Were 'The Game Awards' Nominees Worth Checking Out?
As we've mentioned, it's that time of year again. Time to gather together, argue over which good game released in the last 12 months was best. And in keeping with tradition, if you didn't like that game before then, you will be flogged by a battalion of its loyal fans until you begrudgingly acknowledge its finer aspects.
This year has been odd for game releases- not as bad as 2020- but clearly, the hangover of deep quarantine continues to make the games industry sluggish with big-budget releases. As a result, what releases we have had are mostly buggy (Battlefield 2042), incomplete (Halo Infinite), or both (Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition). So for those of you out of the game loop, looking for what might be a nice distraction this holiday season. Let's use The Game Awards' nominee list to give you some ideas.
We'll kick it off with the game that actually won Game of the Year at last night's Game Awards:
It Takes Two is the lighthearted story of two people who absolutely hate each other but happen to be married working things out. The unusually mature subject matter, couch co-op style of play, and asymmetrical teamwork gameplay put this game on the map, and its story has stolen a lot of players' hearts.
Unsurprisingly, Arcane’s hugely successful time-looping assassin battle first-person shooter has captured a lot of attention this year, first for its unusual 1v1 multiplayer style, where one player invades anothers’ game to kill them, but also for its voice acting, story, and visual design. It's Groundhog Day with guns.
Almost two decades in the making, the most recent Metroid does a huge service to the series and brings 2d platforms back into the limelight. It's worth giving a shot just due to the bonkers amount of effort it took finally get to play it.
Psychonauts 2
Most games with a following try to release sequels as quickly as possible to keep their audience interested and invested, but Double Fine didn’t worry about that at all and took a cool 16 years to make a sequel to Psychonauts. And they kept the same quirky humor, creative levels, and incredible writing as the original had- the studio is still crazy after all these years.
The nominators for the Game Awards must be older than I am because the only games they cared about this year were the revival sequels of mid-aughts franchises. Ratchet and Clank is a sequel like Psychonauts 2, and takes two like It Takes Two, so, besides the nostalgia factor, I’m not sure why it made their list over, say, Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy.
Resident Evil: Village
The first game to claim game of the year potential, Resident Evil: Village introduced the internet to a new queen. Mommy- I mean, sorry, mommy- I mean, dang, sorry, Mommy- I mean mommy- no, mommy- no Lady Dimitrescu and her horrifying villagers wrap up the franchise-heavy sequelitis-ridden nominees.
Finally, a game that lived up to the hype and expecta-- hahahaha, just kidding.
Top Image: Electronic Arts
