TGA: Tales of Arise Beats Cyberpunk 2077 For RPG of the Year Award

I remember the days when you couldn’t have sensible discussion about Game of the Year awards in FB comment sessions without a number CD Projekt fans butting into the discussion in order to let everyone know that Cyberpunk 2077 would not only win the award for Game of the Year 2020 (the award went to The Last of Us: Part II, instead), but that it would be considered the greatest RPG of all time.

The most surprising thing about these proclamations is that none of these ‘Cyperpunk 2077 will be the GOAT’ fans had actually played a single minute of the game, since I remember reading these prophetic statements months before the game’s release date.

Then, after the game’s infamous launch, and as it became clear that the game wouldn’t be running for anything in 2020, some of the remaining CP2077 faithful professed (I got to admire their faith and devotion) that the game would win the RPG and Game of the Year in 2021 because ‘”CD Projekt would fix Cyberpunk”, and that “Cyberpunk on PC is one of the greatest games ever made.”

Well, Cyberpunk 2077, against all odds, would get its chance at proving its faithful fans right in this year’s The Game Awards.

A Weak Year, and A Weak RPG Class Set the Table for Cyberpunk 2077’s Coronation Moment

Metacritic is good predictor for knowing which game will win the The Games Award ‘Game of the Year’ Award and awards in other categories. The reason for this is simple, many of those working in the judging panel also work for big media outlets (the source of Metacritic’s score averages) that already reviewed the nominees.

Basically, the panel is composed of many professional critics that already reviewed the nominees for the publications that they are employed in.

Take a look at past Game of the Year winners, and their Metacritic scores:

2020: The Last of Us: Part II (93%)

2019: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (90%)

2018: God of War (94%)

2017: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (97%)

The four games listed here were all AAA releases, and for the most part (Red Dead Redemption 2 got a higher average score than God of War), received the highest combined critical score averages within their release year.

During a weaker year, however, a smaller game with a -90%  average rating can win the award, as was the case last night with It Takes Two (a game made with a rumored 3 million dollar development budget) winning the big GotY prize.

Thus, if Cyberpunk 2077 was going to live up to the massive fan hype (in terms of the awards that it would win), 2021 was the year to do it. But as it turns out, CD Projekt’s super expensive ($316 million) AAA RPG did not get a GotY award nomination.

Cyberpunk 2077’s PC Metacritic Score Made it a Contender Within the RPG Category

Despite being one of the worst open world games that we have played, and remaining in what seems to be a perpetual unfinished state (that awful PS2 level A.I.), Cyperpunk 2077 would find itself in contention for the RPG of the year award against good, but less than stellar, opposition on the strength of its PC critical reception (86%) scores.

Cyberpunk’s console scores were much lower with the PS4’s 61% rating being its highest. Of the Nominees in the RPG Category, only Tales of Arise (87%) and Monster Hunter Rise (88%) held higher scores. But the scoring gap between these games was nearly negligible.

Monster Hunter Rise, was another Monster Hunter game, and Tales of Arise, while (visually) modernizing Namco’s long running action-RPG series, remained a linear affair on par with entries of old.

Cyperpunk 2077, for all of its short comings, cut content, under delivered promises, and barely functioning open-world…at least was attempting something ‘grand’ and somewhat unique in the large scheme of things. I felt coming into this week that the game had a shot at actually winning the award because of its ambition.

Japan 1 The West 0

Tales of Arise is a linear, straight forward Japanese RPG that follows the same plot, and gameplay conventions that series has followed for nearly a quarter century. On the other hand, Cyberpunk 2077 was made by a polish developer with a massive budget (Cyberpunk might be the most expensive RPG ever made), and it had grand ambitions of setting new standards within both the Role-Playing Game Genre, and open-world games in general.

Keep in mind, that CD Projekt made The Witcher 3, a game that is perhaps the most awarded (along with Skyrim) open-world RPG of all time. It doesn’t need to be said that Cyberpunk 2077 had a lot of hype and expectations to live up to.

At the end of the day, at least by The Game Award’s reckoning,  Tales of Arise’s simplicity and polished formula made it a better game than Cyberpunk 2077. A game with a fraction of Cyberpunk’s developmental budget took the RPG 2021 award. JRPG fans everywhere, rejoice!

The Rocket and the Car

For old times sake, let’s make a weird analogy in order to explain what transpired last night: Let’s imagine that you have two neighbors. The first neighbor built a car. The car doesn’t look all that great, but the car works well enough to drive him to work, family road trips, and other mundane, but necessary tasks (grocery shopping, etc).

Your other neighbor built a Space Rocket, it looks very impressive and it is the talk of the town, but in its initial test flight it crashes, killing everyone in it.

Tales of Arise is the unimpressive, but functional car, and Cyberpunk 2077 is the impressive looking rocket that crashed and burned. But hey, 2022 (and hopefully CP2077’s next gen update) is around corner, maybe the rocket will finally reach the stars.

For your you reading pleasure, here is last night’s list of winners:

Game of the Year

• Deathloop
• WINNER: It Takes Two
• Metroid Dread
• Psychonauts 2
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Resident Evil Village

• WINNER: Halo Infinite
• Metroid Dread
• It Takes Two
• Forza Horizon 5
• Resident Evil Village 

Best Game Direction

• WINNER: Deathloop
• It Takes Two
• Returnal
• Psychonauts 2
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart     

Best Ongoing

• Apex Legends
• Call of Duty: Warzone
• WINNER: Final Fantasy XIV Online
• Fortnite
• Genshin Impact

Best Indie

• 12 Minutes
• Death’s Door
• WINNER: Kena: Bridge of Spirits
• Inscryption
• Loop Hero

Best Debut Indie

• WINNER: Kena: Bridge of Spirits
• Sable
• The Artful Escape
• The Forgotten City
• Valheim

Best Narrative

• Deathloop
• It Takes Two
• Life is Strange: True Colors
• WINNER: Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
• Psychonauts 2

Best Art Direction

• WINNER: Deathloop
• Kena: Bridge of Spirits
• Psychonauts 2
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• The Artful Escape

Best Score and Music

• Cyberpunk 2077
• Deathloop
• WINNER: NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139
• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
• The Artful Escape

• Deathloop
• WINNER: Forza Horizon 5
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Resident Evil Village
• Returnal

Best Performance

• Erika Mori as Alex Chen, Life is Strange: True Colors
• Giancarlo Esposito as Anton Castillo, Far Cry 6
• Jason E. Kelley as Colt Vahn, Deathloop
• WINNER: Maggie Robertson as Lady Dimitrescu, Resident Evil Village
• Ozioma Akagha as Julianna Blake, Deathloop

• Before Your Eyes
• Boyfriend Dungeon
• Chicory
• WINNER: Life is Strange: True Colors
• No Longer Home

Best Community Support

• Apex Legends
• Destiny 2
• WINNER: Final Fantasy XIV Online
• Fortnite
• No Man’s Sky

Best Mobile Game

• Fantasian
• WINNER: Genshin Impact
• League of Legends: Wild Rift
• MARVEL Future Revolution
• Pokémon Unite

• Hitman 3
• I Expect You To Die 2
• Lone Echo II
• WINNER: Resident Evil 4
• Sniper Elite VR

Best Action

• Back 4 Blood
• Chivalry II
• Deathloop
• Far Cry 6
• WINNER: Returnal

Best Action/Adventure

• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
• WINNER: Metroid Dread
• Psychonauts 2
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Resident Evil Village

Best Role Playing

• Cyberpunk 2077
• Monster Hunter Rise
• Scarlet Nexus
• Shin Megami Tensei V
• WINNER: Tales of Arise

Best Fighting

• Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles
• WINNER: Guilty Gear -Strive-
• Melty Blood: Type Lumina
• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl
• Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown

Best Family

• WINNER: It Takes Two
• Mario Party Superstars
• New Pokémon Snap
• Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
• WarioWare: Get It Together!

Best Sports/Racing

• F1 2021
• FIFA 22
• WINNER: Forza Horizon 5
• Hot Wheels Unleashed
• Riders Republic

Best Sim/Strategy

• WINNER: Age of Empires IV
• Evil Genius 2: World Domination
• Humankind
• Inscryption
• Microsoft Flight Simulator

Best Multiplayer

• Back 4 Blood
• WINNER: It Takes Two
• Knockout City
• Monster Hunter Rise
• New World
• Valheim

Most Anticipated

• WINNER: Elden Ring
• God of War Ragnarök
• Horizon Forbidden West
• Sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• Starfield

Innovation in Accessibility

• Far Cry 6
• WINNER: Forza Horizon 5
• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• The Vale: Shadow of the Crown

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