GotY Nominees are Out

[sXeth]

For 2020 being about 297 months long, I actually had trouble remembering which games were even released this year to think of what would've been on there. Hades being kind of a surprise because it's been Early Accessed and had its youtube hype rise and die since 2018 and I dunno if too many even noticed it actually released proper.


Can't really comment much on Animal Crossing, its not one of the ganes I have played or observed my npehew playing on his Switch. Can't claim any hands on with Hades either, though I played the other Supergiant stuff enough to expect a kind of novel one-off gimmick tacked into a so-so game otherwise.


As the rest goes. TloU 2 is a sequel that either stagnates or does everything worse then the original. And the original was basically a decent, if unoriginal, character drama interrupted by some tedious gameplay between scenes. FF7:R took the best opening quarter of a modern FF game, and annihalted the pacing and tacked in an awkward time-hopping plot nonsens. While also being an absolute grindfest in an attempt to make 1/4 of a game into a full one. Doom Eternal kept enolugh of 2016's quality, but also felt like it made some mis-steps by iterating on the wrong areas (I don't think anyone was looking for cutscenes and massive lore wikis as the forward steps from 2016) more then the good ones.


I'd prettymuch be giving it to Ghost of Tsushima by default. Being Assassins Creed but done slightly better being enough to carry the day in this generally dull year release wise.

 

[Ezekiel]

Thought the first Last of Us was average. Little interest in playing the sequel.

Like you said, Ghost of Tsushima is basically Assassin's Creed, so I doubt I will ever play it.

Still waiting for Doom Eternal and FF VII (future PC version) to hit the bargain bin.

Only 2020 games I played were Streets of Rage 4 and Desperados 3. Would easily give it to SoR4. Award shows don't matter anyway.

 

[Chimpzy]

Yeh, that's pretty much the list I expected it would be.

Only one I've played is Doom Eternal and while I liked it well enough, I have some misgivings with it, which includes those mentioned in the op. Voted other, since there were games I've played this year that I enjoyed more, although none of them were actually released in 2020.

 

[Casual Shinji]

None.

FF7 Remake came very close, but then it had to vomit up that awful, awful ending. I've tried to replay it and just enjoy the things I genuinely love, but knowing where it all ends up just dries up any enthusiasm I have for it.

Ghost of Tsushima was alright, but couldn't sustain it's own size with its combat and lack of pretty much any other gameplay mechanics. It also didn't help that you were easily able to get most skills before the second act. And the story and characters didn't quite cut it either.

Hades I need to play more of, but I find hard to bring myself to since rogue-likes aren't really my jam. Artstyle rocks though.

Doom Eternal I'm suspecting is just more Doom, which is fun for about an hour.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is very charming and relaxing, but then just started to feel like work.

And TLoU2... *sigh*. I mean, I'm actually replaying it again right now, and with the cold, hard shock of how terrible and disappointing the story is having mostly worn off, I'm having a great time simply playing it and enjoying the action gameplay, especially with the custom difficulty settings. But still, this fucking trainwreck of a story, Jesus Christ.

 

[deleted20220709]

DELETED

 

[sXeth]

Yeh, that's pretty much the list I expected it would be.

Only one I've played is Doom Eternal and while I liked it well enough, I have some misgivings with it, which includes those mentioned in the op. Voted other, since there were games I've played this year that I enjoyed more, although none of them were actually released in 2020.

Yeah, on a technical basis, I've gotten more out of Rebel Galaxy Outlaw or Trailmakers (both of which released in prior years but hit PS$ this year). And the ever-ongoing Warframe of course.


Beyond the oddity of trying to put forth a lore-heavy entry in Doom of all things, I'd say my other misgiving with Eternal, and probably the bigger thing keeping it from getting much replay (other then them totally ditching the mapmaking utility from 2016) was that basically made the enemies a worklist to defeat. There wasn't much experimentation, and it also killed the visceral feel of the combat a bit as you basicallly had to run through "well I use Weapon A to kill Enemy B, then switch to WEapon D to kill Enemy F", and any major deviations meant you lost horribly or would have no ammo. Something I found that also plagued, for another example, Horizon Zero Dawn.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

The only games I've played that were actually released in 2020 were free to play games to play with friends while stuck in quarantine. And none of them are Game of the Year material. My girlfriend is heavily invested in three of these games though, so I guess this year is her year.

I couldn't remember the last time we had such dud of a GOTY list, so I googled the past GOTYs for this generation and definitely the most boring for me was 2014: Dragon Age Inquisition.

 

[Casual Shinji]

You're still wrong about this, stop being wrong about it and start admitting the story is good. =P Well, it isn't really that the story is great, I just like the way it is told and delivers its message. It could do with some trimming to make for a tighter experience and the story is as old as dirt.

Dude, I wish I could, I really, really do. Even now there's this tiny part of me that thinks 'maybe now it'll click into place', but it's just not happening. Ellie's character got ruined for the sake of a trite message that boils down to 'look how bad it is when you do bad things', when the end of the first game put her in such an interesting place that was begging to be explored. Ellie herself is turned into this boring, edgey dickhead the equivalent of Kratos from GoW2 onward, and she shares very little chemistry with both Dina and Jesse. Honestly the only part of the game that I somewhat enjoy (apart from that one flashback) is Abby's, ironically, since she's wrongfully become the posterchild as to why this game apparently sucks. Seriously, her interaction with Lev (rushed as it is) felt like mana from heaven after the mopey, edgey garbage I had to sit through with Ellie's section.

I hope Naughty Dog/Neil Druckmann is able to pull their head of their ass and lighten the fuck up a little, get more abstract, and learn to craft games with some more varried mechanics. You guys are seriously painting yourself into a corner the way you're going.

Anyway, that rendition of 'Take on Me' is still very nice.

 

[Bartholen]

Out of these I've only played Hades, TLoU2 and Ghost of Tsushima for about 20 minutes. Based on these metrics Hades wins by about a lightyear. The amount of polish in the game is absolutely insane, and unlike the other insanely polished game (TLoU2) it actually has a decent story that's integrated into the gameplay, characters with more personality than a brick, and gameplay that's not just a rehash of mechanics from 7 years ago with some minor additions.

 

[Ezekiel]

I've never even heard of Hades. That's why it won't win. Has a smaller game like it ever won this show?

 

[Jarrito3002]

I am torn between Ghost and Hades those are been taking up the most time on my PS4 and Switch respectedly.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

I've never even heard of Hades. That's why it won't win. Has a smaller game like it ever won this show?

I would have thought Undertale, but apparently it didn't really win anything.

 

[BrawlMan]

Ghost of Tsushima and Streets of Rage 4 are my GOTY.

 

[stroopwafel]

Nioh 2 is definitely my goty. Just the game I had the most fun playing. Next on the list would be 13 Sentinels, P5 Royal and Spelunky 2. The narrative design of 13 Sentinels is crazy genius. I don't know what level of consciousness that writer/designer operates on. Must have been an absolutely monumental task to put that together. The artwork also has a kind of warmth that is just beautiful. You can just tell the game is an absolute labor of love.

 

[Silvanus]

I've played in 2020: Doom Eternal, Ghost of Tsushima, TLOU2, & Nioh 2. I'd probably give it to Tsushima.

 

[Worgen]

And they totally forgot Half Life Alyx. Maybe they couldn't afford the VR.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Dude, I wish I could, I really, really do. Even now there's this tiny part of me that thinks 'maybe now it'll click into place', but it's just not happening. Ellie's character got ruined for the sake of a trite message that boils down to 'look how bad it is when you do bad things', when the end of the first game put her in such an interesting place that was begging to be explored. Ellie herself is turned into this boring, edgey dickhead the equivalent of Kratos from GoW2 onward, and she shares very little chemistry with both Dina and Jesse. Honestly the only part of the game that I somewhat enjoy (apart from that one flashback) is Abby's, ironically, since she's wrongfully become the posterchild as to why this game apparently sucks. Seriously, her interaction with Lev (rushed as it is) felt like mana from heaven after the mopey, edgey garbage I had to sit through with Ellie's section.

I hope Naughty Dog/Neil Druckmann is able to pull their head of their ass and lighten the fuck up a little, get more abstract, and learn to craft games with some more varried mechanics. You guys are seriously painting yourself into a corner the way you're going.

Anyway, that rendition of 'Take on Me' is still very nice.

Your first statement, I’d say trying to see the game through a different lens and just accepting it for that might help assuage those awful, cringey feelings it left you with. What I mean by that is, that was kinda the point: to take what you loved about the original and dismantle it, acknowledging that it can happen even in an entertainment medium that generally avoids that kind of thing, and attempt to change the audience’s perspective on something; in this case, the entire characters of Ellie and Abby. When you think of it, the undoing of Ellie and Joel’s relationship was already clear by the original’s conclusion anyways, paving the way for a different thread.

That the game was marketed as a revenge theme didn’t do it any favors, since I think it kinda muddied the waters and veiled the real theme of letting go of it. Maybe that was the point too, but either way I gotta give the team credit for taking that unconventional risk in storytelling, even if the execution was arguably several levels of fucked.

Having said that, your last two statements are spot-on.

 

[Dreiko]

Out of those I'd prolly give this to FFVII cause it managed to surpass my expectations and transform my dislike for turning turn based combat into action into being fine with it if it's done like in FFVII while also being just a really gorgeous and fun experience. People were mad about the ending but I loved it to bits lol. Anything that teases Zack is gold in my book haha.




But yeah overall my game of the year is either 13 Sentinels or Trails of Cold Steel 4, I'm playing the latter though so I can't be sure yet. It's going super strong though. Will have to see if it'll manage to edge out the originality of 13 Sentinels through sheer attention to detail, deeply rich meaning that is feeding off of 8 Jrpgs worth of prequels in an interconnected world and live NPCs with their own backstories that get character development alongside the main cast numbering in the hundreds.


Oh and I don't get why persona 5 royal is not up there. That game's also incredible.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Personally i think Hades and FF7REMAKE are the only choices here. Everything else on this list was just average at best. Doom Eternal was just more of the same of 2016's Dooom, which was good but it doesnt have the same weight for GOTY that the 2016 doom had.

Obviously im bias towards FF7 so that is my choice.

My biggest fear is that they nominated TLoU2 for everyfuckingthing and i feel like it will run away with too many awards. Im hopeful that nobody will give that game of the year though.

 

[Worgen]

Wait, on top of them missing Half Life Alyx, isn't it too early to have this list since Cyberpunk isn't out yet?

Edit: Oh yeah, nearly forgot that game awards tend to just be bullshit and even more marketing stunts then normal awards shows. Nevermind.