‘FFVII Rebirth,’ ‘ASTRO BOT’ duke it out with 7 nominations each in The Game Awards 2024

MANILA, Philippines – The Game Awards announced its nominees for its 2024 edition on Tuesday, November 19, Philippine time.

This year’s top titles are the PS5 platformer ASTRO BOT, and the continuation of the Final Fantasy VII remake series, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, both of which received 7 nominations apiece, including Game of the Year (GOTY).

A total of 96 different games, game makers, personalities, and teams made it to the nominees this year.

The most awaited award category, Game of the Year, sees 6 nominees:

• ASTRO BOT from Team Asobi
• Balatro from LocalThunk
• Black Myth: Wukong from Game Science
• Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree from FromSoftware
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth from Square Enix
• Metaphor: ReFantazio from Studio Zero

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was an early candidate and early favorite among gamers, releasing in February 2024. If it wins, it will be similar to Game of the Year 2022 winner, Elden Ring, which was also released in February of that awards year.

Balatro, a novel, poker-themed deck-building game from indie developer LocalThunk, is a favorite among critics and reviewers this year. Despite not being the most popular title among gamers, and despite not being a high-profile triple-A title, it garnered a 90 aggregate score on Metacritic. A “triple-A” designation is given to games with a huge development budget and often long development times.

Black Myth: Wukong, on the other hand, is among the most popular titles this year — a massive commercial success for a game that is considered to be the first Chinese-developed triple-A title, selling 20 million units on the Steam platform alone a month after release, or equivalent to a revenue of $961 million.

The huge numbers helped propel China’s gaming market to reach a record high in the third quarter, according to South China Morning Post.

Despite the commercial success, Wukong is among the lowest-rated Game of the Year nominees in the 10-year history of The Game Awards, with a score of 81 on Metacritic.

Polygon reports that other games that have been nominated for the award with a score below 85 include 2014’s Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, 2018’s Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, 2019’s Control and Death Stranding, 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima, 2021’s Resident Evil Village, and 2022’s Stray, with none taking the trophy home.

The site also reported that 2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition, with an 85 score, was the lowest-rated game to win the award.

ASTRO BOT, along with the RPG Metaphor ReFantazio and Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, are the 3 most highly rated games this year on Metacritic, with a 94 score.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is unique for being an expansion DLC (downloadable content) for the aforementioned 2022 Game of the Year titlist Elden Ring. That it is a DLC and not a full game has drawn some criticism from some gamers.

While Erdtree‘s quality is unquestionable among critics, the debate lies in whether DLCs should have a separate category instead of being put under the Game of the Year award.

One content creator, cited by gaming site Dexerto, said: “I don’t think a single person alive with any credibility is questioning the quality of Shadow of the Erdtree, but this really does feel like an excuse to give Elden Ring GOTY twice.”

ASTRO BOT is somewhat a surprise hit, going under the radar for some, until its release when it turned out to be “gaming in its purest form” as Siliconera puts it.

The last entry, Metaphor ReFantazio, is an RPG made by Studio Zero, comprised of developers behind a 2017 Game of the Year nominee, Persona 5.

Persona 5 was beat out by a mega-franchise action-RPG that year — and that year’s frontrunner — The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This year’s ReFantazio goes against another mega-franchise action-RPG, which is also somewhat the frontrunner as well, FFVII Rebirth. How will fate turn out this year for the studio?

From today through December 11 at 6 pm, US Pacific time, fans will also be able to help choose the winners in all categories via authenticated online voting on www.thegameawards.com. Fans in China can also vote on a variety of platforms including Bilibili, WeChat, Douyin, Weibo, Huya, HeyBox, and Xiaohongshu. 

Here’s the full list of nominees:

Game of the Year

• ASTRO BOT (Team Asobi/SIE)
• Balatro (LocalThunk/Playstack)
• Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)
• Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix)
• Metaphor: ReFantazio (Studio Zero/Atlus/Sega)

Best Game Direction

• ASTRO BOT (Team Asobi/SIE)
• Balatro (LocalThunk/Playstack)
• Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)
• Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix)
• Metaphor: ReFantazio (Studio Zero/Atlus/Sega)

Best Narrative

• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix)
• Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio/Sega)
• Metaphor: ReFantanzio (Studio Zero/Atlus/Sega)
• Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II (Ninja Theory/Xbox Game Studios)
• Silent Hill 2 (Bloober Team/Konami)

Best Art Direction

• ASTRO BOT (Team Asobi/SIE)
• Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)
• Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• Metaphor: ReFantazio (Studio Zero/Atlus/Sega)
• Neva (Nomada Studio/Devolver)

Best Score and Music

• ASTRO BOT (Team Asobi/SIE)
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix)
• Metaphor: ReFantazio (Studio Zero/Atlus/Sega)
• Silent Hill 2 (Bloober Team/Konami)
• Stellar Blade (Shift Up/SIE)

Best Audio Design

• ASTRO BOT (Team Asobi/SIE)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Treyarch/Raven/Activision/Xbox)
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix)
• Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 (Ninja Theory/Xbox Game Studios)
• Silent Hill 2 (Bloober Team/Konami)

Best Performance

• Briana White, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
• Hannah Telle, Life is Strange: Double Exposure
• Humberly González, Star Wars Outlaws
• Luke Roberts, Silent Hill 2
• Melina Juergens, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2

Innovation in Accessibility

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Treyarch/Raven/Activision/Xbox)
• Diablo IV (Blizzard/Xbox)
• Dragon Age: The Veilguard (BioWare/EA)
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft)
• Star Wars Outlaws (Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft)

Games for Impact

• Closer the Distance (Osmotic Studios/Skybound Games)
• Indika (Odd Meter/11 Bit Studios)
• Neva (Nomada Studio/Devolver)
• Life is Strange: Double Exposure (Deck Nine/Square Enix)
• Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II (Ninja Theory/Xbox Game Studios)
• Tales of Kenzera: Zau (Surgent Studios/EA)

Best Ongoing Game

• Destiny 2 (Bungie/SIE)
• Diablo IV (Blizzard/Xbox)
• Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• Helldivers 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios/SIE)

Best Community Support

• Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian)
• Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• Helldivers 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios/SIE)
• No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)

Best Independent Game

• Animal Well (Shared Memory/Bigmode)
• Balatro (LocalThunk/Playstack)
• Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (Simogo/Annapurna Interactive)
• Neva (Nomada Studio/Devolver)
• UFO 50 (Mossmouth)

Best Debut Indie Game

• Animal Well (Shared Memory/Bigmode)
• Balatro (LocalThunk/Playstack)
• Manor Lords (Slavic Magic/Hooded Horse)
• Pacific Drive (Ironwood Studios/Kepler Interactive)
• The Plucky Squire (All Possible Futures/Devolver)

Best Mobile Game

• AFK Journey (FARLIGHT/Lilith Games)
• Balatro (LocalThunk/Playstack)
• Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket (Creatures Inc/TPCI)
• Wuthering Waves (Kuro Games)
• Zenless Zone Zero (miHoYo)

Best VR/AR Game

• Arizona Sunshine Remake (Vertigo Games)
• Asgard’s Wrath 2 (Sanzaru Games/Oculus Studios)
• Batman: Arkham Shadow (Camouflaj/Oculus Studios)
• Metal: Hellsinger VR (Lab 42/The Outsiders/Funcom)
• Metro Awakening (Vertigo Games)

Best Action Game 

• Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Treyarch/Raven/Activision/Xbox)
• Helldivers 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios/SIE)
• Stellar Blade (Shift Up/SIE)
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (Saber Interactive/Focus Entertainment)

Best Action/Adventure Game

• ASTRO BOT (Team Asobi/SIE)
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft)
• Silent Hill 2 (Bloober Team/Konami)
• Star Wars Outlaws (Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft)
• The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Grezzo/Nintendo)

Best RPG

• Dragon’s Dogma 2 (Capcom)
• Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix)
• Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio/Sega)
• Metaphor: ReFantazio (Studio Zero/Atlus/Sega)

Best Fighting Game

• Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO (Spike Chunsoft/Bandai Namco)
• Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising (Arc System Works/Cygames)
• Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics (Capcom)
• MultiVersus (Player First Games/WB Games)
• Tekken 8 (Bandai Namco)

Best Family Game

• ASTRO BOT (Team Asobi/SIE)
• Princess Peach: Showtime! (Good-Feel/Nintendo)
• Super Mario Party Jamboree (Nintendo Cube/Nintendo)
• The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Grezzo/Nintendo)
• The Plucky Squire (All Possible Futures/Devolver)

Best Sim/Strategy Game

• Age of Mythology: Retold (World’s Edge/Forgotten Empires/Xbox Game Studios)
• Frostpunk 2 (11 Bit Studios)
• Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess (Capcom)
• Manor Lords (Slavic Magic/Hooded Horse)
• Unicorn Overlord (Vanillaware/Sega/Atlus)

Best Sports/Racing Game

• F1 24 (Codemasters/EA Sports)
• EA Sports FC 25 (EA Vancouver/EA Romania/EA Sports)  
• NBA 2K25 (Visual Concepts/2K)
• Top Spin 2K25 (Hangar 13/2K)
• WWE 2K24 (Visual Concepts/2K)

Best Multiplayer Game

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Treyarch/Raven/Activision/Xbox)
• Helldivers 2 (Arrow Game Studios/SIE)
• Super Mario Party Jamboree (Nintendo Cube/Nintendo)
• Tekken 8 (Bandai Namco)
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (Saber Interactive/Focus Entertainment)

Best Adaptation

• Arcane (Riot/Fortiche/Netflix) 
• Fallout (Bethesda/Kilter Films/Amazon MGM Studios)
• Knuckles (Sega/Paramount)
• Like a Dragon: Yakuza (Sega/Amazon MGM Studios)
• Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft (Crystal Dynamics/Legendary/Netflix)

Most Anticipated Game

• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions/SIE)
• Ghost of Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions/SIE)
• Grand Theft Auto VI (Rockstar Games)
• Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Retro Studios/Nintendo)
• Monster Hunter Wilds (Capcom)

Content Creator of the Year

• CaseOh
• IlloJuan 
• Techno Gamerz
• TypicalGamer
• Usada Pekora

Best Esports Game

• Counter-Strike 2 (Valve)
• DOTA 2 (Valve)
• League of Legends (Riot Games)
• Mobile Legends: Bang Bang

From The Game Awards: “This year’s show will once again stream for free across more than 30 digital video platforms including Twitch, YouTube, Steam, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, TikTok Live and many more. The Game Awards 2023 delivered a record-setting 118 million global livestreams, up 15% over 2022’s record-setting showcase. In addition, more than 17,000 individual content creators and online influencers co-streamed the show to their audiences, helping make The Game Awards one of the largest livestream events in the world.”

The Game Awards will air live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Thursday, December 12, 2024, with awards, world premiere new game announcements, and musical performances by The Game Awards Orchestra, conducted by Lorne Balfe.

The Game Awards is executive produced by Geoff Keighley and Kimmie Kim. LeRoy Bennett is creative director, and Richard Preuss is director. – Rappler.com

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