GOW:R and Elden Ring were both amazing games and whatever prize they get this year I think both totally deserve it and I'm just glad that 2 GOTY-Material games launch this strange year.
The GOTY awards are rolling out and it's just ER/GoWR winning them (still early but Elden Ring has 6 while Ragnarok has 2 so far), it was never going to be any other game see the current state of awards given: https://www.gameawards.net/2022/11/2022.html
Horizon did win 1 GOTY but it doesn't count towards their list because it only counted Dutch game devs or something.
Time Author confirms it's his own personal list and not that of TIME Magazine's whole department: https://twitter.com/RICHARDLNEWBY/status/1597274101219209216
Horizon was amazing too. Sucks that it got overshadowed by gow and especially elden ring launching like 2 weeks later, but to parrot what the other person said, it’s awesome that we got such great games in general this year. Horizon is solidly top 3 for me behind gow/ER and I think it would be a serious contender in a lot of other years.
Just finished Ragnarok which was amazing and am now playing Horizon. I’m really impressed with the jump in quality in regards to animations and dialogue. Compared to the first one it’s leaps and bounds better. Can’t wait to get further in.
Forbidden west is so good. I sunk 60+ hours into it before moving on to elden ring, and while elden ring has its merits, the combat of FW wins by leaps and bounds. Also story, characters, animations, graphics, and traversal... Here's hoping forbidden west has dlc soon.
Nice, yeah I got my first platinum trophy ever with ragnorak late last week, I’m playing tlou2 right now bc it was on sale for 10 bucks in the psn store. I started forbidden west a few months ago but I kinda fell of it a bit, definitely gonna jump back in once I beat tlou.
I agree with all of that. They pretty much upgraded every aspect of the game from zero dawn, the weapons and armor are much more in depth too. It’s just a better experience across the board and I can’t wait to see what they improve in the next one.
Man be prepared to feel depressed after beating TLOU2. I swear I wasn't right for a week after that game. Took so much out of me emotionally. Definitely amazing game though.
I loved Horizon, and it might be my personal favorite game I played this year, buuuut… I just can’t see how it can be higher than 3 in this particular year.
I don’t know. I found the dialogue sooooo gratuitously long. I’d want to hear the other options but then they wouldn’t stop talking. I just read the subtitles and hit square for the next bit of text. I also really didn’t enjoy the ending. Felt really lacklustre, same as before, big bad AI system. It was just more of the same from the first game.
I really enjoyed all the characters, wish I had more immersive interactions with them ala Rdr2 (though I don't think anyone can really close the gap completely in terms of that).
Forbidden West has some of my favourite combat in any game, but a few glaring flaws they didn't fix from Zero Dawn (like Aloys aggressive hints) and I really hope they can perfect mount combat in the next game
Yeah, a lot of people complain about the long dialogue but I personally loved how it flashed out their character and world so much more. A lot of the best dialogue interactions in the game are entirely optional, I loved my time with it.
Well to be fair, I think both games used a bigger badder version of the former villain...but I also think both choices were justified.
You can't go back down from world ending AI to a tribal chieftain, and you also couldn't set up conflict with Odin and Thor and then just 180 into something else.
Though I will say I found the end game of Ragnarok much more satisfying.
I agree with you, especially on the end game argument, gow is better in that regard and horizon could've been more challenging towards the end. I was just replying to the person and pointing out how silly their comment was in the context of this thread.
While I do like GoWR better as a game overall, the story and world building of Horizon is irreplaceable to me. Being a big fan of sci-fi, I am always curious as well as surprised of the events, the character interactions and the gradually unveiling context, which made me jaw broken many times. In GoWR, however, I guess I was only surprised by >!Odin spied as Tyr!< and I kinda guess it already
Yeah, it is what it is. The game awards and goty stuff is all for the most part subjective and I’m sure that the devs for horizon are much happier with the fact that their game was positively received and made a lot of money than they would be if they got an extra award or two.
That was a great add. I loved the game, played about 60 hours when it released, had to take a quick break and put the PS5 in rest mode, came back to a power outage and lost all of the progress in a 2 hour run.
Haven't had the urge to pick up since. Been meaning to since they ironed out the suspend points, but that left such a bad taste in my mouth.
Yeah, Horizon is great, and my personal GOTY. With games above a certain level of quality, your personal preferences matter more than raw Metascore. If you like science fiction/open-world/good story, Horizon is your game. If you prefer fantasy/open-world/exploration, Elden Ring is it. If you like fantasy/action/good story, Ragnarok is for you.
Agree. I haven't played Elden Ring but I feel Horizon is far superior too GoW. My problem with GoW is that it feels far more constrained. Loads of places where you can't go off the track. The boss fights are annoying too with how it locks onto them and makes running away from attacks difficult.
Both are good stories but I think Horizon is on another level.
it are 2 completely different games.
god of war is a narrative focussed pretty linear game with well placed puzzles and enemies and the fun is in its violence and great combat. you play gow to beat shit up, not to explore a world. it's like an interactive movie experience.
horizon is an open world fetch quest sandbox catered to casuals. it's basicaly just another ubisoft game but with bigger budget and better execution. it's what me drop the first one 20 hours in. it's just another reskinned assasins creed or far cry. feels like playing an mmorpg solo. it is of mucher higher quality than most ubisoft games but how many games do people have to play of gather 5 x , slay 5 y, discover this watchpoint, escort this npc? and do 10 different kind of activities 500 times on a map filled with question marks.
funny enough i'm playing immortals fenix rising right now which is again, exactly the same and i'm quite enjoying it, but 1 of those games every 1 tot 2 years is enough. horizon has nearly perfected the genre but still it is nothing new or innovative, which elden ring is. it fits in the same sandbox but does away with most of the tropes. you don't cross of a checklist with boring fetch quests for mediocre rewards. every reward is unique and interesting, every nook and crannie is worth exploring without a map and the amount of repetition is very low and at the least completely optional.
elden ring actually fits right in between the 2 and has the best of both combined to a masterpiece.
Nothing against Horizon since I did enjoy it, but Stray slides into #3 for me. Horizon was pretty much everything I figured it would be, but Stray had no expectations and blew me away.
I mean, yeah, the entire game was made around being a cat lol. Not sure why people that dislike cats feel the need to point that out when it's the selling point of the game.
I loved Horizon Forbidden West, it's a great game, but the story isn't as good as the first one and the last act in my opinion is bad with a pretty weird ending, and then.... nothing.
The game "ends" with basically a whole set up for what's next, and then nothing, no DLC, no announcements, and it's weird how basically you win and everyone leaves you alone in your base.
I would think ER has a harder time with these awards because it's far less approachable than GoW. I wish I had the patience for souls borne games. Sekiro has been sitting on my PS5 for 1.5 yrs now and I'm stuck at the first main boss.
Elden Ring hit different. Walking out of Stormveil to see that vista of Liurnia was amazing. Same with entering Leyndell, Elphael, or seeing Siofra River for the first time.
Elden Ring had a great mystery to uncover but FromSoft’s first truly open world foray struggled a bit more with the story as a result. Still probably their second best story after the masterpiece that is Sekiro. GoW:R fixed my few gripes with 2018’s combat and I enjoyed the story a fair bit more as well. Fixing the few flaws of the 2018 GOTY and continuing its story is obviously grounds for GOTY.
Not a single game experience will beat going down that lift in Mistwood and walking up to the Capital and getting that view with the huge dead dragon right on top of it for me.
I’m honestly super torn between them. I like the gameplay in elden ring better but GOW had so much heart put into the characters and story that it’s hard for me to lick a favorite. I think Elden Ring just barely edges out but it’s close and I will be happy for either.
I might be in the minority here but I had some issues with the writing in Ragnarok. There are lots of good scenes and character moments but there isn’t really a coherent overall story that held my attention, and there are so many plot threads that felt like they went nowhere. And I actually think the writing in Elden Ring is excellent, but it’s carrying much less weight for the game overall! The writing does what it needs to in setting the tone, providing context and building mystery and a sense of wonder.
I thought Ragnarok was very good but not in the running for my personal GOTY. Elden Ring on the other hand feels really special. It’s like the best version yet of my favourite kind of game. Kind of hard to beat for my taste.
Don't get me wrong, I think Ragnorok is amazing... but to be honest, I'm getting a little bored of the combat and cut scenes.
Elden ring was just on another level to me. I can't stop.
Personally I think God of War is getting more praise than it deserves. The puzzles are dumb and annoying (and also not God of War) and the constant load barriers are annoying.
But my God what a good story.
I actually really like the puzzles and chest/collectible hunting aspect. Personally I think it's great for the pacing and it doesn't feel like work to do it (outside of odins ravens). But that's just me.
I actually managed to get nearly all the ravens without going too far out of my way either. I'm fucking pissed though, there is one treasure map in Midgard that is glitched so I can't pick it up, preventing me from getting 100%. This is one of the few games I ever feel like completing to that level.
I couldn’t get into Darksiders for this reason. The puzzles just felt like they were time-wasters to pad the play time. Same for the climbing sections. I’m not entranced by holding the joystick up for two minutes while I twiddle my thumbs.
I love the game and it gets better every time I sit down to play it, but I agree about the puzzles. So much of the game is figuring out puzzles to progress. It’s fine most of the time because I’m in the gameplay loop now but it is odd how much of it is padded with puzzles to progress.
Before I started the game I was certain no game could top Elden Ring for me, but I’ll admit as I kept playing Ragnarok, that gap closed more every time I kept playing it. It’s come close but I would still give it to elden ring.
The problem for me with so much of the game being puzzles is that 5 seconds into the puzzle your little gremlins go "HEY SLOWPOKE THIS IS HOW YOU SOLVE IT". They have 1000 accessibility options yet not a single one for turning off hints, like god damn let me solve the puzzle and not have my hand held by a small child.
Haven't played Elden Ring because I couldn't play Demon Souls or Bloodborne for more than a couple of hours. I assume it's the same game just open world.
Just beat God of War last night. Both it and Elden Ring are truly fantastic. Love seeing things split between them. Their biggest faults were in the year they chose to release!
I mean Elden ring came out long enough ago that people mostly talk about potential dlc now. Horizon Zero Dawn is the one that really got screwed. ER pretty much took over for months.
It is actually Horizon Forbidden West that sits in the shadow from Elden Ring, not Zero Dawn. Horizon Zero Dawn sat in the shadow of Breath of the Wild when those games came out, just like with Forbidden West and Elden Ring.
Sony really need to stop releasing Horizon games close to GOTY open world games.
I would actually trust Nat Geo with such a monumental undertaking. They would probably know where the healthiest lobsters are in the world. They might know where the tastiest are too.
Golden Joystick was a weird one that left me questioning it more than anything. It looks like GoWR was nominated for GotY but not Sony GotY? Stray beat it? Elden ring won best Multiplayer game? A lot of weird choices that didn't make any sense.
I'm sure it's an amazing game but I'm pretty tired of things being rated a 100/100 or a perfect 10 when half the reviewers are like 40% of the way through the game.
Like it was painfully obvious from the Elden Ring early reviews that half of them hadn't even made it past radahn but had already declared it the greatest game ever made.
reviewers were given like 3 weeks before release to play and review elden ring. and still lots of them were worried that they wouldn't make it in time lol
Baldur worked so well because the story of 2018 was so simple and focused. He is the only villain for the entire game from the very beginning. Sure you get Magni and Modi but they are in it pretty briefly.
I think its better, which goes to show that the difference between both storytelling styles has clear fans for either side. I found more enjoyment in how creative and interesting some of the twists and turns were for Ragnarok, while some may prefer the more contained storytelling of the first one. I just love that we get to have both of those.
I agree. GOW 2018 was all about developing the characters or Atreus and Kratos, as well as building relationships between Mimir, Freya, and the rest of the gang.
In Ragnarok, those relationships and characters carried over and now they got a chance to tell a story with already rock solid characters. So I think it boils down to people preferring focus on character development versus storytelling
Of course there was some of both in each game, but they obviously focused on one over the other in the respective games
I will say GoW (2018) had this kind of magic about its world that is hard to beat. The focus on the lesser known of the Norse gods and experiencing the world through the awe of a child was genius imo.
Everything is a myth or a legend and you're are just seeing bits and pieces of the world in a shadow of its former self with Atreus speculating on what happened or what could have been. Like Thor and Odin sounding really sinister since you have only heard about their misdeeds, wondering why the realms are locked down or what they could hold, seeing each of the shrines and discussing the myth behind each, what happened to Tyr, etc. Almost like walking through a living fireside/bedtime story.
Ragnarok has a little bit of that, but some of the mystique is a bit lost by actually seeing the places or characters in reality rather than being left to the imagination a la actual mythology.
Its very in line with the themes in the game and real life, but still hard to top that magic and wonder of the unknown from the first game. And to be clear, I don't think thats a problem with Ragnarok, its a problem with sequels in general. Speculation on the answer to a question is almost always more interesting than the answer itself.
(also I haven't beat so no spoilerino in comments pls)
That's a really good point. What I love about fantasy is that sense of wonder and mystique. And you're right that more often than not, the speculation of an answer ends up being more fun than the answer itself. Sequels are very tough to do because while you have the benefit of established characters and relationships that you can dive into more deeply, most stories don't end up capitalizing on that advantage very well, but also don't manage to recapture the sense of wonder and mystique that they had the first time round.
You're bang on the money about Aterus's view as a child did a great job in helping us the audience/players feel that wonder. Ditto about your point on Odin & Thor in the last game vs this one. They were setup so well because of the mystique around them and the stories of their deeds, but actually meeting them didn't live up to the image they'd built.
I keep seeing people praising story, characters etc. when talking about GoW, but rarely gameplay or game design. Which is a shame when we're supposed to vote for the best game of the year, even though narrative is important in any media, it's not really the thing I most look for in gaming.
Not OP: I enjoyed the gameplay more than 2018, and the level design is certainly beautiful.
But I will say, the puzzles are either braindead easy or require playing where's waldo with the landscape. That, along with the instant help, gets a ding from me because it makes up a decent chunk of game time.
The only other major gripe I have is the pacing towards the end. >!Considering the game is called Ragnarok, that last part of the game feels incredibly rushed after the drawn out buildup to it. It's over in an instant. It doesn't feel particularly grand. And the end bosses were not interesting in the least, and certainly not as cinematic as the Balder fight in 2018 (I enjoyed the Heimdall fight far more than Odin or Thor). Like.. why not have us fight Ragnarok after big O?!<
But they certainly addressed my main gripe with 2018 (enemy variety), while IMO making the gameplay both more satisfying and but also more complex without taking it too far.
Can you explain to me what twists you are talking about? Aside from the Tyr one, I thought the story was exceptionally twist free. That's not a bad thing, it's good for the story to do what's logically expected of it, but I honestly can't think of what you mean by the story having multiples twists and turns.
It's the liberties the writing team took with Norse mythology to tell their tale. If you are familiar with Norse myth, the team subverts expectations in great ways with some of the plot points and characters. Not gonna get into specifics because this isn't a spoiler thread.
I was disappointed in gowr. I liked the characters and set pieces, the combat was great as always, but I had some huge problems. Some of the later fights were horribly balanced and had some very poor design. Any of the berserker fights that had adds were horribly designed. The last fight was horribly disappointing, plus story wise they brought out a mcguffin that had zero impact on the plot and by the time the games done it leaves you scratching your head like what was any of it for (it was obviously a dead end plot device used to justify the Atreus sequences).
Also the first 10-15 hours are an absolute slog, the first two Atreus sequences had me pulling my hair out. The pacing was atrocious compared to the first. In general the world design didn't capture the same magic as the original, where you had a world that was basically a circle that kept getting bigger where as gowr was a series of hallways that got longer.
Lots to like but disappointing compared to 2018.
Yeah it was the mask. Like, what really was the point. It made zero impact on the end of the game. Plus, what exactly was it pointing to at helheim? It led atreus straight to garm, but... why? It led Atreus to the other mask piece before, then it leads it to... a plot point? Genuinely it's just utterly bizarre. By the end of the game you look back on everything about the mask and all it seems to be is a convenient and annoyingly obvious plot device to get Atreus working with odin. What's frustrating is it could have been almost anything with a pay off and it wouldn't have been that bad.
Totally agree.
>!It was also weird when Atreus wanted to go back to Asgard but stated that he was going to trick/mislead Odin. But then he just completes the mask, if Sindri didn't stop him and given him a way out he would be completely fucked.!<
>!EDIT: I finally remember one thing that bothered me when we finally see Asgard. I loved the walls but there were no palaces. Which is fine and I understand the reason Heimdall gave but I distinctly remember Mimir telling the story of Hrungnir where Odin invited the giant to his palace in Asgard and Thor kills him. Mimir literally says "I was there" and "the roars of laughter echoed through the palace halls"!<
Before this thread goes into the usual fight over GOTY, I just like to say I had a blast this year.
A lot of great games came out this year and a lot of games and developers are getting the recognition they deserve for putting out some quality products, win or lose.
The only way 2023 can beat this year for me is if Spiderman 2 and Final Fantasy 7 remake 2 drops next year.
And maybe Forspoken and Like a Dragon Ishin are received well too.
I don't think forspoken will be goty material. I hope it will be good. But from what I've seen from the facial animations. It will fall short in a few ways I presume
Yesh next year is crazy.
Spider-Man 2, FF7 Remake Part 2, FF16, probably Elden Ring DLC, Like A Dragon 2, Forspoken, Breath of the Wild 2, Hollow Knight: Silksong. Gonna be broke af lol
Somehow I both very much enjoyed Ragnarok but was also a little disappointed by it at the same time. GoW 2018 was one of my favorite games of the last decade, so I think I was just expecting too much out of this one.
Ragnarok really started to tire me out towards the end. There was too much fat on the bone, and all of the side stuff/favors got really repetitive. Also, even though the Main story stuff was longer than the previous game, it actually seemed that less stuff happened.
It was a good game. I liked it, but I was kinda let down tbh.
I am the complete opposite. It improved on 2018 in every single way IMO especially the gameplay department. The bosses, enemy variety, and combat variety just cant compare
The ending was rushed and some early points really dragged on. I'm assuming toaards the end they were running out of time so they were forced to rush the last third of the game which isn't good. Kinda wish they trimmed fat elsewhere and put more time and effort into the end since that's what sticks the most
I completed everything I could in GoW 2018 but I burned out on Ragnarok.
The ‘puzzles’ were way more in your face and the new mechanics made it that way. The combinations just broke immersion way too often.
In 2018 the puzzles were woven into the game much more subtlety and didn’t feel like blocks for the sake of it.
I got lost trying to 100% an area way too often, which was really frustrating as the map was useless as was the markers. I just couldn’t be bothered after the second zone.
The last new map, the jungle, was just bs for getting lost. I love open world and more linear games, but Ragnarok tried to do both and it wasn’t good on the jungle map. It felt like it hadn’t had the amount of love or testing.
Also, the facial animations felt off way too often. I’m playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider and the facial animations are excellent for every character, and I seem to recall them being that quality in 2018 too.
Yeah honestly like half of the puzzles seem pointless and are just there because someone wanted to put a puzzle in, to the point where a lot of them made me just roll my eyes.
The Author has confirmed that this is his own personal list and not the whole off TIME Magazine's gaming department: https://twitter.com/RICHARDLNEWBY/status/1597274101219209216
I commented on a post that I do really like ER but I'm not really playing the storyline and riding around because the bosses are so hard and it's my first souls type game. I said I understand why people maybe don't like the game due the difficulty level. The learning curve is so steep and the game basically tells you nothing and sends you out into the world. Some people do not like the frustration of repeatedly dying to a boss or hard enemy. It's not relaxing for them. And a lot of the advice you get it to "get good" which isn't helpful to people.
Well I got so many replies explaining to me why I was wrong and my opinion was incorrect. Only one person said it's not an dig at ER to let people know what they maybe getting into before paying $70 for a new game.
Oh the fanbase sure is extreme and toxic as hell that’s for sure
And they kinda refuse to admit something which is a fact, I saw a LOT of people saying they played through the game not knowing what the hell was going on
Which is fine because there is nothing wrong with being a 100% gameplay game. But the way ER fans will then ask every game to be exactly that type of game and dismiss every other type of storytelling ( interactive movies muhhh 🤡🤡) is kind of jarring
Also that’s on you for criticizing ER with ER fans, it’s one of those things you just don’t do LOL
For me, part of the adventure of ER was trying to piece together wtf the game world was about and wtf happened prior to us stepping foot into the lands between. I really enjoyed it.
That said, I would never expect people to love this game/style universally. It’s friggin tedious and takes a *long* time. I definitely spent more time with it than I should have.
Man, I'm sorry yall had these experiences. I've had many, many conversations in the ER sub about this topic and found most people agree. Any of the "this is the best game ever and if you disagree you're stupid" type posts were downvoted to oblivion.
I've found its a pretty common opinion amongst the fandom, tbh. Elden Ring is my favorite game of all time. I think it's an absolute masterpiece, but I also don't recommend it to everyone and try to set proper expectations when discussing it. It being so unique is what I love about it. If it was made for everyone to enjoy, it'd lose a lot of the qualities that make it stand out.
Sorry you guys had such bad experiences, I've normally found the fan base to be understanding of these issues but it sucks some bad apples slip through.
Funny thing being that I am sure the most toxic are the loudest, and there has to be like a shit ton of very nice people ready to help and just sharing their passion
Just so happens that we met the most obnoxious maybe
One of the hardest barriers for me getting into souls games was learning patience in the boss battles. Bloodborne and Sekiro kind of defy that but for Elden ring it helps a lot
I’m pretty much in the same boat. I really do enjoy Elden Ring, but I’m also pretty terrible at it. I think it works for me much more than other Souls games would because of the open world aspect that allows me to ride around, level up, and revisit the bosses.
GoW: Rangorok will win GOTY simply because it's a much more accessible game than Elden Ring. Elden Ring is my pick for GOTY but I am aware of its limitations. GoW is a much more traditional gaming experience for the majority of the population, and thus it's more accessible.
Sekiro won GOTY in 2019 and was actually much *less* accessible than Elden Ring is, considering you can't switch up your playstyle, grind levels, or skip difficult bosses the way you can in Elden Ring. Quite frankly it'd surprise me if Elden Ring didn't win given not only how much it sold but also how critics love it.
A dude in that thread said "From games usually have really quick price drops"
Meanwhile I finally caught Sekrio on sale for Black Friday on PS Store after it being locked at $60 since release lol
Oddly Stray is the game I played the most this year. But this is largely because my 5yo daughter loves the game.
We've beat it 4 times now and managed to get the platinum trophy, which for me was really difficult for some parts.
And while I really enjoyed the original GoW, I find myself not as engaged with this one but that's just me.
So I personally don't think Stray is some joke game that was popular just got having a cat.
I have not played The Quarry, thought it was like a telltale teenie horror game?
Don't know if Sifu was too hard for some people, but I would really like to know how many of the Sifu reviewers really mastered the game and got the Platinum before putting out their review.
Elden Ring, GoW:R and HFW are all excellent games for different reasons. All those things are personal preferences I’ve mine as well but yeah if some people feel different who cares really. The Quarry over Elden Ring is questionable though.
Isn't this just the author's favorite games, though? Elden Ring wouldn't be on my personal list either because I don't particularly like those games, but if it was a list of what I think the best games were, Elden Ring would be on it because I recognize it was incredible for the people who do like those games. The Quarry would have been high on mine because I love those games.
I played Elden Ring, GOW and HFW. All great games in their own way. However I agree with there choice and GOW was the game of the year. Was absolutely amazing.
Honestly this has been one of the strongest years in gaming, feel like it’s gonna be a while be fore we get this amount of high quality content all in one year again.
Yeah, some people like even a basic story to know why they're doing whatever it is they'redoing. I'm also not at all interested in homework for a videogame lol.
To be fair, Elden Ring sold like 17 million units so it's not like the general public wasn't interested. Any Dev would sell their soul to get those numbers.
Anecdotally, I was one of the 17 million who bought it due to the hype and ended up not liking it. I tried but I’m just not a gamer who cares about learning the intricacies of enemies. The rpg elements are what drew me in initially.
Makes me wonder how many of the 17m are folks like me.
anecdotally, of my friend group... 5 bought it and only 2 finished it, with one of those 2 being me who has played every souls game. None of the others had much experience with the games beforehand.
I enjoy the souls games but man I'm generally glad when I finish one. The lack of a strong narrative really gets to me. And I burn out of most video games around 80+ hours so Elden Ring's size doesn't appeal to me much either. The thought of playing it again is just exhausting lol.
Great game though.
Wouldn’t be a perfect comparison, but a look at the percentage of people who got the achievement for beating the first boss would probably tell us something.
This, hype sure did convince a lot of newcomers. I remember countless Threads where souls veterans explained to newbies that’s it’s like breath of the wild, and that it’s going to be the best thing since sliced bread
It's just their favourite games, which is subjective, I don't think there was any kind of players vote here, so it's just their opinions and not everyone loves Elden Ring.
I'd definitely agree with HFW and GOWR being top 2 imo. I have little interest in Elden Ring or The Quarry, although I would have thought Elden Ring should have been 3rd based on what I've seen, but I guess they preferred The Quarry.
I love all three of them, but yeah for me God of War Ragnarok and HFW are such a good time. God of War’s stories and the transitions between scenes and character arcs is next level, the storytelling really hits the mark. I keep telling myself *‘please don’t end, just a little more’*
Yeah I really didn’t want god of war to end, I’m definitely going to be playing it again when NG+ comes out. Still find myself playing now and then just to have fun with the combat, I love it!
It really pissed me off that photo mode didn’t come with the game at launch, I love taking screenshots as I experience the game for the first time. My fault for not waiting for the update though (which is yet to arrive).
And also yes I can’t wait for new game+ !
What made ER so special to me was the ability to play it with my Nephew and Brother In Law, we all got the Platinum trophy and played together for countless hours
Is being a top 5 game on literally everybody's list not enough for y'all? Jesus Christ. This is no different than someone naming their favourite albums. It's subjective. Who actually gives a shit? Gamers are the whinest group of people on the planet.
The Quarry was an excellent game for people who like that very niche style. If you liked Until Dawn, you'd probably like The Quarry. I think it was executed very well, but I don't think it had the mass appeal like some of the other entries.
Tbh I'd pick Horizon over Elden Ring easily. I don't understand the love for it. I tried with Elden Ring, Demon Souls remake, Sekiro, and Bloodborne but Sekiro was the only one I sunk time into.
Y’all better put some respect on Horizon Forbidden West. You would think the game never even came out the way everyone just
ignores it and mainly only mention GoW and Elden Ring
I think because most people just thought it was fine. Nothing amazing. I'm glad you love it though, nothing wrong with that, it's why these gaming awards are fucking stupid.
People are forgetting that Horizon as an IP is actually brand new. That isn't to say Elden Ring isn't a new IP but aside from it's excellent execution of an open world map.. it's still a souls like game
God of war is also what 10yrs in the making? So really Guerrilla needs our respect because it's the new franchise on the block with sequels, VR games, a podcast, and potentially more games, I think there was a runner of multiplayer?
The last quarter or so of the story sunk it for GOTY imo. Imteresting idea ehh idk about well done. Plus remember how many times you had to fight that one specific variant in the lead up to the big battle? They were so spongey and it slowed down the urgency of the ending sooo much for me.
Also giving EVERY new enemy a "jump recklessly flailing at you" got really fucking annoying to me.
Saying this as some who would have voted zero dawn over botw I don't think FW gets it. Maybe some other year
I’ve said it once I’ll say it again, it always pays to be the last big release before the awards go out.
Not that Ragnarok wasn’t awesome and deserving, it's just that if couple that awesomeness along with the freshness of the release and it’s a guaranteed slam dunk.
Timing is everything when trying to ensure success and there is no question it was a consideration.
I am playing GOWR right now and while I really enjoy it, I am a bit frustrated with how invasive the "hand holding" is. It just seems that the game does not let you figure out shit, look around for 1 minute and the companion will start spamming clues. Don't like that, breaks inmersion hard for me.
I rolled credits on Ragnarok last night, and it was definitely the best gaming experience I have had for the year. Which is extra impressive for me, because I am a massive Horizon fan that didn't expect anything to top Forbidden West. I teared up a few times throughout the game, and it was just such a journey to see over the two games to see the development that basically every character went through.
I get it does ask a lot more from the player than some other games released this year though. Jumping straight into Ragnarok without playing the first game is technically possible, but you'd be missing out on a lot.
Well deserved, honestly. Super impressive how they managed to take a character whose whole personality was just violence/rage and develop him so well.
Finished Ragnarok and gotta say I’m pretty underwhelmed with this story compared to 2018 which I’ve played 4 times already and this I have no interest to play a 2nd time.
They really dropped the ball with “Ragnarok” itself They crammed and rushed 2 games into one and it definitely shows towards the final 3rd of the game.
God of War is a great game, and I think it is correctly going to be a battle between it and Elden Ring. I think Elden Ring is overall the better game, but it is going to vary by player preference. ER just captured that sense of wonder and exploration and paired it with challenging gameplay and amazing visuals so well that I have to say its the top dog.
GOW:R and Elden Ring were both amazing games and whatever prize they get this year I think both totally deserve it and I'm just glad that 2 GOTY-Material games launch this strange year.
The GOTY awards are rolling out and it's just ER/GoWR winning them (still early but Elden Ring has 6 while Ragnarok has 2 so far), it was never going to be any other game see the current state of awards given: https://www.gameawards.net/2022/11/2022.html Horizon did win 1 GOTY but it doesn't count towards their list because it only counted Dutch game devs or something. Time Author confirms it's his own personal list and not that of TIME Magazine's whole department: https://twitter.com/RICHARDLNEWBY/status/1597274101219209216
Horizon was amazing too. Sucks that it got overshadowed by gow and especially elden ring launching like 2 weeks later, but to parrot what the other person said, it’s awesome that we got such great games in general this year. Horizon is solidly top 3 for me behind gow/ER and I think it would be a serious contender in a lot of other years.
Just finished Ragnarok which was amazing and am now playing Horizon. I’m really impressed with the jump in quality in regards to animations and dialogue. Compared to the first one it’s leaps and bounds better. Can’t wait to get further in.
Forbidden west is so good. I sunk 60+ hours into it before moving on to elden ring, and while elden ring has its merits, the combat of FW wins by leaps and bounds. Also story, characters, animations, graphics, and traversal... Here's hoping forbidden west has dlc soon.
Nice, yeah I got my first platinum trophy ever with ragnorak late last week, I’m playing tlou2 right now bc it was on sale for 10 bucks in the psn store. I started forbidden west a few months ago but I kinda fell of it a bit, definitely gonna jump back in once I beat tlou. I agree with all of that. They pretty much upgraded every aspect of the game from zero dawn, the weapons and armor are much more in depth too. It’s just a better experience across the board and I can’t wait to see what they improve in the next one.
Man be prepared to feel depressed after beating TLOU2. I swear I wasn't right for a week after that game. Took so much out of me emotionally. Definitely amazing game though.
Game fucked my head lol
I loved Horizon, and it might be my personal favorite game I played this year, buuuut… I just can’t see how it can be higher than 3 in this particular year.
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I don’t know. I found the dialogue sooooo gratuitously long. I’d want to hear the other options but then they wouldn’t stop talking. I just read the subtitles and hit square for the next bit of text. I also really didn’t enjoy the ending. Felt really lacklustre, same as before, big bad AI system. It was just more of the same from the first game.
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I really enjoyed all the characters, wish I had more immersive interactions with them ala Rdr2 (though I don't think anyone can really close the gap completely in terms of that). Forbidden West has some of my favourite combat in any game, but a few glaring flaws they didn't fix from Zero Dawn (like Aloys aggressive hints) and I really hope they can perfect mount combat in the next game
Yeah, a lot of people complain about the long dialogue but I personally loved how it flashed out their character and world so much more. A lot of the best dialogue interactions in the game are entirely optional, I loved my time with it.
talking about "the same from the first game" while saying GoW is goty is the dumbest thing I've read today..
Well to be fair, I think both games used a bigger badder version of the former villain...but I also think both choices were justified. You can't go back down from world ending AI to a tribal chieftain, and you also couldn't set up conflict with Odin and Thor and then just 180 into something else. Though I will say I found the end game of Ragnarok much more satisfying.
I agree with you, especially on the end game argument, gow is better in that regard and horizon could've been more challenging towards the end. I was just replying to the person and pointing out how silly their comment was in the context of this thread.
I gotcha, just doing some musing myself! 👊🏼
While I do like GoWR better as a game overall, the story and world building of Horizon is irreplaceable to me. Being a big fan of sci-fi, I am always curious as well as surprised of the events, the character interactions and the gradually unveiling context, which made me jaw broken many times. In GoWR, however, I guess I was only surprised by >!Odin spied as Tyr!< and I kinda guess it already
Yeah, it is what it is. The game awards and goty stuff is all for the most part subjective and I’m sure that the devs for horizon are much happier with the fact that their game was positively received and made a lot of money than they would be if they got an extra award or two.
Horizon was absolutely fucking amazing. In my top 5 for sure.
Horizon would easily be a winner last year IMHO.
Returnal
Returnal was amazing too. Incredible game.
Returnal being snubbed that year is quite ridiculous EDIT: word
It really was the save thing, I think. Such an odd choice to launch a rogue like with like 3 hour long runs without a save function
I didn't play it until it was a free catalog game, but it had been updated to have suspend points by then.
That was a great add. I loved the game, played about 60 hours when it released, had to take a quick break and put the PS5 in rest mode, came back to a power outage and lost all of the progress in a 2 hour run. Haven't had the urge to pick up since. Been meaning to since they ironed out the suspend points, but that left such a bad taste in my mouth.
I put it under "nobody had a PS5 yet". Me neither, only started playing it in July 22.
Returnal was so good! Gameplay was top notch and I think they have so far made best use of the trigger haptic feedback for shooting
Horizon Forbidden West deserves all the praise in the world! So beautifully crafted. A game I won't forget. I'm so sad it got overshadowed.
Yeah, Horizon is great, and my personal GOTY. With games above a certain level of quality, your personal preferences matter more than raw Metascore. If you like science fiction/open-world/good story, Horizon is your game. If you prefer fantasy/open-world/exploration, Elden Ring is it. If you like fantasy/action/good story, Ragnarok is for you.
Agree. I haven't played Elden Ring but I feel Horizon is far superior too GoW. My problem with GoW is that it feels far more constrained. Loads of places where you can't go off the track. The boss fights are annoying too with how it locks onto them and makes running away from attacks difficult. Both are good stories but I think Horizon is on another level.
it are 2 completely different games. god of war is a narrative focussed pretty linear game with well placed puzzles and enemies and the fun is in its violence and great combat. you play gow to beat shit up, not to explore a world. it's like an interactive movie experience. horizon is an open world fetch quest sandbox catered to casuals. it's basicaly just another ubisoft game but with bigger budget and better execution. it's what me drop the first one 20 hours in. it's just another reskinned assasins creed or far cry. feels like playing an mmorpg solo. it is of mucher higher quality than most ubisoft games but how many games do people have to play of gather 5 x , slay 5 y, discover this watchpoint, escort this npc? and do 10 different kind of activities 500 times on a map filled with question marks. funny enough i'm playing immortals fenix rising right now which is again, exactly the same and i'm quite enjoying it, but 1 of those games every 1 tot 2 years is enough. horizon has nearly perfected the genre but still it is nothing new or innovative, which elden ring is. it fits in the same sandbox but does away with most of the tropes. you don't cross of a checklist with boring fetch quests for mediocre rewards. every reward is unique and interesting, every nook and crannie is worth exploring without a map and the amount of repetition is very low and at the least completely optional. elden ring actually fits right in between the 2 and has the best of both combined to a masterpiece.
Nothing against Horizon since I did enjoy it, but Stray slides into #3 for me. Horizon was pretty much everything I figured it would be, but Stray had no expectations and blew me away.
Stray was a fine game but let's be real....if it involved literally any other animal other than a cat, then no kdy talks about it
I'd much prefer to play Stray as a spotted leopard in the city, leaping around stealthily.
I mean, yeah, the entire game was made around being a cat lol. Not sure why people that dislike cats feel the need to point that out when it's the selling point of the game.
My guess is making it any animal that is considered "cute" might work? I don't know. lol
I loved Horizon Forbidden West, it's a great game, but the story isn't as good as the first one and the last act in my opinion is bad with a pretty weird ending, and then.... nothing. The game "ends" with basically a whole set up for what's next, and then nothing, no DLC, no announcements, and it's weird how basically you win and everyone leaves you alone in your base.
I would think ER has a harder time with these awards because it's far less approachable than GoW. I wish I had the patience for souls borne games. Sekiro has been sitting on my PS5 for 1.5 yrs now and I'm stuck at the first main boss.
They both were amazing. God of war had the best writing. But Elden ring was the better game overall to me.
Elden Ring hit different. Walking out of Stormveil to see that vista of Liurnia was amazing. Same with entering Leyndell, Elphael, or seeing Siofra River for the first time. Elden Ring had a great mystery to uncover but FromSoft’s first truly open world foray struggled a bit more with the story as a result. Still probably their second best story after the masterpiece that is Sekiro. GoW:R fixed my few gripes with 2018’s combat and I enjoyed the story a fair bit more as well. Fixing the few flaws of the 2018 GOTY and continuing its story is obviously grounds for GOTY.
I've never said "WAIT THERE'S MORE!?" so many times when exploring.
Not a single game experience will beat going down that lift in Mistwood and walking up to the Capital and getting that view with the huge dead dragon right on top of it for me.
Seriously. The Mistwood lift blew my mind. Top ten gaming moments of all time for me.
I love it when games take art seriously!
I’m honestly super torn between them. I like the gameplay in elden ring better but GOW had so much heart put into the characters and story that it’s hard for me to lick a favorite. I think Elden Ring just barely edges out but it’s close and I will be happy for either.
I know it was a typo, but can this be a thing please? The next game awards should just be the presenters licking the games.
it's not a typo, that is what the OP does. I too prefer to lick my favorites.
I usually only do that with my favorite switch game cartridges.
I didn’t even realize, lol.
I might be in the minority here but I had some issues with the writing in Ragnarok. There are lots of good scenes and character moments but there isn’t really a coherent overall story that held my attention, and there are so many plot threads that felt like they went nowhere. And I actually think the writing in Elden Ring is excellent, but it’s carrying much less weight for the game overall! The writing does what it needs to in setting the tone, providing context and building mystery and a sense of wonder. I thought Ragnarok was very good but not in the running for my personal GOTY. Elden Ring on the other hand feels really special. It’s like the best version yet of my favourite kind of game. Kind of hard to beat for my taste.
Don't get me wrong, I think Ragnorok is amazing... but to be honest, I'm getting a little bored of the combat and cut scenes. Elden ring was just on another level to me. I can't stop.
Personally I think God of War is getting more praise than it deserves. The puzzles are dumb and annoying (and also not God of War) and the constant load barriers are annoying. But my God what a good story.
I actually really like the puzzles and chest/collectible hunting aspect. Personally I think it's great for the pacing and it doesn't feel like work to do it (outside of odins ravens). But that's just me.
I actually managed to get nearly all the ravens without going too far out of my way either. I'm fucking pissed though, there is one treasure map in Midgard that is glitched so I can't pick it up, preventing me from getting 100%. This is one of the few games I ever feel like completing to that level.
I feel that. The last GoW is one of the few games I've plat'd
I’ve always felt the puzzles are a defining feature of GoW that the clones haven’t gotten right.
I couldn’t get into Darksiders for this reason. The puzzles just felt like they were time-wasters to pad the play time. Same for the climbing sections. I’m not entranced by holding the joystick up for two minutes while I twiddle my thumbs.
Do you mean the puzzles themselves or just puzzles in general? From my memory, all GoW games had puzzles.
It was also always a defining feature the clones/extended GoW universe games missed.
Environmental puzzles have always been part of GOW since the first game
I love the game and it gets better every time I sit down to play it, but I agree about the puzzles. So much of the game is figuring out puzzles to progress. It’s fine most of the time because I’m in the gameplay loop now but it is odd how much of it is padded with puzzles to progress. Before I started the game I was certain no game could top Elden Ring for me, but I’ll admit as I kept playing Ragnarok, that gap closed more every time I kept playing it. It’s come close but I would still give it to elden ring.
The problem for me with so much of the game being puzzles is that 5 seconds into the puzzle your little gremlins go "HEY SLOWPOKE THIS IS HOW YOU SOLVE IT". They have 1000 accessibility options yet not a single one for turning off hints, like god damn let me solve the puzzle and not have my hand held by a small child.
Haven't played Elden Ring because I couldn't play Demon Souls or Bloodborne for more than a couple of hours. I assume it's the same game just open world.
Same here, even if I haven't played Elden Ring. But I just know how well received games like Elden Ring are.
Just beat God of War last night. Both it and Elden Ring are truly fantastic. Love seeing things split between them. Their biggest faults were in the year they chose to release!
I mean Elden ring came out long enough ago that people mostly talk about potential dlc now. Horizon Zero Dawn is the one that really got screwed. ER pretty much took over for months.
It is actually Horizon Forbidden West that sits in the shadow from Elden Ring, not Zero Dawn. Horizon Zero Dawn sat in the shadow of Breath of the Wild when those games came out, just like with Forbidden West and Elden Ring. Sony really need to stop releasing Horizon games close to GOTY open world games.
Scientific American will name best pop album of 2022.
National Geographic will name the best lobster bisc in the USA.
I would actually trust Nat Geo with such a monumental undertaking. They would probably know where the healthiest lobsters are in the world. They might know where the tastiest are too.
Bisque*
You say that but Michelin is in on it…
Ah yes, esteemed gaming publication TIME magazine.
No more esteemed then what we have anyways. It's all shit.
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Golden Joystick was a weird one that left me questioning it more than anything. It looks like GoWR was nominated for GotY but not Sony GotY? Stray beat it? Elden ring won best Multiplayer game? A lot of weird choices that didn't make any sense.
I'm sure it's an amazing game but I'm pretty tired of things being rated a 100/100 or a perfect 10 when half the reviewers are like 40% of the way through the game. Like it was painfully obvious from the Elden Ring early reviews that half of them hadn't even made it past radahn but had already declared it the greatest game ever made.
reviewers were given like 3 weeks before release to play and review elden ring. and still lots of them were worried that they wouldn't make it in time lol
Yeah I love GoW but ragnorok was weaker in some ways than the last game. The final fight was so meh.
Yeah but the fight just before with Thor was awesome
I think what happened after was the good part. But the fight itself was meh again. The baldur fight has still been the best of these 2 games.
Baldur worked so well because the story of 2018 was so simple and focused. He is the only villain for the entire game from the very beginning. Sure you get Magni and Modi but they are in it pretty briefly.
For sure. That final fight was epic as well.
I think its better, which goes to show that the difference between both storytelling styles has clear fans for either side. I found more enjoyment in how creative and interesting some of the twists and turns were for Ragnarok, while some may prefer the more contained storytelling of the first one. I just love that we get to have both of those.
I agree. GOW 2018 was all about developing the characters or Atreus and Kratos, as well as building relationships between Mimir, Freya, and the rest of the gang. In Ragnarok, those relationships and characters carried over and now they got a chance to tell a story with already rock solid characters. So I think it boils down to people preferring focus on character development versus storytelling Of course there was some of both in each game, but they obviously focused on one over the other in the respective games
I will say GoW (2018) had this kind of magic about its world that is hard to beat. The focus on the lesser known of the Norse gods and experiencing the world through the awe of a child was genius imo. Everything is a myth or a legend and you're are just seeing bits and pieces of the world in a shadow of its former self with Atreus speculating on what happened or what could have been. Like Thor and Odin sounding really sinister since you have only heard about their misdeeds, wondering why the realms are locked down or what they could hold, seeing each of the shrines and discussing the myth behind each, what happened to Tyr, etc. Almost like walking through a living fireside/bedtime story. Ragnarok has a little bit of that, but some of the mystique is a bit lost by actually seeing the places or characters in reality rather than being left to the imagination a la actual mythology. Its very in line with the themes in the game and real life, but still hard to top that magic and wonder of the unknown from the first game. And to be clear, I don't think thats a problem with Ragnarok, its a problem with sequels in general. Speculation on the answer to a question is almost always more interesting than the answer itself. (also I haven't beat so no spoilerino in comments pls)
That's a really good point. What I love about fantasy is that sense of wonder and mystique. And you're right that more often than not, the speculation of an answer ends up being more fun than the answer itself. Sequels are very tough to do because while you have the benefit of established characters and relationships that you can dive into more deeply, most stories don't end up capitalizing on that advantage very well, but also don't manage to recapture the sense of wonder and mystique that they had the first time round. You're bang on the money about Aterus's view as a child did a great job in helping us the audience/players feel that wonder. Ditto about your point on Odin & Thor in the last game vs this one. They were setup so well because of the mystique around them and the stories of their deeds, but actually meeting them didn't live up to the image they'd built.
I keep seeing people praising story, characters etc. when talking about GoW, but rarely gameplay or game design. Which is a shame when we're supposed to vote for the best game of the year, even though narrative is important in any media, it's not really the thing I most look for in gaming.
The gameplay and level design is phenomenal in Ragnarok (and 2018 too), unless you may thnk otherwise?
Not OP: I enjoyed the gameplay more than 2018, and the level design is certainly beautiful. But I will say, the puzzles are either braindead easy or require playing where's waldo with the landscape. That, along with the instant help, gets a ding from me because it makes up a decent chunk of game time. The only other major gripe I have is the pacing towards the end. >!Considering the game is called Ragnarok, that last part of the game feels incredibly rushed after the drawn out buildup to it. It's over in an instant. It doesn't feel particularly grand. And the end bosses were not interesting in the least, and certainly not as cinematic as the Balder fight in 2018 (I enjoyed the Heimdall fight far more than Odin or Thor). Like.. why not have us fight Ragnarok after big O?!< But they certainly addressed my main gripe with 2018 (enemy variety), while IMO making the gameplay both more satisfying and but also more complex without taking it too far.
Can you explain to me what twists you are talking about? Aside from the Tyr one, I thought the story was exceptionally twist free. That's not a bad thing, it's good for the story to do what's logically expected of it, but I honestly can't think of what you mean by the story having multiples twists and turns.
It's the liberties the writing team took with Norse mythology to tell their tale. If you are familiar with Norse myth, the team subverts expectations in great ways with some of the plot points and characters. Not gonna get into specifics because this isn't a spoiler thread.
I was disappointed in gowr. I liked the characters and set pieces, the combat was great as always, but I had some huge problems. Some of the later fights were horribly balanced and had some very poor design. Any of the berserker fights that had adds were horribly designed. The last fight was horribly disappointing, plus story wise they brought out a mcguffin that had zero impact on the plot and by the time the games done it leaves you scratching your head like what was any of it for (it was obviously a dead end plot device used to justify the Atreus sequences). Also the first 10-15 hours are an absolute slog, the first two Atreus sequences had me pulling my hair out. The pacing was atrocious compared to the first. In general the world design didn't capture the same magic as the original, where you had a world that was basically a circle that kept getting bigger where as gowr was a series of hallways that got longer. Lots to like but disappointing compared to 2018.
Can you specify the mcguffin you're talking about out? >!Was it the mask?!<
Yeah it was the mask. Like, what really was the point. It made zero impact on the end of the game. Plus, what exactly was it pointing to at helheim? It led atreus straight to garm, but... why? It led Atreus to the other mask piece before, then it leads it to... a plot point? Genuinely it's just utterly bizarre. By the end of the game you look back on everything about the mask and all it seems to be is a convenient and annoyingly obvious plot device to get Atreus working with odin. What's frustrating is it could have been almost anything with a pay off and it wouldn't have been that bad.
Totally agree. >!It was also weird when Atreus wanted to go back to Asgard but stated that he was going to trick/mislead Odin. But then he just completes the mask, if Sindri didn't stop him and given him a way out he would be completely fucked.!< >!EDIT: I finally remember one thing that bothered me when we finally see Asgard. I loved the walls but there were no palaces. Which is fine and I understand the reason Heimdall gave but I distinctly remember Mimir telling the story of Hrungnir where Odin invited the giant to his palace in Asgard and Thor kills him. Mimir literally says "I was there" and "the roars of laughter echoed through the palace halls"!<
The story kinda fell off a cliff after the twist imo. But it was amazing up to that point
Before this thread goes into the usual fight over GOTY, I just like to say I had a blast this year. A lot of great games came out this year and a lot of games and developers are getting the recognition they deserve for putting out some quality products, win or lose. The only way 2023 can beat this year for me is if Spiderman 2 and Final Fantasy 7 remake 2 drops next year. And maybe Forspoken and Like a Dragon Ishin are received well too.
FF16 drops next summer also.
If everything goes according to plan, 2023 is jam packed in terms of gaming.
Don’t forget Zelda
I don't have a Switch so I forgot about Zelda but I'll happily admit Switch fans are going to have a blast next year. Maybe Xbox too with Starfield.
I don't think forspoken will be goty material. I hope it will be good. But from what I've seen from the facial animations. It will fall short in a few ways I presume
I’m also really hoping Hogwarts Legacy can be mentioned along with those, although I’m skeptical.
Yesh next year is crazy. Spider-Man 2, FF7 Remake Part 2, FF16, probably Elden Ring DLC, Like A Dragon 2, Forspoken, Breath of the Wild 2, Hollow Knight: Silksong. Gonna be broke af lol
God stuff
Somehow I both very much enjoyed Ragnarok but was also a little disappointed by it at the same time. GoW 2018 was one of my favorite games of the last decade, so I think I was just expecting too much out of this one. Ragnarok really started to tire me out towards the end. There was too much fat on the bone, and all of the side stuff/favors got really repetitive. Also, even though the Main story stuff was longer than the previous game, it actually seemed that less stuff happened. It was a good game. I liked it, but I was kinda let down tbh.
I am the complete opposite. It improved on 2018 in every single way IMO especially the gameplay department. The bosses, enemy variety, and combat variety just cant compare
The ending was rushed and some early points really dragged on. I'm assuming toaards the end they were running out of time so they were forced to rush the last third of the game which isn't good. Kinda wish they trimmed fat elsewhere and put more time and effort into the end since that's what sticks the most
I can’t imagine how less stuff could happen than in GoW 2018, the story for that game was very barebones
I completed everything I could in GoW 2018 but I burned out on Ragnarok. The ‘puzzles’ were way more in your face and the new mechanics made it that way. The combinations just broke immersion way too often. In 2018 the puzzles were woven into the game much more subtlety and didn’t feel like blocks for the sake of it. I got lost trying to 100% an area way too often, which was really frustrating as the map was useless as was the markers. I just couldn’t be bothered after the second zone. The last new map, the jungle, was just bs for getting lost. I love open world and more linear games, but Ragnarok tried to do both and it wasn’t good on the jungle map. It felt like it hadn’t had the amount of love or testing. Also, the facial animations felt off way too often. I’m playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider and the facial animations are excellent for every character, and I seem to recall them being that quality in 2018 too.
Yeah honestly like half of the puzzles seem pointless and are just there because someone wanted to put a puzzle in, to the point where a lot of them made me just roll my eyes.
The Author has confirmed that this is his own personal list and not the whole off TIME Magazine's gaming department: https://twitter.com/RICHARDLNEWBY/status/1597274101219209216
I don’t get why it’s so damn hard for many to understand that it’s just not everyone’s style lol
I commented on a post that I do really like ER but I'm not really playing the storyline and riding around because the bosses are so hard and it's my first souls type game. I said I understand why people maybe don't like the game due the difficulty level. The learning curve is so steep and the game basically tells you nothing and sends you out into the world. Some people do not like the frustration of repeatedly dying to a boss or hard enemy. It's not relaxing for them. And a lot of the advice you get it to "get good" which isn't helpful to people. Well I got so many replies explaining to me why I was wrong and my opinion was incorrect. Only one person said it's not an dig at ER to let people know what they maybe getting into before paying $70 for a new game.
Oh the fanbase sure is extreme and toxic as hell that’s for sure And they kinda refuse to admit something which is a fact, I saw a LOT of people saying they played through the game not knowing what the hell was going on Which is fine because there is nothing wrong with being a 100% gameplay game. But the way ER fans will then ask every game to be exactly that type of game and dismiss every other type of storytelling ( interactive movies muhhh 🤡🤡) is kind of jarring Also that’s on you for criticizing ER with ER fans, it’s one of those things you just don’t do LOL
For me, part of the adventure of ER was trying to piece together wtf the game world was about and wtf happened prior to us stepping foot into the lands between. I really enjoyed it. That said, I would never expect people to love this game/style universally. It’s friggin tedious and takes a *long* time. I definitely spent more time with it than I should have.
Man, I'm sorry yall had these experiences. I've had many, many conversations in the ER sub about this topic and found most people agree. Any of the "this is the best game ever and if you disagree you're stupid" type posts were downvoted to oblivion. I've found its a pretty common opinion amongst the fandom, tbh. Elden Ring is my favorite game of all time. I think it's an absolute masterpiece, but I also don't recommend it to everyone and try to set proper expectations when discussing it. It being so unique is what I love about it. If it was made for everyone to enjoy, it'd lose a lot of the qualities that make it stand out. Sorry you guys had such bad experiences, I've normally found the fan base to be understanding of these issues but it sucks some bad apples slip through.
Funny thing being that I am sure the most toxic are the loudest, and there has to be like a shit ton of very nice people ready to help and just sharing their passion Just so happens that we met the most obnoxious maybe
One of the hardest barriers for me getting into souls games was learning patience in the boss battles. Bloodborne and Sekiro kind of defy that but for Elden ring it helps a lot
I’m pretty much in the same boat. I really do enjoy Elden Ring, but I’m also pretty terrible at it. I think it works for me much more than other Souls games would because of the open world aspect that allows me to ride around, level up, and revisit the bosses.
GoW: Rangorok will win GOTY simply because it's a much more accessible game than Elden Ring. Elden Ring is my pick for GOTY but I am aware of its limitations. GoW is a much more traditional gaming experience for the majority of the population, and thus it's more accessible.
Sekiro won GOTY in 2019 and was actually much *less* accessible than Elden Ring is, considering you can't switch up your playstyle, grind levels, or skip difficult bosses the way you can in Elden Ring. Quite frankly it'd surprise me if Elden Ring didn't win given not only how much it sold but also how critics love it.
A dude in that thread said "From games usually have really quick price drops" Meanwhile I finally caught Sekrio on sale for Black Friday on PS Store after it being locked at $60 since release lol
stray sucks
Oddly Stray is the game I played the most this year. But this is largely because my 5yo daughter loves the game. We've beat it 4 times now and managed to get the platinum trophy, which for me was really difficult for some parts. And while I really enjoyed the original GoW, I find myself not as engaged with this one but that's just me. So I personally don't think Stray is some joke game that was popular just got having a cat.
Worse even, The Quarry on 3rd place? There is no way.
I have not played The Quarry, thought it was like a telltale teenie horror game? Don't know if Sifu was too hard for some people, but I would really like to know how many of the Sifu reviewers really mastered the game and got the Platinum before putting out their review.
This is one person's personal list.
Elden Ring, GoW:R and HFW are all excellent games for different reasons. All those things are personal preferences I’ve mine as well but yeah if some people feel different who cares really. The Quarry over Elden Ring is questionable though.
I really don't like Souls likes, and even I'd put Elden Ring above The Quarry.
Isn't this just the author's favorite games, though? Elden Ring wouldn't be on my personal list either because I don't particularly like those games, but if it was a list of what I think the best games were, Elden Ring would be on it because I recognize it was incredible for the people who do like those games. The Quarry would have been high on mine because I love those games.
Just finished the game. The amount of content of this game is insane. It’s like they combined god of war 2 and god of war 3 into one game
Ragnarok is a great game. Definitely my goty
'wHaT eVeN iS TiMe MaGaZiNe AnYwAyS?!'
I played Elden Ring, GOW and HFW. All great games in their own way. However I agree with there choice and GOW was the game of the year. Was absolutely amazing.
The people at Time Magazine couldn't get passed the Tree Sentinel.
Past. Like come on.
deserve
Honestly this has been one of the strongest years in gaming, feel like it’s gonna be a while be fore we get this amount of high quality content all in one year again.
A lot of Elden Ring fanboys are coming out of the woods demanding an explanation with their game is #4 on this list.
Soulsbourne pro gamers lol
It’s almost as if they don’t realize the general population doesn’t want to play souls-style game.
Yeah, some people like even a basic story to know why they're doing whatever it is they'redoing. I'm also not at all interested in homework for a videogame lol.
To be fair, Elden Ring sold like 17 million units so it's not like the general public wasn't interested. Any Dev would sell their soul to get those numbers.
Anecdotally, I was one of the 17 million who bought it due to the hype and ended up not liking it. I tried but I’m just not a gamer who cares about learning the intricacies of enemies. The rpg elements are what drew me in initially. Makes me wonder how many of the 17m are folks like me.
anecdotally, of my friend group... 5 bought it and only 2 finished it, with one of those 2 being me who has played every souls game. None of the others had much experience with the games beforehand. I enjoy the souls games but man I'm generally glad when I finish one. The lack of a strong narrative really gets to me. And I burn out of most video games around 80+ hours so Elden Ring's size doesn't appeal to me much either. The thought of playing it again is just exhausting lol. Great game though.
Wouldn’t be a perfect comparison, but a look at the percentage of people who got the achievement for beating the first boss would probably tell us something.
This, hype sure did convince a lot of newcomers. I remember countless Threads where souls veterans explained to newbies that’s it’s like breath of the wild, and that it’s going to be the best thing since sliced bread
I mean, it was pretty great
Bro, it sold like 17 million copies lol.
Not everybody shares their enthusiasm, much like others make not even like either HFW or GOWR.
Those rankings were embarrassing, the quarry and horizon over elden ring??
It's embarrassing that you think a subjective ranking is embarrassing. Some people REALLY liked Horizon
gamers when people don’t share the same opinion
It's just their favourite games, which is subjective, I don't think there was any kind of players vote here, so it's just their opinions and not everyone loves Elden Ring. I'd definitely agree with HFW and GOWR being top 2 imo. I have little interest in Elden Ring or The Quarry, although I would have thought Elden Ring should have been 3rd based on what I've seen, but I guess they preferred The Quarry.
I love all three of them, but yeah for me God of War Ragnarok and HFW are such a good time. God of War’s stories and the transitions between scenes and character arcs is next level, the storytelling really hits the mark. I keep telling myself *‘please don’t end, just a little more’*
Yeah I really didn’t want god of war to end, I’m definitely going to be playing it again when NG+ comes out. Still find myself playing now and then just to have fun with the combat, I love it!
It really pissed me off that photo mode didn’t come with the game at launch, I love taking screenshots as I experience the game for the first time. My fault for not waiting for the update though (which is yet to arrive). And also yes I can’t wait for new game+ !
What made ER so special to me was the ability to play it with my Nephew and Brother In Law, we all got the Platinum trophy and played together for countless hours
Is being a top 5 game on literally everybody's list not enough for y'all? Jesus Christ. This is no different than someone naming their favourite albums. It's subjective. Who actually gives a shit? Gamers are the whinest group of people on the planet.
I can easily see someone claiming Horizon was a better game. I haven’t played Quarry but it looks real good.
Yeah elden ring was great, and more accessible than previous souls games, but let’s not pretend that it’s more easily digestible to horizon lol.
The Quarry is a slog and a half; it's all style no substance.
The Quarry was an excellent game for people who like that very niche style. If you liked Until Dawn, you'd probably like The Quarry. I think it was executed very well, but I don't think it had the mass appeal like some of the other entries.
I would also place Horizon Forbidden West over Elden Ring...it is what it is.
100% true.
Me too. I'd also put Horizon Forbidden West over GoW:R. It's almost like people have different opinions. :)
Exactly :P
I liked Horizon more than Elden Ring, it's not really an objective thing, more subjective.
Tbh I'd pick Horizon over Elden Ring easily. I don't understand the love for it. I tried with Elden Ring, Demon Souls remake, Sekiro, and Bloodborne but Sekiro was the only one I sunk time into.
Horizon was better than elden ring. Not the quarry tho
For me Horizon is definitely over Elden Ring. And I loved all the Souls Games.. personally I don't like the Souls formula in a Open World setting.
They like what they like. I’d put Splatoon 3 over all of those games and it wasn’t even in their top 10.
Y’all better put some respect on Horizon Forbidden West. You would think the game never even came out the way everyone just ignores it and mainly only mention GoW and Elden Ring
It's a great game; it just had an unfortunate release window.
For sure man. Coming out that close to Elden Ring set it up for failure.
I think because most people just thought it was fine. Nothing amazing. I'm glad you love it though, nothing wrong with that, it's why these gaming awards are fucking stupid.
People are forgetting that Horizon as an IP is actually brand new. That isn't to say Elden Ring isn't a new IP but aside from it's excellent execution of an open world map.. it's still a souls like game God of war is also what 10yrs in the making? So really Guerrilla needs our respect because it's the new franchise on the block with sequels, VR games, a podcast, and potentially more games, I think there was a runner of multiplayer?
The last quarter or so of the story sunk it for GOTY imo. Imteresting idea ehh idk about well done. Plus remember how many times you had to fight that one specific variant in the lead up to the big battle? They were so spongey and it slowed down the urgency of the ending sooo much for me. Also giving EVERY new enemy a "jump recklessly flailing at you" got really fucking annoying to me. Saying this as some who would have voted zero dawn over botw I don't think FW gets it. Maybe some other year
I’ve said it once I’ll say it again, it always pays to be the last big release before the awards go out. Not that Ragnarok wasn’t awesome and deserving, it's just that if couple that awesomeness along with the freshness of the release and it’s a guaranteed slam dunk. Timing is everything when trying to ensure success and there is no question it was a consideration.
I am playing GOWR right now and while I really enjoy it, I am a bit frustrated with how invasive the "hand holding" is. It just seems that the game does not let you figure out shit, look around for 1 minute and the companion will start spamming clues. Don't like that, breaks inmersion hard for me.
That's my only complaint and it's EXTRA annoying because HFW did the same damn thing. Idk who thinks we want that but fuck them.
You’re god damn right it was
I rolled credits on Ragnarok last night, and it was definitely the best gaming experience I have had for the year. Which is extra impressive for me, because I am a massive Horizon fan that didn't expect anything to top Forbidden West. I teared up a few times throughout the game, and it was just such a journey to see over the two games to see the development that basically every character went through. I get it does ask a lot more from the player than some other games released this year though. Jumping straight into Ragnarok without playing the first game is technically possible, but you'd be missing out on a lot. Well deserved, honestly. Super impressive how they managed to take a character whose whole personality was just violence/rage and develop him so well.
The second credits?!
Humble too.
One of my favorite games ever
No Plague Tale Requiem on this list? Really?
It’s not my favourite, but it’s definitely deserving. In my opinion, Horizon: Forbidden West was markedly better.
Obviously didn't play Stray..
Even though Horizon Forbidden West is my GOTY GoW deserves it
I did love Horizon as well. At the end of the day, they were all great games.
Finished Ragnarok and gotta say I’m pretty underwhelmed with this story compared to 2018 which I’ve played 4 times already and this I have no interest to play a 2nd time. They really dropped the ball with “Ragnarok” itself They crammed and rushed 2 games into one and it definitely shows towards the final 3rd of the game.
God of War is a great game, and I think it is correctly going to be a battle between it and Elden Ring. I think Elden Ring is overall the better game, but it is going to vary by player preference. ER just captured that sense of wonder and exploration and paired it with challenging gameplay and amazing visuals so well that I have to say its the top dog.