It's just one of those years. There were a lot of great games that came out this year.

I can ignore the RNG fest that is drawing the rooms but for the love of god there so many interactions that have no business being as long as they are (for example anything related to computer terminals). If the game can clearly be better than it currently is then in my books it cannot be a GOTY nomination. In case of Blue Prince the game could absolutely waste less of the players time. It's the reason I gave up on it because there's no reason to play if I feel like the time I spend playing is just wasted time.

Having played a fair bit of it, I can see why it isn't.

I played the crap out of blue prince and I actually hated the game. Might just be me though but IMO the game has some incredible big flaws.

I completed an absurd amount of the game in spite just so I was 100% sure I hated it. Imo one of the most overrated games I've played.

Kojima

It's a good, weird, game.

Through brand recognition.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 completely dominated the spring and summer. Nobody would shut up about it. This year's Baldur's Gate.

First time I’ve heard of this game. Wild to see the deluxe edition cost less than the base game Itself though.

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Welp, made the purchase, now I know what I’m doing after work.

I can’t tell if this is a comment for or against Silent Hill f.

I agree. As a Silent Hill fan, Silent Hill f was just a random action horror game skinwalking with the Silent Hill name. It was mid at best and had a lot of moments where I didn't feel like I was playing a Silent Hill game at all. Which is extremely disappointing considering f was the one Silent Hill project I was actually excited about when Konami showed their other offerings (like Silent Hill Ascension, lol what a disaster that was).

Except the music. It was really cool music, so I can see it being nominated for that. I mean, it wasn't really a Silent Hill OST, but the quality of the music was still good. Akira Yamaoka always makes bangers. At least it wasn't Korn this time.

Every award show ever: "Just give most of the prizes to whatever sold the most, with the odd curveball choice to make sure everyone comments to tell us that we are wrong to drive up those engagement metrics"

These awards are fascinating to me. As a child i thought how great it is when a movie won an oscar. You would see a dvd with 5 oscars on it and you go whoooooo.

And then you learn that a lot of these judges don't even watch the movies, you need to give them gifts and lick their asses to even be considered.

Its an incredible game but not for everyone. I've been saying for a while that a game for everyone is a game for no one. These guys picked a specific genre and set out to tell an interesting/artistic story with a very specific vision and IMO they hit a grand slam/it is executed very well. If you bounced off it thats completely fine, not everyone is looking for what this game has to offer. It just happened to really click with me.

It depends on how much you like QTE gameplay and turn based JRPGs. If neither appeals to you, then the refund was a great idea. If one or the other appeals to you, then I think it's worth sitting through because both gameplay mechanics are executed well enough and the narrative is good. If both appeal to you then you've missed out in getting a refund.

I really enjoyed this game. The gameplay is intuitive, but challenging; the narrative is engaging; the soundtrack is incredible.

The gameplay itself is just "okay". Turn based JRPG combat with some QTE not much different from Super Mario RPG on the SNES.

I think the attention it has received is based on how well they tie together the quality of storytelling, dialogue, art direction, music, and the universal theme that resonates with everyone:

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It's an interactive cinematic experience that had me in emotional shambles multiple times throughout the playthrough.

If you're dead inside like me and desperate to feel anything, it'll do it for you :>

You're not alone. The visuals are nice, the voice acting is good, and the music is gorgeous, but the gameplay is very repetitive JRPG combat with a minor twist.

As art, I could see it winning awards. As a game, I think others are more deserving.

Hands down, my favorite rpg in years. It has also been one of the super rare games that I kept playing past the end of the main story just so I could stay in the world a bit longer. It will also be one of the only games I've bought after playing it on Game Pass too.

Nah, if it didnt hook you in the beginning nothing would happen later to change that. Good story, acting, visuals, but combat gets repetitive and needed something more to shake it up.

For me, I found it to be a beautiful work of art and a heartbreaking story about family.

It's not a mass appeal title that absolutely everyone will love though. The game is not particularly easy and it takes time to develop the story.

Every time you get to the end of an act in Expedition 33 there is so much emotion. If you aren't following the story, don't get emotionally attached to the games you play and the stories of the characters, and aren't patient enough to enjoy it then obviously it won't be for you. That's ok. It's all art. They all mean different things to each one of us.

I'm confident we'll get another hades, another silksong, another death stranding. I'm sure they're all the very best representation of their iterative releases and worthy of the highest of praises too. I don't even know how donkey kong got in the list though, maybe they are being manipulated to include a nintendo title in some way.

I don't know if i'll ever be as impressed by another title as I did by expedition 33. Baldur's Gate 3 amazed me in other ways a couple years ago and it's a huge feat. Before that for me it was Elden Ring, amazing for other reasons.

I haven't started kingdom come deliverance 2 yet, and I never played the first one, so I don't want to say too much. All of the impressions i've heard sound like it is very deserving though. My assumption is that this and Exp33 have been the two GOTY contenders, but we'll see.

It's just nice to have another reason to talk about video games. All contexts in which we talk about video games have inherent biases.

Yeah, like all awards- it’s a popularity contest.