Of note, the developer of Megabonk is withdrawing the game from the running of Best Debut Indie Game on the account that they're a solo operation, and have worked on commerical releases before....
Of note, the developer of Megabonk is withdrawing the game from the running of Best Debut Indie Game on the account that they're a solo operation, and have worked on commerical releases before. Regardless of the discourse around what "debut" and "indie" mean here, it's a really upstanding move (and also good pr).
Upstanding move. I would be surprised if it won the category anyway. Blue Prince is a somewhat novel concept with a beautiful art style. I know very little about Clair Obscur other than it has...
Upstanding move.
I would be surprised if it won the category anyway. Blue Prince is a somewhat novel concept with a beautiful art style. I know very little about Clair Obscur other than it has been very popular and well received, and looks so polished that I didn't even realize it was an Indie.
Megabonk, while I do love it, is admittedly a copycat of Vampire Survivors in many ways (down to the chest opening audio), and mostly expanded the formula by being first person 3D. But it is priced appropriately and is executed very well. (I haven't progressed too far but I know some players are critical of late-game RNG, so feel free to disagree with that last part.)
Probably voting for silksong. I liked E33 overall, but didn’t particularly enjoy the combat (although I think the pictos worked well for allowing for a variety of different builds). The story was...
Probably voting for silksong. I liked E33 overall, but didn’t particularly enjoy the combat (although I think the pictos worked well for allowing for a variety of different builds).
The story was good in the first act and most of the second, but I felt like it didn’t live up to the tension. I suppose that is just part of the mystery box narrative.
Overall it’s a solid 8/10 title for my subjective view, but silksong was more of a 9/10.
By my count, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is nominated for an incredible 10 categories (although I am counting all 3 Clair Obscur nominations for Best Performance as 1). I'm guesing GOTY will be a...
By my count, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is nominated for an incredible 10 categories (although I am counting all 3 Clair Obscur nominations for Best Performance as 1). I'm guesing GOTY will be a competition between Clair Obscur and Silksong.
Between Silksong, Clair Obscur, and Hades II, this is definitely the most likely year for an indie game to win Game of the Year. You'd have to be a pretty massive Nintendo or Kojima fan to say DK...
Between Silksong, Clair Obscur, and Hades II, this is definitely the most likely year for an indie game to win Game of the Year. You'd have to be a pretty massive Nintendo or Kojima fan to say DK Bananza or Death Stranding 2 was a bigger deal than Silksong, which crashed all the storefronts at once and was the most wishlisted game on Steam, or Clair Obscur, which people talked about for months despite being a debut indie title. Nothing against DK, but I wouldn't say it made as big of a splash. A friend of mine is a massive DK fan, loves DK64 and DKC Returns, but he still agrees Clair Obscur is the better game.
Most years they only have 1 "token indie" and maybe 1 "token AA" game, and a bunch of bigger AAA games. This time having 3 indies, all of which being this strong, and no Rockstar or Bethesda or 3D Zelda game or anything crazy going against them, definitely is something.
In recent times I've heard a sentiment that it's a sort of "golden age of indies" where they offer a ton of value for an insane price (see all the memes about Silksong being $20), while AAA games can tend to be "mid" and overpriced (see Mario Kart World being $80, and the big sentiment I hear is "Thank god it's only $50 if you get the bundle!"). I definitely see this reflected in the nominations this year. Normally, you expect the game that gets a gazillion nominations and that everyone says is gonna sweep the awards is something AAA, not a debut indie title.
Of note, the developer of Megabonk is withdrawing the game from the running of Best Debut Indie Game on the account that they're a solo operation, and have worked on commerical releases before. Regardless of the discourse around what "debut" and "indie" mean here, it's a really upstanding move (and also good pr).
https://www.ign.com/articles/megabonk-developer-withdraws-game-from-the-game-awards-saying-it-doesnt-qualify-for-debut-indie
Upstanding move.
I would be surprised if it won the category anyway. Blue Prince is a somewhat novel concept with a beautiful art style. I know very little about Clair Obscur other than it has been very popular and well received, and looks so polished that I didn't even realize it was an Indie.
Megabonk, while I do love it, is admittedly a copycat of Vampire Survivors in many ways (down to the chest opening audio), and mostly expanded the formula by being first person 3D. But it is priced appropriately and is executed very well. (I haven't progressed too far but I know some players are critical of late-game RNG, so feel free to disagree with that last part.)
Definitely the original IP over a bunch of sequels. Go go E33
Probably voting for silksong. I liked E33 overall, but didn’t particularly enjoy the combat (although I think the pictos worked well for allowing for a variety of different builds).
The story was good in the first act and most of the second, but I felt like it didn’t live up to the tension. I suppose that is just part of the mystery box narrative.
Overall it’s a solid 8/10 title for my subjective view, but silksong was more of a 9/10.
By my count, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is nominated for an incredible 10 categories (although I am counting all 3 Clair Obscur nominations for Best Performance as 1). I'm guesing GOTY will be a competition between Clair Obscur and Silksong.
Between Silksong, Clair Obscur, and Hades II, this is definitely the most likely year for an indie game to win Game of the Year. You'd have to be a pretty massive Nintendo or Kojima fan to say DK Bananza or Death Stranding 2 was a bigger deal than Silksong, which crashed all the storefronts at once and was the most wishlisted game on Steam, or Clair Obscur, which people talked about for months despite being a debut indie title. Nothing against DK, but I wouldn't say it made as big of a splash. A friend of mine is a massive DK fan, loves DK64 and DKC Returns, but he still agrees Clair Obscur is the better game.
Most years they only have 1 "token indie" and maybe 1 "token AA" game, and a bunch of bigger AAA games. This time having 3 indies, all of which being this strong, and no Rockstar or Bethesda or 3D Zelda game or anything crazy going against them, definitely is something.
In recent times I've heard a sentiment that it's a sort of "golden age of indies" where they offer a ton of value for an insane price (see all the memes about Silksong being $20), while AAA games can tend to be "mid" and overpriced (see Mario Kart World being $80, and the big sentiment I hear is "Thank god it's only $50 if you get the bundle!"). I definitely see this reflected in the nominations this year. Normally, you expect the game that gets a gazillion nominations and that everyone says is gonna sweep the awards is something AAA, not a debut indie title.