Summary
Each year, families and chosen families gather around the hearth, turn on the TV, and send all their wishes to Father Gamesmas, Geoff Keighley, that their favorite game might win an award this year. Some gamers, however, have been expressing disappointment that several of this year’s top-rated and loved games have not found themselves nominated for any awards. While there are several contributing factors to a lack of range in the nominees, one returning issue is the categories themselves.
The Game Awards, despite some long-standing issues, has seen improvement over the years, and in amongst the industry glad-handing and copious advertising, there is heart and effort put into it. The orchestra that plays over the Game of the Year showreel, slipping beautifully from one melody to the next, is always an outstanding and genuinely rousing moment that highlights the intention if not necessarily the impact of the show. While the categories have seen some adjustment since the initial Game Awards, this year’s lineup has called attention to the fact that there is still work to be done.
5Best DLC/Expansion
Expansions Deserve Recognition But Not To Be GOTY
It seems insane to many people that theShadow of the Erdtree expansion for the 2022 gameElden Ringis up for game of the year in 2024. That’s because it is.Elden Ringis a fantastic game, no doubt, and Shadow of the Erdtree is a spectacular piece of DLC, bursting at the seams with new content and it deserves recognition. It is, however, more of the same game.
Surely it makes more sense that it should go up againstsimilar massive expansionssuch as The Final Shape, Vessel of Hatred, and The Lake House/Night Springs rather than taking the place of an actually entirely new game that came out this year. By creating a separate category for DLC it would also give them the space for a fair contest amongst themselves and allow the chance for the really great DLC that comes out every year to boast its worth.
4Best Horror
The Horror Genre Deserves Its Moment In The Spotlight
There are certainly more than enough potential nominees for this category:Still Wakes The Deep,Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2,Slitterhead, and that’s just to name a few of the big hitters. There are, of course, many deserving indie titles likeCrow CountryandConscriptthat should be considered too.
Horror is a big genre in gaming thatcovers a wide spectrumand deserves its own spotlight. What it does not deserve is having its main representation being a remake of a 2001 horror classic put in the Action/Adventure category.
3Best Adaptation (Reversed)
Because A Game Awards Show Should Be About Games
A cynic might think that this category was only created in 2022 so that a big fuss could be made of the inevitable 2023 winner,The Last Of Us. A cynic might think it only exists to further the amount of screen time the VGA’s can dedicate to the true heroes of the gaming industry, big-name film actors.
A hopeful person might think that one day they might reverse this category to be aboutvideo games that are adaptationssuch asSpace Marine 2orDagon. A cynic would say only if Al Pacino stars inSpace Marine 3…Hoo-Ah.
2Separate Best RTS And Best Sim
A Successful Campaign and A Successful Kitchen Are Quite Different
A real-time strategy game and a simulation game are not terribly alike. It’s not often players get the urge toact like a Roman emperorand take command of thousands of loyal troops to then decide, “best boot up Cooking Mama!”. Granted, this category is almost always RTS games with one city builder or flight simulator thrown in for measure. Not good measure though, it’s sad measure.
Maybe this is more a plea of mercy for the simulator games but with the popularity and madvariety of themfrom farming, taxi driving, train driving, policing, and cleaning to the absolutely bizarre yet surprisingly goodRavenous Devils– essentially a Sweeney Todd simulator – it’s high time that they had their own award.
1Best New IP
New Ideas Should Be Rewarded
With an industry currently overflowing with remakes, remasters, HD ports and sequels there should be a reward for making something new. Three of the six 2024 Game of the Year nominees are from already existing franchises. In Best Narrative two are remakes, two franchise continuations and there is only one, just one, completelynew and original story. The nextFinal FantasyorBatmanthing will always get more than enough attention whereas games likeBlack Myth,Stellar Blade, andSlitterheadare all too easily forgotten by the industry once the year is over.
Due to how the industry works and rewards recognisible, franchisable properties rather than daring new attempts, the likelihood that any of them will get a sequel is infinitely small compared to the next AAA game sequel. Wouldn’t it be nice to at least applaud the bravado it takes to try and make something new for people to enjoy? That is, after all, why these risks are taken. So someone can sit down tomorrow, andten years from tomorrow, to play something that’s at least a little different from everything else, with the chance they might think it’s the coolest.
