God of War: Ragnarok leads The Game Awards nominations for 2022
Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West round out the top three.
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The nominees for The Game Awards 2022 have been announced, andGod of War: Ragnarokleads 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 RingandHorizon Forbidden West, with seven each, while third place unexpectedly goes to BlueTwelve’s cyber-kitty simStray, which drew six nominations.A Plague Tale: Requiemfollowed with five noms, whileCall 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:
The Game Awards 2022 will take place on December 8, beginning at 4:30 pm PT/7:30 pm ET, 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 atthegameawards.comor the official Game AwardsDiscord server, or if you’re in China, through the Bilibili social network. The full list of nominees is below:
Game of the Year
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Best Game Direction
Best Narrative
Best Art Direction
Best Score and Music
Best Audio Design
Best Performance
Games for Impact
Best Ongoing Game
Best Indie Game
Best Debut Indie Game
Best Community Support, Presented By Discord
Best Mobile Game
Best VR/AR Game
Best Action Game
Best Action/Adventure Game
Best Role Playing Game
Best Fighting Game
Best Family Game
Best Sim/Strategy Game
Best Sports/Racing Game
Best Multiplayer Game
Most Anticipated Game
Content Creator of the Year
Best Adaptation
Innovation in Accessibility
Best Esports Game
Best Esports Athlete
Best Esports Team
Best Esports Coach
Best Esports Event
Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill.Lotsof Henry Cavill.
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