Following on from part one's release yesterday, part two of our retrospective look back at 2021 takes a look back at the second half of the year, including the breaking of the biggest story of the year with Activision Blizzard embroiled in serious allegations of toxic misconduct, sexism and a lot more within the latter.

And it gets worse for the company over the course of the year before the bombshell report by the Wall St Journal that sees Activision Blizzard chairman and CEO Bobby Kotick pointed at for allegations against him as well as Activision. A story that continues to roll on and one that, despite numerous calls for his resignation, has not forced Kotick from the company as of this episode going out.

The second half of the year was also jampacked with numerous showcases, including big ones from Sony and Nintendo as well as The Game Awards and massive releases including Deathloop, The Artful Escape, Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite and a lot more.

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2021 has been a year, shall we say.

There is way too much to go over in text form what has happened, but to name a few: Ubisoft and Star Wars, Bethesda and Indiana Jones, Bethesda and Microsoft, closures of Japan Studio and Google Stadia’s first-party unit, the return of Nintendo Direct and releases of the likes of Hitman 3, Returnal, Resident Evil Village, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition and more.

Oh, and the return of E3. And that is just between the period between January and June. And before everything hits the fan the following month.

The first of a two-part feature-length Press Play goes over the year, the biggest news stories and biggest releases of the year within the first half of 2021.

Part two will feature July through to December, including the Activision Blizzard stuff that has happened over the majority of the second half of the year as well as in August and September, release silly season and more.

That will go live publicly tomorrow at the same time as this is now, 5pm GMT, but you can listen to part two right now if you become a $2 podcast early access tier to our Patreon here.

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Over the past few years, but especially since the pandemic began and has gone on, an emerging trend has appeared within the games industry: cosy, wholesome games. These games have existed long before 2020, but in a time where the world has become a lot more cynical and scary thanks to outside events and in need of something comforting while we’ve been stuck inside for the better part of two years at this point, they’ve become a lot more prevalent.

But outside of games like Animal Crossing or other bigger games within the area, a subspace of smaller games in the wholesome space from independent developers was mainly overlooked. That was until a Twitter account started profiling these titles and grew a following off the back of it to the point where it now hosts online showcases showing them off, including its yearly annual Direct presentations during E3.

"I think that's like so one of the best things about the online showcases is that sort of accessibility," said Wholesome Games co-founder James Tillman on the advantages of hosting an online showcase like its headline Wholesome Direct event.

"It costs a fortune to come from Ireland or anywhere else to the US and there are passport issues and all these other things for showcasing in-person. Online, it's a way more level playing field - like there are language gaps sometimes, there's definitely time zones that are a problem. But it's something we really try to be mindful of."

Adds Ben Wassler of Ooblets developer Glumberland, itself a key game within the scene, on how Wholesome Games has helped shine a spotlight on these games: “That group of folks has been super supportive and kind to us and they work really hard to uplift game developers and support the community.

“We've been participating in their events and stuff since the beginning, but the key pillars of the movement are the individuals on their team”

In a special 90 minute long episode of Press Play, developers of wholesome games as well as key figures within Wholesome Games the community including co-founders Matthew Taylor, James Tillman and Wholesome Direct host Jenny Windom talk to Play Diaries on delving into the area, its growth, what comes next and a movement that could arguably become a full-blown genre in its own right, if not already.

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Fabraz's Demon Turf is a love letter in numerous ways.

It’s a love letter to the platforming genre. It’s a love letter of self-expression through the art of gameplay. And more than anything else, Demon Turf is a love letter of telling slapstick humour while telling a serious story of its main character finding confidence in herself to become ruler of the demon kingdom (even when she is still a smartmouth even then).

"For example, the first boss [in Demon Turf] is this very big pig demon. And she literally refers to him within five seconds as bacon boy," says Demon Turf game lead Fabian Rastorfer. "She has that crazy approach to all of this, but it's just so endearing somehow and I think a lot of people have really clicked with her.

"But there's also a bigger reason for it because it's part of that narrative drive of friendship because at her core, she actually somewhat lacks confidence. She makes up for it with her bratishness, but she's actually lacking confidence and really is in search of recognition. When she says she's going to do something and nobody believes her, that really gets at her core."

Ahead of its release next week, Rastorfer talks of its aims and goals for Demon Turf and how players will hopefully walk away with a better understanding of the genre.

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Loddlenaut and Venice 2089 are two very different games. Loddlenaut is an aquatic survival game where you look after creatures on the ocean floor. Venice 2089 is a 2.5D adventure game where you ride a hoverboard around a ruined Venice.

Both games are from different teams: Loddlenaut comes from a team led in the States, while Venice 2089 is from a team set in Italy (shocker).

And both Loddlenaut and Venice 2089 have different play styles.

But what unites both games together is their message of global warming and climate change and how those play a factor in them.

Here, Safe Place Studios' Giacomo Checchin and Matteo Brentegani as well as Moon Lagoon's Ricardo Escobar talk of both games and what they want their games to be in their messaging on those and more.

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Nearly four years since it was first announced as an actual game after some initial inspiration seeing a GIF of an actual bird skating, today, Skatebird finally arrives on PC, Xbox (including Xbox Game Pass) and Nintendo Switch. Even with a last-minute delay from an August release to today’s rearranged release date, the game could not have come at a better time for the skating renaissance that is building with the launches of Skater XL and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 as well as the early access launch of session and the impending return of EA’s Skate.

Even with its chill nature, Glass Bottom Games’ Megan Fox is ready for Skatebird’s absurdity to release onto the world and what players do with it as they roll it out. Now that it is out, how does it fit into the skating renaissance in games, find itself revisiting the skating boom of the early 2000s and more as well as what comes beyond Skatebird?

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When Behind the Frame debuted for the first time earlier this summer during E3 and the summer showcases held during it, it had an immediate thing in its favour: a massive influence from Studio Ghibli. It wears on its sleeve what the Japanese animation powerhouse has brought to the world with glee.

But art director and lead writer Weichen Lin wants Behind the Frame to be more than its Ghibli-inspired looks. It wants to provide something cozy, something challenging and something that is endearing to the player.

Ahead of its release today as of this episode going out, this is how Behind the Frame intends to show it’s a lot more than what it appears to be on the surface.

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When you’re in AAA, you usually go from one game to the next. It’s a cycle that lasts every four or five years, if not longer.

At BioWare Edmonton, Fernando Melo was coming off the back of working on Mass Effect: Andromeda and hopping on to the next Dragon Age game currently being made. But as production wore on, he started questioning whether another four or five-year cycle was worth it anymore.

“When we got to EA’s greenlight towards the end of pre-production [of the next Dragon Age], things are looking pretty good. That went through, that wasn’t a problem or anything,” says Melo.

“But it’s when it really kind of hit me if I was prepared to sign on for another four or five-year dev cycle. And I realised that my heart just wasn’t quite into that as much as I think it needs to be to take on something like that.”

He decided to up sticks in 2019 to break out from the AAA mould, start a new studio and pour his – and other people’s – experiences from the AAA scene into Game Director Story.

Here, Melo talks of the pressures of the AAA scene, how he’s putting those into Game Director Story and how he hopes players will come away from Game Director Story with a better understanding of what game development is actually like.

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