Rock Paper Shotgun has published a new “Selection Box” entry from editor James, a companion piece to the site’s annual RPS Advent Calendar games-of-the-year rollout. Rather than re-litigate the main list, James focuses on the personal picks that didn’t make the cut—games he enjoyed that seemingly no one else on the team voted for.

### The Strange Math Behind GOTY Lists
The article also pokes fun at the opaque realities of internal voting: what happens when two games tie, how the final ordering gets decided, and even the perennial headache of release-date technicalities. As James jokes, these are the kinds of questions that can turn a festive GOTY tradition into a bureaucratic riddle—especially when edge cases appear.

One example raised is Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, and whether it “counts” as a 2025 game or should be considered part of 2024 depending on how you interpret launch timing. That kind of ambiguity is increasingly common as early access, staggered regional releases, and ongoing live-service updates blur the definition of what a “release year” even means.

### A Home for the Left-Field Favorites
At its core, the Selection Box format exists to give critics room to champion niche favorites without needing consensus. That matters because annual lists tend to privilege big, widely played releases, while smaller projects—or simply titles that resonate with one person’s tastes—can get erased by the math.

For readers, it’s a reminder that “Game of the Year” is often less a definitive verdict and more a snapshot of group preferences, timing, and voting quirks. These bonus lists can be more valuable than the rankings themselves, acting as a discovery tool for players looking beyond the obvious contenders.

Source: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-rps-selection-box-james-bonus-games-of-the-year-2025 |