{"id":53468,"date":"2021-12-27T06:00:23","date_gmt":"2021-12-27T11:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=53468"},"modified":"2021-12-27T08:10:26","modified_gmt":"2021-12-27T13:10:26","slug":"denouement-2021-part-3-the-good-stuff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=53468","title":{"rendered":"D\u00e9nouement 2021 Part 3: The Good Stuff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like I’ve belabored already, I didn’t get to play a lot of stuff this year. My general impression is that this year is a lot like 2014, which was a generally “meh” year<\/a> that didn’t have a lot of standout titles. Or maybe there were some great games and I missed them because I was distracted<\/a>. Or maybe the games I played were great, but I couldn’t really get into them because I wasn’t feeling my best.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ugh. Enough introspection. Whatever. I didn’t get excited about a lot of games in 2021, but I did manage to have a good time with a few. Here are the first four:<\/p>\n

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7. Dorfromantik<\/h3>\n

I'm rubbish at the game, but I find it incredibly relaxing anyway.<\/div>
I'm rubbish at the game, but I find it incredibly relaxing anyway.<\/div><\/p>\n

This was a charming little trifle of a game. The game deals you a stack of hexagonal pieces. Each edge can be woodlands, plains, houses, water, or farmland. Your goal is to place tiles with as many matching edges as possible. The better you do at matching edges, the higher your score. Scoring more points earns you more tiles, allowing you to continue expanding the map.<\/p>\n

This one falls into the “trivial to learn, difficult to master” space that so many puzzle games aspire to. It’s a simple idea with simple rules and pretty art. This is the perfect coffee-break game for when you find yourself getting tired of old standbys like Tetris<\/i> and Minesweeper<\/i>.<\/p>\n

6. Portal 2 Reloaded<\/h3>\n