This is an award you don’t want to get. There were quite a few disappointing games this year and not all of them were due to launch bugs and issues. Some were just plain bad from the drawing board. It takes real talent to make a bad game and not see it coming as you make it, but some of these turds really shined this year.

Balan Wonderworld

Yuji Naka isn’t a very talented developer. He got lucky with Sonic and hasn’t made a single good game since. In the 30 years he’s developed games he’s released turd after turd and just doesn’t learn his lesson. Balan Wonderworld didn’t have launch bugs or glitches, didn’t have broken servers, but a broken game. Being the most simplistic and insulting gameplay ever imaginable as playing the entire game with a single button feels like it’s designed for toddlers. There’s no challenge, it isn’t fun, and the entire game from the core is just a big fat turd. How did this even happen?

Runner-Ups

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – Definitive Edition

Biomutant

RPGs tell some of the best stories in gaming and weave some of the most complicated and beloved character arcs. Some of the most treasured games and franchises are RPGs. Whether it’s a Western RPG like Mass Effect or Fallout or an Eastern one like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest there’s something here for everyone to love. This was a strong year for JRPGs in particular. Many franchises considered tired and trite pushed new grounds and broke out of their comfort zone.

Shin Megami Tensei V

Shin Megami Tensei V is the best the series has to offer and some of Atlus’ finest work. A fantastically woven story, fun and wonderful demons to collect, and the game can be as easy as pie or as hard as nails thanks to multiple difficulty options for all players. Lots of dialog, great visuals, and memorable characters pepper the game throughout creating one of the best RPGs of the decade and one of the most anticipated in quite some time.

Runner-Ups

Tales of Arise

Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin

Scarlet Nexus

Blue Reflection: Second Light

Platformers are one of the least-loved genres. Every so often you get a AAA budget game or an indie game that breaks through and wows everyone. Platformers can have other genres mixed in, but the sole mode of exploration should be jumping between platforms and climbing. It’s been a while since I didn’t have to scrape the bottom of the barrel just to come up with five good platformers for the year. There were quite a few this year and they were all quite good.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Rift Apart not only introduces a great new character, but the classic Ratchet gameplay is intact with next-gen upgrades, fun and memorable weapons, amazing visuals, a fun story and wonderful voice acting. We get the charm of a Pixar movie mixed with tried and true gameplay from a PlayStation classic franchise. This is by far the best game in the series to date and a reason to own a PS5.

Runner-Ups

It Takes Two

Narita Boy

F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch

Psychonauts 2

Single-Player games are probably the single most important to gaming. This is how games originated and how they should never be forgotten. A single-player experience can be cinematic, tell an amazing story, and introduce fantastic characters. Without single-player games, we are miss more than half of what makes up the core of a game. They have been pushed aside in favor of multiplayer games over the last 15 years, but they have stuck around and there are some that push through the crowd and shine.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Kena isn’t just a great single-player game. It has a great story, fun characters, fantastic visuals, and interesting gameplay. It knows what it takes to be a great single-player game and anyone who invests their time will enjoy this game and walk away with a smile.

Runner-Ups

Resident Evil Village

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Returnal

Psychonauts 2

Playing together is always fun and multiplayer has been pushed harder more than ever especially online. Whether is cooperative or competitive there’s always something satisfying about playing with others if the game is made right.

It Takes Two

It sure does. I played this with my wife and we had an absolute blast. Stupid story and characters aside, the gameplay is built from the ground-up with co-op in mind and it can’t be played alone. The puzzles are amazing, the levels are beautiful, and being small little dolls in a large world is fantastic. The amount of cooperation needed is perfect and no matter what you do you always have to help each other every step of the way. Clever boss fights, fun gadgets and weapons, and every single area felt different and new.

Runner-Ups

Halo Infinite

Chivalry II

Back 4 Blood

Valheim

Action games usually consist of a mix of different things like shooting, jumping, puzzle-solving, or pretty much any blend of genre mixed together as long as there’s some fast-paced mechanics involved. Usually, these games can’t fit into a single genre. This year had a ton of great action games as do most years. It’s a pretty safe genre and you’re guaranteed something good every year.

Resident Evil Village

Resident Evil Village is just an amazing action and horror game. While it’s my favorite Resident Evil since RE4, the game introduced great new characters, fun levels, crazy monster designs, and some actual God damn scares! The gun play felt good, the visuals were fantastic, and while the game felt a little static and lonely, it just started and ended really well.

Runner-Ups

Hitman 3

Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Returnal

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy

Racing games are usually a safe bet every year with at least one great game. There are the usual mainstays of F1, Forza, Gran Turismo, Dirt, and many other franchises that usually knock it out of the park year after year. These games usually bring with them astounding or the latest and greatest visual tech and physics whether it’s arcade or simulation.

Forza Horizon 5

Horizon 5 isn’t just a great game it’s a great sequel that is more of Horizon 4, but better. More and new cars, a new area to explore, better visuals, better wheel support, and just take any feature you liked from Horizon 4 and put the word better after it. The game had a bit of a rough launch, mostly on PC, but it’s being ironed out as we speak. The game looks amazing and runs really well and Playground Games have mastered this genre.

Runner-Ups

Hot Wheels Unleashed

F1 2021

Cruis’n Blast

WRC 10

The fighting genre is usually hit or miss year to year. Without your heavy hitters like Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter or even Tekken or Soul Calibur, there’s usually not much else. Rarely does a new fighter make waves or is any good, but this was actually a good year for all of these things. Mostly anime-based fighters, but they were good even if you weren’t into the source material.

Guilty Gear -STRIVE-

-STRIVE- is not just the best Guilty Gear game to date, but it’s just a rock solid fighting game with fan favorite characters and a couple of new ones that are fun to play as. While it doesn’t break the fighting genre mold it’s just damn good to play. Amazing visuals and smooth controls whether you’re a button masher or move memorizer.

Runner-Ups

Melty Blood: Type Lumina

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles

Strategy games aren’t the most mainstream games out there. They’re only for a certain kind of patient gamer who wants total control of what they do in their game. These can range from taking care of farm animals to conquering entire continents. They’re usually not very flashy, but the important thing is an addictive gameplay loop, easy-to-navigate menus, and is easy to learn but hard to master. You usually spend hundreds of hours in these games and usually a single play-through will only show you a fraction of what the game holds.

Age of Empires IV

While it wasn’t exactly what we wanted it’s still miles better than AoE3. The gameplay feels mostly intact from AoE2 with modern upgrades and it just feels like an AoE game through and through. The graphics are a bit dated as well, but it looks the part, sounds the part, and plays really well. It’s hyper addictive and multiple playthroughs are needed to see everything that’s on offer here.

Runner-Ups

Jurassic World Evolution 2

Humankind

Inscryption

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun – Aiko’s Choice