangi Generation, a game I knew next to nothing about going into it, and one that continued to surprise me up until the very end.

***ESSENTIAL***

Mario Golf: Super Rush

Axiom Verge 2

Spelunky 2

WarioWare: Get It Together!

Castlevania Advance Collection

Metroid Dread

Disco Elysium: The Final Cut

Mario Party Superstars

A game in this tier is one of my absolute favorites of the year. Mario Golf might seem like a strange choice to some, but I found this game to be absolutely packed with stuff to do. I played through the campaign, played games online against friends, and loved the steady release of new characters and courses throughout the year.

I never quite finished the first game, but I played through and beat Axiom Verge 2 in about a week—which was great (more "short" games, please). I'm not totally sure, but I think the difference might have been the environments—most were way more open than the previous game's mostly tight, closed rooms. I've never quite followed the story in either of these games, but it didn't matter at all—if you like metroidvanias, you'll like this game.

I'm no good at Spelunky 2. Pretty miserable really, just like the first game. But this is perfection on an already nearly-perfect game, so I can't penalize it just because I'm too dumb to resist throwing a rock where I know I shouldn't. I played a lot of this game co-op with my daughter, which I didn't think would work but very much did (see also: WarioWare). Kudos to Derek Yu for sticking to his vision and iterating even further on a game that would probably have seemed "finished" to almost everyone else.

The original WarioWare is one of my favorite games of all time, and Get it Together is an intriguing update to the formula—one that I didn't think would work, at first blush, but one that I am happy to say I was very much wrong about. Another great game to play with a friend, and the unlockables and weekly challenges went a long way towards keeping me playing even after the final credit roll.

The Castlevania Advance Collection is something I've been asking for for a long time, and this package is just perfect. More like this, please.

Metroid Dread is great, but I think I loved it less than almost anyone else. I was really hyped before release and even replayed Super Metroid in anticipation, but then something happened. It started out incredibly engaging, but fairly early on I became acutely aware of just how dang linear this supposed metroidvania really was. "Wrong" paths secretly close, the supposedly inter-connected map is a lie, and everything's just been so damn designed to move you forward that the whole thing kinda loses it's "metroid-ness." I think the designers probably felt like they *had* to do this in 2021, to not waste anyone's time, but for me it ended up just kind of souring the experience. It's a beautiful looking game, the movement is fluid and graceful, and the boss fights are a spectical—but for me, the experience was a bit less than the sum of its parts.

I think my favorite thing about Disco Elysium is that it taught me about psychic damage and shame. The first time I essentially died of embarrassment was really pretty shocking, looking back on it. From then on, my choices became quite a bit more meaningful and I was completely absorbed in this game's incredibly dense and layered world. Turns out I also really really love dialogue trees and dice checks—who knew? I'm also glad I waited for this version, too, because the voice acting is top notch.

***RUNNER UP***

Dungeon Encounters

This is a tiny bit cheeky, but I'm giving Dungeon Encounters a slight nod over the games in the previous category because it just came out of nowhere and clubbed me over the head with its simplicity. This has got to be one of the most purely designed games I've ever played. Everything is so perfectly tight, so meticulously edited, that it doesn't feel like one pixel could possibly be out of place. This feels like the work of someone who had an uncompromising vision and carried it through every precarious step of the way, start to finish. This is addition-by-subtraction, no frills, Dieter Rams-level stuff.

Oh, and the character portraits all look like they were drawn by Mike Mignola. A+++ from me.

***GOTY***

Monster Hunter: Rise

I can't bring myself to understand the idea that some people apparently have that Monster Hunter Rise is somehow *lacking* content. I fired up the game the other day for the first time in 2-3 months, and had something like two dozen new Event Quests to check out, most with unique rewards (hello, Akuma costume). And that's after I put over one hundred hours into the story, and still haven't beaten the final boss that unlocks at HR100. Not to mention all the time spent with friends on their campaigns. AND my personal side quest of crafting as many different Long Swords as humanly possible. If this isn't enough "stuff," I really don't want to know what is.

But "stuff" only matters if it's good stuff, and yeesh there's a ton of good stuff in this game. Monster Hunter World was already an exercise in cutting some of the crust that had accumulated over the years, and Rise goes even further and better. Getting into the fights is now as frictionless as you want it to be, thanks to the new map and the addition of the dog. The wirebug is the coolest new mechanic the series has added, possibly ever. Not only is it great for traversal, but it opens up an entire tree of combat options. A lot of what I loved about Generations returns here too, especially in those wirebug attacks, albeit less over-stuffed than in that game.

The selection of monsters is generous and varied, the locations are memorable and well-designed, and the armor and weapons are more than up to the series' already sky-high expectations. I've picked Monster Hunter games as my GOTY before, but Rise is easily my favorite Monster Hunter game. And the fact that we're getting a giant expansion/DLC this summer just means I need to find a bit of time between now and then to craft just a few more Long Swords.