Unlike the most GOTY (Game of the Year) showdown in 2021, which ended somewhat briskly with the award of ‘It Take Two’ due to the self-destruction of the anticipated works, this year’s GOTY showdown is expected to heat up as hot as ever.
Despite being a small and medium-sized game company, It Takes Two, which showed novel gameplay of two-player cooperative play, is a great game that deserves the most GOTY qualifications, but it is true that it lacks recognition compared to previous GOTY winners.
In particular, the release date of many anticipated titles was delayed due to COVID-19, and the released games were also criticized for their lack of completeness compared to expectations, leaving it regrettable that they ended bland without much competition.
However, for the most GOTY this year, it is predicted that the games that were originally scheduled to be released this year will face off against games whose release dates were delayed due to the Covid 19 last year, and the fiercest competition in history is expected to unfold. If you look at the games released in the first quarter, ‘Horizon Forbidden West’, ‘Elden Ring’, and ‘Gran Turismo 7’ are all receiving favorable reviews, and even games that have not yet been released are enough works that deserve a name in the GOTY battle.
Horizon Forbidden West
‘Horizon Forbidden West’ is a sequel to ‘Horizon Zero Dawn’, which has been well-received for its hot action featuring various mechanical monsters in the background after the end of the world and has established itself as a representative game of Guerrilla Games.
Before the release, there was as much concern as expected due to the controversy over the appearance of the main character, Aloy, but it is evaluated that the game that was actually released will show more fun than its predecessors with game characteristics that sufficiently extracted the performance of the PS5. You can enjoy much-upgraded graphics, more diverse mechanical monsters, and underwater play. In particular, thanks to the haptic feedback characteristic of the PS5 controller DualSense, and high-performance SSD, the game is receiving favorable reviews for almost no loading.
Elden ring
FromSoftware’s next-generation soul, ‘Elden Ring‘, is receiving a lot of response as expected. Unlike previous soul-type games that had a linear structure, it is fun to explore the wide world and find hidden elements thanks to the implementation of a vast open world, and the tense action that develops the user’s control skills is evaluated to be more than the previous Dark Souls.
Unlike the console version, the PC version is somewhat controversial due to optimization issues, and like the previous game, there are evaluations that the game is very difficult because of its very difficult gameplay. However, as time passes since its release, unexpected characters are pouring in, and it is maintaining a high score of 96 on Metacritic, a comprehensive review score site.
Gran Turismo 7:
The ‘Gran Turismo’ series, which came down from the top of the racing game after the ‘Forza’ series, is also showing a resurgence with the introduction of the new ‘Gran Turismo 7’ after a long time.
Following the previous work ‘Gran Turismo Sport’ released in 2017, ‘Gran Turismo 7’, a new game released in 5 years, supports 4K resolution and 60 frames like a next-generation game and contains 150 years of automobile history and racing culture. It is characterized by maximizing the fun of collecting cars. Thanks to the gameplay that seems to have tried to contain everything about cars such as car washing, oil change, and tuning, rather than simply enjoying racing, there is a response that seems to have recreated the glory of the past when it was nicknamed a car simulator rather than a game.
God of War: Ragnarok
Although the exact release date has not been announced yet, ‘God of War Ragnarok‘, the flagship game of the PlayStation camp, is also a game worth targeting for GOTY this year. The previous work, ‘God of War’, moved the stage from Greek mythology to Norse mythology, and presented the gloomy travel story of Kratos, who was older and more exhausted than before, and his son, and won the GOTY in 2018.
As Thor appeared briefly in the previous work, major gods leading Norse mythology such as Thor and Odin are expected to appear this time. is predicted to be
Starfield
Bethesda, the pronoun of torture of hope, also plans to unveil the new ‘Starfield‘, which has been out for a long time, at the end of this year. This game is an open-world action RPG created by Bethesda, who has shown the standard of an open-world RPG (role-playing game) with ‘The Elder Scrolls 5 Skyrim’, in a universe in a time when space travel is dangerous. It is expected that it may be the birth of a new IP that is second to none.
In particular, because of the announcement that the development of ‘The Elder Scrolls 6’, which is highly anticipated by gamers around the world, will proceed after ‘Starfield’, even the ‘Elder Scrolls’ fans are eagerly waiting for the release of ‘Starfield‘.
The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild 2
Even the games introduced so far can be called the greatest competition of all time, but this discussion may become meaningless. This is because the sequel to ‘The Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild‘, Nintendo’s representative work, which won the GOTY award after overthrowing other games in 2017, is expected to be released this year.
Although the previous work, ‘The Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild’ was released on the Nintendo Switch, which had lower performance compared to other devices, it received overwhelmingly favorable reviews to the point of being evaluated as having opened a new horizon in the open-world action-adventure genre. Fans around the world are paying attention to what kind of shock the developed ‘The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild 2’ will bring.
Crimson Desert
It will not be easy to get attention because this year’s lineup is huge, but the GOTY challenge of domestic games is something to watch with interest.
Pearl Abyss plans to release the new console title ‘Crimson Desert‘ this year after ‘Black Desert’. ‘Crimson Desert‘, which was scheduled to be released last year but was pushed back to 2022, is an open world action-adventure game under development with the next-generation engine that Pearl Abyss boasts. there is.
The Callisto Protocol
Although there are some vague parts to see it as a domestic game, ‘The Callisto Protocol‘, which is being developed at Striking Distance Studio, which is a development subsidiary of Krafton and established by famous developer Glenn Scofield, is also a new game being developed using ‘PUBG Battleground’ IP. I am looking forward to it as much as it is.