If you ever need proof that critics are optimists, look no further than E354. Thirteen issues ago, we described 2020 as “a year unlike any we’ve experienced – and hopefully will ever experience again”, only for 2021 to effectively say “hold my beer”. The pandemic’s ongoing impact on the game industry has been evident throughout the past 12 months.

Once again, it wasn’t a vintage year for triple-A, with indies and smaller studios continuing to pick up the slack. Still, a few blockbusters did break cover, and into our top ten – including no fewer than four sequels. That’s just one sign of what an odd year it’s been. There was no indie breakthrough on the level of Hades. And where was 2021’s equivalent to Animal Crossing: New Horizons? For some, that game continued to provide an escape, but we wonder if that would have been the case had Nintendo not been quite so quiet. This is the first year since 2016 that no Nintendo-published game has made it into our top ten.

Still, if our list reflects the reality of a largely transitional 12 months, it also highlights the wide range of experiences that videogames offer. And while there were disagreements as we picked the individual categories, there was ultimately little debate about the big prize. We have an exclusive interview with the director of our number-one game, as well as celebrating the great, good, and downright strange of 2021. It may not have been a vintage year for the industry itself, but turn the page and you’ll see plenty of cause for optimism.

PLAYSTATION GAME OF THE YEAR

RUNNER-UP

JETT: THE FAR SHORE

Developer/publisher Superbrothers/Pine Scented Software

Format PC, PS4, PS5

Flawed? Sure. Not for everyone? What game is? Superbrothers’ reflective star trek was one of 2021’s most distinctive visions, and the rare videogame that encourages players to consider the impact of colonisation. Holding fast to that idea through to its daringly downbeat ending, it feels like a game that may one day earn wider acknowledgement.

RUNNER-UP

RETURNAL

Developer Housemarque Publisher SIE

Format PS5

Not the year’s best PlayStation game, but possibly its most PlayStation. Tough, weird, flexing the hardware – Returnal is not only the logical next purchase after escaping the remastered Boletaria, but a game that speaks to what the console stands for in 2021. With the blockbusters yet to arrive, PS5 remains a machine for the dedicated, in the best way.

WINNER

DEATHLOOP

Developer Arkane Lyon Publisher Bethesda Softworks

Format PC, PS5

There’s a perverse pleasure in awarding this to a game technically published by Microsoft, but Deathloop is the best advert yet for getting a PS5. It blends broad appeal with the kind of strangeness that characterises the finest entries in Sony’s back catalogue, and leverages the DualSense so perfectly that it’s hard to imagine the inevitable Xbox version.

XBOX GAME OF THE YEAR

RUNNER-UP

HALO INFINITE

Developer 343 Industries Publisher Xbox Game Studios

Format PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series

Third time is indeed the charm for 343. The campaign’s gestures towards an open world might pale beside the winner of this category, but the grappling hook is a brilliant addition, topping off a movement system that balances dexterity with weight. Inhabiting the Spartan armour hasn’t felt this good in years. Scratch that: it hasn’t felt this good ever.

RUNNER-UP

PSYCHONAUTS 2

Developer Double Fine Publisher Xbox Game Studios

Format PC, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series

Yes, it’s also available on PlayStation – but Double Fine’s sequel wouldn’t exist (in its present form) without Microsoft’s investment. As well as being a terrific sequel, this feels like a statement of intent from its publisher: Xbox is keen to diversify its roster and, in doing so, to bolster its reputation. Games this imaginative can only accelerate that process.

WINNER

FORZA HORIZON 5

Developer Playground Games Publisher Xbox Game Studios

Format PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series

The quintessential Game Pass game? Horizon 5 attracted a record ten million players in its first week – many of whom, we’d wager, might never have played it had it not simply appeared in their libraries. But having dipped in, it’s hard to tear yourself away from its generous, gorgeously realised world. Reason enough to keep that sub topped up.

NINTENDO GAME OF THE YEAR

RUNNER-UP

NEW POKÉMON SNAP

Developer Bandai Namco Studios

Publisher Nintendo, The Pokémon Company Format Switch

This on-rails point-and-shooter’s belated comeback, some 22 years after the N64 original, was an unexpected treat. Perhaps the best-looking Pokémon to date, it offers a larger range of critters to photograph, and makes them more reactive: months on, players are still discovering odd combinations to fill their album with wondrous shots.

RUNNER-UP

METROID DREAD

Developer MercurySteam, Nintendo EPD

Publisher Nintendo Format Switch

Samus’s return alone might have been enough to secure this game’s spot in the list – especially with her sleek new moveset – but the introduction of the EMMI guaranteed it. In a game which otherwise hurtles along with all the speed of a Shinespark boost, these stalking robotic predators slow things down and crank the tension right up.

WINNER

MONSTER HUNTER RISE

Developer/publisher Capcom

Format Switch

You know it’s not been a vintage year for Nintendo when it doesn’t top this category, but it had its work cut out against this powerful competitor. Rise could easily have been a diet World, but Capcom’s improvements ramp up the pace of battles while demonstrating what Switch can do when pushed to its limits. A thrilling game and a technical powerhouse.