Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Wins D.I.C.E. Awards 'Adventure Game Of The Year'

Nice to see Zelda and Mario get plenty of nominations. A shame Pikmin 4 didn't a nomination in the 'Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year' category. It totally deserves it.

Aaannnd the winner is...Baulders Gate 3!

How Pikmin 4 hasn't been nominated for the best strategy game of the year is beyond me, especially when looking at the nominees in that category it's even more of a joke.

Other games on Switch nominated:

• Mortal Kombat 1 (...well...)
• Thirsty Suitors
• Planet of Lana (coming soon)
• COCOON
• DAVE THE DIVER
• Venba
• Hogwarts Legacy
• Disney Illusion Island
• Fae Farm
• Pocket Bravery
• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2
• Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 - Turbocharged
• LEGO 2K Drive
• EA SPORTS FC 24 (...well...)
• MLB The Show 23
• Cobalt Core
• The Last Spell
• Wartales (...well...)
• DREDGE
• Terra Nil
• Omega Strikers

I guess people really like muted colors and an open world with barely anything in it? Hmm...

@TenEighty Talking about TotK?

I don't know what game you played, but there was almost too much stuff to do in that game. Couldn't go three minutes without new activities cropping up.

You know its serious when Thirsty Suitors get a nomination. Glad to see zero competition for Nintendo games, but leaving music and sound categories empty is a bit much.

It's a little wild how developers have the bias against a 2D game not to include it on GOTY. Goes to show you that it is still subjective to include/exclude certain games from a list.

@Ralizah Been a big fan of Zelda since the first release but these last two games are just huge worlds of forgotten content under a regurgitated color scheme. Not a fan.

@TenEighty I'm not sure what forgotten content means lol

Well, luckily for you, I imagine the aesthetic will change somewhat with the next game, since it won't be in this same universe.

@Ralizah Sorry, my bad. Just an open world where there's lack of terrain content. Just feels empty. Like a desert. Open world concept sounds nice but the Switch is not powerful enough to render a bunch of content. Nintendo should have just waited until they had a more powerful console. Just my opinion.

@TenEighty There’s a metric ton of content in TotK’s world. Just sounds like you didn’t play it.

@TenEighty Hmm. There was a bit of deliberate emptiness in BotW, but TotK didn't have that problem. It honestly felt like Nintendo overcompensated in terms of the amount of stuff that you'll encounter in that game at any one time.

tbh it's the least empty-feeling Zelda I've ever played. The overworlds in games like Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker often felt like wastelands designed to put space between the dungeons and story areas. Never felt that way with TotK. There's so much content stuffed into every crevice. And like BotW, even the environment itself is super interactive, so just getting from A to B is an adventure.

Now, you can argue the content isn't meaningful, and that's an opinion some people have, but I definitely feel like 'empty' isn't a good word to describe it, personally.

@Gracetrack I did not. The first one was enough of a disappointment. My son did though and complained about the same things from the first. So I didn't even bother besides watching some of the gameplay and obviously had no interest.

@TenEighty did you not feel that way about the other 3D Zeldas? Most of the world (especially Hyrule/Termina field or the Great Sea) were just hubs to get you to the next plot device/dungeon. BoTW was all about exploring a ruined (but not barren world) and then TOTK did that two and a half times (with differing ways of traversal in each plane) and then filled it with stuff to do/find and beat up. I mean I get that for some they see an expanse and it is suffocating rather than liberating but there is an insane amount of stuff to do in both games. I would argue that they do the same as the older games but the world even in its desolation feels more alive than ever. And AoC does show you that same Hyrule mostly intact in a more succinct manner. The 2D ones I won’t argue as being empty due to the lack of realistic scale.

I love that Kyoto was used as a size reference for Hyrule. I feel like it helps the brain subconsciously accept the scale because there is a limit based in reality. Probably hits harder for Japanese folks especially those from Kyoto. I’ve been playing since launch and still just wander around in comfortable awe.

@Ryu_Niiyama Not too bad but I did not like Wind Waker at first but it grew on me and turned out being a fun game. the only other Zelda game I did not like was Twilight. It just got dark and weird. Seemed more alien like. Not a fan of that game.

@DonkeyBrainKing And deserved. It's the better game, and honestly my GOTY of 2023 as well.

@sanderev NOT deserved. It is HORRIBLE and way worse than TOTK!

It didn’t win GOTY…. Good

Right now I’m playing Tunic and that is more Zelda than what TotK tried to be.
Such a disappointing entry in the series, not worth the 6 year wait.

I’m also playing Zelda: Sealed Palace and I can’t believe that even a fan made game has better dungeon structure and design than TotK. 🙄

I still cannot fathom, to this day, how they dropped the ball a second time with the dungeons even with huge amounts of fan feedback from BotW. They really should go back to the drawing board with them.

@PigmaskFan It's horrible? Really? Not my experience with the game though.

You may not like the game, that's up to you, but horrible is just harsh. I also liked TotK a lot, but BG3 is the better game. By far.

Actually my only wish for a 'Switch 2' launch title is a port of Baldur's Gate 3. it would fit perfectly.

TOTK should have won GOTY

@OldGamer999
Yeah, the story of totK was easily more intense and epic than BG3's story. Execution over complexity: it doesn't matter how long or complex the story is if it doesn't make you feel anything. Larian studios are not good storytellers.

What does really being a "family" game means? A gategory free of nudity?

I've just been playing TOTK and was blown away 3 or 4 different ways. Just can't believe how good it is. This week I successfully built a single fan railjet (Efficient Demand invented this awesome design, I guess they're on Reddit or Hyrule Engineers or something) (there's great how to videos on youtube). I have a hard time getting my slightly jank version of it to lift off, but once it gets going it is incredibly fast and fun to fly around Hyrule. More fun and exciting than any Pilotwings game, and I love all Pilotwings games. And I've also been completing Yunobos quest line, defeating a Lynel, getting an awesome paraglider fabric, climbing and exploring around, and about 6 other things. For me, TOTK is the most astonishingly good videogame I've ever played.

Still better than the Geoff awards tbh.

Grats to ToTK and Mr. Koji Kondo

Some very good wins for many great games. I haven’t played everything but yeah congrats to the winners!

Totk should have been GOTY, haven't played BG3, so maybe my opinion would change once I do, but looking at gameplay it looks good, but not really GOTY good imo.

Congrats to Tears of the Kingdom!! Well deserved for sure.

totk has the most goty under its belt then baldurs gate 3.

Thank god BG3 won. Enjoyed much more than totk in pretty much every way. I can't believe some here are saying the story was better than in BG3. The story in totk is so bad it was like comedy to me