Every year, video game fans from around the world tune into The Game Awards to see which groundbreaking new games will take the prize. Even better, a ton of new games will be announced that will set the pace for the coming year. December is an exciting time of the year for gamers and The Game Awards only make it that much better.
This year, there are a huge number of games being nominated for a wide variety of categories including less obvious categories like best audio design or best debut indie. With so many different nominees for so many different categories, I find it only fitting to go through each category and pick out a prediction. The nominees are listed directly under the heading for each category and the game in the heading is ESG’s prediction for a winner. I will also throw in a short reasoning to justify each prediction. I’ll admit, I have not played every game on this list and a ton of these will just be guesses, but if I manage to get at least a third of these correct I’d consider it a passing grade!
There was a huge amount of hype for RE8 whenever it first came out. Along with an outstanding positive review ratio as well, Resident Evil is my educated guess for the Game of the Year award.
While I definitely think Deathloop has an interesting concept behind it, I think this was an overall weak year for this category in terms of innovation and cutting edge design. Even so, Deathloop takes the cake here.
Call of Duty: Warzone (Infinity Ward, Raven Software/Activision)
Final Fantasy 14 Online (Square Enix)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
Genshin Impact (Mihoyo)
As much as I’d love to put Apex Legends as a winner, I think it’d sooner go to Fortnite considering the massive updates they put out every season. Genshin is also an interesting wildcard, but I do not think it has a tight enough community to hit all the votes.
Best Narrative - Psychonauts 2
Deathloop (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)
It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios/Electronic Arts)
Life is Strange: True Colors (Deck Nine/Square Enix)
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (Eidos Montreal/Square Enix)
Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine Productions/Xbox Game Studios)
In my eyes, 12 Minutes takes the cake here quite easily just due to recognition from streamers playing it. The game itself is genius enough to secure the victory and the recognition only makes it more likely.
Best Mobile Game - Pokémon Unite
Fantasian (Mistwalker)
Genshin Impact (Mihoyo)
League of Legends: Wild Rift (Riot Games)
Marvel Future Revolution (Netmarble)
Pokémon Unite (TiMi Studios/The Pokémon Company)
I admittedly rarely play mobile games, in fact, the only mobile games on this list that I have are League and Pokemon Unite. That being said, Unite feels AMAZING for a mobile game and I feel like it justly deserves the praise.
Sniper Elite VR (Coatsink, Just Add Water/Rebellion Developments)
I can’t lie, I don’t own a VR headset. Therefore, I closed my eyes and pointed at the screen. Opening my eyes revealed my finger pointing directly at Resident Evil 4 and thus it will win!
Best Action - Back 4 Blood
Back 4 Blood (Turtle Rock Studios/Warner Bros. Games)
In terms of adventure, the entire Resident Evil series is one crazy ride. Considering the other competitors nominated, my gut definitely favors RE8.
Best Role Playing - Monster Hunter Rise
Cyberpunk 2077 (CD Projekt Red)
Monster Hunter Rise (Capcom)
Scarlet Nexus (Bandai Namco)
Shin Megami Tensei 5 (Atlus/Sega)
Tales of Arise (Bandai Namco)
Following up on the successful Monster Hunter World, I genuinely think Rise wins this category off of name recognition. After all, players know Monster Hunter World for its ability to transport players to a different world, so the sequel probably has the same attributes (haven’t played the beta, yet).
Best Fighting - Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl
Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba The Hinokami Chronicles (CyberConnect2/Sega)
Guilty Gear Strive (Arc System Works)
Melty Blood: Type Lumina (French-Bread/Delightworks)
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl (Ludosity, Fair Play Labs/GameMill)
Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown (Sega)
Smash but with Nickelodeon characters? We. Take. Those.
Best Debut Indie - Valheim
Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab)
Sable (Shedworks/Raw Fury)
The Artful Escape (Beethoven & Dinosaur/Annapurna)
The Forgotten City (Modern Storyteller/Dear Villagers)
Valheim (Iron Gate Studio/Coffee Stain Studios)
Valheim absolutely killed it upon release and has been maintaining a respectable player base ever since. I see no other option than Valheim taking the dub here.
Best Family - Mario Party Superstars
It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios/Electronic Arts)
Mario Party Superstars (NDcube/Nintendo)
New Pokémon Snap (Bandai Namco/The Pokémon Company/Nintendo)
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury (Nintendo)
WarioWare: Get It Together! (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)
It’s Mario Party, it’s as family as it gets for video games. Also, It Takes Two could snipe this one as the better game, but I still wouldn’t consider it a ‘family’ game.
Best Sports/Racing - FIFA 22
F1 2021 (Codemasters/EA Sports)
FIFA 22 (EA Vancouver/EA Sports)
Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios)
Hot Wheels Unleashed (Milestone)
Riders Republic (Ubisoft Annecy/Ubisoft)
I know very little about racing, but I do know that futbol is very popular. Therefore, FIFA BABY!
Best Sim/Strategy - Inscryption
Age of Empires 4 (Relic Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios)
Evil Genius 2: World Domination (Rebellion Developments)
Microsoft Flight Simulator (Asobo Studio/Xbox Game Studios)
Inscription has a great concept to it along with easy to learn but hard to master gameplay. Card games have also been on the rise over the past couple of years, all of which points towards Inscryption for this award.
Best Multiplayer - It Takes Two
Back 4 Blood (Turtle Rock Studios/Warner Bros. Games)
It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios/Electronic Arts)
Knockout City (Velan Studios/Electronic Arts)
Monster Hunter Rise (Capcom)
New World (Amazon Games)
Valheim (Iron Gate Studio/Coffee Stain Studios)
In my head, It Takes Two is more of a co-op game than a multiplayer game, but either way it takes this category easily.
Most Anticipated Game - Untitled Sequel To Zelda
Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
God of War Ragnarok (SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Untitled sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)
Starfield (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks)
Breath of the Wild literally won game of the year back in 2017, so I feel like this is an obvious choice. I do, however, think that I am personally much more hyped for God of War Ragnarok.
Best Art Direction - Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Deathloop (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)
Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab)
Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine Productions/Xbox Game Studios)
The Artful Escape (Beethoven & Dinosaur/Annapurna)
Admittedly, I have not yet played Kena but watching gameplay shows that it is absolutely beautiful. There is something about a soft animation style that seems to work well in the game space and it seems to have worked for Kena as well.
Best Score and Music - Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 (Marcin Przybylowicz, Piotr T. Adamczyk, Composers)
Deathloop (Tom Salta, Composer)
NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139 (Keiichi Okabe, Composer)
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (Richard Jacques, Composer)
The Artful Escape (Johnny Galvatron & Josh Abrahams, Composers)
Definitely some bias here, but I could listen to the Cyberpunk soundtrack on repeat for a 24 hour car ride and be perfectly fine.
Best Audio Design - Resident Evil Village
Deathloop (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)
Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios)
I feel like horror games in this category are a bit OP, but they add so much to the ambience that it's hard not to pick RE8 here.
Best Performance - Giancarlo Esposito as Anton Castillo
Erika Mori as Alex Chen, Life is Strange: True Colors
Giancarlo Esposito as Anton Castillo, Far Cry 6
Jason E. Kelley as Colt Vahn, Deathloop
Maggie Robertson as Lady Dimitrescu, Resident Evil Village
Ozioma Akagha as Julianna Blake, Deathloop
He was the goat as Gus and he’s the goat as Anton, Giancarlo for the win.
Games for Impact - Before Your Eyes
Before Your Eyes (GoodbyeWorld Games/Skybound Games)
Boyfriend Dungeon (Kitfox Games)
Chicory: A Colorful Tale (Greg Lobanow, Alexis dean-Jones, Lena Raine, Madeline Berger, A Shell in the Pit/Finji)
Life is Strange: True Colors (Deck Nine/Square Enix)
No Longer Home (Humble Grove, Hana Lee, Cel Davison, Adrienne Lombardo, Eli Rainsberry/Fellow Traveler)
A game that can make you feel heavy emotions despite being completely animated shows quality. Before Your Eyes takes its players on an emotional rollercoaster and thus has the biggest impact on its players (I know it's about social causes, but none of these games do that too well).
Apex gets a lot of flack for having a toxic community, but the developers certainly know how to push out new content to keep its audience interested. I’d also feel terrible if I did not pick Apex for a single category.
Innovation in Accessibility - The Vale: Shadow of the Crown
Far Cry 6 (Ubisoft Toronto/Ubisoft)
Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios)
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (Eidos Montreal/Square Enix)
The Vale: Shadow of the Crown (Creative Bytes Studios/Falling Squirrel)
I mean, it's the only game here that is actually about accessibility. I think that any accessibility features the other games implement (no matter how great they are) will be outweighed by the fact that The Vale is literally a disability roleplaying game shining light on the struggles the visually impaired face.
Content Creator of the Year - Dream
Dream
Fuslie
Gaules
Ibai
TheGrefg
While I may not be the biggest Minecraft stan out there, I can certainly recognize the size of its community. I’d love for Fuslie to win, but I think Dream is just more realistic.
Best Esports Game - Valorant
Call of Duty (Activision)
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
Dota 2 (Valve)
League of Legends (Riot Games)
Valorant (Riot Games)
Valorant just won Esport’s ‘Game of the Year Award’ two weeks ago, a telling sign of what's to come. Even if it had not won that award, Valorant still has the most hype behind the game at the current moment.
Best Esports Athlete - TenZ
Chris “Simp” Lehr
Heo “ShowMaker” Su
Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev
Tyson “TenZ” Ngo
With TenZ blowing up in popularity and getting invited to Twitch Rivals, I find it hard to believe he won’t easily take this category. It also makes sense with my last pick.
Best Esports Team - Natus Vincere
Atlanta FaZe (Call of Duty)
DWG KIA (League of Legends)
Natus Vincere (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
Sentinels (Valorant)
Team Spirit (DOTA 2)
Na’Vi just won the PGL major and have been dominating the esports scene recently. I also used to bet on them on csgolounge which gives them extra brownie points.
Best Esports Coach - kk0ma
Airat “Silent” Gaziev
Andrey “ENGH” Sholokhov
Andrii “B1ad3” Horodenskyi
James “Crowder” Crowder
Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun
I know nothing about Esports coaches, this is a guess. I like the name kkOma.
Best Esports Event - 2021 League of Legends World Championship
2021 League of Legends World Championship
PGL Major Stockholm 2021 (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2020
The International 2021 (DOTA 2)
Valorant Champions Tour: Stage 2 Masters
2.2 million dollar prize pool, integrated viewing into the game’s client, themed skins for the game, Riot events in general, need I say more?
The Game Awards come and go every year, bestowing honors upon and, more importantly, granting recognition to some of the best games each year. What do you think about ESG’s predictions?
My prediction of my predictions? I think I’ll get just over the 33% I was hoping for at the beginning!
