2021 has had some phenomenal games. Despite the huge number of delays that we’ve also gotten throughout the year, it’s been pretty good as far as new releases go. 2022 is going to be better for sure, but 2021 has been really good. One of the last games to come out this year was Century: Age of Ashes, a free-to-play dragon dogfighting game. This game had been on some people’s radars for a while, but it was relatively unknown until it launched. Then, in just two weeks, it amassed 500,000 players because it’s this incredible concept that just seems to work.
I honestly don’t think that anything could have surprised me more than Century: Age of Ashes. For a free-to-play title to come along this late in the year and still make a splash, considering a lot of people were more excited about Battlefield 2042 and Halo Infinite’s campaign, is phenomenal. I think it speaks to the quality of the game and the experience you get from it that it still stands up so well. I think that the developers have a big plan for the future in 2022, and that future is going to be extremely bright. As long as microtransactions don’t ruin it, this will be a fantastic game, and a big first year for it.
Truly, nothing has surprised me more in 2021. Deathloop was a great game, but I knew it would be good. Halo Infinite’s multiplayer was fun, but had its issues. Hitman 3 is a game I’ll play forever, but it doesn’t scratch this same itch. There have been very few games that have given me such a nice warm feeling when it comes to the free-to-play genre, let alone something that lets me battle on the back of a dragon. It’s like living your ultimate fantasy book through without the repercussions of a fiery death.
There’s a lot that you can do with Century: Age of Ashes, and I for one hope that the developer stick with it and go even harder next year. The industry needs to be shaken up, and this is the perfect game to do it, providing it doesn’t hit any speedbumps along the way.