Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has taken out the 'best RPG' category at the Famitsu Dengeki Game Awards 2022.
Multiple other first-party Nintendo titles were nominated with Pokémon Scarlet and Violet winning 'best scenario' and 'best character' and Splatoon 3 receiving best action game. Unsurprisingly, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was also nominated as 2023's most anticipated.
FromSoftware's Elden Ring also collected a number of awards - including game of the year, placing ahead of Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak and a number of Switch titles. Here's the full rundown of each category (winners highlighted):
Game of the Year
Elden Ring
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak
Pokemon Legends: Arceus
Pokemon Scarlet / Violet
Splatoon 3
Most Valuable Creator
FromSoftware
Game Freak
Naoki Yoshida
Splatoon 3 Development Team
Wright Flyer Studios × Key Heaven Burns Red Development Team
Best Scenario
Heaven Burns Red
Pokemon Scarlet / Violet
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Best Graphics
Elden Ring
God of War: Ragnarok
Horizon Forbidden West
Best Music
Heaven Burns Red
Pokemon Scarlet / Violet
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Best Actor
Aqua Minato / Aquarium
Gackt (Genesis) / Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion
Nobu Chidori / Super Noda Game World
Best Voice Actor
Kenichi Suzumura (Zack) / Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion
Minami Tsuda (Mio) / Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Tomori Kusunoki (Ruka Kayamori) / Heaven Burns Red
Best Character
Arven / Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Kirby / Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Ruka Kayamori / Heaven Burns Red
Best Online Game
Final Fantasy XIV
Genshin Impact
Splatoon 3
Best Action Game
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak
Splatoon 3
Best Action-Adventure Game
God of War: Ragnarok
Horizon Forbidden West
Sonic Frontiers
Best Adventure Game
AI: The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative
Dyschronia: Chronos Alternate
The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story
Best RPG
Elden Ring
Pokemon Scarlet / Violet
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Best App
Goddess of Victory: Nikke
Heaven Burns Red
Uma Musume Pretty Derby
Best Indie Game
Needy Streamer Overload
Stray
Vampire Survivors
Best Rookie Game
Elden Ring
Heaven Burns Red
Stray
Best Esports Game
Apex Legends
Street Fighter V
Valorant
Best VTuber
Hyakumantenbara Salome
Oozora Subaru
Usada Pekora
Best Streamer
2Bro
k4sen
Shaka
Best Horror Game
Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II
The Quarry
Yomawari: Lost in the Dark
2023 Most Anticipated
Armored Core VI
Final Fantasy XVI
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Famitsu/Dengeki Special Award
7 Days to End with You
Magical Lovely Award
Persona 5 Royal
Did you play any of the award-winning titles on this list? Comment below.
[source nintendoeverything.com]
Comments (56)
Do I even have to say they deserve it? Because I will xenoblade 3 is one of the finest RPGS ever made it deserves every sale award and acclaim it receives the game is nothing sort of a masterpiece and I encourage any hesitant person to take the plunge on the series.
While I believe nothing is perfect xenoblade 3 is pretty darn close. It excels in an array of ways. The story is brilliantly told it brings you trough every emotion one could muster Joy, heartbreak, rage, and humor. The story goes places I am happy Nintendo allowed monolithsoft explore. The humor this game maintains is similarly amazing the amount of times this game caused me to burst out laughing was uncountable by the time I was halfway trough. And then there are the characters every one of them fleshed out in various ways each one feels like a human rather than a collection of pixels designed to entertain you. From thier writing to thier design love was put into even the most unimportant NPC’s. The characters are brought to life by a tremendous voice cast in its original language and its English dub. No matter which region you pick simply listening to these characters speak is enjoyable. This game can make the most banal conversations about gear maintenance entertaining . Then there is the combat system which is phenomenal iterating on the previous Xenoblades combat it shines brightly an infinitely customizable system that allows you to build characters to your heart’s content you can spend hundreds of hours perfecting a build for this gam. Then there are the graphics. Xenoblade 3 is one of the best looking games on switch. It is full of life beautiful animations and scenery that feels like a lived in world rather than a barren plain. Then there is the music which is phenomenal it draws on this games plot focus on music to create beautiful melodies. And the world is populated with amazing side quests that go above and beyond the industry standard of forgettable fetch quests and become experiences that you remember as fondly as the main game. Just as an example there is a long quest chain about potatoes that may be one of the best things humanity has ever made The quests have character, plot and interesting concepts. Every part of this game is extraordinary and I could not recommend both playing this game and the entire trilogy enough. Just maybe bring some tissues because you will need them
Also Nopon are funny
Best Scenario: Pokemon Violet?
LOL!
Best indie should've been Chained Echoes, just sayin~
As for Xenoblade 3 getting being the best rpg of 2022, congratulations to it. I personally can't get into the Xenoblade series, but I do understand the appeal.
2022 had so many awesome rpgs. Legends Arceus totally revamped Pokemon and it is just ludicrously enjoyable to play. Legends Arceus should've been nominated over Scarlet/Violet. Also finally getting Persona 5 Royal was a huge asset to the switch and outside of Nintendo, Elden Ring was a smash hit. 2022 was great for rpgs, how does one pick?
@Eagly even articles are no escape from your essays
elden ring should have been rpg game of the year it deserved it... this clearly was a biased award show..
@Aurumonado True, I think some plot points make a bit more sense in Scarlet.
@Kermit1 just like nopon there is no escape
@Aurumonado at least gamefreak didn’t win most valuable Creator
@johnedwin Except it literally won game of the year beating XB3 in same category. Bias? No. Inconsistent on their decision metric? Hell yes.
Lists like this always have me "ok, that's fair" half of the time while "what in the bloody hell?" the other half.
I'm sorry but even the nominations are weird. It's like they only remember a dozen of games exists
Well, with only three to choose from, then yeah, I guess it wins easily, even coming from a person who disliked Xenoblade 3 in a lot of ways. But when you see stuff like ‘best character: Arven’ with hecking Kirby being an option, then you lose all my respect quickly xD Whatever the awards are worth, that makes the entire thing look like a joke. Best scenario for pokemon? Will you be here all week?
@johnedwin Listen, it got every other award under the sun in every other award show. Just let us have this one.
Well, at least this block of awards recognized Xenoblade Chronicles 3's excellence. However, no matter the list, some of the nominees usually leave me scratching my head....
I still largely dislike any categorization of RPGs that don't look towards a subgenre.
@Eagly This should be put on the back of the box, easy money!
I got as far as seeing Pokemon Scarlet/Violet was nominated for Game of the freaking Year, and read no further.
These awards are a joke.
@Aurumonado
Actually, yes; The story is really, really good and the game is just fun. Just too bad people can't see further than just the glitches and bugs and immediately assume that the rest of the game is ***** too. No Game of the Year material, obviously, but still a damn good game.
Kills me that Live-A-Live gets no recognition, but I've gotten more than used to that, I suppose.
Please. Someone. Play it. I need to rant more about it!
@GreenTea thank you. I’m just expressing my love for one of my favorite video game franchises
I strongly disliked XB3 in many aspects, but good for those that liked it. I would have definitely picked Elden Ring over Xenoblade 3.
@Bobb honestly, the moment I started losing interest in all these awards was probably when I learned that creators/studios/companies have to go out and submit their stuff for consideration. I guess it made sense for, say, the Oscars circa 1929 but much less so for Keighley's TGA that debuted in 2014. If your dedicated "staff" can't even pool the medium it signs up to rank in the information age, then all the talks about them barely playing/watching any of this (as has been alleged about the Academy's feature animation nomination, for one) and mostly going by hearsay level familiarity... don't sound all that farfetched to say the least. But most of it is probably just the same old bias that all of us have, too - just don't get any perks and/or salary for sharing.😆
Xenoblade 3 manages to have echos of 1 and 2 reverberate through it's music, it's graphics and gameplay whilst doing it's own thing. It's genius how this reflects the story which, in typical Xenoblade style has layers of plot twists and touches on the profound. Yeah, well done X3, totally deserved.
@CoastersPaul Totally! Live-A-Live was magical also! But playing Octopath 2 now makes me realize how stellar XBC3 truly is. Can’t wait for more DLC!
As much as I liked Legend Arceus/SV, nominations for Game of the Year and best Scenario? And it even won Best Scenario?
Whilst Xenoblade Chronicles 3 definitely deserves its award there are a few I strongly disagree with.
For starters Pokémon won best scenario? That alone makes me not take this award publication seriously. Then there's best graphics for Elden Ring over the other nominees is a joke, Sonic winning best action adventure over God of War 😂, God of War not even in the game of the year nominees but Pokemon Violet/Scarlet are? No love for triangle strategy either.
And to top it off the game with the most awards Heaven Burns Red is a gacha mobile game.
Having Game freak nominated for the most valuable creator shows how ridiculous these awards can be. I'm still glad Elden ring and XC3 get some proper credit.
Another proof these awards are just about money and marketing, because nominating Pokemon Scarlet for so many categories, when the game is total garbage just proves enough! Even Gamefreak was nominated?! That’s a joke! It’s like because parents buy kids soda and kids loving it because they don’t know any better, nominating soda as the healthiest drink.
@CoastersPaul Live A Live was the best game of last year for me, it was perfect in almost every way. It's terrible it doesn't get more recognition, I agree.
Famitsu is a joke.
Glad it won something, XC3 seems to have been snubbed by every previous award show thus far. Honestly it deserves best soundtrack by a mile, I fail to see how it hasn't been recognized for that. Everything other category I can see as a competitive toss-up (RPG, story, GOTY) because of contenders like Elden Ring and GOW Ragnarok
@Eagly YESS!!
Pokemon getting best scenario and best character hahahah sure. Heaven Burns Red for best music? We've not had a western release for that at all have we?
@CoastersPaul I agree. Live A Live was one of the best games I played last year, along with XC3 and the Switch port of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. I presume it went somewhat under the radar since it is technically a remake.
shocked Famitsu didn't give pokemon game of the year like they always do, the year Famitsu gave pokemon GOTY over Persona 5 they lose all credibility
@Aurumonado i could only see Pokemon Scarlet/Violet winning best scenario because of the Arven plot, his quest to save his ill Mabostiff must have really resonate with everyone plus -spoilers-he is related with the main antagonist of the game)
@KBuckley27 did Famitsu really give GOTY to Pokemon, the year Persona 5 was released? are you not exagerating?
@UltimateOtaku91 have you seen Arven plot and his quest to save his ill Mabostiff? this is more impactiful then a predictable let save the world, i am the choosen one, i can change my destiny plot as shown on Xenoblade Chronicles 3, everyone relate to someone doing everything to save your family/pet in Mabotiff case
@Arawn93 @johnedwin
Having played both Elden Ring and XC3, I kind of get it. I think Elden Ring deserves Best Game, but although it had a lot of RPG elements, it's not really what I would think of when thinking about that genre. Action RPG almost feels like it should be its own genre.
@UltimateOtaku91 as much as I love Ragnarok remember it’s a western franchise. God of war is not popular in Japan at all. It lost to sonic because the vast majority of people in the country don’t care about God of war and famitsu is a japanese based publication.
And as someone who won’t and will not play Scar/vi I think I can pretty confidently say that God of war and xenoblade 3 probably have story sequences that are better than it but I don’t want ro say for sure
@Giancarlothomaz have you played xenoblade? Because it’s fine if you don’t like it but no xenoblade game could be called generic or predictable
@Eagly i played the first Xenoblade Chronicles and found it gameplay pretty unagaging
@Giancarlothomaz it’s sequels completely overhauled the combat making it much more enjoyable. They redid the combat from scratch in 2 and 3. And you can’t judge the 3rd games story off of the first game
@Giancarlothomaz serious 2016 they gave Sun and Moon GOTY over Persona 5
XC3 was amazing until the end where it bombs so hard. I just hope they do something to make up for the awful ending with the DLC. I feel like it was one of those why did I play this games when it ended.
Pokémon and Game Freak getting nominated for anything at all is absolutely hilarious.
Not gonna lie....Famitsu has about 0 credibility for me.
Glad to see Elden Ring and Splatoon though
Does "Rookie Gane" mean a new IP? Because FromSoftware and Namco are no rookies. Kirby and Splatoon being in the same genre is sus, and Sonic Frontiers winning over God of War speaks maybe to regional bias. I understand it winning over the eventual Game of the Year as that approach (whereby GOTY precludes your also winning your genre category) is a way of honoring more games and preventing sweeps. (I still disagree with that approach for a couple of reasons.) The graphics award seems to heavily favor resolution over art style which is not my choice but is defensible. What is the difference between acting in a video game and voice acting in a video game? Motion capture?
Neat, good for them. Too bad I personally found the combat to be too repetitive at some point and just abandon it.
@Giancarlothomaz if you think Xenoblade 3 is about saving the world then you didn't play it
@philwhite Did you not get the ending? It's one of the smartest in video games. Instead of making you sympathise with complex villains like other xenos, it makes seemingly cartoonish ones only to show you as the player that you're likely just like them. If you're smart it makes you see that part of yourself. The ending challenges you to think, reflect and change for the better.
@bernardtullassa Not what I got out of it. Time loops and rewriting the past is dumb.
Fair enough. I didn't think they did any time loops or rewriting the past. It's an interesting one to discuss but I don't know how to do spoiler tags.
@bernardtullassa It’s not like Noah said the words "If the world holds our lives back, I WILL end it!" and then acted on it
@Eagly SPOILERS -
Right, so he changes the future? By allowing time to continue. Nothing about the past is changed. And time doesn't loop, it's just allowed to continue. I might be missing what you're saying here?
@bernardtullassa no my bad should have clarified it was about the other comment about “saving the world”
@Giancarlothomaz at least Xenoblade has some voice acting to go along with those scenes
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