Game of the Year 2021

Stinger Nominations

This is a thread to post and discuss GOTY nominees and picks.

Right now the lineup I have:
DC Super Hero Girls: Teen Power - Metroid Dread - Fatal Frame: Maiden of the Black Water - Shin Megami Tensei V - ???

I am rather amused at the process and making of comparisons for these very differently themed games to determine this year's winner.

Hard to say for me since I haven't really played a lot of games that released this year. I have a feeling that, unless they drop the ball, it will be Halo: Infinite. Metroid Dread was cool, but I wouldn't put it on any of my lists personally.

I still want to play Hitman 3, SMTV, Medium, Bowser's Fury, GnG: Resurrection, Bravely Default II, Yakuza 7, Judgment 2, Nier Replicant, Pokemon Snap, RE8, Returnal and so many others - but I don't think that'll happen anytime soon.

I'm in a similar position to Roy, couldn't help but jump in and share my wonderful GOTY shortlist (aka every game I've played released this year):

Returnal
Resident Evil: Village
Knockout City
Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown
Guilty Gear Strive
F1 2021
Cruis'n Blast
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania

Shout out to this Wikipedia page, as without it I could only remember 4 of the above: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_in_video_games

Couldn't bring myself to finish Returnal, Village was decent but I'm not sure I'll ever play it again, Knockout City was fun (but it's an EA service game), VF5:FS was bitterly disappointing and offered little to no improvement over previous iterations, Strive was pretty good but didn't hold my attention as long as if hoped, F1 is decent but not my sort of game sadly, Cruis'n Blast wasn't anything special and I've only played about 20 minutes of SMB so I can't form an opinion on it yet. Not sure if VF, Cruis'n or SMB should even count given they're ports/remasters of existing games.

I guess my GOTY is Guilty Gear Strive, with Knockout City as a runner-up...

I didn't play hardly any new games this year so IDK. Dread is fun but I'm really hoping Halo Infinite lives up to the hype. SMT5 maybe, IDK if I'll play it this year.

Honestly it would probably be MH Rise by default if I had bought it on Switch, I played the demo on PC and the game's a lot more fun than I gave it credit for, even if I disagree with many design elements on principle.

> Rise
I know @TaiTsurugi talked pretty highly of it in retrospect, so that says a lot imo.

> thanks to wikipedia for remembering games
Goes to show that a year is either pretty long, or the games just weren't that great.

Yeah the monster AI design is so much better than World it's not even funny, they basically jumped from one of the lowest lows (World style AI) to one of the highest highs (GU style AI). There's other stuff about the game that is really stupid but the monster AI counts for a shitload in my experience.

This has been maybe the worst year ever for me personally, it’s so bad I don’t think I can actually pick anything(unlike last year which had several amazing titles). If I had to go with something, it would probably be Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection. It’s certainly the game that surprised me the most.

Here’s hoping SMTV and Halo are great.

I decided to go with a grid format as the showcase model. I had 4 games in mind (thanks for reminder on GNG:R, which I only shunned for so long due to its digital status -- the efforts for a successful petition to Capcom for physical could be met if it's given high recognition) and added 5 games off the "official" game awards nominations. I think this stuff requires a good month and a half of planning out. Going solo, I am thinking of just running this as a simulation model with next year's GOTY being the real deal in making the awards meet the December cut.  

Spoiler:

I think as a group / Stinger effort, an award event is more readily-realized: add up nominations, GOTY award for most member points awards (point distribution: 10 for 1st place nomination, 6 for 2nd place, 3 for 3rd place), and writeups for every game spanning multiple systems could be officially published. Same easy visual of a grid format for 9 games (or something else). Right now you could insert your mentioned 8 games + 1 more and you've got a grid, Gregorinho. But, as a lot of you mentioned, there are a lot of ho-hum picks, which I think is convenient in that you can just add them as filler on the nominations grid.

So far the best game I played this year is Twelve Minutes. While I enjoyed Metroid Dread, its franchise's excellence holds it massively back in my eyes. Twelve Minutes really had that 'unique' thing going for it that made it memorable and a worthwhile experience. More and more I feel games released today, especially in long running series, are very barebones iterations.

By proxy I could nominate Super Mario 3d World's re-release, though I haven't played Bowser's Fury I loved the maingame on WiiU. Same for the Nioh 2 re-release, grand game. Games released this year that I still want to try are Deathloop, SMTV, Halo Infinite, Hitman 3 and Kena.

I think eventually Halo: Infinite will be the best game released this year that I'll actually play this year.

Any more nominations?

For me right now it's definitely Halo: Infinite, despite its shortcomings (dull main missions, dull finale) it's combat engine and just general open world funness puts it at the top for me definitely. Great way to close off the year. You?

I am behind the tides, and really cool with it. Maybe it's because with most games now it's not a full game until the next patch, ever so fluent. What if it's patched in the next quarter? Does it count? Going to ask your mom.

For topic's sake I'll say Ghost 'n Goblins Resurrection, even though I never played it.
Secret contenter: No More Heroes III. ( or is it Awaiting Patch of the Year 2021 ? )

Royta/Raeng wrote:For me right now it's definitely Halo: Infinite, despite its shortcomings (dull main missions, dull finale) it's combat engine and just general open world funness puts it at the top for me definitely. Great way to close off the year. You?

+: Combat visual effects produce colorful aesthetic mayhem, and it looks super good
+: Very charming & amusing scenarios and a good sense of world progression & world shaping
+: Lot of challenges to dig into ranging wildly in difficulty
+: Very rewarding exploration and mission rewarded unlockable items
-: Boss fights are serviceable to good

Action fans will rejoice to know there is a mission select screen. Easily the best 3D superhero game I've played.

Metroid Dread in 2nd place. Samus is the coolest character around now. The bosses in this game are much better than those in DC Super Hero Girls. I'd argue that the combat system in Dread may in fact be designed way better for 1 v 1's, which makes it the opposite of DCSHG's combat system that flourishes the more on-screen combatants there are. Lot of highs and lows with this game.

Shin Megami Tensei V / Ghosts N Goblins: Resurrection in 3rd place. These games gets 3rd because their flaws are very apparent and contrasting; I didn't get around to beating them either as a result. SMTV has an overworld and fetchquest type system that are boring in comparison to the cool aesthetic design choices of the party demons, the UI in combat, and sleek camera position changes when negotiating with demons or toggling through enemies. GNG: R is overloaded with enemy waves to cut down -- all-out action! -- but I find certain enemy introductions annoying to deal with and the skill tree system unpleasant. Forced to I'd give the edge to GNG: R.