Originally published on Trevor Trove on December 3, 2017
With The Game Awards hitting this Thursday night, it’s time to throw my own predictions for this year’s winners. This post is specifically looking at who I want to win, and who I predict will win. I’ll have a separate post on Tuesday for my predictions as to any big announcements we’ll see at The Game Awards and PSX next weekend. So without further ado, here’s my breakdown (italics indicates my personal winner, bold indicates my predicted winner).
Trending Gamer
- Steven Spohn, Able Gamers
- Mike Crzesiek, Shroud
- Guy Beahm, Dr. Disrespect
- Chilt Lexa, “Halfcoordinated”
- Andrea Rene, What’s Good Games
Based on name recognition, this could easily go to Dr. Disrespect (though the fact that he’s listed on the official Game Awards site misspelled as “Dr. Disrepect” leads me to believe he and his fans might not be paying that much attention). But just as Greg Miller overcame the odds against the likes of PewDiePie in 2015, I think the Kinda Funny fanbase will help lift Andrea to the win here.
Best Debut Indie Game, presented by Schick Hydro
- Slime Rancher, Monomi Park
- Mr. Shifty, Team Shifty
- Hollow Knight, Team Cherry
- Golf Story, Sidebar Games
- Cuphead, Studio MDHR
The simple jobs of Golf Story make it my personal choice over the presumptive winner Cuphead.
Best VR/AR Game
- Superhot VR
- Star Trek: Bridge Crew
- Lone Echo/Echo Arena
- Farpoint
- Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
While I imagine it’s likely more people played the latest Resident Evil game, I think Superhot VR wins this.
Best Independent Game
- Pyre
- Night in the Woods
- Cuphead
- What Remains of Edith Finch
- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
While I would gladly see any of this games win this category, I think my personal choice Hellblade will end up winning in a couple other categories and I think Cuphead will pick up this accolade.
Best Handheld Game
- Poochy and Yoshi’s Woolly World
- Monster Hunter Stories
- Metroid: Samus Returns
- Ever Oasis
- Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadow of Valentia
Super Mario Odyssey was hands-down my personal favorite handheld game of the year but since Nintendo is really sticking with the premise that the Switch is a “console” I imagine this will easily go to the Metroid remake (since the fan remake from last year’s awards helped lead to the cancellation of that category).
Best Mobile Game
- Fire Emblem Heroes
- Super Mario Run
- Old Man’s Journey
- Monument Valley 2
- Hidden Folks
No undeniable frontrunner like last year’s Pokemon Go but with how quickly Fire Emblem Heroes and Super Mario Run burnt out, I think this will go to the Monument Valley team.
Best Ongoing Game
- Warframe
- Rainbow Six: Siege
- Overwatch
- Grand Theft Auto Online
- Destiny 2
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
I personally got sucked into Destiny 2 more than I ever thought I would but it won’t win. Grand Theft Auto Online is a never-ending juggernaut and I think it has more variety in it so it’ll beat out PUBG.
Most Anticipated Game Presented by McCafe
- The Last of Us Part II
- Red Dead Redemption II
- Monster Hunter: World
- Marvel’s Spider-Man
- God of War
I already expect all of the sequels on this list to be good. Spider-Man’s potential has me the most excited because it represents a bit of the unknown. That said, I think the public at large has been clamoring for Red Dead too long for this not to win.
Games for Impact
- Please Knock on My Door
- Night in the Woods
- Life is Strange: Before the Storm
- Bury Me, My Love
- What Remains of Edith Finch
- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
I don’t know anything about Please Knock on My Door or Bury Me, My Love but anything else on this list could take this category. But I think Hellblade specifically made waves as it relates to suffering from mental illness so I think it will win here.
Best Multiplayer
- Fortnite
- Call of Duty: World War II
- Splatoon 2
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Destiny 2
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
I actually played in and completed a Destiny raid this year. That’s a thing that happened. So it’s my personal choice (despite by past frustrations with said raid). But I think (even though I’m still firmly in the camp that it shouldn’t have been eligible) PUBG gets awarded here.
Best Performance
- Melina Juergens, Hellblade
- Laura Bailey, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
- Claudia Black, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
- Brian Bloom, Wolfenstein II
- Ashly Burch, Horizon: Zero Dawn
This could go to anybody (and hey, what an awesome year for leading ladies in gaming!), but I think Melina Juergens’ out of nowhere breakthrough performance in Hellblade earns her the win.
Best Audio Design
- Destiny 2
- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
- Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Super Mario Odyssey
Hellblade’s use of surround sound to emulate schizophrenia was immensely unsettling in the best possible way.
Best Strategy Game
- XCOM 2: War of the Chosen
- Tooth and Tail
- Total War: Warhammer II
- Halo Wars 2
- Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
While I imagine any of the other choices were deeper experiences, I’m not going to bet against the Game Awards historical preference for Nintendo titles so Mario + Rabbids will take it.
Best Score/Music
- Destiny 2
- Cuphead
- Nier: Automata
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Persona 5
After roughly 200 hours of Persona 5, I never hated the music. That’s impressive! But I think Super Mario Odyssey will win over the judges here (even if it really only has a couple songs that stand-out, there’s no denying the New Donk City finale will earn it this award).
Best Family Game
- Splatoon 2
- Sonic Mania
- Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Super Mario Odyssey
Odyssey is easily the best game of this bunch and since none of them particularly scream sitting around and playing as a family (a la something like Mario Party), Odyssey is walking away with it.
Best Art Direction
- Destiny 2
- Cuphead
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Persona 5
- Horizon Zero Dawn
Part of me really wants to recognize the amazing design in Persona 5 and Horizon here, but I can’t deny that Cuphead’s design stands out in an impressive field.
Best Fighting Game
- Tekken 7
- Nidhogg 2
- Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite
- Injustice 2
- ARMS
I’m going against my earlier comment about leaning into the Nintendo option here because ARMS was ultimately pretty lackluster. But Injustice 2 seemed to impress with its story and mechanics and they’ve been throwing in fan-favorite DLC characters left and right.
Best Narrative
- What Remains of Edith Finch
- NieR: Automata
- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
- Wolfenstein II
- Horizon Zero Dawn
Another incredibly strong category. Having not yet played NieR, but knowing how much people love its story, I could see it winning. But I think the sweeping expanse of storytelling and world-building in Horizon sets it apart for me.
Best Role Playing Game
- South Park: The Fractured But Whole
- Final Fantasy XV
- Divinity: Original Sin 2
- NieR: Automata
- Persona 5
This is a category that could go any which way depending on the votes. Final Fantasy XV left me wanting but it impressed a lot of people. South Park is the most managable of these titles to get through. Divinity definitely has its champions but I don’t know if there are enough of them. And NieR and Persona seemed to have the loudest supporters early in the year. I lean slightly toward Persona but could easily see NieR taking this category instead.
Best Game Direction
- Wolfenstein II
- Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Horizon Zero Dawn
This one will come down to what a whole bunch of people think “game direction” means. For me, it’s the vision of the overall product. Zelda and Mario have a set of well-designed mechanics, but I think Horizon has the better overall direction. But since I think a lot of the judges will conflate the two, I guess I’ll predict Zelda to take this because of how well those mechanics work.
Best Action/Adventure Game
- Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
- Assassin’s Creed: Origins
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Horizon Zero Dawn
Horizon is my choice here, but I think too many people were blown away by Zelda. It’s best shot is splitting the vote between Zelda and Mario but I think Nintendo will still take this.
Best Action Game
- Prey
- Nioh
- Destiny 2
- Cuphead
- Wolfenstein II
I had more fun with Destiny 2 and thought the shooting in the game felt better than Wolfenstein, but I think Wolfenstein’s story and the satisfaction of killing a bunch of Nazis in 2017 will give it the edge here.
Game of the Year
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Super Mario Odyssey
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
- Persona 5
- Horizon Zero Dawn
As listed elsewhere, my choice is Horizon. But I think it’s only shot at winning relies on Zelda and Mario splitting the Nintendo vote. And then you risk Persona and Horizon splitting the PlayStation vote. Leaving PUBG (WHICH SHOULDN’T FUCKING BE NOMINATED) to steal the whole thing. But I’m ultimately predicting Super Mario Odyssey to honor the icon. Zelda will take some of the other categories but Mario is fresher in people’s minds and will take the big one.
So those are my predictions. We’ll see if I got any of them right this Thursday in Los Angeles!