GOTY

Instantly became lauded as one of the greatest games ever made. Bigger is better I guess!

Best Direction

Miyazaki you've done it again

Best Narrative

Elden Ring has some really dope lore that's fun to unpack, but that won't be enough to win over the cinematic character drama

Best Art Direction

I honestly won't be surprised if Stray wins due to how hard the art style carried it. Lots of neon and cat cozy aesthetics. Art direction was one of my favorite aspects of ER though and obvious GOTY bait so I'm locking in with that.

Best Score and Music

The fact that Horizon wasn't even NOMINATED is a fucking sin. Incredible soundtrack, there is literally a specific soundtrack for every enemy encounter in the game. And the mix of tribal and electronic instruments works so well when it could've been a mess. Elden Ring has some great boss fight music but I found the overworld tracks EXTREMELY lacking. I think literally one track per AREA. Which can get extremely repetitive when you spend most of the game exploring. Though the Leyndell track is one I can listen to on loop, it's wonderful. But Horizon FW has 8 HOURS worth of music compared to Elden Ring's 3, which is crazy.

Best Audio Design

vroom

Best Performance - Christopher Judge

big growly man say boi

But for real I really hope Ashly Burch wins - she really improved from the first game which is saying a lot. She gives Aloy more depth than sometimes the dialogue allows.

Game for Impact

This game honestly just seems very neat. I know nothing about any of the noms though.

Best Ongoing

I've heard this game is incredibly good

Best Indie

Cat game too strong and going with the meta of it being the only nominee up for Best Game. I'd prefer Sifu or Neon White tho

Best Debut Indie

Honestly same reasoning as above. Love that Vampire Survivors got a nomination though.

Community Support

This game has one of the most dedicated and grateful fan communities I've ever seen. And they've been rewarded, I've heard nothing but good things with each update.

Best Mobile

sure

Best VR

Looks cute, will play on my PSVR2 next year ;p

Best Action

Split between this and Sifu. Bayonetta is strangely the underdog here. But I've heard lukewarm reception.

Best Action Adventure

Gotta be GoW, though my personal pick again is Horizon

Best RPG

I mean cmon lol

Best Fighting

I'm not caught up in the fighting game scene, I'm between this and King of Fighters XV. MultiVersus would be HILARIOUS though.

Best Family

This game is insane in Japan and may have a shot here. Switch bowling though....

Best SIM

Had honestly no idea but this has the plumber man

Best Racing

Imagine if one of the copy/paste sports games wins instead lol. For real though, I'm not huge on racing games but the gameplay I've seen from GT7 is insane.

Best Multiplayer

If Overwatch 2 wins I'm breaking my PC

Most Anticipated

Straight up 50/50 between this and BotW 2. Might be because I'm more exposed to the RE community hype. RE4 is considered one of the best games ever made and the trailers have been looking very good. BotW though is the sequel to the powerhouse Zelda name and to one of the greatest games ever made. So probably Zelda but I'll keep RE4 here lol.

Arcane - Best Adaptation

Innovation in Accessibility

Googled and saw lots of praise for GoW Ragnarok accessibility, I don't really have a hat in this ring though lol

Best Esports game

Apparently League wins like every year so sure lol