The post-apocalyptic sequel game The Last of Us Part II has blown past the competition, receiving more Game of the Year (GOTY) Awards than any other game released, not only in 2020 but of all time.
The Naughty Dog game has, at the time of this writing, received 261 GOTY Awards, overtaking the previous record-setter The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt by one award to become the most winning game in history. While The Witcher sequel still holds the record for most awards from the Media Outlets category with 172 awards, The Last of Us Part II has been pushed to number one largely due to the Readers' Choice category. As vote-counting continues, the new game currently holds 92 Readers' Choice awards.
Among this year's contenders were popular 2020 titles Hades, Final Fantasy VII Remake and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which have all won Game of the Year awards from multiple outlets. However, the closest competitor was the action role-playing game Hades, developed and published by Supergiant Games, which achieved 53 GOTY awards as runner-up.
The Last of Us Part II has broken several records since its release, from critical receptions to sales. Two months into the game's launch, it became the third highest-selling PlayStation game in the United States, ranking only below 2018's Marvel's Spider-Man and God of War in terms of PS4 American sales. However, despite its obvious popularity and critical acclaim, the game has experienced a contentious run. A vocal minority of gamers review-bombed The Last of Us Part II for including a strong, visible LGBTQ+ lead in Ellie. Certain pre-release plot leaks also soured some fans of the original game to the sequel's characters and writing choices before experiencing the game in full. One major point of controversy was the additional playable character Abigail "Abby" Anderson, and the character's voice actor even received death threats after gamers took issue with her violent and complex arc.
Featuring elements from the survival-horror genre as well as action and open-world exploration, The Last of Us Part II picks up five years after the events of its predecessor, The Last of Us. Ellie and Joel, the previous protagonists, have settled in Wyoming before a tragic event sets Ellie down a dark path of revenge. As players learn more about the circumstances surrounding both Ellie's thirst for revenge and the impetus for the violence that it inspired, the audience is forced to face the futility of the neverending cycle of retribution.
Developed by Naughty Dog, The Last of Us Part II is now available on PlayStation 4.
Source: GameAwards, via TheGamer