The Best PC Games of 2021

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – January 3, 2022

Which PC games impressed professional reviewers the most during the past year? We rank the best-reviewed titles released between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021 by Metascore. Games must have at least 7 reviews from professional critics to be eligible for inclusion. (All scores listed here are from January 2, 2022.)

8 of 14 photo by Dotemu

88 Streets of Rage 4: Mr. X Nightmare

(#6) Released in July, Mr. X Nightmare is an expansion for the 2020 beat-em-up Streets of Rage 4. The DLC adds new playable characters (including returning favorites Max Thunder and Shiva) as well as new weapons and foes, a new "survival" game mode, and the ability to customize your character.

“Anyone who’s been looking for a better reason to go back to Streets of Rage 4 than just crawling up the leaderboards should jump on this DLC release, and the Survival mode’s 2-player online capability provides a great excuse to bring a friend along for the ride.” —Screen Rant

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