Rule 2 : Any game–console, PC, mobile, etc–released in 2021 is eligible. Early Access games are eligible if they were “released” by going to version 1.0 in calendar 2021. Boardgames are fine. Tabletop RPGs are fine. If it’s a game, it counts, as long as it was first “released” in 2021. (Sorry, no “these are the games I played the most in 2020, even though some came out in 1998.”)
They are totally included! They just never garner enough votes to make a dent. Although one year I think Churchill came close (meaning it got like four actual votes and not just one).
That said, someone should run a Best Boardgame of 2021 poll.
Hahah, most of us probably didn’t play a boardgame released in 2021 yet. But with that said, maybe if people DID vote for a board game, those can be singled out in your “winner” post as a special mention. Maybe ask voters to mark board games somehow?
I’m liking the list this year. Thanks for bringing it together, as always. My #1 was #2 so I can be happy about that.
Not surprised by Old World. I’m currently playing it but hadn’t gotten enough in to feel I could vote it into a goty. Only picked it up on the end of year sales on Epic. Who knows how it’d have ended up if I had the chance to play it some more.
I’m surprised by all the Solasta love; I’m playing it now (via Game Pass), and while it’s definitely fun, it’s a far stretch from goty material for me.
As always, it elevated some other games that weren’t on my radar to possible watches for later, namely Wildermyth and Gloomhaven. Inscryption is already on my wishlists.
But sad about Life is Strange: True Colors getting so little love. I guess a lot of people skipped it due to the perceived money’s worth (cost per hour of gameplay). I bought the Ultimate Edition on PS5 and did not regret it, although the remakes of the first games are yet to be released. Possible it may not have have clicked with the Qt3 crowd these days, either.
I keep forgetting to get back into Old World because it’s on EPIC - same reason I kept forgetting about Hades there for a bit. I need to really dig into it here soon.
I was super happy with the top games this year - four of them were in my list as well. Super food year for games I think.
Northern Journey is great.
My entire list was board games!
Do we have enough voters to do a board game specific list and would the format also be “games from 2021” or would it be “games you played in 2021?” Given the pandemic it’ll be a weird year either way.
New boardgames only would be kind of the Cult of the New IMHO
I would rather see what everyone has actually been playing the whole year.
TTRPG awards when
I award Armando first place for GM.
Yeah, it’s way harder to get new board games on release than it is video games. For many of the bigger titles you need to have ‘preordered’ (i.e. Kickstarter) a year or more in advance at great expense to get games eligible for this list. :P
As someone who plays lots in both mediums, I’d be keen on some kind of separate award too. I played a bunch of board games last year, but didn’t vote for any in here. With only five voting slots I’m hesitant to include any board games as they’re basically dead votes taking away from all the video games I played. :)
I played a single video game from 2021, and so my list was boardgames!
I think I was the only one to vote for any, though :)
Thanks guys for putting this together every year. I plan to own every one of this top ten at some point, I might even play them all.
Perhaps the most striking thing of the list is how the first six positions are strategy games or strategy-tangent games (like RPGs with heavy focus on tactical combat). I think QT3 is unique in that regard.
Thanks, once again, @Brooski and @arrendek, for making this happen again! Always a great way to generate a short list of games I missed each year. Picked up Northern Journey even before the voting closed!
There were no new flight sims last year! (Except the new edition of MSFS, and there are too damn many serious bugs still not fixed to nominate that again, no matter how awesome it is despite all that.)
I think we should add a DLC just for the consideration.
We are very humbled, thankful and happy. I just got a message on Discord that informed us of this thread. I am not even done reading through the list of comments. This is such a good day and we were having a good day to start with as Old World’s soundtrack just got a Best Soundtrack Award.
Thank you so much, all of you for the forum and for the love, for the support and feedback, and honestly for just having a space in which people can have good conversations and be informed. This space is very engaging and very thorough, so thank you.
You and Soren knocked it out of the park with Old World. I’m so excited to see what happens next!