Revered gaming mag EDGE has revealed its top 10 games of 2021 in the latest issue, and while Sony and Microsoft fans will be delighted to see platform exclusives from both PS5 and Xbox consoles put in an appearance, no Nintendo-developed or published games managed to make the list this year.
That's not to say Switch doesn't feature, of course. Six of the games in the top 10 are available on Nintendo's console in some form, with Capcom's excellent Monster Hunter Rise being a platform exclusive, no less (well, until 12th January when it's scheduled for launch on PC) — but first-party Nintendo titles are absent from the publication's GOTY selection this year.
That may be a little surprising to Nintendo fans, but it has to be said that it's been a great year for games across the board, so the competition was fierce. Arkane Studios' PS5 exclusive Deathloop came in first place, followed by indie darling Chicory: A Colorful Tale (recently launched on Switch) and PC tactical RPG Wildermyth in third place.
Other games playable on Switch that made the grade include Dungeon Encounters (fourth), the previously mentioned Monster Hunter Rise (sixth), Hitman 3 (seventh — Switch got the Cloud Version treatment), and Bonfire Peaks (eighth).
According to EDGE, the top 10 games of 2021 are as follows:
1. Deathloop
2. Chicory: A Colorful Tale
3. Wildermyth
4. Dungeon Encounters
5. Forza Horizon 5
6. Monster Hunter Rise
7. Hitman 3
8. Bonfire Peaks
9. Returnal
10. Psychonauts 2
Elsewhere, Metroid Dread and New Pokémon Snap were named as runners-up in the Nintendo-specific awards category (which Monster Hunter Rise won, of course).
As we noted above, the field is extremely strong this year, and while personally we would have worked Metroid Dread in there, it's fantastic to see that every single one of the non-exclusive games listed is playable on Nintendo Switch, even if it's a cloud version version in the case of Hitman 3. For Switch owners, that alone is worth celebrating after so many years (since the Wii era, really) of multiplatform games skipping Nintendo consoles entirely.
So, Nintendo the company may have missed out on an EDGE Award, but Switch gamers are able to sample a big chunk of that fine list. It's definitely a great time to be playing video games.
- Further reading: Best Nintendo Switch Games Of 2021
[source famiboards.com, via mynintendonews.com]
Comments 59
EDGE Magazine has just become a casual/mainstream publication like IGN these days, focused on whatever's cool and consoles with flashier graphics. It's not what it used to be.
Deathloop above Hitman 3? That's odd.
Tbh it was a very sparse year from Nintendo. Bowser’s Fury was polished and competent, but felt very uniform due to its one stage (and came with yet another rerelease). Mario Golf is surprisingly boring. Famicom Detective, glad they released it! It’s not for everyone, that’s for sure, but please, more of these offbeat things. Dread: Great! And glad Skyward Sword got a second chance, but it’s another rerelease. So… it’s not like they had a lot to run for GOTY.
Deathloop’s fantastic as is Hitman 3. It’s a great list actually, a mix between slightly more daring AAA games and indie games. Metroid Dread I guess is ‘more of the same’ even if it’s brilliant but then so are Monster Hunter and Hitman.
I’m gnashing at my bits and my bits taste delicious.
I own zero games from this list on any console or PC. It's a Terrible list if you ask me. But most lists are made by people I wouldn't talk with in normal life due to personality and likes. So I rarely care about the "lists".
Some of these I've never really heard of since they aren't Switch games, but none of the ones on the list I've played or read about interest me. Some are definitely creative or well done but they just don't do it for me personally even though I like a fairly wide selection of game genres ( the combat kills it for me in Rise and something about deathloop grates me even though I usually love that genre). Usually lists like this have me like at least half the games. Granted, I might like the games I haven't heard of but if they don't come to switch I won't be playing them.
Deathloop.. I have no interest in any of the other games but I'm getting Deathloop next year once I get a Series X and it releases for it. Still sad that Doki Doki Literature Club Plus didn't clench it!
Bonfire Peaks...lol. Their inner hipster is showing. 🙄
Used to love edge in the 90s & early 2000’s. The best, most intelligently put together outlet both on & offline. But I think some hubris got in the way & they started giving out ridiculous scores & opinions. Double dash 5/10?? Even if you don’t gel with the game it’s at least an 8.
I just found out that Deathloop is not the same as Death's Door. I've been seeing these games popping up in my peripheral vision for weeks and conflating them. Oh well...
Even if I went out of my way to make a list with the best games of 2021 that excluded Nintendo games, it would like quite different to this.
Psychonauts 2 would defiantly be on it though.
Edge... Nothing else to say.
The only game on that list I've played so far is Monster Hunter Rise and that wouldn't even make my top 30 Switch games for the year.
Lmao, Deathloop is broken bland garbage.
@Clyde_Radcliffe EDGE Magazine has just become a casual/mainstream publication like IGN these days, focused on whatever's cool and consoles with flashier graphics. It's not what it used to be.
So true this isn't a Gamer magazine for Nintendo Switch to begin with. It's not a dedicate Gaming magazine with informed sources but lack of sources to pick what they want not what is really what Gamers in general wants. So I take their results with a grain of salt.
In fairness, Nintendo released precious little this year that was actually new and exciting. Pretty much only Metroid Dread.
Bowser's Fury was very cool, but it was a side-game at the end of the day.
Next year is already looking a lot better for actually new first-party games.
What with the other indies on this list, I'm a little disappointed to see yet another publication completely ignore Gnosia.
@Ralizah I guess some will feel sad for what you missed in 2021 Nintendo Switch releases for 2021. But the rest of us Switch gamers moved on.
@SwitchForce I'm sorry, I can't make heads or tails of that comment. What do you mean?
I’m happy to see Dungeon Encounters on the list. If anyone hasn’t played the game yet, I strongly encourage you to.
This is a wakeup call. Nintendo need to start releasing original games again instead of rehashes and makeovers.
And despite what others here have asserted; EDGE is still one of the highest regarded games publications and widely respected by the industry- so this does matter.
@Clyde_Radcliffe it's abit more than 'flashier graphics'.
A lot of truth in that line up.
Why is nobody talking about how amazing Chicory is
No opinion on Deathloop, will give it a go on Game Pass next year when it releases that way but the reaction I've seen to it outside traditional games media has been decidedly mixed.
At least Psychonauts 2 is up there, phenomenal game in every single aspect which is so rare to see and one of the few I'd actually consider perfect. Amazed at how robbed it was at TGA.
Edge. The “cornflake cafe” of gaming publications…. Unintentionally hilarious in its wallowing in pretentiousness. Im surprised Forza made it and not the hipsters choice of Flight sim.
Top 5 games I played this year:
Dark Souls 3
Demon’s Souls remake
Steel Assault (Steal Ass Salt, haha, words sound like other words)
Deaths Door (just started so waiting for it to actually get going, very slow start with empty feeling world but will give it the benefit of the doubt considering all the praise.
Resident Evil 8 (that baby in the basement, ugh terrifying)
@6thHorizon This is a wakeup call. Nintendo need to start releasing original games again instead of rehashes and makeovers.
Really that is the best one can come up with. This must be coming from NintenDoomed fandom comments.
@6thHorizon And despite what others here have asserted; EDGE is still one of the highest regarded games publications and widely respected by the industry- so this does matter.
That's a comical statement. No one here heard of EDGE it's funny to make that claim but no one in Gaming knows that- should tell alot.
It's not a suprise. The only big tittle of Nintendo was Metroid Dread. Ratchet and Clack and Resident evil village also didn't make it to the list.
It's nice to see some love for Dungeon Encounters and I'm curious about Wildermyth. I've seen that game in a lot of tops.
@NintendoWife I'm sorry, what was that about dread and did you imply that it didn't belong on the top 10?
Better list than the poor lame Nintendo life staff choice!
@NintendoWife Nintendo released a lot of titles last year but yeah, other
If this were a good year for gaming Forza Horizon 5 would be nowhere. It is at best the 4th best in the FH series and more of the bloody same. It makes no real attempt to evolve the gameplay that was getting tired in number 4. The series needs a big reboot for number 6.
The only reason it had made the lists is because 2021 had been a terrible year for games and therefore the lists are starved. The Xbox platform had also been starved of decent exclusives for so long that an average title seems like a big deal. Sable made a lot of lists and it was a really good game but plagued by more bugs than the joycons.
Are these top ten lists for the devs/pubs, the consoles, or the fanboys?
@falkyn I said it’s great. No idea if it belongs in their Top 10, I don’t know most of their list so I can’t compare. If I were to judge it by itself: I thought it was fantastic, but it felt - if I may - still a bit „small“ for a GOTY.
This list is horse sh1ttery.
@RadioHedgeFund Agreed. You can tell a down year by the addition of racing or sports games to top 10 lists. Nothing against them but I doubt very seriously even one makes it to the top of 2022.
@RadioHedgeFund Probably Forza would still in the list even if this had been one of the best years in gaming. It ranked high and beat Ratchet and clank, Returnal, Monster hunter, metroid and Psychonauts 2 in that list.
@NintendoWife regardless of its size, leaving dread out of a top 10 would be like cutting off your left leg.
Dread never deserved it, it's forgettable.
Edge magazine, to be fair, is not really a Nintendo magazine, it's more for the Xbox/PlayStation games; the slightly harder core gamer. The more serious gamers.
In the days when there were Nintendo magazines, they were all about Pokémon and giving free gifts. Maybe for the younger reader.
@Stocksy is microsoft flight simulator a "hipster" game???
@falkyn No I don’t mean size, I mean scale.
Not sure on the list but Psychonauts 2 is exceptional. If any of you haven't played it and haven't got an xbox I recommend playing it over xbox cloud (should work on any internet browser). Definitely my top game of 2021. I wish it was on the switch. I wish more Double Fine games were on the switch actually
@NintendoWife I think that is a point that dread tried to demonstrate on purpose - at some limit, the scale breaks the human scope and all you're left with is a robot beating a dead horse.
Wyldermyth is not on Switch, but it's amazing and everyone should try it.
Nintendo needs to step up. The games listed from other platforms, are not even that good. Problem is that you can't give awards to old games repackaged as new or games that are so unambitious they look like they are from 3 generations ago. I like Dread, and I have wanted a game like it for a very long time, but it does look like something that would run on a PS3. Besides the lack of ambition, there was a also a lack of substance, too many empty hallways, reused bosses, reused Emmi. Great game, but it needed more work.
Just looked up Bonfire Peaks, it looks like a Minecraft mod. It looks super basic. I can only imagine it beat Metroid Dread because it costs a lot less than $60? Or maybe it was made by a one-man-band developer? I think this says something about the issues with Dread. Breath of The Wild is still the best game on Switch, and it looks like Nintendo only uses games like BOTW to launch consoles.
@NintendoWife agreed. I also think Dread seemed a bit small in scope and ambition. I think you are right to describe it as small for a GOTY.
DeathLoop has shockingly terrible enemy AI but okay, I mean this whole list is underwhelming.
I don't have Xbox but Forza Horizon looks like the first real next-gen title. Monster Hunter Rise is an achievement for a mobile device but its not a better game overall
Deathloop and Returnal are so bland in their shooter gameplay. These days journalists reward more catchy marketing material than creative gameplay.
Eh, I stopped paying attention to EDGE long ago. They always seemed to be a more entitled/spoiled IGN to me, which is further evident in their scores for some games.
@6thHorizon Wakeup call? Nintendo crushed 2021. Edge is hanging on to the prestige of what it was, and swapping in indies for Nintendo games in an otherwise obvious list isn’t going to bring them back to relevance.
@Eighties Save the indies, how is that list not “the same types of games”? How many Forza games are there? Deathloop and Returnal are innovative in the context of AAA, but not in the context of the industry.
Tastes change and there’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s really tied to perspective. Sure, Dread is “more of the same” from one perspective, but it’s also only the 5th 2D Metroid over the course of 30 years. Hitman 3 is the 8th game in the series like it since 2000.
Splatoon 3 will be “more of the same”, but it’s still an incredibly innovative property with little else like it (Rocket League, Knockout City, Ninjala).
Move on, sure, but let’s not pretend most of the hobby is iteration, not innovation.
I'm so indie I only like small games you've never heard of that never make best of lists like Mario world 3D
2021 Nintendo: the year of ports, re-released and games pushed that should've never been released.
Not surprised none made it on the list
Waiting on Deathloop to hit xbox. A little disappointed in what little I know about the story though.
I'm sure Metroid is better than a handfull of those nominated games...
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