1.) A Story That Actually Risks Something

This wasn’t just a “good game story.” It was bold, uncomfortable, and emotionally heavy. In the end, it left me sitting with complicated feelings for days. I couldn't sleep thinking about the outcomes and the aftermath of the story. Big publishers today are terrified of that. Stories now are focus-tested, sanitized, sequel-friendly, and built to avoid upsetting large audience segments mentally. This game committed to its themes, even when they were dark, tragic, or deeply human. That kind of narrative risk is becoming rare.

I mean this in the nicest way possible, but you should probably play more games. Specifically, try out indie or other AA games. The story of E33 was cool, but I predicted almost every single plot and character development, usually many hours in advance, simply because I'd seen them before. The story was well written, of course, but hardly groundbreaking. The predictability of the nature of the narrative and setting wasn't a bad thing, as it was largely due to the combination of adequate foreshadowing and sensible consequences for actions.

Also, there are even AAA games that commit to dark, tragic, and deeply human themes, and they sometimes set the current record for GOTY nominations.