“Red Dead Redemption 2” is tied for the most nominees for The Game Awards this year.Rockstar Games/Take-Two Interactive
The Game Awards has revealed this year’s batch nominees — and it will let fans vote to decide the winners across more than 20 categories.
Fans can vote now for their picks at TheGameAwards.com, and via Twitter direct message, Facebook Messenger, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and the official The Game Awards Discord server.
Rockstar Games’ “Red Dead Redemption 2” and Sony’s “God of War” lead the pack with eight nominations each, including “Game of the Year” and “Best Narrative.” Other Game of the Year contenders include Marvel’s Spider-Man (7 nominations), “Assassin’s Creed Odyssey” ( 4 nominations) and the indie game hit “Celeste” (4 nominations). Categories like Best Independent Game, Best Student Game and Best VR/AR Game also make space for some lesser- known titles to shine.
The Game Awards will name the winners and celebrate the nominees on Thursday, December 6 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The awards show will be streamed at 9 p.m. EST, 6 p.m. PST on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and several other streaming platforms.
First established in 2014, The Game Awards advisory board includes executives from a dozen major gaming companies, including Xbox, Nintendo, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Valve, and Tencent.
Here’s the list of nominees:
Best Role-Playing Game
“Monster Hunter: World”/Capcom
“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)
Games for Impact
“Life is Strange 2″/Square Enix
“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 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 Strategy Game
“BATTLETECH”/Paradox Interactive
“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)
Best Student Game
“Combat 2018” (Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences – Norway)
“Dash Quasar” (UC Santa Cruz)
“JERA” (Digipen Bilbao, Spain)
“LIFF” (ISTART Digital – France)
“RE: Charge” (MIT)
Best VR/AR Game
“Astro Bot Rescue Mission”/Sony
“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 Debut Indie Game
“Donut County”/Annapuma Interactive
“Donut County” (Ben Esposito / Annapurna Interactive)
“Florence” (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
“Moss” (Polyarc Games)
“The Messenger” (Sabotage Studio)
“Yoku’s Island Express” (Villa Gorilla)
