The Game Awards 2018 Winners
Which title took home Game of the Year? Here are all the big winners at this year's Game Awards!
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)
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)
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
Written by
John Saavedra is an associate editor. He lives in New York City with his two cats.