It’s a good year to be playing together—as rival assassins, speed-driven racers, or a couple whose marriage is on the rocks. They’re all part of the fantastic list of 2022 Game Developers Choice Awards nominees.
Organizers of the 2022 Game Developers Conference are excited to reveal this year’s finalists for the 22nd annual Game Developers Choice Awards—the leading peer-based video game event celebrating the industry’s top games and developers.
Arkane Studios’ Deathloop leads the pack with six nominations, closely followed by Hazelight Studios’ It Takes Two (five nominations) and Playground Games’ Forza Horizon 5 (four nominations). All three of these titles were nominated for the prestigious Game of the Year award—alongside Capcom’s Resident Evil Village and Daniel Mullins Games’ Inscryption (which also received four nominations at this year’s Independent Games Festival Awards).
Deathloop is a next-gen first-person shooter where two rival assassins are trapped in a mysterious timeloop on the island of Blackreef. It’s been nominated for: Game of the Year, Best Audio, Best Design, Innovation Award, Best Narrative, and Best Visual Art.
It Takes Two is a genre-bending platform adventure game where players work together to solve puzzles and address their characters’ relationship issues. It’s been nominated for: Game of the Year, Best Design, Innovation Award, and Best Narrative. It’s also been nominated for the Social Impact Award, a brand-new category that recognizes games that work to positively impact lives and further social good.
Forza Horizon 5 is the latest in a long-running series of heart-stopping racing games, this one being set in Mexico. It’s been nominated for: Game of the Year, Best Audio, Best Technology, and Best Visual Art.
The Game Developers Choice Awards is part of GDC 2022, which will be held in-person in San Francisco and virtually from March 21-25.
Here is the full list of GDCA 2022 nominees, including honorable mentions:
Best Audio
Returnal (Housemarque / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Unpacking (Witch Beam / Humble)
Deathloop (Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (Eidos Montreal / Square Enix)
Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios)
Honorable Mentions: Halo Infinite (343 Industries / Xbox Game Studios), It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts), Genesis Noir (Feral Cat Den / Fellow Traveller), Kid A Mnesia: Exhibition (Arbitrarily Good Productions, Namethemachine / Epic Games), Resident Evil Village (Capcom)
Best Debut
Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab / Electronic Arts)
Valheim (Iron Gate Studio / Coffee Stain Publishing)
Wildermyth (Worldwalker Games / WhisperGames)
The Artful Escape (Beethoven & Dinosaur / Annapurna Interactive)
Sable (Shedworks / Raw Fury)
Honorable Mentions: Genesis Noir (Feral Cat Den / Fellow Traveller), ElecHead (Tsuyomi / NamaTakahashi), Unsighted (Studio Pixel Punk, Humble)
Best Design
It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)
Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine / Microsoft)
Halo Infinite (343 Industries / Xbox Game Studios)
Deathloop (Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games / Devolver Digital)
Honorable Mentions: Resident Evil Village (Capcom), Unpacking (Witch Beam / Humble), Death’s Door (Acid Nerve, Devolver Digital), Loop Hero (Four Quarters, Devolver Digital)
Innovation Award
It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)
Wildermyth (Worldwalker Games / WhisperGames)
Unpacking (Witch Beam / Humble)
Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games / Devolver Digital)
Deathloop (Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
Honorable Mentions: Returnal (Housemarque / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Chicory: A Colorful Tale (The Chicory: A Colorful Tale Team / Finji), Loop Hero (Four Quarters, Devolver Digital)
Best Narrative
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (Eidos Montreal / Square Enix)
Deathloop (Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)
Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine / Microsoft)
Unpacking (Witch Beam / Humble)
Honorable Mentions: Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab / Electronic Arts), Life is Strange: True Colors (Deck Nine / Square Enix), The Forgotten City (Modern Storyteller / Dear Villagers), Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games / Devolver Digital), Wildermyth (Worldwalker Games / WhisperGames)
Social Impact Award
Before Your Eyes (GoodbyeWorld Games / Skybound Games)
It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)
Life is Strange: True Colors (Deck Nine / Square Enix)
Boyfriend Dungeon (Kitfox Games)
Chicory: A Colorful Tale (The Chicory: A Colorful Tale Team / Finji)
Honorable Mentions: Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios)
Best Technology
Halo Infinite (343 Industries / Xbox Game Studios)
Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios)
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Returnal (Housemarque / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Hitman 3 (IO Interactive)
Honorable Mentions: Battlefield 2042 (EA DICE / Electronic Arts), Resident Evil Village (Capcom)
Best Visual Art
Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios)
Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab / Electronic Arts)
Deathloop (Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine / Microsoft)
Honorable Mentions: The Artful Escape (Beethoven & Dinosaur / Annapurna Interactive), Resident Evil Village (Capcom), Genesis Noir (Feral Cat Den / Fellow Traveller), Returnal (Housemarque / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Sable (Shedworks / Raw Fury)
Game of the Year
Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games / Devolver Digital)
Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios)
Resident Evil Village (Capcom)
Deathloop (Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)
Honorable Mentions: Halo Infinite (343 Industries / Xbox Game Studios), Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (Eidos Montreal / Square Enix), Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine / Microsoft), Chicory: A Colorful Tale (The Chicory: A Colorful Tale Team / Finji), Death’s Door (Acid Nerve / Devolver Digital)
Any video game that was released and made publicly available during the 2021 calendar year was eligible for GDCA nomination. Both nominees and winners are chosen by the Game Developers Choice Awards-specific International Choice Awards Network (ICAN), which is an invitation-only organization, composed of leading game creators from all parts of the industry.
Winners will be announced at the GDCA ceremony on Wednesday, March 23 (with a simultaneous broadcast on GDC Twitch). GDCA follows right after the Independent Games Festival Awards, which celebrates independent games and their creators. Both the GDCA and IGF ceremonies are available to watch for all GDC 2022 pass-holders.
GDC returns in-person to San Francisco, March 21-25, 2022—registration is now open! For more information on GDC 2022, including our virtual options, be sure to visit our website and follow the #GDC22 hashtag on social media.
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