What are The Galaxy Of Geek Staff Most Excited about in 2021? (Gaming/Movies/TV)

The only struggle more difficult than remembering all the movies you saw in a year is attempting to pick which one was the best. Every year just to get started I have to check my notes and… oh… it appears that this year’s list is Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn and Bill & Ted Face the Music.  Alright, so 2020 isn’t going down in the history books as a great year for cinema and the gaming industry hasn’t faired a whole lot better.  A year of plagued by delays and major game releases overshadowed by disappointing fan reception (looking at you Paper Mario) or buggy game play (not just Cyberpunk, go read the “known issues” list for AC: Valhalla if you’ve got the time) and massive stock shortages of consoles putting a damper on what is usually the most exciting time to be a gamer.   TV certainly faired a bit better in 2020, but overall 2020 was a rough year in more ways than one. 

So with that in mind, rather than the typical round up/discussion attempting to highlight some bright spots in the dumpster fire that has been the last year, lets instead take a moment to look forward to what we are most excited for 2021.

Gaming:

Tristan:  My choice may surprise some as it quickly became a punching bag in 2020 but I am unapologetically really looking forward to Halo Infinite.  It’s been a while since I’ve been sucked into Halo and I’m excited to see the franchise shift a bit and try something new.  The “games as a service” model is of course tricky but Microsoft has proven a willingness to support the model (Sea of Thieves) and Halo isn’t some new franchise attempting to get off the ground.  As the amount of multiplayer I’ve played has dwindled over the years, and with the last two Halo game’s campaigns being over relatively quickly, I’m excited at the prospect of ongoing Halo content to ingest (the fact that this will also be included with my Game Pass subscription just sweetens the deal).  Lastly, Infinite appears to be going in the direction of a more “open world” format for Halo and that is just simply something I want.  Honorable mention though to the port of Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury for the Switch because like most people I never owned a Wii-U and never got to play it originally (though I do not look forward to Nintendo inevitably charging full price for a fairly lazy port again and tossing some arbitrary limited availability into the mix as well).

Frank: Give me Monster Hunter: Rise right noooow.
I usually have a ton of games on preorder and plenty to look forward to but obviously this year is different. All I need in 2021 is a fantastic Monster Hunter Game,  it seriously would elevate the whole year if Rise delivers. I have absolutely loved my time with Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate on Switch but I am ready for a true next generation Monster Hunter game. I dug Monster Hunter World but loved MHGU more, so I know I will love Rise. The new monsters are hype and having a Dog you can customize and ride on is just amazing. I am sure there are other great games coming out but all I need is a good hunting group and I will be good to go for 2021

Deshawn: Gaming-wise, as we’ve transitioned to a new console generation, there are plenty of things to look forward to, assuming they do indeed release this year. I’m primarily a Sony guy, and probably the only person I know who’s really excited for Oddworld: Soulstorm. I’ve loved the series since I was a kid, from Odyssee, to Exoddus, to Stranger’s Wrath. My thing with puzzle games is that I like something that’s reinventing the wheel, something that’s only possible in the medium and relatively unique to the genre. So while I enjoy traditional fare like the Professor Layton series, I tend to lean more towards games like Portal, The Talos Principle, or The Witness. So a new Oddworld installment is a nice, more intimate thing to look forward to that’s personal to me, as much as I’m excited for bigger releases like the next Horizon or God of War.

Cade: The games I’m looking forward to in 2021. While most of these don’t officially have a release date, there’s a chance they could release in 2022. But as of yet that isn’t the case, so moving on!

Little Nightmares was a creepy adventure I absolutely adore. While it’s not created by Tim Burton, it emulates his style perfectly. With Little Nightmares 2 being only a few weeks away I can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel. Then we have the remake of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. The original will always go down as a one of my all time favorites that can nearly rival Super Metroid, which to date is still my #1 favorite game of all time. In other words The Sands of Time is way up there for me. Let’s just hope that they give the game the Tony Hawk 1+2 treatment and not mess this up. Up next on my list is Axiom Verge 2. At the beginning of 2020 I had made a series of articles listing every game I play from the last decade from 2010 to 2019 and ranked every single game, and the first Axiom Verge ended up taking my #2 spot from everything I had played from my list. Safe to say, I greatly enjoy this indie title and can’t wait to see what they have in store for the sequel.

 

Now I transition to the games that don’t have official release dates but are generally speculated to come out this year. First up is God of War: Ragnarok. Now I’ve gotta be honest, I’ve never gotten into the original God of War games back on the PS2/3. Something about the arcade style beat-em-up gameplay just got kind of stale to me. Enter God of War for the Playstation 4, the soft reboot I’m happy they made. While not everything worked for me, I did have some issues, I wanna say 80% of the game was solid to me and can’t wait to see where this revitalized version of the series.

 

Next we have Gotham Knights. Originally announced during DC’s digital Fandome event in 2020, this game aims to to be the start of a brand new line of Batman games and I am 100% on board with what they’ve got going on. The focus this time around is on the Bat family, with Batman himself being nowhere to be seen. What has fans confused on, or at least when it was announced was if this game was a continuation of the fan favorite Arkham series, which it has since been confirmed that it’s not; this is a completely different series all on it’s own. However, WB Montreal who is developing this title also did Arkham Origins, which got a mixed but most positive reception.

 

Moving on, I also have Hogwarts Legacy on my list, and boy can I not wait to get my hands on this one. An open world game set in the Harry Potter universe? Complete with iconic locals from the books and films? And you can even interact with the fantastic beast and learn familiar spells? Sign me up! What’s funny is I’m not even the biggest fan of the movies. They were alright, I remember having fun with them but I’d be lying if I said that I felt all that compelled to revisit the movies. However the universe that has spawned from this series is super interesting to me, which makes the setting being disconnected from the movies the more interesting to me!

 

Next on my list I have Hollow Knight: Silksong, the sequel to the critically acclaimed 2017 indie hit Hollow Knight. Now I’ve gotta be honest, it’s take me a while to get around to playing this game despite hearing so much praise about it. It’s taken me so long that I’m actually in the middle of playing it as I write this review. While I don’t entirely have my thoughts on the game put together, I can tell you already my overall enjoyment is very positive and can’t wait to do a review on it… once I get to my other back catalog of games to review first.

 

And finally I have LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga on my list of anticipated games coming this year. Sure LEGO games have gain a reputation of being stupidly simple kid games, but you know what I don’t care. LEGO games have always held a special place in my heart and they always will. However, this LEGO game in particular is doing something extra special. Essentially it’s remaking my favorite LEGO game to date, The Complete Saga, which was a collection of 2 games in one. The sad thing about The Complete Saga is that there’s no easy way for me to play it on modern consoles. While true I could play it through XBOX 360 with the Series X/S backwards compatibility, but I don’t have the funds to even get an XBOX One right now. There’s WAY more I want to say on this title, but I’ll save it for the eventual review I’ll make on the game.

 

 

 

Movies:

Tristan: I am really curious to see what they are going to do with The Matrix 4.  I don’t expect great things but the potential for greatness is there and my interest is peaked.  Similarly intrigued by James Gunn’s take on The Suicide Squad and to see what they do with Godzilla vs King Kong.  The movie I’ve become most excited for however is the next Spider-Man film.  The casting rumors are pointing to something very different than what the last two have given us and, actually it’s just because they cast Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock. That’s it.  Now just take my money.

Frank: GODZILLA!

Deshawn: The trick about things to look forward to in 2021 is that we were cheated out of a lot of things that were due to drop this past year, especially on the film side, so rather than lament at the continued delays of Godzilla vs. Kong, Dune, No Time to Die, or A Quiet Place Part II (the first of which is really getting my nerves), I’d rather focus on the positive. Let’s just say I’m tired of the world keeping me and Edgar Wright’s new film apart.

TV:

Tristan: There’s a lot to be excited for with TV in 2021.  Rick and Morty season 5 should premier sometime in the next year and a host of Marvel shows coming to Disney+ provides a lot for geeks to be excited about but without a doubt the show I am more excited for in 2021 is Season 3 of Harley Quinn.  This DC Universe turned HBO Max original is literally the only show that is making me wish I had kept my HBO Max trial and probably the main reason I’ll re-sub in 2021.  The first two seasons of this show were funny, smart and full of genuine character development that you just don’t expect from what is also a “zany” animated comedy.  Harley Quinn is the best thing DC has put out in years and I can’t wait for more of it.

Frank: Anime Godzilla

Deshawn: One of the advantages of being a huge weeb is that the anime industry hasn’t been nearly as affected by current events as live-action affair, and this year seems to be focused on unfinished business. At the time I’m writing this, The Promised Neverland season 2 has just started, and Dr. Stone: Stone Wars is due next week, so that’ll start me off. This year will also bring the final season of Fruits Basket, that fourth Evangelion film that’s finally happening, Zombie Land Saga’s getting a second season after three years. Hell, even Bleach is coming back to adapt the rest of the manga. I’m not sure whether Bleach being back in the conversation is an ill omen or a delightful novelty. Between it, One Piece hitting it’s 1000th chapter, and Detective Conan (Case Closed) about to hit its 1000th episode, I half expect this all to be a part of some dark prophecy.Either way, there’s always a surprise just around the corner.