The Best Game Animation of 2021

Here's a (slightly belated) list of 2021 games that had amazing animation!

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Written and produced by Daniel Floyd

Special thanks to:
-Carrie Floyd
-Mark Brown (because I stole his game title pop-up format)

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♪ "Transylvania Sound Machine" by Stemage & Chunkstyle

♪ "Animal Crossing" by Helynt

♪ ...and selections from a variety of relevant official game soundtracks.

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0:00 - Intro

1:00 - The Returning Champions

3:10 - 2D Animation

6:10 - Pixel Animation

8:59 - The Hybrids

10:26 - Naturalistic 3D Animation

15:04 - Stylized 3D Animation

20:11 - Wrapping Up

#animation #2021

[QuintessentialWalrus]

Honestly one of my favorite things about this channel is HOW GOOD Dan is at talking about animation without getting bogged down in jargon and technical details. It's a great educational skill to thoroughly cover a topic without alienating a layperson.

[Minihood]

Dan's animation eyes being consistently larger than his gaming stomach is both funny and adorable.

[limefish]

the sonic video, the ongoing final fantasy videos and now this. Dan is stuck in a vicious cycle of biting off too much, realizing it, and doing it all over again.
and i am here for it.

[banjo]

Been a fan of the channel for years but honestly the inclusion of the blue sweater scene from The Devil Wears Prada in the showstopping villain performances bit is my new favorite thing you've ever done.

[charcharmunr]

My favourite part about Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is how, unlike the other 3D Ace Attorney games, it knows when to use a 'snap-to-new-pose' animation, and when to use a more elaborate, detailed one. Sholmes in particular has a lot of moments where he'll just suddenly snap to a new pose without warning from line to line and it's great.

[AidenR]

Guilty Gear Strive's animation work is truly spectacular! Been playing for a year but I'm still surprised by how the animations look on the character models.

[philippak]

The "Say 'No' More" animation was amazing. I know it is so hard to pull off that amount of comedic underplay, but they hit it spot on. As the saying goes "It takes a lot of care to seem carefree"

[suvinuoska]

I love that you included Ace Attorney Chronicles here, because the animation in them is a genuine delight <3

[jcKobeh]

I started following this channel for the FF videos, but never really read the "about" section nor looked deeper into who's behind it. Dear reader, my surprise when Durmin Durami started reviewing game animation here was real.

[BubblingBrooke]

Inscription i think does a lot with a little. Its 3d animated and it knows how to utilize its animation to emphasize the creepiness factor! From the cards in your hand shaking because they don't want to be sacrificed, to your own hand shaking because the character you embody doesn't want to be there. There's a ton of little details that help sell the tone!

[TheCanipaEffect]

Impressed how many games you managed to cover in just 20 minutes. My favourites would be Great Ace Attorney and Ratchet.

I'd also add Shin Megami Tensei V. There's not a lot of them, but the unique attack animations were always fun to get destroyed by. Plus the protagonist's Naruto run and surprisingly fluid hair animation is a treat.

[ornerybrush]

man, the work you put into this. It should be considered as a legit award or something. I was actually getting excited to see what games would make it into each category, and which you would consider the best on it. I truly love your vides, the work you put on them, and the passion you have behind them. Because that, inspire me to animate even more than what I already do. Thank you for making this .

[lamceddo]

That's insane. Right as I was thinking "wow, it's been a minute since I've seen a New Frame Plus video", there it is.

I swear I'll use my powers with responsibility. I'll wait three more days until I think the next Final Fantasy video into existence.

[Artista_Frustrado]

-Ace Attorney & Say NO! More are perfect examples of the "Right tool for the right job", if either of those games animated like Kena or Life is Strange it wouldn't be able to convey the "this is a genuinely unexpected thing that just happen" feeling
-oh the flack EA Sports gets is never on the visuals, those studios have perfected the art of "this is just the Sport on TV" up to having the actual Fox Sports commentators

[jmanjt]

One bit of animation I really enjoyed in 2021 was the enemy animation in Halo Infinite. All of the human characters and the Chief himself are animated with pretty standard naturalistic mocap but the aliens are all animated like they’re in a slapstick cartoon and the dichotomy is hilariously entertaining.

[adv]

Loved the Chicory shout-out, this game really needs it. Such a delightful game, with great animations, comedy and somehow a great art that was works at least good and every color you choose to paint it.

Surprised for no mention of P5 Strikers in the "comeback" sections. The animation is as always, and i found it impressive that it worked even in an action-oriented game

[thesquadron]

With how many big games are coming out this year (Pokémon legends Arceus, Sonic Frontiers, Eldin Ring, KOF 15, Splatoon 3, Zelda BOTW 2, etc.) the 2022 animation roundup is going to be something to look foreword to

[HellecticMojo]

I'm not a fan of 12:05 character design wise, but having an animation for character de-select is *chefs kiss*

[FlynnTheRedhead]

True Colors really surprised me with the facial animation. I had moments where Steph felt so alive I forgot I was playing a video game, even with the artstyle. Everyonems eyelids also felt a lot more 3 dimensional than a lot of other games for some reason

[dabundis]

I loved how the Reaper's idle animation in Death's Door includes them cocking their head this way and that to look around