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As every year comes to a close, the season’s most meritorious games are decided at The Game Awards. The night’s most coveted award is Game of The Year, which went deservedly to Elden Ring. Among the seven nominations, Elden Ring also scooped up the Best Role-Playing award, Best Art Direction award, and Best Game Direction award. Another shining gem was Sony’s God of War Ragnarok, wrapping up awards for several categories including Best Narrative, Best Score and Music, Best Audio Design, Best Performance (Christoper Judge), Innovation in Accessibility and Best Action/Adventure.
There was a notable absence of Microsoft from the celebratory night. Ranging from Nintendo, who rarely take part in the Game Awards, to Sony, EA and 2K; companies across the board took advantage of the stage to create a market for their content. However, fans are furious with the glaring lack of Xbox exclusives on the screen.
Cat lovers will be pleased to hear that Stray won two awards for Best Indie Game and Best Debut Indie Fame. Nintendo got Best Family Game for Kirby and the Forgotten Land while The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was selected as the Most Anticipated Game. And in a surprising turn of events, Marvel Snap snatched up the Best Mobile Game award. Player’s Voice went to Genshin Impact. Being a part of a select range of shows on Netflix marked most-liked, Arcane: League of Legends got its rightful award in the Best Adaptation category. Final Fantasy XIV swept two awards under the categories of Best Ongoing Game and Best Community Support.
In esports news, the Best Esports Team was won by Loud and Yay won Best Esports Athlete. Best Esports Game winner was Valorant, whereas Bzka won Best Esports Coach. The title for Best Esports Event was given to 2022 League of Legends World Championship.
The Game Awards of 2022 left us with a host of games to look forward to. The award show that took place on December 8th this year did not only celebrate the best games of the year but also set the stage for the following year. As the ceremony hailed futurism as its objective, a plethora of announcements were littered across the various previews and trailers shown. Among them were some unexpected sequels like Hades 2 and Death Stranding 2, while fresh titles like Nightinggale, Metroidvania Earthblade, Blue Protocol and Wayfinder were also revealed. Also, a new Crash Bandicoot multiplayer game was teased. In longer running series, Armored Core 6, Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6 are set to return and will definitely be among the most anticipated upcoming games. The spotlight, however, would be on Final Fantasy 16, which promises the most relishable single player experience.
Another big event at the Game Awards 2022 was Halsey promoting her crossover with Diablo 4 with her performance of “Lilith”. The trailer following her performance confirmed that the fourth game of the series will be released on June 6th, 2023. To quote Halsey, the performance is “just the beginning of what Blizzard Entertainment and I have in store”. The song is named after a Diablo character that appears in a special Pandemonium event in the sequel Diablo II: Resurrection. Lilith seems to be an integral part of Diablo 4 as she returns in her role as Mephisto and Auriel’s daughter. Of course, nothing can be said about the quality of the game yet, but the prospect of returning to the demon-bound Sanctuary would in itself be a treat for ARPG players.
