The complete checklist of Game Awards 2024 nominees has dropped, and one launch particularly has been sparking loads of dialogue on social media and elsewhere.
Since the nominees have been revealed Monday morning, followers have been discussing whether or not Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree deserves to be on an inventory that additionally consists of Metaphor: ReFantazio, Black Delusion Wukong, Balatro, and Closing Fantasy VII Rebirth. They primarily level to it being an growth pack that may solely be accessed by finishing the major recreation, making it much less of a standalone expertise than comparable ones like The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine.
“As superb as Shadow of the Erdtree was, it getting a GOTY nom simply form of rubs me the improper means. Sure, it was expansive, nevertheless it wasn’t the first DLC for a recreation to be large. Witcher, Xenoblade, Cyberpunk, and so forth. Would’ve somewhat seen an precise recreation,” one fan wrote on Reddit in what has turn into a typical sentiment on-line. Others merely memed the determination.
Elden ring dlc in goty nominations pic.twitter.com/y47ujBGgCe
— Jonah (@NahImGhost) November 18, 2024
The Game Awards has made it clear that Shadow of the Erdtree falls inside its official choice standards. Its web site features a assertion issued at this time studying: “The Game Awards goals to acknowledge the greatest artistic and technical work annually, irrespective of the format of that content material’s launch. Enlargement packs, new recreation seasons, DLCs, remakes and remasters are eligible in all classes, if the jury deems the new artistic and technical work to be worthy of a nomination. Elements equivalent to the newness of the content material and its worth/worth needs to be considered.”
Actually, there is not any doubt that Shadow of the Erdtree is one of the greatest releases of 2024. We awarded it a ten in our overview, writing, “Erdtree’s completely jam-packed with secrets and techniques, priceless treasures, difficult boss battles, and horrific monstrosities to face off in opposition to, in addition to cool new weapons, spells, Ashes of Conflict, Spirit Ashes, talismans, and extra to mess around with and use to seek out much more novel methods to sort out its memorably brutal battles. Add on some very fascinating lore revelations, to not point out the identical spectacular visible design and stellar music that accompanies its larger-than-life bosses, and also you’ve received what’s definitely one of the greatest DLC expansions I’ve ever performed.”
It is also not gentle on content material, clocking in at a cool 51 hours for a completionist run on IGN’s sister website HowLongtoBeat. It got here in second in our neighborhood GOTY Face-Off, surpassed solely by fellow nominee Black Delusion Wukong.
“I am a bit ‘eh’ about DLCs being nominated, however SOTE is my favorite launch of the 12 months and is a really substantial gaming expertise so I am wonderful with it (not that I performed the others lol),” one fan wrote. “Clearly it could not operate as a standalone recreation in its present state, however on the different hand, everybody’s been saying that Fromsoft may have simply launched it as a sequel, it took nearly 2.5 years to make, and it price $40. It is not likely setting a lot precedent for a typical 6-12 months, 5-10 hour Fromsoft DLC to be nominated in the future. Like, they’ll nonetheless be decrease down the checklist for being too iterative or not expansive sufficient.”
WHAT CHICANERY! FOR YEARS, DLCS HAVE NEVER COUNTED, BUT NOT OUR FROMSOFT! ANYTHING FOR PRECIOUS FROMSOFT! SILENT HILL 2 BLEW EVERYONE’S EXPECTATIONS OUT OF THE WATER AND THE $40 DLC GETS TO BE A NOMINEE? WHAT A SICK JOKE! https://t.co/Lq7Z0M60cf pic.twitter.com/Xed9XdddLo
— Chris Voiceman (@ChrisVoiceman) November 18, 2024
Nonetheless, some stay skeptical, calling for The Game Awards so as to add a “Greatest Enlargement” class to account for extremely rated releases like Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. A lot of others really feel that different well-received releases equivalent to Animal Effectively have been snubbed to make room for Shadow of the Erdtree.
A technique or one other, Shadow of the Erdtree figures to take dwelling some {hardware} when The Game Awards streams on December 12. Along with Game of the Yr, it was additionally nominated for Greatest Game Route, Greatest Artwork Route, and Greatest RPG. Astro Bot and Closing Fantasy VII Rebirth led the with seven nominations apiece.
Keep tuned for tons extra GOTY protection as 2024 involves an in depth, and ensure to take a look at our checklist of the greatest video video games of 2024 to date.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s Information Director in addition to co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Ship her a DM at @the_katbot.