The king of the Remake

 

The word 'remake' is something of an expletive in some circles. Such people take it as an insult, or an attack upon the very definable virtue of their chosen property of fandom to be told it's 'no longer good' and thus must be remade. It's a sentiment heightened by the fact that the people in charge of these 'remakes' often have no idea what it was that made the original great and merely use these recreations as a stepping stone for their own interests. Just take a look at the Robo-cop movie, a decent attempt at an adaptation of the same kind of themes for a more dramatic interpretation, but one that bizarrely forgoes all the clearly defined iconography of the original, sometimes callously mocking the original in the process, resulting in a forgettable smudge of a film. There's so much artistry and respect that one would have to employ in order to create a good remake, it's bizarre to think so many consider it the 'easy option' to success.

Of course in the gaming world we have an actual easy route to success that lies on a turn-off halfway along the highway to a Remake. The ever humble Remaster an example of wanting to perform a re-release for the hype but also thirsting over those re-purchases from existing fans. And it's a fine grift when you break it down. Why try to sell the same thing to a new audience when there's already a fanbase who clearly liked the original enough to buy it once- how much do you really need to spruce things up in order to make them buy it again? It's in considering the value of the well-pitched Remaster that one has to give it up for the absolute insanity that is the full blown Remake. When pulled to it's fullest potential, as perhaps one of the riskiest and potentially profitable moves that modern gaming can make. Even if it is kind of killing the originality of the industry.

There have been a few contenders over the years that have thrown their moth-eaten hat into the proverbial ring, but I think few can deny that Capcom are the kings of the Remake. Ever since they wowed with the stellar reimaging of Resident Evil 2 which took that original and threw it screaming into the best horror game of it's release year, Capcom have been thundering along their catalogue of games renewing each and every one to shattering success after success. And now they're made all of their original classics, brace yourselves because Capcom have confirmed that the Remake train isn't stopping here. Now I pray beyond prayer that this means they're going to do Code Veronica, Resident Evil 0 or, heck, maybe even Resident Evil 1; (Can you believe they still haven't gotten back to that?) but for all we know this means Boulder-punching Chris and questionably attired Sheva are next in line for the Remake treatment. Even a maligned title like Resident Evil 5 would bring the crowds from a Remake announcement- that is the power of modern Capcom!

Whilst on the other end of the spectrum you've got the likes of the coming Naughty Dog developed 'Last of Us Part 2' Remake which seems to have earned universal rolled eyes. Literally the only good response I've heard is a begrudging praising of the fact that those who own the original can follow a $10 upgrade path, something which the Part 1 Remake should have offered. But no one is approaching those titles with the wide-eyed whimsy of the RER franchise- which demonstrates the bizarre divide between what the gaming world know as a remake and what the film world consider one. And I guess the TV world, remembering the American Broadchurch, or the all American Fawlty Towers or the mostly-American Red Dwarf or the American Spaced or the American Office or the American- hang on, why is it always America making other people's shows? (You think that perhaps says a little something about their culture?)

Now the threat of making a Remake is contending with the monolith of that which was. Starting from scratch and facing up against the success of the original, telling roughly the same narrative, even with newer technology, carries significant risk of failure. It's hard enough trying to make a game that's good, now you have to make a direct improvement upon the original! It's such a daunting prospect that one famous Remake, the Final Fantasy VII Remake, even geared it's narrative additions specifically to mimic the idea of rewriting the original tale, characterising purists who gatekeeped the original as metatextual antagonists to the wants of Tetsuya Nomura. On the otherhand, The Last of Us Part 2 is going to be a depressingly safe Remake that only wants to update the visuals and little bits of gameplay. It's not even being sold as a Remake, but a Remaster, despite it following TLOU Part 1 onto Steam as it's companion game.

Of course it's not hard to see the overarching threat that the success and critical applause poses over the AAA games industry. Afterall, it's already a challenge to get a new idea or any idea any distance in the modern world of game design where every single failure costs millions, scaring executives into chasing trends that ultimately sinks their projects anyway. (But at least that failure can't be blamed on the horror that is 'being creative'.) If the terror of executives already locks most of the AAA landscape into endless cycles of sequels, what sort of damage is the coming rise of Remakes going to cause? When Callisto Protocol flubs but Dead Space Remake is a roaring success, what sort of message does that send to the clueless investor? At this rate, the amount of new IPs on the major AAA level is going to shrivel up even further until gaming  past a certain point is nothing but lifeless amalgam games that all play identically to one another all wrestling to be the one 'meta game' that does 'everything'. And that's a pretty sucky dystopia.

But it's not all sunshine and roses when it comes to the world of Remakes. Afterall one of the slamdunks that should have rocked the world ended up being thrown in the trash- The KOTOR Remake. At least from the story of KOTOR's demise we can deduce that not every project with a 'Remake' on the end of it's tag is getting thrown into production at top speed. We haven't quite devolved into 'old Netflix' levels of insanity. But then Metal Gear Solid Delta is finding it's way slowly onto our shelves even though it's being handled by a publishing team that can't even quality control a Silent Hill TV show- so maybe the Remake crash is headed our way sooner then we thought. (I certainly hope not. I really want MGS D to be a good game. Lord knows I've waited long enough to play as my man Naked Snake again.)

It is to the throne of Capcom we lay thanks for this age we find ourselves in, where Resident Evil is once again at the top of the pack of the games industry. And I think it's also thanks to Capcom that we find ourselves smothered in a landfill of shiny new games that wear the rotted faces of our old. FF7R was more seen as a labour of love driven by an absolute mad man who dedicated his entire directorial life towards preparing for this one series of remakes- Resident Evil 2 Remake was a demonstration to everyone that this sort of trick can be pulled on any game so long as you've got a shiny looking engine and a development team to run it. At the very least lets hope the stopper doesn't get pulled out of this drain before the remake we've all been waiting for gets released- 'Big Rigs Returns: You're (still) Winner!'.

2PieceSnackbox Alternate covers

 Some rabbit-holes should remain unexplored...

Now, what exactly is an 'alternate cover' you might ask. Well, that is very simple within the context of gaming and even here; you see how most physical games come in your standard package of a plastic case with an image shoved into a sleeve? Well what if you changed that image? Similar to how the day-one edition of Mass Effect 3 featured a unique switchable sleeve that had Male Shepard on the front and FemShep on the inverse, except that was an official grift to encourage people to pick up the expensive early copies of that game. (Which I fell for: Hook, line and sinker.) What we're talking about today is a company that generates their very own image box art and sells it off for a neat profit for the benefit of people who are too lazy to just use a printer.

Now to be fair, this is quite a nice idea for a business model that I never really envisioned before. I mean think about it: high quality pieces of custom art work to slide into the plastic wallets of your favourite games, further exemplifying your adoration for the increasingly fading world of physical game resources. And to disparage my own point about being 'too lazy to use a printer', these alternative covers do come pre-stamped with all the studio and console logos that you would expect and even the back blurbs for some reason, even though I think those are the ugliest part of box covers; but it would seem that's just me. Now the further question we must ask ourselves is thus: Why on earth am I sitting here talking about this if it's just a nice and wholesome artist's outlet on EBay? We don't do wholesome here! Well... as you can guess it's not exactly wholesome...

I mean, not always. There have been times, fleeting though they may be, when the group have put together a piece of box art that isn't just an alternate image of a title character nabbed from promotional materials, but a genuinely visually appealing composite! Such as the image of the Sonic Mania gang plastered over the European cartridge cover for the original Sonic collection games. That's a great idea that looks genuinely fun and creative. Of course, the actual assets are still borrowed from here and there, but the creator mounted the ingenuity to bring these decades separated pieces of media together and smoosh them up onto a single cover. That's cool! And if they were doing just cool ideas like that, I probably wouldn't be shining a spotlight on them. Then again, if they were doing that I probably wouldn't have caught sight of one of their 'variation covers' out of the corner of my eye and do a double take so hard I nearly snapped my head clean off.

So, Resident Evil 3 Remake. A fine enough game. I was disappointed with the paired back zombie generation technology, but I understand the sacrifices that had to be made in order for the increased number of on-screen zombies. I wonder what our visionaries over at 2PieceSnackbox had in mind for changing up that boxart? Oh... OH... Yeah, I'm not posting that on my blog, you can look it up on your own. Yes... to describe what I've seen here would be perhaps a bit crass... I guess, it is the Jill Valentine character as modelled by Sasha Zotova, just like on the original cover, but this Jill is... well, let's just say that 3d model is not from the base game. In fact, I suspect that someone might have perused some of the darker, more libidinous, corners of the internet and procured an 'erotic' image to appeal to the lowest common denominator. And there the shoe drops.

If you were brave enough to put that on your search history, you'll likely have also noticed that this RE3 Remake was by no means the company's only foray into... 'coomer bait', to be frank. The Bayonetta cover replacement is just a lewd, the Resident Evil 8 cover appears to be a severely under-dressed Lady Dimitrescu without her signature hat or grey coloured skin, which is wrong on several levels, and worst of all- they've made a pre-emptive cover for the Resident Evil 4 Remake on Switch. Where do I start? RE4R hasn't been announced for Switch, and I'd be very surprised if that changed; it's labelled 'Resident Evil 4 V2' which isn't the naming convention of this new franchise of games at all, and the cover image is another lewd picture of Sasha Zotova's Jill! Excuse the heck out of me- since when did Jill Valentine feature in Resident Evil 4? Last I checked she goes AWOL in 'Code Veronica' and pops up again in 5! Yes, this is what I'm upset about for some reason, excuse me and my twisted priorities!

Now of course, it's probably a little unethical to go around capitalising on the sex-appeal of various scantily clad characters in order to sell print-jobs, probably about as morally dubious as it is to actually buy them. But you know what else it is? Asking for a lawsuit. I can't speak for Capcom and how they want to go about handling their properties, I don't even know if Capcom realises there is a world outside their studio doors considering how little they interact with any of their loyal fans in a one-on-one capacity or respond to community fan pleas. But 2PieceSnackbox did mess up. How, you ask? Well they got a little comfortable, rode the seas long enough to assume they would be unendingly docile, and released one of their lewd alternative covers for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild featuring a lewdified Zelda. (Let us please host a minute of silence for the soon-to-be-removed company.)

What were they possibly thinking! Are these people insane, stupid, or some unholy sludge-like mix of the two extremes? Nintendo would have gone after these idiots even if the artwork was tasteful, they'll probably hire a cartel hit squad to visit them for this violation upon the sanctity of their beloved characters. Nintendo do not allow for fan modifications upon their image, even in the most docile sense. Do you remember when Nintendo clamped down on some internal marketing streamers for daring to propose a 'Nuzzlocke' challenge stream, simply because the prospect of playing a Pokemon game not to the exact parameters that the designers intended offended the gathered executives to their very core? Now imagine if those same streamers proposed to do that in Sexy Misty and Ash Ketchup outfits? We would never have heard of their story because their missing posters would still be in circulation on milk cartons.

I'm all for guerrilla marketing techniques, and going places where your competitors won't in order to get ahead. But lewding the protagonists? That's kinda weird, first off, and it's not really needed. The guys who do this are capable of making some really fancy and well designed alternate covers, albeit usually by mixing about existing assets rather than making something wholly new but you have to work with what you've got, right? I'm just primarily surprised and impressed about another seedy and vaguely degenerate part of our little industry that I totally brushed by until very recently. I wonder how well this catches on in the future. Who knows, we may be able to one-day custom order a new cover for the Switch copy of Skyrim Anniversary Edition with the Imperial Dragon emboss replaced with the Royal Thomas The Tank Engine seal in it's place. (We can but dream of such a day.)

Resident Evil: During The Storm

 Racoon City Rises...

So Resident Evil has been on a bit of a comeback for these past two years, now hasn't it? I mean if we're really tracking things to the source then I suppose you could say that 'Resident Evil 7: Biohazard' was when things started changing for the better, but that game did go through a little bit of underperformance thus I'll wager that Resident Evil 2 Remake was really what made the people with power turn their heads. (The money men.) Thus we're in an artificial renaissance for the franchise wherein the old games are remade seemingly until we reach Resident Evil 7 and then... does that get remade? (Will Resident Evil 9 and Resident Evil 9 Remake come out within a month of each other? What's the endgame here Capcom? Do you even have an endgame?) But whereas we have a whole new army of fans that are starting to buy into the appeal of zombies, bodyhorror and puzzles, there are those who have been there from the old school, people who never dropped off after Resident Evil 6 and even those who still prefer the originals to this day. 

I don't usually talk about mods too much on this blog, but that's not because of any unspoken policy or dislike towards them, I just rarely see something that looks so incredible I have to talk about it. Personally I have a huge amount of respect for those with the humility, love and talent to sit down and just create a mod for a game that they like, just for the love of the game in general or to put their mark on it. Over the years we've seen all kinds of community driven mod projects that have ranged from the thousands of armour and weapon mods for Bethesda titles, to total conversions for Half Life and everything inbetween. And for my part I've dabbled in a great many mods in my spare time, and being a little bit of a PC gamer sometimes mods are literally required in order to play some older games. (Or simply for those games to work in times when PC ports are buggier than all get-out.)

Total conversion mods, however, are the things that really blow me away, as that's when the basic game is modified and changed upon to the extent where the base game often isn't recognisable and instead one is simply just using the engine to make their own world or tell their own story. For this you have famous mods such as Skyrim's Enderal, Oblivion's Nehrim, Empire at War's Republic at War, (a favourite of yours truly) and, as is the point of today's blog, Resident Evil 2's During the Storm. Now to tie things back into my intro, where's not talking about the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2 but the old school 1998 original bought to life on PC through the 2006 Sourcenext port. (Which, for the record, is kind of a pain-in-the-butt to get ahold of today, but I'm sure there's always a way if you're interested.) Someone took this framework and decided to expand on this game with an entire conversion mod, and it is insanely impressive.

Taking place in the largely unexplored location of Racoon City, (Heavy sarcasm detected) the mod takes one of the 'Resident Evil: Outbreak' characters who survived that disaster, and Racoon City, in order to place them down in an semi-open world branching narrative storyline. Yeah- 'ambitious' doesn't even begin to describe the sorts of heights these developers are shooting for, and were I Brutus I'd probably be preparing my best stabbing knife. (Sorry, that was an atrociously bad 'Julius Caesar' reference. I'll see myself out.) According to the Moddb page, they want to create an 'Open world' akin to what Dark Souls employs, which I understand to mean a world made up connected areas and corridors rather than large open locations. (Don't think the engine could handle that) They'll be side quests that have a bearing on the outcome of the main story, thus imparting branching narrative opportunities, time sensitive objectives which don't cause a mission fail but might reflect down the line, an extensive cast of side characters and enemies who will be able to follow the player through cells. I know that last point doesn't sound quite as impressive to a layman but trust me; that is incredible.

You'll probably notice something about all the points I bought up, like how Capcom are currently employing exactly none of them with the Resident Evil's of today. (Except the 'following the player through doors' thing, I guess) Even with all of the modern day advancements and revolutions to game design, modern day Resident Evils are basically exactly the same in structure as their older counterparts. In fact, when thinking the RE3 remake in particular, there have even been some steps to actively stomp down on things like 'branching narratives' for whatever reason. And I'm not denigrating the new games for that, I think too many titles fall for the allure of other game's strengths rather than nurture their own, (Resident Evil fell for exact trap for 6) but that doesn't mean I've never wondered. Seeing such innovations actually be pursued, and by an indie fan-made mod no-less, is actually quite exciting.

One question I immediately had when I came across this was "how". Not the ins and outs, but just the basic 'how did any of this happen on the simplest of levels'. And now that I've looked a bit into it I think I understand it to be a use of the Resident Evil 3 development method, in that assets are being recycled in order to make new locations. However, this team have access to Resident Evil 2 and 3 for assets. (As well as Outbreak, I guess, but I'm not entirely sure if there was even a PC port of that. Or if it would even have any useable assets at all.) I don't know if anything new will me made in the general world building department or if match-ups and reshuffling will go to make up some of the 'new locations' they've hinted at, but there was a bit of talk about custom weapons so I'd imagine there would be. Also, I don't know what sort of black magic sorcery this team is working with but they're apparently projecting the game to the be twice of length of Resident Evil 2. How does that happen? I dunno, but I like it.

The team in question have bitten off quite the undertaking, and it's natural to throw a little sceptical shade about everything I've just told you because nothing should be taken for granted. However I will say that out of the 7 members of the team that I see listed on Moddb, there's some promising pedigree. Several of the folks have worked on other Resident Evil 2 mod projects and the director/main programmer has another big mod in 'Resident Evil: Mortal Night' that they completed several years ago; so there's receipts here. That being said, from what I've browsed through this seems to easily be the most ambitious thing that any of them have worked on (At least in regards to modding) and I just love the sort of people willing to step outside of their comfort zone like that. To go to these lengths to mod a game that isn't even readily available for the average player? There undeniable passion there.

Of course, with the tense I've been using you'll likely have become aware that this mod isn't exactly out yet. In actuality it's due for 2021 and we're just starting to see videos of the work they've done so far around about now, but it's all just jaw dropping for someone like me. Resident Evil 2 was actually one of the first horror games that I played which had an effect on me (Somehow I played 1 as a kid and barely even remembered it; go figure) so seeing anything new imposed onto this framework (I can't believe I'm referring to a complete game as 'framework') does something special to me. Of course, the game doesn't look impressive graphically so if you lack the nostalgia element you might have trouble seeing the scope of the work like I do, but perhaps you'll still be able to respect the effort and work some people are willing undertake for the hobby they love.

Umbrella and the mismangement of their BOWs

Please stop laughing. I worked so hard. I worked night and day.

With all the attention that is being directed towards the Resident Evil franchise of late, from the announcement of Resident Evil 3, to the addition of a new RE3 Easter egg in Resident Evil 2, to the re-release of the RE2 demo complete with a 'Nemesis-themed' Easter egg. I've got to thinking about all of the lore of the Resident Evil universe as I understand it. I find these games to be a fascinating series chock full of secrets and questions that have never been officially answered, and that is perfect fodder for the active imagination. Seeing as how I'm intending to start playing the Resident Evil games and analyzing them in minute detail, I feel that it's high time that I get one particular Lore-related issue of my chest in regards to this franchise. (Cue the Jerry Seinfeld voice) What's the deal with Umbrella's BOWs? (Warning: Major spoilers for the first 3 Resident Evil games.)

Before I get into anything, I should preface this blog by saying that this is quiet unlike anything I've done before on this blog. Rather than focus on hard cold mechanics, I'm delving into narrative and lore in order to point out a funny little thing that I've noticed regarding the way that the first 3 Resident Evil games play out. Therefore I will do my best to explain things for those who aren't as familiar with the lore as I am, whilst simultaneously pointing out that I'm not exactly an expert of everything Resident Evil myself, so there may be some factual inaccuracies here.  (In my defence, I've fact checked everything that I can.)

Let's start at the beginning; The Umbrella corporation, formerly known as 'Umbrella Pharmaceuticals', is the fictional company that is at the heart of most, if not all, of the paranormal going-ons in the Resident Evil franchise. After being founded in 1967 by a trio of 'experimental' doctors, Umbrella quickly rose to become a prominent player on the national field of pharmaceuticals, earning them the title of, In the words of a 19 yr old, "the area's biggest taxpayer". (That is literally the only thing that Rebecca tells you about Umbrella in Resident Evil 1. She doesn't even mention that they're a company. For all you know it could just be some oddly named rich Samaritan with a penchant for developing gauze.)

Unfortunately, widespread market domination and, presumably, considerable profits weren't enough to satisfy the big wigs at Umbrella, and soon they started putting funds behind the research of, easily the most insane of their founders, Oswell E Spencer. Spencey Boy was quite the sucker for agriculture in his youth, you see, and whilst on a flower picking trip in deep Africa, Ozzy came across an incredibly special flower which... You know I can't exactly remember. (This is why I need to play through these games again.) Look, long story short they could inflict serious change to an individual's cellular structure and, naturally, this led to the Umbrella team immediately seeking a way to monetize on it.

To this end, Umbrella founded their 'BOW' program (Bio Organic Weapon) in order to grow super soldiers that would then be sold illegally on the black market, or to the US government. (Management never could quite nail down that part.) There were a few problems with their 'super soldier formula' however, most pressingly how it was a parasitic virus that only seemed able to work it's magic on dead flesh. That, mixed with the fact that the resulting 'Zombies' were lacking the mental acuity to respond to orders, made the marketability of these 'Zombies' rather lame. Luckily the team got to working around the clock to rectify this and they ended up coming to an ingenious solution, they'll create artificial hosts for the virus to take over. Thus the BOW program kicked off in earnest as the team got together to make a deadly organic weapon that would be the envy of any black market weapons deal.

To this end, Umbrella created hundred of useless cannon fodder and a scant few truly marketable super soldiers through with which they could terrorize the world. This prototype was assigned the codename 'Tyrant' and grown underneath the mansion of their founders, in the hills of the Arklay mountains. (A location picked for having the perfect conditions for regrowing the necessary plant. Or being the only place that grew said plants in the first place. The lore tends to conflict with itself on that point.) Umbrella were right on track to create their super soldier and make, in the words of the TMNT movie, "Stupid money" which, let's not misremember things, is their ultimate goal. Umbrella originally had no goals of world domination or to 'cure the world of death' (Okay, that might have been Spencer's goal but no one liked him anyway. He was ousted from the company is a very 'definitive' fashion. Let's say he was 'pushed' to leave his position.) Umbrella only cared about money to begin with, and therefore it only makes sense that every single one of their early decisions should be in aid of that vague goal.

Cue a terrible disaster that isn't worth going into in this blog, and Umbrella's laboratory in the Spencer mansion goes dark. Somehow the virus leaked and infected most of the staff in and around that facility, resulting in incalculable losses for Umbrella R&D, whilst also locking the team out of direct access to their finished prototype: Tyrant. This would be a situation that would require incredible levels of tact and planning on the company's part to ensure that they could contain the situation and retrieve their assets without authorities becoming aware of anything bad, or if that cannot be accomplished, than at least without knowledge of the company's direct involvement. There's only one nagging issue...

The nearby populace of Raccoon City boasts a specialized division of their police force called S.T.A.R.S.; Special Tactics and Rescue Service. (Sigh. You're not supposed to include the 'and' in your acronym, guys.) These guys end up sending their B-team to investigate a distress call nearby which ended up leading directly to the Spencer Mansion. (Whoops.) Luckily that B-Team promptly went dark, (Probably because the team was comprised of several people with no guns and a 19 year old.) unfortunately, there is an A-Team ready to pick up that trail. Cue panic mode for Umbrella, their secret is about to leak out to the Authorities! What can they do? Good thing then, that their captain, Albert Wesker, is actually an Umbrella scientist working as a plant! All he needs to do is call off the investigation, bribe a few folk, and the anonymity of Umbrella is secured. Or he could lead that A-team in a mission to investigate the Spencer mansion... that's proactive, I guess.

Once S.T.A.R.S. land in Spencer Mansion, Albert's goal should be frighteningly obvious, he needs to get his entire team killed off as quickly as possible. And yet the first thing he does is save Chris Redfield's life from Zombie dogs and lead everyone to safety inside of the relative safety of the Spencer Mansion. (Not too clear on your plan here, Al.) Wesker then allows the team to go their separate ways whilst he disappears to... I dunno... destroy evidence hopefully. Somewhere along the way, however, he realizes that he cannot pull this off alone and thus enlists the help of resident S.T.A.R.S. moron, Barry Burton, to help him betray the team. I'd imagine the conversation went a little bit like this:

Albert: Barry, I need your help to betray S.T.A.R.S.

Barry: What? No way. Why would I do that?

Albert: I dunno. Name something that you really care about.

Barry: My Family?

Albert: Yeah, them. I've got them hostage so you better do as I say.

Barry: Oh god. You've lied about everything else I thought I knew about you, but I instantly believe you on this and will do absolutely nothing to fact-check that incredibly bold statement.

At this point Albert practically disappears from the story whilst the rest of the team slowly begin to pick apart the truth behind the mansion. Only in the final act do we find out that he has spent his entire time down in his personal labs with his Tyrant test tube. God knows what he spent all his time doing there, but I'll guess it was mostly trying to figure out the logistics of escorting a 9 foot pale monstrosity out the building and to Umbrella (Who's nearest facility would be the NEST underneath Raccoon City) without being spotted. (You should've bought a van along or something.) Cue the confrontation scene which either ends with Barry learning that Albert didn't kidnap his family (Meaning that Barry murdered on S.T.A.R.S member and tried to murder another for literally no reason) and shooting Wesker or the Tyrant merely waking up from inside it's test tube and choosing to skewer his creator. Either way things end badly for Wesker and, incidentally, the Tyrant, as in the canonical ending the monster is blown to pieces with a rocket launcher. And then again when the entire mansion explodes.

This leaves Umbrella with a huge potential breach of information, as there is an entire squadron of living S.T.A.R.S. who now know their secret, and a lot of money lost in damages. Luckily for them, another convenient tragedy should strike less than 1 week later as the town of Raccoon city is felled by a zombie virus outbreak. (Unfortunately, this virus outbreak also signalled the destruction of Umbrella's substantial NEST facility, providing another potential leak of information.) It is from this point on that I seriously wonder what the heck Umbrella were doing in the aftermath of this mess and just who was in charge the whole time. Let me explain why.

At this point, Umbrella has 3 key problems that they need to solve: They need to ensure that the S.T.A.R.S. members are silenced. (The zombie virus outbreak isn't enough, they need to make sure.) Secondly, their data drives from the NEST need to be erased/retrieved. (Unless the team wants to risk potential exposure from rescue services after the fact) And Thirdly, they need to erase all evidence of their involvement with the 'Spencer Mansion Incident' and 'The Raccoon city incident'. (And, if it's possible, prevent widespread knowledge of zombies hitting the main stream news broadcasts. Remember, this game takes place in 1998 and Raccoon City is relatively secluded so that was still possible.)

The scientists currently in the NEST, likely desperately trying to keep the whole place running as the virus tears through it all, makes the first dumb move to try and control the situation. Word comes to them that the bulk of survivors are hiding out at the police station, so they decide to play dress up with their own Tyrant prototype, Mr.X. (presumably the only other one in existence) and set this expensive piece of proprietary organic-technology loose on the Police station to ensure there are no survivors left to tell tales about the zombies. Somehow this team thinks that their 9 foot pale skinned monster wouldn't attract suspicion if they just stuck it in a trenchcoat and put a top hat on it, and they didn't spare a thought about how they might retrieve their Tyrant after the face. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it" they likely said as they reveled in the fact that their quick thinking might have saved them their jobs.

Unfortunately, an outside division of Umbrella has a similar idea with a different end goal in mind. Knowing that the biggest potential info leak comes from the S.T.A.R.S. operatives, seeing as how they are in possession of documents that can tie Umbrella to illegal experimentation, this team decided that they should be the chief target. Therefore, this team decides to deploy their very own prototype BOW; Nemesis, with sole orders to wipe out S.T.A.R.S. Now, you know this was a big screw up, as Nemesis is probably more valuable than Mr.X, (Seeing as how he can follow orders, utter rudimentary phrases and operate large weaponry) so sticking him in the line of fire is exceedingly reckless. (I can only imagine that it was after deploying him that the external Umbrella team called the NEST in order to tell them that they had everything covered. That must have been an awkward conversation...)

So we currently have two incredibly expensive assets active in the same area with mildly conflicting goals, already a gigantic recipe for disaster but hey, at least the job in question will get done. Except there is another variable in this equation as Umbrella's head office preempted the potential issues of S.T.A.R.S and worked a way to  clean it up days ago. You see, Chris Redfield, Rebecca Chambers and Barry Burton were immediately reassigned upon coming back from their adventure and sent all over the world. This is because Umbrella happened to have the Chief of police in their pocket and so could ensure that none of the S.T.A.R.S. members had the chance to spread their story. (Especially as the 'reassignments' in question resulted in the members becoming trapped or incarcerated) Only Jill Valentine was exempt from this treatment, and they were likely cooking something up for her when the second outbreak hit Raccoon city.

This means that Nemesis has had the majority of his potential usefulness invalidated as most of the crew are already around the world, making his deployment a waste of time and money. Umbrella high brass also sent 2 (3 if we accept the story of the now non-canonical 'Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City') separate agents to collect information/samples from the NEST so that the entire site doesn't become a completely write-off for corporate. Which further shows how confused everyone was when running this mess as no one took the time to communicate their plans.

Do you want to know the cherry on top of all of this? Atop of the millions of dollars worth of asset that are already invested in covering up this colossal screw-up, the top guys over at Umbrella were already hard at work on a solution to all this that would render all over efforts entirely moot. You see, Umbrella had the kind of contacts under their belt that could mobilize the military if they pull the right strings. Now, this could be used to set up a perimeter around the city or any number of boring solutions, but the guys had a better idea in mind; if they wanted everything gone why not just blow the whole city up in hellfire. This plan was put into place likely under the impression that they were doing the best thing possible for the situation and with no idea that there were 2 high level BOWs, one mercenary and one hometrained agent active in the city at the time. (Since when did Shepherd ever care about danger close?)

As far as Snafus go, that's a big one. I wouldn't want to be the poor lackey who ends up drawing the short straw and thus has to go before Mr Spencer to explain why it is that their past 40 odd years of innovation has to be flushed down the drain. Without the hard work of their mercenary, this screw up alone might have been enough to bankrupt the entire company. (Which means we have a certain seductress to blame for the future Resident Evil games. Surely, that makes her the ultimate bad guy.) Still, at least this whole affair will have likely led to the adoption of 'conference calls' into the Umbrella corporate culture. (Ever improving!)

What Resident Evil 1, 2 and 3 presents us with is a perfect cluster of a situation that is hilarious to look at in hindsight. Just like with any real organization, Umbrella ended up costing itself millions (maybe billions) in resources and lost research time all because there was no vertical or lateral communication going on between teams. At the first scent of trouble, everyone rushed to put out the fire not realizing that their various methods ended up making things worse. I love how this messy story convention is the unintended side effect of Capcom setting so many of their games within the same 2 week scenario, and really enjoyed pointing it out today. Perhaps this style of blog isn't quite like what I usually put out, but I hope to settle into more 'Lore discussion' topics like this in the future.

The illusion of video games cities

Trapped in a concrete jungle

We talk about about 'environments' here in this blog, and it is for good reason. The world that the player inhabits is one of the most important aspects of creating an immersive and believable gameplay experience and a well realized world can be absolutely unforgettable. Great gameplay and storytelling are only two thirds of the equation, afterall; without a world to care about it can be hard to dedicate yourself to the narrative, requiring your gameplay to be undeniably top notch to ultimately save your product. (Darn it, 'Destiny', you've got me there!) However, there is one particular aspect of world-building (That would be the physical act of world-building rather than the story telling aspect) that proves difficult even for the most skilled developers, and that is the creation of cities.

It's no wonder why, either. The commonly recognized hierarchy of settlements labels the requirements of a large city as; housing between '300,000 and 1,000,000 citizens', and there isn't a game engine on earth that can render that many NPC's complete with AI packages. (Although that same hierarchy technically means that NYC is a 'Metropolis', so don't take it as gospel.) Even using the common tricks of game development it can be incredibly difficult to create a world space that appropriately simulates the magnitude of a city in a believable way. That being said, urban settings are just too tempting for storytellers to completely write them off, so these teams find clever ways to bring their worlds to life. Consequently, I look upon the act of digital city building as an artform worthy a quick look through in this collation list.

One of, if not the, best example of video game cities in the modern age is 'Los Santos' from 'Grand Theft Auto V' and 'San Andreas'. Based on the instantly recognizable LA skyline, 'Los Santos' is a loving recreation of 'The City of Angels' complete from 'Venice beach' all the way up 'Hollywood Boulevard'. Due to the sheer level of skill and love that Rockstar put into erecting this digital masterpiece, Someone could familiarize themselves with these streets enough to give a rough tour of the actual city. Emphasis on 'rough' however, as even in 'GTA V' the city of Los Santos is only about 1/3 of the size of the actual city. (They got all the landmarks in, but cut down on the number of postcodes.) Either way, this is still an incredibly impressive achievement from Rockstar and one can only imagine how they managed to pull off such a colossal city all the way back in 2011. In fact, the only place that seems set to beat it in terms of scale is Cyberpunk 2077's own version of LA, Night City. (More on that later.) On seventh generation consoles, GTA V features a 'cone of vision' based rendering system that generates cars and pedestrians in whatever way you're focused in order to create the illusion of there being more NPCs than there actually are. Of course, there is a safety buffer to this feature to ensure that you don't accidentally ram into a freshly spawned truck, but this was a clever way of fleshing out the far away world objects without slowing down the frame rate. On Eighth Generation consoles, however, Rockstar manage to coax out enough power to stick with a standard rendering distance set-up; assembling that mammoth-of-a-city one neighbourhood at a time.

In Bethesda's RPGs there are quite a few large settlements for player's to explore, however it's only in 'The Elder Scrolls' where we see them attempt to create a fully functional and manned city. Therefore, by putting 'Skyrim' in our sights, we can get a look at the unique way that they handle 'cities'. Using this criteria, I settled on Whiterun as my ideal case-study for Skyrim cities due to it's central location and familiarity with practically every player. (Even though it is actually the third largest city in the game.) Looking at Whiterun, we see something quite peculiar, namely how the 'city' itself only consists of about 30 residents despite being the 'travelling hub' of Skyrim. This comes from the way that Bethesda's game engine renders each and every NPC with such complex stats and AI packages that it simply isn't feasible to create a city consisting of thousands. (Giving the medieval setting, a settlement of thousands would constitute a 'city'.) Despite this glaring misstep, however, we still consider Whiterun a prosperous settlement due to the way that Bethesda bought that place to life. Firstly, the city itself is scaled so that the small number of residents is enough to make the place feel crowded (something that Bethesda dropped the ball with when they made Oblivion); Secondly, their daily routines often have the people meeting up in the same spot, (The central market, the Bannered Mare. etc.) creating more illusionary crowding; and Thirdly, every citizen is realized with their own personality and story. This goes a step beyond the lifeless 'NPC's of other games because it offers so much more narrative value out of every individual. In this way, a city of 30 can balloon in your mind into a functioning city because you believe in every single inhabitant there.

Looking back towards the late 90's, we have another incredibly iconic metropolitan locale in Final Fantasy 7's Midgar. At the time of release, January 1997, this was an incredible vision for everyone to behold especially given that it was the first time that Square had used the processing power of a disk-based system on their much-beloved RPG franchise. As such, we saw 3D models on a 3D world bought to life in the image of an industrial cyberpunk revolution of blinking lights and heavy, chocking exhaust fumes. Midgar was the dystopian, mechanical monolith slapped right in the centre of a narrative which I have described as: the best possible video game adaptation of 'Fern Gully'. With this one location proving to be so important to the overall themes (or rather, the themes of the first third of the game) it was imperative that the team nailed their attempts at realizing it. However, 3D polygonal tech was still new to the Square team (Final Fantasy 6 was still entirely 'sprite-based') and so they had to figure out a way of creating a city despite lacking the technical power to do so. This they pulled off with a collection of clever techniques that would make any aspiring film maker proud. The backgrounds, for one, would be largely rendered stills that were mostly either top-down shots to establish the packed-in nature of the city streets, or brief sweeping vista shots over the majesty of it all, nailing the presentation of the big and the small. The story, too, directed players through a variety of new locations that differed enough visually to establish a sense of different districts and having travelled a great distance between them. And finally that iconic retro-mechanical music that flowed out of every district did wonders to subconsciously bring players to the right mindspace to believe in a city called Midgar.

Seeing as how we've already mentioned CDPR, we should take a look at their first attempt at bringing a huge city to life in 'The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's: Novigrad. This was a city that was built to be the centrepiece of the second act of this game as it would be the ideal strategic point between the two warring factions and thus a veritable hotbed of interesting activities. The player would find themselves mostly visiting tiny villages in their time throughout the game, and so Novigrad is designed to be quite the system shock once you finally get there and find that the city absolutely spans the eastern waterfront as far as the eye can see. With all the power that CDPR managed to drum up to bring this particular city to life, it's no wonder that it should prove to be one of the biggest spectacles of the age. Unfortunately, Novigrad seemed to work better from afar than it did from the inside. For some reason, Novigrad never did feel particularly 'alive' in the same sense that GTA cities do, possible because of CDPR's over-reliance on uninteractible NPC's to feel up the empty space between objectives. Sure that works well enough in Los Santos, but that is because players are forever constantly aware that they can just knock out anyone on the street that they don't like and interact with the in-built crime system. In The Witcher, should you go nuts and start offing civilians, not only are you acting in a non lore-friendly way, but the game doesn't quite know how to handle it and just sends endless guards after you until you die or get bored. Novigrad serves as an example of how video game cities can be visually impressive whilst feeling ultimately empty, teaching an important lesson on balance between content and spectacle.

Heading back to Bethesda and their other popular RPG franchise, Fallout, we have a modest selection of post-apocalyptic home steads to choose from. Unfortunately, most of Bethesda's Fallout games seem to focus on 'settlements' rather than post-apocalyptic 'societies', but there are a couple of exceptions I picked out. Fallout 4's Fenway Park (or 'Diamond City') is one such locale, but I dislike Fallout 4 so I instead want to look at 3's Rivet City. This is a settlement fashioned out of a pre-war washed up air carrier that has been irradiated to hell and cut in half, so the perfect place to call home, right? Spend any amount of time in the Capital Wasteland and you'll hear about 'Rivet City' as this well defended city of traders, which is likely enough to grab any explorer's interest. Of course, this being a Bethesda game built on a much earlier framework than Skyrim, the reality isn't quite as grand as the story, but that Bethesda formula goes into making it all work. Once again, Rivet City is a 'city' of about 30-40 residents with the majority of that number going towards the security staff, but Bethesda manage to brag that off with style. This time, the centerpiece of the town is a busy market, selling the illusion of this being a major drop-off point for travellers on the road and giving you a chance to believe in the fact that most people don't stick around. Rivet City really shines with it's layout, however, which is intentionally winding and confusing to create the atmosphere of a large living space with countless decks, rooms and shops. Once again, Bethesda have a habit of making a mountain out of a molehill. (In a good way.)

Lionhead's Fable is a series that long sought to bring a distinctive English flair to the fantasy RPG genre, to arguable success. Hence the name of the region, Albion, which is an old poetic name for the British isles that is not so commonly used today. Inevitably, this meant that the team would try their hand at parodying the industrial revolution at some point, and they did exactly that in Fable 3, as the small town of Bowerstone blew up into a light steam-punky cityscape kingdom. This is the player's home for the majority of the game and the location to which they will return repeatedly throughout the course of events surrounding the campaign, so it was in best interest of the Dev team to have the Bowerstone region feel large and real for players play around in. Once again, the key to bringing Bowerstone to life was interaction. As the game engine wasn't powerful enough to render an entire city, (instead they allowed players to visit specific chunks of the city through separate play areas) Lionhead ensured that the player could mess around with ever individual citizen using the franchises patented 'touch system'. (It's not as creepy as that sounds, but is sure is as awkward) Unfortunately, the citizens themselves as mostly just wooden cutout stereotypes, but every little bit helps when it comes to believing in a world. As another added touch, the performance of the player in the main narrative has a knock-on effect to how many folk survive the final conflict, meaning that the world actually reflects upon your consequences, which always helps the immersive-ness a bit.

Let's go back to the 90's for this next entry, as Capcom decided to up the stakes from their last Resident Evil game and elevate their zombie outbreak from a sprawling mansion to the entirety of Raccoon City. This is one of those locations that is practically video game royalty, and for very good reason as it housed one of the greatest horror/action games of all time and managed to make people feel like they were living through a city-wide zombie outbreak despite the game only having the power to render 7 zombies on screen at once. (You need those precious 450 polygons for Leon and Claire, afterall.) This time Capcom made great use of perspective in order to highlight the claustrophobia of a city that they lacked the processing power to render. That meant a lot of high angled shots of alleyways and separated screens. (allowing one area to be loaded at a time.) Of course, once the 2019 remake came along there was no need for any of that subterfuge and we finally got a chance to see Raccoon City rendered in all of it's glory.

Okay, I already did a Bethesda Fallout game, but what about an Obsidian one? Objectively the best Fallout game to date, 'Fallout: New Vegas' featured a memorable post-apocalyptic society in their depiction of the titular 'New Vegas'. This was a city that stood as the crown jewel across the wasteland as it was one of the only major cities to be mostly unharmed by the missiles that ravaged the surrounding landscape. (Or at least, The Strip survived intact. Everything else was still a little banged up.) What resulted was a revival of the hedonistic materialism that everyone loved about the old Las Vegas, only ramped up to eleven with armed robot guards patrolling the whole place. Obsidian managed to make this city feel large through a mixture of Bethesda's techniques and Rockstar's. They stuck a bevy of named NPC's around the area but spruced up the space inbetween with filler folk; helping to make 'the Strip' feel like a heavily frequented location. They also made sure to take advantage of that Vegas glitz and glamour to plaster gaudy lights and advertisements all over the city, imbuing that overwhelming sense of metropolitan capitalism. All this makes New Vegas easily my favourite place in a Fallout game to visit and one of the best examples of creating a believable town.

Finally, as I promised, we come to CDPR's second attempt to create a huge cityscape, Cyberpunk 2077's Nightcity. This is a Cyber-futuristic-dystopian recreation of Los Angeles from the aftermath of just about every terrible event that a single society can undergo. We're talking wars, recessions and at least one nuclear detonation, but through it all the City survived and thrived. (depending on your definition of 'thriving'.) Of course, Cyberpunk 2077 isn't technically out yet so it's impossible for me to determine what specific techniques the team have used to realize this city, but judging from the demo alone we've seen a vast array of thematic distinctions, impressive graphical flairs and independent variety in civilian walk cycles. It seems that the name-of-the-game for CD Projekt word is diversity and, if the demo footage is any indication, they've pulled that particular task off with flying colours.

City building is one of most complex, and rewarding, task that one could ask of developers, and it is one that is particularly revealing as to the specific talents of your team. I love analyzing all the little tips and tricks that developers utilize, seeing what works and what doesn't, just as much as I enjoy believing in these digital spaces. As we steadily trudge into the next generation I can hardly imagine what sort of ingenuity this new breed of hardware will inspire out of developers and how well it'll all translate.

The Game Awards: Predictions

Buckle up, this one's a doozy!

It's that time of year again. The days have grown longer, YouTube Rewind dropped today (It was boring, don't bother) and we are stepping ever closer to the final big gaming show of the year; Geoff Keighley's Game Awards. The hollow pageantry of Christmas pales in comparison to the actual excitement that gamers have other the prospect of seeing their favourite games get the recognition that they so deserve. Even those with no intention of voting and throwing in their two cents can enjoy the opportunity to see the spectacle of it all and spy some of the big 'surprise' announcements of the night. (Like the Resident Evil 3 Remake announcement that is definitely coming.)

I'm expressed it before but for me this is the second biggest event of the year, with the big spotlight clearly going to E3. This is the event for which we see industry veterans from all over the world gather in solidarity and love for their craft. (They are probably also paid to show up.) All this has the effect of seriously ramping up the adrenaline for little old me and getting me fully invested in the proceedings. Consequently I get into all the fantastic music, dazzling lights, guest celebrities and inane banter. (Okay, maybe I'm still not entirely sold on the mid-show banter.) But, most importantly, I care deeply about the games on display and want the right accolades to reach the right game, something that I always try top contribute towards by casting my vote. Therefore I thought that it might be fun, this year, to go over my personal assessment for what games should win their respective awards in order to compare them on the night. (A little self indulgence on my part.)

Of course, as eclectic as my tastes may be, I lack the actual funds and free time to have played every game on offer, so when I go through each game it will not always be with first hand knowledge. Also, that has the effect of potentially making my decision biased, but I am confident that there will be no games on this list that I am not, at the very least, familiar with. A huge part of my current knowledge sphere revolves around the big titles of the year so I should be able to take a somewhat measured look at the games on offer. (And if not I'll just retreat to Metacritic and see what they had to say on the games.)

Finally, the games that I picked will be based entirely on their merits as a game and not on their public reception. I realize that this may sound contradictory considering that I just implied I would resort to Metacritic, but let me set things straight that could care less what the general consensus on the quality of the product is. And, of course, my personal award-worthy picks are entirely subjective as they will be games that personally appeal to my tastes, so grain-of-salt and all that good stuff you know how it is. With all that established, let's take a look at each of the main categories one by one in no particular order and ending with 'Ultimate Game of the Year'.

VR/AR Game of the Year

To kick off lets look at- VR/AR game? Whew, there's something I have little personal experience with. As you may have seen me talk about before on this blog, the realm of VR software is one that is woefully short of the rest of the industry so far. Whilst everyone else is pushing the limits of what is capable with the hardware, VR is still stuck up on creating the ideal tools and marketing them at a reasonable price. In fact, at this point the only quality VR device is the Valve Index, which retails at quadruple digits, so that's not really feasible for the average consumer. This has really limited the potential audience of the VR market which, in turn, has made it increasingly less of an attractive proposition for developers to work on. Consequently the AR/VR category only has 5 games to choose from. (Which appears to be the absolute bear minimum that the awards show will allow.)

In the list of games we have 'Asgard's Wrath', a game which slipped in right before the close off date for the games awards and consequently I know little to nothing about it. All I know is that it is slated to be 'the most ambitious VR title to date'; (Which is such common praise amongst VR games it might as well be a mandatory critique.) 'Blood & Truth', which is a schlocky and fun British-action-movie style game with a terrible title; 'Beat Saber', which is essentially 'Dance Dance Revolution' for the VR age and boasting a lot more potential and variety; 'No Man's Sky', which is a retrofitting of a game well on it's way to finding a voice and 'Trover Saves the Universe', which is a humorously irreverent adventure title made and largely voiced by Justin Roiland.

This is a very difficult and peculiar category to pick through as each of the games on other are vastly different in tone and gameplay. 'Asgard's Wrath' and 'Blood & Truth' are both fairly serious narrative driven experiences whilst 'Trover Saves the Universe' and 'Beat Saber' are more geared to be fun adventures to undergo. 'No Man's Sky' is the real standout here, as the game itself has come leaps and bounds since it's rocky launch, and retrofitting VR into the experience feels like a match made in heaven. (Unfortunately the game does little to take advantage of the 'VR' perspective so I have trouble awarding it any credence in this category.)

Ultimately, from a popularist's perspective I would have to give this award to 'Beat Saber', as it the only game which can truly stands out as something more. 'Beat Saber' has been a undeniable craze ever since it's Beta back in May 2018, and I feel it is well on it's way to becoming a true cultural phenomenon in the same vein as Minecraft and Fortnite. (Although maybe not as big.) Additionally, 'Beat Saber' brings the rhythm dancing genre to it's absolute zenith in a manner that makes it fun to partake in, something which I personally never felt even in the height of the DDR craze. Most of the games in this category are noteworthy to some degree, I hear 'Asgard's Wrath' may even be a masterpiece, but only 'Beat Saber' as the potential to enter the annals of gaming history.

Strategy Game of the Year

Next comes the category of game which I have a closet love for, even if I'm terrible at all of them; 'Strategy Games'. This genre is one of those niches that I have always felt seemed isolated from the rest of the gaming world. Strategy developers seem to all hone in on their own special mechanic that they do well and work upon that, making the whole scene seem considerably less competitive than the rest of the gaming world. Additionally, this seems to make fans a lot less combative with each other as everyone seems to seek something different out of their strategy titles. It's all very wholesome to observe and I just wish I was better at the games so that I could be more involved...

For this lineup we have a full house of six including 'Age of Wonders: Planetfall', which is a turn-based 4X space experience with plenty of cool alien races and warring factions to pit against each other in a battle for planetary supremacy, 'Anno 1800', which is a civilization-esque experience wherein players work to build cities and communities and struggle with all the complexities that such a task demands; 'Fire Emblem: Three Houses', which brings the iconic drama and storytelling to the Switch for the first time ever, marrying squad tactic gameplay with tense Japanese storytelling and great characters; 'Total War: Three Kingdoms' (What is it with 'Three' with year?) a massive scale tactical war simulator which finally looks as good close up as it does from afar; 'Tropico 6' which takes the classic 'Dictator simulator' series to it's fullest potential in scope and graphical fidelity (kinda) and 'Wargroove', which is a fun take on the 'Fire emblem' formula from a more approachable angle but still just as fun.

Once again this is a difficult category to pick through, only this time it is because of the pure quality of all games on offer. 'Tropico 6' may not have much of a chance, the game is fun but it's competition are just on another level. 'Age of Wonders' and 'Anno' are two games which someone really needs to be inclined to like, and I'm just not the type of individual who has the patience to build a city or invest myself in another 'future/space/war' environment. 'Fire Emblem' and 'Wargroove' on the otherhand, are both terrific games that are are so similar in some assets whilst so different in others. And the 'Total War' games are always of a high quality, although I hear this latest one is exceptional even amongst it's peers.

This choice is one that comes down purely to preference, but I'd have to give it to 'Fire Emblem: Three Houses', although I could have just as easily chosen 'Wargroove'. Every single game on this list excels at their core gameplay, but 'Three Houses' is one of the only one's that brings a serious and well developed narrative to flesh it all out. Again, 'Wargroove' is no slouch in that particular approach either, but I'm a sucker for melodrama more than light-hearted situations, so I'd have to give my vote to the 'Fire Emblem' title. That being said, this choice was a tough one, and I hope the rest of them prove to be a little more 'open-and-shut' from now on.

Sports/Racing Game of the Year

'Ask and ye shall recieve', it would seem, as up next comes the genre widely known as the travesty of the industry 'Sports/Racing games'. Just to clarify, that insult is entirely directed towards the 'sports' part of this category, as I've always held a huge respect for the level of details and fidelity that racing Developers manage to pull out their games. Sports gaming, on the otherhand, have been in an embarrassingly dire place for years. It is incredibly telling for the quality of this genre that it had to be rolled into the same category as 'Racing' in order to make a full list. (I guess not even Keighley could stomach the though of nominating those two 2K trainwrecks this year 'NBA 2K20' and 'WWE 2K20')

This odd mismatching of genres has yielded a particularly peculiar set of games to pick through such as, 'Crash Team Racing: Nitro-fueled', a remake of the old Crash Bandicoot themed kart-racer which Activision decided to retroactively load with microtransactions in a misguided bid to establish relevance; (and profitability, of course.) 'DiRT Rally 2.0', a decently well received drag racing game with real emphasis on it's realistic driving physics; 'Efootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020' which is a football game with a title so long that I feel morally obliged to say "Konami, stop it."; 'F1 2019' Which is a high-quality formula 1 racing game that follows the recent 'tacked on single player narrative' trend from recent sports games; (Maybe that's way these categories were merged!) and 'Fifa 20' which, despite a rough and buggy launch, (And that whole back-and-forth about them actively advertising their gamble-adjacent lootbox systems) has proven very successful amongst the 'don't know any better' crowd.

I wish this category was a bit more competitive to pick through, but that just isn't the case at all considering the material I have to work with. 'Fifa' is out, may that franchise and all those who touch it literally burn in the fiery pits of hell. (It's been a while since I've read Dante but I think there's a circle that would suit those corporate sell-outs.) 'Pro Evolution Soccer' may be a better alternative for the aspiring football fan, but it is still just a another sports game and I have little interest in that genre as it hasn't innovated for last decade. 'Crash Team Racing' is a high quality racer, which was apparently good enough to knock 'Sonic Team Racing' out of the nominees, but the poor way in which the microtransactions were implemented means that I have to kick it out the running. All and all that leaves two game with mostly equal merits; decision time.

'F1 2019' and 'DiRT Rally 2.0' are both in competition as highly realistic sports titles, but differ in their primary focus for that realism. Personally, I enjoy drag racing a lot more than the uber-strict rule set of your typical 'Formula 1' style game, but I can't deny how adorable their 'story mode' is. As I am forced to make a ruling, I'd have to edge towards 'F1 2019'  for going that extra mile with the accompanying narrative, but honestly I could never see any of the games on this list ever again and die happy. Slim pickings this year, slim indeed.

Best Score & Music of the Year

Now comes an incredibly subjective category which is sure to leave some folk feeling disgruntled once the winner is ultimately picked; 'Score & Music'. Games have given a lot of business to orchestras over the past couple of decades and that has resulted in some fantastic video game soundtracks peppered around our favourite series. Unfortunately, that has meant that soundtracks really need to stand out and do something different in order to be formally recognized in any manner, such as in an awards show. Such choices can be seen as devoid of objectivity, however, so we'll have to see how things pan out on the day.

Here we can choose from 'Cadence of Hyrule', which is a Zelda themed remodel of the rhythm-based action hybrid 2015 title: Crypt of the Necrodancer; 'Death Stranding' who's score consists of many strange indie bands from Kojima's personal playlist who specialize in abnormal sounds and rhythms; 'Devil May Cry 5', Which is full of all the high-octane heavy instrumentals that one would expect from that series; 'Kingdom Hearts 3' which boasts a whole suite worth of loving orchestral tunes although likely owes it's nomination more to the plethora of Disney song remixes in the game and 'Sayonara Wild Hearts' which is an intentionally hard to define music-based title that is ruled by it's peculiarly basic visual flair.

It is fun, this year, to see that a few prominent music-centric titles have managed to make it to the nominee shortlist. 'Candence of Hyrule' in particular uses a great mixture of tactical planning and rhythm based gameplay to really revolutionize it's genre, whilst 'Sayonara Wild Hearts' seems purpose built to claim a spot in 'the hall of surrealist infamy'. 'Death Stranding', 'Kingdom Hearts 3' and 'Devil May Cry 5' are more traditional choices, with soundtracks that provide nice flavour to the gameplay around it (or, in Death Stranding's case, makes the tedium less soul-crushing.) but I feel that this genre award should go to a title that does something different and remarkable with it's premise.

With that in mind, I would nominate 'Candance of Hyrule' to receive this award as I cannot deny that the idea behind it is ingenious and the execution was perfect. It's hard to convey through writing how well this title plays (without dedicating the next 10 paragraphs to it) but I would serious encourage you to look it up and see who clever an idea this title was. Plus, the visual aesthetic was beautifully pleasing in a manner I just didn't feel from 'Sayonara Wild Hearts'. This could have gone to 'Kingdom Hearts 3' were I judging this in a more traditional fashion, due to my general love for good classic Disney songs. (Although there series has been responsible for more than a few butcherings of said classics, so perhaps it's best they don't get the award. Don't want to give that team any ideas...)

Role Playing Game of the Year

This next category is a big one as it covers one of the biggest genres in modern gaming, we're look at 'Role-Playing Games'. You've likely picked up on it by now, but I am a lifelong fan of RPG games. (As evidenced by the fact that I am currently replaying 'Dragon Age: Origins' as I write this.) For me, nothing compares with embarking on a journey of personal growth and sacrifice, and this a genre that typical depicts both with style and gusto. Recent years has seen a definite lack in AAA examples, but by that same merit those that have materialized have been incredibly high-quality. That fact alone will make the following decision hard.

Here are choices are split between 5 absolute powerhouses. We have 'Disco Elysium' A dialogue-heavy cop game which, I am deeply ashamed to admit, I know very little about. It is doing absolute gang-busters in the review circles, however, so I'm really interested in checking it out;  'Final Fantasy XIV' which did not come out this year but the team did drop their, incredibly well-received, 'Shadowbringers' expansion in July; 'Kingdom Hearts 3' (again) Which was the long-awaited latest entry in the weirdest crossover franchise in history; (Final Fantasy meets Disney? Sure.) 'Monster Hunter World: Iceborne', again not a new release but the 'Iceborne' expansion is said to be substantial and full enough to be a successor; and 'The Outer Worlds' Obsidian's smash-hit retro-futuristic RPG about people vs their cooperate overlords. (Speaking off. That Epic exclusivity sure worked out, huh guys?)

There isn't a weak link on this list as every title has enjoyed well-earnt praise for their efforts. I'm still a tad saddened to see that 'Greedfall' didn't make it on this list (especially seeing as there were only 5 nominees) but I'll send that game my personal love instead. 'Shadowbringers' is allegedly one of the best storylines that 'Final Fantasy' has ever told, and 'Kingdom Hearts 3' seemed to impress everybody with it's ability to juggle old and new players equally despite boasting on of the most ass-backwards narratives in gaming history. 'The Outer Worlds' is steadily growing into a cult classic due to the impeccable timing of it's release and 'MHW' was already a brilliant game with 'Iceborne' said to be more of the same in the best possible way. Folk also commend 'Disco Elysium' for it's dialogue-based gameplay mechanics that are both intuitive and diverse enough to sustain a prolonged gameplay experience. (Plus the official description reads 'Become a hero or an absolute disaster of a human being', which is my favourite quote of the week.)

As gut-wrenching of a choice as this is, I have to land on 'The Outer Worlds' for my personal choice, although I can certainly understand any other option on this list getting the figurative gold. For the sake of my own sanity, I had to disqualify 'Final Fantasy' and 'MHW' for having existed and been active years beforehand and, obviously, I didn't known enough about 'Disco Elysium' to choose it. From there Obsidian's title just edged it out because of how it managed to achieve so much with a brand new story premise and universe whilst 'Kingdom Hearts' had several games to launch itself off of. Again. a difficult choice, but one I feel I made it logically. (Oh, and while we're at it we might as well give 2020's 'RPG of the year' award to Cyberpunk 2077, save us all some time.)

Performance of the Year

Now comes a particularly nuanced topic as we reach the nominees for 'Performace' of the year. Voice acting is one of the most underlooked aspects of video gaming, partially because it reached a point of such universal quality that it is no longer worth pointing out. Be that as it may, there are those few performances that stick out throughout the years for being exceptional in quality. Handsome Jack from 'Borderlands 2' for example, or the Bloody Baron from 'The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt'. Mostly, however, the performance is rounded up into a general assessment of the narrative and scripting, which is fitting seeing as how a great story is achieved from a marriage of all three. But it can still be interesting to pick that one performance which stood out as noteworthy amidst everything else.

This is a list that is full to the brim of the usual suspects, alongside a little platform cross-pollination curtsy of Kojima. We have 'Ashly Burch' for her portrayal of Pavati Holcomb in 'The Outer Worlds', a character who is easily one of the most endearing companion's in the game due to her adorable innocence; 'Courtney Hope' for her turn as Jesse Faden in Remedy's supernatural adventure title 'Control', a performance notable for the intentionally weird scripting that specifically hearkens back to the uncomfortable surreal attitude of 'Twin Peaks'; 'Laura Bailey' for her performance as Kait Diaz in Gears of War 5, a character who was at the centre of a incredibly depicted breakdown masterfully bought to life by one of the queens of the craft; 'Mads Mikkelsen' as Cliff from 'Death Standing', a performance with unbelievable nuance from what I've seen, bought to life thanks to Kojima Production's capable motion capture technology; 'Mathew Porretta' for his role as 'Dr. Casper Darling' in 'Control', which is another weird role from the unsettling game; and, of course, 'Norman Reedus' as Sam Porter Bridges in 'Death Stranding', which is just as physical a performance as Mads'.

I'm no adept actor myself, so when it comes to the skillfulness of certain performances, I'm afraid that I am quite under-informed. I just know what I like and appreciate the sorts of performances that make me stop and want to know more, regardless of who the character themselves are. Therefore I would have to immediately rule out the two characters from 'Control' as, despite being high-quality performances, I was never left wanting more out of either of them. Laura Bailey's Kait was similarly great, but I just don't care enough about the Gears games anymore to have even finished 5, so I can't assess how good the whole performance was. (But it clearly wasn't enough to keep me around.) Burch's Pavati, on the other hand, was one of my favourite characters in The Outer Worlds and I would consider it a personal affront if she doesn't make a reappearance in the game's DLC or sequels. The performance absolutely sells that well written character. Which leaves me with the two weird performances in 'Death Stranding' which, although they seem impenetrable, grabbed me wholly from the moment I first saw them.

I guess it's no surprise, then, that I would personally choose 'Mads Mikkelsen' for this award given everything that his character, most commonly known as 'The Soldier', portrayed. Both Mads and Norman's performances transcended what the script had to offer and spoke to the audience on a visual level, something that I've always found deeply ideal for arresting performances. Mads wins it out for being just that little bit more intriguing, as he always seems to be in every role that actor has ever done. That being said, I will admit that this category is a tad unfair, given that none of the other roles had the benefit of high-quality motion capture software to bring their performances to life. Although, I feel even if they had been, Death Stranding would still stand head and shoulders above the rest.

Ongoing game of the Year

I find this following category to be a tad contentious, personally, as it addresses the best 'Ongoing game'. (Which is the polite way of saying 'Games-as-a-service. And MMO's I guess.) I could talk anyone into a coma about how much I hate game-as-a-service as a model, and how it has tainted almost every game and sullied a good portion of the industry. However, there are still some examples of this genre that aren't total trash, so I guess that if an award has to go out, I might as well attempt to be objective in my judging. (At least to a feasible point, I am only human afterall.)

Despite the absolute deluge of possible candidates for this section, the show only managed to pick out 5. (betraying the low quality-barrier for this type of game.) We have 'Apex Legends', a Battle Royale from Respawn that struggled for relevancy in the early months of this years but seems to have established a footing recently; 'Destiny 2', which has just come out of the otherside of it's transition from a co-owned property to it's own independent beast, with a shiny new 'Free-to-play' badge; 'Final Fantasy XIV', which, as I've said previously, recently dished out it's 'Shadowbringers' expansion; 'Fortnite', a game that needs no introduction and recently revamped a great many systems with it's 'Chapter 2' update; and 'Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Seige', a mainstay of this category with an iron grip hold other the tactical FPS E-sports scene.

Out of these games I have trouble picking out a standout as most all of them has committed to a big change too recently for to assess their ramifications. 'Apex legends'  and 'Seige' are both titles that have undergone significant issues lately and have handled them in less-than-graceful manners. 'Apex' tried to pull off a terrible pricing structure and the team threw a tantrum when they were called up on it and 'Seige' has been besieged (I award myself Inspiration) by overbearing cheating issues of late, which the team merely ignored in favour of getting the next big update out. Destiny 2 has just started the road into 'free-to-play' so I can't say how successful it has been, but 'Fortnite' has at least unveiled that it is willing and able to make sweeping changes to it's gameplay through 'Chapter 2'.

There is one standout from this list and that is one which just about wins out over all the other choices on this list. 'Final Fantasy XIV' and it's expansion 'Shadowbringers' is a huge gold standard across the industry for how to execute an expansion in a MMO environment. (Which is essentially the world/formula that these games-as-a-service seek to usurp.) Every other game on this list has a huge 'but' attached to the game, except for 'FF XIV', which makes this choice incredibly easy to make. (Except, I guess, for Fortnite, but they already won last year's award in this category, I don't want no repeats.)

Best Narrative of the Year

Onward as always, and we shall find ourself before the category preserved for those long-suffering fellows in the writing room: Narrative. I've found that in the recent years, as gameplay has ceased being so much of a guessing-game and has instead been whittled down into a fine art,  Narrative has begun to take front stage as one of the most important factors of any game to take into account. What the story entails and how it will play out is the glue that keeps a great deal of the experience together, afterall, and storytelling is an art worth praising in whatever medium we find it. (Also, given my hobbies, this particular award is very near and dear to my heart.)

Our choices here are actually full of titles we have already mentioned and one new entry. We have 'A Plague Tale: Innocence', a medieval fictionalization of the ravishings of the french rat plague; 'Control', a SCP-esque tale about a organization that specializes in identifying and containing supernatural phenomenon; 'Death Stranding', a visceral sci-fi tale about...  just so much; 'Disco Elysium' a RPG police investigation tale that I still don't know too much about; and 'The Outer Worlds', a satiristic tale about a space system locked in a cooperate hellscape.

There isn't a single notable 'dud' in this whole list, which has made it a little intimidating to shift through, truth be told. 'Death Stranding' for example, is a hard game to come to terms with even with the episodic structure breaking up exposition dumps for the player. 'Control' is very surreal in that patented 'Remedy' fashion and 'Plague Tale' tells a lot it's story in the second half through visual cues and gameplay sections. (And, again, I still haven't experienced 'Disco Elysium.) I will say that, whilst I did enjoy 'The Outer Worlds', I was personally a little disappointed with how neatly the narrative wrapped up, but that's more of a discussion for a dedicated blog at this point.

I really did struggle with this deliberation but ultimately I landed with the under-appreciated 'Control', through process of elimination. 'The Outer Worlds' didn't quite do it for me with it's ending and 'Plague Tale' was atmospheric but the narrative didn't invest me as much as the setting and gameplay did.  'Death Stranding' is the only real competition in this department, but I had to deduct points in the way that the narrative seems hindered and broken up by bouts of dull gameplay. Bouts that were, ultimately, just long enough to take you out of the experience. Although I'm still infinitely fascinated with the story, I just felt that 'Control' executed it's story with more finesse and grace.

Multiplayer Game of the Year

These categories might start hitting you with a sense of Deja Vu as we move into the next area of consideration: Multiplayer game of the Year. This is a category that is feasibly vast enough to cover anything as from a co-op experience to a full blown Multiplayer blow out, the only distinction between this game and 'Ongoing game of the year' is the length to which support is established. (Although considering the one common game that both this lists have, I suppose that distinction also takes 'IOU's into account.) Personally, I think this is the type of category that needs rolling into 'ongoing games' for no other reason then that every Multiplayer game dreams of being a 'game-as-a-serivce' nowadays, making one of these categories functionally redundant.

Once more, we only have 5 choices to choose from, despite the endless supply of potential nominees that could have been picked. Firstly there is 'Apex Legends', here once again to take a swing at the prized positions; 'Borderlands 3', a game which is being groomed to take after it's long-supported predecessor in terms of post-launch content; (I believe their first DLC has just launched, or is about to.) 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare', the title that practically has a reservation for this particular section of The Games Awards; 'Tetris 99', Nintendo's honest-to-goodness attempt to publish a Tetris-based Battle Royale game; (You can't make this stuff up) and 'Tom Clancy's The Division 2', which I'm just realizing wasn't nominated for 'Ongoing game' and am now genuinely confused.

With the exception of maybe 'Tetris 99', all of these titles have made grand promises of their desire to be long lasting games that stand the test of time. (Even though in 'Call of Duty's case we know that they consider 12 months to be testing enough.) 'Borderlands 3' met with considerable praise for it's Online play, although balancing between some classes is known to be an issue. (Not sure if that's implicitly a 'Multiplayer' concern) and 'Apex Legends' certainly received a lot of positive support before they flushed it down the drain with their greedy business practises. 'The Division 2' is the game that has me most puzzled, however, as it has failed to strike the same player numbers despite a plethora of good reviews and people swearing that the game is better than the first. (seems that game really needs a win.)

It'll have to look elsewhere, however, as my award for 'Best Multiplayer game' goes to 'Borderlands 3' who takes the top spot with little competition. 'Apex Legends' is still in the dog house for me, and will likely stay there for a while, whilst 'Call of Duty' just failed to wow audiences in one of the key areas of development; maps. Tetris 99 feels more like a gimmick than a game, who's existence I literally forgot about until seeing it on this list and The Divison 2 just plain isn't my sort of game. (Not one for the whole 'semi-realistic military looter-shooter' genre.) 'Borderlands 3', on the otherhand, was just an incredibly solid game which improved all that it needed too and bought customization where it wasn't necessary. Out of all the games on this list, that is the only one I would encourage others to pick up.

Mobile Game of the Year

This next section is one that, try as I might, I cannot bring myself to truly care about: and that of course is 'Mobile games'. Historically, these are the titles that are most likely to be soulless cash grabs built with the sole intention of demoralizing the player to the point where they will wordlessly surrender their cash in a bid to make the pain stop. Of course, the games that made it to the 'nomination' section for The Game Awards are of the minority of games that really are imaginative and worth your time, but mere association sucks out any potential passion and means that I am unfamiliar with every title in this section.

In this section we have 'Call of Duty: Mobile', a surprisingly faithful recreation of Call of Duty, albeit with much worse monetisation; 'Grindstone', a colourful looking game which, try as I might, I have been unable to understand. It's a puzzle game I guess. 'Sayonara Wild Hearts', which is a weird pseudo-rhythm game that apparently starts with a voice over read by Queen Latifa; (Okay) 'Sky: Children of Light', which is a 'social-game' that seems to have stolen it's aesthetic from 'Journey'; and 'What the Golf?', Which is a physics based golf game. No need for any real deliberation here, as I don't care for most of these games: I pick 'Sayonara Wild Hearts' because it seems cool. Not my kind of music but, hey.

Indie Game of the Year

From there we get a more interesting collection of games to pick through in the 'Independant' section, wherein we get to thumb through the indie games of the year. This is a section that is typically home to some of the most imaginative titles of the year due to the fact that the developers are encouraged to nurture their creativity in order to stand out from the crowd. (Plus there are no producers attempting to shape the final product into something more 'commercially viable'.) Indie games are the life blood of the industry and I'm always happy to see more of them get represented on the big gaming stage.(Good on you, Geoff.) Now if only these games could get a bigger stage at E3, then we would be getting somewhere as an industry.

Out of the vast array of Indie games that have released thus far this year, we have nominations for 'Baba is you', a delightful puzzle game based around the specifics of programming syntax; 'Disco Elysium'. Okay I'll play it, Game Awards, get off my damn back! 'Katana Zero', an beautiful neo-noir hyper-violent platformer; 'Outer Wilds', an ostensibly mellow space exploration game with a prominent time-loop twist to the whole affair; and 'Untitled Goose game', a YouTube-darling game that capitalizes off the same silly fun as 'Goat Simulator'. (Just with much better controls.)

These are some truly varied titles on offer in this list, as it generally tends to be with the indie selection; but even the more traditional titles, like 'Katana Zero' and 'Outer Wilds', have unique presentations and quirks that make them stand out over something that you might find through the typical channels. 'Baba is you' has to be one of the most intuitive puzzlers ever, due to the way that is bases it's premise purely on logic based equations and 'Untitled Goose game' is fun enough to grab your attention for an hour or two I guess. (Maybe it makes me the literal embodiment of Ebeneezer Scrooge to admit, but I never saw the appeal of games like that.)

Given the very different array of potential choices for this section it was a struggle to pick a winner. Although I know that the game I like most from this list is 'Katana Zero' (It taps into that same sort of anarchic desire that 'Ruiner' does.) I'd have to ultimately choose 'Outer Wilds'. It managed to take a very cliche concept, being stuck in a hour long time loop, and stretch it out into a full game's worth of exploration that somehow didn't grow incredibly stale by the end. Even as you get closer to slowly understanding the mysteries of the universe, you're drawn in to explore further by a fun looping mechanic that makes trail and error fun. (At least that's my choice until I get around to playing 'Disco Elysium.' Then, who knows?)

Games for Impact

This next section of games is one that I historically have a distaste for; 'Game for Impact'. It is meant to denote games that are fueled by emotion consequence and are designed for the soul purpose of hitting you square in the feels. Unfortunately, I am an emotionless, unempathetic, shrew of a human being and so such games have little to no effect on me. Consequently, I just get a little grumpy when this section comes up and I'm besieged by games that folk keep saying are the most emotional experiences that they've been through. "Oh really? Wish I knew what that felt like." (Maybe I just haven't played the right game yet, I dunno.)

Here we have a selection of fun titles including 'Concrete Genie', a VR game about spray tagging images that then come to life in a manner that invokes the spirit of 'Little Big Planet' for me; 'Gris', an abstract, yet beautiful, platformer that centers itself around the concept of 'voice'; 'Kind Words', a game about writing nice letters to real people whilst listening to lo-fi music. A task that I seem viscerally unsuitable for; 'Life is Strange 2', A story about two brothers on the road with supernatural powers thrown in; (I hope this one actually has a conclusion) and 'Sea of solitude' an adventure game based around the theme of loneliness and how it turns people into monsters, literally. (Kinda feeling personally attacked here, not gonna lie.)

I find it hard to judge these games based on raw emotional impact (for the reasons that I just explained) so I'm have to approach them with a look at intent. (Which will also be difficult given that I've literally played none of these games, they're just not my bag.) With that in mind, Concrete Genie seems more like a cool concept than it does an impactful experience, and 'Gris' seems a little too abstract to hit an emotional home run. 'Kind Words' seems conceptually asinine but I can see a certain type of person getting a kick out of it, and 'Sea of Solitude' seems hyper focused enough on its concept to deliver a concise message in a stylistically cool way. 'Life is Strange 2' is the only one that I would have to actually experience in order to decide, as I've seen 'Don't Nod' pull off effective emotional moments and hollow ones. I did play the prequel for 'Life is Strange 2', 'Captain Cosmos', and saw that they focused more on harsh realities to reach the player than abstract imagery, providing they kept that up I could see the main game proving impactful.

However, I would still end up picking 'Sea of Solitude', purely because I believe that the concept lasts beyond it message and translates into a powerful gameplay experience. One could say the same about 'Kind Words' but I'm too hate-filled to share that particular view. Plus I feel that the visual flair of 'Sea of Solitude' is haunting and effective enough to really hammer home the themes. Some might argue that they hit the nail too hard on the head, in fact, but I always prefer a message established over one lazily dropped a few moments before the credits. (not pointing any fingers, 'Don't Nod'.)

Best Game Direction of the Year

Hence forth we move onto one of my favourite categories 'Game Direction'. Defined as those that are recognized for their 'outstanding vision and innovation in game direction and design'. Honestly, I feel as those this is a section that fills up with more flavour each and every year as gaming becomes more evocative and interesting. Hardware is steadily approaching the point where the barrier between imagination and what can be made is steadily shrinking, and with the ever expanding roster of game players, its becoming commercial viable to be innovative and unique. In fact, this year things have even gotten to the point where I genuinely wonder for next year's selection. (Can they top the sorts of powerhouses that we are seeing here today? I'm not so sure.)

This year the list of candidate read 'Control', a game that makes use of a robust physics engine in order to flesh out it's combat, navigation and puzzle solving; 'Death Stranding', a game which challenges what can be considered gameplay by making players transport cargo for 40 hours; 'Resident Evil 2', the remake which resurrected one of the greatest horror games in history in manner that was incredible and unique; 'Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice', a souls game which completely shifted the balance of combat for the 'series' from patience to unrelenting speed and 'Outer Wilds', which boasted a time bending exploration premise that I've already described once. (Oh god, the time loop is happening!)

I've focused on the mechanical side of this category, picking out those fundamental mechanics that really stand out about each game. That means looking at the way that 'Control' allows the player to manipulate physics as they grow stronger (almost feeling like a direct evolution upon 'Half-Life 2') or how 'Outer Wilds' time mechanics make repetition into an actual game mechanic. 'Sekiro' boasts more mobility and speed then any other Souls games, whilst still retaining the unforgettable style whilst 'Death Stranding' finds a way to turn fetch-quests into a driving force for a story, turning the old adage 'it's about the journey not the destination' into a design philosophy. Out of this selection, only 'Resident Evil 2' doesn't innovate in a note worthy way. What that game does do it school anyone who thinks they can do a remake by achieving it's task in a way that doesn't ape the original but surpasses it.

At the end of the day, however, this section is made for those games bold enough to take a risk and execute it fearlessly. Therefore there is no candidate more suited for this award than 'Death Stranding'. Despite feeling so similar to games that we've seen before (especially Kojima's own 'Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain') 'Death Stranding' spirals out dramatically into new and unexpected territory. We're talking about a game direction so bold that most folk still aren't sure if they like this game, but isn't that what this section is all about? I say it is, so 'Death Stranding' gets the award.

Fresh Indie Game (of the Year?)

This next section is a little bit misleading. We have 'Fresh Indie game' (Sponsored by Subway) and it's actually not about specific games. The official site claims that this award is actually 'recognizing a new independent studio that released its first game in 2019' but I have reason to believe there's actually more to it than that. Whatever the case, this is another way in which Geoff wants to recognize the talents of those brave enough to go Indie and I can respect this category for that fact alone. (Even if I'm mildly doubtful of the description.)

Perhaps you'll see what I mean as I go through the candidates themselves. We have 'ZA / UM' makers of 'Disco Elysium', I get the message guys, the game is great; 'Nomada Studio', the folk behind 'Gris', the pretty platformer from earlier; 'Deadtoast Entertainment' for their weird body-physic shooter 'My friend Pedro'; 'Outer Wilds' developer 'Mobius Digital'; 'Mega Crit' for 'Slay the Spire', a card based rogue-like with a sketchy aesthetic and 'House House', the team behind 'Untitled goose game'. (Glad that one got another mention.)

This section first began confusing me when I saw 'Mega Crit', seeing as how 'Slay the Spire' was released back in 2017. (Perhaps this the year was release 1.0, I dunno.) Then there was 'House House' who made 'Push me Pull you' back in 2016. (Maybe they only officially filed as a company after that game?) Whatever the case I have no idea what the criteria is for these category, or what the company itself has to do in order to achieve distinctions in their department. I assume it's based on the quality of the game, but I genuinely have no clue.

With all that confusion, I suppose I'll just pick 'Mega Crit' because I absolutely love 'Slay the Spire' and feel that more people should know about it and play it. It feels like I judging them by the wrong criteria, but I haven't followed the development of these games closely enough to identify which company seems the most productive, so I'll just have to sight read this category. (Quick note to The Awards guys,  the next time you let Subway sponsor one of your sections at least ensure everything is communicated appropriately.)

Fighting Game of the Year

Onwards we move to a category that I've already bought up once before, in my last blog on the Game Awards, 'Fighting Games'. These are the types of games that pride themselves on their mastery of everything basic in terms of control fidelity, as that is the most important aspect of any fighter. I know that feels like an odd aspect of fighting games to hone in on, but it the aspect that I respect the most. With all the attention that is typically paid to big spectacle and set-pieces, other genres often forget about the basics like tight controls. "'Modern Warfare's TTK is a little too long? They'll fix it next game." But fighting games have never had that luxury, due to their deeply competitive nature, leading to a more assured atmosphere of quality in that genre.

That does also mean that we don't see as many fighting games these days as we did back when we had no standards. Point in case, there are only 5 games on the slate this year. We have 'Dead or Alive 6', the Ninja and Kunoichi packed fighter with a frightening obsession with cosmetic DLC; 'Jump Force', an attempt to crossover various Anime characters who have featured in Shueisha's 'Weekly Shōnen Jump' anthology in celebration of the manga's 50th anniversary; (Emphasis on 'attempt) 'Mortal Kombat 11', A grand point in the Mortal Kombat series wherein Nether Realm married the best elements of their other fighting franchise 'Injustice' with the ultra-violence of MK; 'Samurai Shodown', a revival of long dormant fighting franchise that features an unhealthy number of dai-katanas; and 'Super Smash Bros. Ultimate', Nintendo's premiere fighting game that boasts the largest crossover roster in the franchise's history.

At least four of these games are decent enough with 'Jump Force' being a total abhorrent mess that doesn't deserve to share the stage with other games. 'Dead or Alive 6' is a bit greedy with it's monetisation, but the core gameplay is apparently just as tight as ever, which is a compliment many award to 'Mortal Kombat 11' as well. (With many adding that the new 'specials' mechanics changes the dynamic in a positive way.) Samurai Shodown got some positive looks for a revival too, but nothing really compares to the reception enjoyed by 'Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.'

If I didn't make it obvious last blog, there is no way that 'Smash Bros.' doesn't win this award for value for money if nothing else. Those other fighters may all have pro and cons of their own, (I happen to think that MK11 is good enough to pose a good second in this category) but 'Smash Bros. Ultimate' pushes all of the nitpicking aside. This is game that has more variety in fighter play styles, content in maps, progression in spirits, and scope to improve with an ever expanding roster that has no end in sight. The only way it concedes is in Storyline, but no one plays fighting games for the story anyway. Let's be frank.

Family Game of the Year

Now we have the Nintendo category- I mean 'family game of the year.' Although it might as well be directed at Nintendo as every title present has been published under their banner. I suppose it speaks to the shifting priorities of gamers that companies feel less need to market to the family demographic in general and more to niche demographics. (Or as 'niche' as games like 'Call of Duty' actually are.) So perhaps this leaves 'Nintendo' as the only remaining dedicated family developer, but I don't mind that outcome too much as they were the only company put out good family games anyway.

The section is entirely dominated by the big-N with titles like 'Luigi's Mansion 3', which is a bit of a misnomer given the fact that this entry actually takes place inside of a haunted hotel; 'Ring Fit Adventure' which seems to be more of an exercise game, but lets not split hairs just yet; 'Super Mario Maker 2' which pretty much invalidates the need for Nintendo to make another main-line Mario game for as long as they exist; 'Super Smash Bros. Ultimate', again the year's best fighter gets a look in from the awards; and 'Yoshi's Crafted World', which I'm told features absolutely excellent multi player.

I think the key for a good 'family' title is one that can be shared amongst folk who aren't dedicated gamers, which calls for the game in question to be intuitive and not too difficult. Unfortunately, that would disqualify 'Super Smash Bros.' as that is a skill based affair that gets so competitive that familial relations are sure to be ruined and Luigi's Mansions 3, for the plain fact that it's co-op absolutely sucks. Ring Fit Adventure doesn't seem like a recreational game leaving only the Yoshi game and Super Mario Maker to duke it out for the top spot.

Of those two, I feel that 'Super Mario Maker 2' has more legs amidst the family due to the potential for endless content as well as the support from Nintendo. (The game got a huge content update just yesterday.) It's a title that can be picked up by just about anyone and enjoyed by a large variety of demographics due to the universal appeal of Mario. Truly, Nintendo put themselves out of business with Mario Maker.

Esports stuff

The next few sections are all dedicated to that most dull of gaming topics, Esports, and so it's safe to say that I don't care enough to look up any of the candidates on show. Esports is an important part of gaming culture, I won't deny that, but just like football culture, I just couldn't care less for it. If you look at the sort of pretentious arrogance it draws out of people, (Looking at that tweet from Ninja in particular) you might conclude, as I have, that's its just a part of the gaming discussion that I just don't want any part in. Therefore, allow me to commence my quick-fire round.

For Esports teams I pick the Overwatch League guys, San Fransciso Shock, because that's a game I understand. For Esports player I pick Fortnite's Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf, because he's the only one with a face I don't want to punch. For Esports host I choose Paul "Redeye" Chaloner, because he looks like sad and I want to cheer him up. For Esports game I choose Fortnite, because I think I heard about some kid winning $500,000 on it and that seems note worthy. For Esports Event I pick Overwatch League Grand Finals because, judging from the pictures, it's the only event that didn't rely on 'blue' as their primary ambient colour. (Seriously, what's up with that?) For Esports coach I pick Kim 'KKoma' Jeong-gyun, because he has the kind of face that I would listen to if it told me to do something. And for Content Creator of the year I choose Shroud because Pewdiepie isn't there. (Pewdiepie helped usher in the second coming of Minecraft, how is that not a positive impact?)

Best Community Support of the Year

Back to the actual sections that matter, we have 'community support' which is a topic that I'll happily call: potentially contentious. The site defines this as a game that offers "outstanding community support, transparency and responsiveness" , Which I'm fairly sure counts out 90% of active games and gaming companies today. (I wonder how Bethesda never made it on these lists...) Evidence in this regard can be purely anecdotal, so I prefer to take a wider look at the entire vibe surrounding a game to get a clearer idea of the sort of community 'responsivess' and whatnot.

For this particular selection of games, we actually have the usual suspects to shift through. I'm talking 'Apex Legends', A title infamous for trying to overcharge their customers twice and getting caught out both times; (and the aforementioned temper tantrum) 'Destiny 2', for which Bungie have actually worked overtime in order to rebuild their tattered reputation; 'Final Fantasy XIV' for which I've heard nothing in the way of customer support; (Which I guess is good. No complaints right?) 'Fortnite', which the Epic team tends to keep on top of, seeing as how that game is their big money maker; and 'Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Seige', which is the game that let it's competitive scene devole into a cheating mess while they worked on their next big content drop.

Obviously I have a few biases in this regard, but seeing as how I am a consumer I feel that my residual impressions on my treatment is actually fairly relevant to the topic at hand. Afterall, the insulting way in which Respawn treated it's fans drove me away from 'Apex Legends' for good. (I was just getting the hang of it too.) And 'Seige's cheating pandemic drove a lot of hardcore players away from stories that I've heard. Of course, any large scale video game is bound to have some 'customer support' horror stories, but it's the large scale faux pas that I think are really worth paying attention too. (Honestly, I have no idea why 'Apex Legends' was even nominated.)

I think that I'll award this own to Bungie's 'Destiny 2', just because I've seen the great effort that they've put into fostering their community back up and that's something I feel should be an example to more studios. Fortnite is so big that 'customer support' feels like they're working purely to shut you up and, again, I've heard significantly little regarding FF14's policies so I'm unclear as to why they were ever nominated. This entire category feels like an afterthought.

Best Audio Design of the Year

Next we have those games that are being recognized for their audio design of all things. This is for those games that excel in all those loud effects and noises that make up the vast majority of your download space everytime you buy a new game. I suppose the criteria for proving oneself in this genre stems from the quality of the sound as well as the appropriate implementation, basic stuff from a design standpoint but infinitely effective when performed correctly. These are the kinds of details that often go largely unnoticed the grand scheme of things, but work in the background to make up the full breadth of video game atmosphere.

Once again we have a varied list of games starting with 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare', a title which popularized uncompressing sound files to improve clarity and balloon download sizes; 'Control', which utilized a large variety of cool sound warping techniques in some the more unique situations; 'Death Stranding', which had some equally weird and wonderful sounds at times; 'Gears of War 5', a game that seems ready to challenge COD for the loud gun-sounds monopoly; 'Resident Evil 2', which is a master class on horror game sound design and 'Sekiro: Shadows die Twice', which is actually closer in it's approach to sound to Resident Evil than it is to it's action-game peers.

This is a category for which I wanted to ignore the aspects of 'quality' sound design, as they are all quality and I don't feel that qualifier is sufficient, and head towards creative sound design. That would immediately knock off 'CoD' and 'Gears 5' as both those games are rather conventional with their sounds and prop up titles like 'Control' that get weird with their sounds. 'Sekiro' and 'Resident Evil 2' know the importance of silence, however, and that does have the knock on effect of amplifying all your subtle sound effects and cues. 'Death Stranding', on the other hand, doesn't weaponise it's sound design quite as well, so I'll discount that too.

Ultimately, I'm left with awarding this choice to 'Resident Evil 2', as I would have to, given that the game bases half of it's tension around what you can hear. (Due to how quiet some the locations can get.) 'Sekiro' lacks the sharp bite (no pun intended) of a fully fledged horror experience, and honestly I'm not sure how any non-horror came can excel in this field. Leave it to the professions in this regard, they know just how to scare your socks off with the sound of a breaking window or the steady rhythmic thud of heavy approaching boots.

Best Art Direction of the Year

Finally we come to 'Art Direction' (as sponsored by Samsung QLED) and find that many of the candidates are titles that we've already seen. It seems that one cannot nail a praise worthy art design without simultaneously excelling in other areas, or at least that's what the Game Awards are telling me. Oddly, this section doesn't seem dominated by beautifully evocative games, but rather spread between conventional art direction and more abstract interpretations. (Geoff probably wanted to give the triple AAA's a fighting chance.)

Titles in this category are very different from one another, starting with 'Control', which has some truly stunning visuals as you reach the later and more surreal stages in the game; 'Death Stranding', which has so many weird visuals that folk still don't know what to be most creeped out by; 'Gris' which I previously criticized for it's weak message but have consistently praised for it's soft art style; 'Sayonara Wild Hearts' which seems purpose built to dazzle art students; 'Sekiro: Shadows die Twice', which mixes conventional fidelity with creative imagination in the trademark 'From Software' way; and the gorgeous 'The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening' remake, which gave everything this adorable child-like plastic varnish.

Once again, objectivity goes out of the window for this category as it ultimately all comes down to taste. (What art style do you like most.) Perhaps you're more in the wheelhouse of those who like fundamentally artsy looking projects, like 'Gris', or maybe you want something that ostensibly appears normal and recognizable but has the potential to become surreal and strange, like 'Control'. Then there are those that merely boast an appealing visual design that never gets tiring to look at, like 'Link's Awakening'. It all comes down to taste.

Which is why, ultimately, I award this accolade to 'The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening'. Even back in it's gameboy glory this was a sweet game to look at with it's top-down 2D sprite characters, but this 2.5D makeover was just too much for my little heart to handle. I suppose my adoration comes from the way that the game updates itself so considerably whilst retaining the simple charm of the original. It's like Nintendo intentional sought to make the game look as gorgeous as the original does in your memory. And if so: mission accomplished.

Action/Adventure Game of the Year

All that is left now are the three biggest awards with the most competitive candidates, starting with 'action/adventure game of the year'. This is the award that goes to those action games that combine combat, traversal and puzzle solving in order create a full product. In other words, this is the category that 'Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order' would have been in if it had made it shelves before that cut off date. Here we can see that the, ever popular, action adventure genre is not only alive and kicking, but thriving with a selection of high quality titles.

This is sure to prove a tough decision for anyone to pick through with games like 'Borderlands 3', the return of the 'looter-shooter' that puts all the modern day pretenders to shame; 'Control', which evolves 'Remedy's Alan Wake formula into a Metroidvania-style adventure game; 'Death Stranding'; wherein traversal is actually one of the key hazards for the player to overcome; 'Resident Evil 2', a game series which practically birthed the puzzle solving survival horror genre; (blah blah, Alone in the Dark, yeah I know.) 'The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening', an action adventure series that went back to it's routes in the most updated fashion possible; and 'Sekiro: Shadow's Die Twice', another spectacular Souls game exploring a beautiful pseudo-Bushido world.

Action adventure games are all about the balance between all the key factors that make the genre work, and all of these games achieve that in spades. 'Sekiro' and 'Control' nail the puzzle solving and traversal elements with consideration whilst 'Resident Evil' and 'Link's Awakening' are all over the combat with puzzles approach. 'Borderlands 3' might focus the majority of it's innovations on it's combat mechanics, but it still a quality game that puts up a strong fight in this line-up. What I'm trying to say is, this is another really difficult decision to make.

However I think this title should end up with 'Sekiro: Shadow's Die Twice' for the way that it embodies all the key elements of the Action adventure genre with a precision and balance. The Combat, traversal and puzzles are not just incidental elements of what makes up 'Seikro' but key aspects of the gameplay experience that are treated with appropriate respect by 'From Software'. Perhaps this type of game would not have been the ideal face of 'action adventure' 20 years ago due to it's punishing difficulty, but today it shines brightly as a modern example of an adventure title realized fully.

Action Game of the Year

So that just leaves us with the completely separate and distinct category of 'Action games'. Hey wait... The Game awards defines this genre as games that excel and are primarily focused on combat, so forgetting about all of that filler in between. This is for all those games that distill the gameplay experience down to the most adrenaline pumping and then smooth the gameplay so that they player is never drawn out of the moment. This is the genre that is the hope of hack-n-slash Devs like Platinum games, as well as pure shooter FPS'.

Therefore it shouldn't surprise anyone that we're looking at a line up which includes 'Apex Legends', the little Battle Royale that refuses to give up; 'Astral Chain', Platinum games' Switch exclusive sci-fi Anime policing simulator, which is just as bonkers as all those descriptors would imply; 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare'; which impressed most with it's return to 'boots on the ground' combat, even if some of the particulars don't shine as well as they once did; 'Devil May Cry 5', in which Dante the demon hunter returns to a truly cinematic and set-piece ridden remix of the traditional DMC formula; 'Gears of War 5', which prolongs this franchise that honestly ended after the third game; and 'Metro: Exodus', which successfully transported the incredibly tense and stressful Metro experience into an actual open world setting. (But with no puzzle solving so it's still just action.)

With these games it is a lot easier to pick out the best-of-the-best as it comes down to something as simple as how good the combat feels and how close that feeling is to perfection. The only wrinkle now comes from comparing a game with melee combat to one with ballistic combat. 'Call of Duty' managed to get their TTK wrong and had a weaker map rotation than previous titles, knocking it out of the race, and 'Gears of War 5' may be tight from a control stand point, but the series has always lacked the variety to be competitive in a environment like this. 'DMC 5' is an absolute triumph of it's formula, however, as is 'Metro Exodus' and, I'm told, 'Astral Chain'.

My decision for best Action game ultimately goes to 'Metro: Exodus', however, for it's ability to marry that great combat with a great narrative and solid open world gameplay. That's the sort of the game that ended up going above and beyond and thus excelled above it's peers. That being said, those that prefer a hack-n-slash game could certainly be forgiven for choosing DMC, given that the combat it exhibits is some of the best in the franchise. But, once again, this is my list so i play by my rules; 'Metro' takes the prize.

Ultimate Game of the Year

At long last we have reached the grand finale, the one award that trumps all others and is the signature event of the Games Awards. We have reached 'Ultimate game of the year'. This is the award that goes to the game which excels in every single department possible to achieve the best overall experience. That means, even though it may not be the best example of it's specific genre, it is the best example of what a game is and can be. These are the kinds of games that one will inevitably compare future releases to down the road, as it stands as a shining example of quality for all to aspire to. It is a mere honour to be nominated for such a reward, but to win it is to be told your game is an example to the art form.

Here the games in the list are well known, but for prosperity's sake I shall announce them anyway. We have Remedy's 'Control', a supernatural thriller about a young woman delving into a secret government facility in search of her brother; Kojima Production's 'Death Stranding', an implacable sci-fi tale about a man traversing and reconnecting over a post-apocalyptic America; Capcom's 'Resident Evil 2' a horror remake following rookie cop Leon and college student Claire as they struggle to survive a city wide zombie outbreak; 'Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice', a somber tale about a rugged Shinobi on a quest to rescue his kidnapped lord and avenge his stolen arm; 'Super Smash Bros. Ultimate', which is a fighting game cross-over event with the largest official roster in fighting game history; And 'The Outer Worlds', a deeply satirical tale about the Halycon Colony trying to survive the rule of the Halycon Holdings Board.

Each one of these nominees is a masterpiece in it's own right, boasting particular facets and systems that it does better than the others. 'Sekiro' and 'Super Smash Bros.' both have fantastic combat, but in a completely different fashion to one another. 'The Outer Worlds' and 'Control' both have great senses of humor, but they express it in different methods. And 'Resident Evil 2' and 'Death Stranding' both have a masterful comprehension of atmosphere, even if they manipulate it to different ends. All of these similarities wrought with differences makes it nigh-on impossible to whittle down a winner through means of elimination, so it would have to come down to the game which excels in the most categories.

Ultimately I went with the one game that proved capable of transcending it's primary genre to satisfy desires typically satiated by other types of games. The nominee that consistently impressed with it's fidelity, control, atmosphere, gameplay, narrative and tone. The candidate proved fun enough to have audiences come back for repeat playthroughs, something that is rare in this 'instant gratification' world wherein we are usually discard the things we're done with. I picked 'Resdient Evil 2' as my choice for Ultimate game of the Year, and don't think that any other game is truly worthy of that title, given everything I've gone over.

So there it is, in exhaustive detail, my list of predictions for who I believe should win each and every award in the upcoming Game Awards show. It should be fun to go other the picks that I got right and the one which the show got wrong. (I'll be paying extra special attention to the Esports sections, I put real effort into them.) Although at the end of the day the awards themselves are irrelevant and this whole event is really about celebrating the art of video games on the world stage. Does that make my embarrassingly long blog post about award predictions moot? I don't think so. Guess it depends on how you look at it.