If you’ve been playing games for long enough with enough disposable income then you will inevitably face the issue of having an insurmountable backlog with more games than you’ll ever have the free time to tackle. Whether this is caused by those pesky Steam sales or bargain hunting to fill out a collection we all have one thing in common, never finding the time to actually play the games you’ve spent your hard earned money on!
As it is now 2021, and a fresh new year primed for filling with brand new experiences I thought I’d share with you some of the games I plan on tackling in this sure-to-be joyous year of lockdowns and social isolation!
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Released in April last year, Final Fantasy VII Remake is exactly what is says it is, a modernisation of the classic 90’s title that shocked the world with its narrative and game design upon its release. Although, this entry is just the Midgar portion of the original, Tetsuya Nomura was at the helm of the writing and inserted some of the flair and writing he is known for in the Kingdom Hearts series to bring something unique and fleshed out to long time fans of the game. As a great lover of Kingdom Hearts and the combat system introduced in Final Fantasy XV this game has been on my radar for a while and I’m greatly anticipating my first run through its world and experiencing Nomura’s unique style outside of Sora and companies shoes.
Persona 5 Royal
Persona 5 Royal is an enhanced port of the original 2017 title with many quality of life changes and a more fleshed out story which includes an additional term not present in the original. While most players will not see a need to replay 100 hours of a game they had already paid for and played once before, I am not one of those players. When I first got through Persona 5 it captured my heart, pun intended, and invested me in its world and characters and any excuse to run through that journey again but with new flashy changes and improvements is a huge yes to me. I had originally started this in August of last year but I am determined to get through it and finish it this year!
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
In an unexpected twist, Nintendo dropped a Breath of the Wild prequel on us from nowhere in late 2020 promising to tell the story of what happened 100 years before the game takes place in more detail but blended with the warriors style of gameplay. I have invested hundreds of hours into the original and Definitive edition on the WiiU and the Switch so was ecstatic to find out there was going to be more hack and slash action in the Zelda Universe.
Steins;Gate Elite
Steins;Gate is one of my absolute favourite media properties and I immediately purchased Elite on its release day in 2019. However for some reason I haven’t committed the time investment to get through the remake yet. The Visual Novel features main character Okabe accidentally creating a time machine and tackling the mental and physical responsibility of being able to manipulate time to get to the timeline where all his friends can live without dying. If you haven’t read/watched Steins;Gate yet, please do yourself the service of doing so, you won’t regret it.
Yakuza Kiwami
As a complete outsider to the Yakuza franchise I have been completely bewildered by some of the screenshots and videos my friends have shared of the game and it has created this morbid curiosity to try the series and see what the fuss is all about. After Sean, a fellow writer here, bought me the game on PS4 late last year I am finally going to jump in and give it a shot and see what all the batshit craziness I’ve witnessed is all about with the adequate amount of context.
Super Mario Galaxy
I know what you’re thinking, the person that’s put that they “have a passion for Nintendo and 3D Platformers” as their main tagline has yet to play Super Mario Galaxy, how can this even be possible? It’s quite simple really, it came around in a time of my life that I wasn’t playing a lot of console games and I have always preferred Mario’s sandbox outings more than his stage based ones. Now that it’s on the Switch in an easy to access package I have made it my mission to 100% all games on that cartridge, which means next up is the gravity defying Wii classic!
So there are the games I’m most looking to get ticked off my ever expanding backlog this year, let me know in the comments if you’re making any backlog breaking plans for this year too, I’d love to hear what you’re all planning to play!
Video game completionist and 3D platformer connoisseur, Riley is a fan of the whimsical frenzy of bright and colourful characters that blessed us in the late 90's. Their favourite game's are Spyro, Persona 5 and Super Mario Sunshine.
