Dénouement 2017
Added 2017-12-06 23:16:18 +0000 UTCHello Patrons. I'm currently getting ready to write my end-of-year series. As in previous years I'm looking back and seeing what was fun, what was annoying, and what was worth talking about, and I have a few questions for you.
1) This year my noteworthy games were: Prey, Dishonored 2, Night in the Woods, Wolfenstein New Colossus, Domina, Strafe, Death Road to Canada, Heat Signature. Some of these I liked, some I hated, and some I was ambivalent about. This is your last chance to nominate something for me to play before the end of the year. If you think I missed something amazing or noteworthy, then now now is the time to say so. Actually, it's probably too late at this point, but I know you'll suggest things anyway because that's how people are.
2) I want to see what all of you have been playing this year. (Even if it wasn't released in 2017.) What captivated you, what's been overlooked, and what games had you excited?
3) So, what's the cut-off date for a "game of the year"? Like, if a game comes out in December 2015 it's obviously too late to make the 2015 list and should belong to 2016. But where do you draw the line? Or is the entire concept of annual delineation an archaic leftover from the days of retail and our end-of-year lists should just focus on what we played that year, regardless of release date?
I might expand these questions into a full post on the site, but I kind of wanted to get some limited feedback first.
As always, thanks for supporting me!
Comments
Can't remember all the games I played this year but I will say that Prey is my GOTY. Great writing, acting, art direction, level design and gameplay. However, I will say that I think the whole GOTY being limited to the year in question is a vastly outdated concept, IMO. At the very least, like reviews, GOTY is and SHOULD be informed by the cultural evolutions as currently exist in the gaming landscape. To put this in context, I recently played Titanfall 2. Technically, it was released in 2016 but had a very warm reception for the single player campaign. I heartily disagree with all of this praise. At its best, the game was merely okay. So, on the one hand, you've got multiple GOTYs from Polygon, PCGamer et al. <a href="https://www.polygon.com/2017/1/2/14147110/titanfall-2-games-of-the-year-2016" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.polygon.com/2017/1/2/14147110/titanfall-2-games-of-the-year-2016</a><a href="http://www.pcgamer.com/shooter-of-the-year-2016-titanfall-2/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.pcgamer.com/shooter-of-the-year-2016-titanfall-2/</a> On the other hand, you've got my real experience of a lower-than-average game with lower-than-average writing, voice acting, plot pacing and character definition. Seriously, I actually preferred Timeshift to this game and yet, that game was almost universally passed-up. And Titanfall 2 handled the whole mech-human quandry LESS successfully than the animated 90s TV series, Exosquad...
James Prendergast
2017-12-16 18:15:54 +0000 UTC
