2019 Award Winners

It's a bit early this year, but the list is complete and there aren't really any major game releases until 2020.  So, without further ado here are the winners.

Avant-garde Award:

Say what you will about Hideo Kojima, the guy is always trying new things.  In the case of Death Stranding, he has taken the walking sim genre and melded it with the likes of Spintires and Truck Simulator to beef up the gameplay in what would have otherwise been a purely story-driven experience.  Some of the concepts work better than others, but I'm sure there are video game developers that will find inspiration in his latest work.


Backlash Award:

Bioware Studios has done a lot to squander consumer goodwill in recent years.  No more so though than in the case of Anthem.  A botched launch, poor subsequent support, and little to no transparency haven't done much to alleviate concerns over this game and, frankly, the future of Bioware itself.  While I don't know if it deserves all the ire it has gotten there has been a definite lack of new content and story progression.  Of course, it's probably hard to come up with a plan moving forward when the project managers keep quitting. 

Brutality Award:

Conspicuously absent for the last couple of years, this award category has made a triumphant return with Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice...or in my case a whole lot more times than that...ugh...dragon-rot everywhere!  Having played every Souls game and Bloodborne, I can confidently say this is the hardest FromSoftware game to date.  No amount of grinding for levels will avail you here.

Canvas Award:

Overland definitely has some areas of the game that could stand a bit more improvement.  That said, one thing it does excel at is visual presentation (particularly with regards to color pallets).  I especially enjoyed the contrast between warmer tones for stuff like fire, life and all things human against the cold and unwelcoming glow of the alien interlopers.  The game also starts off with a nice vibrant autumn sunset, but as the game progresses the look changes to the drained and bleached black and whites of invasive "reefs." 

Ecology Award:

Aside from the fact that it copies all the sights and sounds you'd expect in a Stars Wars game, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order reuses quite a few gameplay elements found in other third-person action/adventure games.  A lot of reviewers have mentioned Dark Souls, but that's just scratching the surface.  This game is really a Frankensteinian amalgamation of mechanics found in the Zelda, Uncharted, Tomb Raider, and Prince of Persia franchisees, as well as the the Metroid Prime series.

"Engrish" Award:

English is a hard language to master, especially for non-native speakers.  That said, there's something special going on in Spaceland with lines like "you came here and you'll regret it!" and "for how long have I been in the sickbay?" It's as if these lines of dialogue were written by someone who was trying to impersonate what an American would sound like. "I'm a famous explorer of the farthest reaches of the galaxy."  Indeed, I can tell you've been away from home for a long, long time.

Esoteric Award:

It seems straightforward enough; roll dice and apply the results to cards.  Except the number of dice and variety of cards increase over the course of the game as do the available character classes and starting conditions for each dungeon.  Combine that with procedural generated elements and the strategy aspect turns into one of those probability equations that increase exponentially as the variables keep piling on until it overwhelms even the most analytical mind.

Lemon Award:

Fallout 76 won this exact same award last year, but I cannot give it to any other game; Australia forcing refunds, broken premium services, patches creating new bugs and re-instating old ones (plus making the game more of a grind), pay-to-win features despite claims the contrary, "real-life bugs" ranging from helmet mold to non-canvas bags.  The list goes on and on for a game so janky it even broke my award system.

Testosterone Award:

A kind of sci-fi spiritual successor to the more fantasy themed Slain: Back from Hell, Valfaris has just as much gore, twisted architecture and heavy metal music as its predecessor.  The whole look and feel of the game seems like it was pulled directly from sketches in some head-banging high schooler's notebook...and your female AI companion is a naked floating hologram wreathed in green flame because why not? 


Underdog Award:

The original Pathologic was one of those games that has lots of great ideas, but fumbles when it comes to executing on them.  Pathologic 2, on the other hand, fixes pretty much everything that was a problem in the original and gives the entire presentation a massive upgrade in terms of graphics.  Sadly, poor sales have resulted in hard times for the developer.  As is, only about a third of the game is story complete.  Hopefully, the Pathologic IP can gain enough of a following to fully realize the world envisioned by its creator.