Game Awards 2024: the case for and against every Game of the Year nominee

digitaltrends.com:

After two predictable years of Game of the Year winners, this year’s Game Awards are set to be a genuine battle. The 2024 ceremony, which airs live on Thursday, December 12, will feature six games duking it out for the same award that Elden Ring and Baldur’s Gate 3 so handily won. What’s exciting about this year’s race (if you actually care about watching awards shows as a spectator sport) is that there’s no clear frontrunner. Any of the games nominated has a realistic chance to win, and that’s perhaps the only time that’s ever happened in the show’s history.

That’s great news if you like drama and terrible news if you’re participating in a friendly betting pool. While I can’t give you an expert answer on who to put on your prediction ballot, I can give you insight into why each game could reasonably win and just as easily lose at Thursday’s big show. Just don’t blame me if your final pick loses; no matter what you select, you can’t say I didn’t warn you! (But if you do get it right, you can thank me, too.)

Astro Bot

Why it could win: There’s a plain and simple answer to this one: Astro Bot is the best reviewed game of the year. It’s not hard to see why, either. Astro Bot is the exact kind of universal crowd pleaser that tends to sweep up at The Game Awards. It’s a work of pure entertainment that does what the best Nintendo games have always accomplished so well, but with a technical sheen that makes it feel as spectacular as any modern PS5 game. Considering how split the voting base will be this year, especially with multiple RPGs that are sure to split votes, Astro Bot may have an easy time gaining consensus thanks to its agreeable platforming and infectious energy.

• We made our own 2024 Game