RPG Site › Features

RPG Site Best of 2021 Awards: Readers' Choice in Detail

by RPG Site Staff on 07 January, 2022

Each year here at RPG Site, we wrap up a year of hopefully great RPG-playing action by publically polling you, our readers, to find out what YOU ranked as the best RPGs of the year. As usual, we allow consideration for both pure-blood RPGs and a few adjacent games that we feel RPG fans would enjoy. 

We had you vote in two separate polls: Your favorite RPG of 2021 and your most anticipated RPG for 2022. We already posted our Staff Best of 2021 Awards and our own Most Anticipated for 2022, but we wanted to hear what you had to say. We have results for both polls listed below.

Thousands of you voted, and as ever the results are interesting. As with previous years, there are places that mirror our staff choices and places which offer a different, alternative take from ours. So... how did you, the great RPG-playing public, vote? Here are the results.

Shin-Megami-Tensei-V_20210923_03.png

Your Top Ten RPGs of 2021

10.    Disco Elysium: The Final Cut - 1.9% (ZA/UM - Switch, PS4/PS5, Xbox, PC, Stadia)

9.    Lost Judgment - 2.2% (Sega - PS4/PS5, Xbox)

8.    Ys IX: Monstrum Nox - 2.5% (NIS America - Switch, PS4, Xbox, PC, Stadia)

7.    Scarlet Nexus - 2.6% (Bandai Namco - PS4/PS5, Xbox, PC)

6.     Bravely Default II - 3.1% (Nintendo/Square Enix - Switch, PC)

5.    NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139... - 4.8% (Square Enix- PS4, Xbox, PC)

4.    NEO: The World Ends with You - 11.1% (Square Enix- PS4, Switch, PC)

3.    Pathfinder: Wrath of Righteous - 11.3% (Owlcat Games - PC)

2.    Tales of Arise - 17.4% (Bandai Namco - PS4/PS5, Xbox, PC)

1.    Shin Megami Tensei V - 21.6% (Atlus - Switch)

Readers' Choice Favorite 2021 RPGs - Additional Facts and Comments

  • Our seventh year of the fan poll sees Shin Megami Tensei V join Final Fantasy VII Remake, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Dragon Quest XI, Persona 5, Final Fantasy XV, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt as our reader's poll winners. (2015 Results / 2016 Results / 2017 Results / 2018 Results / 2019 results / 2020 results).
  • The winning margin for Shin Megami Tensei V was technically the slimmest since 2016's results. 
  • Near-misses for the 2021 Reader top ten include Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, Persona 5 Strikers, and Cyberpunk 2077, each beaten by Disco Elysium by only a small handful of votes.
  • Square Enix ended up with the most represented published games on the list with 3, but still combined for fewer votes than Shin Megami Tensei V. 
Elden-Ring_210610_03.jpg

Your Readers' Choice Most Anticipated 2022 RPGs

Poll Results

10.    Starfield - 2.4% (Bethesda) 

9.    Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake - 3.7% (Square Enix)

8.    Digimon Survive - 4.2% (Bandai Namco)

7.    Pokemon Legends: Arceus - 4.8% (Nintendo) 

6.     The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero - 4.6% (NIS America)

5.    Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker - 6.0% (Square Enix)*

4.    Triangle Strategy - 7.2% (Square Enix / Nintendo)

3.    The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Sequel - 8.0% (Nintendo)

2.    Final Fantasy XVI - 13.6% (Square Enix)

1.    Elden Ring - 16.8% (Bandai Namco)

Readers' Choice Most Anticipated 2021 RPGs - Additional Facts and Comments

  • This is RPG Site's fourth year polling our readers for their Most Anticipated RPG of the upcoming year. Previous Most Anticipated winners include Shin Megami Tensei V, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Kingdom Hearts III. (2021 results / 2020 results / 2019 results).
  • *December releases are admittedly weird for RPG Site's end-of-year features, as our eligible games for 2022 games start with releases in December 2021. Despite releasing early into the month, we allowed voters to vote for Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker as their most anticipated game in 2022, and plenty of you did, putting it in 5th place. Seems like it's a pretty popular pick as people enjoyed the storyline and look forward to further updates. You'll be able to vote for it for Game of the Year in next year's poll.
  • Digimon Survive and The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero placed in the Most Anticipated reader poll, but were absent in our Staff Picks.
  • Narrow misses for the reader top ten Most Anticipated include Star Ocean The Divine Force, Granblue Fantasy Relink, Rune Factory 5, and Horizon: Forbidden West.
  • Final Fantasy XVI also placed 2nd in last year's Most Anticipated poll, narrowing losing to Shin Megami Tensei V.
  • While Elden Ring placed 1st this year, last year it only placed 4th with 5.7% of the vote.