Another year is drawing to a close. But before 2022 comes to an end, Stray, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Horizon Forbidden West, Elden Ring, A Plague Tale: Requiem, and God of War Ragnarök will battle for the title of Game of the Year at The Game Awards.
On Dec. 8, a Game Awards presenter will take center stage and name one of the six games nominated for this prestigious award a winner, solidifying the opinions of many gamers and enraging others all around the globe.
In recent years, we’ve seen a variety of titles take home this honor. In 2021, it was the co-op classic It Takes Two, and The Last of Us II was crowned as the year’s best game a year prior.
Six games are nominated for the award this year. But in reality, there are only two names fans should expect to hear at the end of the night unless a major upset takes place: Elden Ring and God of War Ragnarök.
Let’s go back to the start
In February, gamers everywhere finally got the game they’d all been waiting for in FromSoftware’s first open-world adventure, Elden Ring. It’s not often that games are as hyped as this one was and it’s even less common for them to live up to expectations. But in this case, it didn’t just live up to them. It exceeded them.
From the second reviews went live, it was clear this game was something special. Across the board, the game was scoring perfect 10s, and reviewers began gushing over this one-of-a-kind open-world experience. Following in the same vein, once the game finally launched, neither fans nor creators could keep their hands off Elden Ring. It shot up the sales charts and Twitch rankings simultaneously, selling millions of copies and garnering more than 74 million hours watched in its first week.
Elden Ring pulled the best components of FromSoftware’s previous Soulborne series, placing this style of game in a massive open-world setting. The game includes more than 70 unique bosses to kill and a huge arsenal of weapons, armor, and spells to use during your campaign to become Elden Lord.
In less than a month, Elden Ring managed to move more than 12 million copies. This achievement marked the most successful launch ever for FromSoftware and one of the biggest of any game in 2022.
Despite its brutal difficulty, players were encapsulated in this world and many people who had never touched a Souls game before stuck with it, grinding death after death, until the very end. Just weeks after this launch, it looked all but fated that Elden Ring would be the game of the year—until a challenger arrived in the year’s closing months.
Ragnarok has arrived
Early in November, Santa Monica Studios released God of War: Ragnarök. Like Elden Ring, this title had plenty of anticipation from fans, and given the success of its predecessor, there were large shoes to fill.
Fortunately, Ragnarök was everything fans loved about God of War 2018 alongside a new story, new additions, and the added processing power of the PlayStation 5. God of War: Ragnarök stands as a stunning work of art with one of the best stories of any game this year. As such, its arrival seems to challenge a prize Elden Ring had all but locked down.
Just as Elden Ring made history for FromSofware, God of War: Ragnarök set records for PlayStation as its most successful launch to date. Despite being exclusive to PlayStation, the sequel still sold more than five million copies during week one. Ragnarök also put up commendable numbers on Twitch, but they paled in comparison to the goliath effort Elden Ring pulled off.
Whether you were a God of War fan or someone jumping into the franchise for the first time, Ragnarök offered plenty of ways to catch you up to speed and assist you throughout its adventure.
Like Elden Ring, God of War Ragnarök achieved plenty of perfect review scores, and even before its official release, the debate had already begun. Which title would take Game of the Year: God of War Ragnarök or Elden Ring?
Can the God of War slay an Elden Lord?
Picking just one of these titles as Game of the Year is going to upset at least one section of the gaming community. While God of War: Ragnarök and Elden Ring have a large crossover audience at their core, they are two very different games for very different types of players.
If you’re someone who likes to craft their own adventure and spend hours immersing themselves into a game with little to no guidance, you’re going to lean heavily toward Elden Ring. No game to date has achieved this task as well as the latest FromSoftware offering. And while the story might not appear to be at the forefront of the game, its world-building and story are unbelievably compelling if you scratch just below the surface.
On the other side, God of War is an experience that puts its story at the forefront, guiding players as they adventure so they are completely cued into what’s going on and quickly getting them invested in its characters. For players who are looking for a hop-in, hop-out journey, God of War is the best game this year by far and you’ll feel immediately rewarded for your hours on the adventure.
Our bet
If either Stray, A Plague Tale: Requiem, Horizon Forbidden West, or Xenoblade Chronicles 3 wins Game of the Year, it will be quite a shock. While it would be hard to argue these titles don’t deserve it, there’s no denying none have had the reception that Elden Ring and God of War Ragnarök received.
On that same note, community reaction is exactly why we’re tipping Elden Ring to win this year’s Game of the Year.
From its launch, Elden Ring dominated social media and gaming channels across YouTube and Twitch. This has continued with a steady decline in the following nine months. But unlike all of these other games, its transition out of the discussion was not a steep drop. Elden Ring was the most popular game on social media for the year with six billion views on TikTok, more than 350,000 Instagram posts, and over seven million Reddit posts, according to research by U Switch.
Of course, reception is one factor, but the execution of Elden Ring is something gamers only dream of. Everything about this open-world adventure was perfect from the jump and set a standard for what a Souls game truly can be.
While this wouldn’t be the first time that FromSoftware won Game of the Year, it likely will be the developer’s proudest achievement yet. Given its launch, Elden Ring has undoubtedly been the developer’s biggest hit and, in our eyes, this year’s too.
Published: Dec 2, 2022 03:24 pm