#GRIFTLANDS REPLAYABILITY FREE#

So keep scrolling if you want to go in fresh. And to talk about Inscyrption, I have to spoil Inscryption a little. Okay but if we're talking about inventive games, we have to talk about Inscryption. Some stellar writing seals the deal, and makes this one of the most inventive games I played in 2021. This game is programming logic brought to life, an invitation to collaborate with the game systems in restoring a monstrous fantasy world.

Four Quarters did such a good job taking a complicated concept (making a strategy game where you can't directly control the main character) and making a swell-as-hell roguelike out of it. Loop Hero came out of nowhere this summer. 'Oh no,' I said sometime around my 4 th run of Loop Hero.

#GRIFTLANDS REPLAYABILITY FREE#

This game surprised the hell out of me this year, and if you've got some free time, you should let it surprise you as well. The shooting is a bit of a shrug, but good design means everything from conversations to anti-gravity rooms to dimensional portals is a different kind of play. With game production costs going up, more studios are pushing for titles with deep systems rather than finely-polished setpieces, and it's so good to see that setpiece games can matter in 2021. It's what happens when triple-A game production can get over itself and swing for sincerity without sacrificing a sense of adventure. I'm hooked on a feeling, and that feeling is that Eidos Montreal massively stepped up their game with Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy,В Eidos Montreal If at first you don't succeed, die, die again, die and get killed by some jerkoff named doglover420, die and try another level, die and find a brilliant new secret you never spotted before, and then, after a few thousand deaths, you'll play the perfect song that wraps it all up.

Playing through levels felt like strumming songs on a guitar, each new pathway and objective a different collection of the same notes that produced great new moments. Though the finale (and plot twist) left me a little cold, I can't regret any of my time spent looping in Blackreef. The company that has spent the last decade promoting open, emergent gameplay and lavish environment design has done it once again, upending many of its design paradigms in this '70s-theme time loop adventure. Sleek, snazzy, and playful, Deathloop is yet another great murder playground from the fine folks at Arkane Studios. Here, in no specific order, are my top 10 games. These titles swung hard for technical, creative, and artistic innovations, and even if they didn't always stick the landing, they made the journey surprisingly pleasant. That said, I still found time for five brand-new games this year I wanted to celebrate. It's hard to play the millions of wonderful games on Steam when after a long day of work, you really want to get the heck away from your computer (Steam Deck come faster please). I spent this year desperate to (safely) reconnect with the world, and filled my time with trips, tabletop tournaments, and time at the gym. So much of the pandemic shaped how I spent my free time as well. Assuming this role right as our industry began grappling with one of the biggest labor crises of its history has reshaped how I spend my time and even how I talk to game developers. One big transition in my life was stepping full-time into the role of senior editor for the newly named Game Developer.

Griftlands replayability