oh dang. That's fair. I've been calling it a remaster pretty much all year lol, tho i do understand it really is much more of a remake.

Since this first ballot will be the one that most reflects my own preferences, for the fun of it, I just thought I'd share my votes with you this evening, VGC. A lot of these choices reflect my only owning one game in a number of categories, but some included three or four of my favorites this year and forced me to really think. I wound up getting to give something to a lot of my personal favorites, so I'll compliment the structural choices in the initial voting form.

Best Platformer: Astro Bot
Best Action Game: Nine Sols
Best Action/Adventure Game: Animal Well
Best Adventure Game: 1000xRESIST
Best Puzzle Game: Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Best RPG: Metaphor: ReFantazio
Best Compilation: Tomb Raider I-III Remastered
Best Remaster: The Last of Us Part II Remastered
Best Indie Game: 1000xRESIST
Best DLC/Expansion: The Talos Principle 2: Road to Elysium
Best Art Direction: Senua's Saga: Hellblade II
Best Original Music Score: Life is Strange: Double Exposure
Best Supporting Performance: Marios Gavrilis as Emmerich Voss (Indiana Jones and the Great Circle)
Best Lead Performance: Melina Juergens as Senua (Senua's Saga: Hellblade II)
Best Narrative: 1000xRESIST
Best Multiplayer: UFO 50
Most Innovative Game: Animal Well
Most Disappointing Game: Open Roads
Best Surprise: Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Most Anticipated Game: Hades II
Overall Game of 2024: 1000xRESIST

I have four definite favorites from this year in truth:

1) 1000xRESIST
2) Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
3) Animal Well
4) Metaphor: ReFantazio

The ordering of the rest is a bit more subjective. Astro Bot, Neva, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Echoes of Wisdom, Black Myth, Kunitsu-Gami, World of Goo 2, Pepper Grinder, and Cat Quest III (yes ) kinda all have their very distinctive strengths in my mind that make ranking them tough, so I refuse. On the flip side, being as Gone Home remains among my favorite games ever, Open Roads was the game I was most looking forward to playing this year, but unfortunately most of my enjoyment thereof was confined to the first several minutes, which you spend exploring Tess's room (though that was genuinely fun!). As soon as the first "cinematic" scene hit, for me it was over. I can't help feeling like the whole design philosophy of the game was a mistake. I appreciate the decision to include these options presumably just for me. Hell, I was even able to reward Life is Strange: Double Exposure and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle with something. (Unfortunately I don't think the category for which I picked Indy really captures what's most special about the overall experience, but it was what I could justify.)

Some other trivia:

-The "best art direction" choice was extremely difficult. It was basically a tie in my mind between Senua's Saga, Neva, and Animal Well really, but while I don't always value extreme realism over more expressive choices, in the end I couldn't help feeling the most fully absorbed in the atmosphere of Senua's Saga.

-Don't trust my judgment on the compilations. I only bought one this year.

-If we were to include announced games without firm release dates in the "most anticipated" category, Hades II would drop to more like fourth place. As of yesterday, Intergalactic is unquestionably the future title I'm most excited about, followed by Unbeatable and Pony Island 2.

-The Last of Us Part II wins in its category by default because TLOU2 is my favorite video game of all time and thus this definitive version is the single game that I will undoubtably spend the most time replaying in the future.

-While I've always had some mixed feelings about the Life is Strange franchise, Double Exposure is my favorite entry therein so far. I appreciated its more grown-up vibe and above all its legit transporting soundtrack that really is the best I've heard all year. Lost Records I am truly excited for.

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