2021 has been a hell of a year!
The past month or so has been a little quiet around here, but as always, there’s stuff going on. Half-written reviews, half-finished videos. The usual.
For the sake of putting something out and giving a bit of steer on the next week or so, as we see 2021 out and see what 2022 brings, I thought it best to lay out what’s (hopefully) coming.
2021 in review
I’ve toyed with “game of the year” and all these other standard things that sites do. But I haven’t played all games this year (not sure anyone has!), and that’s not what Ninja Refinery is all about anyway. So I’m going through things that have been best enjoyed in 2021.
The “Best game I’ve played in 2021” will be just any game that I’ve played (and ideally finished!) in 2021, not just a game that was released. Unorthodox? Perhaps, but it makes more sense for this site. And whilst it could very well be a game released this year, it isn’t forced to be at all.
I’m going to do the same with Coffee. What was my favourite coffee that’s been reviewed this year, beyond just the taste.
The whole experience from order to packaging, to brewing. I do have one more coffee review to get up this year, which is the first of my new review process.
I did think 2021 might be easier, but it wasn’t……
Other than games and coffee’s of 2021, I’m hoping to do a bit of a summary and the customary “year ahead” list of things that may, or may not happen.
Merch, streaming and more
I would say 2021 has been a solid year of progress to be fair.
We hit “Affiliate” over on Twitch, started the NinJack stream team (join the Discord!) and I managed to work-out how to add other streamers’ own merch stores here at ninjarefinery.com
I’d really like to bring a few more small streamers on-board now and give them a chance to have a merch store of their own. I’ve got it sussed so now I need to find people who might be interested in joining the site as a merch partner.
2021 has been a sold year of progress and foundation building. Hopefully next I can start to build-out a community a little and give people chance to have their logos worn by fans.
In terms of “more”, I’ve got some ideas around Podcasts or something along those lines. Yes, that’s hardly an exciting or novel concept these days, but I want to try and, again bring people together. This is all speculation, but I have some things I’d like to try. Coffee roasters and small gaming outlet contributors and anywhere I can find a good conversation to be had!
The games that haven’t quite made it yet
To get it off my chest, and not to obscure the “Best of” feature. I want to go through a few games that I’ve not written about which is to my great shame.
I played and finished (and really enjoyed!) Cyberpunk 2077. I’ve started and dropped off several games, too. Deathloop, Halo Infinite, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Persona 5, Hitman 3 and may others.
I even played through Hitman and Hitman 2 in close succession and all of my writing around it is sat in draft.
Some things don’t feel right, others don’t come out correctly. I struggle to be consistent as it is, so anything that isn’t working for me just gets forgotten about. The Cyberpunk stuff is a full video, but I got put-off by having to do the voice work and just hid from it.
I’m hoping to right a lot of these wrongs in 2022. Halo Infinite alone should have been a given, but I was burned-out on shooters. And despite enjoying it immensely, I just didn’t have any steam left in me for it.
As it stands, I’m back on The Witcher 3 and I’m really happy to just be comfortable and cosy in a world I love and have missed. I don’t know how much I’ll play, but I’m just happy to be playing it and doing things differently this time.
2021 has been a good year for the site. I’m really grateful for every page view, every comment, and of course all merch purchases. Let’s see what 2022 brings!
Keep coming back here, check out the Twitch Streams, and find me over at FullSync.co.uk