The annual Game Developers Choice Awards main event won't take place until March 21, but that means there's plenty of time to argue over which games deserve this year's big honors. The nominees have officially gone live.
This year's list of GDC nominees will look familiar to anyone who has been following the end-of-year coverage that's been pouring out of just about every games website these past couple of months. There's no denying that 2017 was a phenomenal year for video games but, even so, a handful of titles managed to rise to the top.
The big nods have once again gone to games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Horizon: Zero Dawn, alongside dark horse candidates like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Nier: Automata.
The GDC awards roster is nice and abbreviated, consisting of only 10 categories. What's extra nice about these awards is that the nominees and eventual victors are selected by industry leaders, meaning the winners are being praised by their colleagues.
This year's show is set to go down during GDC on March 21, hosted out of the San Francisco Moscone Center. All games launched within the 2017 calendar year are eligible for consideration. Without further ado, here's the rundown of this year's nominees.
Best Audio
Cuphead (StudioMDHR)
Nier: Automata (PlatinumGames/Square Enix)
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Ninja Theory)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)
Horizon: Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Honorable Mentions: Super Mario Odyssey, Star Wars: Battlefront II, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Destiny 2, Persona 5, Night in the Woods.
Best Debut
Team Cherry (Hollow Knight)
Sidebar Games (Golf Story)
StudioMDHR (Cuphead)
Infinite Fall (Night in the Woods)
Jason Roberts/Buried Signal (Gorogoa)
Honorable Mentions: Game Grumps (Dream Daddy), Terrible Toybox (Thimbleweed Park), Team Salvato (Doki Doki Literature Club), Lizardcube (Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap)
Best Design
Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo)
Horizon: Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG Corporation)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)
Nier: Automata (PlatinumGames/Square Enix)
Honorable Mentions: Cuphead, Gorogoa, What Remains of Edith Finch, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, Prey.
Best Mobile Game
Reigns: Her Majesty (Nerial/Devolver Digital)
Hidden Folks (Adriaan de Jongh and Sylvain Tegroeg)
Monument Valley 2 (ustwo games)
Gorogoa (Jason Roberts/Buried Signal/Annapurna Interactive)
Bury Me, My Love (The Pixel Hunt/Figs/ARTE France/Playdius)
Honorable Mentions: Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Fire Emblem Heroes, Old Man's Journey, Flipflop Solitaire, Gnog.
Innovation Award
Gorogoa (Jason Roberts / Buried Signal / Annapurna Interactive)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow / Annapurna Interactive)
Everything (David OReilly / Double Fine Productions)
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG Corporation)
Honorable Mentions: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Cuphead, Nier: Automata, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Super Mario Odyssey, Tacoma, Pyre.
Best Narrative
Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall / Finji)
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Ninja Theory)
What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow / Annapurna Interactive)
Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (MachineGames / Bethesda Softworks)
Honorable Mentions: Nier: Automata, Tacoma, Persona 5, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.
Best Technology
Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision)
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Ninja Theory)
Assassin's Creed: Origins (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
Honorable Mentions: Star Wars Battlefront II, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, Nier: Automata, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.
Best Visual Art
Persona 5 (P-Studio / Atlus)
Cuphead (StudioMDHR)
Horizon: Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall / Finji)
Honorable Mentions: Gorogoa, Star Wars Battlefront II, Assassin's Creed Origins, Destiny 2, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Super Mario Odyssey.
Best VR/AR Game
Superhot VR (SUPERHOT Team)
Star Trek: Bridge Crew (Red Storm Entertainment / Ubisoft)
Lone Echo (Ready at Dawn / Oculus Studios)
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (Capcom)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
Honorable Mentions: Farpoint, Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality, Luna, Robo Recall, Gnog, Doom VFR.
Game of the Year
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG Corporation)
Nier: Automata (PlatinumGames / Square Enix)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
Honorable Mentions: Cuphead, What Remains of Edith Finch, Persona 5, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Gorogoa, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Night in the Woods.
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