In a weird year like 2021, puzzle adventure game “Chicory: A Colorful Tale” is a soothing balm for the mind. “Chicory” discusses mental health and how it’s okay to say no to the many demands of others. You play as an anthropomorphic dog, which you name after your favorite food, who learns to paint with a magic brush. The gameplay is about returning color to the world, one brushstroke at a time.
“Chicory” imparts the lesson that being an artist is not about striving for perfection. It’s okay to paint recklessly, outside the lines, or to carefully fill up each shape with love and care. Everyone has a different style, and there’s no wrong approach. Mom and Dad are just a phone call away if you get stuck on a puzzle, always willing to help guide you. “Chicory” is a game with massive range, from beautiful music to satisfying sound design.
Available on: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC
“Halo Infinite” is the best-playing multiplayer shooting experience of the year, and it’s arguably the best Halo campaign in the 20-year history of the series. While the story is no exception to a series known for hammy writing, it’s the gameplay that rockets “Halo Infinite” to the spot of my favorite game of 2021. No other game offers this much variety of play on a moment-to-moment basis. As the Master Chief, you can be the getaway driver, the one-man demolition team, a platoon leader of Marines or a cybernetic Spider-Man swinging across Halo’s gorgeous, Pacific Northwest-inspired alien world.
No other big-budget experience this year gives this much agency and power to the player to tell their own story. "Halo Infinite" is simply the best version of one of the greatest, most influential shooting games ever made. It’s a tremendous acknowledgment of and tribute to our childhood memories of play. If video games are still looked at as toys today, “Halo Infinite” leans into that sentiment by simply reminding us that the medium offers the best toys in the world.
Available on: Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, PC
The Hitman games are the closest one can get to playing a James Bond simulator, so it’s a good thing developer IO Interactive has been tapped to make those next. In the meantime, “Hitman 3″ will show you why IO Interactive was trusted with the 007 license. The game’s second level allows protagonist Agent 47 to become the lead detective in a slow-burn Agatha Christie novel. Two levels later, he’s being stalked by fellow hit men in a warehouse rave in Germany, like a scene out of a Michael Mann thriller.
The Hitman series, which deserves more recognition, also remains remarkable for being among the most nonviolent action games. You are encouraged (and required) to only kill your targets, but everything else is either collateral damage or a prop used for players to achieve this goal. If “Death loop” left you feeling a bit raw in terms of detective-like gameplay, you’ll find that potential maximized in “Hitman 3".
Available on: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One
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