RPG Codex GOTY 2017: Results & Cool Graphs
RPG Codex GOTY 2017: Results & Cool Graphs
Community - posted by felipepepe on Sun 28 January 2018, 10:47:31
Tags: GOTY 2017Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the RPG Codex 2017 GOTY Award!
This year we had 966 voters, who rated 84 games divided into three categories: Game of the Year, Best Expansion and Best PC Port/Remaster. Unfortunately we lack pre-shows, world premiers, unrelated music shows, celebrity guests and Geoff Keighley, so let's jump right into the awards!
Game of the Year
Our big, undisputed winner was Divinity: Original Sin 2! Just look at the graph:
No one got even close to it. It was the most voted game AND one of the most positively rated: 58% of its voters gave it a 4/4! Our new editor-in-chief, Infinitron, wanted me to write some stuff about how D:OS2 won because Roxor didn't write a nasty review or because 2017 was a slow year, but I can't argue with these numbers. Even compared with previous years it's an amazing result - only The Witcher III ever got these kind of numbers. Kudos to Larian.
Here's the rest of the Top 10:
In second place we have Prey. More than just "yet another game with Chris Avellone" (he also worked on D:OS2), Prey is a throwback to System Shock 2 - much more than any Bioshock game ever was. The Codex thinks System Shock 2 was the 22th best RPG ever made, so it makes sense that Prey would be this high - especially in such a weak year for TR00 RPGs. Chris Avellone is proud of us:
Third place goes to Battle Brothers. Despite its shameful lack of Space Marines, it's a solid tactical RPG that was widely played and praised. And not just by the Codex - Josh Sawyer wouldn't stop posting about how much he loved the game on twitter:
Expeditions: Viking comes next; Logic Artists's second game had very similar numbers to Battle Brothers, but wasn't as popular. We should fix this in 2018. The game is a solid step-up from their work on Expeditions: Conquistador, and I can't wait to see what's next.
Then we have the big surprise: Dominions 5: Warriors of Faith. Only 8% of voters played it, but those who did really loved it - 52% gave it a 4/4! Feel free to use the forums below to complain about how it isn't an RPG.
Nier: Automata was #6. It was quite popular and had 41% of its voters rating it 4/4, but was held back by 12% giving it 1/4.
ELEX was surprisingly popular - the third most voted game in the poll. It had a lot of positives votes, but like Nier it was held back by filthy casuals who don't understand the glory of janky games.
As for curiosities, Unexplored proved it's worth a look - this exotic roguelike had the highest % of positive votes in the poll: 84%!
On the other hand, Torment: Tides of Numenera was the biggest disappointment: 60% of voters played it, most rated it poorly.
South Park: Fractured But Whole was similarly bashed, but very few people even bothered to play it in the first place.
Then we have Mass Effect: Andromeda, Destiny 2 and Demons Age as the unanimously hated games.
2017 was also the year when Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar finally came out. Was the 20-year wait worth it? Well, according to the poll... we're not sure. Grimoire was #12 and stands isolated on the graph, between the biggest hit and the biggest disappointments. It's definitely the most controversial game of the year.
Best Expansions
2017 was the year of Action-RPG; especially of Action-RPG DLCs. Grim Dawn - Ashes of Malmouth took the #1 spot, but Path of Exile: The Fall of Oriath was less than 0,01 point behind.
Dark Souls III- The Ringed City was the most played expansion, but didn't perform quite as well as the previous two.
Titan Quest - Ragnarök was a big surprise this year - an expansion to a game from 2006! Yet, it failed to impress.
Still, Two Worlds II - Call of the Tenebrae was the big loser. Not surprising, considering TopWare Interactive's terrible record and business practices.
Best PC Ports / Remasters
After decades of being ignored in the West, Nihon Falcom has been making quite the impact lately. Its The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel was voted best PC Port, followed by The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky The 3rd. If you're confused, there are two separate game series: The 3rd is the final game in the Trails in the Sky trilogy, while the other game is the first title in the Trails of Cold Steel trilogy - but all of them are set in the same universe.
#3 was Disgaea 2, proving that the Codex really loves tactical RPGs and that Nippon Ichi should stop being lazy and just port the rest of the series already.
Elminage: Original was #4. It's an old-school Wizardry-clone, as hardcore as it can get, and you should totally ask aweigh why this game is good.
Full Results: As always, if you want to see the full results & votes - out of curiosity or to complain about the methodology - you can just follow this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ayfs4lHr7UObw2o3dX3coweVbZf-iirXgaR1AiSaMpc/edit?usp=sharing
This year we had 966 voters, who rated 84 games divided into three categories: Game of the Year, Best Expansion and Best PC Port/Remaster. Unfortunately we lack pre-shows, world premiers, unrelated music shows, celebrity guests and Geoff Keighley, so let's jump right into the awards!
Game of the Year
Our big, undisputed winner was Divinity: Original Sin 2! Just look at the graph:
No one got even close to it. It was the most voted game AND one of the most positively rated: 58% of its voters gave it a 4/4! Our new editor-in-chief, Infinitron, wanted me to write some stuff about how D:OS2 won because Roxor didn't write a nasty review or because 2017 was a slow year, but I can't argue with these numbers. Even compared with previous years it's an amazing result - only The Witcher III ever got these kind of numbers. Kudos to Larian.
Here's the rest of the Top 10:
In second place we have Prey. More than just "yet another game with Chris Avellone" (he also worked on D:OS2), Prey is a throwback to System Shock 2 - much more than any Bioshock game ever was. The Codex thinks System Shock 2 was the 22th best RPG ever made, so it makes sense that Prey would be this high - especially in such a weak year for TR00 RPGs. Chris Avellone is proud of us:
Third place goes to Battle Brothers. Despite its shameful lack of Space Marines, it's a solid tactical RPG that was widely played and praised. And not just by the Codex - Josh Sawyer wouldn't stop posting about how much he loved the game on twitter:
Expeditions: Viking comes next; Logic Artists's second game had very similar numbers to Battle Brothers, but wasn't as popular. We should fix this in 2018. The game is a solid step-up from their work on Expeditions: Conquistador, and I can't wait to see what's next.
Then we have the big surprise: Dominions 5: Warriors of Faith. Only 8% of voters played it, but those who did really loved it - 52% gave it a 4/4! Feel free to use the forums below to complain about how it isn't an RPG.
Nier: Automata was #6. It was quite popular and had 41% of its voters rating it 4/4, but was held back by 12% giving it 1/4.
ELEX was surprisingly popular - the third most voted game in the poll. It had a lot of positives votes, but like Nier it was held back by filthy casuals who don't understand the glory of janky games.
As for curiosities, Unexplored proved it's worth a look - this exotic roguelike had the highest % of positive votes in the poll: 84%!
On the other hand, Torment: Tides of Numenera was the biggest disappointment: 60% of voters played it, most rated it poorly.
South Park: Fractured But Whole was similarly bashed, but very few people even bothered to play it in the first place.
Then we have Mass Effect: Andromeda, Destiny 2 and Demons Age as the unanimously hated games.
2017 was also the year when Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar finally came out. Was the 20-year wait worth it? Well, according to the poll... we're not sure. Grimoire was #12 and stands isolated on the graph, between the biggest hit and the biggest disappointments. It's definitely the most controversial game of the year.
Best Expansions
2017 was the year of Action-RPG; especially of Action-RPG DLCs. Grim Dawn - Ashes of Malmouth took the #1 spot, but Path of Exile: The Fall of Oriath was less than 0,01 point behind.
Dark Souls III- The Ringed City was the most played expansion, but didn't perform quite as well as the previous two.
Titan Quest - Ragnarök was a big surprise this year - an expansion to a game from 2006! Yet, it failed to impress.
Still, Two Worlds II - Call of the Tenebrae was the big loser. Not surprising, considering TopWare Interactive's terrible record and business practices.
Best PC Ports / Remasters
After decades of being ignored in the West, Nihon Falcom has been making quite the impact lately. Its The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel was voted best PC Port, followed by The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky The 3rd. If you're confused, there are two separate game series: The 3rd is the final game in the Trails in the Sky trilogy, while the other game is the first title in the Trails of Cold Steel trilogy - but all of them are set in the same universe.
#3 was Disgaea 2, proving that the Codex really loves tactical RPGs and that Nippon Ichi should stop being lazy and just port the rest of the series already.
Elminage: Original was #4. It's an old-school Wizardry-clone, as hardcore as it can get, and you should totally ask aweigh why this game is good.
Full Results: As always, if you want to see the full results & votes - out of curiosity or to complain about the methodology - you can just follow this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ayfs4lHr7UObw2o3dX3coweVbZf-iirXgaR1AiSaMpc/edit?usp=sharing
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