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Polygon's Best 50 Games of 2022

adamsapple

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
OmegaSupreme said:
No need. I go dry hand.
Click to expand...

 
A

Aguero9320

Member
Looks like a good list to me. Nice to see them not get caught up in overhyping 'blockbusters' over actual quality, creativity and innovation.

Have never and will never play Elden Ring, but can't really argue with it being number one after the reactions to it.

Tinykin should be higher though.
 
Clear

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
adamsapple said:
That would be a terrible idea.
Click to expand...

Pick any two games that are considered GOTY candidates but are in very different price brackets, for example this year lets have Vampire Survivors and Elden Ring.

One's $3 the other is $50 lets say.

So which can we fairly say is better in that state? What are our criteria? Value for money or audiovisual artistry?

Then as a thought experiment try swapping budgets and price points. What does a $50 Vampire Survivors and a $3 Elden Ring game look like? Now tell me which will stack up better against competing titles because -let's be honest- presentation is as important as gameplay in defining the experience. Nothing wrong with a retro-style presentation, but its monumentally unlikely to be as atmospheric or awe-inspiring as a modern AAA epic.

Not to mention the fact that if you tried to sell a game with primitive graphics at the same price point as a big AAA it'd probably not only get slammed by critics for not matching expected standards, but a lot of people wouldn't give it time-of-day for GOTY consideration in the first-place because of how it looked.

Point being, games are not all the same. Expectation drives reception so we can't take an apples vs apples approach.

Its stupid to try and munge everything together, why do we need a singular "best" GOTY? Why not multiple winners each in its own distinct category?

I get it, people want a horse to back so they can be a winner too, but my argument is that if the field is random is winning the race actually meaningful?
 
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adamsapple

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Clear said:
Its stupid to try and munge everything together, why do we need a singular "best" GOTY? Why not multiple winners each in its own distinct category?
Click to expand...

Not touching the rest of your post as it's a very weirdly charged subjective rant.

But almost all outlets do have separate category based awards, including genre and various also have 'indie' awards separately.

That being said it is also possible for all websites to have a unanimous game of their year and it can be anything their editors come to a unanimous agreement on. Just because it isn't the high budget AAA game you wanted to win, doesn't mean they have to alter their choice.

Like with all reviews, these 'awards' are subjective to these websites. How much stock you put into it is solely at your discretion.

James Sawyer Ford said:
This list has been brought to you by GamePass and a whole lot of salt
Click to expand...

There's definitely a lot of salt :messenger_grinning_sweat:
 
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J

jaysius

Banned
The Case of the Golden Idol is fucking legit, think of a slightly sped version of Obra Dinn, it's only sped because they give you a layout to follow.

I hadn't heard of it before this list, but now that I have, I played that fucker for 4 hours straight.
 
Represent.

Represent.

Represent(ative) of bad opinions
Absolute embarrassment of a list. A whole bunch of indies nobodys heard of and no Sifu? 40 fucking games better than HFW? 9 games better than Ragnarok? Fucking Fortnite? A game that launched in 2017 on the top 10 games of 2022? Eat a dick.

Hit the laugh emoji if im right, hit the triggered one if you eat shit
 
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Punished Miku

Punished Miku

Banned
James Sawyer Ford said:
This list has been brought to you by GamePass and a whole lot of salt
Click to expand...
You got it backwards. Polygon has never needed Gamepass to play everything out there for free. In years past, I would read GOTY lists like these and hear at the the very end of the year about many indies that I wasnt aware of. This year I'm seeing mostly indies I have already beaten. Neon White isn't even on Xbox.

Youre looking at the list and assuming that since they are games on GP they must suck. But GP really hasn't changed much for journalists. They already played everything. I look at it and see that a ton of the best indies this year were on GP and the only difference is that I was exposed to more of them this year than in the past.
 
Punished Miku

Punished Miku

Banned
jaysius said:
The Case of the Golden Idol is fucking legit, think of a slightly sped version of Obra Dinn, it's only sped because they give you a layout to follow.

I hadn't heard of it before this list, but now that I have, I played that fucker for 4 hours straight.
Click to expand...
Its also on the Paste GOTY list. Hopefully it comes to consoles.
 
James Sawyer Ford

James Sawyer Ford

Gold Member
Punished Miku said:
You got it backwards. Polygon has never needed Gamepass to play everything out there for free. In years past, I would read GOTY lists like these and hear at the the very end of the year about many indies that I wasnt aware of. This year I'm seeing mostly indies I have already beaten. Neon White isn't even on Xbox.

Youre looking at the list and assuming that since they are games on GP they must suck. But GP really hasn't changed much for journalists. They already played everything. I look at it and see that a ton of the best indies this year were on GP and the only difference is that I was exposed to more of them this year than in the past.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying any of them "suck"

But looking at that list, the favoritism is laughably one sided
 
adamsapple

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
James Sawyer Ford said:
I'm not saying any of them "suck"

But looking at that list, the favoritism is laughably one sided
Click to expand...

Favoritism towards whom ?

Their game of the year is a multi-platform game and the top 10 includes exclusive(s) from each of the 3 consoles.

That's what you're calling "Favoritism" ? :messenger_grinning_sweat:
 
poodaddy

poodaddy

Gold Member
Ozriel said:
They certainly never got the memo that they have to like exactly what you like.



Yes, that’s why the highest rated game of 2022 is their GOTY. Because they’re ‘Xbox fanboys’.

🤡
Click to expand...
Bro chill it's not that serious, just sharing my opinion. Not saying anyone else has to share it, don't need to be a dick.
 
Synless

Synless

Member
I tried to like Eldin Ring, I fucking tried. I’m just not a gaming board worthy gamer anymore because it was meh. Great fucking art and world design though.

I haven’t beaten god of war yet, but somehow I dont see it being #10 compared to some of those other games in the list.
 
James Sawyer Ford

James Sawyer Ford

Gold Member
adamsapple said:
Favoritism towards whom ?

Their game of the year is a multi-platform game and the top 10 includes exclusive(s) from each of the 3 consoles.

That's what you're calling "Favoritism" ? :messenger_grinning_sweat:
Click to expand...

Ah yes

Let's put a multi-plat at number one

Then fill it with a bunch of GamePass games

Then have GoW:R at the bottom of the top 10 (despite it being the top rated game outside of ER), put a bunch of other Sony exclusives that scored very well way down the list.

Meanwhile, Polygon's top games in 2021 include Halo Infinite near the top, Psychonauts and Forza Horizon rounding out the top 10 and just below prior to any of the major Sony exclusives (Ratchet, Returnal) which don't even show up until past number 20.

Oh, it's Polygon you say? Never forgot where they received substantial funding from.
 
vaibhavpisal

vaibhavpisal

Member
James Sawyer Ford said:
I'm not saying any of them "suck"

But looking at that list, the favoritism is laughably one sided
Click to expand...

I see no favouritism.

Any journalist can make a case for Pentiment being GOTY pretty easily if that were the case.

They are not doing that. Instead are placing it high on the list, deservingly so.
 
adamsapple

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
James Sawyer Ford said:
Ah yes

Let's put a multi-plat at number one

Then fill it with a bunch of GamePass games

Then have GoW:R at the bottom of the top 10 (despite it being the top rated game outside of ER), put a bunch of other Sony exclusives that scored very well way down the list.

Meanwhile, Polygon's top games in 2021 include Halo Infinite near the top, Psychonauts and Forza Horizon rounding out the top 10 and just below prior to any of the major Sony exclusives (Ratchet, Returnal) which don't even show up until past number 20.

Oh, it's Polygon you say? Never forgot where they received substantial funding from.
Click to expand...


Ohhh, you're just upset about Ragnarok.

Gotcha (y)
 
StreetsofBeige

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Clear said:
Pick any two games that are considered GOTY candidates but are in very different price brackets, for example this year lets have Vampire Survivors and Elden Ring.

One's $3 the other is $50 lets say.

So which can we fairly say is better in that state? What are our criteria? Value for money or audiovisual artistry?

Then as a thought experiment try swapping budgets and price points. What does a $50 Vampire Survivors and a $3 Elden Ring game look like? Now tell me which will stack up better against competing titles because -let's be honest- presentation is as important as gameplay in defining the experience. Nothing wrong with a retro-style presentation, but its monumentally unlikely to be as atmospheric or awe-inspiring as a modern AAA epic.

Not to mention the fact that if you tried to sell a game with primitive graphics at the same price point as a big AAA it'd probably not only get slammed by critics for not matching expected standards, but a lot of people wouldn't give it time-of-day for GOTY consideration in the first-place because of how it looked.

Point being, games are not all the same. Expectation drives reception so we can't take an apples vs apples approach.

Its stupid to try and munge everything together, why do we need a singular "best" GOTY? Why not multiple winners each in its own distinct category?

I get it, people want a horse to back so they can be a winner too, but my argument is that if the field is random is winning the race actually meaningful?
Click to expand...
Yup.

Everyone has different criteria. And price is sometimes part of the equation, sometimes it's not. Expectations are another factor.

No site compares a BMW directly with a Honda Civic. They go into different car classes. Some sites probably give the Civic a higher score. But a BMW is clearly a better car if car sites compare them like they are competing models. A BMW is also probably triple the cost of a Civic.

I paid $5 for the digital version of One Deck Dungeon and plowed through 100% of the game. I'm positive I put in more time with it than Diablo 2 Resurrected. D2 is technically a better made game that cost $50 with 50x the production values, but I had more fun and time spent playing ODD.
 
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StreetsofBeige

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
James Sawyer Ford said:
This list has been brought to you by GamePass and a whole lot of salt
Click to expand...
Half the games on the list arent on GP. And most of the games on the list arent full budget and priced games either.

Nothing wrong with that.

Not every award winner has to be high budget games with TV ads and big studios working on it.

Oh wait, Elden Ring won. :)
 
O

Ozriel

Member
Clear said:
Pick any two games that are considered GOTY candidates but are in very different price brackets, for example this year lets have Vampire Survivors and Elden Ring.

One's $3 the other is $50 lets say.

So which can we fairly say is better in that state? What are our criteria? Value for money or audiovisual artistry?

Then as a thought experiment try swapping budgets and price points. What does a $50 Vampire Survivors and a $3 Elden Ring game look like? Now tell me which will stack up better against competing titles because -let's be honest- presentation is as important as gameplay in defining the experience. Nothing wrong with a retro-style presentation, but its monumentally unlikely to be as atmospheric or awe-inspiring as a modern AAA epic.

Not to mention the fact that if you tried to sell a game with primitive graphics at the same price point as a big AAA it'd probably not only get slammed by critics for not matching expected standards, but a lot of people wouldn't give it time-of-day for GOTY consideration in the first-place because of how it looked.

Point being, games are not all the same. Expectation drives reception so we can't take an apples vs apples approach.

Its stupid to try and munge everything together, why do we need a singular "best" GOTY? Why not multiple winners each in its own distinct category?

I get it, people want a horse to back so they can
Click to expand...

Value for your time and quality of experience is pretty much the only metric to consider.

I really don’t know why you’re arguing. Would you pick Saints Row over the much cheaper Sifu? Which one is a better use of your time?
 
Darlingcognito

Darlingcognito

Member
James Sawyer Ford said:
Ah yes

Let's put a multi-plat at number one

Then fill it with a bunch of GamePass games

Then have GoW:R at the bottom of the top 10 (despite it being the top rated game outside of ER), put a bunch of other Sony exclusives that scored very well way down the list.

Meanwhile, Polygon's top games in 2021 include Halo Infinite near the top, Psychonauts and Forza Horizon rounding out the top 10 and just below prior to any of the major Sony exclusives (Ratchet, Returnal) which don't even show up until past number 20.

Oh, it's Polygon you say? Never forgot where they received substantial funding from.
Click to expand...

Fuckin hell what a melt 🤣🤣🤣✅️🤣🤣
 
O

Ozriel

Member
James Sawyer Ford said:
I'm not saying any of them "suck"

But looking at that list, the favoritism is laughably one sided
Click to expand...

They’ve played all the games on that list. You haven’t. Clearly, that means the bias is coming from your side.

sainraja said:
I found it to be pretty boring.
Click to expand...

And that’s perfectly fine. General reviews and even impressions in the OT shows your opinion is an outlier. Same as those giving Ragnarok a 7/10 score.
 
O

Ozriel

Member
James Sawyer Ford said:
Meanwhile, Polygon's top games in 2021 include Halo Infinite near the top, Psychonauts and Forza Horizon rounding out the top 10 and just below prior to any of the major Sony exclusives (Ratchet, Returnal) which don't even show up until past number 20.
Click to expand...

The fucking nerve of Polygon to put games with 87 - 92% Metacritic ratings in their top 10 list for 2021. An absolute travesty and you should write to your Senator.
 
Chukhopops

Chukhopops

Member
Ol'Scratch said:
Do you have to work at being so obtuse and stupid, or are you simply a natural?
Click to expand...
Weak insult and you still didn’t answer my question? Should the top 10 only be Sony games for you to be satisfied?

No wonder you think every outlet is biased or bought out if that’s your perception of « normal ».
 
kurisu_1974

kurisu_1974

is on perm warning for being a low level troll
More than half of those games look like they were made by one guy using Flash and MS Paint.
 
geary

geary

Member
Most of these sites have a vote on the TGA GOTY and until now ER seem to lead on the independent GOTY lists. Will be a fun thing GoW:R winning at TGA :LOL:
 
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