Over the years, The Game Awards has become recognizable and is now a big deal. Conceived by Geoff Keighley, it is one of the yearly highlights in the video game industry. Last year, they even had the three head honchos of PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox deliver a message to jumpstart the show.

Just last week, the nominees have been announced and you check them out and cast your vote here. We can’t help but say that there are a few snubs, takeaways, and surprises. With that said, let’s take a look at some of which:

Game of the Year Nominees: The Snubs

Don’t get me wrong. All of the nominees for Game of the Year deserve to be there.

Death Stranding is an eye-opening game and cinematic experience with a rather out-of-this-world plot. Though it received polarizing reviews, many loved it.

The Outer Worlds is a surprise nomination, yet it’s arguably better than most triple-A RPGs today that focus on monetization instead of fun.

Resident Evil 2: Remake is absolute perfection. Capcom is definitely on a roll with Devil May Cry and Monster Hunter getting the same fanfare.

Super Smash Brothers is a fan favorite and most likely will be a frontrunner.

Control is another surprise nominee, though it’s a fitting one thanks to its highly-customizable and fairly unique combat mechanics.

Finally, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is undoubtedly one of the favorites. The people in FromSoftware are definitely masters at making action games.

However, we can’t help but lament that there are missing games that should be there. One of which is Devil May Cry 5 which had critically-acclaimed reviews. Fire Emblem: Three Houses deserved a nomination, as well as Gears 5, an Xbox exclusive, and Astral Chain. Regardless, the selection was made by dozens of jurors which legitimizes the entire selection and hey, it wouldn’t be a good idea to crowd the nominees.

Other snubs

Wargroove and Fire Emblem: Three Houses were nominated in the best strategy category, which is fitting. However, both games are strategy titles at their core, they aren’t exactly as tactics-focused as other nominees like Anno 1800 and Total War: Three Kingdoms.

Ongoing Game: Fortnite vs Apex Legends vs Destiny 2 vs FFXIV vs Rainbow Six Siege

Both games made a lot of waves and in a way, changed the battle royale formula.

Apex wasn’t the first of its kind, yet it’s the best hero or character-based battle royale today. Meanwhile, Fortnite continues its hot streak with a new map and a more detailed world and art style. Rainbow Six Siege has always been one of the top FPS games this generation.

Meanwhile, Destiny 2 went free-to-play and continues to dish out new DLCs, with Forsaken being the newest. Finally, Final Fantasy XIV still continues to be supported and with Shadowbringers, it promises a darker route with players being able to become the Warrior of Darkness.

The fight for the plum in this category will be close and tough. Though it’s likely the legions of Fortnite fans will flock to support their favorite game.

What we can expect

The Game Awards is a must-watch for all gamers. It’s a yearly culmination of not just a hobby, but also our passion.

Apart from the sentimental value though, we can expect an entertaining show. Much like last year, we can expect several new game announcements and surprises. Note that The Outer Wilds, a nominee for Game of the Year, was revealed in last year’s show. We may even get the announcement for a new Smash character. After all, who could ever forget about Joker from Persona 5 infiltrating the theater just to announce that he’s a DLC character?

The Game Awards Orchestra will also return. Arguably, it’s one of the highlights of the awards show, bringing a number of video game soundtracks, like 2017 and last year’s GOTY nominees and Smash’s Lifelight, to life.


Overall, we can expect another fantastic show on December 13th.

So, who’s your pick to be God of War’s successor?