Top GOTY Contenders

It's that time of the year again. Rather than debating between two titles while the rest of thread shouts Witcher 3 or some other title, I thought it's a good idea for us to list all the potential GOTY candidates and rank them in order of how likely they may end up as GOTY on Gamespot. Ideally, with some reasons provided.

I have specifically left out remakes, remasters and expansion packs. I have included indies on the list, but to be frank I don't really expect anything out of them. Feel free to list only the titles you think relevant. I listed all the 9/10s & 10/10s on GS for completion's sake.

1. Witcher 3 (10/10; overwhelmingly good rep all around)
2. MGS V (10/10; accusations of biased reviews due to controlled review environments)
3. Rocket League (9/10; fresh with active community; very good rep)
4. Bloodborne (9/10; high popularity, even if it's arguably the worst Souls game)
5. Heroes of the Storm (9/10; hype died down fairly quickly, and is now completely overshadowed by Overwatch)
6. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (9/10; handheld GOTY? Blasphemy!)
7. Super Mario Maker (9/10; on Wii U, low audience; another Mario game)
8. Hotline Miami 2 (9/10; indie, so may be neglected)
9. Ori and the Blind Forest (9/10; indie)
10. SOMA (9/10; indie)
11. Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (9/10; indie)
12. FIFA 16 (9/10; mandatory annual FIFA game)
13. PES 2016 (9/10; the other soccer game. When was the last time a sports game won GOTY?)
14. Assassin's Creed Syndicate (9/10; I think most people don't take that 9 seriously)
15. Tales from the Borderlands (Three episodes 9/10; inconsistent performance across the series)
16. Game of Thrones (One episode 9/10; even more inconsistent performance across the series)

Upcoming potential contenders:

1. Fallout 4 (lots of potential; mega hype; Bethesda also seems very confident this time)
2. Xenoblade Chronicles X (forgot this one; getting localised in Dec)
3. Star Wars Battlefront (fair amount of hype. Too soon to tell)
4. Undertale (if it gets reviewed, but it's an indie)
5. Overwatch (most likely won't release in 2015)

1. Undertale

2. ???

This.

Clearly Undertale, it's the highest rated game on metacritic this year.

Where were you when AAA devs were BTFO?

A year ago i knew it'll be between BB, TW3, MGS5. Now that Fallout 4 was announced, this one also joins the other three. Something tells me TW3 will win GOTY on GS but i have a feeling Fallout 4 will be my personal goty. If Fallout 4 isn't as good as everyone and their mother expects it to be, then BB will be my goty.

DA:I came out last year. TW3 is my personal favorite. I have not played through MGSV though.

Splatoon should be on that list over 6 or 7 of those games. If we are basing the list off of 9's or higher, that's silly since 8's have won in the past.

Here? dont know, dont care. For me my top games this year so far are

• Halo 5
• Witcher 3
• MGSV
• Ori

2015 just called and said it's not over yet and there's still some good games left to be released this year. Of all of the games listed, I wouldn't pick any of them as my GOTY.

Ghox There is one major title missing: Xenoblade Chronicles X from the "upcoming potential" titles. Remember, the one on Wii got a 9/10.

Personally Rocket League over MGSV. This website? Probably fallout 4.

For me it stands at a draw between MGSV and Ori and the Blind Forest.

I really hope Super Mario Maker wins, SW would be such a fun place to be.

Halo 5 is up there

Difficult to decide between The Witcher 3 or Metal Gear Solid 5...

If Fallout 4 is anything like Fallout 3 or Skyrim then I honestly don't see the big deal...notwithstanding the massive scale of the game world, it is nonetheless very bland compared to Witcher 3 which actually feels like a living breathing world...

The Witcher 3, Life is Strange, Undertale, Rocket League, and Bloodborne are the best games so far.

MGSV and Arkham Knight are letdowns.

Look out for Life is Strange on other sites, it is a major contender.

• The Witcher 3
• Metal Gear Solid V
• Bloodborne

and then there's the field

My GOTY so far is between Witcher 3 & Arkham Knight... But I'll have to re-evaluate after I play Tomb Raider.

Metal Gear Solid V should in no way touch GOTY.

Do NOT underestimate Life is Strange or Undertale.

No pillars?

undertale, obviously

how is Mario Maker low audience? They said they had 1.8 million sold at sept 30, and it's selling well so it's probably around 3 right now. What's MGSV at? 4 million?

Also if you really think Mario Maker is like any other Mario game, then you just don't have any credibility

I'm thinking Witcher 3 or Fallout 4. There are too many controversies surrounding MGSV and Bloodborne doesn't have the wide spread appeal or critical ratings. I doubt gamespot will give Fallout 4 a ten though, three in one year?

It's good to see some kind of Undertale love. It seems like no one here played it, or I guess it's just not the type of game for many users on here. It should definitely be a contender imo.

For GS though it will probably be Witcher 3 or MGS V as GOTY.

Personally it's probably Splatoon, Undertale, or Yoshi's Woolly World. Forgot Bloodborne, which should also be included in my personal GOTY. It would also be a choice in GS GOTY too probably.

@tushar172787:

I'm gonna have to go with the Giant Bomb staff and overlook Undertale until I can work up the nerve to play it myself. I hate it when Indies get hype because that means some garbage (imo) is getting a free pass. Undertale seems to be the exception. But I will be the judge of that when I get to it!!!!!!!!

My GOTY is Destiny: Taken King

Please no. Please please please nooooooooooooooooooooo

@GoldenElementXL: I know what you mean. Some indies do tend to get overrated, and this one might be in ways at least compared to its Metacritic score (personally it's a 9/10 game for me). Still though... the game is really good. Much better than what I thought it was going to be. It has flaws, but the quirkiness and surprisingly memorable story/characters no matter which route you go beat out the likes of even TLOU and other more story oriented games imo. I'm not even one for stories or characters in games too, but for some reason this one hooked me pretty hard.

The soundtrack is also awesome which adds even more to the game. Definitely top 3 or so this year. Battling (or in my case it was more of a dodging and mercy system) is unique and fun, especially versus bosses.

The game is 10 bucks. Go and get it!

Bloodborne, developers should take cues from that game for years. It's just so damn good.

Between Ori, Galak-Z and The Witcher 3, Galak-Z is my GotY.

Really, other than The Witcher 3....AAA games have been very disappointing this year (if I count Bloodborne as one tier less than AAA).

Its games like Life Is Strange, Rocket League, Ori and the Blind Forest, and Undertale dominate.

So far MGS V is the game I enjoyed the most this year.

Don't mind him. For whatever reason he believes his opinion is correct and everyone else is wrong.

so you enjoy incomplete games with microtransactions and dumbfuck storytelling?

I had a good amount of fun with them, but a lot of the AAA games didn't really grab me. I would consider TW3 and Bloodborne (I consider it AAA tbh) to be my favorite attempts as well at AAA this year. Admittedly never finished TW3 (got really far though but fatigue set in) which is why it's not on my personal GOTY list.

There are a lot of smaller games that did just as well if not better though, I agree.

It is worth finishing, and Hearts of Stone is excellent. Its an AAA game without AAA bullshit. They give to you for free what others charge.

Life Is Strange is doing really well, for an indie developer, they have a million sales, and it did pretty well in the Golden Joystick Awards, winning one, and placing top three in 6 other categories.

@texasgoldrush: It certainly is worth finishing. I was thinking about it, and will probably start it up again.

Cool that LiS is doing well. Not a huge fan of it, but I can see the appeal.

All 2014 games...

Wolfenstein The Old Blood

Grand Theft Auto V

and The Witcher 3 are currently for me

But Just Cause is coming out soon too ^^

So far it's between TW3 and Batman AK for me ...

MGS V (like Skyrim) got away with a lotta issues in story department ...hope it doesn't get to be the GotY. TW3 deserves that throne.

Hard to be fair when i have not played through my backlog yet

Undertale is my personal game of the year, however i think game spot will play it safe with the witcher 3 or mgsV

Halo 5 for me at the moment

The most likely candidate to win GOTY this year is Fallout 4. Why? Because it's a Bethesda game. Even though their games are often broken on release, and the core gameplay is often mediocre, they make up for it with a big budget, large open world and lots of content. And when it comes to GOTY awards, it's the quantity that matters.

@nyadc: I derped. However, the episodic games had most of their episodes released in 2015, so I think it's fair to include them.

ADD: The problem with Undertale is that GS doesn't even have a review up yet, and there doesn't seem to be any sign of a review ever getting done here.

Bloodborne so far. Fallout 4 will take it

MGSV for game of the generation.

Until Dawn,Tales of Zesteria, Disgaea 5 & Dragon Quest Heroes and all those other games in the greatest line up in Playstation History

They just forgot about them

Given how far out to lunch Gamespot's opinions are these days, it literally could be anything if they go by the same way of picking GOTY (all the staff have a say, and it usually comes down to which all of them liked best).

I just hope it isn't Fallout 4. Bethesda needs to be taught that releasing half-finished games isn't tolerable.

Witcher 3 and Splatoon.