The best video game titles that were released this year were nominated for the 2023 Game of the Year award by the Game Awards set on 7 December at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
A total of six games have been nominated for the 2023 Game of the Year citation starting with the highly-rated Baldur’s Gate 3, the recently released Alan Wake 2, Resident Evil 4, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and Nintendo titles The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
With all six titles rated by critics with a 10 out of 10 score, fans are expected to have a hard time casting their votes. In 2022, The Game Awards broke viewership records as God of War and Elden Ring dominated the categories.
Curiously, the Best Game Direction nominations were given to Game of the Year nominees Alan Wake 2, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Of the six Game of the Year nominees, only Resident Evil 4 was left out in the said category.
Alan Wake 2, on the other hand, also appears in various other categories such as Best Narrative, Best Art Direction, Best Score and Music and Best Audio Design.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, meanwhile, was also nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Score and Music.
One of the most awaited releases this year, Diablo IV, was nominated for Innovation in Accessibility and Best Multiplayer. One of the most beloved if not the most beloved ARPG (action role-playing game) titles, Blizzard Entertainment took 11 years to come up with a fourth franchise following the release of Diablo 3 in 2012.
Though Diablo IV initially took the gaming world by storm in its official release last June, players were quick to leave the game because of its lack of fresh content, poor drop rates, and overall mindless grinding for better gear.
Filipino favorite Mobile Legends: Bang Bang was nowhere to be found in any category, as Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis, Honkai: Star Rail, Hello Kitty Island Adventure, Monster Hunter Now, and Terra Nil were nominated for Best Mobile Game of 2023 while Counter-Strike 2, DOTA 2, League of Legends, PUBG Mobile, and Valorant were the nominees for Best Esports Game.
The Best Esports Athlete nominations were given to Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, Max “Demon1” Mazanov, Paco “HyDra” Rusiewiez, Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk, and Phillip ”ImperialHal” Dosen while the Best Esports Team nominees are Evil Geniuses (Valorant), Fnatic (Valorant), Gaimin Gladiators (DOTA 2), JD Gaming (League of Legends) and Team Vitality.
