10 Game of the Year Winners That Aged Like Fine Wine

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The biggest award a video game can win is obviously Game of the Year, and that honor has gone to dozens of worthy titles such as Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate 3. However, these awards have been going on for longer than players might have realized, mainly because there are many different outlets, articles, and companies hosting these gaming events, and each one crowns one game every year as the best.

That is why this list will feature ten Game of the Year winners that have aged like fine wine based on gameplay, influence, originality, design, visuals, narrative, how well they have aged in those regards, fan opinion, critical acclaim, and overall quality. While there are dozens of award shows, this list will only include games that have won Game of the Year from the BAFTA Game Awards, D.I.C.E. Awards, The Game Awards, Game Developers Choice Awards, and the Golden Joystick Awards. Games age differently than other media, which is why any game released before the 2020s will be eligible for this list.

10 'Street Fighter II' (1991)

Ken and Ryu facing off in Street Fighter 2

Game Awards have been handed out for decades, dating all the way back to the 1980s with the Golden Joystick Awards, and one of their winners was the acclaimed fighting game, Street Fighter II. M. Bison decides to host a worldwide fighting tournament that promises a great reward. This enticement brings legendary fighters from all around the planet into one location where they all duke it out for glory.

Modern fighting games have improved controls and graphics, but there is something special about Street Fighter II. Maybe it is because it influenced every modern fighting game, but the controls and mechanics feel incredibly smooth and fun even today. Even with modern adaptations of the franchise, Street Fighter II never went out of style, easily being the best of this gaming series and earning its Game of the Year win.

9 'Batman: Arkham Asylum' (2009)

Superhero games have tried to win Game of the Year for a while now, but one of the only titles to achieve this was Batman: Arkham Asylum. Arkham Asylum is an island that contains the most dangerous criminals, but when Joker locks Batman inside the island, he is trapped with his worst nightmares. Racing against a ticking clock as Joker develops a new chemical called Titan, Batman must stop him before it is too late.

BAFTA bestowed the honor of Game of the Year to Batman: Arkham Asylum, and it's surprising more didn't follow suit, especially since it pioneered the superhero genre. The sequels improved on everything, but there is a certain charm about this game, probably because of the Metroidvania approach; Batman: Arkham Asylum is a groundbreaking video game that needed to win more awards.

8 'Shadow of the Colossus' (2005)

A warrior fighting a massive titan in Shadow of the Colossus

The 2000s were home to some of the best video games of all time, and 2005 in particular had a standout in Shadow of the Colossus, and the GDCA seemed to agree. After their lover dies, the protagonist makes a deal with a supernatural entity in which he must kill 16 Colossi beasts in order to bring her back to life. The player must travel around the world and defeat these towering creatures in the name of love.

Shadow of the Colossus was a technical achievement that earned its praise back in the day, but it was so impressive for its time that it still holds up to this day. The ending may be bleak, and the narrative is dark, but this game was a cinematic masterpiece on an ambitious scale that wasn't even dreamt of before, let alone accomplished in the 2000s.

7 'Half-Life 2' (2004)

Up until this point, each game on this list only won Game of the Year from one source, but Half-Life 2 is the first title to win the award from multiple publications, including BAFTA, D.I.C.E. and GDCA. Set years after the first game, where Gordon Freeman accidentally let aliens onto Earth via a portal, the world has now been taken over by the extraterrestrials. However, Freeman is starting a revolution against their alien oppressors, hoping to take back their planet.

Half-Life 2 was a defining video game, making it surprising that it didn't take home more awards, but Doom 3 stopped its clean sweep because, back then, the Game Awards didn't exist. Still, even though it won most of the awards, Half-Life 2 isn't defined by its accolades. Instead, its legacy is more important, as it innovated with its physics system that is still fresh, proving it is one of the best games of the century.

6 'Metroid Prime' (2002)

A still from Metroid Prime from within Samus' suit

Nintendo usually gets one nomination every year, and sometimes they even win; such was the case in 2002, when Metroid Prime won Game of the Year at the GDCA. When Samus Aran receives a distress signal from a nearby planet, she goes to investigate. When she arrives, she learns that the ancient planet was taken over by space pirates and used as a genetic testing facility. Now, it is up to her to stop it.

Metroid Prime is a smooth experience with graphics that hold up and gameplay that is as good as it ever was. It manages to keep the gameplay flowing with design tricks that force the player to constantly be doing something, whether that be scanning for lore or shooting doors to open them. With the pinnacle of Metroidvania design, Metroid Prime is a defining Game of the Year winner.

Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars

Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you'd actually make it out of alive.

💊The Matrix

🔥Mad Max

🌧️Blade Runner

🏜️Dune

🚀Star Wars

TEST YOUR SURVIVAL →

You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.

APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it. BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don't keep you alive. CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who's pulling the strings. DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it. EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can't fix a broken galaxy alone.

NEXT QUESTION →

In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.

AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don't need resources — you can generate them. BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it. CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity. DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on. EShips and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely.

NEXT QUESTION →

What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you're honest about what you're actually afraid of.

AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant. BA raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left. CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you're a problem, you're already out of time. DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn't even know I was playing. EThe Empire tightening its grip until there's nowhere left to run.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you deal with authority you don't trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.

ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it. BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better. CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy. DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can't beat a system you refuse to understand. EResist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen.

NEXT QUESTION →

Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn't just tactical — it's physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.

AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters. BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest. CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions. DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand. EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire's attention rarely reaches.

NEXT QUESTION →

Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.

AA tight crew of believers who've seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose. BOne or two people I'd trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks. CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities. I work alone unless I have no choice. DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last. EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts.

NEXT QUESTION →

Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they're actually made of.

AI won't harm the innocent — even the ones who'd report me without hesitation. BI do what I have to to protect the people I've chosen. Everything else is negotiable. CThe line shifts depending on who's asking and what's at stake. DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people's future, even if it'd help now. ESome lines, once crossed, can't be uncrossed. I know which ones they are.

NEXT QUESTION →

What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.

AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it. BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving. CAnswers. Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out. DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations. EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else's boot.

REVEAL MY WORLD →

Your Fate Has Been Calculated You'd Survive In…

Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.

The Matrix

You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You're a systems thinker who can't help but notice the seams in things.

You're drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You'd find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines' worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You'd be the one probing the walls for the door.

Mad Max

The wasteland doesn't reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That's you.

You don't need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you're good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.

Blade Runner

You'd survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.

You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You're not a hero. But you're not lost, either.
In Blade Runner's world, that distinction is everything.

Dune

Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.

Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they're survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You'd learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn't just survive Arrakis — you'd begin to reshape it.

Star Wars

The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn't have it any other way.

You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You'd gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire's grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn't something you're capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

5 'BioShock' (2007)

A large robot attacking someone in BioShock

Almost every single game on this list is from a different year, except for two which share a 2007 release, and the first game is BioShock. Controlling a character named Jack, players seek refuge in a lighthouse after crash-landing their plane. However, what awaits them is a failed utopia overrun by mutated people and monstrous creations, while a political war is still taking place.

For being such a legendary game, BioShock only won Game of the Year from one publication, BAFTA. However, that proves that the game has aged like fine wine since it is more regarded now than ever, plus 2007 was one of the best years for video games. The narrative prestige alone earned it the win, but the aesthetic, immersive gameplay, and plot twist also showcase why BioShock is ageless.

4 'Journey' (2012)

It isn't common for an indie game to win Game of the Year, but it has been done before, including in 2012 when Journey took home the big prize at the D.I.C.E. Awards and GDCA. The player controls an anonymous and mysterious traveler in an expansive desert with only a couple of landmarks. On a pilgrimage to its central and grand mountain, the player will encounter many mysteries, wonders, and unexpected events.

Journey may not be a big AAA title with an unlimited budget, but it proved that it can hang with the rest of them, earning two Game of the Year awards. It is one of the most visually stunning titles fans will ever lay their eyes upon, and this feeds into the design and how it guides the player, culminating in an operatic ending that is unlike anything players will ever experience.

3 'The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild' (2017)

Only two video games have won the Game of the Year award in all five publications, those being Baldur's Gate 3 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. While The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild didn't get the clean sweep, it nailed 4/5 wins. 100 years after Zelda sealed Ganondorf away, Link finally reawakens to defeat the Gerudo King for good, but first he must journey across an overgrown Hyrule.

It may be weird to say The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has aged well since it is still fresh in people's memories, but it is almost ten years old. Realistically, it has aged better than all of these games since it is still a bit new, but as it is more modern, it won't be first on this list. Still, the world is gorgeous, and the design revamped the open-world format, highlighting the prowess of Breath of the Wild and its status as the greatest modern adventure video game.

2 'Super Mario Galaxy' (2007)

Here is where this list runs into a bit of confusion, because Super Mario Galaxy came out in 2007, the same year as BioShock, but both of them earned the Game of the Year award from BAFTA. This is because the award show gave Super Mario Galaxy the award in 2008. Bowser has kidnapped Princess Peach and taken her far away, but Mario sets out on a planet-hopping adventure to save her.

Mario is no stranger to awards, but Super Mario Galaxy is more deserving than most, with many considering it to be the best in the franchise. The graphics are stylized and hold up well, but the real reason this game is still so good is because of its revolutionary spherical gravity, which juiced up the platforming goodness. Super Mario Galaxy is an achievement of the gaming industry that won the award in such a competitive year.

1 'Portal 2' (2011)

A robot jumping between portals in Portal 2

2011's game award season was split between two games, both of which are some of the greatest in history, but BAFTA and the Golden Joystick Awards sided with Portal 2. Taking place after the first game, Chell wakes up at the same scientific testing facility, except this time it is abandoned, except for a robot companion who helps her escape. This goes sideways after accidentally waking up GLaDOS.

Portal 2 is 15 years old but still looks like a modern game and plays like one too. This title hasn't lost a step since its release, maintaining its illustrious legacy as one of the best puzzle games ever made. The physics engine is remarkable, allowing for creative gameplay that players can still have fun with. Portal 2 is witty, sharp, and charming, but also a landmark title that became a video game blueprint for success.