Welcome to our annual Game of the Year Awards. For the past week we've been building up to our ultimate Game of the Year award by revealing the winners of each category. You'll find all of the deserving winners listed below, but the time has come to announce the game that won us over completely in 2021. Check it out below.
Rather than fit the year's best games into a handful of fixed categories, each staff member was asked to nominate up to six games that released this year—either fully or into Early Access. We then gathered into one big, global call to argue through our choices and decide upon the final list. Once the games are picked, we assign each an award that represents what we feel it excelled at. This is why the categories are always slightly different each year.
Alongside the main awards, each PC Gamer writer has also picked one of their personal favourites to highlight. We'll be updating this page with new awards and staff picks throughout the rest of the month.
The Awards
Best Ongoing Game: Apex Legends
Best Co-op: Back 4 Blood
Best Multiplayer: Chivalry 2
Best Horror: Resident Evil Village
Best Strategy: Old World
Best Characters: Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy
Best RPG: Wildermyth
Best Shooter: Halo Infinite
Best Design: Loop Hero
Best Narrative: Sable
Best Open World: Forza Horizon 5
Best Action: Deathloop
Best Stealth: Hitman 3
Game of the Year: Valheim
Staff Picks
We'll be revealing two staff picks per day from December 19 to December 30.
Jacob Ridley: Hell Let Loose
Morgan Park: Jackbox Party Pack 8
Natalie Clayton: Unbeatable [White Label]
Tyler Colp: Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye
Mollie Taylor: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker
Lauren Morton: Book of Travels
Sarah James: Unpacking
Andy Chalk: The Pathless
Lauren Aitken: Assassin's Creed Valhalla: The Siege of Paris
Chris Livingston: Farming Simulator 22
Jody Macgregor: The Forgotten City
Rich Stanton: Scavengers
Imogen Mellor: Life is Strange: True Colors
Wes Fenlon: Cruelty Squad
Shaun Prescott: Astalon: Tears of the Earth
Alan Dexter: Magic the Gathering: Arena
Harry Shepherd: Toem
Evan Lahti: Battlefield 2042
Robin Valentine: Trials of Fire
Dave James: Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition
Katie Wickens: Mini Motorways
Fraser Brown: The Ascent
Phil Savage: Blaseball
Past Awards
Game of the Year Awards 2020
Game of the Year Awards 2019
Game of the Year Awards 2018
Game of the Year Awards 2017
Game of the Year Awards 2016
Game of the Year Awards 2015
Game of the Year Awards 2014
Game of the Year Awards 2013
