Endgame Viable Awards 2019

4 January, 2020

It’s time once against for the prestigious Endgame Viable Awards for 2019.

This year, I’m going to shrink the size of this post considerably. I didn’t buy or play very many games this year, so there’s not much point in making a huge affair out of it. I’m going to list all the games I bought this year, then I’m going to pick the ones I liked best, and that’s it.

Note: Dates listed below are my purchase date, not necessarily the launch date of the title.

Game Purchases In 2019

I highlighted titles eligible for an award in italics (ie. 2019 games).

March 22 - Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, 59.99 (Steam)
July 6 - Nioh: Complete Edition, 19.99 (Steam, unplayed)
August 26 - World of Warcraft Sub, 14.99 (1 month, for WoW Classic)
September 30 - Astellia Online, 29.99
October 21 - The Division 2 (PS4), 26.99
October 29 - Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection (PS4), 16.20
November 9 - Death Stranding (PS4), 59.99
November 21 - Outward, 19.99 (Steam)
December 17 - Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, 9.99 (Steam, unplayed)

And that’s it. It’s possible I spent less money and time on games in 2019 than I have at any other time in the decade.

It’s notable that I skipped Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers (though it’s finally on sale for half off at the end of 2019, so I might buy it for 2020), and the only new MMORPG I thought might be worth buying in 2019 was Astellia Online.

Winners

And the winners are …

Game of the Year 2019 - Death Stranding. Only Death Stranding and Sekiro were seriously in the running for this title. Sekiro is good, possibly even great, but Death Stranding is so innovative and unique that I have to give it the coveted prize.
MMORPG of the Year 2019 - No award. The only possibly here would have been Astellia Online, and while it’s kind of fun, it’s just not good enough for an award.
MMORPG Expansion of the Year 2019 - No award. I didn’t play Shadowbringers or any other expansions this year, so I can’t award anything.

Before I go, I think it’s worth mentioning here what I mean by “MMORPG” in 2019, for the record.

Try as I might, I can’t think of a scientific, objective definition for what is considered an “MMORPG” as opposed to an “MMO.” It’s subjective no matter how I slice it. For me, it essentially means a game that is substantially similar to the “original big three” of Ultima Online, Asheron’s Call, and EverQuest. I would also add World of Warcraft into the equation as well, since they popularized quests and quest hubs. And I would add in EVE, since I often forget about it and they certainly pioneered the space MMORPG. So my definition of an “MMORPG” is any game that is designed to look and feel and play something like Ultima Online, Asheron’s Call, EverQuest, World of Warcraft, or EVE. Yeah, pretty scientific, I know.

I *should* also define what an “Expansion” is as well, since that is now debatable, but I’ll leave that for another day, since I didn’t play any this year.

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