ResetEra Games of the Year Awards 2021

[Phendrift]

I feel like some haven't played a Metroid game.

Like to me… Metroid is literally defined by its curated and well crafted level design. If Nintendo announced the next Metroid as a roguelike, I would question their sanity. It's like the opposite of one of the defining traits of the series

 

[NewtonNextDoor]

Why do feel people think Returnal got snubbed? Being at #2 is also pretty awsm. Do some people really dont like Metroid Dread that much? Both Games are excellent. I actually felt like alternate reality samus while playing returnal initially when i started. Returnal is definitely not metroidvania but yes it has some elements and inspirations.

 

[Arrahant]

Wow, really thought Returnal would become 1 after seeing it at the top of so many posts. Congratulations to Metroid!

 

[tophu]

Two Metroid games in the top 2… nice!

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

I feel like some haven't played a Metroid game.

Like to me… Metroid is literally defined by its curated and well crafted level design. If Nintendo announced the next Metroid as a roguelike, I would question their sanity. It's like the opposite of one of the defining traits of the series

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This is what I'm puzzled with. Metroid lives and dies with it's meticulously, purposefully crafted level design, and the relationship between the mechanics and level design that give hints to the player to find a path forward. Returnal has a bunch of randomly generated rooms that don't really have much sense of flow at all, and highlighted gates on the map that show you the way forward (might as well just be a waypointer).

Just because Returnal has scifi horror shooty time with a female protag does not make it like Metroid.

 

[Arrahant]

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous not being one of the top 10 rpg's of 2021 on Era is a bit bizarre. It's my personal goty and one heck of an rpg. It's a bit harder than Divinity, but it scratches a similar itch. A very classic and hardcore crpg itch. I would have expected it to receive more praise on Era. It does crusader management a lot better than Dragon Age, that's for sure. Super deep combat and role playing, let down slightly by some balancing issues and iffy voice acting here and there. Massive 200+ hours rpg in which you get to save the land from a demonic invasion. It's tropey but done very well.

Hopefully Baldur's Gate 3 will fare better this year.

 

[Serpens007]

Metroid winning, all is well with the world.

Also somehow BF2042 got 7th best FPS, above Back 4 Blood LOL. I thought BF2042 was the worst game evah

 

[Giant Panda]

Looks like a great list of games. I wanted to vote too, but the only game from last year I've played was Metroid Dread, so I held off. I'm usually a year late on most new games.

 

[StraySheep]

Great Ace Attorney getting the recognition that it deserves. Best games in the series outside of AA1 and 3.

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I had picked it as my number one and I had seen it mentioned so many times that I had foolishly hoped it might make top 5. Oh well, I guess 14 aint bad either.

 

[DassoBrother]

I had picked it as my number one and I had seen it mentioned so many times that I had foolishly hoped it might make top 5. Oh well, I guess 14 aint bad either.

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Same! Though I was really just thinking it'd make top 10. Don't wanna gripe (everyone understands that any vote like this is by definition a popularity contest, right?) but would've preferred it to beat Deathloop at least.

 

[CurseVox]

Returnal is phenomenal, but it is not a Metroid game. It was obviously inspired by Metroid, in it's atmosphere etc, but that's about where it ends. It's like saying Hades is your favorite Metroid game.

 

[Transistor]

Not the order I put it in, but that's a really good top 10. So happy to see Deathloop make it, it absolutely deserves it.

 

[Spazerbeam]

#1 is insultingly low for Dread.

Edit: Oh nice i was quoted for it lol. I wish I spent more time on it now.

 

[AndrewGPK]

Congrats to Metroid Dread. I was thinking it was going to be Returnal because it seemed to easily have the most 1st place votes from individual gamers but I thought Dread or Village might come in ahead based on being more played and more frequently in people's top 5 even if not as often their overall #1.

If you liked Dread, give the Samus Returns remake a try. It sold poorly, but was extremely good as well.

 

[AndrewGPK]

Returnal is phenomenal, but it is not a Metroid game. It was obviously inspired by Metroid, in it's atmosphere etc, but that's about where it ends. It's like saying Hades is your favorite Metroid game.

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Agreed. Returnal has a female isolated on an alien planet. Outside of that I don't really see similarities to Metroid. Feels more inspired by films like Aliens, Housemarque's own brand of bullet hell, and obviously other rougelikes/lites.

On the whole its a pretty unique experience.

 

[AndrewGPK]

This is what I'm puzzled with. Metroid lives and dies with it's meticulously, purposefully crafted level design, and the relationship between the mechanics and level design that give hints to the player to find a path forward. Returnal has a bunch of randomly generated rooms that don't really have much sense of flow at all, and highlighted gates on the map that show you the way forward (might as well just be a waypointer).

Just because Returnal has scifi horror shooty time with a female protag does not make it like Metroid.

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My one issue with Dread was that it felt too linear for a Metroid game. I never got lost. In some ways the best and worst parts of Metroid games are when you are lost; it can be frustrating at times, but the feeling when you figure it out is great. Dread took away that frustration, but it also took away the feeling of figuring the environment out on your own.

Disagree that Returnal doesn't have flow. You do get to revisit and know the rooms, so it is backtracking in a way. Honestly I thought finding the path forward in Dread was about the same as Returnal. The map also glows where you are supposed to go.

 

[Ralemont]

I am happy that Village and Guardians got the recognition. Endwalker getting #11 as an expansion to a now-old game is crazy. FFXIV is so damn good.

 

[N.47H.4N]

I delayed my voting and missed, not surprise by the winner, but I didn't expect Returnal to be that close.

 

[Neoxon]

Same goes for last year with Naughty Dog.

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No argument there

 

[AndrewGPK]

I delayed my voting and missed, not surprise by the winner, but I didn't expect Returnal to be that close.

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Returnal probably had the most #1 votes, but not as many Top 5's as Dread. Less played but probably the most consistently well regarded of those who played it and voted.

Dread is definitely worthy though. I really need to get around to Village and Guardians.

 

[DJChuy]

Pretty diverse top ten. Nice list.

 

[404LinkNotFound]

Thanks to those for putting this together! Disappointed that Monster Hunter Rise ended up so low in the top 20. Loved that game and I had such a fun time in the OT. Was fully expecting Returnal to get #1 just from this forum's passion for that game, but congrats to Dread; I have yet to finish that one...

Some constructive criticism about the voting process: Like last time, I really think the voting thread needs to *not* be stickied. Put the announcement banner up top, but leave it as a regular, active thread. Even though I voted, I just ignored the thread after that. Conversely, I'll click on it repeatedly if it's an active thread, because I want to see what people are voting for. When it's stickied, it just looks dead up there, like nothing's happening in it.

Also think that there shouldn't be the written part requirement. If people just want to list their favorites, let them. Enough voters will write something nice and thoughtful about the games they're voting for that it doesn't need to be a must-have for everyone. I like the automated voting thing too. That's slick and enjoy using it.

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Been saying this for years, i really think the written requirement is a reason why the GOTY threads have had less and less voters every year now

 

[Bigg]

Oh, neat, one of my writeups actually got into one of these OPs for once. Of course now I see a typo staring me in the face and I hate that I can't edit it, lmao

Pretty good lineup!

 

[DeusOcha]

Imagine FF14/Endwalker not making it to the top of anything lol. Oh well.

 

[ShinobiBk]

I loved Dread but I think the competition wasn't too strong in 2021. It was just a weak year for releases over all. That's not me saying the games were shit just that a lot of the more anticipated games got delayed to 2022.
I didn't vote cause I just flat out didn't play a ton of games last year but I'm really surprised Rise is so low, that game is amazing.
Now this year (provided everything announced actually releases in 2022, which is pretty unlikely) is gonna be very, very tough for GOTY.
Horizon 2, Elden Ring, God of War Ragnarok, BOTW 2, Xenoblade 3, Starfield, RE4 Remake (heavily rumored), Pokemon Legends, Bayonetta 3, etc. 2022 is just loaded with anticipated releases

I feel like some haven't played a Metroid game.

Like to me… Metroid is literally defined by its curated and well crafted level design. If Nintendo announced the next Metroid as a roguelike, I would question their sanity. It's like the opposite of one of the defining traits of the series

Click to shrink...

Metroid has crossed multiple genres including pinball of all things if Nintendo wanted to make a rouge like Metroid they could no problem not saying I think they will

 

[SlickVic]

Thanks for putting this all together. Always cool to see people participating in GOTY with their lists and then seeing the final results. I actually haven't played the games that made the top 3 but hoping to get around to them one of these days. Normally the early part of the year if when I get to games I missed from the prior year, but 2022 has hit the ground running with new games so may be a bit before I get back to 2021 releases (outside me currently trying to finish up P5 Strikers).

 

[Creamium]

Also think that there shouldn't be the written part requirement. If people just want to list their favorites, let them. Enough voters will write something nice and thoughtful about the games they're voting for that it doesn't need to be a must-have for everyone. I like the automated voting thing too. That's slick and enjoy using it.

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Agreed, there will still be plenty of people who'll at least write something. More votes is always better to get a good representation and the writing requirement limits that.

 

[Dr. Mario]

Meh, if you can't find it in you to write a single line of text, I'm not sure it should be counted. It will just lead to a lot of strategic voting and gaming the system. We already saw a bunch of "I played fifty games this year but I'm only voting for this one (to make it win)". That's not good representation either.
But much like game reviews I enjoy the thread for the text, not the number at the end. I guess people have different preferences.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

i think the write-up requirement is good. maybe it leads to fewer votes but i don't think that's a problem in and of itself. on the contrary, fewer people voting, with only the most passionate bothering to do so, should help elevate lower-profile games relative to the juggernauts, which i think is a good thing

 

[Nocturnowl]

For anyone who struggles writing a sentence or two they'd consider meaningful, there's always a few fun ways to work around adding something that's not just "game good"

I've seen haiku, rhyming couplets and even Simpsons gifs (I loved this one so much, the gif the user used for prey being homer unmasking Kang and Kodos when they're bush and dole was just perfection).

And if you don't want to go full gimmick, you could just highlight your favourite character/level/moment from a game.
Granted this all doesn't help if you're on team "you want me to type a sentence?!" , But for those wondering what they could possibly add which hasn't already been said, there are ways.

Maybe one day I'll borderline shit-post a games of the year in MS Paint, but that's actually probably more work than a write up.

 

[Dr. Mario]

i think the write-up requirement is good. maybe it leads to fewer votes but i don't think that's a problem in and of itself. on the contrary, fewer people voting, with only the most passionate bothering to do so, should help elevate lower-profile games relative to the juggernauts, which i think is a good thing

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Yeah good point.

Also, the requirement to write at least one line goes back to at least 2013 if I recall correctly. And it used to be that you had to fiddle with semicolons and enters to get counted, so that can't be the reason that numbers of votes are dropping.

 

[ghibli99]

I guess as I think about it more, I do want to clarify that the written part *is* a good thing. It just sucks that voting participation has gone down and that the top games only getting 700 some-odd points bums me out a bit on a forum with over 50K members. Making it easy while keeping it meaningful is an important balance to achieve, especially since forums are a rarer thing in today's online landscape.

 

[Unknownlight]

This has been mentioned before, but maybe next year we could try not pinning the thread. Ideally it would feel like an "active thread" every time someone voted, as opposed to being in the pinned threads list which most people skip over like banner ads.

The placement of the "Vote" button could be better too. Instead of being in the bottom-left corner under the comment box, place it above the box, enlarged and centered. Make it super in your face.

 

[SlayerSaint]

I guess as I think about it more, I do want to clarify that the written part *is* a good thing. It just sucks that voting participation has gone down and that the top games only getting 700 some-odd points bums me out a bit on a forum with over 50K members. Making it easy while keeping it meaningful is an important balance to achieve, especially since forums are a rarer thing in today's online landscape.

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It's a combination of a few things, I think. Voting participation has gone down for sure, but I would think that's partly the barrier but also any inactive/banned accounts make that number of members look bigger than it's probably even close to. Then for this year specifically, there was no big game or clear winner so the points were spread out a loooot. Last year's voting thread had less participation than this year's (well, the thread is one page shorter, not sure on the exact vote counts vs just messages in the threads) but TLoU Part II got over 1k points compared to Dread this year with ~700.

 

[ghibli99]

It's a combination of a few things, I think. Voting participation has gone down for sure, but I would think that's partly the barrier but also any inactive/banned accounts make that number of members look bigger than it's probably even close to. Then for this year specifically, there was no big game or clear winner so the points were spread out a loooot. Last year's voting thread had less participation than this year's (well, the thread is one page shorter, not sure on the exact vote counts vs just messages in the threads) but TLoU Part II got over 1k points compared to Dread this year with ~700.

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Good points about membership and lack of a clear heavy-hitter game last year. I really enjoy GOTYs here, so I guess I take it to heart and let it weigh on me a little more heavily. :) Anyway, it's an excellent and varied list, and there are games on there that I've now bumped up in my queue to play sooner rather than later. That's one of the most valuable parts of this whole process IMO.

 

[Tyrius_Wolfe]

Disappointed that my top 2, FF14: Endwalker and SMT V didn't crack the top 10. Need some more RPG love on this forum. Pretty cool I got quoted though :D

 

[hydrophilic attack]

The placement of the "Vote" button could be better too. Instead of being in the bottom-left corner under the comment box, place it above the box, enlarged and centered. Make it super in your face.

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wait there was a separate button?

is there a way to check whether your vote was counted? i don't remember clicking a separate button lol

 

[Unknownlight]

wait there was a separate button?

is there a way to check whether your vote was counted? i don't remember clicking a separate button lol

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Your vote was counted. I mean the button that brings up the big list of games that you search through and select each to create your ordered list.

Currently the way that you know how to properly vote is to read through the big long OP and carefully follow the instructions. That could be made a lot more streamlined by making the "Vote" button big and obvious, and then maybe including some brief instructions during the voting process itself, e.g. "Write a sentence explaining your vote for [Metroid Dread]:"

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

It's a combination of a few things, I think. Voting participation has gone down for sure, but I would think that's partly the barrier but also any inactive/banned accounts make that number of members look bigger than it's probably even close to. Then for this year specifically, there was no big game or clear winner so the points were spread out a loooot. Last year's voting thread had less participation than this year's (well, the thread is one page shorter, not sure on the exact vote counts vs just messages in the threads) but TLoU Part II got over 1k points compared to Dread this year with ~700.

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Same thing as every other year without a clear PICK A SIDE battle. PICK A SIDE doesnt work when there are at least 5 like this year like you said.

 

[Version 3.0]

Glad to see Kena snuck in there, in the last slot. Congrats to all the winners, and thank you to all the people who worked on the voting thread, and this one.

About the dropping number of participants: I wonder how much the timing has to do with it. The voting thread is a month removed from all the big Game of the Year awards from the major websites, and the Game Awards. It feels like "Game of the Year" has basically run its course...and then Era's thread pops up, after the new year has started. Granted, it makes perfect, logical sense to wait for the year to actually end before handing out awards. But...no one else does.

I think there might be more participation if we were "in season".

 

[Lobster Roll]

Mario Golf takes home an award! It's seriously VERY good if you're into just the straight up golf mechanics and gameplay of it. To this day, I still haven't even tried the Adventure Mode and I own the OT lol. But it's such an easy pick up and play game with a lot of really good courses. I was skeptical about the three press system being gone, but now that shaping shots is here, I don't want to return.

 

[choog]

Data

The data as presented here does NOT break down results by platform, so they cannot be used to determine what game got played on what platform. Only one platform will be listed per game. The platform-specific breakdown required additional processing which is not available in a presentable form.

Game Results

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Thank you for this. Is it possible to get the original ballot data? I'm experimenting with other voting systems.

 

[MidEvlDed]

I voted for one game (GotG) in the top 20, so I'm pretty much a taste maker. I don't even play that many niche titles. I guess I just enjoyed a lot of the mainstream games that no one else did.

 

[J 0 E]

So, what is the game with the most #1s? Returnal right?
Kinda like what happened with Death Stranding in 2019 which ended up "the most popular" but not the GOTY.

 

[AniHawk]

metroid dread deserves it. it wasn't my number one choice (re village), but damn it was close.

 

[Acheteedo]

Lots of good games in 2021 no doubt, but as someone who missed out on gaming largely (due to new parenting), it looks like a fairly forgettable year in the grand scheme of things. As in, it won't be in the conversation for best years in gaming. I'm most annoyed that I've missed out on It Takes Two, but as for the rest, I don't feel like I've missed out on any seminal moments. Fair take, or no?

 

[Dr. Mario]

I think most years don't have seminal moments in that sense. Metroid Dread I personally find a better game than Resident Evil 2make and God of War. Games like Before Your Eyes will be longer in my conversations than most games in the previous three years too.
It lacks blockbusters, and arguably nothing like TLoU2 and HL Alyx, but there was enough absolutely worthwhile to play. And blockbusters can be boring too.

 

[Memory Pak]

Thanks for running this again, trophy looks cool this year.
Did not expect Metroid to win, but it's a really solid execution of the template it once popularised. Lot of blockbusters this year it seems.

Feedback for next year:

• Good idea to sort by publishers rather than developers, given the natural imbalance in volume there.
• The voting tool is very simple, but the OP makes it seem cumbersome. Consider dropping the explanation/spoilertagging it/link to it elsewhere. It's very straight forward to use, but the wall of text is daunting. Streamline the OP in general to be as short & welcoming as possible.
• Consider dropping the requirement to write about games. I think lowering the barrier to participation should be a priority; those of us who like reading & writing thoughts will continue doing so regardless.
• Consider starting earlier. Say December 15th - January 15th. Puts us into media GOTY season and closer to The Game Awards (TM). Some people will be ready to vote early when GOTY talk is top of mind, and the tool allows changes anyway.
• It was useful we got sent reminders to vote in the alerts feature.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

two things,

1) Persona 5 Strikers winning best PS4 game was kinda unexpected and funny
2) Damn FFXIV, still not your time yet huh

 

[Richietto]

Dread at the top is good shit. A fantastic return to form.

FF14 is always gonna struggle based on the fact that not enough people have played it here. The people that have are for sure placing it high on their list but that can only get it so far.