Black Myth: Wukong had some strong competition in the category too, beating out
Helldivers 2 and
Stellar Blade for the title, as well as
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 and the latest
Call of Duty.
I played, finished, and adored
Astro Bot, but I'm still a little surprised that it took home as many awards as it did (Game of the Year, Game Direction, Action/Adventure Game, Family Game) as it is ultimately a fairly limited game, pairing some polished but basic platforming with an impressive physics engine and should-be-illegal levels of nostalgia. Something like
Mario Odyssey walks all over
Astro Bot in terms of the depth and breadth of the experience. In some ways I think
Astro Bot's success speaks to how eager folks are for someone who isn't Nintendo to do the kinds of games Nintendo does. Most of the big studios and platform holders have dumped all the small- and medium-scale projects that used to be so prolific in the PS1/PS2 era and converged on a narrow range of AAA experiences with enormous budgets and intent to make
all of the money. To a large extent the indie scene has stepped in to fill the gap, but can rarely execute with the level of polish that
Astro Bot does. Hopefully its success is a lesson that big studios can take to heart. My thoughts are probably going in this direction because of this new
celebrating the legacy of the
Wipeout franchise (and some recent
from Digital Foundry about the game on PlayStation vs. Sega Saturn), a seminal title in the early history of Playstation that Sony has subsequently abandoned, with the latest release being the
Omega Collection for PS4 in 2017, itself merely a compilation and light remaster of previous
Wipeout titles released 2005-2012.
In any case,
Black Myth: Wukong was released on disc yesterday and I have purchased it accordingly, but it'll be a little while before I get to it as I'm currently playing through
The Witcher 3:
Wild Hunt.