Elden Ring is VGA's Game of the Year!

Here are the awards:

2022 The Game Awards Categories And Winners

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

GAMES FOR IMPACT

• A Memoir Blue (Cloisters Interactive/Annapurna)
• As Dusk Falls (Interior Night/Xbox Game Studios)
• Citizen Sleeper (Jump Over The Age/Fellow Traveller)
• Endling - Extinction is Forever (Herobeat Studios/HandyGames)
• Hindsight (Team Hindsight/Annapurna)
• I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (Northway Games/Finji)

BEST ONGOING GAME

• Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
• Destiny 2 (Bungie)
• FINAL FANTASY XIV (Square Enix)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• Genshin Impact (HoYoverse)

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 COMMUNITY SUPPORT

• Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
• Destiny 2 (Bungie)
• FINAL FANTASY XIV (Square Enix)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)

BEST MOBILE

• Apex Legends Mobile (Lightspeed & Quantum/Respawn/EA)
• Diablo Immortal (Blizzard/NetEase)
• Genshin Impact (HoYovese)
• MARVEL SNAP (Second Dinner Studios/Nuverse)
• Tower of Fantasy (Hotta Studio/Perfect World/Level Infinite)

BEST VR/AR

• After the Fall (Vertigo Games)
• Among Us VR (Schell Games/InnerSloth)
• BONELAB (Stress Level Zero)
• Moss: Book II (Polyarc)
• Red Matter 2 (Vertical Robot)

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 ROLE PLAYING

• Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• Live a Live (Square Enix/Nintendo)
• Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Game Freak/Nintendo/TPCI)
• Triangle Strategy (Artdink/Square Enix)
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Monolith Soft/Nintendo)

BEST FIGHTING

• DNF Duel (Arc System Works/EIGHTING/NEOPLE/NEXON)
• JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R (CyberConnect 2 Co. Ltd/Bandai Namco)
• The King of Fighters XV (SNK/Plaion)
• MultiVersus (Player First Games/WB Games)
• Sifu (Sloclap)

BEST FAMILY

• Kirby and the Forgotten Land (HAL Laboratory / Nintendo)
• LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Traveller’s Tales/WB Games)
• Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (Ubisoft Milan/Paris/Ubisoft)
• Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
• Splatoon 3 (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)

BEST SIM/STRATEGY

• Dune: Spice Wars (Shiro Games/Funcom)
• Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (Ubisoft Milan/Paris/Ubisoft)
• Total War: WARHAMMER III (Creative Assembly/Sega)
• Two Point Campus (Two Point Studios/Sega)
• Victoria 3 (Paradox Development Studio/Paradox Interactive)

BEST SPORTS/RACING

• F1 22 (Codemasters/EA Sports)
• FIFA 23 (EA Vancouver/Romania/EA Sports)
• NBA 2K23 (Visual Concepts/2K Sports)
• Gran Turismo 7 (Polyphony Digital/SIE)
• OlliOlli World (Roll 7/Private Division)

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)

MOST ANTICIPATED

• FINAL FANTASY XVI (Square Enix)
• Hogwarts Legacy (Avalanche Software/WB Games)
• Resident Evil 4 (Capcom)
• Starfield (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda)
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)

CONTENT CREATOR OF THE YEAR

• Karl Jacobs
• Ludwig
• Nibellion
• Nobru
• QTCinderella

BEST ADAPTATION

• Arcane: League of Legends (Fortiche/Riot Games/Netflix)
• Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (Studio Trigger/CD Projekt, Netflix)
• The Cuphead Show! (Studio MDHR/King Features Syndicate/Netflix)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Sammy Group/Paramount Pictures)
• Uncharted (PlayStation Productions/Sony Pictures)

INNOVATION IN ACCESSIBILITY

• As Dusk Falls (Interior Night/Xbox Game Studios)
• God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
• Return to Monkey Island (Terrible Toybox/Devolver Digital)
• The Last Of Us Part I (Naughty Dog/SIE)
• The Quarry (Supermassive Games/2K)

BEST ESPORTS GAME

• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
• DOTA 2 (Valve)
• League of Legends (Riot Games)
• Rocket League (Psyonix)
• VALORANT (Riot Games)

BEST ESPORTS ATHLETE

• Jeong "Chovy" Ji-hoon (Gen.G, LOL)
• Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok (T1, LOL)
• Finn "karrigan" Andersen ( (FaZe Clan - CS:GO)
• Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev (Natus Vincere, CS:GO)
• Jacob "Yay" Whiteaker (Cloud9, Valorant)

BEST ESPORTS TEAM

• DarkZero Esports (Apex Legends)
• FaZe Clan (CS:GO)
• Gen.G (League of Legends)
• LA Thieves (Call of Duty)
• LOUD (Valorant)

BEST ESPORTS COACH

• Andrii "B1ad3" Horodenskyi (Natus Vincere, CS:GO)
• Matheus “bzkA” Tarasconi (LOUD, VALORANT)
• Erik “d00mbr0s” Sandgren (FPX, VALORANT)
• Robert "RobbaN" Dahlström (FaZe Clan, CS:GO)
• Go "Score" Dong-bin (Gen.G, LOL)

BEST ESPORTS EVENT

• EVO 2022

• 2022 League of Legends World Championship

• PGL Major Antwerp 2022

• The 2022 Mid-Season Invitational

• VALORANT Champions 2022

What say you fellow SW fans? Are you happy with this show's Game of the Year award winner? I am sure @hardwenzen is probably pretty moist right now. What will be the 2023 GOTY in your opinion?

How the f is did Stray got so many nominations and won awards?

Xbox Won!! :P

Here kitty kitty! It was a fun cute game. Something a little refreshing.

lol :P

Leave it up to Lems to make everything about them. More PS players bought Elden Ring than Xbox gamers, so yeah. The right game won but hilarious how Lems didn't have a dog in the fight at all. A multiplat is a win to you guys 😂

lol :P

Story DLC was confirmed before, putting 2 and 2 together:

How much you wanna bet the DLC for elden ring is gonna be about Bill clinton?

That one developer gave a very subtle hint.

@SecretPolice said:

@Sagemode87 said:

@SecretPolice said:

Xbox Won!! :P

Leave it up to Lems to make everything about them. More PS players bought Elden Ring than Xbox gamers, so yeah. The right game won but hilarious how Lems didn't have a dog in the fight at all.

lol :P

Typical. I blame myself for taking the bait. No real conversations to be had with 12 year olds.

Don't be insulting the Stray Cats! They are WAY better than the game!

Holy shit. You cows are having meltdowns over Elden Ring winning GOTY. Why do you always have to make it about lems vs. cows. Just buy all the consoles and enjoy all the games. Good lord.

DLC having something to do with cigars and BJ's in the Oval Office?

Leasure Suit Bubba?

lol :P

@Sagemode87 said:

@SecretPolice said:

@Sagemode87 said:

@SecretPolice said:

Xbox Won!! :P

Leave it up to Lems to make everything about them. More PS players bought Elden Ring than Xbox gamers, so yeah. The right game won but hilarious how Lems didn't have a dog in the fight at all.

lol :P

Typical. I blame myself for taking the bait. No real conversations to be had with 12 year olds.

xD

You're having fights with others on the internet about which toy is the best. At least SecretPolice is funny.

Ok final try, I'm trying to read over all the winners, but keep losing interest 5 seconds in. Ok so Elden Ring won....

And people watched 4 hours of this crap? O_o

Kratos talked for 2 hours of that.....

It's a good game. You should try it if you haven't.

At least it's heartwarming to see Ludwig won a price, about time he got some recognition. Always hated how he stayed in Bowser's shadow.

In a year when Sony release their big guns a PS3 looking game destroyed both.

Bu bu bu Sony first party can't be beat.

Tho how the f@#k elden ring win art direction 🤣

Rage Mode enabled! 😅

Anyway kudos to FromSoftware with delivering such a fantastic game. Well deserved win. 👍

Hyperbole like "PS3 looking game" aside, the game could definitely have had more advanced graphics. That said, the art direction was great. What do you think was better in that regard?

lol well it was 8 minutes.. the Voice Actor complained on twitter that they "cut him off" and he could not thank his wife there... dude, no one wants an 8 minute speech. IMO 2 minutes max

Happy Christopher Judge won. His voice acting as kratos is just on another level.

I'm not surprised with Elden Ring, that's for sure. The attention from the masses it received was something I had never beheld in all of my years of gaming. It pretty much blotted out Forbidden West. :3

Definitely is!

@Zero_epyon: I did it, it's a completely fine 7/10 game. To have it among goty contenders is a bit crazy imo.

If you talk for eight minutes and couldn't get to thanking your wife, ya probably should have started with her. XD

Deserved ... nothing else comes close. And yes, Stray being there was absolutely stupid.

All in all ... most choices were kind of expected in a good way, maybe i would change the best figthing game for KOF, but yeah.

Which entry did you think deserved it instead?

Because it had the best art direction.

The art direction is cool but I don't think I appreciate it enough due to the game looking aged outside of that. But I am no artist, so what do I know? Jack shit really.

@Zero_epyon: For me Tunic is by far the superior game. But what really confuses me is seeing it among the goty candidates. I really don't get how such a mundane game can be a nominee for best game of the year.

Even with the rocky performance at launch, Elden Ring is by far my most enjoyed game this year. First play through was a phenomenal experience over ~250 hours. Then, against all odds, I had even more fun modded with Seamless Coop and Reforged.

There is just so much to find and so many different builds and play styles, and a sense of adventure and discovery that is very rare in a video game. None of this would hit so well without the cohesive lore and history built into the world. Everything is placed in the world with purpose and ties into the history, which is typical of Miyazaki and the awesome FromSoft artists.

Elden Ring is a very special game.

The only Xbox published game that won was a flipbook game. And it was a total bullshit category. I would have totally been ashamed to be an Xbox fan. This has been a bad week for all of you

Okay, okay, I've Herd your request...

There, happy now? lololol :P

Elden Ring is a graphically pleasing game to the eyes, art direction wise. Have you seen the vistas in the game? I would argue graphics and art direction are two different things. God of War looks very impressive, but the art direction for Elden Ring was very other worldly, especially the arena with Astel: Naturalborn of the void.

At least God of War: Ragnarok took home 6 awards:

Now that's an achievement on that.

@davillain:

I question the validity of 'best accessibility' given the game is stuck on a console that can't keep up with demand.

I'm shocked, SHOCKED i tell you. /s.

Yeah i can see why in fairness. It looks like it does what it sets out to do well. For fans of that type of game it looks great. Not my cuppa though. After several attempts at 2 different souls games i have concluded that the series is not my cuppa.

I'm not exactly sure how it won for best accessibility but I think @Nonstop-Madness can probably explain it more as he said it had over 70 accessibility.

Fair.

PS5's are everywhere for sale and sitting in stock.

The accessibility in this game is excellent. This and The Last of Us Part 1 Remake. I hope this trend continues. Sony has even made trophies more accessible too.

@pyro12345 The accessibility options are available on both the PS4 AND PS5 versions.

Full list: https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/god-of-war-ragnarok/accessibility/

Some example:

https://access-ability.uk/2022/11/03/god-of-war-ragnarok-accessibility-review/

Put simply, God of War: Ragnarok is a huge step forward in accessibility for the series. The level of accessibility support seen in this game easily puts it in similar company to games like The Last of Us: Part 2, and Spider-Man: Miles Morales, head and shoulders above most of this industry’s output, even if it’s not quite positioned to replace The Last of Us: Part 1 as my AAA accessibility reference point.

https://caniplaythat.com/2022/11/03/god-of-war-ragnarok-accessibility-review/

God of War Ragnarok is a masterclass in accessibility where it shines in text legibility and caption presentation. Management of quests and inventory is well-handled and the suite of settings opens up more comfortable ways of play. It’s clear that accessibility was a focus within the studio.

etc.

tl;dr - It's as good as the best. Truth be told, both GOW Ragnarok and, TLOU Part 1 are very good. Either of them could have won but, people always complain about PlayStation winning awards.

Would love for God of War and TLOU to add support for the Xbox Adaptive Controller on top of all that.

@kvallyx: That's 100% a valid critic that lots of accessibility experts point out and, yea, they honestly should. Or, at the very least make one themselves. Perhaps they could even both work on a standard and license it out to third parties?

Yes, either one. I wouldn't be surprised that there is some sort of adapter hack out there already.

You looked at the awards, and you ask yourself if Microsoft even exists. Talk about a company that forgot how to develop bangers.

I've gotta buy stray at retail price.... 30 bucks for a quality new ip with original gameplay? Truly a contender for game of the year. Eroica needs to put his money where his mouth is and support these games instead of purchasing the next yearly retread or tired sequel.

I'm glad an actual game won and not a movie game. I loved Elden Ring.

Yes. Yes you do.