The end is nigh! The end of the year, at least, though looking at, you know, everything, the end being nigh feels like a pretty evergreen statement. But for now, let's stick with 2023. The year is coming to a close, and that means it's GOTY season. Unlike every other major award ceremony, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Game Awards is not held in early February to get the full year done and dusted, but in early December, creating a no man's land of releases. That means it can feel like a rush to finish the year in time, but it's important to remember that there really is no need to.
168澳洲幸运5开奖🧜网:2023 has been a mꦡammoth year for releases, and that means there are a swathe of huge titles that will be challenging for the year's top ten, as well as the usual cavalcade of underrated indie games that just need a bit of spotlight to shimmer. We all have this worry that our Game of the Year list won't be 'right'. If we don't play every possible game, then our list will be forever inaccurate and we'll have failed at our task. So, we cram. We list all the games we haven't played that we think might make the cut, look at how long they take, then work on some maths homework to fit them all in. This is not how games were meant to be enjoyed.
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Committing to playing 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Baldur's Gate 3 now is writing off your chances of getting in the seven other short games you could beat in that time, sure. But if you want to play Baldur's Gate 3, just... play it. The same goes for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tears of the Kingdom, which should dismiss all notion of bias as I was just re-elected president of the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Zelda Ain't All That club. If you play Cocoon with a stopwatch then, immediately after beating it (or after the five hours you budgeted for after looking it up), jump to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Slay the Princess and beat it once in the required three and a half hours, not wasting precious time on seeing the game's full depth through the different pathways, before crashing through Dredge as fast as you can (meaning ignoring all the interesting parts to the side), what's the point?
Technically yes, you'll have played those three games and can officially put them on your list without being a liar. But art was not made to fit a checklist. You aren't supposed to rush through things as fast as you can then immediately leap to the next with no thought. Games are a longer medium than most, but it's like watching all the Best Picture nominees on double-speed the night before the Oscars and thinking that makes you an expert. Play the things you like the sound of. Try them, enjoy them, savour them. By all means, celebrate them at the end of the year, and don't close your mind to small experiences for bigger, flashier waves of nothing.
If I can't talk you out of cramming, I can at least recommend these overlooked gems
The same for Baldur's Gate 3 goes the opposite way too. If you're not impressed by what you've heard or seen of any given triple-A this year, skip it for something that has your imagination whirring. Suffering through one big bloated open world adventure rather than the exciting indies that could offer new experiences, just because the former has better marketing, is an even worse sin than racing through the year's smaller must-plays just so you can say you have.
It's important to remember that none of this matters much. 2023 will be my third 'official' GOTY list at TheGamer, with several others done for little other cause than my own amusement in previous years. If you asked me now to name my ten favourites from 2021 or 2022, I am certain I would not recall my lists with perfect accuracy. I remember naming 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:NEO: The World Ends With You and Severed Steel as honourable mentions in 2021, but I haven’t thought of Severed Steel since and have missed TWEWY's flair while slogging through several games since, so it probably deserves a re-evaluation in my rankings.
Your Game of the Year list is a snapshot in time, and while it's worth keeping up with the breadth the industry offers, you aren't getting the authentic experience if it's all maths and timekeeping. The Game Awards' December date doesn't help itself - my 2022 GOTY, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Marvel's Midnight Suns, was ineligible at last year's ceremony due to its late release date, but absent this year as its status as a 2022 rules it out for many voters, despite it being the rational choice for Sim/Strategy if nothing else. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Halo Infinite won 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Player's Voice in 2021 while being ineligible for any other categories. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pentiment released after last year's votes were in but, in an act of poor ceremonial planning, before the deadline for eligibility closed, making it impossible to nominate in either year.
2023 has been a great year for gaming and, in some ways, that makes it a difficult year for people who like games - they're more expensive to buy and take far longer to complete than albums, movies, or even television shows. As we come to December, you won't have played them all, and if you think you have you aren't looking wide enough. Please don't ruin the experience you might have with these great games by playing them with a stopwatch beside you for the next few weeks. Just play the games you want to play and see what happens.
168澳洲幸运5开奖🍸网: The Game Awards 2023: Complete Round👍-Up
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