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[anothertech]

Graphics and art style should be separated.

 

[tmlDan]

Best Voice acting for ER, it shouldn't even be top 5 lol. It should have been on gamepass, GOW second? COD best MP game? wtf lol. It feels like people on an enthusiast forum only played COD, ER and GOW lol

No DNF duel love either, it should have been first *shakes fist*

 

[FoxMcChief]

Rigged. Elden Ring should have won Best Sports Game of the Year.

 

[AJUMP23]

Lots of Sony Stans at the Gaf, but overall good results.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

Unfortunately the sub-categories (sound design, etc) aren't voted very carefully, and seem like a place for everyone to vote their overall favorites again. I think it would be nice next year to allow each person to only pick one category for a particular game, forcing more variety.

But I'm happy that Elden Ring is on top, well deserved.

 

[Punished Miku]

Unfortunately the sub-categories (sound design, etc) aren't voted very carefully, and seem like a place for everyone to vote their overall favorites again. I think it would be nice next year to allow each person to only pick one category for a particular game, forcing more variety.

But I'm happy that Elden Ring is on top, well deserved.

Or put in some land mine categories like worst game to see if people are even looking when line voting.

 

[PharaoTutAnchAmun]

I can't take this seriously lol, why is God of war in every category? Even the gamepass one?! Y'all suck.
Game that deserves a sequel lmao, of course it's getting a sequel jfc.

This might be worse than TGAs.

So you cant take it serious that Elden Ring is in every category, except for Gamepass and Sportgames?
Let the butthurt flow trough you, time to give it a rest.
GoW deserve the praise it gets, its a great game.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

GoW deserve the praise it gets

Yeah it sure deserves to be on game pass, can't wait till ms adds it!

 

[Maiden Voyage]

How is Elden Ring there for voice acting?

My wife is playing through now and she called out the voice specifically as one of her favorite parts so far. I think it was Roderika specifically but the blacksmith also has a top-tier actor. Hell that opening cinematic still gets me hyped as fuck to play just because the VO is so damn good.

 

[Fredrik]

My wife is playing through now and she called out the voice specifically as one of her favorite parts so far. I think it was Roderika specifically but the blacksmith also has a top-tier actor. Hell that opening cinematic still gets me hyped as fuck to play just because the VO is so damn good.

Don’t forget the legendary line:
”- Put these foolish ambitions to rest”

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Don’t forget the legendary line:
”- Put these foolish ambitions to rest”

She beat Morgott on her second try. She's all paranoid she'll get wrecked but she's been killing it so far.

 

[Muay Ninja]

Were there no games released in 2022? Or was the pool just that small? They're all the same games for the most part, lol.

Also why is Cyberpunk even on that list? It was released in 2020.

 

[Fredrik]

She beat Morgott on her second try. She's all paranoid she'll get wrecked but she's been killing it so far.

Margit? Or Morgott?
Kinda the same but in different parts of the game. Impressive either way!

Spoiler: Unimportant ramblings

I had serious issues with Margit on my first playthrough with melee and strength focus, struggled for about 3 hours. Upside, that’s when I learned how to play the game, went through most of the mechanics available at that point. Godrick was similar. I wouldn’t say the game was easy after that but those two bosses were transformative, they really pushed me to refine my playstyle and I didn’t struggle the same way with later bosses. Except Elden Beast which I absolutely hate and still don’t have a fireproof strategy for.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Margit? Or Morgott?
Kinda the same but in different parts of the game. Impressive either way!

Spoiler: Unimportant ramblings

I had serious issues with Margit on my first playthrough with melee and strength focus, struggled for about 3 hours. Upside, that’s when I learned how to play the game, went through most of the mechanics available at that point. Godrick was similar. I wouldn’t say the game was easy after that but those two bosses were transformative, they really pushed me to refine my playstyle and I didn’t struggle the same way with later bosses. Except Elden Beast which I absolutely hate and still don’t have a fireproof strategy for.

Margit. Yeah I got them confused because I recently fought Morgott in my game.

 

[Fredrik]

Margit. Yeah I got them confused because I recently fought Morgott in my game.

Very impressive then!
Show her this awesome video


Seriously, if she beat Margit 2nd try she’ll probably beat the game if she just keep going.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Very impressive then!
Show her this awesome video


Seriously, if she beat Margit 2nd try she’ll probably beat the game if she just keep going.

Yeah, I've been giving her lots of tips. ER IMO is the easiest of the Souls games.

 

[Fredrik]

Yeah, I've been giving her lots of tips. ER IMO is the easiest of the Souls games.

I’ve only played 3, DeS, BB, ER, and yeah ER is easier. But mostly because I don’t feel like you hit a wall and have to cheese bosses or grind the same area to level up until it’s boring. There is always something else to do. And it’s not as harsh when it comes to the respawn points.

 

[Grildon Tundy]

GoW?

LOL

Ngl that's pretty funny so many people (read: trolls) had the same idea for it to land at #2 for "Should've Been on Game Pass"

 

[Grildon Tundy]

My wife is playing through now and she called out the voice specifically as one of her favorite parts so far. I think it was Roderika specifically but the blacksmith also has a top-tier actor. Hell that opening cinematic still gets me hyped as fuck to play just because the VO is so damn good.

I don't know how you direct a voice actor to come across like they've actually lived through a fantasy apocalypse, but FROM's VA's are exactly how I'd expect that sort of person to sound. Incredible, immersive work.

 

[AJUMP23]

Lots of good results in here. Some bad but mostly good.

 

[AJUMP23]

Also this is great voice acting. Probably my favorite scene all year.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Thank you to the people involved in this project.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Gaf rly didnt play any games other than ER lmfao. To be fair, there wasnt much to play this year.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Gaf rly didnt play any games other than ER lmfao. To be fair, there wasnt much to play this year.

I played more Session than anything last year. I love it but it's also a very niche kind of game. ER and Vampire Survivors were my other 2 favorites from 2022.

 

[The Cockatrice]

I played more Session than anything last year. I love it but it's also a very niche kind of game. ER and Vampire Survivors were my other 2 favorites from 2022.

Yeah I know the game. I used to love skating games 20 years ago or so. I should give it a try someday.

 

[Punished Miku]

I played more Session than anything last year. I love it but it's also a very niche kind of game. ER and Vampire Survivors were my other 2 favorites from 2022.

I voted Session for best sports game

 

[German Hops]

Live a Live bros.. We finally made it.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

I voted Session for best sports game

I knew you were good.

 

[Giancarlo Thomaz Senoni]

really the Last of Us 1 as best remake?

 

[Zambatoh]

Good lord. Has the bar for greatness truly fallen so low that these games are the winners of 2022? Some of those games are inferior to their own predecessors while others were just kind of..."okay".
I think for their respective genres, Elden Ring and Stray were mostly fine at least. But I'd rather be playing something else from the same genres from a bygone era.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

 

[Maiden Voyage]

really the Last of Us 1 as best remake?

I voted for Elden Ring

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Good lord. Has the bar for greatness truly fallen so low that these games are the winners of 2022? Some of those games are inferior to their own predecessors while others were just kind of..."okay".
I think for their respective genres, Elden Ring and Stray were mostly fine at least. But I'd rather be playing something else from the same genres from a bygone era.

Well some good news and some bad news. I'll let you read in whatever order you see fit.

Good News​

You can still play those games.

Bad News​

Those games didn't release in 2022 so they are ineligible.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Lol at Horizon being on the list for best rol playing game.

But happy about High on Life getting so much love. Well deserved.

 

[Bekind]

Well deserved! Elden Ring. One of the greatest game of all time for me.

 

[Vick]

Basically impeccable results, proud of you GAF.

 

[speckz]

I only played three of these games. Still casual, I guess.

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

So there's not one game that got more votes than the others?

 

[Topher]

So there's not one game that got more votes than the others?

Not sure what you are asking. The winners received the most votes for each category.

 

[captain_cabbage]

Honestly though, Tunic was made for the "Best HUD" nomination. It's silly that Elden Ring won that.

 

[Godlikushi]

how God of war Ragnarok has a better soundtracks than Elden Ring? something smell fishy
Gow:R has some great themes such as this one -






and blood upon the snow, but no other masterpiece
On Elden Ring every 3rd main/secret boss is a masterpiece.
Love them both and they both deserves 10/10 but guys ...

 

[Petopia]

Gaf only cares about Sony vs Microsoft, meanwhile everyone else playing Switch.

When the switch has some basic bitch online functions then come back to thread.

 

[Hobbygaming]

Lol at Horizon being on the list for best rol playing game.

But happy about High on Life getting so much love. Well deserved.

Guerrilla Games themselves classify Horizon as an action RPG

The Witcher 3 is also an action RPG

 

[Hobbygaming]

GoW, Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West really dominated 2022

Also it's great to see Callisto and Sifu nominated for some things

 

[mckmas8808]

GoW, Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West really dominated 2022

Also it's great to see Callisto and Sifu nominated for some things

100% here.

 

[ValiantTraveler]

Very happy to see Xenoblade Chronicles 3 up there. Should've been in the top UI design though.

KoF XV deserves to be the best fighting game, I'm always having a blast whenever I play it.

Elden Ring of course is the absolute GOTY

 

[PillsOff]

Moderator should read before deleting a joke about J.K. Rolling controversy taking it as being end game spoiler.

 

[Grildon Tundy]

Moderator should read before deleting a joke about J.K. Rolling controversy taking it as being end game spoiler.

 

[Biff]

I voted but didn't make my typical Top 10 ranking post. So feel free to ignore but doing it now for my personal archive (I've done it every year since joining GAF).

And just a side note - a HUGE thank you to the GOTY team because I'm sure the new format took a ton of time to design. And I hate to do this, but I'm really really really really really not a fan of it. As someone who struggles to play 10 games a year, like 80% of my categories were "Click to Vote"... I used to love reading people's Top 10 lists with all the beautiful images and well thought-out explanations. And this year was just a collection of copy-pasted hard-to-read category winners with little discussion.

I think gaming is one of the few categories were games can indeed be stacked up against each other across categories. "Who was the best athlete in 2022?" I don't even know how to approach that. "What was the best game in 2022?" Oh - that's easy - Elden Ring. Done.

In closing I really hope we go back to the simple Top 10 voting style next year. But again, I really do appreciate and thank the GAF team and GOTY OPs for trying something new this year.

And here's my list!

1. Elden Ring
2. God of War: Ragnarok
3. Vampire Survivors
4. Marvel Snap
5. Predecessor (Paragon Remake - technically EA but clearly polished)
6. DJ Max Respect V
7. Neon White
8. Metal: Hellsinger
9. Horizon Forbidden West

Top 3 rationale:

#1 - Elden Ring. Not much needs to be said that hasn't been said much better elsewhere. Not only is this one of the most ambitious games ever made, but it's also one of the most-hyped games ever released. And it fucking delivered. GOTY for a February-released game... Every successive game I played during the year took me like 2 seconds to realize it ain't eclipsing Elden Ring. I am far from a completionist, and yet I had no trouble dropping 100 hours into ER and loving every goddamn minute of it. Well, except maybe Malenia. But the world building, the scale, the design, the characters - THE CHARACTERS ARE SO FREAKING GOOD. The meme of Souls-games having no story is over. Yes, you have to search for it, but it's so damn rewarding. Elden Ring is a Top 5 Game of the Forever for me.

#2 - God of War: Ragnarok. A sequel that actually delivers is rare in modern gaming. While I still believe GoW 2018 is the better of the two, GoW:R was had memorable moments, even if the game was overall easier in my view. For me, I wasn't a huge fan of the Atreus portions of the game. The combat isn't as strong and I found his storyline to be frustrating to the point of nearing "annoying". I think GoW:R played it a bit safe. Still a fantastic game, and I loved the graphics on PS5 (the relatively small step-up was a huge reminder just how amazing GoW was in 2018 on the freaking PS4). Sony Santa Monica can be proud of this and I look forward to the third entry in the reboot.

#3 - Vampire Survivors. In terms of $/hr of entertainment, this is not only my #1 of 2022, but easily my #1 of all-time. Yes, 16-bit (32-bit? I don't know what you'd call VS) pixel graphics are over-used to shit in modern gaming but the game mechanics in VS are so good that I literally don't care about the graphics. Learning the weapons and figuring out my favourite combos kept me busy every Saturday morning. Made me feel like a kid again - couldn't wait to wake up on Saturday after a long week of work and get a few runs of VS in before the family wakes up. This is what gaming is all about. The fact that I got all this for $3 is insane, and I look forward to the future of low-price mega-hits that VS has shown to be a viable business model.