The Game Awards - Game of the Year Nominees

Here they are, the six nominees for The Game Awards: Game of the Year.

[oldenjon]

Damn, Returnal got shafted. Typical honestly, fully expect Metroid Dread to win. Meh

[-Foxtrot]

See I don't understand how Metroid Dread managed to get a nomination and Returnal didn't

I liked Dread but Returnal was better, felt more fresh.

[oldenjon]

100% agree. I think sales are probably a factor for Returnal, and would've helped to have the 2.0 save feature at release. On the other hand Metroid Dread was good but not groundbreaking, and basically used the low budget Metroid formula for a $60 AAA title. It broke sales records before anyone even played it to give you an idea of how strong the bias is.

[MadLad]

@olden

Dread hasn't actually sold all that well. It's up in the air if the game even crossed the million mark, so I don't see where that "bias" comment is coming from.

As for Returnal, well, that is a game with minimal voice acting, minimal marketing, relies on repetition to flesh out game time spent, and was made by a team of 30 people. Yet it's one of the first games to retail at $70 due to "the increasing costs of game development".
Not even hating on Housemarque. Ex Machina is one of the best twin sticks ever made.
But they're not a cutting edge AAA studio. They are very much a small, AA team.

It's weird to call out Dread for scalping players and not Returnal as well.

[oldenjon]

@TheRealTedCruz What are you talking about? Metroid Dread had the highest grossing launch of any game in the series. Left a longer response on your comment below.

[TheDoomedGuy]

@tedcruz

Whatever your smoking I don't want it.

Returnal does no use repetition to flesh out game time. It uses rogue like elements similar to Hades if not the same. It's not a crutch it's part of the concept and it's executed beautifully. The 6 biomes are different so it's not even repetitive in that sense.

Minimal voice acting? Okay you can't be serious...it's has great voice acting and tons of it through monologues and bits and pieces...voice acting and setting is so good you actually care about listening to the tapes and such.

It is 70$ well spent. GOTY for sure but clearly a bunch of pissed off people didn't want it on the list. Heck psychonauts 2 is on there and that game came and went almost without a trace.

[Neonridr]

the amount of spinning that goes on in these threads is absolutely ridiculous.

[jBlakeeper]

Returnal is a little too hard and niche for a lot of people, but it’s still an amazing game. Just not hugely accessible.

[oldenjon]

I don't think so, it's already won a GOTY award. As is often the case, I think accessibility is being conflated with difficulty here. It is a difficult game, but gets easier with weapon upgrades carrying over and has an aim assist feature that helps a lot. Actually, in terms of straight accessibility it actually has different option for color blind people which I haven't seen in many games. I think lacking a proper save feature at release is a solid argument but that's already been fixed. It really boils down to sales, being ps5 exclusive, and some stubborn preconceived notions that it isn't on the list.

[Teflon02]

Didn't bloodborne get nominated?

I think the real issue is that the panelist they used probably all choose 1 game a piece and they took the top ones. But it makes me further question the validity there. Like don't get me wrong Dread isn't a bad game. It's good, but how is that any non bias panelists game of the year. A $60 metroid sidescroller like the rest, which mind you are great games. But just there's so many great games. Like how did it even beat Forza? I'm not surprised forza got f'd over as a racing game, but there just was so many better options

[TheDoomedGuy]

Game is easy. Not even close to being hard or niche. Beat it after by 3rd attempt and then consistently beat it several times.

Same with others I know.

[Lightning77]

If you were to suggest Returnal to your friend who just got a PS5 and is new to gaming you're gonna turn him/her off very quickly, not only will they not play it anymore, but will think is this how all games are? Again say they are brand new to gaming.

It's a niche game that isn't accessible friendly. Genre wise just isn't everyone's cup of tea.

[TheDoomedGuy]

@lightning

I would absolutely refer a new gamer to returnal!
They're in for a treat.

Probably wouldnt beat it but then I'd show them how it's done and they'd get to see what a little effort does and how it pays off. Awesome story driven game is definitely how I would introduce a new gamer to gaming....instead of something so darn childish oriented like Roblox or cod or whatever other "accessible" triple A garbage is out there where all they get is repetitive boredom and garbage story telling.

[TheLigX]

Dark Souls games always get nominated for GOTY. So, nope!

[VersusDMC]

Returnal still has a chance to win Action game of the year unless Deathloop wins game of the year. Deathloop is the only other game of the year nominee in the Action Category.

[Petebloodyonion]

It's political, Nintendo needs to have a game in the GOTY nominees.

[Rainbowcookie]

Rogue and roguelikes are real divisive games either you absolutely love em ...like I do or you hate them. Nowadays gaming except for soulsborne ..ring games ...developers try to make games too accessible to the casual player and roguegames won't fall into that category

[NeoGamer232]

It is pretty hard to put something in GOTY when it only sold 560,000 copies after two months of release...

https://www.businesswire.co...

I think if it had good commercial success then it deserved a nomination, but that is a horrible commercial performance. Disappointing because I love the game.

[oldenjon]

You have to consider that Returnal released pretty early in the ps5 launch window and the console numbers aren't even there. It was a new IP, new genre (3rd person shooter) for Housemarque, and didn't have the name recognition of Ratchet & Clank. It also had a much smaller budget and team working on it. Sales were actually pretty good all things considered. But yeah, I think commercial success is probably part of the criteria for GOTY. It's just lame because it already won a GOTY award, and deserves to be on the TGA list. Maybe it will win best direction?

[TheLigX]

Metroid dread pales in comparison to Hollow Knight and cost $60. Game of the year, it is not.

[Rocosaurus]

Meh, Forza Horizon 5 is the true game of the year. As always, other genres than action/rpg/plattform are disregarded by the gaming press for GOTY.

[dbcoops]

lol, a racing game. It was never going to happen.

[Rocosaurus]

Highest rated game this year.

[outsider1624]

Well it's going to win Racing Game of the year. So be happy with that. That's like me asking for GT7 to be GOTY amongst GoW:Ragnarok, H:Forbidden West etc.

[andy85]

It's a racing game. A great one but It's not exactly a new thing. If anything returnal is the surprising omission.

[EvertonFC]

Returnal

[Magog]

Returnal absolutely stomps Metroid. WTF? Do they have a limit in place per platform???

[Petebloodyonion]

An unwritten rule of the game award. Nintendo must have a nomination for GOTY.
It's been like that forever. Have a look at the past and you will see that Nintendo always has at least 1 game nominated and sometimes it's questionable in regards to the choice.

[Magog]

Pretty embarrassing but this is hardly the only GOTY award and certainly one of the least respected.

[Neonridr]

tell me what's questionable about any Nintendo game ever nominated in the past decade. Every game has deserved to be there, there are other games you could replace on this list with Returnal but Dread isn't the one.

[Petebloodyonion]

@Neonridr
"Every game has deserved to be there"
I will not say that the games nominated for Nintendo platform aren't good but questionable regarding the trend of the industry when considering others publishers
Animal Crossing? A game with no story that is a life simuator like the Sims. Care to mention 1 other game in the genre that was nominated for a GOTW
Super Smash Bros Ultimate? Again no real story and same game with 0 change since the Wi version
But How many time did Mortal Kombat, Injustice, or any others fighers has been nominated for a GOTW contender (answer is 0)
SuperMario Maker? Again the same patflorm game that you have been playing since 30 years but now with a level editor

And last but not least Metroid Dread now it's a nice game but
How come ORI (both games) Hollowknight, etc were considered " too Indies" when they were released to be a real candidate. Care to elaborate on what Nintendo is doing better compared to Ori and the Will of Wisp?
And that is my point Only when it's Nintendo does a Fighter, a Side scroller, A sports, a Racing, Sims is allowed to be a GOTY candidate despite seing better effort and offering from 3rd party publisher.

[whitbyfox]

Returnal: 85 Metacritic.

Metroid Dread: 88 Metacritic.

Dread is the superior game.

[Magog]

Have you ever stopped to read some of these so called professional reviews on metacritic? Some of the most poorly written and reasoned drivel on the internet.

[enkiduxiv]

Metroid was absolutely a game of the year caliber game back in 1994. What does this game do that's all that new outside of a parry mechanic that really belongs elsewhere. It's a good game, but it doesn't reinvent the wheel. I get BotW winning because at least it took the franchise in a radically new direction (who would have though a game could let you go anywhere you want. Got to give it to Nintendo. They totally didn't rip off of Skyrim and Ubisoft for that one /s).

Returnal was brand new IP. Journalists should be rewarding that wherever they find it.

[Neonridr]

you weren't deciding the games, that's why. Amazing that a panel not on N4G actually decide the games. It's ok though, if Returnal is your GOTY then that's all that matters, not a sticker they put on the outside of the box next year.

[Vanfernal]

In what world is Deathloop a goty contender?

[SullysCigar]

Clownworld 🤡

[Yui_Suzumiya]

I voted for Village as GOTY because the true GOTY wasn't there. Doki Doki Literature Club Plus. I also voted for Deathloop and Cyberpunk in other categories.

[-Hermit-]

Deathloop has just gone on my most overrated games list. How can such an average game that nobody gives a damn about (apart from games journalists) receive 9 game award nominations? Laughable.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

Because The Game Awards relies on 'experts' from the press to nominate these games.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

Because it's an amazing game that all real gamers enjoy.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

In the same world where the press gave it glowing 10s. It's the same press that makes nominations.

[enkiduxiv]

This is the one I see winning actually. Not because it deserves to. It's not that great. It is the only new IP on the list though and it had the good fortune of coming out after the summer drought. I suspect that this is also why its metacritic score is so high. It is a cool idea, the gameplay is buggy and way to easy though.

[rzac]

All I've got to say is that if Deathloop wins that category then it's official that the awards ceremony is officially a pay to win scenario. It wasn't bad but should not be in the GOTY category.

[Lexreborn2]

Metroid Dread is just not as great of a game to be nominated for Game of the Year.

[Nintentional]

Show me proof that you played it/beat it.

[Lexreborn2]

Lol who are you?

[Lexreborn2]

@Mapletops

First off, you take this WAY to seriously. Second, you think a stranger on the internet asking me for proof I played something is “putting me in my place”? Lol oh boy! He sure straightened me out!

The fact people like you two can’t be genuine about a games quality like the VGAs is not my fault either. Metroid Dread is not a great game let alone game of the year.

The overall list is pretty trash to begin with but dread really solidified how trash it is.

[Neonridr]

I'd argue Dread is stronger than some other games on this list. Village was a good Resident Evil game, but GOTY?

[Lexreborn2]

One of the things people seem to get twisted on my take of Dread is I think dread is a good game. But, I highly disagree on it being close to perfect or even game of the year.

Out of this list I just struggle to see how they put it together, it's the strangest list I've seen in years for them. But, still this year wasn't that bad where these are representative of the Best of 2021

[Darkborn]

I knew this was going to happen where deathloop would get the nomination instead of returnal. Deathloop was a decent 7.5/8 game max. It was good, just not groundbreaking. Returnal was groundbreaking, damn near everything about it except, for the lack of a save which I agree it should have been there at launch, was outstanding.

Edit* I even wanted FH5 on the list instead of deathloop. I think it just checked the boxes that the woke media wanted to see.

[chronoforce]

I don't think either of the games broke ground but they did present both developers applying their trade to a similar genre to great effect. Returnal has the DNA House Marque's twin stick mayhem the same way Death Loop has the DNA of Arkane's Immersive Sims applied somewhat to a Rouge lite skeleton.

Returnal probably should have been on the list but I would have swapped out Psychonauts 2 not Death Loop.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

Thank God because Returnal sucked but Deathloop was pretty awesome.

[Atticus_finch]

"Woke media" oh you're one of those guys. Lost me there chief.

[JEECE]

Does anyone really think Metroid Dread won't win?

[Petebloodyonion]

Nah it won't
There's a good chance it will be Ratchet and Clank since the majority of the viewer are PlayStation owners
Or Deathloop since the game got lots of 10 and basically everybody will take credit for the win (Sony can call the exclusivity and MS will claim that's it's made by an Xbox studio.

Basically, it's another typical Political game of the year presentation where Nintendo and Sony must have a nomination, a popular 3rd party game with no chance of winning (Resident evil) the indy game out of the left field that is allowed to be in the spot lite, the game that got 10 that as a chance of winning and the niche game that has been followed for years.
The only difference this year versus the others is that Xbox is now seen in a more positive light versus all previous years so the reason why they have 2 listings but won't win.

And don't worry for you Xbox haters even if Halo was perfect it would not be accepted in this year's or next year's award.

[shadowfax33]

it seems your misinformed there buddy :)
it does not matter where majority of viewers coming from because public votes counts as 10% only and the rest is from (voting jury), how do you think last of us 2 won that many awards that time? :P
also late November/ early December games WILL be counted for next year game awards, so Halo will be nominated for 2022 for sure.

[Petebloodyonion]

@Shadowfax
For whom does the award presentation exist?
Why are there's sponsors for this event like Epic game, Google, Microsoft, Apex Legend, etc?
When I mean it's political it's because there's financial repercussion on any level for a lot of players starting with having lots of viewers and pleasing them.
Let me ask you a question The rule says that each media complete a confidential ballot to vote for nominees
https://www.thegameawards.c...
Have you seen a ballot?
It could easily be like IGN and Gamespot where it give you a selection of what they expect and the other choice options where you need to write the name, knowing full well that selected options will come out more compared to personal choice. It's a common tactic called a false choice or just remember mass effect3 ending.
Just remember not happy Sponsor = no money to run the show
No viewer = no show
Not recognizing a Japanese game (or a Nintendo game) = no interest from the Asian media outlet to participate.
etc.
The best example to prove this is IF Call of Duty 2021 or Assassin's Creed 2021 was the greatest game ever made Do you really think that they would be nominated with all the scandals surrounding both companies?
Probably not because of political reasons.

Quick edit Why do they need to point how many viewers they had each year when you check the rewind section?

[Jericho1337]

Where’s the love for It Takes Two? One of the best platformers in years.

[Yi-Long]

Surprised by some of these noms while games like Tales of Arise, Death’s Door and Kena are missing.

[Petebloodyonion]

And again this year (like all years) Despite getting an average of 92 on Metacritic and being considered the bar, Forza is still not worthy of being nominated as a Game of the year (:

[outsider1624]

Forza is going to win racing goty.. what are you talking about? And possibly from some other outlets too. I feel Racing games should stick to their own category. That's like asking FiFa to be included in game of the year

[gravedigger]

Yep. I think since first one, Forza Horizon got 6 GOTYs ( FH2 got 5 i think ) by some outlets, NOT the major ones and from some major awards like BAFTA , Game Awards and so on. .

GameSpew (UK) : Forza Horizon 3

https://www.gamespew.com/20...

and Tell Me About Games (IT) : Forza Horizon 2

https://it-videogamer-com.t...

It literally tells you everything how racing genre is a some big genre for GOTY awards. :/ It is funny how people think every single year that racing games will be a GOTY ones at major awards. That will never happen and it has been like that for 2 decades

[Petebloodyonion]

And why Forza should only compete in the racing category of the year?
It's funny cause there's no problem when it's Overwatch, Smash Bros, Mario Maker, Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, etc.
If we value Overwatch as a potential game of the year for the level of polish it offers as an online competitive game (it actually won) then PLease care to elaborate on what Forza5 should have done better for the kind of game it is.
Now my issue isn't that Forza isn't nominated but the simple fact Forza has been basically the pinnacle of excellence in the genre for many years and not even once has the game been nominated despite always getting incredible reviews.
Now just picture how silly it would be in the musical category if one of the best-selling artists would never get a nomination because he sing country instead of Hip-hop.
Last I checked the guys at Playground put the same level of effort into their game versus all other AAA games on the list and achieve the same level of polish and perfection compared to Naughty Dogs so they should never get the chance to be acknowledged because the game is a racing game?

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

Well, this time they have a good excuse. Nominees need to be played by the press and the public before November. Forza Horizon 5 released on November 5th.

[ajax17]

such a fucking normie list

[Orchard]

Xbox ended up with more nominations than Nintendo and Sony combined: https://pbs.twimg.com/media...

If you'd told me this would ever happen back in 2013, I would've laughed at you and called you crazy. What a turn around.

[dbcoops]

That's by publisher not platform.

[Orchard]

Which matters why?

[MadLad]

And?
These are all studios who will be making MS exclusive content going forward. Most of these devs even stated it was Xbox funding that pushed them to the quality we've seen.

Horizon 5
Psychonauts 2
Deathloop
Wasteland 3

All highly rated and successful games. All released under MS' management. The hunk of plastic you throw the disc in really doesn't matter.
If R&C ended up on any other console, that doesn't take away from its quality, or whatever guidance may have been offered under Sony.
Dread would no less be a product of Nintendo were it to be on any other platform.

[dbcoops]

@Orchard

"Which matters why?"

Because you're trying to portray it as something its not.

"outperformed everyone else"

Dude be serious.

@TheRealTedCruz

So "going forward" is the excuse being made here, lol ok. "Going forward" has nothing to do with right now and right now the games nominated are predominantly multiplat.

[Orchard]

@dbcoops What did I portray it as that wasn't accurate? I wrote "Xbox ended up with more nominations than Nintendo and Sony combined" - which part of that statement is false? I'll hold.

And in terms of number of award nominations, they did outperform everyone else - they have the most nominations.

[darkrider]

Damn, the spin done to try and get some kind of victory... What this awards shows is how bad of year Microsoft got. Maybe the worst since 2013.

[Orchard]

"What this awards shows is how bad of year Microsoft got."

Definitely! Imagine launching an expensive console that is selling so well it is unavailable everywhere and only stays on shelves for seconds & then launching a bunch of 80-90+ metacritic games in a year, clearly equivalent to their worst year in history /s

But what does that say about the rest of the industry then, if a 'bad year' outperformed everyone else?

p.s. Spin to get a victory for what? I play on PS5, and I am not a shareholder in Microsoft - I'm fair though and call successes as I see them.

[darkrider]

Imagine launching a console that is again in last place and very far away from the competition. Launching a bunch.... Horizon is the only blockbuster game launched this year from Microsoft... The second will be halo. Indie and pc game don't have any impact. Dude, meta critic scores mean nothing to gamers. The charts show us what games are a hit and what games arent... Zero number one. Of course it's spin, Microsoft gamers don't have again a game of the year contender and you say it's an amazing year. Only for Microsoft standard.

[HardKnockKid24]

Imagine nothing mattering at all because they’re the highest valued company in the world and no amount of comments on N4G will make that less true and they’ll continue to use that success to invest in gaming lol Xbox fans will continue to have an amazing time and PS fans will continue to have an amazing time as well.

[SurgicalMenace]

@HardKnockKid24

You are aware that's because of Windows not Xbox, right?

[HardKnockKid24]

@SurgicalMenace in what respect? Windows has not been Microsoft’s highest revenue product for a long time. Look at their cloud services. You are aware right?

[Darkborn]

Didn't Bethesda self publish. So Bethesda has deathloop on there and Xbox has psychonauts 2.

[MadLad]

Out of that list, my choice is Psychonauts.
My personal choice would be Wasteland 3 though

[Orchard]

PN2 was pretty awesome, probably the most fun I've had in a game this year - was sad when it was over. Hope they make DLC.

[oldenjon]

Replying to your comment above. I'm not following you at all. Metroid Dread had the highest grossing launch for the entire series. Returnal is a roguelike, so repetition is part of the design philosophy. It's also far more likely than Dread to get DLC. Dread is also repetitive in that's it's a safe predictable sequel with little to offer beyond what its predecessors did. There is far more dialog in Returnal than Dread. I invested 100+ hours in Returnal, and about 20 into Dread. It took me only 5 hours to do 100% on my 2nd run. I thoroughly enjoyed Returnal's world, music/sound design and atmosphere and was pretty disappointed by Dread in these regards. I could go on like this but I think you probably get the point.

[apollo06]

Deathloop for me.

[Class_Viceroy]

Yikes....when you think about it.....this year was pretty weak in terms of high-tier games. Nothing that really blew our socks off.

I mean these were really good games, but I guarantee none of these will be remembered as games of the decade, or even top games of their respective consoles beside maybe Metroid Dread, but it's the Switch, they don't have many exclusives, and 3rd party games don't port that great over.

Most of these games can be beat in about 10-12 hours which shouldn't be a negative, but it's eye raising that none of the options are super long titles. Ratchet was more of the same of the series with amazing visuals, but the rift aspect was a bit misleading. Village was more of the same from the series in another unique fashion. Metroid was more of the same excellence but it also had frustrating controls. Deathloop's AI was borderline non-existent at times and I can't believe reviewers chose to not include that in the review scores. It Takes Two is co-op only. Psychonauts 2 was fun but I'd say the combat and platforming was a little underwhelming for the game being a....well platformer.

Just my humble opinion of course.

[CS7]

Yeah I was thinking the same. Probably has to do with the start of the generation.

Hopefully things pickup steam next year.

[victorMaje]

You know by now I would’ve thought we’d get best AI in a game, best physics, best level design, best enemy encounter…but no, let’s put esports & content creators…imo the show is becoming too commercial.

And how the hell do you not have Returnal as goty nominee!!

[chicken_in_the_corn]

Hitman 3 should be in there

[DVAcme]

The Game Awards are like any other awards show: an industry circle-jerk with obvious bias towards big companies and in many cases nepotism. Deathloop is published by Bethesda, a Microsoft subsidiary, gotta have a Microsoft game in there. Ratchet And Clank was nominated, so no other Sony game would (you'll see that next year, either GOW: Ragnarok or Horizon will get nominated, not both). Psychonauts 2 was basically just Psychonauts 1 with a new coat of paint, it got the nomination cause Tim Schafer is Geoff Keighley's friend. Honestly, you shouldn't expect anything of value from the Game Awards, they do not accurately reflect the actual best of the best in the games industry. You should especially not expect much from them this particular year. Let's face it, this year sucked for games, tons of the big-name games got yeeted to Q1 2022 and we got slim pickings on this one.

[Magog]

I agree with everything but this being a bad year for games. Returnal, Rift Apart, Kena, and Village were all great games.

[DVAcme]

They are... if you have a PS5.

[MadLad]

It's a travesty how overlooked Sony is when it comes to awards and notoriety :^)

[Bruh]

It would be criminal for Psychonauts 2 to not win it. Its a brilliant game whose writing far exceeds anything else on this list. Masterpiece in its genre, def better than Deathloop and R&C lmao

[DefaultComment]

Oh it's that time of the year, the Rigged game awards!
So much biased and unrealistic and underserving games and studios not worthy of winning awards.
Actually the only thing that keeps this fraud relevant is the world premiers and those game announcements.
Most likely it will be Deathloop that will be the goty...and no, not because it's because it's good or worthy, but because it's the big budget game.

[TheDoomedGuy]

No returnal? That's gotta be a joke.

[GhostScholar]

Deathloop should be replaced by forza horizon 5. Bottom line.

[GhostScholar]

I would even say halo infinite multi-player is better than deathloop. Anyways, psychonauts 2 wins for me.

[thecodingart]

Deathloop over Returnal.. yeah right

[ZeekQuattro]

If Dread wins like BOTW did in 2017 there's going to be a riot on here. Lmao

[MajinRose17]

So pissed The Last Of Us Part 2 isnt on here >=(

[ajax17]

wrong year...

[Stanjara]

Sadly Deathloop will win. It was shoved down our throws beyond belief.

[OhReginald]

Would love for dread to win. It will probably be psychonauts 2.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

I voted for Resident Evil Village, Cyberpunk 2077, Deathloop and Life is Strange: True Colors. Pissed that Doki Doki Literature Club Plus got snubbed for GOTY though.

[Profchaos]

I'm expecting deathloop to be a top contender for goty there were a lot of games I enjoyed this year but nothing that was a must play.

[GamingSinceForever]

It Takes Two is honestly the best game out of these listed however I agree with most that Returnal should have been nominated and is indeed my GOTY.

[-Hermit-]

Deathloop, a game journalists love but regular people have already forgotten about. Absurd that a game most people haven't talked about in months is nominated for so many awards.

[iplay1up2]

Forza 5 put the rest on the list to shame! People who disagree almost certainly haven't even played it. The sound, graphics, gameplay, accessibility, customization, are beyond anything a game has ever seen. Is it my favorite game, no. Halo beta is probably going to take that spot.

[CrimsonWing69]

I was hoping Guardians of the Galaxy got a nomination for Game of the Year.

[user3683990]

What a crappy year. Not impressed with any nominees

[Ninver]

What other year has it ever been impressive?

[Kakashi Hatake]

RE8 is goty for me. So many great moments in that game.

[KINGS47]

RETURNAL SUCKED! GET OVER IT, IT'S AN ARCADE REPETITIVE SHOOTER! RE8 WINS THIS.

[garos82]

other than than the fact that your take is complete and utter trash, writing it all in caps lock makes it far worse

[garos82]

returnal is my goty
i cant believe it didnt even get a nomination. its FAR superior than ratchet and clank

[LoveSpuds]

The Artful Escape really stood out to me as a fantastic game and is definitely one of my favourite games of the year.

[EmperorDalek]

Psychonauts 2 gets my vote. And while I don't think Forza Horizon 5 should win, I am surprised it isn't even nominated, considering it's the highest rated game of the year.

[lellkay]

"Recognizing a game that delivers the absolute best experiance across all creative and technical fields"

I'd argue R&C is the only one that delivers both of these. the only game on the list to creatively use 3D audio, haptic feedback, adaptive triggers and the NVME SSD for loading areas instantaneously in a way that can ONLY be done using the hardware.

Good solid gameplay loop, great technical performance, amazing graphics and particle effects etc and a top tier voice actor effort to boot.

I'm rooting for Rift Apart.

PS
Returnal got done the dirty.

[Elronza]

Monster Hunter Rise should win.

[Terry_B]

Are they OKAY?

[ARESWARLORD]

Forza Horizon 5 is my GOTY

[BlaqMagiq1]

R&C Rift Apart should definitely win GOTY.

[Good-Smurf]

Some Forza fans will get triggered that their game not nominated for GOTY.
It will win best sports/racing game as usual lol.
As for me I have to yet to play any of games nominated so I can't say I can rooting for any game here.

[Vithar]

what a shit show

[bluefire9016]

Wow. i havent played a single game of the year nominee.

[Neonridr]

I look forward to next year when angry Playstation fans are upset because Gran Turismo won't be nominated.

[Vithar]

next year gonna be sick! GoW ,Horizon, Elden Ring, dunno what M$ and Nintendo got but 2022 is going to be awesome for gaming

[Neonridr]

BOTW 2 will naturally be up there.

[z2g]

Forza horizon 5 not being in this list makes the whole thing feel like a cash grab devoid of all credibility. It’s currently a 92 on meta critic with a “must play” badge over the box art and is currently at over 7 million players in less than 2 weeks of release. It’s also one of the best looking open world games released and on top of that is a complete blast with a huge list of real cars all beautifully modeled.

What a joke.

[AKS]

I thought Ratchet, Returnal, and Forza Horizon 5 would be the most obvious nominees for GotY for 2021, and only 1 of 3 of those is actually on their list. LOL.

[Spenok]

Tales of Arise got shafted imo. Easily the best RPG this year. So good.

[darkrider]

It's agree that is Strang that fh5 and returnal aren't there. But we can't do anything

[13sentinel]

I voted Ratchet and clank.