{"id":9491,"date":"2023-08-13T14:16:36","date_gmt":"2023-08-13T14:16:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nfornerds.com\/?p=9491"},"modified":"2023-09-19T06:19:37","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T06:19:37","slug":"lauras-top-picks-of-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/?p=9491","title":{"rendered":"Laura\u2019s Top Picks Of 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no way around it; 2021 has been a crappy year. Personally, few things have managed to counteract the misery (bet you\u2019re glad you clicked this link, eh?) except for the Eurovision Song Contest returning in full force to make me cry; Little Mix thanking the Spice Girls and Sugababes during their historical Brit Awards win and making me cry; Strictly Come Dancing being its magical-self and making me cry; and the Christmas charity float returning to my home town and making me cry.\"Crying<\/a><\/p>\n

But since N For Nerds isn\u2019t exactly the place for a 1,000-word blog on girl bands and glitter (I\u2019ll get around to a Spice World video game retrospective at some point), there have been a handful of great video game moments that have stood out for either providing somewhere else to direct our exhausted attentions to or just 15 hours of pure joy. Here\u2019s five that did that for me.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Marvel\u2019s Guardians of the Galaxy<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n

\"gotg<\/a><\/p>\n

Like most people, I didn\u2019t hold out much hope for Marvel\u2019s Guardians of the Galaxy given the disappointment that was last year\u2019s Marvel\u2019s Avengers, but Eidos Montreal delivered with Star Lord and company in a colourful, comic book jaunt across the galaxy.<\/p>\n

Marvel\u2019s Guardians of the Galaxy is a straightforward first-person adventure and while you spend it leading Peter Quill through various alien environments, jet booting along to an 80s soundtrack, I loved how the Guardians interacted with each other whether through well-scripted quippy dialogue or chaotic huddle formations in combat, enlisting each of their unique skill sets to overcome challenges. It benefits from not being overstuffed with superfluous collectables, and the singular narrative allows each of the characters time to shine, so much so you quickly forget any obvious movie comparisons. It\u2019s just a good time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Life is Strange: True Colours<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n

\"Life-is-Strange-True-Colours-Group<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve enjoyed previous Life is Strange games but I was not prepared for this one. A tragic event in a new town forces protagonist Alex Chen to use her suppressed supernatural empathic gifts, presented through colourful auras, to uncover the truth. The characters and relationships are so well written and performed that even the sometimes overly sentimental moments managed to genuinely tug at my heartstrings, aided by the kind of gorgeous soundtrack we\u2019ve come to expect from the series. This is a game you can take your time with. I soaked up every bit of Haven Springs, digging through the local record store and scouring notice boards for community tidbits, and I thought carefully about the potential consequences of every decision made. It\u2019s an emotional one but absolutely worth it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Resident Evil: Village<\/em><\/h2>\n

\"RE<\/a><\/p>\n

Apparently, nothing brings the internet together like a nine feet tall lady in a big fancy hat, and that makes me happy. Resident Evil Village is the perfect blend of classic horror, action and puzzling tied together by a bizarre story and wonderfully crafted lines from poor old Ethan Winters\u2019 such as: \u201cGod dammit! Why is everyone dying on me!\u201d<\/p>\n

Having never been particularly gifted when it comes to the whole not hiding behind a pillow when scary things are on screen thing, I\u2019ve found myself recommending Resident Evil Village to anyone similarly horror-averse as the ideal entry point to the series. Each area offers something completely different, from a mechanical funhouse of horrors to a quiet dollhouse steeped in dread. It\u2019s easily my game of the year and I\u2019m just as surprised as you.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unpacking<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n

\"Unpacking<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019d been looking forward to this one for some time purely because I like organising things but Unpacking also got to me on an emotional level. I\u2019ve often wondered, what do my belongings say about me? If someone were to walk in my living room they\u2019d know straight away that I play guitar, will buy just about anything that comes in seafoam green, and have an unhealthy obsession with Lara Croft. But if my flat was the subject of Unpacking, a player might pay more attention to the dinosaur-shaped ruler that my sister sent me seven birthdays ago when she lived away in Germany for a year, and while it doesn\u2019t match a single thing on my desk, will always take pride of place. That, to me, is the magic of Unpacking. As you go through a person\u2019s life, you notice the items they deem important enough to take with them, what that looks like when you blend your belongings with another person\u2019s, and the interests you grow out of and replace with new ones. But mostly, it\u2019s just a very enjoyable, relaxing puzzle game. And the pixel art GameCube is super cute. Looking for the best Vavada casino offers? Visit https:\/\/gambletroll.com\/vavada-promo-code\/<\/a> and discover the latest promo codes that will enhance your gaming experience and boost your winnings!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cyberpunk 2077 (\u2026 yes, really!)<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n

\"Cyberpunk<\/a><\/p>\n

If 2021 has felt like some sort of bad 2020 hangover then it stands to reason that a badly received game released towards the end of last year could make it onto a 2021 list. I really enjoyed Cyberpunk 2077. Maybe it\u2019s because I played on PS5 and managed to finish the main campaign with only a handful of glitches, maybe it\u2019s because I\u2019d jumped on the hype train quite late and didn\u2019t have eight years of expectation clouding my judgement, or maybe it\u2019s because I\u2019ll take all the Keanu Reeves in leather pants I can get. I shouldn\u2019t have liked this game. I don\u2019t enjoy first-person, I hate busywork, and I tend to prefer a linear narrative. So even I\u2019m surprised by how much I enjoyed driving around Night City listening to Refused, and running into new missions. Sure, not all of them are great and the possibilities aren\u2019t quite as endless as promised, but I truly felt as though this world was lived in and found myself invested in its central characters. But most of all, I honestly just had a lot of fun with it, and sometimes, that\u2019s enough.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, that’s Laura’s best video games of 2021 list<\/em>. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below. Also don’t forget to follow us on Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>and subscribe to our\u00a0YouTube channel<\/a>\u00a0and if you\u2019re feeling generous feel free to donate to our\u00a0Patreon<\/a>, thanks for reading.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no way around it; 2021 has been a crappy year. Personally, few things have managed to counteract the misery (bet you\u2019re glad you clicked this link, eh?) except for the Eurovision Song Contest returning in full force to make me cry; Little Mix thanking the Spice Girls and Sugababes during their historical Brit Awards […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"gp_videos":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9491"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19912,"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9491\/revisions\/19912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9491"},{"taxonomy":"gp_videos","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfornerds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fgp_videos&post=9491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}