I don't think any award in any field is supposed to be "original". No game released the last ~5 years comes anywhere close to what Larian achieved. Why would anyone comment negatively on them getting an award for that?
Yeah true, I guess I'm more against the whole phallus waggling contest especially from publications that will just say whatevers the most popular game won game of the year. It's uninspired and I can't derive any new recommendations from it.
If you asked people they would say a variety of games, ask publications and it's basically just one game. Yeah it's good but real people would have preferences and thus diversity in opinions.
Sure, but it seems like you're expecting a diversity of opinions from a single entity. They're going to pick the most popular game, that's how these things work.
Probably one of the indie game gems released this year. HROT, Dave the diver, Pizza tower, Trepang2, Battlebit, Warhammer 40k botgun, Prodeus, Zortch, Mosa lina etc...
I mean what isn't a clone of something though up over 2 decades ago. Baldur's gate was originally released in the late 90's. Maybe it isn't for you, but I'm not you :)