The Best Games of 2021
One ranking built from 8 major year-end lists. Every list awards points by position — #1 earns 100, #2 earns 99, and so on — then each game’s points are averaged across all 8 lists to produce its Review Rank Score. A game ranked #1 everywhere would score a perfect 100.
SOURCES: POLYGON · GAME INFORMER · GAMESRADAR+ · TIME · THE A.V. CLUB · SLANT MAGAZINE · DIGITAL TRENDS · PASTE · COMPILED 2026-07-09 · NON-2021 RELEASES ON SOURCE LISTS EXCLUDED
Points follow position: pts = 101 − rank on each list. The Review Rank Score is a game’s total divided by the number of lists surveyed (8), so missing a list counts as zero — consensus beats a single high placement. Ties break by list appearances, then best single position. Positions were captured to each list’s published depth shown below; games released outside 2021 that appeared inside longer eligibility windows keep their slot on the source list but are excluded here.