We’re 5 months into 2016 and already the Game of The Year contenders are here in full effect. There’s "Dark Souls 3," "Uncharted 4," "Overwatch," and "The Division" (though that’s debatable). Now I’m not big on game of the year contenders or winners as long as I get good content in my games, but one must be aware of these things as a gamer. Metacritic is one of the top sources for GOTY and I agree with their last 5 GOTY awards ("Metal Gear Solid V," "Super Smash Bros. Wii U," "GTA V," "The Walking Dead," "Batman: Arkham City"), so I’m interested to see if this year’s GOTY will be a big name game or an indie production.
Solely based on what has been released at this point in 2016 here are the possible contenders and their reasons for being GOTY.
"Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End"
The fourth and final installment in the series Uncharted 4 has been plagued with some issues since its announcement, but on May 10 it finally came to fruition for the masses. The adventure game follows Nathan Drake on his final adventure (unsure if that means death) after his brother, Sam, comes back into his life. The game is visually astounding and the story is expected to be a worthy finish to the series. The last time Uncharted won GOTY was in 2009 with Uncharted 2. Uncharted 4 is sitting at 93 on Metacritc and is available for PS4.
"Overwatch"
Blizzard’s newest project "Overwatch" has yet to be released and is still garnering a bunch of GOTY buzz. It held an open beta test to work out bugs and over its 5 day span amassed 9.7 million players which is way more than the Destiny beta or The Division beta (4.6 million and 6.4 million). I played the beta test and enjoyed every second of it. This game is destined to be on the pro circuit and boasts a character roster of 21 characters. The beta had four game modes (escort, control, assault, and assault/control). Set to release May 24 "Overwatch" does not have a rating on Metacritic but that doesn’t mean it’s out of the running for GOTY or at least best First-Person Shooter.
"Dark Souls 3"
The RPG that made death a severe (and frequent) penalty is back with the third and final installment. "Dark Souls 3" is back and this time players must stop the Age of Fire from dying out, bringing about the Age of Dark, by defeating the Lords of Cinder and return their essence to their thrones to keep the flames alive. For the uninitiated (such as myself) the Age of Fire is “a period where, upon death, one rises from a bonfire and continues a long, unnatural life”. Depending on the player’s choice the game has one of four endings.
Dark Souls 3 is currently sitting at an 89 on Metacritic.
