God Of War and PlayStation dominate The Game Awards nominations

Next month brings us one of the biggest dates in the gaming calendar. On 8 December, The Game Awards returns - and 2022’s Game of the Year will officially be crowned. Last year, the title was awarded to Hazelight Studios’ It Takes Two and my Twitter feed is already full of people discussing which of this year’s six contenders will take home the coveted title, but more of that later.

Hosted by Geoff Keighley, The Game Awards celebrates the very best in gaming. Yesterday, this year’s nominations were announced having been picked out by a jury of over 100 leading media and influencer outlets - and here at GAMINGbible, we were a part of that very exciting process. As with every year, there are plenty of snubs and surprises but perhaps the biggest surprise is that God of War Ragnarök beat Elden Ring in earning the most nominations.

God of War Ragnarök is officially out now. Take a look at the launch trailer below if you’re yet to dive in.

Everyone thought that Elden Ring had it in the bag this year, huh? Well, God of War Ragnarök currently reigns supreme with an impressive 10 nominations. Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West then follow with seven each, Stray landed six, and A Plague Tale: Requiem rounded out the top five most-nominated games with five mentions. As you can tell, between God of War Ragnarök and Horizon Forbidden West, it’s been an exceptional year for PlayStation. Let’s take a look at some of the key categories below.

Game Of The Year

• A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment)
• Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
• Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
• Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Monolith Soft/Nintendo)

Best Game Direction

• Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
• Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
• Immortality (Half Mermaid)
• Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)

Best Narrative

• A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment)
• Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
• Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
• Immortality (Half Mermaid)

Best Art Direction

• Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
• Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
• Scorn (Ebb Software/Kepler Interactive)
• Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)

Best Score And Music

• Olivier Deriviere, A Plague Tale: Requiem
• Tsukasa Saitoh, Elden Ring
• Bear McCreary, God of War Ragnarök
• Two Feathers, Metal: Hellsinger
• Yasunori Mitsuda, Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Best Audio Design

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (Infinity Ward/Activision)
• Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
• Gran Turismo 7 (Polyphony/SIE)
• Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)

Best Performance

• Ashly Burch, Horizon Forbidden West
• Charlotte McBurney, A Plague Tale: Requiem
• Christopher Judge, God of War Ragnarök
• Manon Gage, Immortality
• Sunny Suljic, God of War Ragnarök

Best Indie

• Cult of the Lamb (Massive Monster/Devolver Digital)
• Neon White (Angel Matrix/Annapurna)
• Sifu (Sloclap)
• Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
• Tunic (Tunic Team/Finji)

Best Debut Indie

• Neon White (Angel Matrix/Annapurna Interactive)
• Norco (Geography of Robots/Raw Fury)
• Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
• Tunic (Tunic Team/Finji)
• Vampire Survivors (poncle)

Best Action

• Bayonetta 3 (Platinum Games/Nintendo)\
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (Infinity Ward/Activision)
• Neon White (Angel Matrix/Annapurna)
• Sifu (Sloclap)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Tribute Games/Dotemu)

Best Action/Adventure

• A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment)
• God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
• Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
• Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
• Tunic (Tunic Team/Finji)

Best Multiplayer

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (Infinity Ward/Activision)
• MultiVersus (Player First Games/WB Games)
• Overwatch 2 (Blizzard)
• Splatoon 3 (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Tribute Games/Dotemu)

You can take a look at the full list of nominees here. The winners of this year’s Game Awards will be revealed on 8 December.