The Game Awards 2022 nominations - God of War leads with 10!

https://www.ign.com/articles/the-game-awards-2022-nominations-elden-ring-god-of-war-ragnarok

Geoff Keighley has announced every nominee for The Game Awards 2022, with God of War: Ragnarok and Elden Ring leading the way with ten and seven nominations respectively.

God of War: Ragnarok's nominations include Game of the Year, Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, Best Art Direction, Best Score and Music, Best Audio Design, two in Best Performance, Best Action/Adventure, and Innovation In Accessibility.

Elden Ring saw a number of similar nominations, including Game of the Year, Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, Best Art Direction, Best Score and Music, Best Audio Design and Best RPG.

Game of the Year

Recognizing a game that delivers the absolute best experience across all creative and technical fields.

• A Plague Tale: Requiem
• Elden Ring
• God of War Ragnarok
• Horizon Forbidden West
• Stray
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Best Game Direction

Awarded for outstanding creative vision and innovation in game direction and design.

• Elden Ring
• God of War Ragnarok
• Horizon Forbidden West
• Immortality
• Stray

Best Narrative

For outstanding storytelling and narrative development in a game.

• A Plague Tale: Requiem
• Elden Ring
• God of War Ragnarok
• Horizon Forbidden West
• Immortality

Best Art Direction

For outstanding creative and/or technical achievement in artistic design and animation.

• Elden Ring
• God of War: Ragnarok
• Horizon: Forbidden West
• Scorn
• Stray

Best Score/Music

For outstanding music, inclusive of score, original song and/or licensed soundtrack.

• 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

Recognizing the best in-game audio and sound design.

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• Elden Ring
• God of War Ragnarok
• Gran Turismo 7
• Horizon Forbidden West

Best Performance

Awarded to an individual for voice-over acting, motion and/or performance capture.

• 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

For a thought-provoking game with a pro-social meaning or message.

• A Memoir Blue
• As Dusk Falls
• Citizen Sleeper
• Endling - Extinction is Forever
• Hindsight
• I Was a Teenage Exocolonist

Best Ongoing Game

Awarded to a game for outstanding development of ongoing content that evolves the player experience over time.

• Apex Legends
• Destiny 2
• Final Fantasy 14 Online
• Fortnite
• Genshin Impact

Best Indie Game

For outstanding creative and technical achievement in a game made outside the traditional publisher system.

• Cult of the Lamb
• Neon White
• Sifu
• Stray
• TUNIC

Best Debut Indie Game

For the best debut game created by a new independent studio.

• Neon White
• NORCO
• Stray
• TUNIC
• Vampire Survivors

Best Mobile Game

For the best game playable on a mobile device.

• Apex Legends Mobile
• Diablo Immortal
• Genshin Impact
• Marvel Snap
• Tower of Fantasy

Best Community Support

Recognizing a game for outstanding community support, transparency and responsiveness, inclusive of social media activity and game updates/patches.

• Apex Legends
• Destiny 2
• Final Fantasy 14 Online
• Fortnite
• No Man’s Sky

Best VR/AR Game

For the best game experience playable in virtual or augmented reality, irrespective of platform.

• After the Fall
• Among Us VR
• BONELAB
• Moss: Book II
• Red Matter 2

Innovation in Accessibility

Recognizing software and/or hardware that is pushing the medium forward by adding features, technology and content to help games be played and enjoyed by an even wider audience.

• As Dusk Falls
• God of War: Ragnarok
• Returnal
• Return to Monkey Island
• The Last of Us Part 1
• The Quarry

Best Action Game

For the best game in the action genre focused primarily on combat.

• Bayonetta 3
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
• Neon White
• Sifu
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge

Best Action/Adventure Game

For the best action/adventure game, combining combat with traversal and puzzle solving.

• A Plague Tale: Requiem
• God of War Ragnarok
• Horizon Forbidden West
• Stray
• TUNIC

Best RPG

For the best game designed with rich player character customization and progression, including massively multiplayer experiences.

• Elden Ring
• Live a Live
• Pokémon Legends: Arceus
• Triangle Strategy
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Best Fighting Game

For the best game designed primarily around head-to-head combat.

• DNF Duel
• JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R
• The King of Fighters 15
• MultiVersus
• Sifu

Best Family Game

For the best game appropriate for family play, irrespective of genre or platform.

• 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

For the best traditional and non-traditional sports and racing game.

• F1 22
• FIFA 23
• NBA 2K23
• Gran Turismo 7
• OlliOlli World

Best SIM/Strategy Game

Best game focused on real time or turn-based simulation or strategy gameplay, irrespective of platform.

• Dune: Spice Wars
• Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
• Total War: WARHAMMER 3
• Two Point Campus
• Victoria 3

Best Multiplayer Game

For outstanding online multiplayer gameplay and design, including co-op and massively multiplayer experiences, irrespective of game genre or platform.

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• Multiversus
• Overwatch 2
• Splatoon 3
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge

Content Creator of the Year

For a streamer or content creator who has made an important and positive impact on the community in 2021.

• Karl Jacobs
• Ludwig
• Nibellion
• Nobru
• QTCinderella

Best Esports Athlete

The esports athlete judged to be the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2021, irrespective of game.

• 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

The Esports coach judged to be the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2021.

• Andrii "B1ad3" Horodenskyi (Natus Vincere, CS:GO)
• Matheus “bzkA” Tarasconi (LOUD, VALORANT)
• Erik “d00mbr0s” Sandgren (FPX, VALORANT)
• Robert "RobbaN" Dahlström (FaZe Clan, CS:GO)
• Go "Score" Dong-bin (Gen.G, LOL)

Best Esports Event

Recognizing an event (across single or multiple days) that delivered a best-of-class experience for participants and the broadcast audience.

• EVO 2022
• 2022 League of Legends World Championship
• PGL Major Antwerp 2022
• The 2022 Mid-Season Invitational
• VALORANT Champions 2022

Best Esports Game

For the game that has delivered the best overall esports experience to players (inclusive of tournaments, community support and content updates), irrespective of genre or platform.

• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
• DOTA 2
• League of Legends
• Rocket League
• VALORANT

Best Esports Team

Recognizing a specific esports team (not the full organization) judged the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2021.

• DarkZero Esports (Apex Legends)
• FaZe Clan (CS:GO)
• Gen.G (League of Legends)
• LA Thieves (Call of Duty)
• LOUD (Valorant)

Most Anticipated Game

Recognizing an announced game that has demonstrably illustrated potential to push the gaming medium forward.

• Final Fantasy 16
• Hogwarts Legacy
• Resident Evil 4
• Starfield
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Best Adaptation

Celebrating game-inspired projects across entertainment including TV, movies, comics, and more.

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

Thoughts on the nominations, SW? Will you be voting and what will you choose?

Can't wait to watch a glorified commercial disguised as an awards ceremony.

Geoff Keighley continues to show what a douchebag he is.

And once again, MS is left with nothing to show for. And we all knew both God of War: Ragnarok & Elden Ring were destined to meet and my money's on Ragnarok to win GOTY.

I hope Geoff Keighley hosts the show shirtless, as well as Kojima. They're so cool.

Elden Ring going to be winning in every category it’s nominated in. Nice to see Bayonetta 3, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, and Kirby and the Forgotten Land get some nominations as well. Three excellent games in their own right. Yeah I’ll be voting myself when it opens up.

I cannot say I am surprised. The game has been a critical success. It took the 2018 reboot and made it better.

5 out of 6 GotY contenders are playable on PS5, with 2 being 1st party. That is pretty damn good Sony.

When was the last time an MS exclusive was leading anything? Yea, decades ago. With games being primarily made for the GP, this has even less chances of happening now.

When plague tale nominate for GOTY. means this is shit year.

because everything else delayed to 2023.

well A Plague Tale released day one on gamepass, so that’s something at least.

Every year Geoff Knightley looks increasingly devoid and soul and shrivelled. Soon just be Palpatine in ill-fitting shoes.

Shows terrible, but the embarrassment can be entertaining.

I want a Madonna Britney moment but with Kojima and Geoff.

look at this. Plague tale aka low budget sony clone nominate for GOTY!!!.

and no december game count otherwise they are all scared of Callisto protocol.

That GOTY list… Woof

Hurry up 2023!

Hoping to see a couple of big announcements. Would love to see anything on some Elden Ring dlc.

I've played about 7 hours of Ragnarok so far, and it's the complete package. Elden Ring excelled at being the best Souls game, but everything else was lacking.

Indeed, Sony had a great year. Let's hope 2023 is good too.

Its all corrupt. When Metro, Alan wake, Hitman never get recognization yet low budget sony clone plague tale, the movie game GOW (sure its all paid) get nominated.

its all corrupt. its all money talks.

look at anticipated titles. all popular games. Hogwart legacy??? over Alan wake 2?? over STALKER 2??

no Atomic heart mention because not mainstream enough??

lets only promote some shitty movie games. only third person movie games.

Real games never get mention anywhere. wish I go to award shows and booo them out of building.

@SolidGame_basic: lmao at TGA, they are a SHILL company for sony. I think sony owns a portion of them, no?? This is all I think, when I hear of tga awards.

A Plague Tale nominated for GOTY lol.

its a corrupt front for the main stream media. They love to push movie games, with QTE and 2 hour walking scenes. The fact halo infinite didn't get nominated is a disgrace.

Ragnarok better not win over ER. The game is amazing, but ER has done more, and is a more impressive title as a whole.

exactly. its a big LOL!!

i mean yes GOW while movie game 100% expected to be nominate and win because its high production game and sony flagship title but Plague tale??

Its sony like game but with far less budget and more like indie last of us. but it has to be nominated because "OMG narrative OMG it makes me criaed OMG"

In order for games to be recognized at all, companies need to campaign for them AKA pay for their campaigns. Sony happens to be the biggest buyer for accolades.

Ragnarok clearly winning. sony will pay millions of dollar to get this game win every single category.

This will be true. Anyone that thinks awards shows are anything but a disingenuous spectacle for companies to buy their way to victory; the joke's on you. These shows aren't designed to recognize the true best games on a given year. If a game wasn't campaigned for no awards show will care.

They got two of the most OK-est indie games in the GotY awards. And Bayo 3 got the super snub

Only 2 out of those 6 GOTY nominees are on Xbox and they’re both multiplat. TLHBO

Ghost is having an epic meltdown 🤣

actually I want to see movie game GoW win over ER. That would be pretty awesome lol.

well atleast I (ie me) not being brainwashed by corrupt mainstream media. they dont tell us what is good or what is bad in the name of awards and recognization. its all money talks.

The best indie game is going to be an epic show down. Theres a bunch of fantastic indies that came out this year, we haven't seen such an amazing year for indies since hades released back in 2020.

My money is on tunic though, absolutely fantastic game. Plus gamepass day 1.

Best Indie Game

For outstanding creative and technical achievement in a game made outside the traditional publisher system.

• Cult of the Lamb
• Neon White
• Sifu
• Stray
• TUNIC

Where is Halo Infinite ? Not even one nomination ?

Even worse, Stray lol

@ghosts4ever: Most anticipated means most popular lol but, to be fair, Alan Wake 2 and Stalker 2 don't have set release dates or windows other than 2023. Every game on that list is releasing before next summer ends. Its easily missing other like Spider-Man 2, Suicide Squad, SF6 etc as well.

Haven't played Stray so I can't comment but Plague Tale was another boring-as-shit walking simulator with poor stealth elements outdone by Thief released in 1998.

Not sure why people are dumping on Plague Tale for getting nominated for GOTY, its really good.

I would not be surprised to see it win some of the categories like best narrative and best performance either. It has the feel of a game that could do well in these types of awards that don't necessarily care about depth but do care a lot about narrative - didn't The Walking Dead Season 1 win GOTY at the Game Awards?

Because it plays like shit? Is that a good enough reason?

Plague Tale is significant better than Stray.

Well, Stray is a fun game. I enjoyed it. But it isn't GOTY material.

You had no problem with DOOM getting accolades and having sponsored content. Did Bethesda pay for those reviews too?

Great call out. I love Neon White. Haen't finished it yet, but it's one of my GOTY from what I played.

Doom Eternal didnot win a single award. it was all about TLOU2.

it plays fine. it felt like a Naughty Dog game to me (which are also a bit clunky/simplistic gameplay wise, carried by strong presentation and narratives) and those are always a shoe-in for GOTY love.

I'm just not sure why anyone is surprised it got nominated. it seems like the exact type of game that always gets love at the Game Awards even if you aren't into them

Where is Xbox game studios?? Lmao

The combat and animations are miles worse than in ND games. For all of their heavy-handed narrative bullshit, TLOU2 and Uncharted don't play badly when they actually let you play. TLOU2 especially is tiers above A Plague Tale when it comes to stealth/combat.

i haven't played TLOU2, but i remember TLOU feeling pretty damn clunky when I first played it. Uncharted's combat was incredibly basic and those games always had clunky, simplistic shooting/cover mechanics.

so I can't say I agree. I didn't love the combat/stealth in Plague Tale but I found it right on par with the ND games I have played and it was not so bad it really annoyed me. It was just kind of there. Which is just how I feel about the combat/stealth in Uncharted. ND games have better animation quality I'll give you that but that doesn't really impact gameplay.

probably helps I was able to play Plague Tale at a high frame rate and I played all the ND games at 30fps, which inherently made them feel pretty shitty

TLOU is 10 years old and to be honest, I didn't make it far into this game. Bore me to tears. TLOU2's gameplay is far above A Plague Tale. The melee/AI/stealth/gunplay are actually pretty damn solid there.

Overrated game gets overrated awards.😆

@randy_lahey: Next year year pal. At least Xbox has new I.Ps

Yea I may well agree with you once I play TLOU2, but I can only go off what I have played.

Plague Tale does flesh out the gameplay quite a bit as you get farther in but if the first few hours didn't grab you, ditching it was probably the right choice