See all our 2011 awards by visiting the Edge Awards topic page, or following the topic using My Edge. Look out, too, for the Alternative Edge Awards 2011 which we'll be posting on Monday.
Runner-up: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Format 360, PC, PS3 Publisher Bethesda Softworks Developer In-house
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Few terms are trotted out to market a game as readily as ‘epic’, but only to a few does the term truly apply. Skyrim is one. The size of its overworld thrills through sheer scale, but in the careful plotting of its mountain paths, the variety of frosty terrain types, and the crafted nature of its interiors, Skyrim offers more than scope: it offers a world worth exploring.
Runner-up: Dark Souls
Format 360, PS3 Publisher Namco Bandai Developer FromSoftware
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Never before has a fantasy RPG offered such contrasts, with cloud-splitting god beams and regal architecture above ground, and fetid sludge and poison-spewing basilisks beneath; frustration and pleasure; confusion and epiphany. Director Hidetaka Miyazaki constructs a world sprawling enough to feel boundless, yet dense and sculpted enough to be memorable. The damnable dying is simply Lordran’s price of admission.
Winner: The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Format Wii Publisher Nintendo Developer In-house
There’s nothing inevitable about the latest Zelda being this year’s best game. Doing it all again wouldn’t have been nearly enough, but Skyward Sword is about the unexpected. It re-engineers a formula that most players think they already know, and conjures surprise from ingredients both old and new. Initially, MotionPlus provides the novelty, and it’s the finest example of motion-controlled gaming we’ve yet encountered. Skyward Sword is the greatest expression of Wii’s promise; it’s taken five years, but Nintendo has finally delivered such precision, consistency and fun that you soon barely think about it.
Instead, you enjoy Skyward Sword’s delicate remixing of classic Zelda structure. It recaptures a sense of mystery in its exquisitely designed dungeons and detailed overworlds, and familiar items turn up in the most unexpected of places. The game’s backbone is the strongest-ever Zelda storyline, a tale of maturity, duty and love played out by characters who you delight in spending time with. Their scripts are deft and funny; their design and animation both weird and enchanting. And it’s all drawn in pristine lines and rendered with a beautiful dappled graphical effect, blending technical skill and artistic vision. The result provides more reward and delight in its span than any other game this year.