Don't see a Microsoft game winning GOTY on here. Did the original Gears win goty on the old board?
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
ResetEra Games of the Year Awards 2018
- Thread starter SweetNicole
- Start date
- Status
That's simply because the PS4 is the most popular this gen. Not because of brand alignment.
Also, as said above, last year was Nintendo's year here even though Sony had a few good exclusives too. And PS4's biggest exclusives this year, Days Gone and Dreams, didn't even make it into the top 10 of most anticipated games here. If people blindly love Sony as you claimed, that wouldn't be the case.
It would basically have to be a year where Sony, Nintendo, and 3rd party is dry and MS releases something really good/great.
So, in other words,.....probably not happening. :P
Wait, why isn't Shadow of the Colossus in the Top 20? It had more points than some of those other games.
Wandersong at least got 4th place for Adventure. That's something.
Currently Remakes and Ports are not tallied into the main GOTY category.
Currently Remakes and Ports are not tallied into the main GOTY category.
Again. It's not about "blind" allegiances, it's about numbers. GAF existed for longer than the PS4 anyway, but of course the platform being good means it's also more popular.
Wow y'all really just did not like Forsaken did you?
Spidey at #2 is very surprising. Only 2 of my top 10 games (DQ and GoW) made the top 10 overall.
Spidey at #2 is very surprising. Only 2 of my top 10 games (DQ and GoW) made the top 10 overall.
One thing I meant to do this year was compare the GOTY results to the Most Anticipated vote at the beginning of the year to see how closely our year-end selections reflected pre-release hype, expectations, and consequently the likelihood that players would dive into these games as soon as possible.
This is a straight rank comparison, and I won't pretend for a second it's a good statistical methodology; just a curious exercise. We're talking about two different voting pools here, and some shifting will naturally happen due to the absence/ineligibility of a number of big releases on the Most Anticipated poll as they had not been announced or dated. In the other direction, a few games that appeared on the poll were delayed into 2019 (KH3 at #5, for one), and if I were to do this rigorously I would account for that and adjust accordingly. Perhaps these effects balance out. In the case of ties, I will count the Most Anticipated rank as the highest of the lot (e.g. ranks 128 to 148 on the Most Anticipated poll all scored 4 points, so I'll count anything in that set as if it were placed at rank 128).
Minor shifts will not be that interesting. Major swings are what we're looking for.
The GOTY list 2018, and the corresponding rise/fall in ranks from the Most Anticipated list:
Supposing the GOTY top 20 included ports/remakes/remasters, we would also see this (bumping everything below them down a spot, of course):
Meanwhile, here are the games that made the Most Anticipated top 20 and released in 2018 (in the order they appeared in the Most Anticipated results). The GOTY "destination" rank here does account for ports/remakes/remasters because I took these numbers from the unfiltered data and can't be bothered to make the adjustment manually.
Again, these numbers are rough and the methodology is neither consistent nor sound. But I think we can spot a few things clear enough to talk about. The short announcement-to-release cycle of several big-name releases had a palpable effect that principally clustered around a visible second tier; the most anticipated titles that arrived on schedule largely held their position (apart from Nino Kuni II); and most noticeably of all, Celeste saw an absolutely meteoric rise—all the more remarkable when you consider that the Most Anticipated poll was run when it was quite close to its January release.
This is a straight rank comparison, and I won't pretend for a second it's a good statistical methodology; just a curious exercise. We're talking about two different voting pools here, and some shifting will naturally happen due to the absence/ineligibility of a number of big releases on the Most Anticipated poll as they had not been announced or dated. In the other direction, a few games that appeared on the poll were delayed into 2019 (KH3 at #5, for one), and if I were to do this rigorously I would account for that and adjust accordingly. Perhaps these effects balance out. In the case of ties, I will count the Most Anticipated rank as the highest of the lot (e.g. ranks 128 to 148 on the Most Anticipated poll all scored 4 points, so I'll count anything in that set as if it were placed at rank 128).
Minor shifts will not be that interesting. Major swings are what we're looking for.
The GOTY list 2018, and the corresponding rise/fall in ranks from the Most Anticipated list:
- God of War — 2nd to 1st (+1)
- Marvel's Spider-Man — 3rd to 2nd (+1)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 — 1st to 3rd (-2)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate — unannounced
- Monster Hunter World — 4th to 5th (-1)
- Celeste — 113th to 6th (+107)
- Dragon Quest XI — 8th to 7th (+1)
- Astro Bot Rescue Mission — unannounced
- Assassin's Creed Odyssey — unannounced
- Detroit: Become Human — 6th to 10th (-4)
- Into the Breach — announced but undated
- Octopath Traveler — 14th to 12th (+2)
- Tetris Effect — unannounced
- Hitman 2 — unannounced
- Dead Cells — announced (Early Access) but undated
- Forza Horizon 4 — unannounced
- Return of the Obra Dinn — unannounced
- Yakuza 6 — 10th to 18th (-8)
- Dragon Ball FighterZ — 11th to 19th (-8)
- Pokémon Let's Go — unannounced
Supposing the GOTY top 20 included ports/remakes/remasters, we would also see this (bumping everything below them down a spot, of course):
- Hollow Knight — 53rd to 9th (+44)
- Shadow of the Colossus — 7th to 14th (-7)
Meanwhile, here are the games that made the Most Anticipated top 20 and released in 2018 (in the order they appeared in the Most Anticipated results). The GOTY "destination" rank here does account for ports/remakes/remasters because I took these numbers from the unfiltered data and can't be bothered to make the adjustment manually.
- Ni No Kuni II — 9th to 38th (-29)
- Valkyria Chronicles 4 — 12th to 25th (-13)
- Mega Man 11 — 18th to 40th (-22)
Again, these numbers are rough and the methodology is neither consistent nor sound. But I think we can spot a few things clear enough to talk about. The short announcement-to-release cycle of several big-name releases had a palpable effect that principally clustered around a visible second tier; the most anticipated titles that arrived on schedule largely held their position (apart from Nino Kuni II); and most noticeably of all, Celeste saw an absolutely meteoric rise—all the more remarkable when you consider that the Most Anticipated poll was run when it was quite close to its January release.
Last edited:
I think that is a mistake to not count them honestly. Also why is Pokemon there then? I know they changed some things about the gameplay but it is technically still a remake.
RDR 2 was fantastically designed from an open world standpoint though. All of it's issues are unrelated to that. The incredible detail, interaction with all NPCs, random encounters, all the little stories behind every locale. The open world is one of the 2 best things RDR 2 does IMO, the other being the characters, especially Arthur.
I'm with you but we're definitely in the minority. Last year was pretty much just Zelda and Cuphead for me. Destiny 2 disappointed. Horizon disappointed me (but I'm giving it another shot). Mario I didn't get to play and now I no longer have a Switch. Nier I still wanna try but haven't. Persona 5's art style totally turns me off. I'll take 2018 any day.
Crazy how close most of the announced top 10 were. Also unannounced games for the win, definitely hope we more games with shorter times between announcement and release.
My response to those poll results is that a year with a larger volume of good games doesn't necessarily mean it'd have more real GOTY contenders. That poll only takes strength into context the very top.
That said, of course I'm assuming things, I'm just speculating like anyone else. Maybe site traffic is way down, I'd have no way of knowing that of course; I don't think I declared anything as fact. You're fine to think 2018 was better. I think 2016 was better than 2017, and I'm sure I'd be in the minority with that opinion.
I personally think the world they've built is wasted by the rest of the game they built around it. I felt the same way about GTAV. The missions, the story they wanted to tell, all of that, none of it takes advantage of the world being there. The world is just scenery that their story plays out in front of. And the character interactions - which are definitely the highlight of the game for me - don't really depend on the open-world to exist. Like the story missions, they could be plopped into the most linear game out there and still function as designed. The world they built was incredibly impressive, I just had no desire to engage with it (and no, I don't blame that on the world design itself).
Last edited:
Microsoft don't really have goty contenders. Gears and halo are old and kinda stale and Forza is consistent in quality but it's released every year.
They need a more diverse portfolio of exclusives like Sony and Nintendo. Hopefully those new studios produce some killer new games next gen to rival Sony's.
It is Nintendo dominated. It's just also Sony dominated. A Sony or Nintendo published game has won every Era/Gaf GOTY since 2011 with Portal 2. 7 years. 7 damn years.
Most of those years are deserved (like this year and last year) but the niche of the place definitely shows, not that there's anything wrong with that, when you have Bloodborne beating Witcher 3, Bayo 2 beating Dragon Age, or Journey beating anything at all (2012 was a weak year admittedly).
Interestingly enough it's been decades since a Zelda game won GOTY till the pseudo re-imagining with BotW, and likewise a God of War game had never won overall GOTY till the recent reboot. I think even with their existing IP, Microsoft can't keep playing it fairly safe and need to go for a much bolder re-imagining akin to God of War or BotW, to break up the cycle of familiarity and really inspire a new found appreciation and sense of wonder for these franchises, as well as bringing in entirely new fans and gamers.
Disappointed that Hollow Knight didn't qualify for the main list. I don't remember reading that in the original rules, but I guess I guess I must have missed it. Oh well.
IMO all games released in the year should qualify for the main list. There could be a separate category for purely new games.
IMO all games released in the year should qualify for the main list. There could be a separate category for purely new games.
I don't think saying "Detroit at #10 is really lame but the rest of the list is fine" makes me salty lol. I got 5 games from my top 10 in the poll top 10.
Were you on gaf 5-6 years ago when everyone was predicting the end of Sony and saying Xbox 720 would dominate? How Sony lost too much money on PS3 and didn't have enough to make a next gen console?
PS3 was constantly bashed for "no games" and inferior multi plat games.
Then there was the whole hacking which made things even wore for their image.
Sony definitely had it rough last gen. And they weren't too loved back then. Things have improved drastically for them since those dark days.
Forsaken was my #3, shame. It's truly Destiny at it's very best.
I think a lot of people have just given up on Destiny for now, and I can't blame them. I was veeeeery close to not buying Forsaken.
To be fair Journey was the second most awarded game of 2012 right behind The Walking Dead so GAF kind of had that one right.
Forsaken was #2 for me. I've logged more time into it than 99% of games I've ever played and I only started in September (I didn't buy vanilla D2). I also completely understand all (and share some) of it's criticisms. I guess I thought it'd at least rank higher, and certainly over FC5 for best shooter.
Spider-man over RDR 2 is suprising! God of War deserved it imo even though I liked Sotc more (first time playing that game). I'm also glad that Detroit is getting some love.
I'll be honest, I dropped off Destiny 2 long ago, but I have heard similar things from friends and family about Forsaken, and that bodes well for the future (as does Bungie breaking away from Activision).
I forgot to post my list in time, so I'll post it here:
Games of 2018
1. Monster Hunter World
This game, this freaking game. I wanted to play more games this year like God of War, Yakuza Kiwami, Shadow of the Collossus, Red Dead Redemption 2 and get through the backlog...
And yet I always went to Monster Hunter World instead. Kinsect Blade in hand, great monster to fight. Arch Tempered Beasts for some real challenge. Even in December with the Arch Tempered Kulve Taroth update I was still having a blast. If a game can suck 300 hours out of me, and I enjoy it from January to December, it has to be number 1.
2. Tetris Effect
The game that sold me on PSVR, An extremely Zen and great game with some astounding visuals and music, matched up to gameplay of Tetris and it's just a blast.
I went "Woah" when I first hit my 8 Line Clear in Zone Mode and the game went into negative.
3. Spyro Reignited Trilogy
There were 2 remakes of 90s properties that came out this year. One of them was Pokemon Let's Go, which disappointed me since reveal and the main game itself basically lived up to that disappointment (How do you make a remake worst than your previous remake over 10 years ago?)
The other was a much brighter and fun experince with the Spyro reignited Trilogy, I'm still rocking the Spyro Avatar right now. A wonderful remake of the original trilogy that doesn't feel insulting to anyone that initially grew up on the series and actually feels like it was from this decade. I love all the new dragon designs the first game has. And like Crash N.Sane last year. Great value with 3 games for $40. I wonder where Spyro goes next from here, but it's nice to have the Purple Dragon back after the Skylander Years.
4. The Messenger
Many would have Celeste as their platformer of the year. But I got more fun out of The Messenger, with it's witty script and hilarious dialogue, great gameplay and the artstyle shift between 8 bit and 16 bit is awesome.
5. Dragon Ball Fighter Z
The fighting game of the year for me. One of the best looking games on the market and a great 3v3 fighter. Even though Beerus isn't great, I do enjoy playing as him. Just wish it's story mode was better.
6. Astro Bot Robot Rescue
The other great PSVR game to get, full of charm and a great showcase of the VR Market. The bosses in particular are a highlight due to the scale you can do. Will love to see a sequel.
7. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Hard to find a fighting game with more content than this one. A gigantic roster of characters and stages. Although the newcomers are a little on the disappoining end for me. Everyone is here is great. Looking forward to Joker coming soon.
8. Spiderman
This would have easily been the best Spiderman experience ever if Spiderverse didn't come out a few months afterwards. Held back by some awkward stealth missions. But controlling Spidey swinging about New York is sublime.
9. Hitman 2
Tragically overlooked this one. Gunning down the various and sometimes hilarious story missions for that sweet Silent Assassin rating is supremely satisfying.
10. Deltarune
Remember when The Cloverfield Paradox got shadow-dropped and sucked. Imagine something similar with Deltarune, except if it was actually good.
Honorable Mentions:
Celeste
Jackbox Party Pack 5
Monster Prom
Just Shapes and Beats
Into the Breach
I really should get to this Mentions:
God of War
Red Dead Redemption 2
Return of Obra Dinn
Next time don't mix up your PMs and AMs, I thought it was closing at 2am over here, not 2pm on the previous day. Whoops.
Games of 2018
1. Monster Hunter World
This game, this freaking game. I wanted to play more games this year like God of War, Yakuza Kiwami, Shadow of the Collossus, Red Dead Redemption 2 and get through the backlog...
And yet I always went to Monster Hunter World instead. Kinsect Blade in hand, great monster to fight. Arch Tempered Beasts for some real challenge. Even in December with the Arch Tempered Kulve Taroth update I was still having a blast. If a game can suck 300 hours out of me, and I enjoy it from January to December, it has to be number 1.
2. Tetris Effect
The game that sold me on PSVR, An extremely Zen and great game with some astounding visuals and music, matched up to gameplay of Tetris and it's just a blast.
I went "Woah" when I first hit my 8 Line Clear in Zone Mode and the game went into negative.
3. Spyro Reignited Trilogy
There were 2 remakes of 90s properties that came out this year. One of them was Pokemon Let's Go, which disappointed me since reveal and the main game itself basically lived up to that disappointment (How do you make a remake worst than your previous remake over 10 years ago?)
The other was a much brighter and fun experince with the Spyro reignited Trilogy, I'm still rocking the Spyro Avatar right now. A wonderful remake of the original trilogy that doesn't feel insulting to anyone that initially grew up on the series and actually feels like it was from this decade. I love all the new dragon designs the first game has. And like Crash N.Sane last year. Great value with 3 games for $40. I wonder where Spyro goes next from here, but it's nice to have the Purple Dragon back after the Skylander Years.
4. The Messenger
Many would have Celeste as their platformer of the year. But I got more fun out of The Messenger, with it's witty script and hilarious dialogue, great gameplay and the artstyle shift between 8 bit and 16 bit is awesome.
5. Dragon Ball Fighter Z
The fighting game of the year for me. One of the best looking games on the market and a great 3v3 fighter. Even though Beerus isn't great, I do enjoy playing as him. Just wish it's story mode was better.
6. Astro Bot Robot Rescue
The other great PSVR game to get, full of charm and a great showcase of the VR Market. The bosses in particular are a highlight due to the scale you can do. Will love to see a sequel.
7. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Hard to find a fighting game with more content than this one. A gigantic roster of characters and stages. Although the newcomers are a little on the disappoining end for me. Everyone is here is great. Looking forward to Joker coming soon.
8. Spiderman
This would have easily been the best Spiderman experience ever if Spiderverse didn't come out a few months afterwards. Held back by some awkward stealth missions. But controlling Spidey swinging about New York is sublime.
9. Hitman 2
Tragically overlooked this one. Gunning down the various and sometimes hilarious story missions for that sweet Silent Assassin rating is supremely satisfying.
10. Deltarune
Remember when The Cloverfield Paradox got shadow-dropped and sucked. Imagine something similar with Deltarune, except if it was actually good.
Honorable Mentions:
Celeste
Jackbox Party Pack 5
Monster Prom
Just Shapes and Beats
Into the Breach
I really should get to this Mentions:
God of War
Red Dead Redemption 2
Return of Obra Dinn
Next time don't mix up your PMs and AMs, I thought it was closing at 2am over here, not 2pm on the previous day. Whoops.
Best remake is a weird category with Hollow Knight winning it.
I don't understand how Spiderman got number 2 but I guess that's just the will of the people, imo it's a pretty mediocre game.
I don't understand how Spiderman got number 2 but I guess that's just the will of the people, imo it's a pretty mediocre game.
quoting this post, I was here for this prediction before anybody else!!!
If you posted on GAF between 2007 and 2012, you'd know that it was anything BUT Sony dominated. It has everything to do with the late-PS3 output and popularity of the PS4. The first party games got better and the PS3 console price dropped so that more of the systems got out there into people's hands. Era doesn't have a console bias any more than our overall society having a console bias. People vote for games on the platforms they own.
Also, let's not pretend that Bloodborne, Bayonetta 2, and Journey didn't also win a lot of GOTY awards from critics.
Truth.
while I've been really liking it since Target's $50 deal on the pokéball combo pack, I was surprised it made it into the top 20 at all
OP
OP
It's technically Remake/Re-release/etc.
Since Hollow Knight came out in 2017, it's under the Remake/Remaster/Re-Release for 2018 NSW version. It is, admittedly, a bit weird.
I was. I was around even before that.
PS3 got a lot of negative reactions across the internet, but their games still got overwhelming support on the forum. The fact that memes from the internet seeped into the console wars doesn't change how the forum has always been structured. And it doesn't diminsh the quality of the games either. I'm responding to someone acting surprised that those exclusive games have such support in these lists consistently.
Yeah, I think it's without question the best it's been. Best story, best locations, best raid, you name it. Put the lore in the game instead of leaving it to rot in grimoire cards or not in the game at all. Got a couple of things wrongs (exotics were flipped too much in the opposite direction, I got literally 0 forsaken exotics in 3 months of playing). Overall it was a huge improvement though and made me excited again for D3. I'm definitely pulling a wait and see this time though lol.
Refrain did better than I expected. I wonder who else voted for it
The strict adherence to release dates makes these awards at best confusing. Had they labeled it Early Access while they worked on it, like Dead Cells, no one would bat an eye on it being in the top ten list this year.
(Completely putting aside the fact ports, remakes, and remasters not counting in the top ten is asinine.)
- Status