2021 in review: Together alone, with a pigeon Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. 2021 in review: Together alone, with a pigeon No milk, ta. Feature by Christian Donlan Features Editor Published on 27 Dec 2021 11 comments Hello! Over the next few days we're going to be going back over some of our favourite games and moments and themes and whatnot from this very strange year. We hope you enjoy looking back with us! For most of 2020 I was obsessed with a book, The Bells of Old Tokyo, by Anna Sherman. It's a book about an awful lot of things, and I won't do it the violence of trying to untangle any of that here. But one of the things it's about is a coffee shop in Tokyo run by a man named Daibo. Please read this book. I won't spoil much. All I need to say here is that Daibo's Coffee Shop is a place of calm and tradition, a place where time slows and reflection is encouraged. As Daibo makes his coffee he chooses a cup for you. The ground beans bloom. It takes time and it's personal, and that's the point. Coffee shops! Coffee shops, libraries, the tucked-away corners of second-hand book stores and junk shops. This is what I have missed the most, I think, over the last two years. I never realised I loved these places - or rather, I never realised that I loved the same thing about all of them. Now I realise all too sweetly that what I miss, what I continue to miss, given this uncertain time we're living through, is that quiet gift of cities and urban spaces: the pleasure of being by yourself but surrounded by other people. The pleasures of being together, alone. Watch on YouTube That Brewster music is fantastic. Games, of course, are absolutely brilliant at this. It's pretty much a key element of what they do. Just you and a bunch of people who don't really exist, hanging out together in cyberspace. For 2020, my go-to for being together, alone, was Inkopolis Square, where one goes to see and be seen as much as think about maybe having a round of Splatoon. Inkopolis' together/aloneness is particularly delicious because the people around you are real players, just with the human part sliced away. Digital shadows, poised and sauntering. In 2021 though, together, alone got serious. Epic. Iconic. Animal Crossing got an update that brought back Brewster. And Brewster's coffee shop - it's just like I imagine Daibo's. Beautiful feathered tiles. Lots of dark polished wood. The floor creaks. There are chairs you aren't really allowed to sit on. And at the counter, Brewster, slowly, carefully going through the processes of serving coffee, each cup a quiet event, a culmination. Brewster has something I envy: stillness. The very spirit of being together, alone. I don't have it. I stutter and flap and panic and fill the empty moments with babble. But there is another way to be, and with Brewster I glimpse it. In coffee shops, libraries, the tucked away corners of second-hand book stores and junk shops I feel it. Maybe 2022 will be my year to learn it. Become a Eurogamer subscriber and get your first month for £1 Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More Features Digital Foundry Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090: a new level in graphics performance The Digital Foundry video review - and how the new GPU champion delivers for 4K 120fps gaming. Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Feature What games get wrong about horses And what they could do about it. 28 Feature Shout out to all the Overwatch supports - where would we be without you? Merci. 55 Latest Articles Digital Foundry Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090: a new level in graphics performance The Digital Foundry video review - and how the new GPU champion delivers for 4K 120fps gaming. Google announces cloud gaming Chromebooks less than a fortnight after Stadia shutdown GeForce Now preinstalled. 4 Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Genshin Impact Path of Gleaming Jade dates, login event rewards Including other anniversary rewards and how to claim them. Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store