Death Stranding leads GOTY list + Every game can win GOTY this year

Unlike the past few years where 1 games dominates (The Witcher 3, Zelda BotW, The Last of Us, God of War), this year GOTY winner seems very varied and its actually nice to see a non combat heavy game leading the charts.

It may comes down to how pretty "average" this year has been. Lots of good niche game especially on nintendo side but overall nothing special stands out in the sea of remakes and iteration this year, other than Disco Elysium which sadly, a pc game. Death Stranding on the other hand divides opinion, I absolutely loved it but I perfectly understand the many criticism towards Death Stranding.

My GOTY this year is... ACE COMBAT 7! Superb game made with lots of love to fans and a pretty cool psvr mode. Hopefully next sequel we will have more Aces dogfight like in ACE COMBAT ZERO and Solo Wing Pixie making a return.

Days Gone should have won a bunch of awards but they didn’t want to give GOTY so a straight white male.....

So they gave the GOTY....to a bunch of other straight white males lol

@ajstyles: Lol, do you ever post anything that isn't ridiculous?

Anyway, my GOTY is Astral Chain... followed by Luigi's Mansion 3, Katana Zero, Fire Emblem Three Houses & Gears 5.

It's been an excellent year for Switch.

Thoughts:

Devil May Cry 5 is criminally underrated. Only one GOTY for DMC5? What a joke.

While I don't think Death Stranding deserves to lead the list... It's a slap in the face to Kojima-haters, so I don't really mind.

2019 has been a great year for gameplay. Certainly a big improvement over 2018, which was a weak year for gameplay. The likes of Sekiro, RE2 and DMCV blow away the likes of GOW and RDR2 in the gameplay department.

I don't see any real reason why Days Gone should deserve GOTY over the games on the OP list.

The OP list looks fairly diverse in terms of player-character representation. Diversity doesn't mean excluding straight-white-males, but means being inclusive of other demographics beyond straight-white-males.

@Jag85: DMC5 was my personal game of the year.

@sakaixx: I think it was a rather fantastic year, lots of great games and the varied goty awards shows that.

Maybe because Days Gone completely outsold games like Control by a large amount. To be honest i think it outsold all the games on that list! Or maybe because gamers rated Days Gone higher than many games on that list.

The truth is Kojima is a japanese dev who became a cult leader. If another dev made Death Stranding nobody would be praising it, plain and simple.

Diversity only means less white people. It is a lie globalists are pushing to accept migration replacement. Even the UN calls it Replacement Migration. Just google it! Same reason why nobody says the NBA is not diverse even if it is mostly black, while the NHL gets attacked for being too white. I can pull many articles of this.

And nobody here can deny Days Gone was not attacked by IGN and GameSpot for being too white. Period.

Mehh gotta say my goty is rdr2 on pc! Haven’t been that many other good new releases and haven’t played a single one on OP’s list... Didn’t expect to like rdr2 so much, but after 10-15 hours I am deeply in love with it!

Death Stranding brought Americans hope demonstrating the power love and hope when faced with overwhelming adversity.

Resident Evil 2 was ok.

RE2 was the best game of the year. I'm still trudging through Death Stranding, but god am I bored doing it. Probably not my type of game. Some serious overacting and I wasn't sure if the Monster Energy product placement was a joke at first.

Agree with first. Disagree with second. Why it would be the slap when the whole thing is unfolding exactly it was predicted by the 'haters'. If anything its the slap in the face of Kojima lovers due to their contradictory arguments before and after the release of DS.

@sakaixx:

Dude, if Overwatch can win goty then that proves that goty award is a joke.

Media outlets GOTY = nothing of substance.

Sales have almost nothing to do with quality. And user ratings are a complete joke that can be easily manipulated by block-voting and review-bombing. The only things that matter for GOTY awards are how developers and critics rate the games, i.e. like the Oscars and Golden Globes.

Kojima is a cult developer who makes cult games for a cult following. If you're part of that cult following, then you'll enjoy his games. If not, then you may dislike his games. It's an acquired taste, something you either love or hate. Like Marmite, or Shenmue. It just so happens that most critics and developers enjoy his games.

The "Great Replacement" far-right conspiracy theory nonsense has nothing to do with video games. And it makes no sense whatsoever in the context of Japanese games, which frequently have non-Asian-male protagonists despite the developers being mostly Asian males in a country with fairly strict immigration laws. If homogenous Japanese studios can produce games with non-Asian-male protagonists, then there's no excuse for diverse Western studios to avoid producing games with non-white-male protagonists.

Yet more conspiracy theory nonsense. The IGN and GameSpot reviews of Days Gone don't mention anything about race. Whatever some staff members may have said in some tweets or previews are irrelevant. The actual reviews themselves don't mention it. So it's just a conspiracy theory. As I've said in plenty of threads, conspiracy theories are a complete joke, and so are the fools who believe in them.

Kojima, such a master, love seeing the anger his continuous success generate lol

Not disagreeing with what you're saying in the whole post but this particular piece is not quite true. It has more to do with capitalism than diversity. North America is the biggest market and that's why these games always have American protagonists. This is the reason even games made by non-American studios from Europe either takes place in America or feature American protagonists. If I were to be honest it actually bugs me. I'm so sick of the same America saves the world crap.

Even if we went with that explanation, my comment would still hold true. America is one of the most diverse countries in the world. The US population is ethnically about 60% white and 40% non-white, and about 51% female and 49% male. In other words, white males only represent about 30% of the US population. So even if studios are targeting an American market, there's no valid reason why their games should exclusively target white-male audiences (30%) and exclude non-white-male audiences (70%).

I remember a couple of years ago that some Hollywood executives said something along the lines of the US market demanding more diversity, but that international markets like China reject diversity, so their reason for sticking with white protagonists was actually to appease China, not the US. In other words, Hollywood studios assumed Chinese audiences are "racist" and would never accept protagonists who are either non-white or non-Chinese... which has been proven false in recent years, as plenty of movies with non-white and non-Chinese protagonists have become hits in China.

So does that make Sam Porter Bridges a fuffy pink nonbinary transgender interdimensional attack helicopter then?

That's was not my point. You are arguing why games should be diverse. All I said is when Japanese or European studios make games with American protagonist, they are not doing it for diversity but catering to their biggest market. Remedy, Crytek, David Cage, Kojima, Rockstar, Ubisoft etc. all make games like they are an American company. It's also one of the reasons why I liked KCD because they didn't cater to the same America save the world crap but chose to tell the tale of their own culture/country. It's also one thing I respect Shenmue for even when I don't like it as a game.

I always laugh when I hear complains from people afraid of Chinese pandering while totally ignoring the 30+ years of pandering to American audience.

All this tells me is how desperate people are for something different. Publishers will hopefully take note of this and start risk-taking.

Imagine how well a game will do that is a.) from a well-known dev, b.) is different, and c.) is legitimately fun.

Then I don't see how your point is related to my point. Your point is about nationality. My point was a response to the dude talking about race/gender/sexuality.

My point about China is that Hollywood often makes false assumptions about Chinese audiences, assuming them to be narrow-minded.... when in reality, Chinese audiences are often more open-minded than US audiences. Chinese audiences would gladly watch good movies from almost anywhere in the world (whether it's from America, Asia, Europe, or Middle East), whereas US audiences almost exclusively stick to Hollywood movies and don't bother with anything else.

Fair points, but it should also be noted that American culture is highly exportable. I think a Japanese gamer would rather play an American hero than, I don't know, a Russian one, or a French one; if this is the case, then it's beneficial for a Korean developer to incorporate that into their game. There are certain archetypes/expectations of characters of a certain nationality, and it just might be the case that the American ones are more entertaining for most of the world.

Personally speaking, as a white male American, I prefer a bit of diversity; I like playing female characters (love me a strong female character), and I frankly don't really care about ethnicity or nationality or skin color. I support no agendas, I just like variety and new experiences.

I think its just a good year but no game really stands out for me. Sekiro and RE2 is the biggest high profile game of the year, one doesn't really innovate the formula that much and the latter is a great remake but its still just a remake. Nintendo had a great year this year but many releases targets the niche jrpg crowds.

God of war has more GOTY than Zelda Breath of the Wild.

Conspiracy theory? lmao last time i checked Europe is getting mass flooded. Maybe it is a lie Global Compact for Migration... oh wait it is not. White culture is literally being replaced. Maybe not as bad in the US yet... getting there.

Never knew tweets or previews hating on a game for being too white by people who were working on the review is irrelevant. This is hilarious XD its like if im working on a review and i say omg another boring white guy this is so boring! Yep irrelevant right.... common sense is really dead for some people lmao

Great Replacement: "The Great Replacement, also known as the replacement theory, is a white nationalist far-right conspiracy theory"

Top comment under the IGN review:

IGN review: Goes into great detail on why the story and gameplay are mediocre with examples and logic.

IGN commentors: IGN HATES WHITE PEOPLE

Yes, common sense really is dead. Reactionary gamers are braindead idiots.

Days Gone is a mediocre game with mediocre gameplay and mediocre story. Deal with it. Stop making excuses for mediocrity.

It will never cease to be perplexing to me how so many people have such an unexplained pure hatred of Kojima lol. I dont think theres any other developer who elicits this much butthurt. This trumps anything in the fanboy/console war.

@StrongDeadlift: It is parallel with the amount of fanboyism that nears a personality cult. You can't expect having one side without the other.

And it's a shame because while the game has severe issues it also has plenty of brilliant aspects. But you don't have to be a hater to give up on the game early on, or try to rush it, and end up not understanding why some people love it. But some people also praise the game yet they fail to make a compelling argument for it, even professional reviewers, just because Kojima.

LMAO white nationalist? Damn man you probably think the world will end 2030 like AOC says lmao. Wow dont talk to me anymore you are left wing like them SJWs lol.

If Days Gone is mediocrioty what the hell is Death Stranding XD

I respectfully disagree with the notion that American culture is more exportable than say a German one or French or Chinese. It's just that most of the times that's our first encounter with a foreign culture. I mean it makes sense, after WWII US was pretty much the only country with enough resources and whose mainland was not impacted by the war. They had resources, technology and market. The rest of the world simply imported their culture via entertainment because they were head in technology. That's why it seems more familiar than other cultures. That's how we came to understand the American memes, stereotypes, jokes etc. It's not inherently universal.

I mean I have been consuming American entertainment even before when I was taught English. I like diversity too but my main gripe is the cliche 'America saves the world'. It troubles me much more than race, gender or skin color. It's almost like it's the only nation in the world if we go by games.

Thinking back on 2019, Resident Evil 2 and Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition were both probably my picks for my favorites.

Both of which were remakes. Hm.

You're not a white nationalist? For someone who claims to not be a duck, you certainly are doing a lot of quacking.

This is open, or not being put back on topic, for some reason... @davillain- or any mod lol.

OW is awesome and got AAA everywhere. Maybe it's not as fun on fumblesticks?

For some reason, I didn't really bother coming to this thread when I knew who the TC was and to be frank, Stevo posted here several hours already, I guess it's safe to say this thread is still relevant.

Fair game. Some conversation definitely needs to be curtailed lol. Straight up, "White nationalist" and further discussion is right up there.

I loved Death Stranding but I'd choose Borderlands 3, SW JFO or RE2

Honestly, when threads into these bizzaro tangents they become infinitely more interesting.

-

I would certainly agree that if something is considered progressive or shitting on Lord Trump (WW3 savoir) it's automatically elevated to a degree by a certain, fairly transparent sect of reviewers.

We can see from the opening line of Gamespots Death Stranding review the mentality in effect, one the reviewer is perfectly entitled to, but one I find comical and probably not in a way they'd appreciate.

Even randomly checking Twitter, one of the first things I saw was (said reviewer) complaining about COD players using MAGA tags and a bunch of comments from twitter weirdos over-generalizing mil games as alt-right, which itself tells me we will already have a bias in effect.

For that reason credibility goes out the window, suspicious is raised and i'm thinking less in terms of the reviewers judging the quality but how they are attempting to project themselves as virtuous in front of their peers.

That's what a lot of this boils down to, self adulation.

Gaming is important and i'm doing important shit, changing the world yo.

News flash, we will all be dead within roughly half a century and forgotten about in a month. None of this matters, give up.

I'm rather neutral on Kojima. Death Stranding is kind of bad for a GOTY. I haven't really played any other of this year's contenders though.

I mean I like the idea and concept. Wacked out and different is generally good for games, it keeps it interesting. So what the hell, post-apocalyptic delivery service with online connectivity is a cool idea. But the problem is the actual game-play becomes a grind at times (most open world games do, but this is a literal walking simulator and fetch quest grind for much of the time). Unlike MGS which generally has fantastic gameplay mechanics (including MGS V), Death Stranding feels almost low budget. I assume it's not running on the fox engine, but it still almost has a stripped down MGS V feel to it's open world (and MGS V had it's own issues with vehicles being a bit janky on the terrain, but lots of stuff feels unpolished about Death Stranding while roaming the world... and it truly is the ultimate "fetch quest" simulator).

It almost feels like the actual gameplay was rushed out the door and was an afterthought to the cutscenes (which perhaps is where all the $$ went). They could have had a few additional layers of complexity, more emphasis on hostile delivery services and combat encounters, variety of quests, maybe some different stuff with the vehicles, etc. There were definitely things they could have done to make it more consistently fun. Definitely a "love it or hate it" game, and even if you love it - at times it will feel like a grind. That's not GOTY material IMO. So while I think it's crazy to consider Metal Gear Solid a "cult game", there's no doubt Death Stranding is.

What even determines GOTY? I notice a bunch of shit games getting it and I cannot understand why. There are countless indie games far better done, and more enjoyable than that hunk of shit from Kojima.

Doritos Pope decides GOTY. His word is final and his power is far reaching in this industry. If he is in a game, you can always expect that game to win. It's just law.

I am not sure what all that is supposed to mean, but what I do know is that it has been a long, long time since I've seen a GOTY game that was even half as good a dozen or more indie games that do not get recognition because they are not AAA studios.

Threads getting sidewinded is what I always strife for :p

@zaryia:

Overwatch is a shitty mp only fps, Call of Duty clone. There's nothing good about it.

FPS games are one of the cheapest and easiest to make in the world of 3D game development. It's why there are so many of them and so many of them are so similar.

@zaryia:

Well, I play on those "fumblesticks" and I'm pretty bad at the game, but I love it and have absolutely no complaints about it's GOTY awards (actually I wholeheartedly agree)

You must have poor reading comprehension. You were denying the blatantly obvious fact that the "Great Replacement" is a far-right conspiracy theory, so I posted a Wikipedia link which states that the "Great Replacement" is "a white nationalist far-right conspiracy theory" (which is referenced with a number of reliable sources). But then you behave like a snowflake getting offended at the part that says "white nationalist", completely missing the point, and then go off on some irrelevant tangent about climate change, SJWs, and some random politician. Get over yourself, dude. Stop believing in childish fairy-tale conspiracy theories.

Death Stranding? Seriously? A game where the protagonist is a white male and the main cast consists almost entirely of white people... That game is somehow supposed to represent "diversity"? Are you kidding me? LOL!

It's also bizarre how you choose to focus on Days Gone being "robbed" and ignore the far superior games that were robbed. For example, Devil May Cry 5, which had the best gameplay this year. Yet it only got 3 GOTY picks, just 1 more than the mediocre Days Gone. DMC5 also happens to have white male leads. If you wanted to make a point, you could've used DMC5. But no, you had to use the mediocre Days Gone instead, destroying your own argument.

proofs that goty lists are laughable.

Wow how is this clueless guy still talking to me. He calls replacement of whites a conspiracy theory even though it is mathematically happening in EU and North America. Do you know simple math? The US will not be white majority by 2040 and yes EU is getting flooded. Look at a pic of London 1950 and compare to now lmao.

Guess what countries are pushing DIVERSITY... hmmm it sure aint China or any middle east country or any African country... oh guess what it is only WHITE COUNTRIES. I wonder why. Now lets use a few brain cells and think about this... if we push diversity in countries which are negative in babies... what will happen? OH MY GOD... replacement. Amazing, it was so hard to figure this out!

Even the UN calls it MIGRATION REPLACEMENT can you even read? Do you know what is something called the UN website where you can see it? Do i have to spell out the word replacement to you???? Here is the defitiniton...

the action or process of replacing someone or something.

It is bizarre i dont mention DMC5? Wtf.... should i focus on every single game that released this year? I was talking about Days Gone being comepletely forgoten even though people like it more than some of the games on that list and it sold way better. Is that also so hard to understand?

Your common sense is at 0.