The Game Awards 2024: Astro Bot, Black Myth: Wukong and Helldivers 2 are some of the biggest winners

As the year comes to a close, The Game Awards arrives once again to celebrate gaming in 2024, as well as to announce new titles to look forward to in the years to come. Celebrating its 10th Anniversary, the show saw performances by Snoop Dogg, Twenty One Pilots (performing music from Arcane), as well as The Game Awards Orchestra performing a medley of musical motifs from the Game of the Year nominees.

The Game Awards 2024 spanned 29 different award categories (along with a Players' Voice award); this included more broad categories such as Best Narrative and Best Game Direction, to recognising the best games in a respective genre, such as Best RPG and Best Action/Adventure. Important to note, nominees were selected by a jury of over 100 media and influencer outlets, while nominees for more distinct categories such as esports and accessibility were selected by specialised juries. The winners were selected by a mix of jury voting (90%) and public voting (10%), held via The Game Awards website and Bilibili for those in China.

Here are the winners for the biggest categories:

Game of the Year: Astro Bot

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Astro Bot, developed by Team Asobi and published by PlayStation maker Sony bagged the biggest award of the night, presented by Swen Vincke of last year's GOTY Baldur's Gate 3 (Larian Studios). Made as a PS5 exclusive, Astro Bot is a platformer that sees you gathering parts of your mothership and rescuing other Bots scattered across different worlds, paying homage to different PlayStation franchises.

Just in time for the console line's 30th Anniversary, Team Asobi director Nicolas Doucet, in his acceptance speech, noted the privilege they had of potentially being a child's first game, and thanked his team for their work in putting the user first.

Astro Bot, which also won Best Game Direction, Best Action/Adventure and Best Family Game, beat out these five contenders for GOTY:

• Balatro (LocalThunk/Playstack)
• Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)
• Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth (Square Enix)
• Metaphor: ReFantazio (Studio Zero/Atlus/Sega)

Best Narrative: Metaphor ReFantazio

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Presented by Sam Lake of Max Payne and Alan Wake fame, Best Narrative recognises games with "outstanding storytelling and narrative development". This year, Metaphor: ReFantazio took home the award. Developed by Studio Zero and published by Atlus, the game is set in a fantasy kingdom in turmoil after the death of its king, turning into a pseudo-political campaign for the throne (amongst other goals).

Metaphor: ReFantazio director Hatsura Hashino (of Persona 3, 4 and 5) accepted the award. While beaten out for Game of the Year, ReFantazio also scored wins for Best Art Direction and Best RPG. Competing against Metaphor: ReFantazio for Best Narrative were:

• Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth (Square Enix)
• Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio/Sega)
• Senua's Saga: Hellblade II (Ninja Theory/Xbox Game Studios)
• Silent Hill 2 (Bloober Team/Konami)

Best Independent and Best Debut Indie Game: Balatro

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The only indie game to appear as a GOTY nominee, Balatro, developed by LocalThunk and published by Playstack, may not have beaten out the triple-A titles, but was first among other indie games, at least at this year's The Game Awards. The roguelike (or roguelite as it calls itself) is a deck-builder with an aesthetic that, at its core, is inspired by poker. It took both indie categories: Best Independent, and Best Debut Indie Game, the latter of which recognises games from debuting studios (though LocalThunk is an alias for a single developer). Balatro also took home Best Mobile Game.

LocalThunk himself was not there for the award, which was accepted on his behalf by Playstack PR and marketing managers Wouter van Halderen and Liz Cheng-Moore respectively. However, they shared his desire for people to find and explore other indie games that may have flown under the radar. Other nominees for Best Independent included: 

• Animal Well (Shared Memory/Bigmode)
• Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (Simogo/Annapurna Interactive)
• Neva (Nomada Studio/Devolver)
• UFO 50 (Mossmouth)

Nominees for Best Debut Indie Game also included:

• Animal Well (Shared/Memory/Bigmode)
• Manor Lords (Slavic Magic/Hooded Horse)
• Pacific Drive (Ironwood Studios/Kepler Interactive)
• The Plucky Squire (All Possible Futures /Devolver)

Best Ongoing Game: Helldivers 2

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Best Ongoing Game recognises games that, although not necessarily released in 2024, provide continuous and ongoing content that "evolves the player experience over time". This year, Helldivers 2 was the winner for this category. Developed by Arrowhead Game Studios and published by Sony, the online sci-fi shooter inspired by Starship Troopers takes place in an intergalactic war. Coincidentally, Helldivers 2 also snapped up HWZ's Game of the Year as well.

Helldivers 2 also received the award for Best Multiplayer Game. Other nominees for Best Ongoing Game included:

• Destiny 2 (Bungie/SIE)
• Diablo IV (Blizzard/Xbox)
• Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)

Best Action Game: Black Myth: Wukong

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Although snubbed for some of the biggest categories, Black Myth: Wukong, developed and published by Game Science, got the award for Best Action Game. The Journey to the West-based game featuring Sun Wukong of Chinese legend was among one of the biggest games to come out this year, and designer Jiang Baicun thanked players for bringing eastern mythology to life, as well as members of his team and loved ones.

Black Myth: Wukong also won the Players' Voice vote, notably beating out Hoyoverse giants Genshin Impact and Zenless Zone Zero. Other nominees for Best Action Game included:

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Treyarch/Raven/Activision/Xbox)
• Helldivers 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios/SIE)
• Stellar Blade (Shift Up/SIE)
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (Saber Interactive/Focus Entertainment)

These were the winners for some of the major categories this year. For the award categories not listed above, check out the next page for the list of winners and nominees.

Best Game Direction

• Astro Bot (Team Asobi/SIE)
• Balatro (LocalThunk/Playstack)
• Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)
• Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix)
• Metaphor: ReFantazio (Studio Zero/Atlus/Sega)

Best Art Direction

• Metaphor: ReFantazio (Studio Zero/Atlus/Sega)
• Astro Bot (Team Asobi/SIE)
• Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)
• Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• Neva (Nomada Studio/Devolver)

Best Score and Music

• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix)
• Astro Bot (Team Asobi/SIE)
• Metaphor: ReFantazio (Studio Zero/Atlus/Sega)
• Silent Hill 2 (Bloober Team/Konami)
• Stellar Blade (Shift Up/SIE)

Best Audio Design

• Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 (Ninja Theory/Xbox Game Studios)
• Astro Bot (Team Asobi/SIE)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Treyarch/Raven/Activision/Xbox)
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix)
• Silent Hill 2 (Bloober Team/Konami)

Innovation in Accessibility

• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Treyarch/Raven/Activision/Xbox)
• Diablo IV (Blizzard/Xbox)
• Dragon Age: The Veilguard (BioWare/EA)
• Star Wars Outlaws (Massive Entertainment / Ubisoft) 

Games for Impact

• Neva (Nomada Studio/Devolver)
• Closer The Distance (Osmotic Studios/Skybound Games)
• Indika (Odd Meter/11 Bit Studios)
• Life is Strange: Double Exposure (Deck Nine/Square Enix)
• Senua's Saga: Hellblade II (Ninja Theory/Xbox Game Studios)
• Tales of Kenzera: Zau (Surgent Studios/EA)

Best Community Support

• Baldur's Gate 3 (Larian)
• Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
• Fornite (Epic Games)
• Helldivers 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios/SIE)
• No Man's Sky (Hello Games)

Best Mobile Game

• Balatro (LocalThunk/Playstack)
• AFK Journey (FARLIGHT/Lilith Games)
• Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket (Creatures Inc/TPCI)
• Wuthering Waves (Kuro Games)
• Zenless Zone Zero (Hoyoverse)

Best VR/AR

• Batman: Arkham Shadow (Camouflaj/Oculus Studios)
• Arizona Sunshine Remake (Vertigo Games)
• Asgard's Wrath 2 (Sanzaru Games/Oculus Studios)
• Metal: Hellsinger VR (Lab 42/The Outsiders/Funcom)
• Metro Awakening (Vertigo Games)

Best Action/Adventure

• Astro Bot (Team Asobi/SIE)
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft)
• Silent Hill 2 (Bloober Team/Konami)
• Star Wars Outlaws (Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft)
• The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Grezzo/Nintendo)

Best RPG

• Metaphor: ReFantazio (Studio Zero/Atlus/Sega)
• Dragon's Dogma 2 (Capcom)
• Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth (Square Enix)
• Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio/Sega)

Best Fighting

• Tekken 8 (Bandai Namco)
• Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero (Spike Chunsoft/Bandai Namco)
• Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising (Arc System Works/Cygames)
• Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics (Capcom)
• Multiversus (Player FIrst Games/WB Games)

Best Family

• Astro Bot (Team Asobi/SIE)
• Princess Peach: Showtime! (Good-Feel/Nintendo)
• Super Mario Party Jamboree (Nintendo Cube/Nintendo)
• The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Grezzo/Nintendo)
• The Plucky Squire (All Possible Futures/Devolver)

Best Sim/Strategy

• Frostpunk 2 (11 Bit Studios)
• Age of Mythology: Rethold (World's Edge/Forgotten Empires/Xbox Game Studios)
• Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess (Capcom)
• Manor Lords (Slavic Magic/Hooded Horse)
• Unicorn Overlord (Vanillaware/Sega/Atlus)

Best Sports/Racing

• Ea Sports FC 25 (EA Vancouver/EA Romania/EA Sports)
• F1 24 (Codemasters/EA Sports)
• NBA 2K25 (Visual Concepts/2K)
• Top Spin 2K25 (Hanger 13/2K)
• WWE 2K24 (Visual Concepts/2K)

Best Multiplayer

• Helldivers 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios/SIE)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Treyarch/Raven/Activision/Xbox)
• Super Mario Party Jamboree (Nintendo Cube/Nintendo)
• Tekken 8 (Bandai Namco)
• Warhamer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (Saber Interactive/Focus Entertainment)

Most Anticipated Game

• Grand Theft Auto VI (Rockstar Games)
• Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions/SIE)
• Ghost of  Yōtei (Sucker Punch Productions/SIE)
• Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Retro Studios/Nintendo)
• Monster Hunter Wilds (Capcom)

Best Esports Game

• League of Legends (Riot Games)
• Counter-Strike 2 (Valve)
• DOTA 2 (Valve)
• Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MOONTON Games)
• Valorant (Riot Games)

Players' Voice

• Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)
• Genshin Impact (Hoyoverse)
• Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
• Wuthering Waves (Kuro Games)
• Zenless Zone Zero (Hoyoverse)

Apart from the above categories, there were also awards for gaming-related categories, recognising names in esports and other fields of entertainment:

Best Performance

• Melina Juergens (Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2)
• Birana White (Final Fantasy VII Rebirth)
• Hannah Telle (Life is Strange: Double Exposure)
• Humberly González (Star Wars Outlaws)
• Luke Roberts (Silent Hill 2)

Best Adaptation

• Fallout (Bethesda/Kilter Films/Amazon MGM Studios)
• Arcane (Riot/Fortiche/Netflix)
• Knuckles (Sega/Paramount)
• Like a Dragon: Yakuza (Sega/Amazon MGM Studios)
• Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft (Crystal Dynamics/Legendary/Netflix)

Content Creator of the Year

• CaseOh
• IlloJuan
• Techo Gamerz
• Typical Gamer
• Usada Pekora

Best Esports Athlete

• Faker (Lee Sang-hyeok)
• 33 (Neta Shapira)
• Aleksib (Aleksi Virolainen)
• Chovy (Jeong Ji-hoon)
• Zywoo (Mathieu Herbaut)
• ZmjjKK (Zheng Yongkang)

Best Esports Team

• T1 (League of Legends)
• Bilibili Gaming (League of Legends)
• Gen.G (League of Legends)
• Navi (Counter-Strike)
• Team Liquid (DOTA 2)

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