The authenticity of The Game Awards has been debated lately, as the show’s panel of judges has come under fire for its extreme lack of diversity. There’s still some good stuff to get excited about, like world premiers, but let’s have a little fun and pick our own winners, shall we?
Editor’s note: This entire list is copy/pasted directly from Polygon, and their own direct links were left in to reflect this. We’ve also removed a few eSports categories, as we have little interest in it.
GAME OF THE YEAR
Bloodborne (From Software/Sony Computer Entertainment)
Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks)
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions/Konami)
Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4/Nintendo)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
Brad’s pick: Of the games listed, I’m going with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It’s an incredible game that I’ve personally invested over 100 hours in, and quite possibly the finest open-world RPG I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. An overall solid list of games, but the omission of GOTY contenders like Undertale, Rocket League, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Life is Strange is a bit odd.
DEVELOPER OF THE YEAR
Bethesda Game Studios
CD Projekt Red
From Software
Kojima Productions
Nintendo
Brad’s pick: CD Projekt Red did a phenomenal job with The Witcher 3 and continued to support the game throughout its release by adding features (in-game storage, New Game+) and free DLC packs as a “thank you” to consumers. I also feel that Techland should be added to this list due to their community interaction, free DLC, and overall clarity as a developer.
BEST INDEPENDENT GAME
Axiom Verge (Tom Happ)
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios/Microsoft Studios)
Rocket League (Psyonix)
Undertale (tobyfox)
Brad’s pick: All of these games are great in their own way, but none of them grabbed me as much as Rocket League. It’s accessible, addictive, chaotic, and some of the most fun I’ve had all year.
BEST MOBILE/HANDHELD GAME
Downwell (Moppin/Devolver Digital)
Fallout Shelter (Bethesda Game Studios|Behaviour Interactive/Bethesda Softworks)
Lara Croft Go (Square Enix Montreal/Square Enix)
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (Capcom)
Pac-Man 256 (Hipster Whale/Bandai Namco Entertainment)
Brad’s pick: I have no stake in this voting, as none of the handheld games I’ve played in 2015 actually *came out* in 2015. I have every intention on playing Downwell, but I’ll be doing so on PC via Steam.
BEST NARRATIVE
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment/Square Enix)
Tales From the Borderlands (Telltale Games)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
Until Dawn (Supermassive Games/Sony Computer Entertainment)
Brad’s pick: As much as I loved The Witcher 3 and its cast of characters, and as much as I laughed while killing off the cast of tropes in Until Dawn, Life is Strange remains my most memorable narrative experience of 2015. Max’s powers, her struggle to right the wrongs of her best friend Chloe, the anxiety driven years of any teenager. DONTNOD’s episodic series deserves this.
BEST ART DIRECTION
Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
Bloodborne (From Software/Sony Computer Entertainment)
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions/Konami)
Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios/Microsoft Studios)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
Brad’s pick: This is another list where any of the winners would be well deserved, but I think Batman: Arkham Knight is clearly the weakest of the bunch (followed by MGSV:TPP). I’m at a toss up between Bloodborne and The Witcher 3, but I mean no disrespect to Ori and the Blind Forest. From Software nailed the gothic architecture of Yharnam, and the monster designs were really impressive. I was equally impressed by The Wither 3’s monster and world design, and spent far longer in the game than I did with Bloodborne. Still, Bloodborne catered to my love of horror and gothic architecture, which was extremely well done, so I’m going to roll with that one.
BEST SCORE/SOUNDTRACK
Fallout 4 (Inon Zur/Bethesda Game Studios)
Halo 5: Guardians (Kazuma Jinnouchi/343 Industries)
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (Ludvig Forssell, Justin Burnett, Daniel James/Kojima Productions)
Ori and the Blind Forest (Gareth Coker/Moon Studios)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Marcin Przybyłowicz, Mikolai Stroinski, Percival/CD Projekt Red)
Brad’s pick: If you asked me what games had my favorite soundtrack this year, none of them would be on this list. Axiom Verge, Hotline Miami 2, Rocket League, Life is Strange, Undertale.. none of them are represented here. Epic scales are cool and all, but they’re largely forgettable to me. If I had to pick from the list though, I’d go with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
BEST PERFORMANCE
Ashly Burch as Chloe Price (Life is Strange)
Camilla Luddington as Lara Croft (Rise of the Tomb Raider)
Doug Cockle as Geralt (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt)
Mark Hamill as The Joker (Batman: Arkham Knight)
Viva Seifert (Her Story)
Brad’s pick: Mark Hamill as The Joker is iconic, and Ashly Burch as Chloe, while sometimes grating due to teenage Twitter lingo, was well played, Doug Cockle as Geralt is an easy pick for me. His deadpan, emotionless delivery is spot on for the character, and makes his dry humored replies hit that much harder. I’ll never forget the line “I.. took Dandelion whoring?” as long as I live.
GAMES FOR CHANGE
Cibele (Nina Freeman)
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment/Square Enix)
Sunset (Tale of Tales)
Undertale (tobyfox)
Brad’s pick: Life is Strange may be a very formulaic episodic adventure game, but it covers themes commonly left out of the medium. Sexuality, physical abuse, drug use, broken homes, and assisted suicide may have been touched on by other games, but never as unapologetically as DONTNOD’s series.
BEST SHOOTER
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (Treyarch/Activision)
Destiny: The Taken King (Bungie/Activision)
Halo 5: Guardians (343 Industries/Microsoft Studios)
Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2/Nintendo)
Star Wars Battlefront (EA DICE/Electronic Arts)
Brad’s pick: As someone who typically avoids competitive shooters, I have no stake here. Halo 5: Guardians’ campaign bored me (and 3 of my friends) to tears, and I have yet to play any of the others listed.
BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE GAME
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (Ubisoft Quebec/Ubisoft)
Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions/Konami)
Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios/Microsoft Studios)
Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics/Microsoft Studios)
Brad’s picks: Of the games listed, I’d have to go with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Personally I’d go with Until Dawn, but it’s not up for debate for whatever reason. MGSV:TPP has some incredible missions, but I felt it was bogged down by its unnecessary open world and forgettable boss encounters.
BEST ROLE-PLAYING GAME
Bloodborne (From Software/Sony Computer Entertainment)
Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks)
Pillars of Eternity (Obsidian Entertainment/Paradox Interactive)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
Undertale (tobyfox)
Brad’s pick: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an easy pick for me, seconded by Bloodborne. I’ve already given reasons why I loved the game, so there’s no point in repeating them. I might have even gone with Bloodborne had I managed to complete it, but I’m just not very good at From Software’s games.
BEST FIGHTING GAME
Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- (Arc System Works/Aksys Games)
Mortal Kombat X (NetherRealm Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
Rise of Incarnates (Bandai Namco Entertainment)
Rising Thunder (Radiant Entertainment)
Brad’s pick: I’d be surprised if Rise of Incarnates or Rising Thunder is picked over Mortal Kombat X, or even Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-. Mortal Kombat X caught a lot of shit for (what I feel) its unreasonably priced season pass, but there’s no denying the sheer amount of content found in the game as a whole. There’s plenty to do, even as a solo player. I recently picked up Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- (which I hate typing, by the way) and I’m enjoying it immensely, but in terms of content, it doesn’t hold a candle to Mortal Kombat X.
BEST FAMILY GAME
Disney Infinity 3.0 (Avalanche Software/Disney Interactive)
Lego Dimensions (TT Games/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
Skylanders SuperChargers (Vicarious Visions|Beenox/Activision)
Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2/Nintendo)
Super Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD Group No. 4/Nintendo)
Brad’s pick: Again, no stake here. I don’t play toys-to-life games and have no interest in a competitive shooter (Splatoon) or creating my own Mario levels. Or playing other’s creations. I have N++ already, which works just fine. I wouldn’t br surprised if either Nintendo title took home the gold though.
BEST SPORTS/RACING GAME
FIFA 16 (EA Canada/Electronic Arts)
Forza Motorsport 6 (Turn 10 Studios/Microsoft Studios)
NBA 2K16 (Visual Concepts/2K Sports)
Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 (PES Productions/Konami)
Rocket League (Psyonix)
Brad’s pick: Rocket League. It’s easily one of my favorite games of 2015, for reasons already mentioned. It’s incredible, fun, and everyone should give it a shot at least once. I don’t even like sports or racing games (generally) and I’m obsessed with Rocket League.
BEST MULTIPLAYER
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (Treyarch/Activision)
Destiny: The Taken King (Bungie/Activision)
Halo 5: Guardians (343 Industries/Microsoft Studios)
Rocket League (Psyonix)
Splatoon (Nintendo EAD Group No. 2/Nintendo)
Brad’s pick: Again, Rocket League. It’s accessible to anyone who isn’t even interested in sports or racing, and as someone who steers clear of competitive multi-player games, I’m having a blast.
MOST ANTICIPATED GAME
Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games/Sony Computer Entertaiment)
No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
Quantum Break (Remedy Entertainment/Microsoft Studios)
The Last Guardian (GenDesign/Sony Computer Entertainment)
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog/Sony Computer Entertainment)
Brad’s pick: Lots of Sony love on this list, which is no surprise given their 2016 line-up. My most anticipated game of 2016 is Scalebound, but going by this list I’d have to say Horizon: Zero Dawn. I don’t care for Geurilla’s Killzone series, but Horizon looks incredible so far. Quantum Break on Xbox One also looks great, but it’s been so long since it was first announced that my hype levels are basically at zero right now.
TRENDING GAMER
Total Biscuit
Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles
Greg Miller
Markiplier
PewDiePie
Brad’s pick: I love Markiplier. He’s hilarious, genuine, and does a lot of great stuff with his newfound fame. Same with Pewdiepie. But Greg Miller’s (along with Colin Moraiarty’s) podcast PS I Love You XOXO is my favorite on the internet. Sure, it’s a Playstation-specific podcast, but they’re funny, informed, smart, and are unapologetic about their focus and love for Sony’s family of consoles. Their podcast is actually what sold me on the Vita, and I enjoy their fan interaction on Twitter, their PS4 community, and on Kindafunny.com. I tune in every Tuesday, and won’t be missing an episode any time soon.
Will you be catching The Game Awards tonight at 6pm PDT? Feel free to weigh in with your picks down in the comment section!
What's Your Tag? 