The Game Awardsnominations are out and the gaming world is abuzz! I think. I feel like we’re all a little muted this year about the Game Awards. There’s definitely a buzz, but it doesn’t seem like we’re really abuzz, if that makes sense. More of a muted acknowledgement, really.
The world feels like one of thoseMario Partylevels where you have to try to not fall off the side of a cliff while everyone keeps shoving you towards said cliff. Still, people sure do click on links when they’ve got The Game Awards in the title, so let’s see what blood we can wring from this stone.
The Game Awards are designed to be a mainstream event, so categories like ‘Best Narrative’, ‘Best Score and Music’, and ‘Best Hyper Crunch In A Flavor-Blasted Indie Game’ make sense. And, all joking aside, it is worth honoring games and the vast effort it takes to make them. Even if most of that honoring is mostly done in 30-second fragments between five-minute trailers andten-minute cameos by confused celebrities who seemed to have been tricked onto stagewith a trail of M&Ms.
However, even a ceremony that makes Killers of the Flower Moon feel like a short film can’t contain every category. It’s impossible to award all of gaming when youcan’t even find space for the Future Class anymore. I’m sure it’s that - they ran out of time - and not the fact that members of the Future Class began using the honor to discuss issues that aren’t on Mountain Dew’s PR sheet. So, away they go into the memory hole! It was nice while it lasted, Future Class! Just because you’re the future doesn’t mean the suits want you discussing the future!
With that in mind, here are a few of the categories missing from the Game Awards nomination list. Some are important. Some are minor. All would pair great with a teaser for the next Cooking Mama, coming 2027.
Best Game To Make You Go, “Wait That Came Out This Year?!”
This is one of the most popular categories because, really, there are so many games released each year. Few are remembered. Many are forgotten. Some just feel like they’ve been part of the undying discourse for decades and will always be a phantom hanging over future game development. Whether a blessing or a curse, this honor goes to the game that feels like it’s been out longer than any other game ever made in human history.
Best Game Of The Year About Space Madness Revealing A Striking Interpersonal Tragedy
Possible Nominee: Mouthwashing
There weresome great horror games this year, and while many of them focused on things like ‘fear’ and ‘scariness’ and ‘making you afraid’, some went the extra mile. While this category may seem specific, there are a lot of examples of games about space madness revealing a striking interpersonal tragedy. If you have time to get this far in the article, you can find them online for yourself. It’ll be hard to narrow down the games about space madness revealing a striking interpersonal tragedy, but with theDead Spaceremake already in the rearview mirror, it’ll be a fun category to watch.
Best Game To Make Me Question How My Life Got To This Point
Possible Nominee: Princess Peach Showtime
Another big one! Lots of games make me question how my life got to this point. I’ve probably spent more time choosing dialogue options in games than I have ever speaking to actual human beings, so this is a category that’s a hot ticket every year. Winning this award takes a lot of skill, though. It can’t just be a time sink that makes me realize I could’ve written a screenplay in the 80 hours I’ve put intoBalatro. Some of these games - most of which I played in the dark - had moments that made me reflect and ask, “Is something wrong with me that I’m playing this? Is this what I was made to do with my life?”
Best Game To Make People Online Get Super Weird
Possible Nominee: Concord
As a weird person online, I can tell you that there’s nothing more powerful than a game that gets people talking about how it makes someone else feel bad. If it’s a great game with positive reviews, people online can talk about how it being so good makes other people feel bad. If it’s a terrible game with awful reviews, people online can talk about how it being bad makes other people feel bad. But the important thing, at the end of the day, isn’t whether someone enjoyed a game or not. It’s whether it can be used as a cudgel to make people you don’t know hurt inside. Extra points if it’s a game literally nobody played.
Best Game I’m Not Sure Why People Online We’re Super Weird About, But They Definitely Were
Possible Nominee: Stellar Blade
A related category to the above, this one involves games that people got weird about for no specific reason andnobody really felt that bad about. I think fansassumed these games offended people when they didn’t? Probably because of boobs? I think 2023 or 2024 brought the weird assumption that people are upset about boobs existing, which doesn’t really play out culturally. Anyway, the games in this category are solidly good games and nobody seems to have felt bad about them, but they were still spoken of as if they caused a vast divide in the fandom.
Best Game To Ruin My Recommendations Algorithm On Steam Because It’s A Dating Sim Asking What If Your Girl Was A Frog
Possible Nominee: What If Your Girl Was A Frog 2
Some categories are smaller than others and this is one. We’re all used to our choices on streaming apps and online stores affecting the recommendations algorithm. But some products canreallyaffect the algorithm. It turns out that Steam does not know if you’re buying a game as a joke or if you’re drunk or just really lonely and feel like you’re trapped in a cosmic corner you’ll never get out of.The important thing is that these are real games you can buy.
Most Depressing Game That Makes More Sense The More This Year Goes On
Possible Nominee: Frostpunk 2
Who doesn’t love a depressing game? That’s my bread and butter, baby! Give me all the sadness. And this year is no exception. From remakes to new releases, games have been filled with a deep sorrow that cannot be treated with anything but the knowledge that one day we’ll be dead and feel nothing. That said, a few of the sad games rose above the rest to make people melodramatically - but somewhat accurately - think, “Yeah, this seems like where things are going. Geez Louise. Society, right?”
Best Game Of The Year To Actually Deserve Game Of The Year Because It Actually Contains 50 New Games
Possible Nominee: UFO 50
Here we go. The big one! There are a lot of great games that came out this year. And, look, all the current games on the Game of the Year list are great!Especially Balatro, which deserves to win. But is it the best game of the year entirely? Is it better than everything else out there? No. There are games far better than anything on that list that completely deserves the game of the year award. Games in which you have 50 new ‘classic’ games made for a fictional video game console, for example.
