Really wised i got around to playing more this year on top of the giant backlog. Though I did play some other things besides WoW:Dragonflight. My GOTY is below plus some other highlights
Game of the Year: Alan Wake 2
I played Alan Wake on the Xbox 360 years ago and while it has earned "cult classic" classification and there have been some starts and stops on a sequel I did have hope that we would eventually see an Alan Wake 2. So here we are 13 years later and damn did we get an Alan Wake 2. This time a full survival horror, I don’t normally play these sorts of games so I had to get over that for myself and to anyone in a similar situation its defiantly worth it. Is it scary are there jump scares with maybe too many in a certain level, yes but is it worth pushing through or just throwing it on story mode, hell yeah.
Alan Wake 2 is a third person survival horror part of the Remedy Connected Universe, so it's part of the same world as Control. Obviously that is quite a lot in addition to it being a sequel to a 13 year old game but you can definitely go in fresh. Alan wake 2 has dual protagonists and that does a good job of giving an on ramp to the story and while it is a connected world if you look, the main thing is that story. Part of the game mechanics for the new character Saga Anderson help fill in the gaps and there is a whole song and dance literally that recaps the first game. Much like the original the best part here is the atmosphere, whether it be the pacific north west setting for Saga or the dream New York setting for Alan, the worlds are oozing with flavor and character. The music is amazing, the side characters are great especially one particular character who returns from Control and the game looks amazing. You might have already seen one of the big set pieces of the game and yeah the game is that kind of weird in the best way possible.
Any this is my GOTY it was 13 years in the making and worth the wait and you can definitely dive in and if you like it as much as I did you won't be diving into a lake but an ocean.
Other Highlights and yeah there was quite a lot of missed this year.
Diablo 4
Samba Di Amigo: Party Central
Vampire Survivors
Dredge
Games not released this year that I liked as well
WoW DragonFlight
Persona 4 Golden