Premios de juegos alternativos de Nintendo Life 2021
Ah yes, that idle final week in December where some people head back to work, and others relax until new year filling their days with what they love — video games, for example. Good choice!
We’ve already totted up our personal scores and bestowed our staff Game of the Year 2021 on a deserving candidate, y tu Nintendo Life readers have had your say, demasiado (it seems we’re simpatico with our choices, lo cual es bueno). We’ve also looked at our favourite Cambiar puertos y Gemas ocultas of the year — it’s been a good 12 meses! Bien, games-wise, al menos.
Hoy, aunque, it’s time for some lighthearted awards that don’t quite fit in anywhere else. Here we’ll highlight games that might not get a shout in other fancy-pants categories but that we feel are deserving of praise nonetheless. Sí, it’s time to get whimsical with the Nintendo Life Alternative Game Awards 2021!
We’ve done this the last couple of año, and what with the state of things in the world right now, we’re all about injecting a little extra festive cheer into the last week of the year. Así, let’s dive right into our hodge-podge 2021 collection of five not-quite awards, shall we?
We begin with a great game which doesn’t sit nicely in any one genre category…
Best ‘Game That Doesn’t Fit Neatly On Our Genre Lists’ 2021
Ganador: Astrologaster
This launched on Switch in February and follows in the footsteps of games like OVNI a tiempo parcial y Forajido del hipnospacio in that Astrologaster doesn’t fit nicely into any one category — at least not one that can be made into one of our Cambiar listas de géneros de Essentials.
It’s a great little comic musical narrative adventure from Nyamyam, the studio responsible for the Wii U’s gorgeous Tengami. If you’re looking for something a bit different from the 72,600 Metroidvanias that came to Switch in 2021, this is well worth checking out.
Otras lecturas:
Best End-Of-Year Arrival That Dropped Too Late To Make Our GOTY 2021 Lista
Ganador: Achicoria: Un cuento colorido
That this game was a cracker was well-known, but the work that went into the Switch port in particular has made Finji’s indie hit Chicory a delight to (re)visit on Nintendo’s console. It just arrived too late to make a dent in our staff list, is all.
Recordar, our reader-ranked Best Switch Games of 2021 article is dynamic, so if you’ve enjoyed Chicory over the holidays, head to its game page and rate it accordingly — it could well show up on the list if it gets enough ratings. It’s not too late!
Except for our staff list, which is set in stone. Bah.
Best Worst Best Worst Game 2021
Ganador: The Longing
De, The Longing — a game that more than any other this year defied traditional review score metrics. Stuart detested every long second of his time with it and we agonised over how it should be scored, taking into account our existing framework and remit to give readers as much context and useful information as possible.
El hecho de que el software sea utilizable sirve principalmente para validar la precisión de la documentación., The Longing earns you respect — however begrudgingly — and more than any other game in recent memory it seemed to intentionally make a mockery of everything: review scores and your time alike. Which was kind of the point.
A fine candidate for the year’s best worst best worst game, entonces.
Best Non-2021 Switch Game of the Year
Ganador: Blasfemo
Runners up: Animal Crossing: Nuevos horizontes, Smash Bros. y más
We played plenty of Animal Crossing and Smash this year, thanks to final updates for each of those evergreens, and our backlog continues to grow with each passing eShop sale. For this writer, aunque, it was The Game Kitchen’s Blasphemous that was most surprisingly impressive game of the year… simplemente no this año. It was especially surprising considering Nintendo delivered a bona fide Metroidvania this year, as well — a bloody good one!
De hecho, having dipped into Blasphemous mid-playthrough of última salida after picking it up on sale, this game delayed completion of Samus’ adventure thanks to its gorgeously gory pixel art, old-school Spanish architectural style, and compulsive just-one-more combat loop. It’s a really excellent Soulslike / Metroidvania that’s definitely worth your time… if you can stand the unending gloom of Cvstodia, that is.
Others team members also enjoyed catching up with Bastion, La Momia Demastered, Oxenfree, Historia del golf y Sine Mora EX, demasiado. Oldies-but-goodies, todas.
Best Game We Keep Blathering On About That You Really Should Play
A pair of super cheap-and-cheerful throwback 3D platformers that deliver more smiles and joy in their short runtime than many a game with a huge budget and a development team of dozens, both Toree titles have been delightful, undemanding nuggets that popped up between the hulking great games of year. We’ve mentioned them before, several times, but they’re worth mentioning again.
Both games have been updated with a handful of new levels, demasiado. If you’re into 3D platformers, divertido, or even fun 3D platformers, you really can’t go wrong for a couple of quid.
Let us know your nominations for the ‘alternative’ categories above — and any other categories you’d add — in the comments below.