This pandemic has dragged on longer than expected but hey, another 12 months in lockdown means another year to play lots of video games. And what a year it's been, with new installments in storied franchises, remakes of forgotten classics and a game where you date your sword. As is tradition, the Engadget team gathered together to ruminate on their favorite titles released this year, extolling their virtues and sometimes drawbacks, but mostly explaining why we like them so much. We've also thrown in a few of our older faves that we played in 2021, because hey, a good game is always a good game. When people look back at Microsoft's 2021, they'll cite Halo: Infinite and the extra year the company gave 343 Industries to work on the game as one of its best recent decisions. But I think the company also deserves praise for taking a chance on Relic and Age of Empires IV. Coming off the dismal Dawn of War III, fans had every right to be skeptical of whether the studio could pull off a sequel to one of the most-loved real-time strategy games in history.

But at others, the game's two genres feel dissonant. One of the biggest hiccups is being able to unlock dates by grinding (the tedious kind, not the sexual) in the dungeons. Everybody playing this game will have different preferences and may not decide to date all seven characters, but for the purposes of this review, I dated all seven and maxed out all their love ranks. Doing so, I found that I ran out of dungeon levels to play before I could fully level up every character's love rank. So I had to go back and replay dungeon levels.

In the many decades that video games have had us battling through monster-filled dungeons, we've seen hundreds of variations on the format – but Boyfriend Dungeon marks the first time that we've been able to go on dates with the weapons we wield. As you fight esoteric enemies, from flying VHS tapes to sentient cocktail glasses, you build up affinity with your chosen weapon, which has the uncanny ability to transform into a human. After a while, you unlock a date with your human/weapon hybrid companion. And after you've, say, taken a stroll around the park or gone to a concert – choosing along the way whether you want to take things further or remain just friends – you unlock powerful extra abilities for that blade. You can romance everyone within sight, or opt for platonic friendships across the board. Either way, your phone will be constantly buzzing with requests for your company.