‘Red Dead 2’ And ‘God Of War’ Lead The 2018 Game Awards Nominations: Here’s The Full List

The Game Awards is the closest thing our industry has to the Oscars, and while the kinks are still being worked out, it’s evolved into a pretty solid show over the last few years, a combination between an awards show and E3 where a lot of new games and footage make their debut.

As for the awards themselves, Geoff Keighley has just released the full, massive list of nominees, and it should surprise no one that Red Dead Redemption 2 and God of War are both leading the pack, each with eight nominations. Spider-Man has seven, so that’s 15 for PS4’s two high profile exclusives alone.

Since gaming is a complicated category, we have things like Best Ongoing Game which encompasses titles people are still playing, but they didn’t come out in 2018 like Destiny and Fortnite. I think we should probably have a Best Actor and Best Actress split at this point instead of lumping them all together for Best Performance, but that’s the case again this year.

We have awards for each genre, which are always confusing because if a game is nominated there AND for Game of the Year, it seems like they should automatically win, no? And then we wrap up with a Best Content Creator award that feels like it will likely break Ninja’s way, though I’m not sure if that category is popular vote or not.

I will save my own Game of the Year pick for later (gotta wait for Fallout 76 to come out!) but you may be able to guess what it is if you follow my writing and no it’s not Destiny.

For the full list of nominees, check out the giant collection below:

GAME OF THE YEAR

• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
• Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
• Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

BEST ONGOING GAME

• Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
• Overwatch (Blizzard)
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)

BEST GAME DIRECTION

• A Way Out (Hazelight Studios / EA)
• Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / SIE)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

BEST NARRATIVE

• Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / SIE)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
• Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

BEST ART DIRECTION

• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
• Octopath Traveler (Square Enix / Acquire / Nintendo)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
• Return of Obra Din (3909 LLC)

BEST SCORE/MUSIC

• Celeste (Lena Raine)
• God of War (Bear McCreary)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (John Paesano)
• Ni No Kuni II (Joe Hisaishi)
• Octopath Traveler (Yasunori Nishiki)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Woody Jackson)

BEST AUDIO DESIGN

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch Studios / Activision)
• Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games / Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

BEST PERFORMANCE

• Bryan Dechart as Connor, Detroit: Become Human
• Christopher Judge as Kratos, God of War
• Melissanthi Mahut as Kassandra, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
• Roger Clark as Arthur Morgan, Red Dead Redemption 2
• Yuri Lowenthal as Peter Parker, Marvel’s Spider-Man

GAMES FOR IMPACT

• 11-11 Memories Retold (Digixart / Aardman Animations / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
• Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
• Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
• Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
• The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories (White Owls / Arc System Works)

BEST INDEPENDENT GAME

• Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
• Dead Cells (Motion Twin)
• Into the Breach (Subset Games)
• Return of the Obra Dinn (3909 LLC)
• The Messenger (Sabotage Studio)

BEST MOBILE

• Donut County (Ben Esposito / Annapurna Interactive)
• Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• PUBG MOBILE (Lightspeed & Quantum / Tencent Games)
• Reigns: Game of Thrones (Nerial / Developer Digital)

BEST VR/AR GAME

• ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission (SIE Japan Studio / SIE)
• Beat Saber (Beat Games)
• Firewall Zero Hour (First Contact Entertainment / SIE)
• Moss (Polyarc Games)
• Tetris Effect (Resonair / Enhance, Inc)

BEST ACTION GAME

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch / Activision)
• Dead Cells (Motion Twin)
• Destiny 2: Forsaken (Bungie / Activision)
• Far Cry 5 (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
• Mega Man 11 (Capcom)

BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE GAME

• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Eidos Montreal / Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix)

BEST ROLE PLAYING GAME

• Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Square Enix / Square Enix)
• Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)
• Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (Level 5 / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
• Octopath Traveler (Square Enix / Acquire / Nintendo)
• Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (Obsidian Entertainment / Versus Evil)

BEST FIGHTING

• BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle (Arc System Works)
• Dragon Ball FighterZ (Arc System Works / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
• Soul Calibur VI (Bandai Namco Studios / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
• Street Fighter V Arcade (Dimps / Capcom)

BEST FAMILY GAME

• Mario Tennis Aces (Camelot Software Planning / Nintendo)
• Nintendo Labo (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Overcooked 2 (Ghost Town Games / Team 17)
• Starlink: Battle for Atlas (Ubisoft Toronto / Ubisoft)
• Super Mario Party (NDCube / Nintendo)

BEST STRATEGY GAME

• BATTLETECH (Harebrained Schemes / Paradox Interactive
• Frostpunk (11 bit studios)
• Into the Breach (Subset Games)
• The Banner Saga 3 (Stoic Studio / Versus Evil)
• Valkyria Chronicles 4 (Sega CS3 / Sega)

BEST SPORTS/RACING

• FIFA 19 (EA Vancouver / EA Sports)
• Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games / Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
• Mario Tennis Aces (Camelot Software Planning / Nintendo)
• NBA 2K19 (Visual Concepts / 2K Sports)
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 (PES Productions / Konami)

BEST MULTIPLAYER GAME

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch / Activision)
• Destiny 2: Forsaken (Bungie / Activision)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)

CONTENT CREATOR/STREAMER OF THE YEAR

• Ninja
• Pokimane
• Lupo
• Myth
• Willyrex

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Read my new sci-fi thriller novel Herokiller, available now in print and online. I also wrote The Earthborn Trilogy.

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The Game Awards is the closest thing our industry has to the Oscars, and while the kinks are still being worked out, it’s evolved into a pretty solid show over the last few years, a combination between an awards show and E3 where a lot of new games and footage make their debut.

As for the awards themselves, Geoff Keighley has just released the full, massive list of nominees, and it should surprise no one that Red Dead Redemption 2 and God of War are both leading the pack, each with eight nominations. Spider-Man has seven, so that’s 15 for PS4’s two high profile exclusives alone.

Since gaming is a complicated category, we have things like Best Ongoing Game which encompasses titles people are still playing, but they didn’t come out in 2018 like Destiny and Fortnite. I think we should probably have a Best Actor and Best Actress split at this point instead of lumping them all together for Best Performance, but that’s the case again this year.

We have awards for each genre, which are always confusing because if a game is nominated there AND for Game of the Year, it seems like they should automatically win, no? And then we wrap up with a Best Content Creator award that feels like it will likely break Ninja’s way, though I’m not sure if that category is popular vote or not.

I will save my own Game of the Year pick for later (gotta wait for Fallout 76 to come out!) but you may be able to guess what it is if you follow my writing and no it’s not Destiny.

For the full list of nominees, check out the giant collection below:

GAME OF THE YEAR

• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
• Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
• Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

BEST ONGOING GAME

• Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
• Overwatch (Blizzard)
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)

BEST GAME DIRECTION

• A Way Out (Hazelight Studios / EA)
• Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / SIE)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

BEST NARRATIVE

• Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / SIE)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
• Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

BEST ART DIRECTION

• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
• Octopath Traveler (Square Enix / Acquire / Nintendo)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
• Return of Obra Din (3909 LLC)

BEST SCORE/MUSIC

• Celeste (Lena Raine)
• God of War (Bear McCreary)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (John Paesano)
• Ni No Kuni II (Joe Hisaishi)
• Octopath Traveler (Yasunori Nishiki)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Woody Jackson)

BEST AUDIO DESIGN

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch Studios / Activision)
• Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games / Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

BEST PERFORMANCE

• Bryan Dechart as Connor, Detroit: Become Human
• Christopher Judge as Kratos, God of War
• Melissanthi Mahut as Kassandra, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
• Roger Clark as Arthur Morgan, Red Dead Redemption 2
• Yuri Lowenthal as Peter Parker, Marvel’s Spider-Man

GAMES FOR IMPACT

• 11-11 Memories Retold (Digixart / Aardman Animations / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
• Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
• Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
• Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
• The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories (White Owls / Arc System Works)

BEST INDEPENDENT GAME

• Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
• Dead Cells (Motion Twin)
• Into the Breach (Subset Games)
• Return of the Obra Dinn (3909 LLC)
• The Messenger (Sabotage Studio)

BEST MOBILE

• Donut County (Ben Esposito / Annapurna Interactive)
• Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• PUBG MOBILE (Lightspeed & Quantum / Tencent Games)
• Reigns: Game of Thrones (Nerial / Developer Digital)

BEST VR/AR GAME

• ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission (SIE Japan Studio / SIE)
• Beat Saber (Beat Games)
• Firewall Zero Hour (First Contact Entertainment / SIE)
• Moss (Polyarc Games)
• Tetris Effect (Resonair / Enhance, Inc)

BEST ACTION GAME

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch / Activision)
• Dead Cells (Motion Twin)
• Destiny 2: Forsaken (Bungie / Activision)
• Far Cry 5 (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
• Mega Man 11 (Capcom)

BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE GAME

• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Eidos Montreal / Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix)

BEST ROLE PLAYING GAME

• Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Square Enix / Square Enix)
• Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)
• Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (Level 5 / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
• Octopath Traveler (Square Enix / Acquire / Nintendo)
• Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (Obsidian Entertainment / Versus Evil)

BEST FIGHTING

• BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle (Arc System Works)
• Dragon Ball FighterZ (Arc System Works / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
• Soul Calibur VI (Bandai Namco Studios / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
• Street Fighter V Arcade (Dimps / Capcom)

BEST FAMILY GAME

• Mario Tennis Aces (Camelot Software Planning / Nintendo)
• Nintendo Labo (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Overcooked 2 (Ghost Town Games / Team 17)
• Starlink: Battle for Atlas (Ubisoft Toronto / Ubisoft)
• Super Mario Party (NDCube / Nintendo)

BEST STRATEGY GAME

• BATTLETECH (Harebrained Schemes / Paradox Interactive
• Frostpunk (11 bit studios)
• Into the Breach (Subset Games)
• The Banner Saga 3 (Stoic Studio / Versus Evil)
• Valkyria Chronicles 4 (Sega CS3 / Sega)

BEST SPORTS/RACING

• FIFA 19 (EA Vancouver / EA Sports)
• Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games / Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
• Mario Tennis Aces (Camelot Software Planning / Nintendo)
• NBA 2K19 (Visual Concepts / 2K Sports)
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 (PES Productions / Konami)

BEST MULTIPLAYER GAME

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch / Activision)
• Destiny 2: Forsaken (Bungie / Activision)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)

CONTENT CREATOR/STREAMER OF THE YEAR

• Ninja
• Pokimane
• Lupo
• Myth
• Willyrex

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Read my new sci-fi thriller novel Herokiller, available now in print and online. I also wrote The Earthborn Trilogy.