Recently in the 'What Game Are You Playing' thread, there was some discussion about potential GotY nominees. I've always been curious about this and whether anyone puts a lot of thought into their pick and have even re-evaluated their choices over time.

Is it a feel thing?

Is it the amount of time you find yourself spending on a game?

Is a technical achievement? Or just a bias towards a certain series or genre?

I've never been incredibly serious with my Game of the Year. Usually I don't even play through more than half a dozen games each year and usually rely on reviews or youtube videos to fill out a top ten whenever we've done a VG&T poll. The only exception was 2017 where I made a point of buying at least one new release each month and playing through it. I also feel like once we've gone past a year, unless I find the game on sale, I usually just buy whatever's new and that tides me over. A lot of my GotY picks usually feel pre-destined. I buy the game knowing that it's going to be excellent and I'm rarely let down. The only exception maybe when I buy a game from a series I enjoy and it may just be a solid entry instead of a true GotY contender.

So yeah, I'm curious to know how many new releases you guys play through each year and if you feel you have to play a set number of games to determine a GotY? Is there anything specific you look for in a game, or any common threads with your last few picks?

IMO, it's gotta be that perfect mix of (in order, from most to least) story, controls, character, replay value, and graphics.

Games like GTA V, Horizon Zero Dawn, The Last of Us, Sleeping Dogs, and PS4's God of War had that blended to a tee.

I'd say it could be a bit of everything, personally, the technically best isn't always going to win out for me, it's all about enjoyment. And a preferred genre is usually going to get more favor.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is nowhere near the level of stuff like Sekiro or Spider-Man from a technical standpoint...but at no point was I bored and literally didn't want to quit until I had maxed everything out and collected every last item in the game, I immediately wanted to start a NG+ and keep going (only didn't because I have other things to get to, but it's an unquestionable buy), so it's actually in the running with them for me. Might currently be a recency bias thing though, have to see at the end of the year how I feel.

Does anything really beat Fortnite though?

Jun 26, 2019 12:21:27 GMT KING KID said:

Does anything really beat Fortnite though?

Sure.  Depends on your preferences.

The game I enjoyed the most that year.

How many new releases do you guys play through each year?

If I was seriously judging a list, I'd like to play through at least 50 games. That presents an obvious problem though because let's say on average I'd spend 20 hours per game getting a good impression, that'd be 1000 hours total, meaning I'd have to dedicate around 21 hours a week solely to gaming. Never mind taking notes or talking to others about games, that's 21 hours of sitting infront of a screen.

When I was originally thinking about this thread, originally it was going to be about determining the best year in gaming and how these concensus seem to be formed. If you ask a lot of gamers they'll bring up years like 2001, 2007, 2011 and 2017 but other years seem to fall by the wayside. Is it a matter of quantity + quality or do bad releases hold a year back? For instance 2016 had some great games but No Man Sky was a notorious let down. Do flops like Anthem hold a year back?

Just so it doesn't come across like I'm doing some survey for a university...

Typically I buy around six new releases each year. Usually they're just long-awaited sequels but around sales I'll pick up whatever critically acclaimed game I've kept my eye on. When it comes to GotY discussion, I tend to defer to the professionals. It goes back to my days of collecting magazines where I spent as much time reading about games as I did playing them. With the VGM sections, I put them together with the idea of talking about new releases without necessarily playing them, either bringing awareness to them or talking about trends in modern games.

As far as great gaming years, I do think it's simply a quality + quantity = best year. A year like 2017 for instance had Mass Effect Andromeda, a well known bomb but there were so many good titles in Horizon Zero Dawn, Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey etc. to cover that up. I definitely think a year has to be fairly diverse when it comes it's share of great games. For instance 2017 had 3D Platformers, JRPG, Action RPG, Open World Action-Adventures, Puzzle, 2D Platforming, Shoot Em Ups, Adventure, WRPG, Strategy, FPS etc. all covered. Meanwhile 2016 seemingly had a lot of really good FPS games, but other genres were sorely lacking.

Pretty much what System said, I usually base my game of the year, on which game I enjoyed playing in that particular year. Having said that, I'm not the most qualified to determine the game of the year, as I've only played a handful of games between the PS4 and Switch from this year anyway.