2021 brought us a year of new games, experiences, and memories we will hold dear to our hearts. It also brought us big announcements and news that gave hope and desire on what games will be releasing in 2022. Let’s take a look at the end of 2021 as well as what to anticipate in the upcoming year.
In December of every year, a huge gaming event is always held, The Game Awards. This event showcases upcoming games, more news and information about them, as well as celebrating and awarding games released that year. The show is hosted by Geoff Keighley. Most, if not all huge gaming companies participate in this event. The biggest award given is always Game of the Year, and that went to It Takes Two, created by Hazelight Studios and published by EA. The game is mainly a co-op game, meaning you are playing with another person. The game is mainly about two parents, Cody and May, telling their daughter Rose that they’re getting a divorce. Of course, Rose is devastated by this. Rose wants them to stay together and imagines them fixing their relationship with her dolls, but in reality, she just turned her parents into the dolls. Cody and May find themselves trapped into said-dolls, which are similar to their human forms, and encounter Dr. Hakim, a talking relationship therapy book. The game pushes Cody and May to work together to mend their relationship, working together to finish levels and pass through puzzles. This collaborative game makes for a really good bonding experience, and in my opinion, deserved this year’s game of the year award.
After the Game Awards, the people at Steel Wool Studios released the newest entry in the Five Nights at Freddy franchise, Five Nights at Freddy: Security Breach. Personally, I thought this game would come out in 2022, but here we are. Security Breach brings a whole different concept to the FNAF franchise. Instead of sitting down at a security office, it is an open-world game, which means that you have full control of movement and can explore different areas of the game, unlike in previous entries. The game looks beautiful and it is a nice approach, and the plot is very basic on the surface. You take control of Gregory, who snuck into the Freddy’s Fazbear Mega Pizzaplex. You, along with Freddy Fazbear, work together to escape the Pizzaplex by exploring the massive world. I would go into the plot more, but that can lead to spoilers. (This game is best without spoilers.)
However, Security Breach was the talk of the town for the wrong reason. This game was beyond glitchy. There were so many glitches and exploits found on the first day the game was released. The game was so exploitable that people found a way to beat the game in under 4 minutes. It felt like it was playtested and it was pushed to meet the holidays. My first time playing this game, I accidentally broke the game and had to completely exit it. So, if you are planning to buy this game, be aware that this game has a bug infestation.
As the new year approaches, I already have a list of anticipated games I am hoping to hear any kind of information, news, and ultimately a release date. One game that was announced during the Game Awards was Sonic Frontiers from SEGA. This game trailer looks great, and it looks promising from its first announcement. We don’t have much information about the game’s plot, but by the looks of it, it is an open-world Sonic game, close to Nintendo’s Breath of the Wild.
Another game we got recent news about is Kirby and the Forgotten Land from Nintendo, which was announced on September 23, 2021 in a Nintendo Direct, and we recently got more footage of gameplay on January 12, 2022, about its copy abilities and the co-op feature. The fans have been waiting for a new Kirby game, and this one also looks as promising as Sonic Frontiers. Both are taking the form of an open-world game but have their uniqueness and overall differences. Kirby and the Forgotten Land is set to be released on March 25th, 2022.
Lastly, we still are waiting for Nintendo’s Breath of the Wild 2. The last time we heard anything about this game was back on June 15th, 2021. We have not received any kind of news from Nintendo since. Personally, I never got into the Legend of Zelda franchise, but the fans are desperate for any kind of information about this game. And one of those fans is one of my classmates and friend, Noel Kakkanattu. Noel is hoping for a release date with a possibility of another trailer of its gameplay. He believed that this would come this year. Let’s all keep up our hopes for him.