I’m not trying to point fingers at who’s responsible for making so many modern AAA games gravitate towards elements of sprawling open-world action-RPGs, because frankly, I don’t think I have enough fingers to go around. In fact, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy feels like a relic of a bygone era that I actually kind of miss - namely, the single-player adventures that seemed plentiful on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. But lo and behold, Eidos-Montreal’s take on the now-iconic intergalactic heroes is actually pretty damn great thanks to its fantastic writing, strong sense of adventure, and roller coaster momentum.

After a fairly lukewarm reveal during E3, it felt like the game was released to little hype, fanfare, and backing from Square Enix. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is one of the most delightfully surprising video games of 2021.