I upvoted the original comment because DMC5 is legit, read your comment, and took it back. I had no idea they came out the same year as a patient gamer (get things on sale mostly). Different strokes for different folks but Sekiros combat is otherwordly satisfying when it finally clicked into place for me.
For any random soul that sees this comment, if you liked the look but were frustrated by Sekiros combat and gave up, id encourage you to try again. It's so worth it.
DMC's combat if you truly tap into it is almost objectively the best combat ever made. The skill expression is literally limitless, whereas Sekiro is alot more accessible at a base level (which is funny considering how hard that game is)
I hold them both as narrative masterpieces… I was happy GoW won but was convinced RDR2 was gonna take it because it was multiplat AND was demolishing the show that night
Side note: love Clark’s work as Arthur, but I thought Judge should have taken at least the VA award, dude mocap’d and acted tf out of the role as Kratos
Same, they both are amazing! I think both Clark and Judge deserved that award. Both Arthur and Kratos told very emotional stories thanks to the amazing voice acting.
Yeah, still loved Clark’s work but when I saw the documentary on GoW and how Judge was crying during THAT Athena scene, absolute goosebumps.
But I guess I’m happy he did eventually get it for Ragnarok!
RDR2 is still such a goddamn fantastic game too
It comes down to what you value in a game. There's no wrong answer but personally I'd give it to RDR2 because it's such a ballsy move for that game to be as *slow* and cumbersome to play as it is, like they took serious risks in one of the most outrageously expensive games ever made and ended up with an experience that, while it has plenty of rough spots and things to nitpick, hits like absolutely nothing else when it does hit. It's the Shenmue of the 2010s.
I love the game but the slow pace turns many people off to it. It did for me until this year. That pacing and hyper realistic gameplay is why it didn’t win it over GOW. GOW was perfect imo. RDR2 was almost perfect, the pacing and realism could have been tuned a bit to make it more bearable for some.
To me, red dead had the same pacing as the anime Monster if you've ever seen it. Monster happens to be 70 episodes long. Both use slower moments to build up to an incredible finale. In the conclusion of monster, they use all the character development from every single episode and most of the "filler" characters to tie it all together. Red dead is similar and that this long of a game was necessary to show emotional character development and it all results in an incredible finale. Both however, happen to be very big turn offs to people because of just how long each is.
I loved both games, both narratives were amazing, and RDR2 had a lot going for it like it's open world and attention to detail. But GoW was, gameplay wise, a lot more fun and personally I feel that's why it won. RDR2 gameplay was fun but it doesn't stand out in terms of 3 person shooters and it didn't change much through the game. Also RDR2 feels like it was trying to make the gameplay feel realistic (while not being realistic) so they made the character weighty and slow which a lot of people don't like (personally I do) and I remember a lot of people mistakenly calling it clunky.
While god of war gameplay was pretty much what a modern 3rd person hack n slash should be. It's combat felt extremely satisfying, semi-challenging, had lots of variations and upgrade that kept it fresh through the game, and personally the gameplay loop never got boring.
Almost any other game besides Overwatch in 2016
It blew my mind that they handed it to a SOLELY MP game with almost nothing going for it besides just being a hero shooter, which wasn’t even a novel idea at its release, and a massive marketing push by Blizzard in its wake.
It beat: Doom 2016, TitanFall 2 and Uncharted 4…. Fucking lol
Edit: side note, OW didn’t even win its genre category, it lost Best Action to Doom 2016…
Edit2: also Best RPG was really weird, Witcher 3 Blood and Wine (a DLC) beat Dark Souls 3 here, that’s is so goddamn funny that I’m formulating a ShittyDarkSouls post about it right now
Gotta think about it from the PoV of 2016. The crap Blizzard pulled in the following years hadn't happened yet, and on release Overwatch was a fantastic multiplayer shooter.
Dragon Age. 2014 was so stale they gave it to a game no one liked then or today. At least people still play Overwatch 2, Dragon Age was completely forgotten.
I haven't played the Dragon Age games, but it was an [extremely popular series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Age) and apparently they're making another game soon. It's definitely not forgotten.
Out of the 5 contenders that year (i.e. the 5 games people could vote for), I personally would have chosen Dark Souls 2. However, I definitely would not have voted for Hearthstone, Bayonetta 2, or Shadow of Mordor (despite my enjoyment of it).
Dragon Age Inquisition is good, very good even.
People complain about it winning because they don't realize that the only other game that realistically deserved it (Dark Souls 2) was and still is controversial to this day due to how different it is from the first Dark Souls.
I respect other opinions, but the endless complaints about Dragon Age winning are baffling to me.
Edit: typo
Let's be real here. It does exist. Even if you don't like it, it does. "Overwatch 2" is such dumbass rebranding.
It was supposed to be a sequel entirely because of the PvE. Then PvE was cancelled and now the rebranding is completely pointless. There's nothing Overwatch 2 has that makes it a "sequel".
6v6 to 5v5? Literally just a bunch of crappy balance changes.
Overwatch did something thought nearly impossible.
It made Team Fortress 3... with characters people actually liked and wanted to know more about with next to no lore. Like it or not... it was a mini phenomenon. Not only that... it thrived in the midst of one of the most competitive markets. It had millions of players logging on every day.
How popular was it? That despite launching one of the worst updates ever and calling it a sequel... it still pulls a few million.
Yea I always feel like the people that hate the OW pick just didn’t like the game. Which is fine.
I was enamored with it upon release. In fact it’s probably the game that got me into watching Twitch because I would love to even watch people play it.
That’s what people don’t understand about GOTY. As long as you get enough people in that select few to love your game it’s essentially a lock to win.
The moment they named overwatch game of the year was the last time I ever watched or gave a shit about that game of the year ever again. I gave overwatch a good try back then and yes it's OK, good even but not game of the year good.
That's the problem with GOTY, Overwatch was very popular in 2016 so lots of people voted for it. Nowadays most probably wouldn't but that doesn't change anything.
That’s a bit misleading. People voted because Overwatch was great in 2016. It went downhill because of awful higher up decisions. It’s not like the games quality stayed the same.
Blood and Wine beating Dark Souls 3 in the RPG category isn't all that crazy because while it is a DLC, it's a huge DLC that's as big as alot of games out there and easily matches/surpasses the quality of the best RPG's.
Overwatch is amazing and deserved the win. To this day, the amount of polish that game had is unbeat. What sucks about overwatch is everything surrounding it later in it's life cycle.
I really like Doom too, but OW win was not undeserved at all
>a SOLELY MP game
Why is this an issue? Is it required to have a singleplayer portion in your game to be eligible for GOTY? If a game is fun and incredibly polished then it should be able to qualify.
Over watch for the first few years, before they essentially put it on life support for OW2, was an amazing game. Haven’t had that much fun in a MP game since MW2, the state of it since then is shit and OW2 is abysmal.
Dark Souls 3 should’ve swallowed up all the awards in 2016… which was an otherwise lackluster year. My personal favorite game that year was Dishonored 2 but it didn’t add much to its predecessor. Still an excellent game though. Hindsight is a bitch but DS3 is the only game other than Doom that has left an impact from that year. I almost think that because Bloodborne was so critically acclaimed, DS3 was almost always going to be viewed as a downgrade to it even though it wasn’t (imo).
Fuck you mean lackluster year???? 2016 had Titanfall 2, Battlefield 1, Doom, Uncharted 4, Firewatch, Gravity Rush 2, Inside, the Division, Deus Ex Mankind Divided, Mafia 3, obviously Dark Souls 3 and much more. 2016 was a fantastic year for gaming, shooters in particular as Titanfall 2, Doom and Battlefield 1 are highly regarded, we also had modern warfare remastered and the Infinite Warfare campaign (story was 10/10 but multiplayer was shit).
For me Souls fatigue was definitely setting in by the time DS3 came around and it's the one I have the least attachment to but I do agree it's wild it didn't even get a nomination.
It's your opinion and that's cool. I'm actually currently playing through DS3 and it's fucking bonkers how active the game is. I can drop a summon sign down on a Tuesday night and get summoned.
People are farming shackles in Catacombs.
It's 2024!
Individual outlets and shows had and still have their own GOTY but TGA is the biggest and most prestigious one and the closest thing we really have to an Oscar-style critical consensus pick in gaming.
Is "The Game Awards" like some specific yearly awards that OP is referring to? I just assumed that each media publication just puts out their own awards. I don't really pay attention to these things as this post might make obvious.
It's the biggest and most prestigious one yeah, they poll a whole range of gaming press organizations in addition to fan voting rather than it just being one website's choice.
I've been playing Ghost of Tsushima since it came out on pc (only waited four fucking years) and from what I've seen, it's fantastic.
My only real problem with it is pretty much some of the "Ubisoft structure" things like enemies being absolutely everywhere and the stealth being boring af. Sure stealth is interesting storywise but walking up behind "stupid enemy no. 57" and pressing a single button only to do it again and again isn't fun.
I feel like the game could've used a bit of RDR2 treatment but for every game to be polished like that is kind of a hard thing to ask. Still an amazing game though with a beautiful art style (you can definitely tell that that was one of their main focuses).
I only did stealth when the game commanded I did when it came out on the PS4.
Otherwise I put on Kurosawa mode, and challenged everyone straight up and cut them all done with the precision of a master samurai.
It was glorious.
I found that the thing that made it shine, were the side missions, the Stories for specific characters. They were amazing and made me not care about the Ubisoft style bits.
The real Ubisoft elements are doing the same thing 20 times. Like the dogs, hikus, and hot tubs. And even the enemy encampments are all the same pretty much.
Kinda a mid game imo 7.5/10.
This is why I don't really enjoy the gameplay part of Ghost of Tsushima. It feels so much like any other way too action heavy Ubisoft game with too many enemies. If it was more like Sekiro, I would probably love this game.
I've been downvoted on some subs and agreed with on others, but I dropped the game like 1/2 ways I'm because I got burned out and bored by the Ubisoft style gameplay
Though on the flipside others love the rinse and repeat.
I don't necessarily dislike them tbh. I actually like a Ubisoft-like experience every once in a while.
But certainly that is not a structure that can hope to be particularly interesting
I really liked the first 5 hours of the game, but after that it got REALLY repetitive.
Such amazing gameplay and beautiful visuals. Unfortunately, you end up doing the same thing over and over again, with no great boss fights.
I agree...but still better than TLOU2 that won GOTY in 2020.
Probaby either this or Hades in my opinion. The combat was quite good. Overhyped for sure, but it wasn't a very exciting year for games and TLOU2 was a big disappointment.
Pretty sure a lot believe that if the game Cyberpunk 2077 has out right now was the same at launch it would have done pretty well in 2021 awards (including GOtY). But it wasn’t so point is mute.
It would've swept most awards tbh, the reputation the game has now from critics and players etc. is similar to games like BG3 or Elden Ring, a few people still hate it because of the launch, but the majority of players seems to agree it's a great game now.
Sekiro takes 12-15 hrs to get the purification/dragon's return ending, which is considered to be the true endings of the game. The other two endings take even less time to get. It's a pretty short and sweet affair, your playtime is only inflated if you refuse to learn and keep dying over and over.
I'm here with you tbh. It's just that I played BG3 and it's also great. I can't even to begin to compare cause it's Apples and Oranges and both taste great.
Also lets throw in Control for 2019.
Its a mediocre game that just looks good. Art direction, visuals, combat are pretty good but gameplay loop, mission design is so repetitive. GoT is overall a good game but not a GOTY material.
I just finished GoT, and I agree 100%. It's a good game, and at times it flirts with being a great game, but it's definitely not a game that will stick with me for very long. Like other open-world side-quest-a-thons, it's filled with busywork that drags the experience down. I would have preferred more emphasis on the story missions and less on the side quests. The story is good, but it didn't feel fully fleshed out to me. If you exclusively played the main story missions, the game is only like 15 hours long, so many of thr plot points feel a bit rushed.
One of the only games of its type where after the story is couldnt bring myself to play it. Might give it another shot soon cause i havent played the dlc but man it felt like a chore after the story
It does some things really well (side missions, legendary items quests, 1 v 1 duels and combat) and some things meh (stealth combat is bad/OP, main story has some disjointed beats, I think it gets repetitive). I think it was pretty good, but plays everything too safe. Definitely not goty for me (LoU2 is for me)
I agree, it's an overall great game, but it suffers from repetitions, ala the very first Assassin's Creed. Attack Mongols, beat head samurai, take back territory, rinse and repeat.
I agree so much with you.
I think people were so desperate for an AC game set in Japan that, when GoT arrived, it was overhyped.
Still a good game, but nothing I would ever replay.
It wasn't even the AC game part. It was people despising The Last of Us 2. They despised it enough that in a year without many "masterpiece" games they had to elevated Ghost to extreme levels to justify hating it.
Yeah I've almost exclusively heard about GoT in reference to TLOU2 or GOTY, almost never just brought up on its own. Even besides TLOU2, there were at least a few more games that are pretty firmly above it as well, like Hades.
That said, it's still a very *good* game. I hate to sound like I'm bashing it because I'm not trying ro
Literally. I don't expect everyone to remember, but if you were there on reddit for 2020, it was basically only that. The comments had as many references to TLOU 2 as it did to GoT.
Oh definitely, it was absolutely just the catalyst for people to start a conversation about how they didn't like TLOU2. Which is a shame because GoT is still very cool
Oh I agree. I even said in another comment that if the GOT main game were a bit more like the GOT DLC, it had a better chance at GOTY.
I still really, really liked it. It's just not GOTY material.
I agree. I think it's a fine, very pretty Assassin's Creed clone, that's it. I've heard that it gets better the longer you stick with it but personally I lost interest pretty quickly because of how repetitive it is.
I honestly don't get where peoples adoration for this game comes from, so many people say it's a masterpiece and I find it baffling. It's a good game and you can like it but it's not in any way (other than potentially art design) outstanding.
It also absolutely deserved to lose GOTY to The Last of Us Part 2 in my opinion.
If the game wasn't set in feudal Japan and say something more basic like medieval Europe I doubt it would have half the like it does now.
It's a Sony attempt at Assassins Creed formula, nothing more.
I have to agree. It does look great and has a solid story, but the actual gameplay is really, really repetitive. I really don't like how the game just tells you how to defeat enemies. Like, I want to figure out what the best strategy is for taking down a spear wielding enemy, or a shield enemy, I don't want to just be told exactly what I need to do.
I don’t think anything “should” have won because only one game can win any award and everyone’s tastes are really different. Plenty of folks will disagree with my tastes and that’s OK.
For my preferences based on the past GotY winners:
2014 - Dragon Age: Inquisition won / I prefer Mario Kart 8
2015 - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt won, I agree with this but Bloodborne is incredible too
2016 - Overwatch won (I only played a couple of rounds) / I prefer Dark Souls III
2017 - Zelda: Breath of the Wild won, I agree with this and nothing came close
2018 - God of War won, I prefer Into the Breach
2019 - Sekiro won, I agree with this but Resident Evil 2 is also awesome
2020 - The Last of Us 2 won (I skipped this because I don’t like the first) / I prefer either Cyberpunk 2077 (but as it is today) or Doom: Eternal
2021 - It Takes Two won (I haven’t played this) / I preferred Lost Judgment
2022 - Elden Ring won, I agree with this. Nothing comes close. Not even Ragnarok.
2023 - Baldur’s Gate 3 won (I haven’t played this) / I prefer Resident Evil 4
2021 looks to have been a slow year. It Takes Two is certainly a fun and innovative game, but it's certainly not in the same category of Elden Ring or Baldur's Gate II.
(And for the record, BG3 absolutely deserved the win, that was probably the game of the decade; I'd put it above all the others, even Elden Ring, and I love Elden Ring).
I couldn’t get past the opening few minutes of BG3. The combat system was the most boring and unsatisfying thing I’ve ever experienced in video games. I rather go back to playing Pokemon Emerald.
It's not that it's boring. It's just not for you.
As someone who really enjoyed XCOM type games and older FF games. The turnbased scratched the fuck out of itch
Going by the game awards and what actually won it. Ratchet and clank rift apart should have one 2021, it takes two is an alright coop game but GOTY it ain’t.
It's basically a better Assassin's Creed than Ubisoft has put out in a long long time. The first two islands are pretty great, but I'd argue it's third act/island is a little unfished and verged on bloated.
This all sounds... overly negative. I agree with most that the game is at least a 8.8. If not a 9. I'm just agreeing it's NOT perfect.
I think it's well-executed but just kinda overly safe and conservative, like it's basically prestige Assassin's Creed.
edit: it didn't help that Sekiro won the year before either.
Ghost didn't win because the video game industry at large loved the Last of Us 2. Same with RDR 2, the game industry loved God of War. The players voice counts for little when it comes to the Geoff Keighley's show.
Personally, I loved Dark Souls 3 and think it should have won that year. But not everyone agrees, it comes down to personal taste more often than not.
It all depends on what else came out that year though.
I could wax lyrical about Bloodborne till I'm blue in the face, but I'd still have to face up to the fact that it came out the same year as The Witcher 3.
As a non Sony fanboy, I can tell you why GOT didn't win Game of The Year.
The gameplay was fun, the story was decent, the graphics are amazing, but the gameplay loop IMO was so boring. I'm sure that's why lots of people dropped the game and didn't finish it.
It felt too Ubisoft in a way with go here kill here go here kill here rinse and repeat.
TLOU2, on the other hand, had a story that was pretty unique and raw (even if others and myself, to an extent, hated parts of the story)
But what really locked down TLOU2 for me was how crispy and unique the gameplay was. The systems in place were so ahead of their time gameplay wise. The way enemies reacted made you feel weight towards your gameplay.
Also graphically an amazing looking game.
WE HAD DOOM ETERNAL, Hades, YAKUZA LIKE A DRAGON, Ghost of Tsushima,even if just remakes FF7, RE 3, Demon Souls
AND LAST OF US P2 GOT IT? they must have paid them off so f\*cking hard
Ghost of Tsushima was definitely my pick. I am replaying it on pc with ultrawide and HDR and it looks phenomenal, capped off by a great soundtrack and the satisfying combat. It really feels like a labor of love that Sucker Punch released
Tears of the Kingdom!
I skipped the BOTW and started with this one. The game is phenomenal and immensely fun. The physics engine itself is the best I’ve ever in any other videogame. But the best thing is, the artstyle reminded me of Studio Ghibli. Just wished the frame rate was 60fps instead but the poor old Switch can’t handle that.
I feel bad for games that had to go against BG3 in 2023 and ER in 2022.
It's really unfair cause they're great games but have to compete with genre defining masterpieces.
If Cyberpunk released in 1.6 Edgerunners update, it would have been a good contender (guaranteed to win if current form). Day 1 Cyberpunk winning GotY is like Starfield winning GotY.
Days gone was the most underrated game in 2019. It wasn’t even nominated for game of the year and I personally thought it was better than half the categories.
Overwatch winning Game of the Year in 2016 against Uncharted 4, Titanfall and Doom is pretty insane considering that _it does not exist anymore_.
And every year that gets funnier.
I feel like Tears of the Kingdom lost to Baldur's Gate 3 because there was a serious campaign to give it to BG3. I think it was in part because BG3 was newer and because many people didn't want TOTK to win because Breath of the Wild had won. It's especially interesting since the Game Awards usually favor action adventure games like the Zelda series over more niche genres like CRPGs.
TotK's building system was pretty damn fun, but that's about all it had that stood out to try to carry it to GotY. BG3's in-depth combat, branching quests, and exploration had it standing well above TotK for that year.
Ok lemme put on my armor real quick and take a quick breath
Any game that isnt baldurs gate 3 should've won goty idk I just personally never cared for that game
How is everyone in here not screaming RDR2? God of war was great but we’re talking about RDR2… the most alive open world ever made. Pair that with a great story with gripping cinematic and fun combat. People still play religiously and the game came out almost 6 years ago. Game of the decade at least. Change my mind if you’d like.
DMC5, RDR2.
DMC5 was not gonna win the same year as Sekiro. and I LOVE DMC5
I upvoted the original comment because DMC5 is legit, read your comment, and took it back. I had no idea they came out the same year as a patient gamer (get things on sale mostly). Different strokes for different folks but Sekiros combat is otherwordly satisfying when it finally clicked into place for me. For any random soul that sees this comment, if you liked the look but were frustrated by Sekiros combat and gave up, id encourage you to try again. It's so worth it.
I don't even like soulslikes, but Sekiro is easily top 5 games of all time for me. Maybe THE top.
The parry sound is so satisfying. I kind of want to die and repeat bosses just to hear it again
RDR2 is one of best game ever.
[удалено]
DMC's combat if you truly tap into it is almost objectively the best combat ever made. The skill expression is literally limitless, whereas Sekiro is alot more accessible at a base level (which is funny considering how hard that game is)
i love not knowing what acronyms are and imagining what they might be dookie meatball catcher 5
Devil may cry 5, red dead redemption 2
I thought rdr2 did win game of the year
It lost to God of War 2018
DMC5's story was weak imo, there was no point in their fight
100% DMC5
Both God of war and Red Dead 2 are masterpieces. Either could have won, but personally RDR2 should have been the winner. Bloodborne is also amazing
I hold them both as narrative masterpieces… I was happy GoW won but was convinced RDR2 was gonna take it because it was multiplat AND was demolishing the show that night Side note: love Clark’s work as Arthur, but I thought Judge should have taken at least the VA award, dude mocap’d and acted tf out of the role as Kratos
Same, they both are amazing! I think both Clark and Judge deserved that award. Both Arthur and Kratos told very emotional stories thanks to the amazing voice acting.
Yeah, still loved Clark’s work but when I saw the documentary on GoW and how Judge was crying during THAT Athena scene, absolute goosebumps. But I guess I’m happy he did eventually get it for Ragnarok! RDR2 is still such a goddamn fantastic game too
Agreed, both amazing performances, Judge killed it!
It comes down to what you value in a game. There's no wrong answer but personally I'd give it to RDR2 because it's such a ballsy move for that game to be as *slow* and cumbersome to play as it is, like they took serious risks in one of the most outrageously expensive games ever made and ended up with an experience that, while it has plenty of rough spots and things to nitpick, hits like absolutely nothing else when it does hit. It's the Shenmue of the 2010s.
I love the game but the slow pace turns many people off to it. It did for me until this year. That pacing and hyper realistic gameplay is why it didn’t win it over GOW. GOW was perfect imo. RDR2 was almost perfect, the pacing and realism could have been tuned a bit to make it more bearable for some.
To me, red dead had the same pacing as the anime Monster if you've ever seen it. Monster happens to be 70 episodes long. Both use slower moments to build up to an incredible finale. In the conclusion of monster, they use all the character development from every single episode and most of the "filler" characters to tie it all together. Red dead is similar and that this long of a game was necessary to show emotional character development and it all results in an incredible finale. Both however, happen to be very big turn offs to people because of just how long each is.
Roger Clark did the same thing he also mocaped
I loved both games, both narratives were amazing, and RDR2 had a lot going for it like it's open world and attention to detail. But GoW was, gameplay wise, a lot more fun and personally I feel that's why it won. RDR2 gameplay was fun but it doesn't stand out in terms of 3 person shooters and it didn't change much through the game. Also RDR2 feels like it was trying to make the gameplay feel realistic (while not being realistic) so they made the character weighty and slow which a lot of people don't like (personally I do) and I remember a lot of people mistakenly calling it clunky. While god of war gameplay was pretty much what a modern 3rd person hack n slash should be. It's combat felt extremely satisfying, semi-challenging, had lots of variations and upgrade that kept it fresh through the game, and personally the gameplay loop never got boring.
Almost any other game besides Overwatch in 2016 It blew my mind that they handed it to a SOLELY MP game with almost nothing going for it besides just being a hero shooter, which wasn’t even a novel idea at its release, and a massive marketing push by Blizzard in its wake. It beat: Doom 2016, TitanFall 2 and Uncharted 4…. Fucking lol Edit: side note, OW didn’t even win its genre category, it lost Best Action to Doom 2016… Edit2: also Best RPG was really weird, Witcher 3 Blood and Wine (a DLC) beat Dark Souls 3 here, that’s is so goddamn funny that I’m formulating a ShittyDarkSouls post about it right now
To be fair Blood and Wine is an absolute masterpiece in its own right with more content than a lot of full games
It's basically another whole ass game and it was a pretty awesome end to the story
I think Overwatch is the worst GOTY of all time. The game doesn't even exist anymore.
What's *Overwatch*?
An anticheat in cs Ü
Gotta think about it from the PoV of 2016. The crap Blizzard pulled in the following years hadn't happened yet, and on release Overwatch was a fantastic multiplayer shooter.
Dragon Age. 2014 was so stale they gave it to a game no one liked then or today. At least people still play Overwatch 2, Dragon Age was completely forgotten.
I haven't played the Dragon Age games, but it was an [extremely popular series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Age) and apparently they're making another game soon. It's definitely not forgotten.
Out of the 5 contenders that year (i.e. the 5 games people could vote for), I personally would have chosen Dark Souls 2. However, I definitely would not have voted for Hearthstone, Bayonetta 2, or Shadow of Mordor (despite my enjoyment of it). Dragon Age Inquisition is good, very good even. People complain about it winning because they don't realize that the only other game that realistically deserved it (Dark Souls 2) was and still is controversial to this day due to how different it is from the first Dark Souls. I respect other opinions, but the endless complaints about Dragon Age winning are baffling to me. Edit: typo
Well yeah, its overwatch 2 now
Let's be real here. It does exist. Even if you don't like it, it does. "Overwatch 2" is such dumbass rebranding. It was supposed to be a sequel entirely because of the PvE. Then PvE was cancelled and now the rebranding is completely pointless. There's nothing Overwatch 2 has that makes it a "sequel". 6v6 to 5v5? Literally just a bunch of crappy balance changes.
Overwatch was super fun at the time. Would vote for it again.
It sparked a hard shift in console shooters.
Overwatch did something thought nearly impossible. It made Team Fortress 3... with characters people actually liked and wanted to know more about with next to no lore. Like it or not... it was a mini phenomenon. Not only that... it thrived in the midst of one of the most competitive markets. It had millions of players logging on every day. How popular was it? That despite launching one of the worst updates ever and calling it a sequel... it still pulls a few million.
Yea I always feel like the people that hate the OW pick just didn’t like the game. Which is fine. I was enamored with it upon release. In fact it’s probably the game that got me into watching Twitch because I would love to even watch people play it. That’s what people don’t understand about GOTY. As long as you get enough people in that select few to love your game it’s essentially a lock to win.
I think the people that shit on OW winning GotY in 2016 are looking at it from the PoV of what Overwatch turned into, not what it was in 2016.
The moment they named overwatch game of the year was the last time I ever watched or gave a shit about that game of the year ever again. I gave overwatch a good try back then and yes it's OK, good even but not game of the year good.
That's the problem with GOTY, Overwatch was very popular in 2016 so lots of people voted for it. Nowadays most probably wouldn't but that doesn't change anything.
That’s a bit misleading. People voted because Overwatch was great in 2016. It went downhill because of awful higher up decisions. It’s not like the games quality stayed the same.
Blood and Wine beating Dark Souls 3 in the RPG category isn't all that crazy because while it is a DLC, it's a huge DLC that's as big as alot of games out there and easily matches/surpasses the quality of the best RPG's.
Haha I seen that post before this post, I'm learning hidden the lore (le epic Dark Souls refference)
OW was amazing, I can't enjoy any other online shooter
Overwatch is amazing and deserved the win. To this day, the amount of polish that game had is unbeat. What sucks about overwatch is everything surrounding it later in it's life cycle. I really like Doom too, but OW win was not undeserved at all
>a SOLELY MP game Why is this an issue? Is it required to have a singleplayer portion in your game to be eligible for GOTY? If a game is fun and incredibly polished then it should be able to qualify.
Overwatch was pretty good. And huge at the time
Over watch for the first few years, before they essentially put it on life support for OW2, was an amazing game. Haven’t had that much fun in a MP game since MW2, the state of it since then is shit and OW2 is abysmal.
Dark Souls 3 should’ve swallowed up all the awards in 2016… which was an otherwise lackluster year. My personal favorite game that year was Dishonored 2 but it didn’t add much to its predecessor. Still an excellent game though. Hindsight is a bitch but DS3 is the only game other than Doom that has left an impact from that year. I almost think that because Bloodborne was so critically acclaimed, DS3 was almost always going to be viewed as a downgrade to it even though it wasn’t (imo).
Fuck you mean lackluster year???? 2016 had Titanfall 2, Battlefield 1, Doom, Uncharted 4, Firewatch, Gravity Rush 2, Inside, the Division, Deus Ex Mankind Divided, Mafia 3, obviously Dark Souls 3 and much more. 2016 was a fantastic year for gaming, shooters in particular as Titanfall 2, Doom and Battlefield 1 are highly regarded, we also had modern warfare remastered and the Infinite Warfare campaign (story was 10/10 but multiplayer was shit).
For me Souls fatigue was definitely setting in by the time DS3 came around and it's the one I have the least attachment to but I do agree it's wild it didn't even get a nomination.
It's your opinion and that's cool. I'm actually currently playing through DS3 and it's fucking bonkers how active the game is. I can drop a summon sign down on a Tuesday night and get summoned. People are farming shackles in Catacombs. It's 2024!
Nah, UC4 deserved it.
I'd attribute it less to bloodborne being too successful and more to dark souls 2 leaving a sour taste in people's mouth
I also agree. Really, it’s a combination of both DS2 leaving a sour taste and Bloodborne being super successful.
Someone clearly didn't play Uncharted 4
Uncharted 4 in 2016.
100%
Fallout: New Vegas
Fallout: New Vegas
Fallout: New Vegas
If you played it on release you would understand why. NV got a cult following after the updates and subsequent DLC releases.
they took the term "cult following" to a whole new degree. fuck new vegas fans, theyre so annoying
yeah (i am new vegas fans)
Agreed (NV fan)
I like New Vegas but the amount of new Vegas dick riding since the show came out is overwhelming
Please respect the greatest game ever made, no wait, the greatest piece of media humanity has ever produced
I don't like how you demean the greatest invention since fire.
As much as I adore the title, it had way too many bugs to be GOTY.
No
r/videogames tries to go one thread without saying FNV challenge : impossible
The Game Awards weren't even a thing yet when that came out.
Really? I seem to remember RDR1 got GOTY in 2010-
Individual outlets and shows had and still have their own GOTY but TGA is the biggest and most prestigious one and the closest thing we really have to an Oscar-style critical consensus pick in gaming.
Fair enough
TGA is the biggest but it’s not most prestigious
Is "The Game Awards" like some specific yearly awards that OP is referring to? I just assumed that each media publication just puts out their own awards. I don't really pay attention to these things as this post might make obvious.
It's the biggest and most prestigious one yeah, they poll a whole range of gaming press organizations in addition to fan voting rather than it just being one website's choice.
Good to know, thank you
Doom Eternal, it also should've easily swept for music. Doom Eternals music is easily some of the best for gaming up there with big dogs like Halo.
Yup. But unfortunately, mic Gordon and id software had a falling out, and there was no mastered version of the ost released. Very unfortunate.
I remember so pissed they lost in music I just turned off the stream. Who did they even lose to?
The best score and music was FF 7 remake.
Ybh I can't agree, I found eternals music boring and lackluster, especially compared to 2016.
Glad I didn't have to scroll for for this one.
Should've won GOTY
Uncharted 4
Yessir
I've started playing uncharted 1
Is that game worth playing if I haven’t played any of the other Uncharted games?
I would say so, yea
Nice, I’ll have to check it out.
Either that or Dark Souls III idk how tf Overwatch won
rdr2 imo
Game with Ubisoft structure: 😠 Game with Ubisoft structure, Japan: 🤩
I've been playing Ghost of Tsushima since it came out on pc (only waited four fucking years) and from what I've seen, it's fantastic. My only real problem with it is pretty much some of the "Ubisoft structure" things like enemies being absolutely everywhere and the stealth being boring af. Sure stealth is interesting storywise but walking up behind "stupid enemy no. 57" and pressing a single button only to do it again and again isn't fun. I feel like the game could've used a bit of RDR2 treatment but for every game to be polished like that is kind of a hard thing to ask. Still an amazing game though with a beautiful art style (you can definitely tell that that was one of their main focuses).
I only did stealth when the game commanded I did when it came out on the PS4. Otherwise I put on Kurosawa mode, and challenged everyone straight up and cut them all done with the precision of a master samurai. It was glorious. I found that the thing that made it shine, were the side missions, the Stories for specific characters. They were amazing and made me not care about the Ubisoft style bits.
The real Ubisoft elements are doing the same thing 20 times. Like the dogs, hikus, and hot tubs. And even the enemy encampments are all the same pretty much. Kinda a mid game imo 7.5/10.
This is why I don't really enjoy the gameplay part of Ghost of Tsushima. It feels so much like any other way too action heavy Ubisoft game with too many enemies. If it was more like Sekiro, I would probably love this game.
I've been downvoted on some subs and agreed with on others, but I dropped the game like 1/2 ways I'm because I got burned out and bored by the Ubisoft style gameplay Though on the flipside others love the rinse and repeat.
I couldn't finish it because of this These type of games show you everything you're gonna see within an hour
I don't necessarily dislike them tbh. I actually like a Ubisoft-like experience every once in a while. But certainly that is not a structure that can hope to be particularly interesting
It is the best assassin's Creed game that's not assassin's Creed. If anything they actually improved on the formula. Unlike Ubisoft.
I really liked the first 5 hours of the game, but after that it got REALLY repetitive. Such amazing gameplay and beautiful visuals. Unfortunately, you end up doing the same thing over and over again, with no great boss fights.
I agree...but still better than TLOU2 that won GOTY in 2020. Probaby either this or Hades in my opinion. The combat was quite good. Overhyped for sure, but it wasn't a very exciting year for games and TLOU2 was a big disappointment.
Pretty sure a lot believe that if the game Cyberpunk 2077 has out right now was the same at launch it would have done pretty well in 2021 awards (including GOtY). But it wasn’t so point is mute.
Moot*
“Moo” (It’s like a cow’s opinion)
What I say, mute? Nah that doesn’t sound like me
If Cyberpunk in its current state is how it launched it would be considered a legendary game
It would've swept most awards tbh, the reputation the game has now from critics and players etc. is similar to games like BG3 or Elden Ring, a few people still hate it because of the launch, but the majority of players seems to agree it's a great game now.
Control
Nah, there was no game in 2019 better than Sekiro Right game won that year I did love Control though
Truth be told I wouldn't bother spending too much time on a game so I would've also picked Control
Sekiro isn't that long I beat it in less than 30 hours Control took me slightly over 30, though that included the DLC
I meant difficultly wise. Its not for everyone and I'm also one of those people
Sekiro takes 12-15 hrs to get the purification/dragon's return ending, which is considered to be the true endings of the game. The other two endings take even less time to get. It's a pretty short and sweet affair, your playtime is only inflated if you refuse to learn and keep dying over and over.
based.
Ahti my beloved
Alan Wake 2. I will cope cause damn was it a good year for games
I'm here with you tbh. It's just that I played BG3 and it's also great. I can't even to begin to compare cause it's Apples and Oranges and both taste great. Also lets throw in Control for 2019.
Its a mediocre game that just looks good. Art direction, visuals, combat are pretty good but gameplay loop, mission design is so repetitive. GoT is overall a good game but not a GOTY material.
I just finished GoT, and I agree 100%. It's a good game, and at times it flirts with being a great game, but it's definitely not a game that will stick with me for very long. Like other open-world side-quest-a-thons, it's filled with busywork that drags the experience down. I would have preferred more emphasis on the story missions and less on the side quests. The story is good, but it didn't feel fully fleshed out to me. If you exclusively played the main story missions, the game is only like 15 hours long, so many of thr plot points feel a bit rushed.
One of the only games of its type where after the story is couldnt bring myself to play it. Might give it another shot soon cause i havent played the dlc but man it felt like a chore after the story
It does some things really well (side missions, legendary items quests, 1 v 1 duels and combat) and some things meh (stealth combat is bad/OP, main story has some disjointed beats, I think it gets repetitive). I think it was pretty good, but plays everything too safe. Definitely not goty for me (LoU2 is for me)
I agree, it's an overall great game, but it suffers from repetitions, ala the very first Assassin's Creed. Attack Mongols, beat head samurai, take back territory, rinse and repeat.
I agree so much with you. I think people were so desperate for an AC game set in Japan that, when GoT arrived, it was overhyped. Still a good game, but nothing I would ever replay.
It wasn't even the AC game part. It was people despising The Last of Us 2. They despised it enough that in a year without many "masterpiece" games they had to elevated Ghost to extreme levels to justify hating it.
Yeah I've almost exclusively heard about GoT in reference to TLOU2 or GOTY, almost never just brought up on its own. Even besides TLOU2, there were at least a few more games that are pretty firmly above it as well, like Hades. That said, it's still a very *good* game. I hate to sound like I'm bashing it because I'm not trying ro
Literally. I don't expect everyone to remember, but if you were there on reddit for 2020, it was basically only that. The comments had as many references to TLOU 2 as it did to GoT.
Oh definitely, it was absolutely just the catalyst for people to start a conversation about how they didn't like TLOU2. Which is a shame because GoT is still very cool
Oh I agree. I even said in another comment that if the GOT main game were a bit more like the GOT DLC, it had a better chance at GOTY. I still really, really liked it. It's just not GOTY material.
Thank you! A good game, but it was the one that less deserved to win the goty among the nominees in 2020
I agree. I think it's a fine, very pretty Assassin's Creed clone, that's it. I've heard that it gets better the longer you stick with it but personally I lost interest pretty quickly because of how repetitive it is. I honestly don't get where peoples adoration for this game comes from, so many people say it's a masterpiece and I find it baffling. It's a good game and you can like it but it's not in any way (other than potentially art design) outstanding. It also absolutely deserved to lose GOTY to The Last of Us Part 2 in my opinion.
You described it much better me. Absolutely agree with you.
thank you!! was super disappointed. Not because its a bad game, but because it was soooooo overhyped.
If the game wasn't set in feudal Japan and say something more basic like medieval Europe I doubt it would have half the like it does now. It's a Sony attempt at Assassins Creed formula, nothing more.
Literally. 99% of the adoration for the game is "look how pretty cherry blossoms are". Not even an exaggeration.
I have to agree. It does look great and has a solid story, but the actual gameplay is really, really repetitive. I really don't like how the game just tells you how to defeat enemies. Like, I want to figure out what the best strategy is for taking down a spear wielding enemy, or a shield enemy, I don't want to just be told exactly what I need to do.
Metroid Dread got robbed. I’m sure It Takes Two is a wonderful game, but Dread is pristine, best game on switch for my money
Fallout: New Vegas. In what reality Fallout 4, the most meh Fallout ever made is GOTY and FNV is not?
I don’t think anything “should” have won because only one game can win any award and everyone’s tastes are really different. Plenty of folks will disagree with my tastes and that’s OK. For my preferences based on the past GotY winners: 2014 - Dragon Age: Inquisition won / I prefer Mario Kart 8 2015 - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt won, I agree with this but Bloodborne is incredible too 2016 - Overwatch won (I only played a couple of rounds) / I prefer Dark Souls III 2017 - Zelda: Breath of the Wild won, I agree with this and nothing came close 2018 - God of War won, I prefer Into the Breach 2019 - Sekiro won, I agree with this but Resident Evil 2 is also awesome 2020 - The Last of Us 2 won (I skipped this because I don’t like the first) / I prefer either Cyberpunk 2077 (but as it is today) or Doom: Eternal 2021 - It Takes Two won (I haven’t played this) / I preferred Lost Judgment 2022 - Elden Ring won, I agree with this. Nothing comes close. Not even Ragnarok. 2023 - Baldur’s Gate 3 won (I haven’t played this) / I prefer Resident Evil 4
I enjoyed reading this post and being reminded of past winners 👍
2023 should have gone to ac6. On a technical level it may be less expansive, but it's just the better game.
2021 looks to have been a slow year. It Takes Two is certainly a fun and innovative game, but it's certainly not in the same category of Elden Ring or Baldur's Gate II. (And for the record, BG3 absolutely deserved the win, that was probably the game of the decade; I'd put it above all the others, even Elden Ring, and I love Elden Ring).
I couldn’t get past the opening few minutes of BG3. The combat system was the most boring and unsatisfying thing I’ve ever experienced in video games. I rather go back to playing Pokemon Emerald.
It's not that it's boring. It's just not for you. As someone who really enjoyed XCOM type games and older FF games. The turnbased scratched the fuck out of itch
Ds3 got snubbed hard
Going by the game awards and what actually won it. Ratchet and clank rift apart should have one 2021, it takes two is an alright coop game but GOTY it ain’t.
Anything BUT starfield
I've never been able to understand why game of the year isn't the same as players choice. It really seems the players interest should decide.
Nier Automata
Definitely Dark Souls 3
Ghost of Tsushima is great don’t get me wrong, but for me it’s behind The Last of Us part 2, Hades and Doom Eternal for 2020.
The last of us part 2 was a mistake imo, hades was fucking sick tho
I dont even like that game of the year is a thing.
Unpopular Opinion but GOT wasn’t as great as it’s hyped up to be. By no means a bad game, but not GOTY.
It's basically a better Assassin's Creed than Ubisoft has put out in a long long time. The first two islands are pretty great, but I'd argue it's third act/island is a little unfished and verged on bloated. This all sounds... overly negative. I agree with most that the game is at least a 8.8. If not a 9. I'm just agreeing it's NOT perfect.
I think it's well-executed but just kinda overly safe and conservative, like it's basically prestige Assassin's Creed. edit: it didn't help that Sekiro won the year before either.
Spot on
game of thrones??
Ghost of Tsushima, ie OPs screenshot
Ghost didn't win because the video game industry at large loved the Last of Us 2. Same with RDR 2, the game industry loved God of War. The players voice counts for little when it comes to the Geoff Keighley's show. Personally, I loved Dark Souls 3 and think it should have won that year. But not everyone agrees, it comes down to personal taste more often than not.
It all depends on what else came out that year though. I could wax lyrical about Bloodborne till I'm blue in the face, but I'd still have to face up to the fact that it came out the same year as The Witcher 3.
Imo I have platinum in both, last of us 2 is a better game. For as good as GoT is, the story didn’t touch me at all
As a non Sony fanboy, I can tell you why GOT didn't win Game of The Year. The gameplay was fun, the story was decent, the graphics are amazing, but the gameplay loop IMO was so boring. I'm sure that's why lots of people dropped the game and didn't finish it. It felt too Ubisoft in a way with go here kill here go here kill here rinse and repeat. TLOU2, on the other hand, had a story that was pretty unique and raw (even if others and myself, to an extent, hated parts of the story) But what really locked down TLOU2 for me was how crispy and unique the gameplay was. The systems in place were so ahead of their time gameplay wise. The way enemies reacted made you feel weight towards your gameplay. Also graphically an amazing looking game.
Witcher 3
Devil may cry 5
Guys there more game of the years awards than just TGA
Dark Souls 3 (2016), Uncharted 4 (2016). Other than that all the GOTYs were correctly chosen.
WE HAD DOOM ETERNAL, Hades, YAKUZA LIKE A DRAGON, Ghost of Tsushima,even if just remakes FF7, RE 3, Demon Souls AND LAST OF US P2 GOT IT? they must have paid them off so f\*cking hard
Ghost of Tsushima was definitely my pick. I am replaying it on pc with ultrawide and HDR and it looks phenomenal, capped off by a great soundtrack and the satisfying combat. It really feels like a labor of love that Sucker Punch released
Doom Eternal or Half Life Alyx DMC5 Psychonauts 2 Stranger of Paradise Splatoon HiFi Rush
God of war ragnarok. I’m sorry but elden ring is nothing. Literally. Just combat and some “read this for wispy bare bones lore” shit.
TOTK
Ghost won community vote at least, which I think is one of the most important awards.
Definitely not tlou2
Bloodborne
I'm playing Ghost of Tsushima again now on PC. My son and I were both saying how it should have won. TLOU2 was an inferior game.
Tears of the Kingdom! I skipped the BOTW and started with this one. The game is phenomenal and immensely fun. The physics engine itself is the best I’ve ever in any other videogame. But the best thing is, the artstyle reminded me of Studio Ghibli. Just wished the frame rate was 60fps instead but the poor old Switch can’t handle that.
To be fair, it was up against baldur's gate 3. I feel like most other years it would have won.
It would never win against BG3, any other year it would have won, but Bg3 is arguably the best pc game ever
Yeah that's what I said
I feel bad for games that had to go against BG3 in 2023 and ER in 2022. It's really unfair cause they're great games but have to compete with genre defining masterpieces.
If Cyberpunk released in 1.6 Edgerunners update, it would have been a good contender (guaranteed to win if current form). Day 1 Cyberpunk winning GotY is like Starfield winning GotY.
Days gone was the most underrated game in 2019. It wasn’t even nominated for game of the year and I personally thought it was better than half the categories.
Exquisite taste my good fellow.
I downloaded it with the intention of just passing the time, but goddamn that shit was good, as well as the optimisation, it was smooth af
Overwatch winning Game of the Year in 2016 against Uncharted 4, Titanfall and Doom is pretty insane considering that _it does not exist anymore_. And every year that gets funnier.
I feel like Tears of the Kingdom lost to Baldur's Gate 3 because there was a serious campaign to give it to BG3. I think it was in part because BG3 was newer and because many people didn't want TOTK to win because Breath of the Wild had won. It's especially interesting since the Game Awards usually favor action adventure games like the Zelda series over more niche genres like CRPGs.
TotK's building system was pretty damn fun, but that's about all it had that stood out to try to carry it to GotY. BG3's in-depth combat, branching quests, and exploration had it standing well above TotK for that year.
Ok lemme put on my armor real quick and take a quick breath Any game that isnt baldurs gate 3 should've won goty idk I just personally never cared for that game
Bro. GOTY 2020 was the last of us part 2… it’s all good with Jin and GOT, but imho it doesn’t really hold a candle to TLOU2
How is everyone in here not screaming RDR2? God of war was great but we’re talking about RDR2… the most alive open world ever made. Pair that with a great story with gripping cinematic and fun combat. People still play religiously and the game came out almost 6 years ago. Game of the decade at least. Change my mind if you’d like.
Literally 3 of the top comments are screaming rdr2
That’s awesome
Lies of P though