It’s been a pretty wild year for video games. Whether your prefer big budget AAA adventures like God of War or Red Dead Redemption 2, or smaller indies like Celeste or Into The Breach, there’s been something for everyone.
Now, the nominees for The Game Awards 2018 have been unveiled, with dozens of incredible titles across 30 categories. As you might expect, Spider-Man, God of War, and Red Dead Redemption 2 are the titles that have absolutely dominated the nominations.
God of War and Red Dead are tied for the most nominations, including Best Narrative, Best Game Direction, and Best Action/Adventure Game, while Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Monster Hunter: World and Celeste are also nominated for the coveted Game of the Year.
Check out all of the categories and their nominees below:
Game of the Year
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
- Celeste
- God of War
- Marvel’s Spider-Man
- Monster Hunter: World
- Red Dead Redemption 2
Best Action Game
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
- Dead Cells
- Destiny 2: Forsaken
- Far Cry 5
- Mega Man 11
Best Action/Adventure Game
- Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
- God of War
- Marvel’s Spider-Man
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Best Role Playing Game
- Dragon Quest XI
- Monster Hunter: World
- Ni no Kuni II
- Octopath Traveler
- Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
Best Game Direction
- A Way Out
- Detroit: Become Human
- God of War
- Marvel’s Spider-Man
- Red Dead Redemption 2
Best Narrative
- Detroit: Become Human
- God of War
- Life is Strange 2: Episode 1
- Marvel’s Spider-Man
- Red Dead Redemption 2
Best Ongoing Game
- Destiny 2: Forsaken
- Fortnite
- No Man’s Sky
- Overwatch
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege
Best Art Direction
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
- God of War
- Octopath Traveler
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Return of the Obra Dinn
Best Score/Music
- Celeste
- God of War
- Marvel’s Spider-Man
- Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
- Octopath Traveler
- Red Dead Redemption 2
Best Audio Design
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
- Forza Horizon 4
- God of War
- Marvel’s Spider-Man
- Red Dead Redemption 2
Best Independent Game
- Celeste
- Dead Cells
- Intro the Breach
- Return of the Obra Dinn
- The Messenger
Best Performance
- Bryan Dechart as Connor, Detroit: Become Human
- Christopher Judge as Kratos, God of War
- Melissanthi Mahut as Kassandra, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
- Roger Clark as Arthur Morgan, Red Dead Redemption II
- Yuri Lowenthal as Peter Parker, Marvel’s Spider-Man
Games for Impact
- 11-11 Memories Retold
- Celeste
- Florence
- Life is Strange 2
- The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories
Best Mobile Game
- Donut County
- Florence
- Fortnite
- PUBG MOBILE
- Reigns: Game of Thrones
Best VR/AR Game
- ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission
- Beat Saber
- Firewall Zero Hour
- Moss
- Tetris Effect
Best Fighting Game
- BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle
- Dragon Ball FighterZ
- Soul Caliber VI
- Street Fighter V Arcade
Best Family Game
- Mario Tennis Aces
- Nintendo Labo
- Overcooked 2
- Starlink: Battle for Atlas
- Super Mario Party
Best Sports/Racing Game
- FIFA 19
- Forza Horizon 4
- Mario Tennis Aces
- NBA 2K19
- Pro Evolution Soccer 2019
Best Multiplayer Game
- Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII
- Destiny 2: Forsaken
- Fortnite
- Monster Hunter: World
- Sea of Thieves
Best Student Game
- Combat 2018
- Dash Quasar
- JERA
- LIFF
- RE: Charge
Best Debut Indie Game
- Donut County
- Florence
- Moss
- The Messenger
- Yoku’s Island Express
Best eSports Game
- CSGO
- DOTA2
- Fortnite
- League of Legends
- Overwatch
Best eSports Player
- Dominique “SonicFox” McLean
- Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi
- Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao
- Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev
- Sung-hygeon “JJoNak” Bang
Best eSports Team
- Astralis
- Cloud9
- Fnatic
- London Spitfire
- OG
Best eSports Coach
- Bok “Reapered” Han-gyu
- Christian “ppasarel” Banaseanu
- Danny “zonic” Sorensen
- Dylan Falco
- Jakob “YamatoCannon” Mebdi
- Janko “YNk” Paunovic
Best eSports Event
- ELAGUE Major: Boston 2018
- EVO 2018
- League of Legends World Championship
- Overwatch League Grand Finals
- The International 2018
Best eSports Host
- Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez
- Alex “Machine” Richardson
- Anders Blume
- Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere
- Paul “RedEye” Chaloner
Best eSports Moment
- C9 comeback win in triple OT vs FAZE
- G2 beating RNG
- KT vs IG Base Race
- OG’s massive upset of LGD
- SonicFox side switch against Go1 in DBZ
Content Creator of the Year
- Dr. Lupo
- Myth
- Ninja
- Pokimane
- Willyrex
Favorite Moment of 2017
- Carol Shaw (Industry Icon)
- The Game Awards Orchestra (Performance)
- Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro (Moment)
- Josef Fares (A Way Out)
- Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Game of the Year)
The Game Awards 2018 show will be livestreamed on December 7, 2018, at 1:30am in the UK. It’s a late one, but we’ve been promised some big reveals and trailer mixed in with the awards, so it’s a show gamers won’t want to miss.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.