man, there are still 2 months left in the year
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Sable Goty.
And The Forgotten City should be in 
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I totally believe now that Playground realized how amazing they have been and felt disheartened with how they have been ignored in awards and stuff, and that’s why they decided to make 3rd person open world game that would align with what tends to get those awards.
Ill probably wrap the game up today but
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The ‘rules’ for the GOTY Awards are as follows:
Gaming must be taken as seriously as an artform as mediums like film or art.
Therefore we should award games for elements that are shared by mediums like film or art, rather than for the core artform at the foundation of gaming – gameplay design.
Gameplay has to be, well at least OK, but that’s not the main point of the excercise.
The contenders will therefore almost always be:
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A game that tries to be a film, which will be judged on its story, the voice acting, the direction of cut scenes, and what weighty societal issues it broaches.
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An Indie darling, ideally with a quirky artistic art style to highlight the creativity of the industry. Bonus points given if it also broaches a weighty societal issue.
On that basis, Psychonauts 2 has a chance for a nomination based on the second criteria.
We will know that the videogame industry has actually matured when it’s media and industry types stop insecurely focussing on elements games share with films or art as a way to justify that they are the equal of films or art, and finally owns and loudly states that gameplay design itself is an artform, the core artform of the medium, and we don’t care who recognises it or not.
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Right now I’m between Psychonauts and Deaths Door. I didn’t play Returnal because of the save game issue. I get pulled away from what I’m playing all the time and that’s why I love quick resume. I know they patched a fix for it so maybe I’ll check it out whenever I get a PS5 again. Ratchet was good but I didn’t finish it. Halo could end up at the top of my list but that game won’t come out in time for the Game awards.
Game directors, journalists and critics still want to prove Roger Ebert wrong even in his grave. “HAHA! Look, this is art, is like movie! In your face!”
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Spot on.
It’s a sign of an immature and insecure artform in its infancy. It tries to gain the plaudits of its better recognised competitors by pretending to be them.
We will know videogames as a medium has matured when the industry recognises that gameplay design is actually the core artform they are working in, and all that other stuff is just layered ontop of it.
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The thing is, they already do! Even some of the games that are hyper focused on cutscenes and cinematic storytelling still tell some chunks of their stories outside of that, like RDR2 for example.
Definitely, I am more talking about the games the ‘industry’ (those who vote for GOTY, journalists and veterans) like to reward … And those certain parties cough, Sony, cough seem obsessed with pushing.
But within game development itself some great things are happening. Would just like to see them rewarded for it rather than for cut scenes. 
I don’t expect it to actually win anything, likewise with my other anticipated favorite Forza Horizon 5, but oh well.
Metroid Dread will most likely win and would be the one I’d place my money on.
Microsoft Flight Simulator (Series X) is a lock for my GOTY, with Disco Elysium Final Cut right there. I know they released on other platforms in previous years, but they’re new releases to me and honestly, as much as I’ve played this year, nothing else comes remotely close to these two legit 10/10s.
Good thing it’s not a racing game then. It’s a exploration game based in Mexico with photo realistic graphics and racing and car collection mini games 
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The answer is Psychonauts 2
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My current game of the year is Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart but I still have to play Lost Judgment, Biomutant and the upcoming Halo Infinite which is what im hoping to end up being my 2021 game of the year.
In general and overall, I still believe that Halo Infinite wins as long as the campaign is great but it will be close.
Keighley is putting out the call for nominations way too early. That’s not enough time for people to get their hands on Forza, SMTV and Battlefield. The cutoff is the 19th…
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I think Halo Infinite MP might indeed release on Nov 15th, and it’ll get nominated for multiplayer game of the year and possibly win too. Campaign will get shafted due to its release date, and be part of the TGAs next year (or not given how insane 2022 also is)