2023 is drawing to a close. The air is col?d, the fires are lit, and now we gather 'round the digital hearth to celebrate the games we enjoyed throughout the year. ??Let's talk about the best indies of 2023.

Since I have the honor of publishing first this year, welcome to Destructoi?d's end-of-year coverage! Throughout this week, we'll be revealing our nominees for our favorites in a variety of categories. Then, starting next week, we'll announce the winners, as chosen by our staff and contributors.

We do have a few ground rules, to clarify some questions y'all might have. First off, each game can only be nominated in one category. Also, our window of eligibility runs from December to December, to account for time spent to get to know these games. So games from December 2023 are not eligible, but December 2022 g??am?es are.

So what's up for best indie this year at Destructoid? Let's take a l??ook at the nominations.

Lethal Company

It's of little surprise that Lethal Company made our list. The co-op horror game about the terrors of space, and underappreciated scrap labor, has been making the rounds. It's fairly recent, but I feel confident in saying this isn't quite a flash-in-the-pan compared to other live service games. The mods alone show some significant longevity.

Chained Echoes

Remember that December rule? It's why Chained Echoes, a late-in-the-year 2022 entry, is here now. And boy, does it earn a spot. Chained Echoes puts a surprising spin on the RPG nostalgia trip, with fresh mechanics,? ideas, and some really memorable moments. It's still one I can easily recommend to other RPG fans, without hesitation.

Goodbye Volcano High

Goodbye Volcano High is a curious one. We didn't get around to covering it here, but it's one that's come up in conversations since. A story? about dino-school angst in the face of the end of everything. Even on pitch alone, it's pretty fascinating.

El Paso, Elsewhere

An obvious selection for us was El Paso, Elsewhere, a Max Payne-alike about dealing with your vampiric ex. It sounds like it's got both action and heart, and really seemed to make an impression on everyone that picked it up.

Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengeance of the Slayer

In a review calling it both "indispensable and unique," our own Zoey Handley makes the case for Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengeance of the Slayer as an indie GOTY contender. Indeed??, it seems like a frontrunne?r for the kind of aggressive, visual-meltdown FPS that's become a hit these last few years.

Void Stranger

Void Stranger is a game that I am, frankly, too easily flustered to manage myself. The rich Sokoban-style puzzle game enamored me with its many hidden mysteries earlier this year, and watching fans dig into it ha??s been a joy. I may not see the bottom ?floor for myself, but it's a wonderful game that I'm glad exists.

World of Horror

And lastly, World of Horror hit its final release this year. In some ways, this felt like an overdue celebration. While the Ito-inspired, interface-laden throwback horror adventure has been around for ages, it's a good time to finally recognize just how well it captures a specific kind of experience. It is for a very specific group of people, but for those people, it lands.

These are the nominees for this Destructoid's Best?? Indie of 2023.

• Lethal Company
• Chained Echoes
• Goodbye Volcano High
• El Paso, Elsewhere
• Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengeance of the Slayer
• Void Stranger
• World of Horror

Our final results will go live next week, starting on December 18 with the winner of Best Indie. Stay tuned throughout this week for the rest of our nominees, as we build up to the Overall Game of the Year award on? December 22!

The post Nominees for Destructoid’s Best Indie of 2023 appeared first on Destructoid.

Hot game award results made in less than a week

It feels like 2022 was the year that everything that we had been waiting for since before the pandemic came out. Maybe it was studios hitting their stride with remote work or independent developers' work through the pandemic finally coming to fruition. Or maybe it was higher-ups forcing releases for profit's sake; who knows? The end result was that we saw a veritable glut of games released this year, and after the Destructoid staff voted? on their pick ?for Game of the Year, we put the vote to you, the readers. Like the number of games released this year, you came out in droves and cast your vote l??ike we all live in good f?air democracy.

For those that didn't read the original vote article, we use a weighted voting system here which means you get to vote for your three favorite games of the year. Each one, depending on where our voters placed it (1st, 2nd, 3rd), received a number of points (3, 2, 1, respectively), and the points were tallied up to determine a winner. As is tradition, we will hig?hlight the top five results with blurbs written by a mix of staff and selected community members. So without any further pomp and circumstance, here are your results:

Fifth place - Kirby and the Forgotten Land

While Kirby and the Forgotten Land was nominated for the best Switch game of the year, it ultimately lost out to Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Thus, staff writer CJ Andriessen became a man denied his ability to talk a?bout the adorable pink ball that loves to eat. Here now he talks about the past present and ??future of the storied series.

When console gaming made the jump to 3D, most of the big name franchises in the industry made the jump with it. Mario, Zelda, Sonic, even Bubsy redefined themselves for the third dimension, laying the groundwork for the gaming as we know it today. But HAL Laboratory and Nintendo hesitated when it came to Kirby. The pink puff flirted with 3D gaming in a few of his spin-offs and mini-games, but the mainline series of games kept to a mostly 2D plane throughout the various console generations. With Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Kirby finally made?? the leap, and hot damn did he st?ick the landing.

Forgotten Land is arguably the best Kirby game ever made, with outstanding level design, impeccable controls, and near-perfect execution of Kirby’s new Mouthful Mode. It is, in my book, exactly what a 3D Kirby game should be. And while his 2D adventures will always live on in my heart (and on my Switch), Forgotten Land represents a shiny new path forward for Kirby and I can’t wait to see what HAL Labo?rat?ory comes up with next.

Whether you were saving Waddle Dees throughout the New World or serving them some food in one of the mini-games you unlock throughout your adventure, Kirby and the Forgotten Land is one of the best all-around packages in gaming fro?m 2022 and a shoe-?in for any gamer's top 10 list.

Fourth place - Vampire Survivors

Hey, look at that! I played a game that made it into the top five, so now you get to listen to me talk about the indie extravaganza that set off an entirely new genre of indie games, Vampire Survivors!

One of my favorite features of Steam is the ability to see what my friends are buying and playing. I do admit that at times I can get caught up in the hype and buy a game just because everyone else is playing it. That is how I came across Vampire Survivors through sheer force of peer pressure. And for that, I than??k all my Steam friends. Sometimes ??peer pressure is good, y'all!

With a mix of roguelite and bullet hell, Vampire Survivors is a perfect game for both "pick up and play" sessions as well as "holy crap where did the last two hours go?" ones, as well. The deceptively simple gameplay of dodging enemies and projectiles gets a great boost from theory-crafting builds which gives you enough rope to hang yourself with. It's also very telling how popular it is since multiple clones of it with different skins have been popping up in the months since it was released. Additionally, according to one of our community members, its single-stick play makes it a fantastic game from an accessibility standpoint. With all of this combined, it's no wond?er it made it into the top 5 of our community poll!

Third place - Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Third place for the third game in the third series that's all about killing God. What providence! Long-term readers will know my weeb days are long since behind me (Nier doesn't count) so I enlisted the help of SikyWiggedHero who wrote a summation ?of the game so good it has almost enticed me to play it:

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a big game in just about every sense. A massive open world. Hour-long cutscenes. 13 hours ??of?? music. So many combat mechanics, they could form several smaller JRPGs by themselves.

It’s a titan. Yet its massive scope would ring hollow if it wasn’t for its intimate focus. Opening with what’s quickly becoming an iconic scene, the narrative soon settles on a party of six playable characters and their struggle to find meaning in their lives as they are hurtling toward their deaths. The narrative twists and turns feature enough existential crises to fill an Evangelion fan convention, yet it’s wary to lose focus of the intimate relationship each party member forms with one another, as well as the world around them. These relationships propel the game’s biggest moments, from heartbreaking losses to triumphant victories. In Xenoblade Chronicles 3, a huge world is built around small, intimate, and af????fecting stories.

Second place - God of War: Ragnarök

Probably either the most or at least second most anticipated game of the year gets the second spot in our community poll. Woefully I'm still behind on the new series so we got the PatBateman to stop preening himself and feeding cats to ATMs to talk about what th??e sequel meant to him:

Like its predecessor, Ragnarök reminds me why I love gaming.

GoW and Ragnarök both start with epic boss fights to set the tone of the game and immediately provide a hook. I’m mainly here for a story that’s going to rip my heart out, and seeing firsthand Kratos’s struggles as a father and Freya’s unending grief as a mother, really hits home. The characters are so real, the environments are varied and gorgeous, throwing and retrieving the axe let me live my Thor fantasy, and anytime things get too tense, Mimir tells a hilarious story. GoW 2018 remains an absolutely brilliant game, and I feel like the studio pulled off another gem with Ragnarök.

jbsgame.community 2022 Game of the Year - Elden Ring

Surprising absolutely no one, Elden Ring took the top spot. Everyone's favorite resplendent Grandmother and Lead Moderator Occams Electric Toothbrush provides t?he color that we'll paint on the inside of the eyelids of this (un)holy combination of Miyazaki and George RR Martin:

Smarter people than me have written some brilliant pieces on Elden Ring. They have waxed poetic on the beauty, the mystery, and the scale of it all, and I couldn’t agree more. I’m a simple creature, but I know when something is special. It’s that gut feeling and I’ve trusted in it for years now. The moment I stepped out into Limgrave from the tutorial area, I knew it was going to be special. And it was for so many of us. Elden Ring could have b?een just good and we’d have loved it.

But instead, Miyazaki and his team went and gave us another masterpiece. I can’t fathom what it takes to make a game like Elden Ring. It’s just too much for the grocery bag full of doll parts I call a brain. But I can reco??gnize brilliance. And apparently, y’all can as well.

Now everyone who voted for Victoria 3's favorite thing...numbers! Oh, by the way, I'm disappointed in you all. It got one vote for third place. Consider you all shamed. Below are the top 50-ish games with the point value they each received. As you can see Elden Ring beat the crap out of everyone.

Look at how close Tunic came! Also, sad that our boy Jack couldn't get it done with Stranger of Paradise but that's probably Chaos' nefario??u?s meddling...damn them!

Thank you as always for voting and reading through a very tumultuous year here at Destructoid. We love our community and readers more than anything, and this place simply wouldn't be the same without all of you. Best of luck in the coming year and remember that balancing long-term economic growth with a steady stream of construction is the path to victory in Victoria 3.

The post Destructoid’s 2022 Community Game of the Year goes to… appeared first on Destructoid.

Vote or Die (not really)

[Update: Closing the polls at 3 PM Central US time]

Step right up, it's time for you to make your voice heard in the annual jbsgame.community Game of the Year vote. We've already laid out all of our awards for this year, so now it's time for you, the best community in gaming, to stamp your approval on one of the hundreds of games that released this year. Those of you who have been around for a few years, the p??rocess will be quite similar to the last few, but I'll go over the tenants of our democratic system for those who don't know.

Here at Destructoid we use the ranked voting system to decide which game wins the coveted Community Game of the Year. It works like this, you get three votes for Game of the Year. Your first choice receives three points, second choice two, and third choice receives one. Then at the end of the ??voting period, we tally up the points, and whoever has the most points wins. It gives smaller games at least a fighting chance to win while also allowing you to choose the big-name releases that you enjoyed as well.

Below you will find a form to submit your vote through. I've compiled a list of 200+ games that released during the previous year of eligibility (December 1, 2021 - November 30, 2022) and while I tried my best to get what I could, I'm sure I missed some. The exhaustive list of games on the ballot are listed here so you can peruse it and then go into the form and make your selection. If there's something missing that you want to vote for, hit up the comments and I'll slot it in as best as I can.  There are a? few rules though;

1. One vote per person, more info on that down below
2. You cannot vote for the same game more than once on a ballot as it defeats the purpose of ranked voting
3. Ballot stuffing is going to be curbed this year. Previously we've had issues with the votes getting overwhelmed by some people with too much time on their hands and whereas in previous years I've let it slide, that ends now. Any votes that look suspicious will be wiped. Hate to do this but in order to limit everyone to one vote it would require me to have people sign in to a Google account and I don't think people would like that either.

The voting form can be found: here. We will continue to accept votes until Friday, January 6, 2023. Thank you for read??ing and being a part of this wonderful community that we call our internet home.

The post It’s time to vote for Destructoid’s Community Game of the year for 2022 appeared first on Destructoid.

Slowly rolling backwards on the year

Another year has come to a close, and so we're looking back at ??the breadth of games we saw throughout these last 12 months. Many came and went, and gr?adually, I've managed to whittle the crowd down to something resembling my ten favorite games of 2022.

It wasn't an easy task, to be honest. Sure, this year saw the delay of multiple big-name projects into 2023. I'm a bit grateful for that though, as it at least gave me time to spend on some smaller indie release??s. And wow, did they come out swinging.

This year was the year of small games, tactics games, story-driven and narrative titles, and more. I played a lot of games this year that felt like they were pushing forward, whether through new mechanics and ideas or just pushing hardware to its limits. Sitting down to whittle down my list, I was cutting games that I genuinely enjoyed and could have easily made my list last year. Plus, I got way into Final Fantasy XIV.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFlDRhvM4L0

This was also the year of Chainsaw Man, and I'm not -not- mentioning that.

2022 had some stiff competition. My honorable mentions list could stretch on for ages. And my top 5 or so have all swapped around constantly as I've thought this over and over. Heck, I had to cut off Midnight Suns and Chained Echoes from consideration, as I just didn't have the time to properl??y dive through them before I finalized my list.

Well, let's get to the heart of the matter. Here are ten of my favorite games from t?his year, in no particular o?rder except the last one.

Neon White

Part-speedrun tutorial, part-Toonami special, but 100% dripping in style and incredible design choices, Neon White is a breath of fresh air for folks who still boot up Titanfall 2 just to run the Pilot's Gauntlet. Everything, from its incredible vision of heaven and unabashed commitment to the bit down to the actual movement and gunplay, felt rock solid. The story still didn't move me quite as much as it did for others, but the action and killer soundtrack of Neon White have been stuck in my mind all year. Seriously, even against a line-up of heavy hitters, Neon White is one of the best OSTs all year.

Pokemon Legends Arceus

I was down-and-out on Pokemon for a long time headed into 2022. I've got friends and family who adore the series, but the mainline series hadn't hooked me in since the Game Boy Color. Pokemon Legends Arceus is the entry that didn't just re-imagine Pokemon; it re-ignited my spark for this series.

The catching mechanics of Arceus turn the semi-open, Monster Hunter-like environments into careful cat-and-mouse games, heightened by the presence of terrifying Alpha Pokemon. I loved the danger and the thrill. I loved how this journey wasn't taken over well-trodden roads, and the world felt like it was still wild and new, despite being a region long-time Trainers know well. It was easily the better of the two Pokemon entries I played this year, and hopefully the Legends line?? is some??thing The Pokemon Company returns to in the future.

AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative

Mystery, laughs, twists, and great puzzles. The nirvanA Initiative is what I've wanted to see from Uchikoshi and company since the Nonary Games concluded, and what I'd hoped the first AI: The Somnium Files would be.

There's a lot to be said for a shift in leading characters; Ryuji was fine, but Mizuki easily steals the show. Still, what endeared the nirvanA Initiative to me was seeing this series embrace real puzzles and escape room-style scenarios for its dream-diving sections. It was more enjoyable to puzzle these out than any of the more esoteric, dream-logic problems were. And the overall story structure ends up twisting and winding in a more interesting manner, too. This felt like the team finding their footing in the Somnium univ??erse, and making it stan?d tall in the pantheon of murder-mystery adventures.

Vampire Survivors

Honestly, who didn't fall down a Vampire Survivors hole this year? While there's been an influx of players recently thanks to its DLC and Game Pass debut, I've been on the Vampire Survivors beat since this time last year. And yet?? it's never really gotten old or dull in that time.

Sure, there have been times I've taken breaks or even uninstalled it from my computer for a couple weeks. But poncle's effective blend of active inaction, avoiding enemies while hoping you've made the right upgrade decisions and maneuvers to stay afloat, mixes tower defense and roguelite into a beautiful blend. It's one of many indie success stories this year, but poncle and the Vampire Survivors crew have really put in the work, all the while offering an incredi??bly fun game at a mind-bendingly low price.

Elden Ring

Two moments stick out to me, that ensured Elden Ring would be on my end-of-year list. The first: openi??ng ?a treasure chest and waking up in Caelid. Walking out into that blasted land, with the scarlet canopy weaving around its shores and cliffs, I knew I dug this game.

The second was another teleportation, this time to the Haligtree. Here, I needed a moment to just take in the scope and wonder of this massive area, completely separate from the critical path. I beat every boss, conquered all foes, built the perfect Tarnished and in the end, ushered in an era of stars with the witch Ranni. Elden Ring is a big, gorgeous culmination of years of Souls developmen?t,?? and it really manages to achieve all it set out to do.

Pentiment

With Microsoft building up a wealth of studios and building out Game Pass, Pentiment i??s the sort of end result I was hoping for in all of it. This passion project from a team over at Obsidian is not the sort of blockbuster, big-budget, all-out affair you'd expect.

Instead, Pentiment is rich, beautiful, and wonderfully focused on its historical narrative adventure. Following Andreas Maler through the ages as the world evolves around him, dealing with the times while also investigating a murder, was something a bit different. And it clicked incredibly well because of it. Pentiment is sharp in its writing, art style, presentation, and more, and well-worth checking out. It'?s an exciting sign of the possibilities for smaller projects from the big studios under the Xbox banner.

Signalis

I had been struck by Signalis' style s?ince an early demo I checked out. Pixel art, anime style, and lo?w-poly environments made for a mix of styles that felt bound together just right. It was exciting to see that rose-engine's survival horror game managed to stick the landing, too.

Signalis feels like a love letter to classic survival horror. Dark hallways and corners loom large. Ominous, vacuous silence makes every step feel louder than it should, as you carefully navigate through dangerous, monster-filled corridors. The limited inventory and elaborate puzzles meant I was constantly making choices, juggling what I could hold and what I was willing to risk every outing. Signalis is such a tightly packed, perfectly paced bite of survival horror that I can easily see myself b?ooting up again several times over.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3

This is my crow-eating moment: I did not think Xenoblade was for me. Despite loving the Xenosaga series, Chronicles never managed to draw me in. But the war story focus of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 caught my eye, and boy, am ?I glad I ga?ve it a chance.

There hasn't been a party that I've dug as much as Xenoblade Chronicles 3's group of rag-tag adventurers in some time. Brought together by fate and driven to discover just why they are born to die in never-ending war, it doesn't take long for them to start fusing into robots and fighting gods. But it's the little moments that kept me locked in; campfire hang-outs, character-focused quests, and tons of time spent on developing this crew and their growing group of cohorts made the big moments hit. I've been, diving into side quests and extra content, holding off on rolling credits because I don't want to be finished with this world. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 i?s easily one of my favorite RPGs I've played in a w??hile.

Immortality

As a fan of both FMV and Barlow's previous work, I was eager to see what the team at Half Mermaid would do with Immortality. The match-cut system is interesting enough, but as it turns out, Immortality is muc??h, much more than just a novel navigation tool.

This mystery, that ambiguously sends you searching through the lost film history of a missing star, smartly breaks down the barrier between film and subject. It draws you in, not just with the match-cut that asks for careful observation of scenes, but in its framing too. You can go for a long time without using an interface, and all the while be absorbed in the story, connecting dots and matching names to faces. It drew me in, and didn't let me go, ultimately revealing a dialogue about creation and creativity that's been stuck in my head for months. In a year full of fascinating narrative design, this was a highlight.

Citizen Sleeper

Given how early it arrived in the year compared to some other games on this list, I wasn't sure where Citizen Sleeper would fall on my list as more and more games arrived. It might be the greatest testament to Jump Over the Age's sci-fi, narrative-driven RPG that it's still held up throu?gh it all.

In Citizen Sleeper, you play a Sleeper, a runaway worker formed from an artificial consciousness in a failing body. Camped out on Erlin's Eye, every day is about staving off hunger and damage, alongside the looming threat of planned obsolescence without the corpo-mandated medicine. But then something ??clicks. Amid all the daily dice rolls, hoping for high rolls and trying to keep ahead, you start to form a community.

Others trying to get through life, drifting through the Eye, start to drift into you?r orbit. Soon, you're not just trying to survive. You're forming a co-op and commune., or hacking the station for ancient secrets. You're building a still to try and keep an old haunt afloat.

All the while, Citizen Sleeper asks the player to juggle clocks, ticking up towards success and do?wn towards failures. This experience made me think about how role-playing games operate, and what emotional stories can be formed from the looming stresses and dangers of life on the outskirts of the universe. By the time I left the Eye, I felt at peace with my journey there, and what might be next for my Sleeper. That journey was easily a highlight of 2022, and my favorite game of the year too.

The post Eric Van Allen’s favorite games of 2022 appeared first on Destructoid.

If you haven't played it, it's new to you

One might assume that the dawning of a new gaming generation would essentially bring an end to the flurry of remasters and?? remakes that we saw flood the market in the most recent decade. But of course not. Much like the film industry, the concept of taking a second pass at some beloved (and even not-so-beloved classics) is clearly here to stay �with no sign from the cash registers that it isn't still a hugely lucrative endeavor.

2022 contained two very extreme examples of the remaster/remake concept, namely in the form of Square Enix sliding-door RPG Live a Live and Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part I. On one hand, we had a long-lost RPG dating back to 1994 and Nintendo's Super Famicom, while on the other we had a remake of a game less than 10 years old �one that had already been remastered at that.

It will be interesting to see how blurry the lines become in regards to how long is "long enough"? And while I have zero problem with the concept of remakes and remasters per se, it'?s worth raising an eyebrow at the idea that each new generation of hardware immediately requires the re-establishment of the previous generation's best-selling games. Not franchises. Games. Time �and the creativity of the next wave of studios, developers, and players �will tell.

Here are the nominees for Destructoid’s Best Remaster/Remake of 2022

• Live a Live
• Metal Max Xeno Reborn
• Pac-Man World Re-Pac
• Tactics Ogre: Reborn
• The Last of Us Part I
• The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe
• World of Warcraft Classic: Wrath of the Lich King

The post Nominees for Destructoid’s Best Remaster/Remake of 2022 appeared first on Destructoid.

Here's hoping

This week will see the return of The Game Awards, as the great and good of 2022's run of digital entertainment gather together in hopes of bagging some recognition for their efforts �all squeezed between endless game trailers and piss-break live entertainment. It's usually a long affair... a really long affair. Last year's event, including the pre-show, clocked in around the four hour mark.

However, as reported by VGC, host and organizer Geoff Keighley has seemingly taken some of the tired-eyed feedback of TGA viewers and media types on board, suggesting ??that this year's event should be a little less bum-numbing.

"One thing we’re doing this year is we’re trying to make the show a littl??e bit shorter," Keighley said in a Twitter-based audio stream. "I won’t say anything officially unti??l we’re through our rehearsals, but we think it’s going to be a significantly shorter show this year."

"We think there’s been a little bit of fatigue about how long the show has been, there are lots of games and lots of things that want to be a part of it, but we’re cutting back on those things to hopefully have a bit more of a streamlined show," continues Keighley. "We definitel??y have cut back pretty significantly in terms of the runtime on the show and just you know kind of fewer games, fewer bigger games that’ll be in there."

//twitter.com/geoffke?ighley/status/1599452442197782529?s=20&t=9kiN7FmsDHs7??nAzZY8G7EQ

Despite these comments, Keighley has already suggested that there will be around "30-40" games featured at the show, calling this year's event "the biggest show yet" in an interview with Epic Games. While the post-E3 market has seen myriad publisher live streams and stage presentations attempt to cut themselves their own unique piece of the Nintendo Direct pie, the fact remains that many of these publishers fail to understand the "less is more" concept,?? with perhaps only Capcom being slick enough to deliver the goods while also keeping it under 30.

The Game Awards is, of course, a prestigious industry event. And with the eyes of the gaming world on Geoff's stage, it makes sense that publishers will all be jockeying for position to get their wares in the spotlight. But these event organizers really need to look at these two-hours-plus shows and ask themselves if it's actually what the people want to sit through and the media wish to cover. Rather than offering ?an epic evening of entertainment, it just becomes compl?etely exhausting, leading to a legitimate sense of dread in its preceding hours, rather than any actual excitement.

The Game Awards 2022 takes place Thurs?day, December 8 at 17:00 P?T / 20:00 ET / 01:00 BST

The post Keighley: The Game Awards 2022 to be ‘significantly shorter’ appeared first on Destructoid.

Five gongs for The Lands Between

Last night saw the arguable start of awards season, with the return of the annual Golden Joystick Awards, an institution t??hat has now run for some four decades. Presented by GamesRadar, the 2022 edition of the veteran UK ceremony saw almost three millio?n votes cast by the gaming public, hoping to shine a spotlight on the many titles that have entertained them over the past 12 months.

And, in what may prove to be something of a portent for things to come, Bandai Namco's challenging fantasy adventure Elden Ring was the big winner on the night, walking away with five awards in total including Ultimate Game of the Year and the Critic's Choice award, (as well as, curiously, Best Multiplayer). Devolver Digital's Cult of the Lamb took home the Best Indie Game gong, while actor Mahon Mage won Best Performer for her memorable turn in FMV mystery Immortality.

Steam hit Vampire Survivors won Best Breakthrough, while Goat Simulator 3 bagged Best Game Trailer for its amusing Dead Island 2 pastiche. Finally, as voted for by the public, the Most Wanted Game for 2023 was won by Nintendo's highly anticipated The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcYAU1c0lMk

Here are the winners for the 2022 Golden Joystick Awards:

Best Storytelling: Horizon Forbidden West

Still Playing Award: Genshin Impact

Best Visual Design: Elden Ring

Studio of the Year: FromSoftware Inc.

Best Game Expansion: Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course

Best Early Access Launch: Slime Rancher 2

Best Indie Game: Cult of the Lamb

Best Multiplayer Game: Elden Ring

Best Audio: Metal: Hellsinger

Best Game Trailer: Goat Simulator 3 Announcement Trailer

Best Game Community: Final Fantasy XIV

Best Gaming Hardware: Steam Deck

Breakthrough Award: Vampire Survivors (critically chosen)

Critics�Choice Award: Elden Ring (critically chosen)

Best Performer: Manon Gage - IMMORTALITY (critically chosen)

Nintendo Game of the Year: Pokemon Legends: Arceus

PC Game of the Year: Return to Monkey Island

PlayStation Game of the Year: Stray

Xbox Game of the Year: Grounded

Most Wanted Game: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Ultimate Game of the Year: Elden Ring

The post Elden Ri?ng wins big at the 2022 Golden Joystick Awa??rds appeared first on Destructoid.

This lamb got the chops

Devolver Digital's comically unnerving roguelike, Cult of the Lamb, has ironically become something of a cult hit itself, winning over fans with its creepy-cute visuals, anarchic attitude, and engaging gameplay �In fact, Massive Monster's indie hit has already bagged its first Game of the Year award, courtesy of the Australian Game Developer Awards.

The event, which took place on the evening on October 4, recognized the best of interactive entertainment from 2022 to date, focusing mostly on the output of independent studios working within the region. Cult of the Lamb scuttled ?off with four well-deserved gongs, including Excellence in Art, Excellence in Music, Excellence in Gameplay, and the ?aforementioned Game of the Year award.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsPtUNB1z-Q

"After experiencing our success overseas, it was? an amazing feeling to see our game really resonate with Australians as well," said creative director Julian Wilton of the win. "We received such strong support locally and we love that it’s being enjoyed, not just for the gameplay, but also for the art and music."

I'm not sure quite how many followers had to be sacrificed at the altar of "The One who Waits" to receive th??ese awards, and I'm not sure I want to know.

In addition to Massive Monster's success, the Australian Game Developer Awards committee �which consists of a panel of 70 industry specialists �also rewarded Studio Drydock with the prizes for Excellence in Narrative and Excellence in Mobile Games for its spellbinding farming title, Wylde Flowers. Gameloft, an industry veteran with a catalog packed full of mobile game success �was awarded Studio of the Yea??r.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=68kdOBKCh04

You can check out the full list of winners below.

Game of the Year: Cult of the Lamb

Excellence in Art: Cult of the Lamb

Excellence in Gameplay: Cult of the Lamb

Excellence in Narrative: Wylde Flowers

Excellence in Sound Design: Heavenly Bodies

Excellence in Music: Cult of the Lamb

Excellence in Technical Design: Age of Darkness: Final Stand

Excellence in Accessibility (Presented by VicScreen): Lost and Hound

Excellence in Mobile Games: Wylde Flowers

Excellence in AR/VR: Table of Tales: The Crooked Crown

Excellence in Serious Games (Applied/Impactful): Kinder World

Excellence in Emerging Games (Student or Early Career): Queer Man Peering Into A Rock Pool.jpg

Excellence in Ongoing Games (Games as a Service): The Oregon Trail

Rising Star Award: Raymond Corrigan

Ambition Award: Ryan McMahon

Adam Lancman Award: Clara Reeves

Studio of the Year: Gameloft

The post Cult of the Lamb ?scoops four prizes at Australian Game Developer Awards appeared first on Destructoid.

Wouldn't you love to escape?

Ember Labs' beautiful and ethereal adventure title Kena: Bridge of Spirits is now available to purchase on the Steam platform, following on from its 2021 release on PlayStation and one-year exclusivity deal with Epic Games Store. This anniversary re-release also brings with it some fun new bonus items.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=axkJPUVpjWU

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is something of a mood piece, following the zen-like adventure of the titular young spirit guide as she embarks upon a journey to guide the recently departed from the plains of reality to their eternal resting place in the spirit realm. While the title does feature world traversal, puzzle-solving, and combat elements, it must be noted that the adventure is more a trek to be enjoyed than a challenge to overcome. In any regard, Kena is a very attractive and charismatic venture, and deserving of the plaudits directed toward its visuals, audio, and satisfying m??echanics.

In addition to the Steam launch, a new "Anniversary Update" is available to download for free on all platforms. The package adds a New Game+ feature, Spirit Guide trials, new Charmstones, and various accessories and outfits for our lovely protagonist. Deluxe Edition owners will get an exclusive bonus outfit. If you're yet to pick up Kena, and are intrigued by this release, then note that the Steam release is currently available to purchase at a discounted price for the? first week of sale, so move fast!

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is available ??now on PlayStation and PC platforms.

The post Kena: Bridge of Spirits brings charming mysticism and new features to S?team appeared first on Destructoid.

Drama recognized for its LGBTQ inclusive storytelling

The past weekend saw the GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) organization hold its 33rd ?annual GLAAD Media Awards ceremony. Emanating out of the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, California, the event recognized positive contributions toward the LGBTQ community via the medium of film,?? print, music, TV, and other forms of entertainment.

Among the 30 categories featured on the big night was the GLAAD award for "Outstanding Video Game," which was taken home by the Deck Nine-developed, Square Enix-published interactive drama Life is Strange: True Colors, which launched on PC and console platforms in September 2021. The latest entry in the much-loved adventure series was recognized for its inclusive cast of characters and open approach to LGBTQ matters �themes that have become a core element for the LiS series as a whole.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R-UU8h-iAo

The runner-up nominations included Boyfriend Dungeon (Kitfox Games), Far Cry 6 (Ubisoft), The Gardener and the Wild Vines (Finite Reflection Studios), Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab), Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine/Xbox Game Studios), Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan (ManaVoid Entertainment/Skybound Games), Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft), Unpacking (Witch Beam/Humble Games), and finally Unsighted (Studio Pixel Punk/Humble Games).

Other wins on the night included "Outstanding Documentary" Changing the Game (Hulu), "Outstanding New TV Series" Hacks (HBO Max), "Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series" It’s A Sin (HBO Max), "Outstanding Magazine Coverage" The Advocate, and a tie for "Outstanding Reality Program" by RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1) and We’re Here (HBO).

You can check out the full list of winners over on the official 33rd GLAAD Media Awards press release.

Life is Strange: True Colors is available now on PlayStation, PC, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and Stadia. It will also arrive on the Xbox Game Pass service next week.

The post Life is Strange: True Colors scores ‘Oustanding Video Game’ at GLAAD Media Awards appeared first on Destructoid.

Eight nominations for Housemarque's epic

We're into the second wave of Game of the Year gongs for 2021. Earlier this week saw gongs handed out at the annual DICE Awards, and yesterday saw the British Academy of Film and Television Arts unveil its nominees fo??r this year's iteration of the BAFTA Games Awards, sc?heduled for April 7.

Among a litany of excellent releases from gaming's past year, it is Housemarque's bullet-hell roguelike Returnal with the most to gain, having received a lofty eight nominations in categories including Best Game, Original Property, Narrative, Game Design, and Music. Also putting in an appearance is EA's multiple Game of the Year winner It Takes Two, which will be looking to add a third "Best of" to its previous accolades, scored at The Game Awards and The DICE Awards.

Also in the running amongst the 16 BAFTA categories are Arkane's chrono-shooter Deathloop, Playground's gorgeous racer Forza Horizon 5, and Insomniac's fuzzy adventure Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. Showing out for the little guys is Daniel Mullins' creepy Inscryption, Acid Nerve's excellent Death's Door, and Witchbeam's viral hit Unpacking.

The full list of nominees for the BA?FTA Games Aw?ards is as follows:

Best Game

• Deathloop (Arkane Studios)
• Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games)
• Inscryption (Daniel Mullins)
• It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios)
• Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games)
• Returnal (Housemarque)

EE Game of the Year (Public Vote)

• Deathloop (Arkane Studios)
• The Forgotten City (Storyteller)
• It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios/EA)
• Metroid Dread (Mercury Steam/Nintendo)
• Unpacking (Witch Beam)
• Chicory: A Colorful Tale (Greg Lobanov)

British Game

• Alba: A Wildlife Adventure (ustwo Games)
• Death's Door (Acid Nerve)
• Fights In Tight Spaces (Ground Shatter)
• Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games)
• Overboard (Inkle Studios)
• Sable (Shedworks)

Evolving Game

• Among Us (Innersloth)
• Animal Crossing: New Horizon (Nintendo)
• Apex Legends (Respawn Entertainment)
• Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• No Man's Sky (Hello Games)

Debut Game

• The Artful Escape (Beethoven & Dinosaur)
• Eastward (Pixpil)
• The Forgotten City (Modern Storyteller)
• Genesis Noir (Feral Cat Den)
• Maquette (Graceful Decay)
• TOEM (Something We Made)

Technical Achievement

• Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games)
• Hitman 3 (IO Interactive)
• Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine)
• Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games)
• Resident Evil Village (Capcom)
• Returnal (Housemarque)

Original Property

• Deathloop (Arkane Studios)
• Death's Door (Acid Nerve)
• Inscryption (Daniel Mullins)
• It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios)
• Returnal (Housemarque)
• Unpacking (Witch Beam)

Narrative

• It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios)
• Life Is Strange: True Colours (Square Enix)
• Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (Square Enix)
• Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine)
• Returnal (Housemarque)
• Unpacking (Witch Beam)

Music

• Deathloop (Arkane Studios)
• Far Cry 6 (Ubisoft Toronto)
• Halo Infinite (343 Industries)
• Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine)
• Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games)
• Returnal (Housemarque)

Multiplayer

• Back 4 Blood (Turtle Rock)
• Call of Duty Vanguard (Sledgehammer Games)
• Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games)
• Halo Infinite (343 Industries)
• Hell Let Loose (Black Matter)
• It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios)

Game Design

• Deathloop (Arkane Studios)
• Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games)
• Inscryption (Daniel Mullins)
• It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios)
• Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart (Insomanic Games)
• Returnal (Housemarque)

Family

• Alba: A Wildlife Adventure (ustwo Games)
• Chicory: A Colorful Tale (Greg Lobanov)
• Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games)
• Mario Party Superstars (Nintendo)
• Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games)
• Unpacking (Witch Beam)

Audio Achievement

• The Artful Escape (Beethoven & Dinosaur)
• Call of Duty: Vanguard (Sledgehammer Games)
• Deathloop (Arkane Studios)
• Halo Infinite (343 Industries)
• Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (Square Enix)
• Returnal (Housemarque)

Artistic Achievement

• The Artful Escape (Beethoven and Dinosaur)
• It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios)
• Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine)
• Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games)
• Resident Evil Village (Capcom)
• Returnal (Housemarque)

Animation

• Call of Duty: Vanguard (Sledgehammer Games)
• It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios)
• Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab)
• Life Is Strange: True Colors (Square Enix)
• Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine)

Game Beyond Entertainment

• Alba: A Wildlife Adventure (ustwo Games)
• Before Your Eyes (Goodbye World)
• Chicory: A Colorful Tale (Greg Lobanov)
• Game Builder Garage (Nintendo)
• It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios)
• Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine)

The post ??BAFTA Games Awards nominees include Returnal, Deathloop,? It Takes Two appeared first on Destructoid.

It Takes Two (trophies)

This past weekend saw The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hold the 2022 iteration of its annual DICE Awards, which recognizes technical, design, and narrative excellence in our wonderful world of video gaming. This year's event saw awards handed out to some of 2021's bigg??est hitters, helping to bolster the trophy cases of several releases that have already ?bagged themselves multiple industry gongs.

Among the biggest winners of the night were EA's co-op adventure It Takes Two, which took home the coveted Game of the Year award �a trophy that will no doubt sit snugly next to its previous GOTY award, won during December's Game Awards 2021 ceremony. It Takes Two also picked up the Outstanding Achievement in Game Design award, beating out deserved nominees including Deathloop, Inscryption, and Loop Hero.

Insomniac Games' excellent adventure Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart was another of the night's big winners, taking home a hefty four trophies in the field of animation, art direction, technical achievement, and family gaming. On the audio front, Housemarque's sci-fi epic Returnal won awards for both its music and evocative and immersive sound design. Also around to make a scene, Resident Evil Village's undenia??ble Lady Dimitrescu won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Character.

You can check out the full list of Dice Awards ?2022 nominees and winners below.

Game of the Year

• Deathloop
• Inscryption
• It Takes Two
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Returnal

Outstanding Achievement in Animation

• Call of Duty: Vanguard
• Deathloop
• Kena: Bridge of Spirits
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Resident Evil Village

Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction

• Call of Duty: Vanguard
• Deathloop
• Kena: Bridge of Spirits
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Resident Evil Village

Outstanding Achievement in Character

• Deathloop â€?Colt Vahn
• Kena: Bridge of Spirits â€?Kena
• Life is Strange: True Colors â€?Alex Chen
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart â€?Rivet
• Resident Evil Village â€?Lady Dimitrescu

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition

• Deathloop
• It Takes Two
• Kena: Bridge of Spirits
• Psychonauts 2
• Returnal

Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design

• Forza Horizon 5
• Halo Infinite
• It Takes Two
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Returnal

Outstanding Achievement in Story

• Before Your Eyes
• Inscryption
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Psychonauts 2
• The Forgotten City

Outstanding Technical Achievement

• Battlefield 2042
• Forza Horizon 5
• Moncage
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Returnal

Action Game of the Year

• Deathloop
• Halo Infinite
• Metroid Dread
• Returnal
• The Ascent

Adventure Game of the Year

• Death's Door
• It Takes Two
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Psychonauts 2
• Resident Evil Village

Family Game of the Year

• Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Happy Home Paradise
• Cozy Grove
• Mario Party Superstars
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Warioware: Get it Together

Fighting Game of the Year

• Guilty Gear Strive
• Melty Blood: Type Lumina
• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl

Racing Game of the Year

• F1 2021
• Forza Horizon 5
• Hot Wheels Unleashed

Role-Playing Game of the Year

• Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker
• Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
• Shin Megami Tensei V
• Tales of Arise
• Wildermyth

Sports Game of the Year

• FIFA 22
• Mario Golf: Super Rush
• NBA 2k22
• Riders Republic
• The Climb 2

Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year

• Age of Empires IV
• Gloomhaven
• Griftlands
• Inscryption
• Loop Hero

Immersive Reality Technical Achievement

• Lone Echo II
• Puzzling Places
• Resident Evil 4 VR
• Song in the Smoke
• Yuki

Immersive Reality Game of the Year

• Demeo
• I Expect You To Die 2
• Lone Echo II
• Resident Evil 4 VR
• Song in the Smoke

Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game

• Death's Door
• Inscryption
• Loop Hero
• Sable
• Unpacking

Mobile Game of the Year

• Behind the Frame
• Fantasian
• League of Legends: Wild Rift
• Moncage
• Pokémon Unite

Online Game of the Year

• Back 4 Blood
• Call of Duty: Vanguard
• Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker
• Halo Infinite
• Knockout City

Outstanding Achievement in Game Design

• Deathloop
• Inscryption
• It Takes Two
• Loop Hero
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction

• Deathloop
• Inscryption
• It Takes Two
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• The Artful Escape

The post It Takes Two and Ratchet & Clank win big at DICE Awards 2022 appeared first on Destructoid.

Please, no objections

Well, then. 2021 is over. A series of 365 days that decided, "what if? we did 2020, again?" It?? was the remaster we did not need. But all that said, in spite of the continued effects of the pandemic and other nonsense, it was a good year too—one with good times, fun stories, and a smattering of new games to call my favorites of the year.

When I ran down the list of what I've played last year, I realized how all over the place it's been. There weren't a ton of tentpole games like there have been in recent years. Maybe Halo Infinite, but Xbox's heavy hitter launched a little late in the year for me to feel like I know where I'm at with it. I got to dive back into the Mass Effect series with the Legendary Edition, an honorable mention for this list; I didn't include it because it was my umpteent??h time p??laying through the whole thing, but I'm glad those games have a unified home now.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8i53TtQ6IQ

2021 was another year of stellar indies. 2021 was a year of surprises, even in the AAA space. 2021 was the year of revivals, group plays, and long, late-night visual novel reading binges. Heck, by the end of it, I was even into Final Fantasy XIV. Never say never.

It was also the first year of my words finding a home here at Destructoid, and I just want to take a brief moment to thank all of y'all. If you've been hanging around in the comments, reading our work, and supporting the cool stories, interviews, reviews, and silly blogs we did here in 2021, thanks a ton!

Well, let's get this going? Here are some of my favorite games from the? year 2021, in no particular order except the final one.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy

Holy flark, I did not see this one coming. I had admittedly written off Guardians of the Galaxy after the launch of Marvel's Avengers, and the Guardians aren't exactly my usual cup of tea when it comes to Marvel content anyways. Something about its Mass Effect Andromeda-ne??ss appealed to me though, and after hearing enough people shower surprised praise on it, I gave it a shot.

What a pleasant, surprisingly heartfelt, and genuinely funny game. Honestly, Guardians of the Galaxy could still use a tune-up on the combat side. But the massive appeal of Eidos Montreal's Marvel journey is its writing and its characters. They got me to genuinely care about Drax, Gamora, and Rocket, with some genuinely fantastic writing at times. And all the barks! It was a good year for combat barks. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy was the surprise I did not expect this year.

Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139...

After Nier Automata put the Nier series on my radar, I was very, very eager to see what its predecessor was like. And Nier Replicant did not disappoint. Though maybe a little bit more tedious than Automata, the modernizations of this year's Replicant remaster went a long way toward making an old? game very fun to play through again and again.

It was also great to see additional ties made to Automata with some added content. Both games serve as halves of a whole, to me; Replicant can gut-punch you about something, then hit you again in Automata, or vice versa. I'm curious to see what's next for Yoko Taro and the crew behind these games, and especially eager to see how the heck Nier plays out inside a critically acclaimed MMORPG. But Replicant felt like I ??was tying off a loose end of gaming, mining the depths of sadness ??and despair as I went.

The Forgotten City / Inscryption

This one's a two-parter, and I'll explain why: earlier this year, I wrote about my newfo??und joy in playing games with a group ov??er Discord. S??ince I was young, I've always enjoyed the many-people, one-controller way of playing certain games. It doesn't work for everything, but it can make some experiences really click.

In the driver's seat portion of this entry, The Forgotten City was a wonder to pick apart. In a year of time loop games offering all kinds of approaches to mystery and narrative, The Forgotten City stands above the pack. It's such a concise, contained loop that still finds so much space to work in. It waxes on and on about philosophy and history, with so much detail and care put into framing t??he story at hand within the wor??ld at large. And the reveals are still just incredible.

On the flip-side, Inscryption is the game I still haven't played myself, but have back-seated through multiple friends. It's a refreshing take on the deck-building genre popularized by games like Slay the Spire and Monster Train. But it's also not just a good deck-builder; it's a good mystery,?? a good adventure, a good puzzle game, and oh so much ??more. I've been a fan of developer Daniel Mullins for a few years now, and it's been great to see him get so much recognition for the kinds of games he does oh-so-well.

Before Your Eyes

Honestly, I feel like I got this take out best a little while ago. Before Your Eyes is simply the one game from this year that I think everyone, and I mean everyone, should play.

In the time it takes to watch a modern movie, Before Your Eyes takes you through a life, one blink at a time. The way that developer GoodbyeWorld?? Games uses the blinking mechanic is so simple at first and becomes so clever?? as the story goes on. It's really an experience that I think anyone and everyone should try at least once. Get a webcam, hook it up, and experience one of the most genuinely moving games of the year.

Dungeon Encounters

Sometimes a game shows up and it is exactly what you needed, despite being something you'd never think to ask for in the first place. Dungeon Encounters feels experimental. It feels fresh and new. It's like getting to see the results of an internal game jam, only it's coming from the minds behind some of Final Fantasy's best.

The minimalist approach can seem sparse at first, but it really lets you fill in the spaces as you go. The deeper into the dungeon you go, the less it feels like a barren, unfinished game world, and the more it feels like a dive into a virtual tabletop. Its battle system is so brilliant and twists on itself in interesting ways. And the way systems and menus intertwine creates such a compelling experience of building and ma?naging not just a party, but a whole company of adventurers. Everyone remembers their first Petrified journeyer, or when they discovered how to recruit more members.

I truly hope Dungeon Encounters is a sign of more to come from Square Enix. ??More offbeat, interesting games like this from big publishers, please!

Life is Strange: True Colors

I've fallen a bit behind on Life is Strange. I loved the first season but never got around to the others. I think by the time Life is Strange 2 was releasing, I was burned out on the episodic model. One of the smartest things Life is Strange: True Colors does is keep the epi??sodic structure, bu??t deliver them all at once. You know, like what streaming services used to do.

The other smartest thing it does is introduce Alex Chen, the heart and soul of True Colors. Between the incredible voice acting and really spot-on motion capture, Alex just feels like a relatable, endearing protagonist that carries the weight of the small-town mystery so well. Deck Nine really found a winner in the small-town story of True Colors, and it's giving me hope that more adventure games from the episodic era can keep it going into the fut??ure.

Gnosia

Going into 2021, Gnosia was already on my radar. Its announcement at a winter Nintendo Indie World showcase was so exciting because I'd heard whispers about this game from a small studio in Japan that was making the rounds, one of the last Vita exclusives making its mark and now finally coming to Switch. And to me, Gnosia did not disappoint.

Gnosia is what I loved about old Flash dating sims, mixed with modern rogue-lite narrative ideas. It's another looping game, only this one has you getting stronger run over run, able to sway debates, and discern impostors at a glance. And all the while, you get smarter too, learning more about these characters. Who they are, their preferred?? method of verbal warfare, and what they're hiding about the predicament you're all in.

If I had to pick the most overlooked game of the year, it's Gnosia. It's also decidedly not going to be everyone's cup of tea; I have a feeling this is one from 2021 that will have video essays made about it years from now. It's as much a game to analyze and dive deep into as it is to play in the moment. But it really did so many things that took me absolutely by surprise. And what a true ending, too. Gnosia is the little indie you shouldn't overlook.

Wildermyth

Speaking of small indie projects that up-ended my world, Wildermyth is both a game I can't yell about enough and a game I'm excited to see keep growing. Its melding of XCOM-like tactics and D&D narrative, wit?h a hint of overworld management, might seem a bit dense. But it all works in conjunction to make a tabletop campaign?? come to life before your eyes, with procedurally generated engines driving the story behind it.

Wildermyth is, to put it bluntly, an engine for building myths and legends. Every campaign is a new story, and a new opportunity to see a humble farmer called to greatness. And then turned into a part-crow wizard with a penchant for archery. Or a stealthy huntress able to set enemies ablaze with her hands. Or a warrior, warm and cheerful among friends, slowly fading away thanks to the stone that pierced her heart. These are all stories that Wildermyth served to me on a silver platter.

The team at Worldwalker Games LLC has been doing a good job at updating Wildermyth too, adding new events and options. And it has Steam Worksho?p support, where the modding scene is only growing. This game has a lot of potential to become even more in the years to come, and I ca?n't wait to see it happen.

Tales of Arise

This was the revival the Tales series needed. Tales of Arise isn't just a show of force for Bandai Namco, putting in a significant budget and graphical upgrade compared to ?previous entries. But it scales up without losing its soul in the process.

Characters still loudly declare DEMON FANG and call out long incantations in the heat of battle, a symphony of special moves and responses. The story is grand and moving, yet there are still so many wonderful skits to uncover. Cooking is still here! And the cast is a genuine all-timer lineup of Tales party members.

Tales of Arise ultimately falls prey to some of the series' known shortcomings too. Its last act sags a good deal, and there are still odd spikes in levels and one very annoying recurring villain. But despite the falters, some of my favorite moments this year were seeing the animations for Boost Strikes over and over. The Boost moves felt like the glue for Tales of Arise, bringing the party together and really making fights feel like an all-out brawl. The horizon is very, very bright for the Tales series, and that's a good feeling.

The Backlog of Shame, 2021 Edition: Chicory: A Colorful Tale, Lost Judgement, Unsighted, Shin Megami Tensei V, Death's Door

The Honorable Mentions, 2021 Edition: Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, Dyson Sphere Program, Scarlet Nexus, Loop Hero, New Pokémon Snap, Operation: Tango

And my favorite game of the year goes to...

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

When I finished the final case in The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, I knew two ??things. One, I needed a moment to just breathe and take it all in. And two, there was no way this game wouldn't be on my end-of-the-year list.

I've been a fan of Phoenix Wright for a while, from the original trilogy up through the newer games. And as much as I love Phoenix, Apollo, Athena, and the crew, Great Ace Attorney ??is a breath of fresh air. No high-tech mechanisms or spirit channeling—the focus is solely on?? some basic forensics and deductions. And oh, the deductions. Herlock Sholmes and Ryunosuke Naruhodo doing the dance of deduction is such a treat.

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles benefits greatly from being two games packed into one. And where I can see how fans wouldn't like the cliffhanger and obviously unanswered threads of the first game leading into the second, as a duo they are nigh-unstoppable. The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is a ten-case? powerhouse that weaves threads and stories throughout its entire run, building u??p to huge showdowns in court with honor, reputation, legacy, and even lives on the line.

This is the game I'd hand to anyone looking to get into the Ace Attorney series. It's a lengthy? one, but so, so worth your time. And there's no doubt it's my favorite game I've played this year.

The post Eric’s favorite games of 2021 appeared first on Destructoid.

We're holding you to that one, chummer

Believe it or not, it's already that time of year, as preparations begin for GOTY season and with it, the annual Game Awards presentation/live stream/advert-fest, which will once again be produced and presided over by Geoff Keigh?ley.

Keighley, who is already neck-deep in preparations for the December event, recently spoke with Epic Games about the content viewers can expect to see during the show. While remaining understandably tight-lipped on nam??es, surprises, and exclusives, Keighley notes that the audience can expect somewhere between 40 and 50 titles featured during the evening's festivities, including PS5 and Xbox Series X releases that will "remind people that the best of this in??dustry is still to come."

Importantly, Keighley appears to, unprompted, note that The Game Awards is not interested in "doing any NFT stuff", being sure to reference the buzzword that is currently leaving industry execs furrowing their brows and players rolling their eyes. It should be noted that Keighley said that The Game Awards was not interested in NFTs, which does not necessarily mean "We will not be showing any games that support/sell NFTs." This is an important clarification to make, as Keighley may have simply been suggesting that his brand, The Game Awards, is not joining the controversial blockchain currency market.

Last year's The Game Awards pulled in a record 83 million viewers, starved of industry events to the many cancellations that took place during the year. In the Epic Games interview, Keighley says it would be fantastic if this year's event hits the ?dizzy heights of 100 million viewers, but remains pragmatic that constantly increasing viewership is a mostly unsustainable dream.

"Honestly, we don't really think that much about the numbers," said Keighley. "We jus??t make the best show we can."

The Game Awards 2021 will take place Thursday, December 9 a?t 17:00 PT / 20:00 ET / ?02:00 BST

The post Geoff Keighley: Over 40 titles and no ‘NFT stuff’ from The Game Awards 2021 appeared first on Destructoid.