Review: The Game Awards celebrate growth in video games, but the ceremony still needs to evolve

The Game Awards are a course study in giving an audience what it thinks it wants. “Elden Ring,” a complex and, for many, a captivatingly convoluted fantasy role-playing game, won big at the show, but it was, as is typical for the Game Awards, overshadowed by looks ahead at new games and prods from host Geoff Keighley to take advantage of demos and sales, sometimes for games and sometimes for food delivery services. That “Elden Ring,” the latest from acclaimed director Hidetaka Miyazaki, a designer who believes in the artistry of difficulty, won game of the year signaled something of a return to form for the Game Awards. Last year, the Game Awards began with a proclamation: “Game creators need to be supported by the companies that employ them,” Keighley said. “It may come as a shock to you,” he said, “I don’t play a lot of video games.” To be sure, there are plenty of games worth celebrating this year, including “Elden Ring.” The latter isn’t my type of game, but I appreciate its lack of hand-holding and the way it lets players slowly discover an abstract story.