PLAYSTATION GAME OF THE YEAR

RUNNER-UP JETT: THE FAR SHORE

Developer/publisher Superbrothers/Pine Scented Software Format PC, PS4, PS5

Flawed? Sure. Not for everyone? What game is? Superbrothers’ reflective star trek was one of 2021’s most distinctive visions, and the rare videogame that encourages players to consider the impact of colonisation. Holding fast to that idea through to its daringly downbeat ending, it feels like a game that may one day earn wider acknowledgement.

RUNNER-UP RETURNAL

Developer Housemarque Publisher SIE

Format PS5

Not the year’s best PlayStation game, but possibly its most PlayStation. Tough, weird, flexing the hardware – Returnal is not only the logical next purchase after escaping the remastered Boletaria, but a game that speaks to what the console stands for in 2021. With the blockbusters yet to arrive, PS5 remains a machine for the dedicated, in the best way.

WINNER DEATHLOOP

There’s a perverse pleasure in awarding this to a game technically published by Microsoft, but Deathloop is the best advert yet for getting a PS5. It blends broad appeal with the kind of strangeness that characterises the finest entries in Sony’s back catalogue, and leverages the DualSense so perfectly that it’s hard to imagine the inevitable Xbox version.