The biggest gaming awards show is returning, broadcast live from Los Angeles, and we now have the whole list of nominees for the awards. The Game Awards2022 will be broadcast on December 8 and will bring the gaming community together to honor the best games of the year, from the major AAA titles that dominated the sales charts to the smaller independent blockbusters that captured our attention. In fact, this is a particularly significant year for indie darlings vying for the title of Game of the Year.
Unsurprisingly, God of War: Ragnarok and Elden Ring are the top contenders for Game of the Year and are expected to win. The former, which has ten nominations, is a critically lauded follow-up to the action-adventure masterwork from Santa Monica Studios that also occurred to take home GOTY in 2018.
The other is FromSoftware’s most recent Soulsborne game, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which won GOTY in 2019. Both films have well-known producers and actors connected, and Elden Ring, which has received nominations in seven categories, including Best Narrative, is written by Game of Thrones writer George R.R. Martin.
This year’s list of GOTY candidates also includes Nintendo’s Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and another PlayStation exclusive, Horizon Forbidden West. The biggest insight into the state of gaming in 2022, however, comes from the independent games selected for nomination. Two smaller-budget independent games have been nominated in this category for the first time in the history of the show: Stray, a dystopian adventure game with a cat theme from BlueTwelve Studio and published by Annapurna, and A Plague Tale: Requiem, a dark survival horror game from Asobo and Focus Entertainment set during the French Inquisition.
The cooperative action-adventure game It Takes Two from Hazelight Studios, which triumphed over major AAA titles like Metroid Dread, Resident Evil Village, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart to win the award, was named last year’s Game of the Year. These nominations are the cherry on top of a successful year for independent games. It’s a glaring example of how independent games are succeeding at The Game Awards, a ceremony that was once more well-known for celebrating well-known developers and expensive successes. Some would even argue that Sam Barlow’s outstanding interactive game Immortality, another independent release, should have been nominated in the category given how strong the year’s independent offerings were.
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In any case, it’s fantastic to see indie representation expand on the event’s prominent stage. It will be intriguing to see whether either Strayor A Plague Tale: Requiemcan pull off the upset over the two obvious show favorites.
The full list of 2022 candidates for The Game Awards is provided below:
Game of the Year
- A Plague Tale: Requiem
- Elden Ring
- God of War Ragnarok
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Stray
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Best Game Direction
- Elden Ring
- God of War Ragnarok
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Immortality
- Stray
Best Narrative
- A Plague Tale: Requiem
- Elden Ring
- God of War Ragnarok
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Immortality
Best Art Direction
- Elden Ring
- God of War: Ragnarok
- Horizon: Forbidden West
- Scorn
- Stray
Best Score/Music
- Olivier Deriviere – A Plague Tale: Requiem
- Tsukasa Saitoh – Elden Ring
- Bear McCreary – God of War: Ragnarok
- Two Feathers – Metal Hellsinger
- Yasunori Mitsuda
Best Audio Design
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- Elden Ring
- God of War Ragnarok
- Gran Turismo 7
- Horizon Forbidden West
Best Performance
- Ashly Birch – Horizon: Forbidden West
- Charlotte McBurney – A Plague Tale: Requiem
- Christopher Judge – God of War: Ragnarok
- Manon Gage – Immortality
- Sunny Suljic – God of War: Ragnarok
Games for Impact
- A Memoir Blue
- As Dusk Falls
- Citizen Sleeper
- Endling – Extinction is Forever
- Hindsight
- I Was a Teenage Exocolonist
Best Ongoing Game
- Apex Legends
- Destiny 2
- Final Fantasy 14 Online
- Fortnite
- Genshin Impact
Best Indie Game
- Cult of the Lamb
- Neon White
- Sifu
- Stray
- TUNIC
Best Debut Indie Game
- Neon White
- NORCO
- Stray
- TUNIC
- Vampire Survivors
Best Mobile Game
- Apex Legends Mobile
- Diablo Immortal
- Genshin Impact
- Marvel Snap
- Tower of Fantasy
Best Community Support
- Apex Legends
- Destiny 2
- Final Fantasy 14 Online
- Fortnite
- No Man s Sky
Best VR/AR Game
- After the Fall
- Among Us VR
- BONELAB
- Moss: Book II
- Red Matter 2
Innovation in Accessibility
- As Dusk Falls
- God of War: Ragnarok
- Returnal
- Return to Monkey Island
- The Last of Us Part 1
- The Quarry
Best Action Game
- Bayonetta 3
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
- Neon White
- Sifu
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder s Revenge
Best Action/Adventure Game
- A Plague Tale: Requiem
- God of War Ragnarok
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Stray
- TUNIC
Best RPG
- Elden Ring
- Live a Live
- Pok mon Legends: Arceus
- Triangle Strategy
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Best Fighting Game
- DNF Duel
- JoJo s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R
- The King of Fighters 15
- MultiVersus
- Sifu
Best Family Game
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land
- LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
- Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
- Nintendo Switch Sports
- Splatoon 3
Best Sports/Racing Game
- F1 22
- FIFA 23
- NBA 2K23
- Gran Turismo 7
- OlliOlli World
Best SIM/Strategy Game
- Dune: Spice Wars
- Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
- Total War: WARHAMMER 3
- Two Point Campus
- Victoria 3
Best Multiplayer Game
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- Multiversus
- Overwatch 2
- Splatoon 3
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Content Creator of the Year
- Karl Jacobs
- Ludwig
- Nibellion
- Nobru
- QTCinderella
Best Esports Athlete
- Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon (Gen.G, LOL)
- Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (T1, LOL)
- Finn “karrigan” Andersen ( (FaZe Clan – CS:GO)
- Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (Natus Vincere, CS:GO)
- Jacob Yay Whiteaker (Cloud9, Valorant)
Best Esports Coach
- Andrii “B1ad3” Horodenskyi (Natus Vincere, CS:GO)
- Matheus bzkA Tarasconi (LOUD, VALORANT)
- Erik d00mbr0s Sandgren (FPX, VALORANT)
- Robert “RobbaN” Dahlstr m (FaZe Clan, CS:GO)
- Go “Score” Dong-bin (Gen.G, LOL)
Best Esports Event
- EVO 2022
- 2022 League of Legends World Championship
- PGL Major Antwerp 2022
- The 2022 Mid-Season Invitational
- VALORANT Champions 2022
Best Esports Game
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- DOTA 2
- League of Legends
- Rocket League
- VALORANT
Best Esports Team
- DarkZero Esports (Apex Legends)
- FaZe Clan (CS:GO)
- Gen.G (League of Legends)
- LA Thieves (Call of Duty)
- LOUD (Valorant)
Most Anticipated Game
- Final Fantasy 16
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Resident Evil 4
- Starfield
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Best Adaptation
- Arcane: League of Legends
- Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
- The Cuphead Show!
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2
- Uncharted