2022 Awards

Avant-garde Award: 

Scorn is a game that challenges the player to figure out where they are, what they are looking at, and why they are even there.  The game is incredibly obtuse, to the point that some have suggested that there is no meaning that can be derived from it.  Considering there is no text or dialogue, this might very well be deliberate.  Is human suffering due to karma?...or is it simply the result of random circumstance?  It seems to me most of the meaning in this game is what we give it.   

Backlash Award: 

Ah, Blizzard Entertainment...how the mighty have fallen.  As if bad management and all the reports of internal harassments/abuse weren't bad enough, their handling of China relations (and really their fan base in general) has been a huge disaster.  Adding to the list of issues is the poor quality of their PC version of Diablo Immortal.  It has a "0.3" user review score on Metacritic due, in large part to it being a perfectly functional game completely broken by cynical cash-grab loot box mechanics.

Brutality Award: 

What can I say?  Elden Ring is a From Software game, and as such has all the challenges that one would expect from the makers of Bloodborne and Sekiro.  Elden Ring though, allows for a level of character customization that wasn't previously possible (even in the Souls games).  As such it can be really hard to defeat certain bosses with certain builds; namely the infamous Blade of Miquella and  Goddess of Rot - Melania. 

 

Canvas Award: 

The blackness of space spotted by the white light of stars; the smear of the grey metal hull of the ring station know as Erlin's Eye.  It could make for some dull viewing, but Citizen Sleeper adds much needed splashes of neon reds, blues and yellows, plus the occasional patch of oxygen-garden green.  Of course if you jump up to the data cloud to do bit of spying everything turns an ethereal grey, but this only serves to highlight the vibrance of the real world in all its cell-shaded glory.

Ecology Award:

Considering that it was already remade for the PS4, The Last of Us Part 1 definitely feels like a case of double-dipping.  The full price doesn't do the game any favors either, especially since it lacks the multiplayer that came included in the original.  Heck, it doesn't even integrate mechanics used in The Last of Us Part 2.  The reuse of the original performances by the cast really makes this a case of Naughty Dog resting on their laurels.    

"Engrish" Award:

From the maker of My Summer Car comes Mon Bazou, a game about scraping together enough money to fix up an old junk heap of a car in rural Canada by working a bunch of odd jobs.  Despite (or perhaps because of) it being in early access, the NPC dialogue has some real zingers like "You looks good today" and  "You really talking to me about the rack track, hm".  Maybe their supposed to be French Canadian?  

Esoteric Award:  

Signalis claims to be a horror game, but isn't scary.  It tries to be retro with tank controls, but doesn't utilize cinematic camera angles.  It has some bits from novelists H.P. Lovecraft and Robert W. Chambers, but really comes across as a mix of Silent Hill and Resident Evil.  The story is such a convoluted mess it somehow makes the ending of Evangelion look straightforward by comparison.  Critics appear to like the game, but none of them can really articulate why.  Also, for some reason, nobody has feet.  

Lemon Award: 

It would have been easy to pick an EA sports game again this year, but for the sake of variety Skyrim: Anniversary Edition for the Nintendo Switch is the winner.  It runs terrible do to poor coding and long-known issue involving the installation of mods.  11 years was more than enough time to fix all this.  Of course being a Bethesda game they never got around to it.  That said, the real kicker is the outrageous price tag.  It launched as a brand new full-priced triple-AAA title.

Testosterone Award: 

Do you like games such as DOOM and Space Hulk, but get annoyed by that pesky third-dimension you need to keep track of?  Well, worry no more because Let Them Come is the game for you!  In fact, this game doesn't require any movement on your part.  Every round of play begins with your character hunkered down behind the barrel(s) of a mounted machine gun.  From there it's a lot of yelling incoherently as you blast through waves of alien monsters leaving nothing but spent shells and gore in your wake.

Underdog Award: 

For this (our final category), I'm going to give the award to Horizon: Forbidden West.  It's not an especially good game, but it definitely had its thunder unfairly stolen by Elden Ring (which came out only a week after).  This is especially sad to see given that Horizon: Zero Dawn, in-turn, had its thunder stolen by Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild when it came out last gen half-a-decade before.  Guerrilla Games (the publisher) really can't seem to catch a break in this regard.