Nominees for The Game Awards 2018 Announced
There are several RPGs in the mix!
11.14.18 - 12:36 PM

It's that time of year again. Geoff Keighley's prestigious Game Awards will take place on December 6th at 9:00 PM ET/6:00 PM PT. In a first for the show, the public will have a chance to vote for the nominees they'd like to win at the Game Awards Discord server. While a lot of the nominees for The Game Awards 2018 fall outside of RPGFan's purview, there are still a few candidates of note worth discussing here. So, let's get into it.

Let's start with the Game of the Year category. Of course, Sony Santa Monica's God of War is among the top contenders for this year. The game brought a more character-centric tone to the blood-soaked tale of Kratos, and switched its focus from Greek mythology to Norse mythology. Monster Hunter: World is also among the contenders for Game of the Year, a game which received critical praise and rejuvenated the Monster Hunter brand. Assassin's Creed Odyssey, another well-received game, is also under consideration for Game of the Year. Other nominees that we don't cover, but are no less worthy, include Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2, Insomniac's Spider-Man, and Matt Makes Games' Celeste.

Moving on, for Best Ongoing Game (aka, "lifestyle game"), we have Destiny 2, the follow-up to Bungie's hit MMO/Shooter hybrid. Destiny 2 has received a lot of post-launch content to spice up the experience for dedicated fans, including the recent Forsaken expansion. God of War once again comes up as a nominee for Best Game Direction, alongside Quantic Dream's Detroit: Become Human. Both Detroit and God of War are also nominated for Best Game Narrative, along with the first episode of Life is Strange 2.

For the Best Art Direction award, we have a ton of RPGs on the list: Assassin's Creed Odyssey, God of War, and Square Enix's phenomenal Octopath Traveler. There's also Return of the Obra Dinn, the latest game from the makers of Papers, Please. For Best Score/Music, God of War and Octopath are both nominated, along with Joe Hisaishi's excellent score for Ni no Kuni II.

God of War once again pops up as a nominee for Best Audio Design. Christopher Judge, who voiced Kratos in the new title, is also nominated for Best Performance, alongside Bryan Dechart (Conner from Detroit: Become Human) and Melissanthi Mahut (Kassandra from Assassin's Creed Odyssey).

The Games for Impact award has a number of interesting nominees, including Life is Strange 2: Episode 1. For Best Independent game, we have Dead Cells, Into the Breach, and Return of the Obra Dinn. Dead Cells is also nominated for Best Action Game, as is Destiny 2: Forsaken. Meanwhile, for best Action/Adventure Game, Assassin's Creed Odyssey and God of War are both on the list.

Now for the category you've all been waiting for: Best Role-Playing Game. The nominees are Dragon Quest XI, Ni no Kuni II, Octopath Traveler, Monster Hunter: World, and Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. That's a pretty excellent haul of role-playing games from this year, and it's nice to see such a large number of quality Japanese titles being represented. Personally, I'm gunning for Dragon Quest XI here, but hey.

For Best Strategy Game, another couple of RPGs pop up: Into the Breach, The Banner Saga 3, and Valkyria Chronicles 4. It's certainly nice to see Valkyria 4 getting some love, since it marks the return of a beloved SRPG series! Meanwhile, Destiny 2: Forsaken and Monster Hunter: World both pop up again as nominees for Best Multiplayer Game.

To see the winners of The Game Awards 2018, for the aforementioned categories and many others, be sure to check out The Game Awards 2018 when they air on December 6th. As always, stay tuned to RPGFan for the latest and greatest of RPG coverage!