Game of the Year Awards 2019 – The Nominees

Game of the Year Awards 2019 – The Nominees

24
Richard Walker

As we ready our umpteenth Christmas Eve viewing of Die Hard (it is a Christmas film and I won't hear anything else about it), it's time to first go through our Game of the Year nominations. And as always, it's been quite a task compiling this year's list, with so many fantastic games to choose from.

Inevitably, there are some games that deserved a nod and didn't quite make the cut, so believe us when we say that all of 2019's best games were up for consideration. If they didn't make the list, it's because someone in the office lost an argument. For instance, I thought Borderlands 3 would be all over this list, but the only props it gets is in the Best Multiplayer category

Racing games also get short shrift this year, despite GRID and Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled being very good indeed. Maybe next year we'll have a Best Sports/Racing Game Category. For 2019, however, it's mostly business as usual, but with Biggest Disappointment (too negative) replaced by Best Game We're Still Playing (positive).

Keep your eyes peeled for the winners on New Year's Eve, and as always, we encourage you to let us know where we've gone wrong in the comments (as long as you keep it nice and civil). Until next week, have the Merriest of Christmases! Merry Christmas!

Best Story

  • Blair Witch
  • Control
  • Death Stranding
  • Metro Exodus
  • The Outer Worlds

Best Performance

  • Courtney Hope as Jesse Faden in Control
  • Norman Reedus as Sam Porter Bridges in Death Stranding
  • Mads Mikkelsen as Cliff Unger in Death Stranding
  • Fred Tatasciore as Kyohei Hamura in Judgment
  • Ashly Burch as Parvati in The Outer Worlds

Best Multiplayer

  • Apex Legends
  • Borderlands 3
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
  • The Division
  • Mortal Kombat 11

Best Visuals

  • Concrete Genie
  • Death Stranding
  • Devil May Cry 5
  • Sayonara Wild Hearts
  • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Best Audio

  • Death Stranding
  • The Outer Worlds
  • Sayonara Wild Hearts
  • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
  • Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Best New IP

  • Apex Legends
  • Control
  • Death Stranding
  • The Outer Worlds
  • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Best Fresh Gameplay Feature

  • Anthem's Iron Man Flight
  • Apex Legends' Ping System
  • Death Stranding's Social Strands
  • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice's Posture System
  • Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair's Level Transformations

Biggest Surprise

  • Apex Legends
  • Death Stranding
  • My Time at Portia
  • Shenmue III
  • Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair

Best Games We're Still Playing

  • Apex Legends
  • Destiny 2
  • The Division 2
  • Fortnite
  • Hitman 2

Best Developer

  • Epic Games
  • FromSoftware
  • Hello Games
  • Obsidian Entertainment
  • Respawn Entertainment

Best Publisher

  • Activision
  • Capcom
  • Private Division
  • Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • Team17

Best Indie

  • Blazing Chrome
  • My Time at Portia
  • Outer Wilds
  • Untitled Goose Game
  • Sayonara Wild Hearts

Best Game

  • Control
  • Devil May Cry 5
  • The Outer Worlds
  • Resident Evil 2
  • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Comments
24
  • I'm not going to even look at the list because I already know that Days Gone has gotten snubbed because of at least 15 different YouTube and gaming sites. Days Gone has only appeared once.
  • @1 I agree, Days Gone was easily one of my very favorite games that I played this year and it was undoubtedly snubbed by terrible YouTubers (many of which I'm confident didn't even finish the game.) And there wasn't even a best performance nomination for Sam Witwer as Deacon St. John? I thought he was phenomenal in that role but that's just my opinion. I've got no doubt that Resident Evil 2 will get their GotY award but it's well deserved so I would have no problems with it. Just wish there was a little more love for Days Gone lol
  • Pretty upset I don't see Remnant or Greedfall anywhere on this list. This appears to simply be a AAA-pandering list.
  • I stopped reading when I saw hello games in the top dev category. LOL seriously wtf. Get top dev for patching your game for years to what a 15 dollar indie sold for 60 dollars was. I'm done with this site and these dumb ass articles.
  • Why the collective 'pants around the ankles' for Death Stranding? I have 0 desire to play it. Is it that good to be nominated in so many categories? 'Biggest Surprise' to me was NFS: Heat, but it's nowhere to be found on this list.
  • Days Gone was great, but I played it after all the big patches were released, so I didn't have the headaches many apparently experienced. I agree games should be reviewed for the state they release in, but "Best of 2019" should review the final product, which was amazing. And Death Stranding has no appeal to me whatsoever. As this person posted: https://imgur.com/gallery/mCbyi9d
  • @6 your imgur link is so sad. its clear that you still don't get it. maybe it better that you quit games but i understand you are afraid of new things. or just want something that your brain can easy get. clearly you don't look longer then your nose is long. and you just copy people. no real idea's of your own. but then again. Children those days if they need to work for it they don't get it.
  • @7 No, Death Stranding is just literal garbage. Age is irrelevant here.
  • Death Stranding by a mile. I absolutely loved that game!
  • @6 The guy who posted that imgur is an idiot to be honest. I could understand the hate and his opinion if he had actually played it. But he states he ‘knows nothing about it’. And then proceeds to take the piss out of it. Makes sense. It’s not a walking simulator. And that’s coming from someone who has the platinum.
  • Story - Control Visuals and Game - DMC5 Publisher - Capcom
  • The only thing that Death Stranding should win any awards for is storytelling and performances. Those aspects were actually phenomenal. Anything gameplay wise is where DS fell apart for me.
  • EA not nominated for best publisher. Good.
  • @8 you clearly did not play that game. and no shame. you need to live a time and have some experience in life. you need to have had good things and bad things in life before you can understand a game/games like Death Stranding. so yeah Age has and is a thing that does matter. Children or teen's just don't have the exp in life.
  • @Comment #6 by Frankie Godskin I never had any glitches or bugs. I've just been lucky I guess because there has only been 1 game that has remained bug filled and that game is Skyrim for the XBOX 360. Even after at least 10 patches I tried to get into the game and the first quest I undertook was a fetch quest and I got the item the person wanted but when I talked to them they would just keep saying what they wanted and even though I did have it the quest wouldn't be completed as such. I thought maybe it wasn't the proper item so I watched 3 different YouTube walkthroughs of the same quest and I had the item and I posted a question on the forums and somebody suggested to equip the item in your hand and I did that and still nothing. So, I put the game on the shelf and tried to play it again in 2015 and the carriage that was bringing way into the village was upsaide down and the bloody horses legs were pointing straight up and hitting the towns gate making it so it couldn't get into the village and I was like f--- this garbage.
  • Yeah, absolutely criminal that Days Gone has been snubbed so much. That was my game of the year anyway.
  • RE2 should definitely win GOTY
  • Best game we're still playing should be WARFRAME hands down... Only it's not even nominated, and thats a shame cuz it would have won too
  • @18 Warframe was released in 2013........
  • Best Audio in terms of audio is actually Call of Duty Modern Warfare, regardless of your opinion on the game itself. Best Original Soundtrack, however, is easily AC7: Skies Unknown. Biggest surprise is NFS: The Heat. What the hell is Fred Tatasciore as Kyohei Hamura doing in Best Performance? He is a long distance from the original Hamura. Replace him with Sam Witwer as Deacon, it's well deserved. What the hell is Division 2 doing in Best Games We're Still Playing? It has been released this exact year, and the No Man's Sky is obvious thing here instead. It's a really disappointing list right here. Also, RE2 is a remake, it should sit along the Best Remake/Remaster category and not venture any further. If the remakes will start to receive GoTY, then I expect people to add "Best Microtransaction" category next time. Also, it's sad to see that there is no nominations for "Best Trophy List", "Easiest Platinum", "Hardest Platinum", "Most Time-Consuming Platinum" and other related to playstationtrophies.org nominations.
  • Days Gone is my game of the year, a masterpiece. Oh and The Outerworlds for best story, really! what story would that be. That would be my biggest disappointment of the year. Out of the ones on the list, I’d go with Sekiro.
  • #19 yes and we're STILL playing
  • Ace Combat 7 not in best Audio? That game has a beautiful soundtrack.
  • All of the snubs and the 'ass kiss king' Death Stranding getting so many nominations proves once again that lists and halls of fame never get it right. Look at the NFL 100, for those that know. How is there only 10 Quarterbacks on the list? How does Brett Favre make it with 1 SB, where Terry Bradshaw won FOUR! Just making a point. These lists never get it right. I haven't played Days Gone, but i know with all the bugs, people raved about it. Why such a glaring snub for NFS: Heat? Can we re-evaluate? Just look at all the Youtube videos on various parts of that game. That alone should warrant a nomination at least. Trophy hunters and non-trophy hunters are all over that game.
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