The Last of Us 2has collected more Game of the Year awards than any other game in history. Last year, when as many as 576 total awards were doled out,The Last of Us 2managed to nab 300.
The unprecedented performance ofThe Last of Us 2puts it in the company of—or on top of—a group of all-time great titles. The runner-up game in the year 2020,Hades, which took theaward at SXSWand a bunch of other high-profile events, only managed to win a total of 64 GotY awards. In third place,Ghosts of Tsushimatook only 1 less thanHades,sitting at a grand total of 63.The Last of Us 2managed more GotY awards than the rest of the entire field combined.
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But that’s not all.The Last of Us 2’s 300 awards puts it as the most acclaimed game of all time. That total places it above the previous champion,The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which took home a total of 280 awards back in 2015, and is still enjoyed by many in 2021. It would be an understatement to say thatThe Last of Us 2is in good company, as the top 10 for most GotY awards reads essentially as an inarguable list for greatest games of all time. With 300 under its belt,TheLast of Us 2has passed games likeGrand Theft Auto 5, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Skyrim,andRed Dead Redemption 2.
Interestingly,The Last of Us 2performed as well among fans as it did among critics. It topped the awards not only from the media, but also from Reader’s Choice polls,like the one from Metacritic, a highly-respected review aggregator. While this is usually the case, it’s not a guarantee that fans and the media will agree. Back in 2010, the originalRed Dead Redemptionwon the most awards, but fans preferred the runner-up,Mass Effect 2.
In other years, the difference between first and second place has been as few as one or two fan polls. Again, for 2020,The Last of Us 2destroyed the competition even in the eyes of fans, winning a total of 108 Reader’s Choice polls. The runner-up for Reader’s Choice wasCyberpunk 2077,which netted only 24.
It’s worth noting, perhaps, that each year a different number of polls and media outlets hand out awards, and 2020 had by far the most total awards at 576. Still,The Last of Us 2took 52% of the possible awards. For the sake of argument, the title that performed best in its given year wasThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt,which got nearly 59% of the total awards in 2015, closely followed byResident Evil4,a game that nearly 16 years later isgetting remade into VR,which took 57%.
The Last of Us 2is available now on PS4.
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