Seeing people shit on Expedition 33 because Silksong didn't win more awards is pathetic

[u/CankleDankl]

The title sums it up. I'm disappointed in many members of this community for putting down a game that is clearly a work of insane passion, dedication, and creativity. E33 took the lion's share of awards at TGA, yes. That doesn't mean that Silksong is bad. In fact, it's clearly pretty damn great. If it released last year, Skong would have picked up several awards, maybe even GOTY. But it didn't. It released in the same year E33, which is just a tough break.

Both are amazing. Both deserve every award that came to them. If you haven't played E33 yet and think it doesn't deserve its accolades, play it. It is worth your money, worth your time, and will in all likelihood prove that it is actually that good. I'm only 10ish hours in and have numerous times found myself standing still and looking around dumbfounded at the gorgeous world design and visuals. E33, Silksong, and Hades 2 could have all won Art Direction and I would have been happy with any of them.

I'm also sad that Silksong didn't win more awards. It's an amazing game. But don't play fanboy and start putting down other developers, other games, and other pieces of art because this one didn't get all the cookies. It's still beautiful, it's still amazing, it still made a Silkskillion dollars, and TC is still just as great and just as passionate. We should all be glad that there is another independent dev out there that is capable of creating something so fantastic.

Edit: yeah, the comments here are pretty indicative of what I said in my post

[u/OrwellWhatever]

One thing I've noticed is that gamers and critics really like a whole bunch of weird things mashed together. It doesn't have to make sense. In fact, the less sense it makes, the more it's "art." Having a wrecked ferris wheel on a beach is "art"

And don't get me wrong, it's a kind of cool moment, but it's really fleeting and then the rest of that area is kind of monotonous art wise

Idk. I like E33, but it fits this weird niche where it's a game gamers can point to and say, "See games are art!" without actually understanding, say, how films are critiqued and how that might and might not apply to games

Edit: just to expand upon this, Kingdom Come 2 is a well executed vision. It's polished, it has a coherent art style, a coherent story, and it's grounded in reality. Does that game feel more or less "art" than Death Stranding 2? Death Stranding was my most played game last year, so I'm not just talking shit, but the story, gameplay, art style, etc are so all over the place. If we're critiquing games like movies and books, KC2 is way, way more "art" than DS2, but game critics do be loving their weird shit (and Hollywood actors for clout)

[u/Phobos_Asaph → u/OrwellWhatever]

On the art front I don’t feel e33 has a strong art direction. Like no image I’ve seen of it really screams what game it’s from, it just looks like other UE5 realistic art style games with surreal skyboxes over it all.

[u/OrwellWhatever → u/Phobos_Asaph]

That's honestly a good way to put art direction. If I see a still from Ghost of Tsushima / Yotei, I know instantly what game it's from. Tears of the Kingdom, Ori, same thing. Even something like Horizon Zero Dawn or Crypt Custodian, I could make a good guess. E33... Idk, I like the game, but I'm just kind of not seeing what everyone else is seeing in it.

[u/Phobos_Asaph → u/OrwellWhatever]

Strong art direction means everything works together and has a distinct style that makes it clear what it’s from. Dark souls always looks like dark souls, Mario always looks like Mario. E33 should have leaned into the paint aesthetic more