Rebirth is a good game but the story takes a shit in the final act and it is a bloated game. Stellar Blade is the best original thing Sony has put out in years. I didn't mention Infinite Wealth as TBH it's a weak game. I struggled to get through it and I love the Yakuza series. Granblue Relink was amazing tho and so replayable as it's not very long. Next week is Vengence and SMT while never gets its due in the West. Much better game. Rebirth is the best-numbered Final Fantasy since 2006 no doubt but better games came out this year even in that genre. TGA's are a joke anyway.

Looks like each area has a special robot that needs rescuing! I'm happy with diving back into Astro's Playroom  

By Metacritic score, very little competition.

By my own metrics, Persona 3 Reload and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door are better games.

Ooooof. That's quite an indictment on the gaming industry when 3 re-releases are considered the best of the year so far

Wait for Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance, it will be 4 re-releases in the best games of the year. ^^

But to be serious, is there any game coming this year which could prevent FFVII Rebirth from winning GOTY ? Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2 could be dope but it's not the kind of game which win GOTY...

In all fairness, they're remakes.

From a scale of most remade to least

1. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: So different it's not even close.

2. Persona 3 Reload: Quite different from the original, FES, and Portable but with some strong similarities.

3. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door - A remake more in line with The Last of Us Part I where it feels like the graphics are one of the few things remade. 

But yeah, not a lot of competition at the moment that wouldn't be a remake. Maybe what Adonis mentioned: Warhammer and Space Marine.

There's almost no chance anymore of Switch 2 launching this year, so a Switch 2 exclusive isn't going to be in the running. If a 3D Mario came out this year for Switch or Switch 2 (but again little chance of a 2024 release) that could be GOTY or close. 

As much faith as I want to have in Astro Bot to be great, I think a 90-91 Metacritic score is the upper limit and it will probably be in the low to mid 80s actually. 

We don't even know all the games that are releasing the rest of this year yet. We're only in June with the second half of the year missing a lot of release dates or unannounced games. 

Biggest currently known potential contenders that haven't released yet imo would be Astro Bot, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Black Myth: Wukong, and Metaphor: ReFantazio. That's if these games manage to be as good as they seem. Space Marine 2 looks dope, but will most likely come off as just big dumb fun to awards consideration. Which fine by me. Game looks awesome!

Rebirth would be the first traditional JRPG to win GOTY if it pulled it off. At least in modern awards ceremony times.

Things can change as more announcements and release dates start dropping over the coming weeks and the remaining release schedule for the year becomes more known. 

Lowkey a strong year for Sony in terms of first party releases.

Helldivers 2, MLB The Show, Concord, AstroBot, and Lego Horizon Adventures.

Metaphor. Astrobot. Helldrivers 2. Yes I am still advocating for Stellar Blade.

Where's the TLOU2 remaster, and Until Dawn remake love??? WHERE????????

Factor in Stellar Blade and Rise of Ronin... been quite a strong year indeed. 

Still holding out for Lost Souls Aside and Convollaria. But with Astro and Lego Horizon both hitting this year, might be better for those 2 to hit Q1 alongside the new MLB in 2025.