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While it might have a negative connotation by default if you're generally unfamiliar with the term, 'Eurojank' is, in fact, a reasonably popular niche for many players. Having talked about Eurojank in the context of Piranha Bytes' incredible ELEX a few years back, some recent releases got us positively giddy, and we wanted to showcase them in this light, too. Welcome to our list of best Janky PC games of 2021!
What you'll find below is a shortlist of five downright incredible Eurojank games that all try to do something differently. From offering a complete and comprehensive first-person sniping experience all the way to letting you drive through ridiculously deep mud with an old ex-Yu vehicle, these are the titles you should go to if you want to play something genuinely refreshing and different from other games. So, without much further ado, let us begin by explaining what 'Eurojank' is, and why we love it so much.
To us - and to many of you, we believe - Eurojank has become a term of endearment. Down below, you'll find out why that's the case!
What are Eurojank Games?
As the name implies, the sub-category of games that would come to be known as Eurojank primarily describes ridiculously ambitious games developed in Europe, for the most part in Eastern European nations, that punch well beyond their weight, albeit without the extra layer of polish that is usually afforded to genuine AAA titles. Far as classics go, you're bound to have played the likes of Gothic and STALKER. Of the more recent entries, GreedFall is a phenomenal example. An amazing RPG, too.
This particular category of janky video games often also attempts to reinvent the wheel, for the lack of a better term. Some features might be completely revised seemingly just to stand out on the market. Sometimes it doesn't work out, but more often than not, Eurojank games more than make up for their faults in other areas. Thing is, reviews aren't often kind to Eurojank titles. Not that the reviews are necessarily wrong, mind. It's just that they don't always seem to properly encapsulate the crazy energy and atmosphere these games offer.
After all, it's pretty difficult to convey the feel of the game in written text, right?
Somewhat famously, Eurogamer afforded STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl a mere 3/5 back in 2007. As of right now, a whopping 14 years later, the old school SoC is sitting at a ridiculous 10/10 on Steam. That's right - time is usually kind to Eurojank. This is because you just won't get what these games offer in mainstream AAA releases. Hell, STALKER hasn't been superseded by virtually anything since launch.
So! To offer our own appreciation to some of these developers, and because some of the recent releases got us extremely excited, we decided to showcase the 5 best Janky PC games you can play right this instant, and which aren't outdated by any stretch of the imagination. If you're intrigued by the prospect of playing something raw and atmospheric, this is the list of games you've been waiting for.
Best Janky PC Games to Get in 2021
Biomutant
It won't take more than a cursory glance through our library of Biomutant articles to be able to tell that we like the game a whole lot. Not everyone agreed, though, citing primarily the overall lack of polish and direction that the game generally offers. Or, rather, fails to offer.
This critique isn't entirely wrong, we're sorry to report, but Biomutant remains one of our favorite releases of the year. This is an open-world action RPG Eurojunk video game where you get to pretend you're the furry, irradiated version of Max Payne. Or Dante from Devil May Cry, if you're going straight-up melee with your build. The game is a real hoot, and it's got absolutely no competition in this particular niche! None whatsoever.
Build your character from the bottom-up and lead them through a wonderful apocalypse like you've never seen before. Now, be prepared for bugs, balancing issues, and a general lack of direction. Biomutant does suffer from these issues, but it has so much to offer if you're able and willing to look past them. Don't tell us you never wanted to play a game about murderous rodents!
Get Biomutant today, the incredible third-person mascot action game!
Sniper: Ghost Warrior - Contracts 2
The Sniper: Ghost Warrior franchise has been around for quite a while now. The first game launched way back in 2008, though the franchise didn't really find its niche until 2019, with the release of Contracts. Namely, Contracts marked a pretty major retrofit of the other games developed by CI Games, from Ghost Warrior 3's flawed implementation of a truly open world, pivoting towards Hitman-like mini-sandboxes instead.
Boy did it work out!
Contracts games have, so far, lived or died by how replayable they are. The developers seem to have hit their stride, as the levels now offer multiple routes, multiple objectives, and a veritable wealth of interactive elements to toy around with. It's not nearly at the level of, say, Hitman 3, but boy do we see this franchise going places now.
What's particularly fascinating about the Sniper: Ghost Warrior series is that it was mostly unremarkable for the longest time. At best, these games were competent FPS titles that didn't go nearly far enough to sell the sniping minigame properly. We'd call its Contracts spin-off amazing in comparison, but it's not quite there just yet. Not a long leap ahead for the inevitable Contracts 3, we feel.
The jankiness of this game comes primarily from the lack of polish. A feature we'd love to see expanded upon is armament tuning and modification, too, as it still doesn't have the variety on offer in some other similar titles.
Get Sniper: Ghost Warrior - Contracts 2, the ultimate sniping sandbox!
Necromunda: Hired Gun
From the developers of EYE: Divine Cybermancy comes Necromunda: Hired Gun, which foregoes the abject weirdness of Streum On Studio's first game to offer a slightly more enticing experience for the average mainstream gamer. Make no mistake - this is Doom, if Doom were to be set in the Warhammer 40K universe.
Those who've had the chance to play the video game Divine Cybermancy will recall that freedom of expression in combat comes first and foremost in a Streum On game. To that end, Hired Gun lets you do anything and everything you may have wanted to do in an FPS. From wall-running across huge, immense chasms while simultaneously gunning down entire squads of mutants, all the way to melting giant mechanized units to atoms with huge plasma shotguns. Grappling hooks? Sure! Mechanized killer-doggos? You bet! Replayable mini-missions and loot systems? You know it!
All of that - and so much more - comes at the cost of polish. Necromunda could've used another year in the oven, make no mistake, but if there's one thing it's got in droves, it's character. It helps that this Eurojank game is incredibly fun, too.
Get Necromunda: Hired Gun today, from the makers of EYE: Divine Cybermancy!
SnowRunner
Though it might seem like one at first, SnowRunner is, in fact, not a driving game. Instead, it sits way closer to actual survival games when it comes to moment-to-moment gameplay. SnowRunner lets you drive an impressive array of downright badass vehicles through mud, sand, and - you've guessed it - snow to complete a number of different objectives.
Sometimes, you'll need to pull out a huge log hauler that got stuck in the mud. Other times, you may need to reach the other end of the level without your vehicle breaking down in the middle of nowhere. Note - this is not easy. SnowRunner is rough, dreary, and frustrating at times, but we genuinely think these things are compliments to it.
There's something undeniably zen about playing SnowRunner, truthfully. The niche it covers hasn't ever been properly covered before (short of its predecessor, MudRunner). The mud morphs dynamically as you drive through it, and a route you may have easily taken before will quickly get turned into mush as rainfall and your own vehicle ravage through. The slow, plodding nature of the game is the main reason why it made its way onto our list of best janky PC games of the year.
Get Snowrunner today - Steam version available now!
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord
Finally, the ongoing production of Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord! We'd say that this game has been a long time coming, but that doesn't even scratch the surface, as many of you will rightly know. The production of the biggest medieval-adjacent sandbox RPG ever made continues, slowly but certainly. The good news, then, is that it's all progressing rather neatly. The game's going to come out of Early Access eventually, but it's also perfectly playable right now.
The ongoing state of development does, however, underline the innate jankiness of Taleworlds' signature RPG. Anyone who's ever played a Mount & Blade title will know that these games are practically the pinnacle of Eurojank. There are so many features on show here that it's virtually impossible to keep track of them all! This is, however, a role-playing paradise.
No matter what sort of medieval fantasy you wish to play out, you can. Bannerlord supports every possible playstyle. If you want to make a merchant that can barely eke out a living on the borderland - do it! Are you more interested in leading large armies and conquering the continent? Might take a while, but you can get there. Wanna marry a princess and lead a small squad of heroes across the land? Have fun!
Mount & Blade games aren't new by any stretch, but no one's made a contender. Ever. Taleworlds have this particular niche cornered, and they're eager to deploy the biggest, most comprehensive example of Eurojank we had ever seen. We don't know about you, but that's a hell of an objective to be gunning for!
Get Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord today - Early Access available now!
Final Remarks
Now, don't get us wrong - we're not saying that all of these games are masterpieces by default. Each and every one of them has a fault of this or that kind, and they're not very likely to make the GOTY cut, truth be told. They are, however, extremely compelling from the mechanical point of view. With novelties and interesting implementations of established features, it's a bit of a given that they won't necessarily get all the polish they may have needed. Polish isn't the be-all, end-all of a fun video game, though, is it now?
What we are saying is that you're probably going to have fun playing these Janky games developed in Eastern Europe. Some of these titles might offer the small, contained fantasy of rudding through the mud. Others might put you in the shoes of a downtrodden mercenary making their way through the dreary world of 40K. These unique Eastern European sandboxes are what we love about gaming. AAA is awesome and we enjoy it, for sure, but AA and particularly Eurojank AA releases are no less worthy of our time. If you don't mind a bit of ruggedness in your entertainment, give our list of best Janky PC games a shot.
Have fun!
Get in the Game ! 
