I realised this a while ago but it was only today I realised how strange it was for me. I only really started properly paying attention to the games industry and GOTYs in 2013 and every year since then I've felt invested in GOTY awards, except not this one. Here's the top awarded games this year from goty block picks:
Death Stranding - 74
The Critics' Picks - 47
The Readers' Picks - 27
Resident Evil 2 - 71
The Critics' Picks - 50
The Readers' Picks - 21
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - 50
The Critics' Picks - 43
The Readers' Picks - 7
Control - 26
The Critics' Picks - 26
The Readers' Picks -
Disco Elysium - 14
The Critics' Picks - 14
The Readers' Picks -
The Outer Worlds - 9
Fire Emblem: Three Houses - 8
Outer Wilds - 6
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - 6
Out of these top 9 games, I have only played two of them (Sekiro and SW) and even then I didn't finish Sekiro. The main conversation (the top 5) involves games I basically don't care about. Death Stranding, Disco Elysium, RE2 I'm not playing because I don't think I'll enjoy them. Sekiro I just can't get into and Control I'm going to play but haven't got around to yet. The other 3 games listed I'm on the fence about getting. So I basically only played 1 of the top 5 games and in my mind none of them are GOTY contenders. I compared this to the top 5 from the last 8 years to see the difference (note for this I'm only counting games I played before the end of the corresponding year so its a fair comparison):
2013: TLOU, GTAV, Bioshock Infnite, SM3DW, Gone Home. Played 2/5, agree 2/5.
2014: DA:I, Shadow of Mordor, Mario Kart 8, Smash, Far Cry 4. Played 4/5, agree 3/5.
2015: TW3, Fallout 4, Bloodborne, MGSV, LiS. Played 3/5, agree 2/5.
2016: U4, Overwatch, Doom, Battlfield 1, TLG. Played 3/5, agree 2/5.
2017: BOTW, HZD, SMO, Nier: A, Persona 5. Played 4/5, agree 3/5.
2018: GOW, RDR2, Spider-Man, Celeste, RotOD. Played 4/5, agree 4/5,
"agree" means I agree its at least a great game that deserves to be in the top GOTY conversation. So every year this gen there's been at least two of the top 5 games I agree should be there, and also every year there's been one game I've been rooting for above the others (TLOU, DA:I, Bloodborne, U4, BOTW, GOW) but this year I have no such stakes. I'd maybe list Sekiro as an "agree" for this year since I know its a great game even though I have no desire to play more of it, but I certainly don't care if it wins GOTY awards.
I'm less making this comment about GOTY awards and more about 2019 itself, with it being a fairly disappointing year for me with playing games that just really click and feel like GOTY material, as only SW has felt like that to me (and even then I think its flawed and barely scrapes a 9/10). Anyone else feel this way about 2019, or is there years in the past where you've felt kind of the same thing?
Death Stranding - 74
The Critics' Picks - 47
The Readers' Picks - 27
Resident Evil 2 - 71
The Critics' Picks - 50
The Readers' Picks - 21
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - 50
The Critics' Picks - 43
The Readers' Picks - 7
Control - 26
The Critics' Picks - 26
The Readers' Picks -
Disco Elysium - 14
The Critics' Picks - 14
The Readers' Picks -
The Outer Worlds - 9
Fire Emblem: Three Houses - 8
Outer Wilds - 6
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - 6
Out of these top 9 games, I have only played two of them (Sekiro and SW) and even then I didn't finish Sekiro. The main conversation (the top 5) involves games I basically don't care about. Death Stranding, Disco Elysium, RE2 I'm not playing because I don't think I'll enjoy them. Sekiro I just can't get into and Control I'm going to play but haven't got around to yet. The other 3 games listed I'm on the fence about getting. So I basically only played 1 of the top 5 games and in my mind none of them are GOTY contenders. I compared this to the top 5 from the last 8 years to see the difference (note for this I'm only counting games I played before the end of the corresponding year so its a fair comparison):
2013: TLOU, GTAV, Bioshock Infnite, SM3DW, Gone Home. Played 2/5, agree 2/5.
2014: DA:I, Shadow of Mordor, Mario Kart 8, Smash, Far Cry 4. Played 4/5, agree 3/5.
2015: TW3, Fallout 4, Bloodborne, MGSV, LiS. Played 3/5, agree 2/5.
2016: U4, Overwatch, Doom, Battlfield 1, TLG. Played 3/5, agree 2/5.
2017: BOTW, HZD, SMO, Nier: A, Persona 5. Played 4/5, agree 3/5.
2018: GOW, RDR2, Spider-Man, Celeste, RotOD. Played 4/5, agree 4/5,
"agree" means I agree its at least a great game that deserves to be in the top GOTY conversation. So every year this gen there's been at least two of the top 5 games I agree should be there, and also every year there's been one game I've been rooting for above the others (TLOU, DA:I, Bloodborne, U4, BOTW, GOW) but this year I have no such stakes. I'd maybe list Sekiro as an "agree" for this year since I know its a great game even though I have no desire to play more of it, but I certainly don't care if it wins GOTY awards.
I'm less making this comment about GOTY awards and more about 2019 itself, with it being a fairly disappointing year for me with playing games that just really click and feel like GOTY material, as only SW has felt like that to me (and even then I think its flawed and barely scrapes a 9/10). Anyone else feel this way about 2019, or is there years in the past where you've felt kind of the same thing?