 Geoff Keighley’s fifth annual awards show is streaming live tomorrow night, or technically Friday morning at 1:30 AM GMT, and promises to be a celebration of what’s been a fantastic year in gaming. With the ceremony right around the corner, Team PTC share their very serious and totally informed predictions on which games should win some of the biggest categories.
As ever, loads of awards will be handed out on the night, so we’ve whittled them down a bit to cover the following five categories:
Sam Best Narrative | God of War Kratos’ character development and evolving relationship with his son, Atreus, is one of the most touchingly human narratives I’ve ever seen unfold in a game. Impressive, considering neither character is human. Best Art Direction | Octopath Traveler Most of the nominees are more intricately detailed, though realism only gets you so far. Octopath Traveler has the lowest display resolution, but more than makes up for that by being completely distinct for all the right reasons. Best Audio Design | God of War God of War has a powerful, guttural sound that makes combat feel absolutely brutal. The other nominees undoubtedly do a great job at anchoring players in their respective simulations, but Sony Santa Monica take things a step further and truly bolster their gameplay in the process. Also, the voice of the World Serpent! With the right audio setup, it punches you right in the soul! Best Independent Game | Celeste A bit of a tactical vote since it’s the only indie nominated for top honours, but from what I’ve seen of Celeste (unfortunately I haven’t played it) the range of accessibility options offer up catered platforming that anyone can enjoy. That’s a winner in my book. Game of the Year | Red Dead Redemption II Rockstar’s latest is on another level when compared to basically any other game. That’s what you can expect when all arms of a world-class developer are devoted to a project for several years, and also why you shouldn’t expect experiences of its calibur on the regular.  God of War Chris Disclaimer: Having played only a little more than none of the nominated games, I've made my picks blindly, based on gut feeling and what I can find out from a series of (very) brief image searches. Best Narrative | Detroit: Become Human No doubt there's some stiff competition in this category, especially with Sony's other big exclusives thrown into the mix, but if your main focus is an engaging narrative, then it should be the best. In theory. Maybe. Best Art Direction | Assassin's Creed Odyssey If AC Origins II: Greece is anything like its predecessor, it’ll be jam-packed with stunning visuals wherever you look. The Acropolis of Athens and Olympia are just two of the three historical Greek sites that I've heard of and would expect to be included. It might also be worth noting that, visually, fellow nominee Obra Dinn fails to impress when viewed briefly on a smartphone. Best Audio Design | Forza Horizon 4 Forza Horizon 4 is the only title on the list I've played and I can confidently say that the cars' engines sound just like I imagined they would. Maybe they’re based on their real counterparts, I dunno, I found not a shred of evidence for it in my image search. Best Independent Game | Celeste I've heard good things about Celeste, which trumps the no things I've heard about the other games in the category. Game of the Year | Red Dead Redemption II A fleeting search makes it look like an incredibly detailed horse riding simulator, but I can't ignore what I already know: Rockstar's open world behemoths always live up to the hype.
Liam Best Narrative | Detroit: Become Human I haven’t actually played any of the nominees, so I’m going for the one that sounds coolest. Sentient robot servant police? Yes please! Best Art Direction | Octopath Traveler Octopath Traveler is an easy pick for the top spot, seamlessly blending old-timey sprites with beautiful, diorama-like backdrops for a truly unique art style. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s take on Ancient Greece was also rather splendid, but par for the course by today’s high standards. Best Audio Design | Forza Horizon 4 I’m not into cars, but I do enjoy the way they sound flying off mountains or crashing into road signs, fences, the occasional rock wall, small trees, other cars, big trees, festivals… Best Independent Game | Dead Cells I enjoyed Dead Cells’ combat, but the novelty of starting from nothing every time you died soon wore off. Still, having played none of the other nominees on the list, it wins by default. Game of the Year | Red Dead Redemption II In a shameless act of bandwagoning, I’m declaring Rockstar’s epic Western winner of the biggest award, despite not yet owning it. I’ll get it at some point but, come on, even at a glance you can tell it’s as good as it’s made out to be.  Assassin's Creed Odyssey Rob I should state for the jury: not only do I loathe awards shows (back-patting garbage where you have to put up with insufferable celebrity hosts all evening), but I’ve actually missed out on a fair few of the nominated titles - whoops. Best Narrative | Detroit: Become Human There’s no denying the fact that people play David Cage games for the story, so I’m going for Detroit: Become Human. I haven’t played a Cage game in years (does anyone remember the David Bowie-featuring Nomad Soul?), but this one looks intriguing. Best Art Direction | God of War Rockstar’s latest is pretty good looking, and I do love the 16-bit aesthetic of Octopath, but I’m going to plump for God of War here. Lighting, colours, varying weather effects - it all looks bloody marvellous and brings that Norse world to life. Best Audio Design | Forza Horizon 4 I could easily go for God of War again, but the environment-polluting-arcade-athon, Forza Horizon 4, packs some serious audio punch that’ll give those speakers a ruddy good shakedown. Best Independent Game | Celeste I’ve missed all of these this year, and feel awful about it as someone who champions indies, but Celeste has been at the top of my wishlist for a while, as I do love a good platformer. Game of the Year | God of War I either haven’t played or haven’t been particularly impressed by most of these, so I suppose it’ll have to be God of War, in spite of finding it a bit bloated around the midpoint.
What are your predicted winners? Let us know in the comments below.
Last week, Team PTC discussed their opinions on the Xbox brand and its future potential. Leave a Reply. |
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