13 Most Anticipated 2021 Video Games Ranked - Did They Live Up To The Hype?
Which of 2021's bumper crop of games lived up to expectations?
At the start of the year WhatCulture released a list of our most anticipated games for 2021. Now that the year is almost over we thought it would be fun to take a look back and see which of the year's releases managed to live up to the hype, and which fell short of our expectations.
Obviously, not every game on the list will be included here. Due to various behind-the-scenes shenanigans several games on the list were pushed back into next year (or into the dreaded realms of TBA), so until the WhatCulture TARDIS gets out of the workshop we won't be able to tell you how good they are/will be.
One more point before we begin - none of the games on this list are bad in any way, shape or form. The lowest ranked entries are still solid, 7/10 games. It's just that, given the levels of hype generated by each game, "solid" doesn't quite match up to what was expected from them.
Alright, enough preamble. In the words of entrant no. 7, let's-a-go!
13. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
The lowest ranked game on this list, Ratchet & Clank fell victim to its own hype and a massively inflated price tag.
In the build-up to Rift Apart's release, Sony's marketing machine made a huge deal about the game's portal mechanic. Seemingly, the player could open up portals and warp between worlds at will, with no loading times. A great idea in concept, but the execution was disappointingly limited.
Players could only use portals in specific locations, a far cry from the freewheeling dimension-hopping promised in the trailers. Not only that, but in the months following the game's release Jon Burton, founder of Traveller's Tales game studio, claimed that the same trick could have been done on the PS3. Not exactly what Sony needed to hear when hyping the power of the PS5...
Putting that aside, Rift Apart was still a fun time. Ratchet & Clank games are always solid, competent platformers, and their PS5 debut was no exception. Sony may have vastly overestimated the game's worth by slapping it with a £70 price tag, but if you can get it for a reasonable amount (and go in with tempered expectations) then you'll definitely enjoy it.