Even Starfield fans don’t think Starfield deserved a Game Awards GOTY nomination

The list of titles that’ll fight it out for the title of Game of the Year at this year’s Game Awards arrived yesterday and doesn’t include Starfield. Somewhat surprisingly, one party that doesn’t seem to have been shocked or offended by the omission of Bethesda’s RPG is its dedicated Reddit community.

While the likes of Baldur’s Gate 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom made it into the six-game final shortlist for the award – alongside Alan Wake 2, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and the Resident Evil 4 Remake – Starfield didn’t. That said, it will still have some presence at the show, having been nominated for the Best RPG award.

Over on the Starfield subreddit, the news that Bethesda’s highly-anticipated venture into space won’t be fighting it out for the overall title of 2023’s best game has provoked an interesting reaction from fans. A number have shared thoughts similar to user InitialQuote000’s admission: “I really enjoy and love Starfield, but (I’m) not terribly surprised,” or pointed out that this year’s GOTY field is pretty stacked.

Meanwhile, others have been a bit more damning in their assessment of where the game currently stands. “Starfield doesn’t come close to any of those games,” argued one user, “It’s frustratingly uneven, full of half-baked systems and unfulfilling quests. It doesn’t even deliver on the basic ‘awe’ of space travel.

“If there was a ‘Best game overhauled by mods a year later’ category, Starfield would probably win in 2024.”

“Hopefully this is a wake up call for them,” another said of Bethesda, “The game has great bones, but the trend of cutting and streamlining mechanics continues to kill the immersion of BGS games. The only system with some depth in Starfield is shipbuilding.”

In terms of which title they actually expect to take home 2023’s GOTY title, many players in the thread picked out Baldur’s Gate 3 as their favourite, with one going as far as to assert: “BG3 losing would be the biggest upset in the history of the awards. It wasn’t even the game I had the most fun with this year, but I know a masterpiece when I see one.”

In other Starfield news, we recently found out that one of the voices for its protagonist was originally set to be provided by the guy responsible for Adam Jensen’s dulcet tones, with him having been given another role once Bethesda decided to go the silent route.