It’s almost that time of the year again when various media outlets and gamers start to consider what their favourite game of the year is, and 2021 discussions are heating up again. Following the release of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, many users online are opening up talks about what game stood out the most for them, with many including Returnal, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, It Takes Two, Tales of Arise, Resident Evil Village, Psychonauts 2, Metroid Dread and much more.

Housemarque’s PS5 exclusive roguelike Returnal seems to be leading the charge so far, having won the coveted Game of the Year award at the recent Develop: Star awards hosted in Brighton. Leading up to Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards which seems to be the bigger and more publicized event for video game accolades, many smaller awards shows will give their verdicts on the best games of 2021. We aren’t done yet with this year’s releases, but there’s enough to go on so far.

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GamesRadar, for example, spoke highly about Age of Empires 4, considering the strategy game for their own game of the year.

Comic Book Reader (CBR) has called out Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy as their potential pick for game of the year, citing it to be the best superhero game since Batman: Arkham Asylum.

The Game Awards’ official Twitter asked users what their picks for Game of the Year so far were, and a few surprises were mentioned. Some users gravitated towards Resident Evil Village and Psychonauts 2, while others threw out titles like Metroid Dread, It Takes Two and Deathloop. Unfortunately, games like Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite have yet to be released, but some enthusiastic fans are also calling them early potential contenders too.

There’s still a very busy November and December ahead for gaming releases, so we’ll have to wait and see if there are any surprises still waiting for us.

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