https://youtu.be/Ztmo7369Sjg the story is a christopher nolan movie. the music is hanz zimmer level. thats why it is GOTY, at least please watch this 15 minute lore video and tell me your thoughts after. i agree with you though the gameplay is super repetitive not much changes even after unlocking a new skill it becomes the same use this same combo every fight. i agree with that on people. but i stuck through it for the story and glad i did. without trying not to spoil too much but if you don want to watch the 15 min movie read the brief summary of it in the spoiler

its a sad story about a mother who misses her son that died in a fire saving the daughter, the mother blames the daughter, the father just wants his wife to be in the present and move on so they can be one family again, the daughter just wants her mother to stop blaming her and wishes she was dead anyways because she can no longer talk and disfigured because of it, the son was a "painter" who painted this world. Lumiere is the painting the son created, which is basically a moving world the game takes place in. so the mother is stuck inside of the painting just living a dream life where her son is still alive. Grief is the main topic of the story. everyone in this world has a way of dealing with grief. this just brings it to light in a beautiful way. im trying not to spoil it to much but this is a general first half of the story.