The Game Awards 2018 Winners

The Game Awards 2018 will celebrate the year in video games, recognizing the best in both AAA and indie gaming. This year’s show features huge titles such as Red Dead Redemption 2, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Fortnite, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Indie hits such as The Missing, Celeste, and Return of the Obra Dinn are among the titles that represent the impressive list of smaller-budget games. 

God of War took home the big prize, winning Game of the Year as well as the awards for Best Game Direction, and Best Action/Adventure Game. It’s very well deserved. A truly brilliant reboot for the franchise. 

Red Dead Redemption 2 and God of War led this year’s show in nominations, with eight nominations each. It’s not surprising considering these are two of our favorite games of the year. Marvel’s Spider-Man, Spidey’s excellent return to consoles and PC, followed with seven nominations, including Game of the Year. It unfortunately went home empty-handed. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Celeste, and Fortnite had four nominations each, while Monster Hunter: World, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Destiny 2: Forsaken, and Detroit: Become Human each received three.

Below are all the winners, which are highlighted in RED!

GAME OF THE YEAR

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)

Celeste (Matt Makes Games)

God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)

Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)

Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

Further Reading: 50 Underrated PS2 Games

BEST ONGOING GAME

Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision)

Fortnite (Epic Games)

No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)

Overwatch (Blizzard)

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)

BEST GAME DIRECTION

A Way Out (Hazelight Studios / EA)

Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / SIE)

God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)

Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

Further Reading: 25 Underrated Video Game Soundtracks

BEST NARRATIVE

Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / SIE)

God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)

Life Is Strange 2: Episode 1 (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)

Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

BEST ART DIRECTION

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)

God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)

Octopath Traveler (Square Enix / Acquire / Nintendo)

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

Return of Obra Din (3909 LLC)

Further Reading: 20 Underrated Nintendo 3DS Games

BEST SCORE

Celeste (Lena Raine)

God of War (Bear McCreary)

Marvel’s Spider-Man (John Paesano)

Ni No Kuni II (Joe Hisaishi)

Octopath Traveler (Yasunori Nishiki)

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Woody Jackson)

BEST AUDIO DESIGN 

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch Studios / Activision)

Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games / Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)

God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)

Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

Further Reading: 25 Underrated PSP Games

BEST PERFORMANCE

Bryan Dechart as Connor, Detroit: Become Human

Christopher Judge as Kratos, God of War

Melissanthi Mahut as Kassandra, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Roger Clark as Arthur Morgan, Red Dead Redemption 2

Yuri Lowenthal as Peter Parker, Marvel’s Spider-Man

GAMES FOR IMPACT

11-11 Memories Retold (Digixart / Aardman Animations / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)

Celeste (Matt Makes Games)

Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)

Life Is Strange 2: Episode 1 (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)

The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories (White Owls / Arc System Works)

Further Reading: 25 Best Game Boy Advance Games

BEST INDEPENDENT GAME

Celeste (Matt Makes Games)

Dead Cells (Motion Twin)

Into the Breach (Subset Games)

Return of the Obra Dinn (3909 LLC)

The Messenger (Sabotage Studio)

BEST MOBILE

Donut County (Ben Esposito / Annapurna Interactive)

Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)

Fortnite (Epic Games)

PUBG MOBILE (Lightspeed & Quantum / Tencent Games)

Reigns: Game of Thrones (Nerial / Developer Digital)

Further Reading: 25 Underrated Game Boy Games

BEST VR/AR Game

ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission (SIE Japan Studio / SIE)

Beat Saber (Beat Games)

Firewall Zero Hour (First Contact Entertainment / SIE)

Moss (Polyarc Games)

Tetris Effect (Resonair / Enhance, Inc)

BEST ACTION GAME

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch / Activision)

Dead Cells (Motion Twin)

Destiny 2: Forsaken (Bungie / Activision)

Far Cry 5 (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)

Mega Man 11 (Capcom)

Further Reading: 50 Underrated Sega Genesis Games

BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE GAME

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)

God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)

Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Eidos Montreal / Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix)

BEST ROLE PLAYING GAME

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Square Enix / Square Enix)

Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (Level 5 / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)

Octopath Traveler (Square Enix / Acquire / Nintendo)

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (Obsidian Entertainment / Versus Evil)

Further Reading: 25 Underrated Xbox 360 Games

BEST FIGHTING

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle (Arc System Works)

Dragon Ball FighterZ (Arc System Works / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)

Soul Calibur VI (Bandai Namco Studios / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)

Street Fighter V Arcade (Dimps / Capcom)

BEST FAMILY GAME

Mario Tennis Aces (Camelot Software Planning / Nintendo)

Nintendo Labo (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Overcooked 2 (Ghost Town Games / Team 17)

Starlink: Battle for Atlas (Ubisoft Toronto / Ubisoft)

Super Mario Party (NDCube / Nintendo)

Further Reading: 20 Super Mario Platforming Games Ranked

BEST STRATEGY GAME

BATTLETECH (Harebrained Schemes / Paradox Interactive

Frostpunk (11 bit studios)

Into the Breach (Subset Games)

The Banner Saga 3 (Stoic Studio / Versus Evil)

Valkyria Chronicles 4 (Sega CS3 / Sega)

BEST SPORTS/RACING

FIFA 19 (EA Vancouver / EA Sports)

Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games / Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)

Mario Tennis Aces (Camelot Software Planning / Nintendo)

NBA 2K19 (Visual Concepts / 2K Sports)

Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 (PES Productions / Konami)

Further Reading: 25 Best Mobile Sports Games

BEST MULTIPLAYER GAME

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch / Activision)

Destiny 2: Forsaken (Bungie / Activision)

Fortnite (Epic Games)

Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)

Sea of Thieves (Rare / Microsoft Studios)

BEST STUDENT GAME

Combat 2018 (Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences – Norway)

Dash Quasar (UC Santa Cruz)

JERA (Digipen Bilbao, Spain)

LIFF (ISTART Digital – France)

RE: Charge (MIT)

Further Reading: The Games You Need to Play in 2019

BEST DEBUT INDIE GAME

Donut County (Ben Esposito / Annapurna Interactive)

Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)

Moss (Polyarc Games)

The Messenger (Sabotage Studio)

Yoku’s Island Express (Villa Gorilla)

BEST ESPORTS GAME

Overwatch

CSGO

DOTA 2

Fortnite

League of Legends

BEST ESPORTS PLAYER

Dominique “SonicFox” McLean

Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi

Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao

Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev

Sung-hygeon “JJoNak” Bang

BEST ESPORTS TEAM

Astralis

Cloud9

Fnatic

London Spitfire

OG

BEST ESPORTS COACH

Bok “Reapered” Han-gyu

Christian “ppasarel” Banaseanu

Danny “zonic” Sorensen

Dylan Falco

Jakob “YamatoCannon” Mebdi

Janko “YNk” Paunovic

BEST ESPORTS EVENT

ELAGUE Major: Boston 2018

EVO 2018

League of Legends World Championship

Overwatch League Grand Finals

The International 2018

BEST ESPORTS HOST

Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez

Alex “Machine” Richardson

Anders Blume

Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere

Paul “RedEye” Chaloner

BEST ESPORTS MOMENT

C9 comeback win in triple OT vs FAZE

G2 beating RNG

KT vs IG Base Race

OG’s massive upset of LGD

SonicFox side switch against Go1 in DBZ

CONTENT CREATOR OF THE YEAR

Dr. Lupo

Myth

Ninja

Pokimane

Willyrex

John Saavedra is Games Editor at Den of Geek. Read more of his work here. Follow him on Twitter @johnsjr9.