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GOTY 2021 Shortlisting the long list - GOTY

Like previous year I present you the long list of released games from our database. The goal is to get the right games in the top 30, because that is the number we'll use for the short list to vote on.
Our editors had a first go already

The list is ordered by h-index, which could be seen as an indication of how often the game was discussed in our forums. Next to that there are also the comments and posts given for further sorting. If you see some unexpected numbers at some point, it is because games have already been manually moved in the list.

ID	Title	News Posts	Comments	Ratio	h-index
1	Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous	104	2445	23.3	28
2	Solasta: Crown of the Magister	116	1683	14.4	24
3	Encased	80	750	9.3	15
4	Knights of the Chalice II	28	490	16.9	13
5	Mechajammer	61	520	8.4	12
6	King's Bounty II	25	302	11.6	11
7	Gamedec	51	241	4.6	10
8	ATOM RPG: Trudograd	22	197	8.6	9
9	Biomutant	35	270	7.5	9
10	Tortured Hearts	13	369	26.4	8
11	Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood	21	111	5	8
12	Edge Of Eternity	88	231	2.6	8
13	Wildermyth	17	125	6.9	7
14	Disciples: Liberation	14	100	6.7	7
15	Gloomhaven	22	146	6.3	7
16	Vagrus: The Riven Realms	78	191	2.4	7
17	The Ascent	17	124	6.9	6
18	Urtuk: The Desolation	12	68	5.2	5
19	Tales of Arise	15	74	4.6	5
20	The Chronicles Of Myrtana: Archolos	6	88	12.6	4
21	The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV	7	47	5.9	4
22	Griftlands	7	46	5.8	4
23	Dungeon Encounters	10	61	5.5	4
24	Medieval Dynasty	8	44	4.9	4
25	Ruined King: A League of Legends Story	9	41	4.1	4
26	Dark Deity	3	12	3	1
27	Chernobylite	10	38	3.5	4
28	NieR Replicant™ ver.1.22474487139…	7	28	3.5	4
29	HellSign	11	29	2.4	4
30	Drox Operative 2	17	31	1.7	4
31	Legends of Ellaria	62	181	2.9	7
32	Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance	7	109	13.6	5
33	Black Legend	5	34	5.7	4
34	Himeko Sutori	10	43	3.9	4
35	Hobo Tough Life	3	82	20.5	3
36	Ambermoon Remake	3	41	10.2	3
37	Might is Right	3	34	8.5	3
38	Divided Reigns	4	40	8	3
39	Dead Age 2	6	48	6.9	3
40	Geneforge 1 - Mutagen	5	37	6.2	3
41	Outriders	5	30	5	3
42	DYSMANTLE	5	29	4.8	3
43	The Protagonist: EX-1	5	23	3.8	3
44	Blacksmith of the Sand Kingdom	3	15	3.8	3
45	Tainted Grail: Conquest	6	23	3.3	3
46	Astria Ascending	7	26	3.2	3
47	Sands of Salzaar	9	24	2.4	3
48	Nioh 2	10	24	2.2	3
49	The Forgotten City	13	27	1.9	3
50	Jupiter Hell	12	24	1.8	3
51	UFO2: Extraterrestrials	2	29	9.7	2
52	This Land Is My Land	2	28	9.3	2
53	Beyond Mankind: The Awakening	3	27	6.8	2
54	Loop Hero	5	40	6.7	2
55	The Majesti	2	16	5.3	2
56	Outcast in Mars	2	14	4.7	2
57	Trials of Fire	3	18	4.5	2
58	Mercenaries Blaze	2	13	4.3	2
59	Tails of Iron	5	22	3.7	2
60	Arkham Horror: Mother's Embrace	3	14	3.5	2
61	Siralim Ultimate	3	14	3.5	2
62	Neon District: Season One	2	10	3.3	2
63	Persona 5 Strikers	6	22	3.1	2
64	Legend of Mana	5	18	3	2
65	Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen	5	18	3	2
66	Dust to the End	4	14	2.8	2
67	Aluna: Sentinel of the Shards	4	12	2.4	2
68	Backbone	2	7	2.3	2
69	The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante	3	9	2.2	2
70	Aragami 2	3	8	2	2
71	Shards of Feyra	3	8	2	2
72	Saviors of Sapphire Wings	2	6	2	2
73	Ultimate ADOM - Caverns of Chaos	2	6	2	2
74	UnDungeon	3	7	1.8	2
75	Viking Vengeance	3	7	1.8	2
76	Eastward	5	10	1.7	2
77	SaGa Frontier Remastered	5	10	1.7	2
78	Avalom: Ancestral Heroes	7	11	1.4	2
79	Yaga	6	10	1.4	2
80	Ys IX: Monstrum Nox	5	7	1.2	2
81	Disjunction	5	6	1	2
82	Scarlet Nexus	13	10	0.7	2
83	Legend of Keepers	10	7	0.6	2
84	Age of Fear 4: The Iron Killer	1	38	19	1
85	Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance	1	26	13	1
86	Blade of Darkness	1	24	12	1
87	The Curse of Feldar Vale	1	18	9	1
88	BRAVELY DEFAULT II	2	22	7.3	1
89	Blood Bond - Into the Shroud	2	14	4.7	1
90	Final Fantasy Remaster	3	18	4.5	1
91	Final Fantasy III Remaster	2	12	4	1
92	Inferno - Beyond the 7th Circle	2	12	4	1
93	Battle for Esturia	1	8	4	1
94	Karma	1	8	4	1
95	E.X.P.L.O.R.: A New World	1	7	3.5	1
96	Vampirem	1	6	3	1
97	Yakuza 6: The Song of Life	1	6	3	1
98	Aron's Adventure	1	5	2.5	1
99	Conqueror 940 AD	2	7	2.3	1
100	Death's Gambit: Afterlife	2	7	2.3	1
101	The Vale: Shadow of the Crown	3	9	2.2	1
102	Balrog	2	6	2	1
103	Der Geisterjäger	1	4	2	1
104	King of Seas	1	4	2	1
105	Spirit of Europe - Origins	1	4	2	1
106	Vampires Dawn 3 - The Crimson Realm	1	4	2	1
107	Wolfstride	2	5	1.7	1
108	Baldo: The Guardian Owls	1	3	1.5	1
109	Sorcerous	1	3	1.5	1
110	The Dawning Clocks Of Time	1	3	1.5	1
111	Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars	1	3	1.5	1
112	Star Dynasties	2	4	1.3	1
113	Eldest Souls	3	4	1	1
114	Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster	3	4	1	1
115	Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy	2	3	1	1
116	Curious Expedition 2	2	3	1	1
117	Wheel of Fate	2	3	1	1
118	Shattered - Tale of the Forgotten King	3	3	0.8	1
119	Wytchwood	3	3	0.8	1
120	Dreamscaper	3	2	0.5	1
121	Blackout: The Darkest Night	1	1	0.5	1
122	Gods Will Fall	1	1	0.5	1
123	Hindsight 20/20	1	1	0.5	1
124	Faye/Sleepwalker	2	1	0.3	1
125	Death's Door	5	1	0.2	1
126	Kena: Bridge of Spirits	3	1	0.2	1
127	Anima: The Reign of Darkness	1	0	0	0
128	Arboria	1	0	0	0
129	Black Book	2	0	0	0
130	Cris Tales	4	0	0	0
131	Everhood	3	0	0	0
132	Final Fantasy II Remaster	0	0	0	0
133	Final Fantasy IV Remaster	0	0	0	0
134	Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster	1	0	0	0
135	Fuga: Melodies of Steel	1	0	0	0
136	GRIME	1	0	0	0
137	Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin	5	0	0	0
138	Moon: Remix RPG Adventure	1	0	0	0
139	Ocean's Heart	5	0	0	0
140	Osteoblasts	1	0	0	0
141	Pecaminosa - A Pixel Noir Game	2	0	0	0
142	Rise Eterna	2	0	0	0
143	Serin Fate	1	0	0	0
144	Strike Team Gladius	1	0	0	0
145	Sword and Fairy 7	1	0	0	0
146	Sword of the Necromancer	4	0	0	0
147	The Legend of Heroes: Hajimari no Kiseki	0	0	0	0

Let us know what you think should be in the top 30 of this list.

Knights of the Chalice 2 hasn't released yet, it's still only available to kickstarter backers. So should be on the anticipated list rather than the GOTY list.

Dark Deity looks really out of place at 26, an anomaly of the rating system employed.

For starters I'd replace those 2 with Geneforge 1 - Mutagen, it might not have generated much chatter, but vogel fans are pretty dedicated & you might have some people looking for that vote specifically. And Nioh 2, there's bound to be someone who'd probably vote for that, or, if not Nioh 2 then Loop Hero had some people actually play it & so might be on their voting priority. Actually, you could probably ditch Hellsign and put all 3 in the top 30.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lackblogger (Post 1061669377)

Dark Deity looks really out of place at 26, an anomaly of the rating system employed.

As the original post states:

Quote:

If you see some unexpected numbers at some point, it is because games have already been manually moved in the list.

Dark Deity is higher ranked, because it is in the RPGWatch Curator list of 2021.

I've not played many games of that list actually, so for me it's just these 2, with the potential for encased once I start playing it :D

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
Wildermyth

Quote:

Originally Posted by Myrthos (Post 1061669380)

As the original post states:

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiddenX (Post 1061669381)

Dark Deity is higher ranked, because it is in the RPGWatch Curator list of 2021.

Ah, ok, these two posts have helped me understand what's happened there.

Tainted Grail: Conquest and Yakuza 6 would be in my top 30.

The big question as in past years is if something not in the top 30 should be replaced by something below it.

Here are my opinions.

4. Knights of the Chalice 2 This one isn't released on Steam or GoG yet, so I think it hasn't had the exposure it deserves. It should be on next year's GOTY voting.

16. Legends of Ellaria I don't think this one should be on the list. Its critical reception isn't particullarly good and I had to look it up to remember it. I doubt hardly anyone here has played it.

19.Dark Alliance This really isn't an rpg as I understand it, and its also not supposed to be good.

25.Black Legend This one is on my wishlist, but suffers the same problems as Legends of Ellaria.

29Himeko Satori same problems as 16&25

So that means I would replace 5 games. I haven't played any game below 30.

I might include Persona 5 as its a big release even if its a jrpg. I also think the Forgotten City might be a good choice its a CRPG and has gotten good exposure. Its also on the Microsoft game pass, so I think a number of voters might have played it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by forgottenlor (Post 1061669637)

I might include Persona 5 as its a big release even if its a jrpg.

Do you mean Persona 5 Strikers? Because Persona 5 (and the Royal version) were both released before 2021. It's also not on PC, if that matters. Strikers isn't really a JRPG.

I need to point out that Diablo II: Resurrected is not in the list because we used the original game as reference in our news, as we sometimes do with remasters.

I personally don't care much for that game and it's a remaster, but I'm mentioning it in case others feel it belongs to the short list. After all, we have FF remasters in that list already, so it's only fair.

The same goes with Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. Again, I'm fine without it (haven't bought it), it's only to bring it to other's attention.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JFarrell71 (Post 1061669644)

Do you mean Persona 5 Strikers? Because Persona 5 (and the Royal version) were both released before 2021. It's also not on PC, if that matters. Strikers isn't really a JRPG.

I do meen Strikers, which I haven't played. I did play Persona 4, and I would consider it a JRPG, even if its an unusual one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by forgottenlor (Post 1061669743)

I do meen Strikers, which I haven't played. I did play Persona 4, and I would consider it a JRPG, even if its an unusual one.

Persona 4 (and 3, and 5) are absolutely JRPGs, and some of the best around.

Strikers, however, is something different. It's a musou game, a Dynasty Warriors with the Persona 5 characters. It has a substantial story but it's more like a visual novel. You may as well put Ultimax on there too (a Persona 1 on 1 fighting game)

Geneforge 1 - Mutagen should be in the top 30 over some of these others. I guess the Spiderweb games have a problem with this algorithm in that there is no "hype machine" coming from Jeff Vogel - they don't get a lot of news posts because there's no news.

I think it is a tough beat for games like Mechajammer (indie/lacking polish) that released in December. Only the really early adopters would of had a chance to play it - most owners would be waiting for a few more patches before they jump in. I guess it is good that you are doing the vote at the end of Jan though.

I think it is a bit of a given who is going to win this year though :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stingray (Post 1061669777)

I don't agree, not because I don't like Spiderweb games, but because it's a barely different re-release of a much older game.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JFarrell71 (Post 1061669781)

I don't agree, not because I don't like Spiderweb games, but because it's a barely different re-release of a much older game.

I agree that "remasters" and "enhanced editions" and that sort of thing shouldn't be in the voting lists, but Spiderweb's stuff is more along the lines of a "remake" and I'm pretty sure remakes have historically been allowed. If they aren't, then NieR Replicant (in the top 30) should also be removed (it might even be closer to a remaster itself…)

I don't see why both proper remasters or remakes shouldn't be allowed. I think the only ones that should be excluded should be repacks i.e. where the game gets bundled together with DLC as a "Legendary edition" or patched and called a "Directors cut". If someone completly remasters the graphics like Wasteland Remastered it should be on the list. Things like Skyrim Legendary/Special/Anniversary edition would be excluded. Just upscaling textures would be excluded but doing completely new textures would be okay in my book.

Well, without any wish to make it more complicated, it's true that when I see titles like Mechajammer, FF remasters and Pathfinder sitting next to one another in the same list, I can't help but think that it would be fair to have a few categories. Their respective budgets and team sizes differ by several orders of magnitude.

On the other hand, it's hard to find even 2 categories that would have enough titles in them. Remaster vs others? "Indie" - whatever that is, vs others? Or "AA+" vs others?

Quote:

Originally Posted by JFarrell71 (Post 1061669781)

I don't agree, not because I don't like Spiderweb games, but because it's a barely different re-release of a much older game.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redglyph (Post 1061669789)

The RPGWatch vote has always been quite esoteric and the definitive rules are deliberately vague. The essence of it is that it is supposed to reflect whichever games the members have most liked this year within the general banner of the PC RPG sphere of influence.

As such, in previous years you've had things like X-Com always doing very well, even though X-Com isn't necessarily on most people's mind as RPG content, there's just a very large contingent here that view it as within the PC RPG sphere of influence. So it's a kind-of site-wide democratic exception to the rule.

JRPGs and a lot of action RPGs often don't feature purely because they are console exclusives.

Remakes and remasters often feature based, once again, on their site-wide democratic exception to the rule. So, for example, Beamdog's Enhanced Editions are very much acceptable, in the same way Vogel's remakes are, and so are old console games getting their first PC port, but simple re-issues with minor enhancements are usually passed over.

It's quite a nuanced process and ruleset that's more about site-experience than words set in stone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lackblogger (Post 1061669792)

&

The RPGWatch vote has always been quite esoteric and the definitive rules are deliberately vague. The essence of it is that it is supposed to reflect whichever games the members have most liked this year within the general banner of the PC RPG sphere of influence.

As such, in previous years you've had things like X-Com always doing very well, even though X-Com isn't necessarily on most people's mind as RPG content, there's just a very large contingent here that view it as within the PC RPG sphere of influence. So it's a kind-of site-wide democratic exception to the rule.

JRPGs and a lot of action RPGs often don't feature purely because they are console exclusives.

Remakes and remasters often feature based, once again, on their site-wide democratic exception to the rule. So, for example, Beamdog's Enhanced Editions are very much acceptable, in the same way Vogel's remakes are, and so are old console games getting their first PC port, but simple re-issues with minor enhancements are usually passed over.

It's quite a nuanced process and ruleset that's more about site-experience than words set in stone.

Sometimes you put things in words better than I ever will. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by JFarrell71 (Post 1061669745)

Thanks for the heads up, this was high up on my wish list. I had really hoped it would be like Persona 4.

Yeah, I heard bad things about Strikers, so I avoided it for now. I'm still hopeful that we'll get three and four for the computer audience someday.

Not shocked to find that overtuned and buggy mess at the top :)

While 2021 has been an EXTREMELY weak year for me, I would probably say Ascent is the best out of all of those - and it's only a "pretty good" one as far as I'm concerned.

Quote:

Originally Posted by forgottenlor (Post 1061669795)

Thanks for the heads up, this was high up on my wish list. I had really hoped it would be like Persona 4.

(Regular) Persona 5 will probably end up on Steam at some point, and you should check that out when/if it is. You'd enjoy that if you enjoyed Persona 4.

Carnifex, we already have 4 for PC. It's called Persona 4 Golden ("Golden" was a later version that expanded the game) and it's $20 U.S.

Oh yes my error, I meant to type five, not four. I played the fourth game a little over a year ago, and quite enjoyed it.

Proposing this as the shortlist (31 games) that go into voting:

ID	Title	News Posts	Comments	Ratio	h-index
1	Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous	104	2445	23,3	28
2	Solasta: Crown of the Magister	116	1683	14,4	24
3	Encased	80	750	9,3	15
4	Mechajammer	61	520	8,4	12
5	King's Bounty II	25	302	11,6	11
6	Gamedec	51	241	4,6	10
7	ATOM RPG: Trudograd	22	197	8,6	9
8	Biomutant	35	270	7,5	9
9	Tortured Hearts	13	369	26,4	8
10	Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood	21	111	5	8
11	Edge Of Eternity	88	231	2,6	8
12	Wildermyth	17	125	6,9	7
13	Disciples: Liberation	14	100	6,7	7
14	Gloomhaven	22	146	6,3	7
15	Vagrus: The Riven Realms	78	191	2,4	7
16	The Ascent	17	124	6,9	6
17	Urtuk: The Desolation	12	68	5,2	5
18	Tales of Arise	15	74	4,6	5
19	The Chronicles Of Myrtana: Archolos	6	88	12,6	4
20	The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV	7	47	5,9	4
21	Griftlands	7	46	5,8	4
22	Dungeon Encounters	10	61	5,5	4
23	Medieval Dynasty	8	44	4,9	4
24	Ruined King: A League of Legends Story	9	41	4,1	4
25	Chernobylite	10	38	3,5	4
26	NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139	7	28	3,5	4
27	HellSign	11	29	2,4	4
28	Drox Operative 2	17	31	1,7	4
29	Geneforge 1 - Mutagen	5	37	6,2	3
30	Nioh 2	10	24	2,2	3
31	Dark Deity	3	12	3	1

lol, I've played 3 games on the list at all and none after their full release…My most played game was SCUM and Legendary Journeys. Neither of these are even released at all, though SCUM has made millions in EA.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DArtagnan (Post 1061669838)

While 2021 has been an EXTREMELY weak year for me, I would probably say Ascent is the best out of all of those - and it's only a "pretty good" one as far as I'm concerned.

Yes, it's not been a very good year for those looking for some retro nostalgia games. Microsoft look like they might make an Elder Scrolls-like game in the future and EA are telling people they'll make another Dragon Age-like game down the road somewhere, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

With Encased, Solasta, Pathfinder and Atom-RPG, it's been a pretty solid year for me. But ah well, each his own :-)

Same here, quite a good year personally! But I'm not buying a ton of games.

2022 is very promising too.

2021 was one of the best years for me - I played more than 1 RPG that came out in a year ;)

2022 is not looking too promising but fingers crossed something will catch my attention soon :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redglyph (Post 1061670016)

Same here, quite a good year personally! But I'm not buying a ton of games.

Yeah, right. I say that every year… and then the sales start. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDR13 (Post 1061670028)

Yeah, right. I say that every yearâ€¦ and then the sales start. :)

All right, maybe a little more ;) But really not that much, I've got 6 in that list and that's it for games released in 2021. A few older ones too because, yeah, sales. I bet you're far ahead of me.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake should be on the list, IMHO, but I'm not sure what it would replace - probably Dark Deity at the end of the list.

Isn't FF seven coming out episodically? If so, we ought to wait until it's fully out and playable, me thinks.

It's a remake, so like Diablo 2 and Mass Effect, there have been a new release in 2021 but it's not in our 'official' game list.

It's probably late for that but if it helps, I can create those new game entries. I can also adjust the news posts though at this stage we're past the statistics.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redglyph (Post 1061670054)

It's a remake, so like Diablo 2 and Mass Effect, there have been a new release in 2021 but it's not in our 'official' game list.

FF7 Remake is a new game though even if it's based on an old one. The other games you mention are just remasters.

Thing is, it was originally released in 2020 and then ported to PC in December, so there's that. However, it wasn't included on the 2020 list.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDR13 (Post 1061670060)

FF7 Remake is a new game though even if it's based on an old one. The other games you mention are just remasters.

I only meant they're all new releases (even if just remasters) that were not added to our list.

Do the remasters deserve a vote? Maybe, maybe not, but I doubt it would have made any difference. There was no reaction when I posted earlier about them.

I don't know how many of us play the FF games though, they seem quite successful in general.