Hi! The Game Awards are on December 7th, which gives some time to discuss this should anyone else be interested in it. I know we usually stick pretty close to Minecraft, but I know some of you like to also play other stuff so I thought this was a good idea.

Here are some links for it: (There is more on the website than this, but these are the most important, especially the one for seeing the nominees and voting.)
Main Page/Website: https://thegameawards.com/.
FAQ: https://thegameawards.com/faq.
Nominees / Voting: https://thegameawards.com/nominees.

The Game Awards has a lot of different categories each year, of which I am gonna discuss here with my thoughts on them, and you can also add yours if you like / your votes. The main goal here with this post is that you can tell each other about some of these if you have played them and someone else hasn't as a sort of way to recommend them and celebrate games.

CATEGORIES:

1. GAME OF THE YEAR (Recognizing a game that delivers the absolute best experience across all creative and technical fields.) (I haven't played any of these lol, but I have in some of the other categories)

Alan Wake 2 (I haven't played or really hard about this, so I can't speak on this)
Baldur's Gate 3 (I have never played it, but this year people spoke of it like it was a gift from god lmao, so I'll look into it to see why it is so hyped)
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (I haven't played it)
Resident Evil 4 (I haven't played it, and I don't really like remakes / remasters like this)
Super Mario Bros. Wonder (I haven't played it, it doesn't seem bad, it just feels stale, since the Mario games have been similar to each other for a while)
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (I haven't played it, but I heard it was good and had construction mechanics and stuff)

My vote for this category: Currently Unsure / No Vote

2. BEST GAME DIRECTION: (Awarded for outstanding creative vision and innovation in game direction and design.) (Same as category 1, I can't really speak for any of these)

Alan Wake 2
Baldur's Gate 3
Marvel's Spider-Man 2
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

My vote for this category: Currently Unsure / No Vote

3. BEST NARRATIVE (For outstanding storytelling and narrative development in a game.) (Yes! Finally a category for a game I played this year that I loved and can vote based on!)

Alan Wake 2
Baldur's Gate 3
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (I haven't played it, but I heard some really good things about the story / plot, and I watched the recent anime adaptation for it on Netflix, which I've been told depicts the overall setting of the game well)
Final Fantasy XVI (I have never really been a Final Fantasy person, not for any bad reasons really, and I actually do like Turn-based RPGs / JRPGs, and action-based ones, I guess I just felt I never had the time and that there was too many games for it, which I still kind of feel, but I am so glad I gave this game a chance! It is currently a PS5 exclusive, and luckily I got a PS5 last Christmas after like 2 years of trying to get one due to the god damn scalpers online lmao, but it will be going to other platforms soon. The game is amazing in terms of its combat, graphics, etc, but this category that it is being nominated for is specifically for the games plot and story, which are beyond amazing. The story for Final Fantasy XVI is very gritty, and horrifying, it touches on the corruption of power, greed, war, torture, and captivity and is thus a really mature game, which is new for the FF series, but I gladly welcomed it, since I really like the Dark-Fantasy approach they went with, as I like the Dark Souls games, Elden Ring, and Bloodborne which are somewhat similar in their stories."
Marvel's Spider-Man 2

My vote for this category: Final Fantasy XVI

4. BEST ART DIRECTION (For outstanding creative and/or technical achievement in artistic design and animation.) (Yes! Another category with a game I loved, and 100% completed!)

Alan Wake 2
Hi-Fi Rush (Never played it, I have heard it is a good rythm game though)
Lies of P (This game's name does seem odd at first and I don't know why they chose to name it like this, but the P refers to Pinocchio, so it is actually "Lies of Pinocchio" like the original character that was eventually used by Disney, with the wooden nose. This game is a souls-like, leaning heavily into the mechanics of Bloodborne and Sekiro, where you play as Pinocchio and kill Puppets, science experiments, tell lies and more, which sounds insane because it is and the game itself is really absurd but tries to take itself seriously. The game is amazing in terms of combat and I got all of the achievements via playing it on PC Gamepass, but this category is for the art design: The art direction for Lies of P is stellar! The game depicts 18th century Victorian cities, Burning chapels, industrial factories, train stations, and more that all perfectly represent the time period of the original Pinocchio story by Carlo Collodi, the games graphics are done in Unreal Engine 4, and they look so stylized!)
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

My vote for this category: Lies of P

5. BEST SCORE AND MUSIC (For outstanding music, inclusive of score, original song and/or licensed soundtrack.)

Alan Wake 2
Baldur's Gate 3
Final Fantasy XVI (The music in this game is indescribable, The tracks in this game, specifically the boss fights are some of the most adrenaline / hype inducing tracks I have ever heard in a game, and really make the bossfights feel like spectacles and a experience, more then an actual battle! For example, I will link a favorite of mine from the game here but I recommend looking some others from the soundtrack if you like this one: https://youtu.be/RizOE1GWtlA?si=DWHk0GlnlfnxnSkq.
Hi-Fi Rush (Has really good music, but not the more action-focused boss-fight music I am a fan of)
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

My vote for this category: Final Fantasy XVI

6. BEST AUDIO DESIGN (Recognizing the best in-game audio and sound design.)

Alan Wake 2
Dead Space (I have heard the in-game audio is really atmospheric)
Hi-Fi Rush (I have heard the in-game audio fits gameplay really well)
Marvel's Spider-Man 2
Resident Evil

My vote for this category: Currently Unsure / No Vote

7. BEST PERFORMANCE (Awarded to an individual for voice-over acting, motion and/or performance capture.)

Ben Starr (Final Fantasy XVI) (He voices Clive, which is the main character of the game, and the character the player plays. I really liked his performance, he used a lot of emotion in his voice during certain scenes of the game like when important characters died. I also have to respect how this was one of his first voice acting roles, and the pressure that would offer, especially since the other voice actors he is competing with here have been in movies / other stuff before voice acting.)
Cameron Monaghan (Star Wars Jedi: Survivor)
Idris Elba (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
Melanie Liburd (Alan Wake 2)
Neil Newbon (Baldur's Gate 3) (I heard this guy nailed it at his character, and it has a really distinct voice)
Yuri Lowenthal (Marvel's Spider-Man 2)

My vote for this category: Ben Starr

8. INNOVATION IN ACCESSIBILITY (Recognizing software and/or hardware that is pushing the medium forward by adding features, technology and content to help games be played and enjoyed by an even wider audience.)

Diablo IV (I enjoy Diablo IV and I play it sometimes, but I will say the accessibility in the game is horrific, at least when you are playing on mouse and keyboard, as you can only move with the mouse and no WASD or arrow keys)
Forza Motorsport
Hi-Fi Rush
Marvel's Spider-Man 2
Mortal Kombat 1
Street Fighter 6 (I saw a video on youtube of a blind beating the entire Campaign to this game, insane accessibility in this game)

My vote for this category: Street Fighter 6

I will add the rest later as I am sure this post is gonna be massive when done.