“Who will win?” is the question floating around the video game community when the topic of the Game of the Year Awards comes up. Gaming Club, a group of students who enjoy playing video games, can give insight into the potential winners of this year’s awards. As members of the gaming community, they can provide opinions about who could win this year’s award.
“[When determining] nominations, I think [they] should be [based] on how well the gameplay is,” Gaming Club member Logan Kavanaugh said. “Making sure theres not any bugs, [along with] how well the story goes and the gameplay mechanics.”
The first nominee is “Black Myth Wukong,” a Chinese mythology-inspired action role-playing game based on the novel “Journey to the West.” The game came out on Aug. 19 of this year and has been receiving lots of praise since. Some members of Gaming Club think that this is the most likely game to win this year’s award.
“‘Black Myth Wukong’ [could win] because the people who made it listened [to the community,” Gaming Club member Kyle Waliszweski said. “They added stuff to it [such as] secret items and secret boss fights.”
The second nominee is Marvel’s “Spider-Man 2,” a sequel to the first Marvel’s “Spider-Man,” which is a continuation of the stories of Peter Parker and Miles Morales. It is an action-adventure game that came out on Oct. 20, 2023, and has swung far above the expectations of fans. Some members think that it has a high potential to win this year because of its immense popularity.
“I remember people were infuriated that it won, nothing [last year],” Gaming Club member Drake Youngman said. “So, I would not be surprised if it won something or was elected for something.”
The third nominee is the “Elden Ring” downloadable content “Shadows of the Erdtree.” Despite being a DLC, it has attracted massive popularity from fans of the original game. The DLC was released on June 20, 2024, and although it has some controversy on whether or not it should be a contender, it still remains popular among Gaming Club members.
“I think ‘Shadow of the Erdtree’ is a good contender,’” Gaming Club member Charles Langley said. “The size of it alone completely blew away past expectations. I feel like it's a lot bigger than what was said. It feels almost like an entirely new game, pretty much, because it's about the size of some of their other games, like ‘Sekiro’ or ‘Dark Souls’.”
The fourth nominee is “Mario and Luigi: Brothership.” It will be a platformer-adventure game following the story of the two brothers. It released on Nov. 7, and fans of the series have been awaiting its release since the game was announced early this year. A small part of the Gaming Club believe that this could be a good contender. Members of the club think that the nostalgic feeling the game brings with it being a well known series with a large fanbase.
“‘Mario and Luigi: Brothership’ [could win], because the series had been dead for nine years before, and its about to come back in November and a lot of people are excited about that one too,” Gaming Club member Richard Corder said
There has also been the popular topic of “Baldur’s Gate 3” potentially winning GOTY. This is a controversial topic due to the fact that it was the winner of the award last year. There have been mixed opinions about this in the video game community but only some members agree that the award should be given to a game that hasn’t won previously.
“I might be a little disappointed that stuff that came out this year,” Langley said. “You know newer stuff like Wukong doesnt win. I would be surprised, but I wouldn’t be mad.”
Overall, Gaming Club chose one game to be their top contender for the GOTY award. They decided on “Black Myth Wukong,” not only because of its popularity, but also because of the attention to detail that can be found within the game.
