The prizes were falling one after another on god of war ragnarok, remembering like a hammer the impact of one of the best games from the PlayStation factory in recent years. Some expected and deserved (best performance, best audio design, best adventure), others more than feasible (better narrative, greater accessibility) and some more debatable, such as the best soundtrack (not because it is not excellent, but because rivals they were aúpa). The God of War left nothing for anyone, and that’s normal. It’s a brilliant game, which could be GOTY almost any year. But not one with Elden Ring in it.
The triumph of the latest From Software game in the two most important categories, GOTY and best directionserved to value within the world of videogames the impact that Miyazaki and his team in the last decade with his Souls formula. A game that, worth the redundancy, plays another league and to which neither the distance from its launch nor the enormous spectacle that Ragnarök supposes have been able to stop it. It is the second GOTY for From Software, the only company to achieve it so far in this The Game Awards format.
In an industry that increasingly embraces fireworks, highlighting Elden Ring in particular and From Software in general is more necessary than ever.
We’ve already written and talked a lot (non-Fans of From Software will say too much) about the benefits of Elder Ring. About that gigantic world, that amount of relevant content present at every step we take. The title took the best RPG and best artistic direction. A prize poker for a way of understanding the video game that should continue to be valued in the time of fireworks.
It was an especially relevant triumph for how the gala unfolded. Beyond the prizes, the presence of Sony it was constant and very measured. Its logo was present in the big announcements, such as Death Stranding 2, the Horizon Forbidden West DLC or Final Fantasy XVI, reinforcing the brand and a powerful domain message in the prizes and in the games that were to come. The people knows what PlayStation has done and what it will offer you. And that was in stark contrast to a Microsoft totally knocked outwith Phil Spencer on stage, saddened who knows if by the (not definitive) setback of the FTC to the purchase of Activision Blizzard.
Sony dominated the stage and the message: what has been done and what is to come; Microsoft was missing and Nintendo was able to leave satisfied
It was Spencer himself who admitted that things had not been good in exclusives this 2022, and that it had to change in 2023. From that next year we know that their Next Gen games go up in price. But there was no room to see Redfall, nor Starfield nor Forza Motorsport. Let’s not talk about missing (Hellblade 2 is the most bloody). They can be attributed the Most Impact Award for As Dusk Falls, and it can always be said that the game of the year and one of the best ever is on their platform, of course. But what happened yesterday was not encouraging or good news for its users. In the end, it is the games that will give and take reasons, and there are several on the way in the next 12 months, but with the TGA Xbox closes a year to forget.
More surprises and better rhythm
The gala left us pleasant surprises, ranging from Hades 2 to the new Ken Levine, going through a new Armored Core from From Software, the expansion of Cyberpunk 2077, the impressive trailer of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and a breath-taking Diablo IV cinematic. Well in announcements, without leaking some of the most important ones, and with a distribution of prizes that left satisfied nintendo (Bayonetta 3 for best action game, Kirby for best family game and Ubisoft’s Mario+Rabbids for best strategy game) and Stray’s exaggerated role in the indie universe. With Sifu, Tunic, Neon White, Norco, and a few others, the cat got more exposure than he surely deserved.
Geoff promised a somewhat shorter event and it was like that, but it also nourished it with good content despite the fact that the time between three and four in the morning (in Spain) was once again a downturn in everything. But we can say that in general, it was one of the best The Game Awards that we remember, although there are still things to optimize.