What are your "fringe" GOTY candidates of 2021?

First let me define how I see fringe. Generally, when I am looking for something to add to my backlog for any given year, I will do a composite of the GOTY nominees from Gamestop, IGN, PC Gamer, as well was the top 10 list from Giant Bomb. A fringe GOTY game to me is usually something that appears on at least 1 but better yet 2 or 3 of those 4 things; but never takes home actual GOTY or at most one GOTY, but never more than one.

I suppose I am trying to look at this like Hollywood insiders predict the Oscars. So to me a fringe GOTY videogame candidate is like a dark horse Oscar best picture winner.

With all that being said, my fringe GOTY candidate this year is The Forgotten City. Time loops were big, but it seemed to be actually more intriguing than 12 Minutes (which had a ton of hype). Also, It just got put up on GamePass, so more "voters" can be exposed to it.

Other fringe GOTYs I will throw out are Valheim Early Access and Loop Hero.

Hell Let Loose is awesome, Scarlet Nexus has been very compelling so far but I'm still reserving judgment, I also loved Psychonauts 2.

Forgotten City seems really cool, it's on my shortlist of things to play.

I N S C R Y P T I O N

If a fringe GOTY candidate is decided objectively based on other people's lists, why would we have different ones? I don't get it.

Dungeon Encounters is one of the most subversive and amazing experiences I've had in a long while. I hope it gets notice on GOTY lists.

@laughingman: I just got this on Steam and am looking forward to jumping in for a little bit today. It seems super barebones but oddly interesting too. For $20 it seemed like a reasonable amount of money to spend.

I also figured if I get my Steam Deck in December (as I am told per Valve) it would be a pretty solid little handheld title.

The Ascent

Not exactly fringe perhaps but the PS5 release of Hades is my GOTY so far.

So a fringe GOTY winner is a game that appears on top ten lists but doesn't win? So it's a game that gets brought up in discussion because they feel it's worth a mention, but no one defends it because it's not actually a good game.

I'm going with The Ascent.

You could pare down your definition a bit.

"A game that appears on some lists, but isn't very well-known" would be better.

I haven't actually played all that many 2021 games. Of the ones I have played, all of them are bound to land on a lot of GOTY lists. Subnautica: Below Zero might be considered a "fringe" game by some, but the first game has been discussed more than enough around the internet to ensure that quite a few people tried BZ. Resident Evil 8 and Metroid Dread are almost certainly going to find themselves in a bunch of GOTY lists, as both are generally considered good entries in their respective well-known franchises.

Shin Megami Tensei V comes out soon and I'm definitely going to play that. I'm hoping it's "GOTY" material, but it's not the kind of game that lands on a bunch of GOTY lists.

Other than that, pretty much everything I've played this year has been a year or two old or is still in Early Access.

@heelbill: When I read your thread title, The Forgotten City was IMMEDIATELY what I thought of, so I would say that will be mine. Although a part of me wonders if it will even sniff some lists (a crime)? Game pass will hopefully get more eyes on it.

I haven’t played many games this year compared to previous years. Work and time with my mom took up a lot of my free time so there’s been two or three games I’ve been working on for the better part of the year.

But, I think my fringe games would be Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Far Cry 6, and Back 4 Blood. I don’t see any of those games showing up on any lists, may be a few personal ones, but nothing major. I just recently completed Kena and even though the bosses were slightly on the Dark Souls scale, I felt pretty relaxed and enjoyed my time with it. Far Cry 6 and Back 4 Blood I completed on my stream with a friend and had a blast playing both those games from that standpoint but I don’t think they’re good enough to beat out other games.

• Griftlands (console release this year, my first time playing it, so I think that counts)
• Tales of Arise (not really fringe for JRPG enthusiasts but for me it's a total surprise and I don't hear much about it).
• Boyfriend Dungeon

It's been a great year for games.

Not entirely sure of the premise of this thread. But here are the games you should look out for that will sneak onto game of the year lists, some of them near #1

• Omori (Best game of 2021 except for the technicality it was released on Dec 25, 2020)
• Wildermyth
• Overboard!
• Strangeland
• The Forgotten City
• If On A Winter's Night, Four Travelers (Completely Free. Not just FREE ON GAMEPASS(tm)!)
• Boyfriend Dungeon
• Jupiter Hell
• Get in the Car Loser! (Very Good, but probably not amongst the best... except in the soundtrack, which rocks. However including it because I think actually free games get a rough deal in coverage compared to FREE ON GAMEPASS!!!!11)

My understanding was that The Forgotten City was doing quite well for itself critically even if Giantbomb skipped it completely.

@magnetphonics: maybe it is, I'm just speaking from my own perspective. I'd personally be surprised if it ended up on many popular top 10 lists. Not that that matters, but it feels like a game I only ever see mentioned as "I wish more people had played this." Hence, fringe.

I'll second Wildermyth. I havent played the released version but did a solid tour on it last year nearing the end of its Beta. Fantastic premise and execution.

Its a great little DnD alternative for the solo gamer.

Mothafuckin Cruelty Squad, holy shit.

Cruelty Squad is easily my favorite thing ive played this year, and i dont even like Immersive Sims traditionally. This is definitely the first one ive gotten into. I think thats mostly to do with the entire game going full hog into its entirely abrasive aesthetic, right down to the controls. Seriously just a fantastic piece of art.