To little surprise,Baldur’s Gate 3won Game of the Year at The Game Awards earlier this week. While not many fans could have predicted this a year ago, before Baldur’s Gate 3 left early access and shot to fame, the CRPG felt all but guaranteed to take home the big prize after its full launch. Even with fierce competition likeTears of the KingdonandAlan Wake 2.
However, fans of one of the other Game of the Year nominees aren’t taking Baldur’s Gate 3’s win very well at all. Across social mediaMarvel’s Spider-Man 2players are starting fights with Baldur’s Gate 3 players, strongly feeling that their preferred game was robbed of the top spot.
In one viral tweet, a fan shares a cutscene from Spider-Man 2 as proof that it should have won Game of the Year. Perhaps less compellingly, they then go on to share a picture of some dice, labelled, “Baldur’s Gate 3 gameplay”.
Ignoring the obvious here - that almost every game ever runs dice rolls to determine in-game events - the sentiment has sparked debate amongst fans of both titles. BG3 fans argue that its gameplay is superior to Spider-Man’s, whereas Spidey fans say that the CRPG’s turn-based combat is boring, especially compared to an action game like Spider-Man 2.
Over on TikTok,one user arguesSpider-Man 2 should have won based on the comic book series' previous achievements, for some reason.
That said, this isn’t a sentiment shared by the majority of Spider-Man 2 players. In fact, many have gone on to defend Baldur’s Gate 3, even if it wasn’t their cup of tea. Others also highlight that the gameplay of each game can’t really be compared visually, since they’re so different.
But it isn’t just Baldur’s Gate at the centre of this debate. A new challenger has entered the ring, withPikmin 4enthusiasts also coming in to brag about their game getting more awards than Spider-Man. Which, in fairness, is being done a lot more tongue-in-cheek than the Baldur’s Gate 3 wars. It’s also nice to see Pikmin bag a win after the series was on ice for so long.
Of course, many fans do argue Spider-Man 2’s merits without putting down other games. Our Editor-in-Chief, Stacey Henley, defended Spidey in our series on the Game of the Year nominees.
On the other hand, I got the task of defending Baldur’s Gate 3. Which was easy, because it’s my personal game of the year too.
