It’s here! We have finally reached Game of the Year season. As great as it is playing all of these awesome video games all year, debating and ranking them is almost as much fun.
This is part one of my Game Awards content this week. Tune in later in the week for my famous (in my own mind) fake betting odds for the ceremony.
Today’s post features more of my rapid fire reactions to the announcement of the nominees, as well as my biggest surprises. One thing I like is that there aren’t THAT many surprises here. My hot take is that I think The Game Awards actually does a pretty good job with its nominees. I disagree with plenty of selections, but when you look at what the most popular and most acclaimed games of the year are, they generally find homes in the awards where they should. I wish indie games had a little more potential to make it in more categories, but certain ones do find their way to major awards, much like Balatro did this year. In short, while The Game Awards are clearly inferior to the upcoming Big Nerd Gaming awards, they really don’t do a bad job when you consider the context around putting together something for a massive audience.
With that, here are my top 5 surprises from The Game Award nominee list. As well as one very unsurprising thing as a bonus.
5. 1000xResist Is Shut Out
I’m not as high on 1000xResist as others, but I’ve seen a lot of people hyping this up as the best game of the year and the best story of the year. I ended up predicting 1000xResist to make it to the Best Story category because of this, but I knew there was a chance I was being a touch ambitious. So when it did not make the category, I was not stunned.
From there, I did fully expect the game to make it to Best Indie. After all, it has an 89 on OpenCritic, and it isn’t some completely unknown game. When that didn’t make it, I was surprised. But when you look at all the games that got nominated, they all had equally high review scores, so it kind of made sense.
Then, when it got shut out of Best Debut Indie game as well, I was legitimately stunned. Far lower rated games got in for that category. I guess I thought the game had a bit more support than it did because the people who loved it are truly very loud about it, but it’s still really surprising that it didn’t land there or even in a category like “Games for Impact” that is often used to highlight indie narrative games.
4. Manor Lords Nets Two Nominations
This game was not on my radar whatsoever. I saw a few people on my social media feeds pick it up when it released, and none of them even seemed that hyped about it.
More importantly, Manor Lords is currently sitting at a 72 on OpenCritic. It’s also still in early access, according to Steam. How the hell did this happen?
It’d be one thing if the categories it got nominated to were absolutely barren. But Sim/Strategy did not have Satisfactory in it, which is currently sitting at a 91 on Opencritic. That is one of the highest rated games of the year. Manor Lords also got a nomination in the Best Debut Indie Game category, and there are at least two indie games I can list off the top of my head that had far better review scores and a decent amount of popular appeal as well (including 1000xResist). This game got nominated in categories that will probably just get announced on the pre-show. It also will not win anything, so I didn’t put it higher, but the more I look into Manor Lords, the odder it is that it made it to this point.
3. Black Myth: Wukong Gets A Game Of The Year Nomination
When I originally did my predictions, I didn’t even consider Black Myth: Wukong for one of the six spots. That is nothing against the game, but it is currently sitting at an 82 on OpenCritic. There are games close to that score that have been nominated before. Stray was nominated in 2022 with an OpenCritic of 83, but it’s generally rare.
Remember, the people who nominate these games are all the publications that make up these same OpenCritic/Metacritic scores. So a game like Black Myth: Wukong getting nominated is essentially a lot of these publications going against their own reviewers.
I did start to suspect Wukong had a chance in the day or two before the nominations were announced. Every single Game Awards tweet had people in the replies demanding that Wukong be nominated. I think there could be a mix of factors here. Clearly, there are people at a lot of these publications that liked the game more than the reviewers themselves did. I imagine the public outcry that would ensue if it didn’t make it was at least a small factor as well. When the people nominating understand that a colossal freak out will happen if a game doesn’t make it, I’m sure that plays at least a small part in the decision-making.
Thus, it is not a complete shock that Wukong made it. But I’ll still say it’s relatively surprising given how many much higher rated games it passed up to get here. All of the other nominees on the list are at least a 90 on Opencritic, and there are plenty of other 90s and 89s that Wukong passed up to get here.
2. Star Wars Outlaws Gets An Action/Adventure Nomination
I actually like Star Wars Outlaws a bit more than the critic consensus. The game sits at a 75 on Opencritic. I gave it an 8/10. So I’m no Star Wars Outlaws hater, but it seems crazy that it got into this pretty prestigious category given the critics own review scores.
Admittedly, when you start trying to find high profile action/adventure games after the other four that were nominated, the pickings get a bit slim. A lot of great games ended up in the RPG category this year instead, but by the critics own estimation, there were better options out there.
I understand that indie games aren’t going to get into every category. Popularity is almost as important as acclaim when it comes to The Game Awards. But they picked Outlaws over a game like Animal Well, which is at an 89 on Opencritic, and did get nominated for Best Indie. If they want a higher profile game, Rise of the Ronin had a slightly better OpenCritic score at 77 and also could have slotted in here (unless they think it had too many RPG elements, that is always a tricky thing).
I’m a big defender of games in the 7s. There is a lot of value in those games. I also understand that indie games can’t be all over these awards that are trying to bring in big audiences. But when you nominate a game with relatively low review scores like this, it seems like it’s time to at least think about a higher rated indie game.
1. No Hellblade II in Art Direction/Astro Bot In Art Direction
After I played Hellblade II, I said it was the best looking game that I had ever played. I still think that now. It wasn’t just the fidelity of the game either. Everything about the art direction was fantastic. The animations and motion capture were phenomenal. Little decisions, like the low camera angle during the combat, led to some really intense and visceral combat. The environments were varied and spectacular. I literally could not stop myself from pausing the game from photo mode throughout because the game was so stunning in every way.
I’d almost understand it being left off of here more if it got snubbed everywhere. But Hellblade II got nominations in Sound Design and Narrative. It also has a Best Performance nomination. The critics did not forget about Hellblade II, so how the heck did it get left off here? I would easily put Hellblade II in over every other game on this list.
My surprise was compounded by the inclusion of Astro Bot. I don’t think Astro Bot is a bad looking game by any means. There are some neat elements of its visuals. All of the little bots that were created from different franchises were pretty cool. The themed levels also did a good job of implementing other games visuals into Astro Bot’s own art style.
But overall, I just did not find the art direction to be all that special in that game. The environments are boring and pretty standard fare. The enemy designs are also pretty plain. While the art direction contributes to the games vision, it’s the sound design that really gives Astro Bot its joy much more than the art direction. Once again, I don’t hate the art direction in the game at all, but there are many popular games I’d put above it.
Often times though, when a game like Astro Bot gets these kinds of surprise nominations, it’s an indicator of how well it is going to do at the show in general. The jury wanting to put it in every category it could is a decent sign that it is probably the Game of the Year favorite at this point.
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Should DLC Be In Game Of The Year?
The big discourse coming of the Game of the Year nominations all centered around Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. There were a lot of strong opinions back and forth on whether it should be allowed in or not. Many people that I respect are on complete opposite sides of the spectrum here.
On one hand, I have a lot of agreements on a personal level with those who do not want Erdtree to be nominated. I really enjoyed Elden Ring (it was my #3 game of 2022), but I reached a point with it where I did not love it enough to keep pushing forward. After I saw the difficulty spike in some of the bosses after the fire giant, I just did not want to deal with the game anymore. So it sucks that someone like me that enjoys the formula cannot just pick up and play this game. I doubt I would have had the energy to beat it, but I know I would have at least enjoyed exploring that world a whole lot.
Despite that, the more I think about it, Erdtree should be on this list. The Game Awards are supposed to celebrate the best of gaming in a given year, and Erdtree pretty clearly qualifies there by almost any metric. My social media feeds blew up with people absolutely loving the game when it released. The game has a phenomenal 94 on OpenCritic as well. It remains the defining gaming experience of 2024 for a whole lot of people, and it seems really tough to leave that out of a ceremony like this.
In the end, it’s not the first time that a DLC has been up for some sort of award in this show. Just last year, Phantom Liberty had a nomination for best story. When I look back at 2023, it would be a shame if that DLC was not given props for its story, as it was clearly one of the best in all of gaming last year.
I think it’s also worth noting that great DLC is not easy to come by. When you look at critic scores, even great games generally get DLC that is rated a lot lower than the base game. DLC is often shorter, it doesn’t usually implement significant new gameplay elements. It can be much more challenging to create from a story perspective too. You just wrapped up the game, and now you have to implement a random side story in the middle or immediately after the game ended. It’s tough for a story to carry as much weight in that context.
So if a DLC comes around that truly breaks the mold and that feels like one of the most defining gaming experiences of the year, I think it should be rewarded on this level.
I’m a big sports fan. When people complain about a team running up the score or celebrating too much, the common response is simple. “Don’t like it? Stop it.” If we don’t want DLC in the Game Awards outside of its own special category, we just need developers to beat that DLC and be better. If they can’t, then the DLC deserves to be in.
Big Nerd Gaming 
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