God of War: Ragnarok, Elden Ring lead nominations at the Game Awards 2022

The Game Award nominations are finally here and the competition is stiff. PlayStation’s God of War: Ragnarok leads the nominations with Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West following closely behind.

With the awards ceremony inching closer and closer, the highly-anticipated Game of the Year trophy remains up for grabs, with this year’s heavy-hitters making the race all the more so competitive.

Here are the nominees from last night’s announcement across major categories:

BEST GAME DIRECTION:

• Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
• Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
• Immortality (Half Mermaid)
• Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)

BEST NARRATIVE:

• A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment) 
• Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
• Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
• Immortality (Half Mermaid)

BEST ART DIRECTION:

• Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
• Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
• Scorn (Ebb Software/Kepler Interactive)
• Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)

BEST SCORE AND MUSIC:

• Olivier Deriviere, A Plague Tale: Requiem
• Tsukasa Saitoh, Elden Ring
• Bear McCreary, God of War Ragnarök
• Two Feathers, Metal: Hellsinger 
• Yasunori Mitsuda, Xenoblade Chronicles 3

BEST AUDIO DESIGN:

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (Infinity Ward/Activision)
• Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
• Gran Turismo 7 (Polyphony/SIE)
• Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)

BEST PERFORMANCE:

• Ashly Burch, Horizon Forbidden West
• Charlotte McBurney, A Plague Tale: Requiem
• Christopher Judge, God of War Ragnarök
• Manon Gage, Immortality
• Sunny Suljic, God of War Ragnarök

And here are the nominees for Game of the Year (or GOTY) 2022:

Though Santa Monica Studios’ action-adventure masterpiece, God of War: Ragnarok and FromSoftware’s fantasy epic Elden Ring are both favourites to win, with 10 and 7 nominations across all categories respectively; fans are also hyped to see the indie frontrunners - Annapurna’s feline-adventure game Stray and Focus Entertainment’s survival horror game A Plague Tale: Requiem - possibly upset at the award ceremony.

Here’s a quick look at how the internet’s reacting to potential GOTY winners this year...

No matter what game ends up winning GOTY they both delivered 🤝 pic.twitter.com/ipYQlzzmrP

— DomTheBomb (@DomTheBombYT) November 10, 2022

So this is the general GOTY reaction? pic.twitter.com/GrvVcrlFqB

— TheNCSmaster (@TheNCSmaster) November 14, 2022

Horizon: Forbidden West getting a GOTY nom the way someone with a rich dad gets a makework job at a media company

— Kris P. Bacon (@KrisWolfheart) November 14, 2022

I didn't even LOVE Stray honestly, but the amount of people surprised at it's GOTY nomination is confusing.

Are we forgetting how obsessed people were with cute cat game, got a ton of buzz, and reviewed super well?

Or can it just not be a GOTY cause you're a cat pic.twitter.com/mXI9MpspwM

— AntDude (@antdude92) November 14, 2022

PlayStation has taken over the GOTY 2022 Nominees list

- PS5 | PlayStation pic.twitter.com/kYsm7msVAx

— TCMFGames 🎅🏽 (@TCMF2) November 14, 2022

Elden Ring is a Masterpeice

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a Masterpiece

God of War Ragnarok is a Masterpiece

The take away is that 2022 has been *very good* for gaming, no matter who wins GOTY

— Leytrx (@MasterLeytrx) November 10, 2022

Best reason why #GodofWarRagnarok is gonna be GOTY pic.twitter.com/5D5jEo1CFj

— Anthony_Kongphan (@AnthonyKongphan) November 14, 2022

The Game Awards 2022 will take place on December 8, 2022, and shall announce the winners as well as brand new game reveals for future projects.