games / Columns
The Top 8 Games I Didn’t Play in 2021
Welcome all to another edition of The 8 Ball! This week I’m here to talk about 2021 games, specifically games I didn’t actually play in 2021. This is a list of games that I wanted to play, or I “should have” played but didn’t, for one reason or another. Most of the games on this list are actually good but I just didn’t get to them. Let’s begin:
#8: Hitman 3
God help me, I’ve tried to get into Hitman but I just can’t do it. I played the recent Hitman 1 and 2 games and got less into them the more I played. It’s not an indictment on either games quality, it’s more that I just don’t like the basic setup of the games, of having to bumble around a level with almost no gear to kill a guy and the only way to get the actual cool Hitman stuff you want is to replay levels over and over. Hitman 3 is largely the same as the other two and while they are all well-made games, they just aren’t for me in the slightest.
#7: Back 4 Blood
This is a partial cheat since I actually did play the beta of Back 4 Blood but I didn’t play the real thing. “Yeah”, it basically is a more refined version of Left 4 Dead, only now there is some actual persistence in the game. My problem with B4B isn’t the loadout/card mechanic thing, which seemed dumb in the beta, but just knowing that I don’t have a core group of friends to play this with. I pretty much play games with one guy and we’re slowly going through Demon’s Souls. We also play too infrequently for this to become our core new game. I’m sure for people who have a lot of people to play B4B, they love it, but I don’t, so I didn’t even bother.
#6: Inscryption
On the surface of it, Inscryption looks like any number of recent card/deck building games that have come out recently. It actually really reminds me of Hand of Fate, only without the goofy third-person combat system. However, it’s almost mixed with something like a simplified version of The Room since you occasionally have to solve a puzzle in the real world to progress through the card game part. I think for me though, I’m just a bit sick of card game video games, so I can only play about one or two a year. I’ll probably pick this one up, eventually, especially if it ever makes its way to Steam.
#5: Halo: Infinite
The really funny thing about the entire Halo franchise is that I’m not sure if I actually like it. I’ve played Halo’s 1-4, ODST and Reach and the only one I truly hated was ODST. When I say though that I don’t like it, it’s more about I can’t remember anything about it after the fact. I’ll play a Halo game, and usually finish it, and then within a week I’ll have almost forgotten everything about it. I kind of want to play Infinite (and I suppose 5) just to finish the story but that’s honestly the only reason. The Halo multiplayer was never really a big draw for me, so that’s probably another reason I’m not huge into the franchise. I’m much more curious to play Infinite though just because it’s a more open-world game and it sounds like the grappling hook thing is fun to use to get around with.
#4: Life is Strange: True Colors
I don’t have an issue with this game, as a whole. The empathic power looks interesting and I like the change of location from the other games. I think my problem with this game is that I’m just “stuck” with the first one. I find the original game to be a really seminal game: great time mechanics, amazing soundtrack, interesting characters and good voice acting, etc. that I’m kind of comparing True Colors (and Life is Strange 2 for that matter) to it, and just thinking like “Why do these exist? Or, why does it keep trying itself to that franchise, I suppose. Like, if the game was just called “True Colors” I probably wouldn’t be opposed to it at all, but it’s just this one sticking point that gets to me.
#3: Chrous/Chorvs
The stupid name aside, I know Chrous is exactly the type of game in my wheelhouse. I love space sim/dogfighting games and this seems like a good one of those. Sadly, it came out when I was too broke to grab it, so now it kind of misses the deadline of any potential GOTY talk from me. It’s nice that games like this and Everspace 2, which even in Early Access is a banger, still exist and the small genre isn’t totally devoid of scam-like games like Star Citizen.
#2: Humankind
A main way I tend to play games these days is for review, unless it’s something I’m certain I’ll like, and I don’t get a code, I’ll usually hold off until it goes on sale. This happened with Chorus above, and also with Humankind. Amplitude Studios has made three “4X” games, Endless Space 1 and 2 and Legend. I’m not a huge fan of Space ½ but man, Legend is something special. It is a beautiful and involved game, whuch seems a bit simple but has a lot of hidden depth. Humankind was basically supposed to be “Endless: Civilization” which sounds great, since I really disliked Civilization VI. It still never really goes on sale but once it hits a nice $20 price point, I’ll probably grab it.
#1: Forza Horizon 5
I really, really would like to play Forza Horizon 5. The problem is, my gaming computer ran Horizon 4 well enough but even struggled with that. Like, I would have to shut off every other program to free up memory to run Horizon 4 so I know trying to run Horizon 5 would just not work well at all. It’s a real shame since I love the Horizon franchise and this looks to be another solid entry in the series. If/when I do eventually upgrade my PC or get an Xbox, Horizon 5 will be one of the first games I play on it.
For comments, list which games you wanted to play in 2021 but didn’t and why.
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Top 8 Games of 2021
