The 20 Best Video Games of 2021 So Far
Which games impressed professional reviewers the most during the first half of the year? Above, we rank the best-reviewed videogames released between January 1, 2021 and June 30, 2021 by Metascore. Games must have at least 7 reviews from professional critics to be eligible for inclusion.
Note that ...
If a game was released on multiple platforms, we included only the version receiving the largest total number of reviews (usually, but not always, the PS5 or PS4 version).
Multi-game compilations and newly released ports of games released in prior years on other platforms are excluded, unless they are substantially different from the prior release(s) (for example, an HD remaster of a previous-gen game that also adds some new content).
Yes, it's a port of a previously released game, but it's also much more than that. In addition to a new Switch version of the 2013 Wii U platformer Super Mario 3D World—enhanced here with speedier gameplay, online multiplayer, and a new "Snapshot Mode" to record your moves—the package includes an all-new adventure, Bowser's Fury, set in a cat-themed open world where Bowser uses apocalyptic firestorms to attempt to thwart Mario.
“Bringing one of the best games of the whole Mario franchise to Switch, with a few little tweaks here and there, would have been enough to make a Super Mario 3D World repackage an essential part of anyone’s Switch library. But Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury goes a whole lot further, with the addition of what could just as well have been a whole new standalone game, and a brilliant one at that.” —Shindig
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