Game of the Year is always a hotly debated topic heading into the end of the year, which coincides with the gaming industry’s awards season. The biggest awards show of the bunch is the aptly-named The Game Awards, hosted by Geoff Keighley, and while these awards are still relatively new, the big prize at the end of the night, the award for Game of the Year, is highly coveted. Winning this award can be huge for a studio, giving their game a second wind and putting eyes on their game and money in their pocket during the holiday season.
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However, there can only be one winner, and every year there are many “what ifs” with games that probably deserved to win Game of the Year, but didn’t. Some games have stronger cases than others, but these next titles were all in the running for their year’s biggest accolade, but for any number of reasons, they fell just short.
To be clear, we’re not saying these games deserved to win GOTY instead of the games that did win. This is a list of games that, had they won Game of the Year, would have been just as deserving of the award as the true winner was.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Lost To God Of War
Considering its online mode never took off in the way that GTA Online did, the longevity of Red Dead Redepmtion 2 is an impressive achievement. Granted, it’s set in a massive open world (that gets even bigger once you complete the main story), so there’s lots of content on offer, but this is still a single-player game we’re talking about.
As of this writing (i.e., pre-GTA 6), this game is Rockstar’s magnum opus. Arthur Morgan’s heartbreaking story, the stunning realization of the Wild West era, and the hyper-detailed exploration and combat mechanics are still unmatched, even though we’re a full console generation later. God of War is a fantastic game, and was arguably a bigger revelation back in 2018 (no one really thought RDR 2 would be unimpressive), but in hindsight, Red Dead Redemption 2 is probably the more beloved game overall.
Bloodborne
Lost To The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
FromSoftware has maintained a streak of great games since the release of Demon’s Souls in 2009. That’s a hell of a track record for any developer, but for the studio that pioneered the Soulslike genre, it’s no surprise. From Sekiro to Elden Ring, FromSoft has racked up a pair of well-deserved Game of the Year awards, but their single biggest snub is undoubtedly Bloodborne.
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Look, losing to The Witcher 3 is in no way a failure; it’s practically a badge of honor. CD Projekt Red’s open-world RPG is still considered one of the genre’s best games. With that said, none of FromSoft’s games have generated as much public desire for a sequel, a remake, or even a 60fps patch as Bloodborne. Even The Witcher 3’s popularity has died down somewhat since 2016, while the fervor around Bloodborne remains as strong as ever. That’s all without even mentioning how it’s one of the best action RPGs ever made, and one of the most inspired interpretations of Lovecraftian horror in gaming history.
Super Mario Odyssey
Lost To The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
Nintendo had a big year in 2016, launching a pair of all-time classics with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey. The former was not only a reinvention of The Legend of Zelda series, but a reinvention of the open-world genre as a whole, while the latter is one of the best 3D platformers of all time.
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Finding any daylight to place one ahead of the other for Game of the Year is a no-win task, and while BOTW’s influence on gaming is undeniable, it’s unfortunate that Super Mario Odyssey had to lose out as a result. Mario’s hat mechanic, which allows him to inhabit most creatures and objects in the world, opens the door for an unprecedented degree of player expression in a platformer. Mario games are rarely “bad,” but when one transcends not only its genre, but the franchise as a whole, it deserves some recognition. Unfortunately for Mario, both games accomplished that feat, and one had to come out on top.
Alan Wake 2
Lost To Baldur’s Gate 3
To be completely fair to Alan Wake 2, it’s a bit of a niche game, and it was up against one of the greatest RPGs ever made in Baldur’s Gate 3 in the Game of the Year category. In any other year, it probably has the inside track on the biggest award at The Game Awards, but with a generational game like BG3 vying for the same accolade, it was an uphill battle.
That should take nothing away from Remedy’s monumental achievement with Alan Wake 2. This is a sequel to a cult classic from 2010, one that makes heavy use of FMV footage in-game and during cutscenes. This type of live-action video has traditionally been a mixed bag when used in video games, but it not only works here, it is foundational to arguably the game’s best level: “We Sing.” It also does a remarkable job of blending survival horror with surrealist expressionism, and it expands the Remedy Connected Universe, one of the only shared-universe franchises in gaming. Alan Wake 2 is absolutely a Game-of-the-Year-worthy title; it just couldn’t compete with one of the best games ever made.
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Lost To Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Much like Alan Wake 2, Hollow Knight: Silksong would have been a GOTY frontrunner in any other year, but unfortunately, it was competing against a generational game for the award. Clair Obscur absolutely deserved to win Game of the Year, but that should take nothing away from the massive accomplishment that Silksong is.
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Let’s not forget, this is a game that was fervently hyped up for almost 6 years, and it not only met those expectations but exceeded them. A team of just three core developers tackling that degree of pressure and outdoing their previous game, which is widely considered to be one of the best indie games of all time, is a success of unimaginable proportions. Silksong is a fantastic game, with pitch-perfect combat, gripping exploration, and a fascinating story led by a stellar lead character. It may have come up against titanic opposition, but had it won Game of the Year instead of Clair Obscur, it would have been just as deserving of it.
Persona 5
Lost To The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
If anything, this just goes to show what a spectacular year for video games 2016 was. Persona 5 might not have the Nintendo backing of Breath of the Wild or Super Mario Odyssey, but it was developed by Atlus, one of the most respected JRPG studios in the industry. The Persona series was already beloved by a vocal group of long-time fans, and the trailers leading up to this game’s release generated a ton of hype thanks to an impressive sense of style and an instantly catchy soundtrack.
The game itself blew those expectations out of the water. Persona 5 isn’t just the best JRPG of its generation; it’s one of the best JRPGs of all time. That sense of style that was so vibrant in the trailers? It permeates everything in the game, from dialogue to combat to shops to the pause menu. The same goes for the soundtrack, which is an astoundingly catchy fusion of jazz, rock, and lo-fi beats. The story, the characters, the art design: it’s all spectacular. Once again, Persona 5 was just up against a juggernaut in Breath of the Wild, but there’s no question that it was worthy of a Game of the Year award.
Control
Lost To Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Remedy has had a rough go at The Game Awards, but their loss in 2023 to Baldur’s Gate 3 probably doesn’t sting quite as bad as losing in 2019 to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Not to say that Sekiro is a bad game, far from it. It’s just that the margins between Sekiro and Control are much smaller than they were between BG3 and Alan Wake 2. Control is a more unique game, set in a surreal building called The Oldest House, which houses the Federal Bureau of Control.
The Oldest House changes throughout the game, its halls shifting and opening new pathways as you progress. Heavily influenced by the SCP Foundation, an online collaborative writing project that evolved into a fully-fledged horror universe, Control is one of a kind in a way that very few triple-A games are. It features incredible combat with some of the best flying mechanics ever put in a game. While it may not quite hold a candle to Sekiro in terms of gameplay, it’s at least on par in terms of its story and visuals, and from a creative standpoint, it’s a step ahead.
Ghost Of Tsushima
Lost To The Last Of Us Part 2
This one is a bit controversial because, despite the success of The Last of Us Part 2, Ghost of Tsushima has a vocal fanbase that was convinced it deserved to win Game of the Year over Naughty Dog’s sequel. There is certainly an argument there. Where The Last of Us Part 2 is heavily linear, narrative-focused, and incredibly bleak, Ghost of Tsushima is a stunning open-world game with fast-twitch combat, gorgeous environments, and an uplifting story that draws from the best historical epics in Japanese film history. Kurosawa’s influence is so strong that the game even features a setting named after him that lets you play the whole thing in black and white.
Ghost of Tsushima doesn’t leave the same impact as The Last of Us Part 2 does (to be fair, few games do), but it was also a brand-new IP, a visual showcase, and a history lesson to boot. Jin Sakai has become a PlayStation mascot in the years since its release, and its visuals (on the PS4 no less) are still the class of the industry, matched only by a handful of games, including its own sequel. There is a strong argument for Ghost of Tsushima being Game of the Year in 2020, and even though it didn’t win, it was in the running right to the very end.
Hades
Lost To The Last Of Us Part 2
Hades
10/10
- Released
-
September 17, 2020
Lost in the conversation of The Last of Us vs. Ghost of Tsushima, Supergiant’s roguelite masterpiece Hades was also a contender for Game of the Year in 2020, and it arguably had the best case of the bunch. Sure, roguelites were seeing a massive spike in popularity before this Greek-themed take on the genre was released, but Hades took it to a place that no one else could, and did so with a stunning degree of polish and care.
Remember, this is an indie game we’re talking about. While Ghost of Tsushima and The Last of Us had huge development teams behind them, Hades was made by a team of just 16 developers. When considering that, the gameplay depth and narrative detail in the game are unfathomable. There’s a bottomless amount of dialogue to be found, an incredible variety of builds to try out, and a genuinely pleasant life-sim element that takes place between runs, complete with romance options and light base building in the hub world. The amount of content in Hades would be impressive from a triple-A dev, but from a tiny indie team like Supergaint, its a stunning achievement that’s more than worthy of a GOTY accolade.
Balatro
Lost To Astro Bot
Speaking of stunning indie success stories, no one saw Balatro coming. Where Hades came from a developer with a history of success, this strange little poker-themed roguelike is the debut game from solo Canadian developer LocalThunk, and it took the world by storm. It’s tough to visually capture what makes this game so addictive, but it’s essentially poker with superpowers. You start with a standard deck of cards, but between modifiers, Joker cards that buff your deck, and adding extra cards or manipulating existing ones (like by changing their suit), things snowball into wild occurrences pretty quickly.
There’s nothing about Astro Bot that makes it undeserving of being called Game of the Year. It’s a fantastic 3D platformer loaded with nostalgia and whimsy, where every single level does something that will make your jaw drop. It’s an awesome game. With that said, it’s nowhere near as addictive as Balatro, nor is it as original an idea, and it didn’t capture the attention of the gaming community like Balatro did. Sure, Balatro’s meta-game has mostly been broken down and mastered by this point, but it’s still as fun as ever to jump in for a run or two. It would have been a great feel-good story for it to bring home Game of the Year, especially in a year with no clear frontrunner for the award.
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