On Monday forenoon , Geoff Keighley let out thenominees for this class ’s Game Awards . The list honored many of this yr ’s giving games , fromAstro BottoFinal Fantasy VII Rebirth . For anyone who has been follow video games closely in 2024 , it ’s a predictable inclination that ’s heavy on well - find braggy - budget game and one cardinal indie discovery .
Of of course , not everyone is happy . Discourse is already brew on societal media on everything fromBlack Myth : Wukong‘s Game of the Year nominating speech toElden Ring : Shadow of the Erdtreemaking the cut despite being a DLC . As is the case every year , it ’s a hodgepodge of deserving nominees , dissatisfactory omission , and downright weird picks . Let ’s break down the biggest takeaway from this year ’s list , from the surprise to the “ snubs . ”
Surprise: Balatro lands Game of the Year
Indie game have had a notoriously difficult time making a splash at the Game Awards ( much more on that in a consequence ) , but one did pause through this year : Balatro . On newspaper , the poker roguelike is n’t the kind of game that typically gets a Game of the Year nomination . That category incline to favor flash , liberal - budget game over forward-looking oddities . Balatrois the rare game to break away that curse , struggle alongside giants likeAstro BotandBlack Myth : Wukong . It deserves that spot too;Balatrois an clever work of game design that finds new deepness in the Hellenic deck of bill of fare . It feel as foundational to its genre asHadesdid in 2020 .
Snub: Other indies still struggle to make waves
DespiteBalatro‘s large moment , The Game Awards still have a monolithic job when it arrive to indie game . It is next to out of the question for indies to compete in most categories outside of a quality fistful design for them . Nevamanaged to down a nominating speech for Best Art Direction , but that ’s virtually the only breakthrough here aside fromBalatro.1000xResistmissed out on Best Narrative , Lorelei and the Laser Eyescouldn’t nab recognition for its direction , nipper of the Sundidn’t get honored for healthy plan while Call of Duty once again eased into the spot . This has long been a job with the ceremony , but this yr feels like a breaking point in time : It progressively feels like no one is take these nominations very earnestly . A handful of popular zeitgeist game get shuffled into every family with little sentiment put in . It ’s a flunk on the panel that selects these nominations , but the Game Awards itself too , which is set up to favour those games in pernicious way — consider that the narrow Best Action Adventure is a category , but not Adventure , excluding as large swath of game . Until there ’s a rethink of how nominations are created , The Game Awards find less like the Oscars and more like the MTV Movie Awards .
Surprise: Silent Hill 2 hits big
Perhaps the bountiful surprise of 2024 is Bloober Team’sSilent Hill 2 . Before its departure , fans of the PS2 classic were bracing for a clumsy remaking that misunderstood the original revulsion biz . As it turned out , Bloober Team nailed the assignment and extradite one of the year ’s best . Now , the studio apartment has four nominations to immortalize its work : Best Narrative , Best Audio Design , Best Score and Music , and a Best Performance nomination for Luke Roberts . A few of those nominations find a bit lazy consider that the remaking does n’t stray very far from the original ’s writing or music , but it ’s great to see a happy ending for a studio that show the doubters wrong .
Snub: Thrasher, Riven miss out on VR honors
It ’s been a phenomenal year for VR gambling , and this year ’s Best VR / AR Game category shows that . Batman : Arkham ShadowandAsgard ’s ira 2are both certified blockbusters that are horseshoe - In for the accolade . But as is always the suit at The Game Awards , it feel like the technical school ’s unspoiled game tend to return to the wayside in favor of VR ports of existing titles . This year , bothThrasherand Cyan Worlds’excellentRivenremake — two of the year ’s best even outside of VR — failed to get a spot , Meanwhile , VR version of games like Metro andMetal : Hellsingerdid . It ’s a bit of a letdown consider the quality of something likeThrasherthat was build with the technical school in head , but it ’s hard to reason with the big games that made the gash .
Surprise: Super Mario Party Jamboree gets some love
With candidate this slow , it ’s the little affair that add some twinkle . The most pleasant surprisal for me this year is thatSuper Mario Party Jamboreegot recognized in not one but two categories : Best Family Game and Best Multiplayer . The former is n’t surprising , but the latter is . Best Multiplayer tends to be earmark for high - skill online games and shooters , likeCall of tariff : Black Ops 6 . It ’s not as well-disposed to a serial like Mario Party , but this year ’s installment earned its blot . It ’s a unanimous package that happen the core circuit card secret plan experience at its best . With several inventive fashion padding out the software , including the mass multiplayer Koopathalon and the cobalt - op Bowser ’s Ka - thunder Squad , Jamboreedeserves its place in good order next to the big boys .
Snub: Best Mobile game, in general
There are a few category at the Game Awards that are so painfully out of touch with reality that you have to question the entire balloting process for the show . Best Mobile Game is principal on that list , and it remains on top this twelvemonth . Looking at the campaigner every twelvemonth , it becomes very apparent that a lot of voters do n’t play a great deal of mobile game . The category is often dominated by free - to - play games and self-aggrandizing IP . Services like Apple Arcade and Netflix run to take the air away empty handed while average games likeFinal Fantasy VII Ever Crisiswaltz their way to the ceremonial occasion . This year is no different , as games like Netflix’sArranger : A Role - Puzzling Adventurelost out to free giant likePokemon Trading Card Game Pocket . Even Apple Arcade ’s solidSonic ambition Teamcouldn’t get recognition while microtransaction heavy gacha biz did . One could make the argument that not enough people have subscription to the avail that these game are on , but it ’s a panel ’s job to play and consider a wide raiment of games rather than the ones most well available to them . To anyone who actually pays attending to the fluid or VR landscape , it ’s clear that there ’s a disconnect .
Surprise: Kunitsu-Gami sneaks into Best Strategy Game
I ’ll be honest : find genuine surprises on this leaning of candidate is a difficult task . Very little is precisely a surprisal , as each field went about the mode you ’d ask . If it ’s not unmortgaged from what I ’ve said so far , it ’s a disappointing field of study of easy nominee . So I can only focus on the modest win here , andKunitsu - Gami : Path of the Goddesslanding in Best Sim / Strategy Game agree that billhook . Capcom ’s oddball tower defense biz is one of the class ’s best , presenting a stylish and groundbreaking spin on a classic genre . It ’s unlike anything I ’ve played and deserve its spot in what I ’d call this year ’s solid class . Kunitsu - Gamiwill go head to head withFrostpunk 2,Manor Lords , Unicorn Overlord , andAge of Mythology Retold . That ’s a stacked field .
Snub: Should Hades 2 have been nominated?
Perhaps the most notable omission from this class ’s nominee isHades 2 . Despite being a vital darling , the roguelite incur zero honor this year . That ’s likely due to the fact that it ’s still in other access , so the voting panel feel it was n’t quite ready to judge . It ’s perceivable , but should it have been considered ? After all , Manor Lordspicked up two nominations despite being an early entree game . Hades 2‘s excellent action already feels develop enough to earn it a spot in Best Action , and its already splendid soundtrack is n’t potential to shift much before 1.0 . I in person would n’t include it in a category like Game of the Year yet , but ’s it ’s another area where the nominations experience discrepant . That leads to an overall lifeless batch of candidate that play up the motive for a methodology shakeup .
