Even though The Game Awards 2024 nominees have only just been announced, there has already been widespread discussion on one of the Game of the Year hopefuls, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.
The DLC expansion to 2022’s FromSoftware RPG Elden Ring was nominated alongside heavy hitters such as Astro Bot, Black Myth Wukong and Final Fantasy Rebirth, sparking debate on whether an expansion should be put on the same pedestal full-fledged titles.
To be fair, The Game Awards made it clear that the title falls within its selection criteria, releasing a statement addressing the issue which reads: “The Game Awards aims to recognize the best creative and technical work each year, irrespective of the format of that content’s release. Expansion packs, new game seasons, DLCs, remakes and remasters are eligible in all categories, if the jury deems the new creative and technical work to be worthy of a nomination. Factors such as the newness of the content and its price/value should be taken into consideration.”
Even so, this hasn’t stopped netizens from expressing their frustrations regarding the decision online, with most pointing out on Reddit that the expansion requires players to own the main game to access it and is not a standalone title, which should make it ineligible for the award. Others such as X/Twitter user ChrisVoiceman expressed their disdain over a DLC title being nominated over other excellent candidates such as Silent Hill 2.
The overall consensus on the Internet is the suggestion to add a “Best Expansion” category to avoid such issues in the future, allowing for proper recognition of worthy candidates while also leaving room for more well-deserving titles in the year to clinch awards in other categories.
Despite the hoo-ha surrounding this, the fact remains that Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is widely regarded as an outstanding title, with nominations not just for Game of the Year, but in three other categories: Best Game Direction, Best Art Direction, and Best RPG.
The Game Awards will stream on 12 December 2024.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
