Each year, we celebrate the video game industry’s best works through multiple galas, although the most popular one isThe Game Awards.
The celebration hosted by Geoff Keighley gathers the gazes of players from around the world, but the subjective nature of interactive art meansthere are always discussions about which games truly deserve recognition.
Whether it’s because we think there are better options, or simply because we believe certain titles don’t have the quality needed, everyone has their own opinion on the candidates for Game of the Year.
Therefore, I’ve compiled my biggest differences with the judgments of The Game Awards and put together a list of theten most undeserving GOTY nominees ever.
10Black Myth: Wukong
Lowest Rated Nominee Ever
Black Myth: Wukong
While I don’t entirely disagree withBlack Myth: Wukong’s nomination for Game of the Year, I think it deserves a mention givenit’s the game with the lowest historical rating on Metacritic to be nominated for the category.
Without doubting the quality of Game Science’s title, it’s undeniable that the specialized press didn’t find it impressive, at least not at the level of others likeAstro BotorFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
10 Best Boss Rush Games, Ranked
I’m above slaying minions.
I would have chosen other works to highlight, such asDragon’s Dogma 2or even the indieNine Sols, butBlack Myth: Wukong, despite its 81 score average, is stillone of the best Souls-likes available.
9Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
A Rough Start For A Legend
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraftis one of the multiplayer games I’ve invested the most hours of my life in, and that’s precisely why I disagree with its 2014 GOTY nomination.
Blizzard’s collectible card game is undeniably the most remarkable in the genre, but it took several years to claim such a title.
By the time it had just been released, Hearthstone’s quality and significance were considerably lower. Not a bad game by any means, but still far from reaching its best shape.
Adding that it prevented more established video games from standing out, such asWolfenstein: The New OrderandAlien: Isolation,Hearthstone’s nomination seemed rather hasty to me.
Brilliant But Unbalanced
Remedy Entertainment is a developer I have grown very fond of, especially because I find their Connected Universe to be one of the most interesting things the video game industry has come up with in recent years.
Of course,Controlis part of said universe, but I feel much of its value arose precisely because of that connection, not so much due to the title itself.
While it’s a great game, and I’m even of the opinion that it’s underrated, I feel it was below peers likeDevil May Cry 5,Outer Wilds,Disco Elysium, andMetro Exodus.
Its GOTY nomination makes me less uncomfortable than the previous entries, thoughI deem it more blatant thanks to the competition it had.
7God of War
The Ragnarök Prelude
God of War
As the years go by, I still thinkGod of Waris a set of magnificent ideas that Santa Monica Studio could only give the correct form with its sequel.
The valuethe rebootbrought to the franchise is indisputable, but so is the roughness of its open world, the repetitiveness of its combat, and the monotony of mechanics that had not yet been refined.
Even aside from candidates likePillars of Eternity II: DeadfireandReturn of the Obra Dinn, which I think were better suited for the nomination, and aside fromCelesteandRed Dead Redemption 2, better suited for the win,God of War never convinced me.
I know my opinion is an inflammatory one to say the least (the fact that it’sone of the most awarded gamesbacks it up), but beyond beinga magnificent Norse adaptationwith a beautiful story, characters, and setting, I feel it wasn’t the masterpiece thatGod of War: Ragnarökeventually was.
6Call of Duty 2
Taking Others' Place
Call Of Duty 2
Call of Duty 2will be the only time I’ll refer to the Spike Video Game Awards (the former name of The Game Awards), and only because I think the situation is egregious enough to deserve it.
In a year that saw the release ofShadow of the Colossus,Jade Empire,Devil May Cry 3, andKingdom Hearts 2, the committee nominated a war shooter that, while excellent, wasn’t even the best of its genre in 2005.
This is one of the most incomprehensible situations my gaming memory can recall. Not because of Call of Duty 2’s lack of merit, butbecause of the excess of quality the other candidates were overflowing with.
5Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Not Great Enough
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
The reorientation thatAssassin’s Creedexperienced afterAssassin’s Creed IV: Black Flagcompletely separated me from the series, limiting my enjoyment of the rest of its entries untilAssassin’s Creed: Origins.
However, my re-engagement with the franchise would fall withAssassin’s Creed:Odyssey, whose nomination in 2018 surprised me for the worse, as many worthy candidates like the aforementioned lost their place.
10 Games That Don’t Respect Your Time
Long games can sometimes be the perpetrator here, but it’s often the way a game is made long rather than the length itself.
There are mixed opinions on whether Odyssey’s course was the right one. Without being thebest Assassin’s Creed, it was the first to receive a GOTY nomination since 2012, butI am on the side that believes more is not always better.
4The Outer Worlds
A King Among Gods
The Outer Worlds
As an Obsidian Entertainment fan,I like The Outer Worlds very much. It’s not their best work, but it’s a fine title that was overshadowed, so I always like to see it acknowledged.
Despite the above, I don’t think it was up to par for Game of the Year, much less considering the big-budget titans and indie masterpieces it was up against.
My heart was filled with joy thanks to its nomination, but it wasn’t the best open world, the best RPG, or the best shooter in 2019. Thus, The Outer Worlds got credit for being just good, andI feel like that’s not what a GOTY candidate should aspire to.
3Overwatch
The Only Unavailable GOTY Winner
Regarding undeserving GOTY nominees, you’ll be hard-pressed to find one that generates more consensus thanOverwatch, especially among those of us who love single-player games.
15 Best Competitive Multiplayer Games
Competitive multiplayer games are some of the biggest games around. Here are some of the best of the best.
2016 was full of incredible titles, many of which didn’t even make it to the nomination stage.Dark Souls 3,Dishonored 2,The Witness, andHyper Light Drifterare just a few names that come to mind, and there are still plenty more.
There’s no denying Overwatch’s value and relevance, much less given its influence on the multiplayer market. Nevertheless,the number of games that could have taken its place is also huge.
Besides,it’s the only unavailable GOTY, which has just fueled the idea that its nomination and win were inappropriate.
2PUBG: Battlegrounds
An Unfinished Phenomenon
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, the pioneer of the Battle Royale genre, was nominated for Game of the Year even though it wasn’t finished.
It broke all existing marks and remains one of the titles with the highest record of simultaneous players, but I still wonder if such indicators can be used to compare an incomplete game to 2017’s most outstanding experiences.
Among them, I could mentionNieR: Automata,Nioh,Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice,Night in the Woods,Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus,Prey, andHollow Knight, though I’m sure I’m leaving out more.
Despite acknowledging my bias towards single-player titles and admitting the value ofPUBG,it makes me feel quite sad that several revolutionary games were left out of the nominations because of it.
Not Even The Best Indie
After over ten years in video game journalism, I’ve never witnessed a situation like the oneStraygenerated. Best Independent Game, Best Debut Indie Game, candidate for GOTY… And to this day,I still can’t fathom how it was possible.
At its best,Strayis a cute, simple platformer with a great setting, butit’s far from being the best of anything, and much further from even competing with games that came out in 2022.
There were so many superior options for the category that only the collective love of cats can justify this unheard-of stain on The Game Awards history.
Tunic,Norco,Cult of the Lamb,Pentiment,Sifu, andSignaliswere better alternatives, and I’m just mentioning the indies here.
By far,Strayis the most undeserving GOTY nominee everand perhaps the most inexplicably award-winning game I’ve seen in my life.
