Semantic Nonsense: My Game of the year?

Good evening, and welcome to the me edition of the Game Awards. Which for some reason is named after the medium, and not for the name of the award itself (e.g.: The Oscars, The Grammys, The Emmys, etc.)

Though I suppose it would be silly to compare The Game Awards to any Academy awards, given it’s a media vote rather than a vote by the creators themselves.

But anyway, which games will be taking home a The Kit Kat? Probably not many you are thinking of. I played few of this year’s games (16, a number bloated by doing the Apple Arcade reviews), and finished fewer (1 cleanly and 2 with asterisks). Indeed, things are going to get wacky, as I don’t have a complete picture of every game that’s going home a winner from my show.

So it’s a lot of weird choices do me. If I limit the award to games I beat, that leaves it to only Metroid Dread and two Apple Arcade games. And while I gladly spent plenty of time on Simon’s Cat Storytime, naming a smartphone puzzle game Game of the Year might be my hottest take of all time.

But, how do I judge the entirety of Mass Effect Legendary Edition when I’ve only played the first 3 hours or so of the first game in the trilogy and had no prior experience with the original releases? It was a typical Gamefly experience for me; rent a game and play it long enough to decide if I want to do more or not. The first Mass Effect, at least, was a “do more” in the sense that I decided I’d buy it eventually.

But you know I’m game for stretching things well beyond the breaking point, so before we get to the grand prize, I have a few other accolades to hand out to see how ridiculous things can get.

Innovation in Accessibility

Metroid Dread

Winner because I was able to watch the ending on YouTube after getting completely skunked by the final boss.

Best VR / AR

Star Trek Legends

Winner for showing me an alternate reality in which P2W gatcha games are played without money so I could learn they would still suck.

What do you mean the A in AR isn’t for alternate?

Best Community Support

Shin Megami Tensei V

Angela and Geoff have been talking a lot about this on our Discord’s #gaming_progress channel, something that’s not true about any of the other nominees.

Content Creator of the Year

Angela

My most-watched video game streamer and totally not nepotism.

Games for Impact

The Oregon Trail

On a more serious note, the Apple Arcade-exclusive remake of The Oregon Trail put a lot of work into depicting Native Ameircans of the era in numerous side stories showing how Manifest Destiny was affecting their lives. I’m not anywhere near an expert on the subject, so I’m not in a position to judge the historical accuracy of these depictions. But even if they got it wrong, they certainly aren’t whitewashing this history.

Best Narrative

Bravely Default II

Winning by default, if you will, mostly for being the only RPG from this year I’m more than 3 hours into (by about 20). The runner up was Simon’s Cat Storytime, which somehow was ALSO the runner up for Games for Impact category.

Best Indie

Loop Hero

I called an emergency afternoon stream to share this with you. It’s a shoo-in for best Indie. Loop Hero take a creative idea in that you aren’t so much playing as ther hero so much as the environment around the hero, and iterates on it just enough to keep you playing.

Best Sim/Strategy game

The Oregon Trail

Take a game I already like, then add a lovingly applied fresh coat of paint, a slew of new gameplay modes and more opportunities for consequential decision making, what’s not to love? Be looking forward to a stream of this once I get back on the wagon sometime in January, as my free trial of Apple Arcade won’t last much longer.

Best Multiplayer

Pac Man 99

I hate this game. It very much failed to recapture the magic of Tetris 99 or Super Mario 35. However, it’s also the only multiplayer game released this year that I actually played, so it gets to win this one. Ugh.

Best RPG

Bravely Default II

I’m about 25% through the game and I’m already ready to call it. The Bravely series already has two fantastic RPGs, and the latest game taking something just as good and really makes the whole experience feel much more extravagant.

Best Action Game

Mass Effect Legendary Edition

This is the only game I played this year in which I use a gun against an enemy, which I’m pretty sure is the sole defining characteristic of the genre as defined by The Game Awards.

Best Action/Adventure Game

Metroid Dread

This, on the other hand, is the name of the genre for AAA games in which you DON’T use a gun to attack enemies. Now I know what you’re thinking, “Doesn’t Samus have a gun?” No! Samus uses a cannon, like Mega Man.

Best Mobile Game

Simon’s Cat Storytime

The Game Awards does not use this as a substitute for best puzzle game, but damn it, I am.

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And now… the moment you’ve been waiting for… though I’m not the kind of awarder who would exclude a best of year from a best of category

Game of the Year

Bravely Default II

For all the reasons listed in its win for best RPG and more, Bravely Default II is my Game of the Year as well.