So what did you think of the staff's top 10 this year? (Spoilers I guess??)

I really enjoyed the format this year - seemed a lot more positive in general. For me their top 10 basically panned out exactly how I expected - with maybe the exception of Spider-man being a little lower than I anticipated for a game that everyone seems to shower praise on but maybe never quite hits the highs to break the top 5 (I haven't played it so I couldn't say - that was just the vibe I was getting)

As soon as the crew started talking about Tetris in the last few weeks on the regular podcasts I knew it would be a winner - and Dead Cells always seemed to be in the mix.

I was surprised how high up God Of War made it to be honest - it's unquestionably my personal GOTY and while I knew some of the crew had love for it I thought it would maybe crack the top 5 at best.

Hitman also snuck it's way up the list further than I expected - in years past the crew haven't really responded to sequels that are "more of the same" but turns out that Hitman is just so damn good it worked this time out

Personal highlights for me this year was any conversation involving Red Dead - I can't really remember a game that polarised the crew to that extent in a long time and it made for a lot of good discussions.

For those who are interested their top 10 is -

1. Tetris Effect
2. Dead Cells
3. God Of War
4. Red Dead 2
5. Into The Breach
6. Return Of The Obra Dinn
7. Marvel's Spider-Man
8. Hitman 2
9. Monster Hunter World
10. Dragon Ball FighterZ

Still miss worst game though ....

I kinda knew that Red Dead was going to have an uphill battle after both Dan and Ben had a change of heart on the game. Though I was more surprised that Monster Hunter World was even on the list considering that only Jan and Jason seems to be advocates of the game (considering it is my GOTY since it got me back into enjoying games again). Overall, I am pretty happy with the list. Compared to last year when pubg was goty and the entire site was in a huge uproar about it. I think it is a solid list.

I do need to give Dead Cells a try though, I was waiting for the game to come out of early access and forgot about it.

Haven't listened to the deliberations but it feels like more than ever before a case of we'll never agree on anyones actual favorite game this year so here are the pretty good compromises.

Seems like a pretty solid list and not too surprising. It's pretty much exactly what I expected and predicted as much aside from some of the order.

As each year there are things I agree with and things I find ridiculous about it - so yah, a typical collaborative GOTY list from Giant Bomb.

If I'd be any good at it, Tetris Effect would probably be higher on my personal list too!

Seems like a good list, though I have no experience on five of those games myself.

I'm glad no one person's personal pick creeped in this year. Every year there is always at least one game that just doesn't belong but ppl give into by playing nice early on. This list feels like, more than any other year, the site's top 10.

I need to play Dead Cells, Into the Breach, and pick Obra Dinn back up (probably restart it at this point.) Also interested in Florence.

Considering how many of the duders put it on their personal top 10s, it doesn't shock me at all. Hell it even cracked Jeff's list.

I haven't played barely any of those games, but it's a solid list. Tetris wouldn't be my pick, but hey, you can't fault them for liking an iteration of one of the (if not THE) most popular games ever made.

Also, we're living in weird times when both a Monster Hunter and Dragonball game feature prominently in GOTY discussions. It's the apocalypse, my friends!

It seems odd to me that a 20 year old game with a new coat of flashy paint wins. Also I am surprised that the Assassin Creed game was not liked by anyone. Oh, and Brad's favorite game Destiny 2 isn't there!

I don't think Tetris deserved #1 at all, I would of been fine with Deadcells being at the top based on some earlier mentions in the week, but Tetris feels so unjustified. A lot of the general list conversation seemed to revolve around Hitman (which they all played and most completed as its 5-10 hrs to complete), GoW where everyone who beat it loved it as the later parts were even better then the early parts (a 20-30 hr experience), and the recent Red Dead 2 (a generally 70-100 hour experience) with numerous opinions. Stuff like Tetris, Dead Cells, and Into the Breach weren't even really discussed compared to these 3 games and the placings of these 3 seemed a bit arbitrary. Spiderman, on the other hand, feels robbed of the Top 5 spot it deserved based on their discussions of the game.

As for RDR2 it really seems like Abbey got past the early bad parts, but didn't reach the later bad parts, meanwhile Brad played the game in a pretty unique way and I believe he said the game didn't really click until like 30 hrs in...you know just the time it takes to 100% GoW that he couldn't even be bothered to finish. It boggled my mind that he thought RDR2 was a shoo in to auto-win like everything. I think if Brad had not played some RDR2 (example not the epilogue) and had completed GoW he would of had a much better view of things being discussed, especially since he clearly had RDR2 recency bias. In general I think if RDR2 had been released in April and GoW released in October, God of War being above Read Dead would of been much less a debate and it could of even been their #1 or #2 game.

Glad Monster Hunter was a sure lock for top 10, and ecstatic it's not just in the "pity 10" slot.

I think I agree with Abby about Tetris. It's a great Tetris, but it's also Tetris. I think the zone effect is something they'll bring back in future games, but for the same reasons Hitman was lower on the list, it's more of the same great game. Dead Cells is a unique entry that I think deserves the top slot over a great version of a game everyone knows how to play.

@neocalypso: I didn't see that Jeff posted his Top 10 for the year, I must've missed it. Though it is pretty awesome to see many duders to put MHW somewhere on their list.

I think about six years ago I gave up thinking that "The Process ™" is anything but a "process". "The Process ™" has a point which is to NOT arrive at what the raw numbers will produce. What fun would that be...we can all add. So "The Process ™" allows for another view of the year and it games, and produces content that 'we' can listen to over the holidays.

...It is just a list.

It you find yourself anyway at the end of it, slow down and think about it...it is just a list.

If you find yourself saying, "but 'that' or 'this person' just reverse what they said 3 hrs ago"! Remember...it just a list.

If you are angry the recorded something for you and gave it to you for free...keep in mind you do not have to throw it to the ground.

I have only played RD2 on that list, got the game for free(Tho the PS4 cost $400 and tax...) most expensive game I have ever bought. I'll get some of the older on sale games like Uncharted 4...

I only enjoyed game boy Tetris because it ended with the space shuttle after 5 min....I have not heard anyone talk about the endings....Do they have quick games that give a quick reward like the original?

It is really hard for me to grasp Tetris as game of the year for some reason.

Tetris is the greatest game of all time.

This was one of my favorite parts. Every category pretty much started with Brad saying "since Red Dead wins what are the runners up" and then being surprised when people argued back. Absolute classic GOTY.

Another year, another 20+ hours of making the Drew meme face while a tiny room full of adults argue in circles about videogames.

@musclerider: To me Tetris has just been reduced to...Tetris.

It barely has a quality to consider at this point.

Its an okay list I guess. I didn't play Into the Breach or Obra Dinn. Neither seem particularly interesting to me. Obra Dinn seems like the sorta game I'd like if I had stumbled across it myself, but since it was explained to death about what the game is and how it works across all the various podcasts since its release, I think I've heard enough and don't need to play it myself. Into the Breach is like.. simplified mobile BattleTech (not really but yea). BattleTech being my GOTY. If you want a Mech tactics/puzzle game, play BattleTech.

Tetris Effect at the top seems a little crazy to me. I'm with Abby on this one being like.. It's pretty much just Tetris, and the group of them just kinda let it fall there and there wasn't a strong argument for or against it other that "It's got like.. a positive attitude maaaaaan." I bought it, played it a bit, finished the Journey mode and that was kinda it. I liked a couple of the levels/songs but other than that.. It's Tetris with an okay visualizer. Its neat but I don't see what the big deal is. Dead Cells I played for maybe an hour and just kinda gave up. Decent look to it. Run based games don't seem to be my cup of tea. Felt like I was just dying over and over and not making real progress so whatever.

Monster Hunter World should've been higher on the list but some of the staff just do not stick with a game if even a minor life distraction comes along, a different game, or it doesn't show them how to do everything right up front. Brad would almost certainly fall in love with it if he spent more time on it and had a friend to talk about it with. I didn't really have a history with MH prior to World and it's my #2. That game, single or multiplayer, is incredible from a technical standpoint, incredible from a gameplay design and depth standpoint, and incredible in terms of fun and challenge. And then you can play it with friends as well. The story was so-so. I'm with Jason on the fact that they blow the issues with multiplayer way out of proportion. You do the cutscene thing once and that you're done. Once you understand how to play the game, which it isn't that hard to just get in and smack things with a weapon, then you know how to do it and it's simple. Not a super complicated game.

And Red Dead is what it is. Jeff was never going to like this game, and it sounds like Dan forgot what the first one was like. The game has it's issues, but I think they are all story related. I honestly think I had zero technical problems in the 100 hours I probably spent with it. Never crashed, no frame rate issues, no weird glitches that broke my game. Never had any issues with the controls, I do not understand why people are finding them so complex.. It seems like pretty standard video game stuff. It is a technical masterpiece and has such a singular vision. It isn't for everyone though.

Of course, this is their list. Compromises and all.

Very good! Nice justifications for all those games being on there, and it makes sense when you take into account everyone's opinion on those games, why some games are higher than others.

1. Haven't played. seems good
2. Excellent one of those
3. Haven't played. seems good
4. meh
5. Good but Overrated.
6. Excellent. Groundbreaking.
7. Haven't played. seems good
8. Rendered unplayable with mouse and keyboard due to control scheme change from Hitman 1. 100% my most disappointing because of this.
9. Haven't played. seems good
10. Haven't played. seems good

Only 100 hours of GOTY podcast listening to go before I find out wtf happened to Celeste I guess.

I was definitely a bit frustrated with the top ten this year, for a variety of reasons. Honestly, Monster Hunter: World was my most disappointing game of the year. I could almost copy/paste Dan's complaints about Red Dead and replace with Monster Hunter and those were my thoughts on that game. So disappointed. I settled on the impression that it was a lavishly produced and beautiful, bad game. The core gameplay and mechanics I thought were straight up garbage, not to mention the multiplayer. And I felt like it just slid into Top Ten because "we're not going to do that to Jason".

And honestly, I'm okay with Red Dead being Most Disappointing for a lot of people. That game made a lot of serious decisions that were never going to be well received by some people. Changes that I mostly admired, and frankly I believe RDR2 is a lot more faithful to the original than perhaps Dan is willing to recognize. I honestly really respect Jeff's position on the game; he was very open and honest from the start that it wasn't the game for him, and neither was the first, and that's cool. Besides mostly throwaway comments, he never attempted to really seriously drag the game down in other people's opinion of it. He mostly stayed mum. So, I'm fine with the game being 4th on Best Game with respect to that criticism, but it was also frustrating to hear Dan's position, particularly as discussion of the world design, story beats, characterization, sound design, etc. etc. came up and Dan time and again said "yeah, that was incredible", but then continually looping back around to say "but the only thing that matters to me is the gameplay".

For me, Red Dead is evocative of that argument that comes up every once and a while of video-games as art, or that video-games can never be art. There were so many moments in RDR2 that just left me slack-jawed in amazement at what I was witnessing in a video-game.

I was also frustrated with Vinny's position on the game. Not because I disagree with him on the problem of steep on-ramps in games, but I honestly agree with Brad's take that I feel there's so much in that game that Vinny would get into in a big way. The best example for me is The Witcher 3 - a game that may honestly be on my top ten of all time - which I remember Vinny making every single one of the same comments about in that year's game of the year discussion. Fast forward six months and Vinny was enthralled iirc.

I think their new format is good. Kept the arguments to the final day. Really, the only game people argued about was Red Dead, because the staff is so split on it. It's much better than last year.

I think Tetris is a nice and inoffensive winner. I don't really care about Tetris, but I can respect it, especially as a consensus choice for the group list. Picking the game that made the most people happy and the fewest mad, that makes sense. I thought it was very funny when I listened to the leak and that was the winner, never expected Tetris Effect to take it from the other big games this year.

Personally I do find myself questioning Tetris as the GOTY - especially as I went to go buy it after the discussions and saw that in the UK it is £35 ???

I've looked up the game on YouTube and I know that's a terrible way to try and get a handle on the qualities of game but I don't really get what is so mindblowing about it....? Seems like Tetris with some interesting and distracting visual effects.

But I am probably wrong ..

I think it's never been more clear they should stop doing it. It's a hassle and no fun to listen to or, I'm certain, make. The least offensive game basically wins. Not to hate on Tetris but it just shows how pointless the list is now.

ehhhhhhh lol i definitely don't think so.

Agreed. Also... Vinny's complaints about hunting and not figuring out what to do or how complex it all was... yeah dude you played Witcher 1, 2, 3. I really don't get what you're talking about, all three are more complicated easily than this game systems wise. And turns out you need to do missions like every single other open world game there is to move it forward. When they told you to hunt, they just wanted you to fill up the food icon not hunt a thousand different animals... It's not that complicated. Definitely a head scratcher for me when he was discussing that like it was actually super confusing to figure out the game just said "hey you can hunt". And what open world games like this don't have missions that move the story forward? Rockstar wasn't inventing a new entirely open genre with this one.

Wouldn't be surprised if it is a W3 situation again. I get that Vinny is busy and doesn't have time to dig into games like that but the arguments just seemed disingenuous to me.

I'm okay with this one more than I have been for the past few years. Feels like the determining factor for the top slot has been trending towards "best streamsploitation game" so I'm at least relieved that Tetris doesn't fall into that category and is more indicative of a personal gaming experience, not just for the year but in the collective of all-time gaming. I personally have been of the mind that GOTY should go to games that have the best amount of craft put into them. Not too much work put into it like RDR, or not enough work put into something like Dead Cells(at least in terms of presentation). So Tetris feels like a happy medium though I suppose you could make the argument that not much craft was needed for the design as it is ultimately tried and true Tetris. I'm of the opinion that Into the Breach would've fit that mold as well but unfortunately it was getting some unexpected derision from Nightmare Jeff and a few others.

I'm relieved that DBFZ is at dog bottom because as much as I like that game the single player content is ass. I resent the constant harping by Dan of "it got us into anime" when in reality the only thing keeping either of those two philistines from anime was their own pretentiousness. I'm also not convinced that watching one of the most mainstream anime ever has changed their minds on cartoons in general for not falling into the category of what they consider "cool guy stuff".

I honestly thought going in that RDR2 was a shoo-in for "definitely not high on the list". I like the passion of the discussions for it but even as someone who has liked what I've played of it the accessibility issues and outdated mission design are really hard to ignore or defend. Guess I overestimated the objectivity of some of the staff. The category RDR2 deserved the most was music, but I might be bias as a guitar player. Having said all that, it's weird to think that the most artistic games represented on the list are RDR and Tetris, possibly Obra Dinn. Most everything else were some game-ass games which perhaps speaks to a certain lack of variety in the top ten this year. Overall I think I enjoyed the format, certainly more than last year, but not the added run time of podcasts. I think I'm better off commenting about that elsewhere.

I've just finished The Hex and I've changed my opinion on Giantbomb GOTY 2018 to "How could Jeff betray Tapper like this?"

I will never agree with these kinds of lists. Personally I wouldn't include any of the above games in my own Top 10 list for 2018.

It's the games I would expect the GB crew to come up with, so I'm not that surprised at any of them. However, I feel that half of them are added just for "filler" to make the list look more diverse than what is actually up for contention as GOTY. And as usual they don't even seem to have finished most of the games they considered this year, counting from the Day One deliberations.

I think my only major problem was that the first few days felt totally separated from the final two, which were much more interesting to listen to. I like the idea of an end-of-year wrap-up, but the fact that it took up so much time, and aside from the big games that were assuredly going to be part of the conversation for awards, they spent minimal time actually discussing anything anyway, felt like half the "deliberations" were pointless.

The actual awards discussion this year though was actually quite good, probably the most interesting to listen to in a couple years, but the lack of more silly and fun categories was a bummer - which is an ironic absence considering they seemed like they wanted things to be more "positive" this year - but most of all I just think those first few days were way too bloated. Coming up with the list of nominations should just be condensed to a single podcast.

As for the list itself? Abby was right about Tetris.

Don’t have an opinion on 6 of those games but it’s a very solid list all around. Glad to see Dead Cells, Into the Breach, Obra Dinn and DBFZ in the top 10. Also a Dragon Ball game and Monster Hunter are on GB’s top 10. Crazy times.

I didn't even remember the order beyond Red Dead 2 about 5 minutes after finishing the video. I enjoyed the deliberations more than usual this year, but I'm not even passionate about half the games on my own top 10 this year, so I wasn't particularly invested in any of the results coming outta this site.