Astro Bot
FF7 Rebirth
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
Metaphor Refantazio
Silent Hill 2
Balatro

I wouldn't really categorize Elden Ring as having a high difficulty, but rather as difficult or easy as you want it to be.
Since you can go almost anywhere right from the start, it allows for a lot of game breaking options where you can become overpowered.

I thought TGA gave it to DS? Though i might be confusing it with most awards won.

That was Disco Elysium. DS was nominated for more categories. Jack of all trades, master of none, as the saying goes (well, it won best direction and music, which I think it's fair).

I'm even against a Remake winning, imagine a non standalone DLC.

Anyway, the DLC won't win, the Remake will win, which is also sad, less sad, as it's an actual game you don't need to have another game to play, but still sad.

Games with freedom and vast amounts of content are usually very well received, because they provide a lot to the player.

Assassin's Creed and Bethesda games even when starting being more of the same formula, dated and filled with bugs were still being heavily praised by both critics and players for a long time.

If that game is multiplatform it's also less prone to get absurd baseless hate because, well, mostly everyone can access it and there is little reason to make up reasons to pretend to hate it.

That being said, From Software reputation is pretty much pristine, ever since Demon's Souls they are on a roll of excellent games based on it's formula, the soulslike. I have not played Elden Ring yet but their reputation is very well deserved, IMO, their games do deserve it.

Actually, had they get proper controls sorted earlier that trend could have started way before the PS3, as they have been doing it since the PS1 days.

King's Field and Shadow Tower have being doing it since the 90s.

King's Field 4 being redone in their current engine could be massive, such a great game for it's time (very early PS2 days) but sadly trapped into such a bad gameplay state.

Elden Ring actually doesn't look very hard, as most From Software games are not really that hard, you just need to break the first game of its kind barrier and you start having a way easier time on them. Bloodborne is hard and Sekiro looks like is a "you'll need to click with it" which can be very hard, but the Souls games really are not. Defeated most bosses in Souls games in the first try, just need patience and observe the moveset. Some bosses are hard, yeah, but not most of them.

I find their games fun, creative and masterpieces in atmosphere and making the player discover the story/lore instead of presenting it for them, they always feel somewhat misterious, interesing and worthy of exploring.

Combat really is not top class in gaming, far from it, you can actually even cheese most games with magic and avoid the parry/block/roll combat cycle.

(Having looked into, it seems I was confusing most GotY awards won w/ TGA.)

Yeah, I feel like Eldtree will get nominated but it’s very divisive to have it nominated, so I don’t think it’ll win. 

I do think the winner will end up being odd this year because the most likely scenarios are for a platformer or part II of a remake winning. We could be surprised but that’s how I am currently seeing it go. 

I hope FF7 Rebirth wins. It was by far the greatest game of the year.

Runner ups for winning also: Elden Ring Eldtree (if nominated) and Astrobot.
I believe the list will also include: Black Myth Wukong, Dragon Age Veilguard, Dragons Dogma 2, Silent Hill 2 or Metaphor.

Seriously, as much as I liked the great Metaphor - It's clearly non GOTY material for me (very dated visuals, very fragmented, unoriginal etc.), especially comparing it with the marvel that is Rebirth. It somehow feels that FF haters found their holy grail in Metaphor... However, I believe that it will take a spot on the list because of the current hype (although it was not widely reviewed by press).

All in all, I found 2024 the most interesting year in terms of games, even if many had lower Metacritic/Opencritic scores than 2023 nominees. Lets not forget the amazing Like a Dragon, Balatro, Animal Well, Tekken 8, Unicorn Overlord, Helldrivers 2 etc.

Games like Genshin Impact and FF14 go into their own Best Ongoing game category, but DLCs can compete on GOTY? Makes literal no sense to me.

Standalone DLCs can be judged on their own, expansion DLCs are dependant of the base game and it's structure. Same for Remakes. In a world where Persona 3 did not exist Reload would easily be the GOTY this year, but that's not the case.

I have put around 700 hours per year on Genshin Impact, each year it gets a whole new country to explore that comes with new mechanics, new story (excellent on that) and a lot of new playable characters and their stories (also usually very good), so it clearly gets content every year to be GOTY worthy. In its current state it's one of the very best games out there.

It really is just silly, to say the least.

Added poll. Which game you think is gonna win? (pls Astro or FFVIIReBirth.)