I think this is a good idea for a thread if for no other reason (* *KLAXON BLARES* *
CURMUDGEONLY HATER OPINION INCOMING * *KLAXON BLARES* *
) that the practice of even semi-seriously awarding GOTY recognition to games that came out in previous years was cute and novel in, like, 2018, but truly it defeats the whole purpose of even semi-pseudo ironic appreciation of games that released within a certain year.
So, in a way, I think this thread is the more useful and honest form of the question of when it comes to even using “GOTY” to refer to “games I, personally, played this year, which I thought were the best.” Like, to me, GOD HAND is retroactively my GOTY for 2008 (a statement objective enough it could be true either until the end of time or until I play a better game from 2008 (but because it’s GOD HAND, the best action game yet made, that’s unlikely to change)), and it was also one of the best games I first played in, uuuuh, 2021 I think (which is a statement largely relevant to me as an individual, and at least a bit relevant to my dear fellow comrades in videogame appreciation). I don’t want to even pretend there is meaningful overlap there, I want to keep those things entirely separated, even in my own mind. GOD HAND could have been the best game I’d played any year, that I played it in 2021 was entirely irrelevant to how good it is (the only tiny shred of relevance I can ascribe here is that it’s remarkable that the game is still that good even about a decade and a half later).
Like, I don’t want to come off like I am secretly Geoff Keighly (I can’t even spell the man’s name for goodness’ sake) but I think the idea of recognizing a GOTY should be about recognizing achievements from a certain studio or individual or team of individuals, and about keeping track of videogames as an artistic medium and form of entertainment, along a continuum of overall progression and change. Like, I think it’s cool as hell that a studio like From Software have been getting such widespread acclaim from critics and non-critics alike. It feels like the idea of some kind of AAA trash getting GOTY recognition just based on volume of resources and production values–whether those things were put to a meaningful purpose or not–is almost a bit gauche now, even to the people who have the most to benefit from the practice of doing so. It’s almost like they figured out that we figured out that when they (they being the amorphous totality of gaming as an industry infiltrated by some of the most scumfuck corporate vampires out there) were giving out GOTYs in the past, it was largely a technocratic or even economically motivated affair. In some ways, it might as well have been The Annual Award For The Game That Was Made With The Most Amount Of Money And Our Corporate Sponsors (Who We Are So Proud To Be Sponsored By) Would Like It To Get A Q4 Sales Boost.
From Software proved you can take what is surely a big fat pile of money, and make something with an uncompromising and even confronting creative purpose behind it, and so long as it is also really fucking fun to play, it can be universally recognized as significant and excellent, even in comparison with games that, you know, were made with a bigger pile of money (even if it’s still surely a bigger pile of money than any of us would even need to make our own Artistically Significant game). Like…. I dunno! I think the institution of a critical GOTY, as much as it’s a little funny soundbite and a self deprecating meme, is becoming something of an interesting question again, in the sense that there is some credibility behind the concept again even within the mainstream. Perhaps a scrap of integrity has endured within the zeitgeist.
Uh, anyway, I should really keep an honest to goodness diary or log of what I play throughout a year, I mean, I know we all say this but I always tend to blank on what games I played during an entire year. 2023 kind went by in a blur a lot of the time too. But I like this thread idea and I will try my best.
Final Fantasy XVI
Final Fantasy XVI continues to fade from my memory a little bit every day, but, it would simply be just basely dishonest to say I didn’t enjoy the hell out of it while I was playing it. I said it before and, if I still have integrity, I’ll say it again–there were sequences and moments and grand spectacles within it that I wish I could wipe from my memory and experience for the first time again.
Final Fantasy XVI: it still came to mind, and while that’s not a ringing endorsement, it is not untrue…
Inscryption
I didn’t post about it but I played Inscryption more recently. The less said about it the better, but it is excellent. Maybe overstays its welcome just a touch, but overall I loved the sense of breadth it gives to itself. Plus, it’s just a well designed card game with an excellent feeling rogue-lite loop to it all, where mastery over the mechanics of the game feel well rewarded in subsequent runs. I would compare it favorably to something like Slay the Spire which I think can feel more frustrating in how it gives too much weight to a run going poorly just because of bad luck, like when you get a synergy or deck strategy going early but then are limited down the line by just not being able to get the cards you need to round it out because they are just not made available due to RNG. Inscryption somehow feels more generous than Slay the Spire in how you can build decks, but still more demanding in how intricate the whole game ends up being.
Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon
It’s not unlikely that the best game I’ll play in 2023 will also be my pick for GOTY 2023, because Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon even surprised me with how much I ended up enjoying playing it. As someone who has bounced off older games in the series before, and checked out pretty much entirely at a certain point, it simultaneously felt like something both new and fresh, but that also nourished some long parched need for an Armored Core game I could really sink my teeth into. I almost want to recognize it as a GOTY for the sole reason that I don’t think Armored Core 6 will be recognized as a GOTY by the zeitgeist, and that’s actually totally okay. It was a bit more of a niche product with some downright antiquated game design, and I loved it like that but I could also see it being somewhat off putting or unengaging to the mainstream.
Basically, it was “just” an Armored Core game, but that is still a compliment in most meaningful senses, and a glowing one in at least a few meaningful senses. Just that sense of movement when you boost in the opposite direction that you’re currently moving… ah, it never gets old. I can hear the boost sound effect in my head clear as day.
Although, it’s a shame about the sluggish and barebones multiplayer experience, though. I do hope that Armored Core 6 was in part a test run for revitalizing the franchise in a more meaningful way, because I for one am hungry for more Armored Core, and I think I could maybe even really get into more robust multiplayer game modes. Just imagine Armored Core having something more like Monster Hunter’s progression format, with almost like singleplayer and co-op multiplayer tracks that are on one hand cleanly separated, but on another are almost more like running parallel to each other with generous allowances to switch back and forth as you please. It would still work with all of the self contained nature of the missions in Armored Core, cause, I mean, that’s more or less how Monster Hunter works too (with arguably even less variety overall than Armored Core…!), and it works really well that way. It’s kind of weird how few games seem to ape their whole hybrid singleplayer and multiplayer campaign structure, because it really has something for everybody.
Anyway, the mind reels at the possibilities for Armored Core returning to its historical release format of flagship games and then standalone expansions and pseudo-sequels using the same engine and a whole lot of re-used assets and mechanics. It feels like a business no brainer so hopefully someone will enable it one way or another. Even if it was just another purely singleplayer campaign but with More Stuff or a somewhat different format, and maybe a more involved PvP gameplay mode in general, it’d be a winning formula, because the foundation they have laid for more games like this was quite strong.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Speaking of games using the same engine, I would like to give special recognition to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which is absolutely, 100%, NOT one of the best games I played this year. The HATER KLAXXON remains consuspiciously silent in this moment.
Oἶκοςpiel Book 1 “the dog opera”
Oἶκοςpiel Book 1 “the dog opera” is easily the best game made by dogs in any and all years, so by default it was also the best game made by dogs that I played this year.
Will post further if I remember other games I played this year. I always have the nagging feeling that I’m forgetting something big that I really enjoyed… but that’s true every year. If it was good enough, it will come to me, I guess.