The John Linneman Collection: DF's Best Games of 2021
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- Опубликовано: 31 июл 2024
- As an incredible 2021 reaches its conclusion, the Digital Foundry team present their favourite games of the year. Kicking off with an exhaustive list of modern, retro and retro-modern titles, it's none other than John Linneman!
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Игры
1:22 8 - Demons Of Asteborg
4:54 7 - Cyber Shadow
8:32 6 - Forza Horizon 5
10:34 5 - It Takes Two
13:39 4 - Returnal
17:39 3 - Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy
21:14 2 - Metroid Dread
24:42 Retro Game Of The Year - Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys
27:40 Point And Click Games Intro
30:17 1 - Psychonauts 2
Mentioned also
9.Resident Evil Village
10.Halo Infinite
I think you made a typo. It says 37:40 on the one before last, but the video isn't even that long ;-p
@@markeldik7057 You're right. It's actually 27:40. (Simple typo.)
Thank your for the timestamps. You da real MVP.
@@joesterling4299 updated thanks
John, THANK YOU for making 2021 the year DF became my favorite channel on RUclips. It's all down to your fantastic tech coverage and relatability as a gamer. You, Alex, Rich, Audi, Tom, Will, and the DF Patreon contributors are really doing something special with this channel. KEEP IT UP!!!!
Hear, hear!
Nahh can't stand richard, tom and audi... only really good is john... and alex only speaks crysis... so mostly overated...
@@iamstartower pathetic comment, be constructive at least
John, my dearest life long friend passed away last year and it's still hard for me to game after him among many other things. you remind me of him, you're so genuine at what you do you make the most unlikely things happen, like becoming interested in a marvel game or bring back the beautiful memories of old with your passionate narration and deep love for this hobby.
Good job man and thank you.
So happy to see Psychonauts 2 get the praise it deserves. Between it, It Takes Two, and Ratchet and Clank, 2021 was the year of platformers
A dad and son cooping a game together... if only I had that kind of opportunity growing up. Don't ever take your presence for granted, John. Your son will never forget your time spent together and it will shape his life... even the gaming moments you share ❤
True words.
Nothing but respect for you, John. Loved the personal touches to the picks. Hope you don’t overwork yourselves for 2022!
John is such a great critic. His list is so personal and his taste is diverse and unique. I love these kind of videos man. Greetings from Germany :)
He also thinks Ballan Wonderland is a great game.
To each his own lol.
@@flyingplantwhale545 one terrible opinion does mean the rest of his opinions are bad
@@flyingplantwhale545 Really? That game was boring af but maybe it just wasnt for me.
John is also a great mentor to Alex who previously only liked walking around looking at nice graphics.. he is learning alot from john of what great game design is and starting to appreciate alot of games he didnt before.
@@dante19890 i think he has broadened his horizons, but i think Alex has his games and he likes gameplay (He loves RTS and boomer shooters). It's just in his profession he has a lot to say about graphics tech.
One of Tim Schafer's ideas for a game studio name was Soul Patch Studios, before landing on Double Fine. I've always appreciated John's commitment to rocking a soul patch as a subtle ode to his retro taste, but to have the only two soul patch files in my brain finally connect so gloriously feels like the handiwork of Raz himself.
Couple of things:
1- Thank you and all the DF team for the great work during this year. I truly believe that your effort has elevated the expectations (and in my case gave me back hope) for gaming journalism. Before DF I felt a lot of negativity coming from the videogame community but outlets like yours are a shiny example of professionalism that respects the audience while at the same type finding your own style.
2- I always enjoy your Best Of list at the end of the year. Good balance of indie and AAA games and in past years I even discovered some truly amazing games like Monster Boy in Monster World, Prodeus, Devil Engine, Blazing Chrome, Ion Fury and Amid Evil, among others.
Legit the only DF video I need
HI kakarot.
Literally forgot you existed since I’ve unsubscribed.
Cry more
I suggest watching more regularly to improve some review points and go more in depth on the technical side of games
@@adammohrone who shit in your cornflakes? xD
Psychonauts 2 even explores its themes with the increased emotional maturity and responsibility you'd expect of both a more mature studio, and of yourself as you've grown older from that time you would have first experienced the original game, all while still retaining the same joy of getting inside the wild minds of the cast and rooting out their deepest fears, and helping them heal until they're whole again.
Instead of wearing out the original's childlike fun of exploring the weird areas and fighting tons of cool monsters, it brings new reasons and ideas to the table to make it work even better than it did before.
This game reprises the feelings of playing the original, delivering on all that it promised and more.
That game IS Tim Schafer - he wrote what he feels (always has to be honest) and he's an older guy just writing a game about stuff he finds interesting. I think it was probably my game of the year purely for the writing and art direction and general feeling of doing something different. The platforming and combat are servicable but that's not even really why you play these games.
You guys are the best. You've kept a lot of people sane during these difficult couple of years❤️
I’ll second that
Jon I've been following this channel for yrs now and you're most of the reason why. You and I have more or less the same gaming taste. I always find great stuff to check out on your videos. Thank you for all the great content. And to the team as well!
Thanks for everything John! Here's to a fantastic 2022! Amazing job!
You have such a way with words and your passion fills your productions. You have my deepest respect!
These are great because they introduce me to games I would otherwise ignore without just being a jerk off of the biggest games this year
Nice too see returnal and Guardian of the Galaxy getting some deserve love.
Undeserved
Returnal is a lot of fun but only 23% of players made it past 2nd biome and only 60% got past 1st boss. Thats a shame its so difficult to beat because it has great combat
@@reach5589 I beat the game in just 3 deaths (1 of which was due to being bugged and the other suicide). It isn't just the difficulty but the time sink. Until just recently the devs made it so the game had no save feature (to continue mid run), which was baffling/downright stupid especially considering other rogue like games like Hades had it.
The game held your ps5 hostage, and considering you had to beat the game in essentially 1 sitting i'm not surprised many dropped the game and/or disliked it and I don't blame them. No saving in a gamein 2021 where my fucking snes had it is plain stupid.
Granted they added it now but most players had already moved on.
Returnal is imo the best game this year but God damn wtf were the devs thinking by refusing to put a save feature in the game for so long?! Makes 0 sense to me to this day. They rightfully lost some sails and some praise for that.
Psychonauts 2 NEEDS to be recognized for how incredible it is. From the absolutely mindblowing varied art design to fun and engaging characters and narrative, I urge each and every person to give this game a try and if you can, to purchase it. Double Fine deserves every cent they get
Psychonauts 2 was CRIMINALLY overlooked on The Game Awards 2021. Shame.
@@SimplexPL it’s also criminally overlooked by gamers judging from sales
do I need to play pyschonauts 1 first?
@@-aexc- Psychonauts 2 Takes place LITERALLY 3 days after the first game... Yeah, its kinda a must
@@SaltyDerps there's also a VR game which start exactly after Psychonauts 1 and ends immediately before Psychonauts 2 - its called Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin. Available on PCVR and PSVR.
I love this, a lot of these went under my radar but are right up my alley.
Great work John!
I've really enjoyed your content this year John, especially the DF Retro stuff. Great list that's given me a few tips of games to try. Always good to see AAA titles alongside indie games and retro releases. Very much mirrors my preferences! Looking forward to more in 2022!
John! Your game reviews are superb 👌👌 I've been binge watching your annual top picks and I have to finally stop myself haha Thank you for all the variety in your picks too. I found a couple to play with my mom 😀😄
Thank you John, your input is a necessity in these strange times! You are great!
Definitely picking up a few of these! Thanks for highlighting some great games, John
Thank you for sharing your opinion John, I appreciate it when somebody takes the time to carefully explain why they liked or disliked something.
This is why I love DF. Each member recommends unique and beautiful games with reasons why they like that game and why you should try it. This is a Top Tier Channel 👏 I will definitely be checking out some of these game John thanks.
“Thirst for the plastic platter of pleasure” killed me! Great video, as always Sir!
you know john loves his number 1 game when it's the only time in the video he says "bespoke"
Thank you guys for another year and really nice list John!
Nice video presentation / quality of yourself John! That lighting contributes a lot.
Psychonauts 2 is so we'll deserved, the amount of maturity they had handling the amount of subjects they had in the game while also making something unique and fun to play, it's honestly admirable. Hats off to double fine.
Do you need to play first psychonuts 1
@@nafisishtiaque definitely play 1st game
It's still holds extremely well even after all these years
You don't need to play the first one.
@@nafisishtiaque You don't need to, but you may want to. It's still a great experience, and of course, an intro to the current game.
John Linneman you are a jewel for the gaming community, we love you, happy new year
Indeed we do
John is a treasure ❤
Thank you for the list John, your love for video games really shines through all your picks
I always like the diversity on your lists John, and appreciate the thoughtful, old-school gamer style you have.
Can’t wait to see your views on the 2022 batch of games. Merry Christmas!
Wow, nice list, a bunch I have not played but, a bunch I WILL be playing. Some I saw but, didn't know enough about them, so I kind of over looked them. No more. Thanks ! And Happy New year !
play Cyber Shadow!
Psychonauts 2 was absolutely fantastic. Definitely my favorite game this year.
I like it when youtubers put in the effort to equalise the loudness in their video. And IF John personally did that, then I tip my hat to that. I also felt your feelings about Psychonauts and would definitely give it a try. The audio got desynced here btw 14:15
Incredible list. Thanks for a great 2021.
What a great list and your input was fantastic!:)
Really sweet video! Excited to play It Takes Two myself, especially after hearing how much enjoyment you got playing it with your son. Metroid has to take the number 1 spot for me tbh. Been waiting since Fusion came out.
Fantastic presentation, man!
Happy New Year to DF Team!
Loved Returnal, worked out just like you said, you keep coming back and just get better through your understanding of the biomes and enemies. Very addictive and rewarding.
Wish you guys did the retro pick-ups video for the year. Those videos are my favorite of the end-year videos you put out.
I gotta say John, you have good taste. I dread the idea of a future where these older games stop being appreciated.
So glad you see Cyber Shadow here. Extremely polished. Definitely the one game I finished the most times this year.
I will definitely check out Demon of Asteborg
Yes! Cyber Shadow is my GotY. Sadly, the story wasn't praised by the press that reviewed it but it's my favorite part of the game, very well told, excellent characters and the music and world design work together to complete the package.
Edit: and Demon of Asterborg has a demo on steam, it's fun
Couldn't agree more on Psychonauts 2. Well worth the Fig and wait!! Best game this year and a reminder that games can be fun, colourful, exciting, insightful and at times passionate, thought provoking and make you seriously think about mental health.
Amazing!
@Michael Please... you platinumed it and never touched it again, even your daddy Jaytech fell asleep playing Rift Apart.
Bought an series just for psychonauts 2. Hope it will life up to my Expectations.
Great List dear John! See you again 2022!
You've convinced me to pick up It Takes Two to play with my daughter. This looks fantastic! :)
Better luck with your daughter than I had getting my girlfriend to play it. Didn't realise she was the video game rage sort 😂 Does seem a cool game though
Be aware, might be a segemt that might be a bit traumatic. Depends on how old she is, i played it with my 11 year old, and she handled it fine. Just a heads up!
@@SC0RPI0NFURY Thanks for that! She's 12 so I think we'll be fine, but I'll keep an eye out.
Your best games lists are always unique, and I discovered games that were never reviewed anywhere here.
Another great year by the DF team. Thank you for all your hard work yet again and providing all us viewers with top notch content.
If I could make one suggestion for 2022 and onwards can you guys review HDR and Dolby Vision in games compared to SDR. It's something I always stress about when starting a new game as it's hard to know what setting to use. Like Halo Infinite's DV being broken and looking better in HDR and games like Red Dead Redemption 2 having broken HDR and being better in SDR. It's so hard to know and would be awesome if you guys dived deeper in your reviews to let us know the optimal settings.
All the best for 2022 guys and thank you once again
Happy holidays, Mr Linneman!
Thanks John, really informative video. I am looking forward to playing It Takes Two on PS5 and Returnal. These are games I hadn't heard of but from your detailed reviews, look forward to playing in the near future.
I feel the same way about Psychonauts 2, achieves things that very few video-games even try these days. A fantastic and memorable game, very worthy of being number one.
Delicious as always!
Wow!! What a fantastic list!
Fabulous list!
Great list. You sold me on Cyber Shadow the second you mentioned Shadow Of The Ninja, one of my favorite games ever.
Cyber Shadow is superb, it's my GotY
I was waiting for this :)
The Linneman collection is an awesome start! Cannot wait for the Battaglia Batch and the Morgan mountain! Wishing everyone a good slide into the new year!
The Leadbetter List
Great video, great games. I haven’t gotten to Demons of Asterborg yet, but it’s on a short list:) I was also surprised to see a ys game on here, I played ys3 on the snes for the first time this year, and really liked it. Those games have always been just outside my radar and I’m really glad to be enjoying the ones I’ve played so far. I will check out ys4 now, for sure
Nice picks! I'm looking forward to 2022.
Thanks, Jon. Yourself and Audi really get this gaming thing.
Just picked up (figuratively) Guardians of the Galaxy based on you and your team's repeated glowing praise for it. Plus gotta support that Deus Ex team until the hopefully inevitable threequel. Thanks John!
I always appreciate top ten lists that don't completely go for the obvious choices (as per popularity). This has allowed me to discover hidden gems that would have passed me by.
Thank you all for another year of amazing content! I love watching your channel and seeing all the different games on all the different platforms that you cover. It makes me a happy gamer! I look forward to all the content in 2022! Hope everyone at DF and in the comments have a happy new year and I’m sure we’re all excited to see what 2022 brings us with gaming! 🎮
Very respectful list you've come up with, John. You've made me want to try all these games. Forza Horizon 5 and Demons of Asteborg are the only ones I've played. Both are really fun. I'm using an emulator on PS Vita to play DoA; it's a joy to play and look at.
Being 33years old, my approach to gaming shifted quote a bit, from fast paced, driving/simulation, action packed games to more slow down, well crafted journeys. Hearing an experienced player talking of a game like you did about psyconaut made me wanted to play It.
So glad you included Cybershadow!! So overlooked!
My GotY
Great work John, happy birthday, have a great day
This psychonauts 2 review was so beautiful and emotional. Thx John
John I absolutely loved this list, thanks for all the great recommendations I cant wait to try them!! I was wondering if you would ever be willing to make a Retro video about Twilight Princess on the GameCube? A tech analysis, and how the GameCube version is vastly superior to both the Wii and Wii U versions of the game. I think it could really be something incredible for you to cover, that would be my dream video!
Good list and i loves some Ys, i almost fininshed japanese Ys 4 but are going to go through it again with the full translation and trying to work my way through all the Ys games.
Great list. I've had cyber shadow on my series x via gamepass for a while, but haven't played it yet.
Psychonauts 2 has a lot of good stuff in it. I didn't love the platforming or combat that much, but the story and production are top notch.
Cyber Shadow is my GotY, I especially love the story and the characters, something that never gets talked about with this game. However, it's brutally difficult, but I was too into the music and the art style to quit on the game. Eventually I was able to get the achievement for beating it in under three hours but my first playthrough clocked in at 44 hours and 1800 deaths!!
I play it via X Cloud and it's very nostalgic having grown up with SNES and Genisis.
@@charoleawood 1800?? Jesus
@@shreder75
Yes! Enjoying the game music, the environment designs, and the story goes a long way. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder gets us over the finish line.
I tend to advocate for games, including Souls, to have Easy modes because I prefer to dick around my first time through and I'm a slow learner --- I didn't learn to read until the fourth grade when a teacher had to sit down with me before and after school.
But, as I said, I was eventually able to get the achievement for beating Cyber Shadow in under three hours and that took over a hundred hours of investment that I was happy to give the game.
Just now in Forza Horizon 5 I was able to achieve a time of 3:30:062 in Rivals mode on the Wing and a Prayer showcase event without traction or stability control or antilock breaks and on manual with clutch. Originally getting under 3:55:00 seemed like an accomplishment.
If I enjoy something I replay until I get good and sometimes this behavior will get me to enjoy a game that at first I don't like --- which is what happened for me with the Souls-like genre; I hated it at first, now I love it.
I still think that more people would ease into the work of "getting gud" in Souls if only difficulty options and/or cheats were made available. The same goes for Cyber Shadow.
@Charlie Wood i avoid souls games like the plague. Having to replay over and over again isn't my idea of fun.
I love your perspective and completely agree on your number 1!
Great list!!!
Fantastic video and list. John's the video game youtuber with the taste that most closely matches mine, but his taste is still better :D
Swear to God every time the number animation popped up with that gong sound, I expected Paul Young to start singing... 'It's Christmas time, there's no need to be afraid.' :)
Yes! I have been singing high praises for Psychonauts 2 ever since i first got it on Gamespass. It’s my GOTY as well. The original is just as good, and holds up reasonably well on XSX
Great list!
EXCELLENT!!! I wish DF would have they own Video Game Award Show!
I seriously look forward to your game of the year list more than any other each year. Our taste in games is so similar it's frightening!
Me too! 🤗
Well made pick John, thx!
Never...never...never let anyone tell you which is a better game. It's a very personal choice at best.
My favourite games include non of these for example. And I am adamant on my choices.
That's common sense, or it should be common sense.
@@blitzwing1 I wouldn't say they are ridiculous, but their worth depends entirely on the person making the list and your opinion of them. When some random employee of IGN or Gamespot does a list I agree they are pretty useless.
Your picks are very unique to you, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Another year has gone by, and just like last year and the year before that, I'm still hoping that Sega will gain some brain cells and use the Mania team to create the next 2D Sonic... Oh well... Thanks for the video! I love watching them each year!
Enjoy the holiday, you’ve earned it!
Great pics
Loved It takes two
Made my evening
Happy to see that John shares my GoTY !
Appreciate seeing Cyber Shadow making your list: that game was fantastic as a retro-style platformer akin to the Ninja Gaiden trilogy on the NES.
Same
That's why we love you John, Ys IV for the retro win.
Great list, I love that you played It takes Two with you son.
Great list, hasn’t heard of 8 & 7 not a fan of those type of games but glad to see GOTG it’s so amazingly done, graphics, story but like you it’s the entire interaction and background dialogue and love the hub (ship) feels so believable maybe a little long and I ended playing like a walking simulator with difficulty turned to easy ….felt like I was in a GOTG movie just with deeper characters and genuine heart
Yayyyy. This is a great list!
I can now say without a doubt that John is my kind of gamer! this list would be no different from a list I would make personally.
Spoken like the true gamer you are.
Same, been following DF for yrs and that's mostly because of John tbh. Looking forward to my physical copy of Demons of Asteborg whenever that will arrive.
The good news here for Xbox owners is that a good chunk of the top games are available on game pass. Nice.
I'm so glad we were all wrong about Guardians of the Galaxy. Also, thanks to your glowing review AND because of Game Pass, I'll be trying Cyber Shadow as soon as I get home.
Loved the list John, pretty similar to mine in the top spots.
John. I don't know if you read these comments or not, but I was wondering what the song was playing in the Forza section. It was amazing and it's exactly the type of music I've been looking for. Please help. Also I Love your list and I Love the digital foundry show. I can always count on you guys for the best analysis of games, graphics especially between platforms since I own all the next gen systems I can get a better idea of which version to pick. Long time viewer. I just Love the show. All these channels want to give their opinions which I appreciate, but you guys give way more facts. I also greatly appreciate your vocabulary and the fact you upload videos in 4K 60. It's definitely my favorite gaming channel. Thanks for all your effort and everything you've put into the channel. It's much appreciated. Please don't forget to let me know what song that is. Thanks. -Luigi
Hi, I'm looking for this song as well. Did you have any luck figuring it out?
It's great to see Returnal getting some love
Does anyone know the name of the song that starts at 8:36? I listened to the Forza Horizon 5 OST but didn't hear it. Have I just missed it or is it not from the OST? Thanks!