GM GOTY Awards 2021 – Game Of The Year

The big one. The game we collectively agree to be the best of the best released this year.

Deliberations Summary

For 2021, the deliberations for Game Of The Year, and the Top 10 Games Of 2021 begins with going through all the shortlisted top 30 games of 2021. From there, the crew goes head down looking at a spreadsheet to rearrange which games should take which exact 10 open slots for the award, including Game Of The Year.

The deliberations took some interesting turns. Forza Horizon 5, which was snubbed for Best Racing Game, made a huge comeback by competing for GOTY. How could the second-best racing game of the year even be considered to even take an overall win? The argument goes that the game is more than just a racing game, and has been one of the most feature-rich open-world games of the year.

Another peculiar twist is how Road 96, the indie procedural narrative adventure game, manage to reach quite high up the list, even beating the winner of Best Indie Game. While not addressed in the deliberations itself, it’s clear that a game besting another in one award category doesn’t mean it should automatically be ranked lower on the overall top games list. Sometimes, personal bias from the crew can boast games up higher- or drop them lower.

Also, another reminder, there is inherently more representation from Microsoft’s first-party offering compared to Sony or Nintendo. And this is due that the crew lacks access to a PS5, and only recently did one crew member got a Switch with not enough time to cover and check out games exclusive to the platform. We are also a smaller media outlet that does not have the means to cover all of the major game releases, which means this list is something you might not expect.

But the outcome of the Game Of The Year winner, and the ranked Top 10 Games Of 2021 list is what you expect. These games defined the year, featuring the best games in terms of overall quality, fresh innovative ideas, refinement to formulas we love dearly, and something that when looking back years on, gives a good snapshot of the diversity of games that came out of this year.

The deliberations also had one too many F1 and cooking references for one reason or another.

Deliberation length (after edits): 55 minutes

Game Of The Year 2021, GM’s Top 10 Games Of 2021

Psychonauts 2 is Gamer Malaya and Gamer Matters’ Game Of The Year Of 2021, congratulations to the team at Double Fine for making this exquisite game of jumping on platforms and jumping into people’s minds.

Here are the Top 10 Games Of 2021, according to Gamer Malaya And Gamer Matters:

1. Psychonauts 2
2. Forza Horizon 4
3. Deathloop
4. Road 96
5. Halo Infinite
6. Chivalry 2
7. Resident Evil Village
8. Hitman 3
9. Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139…
10. Wildermyth

For the full list and full recording of the deliberations (as part of dia.log – The Gamer Matters Podcast), check the main page for the Gamer Malaya And Gamer Matters Game Of The Year Awards 2021 here.