Was Guardians of the Galaxy 2022's true game of the year?

Guardians Of The Galaxy Screenshot Source: Square Enix

While many have their own opinions of what was the best release this twelvemonth, y'all tin't say there weren't a lot of options. Few could argue that It Takes Ii didn't deserve to win the top prize at The Game Awards for pushing the boundaries of what a burrow co-op experience can look like. Halo Space and Resident Evil Village were some of our other favorites here at Windows Central.

However, in that location are always games that go overlooked, and ane that played brilliantly, looked beautiful, and was engaging in a fashion that few games were this year was Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. While it equitably won Best Narrative at The Game Awards, it arguably should have been placed alongside the best that 2022 has to offering.

Game of the Year material

Guardians Of The Galaxy Source: Square Enix

While it is difficult to compare wildly dissimilar games to i another, Guardians of the Galaxy did a lot well. The story is specially strong, a fun and interesting take on a well-trodden "save the galaxy" format. The stakes are high enough to stay invested during its 20+ hour length, and the peppering of emotional moments and satisfying character arcs throughout adds a huge amount to the overall experience.

Character development in full general is some of the strongest I've seen in some time, and the vocalisation acting, peculiarly from Jason Cavalier every bit Drax and Kimberly-Sue Murray as Gamora, is excellent. The combat is smart too, with the player able to select abilities in real time for squad members to perform in a method somewhat reminiscent of the ane used in Terminal Fantasy 7 Remake or other plow-based RPG. Each Guardian possesses abilities suited to a range of encounters, and then y'all start off with a calorie-free tactical experience and unlock more powerful and varied moves throughout progression. Learning how to residuum all of the characters' moves with the unique combat scenarios adds a layer of complication to the proceedings.

The game is as well notable for how it balances fan service, with lore present through entirely optional easter eggs and collectibles. Information technology starts off with some familiar concepts, like the core squad being what yous know from the MCU and Peter's love of music, but breaks off on its ain rapidly. Both fan favorite and lesser-known Curiosity characters are introduced gradually throughout the game and given room to breathe. All of this allows it to entreatment to both newcomers and fans through its writing, while non relying primarily on the source material or its most famous adaptation to sell it to the players. This approach makes information technology experience very similar to Marvel's Spider-Human being in this regard, and quite far away from Curiosity's Avengers.

Why was information technology overlooked?

Guardians Of The Galaxy Source: Square Enix

But if the game is and so good, I hear you weep, why isn't in contention for Game of the Year in a lot of places? The comparison to Marvel'due south Avengers is an unfortunate one because many people didn't realize Guardians of the Milky way was at all dissimilar. The sterile, microtransaction heavy, business-like Avengers game is in no way similar to the unmarried-thespian, microtransaction-less Guardians of the Galaxy, and the marketing didn't assistance convey this, with Foursquare Enix poorly communicating the strengths of the game. A combination of both factors resulted in many (including myself) writing off the game earlier it was released. I picked it upwards on sale and realized what I had missed, simply many wouldn't accept given the game a second thought.

A report by Bloomberg supports how disregarded it was. The game hit around 11,000 concurrent players on Steam at its peak, compared to the 38,000 peak concurrent players achieved past Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Square Enix'southward previous single-actor release. All the same, it has an 84 on Metacritic, an viii.iii user score, and we establish the experience to be a game admittedly worth playing in our review, then it's non like people are skipping information technology because of quality. What is it then?

A dying breed?

Guardians Of The Galaxy Cosmo The Space Dog Source: Square Enix (screenshot)

Many have historic It Takes Two'southward Game Awards win as being expert for the industry. In a gaming mural full of increased homogeneity and established IP, an original, mostly wholesome game (sans elephant scene) playable just with a partner represents a huge shift, and its win proves that diverseness is still needed and desired.

Guardians of the Milky way achieves something similar past successfully making a type of game less commonly found in today's AAA manufacture, and while obviously not an original IP, its execution on a character driven, linear, story-focused experience feels unique enough to make it stand out. Cinematic AAA games of this type that exercise exist are released infrequently, and are oft in other genres like platformers or roguelikes. Exterior of Sony'due south first-party developers, these kinds of experiences are fifty-fifty harder to find.

The same praise directed at Information technology Takes Two for a fantastic and mature arroyo to that kind of cinematic, setpiece-based game can also therefore apply to Guardians of the Milky way. Sadly, in that location is less appetite for a tertiary-party linear campaign than at that place used to be, and although player enjoyment is high, this could also have impacted overall engagement for the Curiosity championship.

Final thoughts

While the games nominated for Game of the Twelvemonth deserved their place, Curiosity's Guardians of the Galaxy should have at least been listed among them, and a instance can be made as to why it should have won this year's crown. I'm a fan of nigh of the games that were nominated this year (except for horror. I don't practice horror), and believe that although they are excellent, Guardians of the Milky way'southward writing in particular pulled me in unlike anything else released this year.

Unlike many games that lean on a household name, it didn't merely recycle something that already existed — it enhanced it, and brought it to life in a style that hadn't been seen previously. Square Enix even moved away from the microtransaction-heavy direction of Curiosity's Avengers, and perhaps the game's insistence on providing a refreshing, directly forrad unmarried player experience has me pining for the old ways, a promise that the industry isn't going to exist reduced to a live service, NFT filled hellscape.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is a demonstration and celebration of what the manufacture can achieve when story takes center stage.

Relieve the galaxy

Guardians Standard Edition

Curiosity'due south Guardians of the Galaxy

And Cosmo is the best boy

Curiosity'due south Guardians of the Galaxy features an engaging story, excellent character evolution and emotional moments that leave yous invested throughout its twenty+ hour runtime. A must play.

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