As is tradition, for the third consecutive year at eShopperReviews, it’s time for another eShopperReviews Game Awards week! As per usual, I make it a point to wait until the year is over to get every last chance to play all of that year’s best games before I finally make hard choices and name the best of the best (and worst of the worst) that the prior year had to offer.

This year, we’ll start the ceremony proper on January 10, 2022 after taking the beginning of the year off to catch a breath and consider all of the games from 2021. And once again, I’ll be aiming to make this year’s awards even bigger than last year! In fact, I’ll have a few early surprises for everyone on January 7 – one for Patreon patrons, and one for everyone.

Okay, let’s get a few things out of the way here first – this list is only going to include Nintendo Switch games that I have reviewed. That means no Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, no Mario Party Superstars, no No More Heroes III … so yeah, a few of the year’s biggest titles won’t be found on this list, but in their place you may find some more obscure games you perhaps hadn’t heard of. Also, this list will only include games released on Nintendo Switch in 2021, regardless of other games I reviewed in 2021.

Also, as with last year, while I give some leeway to ports and re-releases on Day 1 (Specialty Awards) and Day 3 (Dubious Honors), otherwise games will not qualify for an award if the game released on another platform earlier than 2019 unless the Nintendo Switch version of the game has significant changes or added content. In short, I try to find a happy medium here, recognizing games that are still relatively new but getting to Switch a bit later than other versions… but still trying to place the focus on newer releases.

Also, as with last year, I am limiting myself to naming only one winner and five runners-up in each category… for most categories, anyway. A few categories in Day 1 are Top 10 Lists, and in the case of Game of the Year, there will be a Gold, Silver, and Bronze award plus five runners-up. But everything else? 1 winner and 5 runners-up, no more. If you know me at all, you’ll know this is quite a challenge for me – if I could, I’d name-check every single game I enjoyed from the prior year, but this is supposed to highlight the very best, so we’ll be focusing on only the select few deserving of that honor.

Anyway, here are the categories you can expect to see throughout the week:

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eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards Day 1: Specialty Awards

2020 Second Chance Awards

The Top 10 Games I Wish I Could Have Played Before Writing This, But Didn’t Get Around to Doing In Time

Best Port/Remake

Best Compilation/Collection

Best Game for Kids and Casual Players

Best Multiplayer

Best New Free-To-Play Game (New for 2021!)

Best Value

Funniest Game

Most Underrated

Most Overlooked

Most Original

Most Efficient Use of File Storage Space (New for 2021!)

The “Wow, this game was way better than I expected!” Award

Best Third-Party Publisher

My Top 3 Most-Played Games of 2021

My Top 10 Most-Anticipated Games of 2022

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eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards Day 2: Technical Awards

Best Music

Best Song

Best Sound Design

Best Voice Acting

Best Graphical Style

Best Graphics

Best Story

Best New Character (New for 2021!)

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eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards Day 3: Dubious Honors

Worst Microtransactions

Most Overrated

Worst Asset Flip (New for 2021!)

Laziest Copycat

Worst Port/Remake

Most Overpriced (New for 2021!)

The “Why is this taking so much space on my memory card!?” Award

Most Disappointing

Worst Game

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eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards Day 4: Genre Awards

Best Platformer

Best Arcade/Party Game (New for 2021!)

Best Action Game

Best Metroidvania (New for 2021!)

Best Action-RPG

Best RPG

Best Strategy Game/Simulation

Best Graphic Adventure / Visual Novel

Best Puzzle Game

Best Card Game (New for 2021!)

Best Driving/Racing Game

Best Sports Game

Best Misc. Game (New for 2021!)

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eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards Day 5: Highest Honors

Game of the Year: Bronze Award (Third Place)

Game of the Year: Silver Award (Second Place)

Game of the Year: Runners-Up

Game of the Year

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Please check back each day of the week starting on January 10, 2022 to see which games have been selected as Winner and Runner-Up for each award!

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