This last year has been much the same as 2020. COVID continued its rampage on the world, but there was some hope that things could slowly get back to normal. That’s not exactly happening any time soon, it feels. The best you can do is stay safe and keep positive, and games were a great way to do both.

Sure, there were delays once again, but it was still a fully packed year of some greats. For me, that included a number of things I’d talked about at the beginning of the year as well as things that were announced and released this year. Not all of my hopes came true, but you can’t have a newly released Mario Kart every year. Maybe in this next one.

My most anticipated game of this year did see a delay again into next year. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is TT Games’ most ambitious title yet, built on a new engine and bringing an overhaul of mechanics to the series. Three years since it was first teased at Celebration Chicago, we’ll soon be getting to explore this galaxy of bricks for ourselves. No more delays, I would hope, as the game has been rated by numerous ratings boards.

The second of my cores did not see a release this year beyond a remaster of Colours, but has given us the new game of Frontiers to be looking forward to. An open world style game, the Starfall Islands are the setting. A biome per island, a lot of free space to roam, and possibly some interesting lore now we’ve got the writer of the comics on board. As for Colours, it was good to visit it for the first time, seeing those levels I’d played in Generations in their original forms.

As for Pokémon, we got a new Snap – which I’ve been loving, as well as the Generation 4 remakes. Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl offer something new in terms of remakes, capturing the original look rather than using the current generation’s style. It’s been a great revisit of Sinnoh, and a great test of the 1:3:6 Run guidelines. As for Snap, it’s been lovely to see a new take of Pokémon exploration, seeing them all in their natural habitats. It will be fun to give the original a go once it arrives on the Switch Online service.

A new Forza Horizon got announced at E3, taking the Horizon Festival to Mexico. It’s been another great entry in the series, with plenty of races and events to get stuck into and about half my time in it has been spent drifting with a new Drift Mini. The only thing I felt it could have done better with is the expeditions. They’re great fun, but there was a chance to really make some sort of a story with them as you unlock more perks to the festival sites. Just a shame to see there’s only five of them played to unlock a new site.

Before Horizon released was another racing game I was enjoying. Hot Wheels Unleashed proved to be a fun arcade racer, with its City Rumble mode providing a challenge with those time attacks. The main reason for buying it turned out to hardly get used, as the discoverability of user creations at first was poor. After a month, such features were added, but by that time I’d lost interest. Much like with DiRT 5, I’m still enjoying the creations of others.

There’s also been a few smaller racing games I’ve been enjoying. Cruis’n Blast has been a, well… blast (yes, easy joke, but I’m still making it). That pure arcade feel has me feeling as though I’m really in an arcade. If only it could be connected to a proper unit. Not that I have one. The motion controls are the closest we’ll get to such, and they work a dream.

Despite liking Rush Rally 3, I hadn’t really been following the series. So it was a surprise when checking the eShop for soon to be released games that a new Rush Rally was soon to be released. Origins takes a top-down approach to its racing, with a very simple unlock and upgrade system that harks back to those older games. I might not be the best, but there’s still a good lot of fun to be had with this one.

Less of a racer and mostly a vehicle driving game, Off The Road Unleashed was recommended to me by jawa of GRcade, and I’ve enjoyed it a lot. Five maps to be exploring, finding all the flags and completing all the challenges, with some very tough events in the mix. If you ignore the events and just explore, it is a very chill game – especially since you do so on foot should you want to do that.

Crash Drive 3 is also less of a racer and more of a party game on four wheels. Coming with separate offline and online modes, events are always lined up on one of the four maps the game offers. Collection challenges, hunts and stunts, and team-based events are what you can expect to find here. And the tank battles you can play on the fifth map are great competitive fun.

This next one… Is it a small game? I mean, it’s by Grove Street Games, and no-one’s heard of them, right? Hmm? Originally by Rockstar Games? Oh, yeah. Everyone’s heard of it, then. I’m still amazed this happened. Both the good and the bad. The fact I can play the GTA Trilogy on the Switch is truly great, but the way it was handled leaves something to be desired. These three games should not be running this terribly, even if they have seen a touch up in graphics. It put me off them. I do intend to return to them, and I would hope such issues have been resolved.

Other such returns involved Mario and Link, with Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD being released this year. Bowser’s Fury I enjoyed a lot, what with its open-ended design in gaining enough medals for progression however you like. Hundred percenting it (twice, even) has been a lot of fun. The original adventure of 3D World is still as fun as ever, with the tight, focused levels providing a decent challenge to get to the end with.

As for Skyward Sword… I like it. It’s been a fun adventure with what I’ve played. And I’ve got quite far in the adventure. But the controls hold it back. For me, that is. It’s an ingenious combat system, where sword positioning matters, but with the motion controls I’m unable to be accurate as I always have a massive tilt to my resting position that will mean the game reads the wrong input. As for the right stick control… I’m comfortable with it, but the same problem of reading the wrong inputs is still present with how small the stick is. Maybe it really is just me…

Monster Hunter Rise has been great to play. I enjoyed the open environments and fluid movement options of the game, along with the increased combat options when facing off against the monsters. I dropped off from playing quite early as I got stuck into Truck Driver a lot more (along with revisiting a few other games). As for Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town – which released the same day, I felt it lacked a certain charm of previous entries but was still good fun.

Epic Chef is a fun one. Full of humour and some great references (YOU SHALL NOT… y’know), it’s a game where you fight with cooking battles. There’s combos and other things to be aware of with these battles, so growing and preparing the right ingredients is key. It is great fun, with some interesting lore that reveals itself as the story progresses. After all, what kind of a set up would it be if you moved into a haunted house and didn’t reveal why?

Dream House Days DX is another Kairosoft game. I’ve had a bit of a love for these business management games since playing Hot Springs Story back in 2018. The newest I’ve bought puts you as the manager of a housing estate. Still with the same concept of all the Kairosoft games, but this time a bit slower paced. Not that I mind, as it allows a bit of a connection to these characters you’re housing – especially since you can rename them.

Haven Park is a small game about rebuilding a campsite. But just like A Short Hike, it’s the journey you take that matters most with this one. From the little I played of it, I found a very chill game that you can enjoy for a short time as you uncover its story. As for Lake, I found the story with this one a fun time. While the choices you made at times felt like they mattered little, it again was about the journey – the rediscovery of your hometown and its people, as you embarked on a two week break away from the city to deliver the mail to those residents.

I said at the beginning of the year that I hoped for more games featuring the Miis. I got my wish in the form of Miitopia being ported. While I’ve played little of it myself (again being distracted by other games), I had enjoyed seeing the entirety of it being played by RTGame. I do want to give it a fair shot, so we’ll see how much I get played of it next year. And speaking of shots, Mario Golf: Super Rush released, giving the Miis some spotlight with its story where you play as a Mii, climbing the ranks until you can face off against the superstars. I enjoyed it for what it provided, being a nice way to build your skills for the online or solo modes.

Hitman 3 arrived at the start of the year, bringing more locations and targets to the World of Assassination trilogy. It’s been a lot of fun hunting down the new targets, and I have new favourite locations in Mendoza and Dartmoor. It introduced a few interesting twists for how these contracts had to play out, and there’s new content coming next year. I hold hope IO Interactive go even more wild in messing about with the contracts – even if they don’t reach the level of those that I proposed earlier in the year.

And lastly – Farming Simulator 22. New changes to the core loop of the game mean a bit more realism to the farming, and more ways to sell the produce by taking it to a production chain to get some goods. It’s all good with me, as the seasonal cycles provide a bit more to think about. The maps are also some of the best the series has seen, with a lot more detail to them than those of previous games.

It has been a great year for games, but the next year is going to be better. Not only is LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga releasing, but there’s plenty of others already known about. A new Test Drive Unlimited, the Saints Row reboot, Sonic Frontiers, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and plenty more. All of that will be talked about in the first article of 2022.

Images Taken From:
Sonic Colours Ultimate (Original Screenshot)
Hot Wheels Unleashed (Original Screenshot)
Off The Road Unleashed (Original Screenshot)
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury (Original Screenshot)
Epic Chef (Original Screenshot)
Hitman 2 Microsoft Store Page