Every year at Kotaku Australia we have game of the year awards. We have a reader voted Game of the Year and we have an Editor’s choice. Meaning: I usually make a very public Game of the Year choice.
This year? I’m absolutely dreading it.
It’s tough. It’s always tough. But this year might be the toughest yet.
I still remember the year I had to choose between Journey and Trials Evolution (I went with Trials Evolution). I remember choosing Luigi’s Mansion 2 one year instead of a steller 3DS Zelda game or Mario Kart 8.
In general it’s strange. Choosing a ‘Game of the Year’ means distilling 12 months of incredible experiences and saying this one — this is the one was the best. It means comparing weird disjointed experiences with traditional ones. It means weighing up completely disparate criteria and making some sort of decision about which was more important or which was more valuable. It can mean going with your gut. It can be about weighing up personal experiences with a more objective approach. It means juggling all this shit and then raising one video game over the others like Simba in The Lion King and saying…
THIS IS THE VIDEO GAME THAT IS THE BEST ONE OVER ALL.
Until this year, the choice I struggled with most was Trials Evolution over Journey.
In a lot of ways that choice, for me personally, perfectly embodied the absurdity of the ‘game of the year’ debate. In the red corner: Journey. Perhaps one of the most perfectly crafted video game experiences ever made. A unique experience. One you might point to if asked to justify gaming as a medium. “SEE! SEE VIDEO GAMES CAN SAY MEANINGFUL THINGS ABOUT STUFF!” If they gave Oscars to video games Journey would probably get a dozen.
In the blue corner: Trials Evolution. A game about fucking Motorbikes doing wacked out shit for no good reason. A game that I personally adored, a perfectly balanced example of brilliant level design. By all definitions of the word a very ‘video gamey’ video game.
NOW CHOOSE! CHOOSE BETWEEN THESE TWO DISPARATE EXPERIENCES.
On that occasion I went with my gut. I enjoyed Trials Evolution the most. It brought me the most ‘pleasure’. On some level it taught me more about myself and my ability to endure than Journey did despite the fact its thematic content amounts to nothing more than “motorbikes are fucking awesome, right guys?”
Laboured point being: what is the criteria for this stuff? Should there even be criteria? How are we defining these defining experiences? What is even the point of it all?
It’s a question that’s front of mind for me as Game of the Year season approaches.
I’ll level with you, here are some of the games that are in the ‘Game of the Year’ discussion for me:
— Bloodborne
— Her Story
— Rocket League
— Metal Gear Solid V
— Mario Maker
— Okay, let’s also say for argument’s sake that Fallout 4 makes this list because it probably will.
Seriously. Look at that list. We have a video game about cars playing soccer competing with a video game about making Super Mario Bros. levels. They’re both competing with a video game in Her Story where you literally type in search terms and watch videos. That’s it!
How does one go about defining the terms for that comparison?
Just go with the old gut instinct? Probably. That’s what I’ve been doing for the past three or four years and it’s worked for me. It’s allowed me to highlight some of the stranger games that I’ve enjoyed, and that’s a nice byproduct, but I’m really just trying to be honest with myself and with you. I chose Skyrim when it was the consensus choice among critics and I’ve chosen Luigi’s Mansion 2 when no-one else was even close to picking it. I chose both games with a real sincerity: those the games I enjoyed most on those particular years.
But 2015? I feel as though this is going to be the most difficult choice yet. Metal Gear Solid V was sprawling, ambitious, yet flawed. Rocket League was surprising, ingenious and incredibly fun moment-to-moment. Her Story was dazzlingly original. Bloodborne was a brilliantly distilled experience and a feat of universe building. What do we value most? What do I value most? That’s a metric that is constantly shifting. It’s impossible to retain any sort of consistency there.
Bugger it. I’ll probably just choose Rocket League.
OR WILL I?
Comments
82 responses to “I’m Dreading Choosing A Game Of The Year For 2015”
ARK: SURVIVAL EVOLVED. Seriously. Content, gameplay, speed of production and value. The sheer scope of the game plus its vision. Easily game of the year. It may still be in alpha and need a bit of polish but it’s amazingly, highly playable in the current state its in and runs damn well now.
Oh and the fact it’s not a sequel and you can ride goddamn dinosaurs with automated turrets on their backs! 😀
Unfortunately it’s a persistent open world multiplayer with a griefing problem. I want to play it so badly, but I really don’t want to deal with the “other people” factor. Same thing that prevented me jumping into DayZ.
I don’t find the griefing an issue personally, that’s part of the game. Find a server, not one of the public ones, one of the private ones that encourages community. PVE servers are great to play on, and some set down rules such as ‘fighting is fine, but no base destroying and no passive dino killing’ for instance. DayZ and Ark aren’t truly comparable, DayZ while I love it, has *nothing* to do but scavenge. Ark has caving, taming, questing very soon, construction, tribal systems, levelling, a whole plethora in comparison.
Griefing was a problem on release but now there’s a stone tier which is relatively easy to tech to and get started with and it’s a bitch for people to pull down. Basically if people want to use explosives to get into your base, it will cost them a fortune in mats, and probably wont be worth it. Once you get metal going (which is REALLY easy now compared to release in which metal rocks looked like normal rocks and were rare as all heck) people will only grief you if they’re super super super rich. Coming from someone who was in a huge tribe of 60 that loved to grief, it got to the point where the reward never matched the cost so we had to stop. Looking forward to final release when all the servers are reset back to zero and coming back to pwn 😀
I couldn’t put ARK on the list considering it’s not finished, although I know not everyone in the industry holds the same view.
I totally agree with Alex – if it’s good enough to be “game of the year” then why hasn’t it been released?
That’s a little unfair: the developers never promised to release it in 2015 and they can’t control fans who really enjoy their product. Similarly it’s a bit unfair to dismiss someone if a game in Early Access is genuinely the thing they’ve enjoyed most this year (and that’s kind of why rules on GOTY stuff isn’t uniform because, well, it’s arbitrary to begin with).
To be up-front, it’s entirely more practical from where I sit to restrict it to things that have only seen a 1.0 release. But as a gamer I think it makes more sense anyway just because of the ways games can radically change from when they’re made available to the public to when they’re “released”. But again, that’s just my view.
Is it even in contention if it isn’t released?
Depends, define released? It’s available for purchase, it’s able to be played… I mean one can argue that a game with a season pass isn’t technically ‘complete’ until the season pass content is out either by rights.
True. I guess I would define released by how its sold. If they haven’t brought it out of early access I guess the devs/pubs don’t call it “released”.
Yeah and to be honest, I don’t consider them to be fully released either, not even DayZ which I love but is still so goddamn raw and unfinished (and to be honest, since Rocket left, looks like Bohemia has more or less abandoned it). But something about ARK is so damn polished and nice… lol
I’d figure “released” as version 1.0 of a game being publicly available for purchase. Then again, some never make it that far haha
Yeah I was gonna say “1.0”, but that hasn’t really applied for long time.
True that. Also, most games 1.0 release isn’t even ready half the time anyway *cough arkham knight PC cough*
Maybe it would make it easier to determine game of the year if you started doing game of the quarter, that way, the game of the quarter would be nominated for game of the year at the end so it would leave you with 4 choices, making it a little easier!
Except most game of the year choices are released in the first or fourth quarter, so you would likely end up with two fairly average games included and two better games excluded.
Bloodborne, Witcher 3 and MGSV for me so far. Already among those 3 it’s a tough choice.
I really love Bloodborne heaps. But at the same time i think of Witchers living world and epic storyline and i start feeling fond for that game. Yet when i think of simple run gun and be stealthy, MGSV hits my heart.
It’d be pretty easy for me if Fallout 4 lives up to the hype. I’ve enjoyed a lot new releases this year, but nothing has made me say “This is my game of the year right here”.
Um definitely bloodborne
My favourite at the moment (probably because I only finished it the other day) is Ori and the Blind Forest.
That game. It’s gorgeous, it plays ludicrously well, it has a nice story, and it’s fun.
But there are so many choices. I have loved so many games this year.
Personally I find it odd that people are driven by the urge to rate and rank games against each other for the purpose of some hypothetical victory. It’s redundant. I mean, Mario kart vs bloodborne? ?? Completely different games. It’s not a competition.
I agree it really isn’t a competition, Bloodborne is miles better than Mario Kart.
For me it’s The Witcher 3, easily.
I don’t know, I think The Order 1886 gives it a run for its money!
Not really, Until Dawn should get it.
Free-hanging cocks> story> gameplay > graphics.
The Order wins hands down.
Yes
It’s certainly the front runner.
Life is Strange for sure.
Hella yes!
Oh yes!
Can’t wait for Episode 5 on the 20th… or rather, I can, but I don’t wanna wait.
What, no Witcher 3 on that list? Arguably the best action RPG I’ve ever played (well certainly arguably the longest!). I just finished it. Loved it.
I like Witcher 3. It was a fantastic game, but for me it lacked that ‘wow’ factor.
Double yes
Surprised the list didn’t include Witcher 3 – that was seriously a very very good game, and I still pine for playing a hand of Gwent every now and then.
It’s good to see someone else enjoyed gwent. I only ever read people complaining about the gwent missions, while I based my Witcher experience around gwent. I played for 200 hours, enjoyed it but don’t think I go back again (which is the worst complaint ever). Would happily download a gwent game for my phone though
I’m going out on a limb and going to say Just Cause 3 is to be game of the year.
Remember guys, game of the year to one person may not be the same to someone else’s game of the year. It’s all about personal opinion and preference.
Of course it is. It’s all about my personal opinion and my preference that everyone share it. ^_-
So long as that opinion aligns with my own, I agree with you!
Otherwise I believe we need to shout down your opinion in favour of mine, which is inherently superior because… well. It is mine.
Bloodborne, still no contest. Got the Platinum, still playing. Doing Chalice Dungeons co-op is ridiculously fun; there is nothing this year that has come close to the feeling I get after toppling a boss with another player.
Witcher 3 cannot be beat in my books. Fallout 4 will have to absobloodymazing to topple it from number 1 and I don’t see it happening (for me) as I prefer the Witcher universe to the Fallout universe.
I’m sitting in your camp at the moment too, though W3 is also facing competition from MGS5 for me for its sheer gameplay brilliance. Fallout 4 is going to be tough, though I’m sure Bethesda will be gunning for that GOTY title. They’ll bring their top guns.
Put my vote down for Fallout 4 already
You’re all nucking futs. Shower with your Dad Simulator 2015 trumps almost anything on any of these lists.
This guy knows what’s up
Face it, if Serrels can get his hands on a vehicle in Fallout 4 and knock basketballs around the wasteland, that’ll be his GOTY.
Any choice that wasn’t Bloodborne would just feel so wrong. It had the most unique setting, fantastic soundtrack, level design, game mechanics, art direction, sound design… the list goes on. No other game comes at the top of the list in as many areas. This game might not be ‘fun’ but boy, oh boy, is it satisfying.
It’s obviously gotta be Splatoon.
Yaaaay! Someone also thinks splatoon!
There is a disturbing lack of Splatoon in this article and comments section.
Just Cause 3 will be out this year too, got a good feeling about that one.
The Witcher 3. Close thread now.
Hahahahaha. Told!
Pick a game on your list and imagine it never even existed… the one that gives you the most chills is your game.
for me it comes down to Witcher 3, Dying Light, Ark and MSGV. Im not going to put Fallout 4 or Just cause in to this because they wont of been out long enough to be fairy judged and i hate it when a game comes out late in the year and wins game of the year just because of hype
When in doubt, just choose Dark Souls….I mean, Rocket League.
Rocket League or Bloodborne. MGS5 and Witcher 3 missed the wow factor for me.
Seriously with the content of the game, the context of its development and the nature of its legacy: the only answer is Metal Gear Solid 5
It’s pretty simple.
The Witcher 3 is the game of the year.
Anything you see contrary to that is an imperfection in the lens through which you are viewing it.
At this stage Fallout 4 will have to be TRANSCENDENTLY good to topple Witcher 3 from the top spot, though admittedly I haven’t even started MGS5. I can’t… Too busy playing Hearts of Stone.
Seriously? No mention of Undertale? I finished it two weeks ago, and I still find myself contemplating it’s story, or missing it’s characters (like they were actual friends). I love Witcher, and I will probably love Fallout, but Undertale is my game of the year.
No way Her Story deserves to be on this list.
Yes it was an enjoyable 40-60 mins of my time, but it was hardly a game as it was just watch a bunch of random clips till the game decides to end.
To clarify, the reason that the Game of the Year is the Witcher 3 is not just because it was the most rich, deep, engaging and exhaustive title of the year, but because it proved that quality and financial success are not shackled to the aggressively anti-consumer policies of all the other players in the field. It was people working hard, and smart, and everyone involved – customers AND developers – getting a good result out of it. It was an ambitious project that was completed successfully.
It is not some flash-in-the-pan indie cinderella story subject to the whims of youtubers or ’emergent gameplay’ multiplayer fads – it was a solid, well-planned, well-implemented title which sold itself on the strength of its implementation.
Witcher 3 showed us that DRM isn’t necessary to have high sales.
Witcher 3 showed us that DLC can be free and fun.
Witcher 3 showed us that paid expansions can and should be meaty and worthwhile.
Witcher 3 showed us that open world games don’t need to copy-paste their tedious busywork to ‘fill up’ the world with ‘things to do’ that most people won’t who don’t care about achievements of trophies.
Witcher 3 showed us that it’s OK to tell a story about a character, and that the story will be stronger for it than if you have to account for the character being any possible combination of attributes of players’ self-insertion fantasies.
Witcher 3 showed us that no detail is too small to spend loving attention on it, and that players will notice even if you don’t call attention to it.
The Witcher 3 is the game of the year because it shows every other game how it should be done, and the direction that gaming should move in. Gaming will be amazing in future years if developers follow the lead of CDPR.
This so much.
Well said. So far it has left the biggest impact on me this year despite some of its flaws.
Well said.
You win “speech of the year”
That could get them a peoples choice developer of the year award but it doesn’t help the fact that I’m still going back to Bloodborne and Rocket League instead of finishing Witcher 3. Customer friendly business practices can improve the customer experience but won’t make a boring game good. On the other hand cash grab micro transaction filth from other companies does negatively affect my enjoyment of an otherwise solid game.
Well, it does help that Witcher 3 was also one of the most interesting, engaging, and enjoyable games of the year as well.
How much that was affected by their policies, who can tell… but the respect for gamers in terms of not having to shout out all their features and draw immersion-breaking attention to them was very welcome and probably a part of that ethos.
The developers clearly respect the gamer’s time and that attitude probably resulted in the best game of the year. 🙂
I like your arguments. Haven’t played it yet still, but definitely agree
It also showed us that you can have an interesting and engaging minigame (i.e. Gwent) while not requiring players to actually play it if they don’t want to.
I went through most of the Gwent quests (missed one, I think) but was very happy that my performance didn’t matter very much. I could have skipped them all without suffering unduly in the main quest or missing out on anything critical.
Compare with many games where the side game, for example, grants the best weapons or best gear (I’m looking at you, Final Fantasy games.)
In general, the way people are looking at open world games pre- and post- Witcher 3 is quite different. In particular, everybody is noticing and criticising busywork quests; it was the main criticism leveled at Mad Max.
Anyway, I agree that so far Witcher 3 is my GOTY, although there are some games coming up that I may wind up liking more. Particularly looking forward to Fallout 4 and Tales of Zestria. I’m also hanging out for Sword Art Online: Lost Song and Dungeon Travellers 2, but it’s pretty unlikely that I’ll regard them as GOTY material.
Currently it would easily be Bloodborne, but Fallout 4… And I forgot all about Just Cause 3.
Those are the 3 I think I will be choosing from. Ori & the Blind Forest would be up there too, and I am assuming Binding of Isaac Afterbirth.
#idarb
Mostly The Witcher though, it’s pretty spectacular.
I’m guessing that Fallout 4 will take the popular vote by the end of the year through, providing it’s as good as people hope it will be.
#idarb
Mostly The Witcher though, it’s pretty spectacular.
I’m guessing that Fallout 4 will take the popular vote by the end of the year through, providing it’s as good as people hope it will be.
The Witcher 3 is my current GOTY, but it’s gonna be interesting in about a months time when I finally get to see if Fallout 4 will take that title
Why not “GAMES OF THE YEAR”! Totally out of the box thinking!
Seriously, why do we even need one. So we can feel satisfied that our peers agree with our own feelings? or don’t agree so we can fill comments with rebuttal and justifications of our rightful choices?
How about a free flowing list of Games of importance in 2015.
Both your reasons are correct. That is exactly why we need one!
In this case, I believe Mark will prove himself to be a deeply-flawed reviewer of quality, if only because he still hasn’t mentioned the best game of the year and I do believe at some point earlier in the year posted a shameful article admitting that he was finding it hard to get into.
I do enjoy your militant pro-Witcher stance.
You forgot Until Dawn.
I’m going to do something weird here and say that GOTY 2015 is “video games”.
Seriously, this has been a fantastic year for gaming all over. We got big budget title sequels that stepped up and produced amazing products that weren’t completely buggy sub-par cash grab messes (Witcher 3, MGS V), a very decent number of random indie experiments that couldn’t have existed (or at least succeeded) even 5 years ago (Rapture, Undertale, The Beginners Guide, Ori, Her Story), games from not as well known developers hitting the big time in the best ways (rocket league), games in early access getting made thanks to the platform availability and fans believing (ARK), an E3 with an insane number of fantastic announcements across the board to look forward to (The Last Guardian, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Unravel), Nintendo trying out new things and nailing them (splatoon & Mario maker), the release of long awaited kickstarters that live up to backers expectations proving that crowdfunding can be wonderful for creators and consumers (pillars of eternity) and the year still isn’t even over!
Man, I love video games.
I think people will forget about Her Story very quickly. In a different year, it may have been a contender, it’s that unique. This year, the competition in the “gamey” games is just too strong quality wise.
Rocket League is my pick, but I suspect that’s because I haven’t had a chance to try MGSV.
@markserrels
If you wanted to correct your egregious error of the past, Journey was released on PS4 this year… y’know, if you wanted to fix that blatant cock up on your part.
Honestly, for me it’s Metal Gear Solid V, that game is just amazing. The freedom of being able to play how you want is great.
Witcher was kinda boring tbh
Star Wars Battlefront and Assassin’s Creed Syndicate are still on my potential GOTY list.
MGSV is easily in the lead though