Elden Ring was the biggest winner at the Game Awards 2022 and its expansion, Shadow of the Earth Treecould also secure the GOTY spot at this year’s show. That’s because the event changed its rules this year to allow DLCs to be considered alongside full, standalone games. It seemed obvious that the hole was added to give FromSoftware’s latest version a chance at recognition, and not without good reason. Shadow of the Earth Tree has received almost universal recognition. In the most reduced case it is simply more Elden Ringbut that still puts it way ahead of much of the competition.
At the same time, there are a number of other games that could have taken this nomination spot and added something new and more interesting to the mix. Also, it will be a bit strange if Shadow of the Earth Tree Siege and a lot of people rush off to play GOTY 2024, only to realize that they have to play dozens of hours of another game and also defeat two of its toughest bosses. Perhaps a better solution is to simply give extensions their own category, especially as they become more common. Factorio‘S Space Age DLC, for example, has just been released and reinvents a game that was already one of the best resource management simulations ever. –Ethan Gach
