Summary
- The Game Awards snubbed several great games from 2023 due to the sheer number of quality titles released each month.
- Some games, like RoboCop: Rogue City and Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line, were too unique to fit into specific categories and should have prompted an expansion of categories.
- Despite their excellence, games like Hogwarts Legacy and Octopath Traveler 2 were overlooked due to intense competition in their respective genres.
No awards show is perfect. The Oscars, Grammys, and Emmys leave out tons of great films, songs, and TV shows, respectively. The Game Awards are no different. While players are happy to see all the revered titles from 2023 make it into various categories at a shot for the grand reward, there are plenty of great games that were left in the dust for this year's Game Awards.
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Game Awards 2022: Every Game of The Year Nominee, Summarized
2022's Game Awards nominees list is stacked with great games that impact the industry differently. Here are summaries of what each nominee represents.
2023 has a lot of snubs because of the sheer amount of great titles that came out each month. Sometimes, the games are too unique to really fit into a category, which is perhaps a sign to expand the categories in the future. Hopefully, this list brings at least a little more attention to these games that truly deserve it.
7 RoboCop: Rogue City
Best Action Game, Best Art Direction
RoboCop: Rogue City
- Released
- November 2, 2023
- Developer(s)
- Teyon
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- Genre(s)
- FPS, Sci-Fi
- Metacritic Score: 72
- Metacritic User Score: 8.8
Games based on movies have a better reputation than they used to. Still, no one expected Robocop: Rogue City to be this good. It seemingly came out of nowhere and is by far the best game from the developer. Rogue City's appeal to fans is how much players feel like RoboCop.
Movement is deliberately slow and heavy, like a walking tank. Gunshots throw enemies back and the player can even grab baddies by the throat and lunge them at other adversaries. It is also a good showcase for Unreal Engine 5. The faithful recreation of the 1980s Cyberpunk aesthetic also would have been a contender for Best Art Direction.
6 Hogwarts Legacy
Best RPG
Hogwarts Legacy
- Released
- February 10, 2023
- Developer(s)
- Avalanche Software
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PC
- Metacritic Score: 84
- Metacritic User Score: 8.5
With the amount of quality triple-A titles that came out this year, it only makes sense that one of them was completely ignored. Hogwarts Legacy did not make the cut when it came to coming up against other heavy hitters.
Hogwarts Legacy: All Professors, Ranked
The faculty in Hogwarts Legacy are (almost) all great teachers, but some stand out more than the rest.
It is hard for them to complain when it has already sold so well and is a dream come true for many Harry Potter fans. The fact it could not squeeze into at least one category is surprising, though, but this has been a fierce year for the competition.
5 Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line
Best Score And Music, Best Audio Design, Best Family Game
Theatrhythm Final Bar Line
- Metacritic Score: 87
- Metacritic User Score: 7.7
The Theatrhythm series only makes sense considering how celebrated the soundtrack for Final Fantasy has always been. With how comprehensive the package was this year with Final Bar Line, it isn't very pleasant to see it not get any attention from The Game Awards.
The series at least gets plenty of recognition this year with Final Fantasy 16's hardest boss fight : four nominations. Older fans who were disappointed in the new numbered game's formula shakeup might have preferred to see Final Bar Line receive the nominations instead.
4 Octopath Traveler 2
Best RPG
Octopath Traveler 2
- Metacritic Score: 84
- Metacritic User Score: 8.7
Fans of the genre were absolutely blown away by Octopath Traveler 2. It stays dedicated to the traditional turn-based JRPG design but manages to feel fresh with its structure and story.
The first game can also be seen as one of the titles to popularize the 2D/3D art style that modernizes the 8 and 16-bit aesthetic from the NES and SNES. There were a lot of stand-out RPGs this year with titles like Baldur's Gate 3 and Sea of Stars, but it definitely feels like Octopath Traveler 2 lives up to those games that did receive nominations.
3 Talos Principle 2
Best Art Direction, Best Narrative
- Metacritic Score: 88
- Metacritic User Score: 9.1
With some games, it almost feels like they did not get nominations because they were too difficult to categorize. Talos Principle 2 is a puzzle game, but there is no specific award for a puzzle game set at The Game Awards.
The Talos Principle 2: 5 Tips for Beginners
Puzzles in The Talos Principle 2 start simple but soon become even more complex than the game's story. Beginners should keep these tips in mind.
It probably could have gotten a nod for its art and visuals though, or maybe it could have gotten the narrative nomination. If anything, snubs like this show that they need more categories that are not directed toward the Triple-A gaming space.
2 Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed
Best RPG, Best Narrative
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
- Metacritic Score: 92
- Metacritic User Score: 8.9
For fans who have been following the Xenoblade Chronicles games since the beginning, this DLC expansion is where it all finally pays off. All the games are connected here and fan-favorite characters make a glorious return.
Considering each title in the Xenoblade series can take 80 to 100 hours to beat, this feels like the slow burn of the century. It is sadly one of the reasons it probably did not make the cut either. In such a crowded year for games, few of the voters likely put enough time into it.
While it is a DLC, expansions do receive nominations. Just this year Cyberpunk 2077 got nominations specifically pointed towards the content in the Phantom Liberty expansion.
1 Trepang2
Best Action Game, Best Debut Indie
- Metacritic Score: 78
- Metacritic User Score: 7.7
Anyone who longs for shooters from the early 2000s to the end of that decade would do themselves a great favor by playing Trepang2. The game perfectly captures the haphazard action of that era's FPS games. The ability to slow down time also makes it feel a lot like F.E.A.R. Or Max Payne (though the latter is a third-person game). Despite having the 2 in its title, it is the first game from the studio.
It does not quite have the aesthetic one expects from an "indie" title but it is an indie game nonetheless. Hopefully, the game did well enough to keep the studio afloat so they can put out another title in a few years and have another chance at nabbing some awards.