Cian Maher eliminated the first 10 games of 2021 and bid farewell to TheGamer.

Whenever I am asked to choose the ten "best" games at the end of any year, I feel a certain way. At first, it was very exciting. It makes me feel as if I'm in some kind of high-end club, where they serve cocktails in teapots, and everyone has a very impractical fancy cigarette filter. Just like when you realize that you are actually spitting bad smoke back into your own face, this excitement quickly turns into a creepy sense of shame. Ten games? the best? I?

It just feels a bit defeatist. I play a lot of games every year and like most of them very much. On the one hand, there may only be five or six games that I am completely satisfied with or I will continue to seek satisfaction in the coming weeks, months or years. On the other hand, in 2021 alone, there may be 25 games that can easily enter this list, depending on whether it is Tuesday at 2 pm or Thursday at 5 am. It feels as if my heart is changing with the wind, which seems not conducive to objectively ranking the top ten games within 365 days.

Related: It can be said that 2021 is not a great year for gaming

Not to mention the other three issues of ranking games every year. First of all, these lists often forget the existence of December, so it is not really 365 days. Poor December. Secondly, I still have a lot of games that I haven't played because a) time is limited, b) the game is too long, and c) the world is on fire. I still really want to try Deathloop, Guardians of the Galaxy, Nier Replicant and Lost Judgment-maybe in 2025, eh? Third, this year I spent more than 100 hours to complete the Yakuza series. Starting in 2021, will Yakuza Remastered, launched for Xbox Series X and PC, count as a game? If so, it is my first place, but for the sake of this list, it seems necessary to exclude it. Also, what about major updates? If it is not specifically marked as a "patch", I will list the latest patch of Baldur's Gate 3 in my top five. What I want to say is that this is messy and I am not sure I am the right person to hold the broomstick. I have written three paragraphs and I have broken all the bristles.

Nevertheless, this is the last time I post on TheGamer. Considering that TG is made up of such a very smart, kind and talented team, it is fair for me to at least try to put together some things that are not very bad. These are my first ten games in 2021-the best game is at the end, obviously, because this is how suspense works. The mention of honor does not fully include it before your eyes, Sable, Exo One and The Artful Escape, the last of which I am sure will enter my top five, until I check my actual top five. These lists are more difficult than Danny Dell thought.

Have you ever wondered what it's like to use only a frying pan and a flamethrower to bear the apocalypse, especially when the former is more powerful than the latter? If so, Eastward is the game for you.

As a top-down RPG style that juxtaposes retro aesthetics with modern narrative ambitions, Eastward exudes personality and warmth, just like its electric warhead oozes slimy after you give them a good impact. The same as mucus. It is gorgeous, witty, and firmly insists on its unique identity, and it is also one of the best new independent developers of the year.

Part of me doesn't want to include Pokemon Unite in this list, purely because I am very angry with it at the moment. I'm tired of hardly any Gen 2'mons, I feel salty about being kicked out of the master level, and, to be honest, I'm still a bit disappointed in getting into the MOBA.

That being said, frankly, I invested a lot of ridiculous time on Pokemon Unite this year because it is indisputably great. In addition to making historically incomprehensible types approachable, it also has an excellent rhythm, a solid player retention structure, and the greatest Pokemon Blastoise ever.

PS When I said I was angry about it now, I didn't tell the truth. I just want to be angry with it. Giddet?

Disclaimer: Like most of you, I have not played the Halo Infinite campaign. Is this important for the purpose of this list? No why? Because multiplayer games are great. do not trust me? Asked how many hours I played and watched me die awkwardly.

Seriously, Infinite is a true statement of 343 Industries. Unlike Halo 4 and Halo 5—both do not exist, otherwise you can’t convince me—Infinite is a resounding form of regression that legally feels like Halo. Of course, it has a lot of new bells, whistles and grappling hooks, but sniper headshots and half-clip gun punches have not been so good in 14 years-

Sorry, I started thinking about Halo Infinite and had to stop writing in order to compete. If the campaign is not bad, and I wrote this list a week later, it might be much higher.

I have never really become a fan of driving games because I have never really been good at them. Whenever I should get out of the drifting and sick air, I usually end up spending almost uncomfortable time making friends with a bunch of walls, which is basically just a way to say that I crash frequently without being too self-deprecating.

Forza Horizon​​ n 5 is different. This is an amazing feat of open world design that makes every pixel on the screen sing. In terms of its value, I know this is a mixed metaphor-my view is that Forza 5 is a spectacle of audiovisual skills. It also has some great, solid conversations, and is accompanied by almost endless motivation to explore Mexico's beautiful mountains and highways. Likewise, as someone who has never really been exposed to this type of game before, to be honest, Playground’s latest road trip surprised me.

When I say that you now need to bookmark this page, go to the PC store of your choice, buy Beast Breaker, install Beast Breaker, play Beast Breaker, and come back, I am not exaggerating.

Back? Let me guess: "The Beast Destroyer is incredible!" You said to yourself. "Thank you Xi'an!" You are welcome, dear readers, despite some strange reason, people still haven't played this ambitious story-driven pinball-style anthropomorphic Monster Hunter version. If you have not accepted my suggestion and have not played Beast Breaker, I will let you consider that description carefully. Somehow, it's better than it sounds.

Riftbreaker is another game that few people talk about. Despite being on the game pass and publicly showing off its killer premise-this is a base-building survival simulation game in space, where you will slowly become the best partner for your mech suit-frankly speaking, it doesn't seem to be People are talking about what is one of the best indie games of the year.

Basically, the earth is dying. You are a scientist whose mission is to make an exoplanet called Galatea 37 habitable, but it is much more complicated and subtle than any typical space colonization simulator. There are so many intertwined systems at work that it is impossible to accept them all, but The Riftbreaker is perfectly combined, and intuitively its interconnectivity only happens naturally. The fact that this was produced by an independent team is absurd. If you have any interest in machinery, space, base construction or general excellent game design, please give it a try.

"Cycle Heroes will come out in 2021?!" I heard you exclaiming. Yes, readers, it is true. It is important to remember that this year is seven centuries long, because time has truly become a flat circle, which is actually part of the reason why this particular rogue succeeded in resonating with so many people. worldwide.

In addition to the excellent fragmented narrative, retro-chic artistic style and excellent soundtrack, the outstanding performance of Loop Hero is mainly due to the tightness of its core game loop (huh? huh?). If you want something that you can concentrate on for countless hours, Loop Hero is your man, although it is also great for focusing on other things while vaguely paying attention. Oh, it will land on Switch this week-a perfect game that heaven has never seen before.

You take photos of Pokemon-what's not worth loving? In addition to the excellent display of no bad Pokemon and despite some extremely strict restrictions, it also showcases endless creative level design, but the new Pokemon Snap has an inherent charm, which is not found in most other Pokemon games. Possessed. Although it is a derivative product, it can be said to be my favorite Pokemon game since Let's Go, and this is my favorite game since Platinum. This makes New Pokemon Snap the second best game in the series in 13 years. Will I die on this mountain? Man, I will fight to the last breath.

Although I think it is not as good as the previous "Persona 5 Royal", critics and fans have brought difficulties to "Persona 5 Forward". It obviously does not include the beloved Confidant system that drives many of the relationships in Persona 5, and... does it need it? By the end of Persona 5, the Phantom Thieves are best friends-further gamification of their friendship by adding 10 more levels will only feel superficial. Not to mention the story of the strikers.

Most importantly, "Persona 5 Forward" is one of the most successful show-off games I have ever seen, especially in the later stages of the experience-the UI alone belongs to the museum. Combined with some elegantly revised songs, well-implemented multi-city structure, and surprisingly unparalleled battle transitions, it is no surprise that Strikers is so high on my list.

Having said that, we are about to enter my final surprise...

In fact, if you have read my review of "The Forgotten City" or an interview with Nick Pierce, the creative director of "Modern Storyteller," this is by no means a surprise. In general, "The Forgotten City" is a marvel of design, storytelling and creativity, and it is definitely my favorite game of 2021.

After starting life as a Skyrim mod, its entire development was driven by ambitions that shone in every aspect of its final iteration. Although I have seen many people claim that this year is a slow year for game development, I have to say that "The Forgotten City" will also top the list in other years. I have written a lot of articles about it, and if it does not involve history and philosophical weeds spanning trillions of words, I have almost nothing to say. I can only say that you should definitely play it now.

I mean, you should play everything in the list, really-that's the point, right? If you only play one, make sure it is a forgotten city. cheers.

Next post: Why "Metropolitan Fear" should win the best game of the year

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Cian Maher is the chief feature editor of TheGamer. His work has also been published in "Guardian", "Washington Post", "The Edge", "Vice", "Wired" and other magazines. You can find him on Twitter @cianmaher0.