The Games (and other things) That Got Me Through 2021

Wishing you all the best for 2022. Also, I make a comment how it would be weird to make a video essay on Bo Burnham's Inside, and in retrospect, I framed that poorly. I think it would be weird for me to do an analytical dive into it, but there are definitely folks who can (and did) do it well. Two of my favorite essays from this year were about Inside, so it obviously can be done well. CJ The X: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvYcunuF3Eo F.D Signifier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkuQ78xb-Fg

when you described that feeling of "needing at least an hour to play a game so never knowing what to do with your free time and then wasting it," it was like you pulled it right out of my gosh dang brain

I know sometimes Razbuten hesitates about talking about topics outside video games but id just like you to know that I'm a teenage girl who does not play video games at all with the exception of a few Nintendo titles - not your demographic at all. But I love all of your videos because of your unique introspection, your commentary, your personality and effort that radiates on screen. Id love to hear about pretty much anything you're passionate about as well as many others. It was exciting watching you do this in this video :)

I’ll say you got me through a good part of 2021. Thank you.

Even though you didn't actively talk about it you had two clips from The Forgotten City. I'm going to have a proud little sister moment and say that my brother was one of the 3 people who developed the game. He was basically the only programmer. I sat watching him make it for years as the company didn't have an office space. Your videos with your wife actually helped make decisions on how to show game mechanics to the player. So thanks for showing the clips of it as it means that a YouTuber that we both love actually played his game. Have a great year

I can't quite tell if this is suposed to be a series or only for when we're finishing tough years like 2020. And that's kinda sad. Happy 2022 Raz

Outer Wilds will live rent free in my head for a long, long time.

Revisiting old favorites was a big theme for my year too. There's something about that familiarity that's really comforting in these wild times. Childhood games definitely felt like a warm hug.

2021 was quite the year for me. I changed jobs twice, moved out by myself, broke up a 5 year relationship, got a promotion, started therapy and struggled with a lot of daily things. Each time I went into YouTube I hoped to find a new video from you, as if I missed a notification or something. And each time I did, I became really happy. I wanted to thank you for making 2021 a little bit better. One of the videos that struck me the most was "Finding meaning in music" as I was just going through a mix of rough stuff, and it made me feel at peace. So once again, thank you Raz. I hope you have a great 2022, looking forward to seeing more of your content

Northernlion gets me through every day aswell with his awesome humor and old man jokes whole lot of playing isaac and SAP

A game I definitely would recommend playing is “Omori”. The game is very long and it can be pretty dull in a couple of instances but the narrative is incredible. I don’t want to say too much about it because the game is best experienced blind, but it is the kind of story that will ruin your day, maybe even week in the best way possible. It has a lot of charm, the art is incredible and the community is small enough that it doesn’t really suffer from the undertale problem. The game holds a special place in my heart and, dispite it’s flaws, is absolutely worth a playthru

Most of my year was spent lying in bed. I got very sick at the start of the year and spent the rest waiting for doctors appointments and wallowing in my own newfound apathy and sense of general unpleasantness. I kept trying to play games and enjoy the downtime, but I couldn't. Every game I'd play would get turned off in a few minutes because I just wasn't enjoying it. I kept trying to watch youtube and finding myself not interested, but unwilling to just close the video, so I'd have 20 to 30 tabs of videos open unable to really watch any of them. I'm not as sick anymore, but I still haven't managed to escape the pit of whatever apathetic depressive slump I've gotten myself into. Here's hoping 2022 will be better.

I think the issue a lot of artists face when trying to recognize their own achievements is that it's impossible to tell what kind of long-lasting impressions you've made on people. I've seen paintings, 4-panel comics, and yes, YouTube analysis videos by a talking paper bag, that I do think have fundamentally changed how I perceive the world around me. In the case of your videos, it's made me appreciate the artistic potential and presence of video games & video game analysis videos to a far greater extent than I thought imaginable. Opening that door has allowed me to enjoy and analyse in a new way the games that I play, and the selection of games that I play, all for which I'm truly grateful. This YouTube channel can really bring so much joy and insight to the people watching. Just wanted to have that mentioned. edits bc I'm a bit tipsy so corrections were necessary

Arcane and Inside (as well as Bo’s other works) were so incredible at getting me through this year. It was a very tough one and these two kept me going through it all. Arcane and Inside (as well as Bo’s other works) were so incredible at getting me through this year. It was a very tough one and these two kept me going through it all. Edit: and you. Your videos are so thoughtful and insightful and have such a calming yet melancholy feel.

Echos of the Eye turned Outer Wilds from one of my Top 3 games into my all time favorite. After all the secrets were revealed, I went and played the ending, and wound up sitting at the campfire with the travelers, just bawling.

Before Your Eyes is incredible. Truly moved me to tears by the end. I can only imagine how amazing a VR port would be.

My pc is kinda bad to run most games so this entire year it was me mostly cycling trought the same 1 or 3 games with high replayability (roguelikes, multiplayers) and then feeling nostalgic and replaying the one time experience ones.

Was looking forward to this! Only played a small handful of games this year, so I'm looking forward to what you recommend. We appreciate you

i had the 'outer wilds' problem with the return of the obra dinn that i somehow only learned of this year... the game is still amazing

The game that was the highlight for me this year was Metroid Dread. I remember dreaming about this game all the way back in elementary school in the mid 2000s when the name was first heard. To be able to sit here nearly 2 decades later & have not only this fairytale become a reality, but to have it somehow manage to live up to nearly 2 decades of hype & expectations is something I'm still struggling to comprehend with right now.