Sucker Punch Productions Ghost of Tsushima Wins The Player’s Voice Award For 2020

Sucker Punch Productions Ghost of Tsushima Wins The Player’s Voice Award For 2020
Credit: Sucker Punch via Ghost of Tsushima

There was a bit of concern regarding precisely how the voting would ultimately tally regarding the upcoming Game Awards that begins tomorrow, with Animal Crossing: New Horizons somehow going head to head with Ghost of Tsushima after many in the community seemed to disavow the newest Nintendo title due to piecemealed content and frustrating gameplay loops.

In terms of how the fans voted, however, there is a beacon of hope: Sucker Punch PlayStation 4 exclusive Ghost of Tsushima, the open-world game that asks players to step into the shoes of a samurai on the cusp of breaking tradition as they attempt to stave off hordes of invading Mongols intent on a full-scale invasion of Japan, has been named the Player’s Voice Award for 2020, making it the de facto Game of the Year, at least as far as the fans are concerned when the votes have been tallied.

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The open-world itself immediately tends to lend some comparisons and expectancies: massive landscapes with little to do between points of interest, repetitive hacking across enemies bases that all blur together, and perhaps a tower or eight-hundred to climb up to reveal the map.

Sucker Punch deftly avoided those pitfalls that multiple open-world titles have fallen into, and were arguably hampered only by their decision to enter into a console exclusivity agreement with Sony; meaning that many users are simply unable to play the title, lest they fancy picking up an entire console for a single title.

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This is arguably Sony’s plan with many of their exclusives, and why the console wars continue unabetted by reason or consumer-friendliness: what purpose would a console have if not for exclusives.

Still, Ghost of Tsushima managed to be the cards that some noted were stacked against them, if by no other factor than only having a release on a single platform, as players logged in to make their voice heard.

Ghost of Tsushima beat out five other titles for the Players Voice Award: Doom Eternal, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Hades, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and The Last of Us Part II.

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This, however, isn’t the end of The Game Awards that begins on Thursday evening on streamed internationally: many critics and pundits are going to weigh in on what they feel is the best of the best for the 2020 year and they’ll reveal those in the traditional slow manner punctuated by more game trailers and things that most people haven’t asked for.

It’ll be like E3, where the developers awkwardly stand there and wait for applause that never comes: it’ll be a fun experience for the people viewing at home, at the very least.

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