Best Surprise of 2019 - Article
by Chinh Tran , posted on 05 January 2020 / 3,575 Views
Every year, talented developers prove they can make games that take us all by surprise. This year’s nominees for Best Surprise are no exception. Perhaps unsurprisingly, though, all these titles are promising new IPs that may prove to launch brand new franchises. Obsidian released perhaps its best game in The Outer Worlds, Platinum Games once again showed off its specialty in the action genre with Astral Chain, Remedy's Control proved it could still provide plenty of punch in action-narrative titles, Nintendo once again showed off the firm's penchant for innovation with Ring Fit Adventures, and finally Remnant: From the Ashes demonstrated that the Souls formula can work as a shooter.
The Shortlist:
The Outer Worlds
Astral Chain
Control
Ring Fit Adventure
Remnant: From the Ashes
The Winner:
The Outer Worlds
Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds combined a strong narrative, player choice, and memorable characters, with an intriguing open world to create the Best Surprise of 2019. In a year where several games seemingly came out of nowhere to demand our attention and time, The Outer Worlds managed to top them all.
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I somewhat expected Astral Chain to be good, because of Platinum's pedigree, but I didn't think it would become my GOTY.
I'm not sure why Obsidian making something great is still considered a surprise. I'm pretty sure almost everything Obsidian has made is considered at least good, if perhaps a bit rough on the edges. If anything, not expecting much from The Outer Worlds seems to surprising to me.
