With the end of 2018 rapidly approaching, it’s already time to start making up Best of the Year lists. To that end, The Game Awards have announced its 2018 nominees, and it’s a stacked lineup. God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2 lead the race with eight nominations apiece, while Spider-Man lags slightly behind with seven. There’s also some surprises on the list – 2D indie platformer Celeste picked up four nominations, as did the divisive Detroit: Become Human.
You can check out the full list of Game Awards nominees, below:
Related The Game Awards 2018 Will Have Lots of New Feature/Content Announcements for Ongoing Games
Game of the Year
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
- Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
- God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
- Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
- Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
Best Action Game
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch / Activision)
- Dead Cells (Motion Twin)
- Destiny 2: Forsaken (Bungie / Activision)
- Far Cry 5 (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
- Mega Man 11 (Capcom)
Best Action-Adventure Game
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
- God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
- Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Eidos Montreal / Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix)
Best Role Playing Game
- Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Square Enix / Square Enix)
- Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)
- Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (Level 5 / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
- Octopath Traveler (Square Enix / Acquire / Nintendo)
- Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (Obsidian Entertainment / Versus Evil)
Best Fighting Game
- BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle (Arc System Works)
- Dragon Ball FighterZ (Arc System Works / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
- Soul Calibur VI (Bandai Namco Studios / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
- Street Fighter V Arcade (Dimps / Capcom)
Best Family Game
- Mario Tennis Aces (Camelot Software Planning / Nintendo)
- Nintendo Labo (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
- Overcooked 2 (Ghost Town Games / Team 17)
- Starlink: Battle for Atlas (Ubisoft Toronto / Ubisoft)
- Super Mario Party (NDCube / Nintendo)
Best VR/AR game
- ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission (SIE Japan Studio / SIE)
- Beat Saber (Beat Games)
- Firewall Zero Hour (First Contact Entertainment / SIE)
- Moss (Polyarc Games)
- Tetris Effect (Resonair / Enhance, Inc)
Best Mobile Game
- Donut County (Ben Esposito / Annapurna Interactive)
- Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
- Fortnite (Epic Games)
- PUBG MOBILE (Lightspeed Quantum / Tencent Games)
- Reigns: Game of Thrones (Nerial / Developer Digital)
Best Strategy Game
- BATTLETECH (Harebrained Schemes / Paradox Interactive
- Frostpunk (11 bit studios)
- Into the Breach (Subset Games)
- The Banner Saga 3 (Stoic Studio / Versus Evil)
- Valkyria Chronicles 4 (Sega CS3 / Sega)
Games For Impact
- 11-11 Memories Retold (Digixart / Aardman Animations / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
- Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
- Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
- Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
- The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories (White Owls / Arc System Works)
Best Game Direction
- A Way Out (Hazelight Studios / EA)
- Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / SIE)
- God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
- Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
Best Narrative
- Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / SIE)
- God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
- Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
- Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
Best Art Direction
- A Way Out (Hazelight Studios / EA)
- Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / SIE)
- God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
- Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
Best Independent Game
- Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
- Dead Cells (Motion Twin)
- Into the Breach (Subset Games)
- Return of the Obra Dinn (3909 LLC)
- The Messenger (Sabotage Studio)
Best Sports/Racing
- FIFA 19 (EA Vancouver / EA Sports)
- Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games / Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
- Mario Tennis Aces (Camelot Software Planning / Nintendo)
- NBA 2K19 (Visual Concepts / 2K Sports)
- Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 (PES Productions / Konami)
Best Multiplayer Game
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch / Activision)
- Destiny 2: Forsaken (Bungie / Activision)
- Fortnite (Epic Games)
- Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)
Best Ongoing Game
- Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision)
- Fortnite (Epic Games)
- No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
- Overwatch (Blizzard)
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
Best Score/Music
- Celeste (Lena Raine)
- God of War (Bear McCreary)
- Marvel’s Spider-Man (John Paesano)
- Ni No Kuni II (Joe Hisaishi)
- Octopath Traveler (Yasunori Nishiki)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (Woody Jackson)
Best Audio Design
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch Studios / Activision)
- Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games / Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
- God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
- Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
Best Performance
- Christopher Judge as Kratos (God of War)
- Roger Clark as Arthur Morgan (Red Dead Redemption 2)
- Yuri Lowenthal as Peter Parker (Spider-Man)
- Melissanthi Mahut as Kassandra (Assassin’s Creed Odyssey)
- Bryan Dechart as Connor (Detroit: Become Human)
Best Content Creator
- Ninja
- Pokimane
- Dr. Lupo
- Myth
- Willyrex
What do you think of the Game Awards nominees? Any games you’re particularly pulling for? I hope Celeste actually picks up an award or two, as it really is an excellent game. Same for A Way Out, which I thought was hugely underrated – one of the most innovative, creative games from a major publisher this year. Of course, RDR2, God of War, and Spider-Man also richly deserve to take home some trophies, but they don’t exactly need me to advocate for them.
The Game Awards are produced by Geoff Keighley and grew out of the old Spike Video Game Awards. Since debuting in 2014, the awards have given Game of the Year to Dragon Age: Inquisition, The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, Overwatch, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This year, Keighley is promising a number of content announcements for ongoing games, as opposed to the usual new game reveals.
The Game Awards 2018 emanates live from the Microsoft Theater in LA on November 6. The show will be available on YouTube, Facebook, Mixer, Steam, Xbox One, and PS4, to name just a few of the streaming options.
