So far, the best video games of 2021 – BollyInside

Let’s get this out of the way: Given all the ~everything~, simply releasing a game in 2021 is nothing short of a miracle. Every single one deserves a round of applause. But some, let’s face it, are better than others. As summer wraps, we thought it’d be fun to shine a light on the games that have excited us, moved us, and kept us going throughout a relentless and challenging year. Maybe you’d like to check them out, too.

Here, in no particular order—well, save for Hitman 3 coming in first, obviously—are the best video games of 2021. So far.

We also fully recognize that time is precious, and that there’s no reasonable way you’ll ever be able to play all of these before the calendar strikes 2022—at which point a whole other raft of excellent-looking games will start to trickle out, clamoring for your free moments.

Hitman 3

Returnal

You might think Hitman 3 is a stealth game, or an action game, or a third-person shooter with delightfully wacky weaponry. You’d be wrong. Hitman 3 is actually a puzzle game—and a brilliant one, at that. Over the course of six wide-open, wanderlust-stoking levels, you’re tasked with taking out a target (or set of targets). From there, the game stops holding your hand. How you score each kill is up to you. Maybe you prefer the old-fashioned way: poison or a sharp blade. Maybe you prefer something fancier, like luring your marks into a grape press.

The best thing a roguelike can do is make you feel like a badass. Even when you die—and you will die, no question—Returnal drives home the notion that you could single-handedly take on an armada of malevolent glowing tentacle monsters. You probably just need to be a bit more careful next time. Returnal casts you as a wayward interstellar scout and drops you on a shape-shifting planet. Every time you die, you’re zipped back to the room you start in, all of your gear absent. Then, it’s back to the grind, a mixture of shooting, looting, jumping, dashing, and hook-shotting that feels so good you can’t help but kick off one more run, whether it’s 3:00 p.m. or a.m. And that’s to say nothing of the genuinely brain-tickling things it does with the fancy DualSense controller.

Scarlet Nexus

At first glance, Scarlet Nexus looks a whole lot like it belongs in Bandai Namco’s long-running Tales series. To be sure, the art is similar. As are the overarching themes and even the music. But Scarlet Nexus is more fucked up than anything in the Tales series, thanks to a twist-packed plot full of rival nations and nightmarish mushroom monsters that love nothing more than a warm meal of human brains. And that plot unfolds across a dual storyline, each seen from the perspective of one of two equally compelling characters. In Scarlet Nexus, both plotlines are essential. Plus, the battle cocktail—a dizzying alchemy of hack-and-slash combat, real-time party commands, and thrilling psychokinetic abilities—is so potent that it remains a delight from start to finish.

Resident Evil Village Resident Evil Village is amazing because it knows exactly what it is. Sure, “what it is” is a hectic, uneven rollercoaster ride involving werewolves, vampires, frankensteins, and (of course) stand-ins for the survival horror series’ requisite zombies, but Capcom leaned so earnestly into those tropes that it’s hard not to respect the chutzpah the devs showed in just Going For It.

It also helps that Resident Evil Village is just an all-around good video game. Ethan learned a thing or two about fighting off monsters since his trip to the swampy Baker homestead, making for an experience that imbues the effectively creepy atmosphere with the best aspects of the series’ action-heavy games

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