The Game Award’s 2022 returned last night, announcing the winners of this year’s contributions to videogames, announcements of what’s to come, and a bizarre shoutout to former President Bill Clinton.

Geoff Keighley took to the stage of the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles last night as the annual Game Awards took place. Featuring awards for Best Game Direction, Best Indie Game, Best Adaptation and the title award, The Game of the Year.

FromSoftware’s Elden Ring took home the coveted Game of the Year spot, defending itself from Santa Monica’s Studio’s God of War: Ragnarök, the two games both sweeping through most categories available. Elden Rings development team took to the stage to accept the award, and were joined by an uninvited guest, who according to reports, snuck backstage, only to be mic’d up and sent out with the team for an acceptance speech. A moment the gate crasher used to mumble some sentences about rabbi’s and a shoutout specifically for former President Bill Clinton. The yet unknown man was quickly taken off stage and arrested shortly after.

God of War: Ragnarök thundered its way through the remaining awards, sweeping up Best Narrative, Best Score/Music and Best Performance, in which Christopher Judge took to the stage, accepting his award from none other than Al Pacino, who admitted “I don’t play a lot of videogames”, adding that he’s learnt that regardless of the platform and actor uses, its about storytelling, it he was here to celebrate actors in videogames.

The show wasn’t just a complete celebration of both GoW: Ragnarök and Elden Ring, with BlueTwelve Studio’s Stray, the third person stealth game which saw you inhabit the life of a stray cat navigating the underbelly of a cyberpunk-esque cityscape, winning both Best Debut Indie game and Best Indie Game.

Alongside awards for the previous year in gaming, The Game Awards is known as the place to watch for announcements as to what we might expect in 2023 and beyond. Hideo Kojima appeared to announce his new game, Death Stranding 2, a sequel to his previous 2019 game. A sequel to 2020’s hit roguelike Hades was announced and a new trailer for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which see’s players reassume the role of Cal Kestis five years after the events of the first game.

Check below the full list of winners for The Game Awards 2022:

Game of the Year:

Elden Ring – Winner
A Plague Tale: Requiem
God of War: Ragnarök
Horizon Forbidden West
Stray
Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Best Game Direction:
Elden Ring – Winner
God of War Ragnarök
Horizon Forbidden West
Immortality
Stray

Best Narrative:
God of War Ragnarök – Winner
A Plague Tale: Requiem
Elden Ring
Horizon Forbidden West
Immortality

Best Art Direction:
Elden Ring – Winner
God of War: Ragnarök
Horizon: Forbidden West
Scorn
Stray

Best Score/Music:
Bear McCreary – God of War: Ragnarök- Winner
Olivier Deriviere – A Plague Tale Requiem
Tsukasa Saitoh – Elden Ring
Two Feathers – Metal Hellsinger
Yasunori Mitsuda

Best Audio Design:
God of War: Ragnarök
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Elden Ring
Gran Turismo 7
Horizon: Forbidden West

Best Performance:
Christopher Judge – God of War Ragnarök – Winner
Ashly Birch – Horizon: Forbidden West
Charlotte McBurney – A Plague Tale: Requiem
Manon Gage – Immortality
Sunny Suljic – God of War: Ragnarök

Games for Impact:
As Dusk Falls – Winner
A Memoir Blue
Citizen Sleeper
Endling – Extinction is Forever
Hindsight
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist

Best Ongoing Game:
Final Fantasy 14 Online – Winner
Apex Legends
Destiny 2
Fortnite
Genshin Impact

Best Indie Game:
Stray – Winner
Cult of the Lamb
Neon White
Sifu
TUNIC

Best Debut Indie Game:
Stray – Winner
Neon White
NORCO
TUNIC
Vampire Survivors

Best Mobile Game:
Marvel Snap – Winner
Apex Legends Mobile
Diablo Immortal
Genshin Impact
Tower of Fantasy

Best Community Support:
Final Fantasy 14 Online – Winner
Fortnite
Destiny 2
Apex Legends
No Man’s Sky

Best VR/AR Game:
Moss: Book II – Winner
After the Fall
Among Us VR
BONELAB
Red Matter 2

Innovation in Accessibility
God of War: Ragnarök – Winner
Returnal
As Dusk Falls
Return to Monkey Island
The Last of Us Part 1
The Quarry

Best Action Game:
Bayonetta 3 – Winner
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
Neon White
Sifu
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge

Best Action/Adventure Game:
God of War: Ragnarök
A Plague Tale: Requiem
Horizon Forbidden West
Stray
TUNIC

Best RPG:
Elden Ring – Winner
Live a Live
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Triangle Strategy
Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Best Fighting Game:
MultiVersus – Winner
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R
DNF Duel
The King of Fighters 15
Sifu

Best Family Game:
Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Winner
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
Nintendo Switch Sports
Splatoon 3

Best Sports/Racing Game
Gran Turismo 7 – Winner
F1 22
FIFA 23
NBA 2K23
OlliOlli World

Best SIM/Strategy Game
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope – Winner
Dune: Spice Wars
Total War: WARHAMMER 3
Two Point Campus
Victoria 3

Best Multiplayer Game:
Splatoon 3 – Winner
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
MultiVersus
Overwatch 2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredders Revenge

Content Creator of the Year:
Ludwig – Winner
Karl Jacobs
Nibellion
Nobru
QTCinderella

Best Esports Athlete:
Jacob “Yay” Whiteaker (Cloud9, Valorant) – Winner
Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon (Gen.G, LOL)
Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (T1 LOL)
Finn “karrigan” Andersen (FaZe Clan – CS:GO)
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (Natus Vincere, CS:GO)

Best Esports Coach:
Matheus “bzkA” Tarasconi (LOUD, Valorant) – Winner
Andrii “B1ad3” Horondenskyi (Natus Vincere, CS:GO)
Erik “d00mbr0s” Sandgren (FPX, Valorant)
Robert “RobbaN” Dahlstrom (FaZe Clan, CS:GO)
Go “Score” Dong-bin (Gen.G, LOL)

Best Esports Event:
2022 League of Legends World Championship – Winner
EVO 2022
PGL Major Antwerp 2022
The 2022 Mid-Season Invitational
Valorant Champions 2022

Best Esports Game:
Valorant – Winner
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
DOTA 2
League of Legends
Rocket League

Best Esports Team:
LOUD (Valorant) – Winner
DarkZero Esports (Apex Legends)
FaZe Clan (CS:GO)
Gen.G (League of Legends)
LA Thieves (Call of Duty)

Most Anticipated Game:
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Winner
Final Fantasy 16
Hogwarts Legacy
Resident Evil 4
Starfield

Best Adaptation:
Arcane: League of Legends – Winner
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
The Cuphead Show
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Uncharted

Words: Kiefer Jones | Subbing: Charissa Halsey