The Last of Us Part II (PS4) | $10 | Amazon, Best Buy
Look, we all saw it coming. The Last of Us Part II won Game of the Year at 2020’s Game Awards. Not only that, Naughty Dog’s game cleaned house entirely, picking up seven awards. No other game won more than two awards. The previous year’s biggest winner, Disco Elysium, only pulled in four. It was a straight-up sweep. Despite the predictability of the win, it won’t stop the old discourse machine, which booted up in seconds. YouTube hacks cried “rigged” at the idea of the best-reviewed game of the year winning awards at (who would have thunk?). The more academic wing of gaming fairly revived criticism about the crunch culture that led to the game’s creation. There’s a lot to process. For those who simply want to play the game and see if it lives up to the sweep, you can grab it for $10 and upgrade it to PS5 for free.
This post was originally published by Giovanni Colantonio on 05/26/2021 and updated by Joe Tilleli with new information on 05/27/2022.