What does it take to be GOTY and does Astro Bot have it?

I gave Astro Bot 5/5 in my review. It was the first perfect score I've ever given, and although I try not to worry too much about what other people think, I was a little nervous about it. I rarely discuss my findings with other journalists, and this was no exception, so I had no idea how popular it would be. Reading other 5/5 reviews, I'm strict – some would say too strict – about the bar, and would have ended up looking a little silly if everyone else had thought it was a boring 3.5 at best.

As you now know, that was not the case. Astro Bot achieved one of the highest Metacritic scores a Sony game has ever seen and is a frontrunner for Game of the Year. More specifically (since you really shouldn't care what other people think), I still stand by that opinion. After the novelty has worn off and even the speedrunning updates have been released, I still consider Astro Bot to be one of the best platformers since its golden age in the '90s. So why am I conflicted about Game of the Year status?

Astro Bot is the most popular GOTY nom

There will be plenty of people who have only attended one of the six Game of the Year nominees, assuming The Keighleys make the official Good Games shortlist this year. In the vast majority of cases, that one game will be Astro Bot. And in the vast majority of cases, they will have loved it. They'll think GOTY deserves it based on that alone, and they could very well be right. Admittedly, most of these people are the general public rather than the voting jury, but that's still ten percent of the vote, and I have no doubt that many jury members didn't play all six either.

It just feels a bit like an easy win, and it's hard to root for anything that has such a big advantage. That's why we love an underdog. But the Game Awards aren't everything. I freely admit that I care more about the ceremony than I should, but it's not the only indicator of whether a game was good. It seemed like Astro Bot had made a run for the crown when it launched (the race is looking tighter now, although it remains the favorite), and I've written about why personal enjoyment of a game should and shouldn't be the priority should only be viewed through the lens of awards and praise. But it's strange that I'm going into GOTY season with a 5/5 in the bag and kind of hoping that something else will bring victory.

It's the opposite of the phenomenon I felt when I played 1000xResist and wrote about how it would become my indie obsession for 2024. By this point I had already raved about the glories of Balatro and Thank Goodness You're Here, but 1000xResist was different. I think it's a hair better than Balatro and will be higher on my GOTY list. But it also feels like a cool game to get started with. There is more to say about this than Balatro, and so I want to say more about it.

Astro Bot isn't that deep – does that matter?

Astro Bot enters a casino with neon lights and slot machines.

Balatro is not “just” a card game (in fact, I don’t consider it a poker game at all), but it is also just a card game. You stack cards in different rows to get larger and larger numbers. It's pure mechanical excellence, but that makes it pure mechanics. There isn't much to the game other than the physical gameplay experience. It's nothing that's left behind. It's similar with Astro Bot.

Everything positive I have to say about Astro Bot lies in the gameplay. I could list a number of fantastic levels here, and we all have our favorites (I think mine is Slo Mo Casino, although it changes regularly), but we can all agree that it plays pretty well. Then there are specific aspects of its genius, like the novel use of DualSense, the sound design of Astro's feet, the PlayStation cameos, and the electric use of color. It's a very, very, very good game. But is it more than that?

It leaves me with a deeper feeling than Balatro, because it makes me feel like a joyful child again, and Balatro just makes me want to play more Balatro now and forever. But there is no substance to the game beyond the moment of pleasure. Then the question arises: “Why isn’t this enough?” With so many games trying to be films with photorealistic linear narratives with similar and occasionally manipulative emotional beats, why would I let Astro Bot do something like that? Isn't it enough that an excellent platformer is an excellent platformer? That a video game is distinguished by being a video game and not effectively masquerading as a more prestigious art form?

The answer to all of this is: I don't know. If Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth was nominated for GOTY at the Game Awards, I probably wouldn't care as much because that would be the horse I'd be wasting my money on. But even though Astro Bot is the favorite, it feels like the first TGA since 2019 (excluding the Covid-decimated 2021) where we don't know who will win GOTY before it even begins. And it's the first TGA in a while where I had no idea who I wanted to win. I think it will be Astro Bot, and I think I'll be okay with that. But maybe not.