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[Magic Mushroom]

2017 is gonna be right up there with 1998 and 2007 as one of the best years for games.

2015 was rather special too. Bloodborne, The Phantom Pain, The Witcher 3, Ori and the Blind Forest, Splatoon, Rocket League.

Gaming is on fire basically.

 

[Nimby]

Persona 5 and NieR Automata could get 100s on MC and would still get next to no nominations. Like Bayonetta 2 losing to Inquisition and Shadow of Mordor. That year was depressing.

 

[Lunar15]

If you simply want to count GotY contenders as "critical consensus" GOTY awards, I can't see anything dethroning Breath of the Wild. There have been so many articles talking about its approach to the genre, how it's revolutionary, how it has wide appeal, etc.

There might be "better" games, for sure, but I really can't see any of them having the same impact on game journalists. Breath of the Wild was kind of this surprise that came out at the right time with everyone knowing surprisingly little about it. Changing the formula of a long-standing series is simply going to stick out more than something that's an insanely polished version of something we're already used to.

But you know, this is why I don't like big ol' GOTY awards. By focusing the spotlight on a few games, you miss the forest for the trees. Everything's a competition and we get petty about individual strengths of games. Waypoint's "Superlatives" feature last year was great and I wish more outlets would focus on that rather than declaring a definitive "best". We're at peak game right now and focusing on one game really does a disservice to the varied tastes of society and the incredible effort of so many devs doing different things.

 

[deoee]

Puyo Puyo Tetris

 

[wild wild rice]

Puyo Puyo Tetris

Game of the Month, easily.

 

[lord_of_flood]

Honestly, not likely. There are a few that have a lot of potential to be big hits with gaming media (Persona 5, Mario Odyssey, and RDR2), but Breath of the Wild is the kind of game that you'll see once in a blue moon. I don't really see anything that has a real chance of dethroning it when GOTY awards start happening at the end of the year.

 

[MTC100]

If these two criteria are not met, then we look for the wildcard.
RDR2 and Mario, I'm telling ya. A JRPG is never gonna make it.

Never say never, though this year it's <never>, yeah. I imagine that in some distant future square-enix gets their act together and releases a Final Fantasy that is worthy of the name like VII(and VI) was. (I have a strong feeling that it won't be the VII remake they teasered ages ago, is that even still in development?)

And I still think Zelda easily takes this year since it has so many things going for it when it comes to appeasing the mainstream tastes, aside from being an incredible game.

I agree, somehow Nintendo managed to create an universally appealing game with BotW(just count all those 10/10), even with all its flaws, haven't felt that strongly for a game since Ocarina of Time, Deus Ex or Valkyria Chronicles.

Honestly, not likely. There are a few that have a lot of potential to be big hits with gaming media (Persona 5, Mario Odyssey, and RDR2), but Breath of the Wild is the kind of game that you'll see once in a blue moon.

Persona 5 is most certainly also such a game, it's been 10 years since the last Persona happenend. -and RDR2 along with Mario Odyssey will also be gems Rockstar and Nintendo will take care of that.

 

[phantasmic_glaive]

Red dead is going to. evveryone loves Rockstar games

Zelda BOTW is still in the honeymoon phase, I expect the Zelda Cycle to kick in in 2 or 3 months leading to fan backlash of the game on why the last zelda did xxx better than botw.


ALso games that are released this early in a year are usually forgotten for GOTY at the end of the year.

UC4.

Zelda might get it. Personally, Horizon is my GOTY so far, but I expect it to be taken down by Persona 5.

Persona 5 can go toe-to-toe with any one of the other contenders. Not sales, but contention.

 

[Maxios]

Kingdom Come: Deliverance
No Truce With The Furies
Persona 5
Prey
Red Dead Redemption 2

I know the odds of something like NTWTF winning GOTY is low, but I fully expect it to be one of the most acclaimed games this year.

 

[Arulan]

Lots? Such as?

Battle Brothers
Thimbleweed Park
Divinity: Original Sin 2
No Truce With The Furies
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord
Expeditions: Viking
BattleTech
Budget Cuts

There are other contenders, such as Ruiner for instance, but I haven't looked into them as much. I might be forgetting a few too.

 

[Wagram]

Realistically it'll be a tier system:

Most of the wins (in no order):

Red Dead Redemption 2
Zelda: Breath of The Wild
Super Mario: Odyssey

A few wins:

Persona 5
Nioh
Nier: Automata
Resident Evil 7

 

[deoee]

Game of the Month, easily.

Seriously, I was never so excited to play Tetris Puzzle games

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

... It's only March. This is like a movies coming out in the first three months and being proclaimed as the best movie of the year.

 

[LotusHD]

Now I gotta see what this Furies game is lol

They're completely different, even though they are J-RPGs at the core, so it's no surprise they polarize that way among gamers. I am happy both exist but Persona 5 is perhaps my most wanted game since... Persona 4 golden ^^

I'm sure I'll love Persona myself, just meant I don't consider Nier as something that "can't hold a candle" to it.

 

[Matt]

It would be shocking if anything else came close to the number of awards Zelda will take home.

 

[zeexlash]

Don't see anything touching Breath of the Wild, it would need to be pretty amazing.

 

[Chie Satonaka]

BoTW has captivated me in a way no other game has in a very long time. I'm obsessed with shrine hunting. Every time I say I'm done, I find a new one and I get the itch to get out there and find more.

That said, for me personally, Persona 5 and Super Mario Odyssey have the biggest chances of surpassing BoTW as my GOTY, so those.

 

[mazillion]

I got curious an tallied up the votes, including people's personal GOTYs. Probably not exact but it's close.

Red Dead Redeption - 95 votes
Mario Odessey - 70
Persona 5 - 57
Destiny 2- 30
God of War - 14
Prey - 13
Xenoblade 2 - 7
Shadow of War - 6
Ni No Kuni 2 - 5
Crackdown 3 - 4
Assassin's Creed (egypt?) - 3
Sea of Thieves - 3
Star Wars Battlefront 2 - 2
Gt Sport - 2
Sonic Mania - 2
Splatoon 2 - 2
FF7 Remake - 2
Yooka-Laylee - 2



Already released titles, (i didn't count these) :
Zelda
RE7
Horizon
Nier
Hioh
Yakuza 0

Honorable Mentions:
Knack 2

 

[Henry Jones Jr]

Yeah I was thinking about this the other day. It's very strange to pretty much already know which game is going to win 99% of 2017 Game of the Year awards.

Mario and Red Dead. I expect both to be better than Zelda.

I also expect that I will personally like both of these more than Zelda (especially Mario), but I just don't see either of them touching the overwhelming and wide ranging praise that Zelda has gotten.

 

[Anth0ny]

Mario and Red Dead. I expect both to be better than Zelda.

 

[TwistedFreeze]

From what I can see, there are likely 3 (maybe 4) GOTY contenders: Zelda, Mario, Red Dead Redemption, and possibly Horizon. Even the ones that aren't likely GOTY contenders are still pretty damn good so that should speak a lot as to how good this year has been and looks to be so far

Zelda alone has made this year one of my favorites and I'm waiting to get my hands on Resident Evil, Horizon, and Nier

 

[Aaron D.]

Now I gotta see what this Furies game is lol

Yeah, that title, well just that word in the title...is unfortunate. (But kinda funny too in it's misassociation.)

Game still looks incredible though.

Prob. my most anticipated of the year next to Divinity 2.

 

[Magic Mushroom]

Battle Brothers
Thimbleweed Park
Divinity: Original Sin 2
No Truce With The Furies
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord
Expeditions: Viking
BattleTech
Budget Cuts

There are other contenders, such as Ruiner for instance, but I haven't looked into them as much. I might be forgetting a few too.

I don't think any of these will be better than BotW, but to each his own.

 

[etrain911]

Mario Odyssey

Yooka-Laylee

A Hat in Time

Rain World

Ni No Kuni 2

Persona 5

Destiny 2

Red Dead Redemption 2

Probably some surprises at E3 we still don't know about

God of War 2017 or the Last of Us part 2 or Days Gone (if they come out this year)

KH 3 if it makes it out this year

 

[Magic Mushroom]

Mario and Red Dead. I expect both to be better than Zelda.

Mario could do it, but it needs to be a big leap for the franchise. RDR2 though, I'm not seeing it based on Rockstar's prior work. Beautiful worlds but lacking in gameplay in my opinion. Apart from the archaic combat and mission structure, my biggest beef is how restricted you are during the incredibly linear missions. It lacks agency.

 

[purseowner]

Well I just played Splatoon 2 and er Splatoon 2.

 

[Finster]

Zelda botw is overrated trash just like gta4, hth

 

[Kain-Nosgoth]

my other potential GOTY, beside Nier automata, Zelda BOTW and Persona 5, will be a small indy game

LA-MULANA 2!

The first one is one of the best game i ever played, so this one has a lot of potential!

Mario odyssey and Red dead 2 could also be there

 

[AerialAir]

Persona 5. GoTG contender.

 

[Spirited]

Zelda botw is overrated trash just like gta4, hth

no, ur the trash

 

[Nzyme32]

Hollow Knight has surpassed Super Metroid, which I regarded as one of my favourite games of all time.

Would be surprised if I am as impressed with other games this year since I've been such a huge metroid fan waiting for such a step forward in that genre

 

[Opa-Pa]

Well, if you mean games I'll enjoy as much as Zelda, or will be as good or better than it, definitely Persona 5... Perhaps Xenoblade 2, but the direction of that looks suspect and I'm not sure it'll come out this year.

RE7, Nier Automata, BoTW and a localized Digimon World sequel have already made this year one of my favorites in recent memory, though!

If you mean games that can actually win GoTY awards, then Red Dead Redemption 2 lol.

 

[Magic Mushroom]

Zelda botw is overrated trash just like gta4, hth

Take your shitposting elsewhere, junior.

Hollow Knight has surpassed Super Metroid, which I regarded as one of my favourite games of all time.

Would be surprised if I am as impressed with other games this year since I've been such a huge metroid fan waiting for such a step forward in that genre

Really need to play this.

 

[purseowner]

my other potential GOTY, beside Nier automata, Zelda BOTW and Persona 5, will be a small indy game

LA-MULANA 2!

The first one is one of the best game i ever played, so this one has a lot of potential!

Mario odyssey and Red dead 2 could also be there

Wait - is this the year that's finally coming out?!

 

[LotusHD]

Hollow Knight has surpassed Super Metroid, which I regarded as one of my favourite games of all time.

Would be surprised if I am as impressed with other games this year since I've been such a huge metroid fan waiting for such a step forward in that genre

Still waiting on the Switch version for Hollow Knight, looks really good

 

[Kain-Nosgoth]

Wait - is this the year that's finally coming out?!

They (nigoro) still think it will release in 2017 at least, and they made a lot of progress so i have confidence it will come out this year yes

 

[ModBot]

has video game peaked