In December we did something that PC Gamer hadn't done in its three-decade history. We handed out a runner-up Game of the Year award.
The silver medal went to Marvel's Midnight Suns (on sale at Steam for $40), the strategy-card-RPG-campaign game from Firaxis, otherwise known as the folks that made XCOM. Why'd we hand out this first-ever second-place GOTY? Midnight Suns came out just as we were wrapping up our awards process, and the fact that it was a 65+ hour game made it harder for editors to finish in a holiday period where we were already unnaturally busy.
So we had a bit of a dilemma: the four of us who had finished Midnight Suns loved it, but we'd already had the knock-down, drag-out argument to determine PC Gamer's GOTY, as well as the Best RPG, Best Strategy game, and Best Design awards. With our magazine deadline passed, we couldn't renege on the awards we'd picked. Our solution? Wedge in a new award one that would only run online.
Was Midnight Suns better than Elden Ring? For most of us, no—Elden Ring was a generational RPG, the culmination of Dark Souls' substantial legacy, and a sprawling epic. But we felt strongly that Midnight Suns was probably the best-ever adaptation of comic books to games and one of our favorites of the year.
Given our enthusiasm for this semi-blockbuster, it was surprising to see Midnight Suns go on sale for 33% off exactly one month after it released.
But if you haven't spotted it yet, consider this a PSA: our second favorite game of 2022 is $20 off on Steam. Actually all of Midnight Suns' tiered editions are 33% off until January 16. A quick breakdown:
- The base edition of Midnight Suns is $40.19 (down from $59.99)
- The "Digital+ Edition" is $53.59 (down from $79.99), which includes 11 special character skins
- The Legendary Edition is $66.99 (down from $99.99), which includes 23 special character skins and the Season Pass, which is $50 standalone
