The best games of 2021 line-up is starting to get respectably thicc as we move into August. New consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X are giving developers more power to wow us with, and PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch all continue to provide stages for impressive and exciting titles. We use our own review scores to separate out the best games for every month of the year so far, and we'll keep updating this list so you always know which games are worth dropping coins on.
Want to see what might make it on to the list next? Check all the new games of 2021 (and beyond) to get excited about. There's also the best games for 10-15 year olds if you need something more specific.
July Game of the Month (Runner-up) - The Ascent
Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series X
12DOVE review score: 2.5 Stars
Neon Giant's The Ascent is a visually ambitious twin-stick shooter that will give you plenty to look at, but the fun can sometimes get lost in the mayhem. It's part action RPG, part shooter, sort of a mash-up of Diablo's combat and loot and Cyberpunk 2077's aesthetics, but skips over letting you interact with the world with anything other than a hail of bullets. In its best moments, it can deliver the same adrenaline highs as a Housemarque creation, at its worst, the game's design around inventory and check-pointing will leave you raging at the screen. Rachel Weber
July Game of the Month - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch
12DOVE review score: 4 Stars
The Nintendo Switch has given The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD a second chance at glory, with the 2011 Wii game getting remastered visuals and a new control system. Those changes allow the brilliant dungeon design and more experimental gameplay of Skyward Sword to shine, delivering 35 hours of Zelda goodness as Link explores the floating island of Skyloft. Whether you skipped the original ten years ago or are ready to replay it and wallow in some nostalgia, the game is a worthwhile addition to your Nintendo Switch library. Rachel Weber
June Game of the Month (Runner-up) - Scarlet Nexus
Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S
12DOVE review score: 3.5 Stars
The latest anime action game combines an excellent battle system with a compelling plot to deliver 20 hours of JRPG joy. Play as either Kasane or Yuito, members of the Other Suppression Force, tasked with protecting their world from various monstrous mutants. The combat is real-time, and your special telekinetic abilities mean that as well as just bashing enemies with standard attacks, you can chuck anything you can lift at them too. As well as the main story, Scarlet Nexus also packs in missions designed to bond you with side characters, with classic tasks like "go and find this pen that is bafflingly important to me." Overall though, there's plenty of fun to find in Bandai Namco's newest title. Rachel Weber
June Game of the Month - Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart
Platform(s): PS5
12DOVE review score: 5 Stars
A game that makes the PS5 price tag (and stalking retail sites for elusive stock) feel absolutely justified, the latest Ratchet and Clank adventure kisses your eyeballs while punching you in the feels. Every hair on Ratchet's adorable ears looks super sharp, the combat is like a firework display of color and bullets, and the storytelling has leveled up to compete with Marvel's best movies. As you zip between planets and characters you're treated to a festival of different gameplay mechanics - from massive firefights to aerial acrobatics and tricky puzzles - making it basically impossible to get bored. Even if you've never been a lombax stan before, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is a must-buy for any PS5 owner. Rachel Weber
May Game of the Month (Runner-up) - Knockout City
Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
12DOVE review score: 4.5 Stars
You might not expect the developers of AR toy game Mario Kart Live to put out an intense online dodgeball battle game as their sophomore effort, but we are so very glad they did. Knockout City is the freshest multiplayer competition we've played in a long time, where matches are won not by those who can click on heads the fastest but by those who know just the right moment to lob an arcing ball of vulcanized rubber. Knockout City feels like nothing else to play, and unlocking new items to customize your retro-futuristic brawler and their crew will keep you dipping and dodging for hours to come. Connor Sheridan
May Game of the Month - Mass Effect Legendary Edition
Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox One
12DOVE review score: 4.5 Stars
Mass Effect Legendary Edition brings the iconic trilogy back with a fresh coat of paint that shines like the Normandy's hull. Mass Effect 1's combat and vehicle mechanics get a complete overhaul, and its updated graphics are the most surprising glow up of the trilogy. The game looks and feels galaxies better than its original release, and when you get to Mass Effect 2 and 3, it's only up from that point. Mass Effect Legendary Edition includes every piece of DLC in the trilogy save for one that its devs lost the source code for, so you're also getting a ton of extra content at no extra cost. Yes, all three Mass Effect games plus all their DLC for just $60? That's a game of the month if I've ever seen one. Alyssa Mercante
April Game of the Month (Runner-up) - Outriders
Platform(s): PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC
12DOVE review score: 3.5 Stars
A co-op shooter from the team behind Bulletstorm, Outriders is brash, bold, and all about shooting and looting. What the game lacks in story it substitutes with in-your-face action and violent superpowers. The game's campaign takes you to the world of Enoch, a human colony on a distant planet, which is facing trouble from monstrous wildlife and mutants created by a massive storm called the Anomaly. This sci-fi gubbins results in four classes to cause havoc with - Trickster, Devastator, Technomancer, and Pyromancer - and lots of "go here and kill that" quests that you can play alone or with friends.
April Game of the Month - MLB The Show 21
Platform(s): PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X
12DOVE review score: 4 Stars
Sony's latest version of its baseball series is a solid upgrade for fans if not exactly revolutionary. MLB The Show 21's Visual upgrades for the PS5 version (this is a Sony game after all) are especially impressive, down to the expression on your pitcher's face, and lighting as the sun moves through the sky. All versions come with the new Stadium Creator feature which lets you build your own field of dreams, and then share it online. Rachel Weber
March Game of the Month (Runner-up) - Monster Hunter Rise
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch
12DOVE review score: 4 Stars
The arrival of Monster Hunter Rise on the Nintendo Switch just works. The game pulls off the delicate balance between keeping the epic scale of the adventure series and creating a more compact experience for players. It's also a great introduction to the Capcom classic thanks to its carefully crafted tutorials and improved accessibility. There's lots to enjoy and fiddle with for those who are thrilled by tools and menus, but there's also plenty to delight people who are just here to boop monsters on the nose. Rachel Weber
March Game of the Month - It Takes Two
Platform(s): PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One
12DOVE review score: 5 Stars
Hazelight has made the perfect co-op game with It Takes Two, a Pixar-esque adventure set around a quarreling couple. This isn't a quick time event about who didn't unload the dishwasher though, the mechanics use everything from cloning to turning into plants to anti-gravity boots to get you and your co-op buddy working together and enjoying it. Just when you think you've mastered something, there's a surprise around the corner. You won't find a better game to share with friends, family, or the other half of your quarreling couple. Rachel Weber
February Game of the Month (Runner-up) - Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch
12DOVE review score: 4.5 Stars
If you're in any way a fan of the small Italian plumber, you owe it to yourself to play Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury. It packs together a Wii U title fans might have missed, with the added appeal of a brand new Mario adventure in the vein of Super Mario Odyssey. If nothing else, you really need to experience the Super Bell power-up, which turns you into a cat that can climb walls and scratch enemies. The different levels are total eye candy and brilliantly varied, and full of textbook Nintendo charm. There's local and online co-op too, which makes for some chaotic fun. Rachel Weber
February Game of the Month - Bravely Default 2
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch
12DOVE review score: 5 Stars
Bravely Default 2 is the kind of classic JRPG that we dreamed of when the classics were still brand-new. It's taken everything we love about the genre and elevated it with innovative turn-based combat, engrossing character customization, and stunning art that sings on the Switch. It's a globetrotting tale of unlikely heroes and unfair circumstances, but the bright-eyed optimism of its save-the-world setup is balanced out by strikingly grim societies and deeply hateable – if sometimes hammy – villains. Because it's a standalone story with all-new characters, it's easy for new players to get into, and existing fans of the Bravely series will find more of what they loved plus welcome refinements. And there is so much to this game, including the most ambitious post-game twist and epilogue in the series. You could sink over 70 hours into this triumph without batting an eye – and you absolutely should. Austin Wood
January Game of the Month (Runner-up) - The Medium
Platform(s): PC and Xbox Series X
12DOVE review score: 2.5 Stars
Sure, The Medium doesn't have a rave review, but it does have some interesting ideas and a bleak tone that feels absolutely fitting at the start of 2021. You play as Marianne, a woman who can travel into the spirit realm and hear the voices of the dead. Perhaps foolishly, she travels to the Polish wilderness and an abandoned resort (known for being the site of an infamous massacre, of course) on the promise of learning more about her powers. The game uses a sort of split-screen mechanic when Marianne is in the spirit world, and being able to move through it is essential to solving puzzles and finding new paths in the real one. Created by Blooder Team, who also made Layers of Fear, this is an ambitious curiosity that horror fans should check out. Rachel Weber
January Game of the Month - Hitman 3
Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch
12DOVE review score: 4.5 Stars
Hitman 3 is a delightful puzzle box of murder that takes Agent 47 around the world, hanging off skyscrapers in Dubai, DJing at a Berlin club, and even playing detective in a Knives Out style murder mystery in Dartmoor. With a tightly plotted narrative arc built around delicious little episodes of death, it's slick, polished, and lets the player decide how their target will meet their end. Every level is an intricately designed diorama full of things for you to mess with - rat poison in the cakes, an unfortunate electrical accident, a really quite dangerous wine press - so even failure feels like a little adventure. It's the perfect swan song for our favorite brutal baldy, and even comes in a PSVR flavor. Rachel Weber
