Gaming Influence: Predictions - Game Awards 2024 ~ Part 4
Hello everyone,
Welcome to Gaming Influence, a reboot of the same name I created in WrestleCorp. However, I will not only be giving my thoughts on certain video games and video game series but also on video game movies, video game anime, video game digital presentations, etc.
For this edition of Gaming Influence, I'll be giving my predictions for the 2024 Game Awards which will be airing the show live worldwide on December 12, 2024. I'm definitely excited for the game announcements and trailers for the show as anything can happen from all of the video game companies so we'll see what they got.
However, these predictions do not focus on what games will appear on the show but on the awards themselves, as I won't be doing all of them. This year, I will make sixteen predictions for sixteen categories for the Game Awards. In addition, these predictions will be separated into four parts so this is Part 4 (Final Part) of my Game Awards predictions which will include Best Art Direction of the Year, Best Narrative of the Year, Best Game Direction of the Year, and Game of the Year. Plus, I'll first give my thoughts on the game itself for the category they're under before giving my predictions on which game I think and want to win the award.
Anyway, let's get started!
We'll start with this category, Best Art Direction of the Year.
Astro Bot is a platformer developed by Team Asobi. It's a love letter to the history of PlayStation in a 3D platformer setting. The art direction for this game is great. It’s filled with bright colors and a cute aesthetic that makes it stand out compared to the rest of the games in this category. Due to the bright colors and cute aesthetic, it has every right to win Best Art Direction of the Year.
Black Myth: Wukong is an action role-playing game developed by Game Science as it's a game inspired by The Journey to the West, but with soulslike gameplay. The art direction for this game is pretty good as it definitely has a realistic look to it, but it also blends in with the fantasy as well with the animals and insects. Due to the realistic style of the game, it has every right to win Best Art Direction of the Year.
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree is a DLC expansion of the popular action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware that won Game of the Year in 2022, Elden Ring. Just like with Elden Ring, Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree also has a great art direction where it blends a great mixture of reality and fiction into one. Despite that, however, it’s DLC so I believe it shouldn’t be qualified here to begin with even though the art style is great.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is a role-playing game developed by Studio Zero. It's a Shin Megami Tensei x Persona game in an isekai. Shin Megami Tensei and Persona games tend to have great art direction and with Metaphor: ReFantazio, it’s no different. With this game taking place in an isekai, it has a more fantasy look to it where it combines the anime and fantasy styles together pretty well. Due to the mixture of anime and fantasy art styles blending well together, it has every right to win Best Art Direction of the Year.
Neva is a puzzle platformer developed by Nomada Studio where the player travels with their wolf through a world of corrupted darkness. GRIS had a beautiful art direction and with Neva, it’s no different. The art style really brings the game to life and because of that, it has every right to win Best Art Direction of the Year.
Regarding which game will win Best Art Direction of the Year, I believe the winner will be Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. Even though I don’t want this game to win this category, knowing the Game Awards’ judges and their love for FromSoftware, I see them taking this category. I don’t want it to win this category due to it being DLC, but I can see it happening.
Regarding which game I want to win Best Art Direction of the Year, I want it to be Metaphor: ReFantazio. As I mentioned before, the way the game’s art style blends anime and fantasy into one is well done and beautiful. Even though I still think that Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree will win this category, I want Metaphor: ReFantazio to win the award here.
Next, we'll discuss the category, Best Narrative of the Year.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix. It's the sequel to the reimagining that won Best RPG of the Year in 2020, Final Fantasy VII Remake. The story of this game is pretty much a retelling of the original game, but with twists, as the story for this still holds up to this day. Love the extra details they added to the story as well that weren't in the original which was appreciated, but also they made some changes as well and it still fits its main theme as well. Due to those factors, this game has every right to win Best Narrative of the Year.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a role-playing game developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio as it's another game in the beloved franchise involving yakuza, Like a Dragon. This is a story that has been building since the series started and it finally came to a close which was amazingly done I feel like. The way they build up the story from the beginning with a particular character and have them have their ending was spectacular. Therefore, this game has every right to win Best Narrative of the Year.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is a role-playing game developed by Studio Zero. The story in this game is somewhat different compared to the story you would get in Shin Megami Tensei and Persona, but it's still great in its own right. It definitely focuses more on political problems when it comes to the story's themes which a lot of people can relate to in some ways depending on where they live and so forth. Due to the themes that the game covers, it has a right to win Best Narrative of the Year.
Senua's Saga: Hellblade II is an action-adventure game developed by Ninja Theory. It is the sequel to Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, the 2017 Games for Impact of the Year. The story continues from the previous Hellblade game as it follows Senua's journey and what she has to go through to overcome everything in her way as she has psychosis. The themes within the story are very impactful and resonate with people so due to those reasons, it has every right to win Best Narrative of the Year.
Silent Hill 2 is a survival horror game developed by Team Bloober. It's a remake of the classic survival horror game released on PS2 and Xbox back in 2001, and it has the same name. The story of this game is pretty much a retelling of the original which still holds up to this day as its themes are very impactful and it's very suspenseful as you want to see what happens next. Due to the suspense of the story, it has every right to win Best Narrative of the Year.
In terms of which game, I think will win Best Narrative of the Year, I think the winner will be Senua's Saga: Hellblade II. As I mentioned before, I feel like the story of Senua's Saga: Hellblade II can resonate with a lot of people in terms of its themes. With the Game Awards' judges having a love with the Hellblade series, I can definitely see this game winning Best Narrative of the Year.
In terms of which game, I want to win the Best Narrative of the Year, I want it to be Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. As I mentioned earlier, the story in this game was building up to the ending of a certain character's arc since the beginning of the series and it finally paid off in a tremendous way that is very satisfying. Even though I don't think this game has a chance of winning, I feel like the long-term storytelling of this game should win Best Narrative of the Year.
Next, we'll discuss the category of Best Game Direction of the Year.
Astro Bot is a platformer developed by Team Asobi. Astro Bot is pretty much Astro's Playroom but expanded upon when exploring different areas and using different abilities. Despite that, it's a great game direction that Team Asobi should still do when developing Astro games. Therefore, it has every right to win the Best Game Direction of the Year.
Balatro is a poker-themed roguelike deck-building game developed by LocalThunk. It's one of the more innovative roguelike card games available today. With the game being so addictive as well as innovative in a way for being a roguelike card game is incredible. Due to the creative game direction this game has, it has every right to win Best Game Direction of the Year.
Black Myth: Wukong is an action role-playing game developed by Game Science. It is inspired by The Journey to the West but with soulslike gameplay. The game direction for this game is quite great as the game is inspired by Journey to the West in terms of story the character designs are very creative and unique, and the gameplay being soulslike makes the game challenging, but also fun as well. Due to those factors, it has every right to win Best Game Direction of the Year.
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree is a DLC expansion of the popular action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware that won Game of the Year in 2022, Elden Ring. The fact that the DLC for this game is as expansive as it is, it's very impressive. Unfortunately, it's DLC as they're just adding from what's in the original game so don't believe it deserves to win Best Game Direction of the Year. However, this should be an example of how developers should make DLC be if possible as I would say this is a great game direction when it comes to DLC and expansions.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix. It's the sequel to the reimagining that won Best RPG of the Year in 2020, Final Fantasy VII Remake. Even though this game is the second part of the Final Fantasy VII Remake Trilogy, the fact that they were able to expand upon it and make it better than Final Fantasy VII Remake is incredible. Not only have the story and gameplay improved from the first game, but the fact that they added a world to explore around is incredible. Due to those reasons, it has every right to win Best Game Direction of the Year.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is a role-playing game Studio Zero developed as a Shin Megami Tensei x Persona game in an isekai. Despite it being similar to Shin Megami and Persona, it's also different. Besides the game being in an isekai, the gameplay is more strategic in terms of which archetype to use in battle and the themes of the story are more political compared to what you get in Shin Megami Tensei and Persona. Due to those differences and reasons, it has every right to win Best Game Direction of the Year.
In terms of which game I want to win Best Game Direction of the Year, I want the winner to be Metaphor: ReFantazio. As I mentioned previously, the direction that this game went while similar to Shin Megami Tensei and Persona, but also different is impressive. What they did with this game, I can see it being in its own series moving forward if they can keep it up. Even though I think Elder Ring Shadow of the Erdtree will win here, I want Metaphor: ReFantazio to win Best Game Direction of the Year.
Finally, we'll discuss the category, Game of the Year.
Astro Bot is a platformer developed by Team Asobi. It is one of the best 3D platformers out there today. The level designs were unique and well done, the combat with the different abilities that Astro can do is a lot of fun, the graphics are beautiful, the music is catchy, and all of the Easter eggs and collectibles are great to see. This is pretty much a love letter to PlayStation's history; because of that, it has every right to win Game of the Year.
Balatro is a poker-themed roguelike deck-building game developed by LocalThunk. There have been a lot of card games based on poker and so forth, but never in a roguelike form and Balatro was able to provide that. With the game being so addicting to play that I see almost everyone playing it is absurd. Due to how fun and addicting the gameplay of this game is, it has every right to win Game of the Year.
Black Myth: Wukong is an action role-playing game developed by Game Science. I never thought a soulslike game that is inspired by Journey to the West could be so challenging, but yet fun. The gameplay is challenging and fun, the graphics look amazing, and the character designs have been really well done. Due to the fun challenge, it has every right to win Game of the Year.
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree is a DLC expansion of the popular action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware. This is probably one of the best DLC expansions I have ever played and experienced as it pretty much captures the essence of Elden Ring, but managed to expand upon it with this DLC expansion where it felt like its own game. Incredible. Despite that, however, it's DLC at the end of the day so I feel it shouldn't win Game of the Year. If there was a Best DLC/Expansion of the Year, this would win easily and I would agree it, but Game of the Year, no.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth not only surpassed Final Fantasy VII Remake in terms of story and gameplay, but they managed to blow my expectations with the open area aspect which is incredible. The graphics are beautiful, the music is amazing, the characters have more development compared to the original game, and everything about it is a love letter to Final Fantasy VII, but more expanded upon and I love it. Due to all of those reasons, it has every right to win Game of the Year.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is a role-playing game Studio Zero. I always wanted a Shin Megami Tensei or Persona game to take place in an isekai and we got it with Metaphor: ReFantazio which delivered big time. Even though it's similar to Shin Megami Tensei and Persona, it's also quite different as well in terms of the story themes and the gameplay being more expansive. Despite that, it still has beautiful graphics, music is incredible, and very well-liked characters. For all those reasons, it has every right to win Game of the Year.
In terms of which game I want to win Game of the Year, I want the winner to be Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. As I mentioned earlier, this game has everything I wanted and was able to beat Final Fantasy VII Remake in every way possible by not only improving the story and gameplay but also adding the open areas in the game which it made even more incredible. Even though I don’t think it’ll win Game of the Year, I hope it does because I believe it deserved it.
Those are my predictions for the Best Art Direction of the Year, Best Narrative of the Year, Best Game Direction of the Year, and Game of the Year for the Game Awards.
Which games do you think or want to win the awards in each category?
Let me know in the comments below.
Thank you for reading.
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