The GAMINGbible Readers’ Game Of The Year Is ‘Halo Infinite’

Every year on GAMINGbible, we like to ask you lot, our readers, for your favourite new video game come the whole ‘best of’ season. Which is where we find ourselves right now, again. Like clockwork, this. The GAMINGbible staff top 40 of 2021 is topped by… Well, that’s a spoiler, so click here to see for yourself. But once again, the game you have decided is the best of the year is a different title completely. Last year, our readers’ game of the year was the PlayStation-exclusive The Last of Us Part II. For 2021, however, you’ve gone green.

Congratulations, then, to Halo Infinite - and to its developers 343 Industries, and publishers Xbox Game Studios. While we weren’t completely won over by the delayed comeback of Master Chief, scoring the game a 7/10 in our review (that means Very Good, by our ratings system), there’s no denying that this is Halo finding its groove again, feeling fresh while also offering generous nods to the best of its past.

Here’s how the semi-open-world of Halo Infinite changes the game for the better… and the not-so-better…

So, how did you lot arrive at Halo Infinite being your game of the year? Let’s get into that quickly - cos time is money, and we’re almost out of both for 2021.

We picked 16 games from (the top part of) our own games of the year list for 2021 and divided them into four groups of four. Then, our 60,000-strong Twitter following started voting. At the end of the first round, the top two from each group went forward to the quarter-finals. One game versus another, simple. And from there, the same head-to-head format continued through the semis and into the final. What we weren’t expecting was for that final to be an all-Xbox affair - but hey, the console family’s had a great year, with Game Pass going from strength to strength and the Series S and X alike proving incredibly popular.

Let’s see how that voting went, shall we (RIP, any indie game at all when it comes to polling the public)…

Sony Interactive Entertainment

Group 1

Forza Horizon 5 - 45.2%

It Takes Two - 32.6%

Hitman 3 - 17.6%

Chicory: A Colorful Tale - 4.5%

Group 2

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart - 42.6%

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy - 36.8%

Life is Strange: True Colors - 14.8%

The Artful Escape - 5.8%

Group 3

Halo Infinite - 62.2%

Returnal - 19.5%

Metroid Dread - 11.2%

Death’s Door - 7.1%

Group 4

Resident Evil Village - 48.5%

Deathloop - 28.1%

Psychonauts 2 - 17.3%

Inscryption - 6%

Electronic Arts

And onto the quarter-finals, then…

Quarter-Final 1

Forza Horizon 5 - 61.1%

It Takes Two - 38.9%

Quarter-Final 2

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart - 53.1%

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy - 46.9%

Quarter-Final 3

Halo Infinite - 74%

Returnal - 26%

Quarter-Final 4

Resident Evil Village - 65.6%

Deathloop - 34.4%

Capcom

And, the semi-finals…

Semi-Final 1

Forza Horizon 5 - 58.3%

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart - 41.7%

Semi-Final 2

Halo Infinite - 59.2%

Resident Evil Village - 40.8%

Xbox Game Studios

Which leaves us with only one match-up to go. Our final saw Forza Horizon 5 face off against Halo Infinite - and you went for the Chief instead of the car.

Final!

Halo Infinite - 58.1%

Forza Horizon 5 - 41.9%

So that’s your game of the year decided once again. And, once again, you’ve picked a game that… I mean, it’s in our top games of the year list, the top 40 as decided by us supposed experts here at GAMINGbible. But where, exactly, does Halo Infinite rank in our GOTY rundown? Best click here to find out. 

Topics: Best of 2021, Halo Infinite, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, List