We stay in an age the place some video games simply carry on going, with post-launch roadmaps promoting months or years of future content material. Hate ’em or love ’em, live-service video games are right here to remain (that is type of their complete shtick). In 2021, 5 live-service video games stood out above the remaining, implementing substantial enhancements to their current components or discovering new methods to inform ever-expanding tales.Below, we record these 5 video games and element what it’s about them that impressed us a lot this yr. These video games aren’t listed so as of finest to worse or vice versa; we have merely put them in alphabetical order. They’re all great examples of how live-service video games could be sustained over time, every undertaking excellence in their very own means. From Respawn Entertainment’s Apex Legends to Bungie’s Destiny 2, and extra, these are GameSpot’s finest live-service video games of 2021.Apex LegendsApex Legends continued to be a dominant drive within the battle royale area in 2021. The yr noticed developer Respawn launch 4 new seasons, 4 new playable characters, 4 new weapons, a brand new mode, new maps, and a complete host of balancing changes and adjustments. Plus, Apex Legends lastly made its technique to Switch–it’s undoubtedly not the perfect technique to play, but it surely works. The new mode, Arenas, is actually the spotlight for Apex Legends’ yr, increasing the sport exterior the battle royale area with a wonderful mode that resembles Valorant.In 2021, Respawn doubled down on selling its personal group, creating an intriguing new avenue for a way live-service video games can inform a narrative. The developer employed members of the group to flesh out the tales of Apex Legends with conventional comics, animated comics, and 3D animated movies. In many circumstances, these artists had been creating the primary look and mannerisms of preexisting however unseen characters. Sure, Respawn had a guiding hand for each story, however most artists had closing say on what they created, making Apex Legends into one of many few live-service video games the place its followers have inventive possession over features of the narrative too.Destiny 2343 Industries might have totally entered the live-service area in 2021 with Halo Infinite, however Halo’s unique creators, Bungie, proceed to have a chokehold on the arena-style shooter area with Destiny 2. Destiny 2 has had an unbelievable year–the return of the Vault of Glass raid, new occasions, one of the best storytelling the sport has ever seen, and so many balancing adjustments that we have had a nonstop stream of stories to cowl about patches alone.2021 has been a yr for Destiny 2’s PvP. The PvE facet of Destiny 2 is all the time being up to date, in order unbelievable because the updates for it have been this yr, it is a payoff of what Bungie has spent years establishing. The identical cannot actually be stated for PvP, which does not get practically as a lot common love compared. That modified in 2021, with Bungie implementing a brand new system to additional stability workforce composition in Crucible when people queue in solo. Trials of Osiris additionally relaunched with loads of spectacular enhancements to assist make the skill-based mode much less exclusionary and extra approachable for brand spanking new gamers. Even in a yr the place Destiny 2 had loads of cool revelations tied to its PvE marketing campaign, the PvP facet should not be ignored.Final Fantasy XIV OnlineDo you know that the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV has a free trial, and contains everything of A Realm Reborn and the award-winning Heavensward growth as much as degree 60 without cost with no restrictions on playtime?In all seriousness, Final Fantasy XIV is only a constantly good sport today. So it is no shock to see it proceed to draw new gamers and renew the just about religious-like vigor that current gamers have for it. In 2021, Final Fantasy XIV continued to excel on the strengths of its excellent storytelling and rewarding gameplay. More than something, the success of Final Fantasy XIV Online could be measured by the launch of its Endwalker growth, which noticed queue traces so lengthy and aggravating to attend via, that current followers have begun jokingly asking for people to cease spreading the phrase about how such an excellent sport has a free trial in hopes of stopping the playerbase from rising any bigger forward of the following growth.FortniteFortnite has an attention-grabbing narrative throughline within the background of its battle royale, which is a very wild factor to write down a few sport that started off as a PvE expertise the place you constructed forts to arrange for zombie assaults at night time. Most of 2021 noticed Fortnite develop all through its Chapter 2, earlier than present process a large overhaul within the closing month of the yr with the beginning of Chapter 3. Chapter 3 added a complete host of recent content material for gamers to get pleasure from, together with a brand-new map, new gameplay mechanics corresponding to sliding, and loads of new beauty skins (like Spider-Man!).Fortnite is a sport constructed on the shoulders of others, implementing profitable gameplay loops and mechanics from different video games to enhance itself. 2021 proved no totally different, although sometimes Fortnite overstepped a bit and punched down, outright copying from video games a lot smaller than it, like Among Us (although Epic Games did finally announce plans to accomplice with developer Innersloth). Fortnite is a much better expertise when Epic Games is striving ahead with distinctive concepts all its personal, which we noticed numerous in 2021, corresponding to its novel means of injecting its battle royale sport with story missions. Virtual concert events exploded with one other summer time of children being stored at dwelling on account of the COVID pandemic, and (although admittedly in far much less profitable trend) Fortnite additionally broached different topics in its metaverse like exploring the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. Fortnite could be very rapidly turning into a world all its personal, and that was by no means extra evident than in 2021.Sea of ThievesSea of Thieves nears the tip of its fourth yr as 2021 involves an in depth, and the yr noticed loads of content material drops and balancing changes all through. Most outstanding of all is A Pirate’s Life, the Pirates of the Caribbean tie-in that developer Rare in some way, someway stored hidden and underneath wraps as much as its launch. Looking again, it makes sense–Pirates of the Caribbean is thematically the proper crossover for a sport like Sea of Thieves. Surprisingly, A Pirate’s Life revealed that Sea of Thieves is able to that includes historically single-player content material. It’s not a seamless integration, however the expertise does snuggle into the PvPvE open world of Sea of Thieves fairly properly and has us desirous to see what story-driven expertise the sport will get subsequent.2021 additionally noticed the beginning of Sea of Thieves Season 5. Admittedly, the brand new season began on the tail finish of the yr (the season began December 2) however Season 5 has managed to make a splash in Sea of Thieves. It may sound foolish, however Season 5 launched the mechanic of burying treasure, permitting you to cover away your loot from your mates and foes alike. And in the event you’re feeling beneficiant, you possibly can publish the map that results in your treasure to Quest Boards at Seaposts and Outposts. Live-service video games that enable gamers to present again to the group they love will all the time maintain a particular place in our hearts, and we love that Sea of Thieves permits us to take our extreme loot and make new adventures for associates and strangers to embark on. It’s not simply Rare making adventures in Sea of Thieves anymore–it’s the gamers too.
More