We’re only hours away from the first Australian Games Awards and we wanted to shine a spotlight on arguable two of the most important categories, Game Of The Year and Australian Developed Game of the Year.
You can watch the Australian Games Awards tonight at 8pm AEDT. More details on that here.
AUSTRALIAN DEVELOPED GAME OF THE YEAR
- An Aspie Life
- Damsel
- Death Squared
- Florence
- Hand of Fate 2
- Hollow Knight
- Infliction
- Paperbark
- Storm Boy
- The Gardens Between
Florence in particular took the world by storm as being a lovely little mobile game with a load of impact. Brodie gave the game an 8/10 in his review and said: “I haven’t been touched by a love story like this since reading Scott McCloud’s The Sculptor, a wonderful and affecting graphic novel. Fullbright is probably the only other developer that could claim to do love right with Gone Home, but Mountains can stand proudly alongside them. In a medium so fixated on hurting others, it’s refreshing to enjoy a slice of life story about the complexities of love, romance and life itself.”
Hollow Knight is a Aussie-developed atmospheric Metroidvania title that is amongst the best in the genres recent renaissance. It’s perilous world challenges as much as it intrigues and announces Team Cherry as one of the industry’s most exciting independent studios.
Death Squared is the kind of game that brings your friends and family together, just to scream at them in frustration. The delightful cooperative puzzle game is a simple yet ingenious take on the puzzle genre, requiring both brains and skill, but above all, teamwork.
GAME OF THE YEAR
- Assassins Creed: Odyssey
- Call Of Duty: Black Ops IIII
- Detroit: Become Human
- Fallout 76
- Fortnite
- God of War
- Marvel’s Spider-Man
- Monster Hunter World
- Red Dead Redemption II
- Super Mario Party
When it comes to the Game of the Year category, there’s a number of games that could take it out, but God Of War, Spider-Man and Red Dead Redemption definitely would be favourites.
Brodie gave Red Dead Redemption 2 10/10 in his review and said: “Red Dead Redemption 2 is a triumph in world-building, character craft and downright skulduggery. Being bad has never felt so good as Rockstar toe the realism line while still keeping their sharp, trademark tongue in cheek. It’s the keen attention to detail where Rockstar succeeds and this outlaw prequel comfortably outperforms their best works and in time, I believe, will be regarded as a once in a generation game.”
Shannon gave God of War a 9/10 in his review and said: “God Of War is a cinematic masterpiece that manages to reinvent and push an already fantastic series to new heights. Barring some pacing issues in its narrative, Sony Santa Monica have breathed new life into Kratos and the God of War series, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.”
Brodie gave Spider-Man a 10/10 in his review and said: “It’s hard to fault Marvel’s Spider-Man as Insomniac has taken their game to the next level. As a developer, they have gone from strength to strength and Spider-Man is a culmination of their past hits. There’s a stunning verticality that compliments the game’s watertight mechanics and, despite the literal boundaries, still makes the city seem boundless. If you’re a Marvel die-hard, there’s enough fanfare here to sink a ship as Spider-Man emerges as the new gold standard. Spider-Man is, without question, the best superhero game ever.”
You can watch the Australian Games Awards tonight at 8pm AEDT. More details on that here.
