The hype surrounding Spider-Man 2 leading up to the Game of the Year Awards in 2023 was immense. Marvel fans were blindly rooting for Spider-Man 2 to win, which was contesting against mega titles like Baldur’s Gate 3, Alan Wake 2, Resident Evil 4, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
During the award show, Sam Lake, the director of Alan Wake 2, was seen dancing alongside other cast members during a performance by Poets of the Fall cosplaying as The Old Gods of Asgard, a fictional rock band that exists within the Remedy video game universe. Lake did not win the award, but it set the tone for what was to follow with Alan Wake 2.
Sam Lake crowns a well-deserved title besides Alan Wake 2
During an interview during the award show, Sam was asked about who he would like to win besides Alan Wake 2, and his answer was never Spider-Man 2.
Besides Alan Wake 2, if you were to choose any other game within that Game of the Year to win, which one would you pick? Asked the interviewer, Lake answered:
Baldur’s Gate 3. I’m a big fan of tabletop role-playing games and started out with Dungeons & Dragons. It has a great place in my heart. I haven’t really started Baldur’s Gate 3 because I had to focus on getting Alan Wake 2 done, and I know that it’s a time-sink. But very much in the coming holidays, right? That’s what I’ll be doing.
Much deserved Baldur’s Gate 3 won the most prestigious award that year. Spider-Man 2 never stood a chance against the epic lore and revolutionary storytelling of Baldur’s Gate 3, as it redefined the place of RPGs in people’s lives.
Spider-Man 2 was a lousy choice for the win
Spider-Man 2 was banking on the hype of a mega-franchise and managed to generate a lot of hype following the 2023 Game of the Year awards. Nevertheless, its lousy storytelling and repetitive gameplay bottled against revolutionary titles like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Alan Wake 2.
During the days leading up to the awards, Marvel fans were on top of the world promoting Spider-Man 2 and crowing it the Game of the Year in their heads. But its fall was linear to its rise. One user shared their opinion on Reddit, commenting on the validity of the game’s hype. They said:
Comment
byu/Informal-Advice-6357 from discussion
inSpidermanPS4
Spider-Man games have always had shortcomings In their narrative structure. The game can not solely work on the basis of cool gameplay mechanics, a player also needs to get hooked on the story and find some relatability in that world.
The developers at Insomniac are taking players for granted by not paying much attention to the storyline. They feel players have been exposed to the world of Spider-Man way too many times and are well aware of it, so they do not have to work towards creating a sense of belonging with their games, shifting their focus on making the movement mechanics as enjoyable as possible. Which can work as a hit-and-miss.
