The Video Games That Got Us Through 2021

Kevin Draper, Sports reporter

There were a few constant companions in a terrible year: my wife, my child, my dog, my house. Slay the Spire was another.

I had runs that were on a knife’s edge and took hours to complete. I had runs where I made absurd choices in the hopes they would work out. I had runs where I optimized my chance of winning and runs where I made decisions just to spite my least favorite foe, the shelled parasite. I played on the highest difficulty and mostly lost (which made the wins extremely satisfying) and crushed the lowest difficulty.

I had hundreds (thousands?) of runs in 2021. They all ruled.

Resident Evil Village

Renan Borelli, deputy audience director, NYT Audio

The Resident Evil franchise turned 25 in 2021, and with more than two dozen entries in the series, the best of the bunch is still 2005’s Resident Evil 4. What made RE4 special was its replay value; after beating it, you could start over and keep your items, making you more powerful with each playthrough. Because of this, I’ve played and replayed RE4 more times than I’d like to admit.

Resident Evil Village, released in May, scratches that same itch. When you first enter the village and meet its sizable cast of deranged, seemingly invincible villains, it plays as dread-inducing survival horror. In New Game Plus, it’s a completely different experience, allowing you to take on hordes of werewolves with overpowered revolvers and machine guns (or a light saber, if you’re interested). I started the game over immediately after finishing it, and didn’t stop until I unlocked all the best gear. Playing through Village, over and over again, was the most fun I’ve had with a Resident Evil game in years.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/02/arts/great-video-games-2021.html