I’m glad the $70 price tag isn’t that prevalent (yet)
We’re a year into the PS5’s lifecycle, and it truly feels like it’s early days. As you’ll see in Destructoid’s best-of-the-year nominees, most of our favorite games released on a PlayStation console in 2021 weren’t full-blown “exclusives” — which is a great thing, depending on who you’re asking. If you’re still focused on PS4, there’s so much to play.
It goes without saying that it’s still tough to get ahold of a PS5. Even if you have the money lined up, and even if you’re obsessively following the right Twitter accounts for a leg up on less tuned-in shoppers, it can feel like a miracle to actually get an order placed.
With the way the last console generation has bled into the current landscape, the PS4 is still very relevant whether you’ve got plenty of older games in your backlog or you’re focused on newer releases. So much creativity is pouring out of the indie scene on a weekly basis. And even in the bigger-budget realm, publishers are happy to keep dipping into last gen’s audience. Some of these dual PS4/PS5 releases can be a pain to sort through — entitlements and upgrades aren’t as consistent as they ought to be on PlayStation — but the ability to future-proof our game libraries is so appreciated.
I think 2022 could have a more noticeable shift, but right now, looking back on 2021, the lines are blurred between PS4 and PS5 in many cases. In last year’s best-of list, I said that I expected to spend the year “revisiting the PS4 hall of fame,” which has proven to be spot-on. Honestly, I’m loving it. As fun as it is to latch onto showpiece games like Ratchet & Clank and Returnal that start to show what a new console is capable of tech-wise, I’m just as happy using my PS5 to play a whole range of experiences, big and small.
Here are the nominees for Destructoid’s Best PlayStation Game of 2021:
- Deathloop
- Dungeon Encounters
- Hitman 3
- Persona 5 Strikers
- Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
- Resident Evil Village
- Returnal
