God of War: Ragnarok leads The Game Awards nominations for 2022

15.11.2022 00:13

Pcgamer.com

God of War: Ragnarok leads The Game Awards nominations for 2022

Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West round out the top three.

The nominees for The Game Awards 2022 have been announced, and God of War: Ragnarok leads the way with 10 nominations, including for Best Narrative, Best Performance, Best Action/Adventure, and—of course—Game of the Year.

Two games share second place in the noms-getting department, Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West, with seven each, while third place unexpectedly goes to BlueTwelve's cyber-kitty sim Stray, which drew six nominations. A Plague Tale: Requiem followed with five noms, while Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Immortality, Neon White, Sifu, Tunic, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 round out the pack with three nominations each.

Here's a look at the most nominated games for #TheGameAwards on December 8. pic.twitter.com/4LoAOlzJIaNovember 14, 2022

As is usually the case with award shows, there are some 'interesting' choices amidst the nominees. Elden Ring, for instance, is up for Best Narrative, which is absolutely bizarre given what an incomprehensibly directionless mess it is, while the critically acclaimed Immortality has nods for Best Direction, Best Narrative, and Best Performance, but got overlooked for Best Indie Game. I also find it a little weird that Elden Ring is up for the Best Role Playing award, but that unavoidably leads into quibbles about what is and is not a roleplaying game versus an action game, and so I won't press it.

I will, however, say that it is weird to see Dune: Spice Wars, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, Total War: Warhammer 3,Two Point Campus, and Victoria 3 together in the same category of Best Sim/Strategy. I get that there's an element of arbitrariness inherent in the categorization of videogames, but if you're lumping the Rabbids in with a zany management sim and a Paradox grand strategy game, maybe it's time to step back and reconsider.

The 2022 Game Awards will also feature a new category, Best Adaptation, which honors "game-inspired projects across entertainment." Three of the nominees in the category come from Netflix, while the other two are theatrical releases:

Arcane: League of Legends
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
The Cuphead Show
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Uncharted

The Game Awards 2022 will take place on December 8, and will be livestreamed on Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and pretty much any other streaming platform you care to name. Voting for the awards will be open until 6 pm PT/9 pm ET on December 7: You can cast your ballot at thegameawards.com or the official Game Awards Discord server, or if you're in China, through the Bilibili social network. The full list of nominees is below:

Game of the Year

A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment)
Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Monolith Soft/Nintendo)

Best Game Direction

Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
Immortality (Half Mermaid)
Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)

Best Narrative

A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment)
Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
Immortality (Half Mermaid)

Best Art Direction

Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
Scorn (Ebb Software/Kepler Interactive)
Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)

Best Score and Music

Olivier Deriviere, A Plague Tale: Requiem
Tsukasa Saitoh, Elden Ring
Bear McCreary, God of War Ragnarök
Two Feathers, Metal: Hellsinger
Yasunori Mitsuda, Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Best Audio Design

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (Infinity Ward/Activision)
Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
Gran Turismo 7 (Polyphony/SIE)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)

Best Performance

Ashly Burch, Horizon Forbidden West
Charlotte McBurney, A Plague Tale: Requiem
Christopher Judge, God of War Ragnarök
Manon Gage, Immortality
Sunny Suljic, God of War Ragnarök

Games for Impact

A Memoir Blue (Cloisters Interactive/Annapurna)
As Dusk Falls (Interior Night/Xbox Game Studios)
Citizen Sleeper (Jump Over The Age/Fellow Traveller)
Endling - Extinction is Forever (Herobeat Studios/HandyGames)
Hindsight (Team Hindsight/Annapurna)
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (Northway Games/Finji)

Best Ongoing Game

Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
Destiny 2 (Bungie)
Final Fantasy 14 (Square Enix)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
Genshin Impact (HoYoverse)

Best Indie Game

Cult of the Lamb (Massive Monster / Devolver Digital)
Neon White (Angel Matrix/Annapurna)
Sifu (Sloclap)
Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
Tunic (Tunic Team/Finji)

Best Debut Indie Game

Neon White (Angel Matrix/Annapurna Interactive)
Norco (Geography of Robots/Raw Fury)
Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
Tunic (Tunic Team/Finji)
Vampire Survivors (poncle)

Best Community Support, Presented By Discord

Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
Destiny 2 (Bungie)
Final Fantasy 14 (Square Enix)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)

Best Mobile Game

Apex Legends Mobile (Lightspeed & Quantum/Respawn/EA)
Diablo Immortal (Blizzard/NetEase)
Genshin Impact (HoYovese)
Marvel Snap (Second Dinner Studios/Nuverse)
Tower of Fantasy (Hotta Studio/Perfect World/Level Infinite)

Best VR/AR Game

After the Fall (Vertigo Games)
Among Us VR (Schell Games/InnerSloth)
Bonelab (Stress Level Zero)
Moss: Book II (Polyarc)
Red Matter 2 (Vertical Robot)

Best Action Game

Bayonetta 3 (Platinum Games/Nintendo)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (Infinity Ward/Activision)
Neon White (Angel Matrix/Annapurna)
Sifu (Sloclap)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Tribute Games/Dotemu)

Best Action/Adventure Game

A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment)
God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
Tunic (Tunic Team/Finji)

Best Role Playing Game

Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
Live a Live (Square Enix/Nintendo)
Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Game Freak/Nintendo/TPCI)
Triangle Strategy (Artdink/Square Enix)
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Monolith Soft/Nintendo)

Best Fighting Game

DNF Duel (Arc System Works/EIGHTING/NEOPLE/NEXON)
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R (CyberConnect 2 Co. Ltd/Bandai Namco)
The King of Fighters XV (SNK/Plaion)
MultiVersus (Player First Games/WB Games)
Sifu (Sloclap)

Best Family Game