If you have not already listened to the podcast of this category, this is the final results, so this will spoil the course of the discussion on that podcast! Be warned!
My one regret with this category is that I didn’t have the foresight to be looking for nominees all year. How many rad creatures did I see and not take note of, not remember when award season rolled around? A shame. A shame that can only be righted by doing better in 2023. Here are the Best Creatures of 2022.
The Winner
Tinkaton (Pokémon Scarlet/Violet)
A cute pink gremlin with a hammer is a great concept. The talented artists at Game Freak are able to draw out its potential, and make the best form of the idea. But the thing that Pokémon does better than any of these other games? The Pokédex.
Sure, I can read Monster Hunter notes that tell me what is self-evident by looking at the monster. “It’s big and mad, and it likes to spit fire.” Cool. Thanks. Meanwhile the Pokédex wants me to know that Tinkaton “steals whatever it pleases and carries its plunder back home.” It needs you to know these malicious little girls go skeet shooting, but for Corviknights. Man, what a little jerk, I love her….
The Runners-Up
Malzeno (Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak)
Dude. I just love this guy. To be honest, the Malzeno is campy. A Dracula dragon? Wings like a vampire’s cape, neck like a cravat, and a talent for dramatic posing? It rules. This guy rules.
It will be two more episodes (most likely) before the Creature Quorum gets to Malzeno, and I look forward to learning more from our expert friend Minovsky at this time. For now, my love isn’t all that smart, and that’s ok. Malzeno’s just sick.
Regal Ancestor Spirit (Elden Ring)
There’s that quote from Miyazaki, the director of Elden Ring, Bloodborne, and the Souls games that goes around now and then. He’s talking to an artist on his team, telling them that their interpretation of the Undead Dragon is too undignified, and he says “can’t you instead try to convey the deep sorrow of a magnificent beast doomed to a slow and possibly endless descent into ruin?”
I can only imagine he’s telling his artists something to this effect to this day- just look at the Regal Ancestor Spirit. It is, indeed, regal. It’s spectacular and beautiful, with a sadness in its every step. And it doesn’t want to fight you. It’s a ghost of a bygone world, and it simply wants to be alone with its memories. And yet you insist on the fight. This too is a tragedy of Miyazaki works- that we can’t escape violence and conflict. If you walk away from the fight, the fight will run to you. It never stops.
That the wonder and majesty of Elden Ring must be tested and at times destroyed by the hands of the player only adds to the terrible beauty. We can only look at pictures now- if we boot up our own copies of Elden Ring, the Regal Ancestor Spirit is gone. And it’s not coming back.
Unless we hit New Game, but c’mon, I was doing a whole mood thing here.
There’s only one Gimmick Award left, gang: Game of the Year. It’s coming up in just another hour. I hope you’ll join us for it.
Our art for the Gimmick Awards 2022 is a commission from @inkopolis on Twitter.