The Game Awards nominees were revealed today, a collection of categories and community votes to determine the best of the best. Of course, it should be noted that several organizations award “Game of the Year” designations and the like, but Geoff Keighley’s event keeps growing bigger and bigger every year. It is, even now, one of the most authoritative organizations for these awards, with the event being coupled with major world reveals every year too.
There are a ton of good games that came out this year, and it’s not an enviable position to have to declare, from these nominees, what comes out on top.Games likeDeathloop, It Takes Two, and more are scattered across several categories, yet there are some without a single nomination. Snubs, seemingly increasingly, are prevalent and inevitable at organizations like this, and it seems, for this year,Tales of Arisehas been snubbed.
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Tales of Arise, Game Awards, and Other Nominees
Deathloopreceived 8 nominations,Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apartreceived 4,Psychonauts 2received 4, andReturnalandKenareceived 3 each.Tales of Arise, on the other hand, only received one for best RPG, which is an awesome category but just about the most generic categoryTales of Arisecould be nominated for. The question of why seems moot now, but it stands to reason thatTales of Arise’s status as a JPRGplayed a role in its one, sole nomination.
OutsideFinal Fantasyand nowPersona, JRPGs are not that popular in the west. That’s a bit self-explanatory in the fact thatTales of Arise(as well asFF16)made smart moves to westernize their entries, but the fact remains it’s always an uphill battle for solid JPRGs. Whatever the rationale behind this many votes, it seems clear thatTales of Ariseshould have had a much stronger presence at The Game Awards. On Opencritic, for example, it has a top critic average of 87 (in a year with very few new 90+ games) and has a recommendation rate of 99%.
What Tales of Arise Should Have Been Nominated for at The Game Awards
The ship has sailed, and all fans of the franchise can do is fester. But, for the sake of argument, it’s worth looking at other categories that the game could have, in theory, been nominated for outside Game of the Year.
GOTY, Best Narrative, Best RPG, and Best Game Direction would have givenTales of Arisethe same presence ofRatchet and Clank, as well asPsychonauts 2.This feels deserved. Meanwhile, even ignoring GOTY since it is such a vast category, it could have and should have been on the same level asReturnalandKena. If PS5 or Xbox Series X owners haven’t playedTales of Arise, well, it’s a must-play for 2021.
Tales of Ariseis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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