---
title: 'Game of the Year Watch 2026 Begins'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=ibbsOP49Tnw'
video_id: 'ibbsOP49Tnw'
date: 2026-06-24
duration_sec: 0
---

# Game of the Year Watch 2026 Begins

> Source: [Game of the Year Watch 2026 Begins](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ibbsOP49Tnw)

## Summary

The video is a special edition of IGN's GameScoop 'Game of the Year Watch' for 2026. Host Damon Hatfield, along with guests Alyak and Nick Limone, discuss the frontrunners for Game of the Year based on critical reception and fan poll results. They cover several major releases including Resident Evil Requiem, Pokemon Pocopia, Forza Horizon 6, 007 First Light, and more.

### Key Points

- **Resident Evil Requiem leads sales and personal picks** [1:03] — Damon declares Resident Evil Requiem as his personal Game of the Year so far and notes it is the best-selling game of the year. Nick agrees, praising its fun gameplay and replayability.
- **Grace's medical ward praised as top Resident Evil environment** [2:49] — Nick considers the hospital section with Grace to be one of the finest environments in Resident Evil history, highlighting the horror and level design.
- **Pokemon Pocopia is the best-reviewed Pokemon game** [5:21] — Pokemon Pocopia ranks fourth in the fan poll and holds the highest review score in the series' 30-year history. Its objective-based building mechanics from Dragon Quest Builders are praised.
- **Forza Horizon 6 feels repetitive despite flawless presentation** [8:26] — Nick criticizes Forza Horizon 6 for feeling like a game he's already played, with a frictionless experience that lacks challenge. Alyak wants a stronger narrative.
- **Mina the Hollower called best 2D Zelda ever** [16:42] — Nick claims Mina the Hollower surpasses all 2D Zelda games, blending Bloodborne's aggressive combat with classic Zelda exploration. He notes the towers are the only weak point.
- **007 First Light's strong start but linear later half** [18:24] — Nick praises the first half of 007 First Light for its cinematic Hitman-style sequences but laments that the second half becomes too linear.
- **Marathon is Nick's number one game of the year** [32:06] — Nick reveals Bungie's Marathon extraction shooter as his personal pick. He loves its high skill ceiling, unique art style, and the thrill of risk in Cryo Archive mode.
- **Current shortlist for Game of the Year nominees** [36:48] — The panel lists the likely nominees so far: Resident Evil Requiem, 007 First Light, Mina the Hollower, Pokemon Pocopia, and Forza Horizon 6.

### Conclusion

The episode establishes Resident Evil Requiem as the clear frontrunner so far, but the panel acknowledges that major titles like GTA 6 and a new Zelda game still await later in 2026, leaving the race wide open.

## Transcript

What's up, everybody? Welcome to a special edition of Game of the Year Watch. This
is our show where we start lining up potential Game of the Year candidates to
see what we'll likely be voting on come awards season. I'm Damon Hatfield. Today I'm
joined by Alyak and Nick Limone. And I hope you guys are ready to talk
about some real good video games. Oh, yeah. Always. Lots of good stuff. So no
matter where you play, there have been a lot of great games released this year
already, There have been a lot of great games released this year already, from Resident
Evil, to Pokemon, to Forza, to Crimson Desert, to 007, to Mina the Hollower, just
an embarrassment of riches for us gamers. I've polled Scoop Nation to see if there
are any frontrunners for the fans. We'll reveal the results in a bit, but first,
just so our producers know behind the scenes, all the copy has been updated and
run down. The copy here is a little bit outdated, but we can jump into
our first game here. I think a good place to start would be the best
-selling Game of the Year and my personal pick for Game of the Year so
far. And my personal pick for Game of the Year so far, that's Resident Evil
Requiem. So this is the Dame -y pick so far. That's my personal pick, but
I also think it's a likely frontrunner just in general and is the best -selling
game of the year so far. So a good jumping -off point. Nick, we've talked
about this game a lot on GameScoop. Yeah, and for good reason. I think the
game is outstanding. I think still to this day, the momentum of this game, came
out, what, March, Resident Evil? Early March. So early part of the year, and yet
it still has the momentum. early march so early early part of the year and
yet it still has the momentum that i think is going to carry it all
the way through to december it will have to deal with a giant uh grand
theft auto size monster in the room but if there's one person who i think
can actually handle it it's maybe leon s kennedy himself i i think resident evil
requiem is just a delightful love letter to all things resident evil whether you're a
long time fan or a relatively new one and uh honestly it's just so
fun to play i played the game like and uh honestly it's just so fun
to play i played the game like six to seven times in a row i've
hundred percented it so like i love it the roguelike mode is really fun leon
must die however i do have my qualms with it you know if i am
getting nitpicky okay in this game of the year style discussion the only thing i
can think that is really going against resident evil requiem is strong first half of
the game all the way up through grace's basement section where you get to the
midpoint of the game and then we switch and we make a pretty drastic change
the midpoint of the game and then we switch and we make a pretty drastic
change in location tone and um the the pacing gets flip -flopped a little bit
and i think that's where the game gets significantly weaker that said the first half
of the game is the strongest resident evil has ever been i'm gonna go outright
and say it the grace uh the trauma center the the medical ward that is
i would argue one of the finest resident evil environments ever i look forward to
years from now where we do an art of the level on just grace's section
in that medical ward and then
how it's kind of just sandwiched by delightful bite -sized leon sections it's so good
it's a little bit of action it's a little bit of horror just comes together
to make a great package but come on leon's whole section in bombed out raccoon
city when he's climbing that uh fallen over skyscraper and shooting out the glass to
making the zombies fall all that is brilliant the set pieces are fantastic and i
think the capcom did such a great job of giving you things to do in
the open city job of giving you things to do in the open city section
but none of it felt particularly meaningful or meaty in a way that like juxtaposed
with grace's section grace's sections earlier on they just felt more substantial to me and
like i was doing more resident evil things this almost felt like a devil may
cry game when i was in raccoon city as leon i i can agree with
that a section where that last section we reach raccoon city i expected more
from that section i'm not sure what i think the pacing kind of slowed down
for me and i kind of got used to the monsters
in that moment but i absolutely loved resident evil 9. i think that was the
moment where i was like hmm what's going on here but the rest of the
game was to me amazing you beat me you said you beat it seven to
nine i think it's like five or six times but i whatever i needed to
do to 100 percent it yeah wow okay i i i got four four four
times i mean that's pretty good i got the speed around okay um i loved
resident evil 9. i think capcon did something that they hadn't done before and it
was Resident Evil 9. I think Capcom did something that they hadn't done before, and
it was connecting the old Resident Evil and the new Resident Evil, and they made
it work. Seamlessly, we got the horror, and honestly, the grace scene that we got
at the very beginning is one of the most terrifying moments Resident Evil has ever
been, and honestly, any other horror game, I can't remember a horror game that's gotten
me like that. I just love that they combined the old and the new, and
it feels like instead of choosing one of the two, this is the new direction.
They're embracing. Instead of choosing one of the two, this is the new direction. They're
embracing both sides, first person and third person, and it's working. Okay, so Resident Evil
Requiem, hugely successful, best -selling game of the year so far. The fourth best -selling
game of the year so far is Pokemon Pocopia. This is a game that I
quite enjoyed in spite of the fact that I'm not a Pokemon guy. The tonal
whiplash is amazing, and I love it. This is the thing that Game of the
Year does. It brings together disparate types of games and forces them to do gladiatorial
combat. I love that. I love it. forces them to do bad gladiatorial combat i
love it is this cozy uh town building social simulator game with pokemon a game
of your contender i mean i i think it's 100 a valid contender especially for
people who might be turned off by resident evil's either violence gory maybe it's just
not your cup of tea in the same way that those people may not be
particularly interested in pocopia you know um i mean one thing that i i did
not expect myself to be as uh kind of grabbed by pocopia as uh
kind of grabbed by pocopia as as much as it did and it's mostly because
the game feel like the game feels good to move around in in a way
that a lot of the kind of minecraft style games don't particularly feel great like
this is um you know co -developed by the um dragon quest builders folks and
i think a lot of their dna shows there you know i i'm not a
big fan of the the tree punching survival horror or not horror but tree punching
survival games where you're building up towns just because there's usually never any sort of
direction games where you're building up towns just because there's usually never any sort of
direction and the thing that's beautiful about the dragon quest builders games and then that
has in turn affected pocopia is objective based gameplay where it's like do this now
do this now go ahead and do this and do it however you want and
i really appreciate that sort of feedback loop and it forces you to do things
and consider things you had before plus it's great nostalgia bait because you're going back
to kanto region original pokemon and you're seeing like a post -apocalyptic
You're seeing like a post -apocalyptic version of Pokemon Red and Blue, which is really
delightful. I mean, the Pokemon franchise is 30 years old now. Pocopia is the best
reviewed game in the entire series history. Yeah, as a Pokemon fan, I feel like
I've been one of those people that have been waiting for a Pokemon game that
just felt good, that looked good, that I was excited to play. And this was
it. took, you know, it took Minecraft inspired level building and
it also kind of took a little bit of Animal Crossing too. So two highly
successful. and uh it also kind of took a little bit of animal crossing too
so two highly successful games that mesh together into pokemon i guess my question is
do you guys call that innovation or inspiration i mean it's innovative
in that nintendo and game freak are like what if we gave it to someone
else yeah and i think that's an innovation that's a speaks for itself in my
opinion but i just don't know if this game in particular has the legs it
needs from a more hardcore audience you know the people who are playing your crimson
desert more hardcore audience. You know, the people who are playing your Crimson Deserts, your
Resident Evils and things like that. But I mean, there are outliers like yourself. So
I think it has a shot. Now, there are two games worth mentioning that got
a 10 from IGN so far this year. That's Forza Horizon 6 and Mina the
Hollower. Correct. Again, two very different games. Think of the diversity of games we've already
just mentioned so far. Forza Horizon 6. Forza Horizon 5 was our game of the
year in 2021. Is 6 a contender? Look, I love of the year 2021 is
six a contender look i love here we go i love japan i love japan
don't get me wrong i love the the formula that forza horizon has kind of
introduced and implemented but i can't help but feel like i've already played this game
and that's like yeah and that's the biggest dilemma i think it's really fun don't
get me wrong it's just i've done all of this before in the way that
a lot of the things that we we've been talking about feel fresh and exciting
and new whereas you know not to be like you know break it down and
exciting and new whereas you know not to be like you know break it down
to its like absolute simplest formula but it is just kind of driving a car
around in a way that's very arcadian fun and i think i'm at a point
in my life now where i want more sim based style challenging you know i
want to learn that i'm over steering and figure out how to fix that yeah
um this is just kind of something that i play to pass the time as
opposed to a thing that i actively want to like make progress yeah i mean
the presentation is flawless i can't i can't knock it for that it just i
mean, the presentation is flawless. I can't knock it for that. It does have kind
of a been -there -done -that feel. Exactly. And we also talk about friction. You
enjoy a certain amount of friction in your games, but Forza Horizon 6 kind of
goes out of its way to present a frictionless experience for the player. I don't
know, it gets a little bit... I get a little bit tired of its overwhelming
positivity. It's always trying to boost me up, like, you're awesome, here's a free car.
You basically created cars. You're so good at this. It's like, okay, thank you, but
also, like, give me a challenge.
give me a challenge even like the the you know the giant mech race right
i thought that would be a lot more challenging than it actually was in that
you know you're on paper it's a great idea you are racing against a giant
mech and then it's like oh it's all kind of like scripted and chill and
it's designed to lose and i i feel good about it because i win but
i didn't really feel like i earned it you know elliak what do you think
yeah i i'm always impressed by the visuals of this game and i feel like
it's one of those games that's just really impressed by the visuals of this game
and i feel like it's one of those games that's just really fun to play
but again i expect a little bit more from a game of the year like
i want to personally this is very personal i want a really good story that
takes me to different worlds and i think this is real really fun game it's
impressive what they've done with forza but we have seen it before and we have
other contenders that i feel like have impressed me more all right we need to
take a quick break but when we return we will discuss mina the hollower and
your picks for game of the year 2026 so far Four picks for Game of
the Year 2026 so far. IGN Summer of Gaming is presented by
Amazon Luna, here to play. IGN
Summer of Gaming is presented by our official retail partner, Best Buy.
Welcome back to Game of the Year Watch 2026. We've been discussing some of the
highest rated games on IGN this year, but what are your games? rated games on
IGN this year, but what are your games of the year so far? I put
the call out and Scoop Nation answered. Now there is a clear frontrunner, which we'll
get to in a bit, but perhaps more interesting is the tie for fifth place
in my very scientific polling. Please break it down. I'm dying to know. For fifth
place. So this would be Forza Horizon 6 and Crimson Desert. Wow.
I'm not surprised, but I guess maybe a little bit. That's pretty interesting. Yeah, so
we talked a bit about Forza Horizon 6. That got a 10 for my Interesting.
Yeah, so we talked a bit about Forza Horizon 6. That got a 10 from
IGN. Crimson Desert got a 6 from IGN. But it's a polarizing game,
but people have passionate feelings about it. And the people that love it, they really,
really, really love it. And I should say, there are lots of people on staff
here at IGN that really, really love it. Oh yeah, I know Justin Davis was
obsessed with it for a bit. Mark Medina loves it. Corrado loves it. What was
your experience with it? I think this is, I do not love this game. However,
I do think it's interesting and it's a game that
I frequently uninstall and reinstall on Steam every time there's an update because I always
think maybe now's the time that I'll love it my thing is we talked a
little bit about me loving friction in my games and I think that this game
has plenty of it but it's not handled particularly elegantly like one of the things
that this is constantly getting served to me it's like designed for social media and
that there's so many bespoke little secrets that you would never know they're there unless
some Bespoke little secrets that you would never know they're there unless some influencer or
content creator told you about it. And it's just because the game doesn't communicate how
any of these things are a possibility to you. And to me, that's its biggest
problem. It's like, show me that there are these sorts of secrets innately and organically
in the game. I don't need to rely on, I shouldn't have to rely on
content creators to show me that there's a really one -of -a -kind unique pair
of boots that let you run on water, let you jet ski through the water.
It's like, that's really cool. run on water, let you jet ski through the water.
It's like, that's really cool. I just wish the game told me that these types
of things exist so that I can go and be on the lookout for them
in a way that feels like I would actually be able to investigate and figure
out these things are there as opposed to the game just kind of arbitrarily like,
well, you didn't interact with every single clock in the town. So how would you
not know that the thing is there? It's little things like that. I just don't
think it's, it doesn't kind of choreograph itself very well and tell you what are
the possibilities, which I can appreciate, but tell you what are the possibilities which i
can appreciate but not not game of the year material the game game of the
year material should teach you as you play aliaq what do you think i think
this is the game that your friends get mad at you for not playing they're
just insisting to like please just play crimson desert has happened already before um there's
just something about the game that i i think like you said is missing for
me to be able to like consider it for that i'm not surprised that it's
here because of how many people absolutely love this game but maybe because of how
many people absolutely love this game but maybe it is filling a space that was
needed to be filled before and that's why people love it so much i just
to me um in terms of like uniqueness and branding it just looks like another
you know open world um mmo where you can just you know run around and
do cool things but i don't know it's missing something a soul i mean it's
the only game that we've been discussing it didn't receive universal acclaim yeah correct but
the people that love it really love it and i think that makes them like
want to defend it yeah so they're very loud really love it and i think
that makes them like want to defend it yeah so they're very loud champions of
it i i strongly suspect that the type of people like it's people who enjoy
you know lush beautiful worlds which i will i will not argue that yeah crimson
dead are just one of the most stunning games i've ever seen i i just
it looks expensive in a way like i don't know necessarily think it's beautiful in
that its art direction is beautiful i think it just looks like the money is
on the screen that the dev uh clearly put a lot of time like the
money is on the screen that the dev clearly put a lot of time and
effort in it and i think it's a very impressive almost tech demo but it's
like i don't know i just have zero interest in actually engaging with any of
its systems in a way that like i want to fall in love with it
but it's just there's nothing in the game so far that has managed to like
grab me and grip me in the way that you know a lot of the
other games i would actually liken this a lot more to forza horizon 6 in
that this just feels like something i'm playing to pass the time between big releases
without really engaging with it meaning Trying to pass the time between big releases without
really engaging with it meaningfully. Well, then it's fitting that this is tied with Forza
Horizon 6 for fifth place with the fans. Coming up, number four is Pokemon Pogopia.
Wow. Lots of fans there. And then number three, finally, Nick, is Mina the Hollower.
Woo! My personal number two pick for game of the year. I think Mina the
Hollower is just, I'm going to go outright and say it, I think it's the
best 2D Zelda game that has ever existed. So better than Link to the Past,
better than Link's Awakening. existed. So better than Link to the Past, better than Link's
Awakening. And then better than the Capcom produced 2D Zelda games, which are also better
than Oracle of Ages, Seasons, and Minish Cap. And Minish Cap. And the DS games.
Phantom Hourglass. Okay, maybe not between two worlds. Link Between Worlds is pretty damn good.
But Mina the Hollower is just this delightful blend of it feels a lot more
like the Oracle of Ages and Seasons games to me, combined with Bloodborne, in the
way the game incentivizes you being aggressive. Bloodborne, in the way the game incentivizes you
being aggressive, I really like that about it. I love that there's tons of secrets
to find. I like that the game doesn't hold your hand. I like that it's
challenging. And just everything about the game is just very clearly made by people who
are at the top of their craft. And I would expect nothing less from the
people who gave us Shovel Knight. And like Shovel Knight, I look forward to constantly
replaying this game probably once a year for the rest of my life, the way
I do Shovel Knight and Specter Knight. It's so good. I do have one major
problem. level knight and specter knight it's so good i do have one major problem
with the game uh the towers are not fun the towers that you do in
the game after every dungeon after every boss dungeon you have to do this thing
where you ascend a tower to activate it and then move on to the next
one those are not fun no matter what you do however despite those not being
fun i still think the game is a 10 out of 10 10 out of
10 number three with the fans number two is 007 first light this is a
game i finished recently i also loved this game they took a bold risk by
telling a prequel story, introducing a
new Bond, and I think it's a great Bond. Aliyak, did you play Double Seven?
I did. I finished it, and I actually, I feel like I want to love
it. I want to. I feel like you and Nick are more in agreement, and
I love it. Yeah, that's good to hear. I wanted to love this game so
much. I've always wanted to play Hitman games, and I never got a chance to
jump into them, so I thought this would be my first entry into the Hitman
-style genre of games, and I love James Bond, so I wanted to. style uh
genre of games and i love james bond so i wanted to love this game
but there was something that wasn't just clicking for me there were moments that were
really fun but it also didn't seem as polished as i wanted it to be
and parts of the story was strong some parts weren't as strong for me um
it just it just wasn't hitting i think i wanted a little bit more from
this game i wanted to see some more fun things from the hitman games that
i feel like a lot of people wanted to see and i i will say
though positive when i finished the game and you got a chance to actually see
today though positive when i finished the game and you got a chance to actually
see all the cool gear that you could now unlock with with a bond and
see your cars and all that the extra content i thought it was really cool
i was like maybe i should spend some more time in the game and just
forget about the story and the gameplay i just played like let's let's just unlock
things so i thought that was exciting but i don't think it is enough for
game of the year agree nick uh i'm i'm torn i i think that this
game is a prime game of the year material uh i guess is a
prime game of the year material uh again but you guys are going to say
nick is a broken record he keeps saying the same thing but i think the
front half of this game is so much stronger than the back half you know
going into the game i was super hot when you know when i first started
playing it uh i think it's tutorial section all the way up through the like
chess the first like time you actually do james bond stuff right the chess match
set piece in like um i think it's like croatia or something like that i
forget where where it is exactly but that It's like Croatia or something like that.
I forget where it is exactly, but that is what I imagined when I heard
that IO Interactive was doing a Bond game. This was the perfect distillation of that.
The first chunk of it was like, this is so sick. The way that the
chess match ends where you're, you know, falling out of the plane and skydiving and
taking out dudes, it's so cinematic. It's so exactly what I wanted from like the
Hitman formula combined with the cinematic storytelling of Bond. However, as the game unfolds, it
starts to get, it funnels you into a more linear and linear path and you
game unfolds it starts to get it funnels you into a more linear and linear
path and you start to do less of the things that made me fall in
love with the game you still do james bond stuff but you don't have the
kind of improvisational nature that it feels like james bond is so good at other
than oh i failed my stealth now i have to go loud and now i
have license to kill so i'm just going to shoot everyone in the head yeah
it is a little bit breath of the wild because uh ammo is very scarce
and you're constantly having to you know pick up different guns and improvise right and
whoever whoever at io interactive came up with
the you know throw your gun at somebody to close the distance you deserve a
raise get get that person a raise because that is one of the finest mechanics
i can't wait for other games to steal it it's so good and it's a
great way of closing the gap in a way that i don't think i've ever
really seen in a game before all right we have to take another quick break
when we come back we'll reveal the very clear frontrunner probably very obvious frontrunner for
uh game of the year so far but before we move on i want to
thank our sponsor for summer of gaming But before we move on, I want to
thank our sponsor for Summer of Gaming, Evil Dead Burn, only in theaters July 10th.
If you're new to the franchise or need a quick refresher before the movie hits
theaters, then you're in luck because Ai -jin's very own Alan Knight is here to
give you a spoiler -free guide on what to expect.
know what you're walking into, consider this your warning.
This video is sponsored by Warner Brothers. William, my sweet boy.
I won't give anything for us to be together again. After Alice unexpectedly loses her
husband, she goes to stay with his family, her in -laws, at their home. Somewhere
quiet, somewhere she thinks is safe, somewhere that would... their home. Somewhere quiet, somewhere she
thinks is safe, somewhere that would normally be a place to recover after a great
loss. But this is an Evil Dead film, so as one may imagine, what was
supposed to be a family coming together becomes a family torn apart. In this case,
literally. So, how do you survive that? That's what we're here to find out.
First things first, let's talk about what we're actually dealing with, because a lot of
people get this wrong. The Evil Dead are not zombies, they're not ghosts, they're not
some virus you can quarantine or a
monster you can see coming from a distance. They're far more sinister. What they do
is they find the people closest to you and they take them. And then whatever
is left walks around in that person's body knowing everything that person knew about you.
Your history, your fears, the specific thing that would break you. And it uses all
of it. The physical stuff is bad and gruesome, don't get me wrong. But that's
almost secondary to the psychological warfare. Don't get me wrong, but that's almost secondary to
the psychological warfare. So where does all this actually come from? The
Evil Dead, Deadites, all that traces back to one thing, the Necronomicon, the Book of
the Dead, an ancient text that has been responsible for every single bad night in
this franchise's history. Someone finds it, someone reads from it, and then everyone around them
has a very serious problem. In Evil Dead Burns specifically, it's a little different. For
the first time in the franchise, someone
reads from the book on purpose which and I cannot stress this enough is not
a great idea so to illustrate the point I will read a passage straight from
the book of the dead mm -hmm let's see here we go
Kunda
We'll see Kanda
I'll swallow your soul anyway Deadites go
through your grief your guilt your love like a filing cabinet and they find the
exact thing that would break you And they go straight for it with joy There's
a humor to it a real pleasure in what they do And that's what makes
them so hard to face and they can do all that because they're wearing the
faces of your loved And they can do all that because they're wearing the faces
of your loved ones. Let's take poor little Alice, for
example. She's already grieving. She's already raw. She goes to her in -law's home because
that's where the people who loved her husband are. And that's where she thinks she
can heal. And then they turn. One by one. And she's in their
house, surrounded by people she once loved with nowhere to go. Family is
supposed to be safe.
An evil dead bird and that very thing is weaponized. The Knights don't pick strangers.
They pick the people you cannot walk away from because family is the root of
all the evil they will ever need.
Do you fight back? That's the question, isn't it?
Everything we just covered, the grief, the obligation, the faces of the people you loved,
all of it is working against you. So what do you actually do?
When something worrying your mother's face is coming at you? When it's your sister, when
it's your father -in -law, your grandmother, someone you made a vow to, what do
you do? When you made a vow to, what do you do?
The answer is simple, and it is brutal. You have to
be willing to hurt the ones you love.
You have to be willing to sacrifice, because when it's kill or be killed,
the only way to survive is to look at the face of someone you love
and destroy it. The question isn't really, how do you fight that question?
The question isn't really, how do you fight back? The question is, is that
something you can do?
The dismemberment has historically been effective. Fire, the passages
themselves, if read correctly, can close the door they opened.
But none of that matters. You can't get past facing
your demons.
I'm afraid you won't get past this one. Take that. We do love your mind.
I got past the king from the kingdom. Come and leave it!
evil dead bird only in theaters July 10th get your tickets now
IGN summer of gaming is presented by our official product partner
Lenovo Legion
and
we're back it's game of the year watch we've been discussing a lot of great
candidates we've been sharing the top five picks so far from scoop nation A lot
of great candidates who've been sharing the top five picks so far from Scoop Nation.
I said number one is a clear frontrunner and also probably obvious, and yes, it
is Resident Evil, Requiem. 007 First Light was in second place, but Resident Evil received
almost twice as many votes, so millions and millions of more votes than 007 First
Light. That's my personal pick, a game of the year so far, Resident Evil. And
Alyak, I think it's also yours if we were going to vote today. Yeah, absolutely
it is. Again, I played the game so much. I loved it. And you know
what? I think it's time. game so much i loved it and you know what
i think it's time to get a horror game to get game of the year
just resident evil resident evil has never won game of the year from ign before
really whoa well hold up let me walk that back maybe four back in 2005
maybe that was two remake did not either huh no interesting no yeah i i
think resident evil's an outstanding one what made you love it so much oh man
i think it was the immersive storytelling from grace also the performance of the actor
that grace also the performance of the actor that uh for grace
was just so so good um i loved being able to jump between a fully
immersive horror game where i almost feel like i can't finish the level and then
having to take a break and jump into a beloved original character like leon i
mean we've been waiting to play as leon for a long time and getting to
see him as an older character now i don't know there's just such a good
mix of old and new and it feels so good and resident evil has
So good. And Resident Evil has been nominated already, I think, three times in the
last five years for Game of the Year, and it hasn't won. I think Alan
Wake was the closest one to win, but then we had Baldur's Gate 3. So
I hope this year would be the win. If I'm voting now, I'm voting Resident
Evil Requiem. I love it. It has everything survival horror, action horror, the cinematic storytelling,
the villain. I love this game. Leon, let's not forget Leon. Leon's the best. Just
the coolest dude. I mean, like, the modern area of Resident Evil games, the new...
Dude, I mean, like the modern area of Resident Evil games, the new numbered entries,
7 and 8, you know, they're first -person games, and then they're bouncing back and
forth between those and the remakes, which are third -person. And what a bold decision
that was seemingly unnecessary for 9 to be like, we're gonna make half the game
first -person and half the game third -person, but huge success. It worked very well.
It pulled it off completely. But Nick, if you were voting today, I think you'd
vote for a game we haven't even mentioned yet. Yeah, you know, I gotta be
true to who I am, and it's the one yet yeah you know i i
gotta be true to who i am and it's the one thing that i'm constantly
thinking about it i'm constantly going back to it um resident evil is my number
three pick for game of the year currently again no gta we're still halfway through
the year okay wait and two is mina two is mina but my number one
pick for game of the year currently as it stands in june 2026 is uh
bungie's marathon it's not a thing that i thought i would ever be in love
with but man i i cannot stop thinking about this game and when i think
this game is exactly and not stop thinking about this game and when i think
this game is exactly what i want from a video game especially something that says
you know tired at this point as an extraction shooter it's a first person shooter
it's an extraction shooter i like my shooters don't get me wrong but an extraction
shooter isn't really my type of thing uh but everything about the game's art direction
its music uh its style overall it's just it's showing me things i've never seen
in video games in a way that's like exciting to me you know i opened
up the backpack for the first time the inventory is so to me you know
i opened up the backpack for the first time the inventory is so alien and
like foreign and it just seems actively like we don't want you to learn this
and i really like the game that puts the challenge up like that i like
the high skill skill ceiling for the game i like how sweaty matches are and
i love that you are putting something on the line every time you load into
a match my favorite thing that uh you know it with without trying to get
all into what makes it so unique the end game of marathon's current end game
is called cryo art The endgame of Marathon's current endgame is called Cryo Archive, and
it's this level that you actually can't even play. They only activate servers on the
weekend for it, and also you have to have a minimum value loadout, valued at
a minimal of 5 ,000, which is a lot of higher tier gear. So you
know that you are going through this labyrinthine type, you are actually boarding the Marathon
itself. And you are in this labyrinth with other teams with high value gear, and
you're all trying. to basically go
through and solve various pve style vault puzzles and uh deal with pve
enemies while also contending with other squads with high value gear there's just a thrill
that i haven't experienced in a game uh in ages with something like marathon and
it's it's a high that i can't chase uh that i haven't been able to
chase until this game and i worry that the player base isn't going to be
there and so that's why i'm doing my best to go that the player base
isn't going to be there and so that's why i'm doing my best to go
to bat for because i think that this is a game that should be experienced
i love how bungie's vision for this game has been uncompromising until i would say
yesterday's when they unveiled their pve mode that dedicated vault breaker mode that's going to
be coming later in july as part of the middle of the season two update
so they have started to compromise a little bit in their vision just to hopefully
bring some players in and at this point i'm like do whatever you need to
please keep this game alive i've never
been so invested in a game as a service before as i am with marathon
but yeah the everything about this game i love it i like you have played
marathon right i have yeah i'm supposed to be one of the players that's supposed
to be playing i'm the exact person they want in this game i what i
love about it is its unique identity like you said this is a world that
i absolutely want to learn more about This is a world that I absolutely want
to learn more about. Extraction shooters are not a type of shooter that I am
super experienced in, but I jumped into it as my first extraction shooter, and I
got to play for a whole week, just trying to really love it. I got
really excited once I was able to pick up the Halo BR in the game.
Yes, the Volley Rifle. That was so exciting for me. Then once I lost it,
I was like, oh my god, I gotta get through this. I gave it a
couple of more runs, but I think I got distracted by other shooters. gave it
a couple of more more runs but i think i got distracted by other shooters
i've been playing a lot of battlefield and i think mayor i just i want
marathon and bungie to succeed so much so i'm there i'm right there with you
i want i want to love this game but i think i need more and
i'm not sure what how to identify what that is for me i love the
world i'm supposed to be playing this game and maybe i should jump in nick
maybe i should go play with you and get another player in join my squad
i do think just my my quick pitch to aliak yeah this is bungie they
still know that My quick pitch to Alyak, this is Bungie, they still know their
gameplay loop that they've mastered with Halo. The encounter, grenade, shoot, and melee, and
then the encounter's over, rinse and repeat over and over. It's just this perfect formula
of ultimate game feel, and there's nothing quite like it. Well, it does
seem like we're getting a short list of games that, if we were voting now,
games that would be nominated, Resident Evil, 007 First Light, Mean of the Hollower,
Pocopia, maybe... 007 First Light, Mina the Hollower, Pocopia, maybe Forza
6, I think that's kind of like the shortlist that's emerging. Ryan McCaffrey pitched in,
he's the host of IGN's podcast Unlocked, he would vote for 007 First Light right
now. But there's one more game that just barely didn't make the top five, which
we can talk about for just a brief moment here. I think it was one
vote away from tying with Forza and Crimson Desert, and that's Pragmata. Pragmata's good. Lots
of love for Pragmata out there. In my opinion, it's a great game, the exact
type of game that we used to get every other month.
back in the 360 days but not quite good enough to be game of the
year material what do you think yeah i'm right there with you i think that
this game it's been its greatest benefit is two outstanding performances from our two leads
and also the game does not overstay its welcome it's just as long as it
needs to be and it has additional challenge content for people who want to take
on the challenges because some of the end game stuff in pragmata is probably some
of the most fun i've had in games outside of marathon in pragmata is probably
some of the most fun i've had in games outside of marathon i'm just like
oh this is like ps2 level challenge of like the game that you would rent
on a random weekend and you're just like i just need one more challenge to
beat the game and it's like the game does a good job of distilling all
that down and it's just it's again it's an experience you haven't quite had before
of you know using the controller in a way that feels novel and exciting with
your face buttons navigating the hacking mini game while you're still moving around and aiming
with mini game while you're still moving around and aiming with the left analog stick
and the trigger buttons. Like it's such a inventive use of you know rethinking the
controller and I guess that's what I'm looking for with something like game of the
years. I want something I've never quite experienced before and I do think that Pragmata
has that in spades. Granted I do think it kind of shows its hand pretty
early and it doesn't change all that much throughout the course of the game other
than wanting to see what happens to our fine heroes here. But again Capcom. is
crushing it. Two games already this year. But again, Capcom. Capcom's crushing it. Two games
already this year. They still got Onimusha coming out later this year. And they've already
announced the next Resident Evil. Plus DLC for Requiem. We're spoiled, Damon.
We're spoiled. And Mega Man. We don't deserve Capcom. That is our show, but this
is not the end. Game of the Year Watch has begun. We'll keep checking in
for the rest of the year. And I don't know if you're aware, there are
a lot of games still coming the rest of the year, including this indie game
called GTA 6. And a little, there's the whole Zelda of it all as well.
Oh, yeah. Please be excited for that. The little, there's the whole Zelda of it
all as well. Oh, yeah. Please be excited for that. But first, it's time for
a brand new month of gaming. Jump into the humble June choice bundle and score
an amazing lineup of titles. Right now you can grab Octopath Traveler 2, The Rift
Breaker, Life is Strange, Double Exposure, Indica, Citizen Sleeper 2, Starward Vector, Construction Simulator,
Hell Clock, and Overlooting. This month's charity is It Gets Better, a non -profit organization
with a mission to uplift, empower, and connect LGBTQ youth around the globe. Head to
Humble Bundle. Power and connect LGBTQ youth around the globe. Head to HumbleBundle .com through
July 6th to start playing today. Thank you to Aliak. Thank you, Nick. My name
is Damon. This is IGN's GameScoop Game of the Year watch, and we'll see you
on the next one.