We hope you were able to join us during our live-stream of The Game Awards last night. If you had to miss it, for reasons such as your beauty sleep, fear not – we've got a lovely round-up of all the winners for you below, along with the nominated games for each category so you can tell us they were 'robbed'.
As always, we've got a lot of PC/PS4/Xbox One games in here, but from a Nintendo Switch perspective, there are still many titles of note. Indie darling Celeste missed out on getting the coveted Game of the Year award which it was nominated for – however, it did still walk away with the Games For Impact award and also the Best Indie Game award. Not a bad haul, in all honesty.
Fortnite, which of course is very popular on the Switch due to its portability, won the Best Ongoing Game award. It also walked away with the Best Multiplayer game award, too.
Motion Twin's roguelike Metroidvania Dead Cells snagged the Best Action Game award, but lost out to Celeste for best indie game.
The Best Debut Indie Game category had some blinding games in it and we had our fingers crossed for the lovely Yoku's Island Express, but it was pipped to the post by The Messenger, which is formidable competition indeed.
Still, Yoku's Island Express publisher Team17 need not feel too glum as the charming Overcooked 2 won the Best Family Game award, against strong competition from first-party Nintendo titles.
There are lots of Nintendo Switch games in the nominations below. Take a look and let us know your thoughts on The Game Awards 2018 with a comment.
Game of the Year
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
- Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
- Winner: God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
- Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
- Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
Best ongoing game
- Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision)
- Winner: Fortnite (Epic Games)
- No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
- Overwatch (Blizzard)
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
Best game direction
- A Way Out (Hazelight Studios / EA)
- Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / SIE)
- Winner: God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
- Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
Best narrative
- Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / SIE)
- God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
- Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
- Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
- Winner: Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
Best art direction
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
- God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
- Octopath Traveler (Square Enix / Acquire / Nintendo)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
- Winner: Return of Obra Din (3909 LLC)
Best score/music
- Celeste (Lena Raine)
- God of War (Bear McCreary)
- Marvel’s Spider-Man (John Paesano)
- Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom (Joe Hisaishi)
- Octopath Traveler (Yasunori Nishiki)
- Winner: Red Dead Redemption 2 (Woody Jackson)
Best audio design
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch Studios / Activision)
- Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games / Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
- God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
- Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
- Winner: Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
Best performance
- Bryan Dechart as Connor, Detroit: Become Human
- Christopher Judge as Kratos, God of War
- Melissanthi Mahut as Kassandra, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
- Winner: Roger Clark as Arthur Morgan, Red Dead Redemption 2
- Yuri Lowenthal as Peter Parker, Marvel’s Spider-Man
Games For Impact
- 11-11 Memories Retold (Digixart / Aardman Animations / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
- Winner: 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
- Winner: 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 mobile game
- Donut County (Ben Esposito / Annapurna Interactive)
- Winner: Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
- Fortnite (Epic Games)
- PUBG Mobile (Lightspeed & Quantum / Tencent Games)
- Reigns: Game of Thrones (Nerial / Developer Digital)
Best VR/AR game
- Winner: 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 action game
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch / Activision)
- Winner: Dead Cells (Motion Twin)
- Destiny 2: Forsaken (Bungie / Activision)
- Far Cry 5 (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
- Mega Man 11 (Capcom)
Best action/adventure game
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
- Winner: God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
- Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Eidos Montreal / Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix)
Best role-playing game
- Dragon Quest 11: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Square Enix / Square Enix)
- Winner: Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)
- Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom (Level 5 / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
- Octopath Traveler (Square Enix / Acquire / Nintendo)
- Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (Obsidian Entertainment / Versus Evil)
Best fighting game
- BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle (Arc System Works)
- Winner: Dragon Ball FighterZ (Arc System Works / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
- Soulcalibur 6 (Bandai Namco Studios / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
- Street Fighter 5 Arcade (Dimps / Capcom)
Best family game
- Mario Tennis Aces (Camelot Software Planning / Nintendo)
- Nintendo Labo (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
- Winner: Overcooked 2 (Ghost Town Games / Team17)
- Starlink: Battle for Atlas (Ubisoft Toronto / Ubisoft)
- Super Mario Party (NDCube / Nintendo)
Best strategy game
- Battletech (Harebrained Schemes / Paradox Interactive)
- Frostpunk (11 bit studios)
- Winner: Into the Breach (Subset Games)
- The Banner Saga 3 (Stoic Studio / Versus Evil)
- Valkyria Chronicles 4 (Sega CS3 / Sega)
Best sports/racing game
- FIFA 19 (EA Vancouver / EA Sports)
- Winner: Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games / Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
- Mario Tennis Aces (Camelot Software Planning / Nintendo)
- NBA 2K19 (Visual Concepts / 2K Sports)
- Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 (PES Productions / Konami)
Best multiplayer game
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch / Activision)
- Destiny 2: Forsaken (Bungie / Activision)
- Winner: Fortnite (Epic Games)
- Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)
- Sea of Thieves (Rare / Microsoft Studios)
Best debut indie game
- Donut County (Ben Esposito / Annapurna Interactive)
- Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
- Moss (Polyarc Games)
- Winner: The Messenger (Sabotage Studio)
- Yoku’s Island Express (Team17 / Villa Gorilla)
Comments 51
Best action game for Dead Cells? Nice, got that in my backlog (also a friend has borrowed it, the joys of physicals)
Really do need to get God of War at some stage. Just too many Switch games to get first.
@daza You may want to mention that both Into the Breach and Dragon Ball FighterZ won awards and are also on Switch.
Adored God of War to the point I was certain it was GoTY. But then RD2 blew me away even further. I understand why GoW won it, but feel RD2 should have just taken it.
Now if only Celeste, Dead Cells and the Messenger go on sale in the UK I can see what the fuss is about!
Celeste is one of my favourite games this year, but it is so strange to see it on the same podium as major heavy-hitting AAA open-world games. So out of the blue (even though I love this weird outlier).
I only watched until Best Action Game award which was the first award, it was late in UK and I fell asleep. I liked the host though.
Nice to see that Forza Horizon 4 got the best sports/racing game award, it deserves it.
Nice to see Dragonball FighterZ won fighting game of the year. Well deserved. It's one of the best fighting games I've ever played.
Also happy to see Monster Hunter World won best RPG. Could have won game of the year as far as I'm concerned.
Notice Nintendo picked up zero awards this year (after winning game of the year last year). Speaks volumes to how weak their first party output has been this year. Smash is their only big release for 2018. I expect them to come out guns blazing for 2019.
staying awake till 5 am for the announcements was a bit of a joke(er) as it turned out was hoping for something better after last year, was novel to see an award show where no one made an anti trump rant was a novelty I suppose....man I'm tired
2018 is an awful year for Switch, mostly ports from a pastgen & tons of trash indies. Glad that I'm not an exclusively N player.
This is the best Sony year ever. Truly God of War deserves everything. Brutal and awesome game.
Very poor year for the Switch. And it shows here.
Two questions:
1. what the heck is "games for impact"? I know That Dragon, Cancer won it last time, but the name of the category is pretty confusing. It feel like rewarding either games that are "deep" or for carrying a political message, neither of one sits well with me. Those should belong to the Best Narrative category.
2. How is No Man's Sky nominated for anything? Did they simply had nothing else to fill enough "Best ongoing game" spots?
Is Return of the Obra Dinn going to come to Switch? Really like the look of that one, so might have to just get it on Steam.
No Man's Sky nominated.
Stops reading.
I knew it was gonna lose GOTY to Dad of Boi, but I'm still a bit disappointed Marvel's Spider-Man didn't win anything. It's one of the best games I played all year!
@SmaggTheSmug I think it's pretty clear. It's the sort of game that when you've played it, you put it down and you're like ... huh, this is going to stick with me, this is going to affect the way I approach things in the future.
If your idea of being political is, "It makes me think of things I haven't though about before," that seems really unhealthy.
For me the most interesting indie game this year was Return of Obra Dunn. Celeste was alright and Dead Cells (as far as I’m concerned a nearly complete game last year) was one of my favorite games last year.
@Equinox IMHO Xenoblade 2 is a good game and just that. It has some execution problems that got many negative reviews
@RoadieRunner Right with ya on a sale for Celeste and The Messenger. They on sale right now for only the second time iirc, and you're lucky if 50% is off of them as they don't knock off much more than 20%! I just don't see it in Celeste, but they say it's the truth. Damn if it ain't a tad expensive for me lol
Zero awards for Nintendo. 😬
@MeloMan Think that's just in the US for the sale? Gutted!
I'm glad Dragon Ball FighterZ won best fighting game of the year. It's the best fighting game on Switch right now and is one heck of a fun fighter.
Overcooked 2 didn't gave strong competition at all. Mario Tennis and Mario Party are mediocre, and then there is cardboard.
@Hrimfaksi It does look strange, but I think it's absolutely deserved. For me, it's not even a competition - Celeste is the best platformer on the Switch, hands down. I know they're not the same type of platformer, but I would choose Celeste over Super Mario Odyssey.
@SmaggTheSmug I've not played it, but by all accounts, No Man's Sky Next has really turned the game around. I typically only hear good things about it now. Not necessarily great, but not the same level of outrage that was at launch, either.
@waluigifan1 It's hard for me to imagine a better game for local couch co-op than Overcooked 1/2, so even if there were stronger competition, I think Overcooked 2 would likely be near the top either way. Outstanding game if you have friends or family to play locally with. Wasn't a fan solo, though my wife enjoys playing it solo.
Kudos to Dead Cells, beating all the bug budget titles. Love Florence, totally deserve at least an award. Octopath Traveler should win RPG, this is pure RPG compared to action oriented MHW.
@MeloMan Celeste is very cheap for the content provided (as long as you like a "good" challenge) just to beat side A and B takes about 30/40h if you go for side C (that I didn't do as side B was already so f.. hard) you probably have another 20h and this is completely ignoring replayability as it counts your best run in terms of time and deaths.
@DavidMac It still doesn't answer my question why isn't it simply in the Best Narrative category. And that name is still pretty vague.
I don't know where you got that I assumed "things I've not experienced before = political" though I admit I jumped the gun a little. There's too many people shouting that "everything is political" now and it probably rubbed on me a bit.
I'm glad Celeste was nominated for and won several awards... fantastic game that I thought might get lost due to its release date and independent nature.
Yes, when you find yourself echoing the talking points of any mob that's when you know you've sacrificed your identity for belonging. And it's not a sacrifice worth making.
Having a good narrative isn't the same thing as making an impact. For example, Avengers Infinity War, was a thing of narrative genius. They made the villain the main character while you were emotionally invested in his opponents. They worked in a huge number of important characters and met impossible expectations from the fan base. From a story writing context, Infinity War was something that most writers would have told you couldn't be done well.
HOWEVER. Nobody who saw Infinity War is going to tell you, "I walked out of the movie theatre and I felt like how I see the world changed."
Whereas for example (I'm just gonna stick with the comic theme especially since this was the first impactful media thing that came to mind when I was thinking of an example) if you watch Jessica Jones Season 1, David Tennant's portrayal of Killgrave was deeply impactful. Now some people don't like JJ season 1, and fine whatever. But for me seeing it, already going in with some understanding of narcissism after having dealt with a sexually predatory minister recently (the denomination knew he'd been diagnosed with NPD and was harassing immigrant men half his age, while his wife with a hearing problem was in the same room, bloody awkward) seeing JJ season 1 was impactful.
I got to witness a legit narcissist on screen, through the lens of the superhero genre, I got to see all the irredeemable mess that is a full blown narcissist for 13 episodes, I got to see the way he absolutely terrorized people who continually thought he'd reached the limits of what he could do, and continued to transgress the autonomy of others. And ultimately I got to see actress Kristin Ritter's character snap that awful piece of garbage's neck. And I sighed the deepest, soul healing sigh of relief I can imagine.
That's the difference between a good narrative and an impactful piece of media.
Both are really good, but JJ season 1 actually has a lot of pacing problems, where as Infinity War doesn't make you feel anything other than general loss and surprise. Infinity War is probably the better piece of writing, but JJ season 1 made the it feel like somebody else understood the pain and frustration of the garbage I had to deal with.
So yeah, I totally get why they're two separate categories.
@RoadieRunner @MeloMan If you have an Amazon UK account, you can switch the region to the US and buy Nintendo eShop digital codes using your UK debit or credit card, then set up a US eShop account and use the code to top up funds there! A little bit of a rigmarole, but a good way to take advantage of good US sale prices. I picked up The Messenger last night that way
Obviously World Of Tanks should get "Best Ongoing Game!"......oh wait
@Equinox it was simply forgot due to its release date (I think it was a similar situation with Pokemon Sun/Moon a few years back). I wouldn't be surprised if they forget about Smash next year.
Dragon Quest was robbed. Monster Hunter World is a great game, no doubt, but it's not really an RPG.
SONY had a great night. Love God of War. Happy for Cory Barlog and his team.
Also super happy for Forza (simply an amazing Racing game) and RedDead2. Love Monster Hunter World, but DQ is a much better RPG. Still Glad I played both 😏
Just shows how irrelevant Nintendo's release schedule was the last 11 months.
Overcooked 2 winning Family Game of the Year is hardly a victory for Nintendo. It basically beat out most of Nintendo's 2018 exclusives for that honour.
This was a horrible showing for Nintendo at the Game Awards.
I am a big Ni No Kuni fan, but the soundtrack to the second game shouldn't have even been on the list IMO. It was dreadful to the point where I turned the volume right down. The random spikes in volume and instrumentation, the lack of awareness in terms of what the player character is doing..I could go on. It was disappointing to say the least.
I agree with most of the results, but I personly felt that Octopath should have won the best Music. RDR2's music was kind of generic backround music, while the Octopath soundtrack left a genuine inpact on me.
God of War is arguably not even a great action game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jMJ39_j6NQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IERHMMXeshc
^ But of course, analysis like this is too much for games media/ casuals, who mainly only like God of War for its graphics, to think about.
Into The Breach awarded, well deserved - total surprise for me and one of my favourite games.
@RoadieRunner Honestly i loved both but for me the pacing in RDR2 was off sometimes. You could suddenly find yourself riding the horse for half hour just trying to get somewhere to start a mission. I loved it but that was my major issue with it.
Some of the winners definitely deserved their awards, no questions asked. I would have liked more variety in the nominations though.
I personally think that DQ XI should have had best RPG. I also would have loved to see Octopath Traveler run off with an award, but I suppose it's too niche.
Bill Hader, "I haven't done any of this, by the way"
Conan O'brien, "Just so those of you at home know, we haven't touched the controller for forty five minutes"
Wins "game" of the year. :0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFphlZ_BryA
@IHateTombs
I'll hate on a game even if the cut scenes are less than ten seconds. :0
Full disclosure, I have no experience with God of War, whatsoever, and I am merely parroting sentiments that reflect my own prejudices.
Maybe I'd love it?
The less RPG-ish game won best RPG and the best soundtrack was given as an compensation award to the GOTY loser.
The cringe was real.
It still sucks that December releases cough Smash Bros. cough never get a shot at the various video game awards.
Ridiculous IMHO...
Except both of these games are also on other platforms so....inaccurate headline. There's also several other multiplatform games that won too.
@Equinox That and the release window. I'm sure Smash will be forgotten about as well.
I got Celeste last night. Almost done with level 3. It's actually an amazing game.
Interesting to see all the complaining on here about the Switch output this year, then see loads of Switch games nominated in the VGAs. People need to lose their obsession with first party games being everything and broaden their horizons.
Im actually really happy messenger won an award. Wanted it to win indie game of the year but maybe that's because I haven't played Celeste yet 😃. Ill grab it soon and see what all the fuss is about
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