Did you know that there's a World War Z game? Well clearly you should, because afterall not too long ago Saber Interactive dropped their ultimate version of the game for everyone to see; 'World War Z: Game of the Year edition'. That's all the extra content, characters and campaigns all rolled into one easy-to-digest package, but that's beside the point right now- this was 'Game of the Year' guys! Don't you remember? When Geoff Keighley opened up that envelope to reveal his award winner to be... 'Control'? Oh right, maybe it was the Golden Gamestick's award. No, that went to Resident Evil 2. (Clearly their judges are gentlemen of sufficient culture.) But then, where exactly is WWZ's Game of the Year Award? Who awarded it and, more importantly, why? That is the mystery I intend to solve today, ladies and gentlefolk.
As I feel there might be a significant chance that you don't know, I'll be explicit; World War Z is a video game that was created from the same source material as the Brad Pitt movie, only this game chose not to quite forsake the 'anthological ' routes of the original. In gameplay it was essentially just a rip-off of 'Left 4 Dead' in the modern age, but seeing as how Valve had shown no interest in making one of their own; all's fair, no? Players would take part in chains of missions that would follow different survivors and their stories as they attempt to escape the Zombie hoards, often taking place all over the world and with very diverse casts for each 'chain'. Of course, there wasn't much in the way of story for this game, so the different cast for every mission-thread didn't really benefit the narrative, but it did provide a framework for slightly tweaked character archetypes which encouraged diversity in it's player base. And this was the sort of game that required a player base. Although I believe the title had offline play, it was really built with 4 player co-op in mind and that was certainly the target audience in all of their marketing.
And the game was... pretty good. It wasn't exactly the revolutionary ground-shattering game of the generation, but for a sleeper title that popped out of nowhere it was a decently good time. Around the weeks it debuted, one wouldn't be shocked to see it popping up across the Internet as a good time killer, with people enjoying it's benefits for what they were. But I feel it's safe to say that the title lacked staying power given that the wider world seemed to have forgotten it existed for several months now. But no more, evidently, as this title apparently won enough hearts and minds to secure a Game of the Year award, thus warranting the studio to stick it on their box. That is how it happened, isn't it? Because otherwise I'd have to give the rallying call of 'Shenanigans!'
Now the cynical amongst you will likely be saying something along the lines of "What's the big deal anyway?" (Presumably in the exact same angsty voice that cool kid from a 2000's high-school drama covets) "'Game of the Year' Awards are meaningless anyway. Every outlet puts out their own award list, is it so hard to believe that one gave their 'best' award to World War Z?" And, quite honestly, my answer is 'Yes. That is exceedingly hard to believe'. Now, not to insult the talented team behind World War Z (Here it comes) but no outlet in their right mind would celebrate that title over the packed year we had in 2019. In case you forgot, that year saw the release of Resident Evil 2, Death Stranding, Control, Apex Legends, Jedi Fallen Order, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Outer Wilds, The Outer Worlds, Devil May Cry 5, Disco Elysium, (which I still haven't played but I hear unendingly good things about) Metro Exodus, Borderlands 3, Super Mario Maker 2, Kingdom Hearts 3, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, and about 30 other games you'd think about before thinking of World War Z in a list.
So what's the deal? Have World War Z's developers fabricated their Game of the Year in order to sell their re-release? Woah now, that's quite the accusation to make off the bat without any evidence! Besides, I'm sure this is a huge misunderstanding that will be resolved the second we look at the wiki- Oh wait, there's nothing there... Maybe google then- nope, all that pops up is the name of the new release. (Almost as though this was an intentional move to obfuscate the SEO...) What about the official website? Nada. Okay, I'm grasping at straws here, guys! I want to give the benefit of the doubt, I'm trying really hard to find any mention of an award show that so much as sniffed some attention towards World War Z, but I'm coming up blank. Seriously, even 'RAID: Shadow Legends' got a nomination!Okay, so perhaps I'm being a bit presumptive about things. Maybe when the say 'Game of the Year', they don't actually mean 'GOTY' but they mean to allude to their win for another 'best of' category. (Like 'best of clickbait'...) Okay, so the big Game Awards show from last year with Geoff Keighley and the build-up? Never even mentioned the game, so that's off the table. I've never watched a Golden Joysticks award ceremony in my life but I can browse through their winners. Nothing, nothing, nothing, wait a minute... 'Days Gone' won best storytelling? In a year wherein KH3, Metro Exodus and friggin' Death Stranding released? (Death Stranding was basically all story, and intriguing, mind-bending story at that! And you gave it to the generic "Gotta find my girlfriend in the zombie apocalypse" story?! I mean I adore Sam Witwer as much as the next guy...) But that's beside the point, World War Z isn't here either. Not even once. I've popped around smaller, independent, outlets and I'm getting the same results. 0 matches, try again next time.
Needless to say, I've sunken way too many hours into this budding conspiracy and now I'm pulling at my hair. Is this what we've come to, people? Are we faking Game of the Year awards now? Is nothing sacred anymore... Now I find that as I take a look at all the different folk talking about World War Z, only the bare few are wondering the things I am, and it makes me agitated. Why aren't more people talking about the fact that a video game company, backed by gosh-darn Paramount studios, is fabricating it's own merits for phantom acclaim? It's like padding out your resume with fluff you pulled out of your ass, only perhaps even more of a waste of time. (No one's gonna give a call back anyway.) Am I literally the only person upset by this affront to the holy system of video game award ceremonies? Yes, quite honestly, yes I am.
But maybe my investigative journalism sucks, (actually, I think we can erase 'maybe' from that statement) perhaps someone from Saber interactive managed to corner some drunken lout in an alleyway and trade his inebriated signature for the price of a lager, I just wish this transaction had a virtual footprint so I can stop tearing my hair out! Even as a sad, pathetic man writing in the dark at '04:00 am' with no talent, friends or redeeming characteristics whatsoever, I still feel belittled by this company in a deeply personal manner. As such, I offer this own deadly ultimatum to whichever member of Saber Interactive is man-enough to stand up for the honour of their company and game; beat me in a Deprived speedrun of Dark Souls and I'll make a full apology, tail between my legs. Your next line is "That doesn't sound too hard", but let me assure you; I may have literally never tried to speedrun a Dark Souls game before (or any game for that matter) but I'm bored and willing to give it a shot. The ball's in your court, Saber...
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