Official Game of the Year Nominees

[The Crypto Guy]

Weak sauce

 

[Beau Knows]

Not a big year for games. Next year looks intriguing though. We got stuff like:

Cyberpunk 2077
Half-Life Alyx
TLoU 2
Halo Infinite
Possibly BoTW 2 and Elden Ring

And we got two new consoles coming out. So there are surely some unannounced games for those systems, hopefully some completely new franchises.

 

[Shareefruck]

The "Celebration of videogames" thing about Smash is such difficult to swallow bull-****. There may be an ounce of truth to it, but for the most part it's just shameless fanservice/populism, typical cross-over novelty/gimmickery, and an excruciating "more is more" "let's just artlessly cram everything we can in to get people interested" attitude masquerading as something endearing and inspired.

Nobody ever throws around such reverence and prestige when Capcom does cross-over games, and they play just as well. It's closer to an uninspired concept than an inspired one, IMO.

 

[Trap Jesus]

I keep hearing so much about Disco Elysium. How much of the game is reading? It looks like it's all readying and decision making. I just don't have the attention span to get into a game like that.

It's essentially all reading. The only time you're not reading is when you're clicking and moving to another person essentially. As someone who usually hates point-and-click games and games that are essentially all dialogue, this game is something different. Absolutely brilliant writing and dialogue trees, I can't recommend it enough regardless of what your taste in games is. Like there's no real "gameplay" here where you're appreciating how something controls, it's more about shaping your nearly blank slate character through the dialogue you pick, the RPG elements of leveling up certain aspects of your character, and rolling the dice on certain things to progress.

 

[syz]

The "Celebration of videogames" thing about Smash is such difficult to swallow bull-****. There may be an ounce of truth to it, but for the most part it's just shameless fanservice/populism, typical cross-over novelty/gimmickery, and an excruciating "more is more" "let's just artlessly cram everything we can in to get people interested" attitude masquerading as something endearing and inspired.

Nobody ever throws around such reverence and prestige when Capcom does cross-over games, and they play just as well. It's closer to an uninspired concept than an inspired one, IMO.

You're clueless if you think Smash is "artless," tbh. The lengths they go to to fit crossover characters into their game and the sheer knowledge they display surrounding those other franchises is about the only positive thing I'd say about it, since I've never liked how it plays. If they were driven by populism you certainly wouldn't have a video of Sakurai sitting there waxing poetic about Terry Bogard when nobody who plays Smash even knows who that is.

Compared to the more recent garbage crossover attempts from Capcom like MVCI or Street Fighter x Tekken it's almost embarrassing. What's uninspired is every fighting game Capcom has made since like Third Strike.

 

[Shareefruck]

You're clueless if you think Smash is "artless," tbh. The lengths they go to to fit crossover characters into their game and the sheer knowledge they display surrounding those other franchises is about the only positive thing I'd say about it, since I've never liked how it plays. If they were driven by populism you certainly wouldn't have a video of Sakurai sitting there waxing poetic about Terry Bogard when nobody who plays Smash even knows who that is.

Compared to the more recent garbage crossover attempts from Capcom like MVCI or Street Fighter x Tekken it's almost embarrassing. What's uninspired is every fighting game Capcom has made since like Third Strike.

As I mentioned, I think there's an ounce of truth to Sakurai's passion being the silver lining, but it's completely overshadowed by the shamelessness of the spirit of the whole thing, by the game's design choices, and by how float-y and gross it plays, IMO. It's trying to have its cake and eat it too, and I don't think that works. Also, I mean artless as in tasteless, garish, and obnoxious (which, after reading the definition, I concede is not entirely proper usage), not as in devoid of effort and consideration. To me, the strength of Smash is more about marketing genius than anything else. Their reveal videos and Sakurai's dorkiness is more endearing than anything actually to do with the game itself, in my opinion.

I agree that Capcom's crossover games are bad (the newer ones anyways-- although personally, I don't feel that Smash plays that much better), but their Street Fighter iterations are far superior to anything Smash-related, in my opinion, even after 3rd Strike (which completely dwarfs anything else mentioned here). Especially Ultra Street Fighter IV, which is excellent. SFV has some big problems and relatively unforgivable compromises, but at its core, it still plays really well, has a lot of depth, and has a strong and distinct style, flavor and feel to it.

 

[NyQuil]

Like there's no real "gameplay" here where you're appreciating how something controls, it's more about shaping your nearly blank slate character through the dialogue you pick, the RPG elements of leveling up certain aspects of your character, and rolling the dice on certain things to progress.

I've been curious about this game.

If save scumming a big temptation?

 

[Trap Jesus]

I've been curious about this game.

If save scumming a big temptation?

Not at all for me. You get wrapped up in how good the writing is, almost all of the joy from the game comes from the cleverness of the dialogue. It's definitely a game I want to play again to explore other methods though.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

You're clueless if you think Smash is "artless," tbh. The lengths they go to to fit crossover characters into their game and the sheer knowledge they display surrounding those other franchises is about the only positive thing I'd say about it, since I've never liked how it plays. If they were driven by populism you certainly wouldn't have a video of Sakurai sitting there waxing poetic about Terry Bogard when nobody who plays Smash even knows who that is.

Compared to the more recent garbage crossover attempts from Capcom like MVCI or Street Fighter x Tekken it's almost embarrassing. What's uninspired is every fighting game Capcom has made since like Third Strike.

Also wanted to add that most younger gamers wouldn't have any clue to Banjo-Kazooie are. And DQ is still relatively unknown in the West.

It's thanks to SSB that I played Earthbound, and it remains my favourite game of all time.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Not a big year for games. Next year looks intriguing though. We got stuff like:

Cyberpunk 2077
Half-Life Alyx
TLoU 2
Halo Infinite
Possibly BoTW 2 and Elden Ring

And we got two new consoles coming out. So there are surely some unannounced games for those systems, hopefully some completely new franchises.

You left of the FF7 Remake.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

The "Celebration of videogames" thing about Smash is such difficult to swallow bull-****. There may be an ounce of truth to it, but for the most part it's just shameless fanservice/populism, typical cross-over novelty/gimmickery, and an excruciating "more is more" "let's just artlessly cram everything we can in to get people interested" attitude masquerading as something endearing and inspired.

Nobody ever throws around such reverence and prestige when Capcom does cross-over games, and they play just as well. It's closer to an uninspired concept than an inspired one, IMO.

Smash has way more casual appeal than any Capcom crossover game.

Its just a really fun party game, one of the best ever in fact and every single person who has any semblance of a passing interest in video games is familiar with most of the roster.

It is a celebration because it is casual.

 

[Shareefruck]

Smash has way more casual appeal than any Capcom crossover game.

Its just a really fun party game, one of the best ever in fact and every single person who has any semblance of a passing interest in video games is familiar with most of the roster.

It is a celebration because it is casual.

If that's the case, I don't really see what's interesting or worthwhile about that brand of celebration in the first place, personally. Paid alternative costume options in games are then celebrations, technically. It all just seems so surface level, extraneous, and unimportant.

I would maybe understand and appreciate that narrative more if we were talking about a game that feels like a genuine love letter to the medium by cleverly marrying the mechanical concepts of several different franchises in a way that feels surprisingly cohesive, collaborative, and whole, or in a meaningful way that truly communicates what makes them great. For example, many modern games ARE celebrations of the games that influenced them because they effectively communicate and lovingly perfect what made them great--Superficial nods in those cases are well-earned-- I can totally get behind seeing that as an endearing and admirable quality.

But Smash isn't really that at all. It's a casual, really bloated, kind of mediocre party game (like most of them are-- it may be the best among them, but that isn't really saying much) or dumbed down fighting game that arbitrarily has unlimited cameos and skins of characters from a wide variety of properties for the sake of letting people play out their silly guilty pleasure crossover fantasies. The only thing really being celebrated is how recognizable their brand and likeness is (in a "selling-action-figures-to-kids" kind of way), not celebrating anything of substance that actually matters about them (You sure as hell don't play Samus or Ness and think "Wow, this really poignantly captures what I love about those games").

Personally, I just don't see how that's an admirable quality rather than a shameless and opportunistic marketing ploy. It might be mindlessly amusing to see wildly different properties all next to each other doing cool s*** for a couple of minutes, and they may take a lot of care into making sure that they respectfully and authentically represent each character and into making a base game that isn't a complete abomination, but even considering that, there's still not much more there that I can see beyond fleeting novelty.

I feel the same way about something like Kingdom Hearts. It's a bit of a stretch to call it a "celebration" of Final Fantasy and Disney, and a happy tear certainly doesn't come rolling down my cheek at the thought of it bringing properties that I may like together into one package. It's as good of a game as the game itself is, and the gimmicky cross-over aspect of it only detracts from that, if anything, IMO. In contrast, I CAN get behind and appreciate why something like Undertale is considered an endearing celebration of such games, because it's actually celebrating their substance, charms, and quality rather than shamelessly parading around their brand and calling that a celebration.

 

[Beau Knows]

You left of the FF7 Remake.

Yeah. Not interesting to me, but I guess is it to some people.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Would not be surprised to see Death Stranding take it.

It's polarizing, but those that love it, love the heck outta it.


It looks like a "pick it up on sale down the road out of curiosity" title for me.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

Untitled Goose Game is missing...

 

[JaegerDice]

Not a big year for games. Next year looks intriguing though. We got stuff like:

Cyberpunk 2077
Half-Life Alyx
TLoU 2
Halo Infinite
Possibly BoTW 2 and Elden Ring

And we got two new consoles coming out. So there are surely some unannounced games for those systems, hopefully some completely new franchises.

I kinda had the same thought that it was a meh year for games.... until I went back and realized just how many games I enjoyed this year.

Apex Legends
Astral Chain
Baba is You
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Control
Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled
Devil May Cry 5
Disco Elysium
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Gears 5
Hypnospace Outlaw
Katana Zero
Luigi's Mansion 3
Outer Wilds
Resident Evil 2 Remake
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Slay the Spire
Super Mario Maker 2
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
The Outer Worlds
Tom Clancy's The Division 2
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action
Void Bastards
Wargroove

Not that all of those should be considered amazing games by everybody. I'm just saying, in my case, upon looking back I actually played and liked a lot.

I bolded my personal top 5 of the year, though if I'm being honest, I spent most my gaming time playing Destiny 2 and Rainbow Six Siege, just cause it's my go-to game with friends.

 

[syz]

The only criticism I have for the year is that Doom got delayed. Also the indie stuff maybe wasn't as good as last year (Outer Wilds aside.)

That said next year looks scary, and I don't even care about Last of Us or Cyberpunk.

 

[Blitzkrug]

My top 5 this year;

Control (****ing great game. Remedy basically took elements from Max Payne, Alan Wake and the worthwhile parts of Quantum Break and smashed em together. Just wish the game was a bit longer

Jedi Fallen Order (A good single player star wars game that isn't lego based? Whodathunkit)

Resident Evil 2 (not even fair to call it a remake, they completely overhauled it)

Super Mario Maker 2

Borderlands 3 (Sucks about the lousy endgame but i enjoyed my run of it)

 

[Cubs2024WSChamps]

What, no Telling Lies?

FE not nominated is sad

 

[Commander Clueless]

The only criticism I have for the year is that Doom got delayed. Also the indie stuff maybe wasn't as good as last year (Outer Wilds aside.)

That said next year looks scary, and I don't even care about Last of Us or Cyberpunk.

To be fair, 2018 was a bumper crop for indies.

 

[Ryuji Yamazaki]

Holy crap that's a pathetic list.

 

[God King Fudge]

Top 5 for me:

Plague Tale
RE2
Sekiro
Outer Worlds
Forager

Other games I really enjoyed:

Jedi Fallen Order
Void Bastards
Luigi’s Mansion
Slay the Spire
Division 2
Bloodstained

 

[Negan4Coach]

Seems super weak with a remake in there. I've been most impressed by Disco Elysium.

I came to this thread to see if Disco Elysium was mentioned- and pleasantly surprised.

It is a really weird, fun and original game. Just finished it and playing thru again. Its like the old Police Quest from the 1980's on a heroic dose of LSD. Totally recommend.

 

[Shareefruck]

To be fair, 2018 was a bumper crop for indies.

I was really hoping that it would become a trend, but instead, all we got this year is stuff like Katana Zero, Cadence of Hyrule, and Baba is You, which, while solid/admirable, I would consider a significant step down from last year's indie games, personally.

 

[Commander Clueless]

I was really hoping that it would become a trend, but instead, all we got this year is stuff like Katana Zero, Cadence of Hyrule, and Baba is You, which, while solid/admirable, I would consider a significant step down from last year's indie games, personally.

Absolutely agreed. I mean, I really like Katana Zero and Baba is You is fun and unique (never played Cadence), but in my mind they are a solid tier or two below stuff like Celeste, The Messenger, Into the Breach, Frostpunk....the list goes on.

I don't know if I missed any gems this year, but 2018 is hard to live up to.