I've been low-key worrying about this Game of the Year write-up for months, because I didn't really know what it was going to be about.
I quite liked Elden Ring, but I didn't get terribly far into it and didn't have much of anything interesting or new to say about it. It's a From Software Souls game, and the open-world is a great match for From's punishing style of design and its myriad reminders that you aren't ready for this boss or that part of the world yet.
Much like last year, I spent most of my gaming time this year immersed in retro games. I considered making Skies of Arcadia on the Dreamcast my Game of the Year pick, mostly for how the Logitech G Cloud and emulation have allowed me to enjoy the game in ways I couldn't on the original hardware: in handheld form, with save states, fast-forwarding through the way-too-many random battles.