Depending on who you ask, 2021 was a slow year for games or it was a great one. In a year dominated by high demand and low supply almost across the board, returns to form, sequels, and remakes formed a precious sample platter of nostalgia beside the smattering of new IPs. It was a year that propelled me toward PC gaming with console gaming becoming either debilitatingly expensive or hard to find products for, or both (thanks, scalpers). Whatever the year meant to you, we’re here now to choose the cream of the crop, the crème de la crème, not by patting a fairly rubbish industry (including certain publishers, policies, decisions, and work environs) on the back, but by awarding one of these select works of commercial art the title of The Pixels Game of the Year 2021. And we’ll do it without any kind of financial pressure or voting jury, too!
YOU are the voting jury. Yes, you!
If you’re reading this, well, keep reading. Below you’ll have the opportunity to select a Game of the Year from any of the 18 nominees (pictured above). The nominees were simply selected by those who play the games. No credentials needed. You didn’t have to be a writer on the site, you simply had to respond to the invitation to submit a nominee in The Pixels Discord. There’s no clandestine cabal that patched these nominations together: this is an event for everyone. I think it resulted in a list comprised of more than “Oscar bait” [obligatory f the Oscars statement here]… these are games that real people played and enjoyed enough to nominate. Are these the only games worth mentioning? Of course not. But they were mentioned nonetheless. They’re not all the flashiest or biggest, but they are each of them experiences worth having in their own right.
The winner will be announced on Saturday, the first day of 2021!
NOMINEES
Here are our candidates for Game of the Year 2021 plus those who submitted the nominations:
Alan Wake Remastered – @TeacherBloke85
Aragami 2 – @ringspells
the Chameleon – @Voxgizer
Deathloop – @pz_coryg
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker – @TerranceHarken
Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster – @theWellRedMage
the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD – @RetroLogicGames
Lost Judgment – @shhwonk
Mass Effect Legendary Edition – @Shadewing
Metroid Dread – @CamaxusD
Monster Hunter Rise – @DuctapePlays
New Pokemon Snap – @MaxNChachi
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl – @mudstepmusic
Psychonauts 2 – @JustKalas
Resident Evil Village – @chrisbg99
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania – @DivineZerinus
Tales of Arise – @AreohbeArt
Ys IX – Monstrum Nox – @Carrey86
Don’t see your favorite game on the list? That just means you need to join our Discord so you can get your kicks in for events like these!
VOTING
This poll is no longer accepting votes
Voting closes 11:59 PM Central on December 31st, 2021.
WINNER announced on the 1st!
Red formerly ran The Well-Red Mage and now serves The Pixels as founder, writer, editor, and podcaster. He has undertaken a seemingly endless crusade to talk about the games themselves in the midst of a culture obsessed with the latest controversy, scandal, and news cycle about harassment, toxicity, and negativity. Pick out his feathered cap on Twitter @thewellredmage or Mage Cast.
