5款曾被评年度最佳游戏但迅速被玩家遗忘的作品

Each year, we gather near and far to watch The Game Awards, an annual celebration and honoring of the best in the business. Geoff Keighley’s big production always lands in December, and the big honor of the night is the Game of the Year award. Granted, this isn’t the only notable awards ceremony to offer this prestigious label, though it’s the one that is most highly publicized and viewed by fans and the industry at large. However, the BAFTA Games Awards, D.I.C.E. Awards, Game Developers Choice Awards, and Golden Joystick Awards are among other awards platforms that dish out honors that include a round of GOTY nominations and a final clear winner. Traditionally, video games that have achieved the GOTY title are recognized for the entire package, including game design, production quality, scoring, performances, and gameplay. They truly are the best of the best among all of the high-end releases for any given year.

But over the years, some games remain legendary, forever destined to be a hallmark of the current generation, like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Other winners of this prestigious award fade into obscurity, being relegated to a simple “time and place” event in the storied history of video games. Frankly, quality gaming experiences are a dime a dozen these days, and it behooves developers to no longer make only “good” games. With heavy saturation in the gaming market, a game must be “great” or even better to stand out amongst the pack. As such, many games are either smothered by other releases, quickly forgotten, or eventually overshadowed after their time in the sun. With that said, let’s take a look at a few games that fall into the latter category, having claimed a Game of the Year award, but seemingly absent from the current conversation.

5. It Takes Two – 2021, TGA GOTY Winner

Developed by Hazelight Studios, It Takes Two continued a niche gaming space that the developer had carved out for itself: 2-player co-op adventures. I’m not talking about any ordinary adventure game where a buddy can just jump in and join the fray. These are games designed around the co-op experience. Two people, whether online or via couch co-op, must engage in order to actually play the game. There’s no option for a single-player affair where an AI controls the other character, either. It’s a bold move for the studio, as the game’s sales rely on finding customers who know they have someone in their lives at that moment that they can enjoy the game with. It Takes Two expertly delivers this model of play to a high degree.

The game features two parents preparing to undergo a divorce, which has deeply affected their young daughter Rose. Their daughter then creates makeshift dolls representing her parents. After crying over the materials to make the dolls, her parents are transferred into them. They must go on a wild journey to “fix” their relationship thanks to a talking therapy book. The game is filled with several unique mechanics and platforming challenges in which the two players must work together to overcome them. It truly deserved its 2021 GOTY award. But due to its difficult replayability through the very nature of requiring two players, I believe this is why it eventually disappeared from the general gaming discourse. Hazelight’s next game, Split Fiction, took over that role for a time. And I suspect the same pattern will follow with the studio’s follow-up to Split Fiction.

4. Dragon Age: Inquisition – 2014, TGA GOTY Winner

There was a time when BioWare was releasing hit after hit between the Mass Effect trilogy and the Dragon Age series. Unfortunately, that is a time that has long passed. But among the studio’s incredible stable of games from decades prior, Dragon Age: Inquisition claimed the GOTY title of 2014 at The Game Awards. In fact, this was the inaugural TGA that stepped in to fill the void left by Spike’s Video Game Awards, which ceased following the 2013 ceremony.

This action-RPG follows the Inquisitor (player character) as they embark on a journey across Thedas, a continent teeming with all manner of dangerous fauna, demons, reprobates, and the like. From a visual design and worldbuilding perspective, Dragon Age: Inquisition was the top of its class in 2014. And narratively speaking, the stakes were high, and the kinetic energy the game inspired was tangible. Everything from the voice acting and soundtrack to the layered character development was top-notch, providing players with a lived-in world rich in lore, history, and surprises. Dragon Age: Inquisition was lightning in a bottle that even the same studio (albeit with largely different staff) couldn’t capture again a decade later with Dragon Age: The Veilguard. With the mixed reception, commercial failure, and distance between games with the latest entry, these factors collectively weakened the series in the eyes of fans. Dragon Age as a franchise might actually be dead. So, it stands to reason why we simply don’t hear much chatter about Dragon Age: Inquisition anymore.

3. Returnal – 2022, BAFTA Best Game Winner

Housemarque, a developer with an extensive background in arcade-y shoot ’em ups and twin-stick shooters, tried something different with Returnal, which released in 2021. This game was the developer’s first third-person shooter. Housemarque is a brand that has always put gameplay first, and Returnal retained that trademark staple while introducing a sci-fi psychological drama at its core. The game expertly grafted challenging roguelike and bullet-hell mechanics with a substantially thought-provoking mystery behind the antagonist’s (Selene’s) journey across the strange planet of Atropos. The game shined in both sound and visual design, with dazzling displays of colors and patterns on screen forming from enemy attacks.

From Selene’s crash site, the player can whisk her on an arduous and brutal journey through several biomes, each with their own set of dangers and boss characters. Each death takes the player right back to the crash site to start once again. But if you had been lucky enough to defeat a boss, then you likely created shortcuts that could get you back to where you were easier than if you had to traverse all of the previous biomes in full once again. At first, the game might feel frustratingly difficult. But the more you play, the more the game opens up while simultaneously pulling you in. It’s an incredible work of art. Earlier this year, Housemarque released its spiritual follow-up, Saros, which wasn’t quite as well-received. The challenge was compromised in favor of permanent progression systems, more auto-aim weaponry, and a shield. Saros stripped down what made the mastery requirement behind Returnal so engaging. Despite its high praise, however, Returnal seems to have come and gone.

2. Dishonored – 2012, BAFTA Best Game Winner

In 2012, Arkane Studios’ Dishonored surprised everyone with a clever action-adventure title set in first-person. Taking a cue from the Thief series, players could engage in stealth gameplay all from the perspective of the protagonist’s own two eyes. Set in the fictional city of Dunwall, the game places players under the cloak of Corvo Attano. Once a bodyguard to the Empress of the Isles, he is framed for her murder and must take to the shadows to get the revenge he desperately desires. The Outsider, a mysterious and powerful being, grants Corvo supernatural abilities that he can utilize throughout his journey. Overall, Dishonored is all about player choice. This includes traversal as well as the ways in which Corvo can engage with enemies or his targets.

Dishonored is notable for its striking steampunk design and setting. Dunwall is pervasively oppressive, atmospherically speaking, with rats running amok, carrying a plague, and the citizens living in squalor. While the overall trajectory of the game is not really affected by Corvo’s choices, the world does respond should the player make more aggressive, violent choices. This includes NPCs who may refuse to work with you. The number of rats on the streets will increase, and overall chaos will be amplified. And if the visual, narrative, and gameplay design wasn’t enough, Dishonored also features an extremely talented cast, including Hollywood heavyweights like Susan Sarandon, Carrie Fisher, Lena Headey, Chloë Grace Moretz, Brad Dourif, Michael Madsen, and John Slattery. The game received a sequel in 2016 that wasn’t quite as well-received. Since then, Arkane Studios has gone on to make games like Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Deathloop, and the maligned Redfall. While the studio is knee-deep in developing Marvel’s Blade, the future is unclear as Xbox seeks a way to offload the studio

1. Journey – 2012, D.I.C.E. GOTY Winner, GDCA GOTY Winner

This creative action-adventure title was released on the PS3 in 2012 and later on the PS4 in 2015. Created by Thatgamecompany, Journey is an indie title with a simple premise. Players control a cloaked character seeking to journey (hence the name) across a desert to reach a mountain in the distance. This game embodies two philosophies. First, “it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey.” And second, “the real treasure is the friends you made along the way.” As you make your way toward this mountain, you’ll uncover ruins and worldbuilding lore about a past civilization. You could encounter other players during this journey who are making the same trek. While communication with them is not possible, you could aid each other.

Journey is a game that speaks to you through its art design. Musical cues sync up with player actions. Visual discoveries enlighten players and provide an emotional subtext to the game’s themes. There’s a reason this game received the critical acclaim that it did at the time of its release. It’s truly a resonating piece of art in the form of a video game. There has only been one game from the studio since 2019 with Sky: Children of Light. While Journey might be fondly remembered in passing, the game had its moment in history and has largely been relegated to the past.